The inner realizations of the Dalai Lama

Against my wish, I was stuck in Tibet for 26 years under the Communist Chinese, until I was released and traveled to Dharamsala due to the Dalai Lama's kindness. After I arrived, I offered my services in writing and composing whatever His Holiness asks me to do. Thus I've had the chance to meet with His Holiness again and again.

During one of our meetings, His Holiness told me about a time he was reading and meditating on the commentary to Madhyamika by Lama Tsong Khapa. As he read about the simile in which a rope at nighttime can be mistaken for a snake, all of a sudden, in deepening his understanding (conventionally speaking, this is what he was telling me) all the constructed appearances ceased in his perception, and he had this very strong – even physical – sharp feeling coming through him. For almost 20 days without cease, his mind did not perceive as true whatever appearances appeared to his senses.

Immediately I said, "This sounds like the direct realization of emptiness," and His Holiness kind of downplayed it. Keeping it slightly hidden, he said, "Well as far as direct realization of emptiness, probably something similar – no, not even similar." And he moved on. This shows conventionally that he's achieving this kind of realization, and in actuality, he's Arya Avalokiteshvara.

This article can be read in its entirety in Mandala