A natural radiance.

 རང་གདངས་
Tibetan: rang dang
English: natural radiance

In the Dzogchen tradition we emphasize the luminous quality of the nature of mind.  Meditation is not simply resting in some peaceful, non-conceptual absorption.  It is luminous, inherently clear and naturally radiant.

Something is always coming up.

The significance of this subtle point has profound implications.  The great meditation masters of the past have said that the nature of the mind is the basis of samsara and nirvana, bondage or liberation, a life of dissatisfaction or awakening.

What determines our experience?  How we relate to what is coming up, what is arising.

In meditation this occurs on a very subtle level.  We deal with grasping and fixation, attachment and aversion, hope and fear on a very intimate level.  It is not very easy to see what is going on in someone's practice, but in our daily life it becomes very easy to see how we relate to this luminous quality of our nature.

Do we get caught up in our experience?  Are we entangled in a web of thoughts, emotions and neurotic behavior, or do we cut through the resistance?

If the resistance is winning on the outside, it must be winning on the inside.

And yet, our nature is always naturally radiant.  It always has been, since the very beginning.  We just don't recognize it.