Awareness does not engage with objects of the ordinary mind. It is “self-cognizing primordial wisdom.” This can be illustrated by the “light” of the new moon: a profoundly indwelling luminosity, which does not radiate outward. Therefore, despite the fact that the five primordial wisdoms are spontaneously present in awareness, the latter is without thoughts related to sense objects. By contrast, even when it is still, the ordinary mind nevertheless “moves” and follows after different objects. It is like the light of the moon on the fifteenth of the month, which radiates outward and engulfs everything.

Jigme Lingpa

from the book Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two: Vajrayana and the Great Perfection

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