Sun and Moon

This evening is a bit unusual; we are in the middle of an inocular eclipse, a rare type of eclipse. If we were in the optimal viewing place, which I understand is San Diego; we would be seeing a ring around the sun. The moon moves between the earth and the sun creating a ring around the sun.
Earlier today I went to the lumber store. There was an elderly gentleman and his wife there outside explaining about the inocular eclipse. He set up his telescope and turned it backwards to display the eclipse on a piece of paper. I stopped, looked at the paper on the sidewalk and at the eclipse in the sky. As I looked back at the paper, it felt like the image projected was not on paper but the original sun, moon event occurring very far away. My perception had bridged a gap between the appearance and the actual event that felt interesting.
The newspapers encouraged my perceptions regarding the importance of this event. Earlier, at the height of it at about 6:30PM, I went outside. There was definitely a drop in light and a very interesting drop in the feeling of light. I was prepared for something unusual to happen and I experienced it.
The thought occurred that it all depends upon a point of view. Depending upon where I am on earth is the perceived alignment of these two objects according to my point of view. If the sun had sentient self –perceptions or held a point of view, it might think, “I am participating in a cosmic event.” If there was a similar self-perception of the moon, it might think, “I am now moving in conjunction with the sun. The sun and I are performing something cosmically important. Now I am moving in front of the sun.” However, this sentient thought never arose to the moon or to the sun. Actually, the moon and the sun just continued to move in normal orbits.
It caused me to think about the collection of perceptions and position of view that each one holds in their own mind. According to how things are lining up, from the position of the individual mind – almost anything could appear to be a cosmic event. For example, in the 1960’s, the Beatles were a cosmic event to many people. Perceptions lined up in a very specific way to create a sense of vast importance. More recently, we saw the new Star Wars movie. The people who sat outside on the sidewalk all night were anticipating, waiting to be the first to see the new Star Wars movie. So perceptions lined up to create cosmic importance from their point of view.
Like the analogy of the sun, the dharmakaya nature of awakened Buddha mind is actually without regard for point of view. It does not have the idea, now I am shining wisdom. Its nature is to shine without barriers. The marvel of the Buddhist Path is to create a valuable point of view and direct our attention to the cosmic importance. The Buddhist Path helps define that importance by presenting perceptions for us to wear while the point of view is being cultivated. Instead of newspapers we have scriptures and authentic beings such as Lord Buddha Shakyamuni.
When the perceptions are ripe, transitional views will arise. Accepting and passing through many stages of transitional development, eventually a correct point of view is achieved. Better than moving to San Diego for the perfect view of the eclipse, the sun of dharmakaya vision shines unobstructed in the mind.
So, the inocular eclipse is now finished, and you can even see now that the light is increasing, even here in the room with the light coming in, even though we’re indoors.