What the Spiritual Consciousness path is really about
Trying to point out the Spiritual Consciousness path (S., mârga) is somewhat like trying to point out the direction of time. It can't be done. The Spiritual Consciousness path doesn't run in a particular direction. In Sanskrit, the root word for path, MÂRGA, means seek, look for; search through; strive after; endeavor, and so on. For example, the word mârgana can be defined as seeking. Translating mârga with path is problematic since mârga is not a track.
The Spiritual Consciousness path is really about a particular kind of seeking that helps us to awaken to our Bodhi Mind of which, presently, we have no knowledge (avidya). This should remind us of Zen's famous ten oxherding pictures (J., jûgyû) in which the Buddha Mind is represented by the ox which which a herdboy is searching for. For those familiar with these pictures they give us a good understanding of what a path or mârga really means in a Spiritual Consciousness sense.
If we are not seeking for our lost ox (Bodhi Mind) like the herdboy in the first picture, we are not following the Buddha's path—we are outside of it. Although this Mind is fundamentally present for us, we are the ones who are actually lost, not it. Since beginningless time, we have only learned to turn away from this pure Mind so as to become completely lost. Our thoughts which hide this Mind testify to just how lost we really are. The first oxherding picture describes these thoughts as "endless wildgrass," "rivers broaden, the mountains stretch on and the trails go ever deeper," "evening cicadas shrill in the maples." (Yamada Mumon, Lectures On The Ten Oxherding Pictures, 18).
The Spiritual Consciousness path is intended to take us on an inward seeking journey in which we must see our Bodhi Mind which is immaculate, real and absolute. It is by first seeking Bodhi Mind like the herdboy that the path begins to appear for us.
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