The chiming of the bell of eternity turns the world to diamond. It breaks
down into stained glass, and within each colored spark is the history of
the universe. The sky is melted into the ocean of samsara, whose infinite
beaches hold the sands of time.
The waters spin and there is a great whirlpool in the sky. There is a spinning wheel of birth and death, and it spins like a circus ride or a roulette wheel. In its center is the great treasure, the mandala of the primordial Buddha Vajrasattva, and around its edges are the dharma guardians, great and frightening, and bristling with weapons.
They have been taken up in great circles and spirals around the diamond lord. They chase away the unworthy by creating a sound that disintegrates all attachment, and a light so bright that it is harsh and unbearable to them. For all that surrounds the diamond lotus must be emptiness.
My eyes are strained, and my ears are ringing. A Mongolian warrior in black fur and a pointed metal hat says, "Bow before him, and cast all illusions away."
Vajrasattva is like a Tibetan lama on a great, high throne who has a magnifying glass for examining the soul. He hands me a diamond that is the magnifying glass. He says,
The soul is the identity of those who reincarnate through endless lifetimes. It does not matter that it has no roots. Nothing has roots. But during the ages of experience, it must be purified and clarified time and again.
The doctrine of no-soul avoids the work that needs to be done through the eons when the soul reincarnates. Dissolving the soul does not get rid of its karma. It stays within the pieces waiting to reorganize at the slightest hint of desire. Impurity will come again and again to those who claim inner emptiness while maintaining their hidden passions.
Souls hold bodies together. When the soul is purified and disintegrates, the body follows since there is nothing ultimate to hold it together.
Purify the soul through knowledge and compassion. Let your mind be a river of light flowing down into the world of matter.
Use the diamond [magnifying glass] to examine all attachments. It can see into origins. It is the jewel of timelessness, to study the ocean of time.