I recently realised that all the literary works of advanced Dharma teachers or Mahasiddhas are always a pragmatic attempt to make sense of their first-hand realisation. The books they write are not meant to be worshipped as “canon”.
All the books of the masters are not meant to be taken as dogmatic. These realized people were simply expressing their take on the View and their realisation thereof. And like we are doing today, they also have always been browsing through the works of the masters before them to find passages and quotes that underline and explain their own realisations.
At the core of the Dharma is an on-going unbroken line of invidual people discovering their own mind, finding certainty in their realisation and then writing about it and trying to make sense of it.
Isn’t it beautiful to approach the greats like Longchenpa, Gampopa or Dudjom Lingpa in this light?
When we read the masters, we’re simply meeting with fellow Dharma practitioners who - like us - had their insights and tried to make sense of them on the paper.
Lovely.