4. The Central Vigor
Then the [Supreme Source], mind of perfect purity, gave the following talk about the Reality of the names [given] to Her own being.
“Oh great bodhisattva, listen! From the primordial I am the self-originated pristine awareness.
pristine awareness: Bodhicitta, the fully Enlightened Mind Stream of the Tathagatas.
From the primordial I am the central vigor (snying po) of all things. I am the [Supreme Source], mind of perfect purity. A bodhisattva ought to understand My name. If a bodhisattva recognizes My name, he or she will understand all things without exception. I am called the central vigor as I am the central vigor of all things. I am called self-originated because I am totally beyond [the scope of] striving and achieving and as central vigor I am free of causes and conditions. I am called pristine awareness because by virtue of this ceaseless and stainless [awareness] I am the teacher of all things. I am known as mind of perfect purity. The meaning of ‘from the primordial’ is that I exist right from the beginning. ‘All things’ is said because all the teachers are [present] in Reality, and so are all the teachings, and the retinues [manifest in] place [and time] are [present in] Reality. Not a single thing is that is not [present] in Reality. This Reality which is called inner vigor is the inner vigor which gives rise to everything.
In the own being of the mind of perfect purity, the three teachers are also coming from [this Reality], the three teachings are also coming from it, and the retinues [appearing] in place and time are also coming from [that source]. As everything comes from it, it is called central vigor.
About Me [you should know] that as central vigor of the mind itself I have created all things without any exception. ‘All’ is said with regard to all things [or] everything. ‘All things’—whatever can be cognized as teachers, teachings, retinues, place and time.
‘Creating’—I am called master of creation (bya ba mkhan). As I have created the teachers, teachings, retinues, place and time, I am the master of the self-originated pristine awareness. I am called Sovereign as I am superior to everything as the creator of all things and as the inner vigor of the self-originated pristine awareness.
Central, Inner Vigor: The potent actualizing force behind all manifestations. Once again, the “existence right from the beginning” refers to THAT Actuating-Potency that resides in all dharmatā, or the primordial nature behind all apparent existence. This REALITY referring to the Dharmadhātu or the Absolute, THAT LIGHT-REALM, of Self-perfected nature.
The meaning of purity is that it is the central vigor of the mind of perfect purity. By means of the self-originated which is pure from the primordial, the [Supreme Source] makes everything. Because I am pure in total immaculateness I am known as the pure one. ‘Perfect’ is said in this [sense]: due to the central vigor of the self-originated pristine awareness [all things] which appear or exist, in short the animated and inanimated, as all the Buddhas of the three times, and the six categories of sentient beings in the three realms are vastly established and totally perfected in suchness. Therefore ‘perfect’ I am called.
Because I am pure in total immaculateness I am known as the pure one: The Immaculate Lady: Samantabhadrī.
The meaning of ‘mind’ is as follows: The central vigor of self-originated pristine awareness discerns with strength the perishable in all that exists as animated and inanimated. Therefore it is known as mind. The causeless and condition-less central vigor exercises power over everything, and creates all. Oh great bodhisattva, if you understand My own being you will also understand all the teachers, and all the teachings; you will understand the thoughts of the attendants, and that the entirety of place and time has become one. Because I am all and everything you will understand all things if you understand My own being. Therefore by non-striving you will be spontaneously self-perfected in what is totally beyond doing deeds, and beyond striving and achieving.”
Thus She spoke.
[Thus Ends the Fourth Chapter]
The Supreme Source translates:
Listen, great being! When you understand my essence you will also understand all the teachers and all the teachings. You will perceive the minds of the disciples and recognize the fundamental oneness of all places and all epochs. As I am existence in all of its entirety, perceiving my essence you will understand the totality of all phenomena and overcome all actions and efforts, realizing the natural perfection in which there exists no effort whatever.
Chogyal Namkhai Norbu;Andriano Clemente. The Supreme Source: The Fundamental Tantra Of Dzogchen Semde Kunjed Gyalpo (Kindle Locations 1601-1602). Kindle Edition.
So then, this the Primordial Essence that is reflective of THAT “natural-perfection”, a perfection that all beings can partake in once they recollect it and come to the realization that there is no-thing outside this Source that empowers them to share in the great Supernal Nature of the Unborn.