Why all this emphasis on Mind, Unborn or otherwise?
Beholding one’s Mind is the root of the matter. Outside of Mind considering anything else is puerile and insignificant.
How is that?
The Unborn Buddha Mind is the Source of all that is; outside of this root source nothing exists of its own accord and is thus self-empty—sunya.
Has this anything to do with natural-enlightenment?
Trying to become enlightened outside of this noble self-realization is like trying to sculpt—in smoke! It can’t be done.
Well, what about natural attainment—apart from all this Mind business?
Outside of the Root Source there is nothing but disintegrating matter…that’s why the materialistic mind itself withers and dies. Left to its own accord, devoid of its animating Spirit-Mind is just a mere show of its former glory, just fluctuating in an endless sea of changing elements—one form into another in the mad quest of trying to find satisfaction in its own insatiable mechanism. Awakening from the material mind and directly seeing through the tathatic-spirit the lifeforce arrayed in the bright splendor of the undying and thus deathless Unborn Mind is the very root of enlightenment itself.
So, are you saying that one’s natural mind is clouded devoid of this realization?
Yes. In sharp contrast, the clouded mind just drifts along without being aware of the boundless Sky of Mind that rests motionless amidst the meandering course of the worldling. The unclouded mind of the Unborn rises above any transient notions of pure or impure that are dependent on causal dimensions, IT is not dependent and thus is not time-bound. It is timeless-boundlessness Itself.
Well, that’s nothing to be concerned about since we all are bestowed with Buddha-nature without having to do anything further.
That’s a common fallacy. Although Buddha-nature resides deep within the coil of aggregated existence if not primed with bodhipower it remains dormant, held prisoner to the whims of the five-skandhas that supplant and uproot its hidden potential.
I’m trying to understand it all as you say.
Once Buddha-nature enkindles within and is recognized AS IT IS, the developing Bodhisattva (bodhi-child) can lead others to the shore of deathless suchness. Remember this above all…True Understanding is beholding Mind AS IT IS—Ecce Animum.