how and why

I hope I understand the issues I raised recently a little bit better after some e-discussion with Angela. I will give the explanation a try here. I seem to have posed three questions in particular: 1) Why does the primordially pure mind manifest? 2) Why does the primordially pure mind manifest in this way? 3) How does the primordially pure mind manifest?

The mind manifests because it is not only primordially pure but also cognizant. These are the two qualities of mind that I had learned about in Quintessential Dzogchen so far (primordial purity and cognizance/awareness). I was going to post next about the quality of cognizance, though I touched on it briefly in my first post about this book, but I got sidetracked and focused too much on the single quality (out of three, apparently) of purity. I have a detail-oriented mind, to a clear fault. So, I think the answer is simply that mind, which is empty but not non-existent, appears because it has this quality of cognizance.

The mind manifests in this way because of karma. Each of us has his or her own way of seeing the world, in the human realm or otherwise, and this is according to the principle of cause and effect. Over our countless past lifetimes, we have accumulated karma that ripens in the present and future (a manner of speaking, since time is not linear), and this is why we see and hear the things we do.

I am still working on Question 3. I have gleaned that there is in fact a mechanism for the manifestation of mind, and the mechanism is the third quality of mind, which is that of energy or reflectiveness. I don't know much (read: anything) about this quality yet.

Angela also pointed out that, "As you say, it is just like that - but to truly understand 'just like that' - that is the practice."