Written by Noel Coakley

So close, I couldn’t recognize it

So simple, I couldn’t believe it

So profound, I couldn’t conceive of it

So noble, I wasn’t worthy of it

Niguma’s four-line teaching is one of those pith instructions that cuts straight through the spiritual scavenger hunt. Niguma was a 10th century mahasiddha and one of Marpa’s teachers.

She says our buddha nature is “so close, we can’t recognize it,” which is painfully accurate — we look everywhere except the one place it actually lives. We assume what we’re seeking is hidden or distant because we’ve spent a lifetime outsourcing wisdom, love, and stability to people, roles, and identities.

Then she says it’s “so simple, we can’t believe it.” We’re trained to think that profound things must be complicated, but the recognition of buddha nature is more like noticing warmth on the skin than solving a puzzle. It doesn’t feel earned or elaborate, and that can make us distrust it.

Her third line — “so profound, we couldn’t conceive of it” — points to the way the thinking mind keeps trying to corral awakening into concepts it can manage. But buddha nature can’t be conceptualized without shrinking it; the direct experience simply doesn’t fit into the usual cognitive containers.

And then the most tender line: “So noble, we weren’t worthy of it.” Many of us carry a quiet belief that if people really knew us, they’d take back any kindness they’ve ever shown. We think we have to earn basic okay-ness. From the standpoint of buddha nature, this is the deepest misunderstanding.

The whole teaching is basically Niguma saying, “It’s always right here and always has been.”