"In Buddhist scriptures, this original nature is principally referred to as “mind” (sems), as in “ever-perfect mind” (kun tu bzang po’i sems) or “mind nature” (sems nyid ). In this context, “mind” does not mean object-bound experience but instead the ever-perfect and intrinsic awareness that has no beginning or end. Since it is free from the dichotomy of knower and known, this mind is no different from the reality it perceives.

Reality is a “continuum” in the sense that its nature does not change into something else and cannot be fragmented into parts. Regardless of the degree of evolution or debasement of an individual, that reality or ever-perfect mind remains unaltered as the very essence or nucleus of one’s being.

From the state of an ordinary individual, the beginning, so to speak, up to the end of awakening, such reality is unceasingly present. Hence, there is no ultimate distinction between an ordinary being and an awakened one."

Elio Guarisco