I. What This Concept Is Saying
Mention "bodhyāsana" and most contemporary people's first reaction is a meditation cushion, an image of someone sitting cross-legged, or a direct association with the famous *vajrāsana* stone at Bodh Gayā in India—where Śākyamuni Buddha is said to have attained supreme awakening upon that very stone. This level of understanding is not wrong, but it flattens a multi-layered, multi-dimensional, soterically pervasive grand structure into a slab of stone and a round cushion.
According to the classical definitions in the *Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra* and the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, the bodhyāsana (bodhy-āsana, "seat of awakening") refers to: the seat upon which a bodhisattva sits in the site beneath the Bodhi tree and accomplishes supreme, perfect awakening. Its substance is of vajra (diamond/lightning), adorned with myriad jewels, its merit pervading all worlds in the ten directions—it is the basis on which the Tathāgata accomplishes awakening and turns the Dharma wheel.
Notice the layers in this statement. It is not simply "a chair":
「在摩竭提國阿蘭若法菩提場中始成正覺，於普光明殿坐蓮華藏師子之座。」 ——《大方廣佛華嚴經》T0279 *"In the dharmabodhi-maṇḍala of the Araṇya in Magadha he first accomplished right awakening; in the Hall of Universal Radiance he sat upon the lion throne of the lotus treasury."* ——*Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, T0279
In a single sentence, the four nested layers of site—tree—hall—throne all emerge:
- The Bodhi site (*bodhimaṇḍa*): the araṇya in the land of Magadha. This is a geography and time-space that has been selected and purified—not in the marketplace, not in the royal palace, not amid bustle, but in the forest wilderness of "seclusion" (āraṇya). This is the external condition of awakening. - The Bodhi tree: body of vajra, trunk of lapis lazuli, jewel-trees in rows, emitting light all around, raining treasures. This is the support of awakening—a single tree upholding the spine of the entire site. - The Hall of Universal Radiance (*samantaprabhā*): this is the palace at the center of the site, the inner landscape of awakening—a radiance that illuminates everything. - The lion throne of the lotus treasury: in the hall, beneath the tree, what the bodhisattva sits upon is precisely this bodhyāsana.
The four layers are indispensable. If only a chair remains, that is a meditation tool; if only a tree remains, that is a geographic coordinate; if only a wilderness remains, that is a place of retreat from clamor—only when the four layers are stacked together does the complete field "in which awakening can occur" come into being.
Now look at the form and structure of this seat itself:
「師子座，高廣妙好：摩尼為台，蓮華為網，清淨妙輪，眾色雜華而作瓔珞。」 ——《華嚴經》T0279 *"The lion throne, lofty, vast, wondrous and fine: maṇi as its platform, lotuses as its net, a pure wondrous wheel, with flowers of many hues woven into garlands."* ——*Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, T0279
This is not simply a description of decoration; it uses the materials to mark out the inner character of this seat:
- Maṇi as the platform: the maṇi jewel is the "wish-fulfilling gem" (*cintāmaṇi*), which can bring forth whatever is wished. This tells the reader: the root of the seat is a substance of "that which can accomplish what is wished"—you do not sit on it for the sake of a good posture, but because this is a place where wishes can be fulfilled. - Lotuses as the net: the lotus (padma) is the symbol of emerging from mud without defilement, but here it is a "net"—many lotuses linked together, mutually penetrating. This suggests that the awakening on this seat is not an isolated experience but a state connected to all beings in the dharmadhātu. - The pure wondrous wheel: the wheel (cakra) here is not a vehicle but the seed of the Dharma wheel—the turning of the Dharma wheel is about to begin upon this seat. - Flowers of many hues woven into garlands: various flower-garlands as adornment, symbolizing the myriad merits accumulated through bodhisattva practice, dedicated and adorning this single place.
More crucial is the foundation:
「以金剛所成之堅固地基……為座之所依。」 ——《華嚴經》T0279 *"With a firm ground formed of vajra… as the support of the seat."* ——*Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, T0279
Vajra means "indestructible." The bodhyāsana does not float in mid-air—its root is vajra, a substance that no external force can shake. This point finds a response in another thread in the *Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra*, T0310: when the bodhisattva is first born, his feet do not touch the ground, but "he recollects the subtle karmic recompense of the bodhyāsana"—this seat even precedes the physical walking of the bodhisattva's body, already inscribed in the bodhisattva's continuum as "karmic recompense." This shows that the bodhyāsana is not merely a physical object that appears later, but is the fruition itself toward which the bodhisattva has been oriented from the very first arising of aspiration.
On the merit and function of the bodhyāsana, the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* speaks plainly:
「其菩提座具足莊嚴，周遍十方一切世界，佛處其上轉妙法輪，說諸菩薩所有行願，開示無量諸佛境界。」 ——《華嚴經》T0279 *"That bodhyāsana is fully adorned, pervading all worlds in the ten directions; the Buddha, seated upon it, turns the wondrous Dharma wheel, proclaims all the practices and vows of bodhisattvas, and reveals the countless Buddha-realms."* ——*Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, T0279
"Pervading all worlds in the ten directions"—the adornment of this seat is not confined to a particular stone, but extends throughout all space, throughout the entire dharmadhātu. In other words, the "scope" of the bodhyāsana is boundless; it is not a localized sacred relic but a structure of cosmic scale. This is fundamentally different from the Western notion that "a sacred site is a specific location."
Finally, there is the universal vow-extension of the bodhyāsana. The *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, through the merit-dedication of a wheel-turning king's gift of a throne, makes the vow:
「願一切眾生坐菩提座，悉能覺悟諸佛正法；願一切眾生得一切金剛座，示現如來威德自在，成最正覺。」 ——《華嚴經》T0279 *"May all beings sit upon the bodhyāsana and awaken to the true Dharma of all Buddhas; may all beings obtain all vajra-thrones, manifest the Tathāgata's majestic power and sovereignty, and accomplish the highest right awakening."* ——*Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, T0279
This seat, originally the sole possession of the Buddha, is here extended to all beings—"may all beings sit upon the bodhyāsana." The bodhyāsana shifts from an exclusive seat to a seat that can be taken up by all beings. This is an extremely crucial turn: the bodhyāsana is not "the Buddha's private seat," but a seat that every awakened one will possess and will sit upon.
Differences in Terminology Between the Two Sūtras
It should be specially noted that the *Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra*, T0310, and the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, T0279, do not use fully identical terminology for the bodhyāsana:
**T0310, the *Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra*, uses at least four terms: bodhyāsana, Buddha-tree, sitting at the Buddha-tree, and Dharma-bed, and it strictly distinguishes the seat of accomplishing awakening from the seat of turning the Dharma wheel. "Bodhyāsana" appears only in the context of the newborn bodhisattva recollecting its subtle karmic recompense; "Buddha-tree / sitting at the Buddha-tree" is used for the bodhisattva approaching and sitting in the site of Buddhahood; "Dharma-bed" refers to the bodhisattva sitting so as to rapidly approach the supreme right path; as for the "lion throne / lion bed / Dharma seat" used when turning the Dharma wheel, the text does not call it "bodhyāsana."**
**T0279, the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, on the other hand, takes "the lion throne of the lotus treasury" as the core specific designation of the bodhyāsana, and merges the seat of accomplishing awakening with the seat of turning the Dharma wheel into one—the Buddha, on this very seat, "first accomplishes right awakening," and on this very seat "turns the wondrous Dharma wheel." In this sūtra the term "bodhyāsana" clearly appears in "that bodhyāsana is fully adorned"; "vajrāsana" (vajra-throne) appears only in the vow-text of the jewel-adorned throne offered by the wheel-turning king, in parallel with the bodhyāsana. In other words, in the context of T0279, the vajrāsana does not directly denote the seat of awakening**, but is one of a series of adorned thrones that the vow-text wishes "all beings to obtain."
This point matters greatly for contemporary readers—many equate "bodhyāsana" with "vajrāsana." In the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, a text especially attentive to the discrimination of terms, each has its own place: the lion throne of the lotus treasury is what Śākyamuni Tathāgata sat upon when accomplishing right awakening, while the vajrāsana is the throne in the bodhisattva's vow that all beings obtain. They are closely related, but not a simple interchange of the same word.
Furthermore, the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* mentions the bodhyāsana alongside a series of adorned thrones—the sovereign throne, jewel throne, incense throne, flower throne, robe throne, garland throne, maṇi throne, lapis-lazuli throne, and other inconceivable jewel-thrones of countless kinds. This means that "throne" in Buddhism is a genealogical concept; the bodhyāsana is the most ultimate and most adorned among them, but it is not an isolated, singular throne.
II. A Walk-Through in Everyday Life
Having laid out the classical definitions, let us walk through the four-layer structure of the "bodhyāsana" with a concrete scenario from a contemporary person's life.
The Scenario
Aming, 35, is a mid-level manager at an internet company. He faces a major decision: the company wants to transfer him to another city to head up a new business—equity, a raise, a title. But his current team has just started to gain traction, his wife has just settled into stability, and his child has just started elementary school. He must reply within two weeks.
If he decides to go or stay out of momentary impulse, that is merely "sitting emotionally." If he truly wants to "sit upon the bodhyāsana to make a decision," he needs to construct the complete four-layer structure within his mind.
Layer One: The vajra foundation—what is the unshakable ground beneath your feet?
Beneath the bodhyāsana is a vajra foundation—not wood, not plastic, not the title the company gives. Ask Aming:
- What is the thing you would under no circumstances give up in this life? Is it honesty? Some basic goodwill toward people? The self-expectation "I don't want to become that kind of manager who squeezes subordinates"? The family commitment "I want my child to remember what kind of person his father was"?
These are not strategies; they are the vajra foundation—they are unaffected by the specific choice of "go or stay," and no matter what decision you make, they will not be broken.
The most common mistake contemporary people make is mistaking external conditions for the foundation—"If I lose this job opportunity, I'm finished," "If my wife doesn't understand me, I'm finished," "If I'm separated from my child for three years, I'm finished." These are not foundations; they are furniture on the floor—they can be replaced, they can be moved. The vajra foundation is what remains unchanged under any change of circumstance.
Layer Two: The Bodhi tree—the tree that upholds the entire site
The Bodhi tree, "body of vajra, trunk of lapis lazuli," is the spine of the entire site. In Aming's scenario, what is this tree?
Perhaps a senior mentor who truly understands both him and the industry; Perhaps a certain professional judgment he has accumulated over the years; Perhaps the things he has concretely shouldered as a father and a husband; Perhaps a certain philosophy or mind-training he has privately kept practicing—reading, writing, sitting.
The characteristic of a tree: it has been growing throughout your lifetime, but you did not bring it in from outside. It is a sustained force living in your life, the support that lets you make decisions "under the tree" rather than "under the blazing sun."
The most common misidentification for contemporary people: taking the "friend circle" as the tree—but that is merely decoration hung on the tree, swaying whenever the wind blows.
Layer Three: The Bodhi site—the araṇya around you
"Araṇya" (āraṇya) means "seclusion" (literally "far away"). The Bodhi site is a place that has been selected and purified. In Aming's situation, he needs to look honestly:
- How much of his current work environment is "secluded" from unnecessary clamor? - Can he carve out, within his existing life, a stretch of time and space not constantly invaded by meetings, group messages, and KPI numbers?
The ancient Bodhi site was a physical araṇya. The contemporary person's Bodhi site is more of an araṇya of attention—can you set aside a patch of mind-ground not covered by notifications, not covered by algorithms, not covered by organizational will? This is the contemporary form of the "site" layer.
Layer Four: The Hall of Universal Radiance—the all-illuminating light within you
This is the hardest layer to articulate. The Hall of Universal Radiance is the palace at the center of the site—it is not outside, but within. It is the place you see when you return to your own interior after all external conditions are in place.
If Aming is truly ready, at some late night, or at some stretch of a long run, or after the child has fallen asleep, or in the darkness while driving through a tunnel—he will suddenly touch a state of "I see it": not seeing clearly whether to go or stay, but seeing clearly why he is agonizing, where the real pain point is, what he is truly afraid of losing.
This layer is not clarity at the strategic level; it is clarity at the existential level—"I suddenly know who I am, what I want, and what price I am willing to pay." This is the Hall of Universal Radiance. Its condition of arising is that the first three layers have already been settled.
Layer Five: The lion throne of the lotus treasury—where you make the final decision
All the preparations converge on a single seat. In T0279, this seat has four qualities:
- Maṇi as the platform: your decision must arise from an inner substance of "that which can accomplish what is wished," not from fear or face-saving; - Lotuses as the net: your decision cannot be isolated—it will move your wife, your child, your team, your subordinates, your partners; this "lotus net" reminds you that these connections are already part of the decision, not side effects of it; - The pure wondrous wheel: you make this decision so that the Dharma wheel begins to turn—so that some genuine wisdom and benefit can circulate, not to hoard a resource or flee a problem; - Flowers of many hues woven into garlands: all the experience, pain, learning, and love you have accumulated over the years are the adornments of this seat, not "clutter unrelated to the decision."
When Aming truly sits down—not necessarily physically; it may be the moment he closes his laptop, turns off his phone, and formally declares within himself, "I am now beginning to make a decision"—he needs to know he is sitting on exactly such a seat.
Finally: May all beings sit upon the bodhyāsana
When Aming makes this decision, he can also make the vow in reverse:
- May every colleague on my team sit on a seat appropriate to them when making their decisions; - May my child, when facing his own major choices in the future, also find his own vajra foundation; - May my peers—those also agonizing over similar problems—gain a moment of clarity in their own "Bodhi sites."
The dedication in T0279, "may all beings sit upon the bodhyāsana," is not an exclusive privilege of bodhisattvas high above, but a care that naturally extends outward once you have sat firmly on your own seat. This is the true meaning of the "universal vow-extension" of the bodhyāsana.
The Easiest Mis-mappings in the Walk-Through
The easiest error is shrinking the "bodhyāsana" into a meditation cushion. If Aming imagines his cushion as the "bodhyāsana" itself, he misses 90% of the content—he can neither see his own vajra foundation (what is unshakable), nor build his own Bodhi site (the araṇya of attention), nor enter his own Hall of Universal Radiance (clarity at the existential level).
The second easy error is equating the "bodhyāsana" with a "Buddha-throne" or "holy throne"—thinking only Buddhas may sit on it, and one is unworthy. But the dedication verse of the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* says it plainly: this seat is for all beings to sit upon. In other words, the bodhyāsana is not an occupied position but a position awaiting every being to come and sit upon it. You simply have not yet sat upon it, but the possibility of your sitting upon it was already written into your "karmic recompense" from the moment you first gave rise to a good thought—this is precisely the deep meaning in the *Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra* of the newborn bodhisattva "recollecting the subtle karmic recompense of the bodhyāsana."
The third easy error is imagining "sitting upon the bodhyāsana" as "the posture of meditation." "Sitting" here is not merely a bodily posture but a stable, un-pushed, active remaining. For the contemporary person, "sitting upon the bodhyāsana" can be the moment in a meeting after hearing everyone's opinions when you do not rush to speak; can be the silence, after a family argument, of stepping out to the balcony and taking three breaths; can be the pause, after closing a book, of not hurrying to the next page. The key is not the posture, but the state of "I am here, I am not being pushed by any external force, I am prepared to see clearly."
III. Why Contemporary People Need This Concept
In an age of "movable at any time," the concept of the bodhyāsana is almost counter-directional—it does not emphasize movement, does not emphasize flexibility, does not emphasize adaptation. It emphasizes: there is one unshakable basis upon which you can do anything.
1. In an age of scattered attention, the Bodhi site is scarcer than ever
The classical Bodhi site was seclusion in the geographic sense—the araṇya, the forest outside the village. The modern person's "seclusion" is not physical but at the level of attention. When your time is stuffed full of meetings, group messages, notifications, and algorithmic pushes, you have no "Bodhi site" at all. Every decision you make is made amid the clamor of external conditions—you effectively have no "seat."
The concept of the bodhyāsana reminds you: before making any important decision, first clear out your site. Even just 15 minutes—turn off all notifications, go to some quiet place, let your attention return to yourself—this is rebuilding the "Bodhi site" in your life.
2. In an age of floating identity, the vajra foundation needs to be discerned more than ever
What contemporary people most easily fall into is "I am the vice president of such-and-such company," "I am a professor at such-and-such university," "I am a thought leader in such-and-such community"—equating identity with the foundation. The vajra foundation of the bodhyāsana tells you: those things change; the true load-bearing of the seat you sit on comes from deeper—from the fundamental commitment that "I will not become that kind of person, no matter what."
Discerning the vajra foundation is itself a practice. It is not a one-time answer but something to ask yourself anew each time you face a major decision.
3. A bridge connecting "sitting meditation" with "acting in the world"
Many people think "sitting upon the bodhyāsana" is a matter for renunciant monastics, unrelated to laypeople. But in the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, the Buddha does two things upon the bodhyāsana: accomplishes the highest right awakening and turns the wondrous Dharma wheel. The former is a breakthrough in view; the latter is the unfolding of benefit—both are accomplished on the same seat. This means that on your "bodhyāsana," you both need to see clearly (right awakening) and need to act (turning the wheel). Seeing clearly without acting is self-indulgence; acting without seeing clearly is action born of ignorance.
What contemporary people truly need is "to preserve that seat in the very place where one acts"—not splitting life into "meditation time" and "work time," but at every moment of important choice, truly "sitting" oneself down.
4. The universal vow-extension counters contemporary isolation
"May all beings sit upon the bodhyāsana"—the contemporary meaning of this line is counter-"atomization." In an age where individuals are continuously fragmented and loneliness is continuously amplified, the dedication of the bodhyāsana expands "my sitting firm" into "may all people sit firm." The seat you find for yourself naturally extends into a wish for all people—the adornment of this seat is not private; it is pervasive throughout the ten directions.
This is precisely the opposite of certain "self-improvement" narratives—the latter speak of "how to make yourself more competitive," "how to make yourself more unique"; the universal vow-extension of the bodhyāsana speaks of "how your own stability becomes part of everyone's stability." These are two fundamentally different worldviews.
IV. Common Misreadings and Clarifications
Misreading One: Bodhyāsana = a certain stone / a specific location
Many people equate the bodhyāsana with the vajrāsana stone at Bodh Gayā—compressing a multi-layered structure into a physical relic.
Clarification: the geographic location of Bodh Gayā is a partial manifestation of the Bodhi site, but the bodhyāsana as a concept far exceeds any specific stone. The *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* says it "pervades all worlds in the ten directions"; this "pervasion" is not rhetoric but a structural statement—any place, any person, when conditions are complete, can become the locus where the bodhyāsana occurs. The specific location is one special manifestation of the bodhyāsana, not its totality.
Misreading Two: Bodhyāsana = the lotus seat (padmāsana)
The "lotus seat" familiar to contemporary people often refers to the image of a bodhisattva sitting cross-legged upon a lotus in visualization, or the cross-legged posture in yoga. This is a different concept from the "bodhyāsana."
Clarification: the lotus seat (padmāsana) is closer to a posture / object of visualization, emphasizing purity, transcendence, non-defilement; while the bodhyāsana (bodhy-āsana) is a structural concept—site, tree, hall, and throne nested in four layers, the entire spatial organization in which awakening occurs. In the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, the specific designation of the bodhyāsana is "the lion throne of the lotus treasury" (padmagarbha-siṃhāsana); the character "treasury" (zàng) is the key—it is not a single lotus but the treasure-store of lotuses, the mutual inclusion of all lotuses in the dharmadhātu—this image is far deeper and broader than a single lotus.
Misreading Three: Bodhyāsana = vajrāsana
The two are closely related and often used interchangeably in many scriptures, but in the context of the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, T0279, vajrāsana and bodhyāsana each have their own place.
Clarification: in T0279, the vajrāsana appears in the dedication vow-text for the jewel-adorned throne offered by the wheel-turning king: "May all beings obtain all vajra-thrones, manifest the Tathāgata's majestic power and sovereignty, and accomplish the highest right awakening"—it is one of the thrones that the bodhisattva wishes all beings to obtain, listed alongside the bodhyāsana, the sovereign throne, jewel throne, incense throne, flower throne, robe throne, garland throne, and maṇi throne. And the seat on which the Buddha actually sat when attaining awakening is the "lion throne of the lotus treasury," not the vajrāsana. In the Indian Buddhist tradition, the vajrāsana is the traditional name for the stone at Bodh Gayā, meaning "the place as indestructible as vajra," emphasizing the firmness of the foundation; while the bodhyāsana emphasizes "the seat on which awakening is based"—the two have different emphases.
If a contemporary reader finds a passage rendering the bodhyāsana directly as "vajrāsana," this is often an abbreviation of the translation tradition, not a strict terminological correspondence within the scripture itself; it must be judged according to the specific text.
Misreading Four: Bodhyāsana = lion throne / Dharma seat / the seat of turning the Dharma wheel
The terminology of the *Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra*, T0310, is very strict: the seat of accomplishing awakening and the seat of turning the Dharma wheel are two different categories of seat. "Bodhyāsana," "Buddha-tree," and "Dharma-bed" point to accomplishing awakening; "lion throne," "lion bed," and "Dharma seat" point to teaching the Dharma.
Clarification: in the context of T0310, equating "bodhyāsana" with "lion throne" is a terminological confusion. But the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, T0279, handles it differently—it uses "the lion throne of the lotus treasury" to merge the two into one: the Buddha on this very lion throne accomplishes right awakening, and on this very throne turns the Dharma wheel. So the conclusion depends on which sūtra you are reading. The error contemporary readers most easily commit is seeing only T0279's merged formulation and taking "bodhyāsana = lion throne = Dharma seat" as a universal truth. In fact, T0310 separates, T0279 unifies; these are two different choices of two scriptures, not an internal contradiction of the concept.
Misreading Five: Bodhyāsana = the Buddha's private seat, only Buddhas may sit on it
The most fatal and most widespread misreading.
Clarification: the dedication verse of the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* explicitly says "may all beings sit upon the bodhyāsana." This seat was never exclusive from the start—the Buddha sat upon it in order to "deliver beings," in order to "proclaim for beings the vast, subtle, most supreme, unsurpassed true Dharma." The "pervasion of the ten directions" of the bodhyāsana is not only spatial pervasion but "pervasion across the realm of sentient beings"—this seat is prepared for all beings; the possibility of "recollecting the subtle karmic recompense of the bodhyāsana" is already inscribed in the continuum of every being (that passage in the *Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra* about the newborn bodhisattva), though most people have simply not yet discovered it.
Misreading Six: Understanding "sitting upon the bodhyāsana" as cultivating a "state"
Contemporary neo-spiritual movements often understand "sitting upon the bodhyāsana" as some high-energy state, some enlightenment experience, some peak experience.
Clarification: the bodhyāsana is not a state but a structure. States come and go; structures can be repeatedly returned to. States cannot be replicated; structures allow one to sit upon oneself anew, again and again. What contemporary people need more is structure, not state—because a state makes you dependent on some single "peak of enlightenment," while a structure lets you have a place to "sit firm" on any ordinary day. This is precisely why the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* describes the bodhyāsana as "lofty, vast, wondrous and fine, adorned with myriad jewels, pervading the ten directions"—it is not a transient emotion but an adorned structure that can be used repeatedly.
A Final Word
The most moving thing about the concept of the bodhyāsana is that it is at once an utterly concrete, map-pointable location (that stone at Bodh Gayā) and a completely non-local, dharmadhātu-pervading adorned structure. This unity of "the concrete and the infinite" is a microcosm of the entire Dharma—
Your awakening occurs at a specific moment, in a specific place, upon a specific seat; but the insight of that moment, the adornment of that instant, can extend to all worlds in the ten directions, can extend to all beings.
In contemporary life, most of the time we cannot go on pilgrimage to Bodh Gayā, and it is hard to set aside several hours each day for sitting meditation. But before every important decision, we can ask ourselves one question:
"The seat I am sitting on right now—is there a vajra foundation beneath it?"
If the answer is not affirmative, then do not rush the decision—first go back and clear out your own site, straighten your tree, and let your palace light up.
When you are ready, the bodhyāsana will naturally appear.
It has never been an external, granted position—it is the structure that naturally generates itself at every moment you choose, "I am willing to see clearly, here."