A. It is not possible to practise pure awareness. Practice is what takes you to its threshold. Awakening to pure awareness is the fruit of practice. It is not possible to get Buddha-nature wrong, as you put it, because there is no Buddha-nature to get wrong. In order to awaken to Buddha-nature it is necessary that we train in and cultivate the right spirit of practice. This spirit is not a formula or anything that can be worked out. Rather, it is an attitude of opening up to something that is beyond ‘me’. This needs a spirit of surrender to be nurtured, a spirit that is, in my view, the true meaning of Going for Refuge to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Because of emptiness, Buddha-nature is all that is, both samsara and nirvana, yet also neither. The deepest meaning of emptiness is interpenetration, and it is because of this truth all designations are false, yet there is always love.

It is very easy for us to get lost in notions we have about practice somehow reducing reality -in this case termed Buddha-nature -to something akin to a formula or a metaphysical construction. We ought at times to remind ourselves that Buddha-nature would best be thought of as being alive, wise, warm and compassionate towards all living things, and with love for all that is. The all- embracing ever-present truth.