But how, if the base of the individual is pure, empty awareness, can a conventional self and a moving mind exist at all? Here is an example based on experiences we all have: when we dream, an entire world manifests in which we can have any kind of experience. During the dream we are identified with one subject, but there are other beings, apparently separate from us, having their own experiences and seeming as real as the self we take ourselves to be. There is also an apparent material world: the floors hold us up, our body has sensations, we can eat and touch.
When we wake, we realize that the dream was only a projection of our mind. It took place in our mind and was made of the energy of our mind. But we were lost in it, reacting to the mind-created images as if they were real and outside of ourselves. Our mind is able to create a dream and to identify with one being that it places in the dream, while disidentifying with others. We can even identify with subjects that are far different than we are in our daily life.
As ordinary beings, we are, in the same way, identified right now with a conventional self that is also a projection of mind. We relate to apparent objects and entities that are further mind projections. The base of existence (kunzhi) has the capacity to manifest everything that exists, even beings that become distracted from their true nature, just as our mind can project beings that are apparently separate from us in a dream. When we wake, the dream that is our conventional self dissolves into pure emptiness and luminous clarity.