We are not going to be able to recognize the nature of our mind as long as we believe in the existence of the self. It is this belief in the existence of the self that causes us to dualize everything and to think of buddhas and the sources of refuge as far away, distant, external, and even alien. For example, when we think of Samantabhadra, the dharmakaya, we think of some blue guy who’s naked with an afro, and that he’s somewhere out there, alien and foreign. Samantabhadra does not exist outside your mind. In fact, right now Samantabhadra is imprisoned in your heart by your fixation on a self. That imprisonment of Samantabhadra by your self-fixation, that is the true obstructor. That is what produces the five poisons which produce sickness and obstacles and so forth.
[From a teaching on White Khechari Practice Instructions, Part 2 of 3 by Lama Tashi Topgyal. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso.]