Looking around I see,
A world not how it is,
But rather how my mind,
Has made it out to be.
What is seen,
A mental formulation,
The mind itself - a magical display,
A singular equality transposed within apparent opposition.
The mind does not have a body,
And the body does not have a mind.
There is only mind,
And within mind a body appears.
The body is not separate from mind,
And mind is not separate from the body.
Solidity and form, the marks of true existence,
Mere mental construction, only shadows of what's real,
Along with all the senses,
They too are mere appearances.
Characteristics do not exist separately,
But only arise within the field of awareness,
Together with perceiver as a unity,
Even though appearance suggests otherwise.
The self as actor in a play, arises in dependence on mind,
Purely mental construct, or projection;
The sense of self arises within the context of awareness,
As an object of mind, yet inseparable from mind.
Throughout it all,
True inner essence shines deeply from within.
Hidden only by virtue of eyes,
Facing outwardly instead of in.
While such a sense of self appears as separate and fully independent,
This self is, in fact, the mere product of unconscious cogitation.
The end result of mind experiencing itself,
As both awareness and object of awareness.
At all times, the personal self is illusory.
Therefore, one recognizes the imprint of delusion whenever the personal self appears on the scene.
For delusion means that what appears one way,
Turns out to be another.
Objects, for example, appear to exist inherently,
Yet only arise while in perception with a perceiver.
In truth, perceiver and what is perceived are a singular expression of mind.
Duality is therefore a misperception, and separateness a myth.
The appearance of inherent existence is a complete fabrication of mind.
All distinction is imagination solidified over aeons of time into the habitual perception of characteristics.
This is the secret of the appearance of objects found within day to day perception.
However, upon close inspection such objects cannot be found to exist as concretely as they appear.
Delusions are created and sustained by habitualized mental constructions known as concepts.
Such constructions are learned and developed over time,
Eventually becoming the totality of one's experience.
They are then reinforced through unconscious habit.
Such mental constructs are directly unreachable by the conscious mind.
This is what it means to be unconscious.
They are not easy to find,
And difficult to modify.
The personal self lives in a world of concepts which it cannot move beyond.
It is imprisoned in a world of pure mental construction,
And yet it believes that such a life is truly real, truly solid and truly separate,
Never tasting freedom, and never knowing a true life's potential.
Within the landscape of mental constructedness,
One experiences "heaven" or "hell" where no such things exist.
As neither are purely objective, or inherently and separately existent.
Appearing only in dependence upon the mind, and upon its current, relative persuasion.
The experience of heaven or hell is only that of the illusory personal self.
And even so, within this context one of pure subjectivity,
Heaven and hell depend on one's particular conceptual map,
An active framework of concepts functioning day and night from one's unconscious mind.
It is therefore only one's "map" that determines the nature and quality of experience.
As this map is completely invisible to those who aren't aware,
Or to those who don't look,
Most never find it.
It is, however, findable and can easily be seen,
By simply observing one's immediate experience.
While the map is NOT the territory it is supposed to represent,
It IS precisely one and the same as the territory of one's personal experience.
So to find the map,
All that is needed,
Is to look directly at one's current experience.
They are one and the same, indivisible.
And then it's best to let it go completely,
Or at least as much as one can.
For believing that one's map is identical to reality,
Is the cause of much confusion and needless suffering.
Reality can be experienced directly,
But not in the way that most have become accustomed.
Reality arises only when the conceptual activity of the mind ceases.
For many, such activity never ceases.
Because reality transcends conceptualization,
One cannot describe it or understand it with concepts.
One can only point towards it,
And even this can at times be problematic.
None of this is new,
Discovered by saints and holy beings long, long ago.
Even so it still seems new in the West,
Where clinging to Newton is more popular.
In spite of the fact that for over a hundred years,
Western scientists have observed phenomena in much the same way,
Confirming what was taught by the wise,
Over two and a half thousand years before today.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
As Astonishing as it Appears...
Thursday, May 31, 2012
The Map is Not the Territory
Mental distinctions and concepts create everything that appears,
Including the notions of singularity, permanence, and independence.
Through habit one's mental map is formed and invisibly sustained,
The map is one's experience, but it is not the territory it represents.
Ignoring the existence of the map,
Is to live in delusion and ignorance.
Without awareness, the map becomes a mental prison without an exit,
With walls that can't be seen.
Just as recognizing the lack of mindfulness is mindfulness itself,
So recognizing the presence of the map is freedom from its subtle bondage.
The map is all that appears, and is the root of all appearances.
Freedom from the map is therefore freedom from all appearances.
The formation of the map is mindless habit and lack of wisdom.
Wisdom and insight, the fruits of meditation, illuminate the map with awareness.
Under the light of awareness and focused attention, the map gradually dissolves.
Dissolution of the map is the end of delusion.
Each moment lived without a map is a moment lived in Wisdom.
Living in Wisdom means to be truly alive, to touch reality directly.
To be truly alive is to penetrate the barrier between self and other,
True life begins when all experience dissolves into one taste.
The sutras say, "Those who free themselves from all appearances are called buddhas."
Life with multiple tastes is bondage to unconscious discrimination and self-created delusion.
Life with only one taste is freedom and enlightenment.
The key is to recognize the existence of the map.
Not seeing the map perpetuates samsara without end.
Seeing the map is the cessation of samsara.
Seeing the map transcends karma.
To see the map is to see emptiness.
Emptiness is the lack of mistaken distinction.
As everything depends on everything - nothing is inherently distinct, in spite of all appearances.
What appears as separateness, is merely mental imputation by way of unconscious distinction.
Without distinction, there is no appearance of separateness - no objects, and even no entities.
As everything is dependent,
Nothing is completely independent.
If nothing is independent, there is no duality.
Dependently arisen, everything is empty of inherent separateness.
Making distinctions where no distinctions truly exist,
Is false imagination.
Mistaking the map for the territory,
Is living in a world of endless dreams.
Mistaking dream worlds for true reality,
Even though they have little or nothing to do with true reality.
Actions are forever misguided and mistaken, based on confusion and distortion.
In this way, we perpetuate the suffering of samsara.
Distinction must always include that which is distinguished and that which is distinguished from.
Conceptual objects can only appear against the non-appearance of their opposite.
In this way, opposites are both singular and mutually dependent.
Without distinction, there is only equality.
Something can only be known in relation to and in dependence upon its opposite.
Including the notions of singularity, permanence, and independence.
Through habit one's mental map is formed and invisibly sustained,
The map is one's experience, but it is not the territory it represents.
Ignoring the existence of the map,
Is to live in delusion and ignorance.
Without awareness, the map becomes a mental prison without an exit,
With walls that can't be seen.
Just as recognizing the lack of mindfulness is mindfulness itself,
So recognizing the presence of the map is freedom from its subtle bondage.
The map is all that appears, and is the root of all appearances.
Freedom from the map is therefore freedom from all appearances.
The formation of the map is mindless habit and lack of wisdom.
Wisdom and insight, the fruits of meditation, illuminate the map with awareness.
Under the light of awareness and focused attention, the map gradually dissolves.
Dissolution of the map is the end of delusion.
Each moment lived without a map is a moment lived in Wisdom.
Living in Wisdom means to be truly alive, to touch reality directly.
To be truly alive is to penetrate the barrier between self and other,
True life begins when all experience dissolves into one taste.
The sutras say, "Those who free themselves from all appearances are called buddhas."
Life with multiple tastes is bondage to unconscious discrimination and self-created delusion.
Life with only one taste is freedom and enlightenment.
The key is to recognize the existence of the map.
Not seeing the map perpetuates samsara without end.
Seeing the map is the cessation of samsara.
Seeing the map transcends karma.
To see the map is to see emptiness.
Emptiness is the lack of mistaken distinction.
As everything depends on everything - nothing is inherently distinct, in spite of all appearances.
What appears as separateness, is merely mental imputation by way of unconscious distinction.
Without distinction, there is no appearance of separateness - no objects, and even no entities.
As everything is dependent,
Nothing is completely independent.
If nothing is independent, there is no duality.
Dependently arisen, everything is empty of inherent separateness.
Making distinctions where no distinctions truly exist,
Is false imagination.
Mistaking the map for the territory,
Is living in a world of endless dreams.
Mistaking dream worlds for true reality,
Even though they have little or nothing to do with true reality.
Actions are forever misguided and mistaken, based on confusion and distortion.
In this way, we perpetuate the suffering of samsara.
Distinction must always include that which is distinguished and that which is distinguished from.
Conceptual objects can only appear against the non-appearance of their opposite.
In this way, opposites are both singular and mutually dependent.
Without distinction, there is only equality.
Something can only be known in relation to and in dependence upon its opposite.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Personal Discourses: Penetration III
Penetration III
Pure being (as pure emptiness) and the appearances of conventional mind (as existing on an absolutely solid foundation) are simultaneously present as one in the same, while appearing to be separate and opposite.
They are simply the extreme ends of the mind's focal point of awareness.
One from the perspective of separate identity captivated by myriad false appearances, and the other from the perspective of ultimate unity with the pure essence of inherent being.
They exist in dependence of each other, experienced in mind as the balancing point of awareness between the two extremes.
Closer to the extreme of apparent absolute existence, the sense of a separate self appears more solid with experience becoming more and more rigid and definitive.
Closer to the extreme of pure emptiness, the sense of a separate self softens with experience becoming more and more open, expansive, and ineffable.
Without pure emptiness, a world of endless myriad appearances cannot appear.
Without the suffering of samsara, there is no bliss in nirvana.
Pure being (as pure emptiness) and the appearances of conventional mind (as existing on an absolutely solid foundation) are simultaneously present as one in the same, while appearing to be separate and opposite.
They are simply the extreme ends of the mind's focal point of awareness.
One from the perspective of separate identity captivated by myriad false appearances, and the other from the perspective of ultimate unity with the pure essence of inherent being.
They exist in dependence of each other, experienced in mind as the balancing point of awareness between the two extremes.
Closer to the extreme of apparent absolute existence, the sense of a separate self appears more solid with experience becoming more and more rigid and definitive.
Closer to the extreme of pure emptiness, the sense of a separate self softens with experience becoming more and more open, expansive, and ineffable.
Without pure emptiness, a world of endless myriad appearances cannot appear.
Without the suffering of samsara, there is no bliss in nirvana.
Personal Discourses: Penetration II
Penetration II (03/21/12)
"Without A Name..."
Knowledge without wisdom is habit without substance.
Not questioning appearances results in misperception.
A confused mind sees separate identity where none exists.
Identity believing it knows something, knows less than nothing.
There is nothing to know,
And no one to know it.
There is knowing,
But knowing there is knowing, is not knowing.
All concepts are only empty representations,
Easily mistaken for what they represent.
Without light confusion multiplies,
Traveling from generation to generation.
Misapprehending the illusory nature of appearances,
New forms of self and other arise.
A new season's coat for the mind,
Passing new adornments for imagination's grand facade.
Obscured by deep conditioning,
Tossed by the turbulent waters of discursive mental churning,
The only path to freedom is negation of all conceptual distinctions, Most importantly, that of a separate "me" and "you".
Although incomprehensible,
Mind is reality itself without division.
From division, the mind sees itself moving,
Wisdom, however, reveals only the shining of the sun.
Before shining,
Clouds appear as "me" and "you."
When shining,
The sun's rays reveal the open sky.
Standing next to reality,
Separate identity is like the earth standing next to the sun,
The earth must exist in order to know the sun,
And the sun only exists because it is known by the earth.
The earth does not know that it is the sun,
Even though it is completely immersed in the sun's radiation.
And even though it is only because of this that the earth lives.
And even though within its outer mantle is the fiery heart of a sun.
Without separation there is no joy in re-union.
So do not despair when in the darkness of the moon's shadow.
This is the time to look within,
To find the sun shining on the other side of the moon within your very own heart as well.
The sun is always shining, inseparable though not always seen,
In fact, it is the sunlight shining in your eyes right now,
Which is the very seeing of your mind and the beating of your heart.
As clouds begin to settle, blue skies emerge without effort.
Resting in the open meadow,
The mind is the sky and wind, clouds passing by,
The sun is the heart and warm blood coursing through veins,
Spring flowers fill the air with the sweet fragrance of peace rising as the morning sun.
Blue eyes awake on the edge of a brand new day,
To wipe the tears of a long night's sleep.
Breath returns again, now lighter and fresh,
Rising gently to the sound of morning birds.
In the Madhyantavibhaga:
Notes:
[1]- Since the seeming is false, impermanent, deceiving and illusion-like, what appear as the abodes, objects, and bodies of sentient beings in the three realms, consisting of the eight consciousnesses are merely false imagination. In Praise of Dharmadhatu, by Nagarjuna, commentary by the Karmapa III.
[2]-Since these consciousnesses arise in dependence on false imagination, they are not real. But since they originate dependently and appear, they are not non-existent either. Hence, they are called "other-dependent."
"Without A Name..."
Knowledge without wisdom is habit without substance.
Not questioning appearances results in misperception.
A confused mind sees separate identity where none exists.
Identity believing it knows something, knows less than nothing.
There is nothing to know,
And no one to know it.
There is knowing,
But knowing there is knowing, is not knowing.
All concepts are only empty representations,
Easily mistaken for what they represent.
Without light confusion multiplies,
Traveling from generation to generation.
Misapprehending the illusory nature of appearances,
New forms of self and other arise.
A new season's coat for the mind,
Passing new adornments for imagination's grand facade.
Obscured by deep conditioning,
Tossed by the turbulent waters of discursive mental churning,
The only path to freedom is negation of all conceptual distinctions, Most importantly, that of a separate "me" and "you".
Although incomprehensible,
Mind is reality itself without division.
From division, the mind sees itself moving,
Wisdom, however, reveals only the shining of the sun.
Before shining,
Clouds appear as "me" and "you."
When shining,
The sun's rays reveal the open sky.
Standing next to reality,
Separate identity is like the earth standing next to the sun,
The earth must exist in order to know the sun,
And the sun only exists because it is known by the earth.
The earth does not know that it is the sun,
Even though it is completely immersed in the sun's radiation.
And even though it is only because of this that the earth lives.
And even though within its outer mantle is the fiery heart of a sun.
Without separation there is no joy in re-union.
So do not despair when in the darkness of the moon's shadow.
This is the time to look within,
To find the sun shining on the other side of the moon within your very own heart as well.
The sun is always shining, inseparable though not always seen,
In fact, it is the sunlight shining in your eyes right now,
Which is the very seeing of your mind and the beating of your heart.
As clouds begin to settle, blue skies emerge without effort.
Resting in the open meadow,
The mind is the sky and wind, clouds passing by,
The sun is the heart and warm blood coursing through veins,
Spring flowers fill the air with the sweet fragrance of peace rising as the morning sun.
Blue eyes awake on the edge of a brand new day,
To wipe the tears of a long night's sleep.
Breath returns again, now lighter and fresh,
Rising gently to the sound of morning birds.
In the Madhyantavibhaga:
False imagination (consists of)
The minds and mental factors of the three realms,
Here, consciousness is the seeing of a referent,
While mental factors (refer to seeing) its distinctive features.
One is the conditioning consciousness,The Bodhicitta-vivarana reads:
And the second (kind) is what consumes.
What consumes, discriminates,
And sets the (mind) in motion are the mental factors. [2]
The imaginary, the other-dependent,
And the perfect, their nature being
The character of emptiness alone,
Are labels for the mind.
For those whose character is delight in the Mahayana,The Madhyantavibhaga goes on to say:
The Buddha's teaching is in brief:
Phenomena are identityless and equality,
And mind is primordially unborn.
Consciousness arises as the appearance of referents,The Acintyastava says:
Sentient beings, a self, and cognizance,
But it does not have an external referent.
Since that does not exist, it does not exist either.
The imaginary, the other-dependent,
And also the perfect,
Are explained through referent, false imagination,
And the non-existence of duality.
What is dependent origination
Is precisely what you maintain as emptiness.
Also the genuine dharma is like that,
And even the Tathagata is the same.
It is also held to be true reality, the ultimate,
Suchness, and the basic substance.
This is the undeceiving reality.
Through realizing it, one is called a Buddha.[3]
Notes:
[1]- Since the seeming is false, impermanent, deceiving and illusion-like, what appear as the abodes, objects, and bodies of sentient beings in the three realms, consisting of the eight consciousnesses are merely false imagination. In Praise of Dharmadhatu, by Nagarjuna, commentary by the Karmapa III.
[2]-Since these consciousnesses arise in dependence on false imagination, they are not real. But since they originate dependently and appear, they are not non-existent either. Hence, they are called "other-dependent."
The meanings as they are designated in dependence on these other-dependent appearances, their discriminations, their latent tendencies, and their appearing as if they were (actual) referents (all) come about like a mirage and (thus) are called "the imaginary nature," because what is non-existent is imagined as existent.
The root of such mistaken-ness is just that the stainless dharmadhatu itself is not aware of itself, while there is not the slightest thing that is really established.[3]-Therefore, due to the stained dharmadhatu as the cause of samsara having become pure, there is not contradiction in referring to it with the term "nirvana."
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Personal Discourses: On Cutting Through Delusion...
Cutting Through the Veil of Delusion (3/20/12)....
All differentiation is imagination. [1]
All imagination is mind only.
Differentiation appears as self-existence where no self-existence exists.
Differentiation appears as self-arising where no self-arising arises.
All appearance is mental fabrication.
All fabrication is unconscious habit. [2]
Mental fabrication creates the reflection of the moon on water.
Seeing only the reflection, mind believes a moon to exist where no moon exists.
Just the same, fixating on appearances as if they are truly
self-existent, independent and separate objects as they appear, [3]
The mind cannot see its own mirror-like nature. [4]
Beyond all appearances being reflected within it, the mirror-like
quality of mind exists beyond existence and non-existence. [5]
The moon's reflection as a mental fabrication of mind exists only as
mental fabrication. [6]
Mistaking mental fabrication for what truly exists is the root of all
delusion and suffering.
Before, during and after differentiation there is only the reflective,
mirror-like quality of mind.
In between there is only the appearance of a separate mind, like the
moon's reflection on water, where no such mind truly exists. [7]
Mistaking our "selves" as the image within the mirror, rather than
the mirror itself is the fundamental misperception.
A hurried mind obscures what the slow mind reveals. [8]
Emptiness is emptiness of that which obscures the true nature of
mind.
Conventional thinking is not other than mind's mirror-like essence.
And mind's mirror-like essence is not other than conventional
thinking. [9]
Relaxing differentiation is abiding in one-pointed wakefulness,
Ineffable clear light radiating beyond comprehension. [10]
Preceding differentiation is abiding in meditative equipose,
Buddha practicing without seeking to become a buddha. [11]
------
Footnotes
------
[1] - "Anything perceived should be understood to be neither more nor less than a self-manifestation of the mentality internal to a specific observer." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance.
[2] - "Given 'what appear to be outer' and 'perceivable in common', such as mountains and so on, as the postulated subject, these are not outer referents discrete from the inner consciousness and existing with a material essence, because they are the inner 'perceiving awareness' itself appearing as the image of this and that outer referent for those whose operative habitual tendencies correspond, just like forms in a dream." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance. Automatic, unconscious mental fabrication is also known as conventional or conditioned mind.
[3] - As if the moon's reflection were the moon itself.
[4] - The still and empty surface of the water upon which the moon's image is reflected. "..these phenomena which do not exist and yet appear, prevent what does exist from the outset -- namely, the abiding nature, the freedom from the two forms of self - from appearing to ordinary beings." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance.
[5] - Its essence merely obscured by the various mental fabrications appearing within it; beyond reach of intellectual understanding through language, ideas and concepts.
[6] - Being mind only its essence is insubstantial, even though it appears to be substantial to conventional (or conditioned) mind.
[7] - There is no separately existing "self" that exists as it appears to our conventional mind. That which is reflected within the mirror-like essence of mind is appearance only which is fleeting, and insubstantial. Like a mirage it is ungraspable, and holds nothing that can satisfy our desires that continually chase after it, ultimately hoping to hold on to it - not understanding its true nature of emptiness and ungraspability.
[8] - "The two, known as phenomena and pure being, are not the same in essence nor do they differ in essence. They are not the same conventionally because a distinction exists between phenomena and pure being. Pure being, naturally pure nirvana, is 'that which exists' from the beginning as the abiding nature. The phenomenal world, with its dualistic appearances that make it samsara, is 'that which does not' exist in reality as it appears.
And yet it should be understood that they are not separate for the following reasons:
[10] - "The awareness not involving an object/observer relation in being free of all aspects of perceived / perceiver duality is by nature ineffable clear light itself." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance.
[11] - "It is not differentiable from 'suchness,' the actually present aspect empty of the two forms of self-entity. It cannot be conceived or formulated in terms of "outer," "inner," or any other phenomena associated with perceived and perceiver, and is therefore asserted to be free of conceptual elaborations." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance.
Note Re: Manifestation of Delusion
"One might consider it untenable for non-dual pure being to actually be present (i.e. to exist) from the outset yet not appear, while dualistic appearances (which are delusion) manifest. But this is not untenable because, throughout the course of time 'without beginning,' the habitual tendency toward appearance involving perceived / perceiver dualism coexists with the clear light nature of mind in a manner which obscures that very nature, such that a volatile state, that is, an excitable condition or state of ferement, prevails, thus providing the cause through which delusion originates hand in hand with samsara.
On the other hand, one might suppose that as a consequence of their coexisting in a beginningless fashion, dualistic appearance would be impossible to relinquish, but this is not the case either, because 'the duality of perceived and perceiver's not existing at all is what really exists. When one meditates with such an understanding, this will be seen directly." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance.
All differentiation is imagination. [1]
All imagination is mind only.
Differentiation appears as self-existence where no self-existence exists.
Differentiation appears as self-arising where no self-arising arises.
All appearance is mental fabrication.
All fabrication is unconscious habit. [2]
Mental fabrication creates the reflection of the moon on water.
Seeing only the reflection, mind believes a moon to exist where no moon exists.
Just the same, fixating on appearances as if they are truly
self-existent, independent and separate objects as they appear, [3]
The mind cannot see its own mirror-like nature. [4]
Beyond all appearances being reflected within it, the mirror-like
quality of mind exists beyond existence and non-existence. [5]
The moon's reflection as a mental fabrication of mind exists only as
mental fabrication. [6]
Mistaking mental fabrication for what truly exists is the root of all
delusion and suffering.
Before, during and after differentiation there is only the reflective,
mirror-like quality of mind.
In between there is only the appearance of a separate mind, like the
moon's reflection on water, where no such mind truly exists. [7]
Mistaking our "selves" as the image within the mirror, rather than
the mirror itself is the fundamental misperception.
A hurried mind obscures what the slow mind reveals. [8]
Emptiness is emptiness of that which obscures the true nature of
mind.
Conventional thinking is not other than mind's mirror-like essence.
And mind's mirror-like essence is not other than conventional
thinking. [9]
Relaxing differentiation is abiding in one-pointed wakefulness,
Ineffable clear light radiating beyond comprehension. [10]
Preceding differentiation is abiding in meditative equipose,
Buddha practicing without seeking to become a buddha. [11]
------
Footnotes
------
[1] - "Anything perceived should be understood to be neither more nor less than a self-manifestation of the mentality internal to a specific observer." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance.
[2] - "Given 'what appear to be outer' and 'perceivable in common', such as mountains and so on, as the postulated subject, these are not outer referents discrete from the inner consciousness and existing with a material essence, because they are the inner 'perceiving awareness' itself appearing as the image of this and that outer referent for those whose operative habitual tendencies correspond, just like forms in a dream." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance. Automatic, unconscious mental fabrication is also known as conventional or conditioned mind.
[3] - As if the moon's reflection were the moon itself.
[4] - The still and empty surface of the water upon which the moon's image is reflected. "..these phenomena which do not exist and yet appear, prevent what does exist from the outset -- namely, the abiding nature, the freedom from the two forms of self - from appearing to ordinary beings." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance.
[5] - Its essence merely obscured by the various mental fabrications appearing within it; beyond reach of intellectual understanding through language, ideas and concepts.
[6] - Being mind only its essence is insubstantial, even though it appears to be substantial to conventional (or conditioned) mind.
[7] - There is no separately existing "self" that exists as it appears to our conventional mind. That which is reflected within the mirror-like essence of mind is appearance only which is fleeting, and insubstantial. Like a mirage it is ungraspable, and holds nothing that can satisfy our desires that continually chase after it, ultimately hoping to hold on to it - not understanding its true nature of emptiness and ungraspability.
[8] - "The two, known as phenomena and pure being, are not the same in essence nor do they differ in essence. They are not the same conventionally because a distinction exists between phenomena and pure being. Pure being, naturally pure nirvana, is 'that which exists' from the beginning as the abiding nature. The phenomenal world, with its dualistic appearances that make it samsara, is 'that which does not' exist in reality as it appears.
And yet it should be understood that they are not separate for the following reasons:
a. If the one did not exist, its counterpart would not either.
b. Strictly speaking, pure being, other than being distinguishable from the phenomenal world as its mere lack of verifiable existence, does not exist separately.
c. The distinction between the existent (pure being) and the non-existent (the phenomenal world) is relative, being a differentiation merely with respect to what is to be adopted and what is to be rejected; other than that, there is not even the slightest existence of an actual essence constituting these as separate entities." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance.[9] - See note "re: manifestation of delusion" below.
[10] - "The awareness not involving an object/observer relation in being free of all aspects of perceived / perceiver duality is by nature ineffable clear light itself." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance.
[11] - "It is not differentiable from 'suchness,' the actually present aspect empty of the two forms of self-entity. It cannot be conceived or formulated in terms of "outer," "inner," or any other phenomena associated with perceived and perceiver, and is therefore asserted to be free of conceptual elaborations." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance.
Note Re: Manifestation of Delusion
"One might consider it untenable for non-dual pure being to actually be present (i.e. to exist) from the outset yet not appear, while dualistic appearances (which are delusion) manifest. But this is not untenable because, throughout the course of time 'without beginning,' the habitual tendency toward appearance involving perceived / perceiver dualism coexists with the clear light nature of mind in a manner which obscures that very nature, such that a volatile state, that is, an excitable condition or state of ferement, prevails, thus providing the cause through which delusion originates hand in hand with samsara.
On the other hand, one might suppose that as a consequence of their coexisting in a beginningless fashion, dualistic appearance would be impossible to relinquish, but this is not the case either, because 'the duality of perceived and perceiver's not existing at all is what really exists. When one meditates with such an understanding, this will be seen directly." Mipham, Distinguishing Wisdom and Appearance.
Short Personal Pith Instructions....
---1---
All differentiation is imagination.
All imagination is mind.---1A---
Differentiation appears as self-existence,
Where no self-existence exists.---1B---
Differentiation appears to be self-arisen,
Where no self-arising arises.---1C---
All appearance is unconscious mental fabrication.---1D---
Reality and imagination are not separate things.
Reality "as it appears" is imagination appearing as form.
Reality "as it is" is accessible, but unexplainable.---2---
Where there is other, there is duality.
Recognizing other is freedom from duality.---3---
Not perceiving the underlying process of pure mental fabrication leads to mistaken notions.
Believing mistaken notions to be true is living in delusion.
Living in delusion is the primary cause of suffering.
Freedom from delusion is possible.---4---
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Anatta: The Doctrine of No-Self, Part 2 - Manas and the Creation of Self
So, here goes... Our first explanation is offered by Thich Nhat Hanh and the Yogacara school of Buddhism dating back to the fourth century. Yogacara developed out of Indian Mahayana Buddhism.
Among other things, Yogacara discourse explains how our human experience is completely constructed by mind.
The Storehouse Consciousness
According to the traditional explanation, the theory of the consciousnesses attempted to explain all the phenomena of cyclic existence, including how rebirth occurs and precisely how karma functions on an individual basis. It addressed questions that had long vexed Buddhist philosophers, such as,
- 'If one carries out a good or evil act, why and how is it that the effects of that act do not appear immediately?'
The answer given by later Yogācārins was the store consciousness (Sanskrit: ālayavijñāna), also known as the basal, or eighth consciousness. It simultaneously acts as a storage place for karmic latencies and as a fertile matrix of predispositions that bring karma to a state of fruition.
- 'Inasfar as they do not appear immediately, where is this karma waiting for its opportunity to play out?'
The likeness of this process to the cultivation of plants led to the creation of the metaphor of seeds (Sanskrit: bīja) to explain the way karma is stored in the eighth consciousness.
In the Yogācāra formulation, all experience without exception is said to result from the ripening of karma. The seemingly external world is merely a "by-product" (adhipati-phala) of karma.
The term vāsanā ("perfuming") is also used, and Yogācārins debated whether vāsāna and bija were essentially the same, the seeds were the effect of the perfuming, or whether the perfuming simply affected the seeds. The type, quantity, quality and strength of the seeds determine where and how a sentient being will be reborn: one's race, sex, social status, proclivities, bodily appearance and so forth. The conditioning of the mind resulting from karma is called saṃskāra.
The Treatise on Action (Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa), also by Vasubandhu, treats the subject of karma in detail from the Yogācāra perspective. [1]Following the Yogacara philosophy, Thich Nhat Hanh, in his book, Understanding Our Mind, offers a concise and relatively easy to understand explanation on the mind's process of creating an image, or appearance, of a truly existing self.
According to Yogacara, there are Eight Consciousnesses that work together in order to create the human experience. Store consciousness is the eighth consciousness and is considered the base or ground from which all other consciousnesses (including the appearances within those consciousnesses) manifest. The seventh consciousness lying between the Store Consciousness and the Mind Consciousness is called Manas.
In terms of perception, Manas belongs to the realm of representations (as opposed to the realm of "things in themselves"). The nature of Manas is therefore a world of obscuration. Because it cannot perceive things directly, whatever is perceived by Manas is always obscured.
It arises from the ground of Store Consciousness, touches a part of it, produces an image of it, and takes this image as an object of its perception. It then regards this perceived object as a self and falls in love with it. Then it has to protect this part of store consciousness that it has objectified and attached to.
When Manas and Store Consciousness are in contact, their two energies bring about an object at the point where Manas and Store Consciousness meet and overlap.
We know that our store consciousness manifests as the world, both the instrumental world (the environment) and the sentient world (ourselves and other living beings). Our body is a manifestation of our store consciousness. Mind / body or "name and form" (namarupa), manifest through the store consciousness.
When manas is involved, however, the seeds of delusion in our store consciousness are able to manifest as mental formations, and suffering is the result.
One of the names given to store consciousness is "store for the attachment to a self." This has to do with manas.
Manas is the energy of ignorance, thirst, and craving.Here's the critical part:
It arises out of the store consciousness and then turns back to grasp a part of store consciousness (which it confusingly believes to be its self as an independently existing separate object).
The part of store consciousness that manas tries to grasp is that of the subject that perceives (darshana-bhaga). At this point, manas and store consciousness overlap and, as a result of this overlapping, an object of the grasping of manas is produced.
Manas grasps on to the image that it has created and clings to it as its object. That portion of store consciousness that is grasped by manas loses its freedom. Our mind is enslaved when it is picked up and embraced as a "self" by manas.
Manas holds on to the object of its attraction very tightly, as if to say, "You are mine."
It is kind of a love affair. In fact, manas is described as "love of self." Manas is "the lover," store consciousness is the beloved, the nature of their love is attachment -- and suffering is the result.
Based on Manas, the sixth consciousness, mind consciousness, is brought about. The mind consciousness can function independently or in conjunction with the first five sense consciousnesses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body.
Manas also serves as our "survival instinct." If while sleeping we hear a sudden noise and wake up, that is the function of manas. If someone throws something at us, the reflex of avoiding it comes from manas. This function of manas is an instinctual defense mechanism that does not operate on wisdom. But by always trying to defend the self, it can end up destroying the self.
The activity of Manas is thinking, cognizing, measuring, reasoning, grasping and clinging.
Day and night, manas discriminates things. "I am this person. You are that person. This is mine. That is yours. This is me. That is you." Pride, anger, fear, and jealousy -- mental formations that are based in seeing ourselves as separate -- all arise from Manas.
Because Manas is filled with delusion -- craving, fear, and clinging - it does not have the capacity to touch the realm of things-in-themselves. It can never touch the realm of suchness of store consciousness. Its object is an image of a self that exists only in the realm of representation.
The attachment of Manas to a self is based on an image that it has created, just as we fall in love with our image of someone and not with the person herself.This image of the self created by the activity of Manas is the self that we are all most familiar with. According to this line of thinking, the self that we know does not have any true, separate existence anywhere within the realm of mind which includes the entire cosmos. This self is merely an image of an image.
Even so, because of ignorance we continually cling to this image as if it is truly existent. We cling to it in some ways as if our very lives depended on it, and yet it is only by learning the truth that we can begin to free ourselves from this limited view of who we have come to believe that we are, and yet are not.
References:
[1] Wikipedia.
[2] Thich Nhat Hanh, Understanding Our Mind, Parallax Press
Anatta: The Doctrine of No-Self, Part 1
Introduction to the Buddhist Doctrine of No-Self
Annatta, the Doctrine of No-Self, is central to all Buddhist teachings. It is based on the fundamental notion that things do not exist the way that they appear. Having developed a strong habit of firmly believing in the existence of an independent, separately existing self the idea of not having a self may at first seem preposterous. It is easy to see how one can become so convinced in such existence. In fact, it is one of the most common occurrences throughout today's modern world.
However, upon further inquiry into the subject it may happen that one begins to develop an understanding that the strong belief in the existence of a separately existing self has been supported only by one's lack of attention to the subject. In other words, the appearance of a separately existing self can be so convincing that it is possible for one to take its existence for granted, completely overlooking the possibility that the self may not truly exist at all in the way that it appears.
From my own experience, I have discovered that there is a direct relationship between the busyness of the mind and the appearance of a separately existing self. It seems that the busier the mind, the more the self appears to be solid. The slower the mind, the more the appearance of the self begins to soften. In my opinion, without a steady practice of meditation the Doctrine of No-Self remains purely an intellectual exercise which from the perspective of a busy mind is perceived as a complete waste of time. However, with a steady meditation practice I have on more than one occasion been astonished at what I have observed with regard to the existence and non-existence of the self.
Through my own meditation practice I have seen that much of what I used to "take for granted" as truly existing has actually been merely the activity of my own mind projecting such things as "inherent existence" onto others, "inherent self-existence" onto a notion of "me", and a wide array of self-referential meaning, descriptions and labels onto everything else in between. This has been happening all along without even the slightest amount of direct, conscious awareness. Essentially, I have been making it all up all along, while fully believing in the validity of everything that I have believed about what is appearing.
What is even worse is that it hasn't even been "me" that has been making it all up, but rather the confused, habitual mis-observations of many of those who have come before me. On a very deep level, I have inherited most, if not all, of the fundamental beliefs about life, myself and how things operate.
Like the Buddha, I have discovered that these unconsciously inherited misconceptions about human life and the functioning of human life have directly been the cause of all of my suffering. It seems that no matter what I do, and no matter how well intentioned I am, as long as I continue to function through these misconceptions I am unable to be of true service to myself and everyone around me. In this sense, the stakes of developing an active and deep understanding of this topic are extremely high.
The difference between how things appear and how things truly are is one of the Buddha's greatest observations and contributions. He simply noticed and begin to question by pausing and looking more deeply into the true nature of how things exist, without the veils of past conditioning.
What follows is a collection of various ways to understand the notion of "No-Self" from a number of resources, including prominent Buddhist meditators and thinkers. The overwhelming question is: "How it can possibly be that even though there is a strongly convincing appearance of an independent, separately existing self this appearance does not truly exist at all in the way that it appears?"
The explanations and answers given to this question are astonishing and in my opinion, highly valuable. However, without a steady practice of meditation, mindfulness, and the ability to cultivate direct insight by looking deeply into one's self and the world around them, the words on this page will always remain empty of any true benefit. It is only by slowing the mind through practice, that a direct experience of "no-self" gradually becomes possible, and it is only through insight obtained through direct experience that one's mind may become illuminated to this most fascinating and important phenomena of the mind.
Why is it important to understand the Doctrine of No-Self, anyway?
An accurate understanding of how the self truly exists is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, if we do not understand what we are dealing with how are we going to manage our affairs in a way that is in accordance with the way that things truly are? If we do not understand our own true nature, how can we be of any benefit to anyone?
As long as we misunderstand our own true nature our actions will always result in one form of destruction or another. Is it not even reasonable to assume that any other outcome could be reached. As long as we operate from a viewpoint of misunderstanding even the very best of our intentions will not have the solid ground to stand on in order to come to their best fruition.
Secondly, by viewing the self as a separately existing entity we form the basis of a worldview based on the duality between a perceived self and a perceived other. The belief in world of duality is the cause for most, if not all, of the suffering within it. If our dualistic perception is not an accurate view of the true nature of the world, then why would we want to continue to hang on to it and continue the cycle of suffering. If the true nature of our world is non-dualistic, then realizing this and acting accordingly brings much hope and optimism for our future.
Annatta, the Doctrine of No-Self, is central to all Buddhist teachings. It is based on the fundamental notion that things do not exist the way that they appear. Having developed a strong habit of firmly believing in the existence of an independent, separately existing self the idea of not having a self may at first seem preposterous. It is easy to see how one can become so convinced in such existence. In fact, it is one of the most common occurrences throughout today's modern world.
However, upon further inquiry into the subject it may happen that one begins to develop an understanding that the strong belief in the existence of a separately existing self has been supported only by one's lack of attention to the subject. In other words, the appearance of a separately existing self can be so convincing that it is possible for one to take its existence for granted, completely overlooking the possibility that the self may not truly exist at all in the way that it appears.
From my own experience, I have discovered that there is a direct relationship between the busyness of the mind and the appearance of a separately existing self. It seems that the busier the mind, the more the self appears to be solid. The slower the mind, the more the appearance of the self begins to soften. In my opinion, without a steady practice of meditation the Doctrine of No-Self remains purely an intellectual exercise which from the perspective of a busy mind is perceived as a complete waste of time. However, with a steady meditation practice I have on more than one occasion been astonished at what I have observed with regard to the existence and non-existence of the self.
Through my own meditation practice I have seen that much of what I used to "take for granted" as truly existing has actually been merely the activity of my own mind projecting such things as "inherent existence" onto others, "inherent self-existence" onto a notion of "me", and a wide array of self-referential meaning, descriptions and labels onto everything else in between. This has been happening all along without even the slightest amount of direct, conscious awareness. Essentially, I have been making it all up all along, while fully believing in the validity of everything that I have believed about what is appearing.
What is even worse is that it hasn't even been "me" that has been making it all up, but rather the confused, habitual mis-observations of many of those who have come before me. On a very deep level, I have inherited most, if not all, of the fundamental beliefs about life, myself and how things operate.
Like the Buddha, I have discovered that these unconsciously inherited misconceptions about human life and the functioning of human life have directly been the cause of all of my suffering. It seems that no matter what I do, and no matter how well intentioned I am, as long as I continue to function through these misconceptions I am unable to be of true service to myself and everyone around me. In this sense, the stakes of developing an active and deep understanding of this topic are extremely high.
The difference between how things appear and how things truly are is one of the Buddha's greatest observations and contributions. He simply noticed and begin to question by pausing and looking more deeply into the true nature of how things exist, without the veils of past conditioning.
What follows is a collection of various ways to understand the notion of "No-Self" from a number of resources, including prominent Buddhist meditators and thinkers. The overwhelming question is: "How it can possibly be that even though there is a strongly convincing appearance of an independent, separately existing self this appearance does not truly exist at all in the way that it appears?"
The explanations and answers given to this question are astonishing and in my opinion, highly valuable. However, without a steady practice of meditation, mindfulness, and the ability to cultivate direct insight by looking deeply into one's self and the world around them, the words on this page will always remain empty of any true benefit. It is only by slowing the mind through practice, that a direct experience of "no-self" gradually becomes possible, and it is only through insight obtained through direct experience that one's mind may become illuminated to this most fascinating and important phenomena of the mind.
Why is it important to understand the Doctrine of No-Self, anyway?
An accurate understanding of how the self truly exists is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, if we do not understand what we are dealing with how are we going to manage our affairs in a way that is in accordance with the way that things truly are? If we do not understand our own true nature, how can we be of any benefit to anyone?
As long as we misunderstand our own true nature our actions will always result in one form of destruction or another. Is it not even reasonable to assume that any other outcome could be reached. As long as we operate from a viewpoint of misunderstanding even the very best of our intentions will not have the solid ground to stand on in order to come to their best fruition.
Secondly, by viewing the self as a separately existing entity we form the basis of a worldview based on the duality between a perceived self and a perceived other. The belief in world of duality is the cause for most, if not all, of the suffering within it. If our dualistic perception is not an accurate view of the true nature of the world, then why would we want to continue to hang on to it and continue the cycle of suffering. If the true nature of our world is non-dualistic, then realizing this and acting accordingly brings much hope and optimism for our future.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Misc Wisdom Quotations
On the Luminous Nature of Mind
Maitreya, from the Uttaratantra:
The luminous nature of mindDignaga (480-540):
Is changeless, just like space.
It is not defiled by adventitious stains,
Such as desire, born from false imagination.
The consciousness of ordinary beingsSantaraksita's Madhyamakaloka states:
Is pure by nature
And expressed by the term "Buddha"
Just as a bodhisattva is called a victor.
Its own innate nature is enshrouded -
Being under the sway of ignorance,
It appears otherwise, just like an illusion,
While the fruition is like quitting a dream.
This statement, "All sentient beings possess the Tathagata Heart" teaches that all are suitable to attain the state of unsurpassable completely perfect buddhahood, since it is held that the term Tathagata expresses the dharmadhatu, characterized by personal and phenomenal identityless-ness, as being natural luminosity.From commentary of Candrakirti, on Jayananda's Madhyamakavataratika:
As for "having the characteristic of adventitious defilements," since suchness is naturally luminous, they are to be known as being adventitious, just as clouds in space...
As for "having the characteristic natural luminosity," it is not tainted by these defilements, just as space is not tainted by clouds.
On the Nature of Phenomena
Maitreya, from Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
On the Basis of Phenomena:
Here the traits of phenomena are defined
As duality plus assumption and formulation,
Whose appearance is the mistaken conceptual process,
Since what appears is not, and is thus not real.
No referents have ever existed either
And being but concept, consist of conceptualization.
The realm of manifestation consists of appearances involving a duality of perceived and perceiver plus the assumption that anything appearing in such a way actually exists in that way; this is accompanied by formulation, which applies to terminology.
The dualistic appearance of perceived and perceiver is merely one's own mistaken conceptual process, since what appears to the mind, namely the object, is not existent - even while it appears.
Anything whose appearance involves duality, even though existing in an apparent sense, could not be real in actual fact.
Being but an imputation on the part of one's own concepts, the complex manifold referred to as phenomena consists solely of this conceptual process.
In summary, all phenomena, which are composed of dualistic appearance to which dualistic assumption is added, are nothing other than complete imputations having no existence with an actual constituent of their own, while nevertheless appearing.On Phenomena Appearing as Things in Common:
Those who cling compulsively to the existence of outer objects claim, "Outer objects exist, because no one can deny that anything composed of atoms, such as mountains and any other objects observed in common, exists." But that is not how it is
Given 'what appear to be outer' and 'perceivable in common', such as mountains and so on, as the postulated subject, these are not outer referents discrete from the inner consciousness and existing with a material essence, because they are the inner 'perceiving awareness' itself appearing as the image of this and that outer referent for those whose operative habitual tendencies correspond, just like forms in a dream.
Me
A Swift and Thorough Cut...
All differentiation is imagination.
All imagination is mind only.
Differentiation appears as self-existence, where no self-existence exists.
Differentiation appears as self-arisen, where no self-arising arises.
Anan Thubten, The Magic of Awareness
Everything turns out to be perfect in its imperfection when we allow things to be as they are.Tilopa
Inquire into the mind using the mind itself. All concepts will cease and you will see what the nature of mind is.
Kambala - From Nine Stanzas on Prajnaparamita - late 5th / early 6th century;
Those who see true reality,
Practice conventionalities just as they are,
But do not perceive them as real things.
The wise regard this entire universe
Like a picture beautified
By the colors of perception
But do not regard it as having a nature of its own.
Therefore, the nature of phenomena that have mind as their nature
Is the very lack of nature.
Whoever understands phenomena otherwise
Does not reach the ultimate.
There is no difference between these two --
Just as with conception, it is the nature of emptiness to be unreal.
But it is only through the very essence of the other-dependent nature
That emptiness is correctly seen.
Saying, "In the end, everything vanishes"
Is a rhetorical device for childish beings.
Something else shines forth
That cannot be expressed or analyzed.
There, dwelling in a place with nothing to hold on to,
That brightly shining space
Illuminates the emptiness
Of itself and of emptiness.
Just as there is variety in clothes,
Entities may be different.
But once they are consumed by the fire of emptiness,
Their ashes are not different at all.
Having realized the perfect nature,
Everything has the character of a single taste,
Partless, without beginning or end,
Formless, and ungraspable.
When seeing the very essence of mere cognition
As the abiding in the middle between the two extremes,
The consummation of the true reality
Of the entire world is displayed.
Once the light of wisdom arises
True reality is seen
Just as if lying in your hand.
Essential Wisdom Dictionary
A
---
Abhidhamma - the "seed of awakening"
Afflicted Mind (or Obscuration Consciousness)
Wikipedia:
The Seventh of the "Eight Consciousnesses" (see below) which through apprehension, gathers the hindrances, the poisons, and the karmic formations. Also referred to as manas-ideation, moving-mind, monkey-mind. (Skt: klista-manas, or klesha)
Kagyu Tradition:
The Afflicted Mind - being always associated with the set of four afflictions (ignorance, the views about a real personality, self-conceit, and attachment to the self) - is what mistakes the empty aspect of the alaya consciousness as being a self and its lucid aspect as what is "other." This is the starting point of fundamental subject-object duality, which then ramifies into the appearances of the remaining six consciousnesses and their objects, all of them being consciousnesses filtered and afflicted through this basic self-concern. [3]Alaya (Seed or Store-House) Consciousness
(Skt: ālāya(store), bija(seed), or mula(base)-vijñāna)
Wikipedia:
The Eighth of the "Eight Consciousnesses" (see below) which is the "store-house" or "base" for the other seven.
The store-house consciousness accumulates all potential energy for the mental (nama) and physical (rupa) manifestation of one's existence (nama-rupa). It is the storehouse-consciousness which induces transmigration or rebirth, causing the origination of a new existence.
The store-house consciousness receives impressions from all functions of the other consciousnesses, and retains them as potential energy, bija or "seeds", for their further manifestations and activities. Since it serves as the container for all experiential impressions it is also called the "seed consciousness".
Kagyu tradition:
The alaya consciousness is the sum of the virtuous, non-virtuous, and neutral tendencies that make up the continuum of a sentient being. Thus, it is not like a container that is different from its contents, but more like the constant flow of the water that is called a river. In other words, there is no other underlying, permanent substratum or entity apart from the momentary mental impulses that constitute the ever-changing flow.
Right after each moment of this dualistic interaction of subjects and objects, the imprints created by them merge back into - or are "stored" - in the alaya, just like waves on the surface of a river. In this way, the alaya-consciousness is both a cause for samsaric appearances and a result, that is, their imprints. This does not mean that the alaya actively creates anything, it is just the sum of the dynamic process of various causes and conditions interacting, otherwise known as dependent origination. [3]Anatta Doctrine - (Pali; anatta, Skt: anatman) stipulates that a separate, inherently-existing self does not exist the way that it appears.
Wikipedia:
The anattā doctrine is not a type of materialism. Buddhism does not necessarily deny the existence of mental phenomena (such as feelings, thoughts, and sensations) that are distinct from material phenomena. Thus, the conventional translation of anattā as "no-soul" can be misleading. If the word "soul" refers to a non-bodily component in a person that can continue in some way after death, then Buddhism does not deny the existence of a soul. In fact, persons (Pāli: puggala; Sanskrit, pudgala) are said to be characterized by an ever-evolving consciousness (Pali: samvattanika viññana), stream of consciousness (Pali: viññana sotam;Sanskrit: vijñana srotām), or mind-continuity (Sanskrit: citta-saṃtāna) which, upon the death or dissolution of the aggregates, becomes one of the contributing causes for the arising of a new group of skandhas. [1]
However, Buddhism denies the existence of a permanent or static entity that remains constant behind the changing bodily and non-bodily components of a living being. Reportedly, the Buddha reprimanded a disciple who thought that in the process of rebirth the same consciousness is reborn without change. Just as the body changes from moment to moment, so thoughts come and go; and according to the anattā doctrine, there is no permanent conscious substance that experiences these thoughts, as in Cartesianism: rather, conscious thoughts simply arise and perish with no "thinker" behind them. When the body dies, the incorporeal mental processes continue and are reborn in a new body. Because the mental processes are constantly changing, the new being is neither exactly the same as, nor completely different from, the being that died. [1]
On one interpretation, although Buddhism rejects the notion of a permanent self, it does not reject the notion of an empirical self (composed of constantly changing physical and mental phenomena) that can be conveniently referred to with words such as "I", "you", "being", "individual", etc. Early Buddhist scriptures describe an enlightened individual as someone whose changing, empirical self is highly developed. According to Buddhist teachings, this phenomenon should not, either in whole or in part, be reified, either in affirmation or denial. The Buddha rejected the latter metaphysical assertions as ontological theorizing that binds one to suffering. [1]
On another interpretation, Buddhism rejects any idea of the self. On this view it is incorrect even to speak about an "empirical self". This is because constantly changing physical and mental phenomena all have impermanence, and anything with such impermanence does not amount to the idea of a self. One is permitted to use terms such as "I", "you", and so on, not because they refer to an empirical self, but simply because they are "convenient designations". They are used in much the same way that the word "it" is used in the sentence "It is cold". Here there is nothing that the word "it" refers to. It is merely a grammatical device which allows one to assert "there is cold", while using a substantive term. [1]
Some Mahayana Buddhist sutras and tantras present Buddhist teachings on emptiness using positive language by positing the ultimate reality of the "true self" (atman). In these teachings the word is used to refer to each being's inborn potential to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices, and future status as a Buddha.This teaching, which is soteriological rather than theoretical, portrays this potential or aspect as undying. [1]
According to Gyamtso, each individual sentient being's existence is imputed in dependence upon their own unique collection of aggregates (Skt: skandhas), but this is a dependently arisen mere appearance. The problem arises when an individual believes that their aggregates somehow constitute a truly existent self. Therefore, the Buddha taught the methods of how to examine the aggregates and see that there is no truly existent self to be found in the aggregates' multitude of constantly changing, dependently arisen parts. [2]---
B
---
Buddha-nature, Buddha-dathu - (Skt: Tathāgata-garbha; Jap: Bussho, Tibetan: Sugatata-garbha) [tatathagata: "the one thus gone", garbha: root/embryo/essence, agata: come/arrived, gata: gone]
According to Gyamtso, buddha nature is the true nature of mind - wisdom that is inherently pure and naturally endowed with the qualities of enlightenment. Thus, to attain enlightenment is not to construct something anew or to acquire something that one does not already possess; rather it is to realize one's own basic nature and potential. [2]---
C
---
Chandrakirti (sixth to seventh century) - Indian master and exponent of the Middle Way Consequence school, most famously in his commentary called "Entering the Middle Way," which explains the meaning of "The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way." [2]
Conceptual Fabrications - All the labels that thoughts fabricate and cling to as accurate descriptions of the things that thoughts believe to exist. They are countless in number, but examples are: "good," "bad," "person," "object," "pleasure," "pain," "you," "me," "hot," and "cold." When phenomena and mind are described as being beyond fabrication in their true nature, that means that their true nature transcends all thoughts we might have about what it might be; it is inexpressible and inconceivable. [2]
Consequence School (Skt: Prasangika Madhyamaka) - One of two branches of the "Empty-of-Self Middle Way" school. Its followers refute true existence but do not assert that the true nature of reality is emptiness or anything else, because they realize that since genuine reality transcends all conceptual fabrications, to make an assertion about it would obscure the realization of its inconceivable essence. [2]
---
D
---
Dependently Arisen Mere Appearances
The essential quality of all possible appearances. Whatever it is that appears, it can only do so in dependence upon its causes and conditions, and so it is a mere appearance, empty of any (completely separate) nature of its own. The classic example is the moon that appears on the surface of a pool of water. [2]
Dharmadhatu
In its most general way, dharmadhatu refers to the ultimate nature of all phenomena - being equivalent to emptiness - which is usually translated as "expanse," "space," or "vastness."
More specifically (in Madhyamaka and other texts on buddha-nature), dharmadhatu may also refer to the nature of the mind of sentient beings in the sense of having buddha-nature as the most basic element of their entire being.Dharmakaya -
Dharmadathu Wisdom
Sugatatagarbha - Buddha nature.
Svabhavikakaya -
---
E
---
The Eight Consciousnesses - the alaya (base) consciousness, the afflicted consciousness, the mental consciousness, and the five sense consciousnesses.
The afflicted consciousness is the aspect of mind that is unaware of its true nature, and that believes that the self and phenomena truly exist as they appear. [2]
Due to various conditions - mainly the stirring of the afflicted mind (comparable to wind or a strong current) - the various appearances of the five sense consciousnesses and the (mainly conceptual) mental consciousness together with their seemingly external and conceptual objects emerge from the alaya-consciousness in every moment. [3]
Emptiness (according to the Yogacara school) - The doctrine of emptiness (Sanskrit: śūnyatā) is central to Yogācāra, as to any Mahāyāna school.
Early Yogācāra texts, such as the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra and the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, often act as explanations of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras. Keenan (2003) holds that emptiness, dependent arising (pratītyasamutpāda) and the doctrine of two truths are central in Yogācāra thought and meditation.
As one Buddhologist puts it, "Although meaning 'absence of inherent existence' in Mādhyamaka, to the Yogācārins [emptiness] means 'absence of duality between perceiving subject [grāhaka, 'dzin-pa] and the perceived object [grāhya, bzhung-ba].'"
This is not the full story however, as each of the three natures (above), has its corresponding "absence of nature". i.e.:
Each of these "absences" is a form of emptiness, i.e. the nature is "empty" of the particular qualified quality.
- pari-kalpita => lakṣana-niḥsvabhāvatā, the "absence of inherent characteristic"
- para-tantra => utpatti-niḥsvabhāvatā, the "absence of inherent arising"
- pari-niṣpanna => paramārtha-niḥsvabhāvatā, the "absence of inherent ultimacy"
Yogācāra gave special significance to the Lesser Discourse on Emptiness of the Āgamas. A passage there (which the discourse itself emphasizes) is often quoted in later Yogācāra texts as a true definition of emptiness.[1]
Emptiness of Phenomena - The abiding reality of all phenomena, which is that they are empty of (a separately existing) inherent nature, and ultimately empty of any conceptual notion of what they might be, even the notion of emptiness itself. [2]
Equality - Contradictions, opposites, differences, and distinctions appear but do not truly exist. In genuine reality, opposites, differences, and distinctions are undifferentiable; they all have the same basic nature. [2]
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Five Traditional Topics of Study for Tibetan Buddhism:
Study of the Tibetan Buddhist canon is a focal point of the monastic curriculum. All four schools of Tibetan Buddhism generally follow a similar curriculum, using the same Indian root texts and commentaries. The further Tibetan commentaries they use differ by school, although since the 19th century appearance of the widely renowned scholars Jamgon Kongtrul, Ju Mipham and Khenpo Shenga, Kagyupas and Nyingmapas use many of the same Tibetan commentaries as well. Different schools, however, place emphasis and concentrate attention on different areas.
The exoteric study of Buddhism is generally organized into "Five Topics," listed as follows with the primary Indian source texts for each:
- Abhidharma (Higher Knowledge, Tib. wylie: chos mngon)
- Compendium of Higher Knowledge (Abhidharma Samuccaya) by Asanga
- Treasury of Higher Knowledge (Abhidharma Kosha) by Vasubandhu
- Prajna Paramita (Perfection of Wisdom, Tib. wylie: shes rab phar phyin)
- Ornament of Clear Realization (Abhisamaya Alankara) by Maitreya as related to Asanga
- The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyavatara, Tib. wylie: sPyod-‘jug) by Shantideva
- Madhyamaka (Middle Way, Tib. wylie: dbu-ma)
- Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way (Mulamadhyamakakarika, Tib. wylie: rTsa dbu-ma) by Nagarjuna
- Four Hundred Verses on the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas (Catuhsataka) by Aryadeva
- Introduction to the Middle Way (Madhyamakavatara,’’ Tib. wylie: ‘’dBu-ma-la ‘Jug-pa) by Chandrakirti
- Ornament of the Middle Way (Madhyamakalamkara) by Shantarakshita
- The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyavatara, Tib. wylie: sPyod-‘jug) by Shantideva
- Pramana (Logic, Means of Knowing, Tib. wylie: tshad-ma)
- Treatise on Valid Cognition (Pramanavarttika) by Dharmakirti
- Compendium on Valid Cognition (Pramanasamuccaya) by Dignaga
- Vinaya (Monastic discipline, Tib. wylie: 'dul-ba)
- The Root of the Vinaya (Vinaya Mula Sutra, Dülwa Do Tsawa, 'dul-ba mdo rtsa-ba) by Gunaprabha
Five Treatises of Maitreya - These texts are said to have been related to Asanga by the Buddha Maitreya, and comprise the heart of the Yogacara (or Cittamatra, "Mind-Only") school of philosophy in which all Tibetan Buddhist scholars are well-versed. They are as follows:
- Ornament for Clear Realization (Abhisamayalankara, Tib. mngon-par rtogs-pa'i rgyan)
- Ornament for the Mahayana Sutras (Mahayanasutralankara, Tib. theg-pa chen-po'i mdo-sde'i rgyan)
- Sublime Continuum of the Mahayana (Mahayanottaratantrashastra, Ratnagotravibhaga, Tib. theg-pa chen-po rgyud-bla-ma'i bstan)
- Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being (Dharmadharmatavibhanga, Tib. chos-dang chos-nyid rnam-par 'byed-pa)
- Distinguishing the Middle and the Extremes (Madhyantavibhanga, Tib. dbus-dang mtha' rnam-par 'byed-pa)
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Gampopo (1079-1153) - of Milarepa's twenty-five great disciples, Gampopo was "like the sun." He is the author of "The Ornament of Precious Liberation," the famous comprehensive text on the stages of the Buddhist path.
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Illusion-Like Samadhi - Samadhi refers to a state in which one is concentrated and not distracted.
Paradoxically, it seems, the illusion-like samadhi is the meditation one practices in the times between formal meditation sessions, in the midst of all the distractions of thoughts and the objects that appear to the senses.
When one remembers that all of these distractions are illusory, this constitutes the practice of this samadhi, and all the distractions are in fact friends of and enhancements to the meditation rather than hindrances or obstacles.Imagination (or Mental Construction) - The "World is Imagination." The related terms vi-kalpa, kal-pana, pari-kalpa, and their cognates all have the basic sense of "constructing," "forming," "manufacturing," or "inventing." Thus in terms of mind, they mean "creating in the mind," "forming in the imagination," and even "assuming to be real," "feigning," and "fiction."
Fundamentally, these terms refer to the ongoing constructive yet deluded activity of the mind that constantly brings forth all kinds of dualistic appearances and experiences, thus literally building its own world. This meaning of deluded mental activity is particularly highlighted by the classical Yogacara terms abhu-tapari-kalpa ("false imagination," lit. "false imagination of what is unreal") and pari-kalpita ("the imaginary"), the latter being what is produced by false imagination.---
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Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye (1813-1899) - A great Tibetan master, renowned for his scholarship and prolific work of compiling and composing texts. [2]
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Karmic Seeds - The anatta-doctrine stipulates that there is no underlying self, while the idea of karma and rebirth seems to implicate an underlying essence that's being reborn. A solution to this problem was the proposition of the existence of karmic seeds. The karmic effects of the human deeds lay dorment, as seeds, until they germinate in this or a next life. Not an individual self, but these karmic seeds are the base for the generation of a following life. This concept of "seeds" was espoused by the Sautrantika in debate with the Sarvastivadins over the metaphysical status of phenomena(dharmas). It is a precursor to the alaya-vijnana. [1]
Kleshas - The disturbing emotions and mental states that cause ordinary sentient beings to suffer as a result of their not having realized the true nature of reality. The five main kleshas, also called the "five poisons," are: attachment or desire; aversion or anger; stupidity or mental dullness; pride; and jealousy. [2]
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Luminous Mind
(Skt: prakrtiprabhasvaram cittam)
As used in the Dharmadhatustava:
The case of naturally luminous mind being defiled by and then freed from "adventitious" stains (agantukamala).
Most fundamentally, "adventitious" indicates that these "stains" are completely unreal, mere fictions of the dualistically mistaken consciousness of ordinary beings. This means that, in actual fact, there is nothing to be removed.
"Removing" or "purifying" indicates that it is sufficient to realize that nothing of what appears as so solid and real to us right now is actually there or happening. This is similar to realizing, when mistaking a garden hose for a snake, that there isn't and never was any snake at the hose apart from us mistaking it for a snake and then panicking.
However, the process of realizing the same with regard to our own inherent buddha-nature includes an exhaustive check on all our most ingrained habits and patterns of first making up and then dealing with ourselves and our world.
The term luminosity as it is used here primarily refers to the purity of mind, free from obscuration caused by lack of understanding and hanging on to mistaken notions (ignorance).---
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Mahayana - The "great vehicle" of Buddhism, it is the path of practicing the two types of bodhichitta; of wisdom and compassion together.
Practitioners begin Mahayana practice by engendering love, compassion, and relative bodhichitta, and then train in the Six Transcendent Practices (Skt: paramitas): generosity, ethics, patience, joyous diligence, concentration and ultimate bodhichitta - the wisdom that realizes the true nature of reality - with the goal of attaining the enlightenment of the buddhas in order to lead all sentient beings to that same state.Mind-Only School (Skt: Chittamatra) - A Mahayana philosophical school. Its view is that outer objects do not truly exist; instead, they are the confused projections of mind's habitual tendencies, like appearances in dreams. Since outer objects of perception do not truly exist, neither do their perceiving subjects, and so genuine reality is empty of the duality of perceived and perceiver. Genuine reality is non-dual consciousness, mere lucid awareness.
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Nagarjuna - Indian master, born four hundred years after the Buddha's passing (544 bc). He is the author of "The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way," and other commentaries on the Buddha's teachings in all three turnings of the wheel of Dharma.
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Padmasambhava - Also known as Guru Rinpoche, one of the original Dzogchen masters, a founder of the Nyingma lineage, and a key figure in the early propogation of Dharma in Tibet in the eight century.
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Shantarakshita (eigth century) - Great Indian proponent of the Middle Way Autonomy school and author of "Ornament of the Middle Way."
Shantiveda (seventh to eigth century) - Great Indian master and author of "Entering the Bodhisattvas' Way," a famous compendium of Mahayana practice and the view of the Middle Way Consequence school.
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Tathagatagarbha
According to Brunnholzl:
Given that the Sanskrit compound tathagatagarbha and its parts are so rich in meaning, there is clearly no English word that can appropriately translate it. Technically the compound itself can be understood as meaning, "containing a Thathagata (as core)" or "the core of a Thathagata." The first is the most natural reading and is also supported by numerous passages in the scriptures.
Tathagata can be understood as either (a) a "Thus-Gone / Thus-Come One" or (b) "One-Gone / Come-To Thusness," with the former emphasizing the aspect of the path and the latter the result.
Gharba literally and originally means embryo, germ, womb, the interior of middle of anything, any interior chamber or sanctuary of a temple, calyx (as a lotus), having in the interior, containing or being filled with. At some point the term also assumed the meaning of core, heart and pith.
While many interpretations are possible, overall, the term as it is used prevalently in scripture, points to "buddha nature" as being "our true heart."
Interestingly, the Tibetan translation snying po clearly stands for the nucleus or most essential part of something, while the Chinese translation tsang means womb or enclosure, indicating something that includes or pervades, which later even culminated in the notion that buddha-nature pervades everything animate as well as inanimate.Three Kayas - The three dimensions of enlightenment; in the Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachings, the three dimensions of the true nature of mind.
Dharma-Kaya; mind's emptiness of essence,
Sambhoga-Kaya; mind's natural clarity and luminosity, and
Nirmana-Kaya; mind's ability to appear as and cognize an unimpeded variety of images. [2]
Three Natures of Mind - The imaginary nature (pari-kalpita-svabhava), the other-dependent nature (Skt. para-tantra-svabhava), and the perfect nature (Skt. pari-nispanna-svabhava).
The Other-Dependent Nature is the mistaken imagination that appears as the unreal entities of subject and object, because these are appearances under the influence of something other, that is, the latent tendencies of ignorance.
It appears as the outer world with its various beings and objects; as one's own body, as the sense consciousnesses that perceives the objects, and the conceptual consciousness that thinks about them; as the clinging to a personal self and real phenomena; and as the mental events, such as feelings that accompany all these consciousnesses.
Thus, false imagination is what bifurcates mere experience into seemingly real perceivers that apprehend seemingly real objects. This very split into subject and object - the imaginary nature - does not exist on the level of seeming reality, but the mind that creates this split does exist and function on this level.
The Imaginary Nature covers the entire range of what is superimposed by false imagination onto the various appearances of the Other-Dependent Nature, from the most basic sense of subject-object duality via a self and the really existent phenomena up through the most rigid beliefs about what we and the world are.
In other words, what appear as one's own body and mind form the bases for imputing a personal self. What appear as other beings, outer objects, and the consciousnesses that relate to them provide the bases for imputing really existent phenomena.
In detail, the Imaginary Nature includes;
- the aspects that appear as conceptual objects (such as the mental image of a form),
- the connections of names and referents (the notion that a name is the corresponding referent and the mistaking of a referent for the corresponding name),
- all that is apprehended through mental superimposition (such as direction, time, outer, inner, big, small, good, bad, and so on), and
- all non-entities, such as space.
All of these exist only conventionally, as nominal objects for the dualistic consciousnesses of ordinary sentient beings. They are not established as anything real. [3]
The Perfect Nature is emptiness in the sense that what appears as other-dependent false imagination is primordially never established as the Imaginary Nature. As the ultimate object, this emptiness is the sphere of non-conceptual wisdom, and its nature is phenomenal identity-less.
Since the dharmas of the noble ones are attained through realizing it, it is called "Dharmadhatu". [3]
Transcendent Wisdom Sutras (Skt: Prajna-Paramita Sutras) - constitute the second turning of the wheel of Dharma and teach that all phenomena's true nature is emptiness, beyond conceptual fabrication, and perfect purity. By training in this, one develops transcendent wisdom, and when one perfects this wisdom, one attains the enlightenment of the buddhas. [2]
Treatise on Buddha Nature (Tib: Gyu Lama, Skt: Uttaratantrashastra) - composed by the bodhisattva Maitreya, this text is explains how and why the true nature of every sentient being's mind is the buddha nature, original wisdom, the pure essence of enlightenment. It also describes the buddhas' enlightenment, enlightenment's qualities, and the buddha's enlightened activities. The text is based on the Buddha's teachings in the third turning of the wheel of Dharma. [2]
Two Truths - The Buddha taught that if we analyze, we come to see that the way things appear to be are not the way they truly are. So he taught the truth of relative reality, which is how things appear to be, and the truth of genuine reality, phenomena's true nature. Ultimately, he taught that the two truths are inseparable, beyond the conceptual fabrications of "same" and "different". [2]
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Yogacara (Sanskrit; literally: "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga") is an influential school of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing phenomenology and (some argue) ontology through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It developed within Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism in about the 4th century CE. Yogācāra discourse is founded on the existential truth of the human condition: there is nothing that humans experience that is not mediated by mind.
The Yogācāra is, along with the Mādhyamaka, one of the two principal schools of Nepalese and Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism.
Masaaki (2005) states: "[a]ccording to the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, the first Yogācāra text, the Buddha set the 'wheel of the doctrine' (Dharmacakra) in motion three times."[4] Hence, the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, as the doctrinal trailblazer of Yogācāra, inaugurated the paradigm of the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma, with its own tenets in the "third turning". The Yogācāra texts are generally considered part of the third turning along with the relevant sutra.[5]
Moreover, Yogācāra discourse surveys and synthesizes all three turnings.
The origins of the scholarly Indian Yogācāra tradition were rooted in the syncretic scholasticism of Nālandā University, where the doctrine of consciousness-only (vijñapti-mātra or cittamātra) was first extensively propagated. Doctrines, tenets and derivatives of this school have influenced and become well-established in China, Korea, Tibet, Japan and Mongolia and throughout the world via the dissemination and dialogue wrought by the Buddhist diaspora.
The orientation of the Yogācāra school is largely consistent with the thinking of the Pāli Nikāyas. It frequently treats later developments in a way that realigns them with earlier versions of Buddhist doctrines. Dan Lusthaus concludes that one of the agendas of the Yogācāra school was to reorient the complexity of later refinements in Buddhist philosophy to accord with early Buddhist doctrine.
Yogācāra, which had its genesis in the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, was largely formulated by the brahmin born half-brothers Vasubandhu and Asaṅga (who was said to be inspired by the quasi-historical Maitreya-nātha, or the divine Maitreya). This school held a prominent position in the Indian scholastic tradition for several centuries due to its lauded pedigree and propagation at Nālandā.
Yogācāra was transmitted to Tibet by Śāntarakṣita and later by Atiśa; it was thereafter integral to Tibetan Buddhism although the prevailing Geluk-dominated view held that it was less definitive than Mādhyamaka. Yogācāra terminology (but not view) is used by the Nyingmapa and its zenith, Dzogchen. Yogācāra also became central to East Asian Buddhism. The teachings of Yogācāra became the Chinese Wei Shi school of Buddhism.
Current debates among Tibetan schools between the shentong (empty of other) and rangtong (empty of self) views appear similar to earlier debates between Yogācāra and Mādhyamaka, but the issues and distinctions have evolved further. Though the later Tibetan views could be said to have evolved from the earlier Indian positions, the distinctions between the views became increasingly subtle, especially after Yogācāra incorporated the Mādhyamika view of the ultimate. Ju Mipham, the 19th century rime movement commenter, wrote in his commentary on Śāntarakṣita's synthesis, that the ultimate view in both schools is the same and each path also leads to the same ultimate state of abiding.
The Yogācārins defined three basic modes by which we perceive our world. These are referred to in Yogācāra as the three natures of perception. They are:
- Parikalpita (literally, "fully conceptualized"): "imaginary nature", wherein things are incorrectly apprehended based on conceptual construction, through attachment and erroneous discrimination.
- Paratantra (literally, "other dependent"): "dependent nature", by which the correct understanding of the dependently originated nature of things is understood.
Also, regarding perception, the Yogācārins emphasized that our everyday understanding of the existence of external objects is problematic, since in order to perceive any object (and thus, for all practical purposes, for the object to "exist"), there must be a sensory organ as well as a correlative type of consciousness to allow the process of cognition to occur.
- Pariniṣpanna (literally, "fully accomplished"): "absolute nature", through which one apprehends things as they are in themselves, uninfluenced by any conceptualization at all.
As the name of the school suggests, meditation practice is central to the Yogācāra tradition. Practice manuals prescribe the practice of mindfulness of body, feelings, thoughts and dharmas in oneself and others, out of which an understanding of the non-differentiation of self and other is said to arise. This process is referred to in the Yogācāra tradition as "turning about in the basis" (Sanskrit: āśraya-parāvṛtti), the basis being the storehouse consciousness. [1]
There are two important aspects of the Yogācāra schemata that are of special interest to modern-day practitioners. One is that virtually all schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism came to rely on these Yogācāra explanations as they created their own doctrinal systems, including the Zen schools. For example, the early Zen tradition in China was sometimes referred to simply as the "Laṅkāvatāra school" (Ch. 楞伽宗, Léngqié Zōng), due to their strong association with the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra.[33]
This sūtra draws heavily upon Yogācāra theories of the eight consciousnesses, especially the ālayavijñāna. Accounts recording the history of this early period are preserved in Records of the Laṅkāvatāra Masters (Ch. 楞伽師資記, Léngqié Shīzī Jì).
That the scriptural tradition of Yogācāra is not yet well-known among the community of western practitioners is perhaps attributable to the fact that most of the initial transmission of Buddhism to the west has been directly concerned with meditation and basic doctrines. However, within Tibetan Buddhism more and more western students are becoming acquainted with this school.[citation needed] Very little research in English has been carried out on the Chinese Yogācāra traditions.
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References:
[1] Wikipedia
[2] Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, Stars of Wisdom, Shambala, 2010
[3] Karl Brunnholzl, In Praise of Dharmadhatu
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