Some excerpts from TheTaoBums forummer Lucky7Strikes. He is 20 years old like me. He had gone a long way in a short amount of time, and was very willing to let go of his deeply held beliefs and recently had insight into non-dual and experienced No-Mind.

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...No-self is not seductive. I see that it is as reality truly is. It didn't make sense to me because I didn't understand it, or I tried to understand it without direct experience. The very act of "trying to make sense of it" is a mistaken approach to understanding a direct insight. And since my experience was governed by the attempt to make sense of it, it is not whole, it is not sincere. (By the way, your thinking of "categorical framework" is yet another "categorical framework.") But explanations in Buddhism have been as direct as anything I have come across. You can't get much direct than that.

I speak mainly of my own mistakes in approach to Buddhism in the previous paragraph and believe that you are encountering similar problems. But I can only speak from my experience, so I am doing that. ^_^

After considering many aspects of Buddhist thought I discarded it for the dual model of Consciousness and Object because of the problem of "free will" (but that is another discussion). Like you, I tried to make sense of it, which was a mistake and when it didn't make "sense" to my liking, I couldn't agree with it. But during meditation, Kunlun, etc, I realized that the very concept of Background or Watcher was very detrimental to exploring and evolving into newer ground of experience that my body (I was not consciously doing this) was trying to break through (Kunlun does this through two aspects). It was as if I had let go of thoughts, but then clung to a state of consciousness that was supposedly behind those thoughts, a new "entity" of sorts. There was a dropping of thoughts only to come to another level of "thoughts." I felt that the progress I was making through Kunlun and meditation was continually shifting and challenging this "ground."

So for sometime I gave to the mantra "thinking, but no thinker, sound but no hearer on and on, free will be damned :D " And immediately everything fell into alignment. There was nothing holding my practice in the sense of "goals" (higher state, purer state of consciousness and such) or a crash between through/ground, evolution/identity. The act itself was all there was. Really all aspect of practice changed when I delved into this switch in perception, and not only was there no longer a division between me "practicing" and not practicing, but every waking hour was truly practice itself! There was no need to "stabilize" any state, but simply recognize thoughts and thoughts, walking as walking, wanting to sit as sitting, sitting as sitting, etc.

So I hope you give it a try. It's quite a new opening.

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And here is the precise problem of interpreting reality dualistically as phenomenon and Consciousness. Experience is always non-dual. Why? Because when we try to investigate its duality, already another experience arises. We can never ascertain the duality of experience, because upon seeing duality, we see the new non-dual "duality" and not the original experience (itself also non-dual) attempted to be investigated. Hence we can never perceive the original experience and analyze it, but only transform it into a new experience.

So if there was a background called "Consciousness" and the foreground, the two would need to present themselves as one. But our daily experiences are different! From moment to moment a different experience arises! The table, the chair, hunger, thought of "what is consciousness?" all arise in their difference. So there is no point to ascribing a one unifying term to call these experiences as one, if we do so, we are discarding the very basis of language which is to discern and sort through differences.

You are still thinking in the definitive dual aspect of phenomenon and consciousness. There is no such division in experience. The division is made only upon a senseless label like saying wind is separate from blowing.

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D: The description of the tissue box might not be the direct experience of it, but you have experienced tissues boxes and you will know what is being referred to (say you formulate a mental image of a tissue box while reading about it). That means it is within the bounds of name and form (nama rupa). Therefore, it is a phenomenon. Consciousness is not like a tissue box. You can neither give it a form nor a description. Why don't you try? Again, Awarenss (which is a result of conscious' interaction with objects) is not the same as Consciousness.

Lucky7Strikes: If you read my post again, its purpose was to show you that no phenomena such as "tissue" box can be established. That in fact when I form a mental image of it, it will not be the tissue box, but its mental image and that when I see a tissue box, it will be a vision and not the box, that if I touch it, it will be the sensation of cardboard and not tissue box, and so on. In fact, no tissue box can be found.

Likewise, when we return to what you said about phenomena being able to be describe, there is no such phenomena to be described at all. The description itself is already the non-dual phenomena. What you are not understanding is that there is no solidified "it" to begin with, everything is fleeting without boundary nor definition. There is only conventional usage of language, but we must understand them to be conventional symbols and not accurate indications of reality.

I'm not sure where I mentioned the difference between awareness and consciousness and why you brought it up. But I will answer that with what you wrote to Bob, that you are too "fixated on words to understand."

D: :) Everything in our material universe has a beginning and an end (they are temporal). Pure Consciousness (the True Self) has no beginning or end. I agree that Consciousness is Luminous Emptiness...and I also agree that in experience they are inseparable from it's objects... but that is not all. That is not what the Turiya state shows....Consciousness stands and exists in it's own light without any objects (go back to the gap between thoughts)

BTW, have you wondered why it is called "luminous"?

Lucky7Strikes: Before stating that everything in the material universe has a beginning and an end, one should first investigate whether there is such thing as a material universe, and the very concept of beginning and end, and whether these ideas are conventional communicative tools or hold to reality, as in whether the symbols match the actual experience.

You don't agree on the usage of the word emptiness or consciousness, so agreement on the term "consciousness luminous emptiness" doesn't mean much here. :P .

Luminosity is simply the pure quality, the self-aware clarity of moment to moment arising of any experience. It points to direct experience without a line between "background" or "foreground" Just this, now.

The gap between thoughts is simply experiencing another experience that is without thoughts. There is nothing special about it at all. You think, then you taste, then think again. There the tasting was the gap. If you are then going to say, "no, simple pure consciousness between the aggregates, form, thoughts, etc," then it is formless consciousness as it is. And then we have another experience after that, yes? So what's so special about it? (This is kind of off topic, but I also want to metion: Didn't the world in your view come about from this so call Absolute Self? Why? Why did all this suffering come from this absolutely pure source that is eternally blissful? Does it play games with our suffering? That's kind of cruel don't you think?)

We love saying "beyond, beyond, beyond" but the truth must be applicable this very moment as it is in whatever state there is. That this Consciousness in beyond time, that it is beyond space, beyond description, beyond this and this and this. Xabir writes about "I Am" ness, but then you refuse to acknowledge that it can be described, and you even wrote above that it cannot be experienced. Why not see reality as it is right at this moment and let the idea of the Ultimate rest? We should be investigating our wrongly held assumptions and not creating a demi-God concept of "beyondness" over and over again as if trying to attain a godly state. Simply see each moment in its non-dual arising, it unlocatability, and be free in it. Why create more unnecessary struggle? It is the "soul"s game, the ego's play. 

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This is the eternal nature of impermanence, not eternal "stillness." When the notion of "witness" is discarded, we experience stillness in movement because we perceive it without a center, without a reference point. We also experience movement in stillness because equanimity that arises from seeing phenomena as empty.

In fact, the position you take above is detrimental to meditative progress because the seeker continues to try to find states that are "absolutely still," clings to it, believes it to be ultimates, sees phenomena as rising in it. I do not know what your practice consists of, but if it is finding states without thought, I'd suggest that is a method towards insight and not trying to reach a "still" state.

I'm not sure how many times the importance of luminous aspect has been stressed in these discussions. The experience has not be dismissed, but incorporated.

Bob, I think you are confused at the application of terms as characteristics or nouns. Luminosity is not a noun, it is not a thing, it is a characteristic. Like "roundness" or "roughness" Because everything I see in a particular room is round, I do not think to myself "ah ha!" there is "roundness" behind the object! But rather the object is displaying a characteristic of roundness and so on. 

This problem arises because of seeing dualistically as "perceiver" and "perception." It is a similar problem of objectifying certain way or moments of perception and discriminating one as perceiver and other as perceived, kind of like saying, hearing "taste", or touching "sound." Of course, this is impossible, what is actually happening is the mind and language symbolizes them in order to relate them in non sensical manners.

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That's exactly right. I am not I. There was no "I" to begin with. Only the flowing of consciousness-phenomena in various forms, there is typing, there is speaking, there is breath, just like a rock that falls to earth by gravity, does my consciousness function from moment to moment according to laws, habits, nature, and harmony.

There is no confusion. Even your confusion is the expression of luminous emptiness expressing itself by the very laws of this universe. Please (I say this with real respect) note that what you wrote above addresses nothing that I wrote, but is just a pure re assertion of your views. Discussions like this is often difficult to carry out and again, fruitless.

Buddhism does not dismiss that each momentary experience is luminous, that is is aware. And awareness is the very nature of the phenomena being expressed and perfectly non dual. There is no "seer" and no "objective phenomena." There never was. So although I say there is the action of typing, speaking, and breath, it is different than when these activities are experienced as bare sensations. The habitual symbols we use to label typing as "typing" or speaking as "speaking" in the mind drop off. This is what I am beginning to experience more and more than in the past when I, like you (in a desperate attempt to preserve my free will, the pride of struggle, etc.).

I too desperately wanted there to be the absolute, the God, the holy, but it limits the mind to solidifying experiences and states of consciousness or bliss. Any "absolute" term, be it no-self, Self, This, That, is a limitation and a grasping.

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I think you misread my post. I used "hearing taste" and "touching sound" to show the mistaken way of viewing a perceiver. I'm not hiding behind concepts. It is these concepts that greatly hinder actual practice. Any identification or solidification through symbolic terms such as "consciousness" or "book" or "chariot" in a continous manner (of course, this is beneficial to certain states of practice, kinda like "noting") is a limitation on oneself.

You can call consciousness as beyond phenomena all day. But it just doesn't make sense. Tell me what that experience is. Is it blissful? Then the feeling of bliss is its phenomena. Is it empty? Than formlessness is its phenomena. Is it nothing? Than it is no conscious. Is it pure? Than it's purity is its phenomena. Searching for this ultimate state or identifying it, glorifying it, is like dreaming the impossible goal, an imagination that is worst, it is imagining the impossible, so you will never be satisfied no matter what stage of practice you arrive at.
 
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Sure Dwai, you can say that last part too. But in my opinion, you have to apply it in a different manner as it is easily susceptible to dualistic misunderstanding. You see phenomena and consciousness as different things so the last edition also wouldn't make sense. It contradicts your very first sentence.

There is no denying there is the continual "taste" of consciousness from one event to another. Indeed, there is no experience without the consciousness aspect. Let's say you look at the desk and it is brown. Then you see the window as white. Then you see the sky as blue. Do you think "ah, it is the background of "color" or the doing of "color" that is producing all these various colors? Probably not. Color is an continuous aspect of the varying phenomena, not an agent or a substream.

But what I wrote above is just what Xabir has written over and over to you. You refuse to open your mind to an alternative due to attachment to tradition.


http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2009/spring/magical.php

For the meditator who sees things as they really are, explains the late Mahasi Sayadaw, there is no “I” or “being”—only mental and physical phenomena coming together in the present moment.


Seeing the mind (mental phenomena, which incline toward sense-objects) and body (physical phenomena, which change) as they really are is the purification of view.

Visuddhimagga 2, 222
A meditator will rarely have wandering thoughts once concentration becomes strong. Instead, there will be an uninterrupted flow of pure noting mind most of the time. If a wandering thought does enter the mind, the meditator will be able to note it immediately and the thought will pass away. The meditator sees physical phenomena as they really are: that they are subject to alteration and that they are not able to know or experience anything. They are insensible (abyakata), inanimate, just like a log or stone.
As the meditator is noting, it becomes obvious that the noting mind resembles running to and sticking with the noted object. Likewise, it becomes obvious that the six types of consciousness—seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking—seem to go to their respective sense objects. The meditator is seeing and understanding mental phenomena as they really are, seeing their characteristic of inclining, or being drawn toward, sense objects.
For the meditator who sees things as they really are, it is obvious that the mental and physical phenomena are different. They are not taken as one and the same anymore, as they were before the practice of meditation. When the meditator observes the rising movement (of the abdomen when breathing in), he or she can at least discern between the rising movement and the noting mind. Similarly, the meditator can differentiate between the falling movement (of the abdomen when breathing out) and the noting of it; the sitting posture and the noting of it; the intention to bend, the bending movement, and the noting of it; the intention to stretch, the stretching movement, and the noting of it; the visible form, the eye, the seeing, and the noting of it.
Before a drum is beaten, its sound does not exist in the drum itself, the drumstick, or anywhere in between. Even though a sound occurs when the drum is beat, the sound does not originate from the drum or the drumstick. The physical phenomena of drum and drumstick are not transformed into a sound nor does the sound originate from anywhere in between drum and drumstick. In dependence on the drum, the drumstick, and the hitting of the drum, the sound is a completely new phenomenon each time the drum is hit. The drum and the stick are different from the sound.
In the same way, before you see something or someone, seeing does not exist in the eye, in the visible form, or anywhere in between. The seeing that takes place neither originates in the eye nor in the visible form. The seeing consciousness neither originates in the eye nor in the visible forms, which are physical phenomena. It also does not originate from anywhere in between. Seeing is actually a new phenomenon that arises due to the combination of the eye, the visible form, light, and your attention. Thus, the eye and the visible form are different from the seeing. The same is true for the other senses.
When you understand the difference between mental and physical phenomena, you are likely to reflect that neither the mind nor the body alone can perform actions such as sitting, standing, walking, bending, stretching, seeing, hearing, and so on. Only the mind and body together can perform these activities.
Because of this, the mind and body together are mistaken for “I.” One thinks, “I am sitting; I am standing up; I am going; I am bending; I am stretching; I am seeing; I am hearing,” and so on. In reality, there is no “I” or “being” that sits, stands up, and walks, but only mental and physical phenomena. That is why the Visuddhimagga (2, 231) says:
In reality, mind conditions matter, and matter conditions mind. When the mind wants to eat, drink, speak, or change posture, it is the body that actually eats, drinks, speaks, or changes posture.
When we expand on this, we can say:
The volition to eat is mental, but what actually eats is the body. The volition to drink is mental, but what actually drinks is the body.
The volition to speak is mental, but what actually speaks is the body.
The volition to sit down is mental, but what actually sits down is the body.
The volition to stand up is mental, but what actually stands up is the body.
Some meditators may use similes to describe their experience of mental and physical phenomena. The Visuddhimagga (2, 228) gives these similes:
A coach is so called because of the way that its components are assembled: the axles, wheels, body, and shafts. However, if you examine each component separately, there is no coach to be found. A house is so called when its materials, posts, beams, etc., are fit together. Other than these materials, however, there is no house that can be found. A tree is so called because it includes a trunk, branches, and leaves, and so on. But apart from these parts, no tree can be found.

In the same way, a being is so called because he or she is composed of the five aggregates of clinging, i.e. mental and physical phenomena. However, if you pay attention to each of these phenomena separately, you will no longer have the conceit that, “I am so and so,” or the wrong belief that, “I am a person.” You realize that, in terms of ultimate reality, there is no being that exists. All that exists is the mind, which is able to incline to the object and know the object, and matter, which is not able to know the object and is subject to alteration. This realization is called “seeing things as they really are.”
Being able to come up with a good simile, however, doesn’t matter. Without thinking deliberately, while you are simply noting, you are able to discern between mental and physical phenomena, and you understand that in this body there are only mental phenomena that are able to know objects and physical phenomena that are not able to know objects. Besides these two phenomena, there is no being, I, soul, or self. This understanding comes naturally and is the peak of the insight knowledge of mental and physical phenomena. This insight knowledge in turn is called “the purification of view,” as it helps to remove the deluded view that a being really exists (atta-ditthi). That is why the Mahātīkā [the commentary to the Visuddhimagga] says:
The phrase “seeing mind and matter as they really are” means seeing them as just phenomena and not a being by observing their individual characteristics, thus: “This is mind; this much is mind; there is nothing more than this (i.e., no being). This is matter; this much is matter; there is nothing more than this (i.e., no being).” This is purification of view, as it eliminates the deluded view that a being really exists. Thus should it be understood.
The individual characteristics of physical phenomena (such as alteration or roughness and hardness) and individual characteristics of mental phenomena (such as inclining toward the object, mental contact with the object, feeling, perceiving, or knowing of an object) only really exist in the moment they occur—not before or after. That is why you can only be truly aware of the specific characteristics of mental and physical phenomena when you observe them from moment to moment. In this way, you understand that there is no “I” or being, but only mental and physical phenomena. This understanding is called the purification of view. It means that this understanding can eliminate the wrong view of a person or being.
When the characteristics of mind and matter have been understood as they truly are by noting the presently arising objects, the meditator comes to see the causes of those phenomena. With this, the insight knowledge of conditionality will arise: the realization that certain causes give rise to certain phenomena, whether in the past, present, or future. This insight knowledge can take various forms, depending on a person’s aspiration, spiritual maturity, and intellectual ability. The Visuddhimagga identifies five forms, which are explained in the sections below.

The First Way of Seeing Conditionality

Seeing the Causes of Matter

Some meditators see the causes of matter. They see that physical phenomena have been continuously occurring, from birth up to the present moment, due to the four causes of ignorance, desire, clinging, and volitional actions in the past. They also see that the nutrition they receive in the present preserves the body, and that the desire to sit, bend, and so forth results in the physical actions of sitting, bending, etc. As well, they see that hot and cold environments give rise to hot and cold physical sensations.
A meditator can empirically observe the present causes for physical phenomena, such as nutrition, consciousness, and weather. But one cannot directly observe the causes from the past, such as ignorance, desire, clinging, and volitional actions. However, even before beginning meditation practice, a vipassana meditator has already accepted intellectually that wholesome actions lead to a good life and beneficial results, whereas unwholesome actions lead to a bad life and unbeneficial results. Therefore, when one practices and empirically observes ignorance, craving, clinging, and volitional actions in the present, one will inferentially realize that they were also operating in the past.
The mental and physical phenomena that make up our lives are all unsatisfying. Attachment to them is the cause of suffering. Not knowing this truth is called “ignorance of suffering and its cause.” Believing that the phenomena of life are actually satisfying and the cause of happiness is called the “delusion of pleasure and its cause.” These two kinds of delusion are deeply rooted in the hearts of ordinary people. They devote themselves day and night to enjoying as much pleasure as possible. Day and night, they do everything they can to get the most out of their present life and to enjoy better lives in the future. These delusions, therefore, cannot be overcome simply through study.
On the other hand, the cessation of the defilements and volitional actions as the causes of suffering leads to the complete cessation of all mental and physical phenomena at the time of entering parinibbana. One is no longer reborn as a human or deva, man or woman. This is called the truth of cessation.
Ignorance of the peace and happiness of nibbana, as well as ignorance of insight practice and the path (the causes of happiness and peace), can be called “ignorance of suffering and its cause.” Believing that nibbana must be awful and that insight practice and the path are causes of suffering can be called the “delusion of pleasure and its cause.” In other words, these are distorted and wrong understandings of the truths about the cessation of suffering and the way leading to its cessation.
If these two kinds of ignorance are very strong, one may actually fear nibbana, thinking that after parinibbana nothing will arise, nothing can be known or experienced, and one cannot meet others anymore. One may even make disparaging comments about liberation, saying, “Nibbana is complete annihilation. It can’t possibly be good. Practicing to attain it is simply going to a lot of trouble, mentally and physically, to attain annihilation!” For ordinary people, this active form of ignorance and wrong understanding of the four noble truths occurs only at certain times. However, it occurs in its dormant form along with every object that is not noted. Therefore, if ignorance is noted at the time of its occurrence, it can be empirically seen by the meditator.
In addition, if these mental and physical phenomena are mistakenly believed to be satisfying, liking and attachment arises. As a result, the desire to become more prosperous arises. This is clinging. Because of clinging, various activities—volitional actions—are performed.
Craving, clinging, and volitional actions can be seen by noting them as they are occurring and by recollecting them from the past. When the meditator sees in practice how volitional actions have their origins in ignorance, craving, and clinging, he or she realizes that because of volitional actions in the past there is continuous arising of physical phenomena in this life starting at the moment of rebirth-linking (the consciousness that gives rise to rebirth after death based on karmic accumulation). At the same time, the meditator understands that these physical phenomena also arise because of ignorance, craving, and clinging. We call this “realizing the causes of physical phenomena empirically and inferentially.”

Seeing the Causes of Mind

When seeing is noted, the meditator understands and comprehends that seeing occurs when there is the eye and a visible form. Or the meditator understands and comprehends that with the meeting of the eye, the visible form, and the seeing, there is contact between the object and the mind. The same is true for all the senses. Furthermore, when a meditator notes “seeing,” or “hearing,” or “touching,” or “thinking,” etc., he or she can see that contact with the object arouses pleasure or displeasure in the body or mind.
Pleasure is enjoyed and therefore the desire for continuous enjoyment arises. The meditator wants to get rid of the displeasure and wants pleasure instead. The clinging to pleasure causes actions of body, speech, and thoughts with the aim of gaining enjoyment. In this way, the meditator empirically sees the causes of the mind in an adequate manner.

Inferential Knowledge Regarding the Past and Future

Once a meditator has empirically seen the causes of mental and physical phenomena in the present life, he or she concludes with inferential knowledge that they must be the same in the past and future: “In the past, there were only these mental and physical phenomena which occurred due to certain causes. In the future, there will only be these mental and physical phenomena which will occur due to certain causes.”

Overcoming the Sixteen Kinds of Skeptical Doubts

A meditator who understands and comprehends that in the past, future, and present, there are only mental and physical phenomena that give rise to other mental and physical phenomena can abandon and overcome the belief in a self and the related sixteen kinds of doubts, which are as follows:
Five doubts about one’s existence in the past:
1. Did I exist in previous lives? (the notion that the “I” has existed forever)
2. Did I not exist in previous lives? (the notion that the “I” only exists in this present life)
3. What was I in previous lives? (rich or poor, lay, ordained, Myanmar, Indian, brahma, deva, human or animal, etc.)
4. What did I look like in previous lives (tall, short, fat, thin, fair, dark, etc.), and who or what created me in previous lives (God, Brahma, or another celestial being or did I spontaneously come into existence)?
5. What type of person was I in previous lives?
Five doubts about one’s existence in the future:
6. Will I have another life after death? (the notion that the “I” is indestructible and eternal)
7. Will I not have another life after death? (the notion that the “I” will disappear after death)
8. What will I be in my next life?
9. What will I look like in my next life, and who or what will create my next life?
10. What type of person will I be in my next life?
Six doubts about one’s existence in the present:
11. Is there an “I” (being, self, soul, spirit) in this body?
12. Is there not an “I” in this body?
13. What is this “I”? (rich or poor, lay, ordained, Myanmar, Indian, brahma, deva, human, or animal, etc.)
14. What does this “I” look like?
15. From where or what previous life did this “I” transmigrate?
16. To where or what future life will this “I” transmigrate?
These sixteen kinds of doubt only arise in those who believe in the existence of a “self.” They do not arise in those who understand that there is only a succession of mental and physical phenomena based on cause and effect—devoid of a “self” or an “I.”
One can only have doubts about whether or not a rabbit has horns if one does not really know what a rabbit looks like. If one has actually seen a rabbit, however, it would not be possible to entertain this doubt.

The Second Way of Seeing Conditionality

Some meditators experience the conditionality of mental and physical phenomena arising as follows:
I see due to the eye and visible forms. I hear due to the ear and sounds. I smell due to the nose and odors. I taste sweet, sour, and so forth, due to the tongue and flavors. I know touching sensations due to the body and tangible objects. I think, reflect, and note objects due to the heart-base and various mental objects. Due to wise attention, living in a suitable place, associating with virtuous people, listening to the dhamma expounded by the wise, and having mature paramis (virtues or perfections), there arises wholesomeness and the ability to practice insight meditation. Due to unwise attention, living in an unsuitable place, associating with evil people, listening to the words of immoral people, and having poorly developed paramis, there arises unwholesomeness. Wholesome volitional actions based on delusion, craving, and clinging result in a fortunate rebirth, in good and pleasant objects at all six sense doors, and in many beneficial results. Unwholesome volitional actions based on delusion, craving, and clinging result in an unfortunate rebirth, in bad and unpleasant objects at all six sense doors, and in many unbeneficial results.
The physical phenomena that make up the heart-base, eye, ear, and so on, have been arising continuously since the first moment of this life due to past volitional actions.
The physical activities of sitting, walking, bending, and so on are caused by the intention or desire to do so.
The temperature of the external environment causes physical sensations of heat or cold. The nutrition in the food one eats gives energy to the body…
Meditators who understand and comprehend that in the present, there are only mental and physical phenomena that give rise to other mental and physical phenomena, inferentially understand that the same is true for the past and the future.

The Third and Fourth Ways of Seeing Conditionality

Some meditators see the arising, presence, and disappearance of conditioned phenomena while observing presently arising objects. From this, they understand that the first arising of the mind in this life is just another moment of arising of the mind. They also understand that death is just another moment of disappearance of the mind. They understand that aging is the successive presence of mental and physical phenomena. Therefore, the causes for mental and physical phenomena are understood. It can be understood in this way:
For aging and death, first there must be arising or rebirth.

Arising or rebirth in turn is generated by volitional actions.

Volitional actions are generated by clinging.

Clinging is caused by attachment to mental and physical phenomena.

Attachment results from pleasant and unpleasant sensations.

Sensations are brought about by contact between the mind and sense-objects

Contact originates from the sense-bases, the sensitive matter of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind (i.e., because of the eye-sensitivity and the mind, seeing occurs, and so on).

The sense-bases come into existence due to the mental and physical phenomena on which they depend (i.e., the sensitive matter of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body are based on the physical organs, and the mind is based on its physical base and the other mental elements).

Mental and physical phenomena are generated by various types of consciousness, such as rebirth-linking consciousness, the life-continuum and sense-consciousness.

Consciousness has its origin in volitional deeds that one has performed in past lives for one’s well-being.

Volitional actions arise from ignorance and delusion.
Noble beings, such as bodhisattas, fully realize conditionality in this way, by seeing dependent origination (paticcasamuppāda) in reverse order. Ordinary meditators are also able to realize conditionality this way and overcome the sixteen kinds of doubt. This is the third way of seeing the conditionality of mental and physical phenomena.
Other meditators realize conditionality by seeing dependent origination in forward order. That is, they realize that ignorance and delusion generate volitional actions, and that volitional actions generate consciousness, and so on. Noble beings, such as bodhisattas, fully realize conditionality in this way. Ordinary meditators are also able to realize conditionality this way and overcome the sixteen kinds of doubt. This is the fourth way of seeing the conditionality of mental and physical phenomena.

The Fifth Way of Seeing Conditionality

Some meditators see the conditionality of mental and physical phenomena in terms of the relationship between volitional acts and their results. This relationship between volitional action and its results is divided into the cycle of volitional actions (kamma-vatta) and the cycle of results (vipāka-vatta). The cycle of volitional actions includes ignorance and delusion, volitional action, attachment, clinging, and existence based on volitional actions (kamma-bhava). The cycle of results includes consciousness, mental and physical phenomena, the sense-bases, mental contact, and feeling.
If a meditator considered conditionality in detail, he or she would see each of the five causal factors and the five resultant factors. If a meditator considered it in general, he or she would not differentiate each individual cause and result. Instead, he or she would simply see volitional action as the cycle of volitional acts, and would see the kammic results of volitional actions as the cycle of results.
In the following sections, I explain how the Patisambhidāmagga, in the Pali Canon, explains the cycle of volitional actions and the cycle of results.

Causal Factors from Previous Lives

The volition generated as one plans to perform a wholesome or unwholesome action is sankhāra. It is the volition that compels one to perform that action right away. However, the volition that is generated while actually performing the wholesome or unwholesome action is kamma-bhava.
Here’s an example of kamma-bhava: while giving something to someone, you let go of the thing and hand it over to the recipient so that he or she can do with it as he or she pleases. In the case of killing, you do that act so that the other being dies. In this way, the action is completed. It is just the same with other wholesome or unwholesome deeds.
There are five causal factors that occur as follows:
Ignorance and delusionlead to craving

Craving leads to clinging

Clinging leads to volition involved in preparing to act

Preparing to act leads to volition involved in carrying out the act

After carrying out the act one mistakenly thinks that the act is a cause for happiness and that the result to be experienced will be happiness
With this, ignorance is generated again, followed by craving, clinging, and so on. In this way, volitional actions, supported by ignorance and craving, can lead to rebirth.

Resultant Factors in the Present Life

When a meditator is noting mental and physical phenomena from moment to moment, it is obvious that successive moments of consciousness (seeing, hearing, etc.) are part of an ongoing mental process. In the same way, the moment of rebirth-linking consciousness of this present life can be understood as the successor to the last moment of consciousness (i.e., death) of the previous life.
If a meditator notes phenomena continuously from moment to moment, he or she will see new phenomena coming into existence. He or she can then realize inferentially that the phenomena at the moment of rebirth arose in the same manner. The same is true for the six senses, contact, and feeling. These resultant phenomena eventually give rise to the five causal phenomena when the six sense-bases mature.

Causal Factors in the Present Life and Resultant Factors in Future Lives

When the sense bases become mature in this present life, the five causal factors are generated: ignorance or delusion, wholesome or unwholesome volition, craving, clinging, and volitional action that result in new life. These five factors are generated when performing volitional acts in the present life and are the causes of future rebirth.

Patisambhidāmagga, 30
These present causal factors lead to the arising of the five resultant factors in the future:
In the future, there will be rebirth-linking consciousness, mental and physical phenomena, the six sense-bases, contact between the mind and sense-object, and feeling or sensation. These five resultant factors will arise in future existences caused by volitional acts performed in this life.

Patisambhidāmagga, 51

Inferential Knowledge

The five causal factors that were generated in past lives are the same as those generated in the present life. Also, the five resultant factors that will be generated in future lives will be the same as those generated in the present life. Therefore, if one empirically perceives the causal and resultant factors in the present life, one will also inferentially realize the causes generated in past lives and the results that will be generated in future lives.
These five resultant factors are all contained within one moment of consciousness. Therefore, if one is aware of these resultant factors in a general way, one will see all of them together as a whole. For example, when one notes a pleasant or unpleasant object, one is aware that the sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or thought simply arises of its own accord as the result of past volitional action. One is not aware of each resultant factor separately, noticing, “This is consciousness; these are the mental and physical phenomena,” and so on.
Instead, one experiences all five of the causal factors together during a single moment of noting, seeing that they are the past causes. One then realizes that all volitional activities performed for the sake of one’s well-being, whether physical, verbal, or mental, whether in this life or the next, constitute volitional action that will lead to rebirth. However, one doesn’t see the resultant factors separately as, “This is ignorance; this is volitional action,and so on.
Because the meditator finds only the causal and resultant factors at the time of noting, he or she concludes, “In past lives too, there was only volitional action and its result. In future lives too, there will only be volitional action and its results. There is only volitional action and its results, and no individual or personality who produces volitional action or enjoys or suffers its results.”

MAHASI SAYADAW was born in Burma in 1904 and ordained as a Buddhist monk at age twenty. He published many volumes of Buddhist literature in Burmese, including a Burmese translation of the Visuddhimagga. The teaching presented here is adapted from his newly translated Manual of Insight, edited by Steve Armstrong and Deborah Ratner-Helzer. Many of the early Insight Meditation teachers in the West were trained in Mahasi Sayadaw’s tradition of vipassana meditation. In 1979 he traveled to the West and taught at the newly founded Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. He died in 1982.
Someone asked me:

"What does "realized as non-inherent" mean?

I don't understand what Thusness said:

(in Buddhism) non-dual is understood from a non-inherent and anatta perspective, when non-dual is understood from an inherent but non-dual perspective, it is advaita.

Could you elaborate?"



I said:

I wrote this post based on what Thusness/PasserBy said about 2 months ago.
http://newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5652

There are two kinds of bond: one is the bond of seeing dualistically, experiencing in terms of subject and object. The other is the bond of seeing inherently, where consciousness and objects of consciousness are treated to have inherent existence/essence. Both bonds must be removed, but they are separate bonds.

Seeing, hearing, smelling, etc... even thoughts, when realised as not divided into an observer and observed, inside and outside, then everything is experienced as the display of consciousness. To see everything is consciousness is non-dual insight, but there must be further insight into anatta and emptiness to realise the empty nature of consciousness. This is the transition from Stage 4 to Stage 5 and 6 of Thusness/PasserBy's Seven Stages of Enlightenment

It is not that manifestation are 'display of THE Consciousness' - there is no 'The Consciousness' as Consciousness is empty, in the same way we cannot accurately say that 'Clouds and Rain are the display of THE Weather', as 'Weather' as such is a convention but utterly without substantiality, essence, and location.

In other words, we may have notions of an all-pervasive Awareness, or Self, and experientially it is non-dual and this is a correct experience. But it is like the word 'Weather' - you can say everywhere you look into the sky, weather is not apart from that, but is there a truly existing 'Weather' apart from thinking about it? Is it located somewhere, or is it only these patterns of weather that dependently originate moment to moment? Similarly 'Awareness', 'Self' is simply a convention but is ultimately 'empty' - it is simply these self-luminous manifestation that dependently originate, it is just the stream of aggregates. That is why the Buddha talks about five skandhas instead of a One Consciousness, however non-duality (no subject and object) is already automatically implied by fully understanding anatta and five aggregates or eighteen dhatus. It is not that all five skandhas are just one awareness - that is just non-dual insight, but the insight into anatta is to see that the 'one awareness' cannot be found in or apart from the skandhas and dhatus, that there is simply the stream of aggregates. The experience is however still non-dual. When we understand that 'Awareness' like 'Weather' isn't something inherent, we also free ourselves from notions like 'things happening in Awareness' - just like you cannot say 'things happen in Weather' - weather isn't a findable essence or container of those phenomena, rather there is just those stream of phenomena which are conventionally called 'weather'.

Next is... can there be Consciousness without conditions? In Buddhism, no. In other religions, Consciousness is treated as a metaphysical essence, Self, substance, an ultimate source of everything that is one with yet transcends all manifestation, God, that has inherent existence. But in Buddhism we do not understand Consciousness in such ways. We have to factor in dependent origination.

So in other words, those in other religions who experience non-duality (subsuming subject and object into undivided One Mind) may claim something like "All There Is Is Consciousness", but they disregard conditions. They treat Consciousness as something inherent. But in Buddhism, we have to factor in causes and conditions. As Thusness commented on my friend Longchen's insight into Emptiness after realisation of non-dual,

I can see the synchronization of emptiness view into your non-dual experiences --. Integrating view, practice and experience. This is the essence of our emptiness nature and right understanding of non-dual experience in Buddhism that is different from Advaita Vedanta teaching. This is also the understanding of why Everything is the One Reality incorporating causes, conditions and luminosity of our Empty nature as One and inseparable. Everything as the One Reality should never be understood from a dualistic/inherent standpoint.

And as Longchen also wrote, "the conditions and factors are also inseparable from the non-dual oneness."

To understand the relationship between Dependent Origination and Consciousness one must study the Buddha's teachings on the 18 dhatus, the relation of conditions to the manifestation of consciousness, emphasis on anatta and emptiness instead of just emphasizing on discovering Brahman, One Consciousness, etc. It is not to deny All is Mind, but it is to understand All is Mind "due to" its empty nature and luminous essence, due to dependent origination and anatta. It is to see Consciousness not as an ultimate source of everything, but as interdependently originated manifestation, as Vajrahridaya puts it: there is the concept of the creative matrix in Buddhism and this matrix is without limit and is infinite. But it's not an eternal self standing infinite. It's an infinitude of mutually dependent finites... or "infinite finites" that persist eternally without beginning or end and without a source due to mutual, interpersonal causation you could say.

First of all Awareness is not like a mirror reflecting the world, but rather Awareness is a manifestation. Luminosity is an arising luminous manifestation rather than a mirror reflecting. The center here is being replaced with Dependent Origination, the experience however is non-dual.

One must learn how to see Appearances as Awareness and all others as conditions. Example, sound is awareness. The person, the stick, the bell, hitting, air, ears...are conditions. One should learn to see in this way. All problems arise because we cannot experience Awareness this way.

Zen Patriarch Bodhidharma explains, "With the condition of the eye, forms are seen, With the condition of ears, sounds are heard, With the condition of nose, smells are smelled, With the condition of tongue, tastes are tasted, every movement or states are all one's Mind."

Also, Nagarjuna explains, "When sound and ear assume their right relation, A consciousness free of thought occurs. These three are in essence the dharmadhatu, free of other characteristics, But they become "hearing" when thought of conceptually."

When consciousness experiences the pure sense of “I AM”, overwhelmed by the transcendental thoughtless moment of Beingness, consciousness clings to that experience as its purest identity. By doing so, it subtly creates a ‘watcher’ and fails to see that the ‘Pure Sense of Existence’ is nothing but an aspect of pure consciousness relating to the thought realm. This in turn serves as the karmic condition that prevents the experience of pure consciousness that arises from other sense-objects. Extending it to the other senses, there is hearing without a hearer and seeing without a seer -- the experience of Pure Sound-Consciousness is radically different from Pure Sight-Consciousness. Sincerely, if we are able to give up ‘I’ and replaces it with “Emptiness Nature”, Consciousness is experienced as non-local. No one state is purer than the other. All is just One Taste, the manifold of Presence.

To summarize:
Awareness is just a term, a label, a convention. I don't mean there is an ultimate pure awareness outside of the skandhas.

The term 'pure awareness' is also confusing -- for example as Thusness said, the experience of Pure Sound-Consciousness is radically different from Pure Sight-Consciousness. There is no 'THE Pure Awareness'. There is simply the six consciousness that dependently originates along with the six sense objects and faculties. I believe I have been pretty clear on that in my previous post. I use 'pure' in the sense of directness, nakedness, without conceptual layering.


Lastly I shall leave a quote by Traleg Rinpoche which I think is very important. The shentongpas have a point, they are trying to point out that you cannot deny the luminous aware nature to prevent over negation by certain Madhyamika followers. But in that process they reified luminous awareness into something unchanging. However, true Buddhism, as Traleg Rinpoche suggested, does not deny luminous-awareness/Buddha-Nature, but it also understands it's empty nature (empty of inherent existence).


Traleg Rinpoche:


Accepting the reality of buddhanature does not mean that one has to accept the Shentong interpretation of emptiness. Shentongpas regard the nature of mind as empty of defilements but not empty of its intrinsic nature. The notion of buddhanature, however, does not in itself imply that mind has any intrinsic nature. Many of the great Kagyü and Nyingma masters, in fact, have interpreted buddhanature to mean that mind is empty of both the defilements and any kind of inherent existence.
Written by Thusness/PasserBy at forum topic Mind and Self-Liberation
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
Something I wrote in another forum, and re-edited, after discussing with Thusness (and still probably imperfect).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Subjectivity9 View 
Post
S9: No, what else are phenomena then, besides thoughts? Don’t say Awareness, please, as we both agree that there is ‘Constant Awareness,’ but sometimes Awareness is without illusions, illusion being described as wrongful view/or wrong perspective.

When we think that Awareness is being thought, what we are saying is that Awareness cannot be without thoughts. Any advanced meditator will tell you, in a New York minute, that this simply isn’t the case. Granted thoughts cannot be without Awareness, but this is because Awareness lends temporary existence to these thoughts, not the other way around. Can you see that they are not equal in this way? Thoughts are pure imagination, just as dreams are.
I think it is better to approach this way:

Non-conceptual thought VS conceptual thought instead of  Awareness VS Thoughts.

If you see it is “Awareness Vs Thoughts”, then it is dualistic and inherent view.  If you see it as non-conceptual thought, then eventually you will realize both non-conceptual and conceptual thoughts share the same luminous essence and empty nature.  Non-conceptual thought is non-verbal and direct.  It appears still and with the tendency to reify it is often mistaken as ‘Unchanging Witness’.

Therefore in your experience of the “I AMness”, I advise you to understand this experience from the perspective of “direct and non-conceptual aspect of perception” and how by being “direct and non-conceptual” creates that sort of ‘certain, unshakable and undeniable’ confidence.  That is, if a practitioner is fully authenticated from moment to moment the arising and passing phenomena, the practitioner will always have this sensation of ‘certain and unshaken’ confidence.
First of all there is no objective reality to thoughts, vision of tree, etc. Like David Carse said, what all this is is All That Is, pure Being Consciousness Bliss Outpouring; it is your perception of it as a physical world that is maya, illusion.

Awareness is not a tree or a thought in the sense that Awareness obviously is not objective like a 'thing' existing 'outside' separate from us. In fact, nothing exists 'outside', as explained earlier:

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
What David Carse said requires more than the “I AMness” realization you narrated in your post “Certainty of Being”.  It also requires more than just glimpses of the non-dual state that can be induced by penetrating the question:

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

It requires a practitioner to be sufficiently clear about the cause of ‘separation’ so that the perceptual knot that creates the ‘division’ is thoroughly seen through.  At this phase, non-dual becomes quite effortless.  The three following articles that you posted in your blog are all about the thorough insights of seeing through the illusionary division created by mental constructs.  They are all very well written.  It is worth revisiting these articles.

1. Body/No-Body
2. The Teachings of Atmananda and the Direct Path
3. The Direct Path

Of all the 3 articles, I like Joan’s article Body/No-body best.  Do not simply go through the motion of reading, read with a reverent heart.  Though a simple article but is not any less insightful than those written by well-known masters, it has all the answers and pointers you need. :)

Next, there are several points you made that is related to the deconstruction of mental objects but you should also note that there exist a predictable relationship between the 'mental object to be de-constructed' and 'the experiences and realizations'.  For example “The Teachings of Atmananda and the Direct Path” will, more often than not lead a practitioner to the realization of One Mind whereas the article from Joan will lead one to the experiential insight of No-Mind.  As a general guideline,

1. If you de-construct the subjective pole, you will be led to the experience of No-Mind.
2. If you de-construct the objective pole, you will be led to the experience of One-Mind.
3. If you go through a process of de-constructing prepositional phrases like "in/out" "inside/outside" "into/onto," "within/without" "here/there", you will dissolve the illusionary nature of locality and time.
4. If you simply go through the process of self-enquiry by disassociation and elimination without clearly understanding the non-inherent and dependent originated nature of phenomena, you will be led to the experience of “I AMness”.

Lastly, not to talk too much about self-liberation or the natural state, it can sound extremely misleading.  Although Joan Tollifson spoke of the natural non-dual state is something “so simple, so immediate, so obvious, so ever-present that we often overlook”, we have to understand that to even come to this realization of the “Simplicity of What Is”, a practitioner will need to undergo a painstaking process of de-constructing the mental constructs.  We must be deeply aware of the ‘blinding spell’ in order to understand consciousness.  I believe Joan must have gone through a period of deep confusions, not to under-estimate it. :)
This blog has evolved. I've just completed a revamp of the blog. This is the third major revamp, (the second major revamp being mainly done by Thusness/ByPasser in March 2009, which added many new features to the blog). Techies like me and Thusness would pay particular attention to these things ;)

Here are a few of the changes and new features -

- changed to a completely new blog design
- added 'contact us' form (on the menu above)
- fixed rss problem of not being able to show updated posts (sorry that your suscribed rss feed hasn't been updating since last year!)
- added new features to the sidebar like 'recent comments' and 'share it'
- each post now shows date of post
- each post now shows 'posted by' at the beginning of each post
- new icon included below each post to allow emailing of blog posts to friends
- flickr badge at the bottom of the blog that displays five randomly selected pictures from 'zen enlightenment' category
... and other minor changes and fixes
By Lucky7Strike from TheTaoBums:

I used to think that the dichotomy of observer dependent on the observed held true, but all such distinctions themselves do not hold. Phenomena and awareness are one not because they are two elements, but both are characteristics of any experience in itself. Experience has always been non dual. Neither phenomena nor awareness can be found.
Written by ZenHsin at http://zenhsin.org/blog/2010/04/30/the-words-of-three-zen-masters-realization-of-intuitive-knowledge-is-satori/ (site no longer exists)


huang

Most Zen masters. the ancient as well as the present, are quite reluctant to describe or explain the experience of awakening (satori in Japanese, wu in Chinese) since explanations may create clinging to images and words of what a satori is, hence being a barrier to enlightenment. Moreover explanations and analysis won’t give the slightest insight into how a satori is experienced since it is beyond words.


However they are some concepts, stanzas and poems which give at least some indications of what kind of nature the satori experience has.
The Japanese Zen master Bassui Tokusho, whose teachings are not only exceptional pure and deep but actually among the best explanatory Zen teachings due to his eloquent and poetic style has a somewhat clear description of what the experience of a satori is.
Normally, explaining Zen always somehow destroys the no-meaning of Zen, but Bassui really tackles the difficult task of conveying insight into the corners of satori via his exegesis. In some ways he resembles Zen master Hui-neng as regards clarity and simplicity but combines the clarity of Hui-neng with a living and poetic style of teaching.
Bassui also demonstrates how Zen masters consequently modify more or less philosophical Mahayana doctrines into pure phenomenology, that is to say, into the concept of Mind. Bassui transforms the philosophical notion of the “supernatural powers of the Buddha” into a Zen description of the illumination of satori, since the core of Zen is the Trikaya, intuitive knowledge or Mind not ideas of external of powers.
A formidable mondo from Joshu points to Zen’s rejection of external, idealistic doctrines about supernatural powers; it goes like this:
A monk asked, “T ‘a-erh San-tsang (Daiji Sanzo) tried to find the Natural Teacher three times, but couldn’t see him. It is not clear to me, where was the Natural Teacher?”
The master said, “In Sang-tsang’s nose”
Note
T ‘a-erh San-tsang was a monk who had come from India and was proficient in the three classes of scriptures (San-tsang) and reputed to have the power to read minds. Though he went to visit Nan-yang Hui-chung (Nanyo Echo), the National Teacher, he couldn’t penetrate his mind.
Comment
A person penetrating the mind of another is of cause an impossibility. The idea goes totally against Zen since it is a dual construction.There are no individual minds in Zen, hence it is not possible for San-tsang to carry out this mind-reading. Nan-yang Hui-chung however, knows how to do it since he knows that his own original mind is the same as the original mind of San-tsang because there is only One Mind.
To understand the logic of the “Mind reading” of the National Teacher one must recognize (realize) what Mind is:
1. First one has to grasp what emptiness is. It is not “emptiness”. True emptiness is not an idea but “not a thing”. This is demonstrated by the Zen masters through for instance twisting the nose of a monk. This isrealizing emptiness, not talking about it, since there is nothing between the master and the monk.
2. This “not a thing” between the master and the monk conveys a directly experience of what-is, namely the nose as form, not as a nose. This is realizing what-is since the nose is what-is in the moment. The nose is thus realized intuitively not talked about.
3. The pain of the nose is the function of the nose. The nose is realized through its function. This is realization of flow or change. The main point is that realizing the nose is realizing its “aliveness”, that is, its pain, its smelling ability, its joy, its dissatisfaction, its expectations etc. This is realizing the Mind of the nose and hence one’s OWN mind.
Thus realizing emptiness, form and function of what-is in a flash is satori since it is beyond words. It is:
Earth, mountains, rivers – hidden in this nothingness.
In this nothingness – earth, mountains, rivers revealed.
Spring flowers, winter snows:
There’s no being or non-being, nor denial itself.
- Saisho (circa 1490) Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter, p.32 Translated by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto
Note on the Poem
L1. emptiness
L2.form
L.3 function
L.4.satori
What Joshu points to is that since we all share this Mind, having realized one’s nose is the realization of any other nose. The National Teacher is “In Sang-tsang’s nose” because he knows the Mind of Sang-tsang. Neither Sang-tsang nor the National Teachers have supernatural powers. What they have is the illuminating Buddha-mind but only the National Teacher knows it. He is the true “mind-reader”.
Dogen is eminent as a interpreter of awakening, since he is incredible gifted both as a Zen master but also as a poet. All his poems are Mind-poems which, through his use of the Zen concept of differentiation (wu-shieh in Chinese), convey pointers to enlightenment. Many see Dogen as a philosopher but he is actually not a philosopher, he is a One-Vehicle Dharma teacher and poet pointing to the One Mind. Not a word of Dogen is outside Mind, since he is a Zen Buddhist and his writings aim at strengthening our intuition not our concepts as he formulates it here:
When you investigate the flowing of a handful of water and the non-flowing of it, full mastery of all things is immediately present.
What Dogen says is actually a pointer to satori since he points to the Nirmanakaya (flowing) within the Dharmakaya (non-flowing) and the energy or spirituality within this moving/not-moving. This within-ness, is the Sambogakaya, the creative potential, which awakens water either to flow or not to flow.
It is also expressed here in this little mondo:
A monk asked, “What is the phrase that penetrates the dharmakaya?”
Yuanmi said, “A three-foot staff stirs the Yellow River”.
Realizing such Buddha-functions intuitively is awakening to not only what one’s own Mind “is” but to the Mind of everything since there is only one Mind. There is no difference between these natural functions and human thoughts, hence the word Mind. An experience of such a personal and environmental unity is satori.
As for useful concepts underpinning a more systematic interpretation of satori, there is Buddha-mind as defined by the Trikaya. Satori is actually a realization of Buddha-mind/Trikaya, hence it is possible to systematize the experience which may convey a better grasp of the nature of enlightenment. The Sixth Patriarch Hui-neng is very clear on what the basis of a satori is. It is first and foremost universal all-including knowledge:
“The knowledge like a mirror is purity of nature (the Dharmakaya,emptiness)
The knowledge of essential quality is mind without sickness (Sambogakaya, mind-essence)
The subtle observing knowledge sees without effort (Prajna wisdom, no relativity)
The knowledge of practicalities is the same as the mirror (the Nirmanakaya, change, function)
Five and eight, six and seven, transform in effect and cause (relativity, conditioning, precepts)
If you just use names and words, there’s no reality: (names, words create illusions)
If you do not keep feelings on the transformation. (detachment)
You’ll flourish and be ever in the dragon stability” (satori)
I have used the above verse of Hui-neng to systematize the Dogen poems and the short satori descriptions by Bassui to give an oversight and insight of a satori:
Clairvoyance
Hui-neng:
“The knowledge like a mirror is purity of nature (the Dharmakaya,emptiness)
Dogen:
In response to inspector Wang’s poem
Speech and silence – absolutely the same: extremely subtle and profound.
A good remedy was prescribed a long time ago.
Piercing the sky, embracing the earth – no end to it.
An immense escarpment glowing with mysterious light.
Bassui:
This infinite light shines of its own accord and watches over all. It is nothingness; it is wonder. It is silence: it illuminates. Though forms can bee seen, one is not deluded by them. This is CLAIRVOYENCE.
Notes on the Dogen Poem
line 1: Dharmakaya, emptiness
line 2: Meditation
line 3: Mind
line 4: The enlightenment of Buddha (CLAIRVOYENCE)
Clairaudience
Hui-neng
“The knowledge like a mirror is purity of nature (the Dharmakaya,emptiness)
Dogen
This slowly drifting clouds are pitiful.
What dreamwalkers men become.
Awakened I hear the one true thing -
Black rain on the roof of Fukakusa Temple.
Bassui:
Buddha-nature is pure and unstained. When sounds are heard through the ears, the echo of vibrations is clearly discerned, and yet there is no dependence on discriminating thoughts. This is called CLAIRAUDIENCE.
Notes on the Dogen Poem
l.1. Cloud gazers
l.2. illusions
l.3. enlightenment
l.4. Nirmanakaya, pure sound of Buddha (CLAIRAUDIENCE)
Mind-reading
Hui-neng
The knowledge of essential quality is mind without sickness (Sambogakaya, mind-essence)
Dogen:
Given to courier Nan
An explosive shout, cracks the great empty sky.
Immediately clear self-understanding.
Swallow up buddhas and ancestors of the past.
Without following other, realize complete penetration.
Bassui:
When you clearly understand the nature of your own mind, you will realize the oneness of the minds of the buddhas of the three worlds, the ancestors, and ordinary people of this world, and heavenly beings of other worlds. This is the power of MIND-READING.
Notes on the Dogen Poem
L1. The Nirmanakaya, change, suchness, function.
L2. The Sambogakaya Enlightenment in a flash, bliss body.
L.3. Word-less understanding of the universal mind, words of buddhas and
ancestors forgotten: universal mind.( MIND-READING)
L. 4. liberation from any conditioning.
Prajna
Hui-neng
The subtle observing knowledge sees without effort (Prajna wisdom, no relativity)
Dogen:
During Seclusion
All that’s visible springs from causes intimate to you.
While walking, sitting, lying down, the body itself is complete truth.
If someone asks the inner meaning of this;
“Inside the treasure of the dharma eye a single grain of dust”.
Bassui:
When you understand the nature of your own mind, delusions will turn into wisdom. Because BODHI is your original inherent nature it transcends delusions and enlightenment. You won’t exist among saints and sinners and won’t be stained by various phenomena. This is the power to stop deluded thoughts.(PRAJNA)
Notes on the Dogen Poem
L1. Seeing in suchness, relativity cut off.
L2. Activities of the Buddha. Absolute activities, not relative.
L3.-
L4. The relative within the absolute, the absolute within the relative. Buddha is here. Nothing outside Mind. No Prajna without something to cut off (relativity)
Power To Fly Through Air
Hui-neng
The knowledge of practicality (functionality) is the same as the mirror (the Nirmanakaya, change, function)
Dogen:
The point of zazen, after Zen master Hongzhi
The hub of buddha’s activity,
the turning of ancestor’s hub -
it moves along with your non-thinking
and is completed in the realm of non-emerging.
As it moves along with your non-thinking.
Its appearance is immediate.
As it is completed in the realm of nonmerging
completeness itself is realization.
If its appearance is immediate
you have no defilement.
When completeness is realization
you stay in neither the general nor the particular.
If you have immediacy without defilement
immediacy is “dropping away” with no obstacles.
Realization, neither general nor particular
is effort without desire.
Clear way all the way to the bottom;
a fish swims like a fish.
Vast sky transparent throughout;
a bird flies like a bird.
Bassui:
When you understand the nature of your own mind, it will thoroughly light up the dark cave of ignorance and the original natural beauty will manifest. In an instant you will pass through the ten directions without stopping in the blue sky. This is your inherent nature’s true POWER TO FLY THROUGH AIR.
Notes on the Dogen Poem
The power or energy of Mind, Intuitively knowing the “know how”- principle of eternal creation of momentary forms.
Knowing Past Lives
Hui-neng
If you just use names and words, there’s no reality: (names, words create illusions)
If you do not keep feelings on the transformation. (detachment)
You’ll flourish and be ever in the dragon stability” (dragons stability = the stability of a buddha)
Dogen:
The Body born before the parents
The village I finally reach
deeper than the deep mountains
indeed!
the capital
where I used to live!
Bassui:
From the moment you realize your inherent nature, your mind will penetrate through aeons of emptiness that precede creation through to the endless future. Clear and independent, it will not attach to the changing phenomena of life and death, past and future, but will remain constant without any obstructing doubts. This is the power of KNOWING PAST LIVES.
Notes on the Dogen Poem
L1. Emptiness
L1. Realization/Satori
L2. Beyond measurement
L 3. Suddenly knowing
L.4. The eternal home
L.4. Past life (all life in eternity)
Comments on Zen and Scholarly Buddhism
To grasp what satori means we must see all phenomena as the Trikaya, that is, with our intuitive mind. We must see the emptiness of the phenomena, the spirituality and the manifestation of change. Seeing these three aspects as one in suchness, in a flash, is experiencing or rather uniting with the universal reality which is our own Mind.
A satori mirrors that Mind is the world and the world is Mind. Hence, birds flying are your own thoughts flying, the vast forest is your own empty sitting, the cry of the heron is your own voice. The storm arising is your own walking, the disappearance of the clouds are your own forgotten thoughts. We are not independent from what-is. We are no more than momentary what-is of emptiness, change and intuitive (spiritual) energy. One could say we are situations reflecting all other situations in the universe, different yet the same.
Dogen says:
Mountains do not lack the qualities of mountains. Therefore they always abide in ease and always walk. You should examine in detail this quality of the mountains walking. Mountains’ walking is just like human walking.
Comment
Mountains walking and human walking are the same since walking is the Nirmanakaya body of Buddha (change, flow). Mountains always move (walk) due to the perpetual creation of reality which is the Nirmanakaya.
For Zen, Mind is one. There is no “holy Mind” or “secular Mind”. In a way we all make use of Buddha-mind in our daily lives, because we don’t analyze or interpret our thoughts and doings, we act naturally by using our intuition or Mind. The everyday is in a way full of small awakenings apart from we don’t notice it, hence Zen’s view of the importance of “everyday life” which are seen as the first step towards enlightenment. The only difference between the every day Mind and the Satori mind is actually the depth of non-verbal awareness as expressed by Bankei:
“If a gong rings outside the temple, you know it’s a gong, if a drum sounds, you know it’s a drum. Your distinguishing everything you see and hear like this, without producing a single thought is the marvelously illuminating dynamic function, the Buddha Mind is unborn.”
The beauty of Zen is it’s systematic teaching and practice of UNIVERSAL INTUITION. Other forms of Buddhism too easily lead us away from wordless intuitive understanding due to the emphasis on sutra reading. Reality seems cut off when one attains a Buddhist world view constructed by doctrines. Buddhism becomes reality, not what it points to namely Buddha-Mind. As formulated below by Japanese Poet and Zen master Ikkyu:
Studying texts and stiff meditation can make
you loose your Original Mind.
A solitary tune by a fisherman, though, can be
an invaluable treasure.
Dusk rain on the river, the moon peeking in
and out of the clouds;
Elegant beyond words, he chants his songs
night after night.
And by this mondo where inside the room is the study of scripture, far away from what-is; a small world of abstractions.
A monk asked Xuefeng, “Is the teaching of our ancestors the same as the scriptural teaching or not?”
Xuefeng said, “The thunder sounds and the earth shakes. Inside the room nothing is heard.”
Xuefeng also said, “Why do you go on pilgrimage?”
Comment
Why go on pilgrimage when the mystery is right here?
It is, at least for me, a bit puzzling how simple Zen actually is and how complicated we tend to grasp it. In reality there are only three aspects that must be grasped to get hold on the innocent beauty of Zen:
1. Emptiness
2. Realization
3.appearance
That’s it. One can nearly see the core:
Forms appear from emptiness through realization/spirituality and manifest their Buddha-nature in suchness. The empty flower knows when and how to realize and manifest itself when spring arrives. So grasping the pain of the nose is grasping what-is.
Zen is all-including simplicity with just three Trikaya aspects that is, the body of Buddha. If Zen didn’t had this simplicity, knowing by intuition would be impossible. This all-including approach actually generates Zen phrases very easily. Here are some heuretic examples.( I’m not trying to be a poet)
The pain of the nose, are the songs of the birds, the sound of the pines and the walking of the mountains.(the function of Buddha).
Sitting is the empty sky, the stillness of the forest and the quite bird.( the emptiness of Buddha)
The mountain dances, the river sings and the pines bow, the clouds are painting the vast sky. (the bliss of Buddha, joyful energy)
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Image source

English: Describing the Doctrine Under a Tree, color on silk, 139 x 101.7 cm. The image was discovered at Dun Huang. Located at the British Museum Department of Asia.
中文: 樹下說法圖 – 絹本設色 – 纵139厘米 横101.7厘米 發現在敦煌. 大英博物館
Date
8th century
Source
Zhongguo gu dai shu hua jian ding zu (中国古代书画鑑定组). 1997. Zhongguo hui hua quan ji (中国绘画全集). Zhongguo mei shu fen lei quan ji. Beijing: Wen wu chu ban she. Volume 1.
Author
anonymous
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