Ecstatic Bliss and Emotional Entanglement

There have seen that Tantrism distinguishes between the body as lived by me and constituting a value, and the body as conceived as an object of speculation; between mind as a potentiality and potency, and mind as a comprehensive term for ego-centred tendencies; between absolute cognitiveness and the world of cor.cepts. This same division applies to the realm of feeling and emotions and is also borne out by experience. A person in a peak-experience of, say, pure aesthetic perception and enjoyment feels himself at his best and fullest. He feels more perceptive and contented than at other times, but the feeling he experiences defies categorization. Not only is this ecstatic bliss felt subjectively but it can be seen by others who may, however, fail to understand what is going on in the person who has this experience. have only to remind ourselves of the Buddha's meeting with the Äjïvika Upaka who remarks of the Buddha that he looks so happy and so radiant, and who cannot understand what the Buddha says about his experience.

The feeling-tone of this experience is termed mahãsukha, which literally translated means 'great pleasure', and 'great' again is used to indicate its absolute character, while 'pleasure' is no ordinary pleasure; but since pleasure has a positive connotation because it is a life-enhancing state, this term IS used for indicatinff the absolutely positive character of the experience, cognitively unlimited and emotionally satisfying. We may use such phrases as 'ecstatic bliss' or 'great bliss', or 'absolute bliss' to refer to the sense of freedom from the impoverishment brought about by ego-centredness.

In the same way that emphasis is laid on Being-as-value (sku) and cognitive potentiality (ye-shes) rather than on one's physical and imaginary being (lus) and one's conceptualization about Being (rnam-rtog), 'ecstatic bliss' figures prominently in Tantric thought. Its association with the awareness of Being shows that Tantrism is not hedonism which is a veiled form of libertinism and its contempt for the world.

Indrabhüti declares

"The All-Buddha-Awareness which is experienced within ourselves

Is called Great Bliss because it is the most excellent pleasure of all pleasures.' Advayavajra states

"Without bliss there is no enlightenment, for enlightenment is bliss itself." Anangavajra says .•

"It is thought of as sublime Great Bliss, because it is by nature infinite pleasure; It is most sublime, all-good, conducive to and of the same nature as enlightenment.' Here 'conducive', which as a technical term implies connaturality, can only mean that in this state' ever new riches are discovered. Kãrnha says

"The whole world, together with its deeds, words, and thoughts, vanishes into this air. This vanishing is Great Bliss, the same as Nirväna.'

Here, too, the equation of bliss and Nirvana indicates the positive character of the experience. Historically, it is a restatement of the Buddha's words that Nirvana is bliss because it is not a judgment (conceptualization) of feeling having a pleasurable tone. Saraha declares

"Just as in deep darkness the moon-stone spreads its light, So this supreme Great Bliss in a moment dissipates all misery. Again we see here the intimate connection between bliss as the highest form of pleasurable excitement and the radiance of an alive person. The imagery of the moon-stone spreading its light effortlessly aptly illustrates the fact that while we 'struggle' to get away from the painfulness of a disturbing situation, we just 'flow out' to pleasure.

gNyis-med Avadhütipa explains Saraha's verse as follows "The veil of emotionality and conceptualization is like livid darkness. It is dispelled by the teaching of the true Guru who is like the moon-stone found in the world of the Nagas, and who makes understood what has not been understood. Hence (Saraha says): 'Just as in deep darkness the moon-stone Just as the moon-stone need not take the darkness away to some other place, so also it is not necessary to reject emotionality and conceptualizations (they just disappear). Hence (Saraha continues): 'Spreads its light.'

"Since in a single moment, immediately after this sublime and uncommon Great Bliss, not sullied by the mire of Samsãra and Nirvär:n, has been pointed out, the meaning of Buddhahood is seen, (Saraha declares): 'So this supreme Great Bliss in a moment

"Subjectivism is the evil of thinking; non-subjectivism is the happiness of concentration. The concepts deriving from 'memory '56 weary mind out, but by experiencing non-memory', subjectivism is conquered. (Hence Saraha concludes): 'Conquers all the evil of thinking.' "

Karma Phrin-las-pa57 interprets this verse as referring to the existential value of being (sku) which is felt as, and hence termed, 'bliss'. He says: " 'Deep darkness' is a darkness in which there is no light. It has been accumulated through aeons. When then the moon, or the jewel of the sky, the sun, spread their light, simultaneously with the birth of light the darkness is annihilated. When the understanding of this supreme Great Bliss, Mahäsukha, dawns, simultaneously and instantaneously 'all the evil of thinking' that has been accumulated since beginningless Samsãra 'is conquered'. Therefore the whole of karmic activity and of emotionality has been eradicated. 'The evil of thinking' means that (categorical) thinking is evil and evil is (categorical) thinking; it creates a veil. 'All' means the seeds and tendencies of this veiling power. In the same way as pleasure is contrasted with pain, the original awareness from which all veiling power, together with its latent potentialities has disappeared, is called in the Vajrayãna 'the existential value of bliss'. And this is meant here."

Here Being and Awareness are used synonymously. Being is a value of highest significance; it also is an Awareness, not an absorption in something other than itself. However, the ambivalence which we have seen to pervade the whole of Tantric thought, is also evident in the contrast between 'bliss' and 'emotionality' the latter being a loss or distortion of the former rather than an independent opposing force. This is, according to the commentators, the intention of Saraha's words :

"O son, listen! By the various (concepts) This flavour cannot be explained, 'Tis rather the rejection of the understanding of the stable bliss (NNhich) is like the re-emergence of the fickle (mind).' '

To speak of Being and Awareness as Bliss affirms the existence of the highest value within man himself, to be discovered there and aiding the discovery. In other words, it is creative in a very special sense, that is, to see the world with a fresh vision and to approach life with open-eyed wonder, not with inhibitory and rigidly set presuppositions as is done by the person who gets caught in his own fictions. At the moment of bliss the person is more himself and more perceptive, he can appreciate and accept reality, and he will not try to make it conform to his illusions.

For most people the experience of bliss is a rare event and most of the time their life is felt to be frustrating. The Buddhist contention that 'everything is frustrating' (sarvam duhkham) is to be understood from this experience of bliss which coincided with the Buddha's enlightenment. It was only after this event that he formulated the 'Four Noble Truths' which, therefore, are not so much premises from which deductions may be made, but rather conclusions and descriptions of factual situations. From the fact that bliss and Nirvana and enlightenment are synonymous, it is obvious that bliss is not merely the absence of pain and frustration. It is true, relief from pain and the solution of a problem often produces a feeling of pleasure, but this is a phenomenon on the rebound. The pain or the problem has made us conscious of a particular situation, and we are also conscious of the pleasure for a short time after its release or solution. As soon as the pain or problem is forgotten, the pleasure of release is also gone. It seems to be more correct to state that Bliss is the basic state of an integrated and healthy person, while fluctuating feelings of pleasure and pain denote some disturbance of this basic state and represent a loss of bliss and intrinsic awareness.

Basic to the frustration we encounter is the loss and lack of intrinsic awareness (avidyã, ma-rig-pa) which, as a distortion of original awareness and its blissful character, acts as a powerful emotion which sustains an equally distorted and strained activity which is consciously felt as frustrating. These three aspects of emotionality, strained activity, and the sense of frustration, are the first three members in the chain of dependent origination (pratityasamutpãda) which in the history of Buddhist thought has found a variety of interpretations. According to the Tantric interpretation the lack of intrinsic awareness (avidyã) is basic to both the more positive emotions of attraction, attachment, love, and the more negative ones of aversion, hostility, hatred. It is

unfortunate that every term can be used ambiguously and very often is used deceptively. Take for instance the word 'love'. It may refer to an experience of infinite richness in which the subject admires, adores and enjoys the other person or object as something intrinsically precious and worthy in its own right and for its own sake, but also to the tormenting irrationality of possessiveness, acquisitiveness and selfishness culminating in the perverse notion of 'sacrificial love', the love a killer feels for his victim. 59 Is there anything more terrifying than to picture oneself as the victim of some ritual murder; and is there anything more detestable than to inflict death on a living being for the mere satiation of the lust for blood or to destroy another person's

happiness for the sake of self-aggrandizement? The love that admires and enjoys belongs to 'enlightenment', which is intrinsic awareness and bliss in one; the so-called love that disregards life and counts nothing as valuable reflects the distorted view we take of the world whose richness and beauty therefore elude us continuously. In the moment of 'enlightenment' we can be 'all-loving' and 'all-perceptive', and we are not swayed by conflicting emotions that lead to countless evils. Padma dkar-po says .60

"The loss of intrinsic awareness (ma-rig-pa, avidyã) presents itself as unconducive to, and in contrast with, intrinsic awareness with its unchanging and absolute (feeling of) love. This loss is the moment that becomes the cause of birth and death for sentient beings. It associates with possessiveness due to the experientially initiated potentiality of possessiveness,- present since beginningless time, and thus becomes attachment ('dod-chags, rãga). By changing, it

loses its character of attachment and becomes aversion (zhe-sdang, dvesa). The nature of aversion is blindness (lit. swoon), and this is (mental) darkness. Attachment, aversion, and mental darkness constitute the loss of intrinsic awareness, which then is an emotional force." It is significant that aversion, not love, is explained as mental darkness. Although attachment may lead to dependence upon the other it still enables me to see more and even to know more of the other. Usually we say 'love is blind', precisely because by tradition we have associated everything positive with the

Devil ; but Buddhism, not suffering from a power-inflated straitjacket of dehumanizing dogmaticism, recognizes the observable fact that love can be more perceptive than non-love. On the other hand, aversion, hatred, malice, fury make us quite literally blind. We say 'blind with rage' and this negativity, in line with our nihilistic transcendentalism, we associate with God-—the 'wrath of God' is a favourite topic of preachers who switch to the 'love of God' when it becomes a matter of concealing unpleasant facts and of perpetuating society's wrongs.

Emotionality, ambivalent in itself, sustains equally ambivalent actions which are judged as good or evil, and which, in turn, are motivating forces. Thus Padma dkar-po continues .•61

"Good and evil aroused by (emotionality) is motivation or karmic activity (karma).'

Such actions involve us in situations, and to become involved is like being conceived in a womb; we are caught in a situation and we perceive by way of classifying, conceptualizing, and, above all, comparing. All this is frustrating, because we perceive only part of what there is. Padma dkar-po continues

"(Through karmic activity) to become 'en-wombed', is abstractive categorizing perception (vijñãna), which is frustration.' Emotionality (kleýa), karmic activity (karma) and the sense of frustration (duhkha) underlie our embodied existence which is described by the remaining nine members of the chain of dependent origination, and which make it clear that we move from one situation to another, each situation, so to speak, being a new

existence of ours. Among the remaining nine members three are always more intimately related to each other. Thus there is 'name and form' (nãma-rüpa) which refers to the sum total of the five psychophysical constituents with their 'six interactional fields' (ãyatana) and the 'rapport' (sparfa) that exists between the perceiving act and the perceived content. Similarly, 'feeling' (vedanã), to estimate the pleasurable or painful relationship of some aspect of reality to

oneself, 'craving' (trgzä), to have more of pleasant feeling and to get rid of unpleasant feelings, and 'appropriation' (upãdãna), to have everything for oneself, are close together. Lastly, 'becoming' (bhava), to move into one of the possible life-forms, 'birth' (jãtz), to be fully in a new situation, and 'old age and death' (jarãmarat:a), belong together. The twelve members of this chain of dependent origination, divided into four groups of three, represent the

distorted aspect of Being in the form of an individual and the way he goes about life. The individual is a triad in the sense that he exists by way of body (lus), speech (ngag) and subjective mind (yid).63 Hence, emotionality, karmic activity, and the sense of frustration mark the individual's dynamic existence in various degrees of intensity. The following diagram will show the existential implication : unknowing (avidyã) motivation (samskãrãþ) jñãnavajra (cognitive

being) perception (vijñãna) name and form (nãma-rüpa) fields of interaction Qadãyatana) kãyavajra (embodied being) rapport (spar") feeling (vedanã) craving (trst:ã) vãgvajra (communicative being) appropriation (upãdãna) becoming (bhava) birth (jãti) cittavajra (responsive being) old age and death (jarãmarana) The first set of three is the presupposition of the individual's embodiment in Samsãra and is termed ye-shes rdo-rje Gñãnavajra), 'the indestructibility (rdo-

rje, vajra) of original awareness (ye-shes, jñãna); the second set is the actual embodiment and termed sku rdo-rje, (kãyavajra), 'the indestructibility of Being'. It is through man's embodied Being that he also communicates with the world, and so the third set is termed gsung rdo-rje (vãgvajra), 'the indestructibility of communication'. The last set is termed thugs rdo-rje (cittavajra), 'the indestructibility of responsiveness'. Not only is man in the world

and not only does he communicate with it, he also responds to life and its challenges. This he can do either by remaining true to his Being or by being oblivious to it and becoming involved in the fictions of his own making in the wake of his loss of intrinsic awareness of Being. At first glance the correspondence between the four sets of three of the chain of dependent origination and the four 'indestructibilities' may seem to be artificial. However, the

sense of frustration which inheres in all actions that derive from an imperfect view of reality, indicate that there can be insight, original awareness (ye-shes). Similarly the psychophysical constituents are abstractions from man's existence and point to his real Being (sku), and it is through our moods and judgments of feeling that we communicate (gsung) with other persons and the world around us. Although communication is mostly related to words, more important

is the timbre of the voice which clearly reflects my mood, and my mood may colour the whole situation. Lastly, in becoming I respond to the possibilities that the situation offers. The response is to what becomes my life-world and again I respond to it totally. Thus potentiality leads to actuality which in the last analysis points to and remains a potentiality, which at the same time is the capacity to affirm the values by which we live. Such values are existential ; they

are not the products of intellectual rationalizations through which they may be dimly seen and which may spur us on to find the values that are our very Being. According to this view good and evil take on a new meaning. They are not entities defined once and for all to choose between, but approximations to and alienations from the ultimate value that is Being and Awareness in one. This is the interpretation which Mi-pham gives of a sentient being (sems-can), that is,

a person who has ( can) a mind (sems) and has intentions in the light of his limited perspective, in contrast with 'original awareness' (ye-shes) which is Buddhahood. This explanation is so much more revealing as it also clarifies the technical terms Dharmakãya and Rüpakãya whose exact meanings have baffled students of Buddhism. Dharmakãya is a term for Being-as-such, experienced as an absolute value; Rüpakãya is its representation in a perceptible way, that is,

through being a Nirrnãt)akãya man represents the ultimate value of Being, and through simultaneously being a Sambhogakäya he is empathetically one with the ultimate value of Being. Mi-pham says " 'Sentient being' (sems-can) is merely the self-manifesting deviation from the sphere of the radiant light. In this deviate manifestation improvement by good (deeds) and deterioration by evil (deeds) work infallibly. On the basis of this (division) there are merits and

demerits. By abandoning evil and strengthening good we have the so-called 'accumulation of merits'. Through them we temporarily realize the happiness and prosperity of a god, a human being, or a Bodhisattva, and ultimately the Rüpakãya.65

" 'Original awareness' is a term applied to non-deviation by having understood the absolutely real quite concretely.

By this awareness the two veils (of emotionality and conceptuality) are torn and the goal, Dharmakãya, is realized. This is so stated in the hetuyãna.66 In the mantrayãna67 one understands that when the initial radiant light has been made one's foundation, the deviate manifestation dissolves by itself and there is no place for improvement by good and deterioration by evil.'

According to this passage to be a sentient being is a 'deviation' ('khrul-pa, bhrãnti). The original term has often been falsely translated as 'error'. More appropriate would have been 'alienation' which is an ancient psychiatric term meaning loss of personal identity or the feeling of personal identity. Since 'personal identity' may be too subjectively toned, the meaning of alienation can be restated as an on-going loss of and deviation from one's Being. Devoid of all spontaneity and all joy in living, the person is a stranger to himself and all his activity seems to him to belong not to himself but to an alien and dark

power that holds sway over him and at whose bidding he goes about his work. Yet this estrangement from himself is very much resented by him. He recognizes it as unnatural and wants to emancipate himself from it, to regain himself. The alienated man is controlled by his emotions (kleýa), the compulsive activity (karma) initiated by them, and the accompanying sense of frustration (duhkha) because whatever he does falls short of what he expects to be the outcome. Already in the earliest Buddhist writings, the Pãli Canon, we find accurate descriptions of the alienated person contrasted with the peak-experience of emancipation

"The cycle of existence is of unknown origin. No beginning is known for the beings who run and move (from one existence to another), hindered (to recognize their true Being) by their lack of intrinsic awareness and fettered by the craving (for continued existence). For this reason, frustration has been experienced for a long time; pain and decay have been experienced and the cremation ground has been filled."

Here two factors have been mentioned together; lack of intrinsic awareness and craving. The latter term can also be rendered by 'drive' as a convenient term to describe a certain early temporal phase in adjustive activity going on between a state of disequilibrium and one of balance, which may be termed an end or a goal. The attainment of the goal by the reduction of tension or the satisfaction of the craving generally leads to a state of equilibrium, which is accompanied by a sense of pleasure and relaxation. But as long as the craving remains unsatisfied, and unfulfilled, a residuum of unpleasant feeling, however small it may

be, remains and a new cycle of activity will ensue, and its first stage is a need, a longing, a want or a drive resulting from the disequilibrium. The association of 'craving' with 'lack of intrinsic awareness' emphasizes the inability to adjust oneself to the demands of life and denotes the state of imbalance and ambiguousness together with the ensuing drive, in the proper sense oi the word, as well as the initial seeking of the stimulus or the situation which will satisfy this need. The attempt to avoid the tension which is felt as negative, and to secure the reduction of tension anticipated as positive, fails

as long as man is dominated by opinions which are the quintessence of the lack of intrinsic awareness and have an overpowering emotional character. People have been known to have been tortured and killed for not sharing in the opinion someone has voiced (religious persecution and political assassination are still with us and often go together).

The overpowering force of the drive is well expressed in the following words

"I shall describe craving to you, the ensnarer, a stream, diffused and tenacious, whereby the world is assailed and overwhelmed, entangled like a ball of string, and covered with blight; it becomes a jungle of Muñja (Saccharum munja Roxb.) and Pabbaja (Bleusine indica) grass and does not pass beyond lowly forms of life, sorrowful existence, ruin, and the cycle of rebirths."

And the moving on from one situation to another is stated as follows

"Accompanied by craving, man goes a long way,

He does not pass beyond Samsãra, existence here, existence there.'

By way of contrast, the peak-experience (agga) is characterized by the disappearance of this driving force

"VvThatever there may be of concrete or abstract (things) it is the dispassionateness towards them that is called the peak-experience. It is a disintoxication, a fading of craving, break-up of the foundation, the destruction of the cycle of rebirth, the waning of craving, dispassionateness, delight in a peak-experience.'

Dispassionateness (virãga) is not a loss of feeling, rather it is a heightened perceptivity in love and compassion (mahãrãga) ; gone is the ego-centred feeling of possessiveness with its anxieties, fears, and inhibitions.

Because of the importance of the role of drives in the ordinary life of a person, Buddhism has dwelt upon this problem at length. As we know, in some drive-to-goal relationships there is essentially an effort to secure more and more of the satisfying stimulus or situation until release of the disturbing tensions or of the state of disequilibrium is attained. Thus, for instance, an organism, though incited by disturbing tensions and drives, by the process of reflex

circular action continues to absorb more and more of the satisfying stimulus, as in eating and drinking. Also the whole range of love reactions takes on this character, from the tactile stimulation of the erogenous areas of the body to the other items in the love life of the adults. In the same way, training in social contacts leads to a continued desire for companionship and for the other things of which we are accustomed to say 'the more we get the more we want'. This continuation shows that there is still some unpleasant feeling-emotional tone. The effort was to avoid the more negative situation and to secure the less negative situation. These drives, which continue even after the consummatory response, are called attractional, and this sort of repetition falls under the head of perseverance. In the Buddhist text the two terms 'craving for continued existence' (bhavatanhã) and 'craving for pleasure' (including sex, kämatatzhã) are used for our concepts of attraction and perseverance. Buddhaghosa speaks of these two concepts in the following way " 'The craving for the objects' is called 'craving

for pleasure' (kãmata:uhã), when an object comes into the range of visual consciousness and when this craving continues to absorb the object because of its pleasurable stimulus (i.e., attraction). But when this craving is continued with the idea of permanence, (that is, when the subject desires that) the object should be lasting and eternal, then it is called 'craving for continued existence' (bhavatanhã) (i.e., perseverance), for a desire accompanied by the idea of permanence is called 'craving for continued existence'. "

However, even then most attractive stimuli lose their appeal with persistent presentation and absorption. One tires in time of love making. Repeated contact with people leads to a state of discomfort and one wants to be alone for a time. In other words, the satiation of an attractional drive often leads to a shift from attraction to avoidance. There is a distinct limit to perseverance. Avoidance has been termed 'craving for discontinuance' (vibhavata3hä). Buddhaghosa says .•73

"When (this craving) is accompanied by the idea of annihilation, (that is when the subject desires that) the object should break up and perish, then it is called 'craving for discontinued existence' (vibhavatanhã); for the desire accompanied by the idea of annihilation is called 'craving for discontinued existence'."

In the same way as an attractional drive may become an avoidant drive, so also the more avoidant drives may change their meaning for the individual. Society, culture, ideas, and learning constantly interfere with and qualify the drives and cycles of activity. Therefore it is not at all an easy thing to define a drive in terms of attraction or avoidance. A further complication is that in course of time the individual learns to thrust some of his anticipatory activities

into the future as the basis of a line of action. These are referred to as ideals, but when we talk of them, we are but stating in another way the principle of an internal, goaldirected drive. These ideals, moreover, serve to set off many cycles of long-term activity which may be finally ended when many years have elapsed. But it should never be forgotten that the deeply perseverative character of many of our drives, whether we think of them in connection with long-term cycles of activity or of the many subsidiary cycles, may rather obviously prevent an efficient adaptation, not only to a particular situation but also to the

final goal, whatever this may be. The inertia of our habitual pattern is all too evident, and it is always up to the individual to overcome this inertia in some way or other. We establish habits in order to escape the time- and effort-consuming procedure of applying our mental gifts to new tasks. The function of habits in our lives is primarily to do away with the faint vestige of spiritual growth. How strong the inclination to stagnate is in man, becomes most evident when we analyze beliefs. The core of every belief is prejudice. Swayed by emotions we make an unjustified generalization. Habits which prevent us from applying

new knowledge impair our spiritual growth considerably. We tend to become static and to deal with states of Being, and by introducing a (conceptual) split in Being we try to play the one against the other: either this or that, or nothing. But negativism in any form is not a solution. Candrakïrti clearly says that the either-or ends in failure

"Those who try to solve the problems of life either by continuation (bhava) or by discontinuation (vibhava) have no true knowledge. Both extremes have to be given up; the attractional drive (bhava trsnã) as well as the avoidant drive (vibhava trsnã)."

The distinction between an ordinary person and a Buddha, as indicated by the descriptive terms sems-can 'having a mind', and mkhyen-pa 'being aware in an original way', and the philosophical terms sems 'mind' and sems-nyid 'Mind-as such', points to an important observation. The term sems, which is usually

rendered by 'mind', may also be paraphrased by the term 'attitude'. An attitude is essentially an internally aroused set of mental-motor predispositions of an individual towards some specific or general stimulus. For this reason it is highly selective and it excludes everything that does not fit into a particular kind of action adopted by the individual. The building up of an attitude is so largely unconscious that often we are not at all aware of how it arises.

Sometimes a marginal impression is sufficient to determine the individual's response, because this tangential stimulation touches off and brings to light deep-lying tendencies. This is especially observable in the case-histories of neurotic people, but is also clearly visible in the 'normal' specimens. On the other hand, attitudes may be learned. Education, environmental influences and the many experiences undergone in the course of life, are all active in building an

attitude. Whatever may be the origin of a specific attitude, it is essentially the resultant of all the forces operating in life. The most important feature of an attitude, however, is its directionality. Not only does an attitude mark the inception of a response to a certain situation, it also gives direction to the ensuing action. Therefore, it is also characterized by emotic nally toned approaches and withdrawals, rejection and acceptance, likes and dislikes. This

emotionally toned attitude is known as the 'emotionally toned subjective disposition' (nyonmongs-pa'i yid)75 and is the basis for the individual's overt activity in the wake of his conceptualizing (intellectually abstracting) activity, which not so much introduces as finalizes the split in his Being, marking the emergence of self-consciousness in which he encounters Being. Since an attitude is both 'intellectual' and 'emotional', it follows that even a 'drive',

which we mostly tend to associate with the biological realm, takes on a certain 'meaning There are no meaningless drives in the strict sense of the word, hence the division we introduce between drive and spirit is but another instance of the lack of intrinsic awareness. The difficulty we have in understanding of Buddhist and, in particular, Tantric psychology is due to the fact that Buddhism starts from experiential knowledge rather than from a system of concepts or

abstract categories as a priori. The concern with Being and the potentialities now existing implies that what in most philosophies and religions is termed man's 'higher' nature and contrasted with his 'lower' side or, in the specifically Buddhist terminology 'absolute reality' aramãrthasatya) and 'commonly accepted reality' (sopvrtisatya), are both simultaneously defining characteristics of human nature, in the same way as man is both acting and cognizing. When

we know fully, suitable action follows automatically and spontaneously. It is significant that 'spontaneity' and 'togetherness' are the possible translations of the Indian word sahaja. But when action is divorced from knowledge or knowledge from action, each acts as a powerful fetter, if not as a destructive device. It is their identity that constitutes man's freedom. In the Vimalakirtinirdefasžtra we read

"Action divorced from appreciative discrimination (prajñã) is a fetter; appreciative discrimination divorced from action (upãya) is a fetter. Action endowed with appreciative discrimination is freedom (moksa); appreciative discrimination endowed with action is freedom. Their unity, like that of the lamp and its light, is spontaneously understood through the instruction of a competent teacher.'

Here we encounter another apparent contrast, that between bondage and freedom. To understand freedom properly we have to start from the basic idea of Tantrism, Being-as-such, and since there can be no other being without nullifying the absoluteness of Being, freedom must be identical with Being-as-such. It is a big irony that Western man who talks so much of freedom should have misunderstood it completely. The fact is that he has defined it either negatively as freedom

from this or that or compulsively as freedom to choose between two pre-ordained entities, according to the dictates of an imaginary super-power. But if freedom and Being-as-such are identical and if it is impossible to have a being other than Being-as-such, what about bondage? The answer is surprisingly simple. Bondage is the result of free activity of the subject taking up an attitude towards the object that is given with him, "neither earlier nor later,' because in

'adopting an attitude towards' we quite literally take up a certain point of view to the exclusion of any other viewpoint and in this way we 'tie ourselves'. Thus, to be, to be aware, to be happy, and to be free are synonyms emphasizing different aspects of one and the same reality. "The judicious man who has fully realized his Being as both appreciative discrimination and suitable action, purified from a within and a without, is happy (sukhitaÄ in finding no restrictive barriers.

ECSTATIC BLISS AND EMOTIONAL ENTANGLEMENT

In the same way as the status of a sentient being is an alienation from his very Being, emotions are a disruption and fragmentation of ecstatic bliss and of original awareness, which are the two aspects of man's unitary nature and which indicate how the quality of a person's thinking is determined by his feelings and how his feeling is determined by his thinking. Ordinarily we regard thinking as opposed to feeling, because we have tended to restrict thinking to

caterrorical perception and therebv have lost sight of 'existential' thinking which is value-informed perception and which alwavs is 'felt' knowledge. This 'felt' knowledge, before it is intellectuallv split up into opposing categories such as ecstatic bliss' and 'original awareness', represents the functional identity of thinking and feeling grounded in man's existence or Beincy which, as we have seen, is a dynamic becoming. Being as becoming is technically known as

'appearance' (snang-ba), and in its appearance presents itself to itself to be understood as what it is or to be concretized into what it is not but seems to be. In other words, we can view appearance categorically with 'mixed' feelings, or we can view it intrinsically in pure enjoyment. In its intrinsic perception we are set free from the demands our concepts make on what appears, and we can more truly be; or also become more aware of all aspects of reality because our

emotional insensitivity is giving way to a heightened feeling of being, and we also can be more natural because the inhibitinff and deadening bifurcation into subject and object is dissolved in an original creativity. Padma dkar-po says "Let whatever appears appear, and when in so appearing it is recognized for what it is, all attempts to concretize it (into what it is not), subside by themselves. Thereby, concepts are freed in value-being; emotions are freed in awareness; and the subject-object division is freed In non-propositional (creativity). This is like ice dissolvincr In water.

Is of the nature of Lord (Mind-as-such). Are the waves different from water? asks the Great Teacher Saraha. The fact that our concepts are (i.e., represent and constitute) our value-being, is like the fact that the waves are not different from (their) water." Padma dkar-po's reference to ice and water79 shows a deep understanding of human nature. In the symbol of water we easily recognize life pulsating through our body, and to the extent that we feel fully alive we also feel happy, and our joy pervades our environment and enriches everyone who comes into it. However, we all have also met persons who send a chill through us and we speak of them as 'ice-cold', incapable of any emotion. But on closer inspection we will find that a single emotion has usurped their feelings and has made them insensitive to reality.

Just as ice dissolves into its nature, water, so the emotions, 'frozen' fragments of 'felt' knowledge, can be thawed out into original awareness. There is the following 'correspondence' between emotions and awareness .•80

hostility mirror-like awareness arrogance self-sameness awareness attachment distinctness awareness jealousy achievement awareness infatuation Being awareness

Hostility is an emotion that introduces a division where there is none, and its association with perceptual abstraction, the capacity to recognize similarities and, above all, differences among sensible particulars, shows that it thrives in the unremitting cold and bleakness of a frozen wasteland—categorical perception, The thaw will reveal the unitary character of Being, what there really is, like a mirror which in Far Eastern thought is not so much a mechanical reflector, but a powerful means of revealing the true nature of things. The mirror 'reveals' my face whether I like it or not and thus makes me see what I may be reluctant to admit. Rather than presenting fleeting images, it fixes them and makes all other mental operations and kinds of awareness possible. "The mirror-(like) awareness is stable, the three other

Awarenesses, the awareness of self-sameness, uniqueness, and achievement, rest on it. The mirror-(like) awareness is non-subjective, unrestricted, ever-present,

It is not mistaken about everything knowable and is never biased. "81 The commentary on these verses emphasizes the unrestricted character of knowledge and awareness, that is, in terms of localization, it cannot be restricted to the sense of self, nor can it be exclusive, while, in terms of temporality, it is not an occasional occurrence, but an ever-present readiness to respond. Furthermore, in order to fulfil its function it must be clear and not shrouded and also must not be tainted by any bias. Indrabhüti even equates this knowledge with absolute Being which then mirrors' itself in its awareness:

"Called the All-Good Female, intuited as Mahãmudrã, This is known as Dharmakãya and also as Mirror-(like)

Awareness.

As one's face is seen in a mirror, stable;

So is absolute Being seen in the Mirror-(like)Awareness.

Being-as-such thus confronts itself in the act of self-judgment in the same way as the subject meets himself or herself in the partner, indirectly; the other serves as the subject's mirror:

"Through a mirror one decides Gudges) whether one's face is beautiful or ugly; without a mirror one does not see or understand one's face. But in this act of self-judgment the emerging subjectivism with its ego-centredness distorts the self-image and becomes the emotion of hostility. Arrogance is the inflated ego. In the paranoid type it develops delusions of grandeur; in the schizoid type it leads to masochistic self-righteousness. The thaw of this over-evaluated selfishness and self-ness, associated with judgments of feeling, leads to an awareness of the self-sameness of 'is-ness'. The individual exists, is, simply that; and in the awareness of 'is-ness' he can sense the joy that marks the dissolution of the rigid boundaries between self and other.

Attachment is need-centred 'love', demanding gratification, and for this reason depending on anything or anyone who promises to gratify the need. So one love-supplier is about as good as another. The thaw of this dependence on everythincr and everyone as a means of having one's needs gratified will lead to an awareness of the intrinsic uniqueness of what is perceived. To see anything and anyone, with all his attributes simultaneously and as necessary to each other, is to give greater validity to perception.

Jealousy is the intolerance of any rival for the possession or attainment of what one regards as peculiarly one's own. It is tied to the attempt of bolstering one's ego and its identification with accomplishments and failures. But ego identifications divert a person from becoming himself. The thaw of ego-centredncss shifts attention from the needs of the insatiate ego to the lifesustaining values of Being and leads to an awareness of having achieved or realized what is existentially valuable by having done what is humanly possible.

Infatuation is a response which is quite out of context with a situation because it focuses selectively on one aspect or another and ignores or is oblivious to the rest. It is related to the image we have of our bodily existence but is opposed to the reality of the experience. We experience our world only through our body and the more alive our body is, the more vividly do we perceive our world. But very often our body goes 'dead' (or, more exactly, is made to go dead) as far as its ability to respond to situations is concerned. Fantasies and infatuations then compensate for the loss of awareness. The thaw of infatuation not only restores the aliveness of the body but also leads to an awareness of Being-assuch.