Difference between revisions of "Meditation on Emptiness by Lama Zopa Rinpoche"
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− | Once again, bring your [[attention]] away from {{Wiki|hallucination}} to the [[realities]] of [[Life]], the [[nature]] of which is [[impermanence]] and [[Death]]. This frees our [[mind]] from [[Delusion]] and [[Karma]] so that we can not only bring to an end the entire round of [[Suffering]], the cycle of [[Death]] and [[Rebirth]], but also eradicate even the {{Wiki|subtle}} errors of [[mind]], thereby [[attaining]] [[Enlightenment]] for the sake of all [[Sentient beings]]. All [[causative]] [[phenomena]] — our [[Life]], our [[Body]], our [[mind]], our [[self]], our possessions, our relatives and friends, all other [[people]] — are changing, not only day by day, minute by minute and second by second, but every tiny moment. They do not last for a fraction of a second. Because they are under the control of [[causes and conditions]], they are in a state of [[constant]] [[decay]] and can cease at any [[time]]. This is the [[nature]] of our [[Life]]. If we can remain {{Wiki|aware}} of this, we will prevent our [[mind]] from coming under the control of the [[delusions]] — the {{Wiki|disturbing}} [[emotional]] [[minds]] that hurt us and other [[Sentient beings]], prevent us from [[transforming]] our [[mind]] and gaining realizations of the [[path]] to [[Enlightenment]], and stop us from [[seeing]] the [[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]] [[nature]] of all [[phenomena]]. First we stop [[delusions]] from [[manifesting]], and then, by actualizing the remedial [[path]], we eradicate even the imprints that they have left on our [[mental]] {{Wiki|continuum}}. By destroying the [[seeds]] of [[Delusion]], we attain [[Nirvana]], [[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]] [[liberation]] from The [[Six Realms]] of [[Suffering]] and its [[cause]], freedom from the circling [[aggregates]], which are [[Samsara]] itself. These are the benefits of [[Mindfulness]] of [[impermanence]]. We free ourselves of {{Wiki|disturbing}} [[thoughts]], immediately [[experience]] [[peace]] and [[satisfaction]], free ourselves from [[Samsara]], and eventually attain [[Enlightenment]] and [[enlighten]] all [[Sentient beings]]. [[Contemplate]] all this. | + | Once again, bring your [[attention]] away from {{Wiki|hallucination}} to the [[realities]] of [[Life]], the [[nature]] of which is [[impermanence]] and [[Death]]. This frees our [[mind]] from [[Delusion]] and [[Karma]] so that we can not only bring to an end the entire round of [[Suffering]], the cycle of [[Death]] and [[Rebirth]], but also eradicate even the {{Wiki|subtle}} errors of [[mind]], thereby [[attaining]] [[Enlightenment]] for the sake of all [[Sentient beings]]. All [[causative]] [[phenomena]] — our [[Life]], our [[Body]], our [[mind]], our [[self]], our possessions, our relatives and friends, all other [[people]] — are changing, not only day by day, minute by minute and second by second, but every tiny [[moment]]. They do not last for a fraction of a second. Because they are under the control of [[causes and conditions]], they are in a [[state]] of [[constant]] [[decay]] and can cease at any [[time]]. This is the [[nature]] of our [[Life]]. If we can remain {{Wiki|aware}} of this, we will prevent our [[mind]] from coming under the control of the [[delusions]] — the {{Wiki|disturbing}} [[emotional]] [[minds]] that {{Wiki|hurt}} us and other [[Sentient beings]], prevent us from [[transforming]] our [[mind]] and gaining realizations of the [[path]] to [[Enlightenment]], and stop us from [[seeing]] the [[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]] [[nature]] of all [[phenomena]]. First we stop [[delusions]] from [[manifesting]], and then, by actualizing the remedial [[path]], we eradicate even the imprints that they have left on our [[mental]] {{Wiki|continuum}}. By destroying the [[seeds]] of [[Delusion]], we attain [[Nirvana]], [[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]] [[liberation]] from The [[Six Realms]] of [[Suffering]] and its [[cause]], freedom from the circling [[aggregates]], which are [[Samsara]] itself. These are the benefits of [[Mindfulness]] of [[impermanence]]. We free ourselves of {{Wiki|disturbing}} [[thoughts]], immediately [[experience]] [[peace]] and [[satisfaction]], free ourselves from [[Samsara]], and eventually attain [[Enlightenment]] and [[enlighten]] all [[Sentient beings]]. [[Contemplate]] all this. |
− | Now [[meditate]] on [[Emptiness]], the actual [[nature]] of all [[phenomena]]. Think how your I, [[actions]], [[objects]], and in fact all [[phenomena]] — everything that is called "such and such" and "this and that" — are just names. Names have to come from the [[mind]]; they don't [[exist]] from their own side. Names are labels applied by the [[mind]]. However, it is not just that [[phenomena]] are labelled by the [[mind]] — they are merely labelled by the [[mind]]. In other words, all [[phenomena]] — I, [[action]], [[object]], everything — are merely labelled by the [[mind]], in [[relation]] to their base. Think about this. | + | Now [[meditate]] on [[Emptiness]], the actual [[nature]] of all [[phenomena]]. Think how your I, [[actions]], [[objects]], and in fact all [[phenomena]] — everything that is called "such and such" and "this and that" — are just names. Names have to come from the [[mind]]; they don't [[exist]] from their [[own]] side. Names are labels applied by the [[mind]]. However, it is not just that [[phenomena]] are labelled by the [[mind]] — they are merely labelled by the [[mind]]. In other words, all [[phenomena]] — I, [[action]], [[object]], everything — are merely labelled by the [[mind]], in [[relation]] to their base. Think about this. |
How things [[exist]] | How things [[exist]] | ||
− | Now I'm going to elaborate a little on the [[subject]] of [[Emptiness]]. The way in which everything [[exists]] is by being merely labelled by the [[mind]]. But that does not mean that everything the [[mind]] labels actually [[exists]]. Even though everything [[exists]] by being merely labelled by the [[mind]], that doesn't mean that if your [[mind]] labels something it automatically brings it into [[existence]]. For example, say I cut up a huge pile of newspapers into little pieces and my [[mind]] labels each one "a billion dollars" — that doesn't make each piece of paper worth a billion dollars. Even though my [[mind]] has merely labelled those pieces of paper "a billion dollars," that doesn't mean each one has become a billion dollars. If it were possible for that to happen, we wouldn't have to vote in presidential elections. We wouldn't have to put all that [[effort]] into raising funds, campaigning, spending all that [[money]], holding inquiries, to elect the president. All you'd have to do would be to label yourself, "I'm the American president," and you'd become president. If things coming into [[existence]] were only up to the [[mind]] labelling them, if that's all it took, then that's what would happen. Whenever you wanted to be president, all you'd have to do would be to have your [[mind]] label yourself president and you'd be president. In that way, everybody could become president. Maybe there'd be nobody left who wasn't president. A [[Wikipedia:Magician(paranormal)|magician]] could hypnotize you into believing that he'd given you a bag full of [[money]], and you might carry it [[home]], believing you were rich, but later, when you opened it up, there'd be nothing there but cut up pieces of newspaper. That's one way of showing that it doesn't [[exist]] — for your own [[mind]] to discover that it's not true. Later, when you're not under the influence of {{Wiki|hypnosis}}, you realize that it was an [[Illusion]], that the [[money]] you saw didn't [[exist]]. Everything was there for your [[mind]] — the [[appearance]] of [[money]] and your [[mind]] labelling it [[money]] — but it wasn't [[money]]. Another way of showing that it does not [[exist]] is for other [[people]] not to see the [[money]]. Because of the [[Illusion]] created by {{Wiki|hypnosis}}, [[money]] appears to your [[mind]], but other [[people]], whose [[minds]] are not under the [[Illusion]], don't see it. Therefore, it takes more than [[appearance]] and labelling by [[mind]] for something to [[exist]]. [[Dreams]] are another example of something where your own [[mind]] can discover that [[appearance]] and labelling by [[mind]] are insufficient to bring something into [[existence]]. For instance, one night you might have a [[dream]] in which you became [[king]], got [[married]] in a huge [[wedding]] {{Wiki|ceremony}}, lived in a luxurious jewelled palace and had many children. While you are [[dreaming]], the [[appearance]] of all this and your [[mind]] merely labelling it are both there, but when you wake up you again realize it wasn't true. You're not [[king]], there's no palace, no [[wealth]], no princes and {{Wiki|princesses}} — nothing. You don't have any of that. | + | Now I'm going to elaborate a little on the [[subject]] of [[Emptiness]]. The way in which everything [[exists]] is by being merely labelled by the [[mind]]. But that does not mean that everything the [[mind]] labels actually [[exists]]. Even though everything [[exists]] by being merely labelled by the [[mind]], that doesn't mean that if your [[mind]] labels something it automatically brings it into [[existence]]. For example, say I cut up a huge pile of newspapers into little pieces and my [[mind]] labels each one "a billion dollars" — that doesn't make each piece of paper worth a billion dollars. Even though my [[mind]] has merely labelled those pieces of paper "a billion dollars," that doesn't mean each one has become a billion dollars. If it were possible for that to happen, we wouldn't have to vote in presidential elections. We wouldn't have to put all that [[effort]] into raising funds, campaigning, spending all that [[money]], holding inquiries, to elect the [[president]]. All you'd have to do would be to label yourself, "I'm the [[American]] [[president]]," and you'd become [[president]]. If things coming into [[existence]] were only up to the [[mind]] labelling them, if that's all it took, then that's what would happen. Whenever you wanted to be [[president]], all you'd have to do would be to have your [[mind]] label yourself [[president]] and you'd be [[president]]. In that way, everybody could become [[president]]. Maybe there'd be nobody left who wasn't [[president]]. A [[Wikipedia:Magician(paranormal)|magician]] could hypnotize you into believing that he'd given you a bag full of [[money]], and you might carry it [[home]], believing you were rich, but later, when you opened it up, there'd be nothing there but cut up pieces of newspaper. That's one way of showing that it doesn't [[exist]] — for your [[own]] [[mind]] to discover that it's not true. Later, when you're not under the influence of {{Wiki|hypnosis}}, you realize that it was an [[Illusion]], that the [[money]] you saw didn't [[exist]]. Everything was there for your [[mind]] — the [[appearance]] of [[money]] and your [[mind]] labelling it [[money]] — but it wasn't [[money]]. Another way of showing that it does not [[exist]] is for other [[people]] not to see the [[money]]. Because of the [[Illusion]] created by {{Wiki|hypnosis}}, [[money]] appears to your [[mind]], but other [[people]], whose [[minds]] are not under the [[Illusion]], don't see it. Therefore, it takes more than [[appearance]] and labelling by [[mind]] for something to [[exist]]. [[Dreams]] are another example of something where your [[own]] [[mind]] can discover that [[appearance]] and labelling by [[mind]] are insufficient to bring something into [[existence]]. For instance, one night you might have a [[dream]] in which you became [[king]], got [[married]] in a huge [[wedding]] {{Wiki|ceremony}}, lived in a luxurious jewelled palace and had many children. While you are [[dreaming]], the [[appearance]] of all this and your [[mind]] merely labelling it are both there, but when you wake up you again realize it wasn't true. You're not [[king]], there's no palace, no [[wealth]], no princes and {{Wiki|princesses}} — nothing. You don't have any of that. |
[[File:Sb81.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Sb81.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
A valid base | A valid base | ||
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The worst [[Ignorance]] | The worst [[Ignorance]] | ||
− | So what is the [[bell]] that does not [[exist]]? When our [[mind]] [[perceives]] the [[bell]], it does not see a [[bell]] that is merely labelled by the [[mind]]. It sees something slightly beyond that, ever so slightly more than that. It sees something as [[existing]] from the side of the [[bell]], something [[existing]] from its own side, from the side of the [[object]]. If you [[concentrate]], if you analyze carefully how the [[bell]] [[exists]], that it is merely labelled by the [[mind]], you can see that there's nothing coming from the side of the [[bell]]. When you look deeply into the meaning of "merely labelled by the [[mind]]," you can see that nothing [[exists]] from the side of the [[object]]. When you [[concentrate]] on this, you can see how its [[existence]] comes only from your [[mind]]. But the way the [[bell]] appears to us, the way we believe it [[exists]], is slightly beyond its [[reality]], slightly more than its actual mode of [[existence]], which is being merely labelled by the [[mind]]. That's where the {{Wiki|hallucination}} begins. Starting from there, the rest of the way it appears is a total {{Wiki|hallucination}}. The way it appears, the way we believe it to [[exist]] — as something slightly beyond that which is merely labelled by the [[mind]] — is our biggest {{Wiki|hallucination}}, the biggest [[Suffering]] in the [[lives]] of us [[Sentient beings]]. That's what keeps us continually circling in [[Samsara]], dying and being [[reborn]], dying and being [[reborn]], experiencing the same [[beginningless]] problems again and again. There's no beginning to our [[experience]] of [[samsaric]] [[Suffering]] and so far it has not ended. Why do we still [[suffer]]? Because we have not yet [[realized]] [[Emptiness]], the [[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]] [[nature]] of [[phenomena]] — that things are [[empty]], that things [[exist]] merely in [[name]]. We have not discovered [[reality]]; we have not discovered the [[Wisdom]] that cuts the [[root]] of all [[Delusion]] and [[Karma]], the [[true cause]] of [[Suffering]], the [[cause]] of [[Samsara]]. We have not eradicated [[Ignorance]], the unknowing [[mind]]. We have continually been creating [[Ignorance]], the [[root]] of [[Samsara]]. Instead of [[meditating]] on [[Emptiness]], practicing [[Mindfulness]], we have been making our [[mind]] more and more [[ignorant]]. That's why we continue to [[suffer]]. So, what is this [[bell]] (or any other [[object]] you care to look at)? It is nothing other than that which is merely labelled by the [[mind]]. But our [[minds]] are so replete with negative imprints left by {{Wiki|past}} [[Ignorance]], the simultaneously born {{Wiki|concept}} of [[inherent]] [[existence]], that even though things [[exist]] as merely labelled by the [[mind]], we hold on to them as if they [[exist]] from their own side. We apprehend them as inherently [[existent]], as not merely [[imputed]] by the [[mind]]. Therefore, this [[bell]] is merely labelled by the [[mind]]. But because of the negative imprints left on our [[mental]] {{Wiki|continuum}} by {{Wiki|past}} [[Ignorance]], the {{Wiki|concept}} of [[inherent]] [[existence]], the apprehension and [[belief]] that [[phenomena]] [[exist]] from their own side, as soon as our [[mind]] creates the label "[[bell]]," as soon as it merely imputes "[[bell]]" on the base, the negative imprints left on our [[mental]] {{Wiki|continuum}} project the {{Wiki|hallucination}} that it [[exists]] from its own side. It's like when you take a roll of film to be developed — the images from the negative are {{Wiki|projected}} onto special paper, mixed with chemicals, and a picture appears to make the photograph — or like putting a film into a projector and beaming the images it contains onto a screen. Whatever the [[object]] — a [[bell]], your I — the moment it's labelled by the [[mind]], the negative imprints project upon it the adornment of [[inherent]] [[existence]]. The thing is that we're unaware, or we forget, that what we're [[seeing]] is merely [[imputed]] by our [[mind]]. Basically, there are three things in the [[Evolution]] of all this. First of all, as a start, our [[mind]] merely labels the [[object]]. Second, the negative imprints left by previous [[Wikipedia:concept|concepts]] of [[inherent]] [[existence]] project the [[appearance]] of [[inherent]] [[existence]] that the [[object]] we're looking at now [[exists]] from its own side, that there's a real [[bell]] there — not a [[bell]] from our [[mind]], but a [[bell]] from the side of the [[bell]]. This is a totally, totally wrong [[idea]] — a complete {{Wiki|hallucination}} {{Wiki|projected}} onto the [[bell]]. Third, we allow our [[mind]] to believe that this is one hundred percent true. We allow our [[mind]] to hold on to this, to [[grasp]] this, as completely, one hundred percent true — that there's a real [[bell]] over there, that that's the [[reality]]. This is [[Ignorance]]. At that moment, we are making our [[mind]] [[ignorant]], unknowing. We are making our [[mind]] [[ignorant]] as to the actual [[nature]] of the [[bell]], which in [[reality]] is totally [[empty]] from its own side. What [[exists]] is merely labelled by the [[mind]]. The [[bell]], which is totally [[empty]] from its own side, [[exists]] merely in [[name]]. Being unaware of this is an example of how we make our [[mind]] [[ignorant]]. | + | So what is the [[bell]] that does not [[exist]]? When our [[mind]] [[perceives]] the [[bell]], it does not see a [[bell]] that is merely labelled by the [[mind]]. It sees something slightly beyond that, ever so slightly more than that. It sees something as [[existing]] from the side of the [[bell]], something [[existing]] from its [[own]] side, from the side of the [[object]]. If you [[concentrate]], if you analyze carefully how the [[bell]] [[exists]], that it is merely labelled by the [[mind]], you can see that there's nothing coming from the side of the [[bell]]. When you look deeply into the meaning of "merely labelled by the [[mind]]," you can see that nothing [[exists]] from the side of the [[object]]. When you [[concentrate]] on this, you can see how its [[existence]] comes only from your [[mind]]. But the way the [[bell]] appears to us, the way we believe it [[exists]], is slightly beyond its [[reality]], slightly more than its actual mode of [[existence]], which is being merely labelled by the [[mind]]. That's where the {{Wiki|hallucination}} begins. Starting from there, the rest of the way it appears is a total {{Wiki|hallucination}}. The way it appears, the way we believe it to [[exist]] — as something slightly beyond that which is merely labelled by the [[mind]] — is our biggest {{Wiki|hallucination}}, the biggest [[Suffering]] in the [[lives]] of us [[Sentient beings]]. That's what keeps us continually circling in [[Samsara]], dying and being [[reborn]], dying and being [[reborn]], experiencing the same [[beginningless]] problems again and again. There's no beginning to our [[experience]] of [[samsaric]] [[Suffering]] and so far it has not ended. Why do we still [[suffer]]? Because we have not yet [[realized]] [[Emptiness]], the [[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]] [[nature]] of [[phenomena]] — that things are [[empty]], that things [[exist]] merely in [[name]]. We have not discovered [[reality]]; we have not discovered the [[Wisdom]] that cuts the [[root]] of all [[Delusion]] and [[Karma]], the [[true cause]] of [[Suffering]], the [[cause]] of [[Samsara]]. We have not eradicated [[Ignorance]], the unknowing [[mind]]. We have continually been creating [[Ignorance]], the [[root]] of [[Samsara]]. Instead of [[meditating]] on [[Emptiness]], practicing [[Mindfulness]], we have been making our [[mind]] more and more [[ignorant]]. That's why we continue to [[suffer]]. So, what is this [[bell]] (or any other [[object]] you care to look at)? It is nothing other than that which is merely labelled by the [[mind]]. But our [[minds]] are so replete with negative imprints left by {{Wiki|past}} [[Ignorance]], the simultaneously born {{Wiki|concept}} of [[inherent]] [[existence]], that even though things [[exist]] as merely labelled by the [[mind]], we hold on to them as if they [[exist]] from their [[own]] side. We apprehend them as inherently [[existent]], as not merely [[imputed]] by the [[mind]]. Therefore, this [[bell]] is merely labelled by the [[mind]]. But because of the negative imprints left on our [[mental]] {{Wiki|continuum}} by {{Wiki|past}} [[Ignorance]], the {{Wiki|concept}} of [[inherent]] [[existence]], the apprehension and [[belief]] that [[phenomena]] [[exist]] from their [[own]] side, as soon as our [[mind]] creates the label "[[bell]]," as soon as it merely imputes "[[bell]]" on the base, the negative imprints left on our [[mental]] {{Wiki|continuum}} project the {{Wiki|hallucination}} that it [[exists]] from its [[own]] side. It's like when you take a roll of film to be developed — the images from the negative are {{Wiki|projected}} onto special paper, mixed with {{Wiki|chemicals}}, and a picture appears to make the photograph — or like putting a film into a projector and beaming the images it contains onto a screen. Whatever the [[object]] — a [[bell]], your I — the [[moment]] it's labelled by the [[mind]], the negative imprints project upon it the adornment of [[inherent]] [[existence]]. The thing is that we're unaware, or we forget, that what we're [[seeing]] is merely [[imputed]] by our [[mind]]. Basically, there are three things in the [[Evolution]] of all this. First of all, as a start, our [[mind]] merely labels the [[object]]. Second, the negative imprints left by previous [[Wikipedia:concept|concepts]] of [[inherent]] [[existence]] project the [[appearance]] of [[inherent]] [[existence]] that the [[object]] we're looking at now [[exists]] from its [[own]] side, that there's a real [[bell]] there — not a [[bell]] from our [[mind]], but a [[bell]] from the side of the [[bell]]. This is a totally, totally wrong [[idea]] — a complete {{Wiki|hallucination}} {{Wiki|projected}} onto the [[bell]]. Third, we allow our [[mind]] to believe that this is one hundred percent true. We allow our [[mind]] to hold on to this, to [[grasp]] this, as completely, one hundred percent true — that there's a real [[bell]] over there, that that's the [[reality]]. This is [[Ignorance]]. At that [[moment]], we are making our [[mind]] [[ignorant]], unknowing. We are making our [[mind]] [[ignorant]] as to the actual [[nature]] of the [[bell]], which in [[reality]] is totally [[empty]] from its [[own]] side. What [[exists]] is merely labelled by the [[mind]]. The [[bell]], which is totally [[empty]] from its [[own]] side, [[exists]] merely in [[name]]. Being unaware of this is an example of how we make our [[mind]] [[ignorant]]. |
[[File:Sb84.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Sb84.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
{{Wiki|Hallucination}} | {{Wiki|Hallucination}} | ||
− | Just as this applies to the example of the [[bell]], so is it true for all other [[phenomena]]. Starting from our I, the way we see ourselves, everything we {{Wiki|perceive}} is as hallucinated as our [[view]] of the [[bell]]. Our [[view]] is completely wrong and so too is the [[belief]] that we hold on to. Starting with the [[subject]], I, whatever we {{Wiki|perceive}} in the course of a twenty-four hour day does not [[exist]] the way in which we believe. Think of everything we see during the course of one day; all the [[objects]] of [[form]] with which our [[eye]] [[sense]] comes into [[contact]] — shapes and colors, billions and billions of things wherever we look. No {{Wiki|matter}} which of these billions of [[objects]] we observe, we see each one in just the same way as I described our [[view]] of the [[bell]]. Just as we don't see the [[bell]] as merely labelled by the [[mind]], similarly, we don't see anything else we look at in its [[true nature]], as merely labelled by the [[mind]] and totally [[empty]] from its own side. Even though, were we to analyze the bell's mode of [[existence]] [[logically]], {{Wiki|scientifically}}, we would understand the way in which it [[exists]], that's not how we see it. The [[bell]] we see is something else altogether. In the same way, we misperceive every other [[object]] of [[form]] that appears to our [[eye consciousness]]. When we go into a supermarket or department store where even one section contains thousands of [[objects]], we don't see even one of them in the way it [[exists]]. We're in a totally different [[world]] from the one that actually [[exists]]; our [[world]] is something else completely. What we see does not [[exist]] in the supermarket or the department store. In [[reality]], what we see [[exists]] nowhere. Everything we see is cloaked in {{Wiki|hallucination}}. We go into a store and our [[mind]] labels things "this, this, this, this, this," but a layer of [[inherent]] [[existence]] completely covers all these [[objects]] merely labelled by [[mind]]. To us they appear as not merely labelled by [[mind]], as [[existing]] from their own side — an [[appearance]] that is totally {{Wiki|non-existent}}, a complete {{Wiki|hallucination}}. This {{Wiki|hallucination}} encases the entire [[world of form]], a [[world]] that [[exists]] merely in [[name]]. It's the same with [[sound]]. Before I was talking about [[forms]], [[visual objects]] of the [[sense]] of [[eye]]. But we {{Wiki|perceive}} much more than that. We have four other [[senses]] — hearing, {{Wiki|smell}}, {{Wiki|taste}} and {{Wiki|touch}}. Thus, {{Wiki|sounds}} also [[exist]] merely in [[name]] and not from their own side. But again, we hallucinate with every [[sound]] we hear, believing it to be inherently [[existent]], when it's exactly the opposite. Every [[object]] of every [[sense]] [[exists]] merely in [[name]], as a valid base merely labelled by the [[mind]]. But as long as we don't develop the [[Wisdom]] [[realizing]] [[Emptiness]], we'll never see [[sense objects]] in their [[nature]], the way they [[exist]]. Instead, we cloak these merely labelled [[sense objects]] in the {{Wiki|hallucination}} of [[existence]] from their own side and hang to that as true, allow our [[mind]] to believe in our own {{Wiki|hallucination}} that there really is something there. Because we do not practice [[Mindfulness]] [[meditation]] on [[Emptiness]], or [[Dependent arising]] — [[Mindfulness]] on the {{Wiki|hallucination}} that it is a {{Wiki|hallucination}} — we constantly make our [[mind]] more and more [[ignorant]]. For example, when we [[dreaming]], we can practice [[Mindfulness]] that this is but a [[dream]]. Similarly, during the day, we can practice [[Mindfulness]] that what we're [[seeing]] is but a {{Wiki|hallucination}}. If we do this, we're not [[meditating]] on something that [[exists]] as a {{Wiki|hallucination}} — we're [[meditating]] that a {{Wiki|hallucination}} is a {{Wiki|hallucination}}. As a result, what comes into our [[Heart]] is an [[understanding]] of [[Emptiness]], the [[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]] [[nature]] of the circle of three — I, [[action]] and [[object]]. By doing this, we stop making our [[mind]] increasingly [[ignorant]]. We stop constantly creating the basis for [[emotional]] [[thoughts]], [[delusions]], [[attachment]] — those unnecessary [[minds]] that bring no [[benefit]], only harm, and motivate [[Karma]] that becomes the [[cause]] of [[Samsara]] and all its [[realms]] of [[Suffering]]. | + | Just as this applies to the example of the [[bell]], so is it true for all other [[phenomena]]. Starting from our I, the way we see ourselves, everything we {{Wiki|perceive}} is as hallucinated as our [[view]] of the [[bell]]. Our [[view]] is completely wrong and so too is the [[belief]] that we hold on to. Starting with the [[subject]], I, whatever we {{Wiki|perceive}} in the course of a twenty-four hour day does not [[exist]] the way in which we believe. Think of everything we see during the course of one day; all the [[objects]] of [[form]] with which our [[eye]] [[sense]] comes into [[contact]] — shapes and colors, billions and billions of things wherever we look. No {{Wiki|matter}} which of these billions of [[objects]] we observe, we see each one in just the same way as I described our [[view]] of the [[bell]]. Just as we don't see the [[bell]] as merely labelled by the [[mind]], similarly, we don't see anything else we look at in its [[true nature]], as merely labelled by the [[mind]] and totally [[empty]] from its [[own]] side. Even though, were we to analyze the bell's mode of [[existence]] [[logically]], {{Wiki|scientifically}}, we would understand the way in which it [[exists]], that's not how we see it. The [[bell]] we see is something else altogether. In the same way, we misperceive every other [[object]] of [[form]] that appears to our [[eye consciousness]]. When we go into a supermarket or department store where even one section contains thousands of [[objects]], we don't see even one of them in the way it [[exists]]. We're in a totally different [[world]] from the one that actually [[exists]]; our [[world]] is something else completely. What we see does not [[exist]] in the supermarket or the department store. In [[reality]], what we see [[exists]] nowhere. Everything we see is cloaked in {{Wiki|hallucination}}. We go into a store and our [[mind]] labels things "this, this, this, this, this," but a layer of [[inherent]] [[existence]] completely covers all these [[objects]] merely labelled by [[mind]]. To us they appear as not merely labelled by [[mind]], as [[existing]] from their [[own]] side — an [[appearance]] that is totally {{Wiki|non-existent}}, a complete {{Wiki|hallucination}}. This {{Wiki|hallucination}} encases the entire [[world of form]], a [[world]] that [[exists]] merely in [[name]]. It's the same with [[sound]]. Before I was talking about [[forms]], [[visual objects]] of the [[sense]] of [[eye]]. But we {{Wiki|perceive}} much more than that. We have four other [[senses]] — hearing, {{Wiki|smell}}, {{Wiki|taste}} and {{Wiki|touch}}. Thus, {{Wiki|sounds}} also [[exist]] merely in [[name]] and not from their [[own]] side. But again, we hallucinate with every [[sound]] we hear, believing it to be inherently [[existent]], when it's exactly the opposite. Every [[object]] of every [[sense]] [[exists]] merely in [[name]], as a valid base merely labelled by the [[mind]]. But as long as we don't develop the [[Wisdom]] [[realizing]] [[Emptiness]], we'll never see [[sense objects]] in their [[nature]], the way they [[exist]]. Instead, we cloak these merely labelled [[sense objects]] in the {{Wiki|hallucination}} of [[existence]] from their [[own]] side and hang to that as true, allow our [[mind]] to believe in our [[own]] {{Wiki|hallucination}} that there really is something there. Because we do not practice [[Mindfulness]] [[meditation]] on [[Emptiness]], or [[Dependent arising]] — [[Mindfulness]] on the {{Wiki|hallucination}} that it is a {{Wiki|hallucination}} — we constantly make our [[mind]] more and more [[ignorant]]. For example, when we [[dreaming]], we can practice [[Mindfulness]] that this is but a [[dream]]. Similarly, during the day, we can practice [[Mindfulness]] that what we're [[seeing]] is but a {{Wiki|hallucination}}. If we do this, we're not [[meditating]] on something that [[exists]] as a {{Wiki|hallucination}} — we're [[meditating]] that a {{Wiki|hallucination}} is a {{Wiki|hallucination}}. As a result, what comes into our [[Heart]] is an [[understanding]] of [[Emptiness]], the [[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]] [[nature]] of the circle of three — I, [[action]] and [[object]]. By doing this, we stop making our [[mind]] increasingly [[ignorant]]. We stop constantly creating the basis for [[emotional]] [[thoughts]], [[delusions]], [[attachment]] — those unnecessary [[minds]] that bring no [[benefit]], only harm, and motivate [[Karma]] that becomes the [[cause]] of [[Samsara]] and all its [[realms]] of [[Suffering]]. |
[[File:Url-4.jgfpg.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Url-4.jgfpg.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
− | What is the [[mind]]? What's true for the [[physical senses]], as above, is also true for the [[mind]], the {{Wiki|perceiver}}, itself. The [[mind]] is a [[phenomenon]] too. What is the [[mind]]? It is a [[phenomenon]] that is not [[Body]], not substantial, has no [[form]], no shape, no {{Wiki|color}}, but, like a [[mirror]], can clearly reflect [[objects]]. [[Objects]] appear to the [[mind]] and the [[mind]] can {{Wiki|perceive}} these [[objects]]. As long as a [[mirror]] is not dirty, it will reflect whatever [[object]] comes before it clearly. Similarly, since the [[mind]] is unobstructed by [[substance]], [[form]], [[objects]] can appear to it. The [[phenomenon]] that is [[mind]] [[perceives]] [[objects]]. So, that is the base. In [[relation]] to that [[phenomenon]], our [[thought]] creates, merely imputes, the label "[[mind]]," and that's how the [[mind]] [[exists]]. The [[mind]] also [[exists]] merely in [[name]]; what we call [[mind]] has been merely labelled by [[thought]]. It's like when a [[person]] is given a [[name]]. Mine is Zopa. Actually, it's [[Thubten Zopa]], and it was given to me by my [[abbot]]. According to [[tradition]], when an [[abbot]] ordains new [[monks]], he gives them his first [[name]]. My [[abbot's]] first [[name]] was Thubten, and then he added the Zopa. With his [[mind]], he labelled me "Zopa." You received your [[name]] in a similar way. Whether you named yourself or it was given to you by your [[parents]], your [[name]] is a mind-created label. In the same way, then, what's called [[mind]] is also a [[name]]. We think there's a real [[mind]] — a real [[mind]] [[existing]] from there. That's how it appears to us and, without a shadow of [[Doubt]], we believe one hundred percent in this [[appearance]]. But if we analyze this [[phenomenon]] called [[mind]], it's no different from the [[name]] given to you by your [[parents]], which was created by their [[mind]]. What you call [[mind]] has been merely labelled by your [[thought]] in [[relation]] to its base, that [[formless]] [[phenomenon]] that has neither shape nor {{Wiki|color}}, whose [[nature]] is clear and that has the ability to {{Wiki|perceive}} [[objects]]. That is the base and "[[mind]]" is the label. They're two {{Wiki|distinct}} [[phenomena]], not one. They're not separate, but they're different. That's what we have to realize — that these two [[phenomena]] are different. This is what we have to discover through [[meditation]]. By doing this we can begin to free ourselves from the {{Wiki|hallucination}} that is the [[root]] of all [[Suffering]]. This is how we start to {{Wiki|liberate}} ourselves from [[Samsara]]. | + | What is the [[mind]]? What's true for the [[physical senses]], as above, is also true for the [[mind]], the {{Wiki|perceiver}}, itself. The [[mind]] is a [[phenomenon]] too. What is the [[mind]]? It is a [[phenomenon]] that is not [[Body]], [[not substantial]], has no [[form]], no shape, no {{Wiki|color}}, but, like a [[mirror]], can clearly reflect [[objects]]. [[Objects]] appear to the [[mind]] and the [[mind]] can {{Wiki|perceive}} these [[objects]]. As long as a [[mirror]] is not dirty, it will reflect whatever [[object]] comes before it clearly. Similarly, since the [[mind]] is unobstructed by [[substance]], [[form]], [[objects]] can appear to it. The [[phenomenon]] that is [[mind]] [[perceives]] [[objects]]. So, that is the base. In [[relation]] to that [[phenomenon]], our [[thought]] creates, merely imputes, the label "[[mind]]," and that's how the [[mind]] [[exists]]. The [[mind]] also [[exists]] merely in [[name]]; what we call [[mind]] has been merely labelled by [[thought]]. It's like when a [[person]] is given a [[name]]. Mine is Zopa. Actually, it's [[Thubten Zopa]], and it was given to me by my [[abbot]]. According to [[tradition]], when an [[abbot]] ordains new [[monks]], he gives them his first [[name]]. My [[abbot's]] first [[name]] was Thubten, and then he added the Zopa. With his [[mind]], he labelled me "Zopa." You received your [[name]] in a similar way. Whether you named yourself or it was given to you by your [[parents]], your [[name]] is a mind-created label. In the same way, then, what's called [[mind]] is also a [[name]]. We think there's a real [[mind]] — a real [[mind]] [[existing]] from there. That's how it appears to us and, without a shadow of [[Doubt]], we believe one hundred percent in this [[appearance]]. But if we analyze this [[phenomenon]] called [[mind]], it's no different from the [[name]] given to you by your [[parents]], which was created by their [[mind]]. What you call [[mind]] has been merely labelled by your [[thought]] in [[relation]] to its base, that [[formless]] [[phenomenon]] that has neither shape nor {{Wiki|color}}, whose [[nature]] is clear and that has the ability to {{Wiki|perceive}} [[objects]]. That is the base and "[[mind]]" is the label. They're two {{Wiki|distinct}} [[phenomena]], not one. They're not separate, but they're different. That's what we have to realize — that these two [[phenomena]] are different. This is what we have to discover through [[meditation]]. By doing this we can begin to free ourselves from the {{Wiki|hallucination}} that is the [[root]] of all [[Suffering]]. This is how we start to {{Wiki|liberate}} ourselves from [[Samsara]]. |
Schools of [[Buddhist Philosophy]] and the [[object]] of refutation | Schools of [[Buddhist Philosophy]] and the [[object]] of refutation | ||
− | I started this [[discussion]] by saying how everything [[exists]] as merely labelled by [[mind]], and then went on to clarify that simply labelling things is not enough to bring them into [[existence]], that just because something is merely labelled, it [[exists]]. Then I went on to mention the three things required for something to [[exist]]: a valid base, not receiving harm from another's valid [[mind]], and not receiving harm from the [[Wisdom]] [[realizing]] [[Emptiness]]. Now, going back to the [[bell]]. As I mentioned before, the way the [[bell]] appears to us and the way in which we believe it to [[exist]] are slightly beyond the way it actually [[exists]], which is in mere [[name]], as merely labelled by the [[mind]]. This difference is a very {{Wiki|subtle}} {{Wiki|hallucination}} that, in [[Buddhist]] [[philosophical]] teachings, is called the "[[object]] to be refuted," or the "[[object]] of refutation." There are [[four schools]] of [[Buddhist Philosophy]] — [[Vaibashika]] ([[che-tra-mra-wa]]), [[Sautrantika]] ([[do-de-pa]]), [[Cittamatra]] ([[sem-tsam]]) and [[Madhyamika]] ([[u-ma-pa]]). The fourth of these is the [[Middle Way]] school and is divided into two: [[Svatantrika]] ([[rang-gyu-pa]]) and [[Prasangika]] ([[thal-gyur-wa]]). According to the [[Prasangika school]], the [[object]] of refutation (or {{Wiki|negation}}, [[gag-cha]]) is an extremely {{Wiki|subtle}} [[object]] that is ever so slightly more than — a little over and above — what is merely labelled by the [[mind]]. The [[object]] of refutation is what appears to us; it is that in which we believe. In order to attain [[liberation]] from the entire round of [[Suffering]] and its [[cause]], we need to cut its very [[root]], the fundamental [[Ignorance]] that keeps us in it. Of the many kinds of [[Ignorance]], which is the specific one that we have to eradicate? It is not the {{Wiki|concept}} that believes the [[bell]] to [[exist]] the way it appears, which is what the texts usually describe as the [[root]] of [[Samsara]] — except that in the case of the [[root]] of [[Samsara]], we should be talking about the I, not the [[bell]] that I've been using as an example here. When the I appears to us, we believe that there is something slightly over and above what is merely labelled by the [[mind]] and that this is how the I [[exists]]. Then we believe that this is one hundred percent true and let our [[mind]] hold on to that. It is this specific, particular [[Ignorance]] that is the [[root]] of all [[Delusion]], [[Karma]] and [[Suffering]]. This very one. It's not just any type of [[Ignorance]] — it's this one. As well as this kind of [[Ignorance]], there's the one described by the second [[Madhyamika]] school, the [[Svatantrika]] — the {{Wiki|hallucination}} on the I, the [[object]] to be refuted according to their [[view]]. I'm just mentioning this so that you'll have an [[idea]] of how trapped our [[minds]] are, how many different levels of [[Ignorance]] we [[experience]], how many kinds of {{Wiki|hallucination}} there are. The {{Wiki|hallucination}} on the I that the [[Svatantrikas]] describe is grosser than the one the [[Prasangikas]] explain. Then there's the [[Cittamatrins]]' version, where they say that the I [[exists]] from its own side without depending on [[mental]] imprints, without the [[mind]] as creator. They describe a seventh level of [[consciousness]] — normally we talk about just six — that is called the basis of [[Samsara]] and [[Nirvana]]. | + | I started this [[discussion]] by saying how everything [[exists]] as merely labelled by [[mind]], and then went on to clarify that simply labelling things is not enough to bring them into [[existence]], that just because something is merely labelled, it [[exists]]. Then I went on to mention the three things required for something to [[exist]]: a valid base, not receiving harm from another's valid [[mind]], and not receiving harm from the [[Wisdom]] [[realizing]] [[Emptiness]]. Now, going back to the [[bell]]. As I mentioned before, the way the [[bell]] appears to us and the way in which we believe it to [[exist]] are slightly beyond the way it actually [[exists]], which is in mere [[name]], as merely labelled by the [[mind]]. This difference is a very {{Wiki|subtle}} {{Wiki|hallucination}} that, in [[Buddhist]] [[philosophical]] teachings, is called the "[[object]] to be refuted," or the "[[object]] of refutation." There are [[four schools]] of [[Buddhist Philosophy]] — [[Vaibashika]] ([[che-tra-mra-wa]]), [[Sautrantika]] ([[do-de-pa]]), [[Cittamatra]] ([[sem-tsam]]) and [[Madhyamika]] ([[u-ma-pa]]). The fourth of these is the [[Middle Way]] school and is divided into two: [[Svatantrika]] ([[rang-gyu-pa]]) and [[Prasangika]] ([[thal-gyur-wa]]). According to the [[Prasangika school]], the [[object]] of refutation (or {{Wiki|negation}}, [[gag-cha]]) is an extremely {{Wiki|subtle}} [[object]] that is ever so slightly more than — a little over and above — what is merely labelled by the [[mind]]. The [[object]] of refutation is what appears to us; it is that in which we believe. In order to attain [[liberation]] from the entire round of [[Suffering]] and its [[cause]], we need to cut its very [[root]], the fundamental [[Ignorance]] that keeps us in it. Of the many kinds of [[Ignorance]], which is the specific one that we have to eradicate? It is not the {{Wiki|concept}} that believes the [[bell]] to [[exist]] the way it appears, which is what the texts usually describe as the [[root]] of [[Samsara]] — except that in the case of the [[root]] of [[Samsara]], we should be talking about the I, not the [[bell]] that I've been using as an example here. When the I appears to us, we believe that there is something slightly over and above what is merely labelled by the [[mind]] and that this is how the I [[exists]]. Then we believe that this is one hundred percent true and let our [[mind]] hold on to that. It is this specific, particular [[Ignorance]] that is the [[root]] of all [[Delusion]], [[Karma]] and [[Suffering]]. This very one. It's not just any type of [[Ignorance]] — it's this one. As well as this kind of [[Ignorance]], there's the one described by the second [[Madhyamika]] school, the [[Svatantrika]] — the {{Wiki|hallucination}} on the I, the [[object]] to be refuted according to their [[view]]. I'm just mentioning this so that you'll have an [[idea]] of how trapped our [[minds]] are, how many different levels of [[Ignorance]] we [[experience]], how many kinds of {{Wiki|hallucination}} there are. The {{Wiki|hallucination}} on the I that the [[Svatantrikas]] describe is grosser than the one the [[Prasangikas]] explain. Then there's the [[Cittamatrins]]' version, where they say that the I [[exists]] from its [[own]] side without depending on [[mental]] imprints, without the [[mind]] as creator. They describe a seventh level of [[consciousness]] — normally we talk about just six — that is called the basis of [[Samsara]] and [[Nirvana]]. |
[[File:Url-4.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Url-4.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
− | So they say that the I [[exists]] totally from its own side without depending on imprints left on this seventh level of [[consciousness]] and describe it as a self-entity. According to {{Wiki|Hindu philosophy}}, the I, which they call [[Atman]], is [[permanent]]. While the [[self]] is actually [[impermanent]], they believe it to be [[permanent]]. Therefore, there's a lot of [[discussion]] in [[Buddhist texts]] refuting this [[view]], explaining that while the [[self]] may appear to us to be [[permanent]], in fact it changes moment by moment due to [[causes and conditions]] and is therefore [[impermanent]]. If you look at your I right now, you'll see that it appears to be [[permanent]], whereas you know that in [[reality]] it is [[impermanent]] in [[nature]]. Other [[views]] hold, for example, that while the I is [[dependent upon]] parts, there is the [[appearance]] and the [[belief]] that it [[exists]] alone, not [[dependent upon]] parts, or that while the I is [[dependent upon]] [[causes and conditions]], there is the [[appearance]] and the [[belief]] that it [[exists]] with its own freedom, without depending on [[causes and conditions]]. These gross [[hallucinations]] are described and posited as the [[object]] of refutation by the first [[Buddhist]] school, the [[Vaibashika]]. This school has eighteen divisions, each with its own variant [[view]]. Then there's the {{Wiki|hallucination}} that even though the I [[exists]] [[dependent upon]] the group and continuity of the [[aggregates]], it appears to us as a self-entity [[existing]] without depending on the group and continuity of the [[aggregates]]. So these are some of the positions held by the [[Vaibashika]] and the [[Sautrantika]], the lower [[Buddhist]] schools. How has it come about that there are these [[four schools]] of [[Buddhist Philosophy]]? It's due to the different ways of explaining what the I is. In [[reality]], [[Emptiness]] is just one, not many. There is only one [[Emptiness]] that directly cuts the [[root]] of [[Samsara]]. This is the [[Emptiness]] [[taught]] by the [[Prasangika]]-[[Madhyamika]] school, whose [[view]] of [[Emptiness]] is the unmistaken, [[pure]] one and the only one that can cut the specific [[Ignorance]] that I mentioned before. However, not everybody has the [[Karma]] to accept this, to understand this, to realize this. [[Sentient beings]] have different levels of [[mind]]. Therefore, the all-knowing, kind, [[compassionate]] [[Buddha]] [[taught]] varying levels of [[philosophy]] to [[guide]] [[Sentient beings]]' [[minds]] gradually up to the level where they could realize the [[Prasangika view]] of [[Emptiness]]. One could start with the gross explanations of [[Emptiness]] [[taught]] by the lower schools and gradually progress up to the most {{Wiki|subtle}}, the [[Prasangika]]. That's how the [[four schools]] came into being. The lower schools were steps to the higher ones, leading ultimately to the [[Prasangika]]. So even though the [[views]] of these various schools seem to contradict each other, actually they're a method for gradually developing through study and [[meditation]] the [[Prasangika view]]. | + | So they say that the I [[exists]] totally from its [[own]] side without depending on imprints left on this seventh level of [[consciousness]] and describe it as a self-entity. According to {{Wiki|Hindu philosophy}}, the I, which they call [[Atman]], is [[permanent]]. While the [[self]] is actually [[impermanent]], they believe it to be [[permanent]]. Therefore, there's a lot of [[discussion]] in [[Buddhist texts]] refuting this [[view]], explaining that while the [[self]] may appear to us to be [[permanent]], in fact it changes [[moment]] by [[moment]] due to [[causes and conditions]] and is therefore [[impermanent]]. If you look at your I right now, you'll see that it appears to be [[permanent]], whereas you know that in [[reality]] it is [[impermanent]] in [[nature]]. Other [[views]] hold, for example, that while the I is [[dependent upon]] parts, there is the [[appearance]] and the [[belief]] that it [[exists]] alone, not [[dependent upon]] parts, or that while the I is [[dependent upon]] [[causes and conditions]], there is the [[appearance]] and the [[belief]] that it [[exists]] with its [[own]] freedom, without depending on [[causes and conditions]]. These gross [[hallucinations]] are described and posited as the [[object]] of refutation by the first [[Buddhist]] school, the [[Vaibashika]]. This school has eighteen divisions, each with its [[own]] variant [[view]]. Then there's the {{Wiki|hallucination}} that even though the I [[exists]] [[dependent upon]] the group and continuity of the [[aggregates]], it appears to us as a self-entity [[existing]] without depending on the group and continuity of the [[aggregates]]. So these are some of the positions held by the [[Vaibashika]] and the [[Sautrantika]], the lower [[Buddhist]] schools. How has it come about that there are these [[four schools]] of [[Buddhist Philosophy]]? It's due to the different ways of explaining what the I is. In [[reality]], [[Emptiness]] is just one, not many. There is only one [[Emptiness]] that directly cuts the [[root]] of [[Samsara]]. This is the [[Emptiness]] [[taught]] by the [[Prasangika]]-[[Madhyamika]] school, whose [[view]] of [[Emptiness]] is the unmistaken, [[pure]] one and the only one that can cut the specific [[Ignorance]] that I mentioned before. However, not everybody has the [[Karma]] to accept this, to understand this, to realize this. [[Sentient beings]] have different levels of [[mind]]. Therefore, the all-knowing, kind, [[compassionate]] [[Buddha]] [[taught]] varying levels of [[philosophy]] to [[guide]] [[Sentient beings]]' [[minds]] gradually up to the level where they could realize the [[Prasangika view]] of [[Emptiness]]. One could start with the gross explanations of [[Emptiness]] [[taught]] by the lower schools and gradually progress up to the most {{Wiki|subtle}}, the [[Prasangika]]. That's how the [[four schools]] came into being. The lower schools were steps to the higher ones, leading ultimately to the [[Prasangika]]. So even though the [[views]] of these various schools seem to contradict each other, actually they're a method for gradually developing through study and [[meditation]] the [[Prasangika view]]. |
How to [[meditate]] on [[Emptiness]] | How to [[meditate]] on [[Emptiness]] | ||
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Perform only those that are good.... | Perform only those that are good.... | ||
− | Abandon [[non-virtue]], the [[cause]] of [[Suffering]], and practice [[virtue]], the [[cause]] of [[Happiness]]. [[Transform]] negative [[motivation]] into positive so that your [[actions]] will become [[virtuous]]. In this way you will not waste your [[Life]] but make it meaningful. At least you won't be harming yourself or others. The way to practice more meaningful [[Mindfulness]] is this. For example, when you're sitting or when you're walking, ask yourself the question, "What am I doing?" Then your [[mind]] will answer, "I'm sitting," "I'm walking," "I'm eating," depending on what it is that you're doing. "I'm cooking," "I'm talking." Whatever you are doing, you can [[meditate]] on [[Emptiness]]. One way in which you can do this is to reply to the answer "I'm walking" with another question: "Why do I say 'I'm walking'?" Then you analyze; you look for the [[reason]]. What you find is, "The only [[reason]] I say this is that my [[aggregate]] of [[Body]], the base I label "I," is walking." Your [[Body]] is walking — just because of that, your [[mind]] labels and believes "I'm walking." After you've done that, check how your I appears to you at that moment. Is it the same as before or has there been a change? Usually you'll find that it's not the same, that there's been a definite change. Suddenly, the old [[view]] of a real I in your [[Body]], appearing from that side, the I you have always believed to be there in your [[Body]], has vanished, become {{Wiki|non-existent}}. And that's the [[truth]]. It's not a [[false view]]. The old I was the false one. When you do not [[meditate]], do not analyze, the I that appears to you and in which you believe — the I that seems to be on these [[aggregates]], in this [[Body]] — is the false one. In [[philosophical]] texts, we refer to that I as inherently [[existent]] or [[existing]] by [[nature]]. In {{Wiki|Western}} [[psychological]] terms, we call it the "[[emotional]] I." The [[emotional]] I — the one that you believe is in your [[Body]] or on your [[aggregates]] — is totally {{Wiki|non-existent}}. That is what you have to discover — that it's [[empty]]. You have to discover that it is totally {{Wiki|non-existent}}, totally [[empty]]. If you can realize that — that there's not even the slightest {{Wiki|atom}} of an I there — and [[feel]] as if you yourself have become totally {{Wiki|non-existent}}, you have entered the [[Middle Way]]. At that [[time]], when you realize [[Emptiness]], you gain full conviction, or definite [[understanding]], that you can attain [[liberation]], you can cease all [[Suffering]] and its [[cause]]. Remain in the state of your discovery of the absence of the [[emotional]] I. Keep your [[mind]] in the [[Emptiness]] of that. When your [[mind]] gets distracted, again ask yourself the question, "What am I doing?" Then, when your [[mind]] replies, ask again, "Why do I say 'I'm doing... '? There's no [[reason]] other than...," whatever it is. If the answer is, "I'm [[meditating]]," ask yourself, "Why do I say 'I'm [[meditating]]'?" There's no [[reason]] other than the fact that the base, the [[aggregates]] of [[mind]], are [[transforming]] into [[virtue]] (which is what [[meditation]] really means). Then check again to see what effect this has had on your I. Has there been a change or not? Doing this [[meditation]] again and again helps you see the false I more and more clearly. The more clearly you see the false I, the [[emotional]] I, the I that doesn't [[exist]], the more clearly you see, the better you [[recognize]], [[Emptiness]] — the better [[idea]] of [[Emptiness]] you get. The second technique for [[meditating]] on [[Emptiness]] is one that takes you back to your childhood, to the [[time]] before you had learned the [[alphabet]]. [[Imagine]] yourself before you knew your ABCs. You're sitting in the classroom and your [[teacher]] draws a [[letter]] on the blackboard for the first [[time]]. You, the child, have no [[idea]] what it is, what those lines represent. Although the [[teacher]] draws an A, you have no [[appearance]] of A. Even though you see the lines on the blackboard, A does not appear to you. You see the lines but you don't see them as A. That's because your [[mind]] hasn't labelled those lines as A and believed in that. Remember, labelling is not enough — in order for there to be [[appearance]], you have to believe in it as well. At this point in your [[Life]], your [[mind]] has not yet labelled that configuration and believed, "This is an A." Then your [[teacher]] tells you, "This is an A," and your [[mind]] — believing what your [[teacher]] has said, in [[relation]] to that base, those lines on the blackboard — creates the label A, merely imputes it on the base, and believes in it. Only then do you have the [[appearance]] of the [[letter]] A. After that, then you see that this is an A. The point to understand here is that first there's that arrangement of lines, which is the base. | + | Abandon [[non-virtue]], the [[cause]] of [[Suffering]], and practice [[virtue]], the [[cause]] of [[Happiness]]. [[Transform]] negative [[motivation]] into positive so that your [[actions]] will become [[virtuous]]. In this way you will not waste your [[Life]] but make it meaningful. At least you won't be harming yourself or others. The way to practice more meaningful [[Mindfulness]] is this. For example, when you're sitting or when you're walking, ask yourself the question, "What am I doing?" Then your [[mind]] will answer, "I'm sitting," "I'm walking," "I'm eating," depending on what it is that you're doing. "I'm cooking," "I'm talking." Whatever you are doing, you can [[meditate]] on [[Emptiness]]. One way in which you can do this is to reply to the answer "I'm walking" with another question: "Why do I say 'I'm walking'?" Then you analyze; you look for the [[reason]]. What you find is, "The only [[reason]] I say this is that my [[aggregate]] of [[Body]], the base I label "I," is walking." Your [[Body]] is walking — just because of that, your [[mind]] labels and believes "I'm walking." After you've done that, check how your I appears to you at that [[moment]]. Is it the same as before or has there been a change? Usually you'll find that it's not the same, that there's been a definite change. Suddenly, the old [[view]] of a real I in your [[Body]], appearing from that side, the I you have always believed to be there in your [[Body]], has vanished, become {{Wiki|non-existent}}. And that's the [[truth]]. It's not a [[false view]]. The old I was the false one. When you do not [[meditate]], do not analyze, the I that appears to you and in which you believe — the I that seems to be on these [[aggregates]], in this [[Body]] — is the false one. In [[philosophical]] texts, we refer to that I as inherently [[existent]] or [[existing]] by [[nature]]. In {{Wiki|Western}} [[psychological]] terms, we call it the "[[emotional]] I." The [[emotional]] I — the one that you believe is in your [[Body]] or on your [[aggregates]] — is totally {{Wiki|non-existent}}. That is what you have to discover — that it's [[empty]]. You have to discover that it is totally {{Wiki|non-existent}}, totally [[empty]]. If you can realize that — that there's not even the slightest {{Wiki|atom}} of an I there — and [[feel]] as if you yourself have become totally {{Wiki|non-existent}}, you have entered the [[Middle Way]]. At that [[time]], when you realize [[Emptiness]], you gain full conviction, or definite [[understanding]], that you can attain [[liberation]], you can cease all [[Suffering]] and its [[cause]]. Remain in the [[state]] of your discovery of the absence of the [[emotional]] I. Keep your [[mind]] in the [[Emptiness]] of that. When your [[mind]] gets distracted, again ask yourself the question, "What am I doing?" Then, when your [[mind]] replies, ask again, "Why do I say 'I'm doing... '? There's no [[reason]] other than...," whatever it is. If the answer is, "I'm [[meditating]]," ask yourself, "Why do I say 'I'm [[meditating]]'?" There's no [[reason]] other than the fact that the base, the [[aggregates]] of [[mind]], are [[transforming]] into [[virtue]] (which is what [[meditation]] really means). Then check again to see what effect this has had on your I. Has there been a change or not? Doing this [[meditation]] again and again helps you see the false I more and more clearly. The more clearly you see the false I, the [[emotional]] I, the I that doesn't [[exist]], the more clearly you see, the better you [[recognize]], [[Emptiness]] — the better [[idea]] of [[Emptiness]] you get. The second technique for [[meditating]] on [[Emptiness]] is one that takes you back to your childhood, to the [[time]] before you had learned the [[alphabet]]. [[Imagine]] yourself before you knew your ABCs. You're sitting in the classroom and your [[teacher]] draws a [[letter]] on the blackboard for the first [[time]]. You, the child, have no [[idea]] what it is, what those lines represent. Although the [[teacher]] draws an A, you have no [[appearance]] of A. Even though you see the lines on the blackboard, A does not appear to you. You see the lines but you don't see them as A. That's because your [[mind]] hasn't labelled those lines as A and believed in that. Remember, labelling is not enough — in order for there to be [[appearance]], you have to believe in it as well. At this point in your [[Life]], your [[mind]] has not yet labelled that configuration and believed, "This is an A." Then your [[teacher]] tells you, "This is an A," and your [[mind]] — believing what your [[teacher]] has said, in [[relation]] to that base, those lines on the blackboard — creates the label A, merely imputes it on the base, and believes in it. Only then do you have the [[appearance]] of the [[letter]] A. After that, then you see that this is an A. The point to understand here is that first there's that arrangement of lines, which is the base. |
[[File:Url-55.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Url-55.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
− | What is it that makes your [[mind]] decide upon the particular label A? You don't label any old configuration A — it has to be this particular pattern. That's why your [[mind]] chooses to label it A — it sees the appropriate pattern. That is the base; the base to be labelled A. So you can see that the base, that particular pattern, and the label are different. This is the point I'm trying to make. The pattern is the base and the A is the label. These are two different [[phenomena]], not one. They appear as one — without analysis, to your [[mind]] they appear as one. It looks as if the A is on top of the base, that pattern. It looks like that. If you do not analyze, it appears as if the A were right there, on that pattern, as if the A were there on that base. So, the pattern is the base and the A is the label. Now you need to [[concentrate]] on the conclusion. Before your [[mind]] creates the label A, you see the base, that particular pattern, first. That's what [[causes]] you to apply the label A. From this it's clear that the base is not the A. If it were, you should see the A at the very first moment you saw the base, but that isn't what happens. It doesn't happen no {{Wiki|matter}} what [[phenomenon]] you see. First you see the base; then you apply the label. Your [[mind]] creates the label after [[seeing]] the base. Taking a pillar, for example — the specific base that holds things up, that performs that particular [[function]] — [[seeing]] that base first [[causes]] your [[mind]] to choose the label "pillar." Then you see the pillar. You don't see it from the very beginning. If you saw the base but your [[mind]] didn't label it, you wouldn't see the pillar. Similarly, you see the A later. That means that the pattern and the A are not one. The pattern is not A — it is the base to be labelled A. This is the point to understand. The difference between the two. This is one line of {{Wiki|reasoning}}. A second line of {{Wiki|reasoning}} goes as follows. Look for the A. On that pattern, where is the A? Look at the upstroke (/). You don't find the A there. Look at the downstroke (\). It's not there either. Nor is the A on the crossbar (-). Even when the three lines are assembled into the configuration A, that's not the A because that's the base to be labelled. Only after [[seeing]] it do you label it A. So the three lines together are not the A either. So when you see that three-line pattern on a blackboard, there's no A on the pattern, but there's an A on the blackboard, and the only [[reason]] you can say that is that the pattern is on the blackboard. Similarly, when you look out your window and see a car go by, analyze what happens. First of all, before anything appears, you don't label "car" because you haven't seen anything. There's no [[reason]] for you to label, "There goes a car." When a car does go by, you don't label it "car" the very moment you see it because for your [[mind]] to choose that particular label, "car," you have to see something first, as we've been saying. What [[causes]] your [[mind]] to create the label? There has to be a prior [[reason]]. You have to see something before you create the label. What you see is the base — the [[phenomenon]] that has the appropriate shape and performs the [[function]] of going here and there, transporting [[people]] and so forth — you have to see that first. The label "car" comes after that. First you see the base; then you see the car. You see the car after you have applied the label. Therefore, it is a {{Wiki|hallucination}}. Whatever you see go by — a [[person]], a {{Wiki|cat}}, a {{Wiki|dog}}, a motorcycle — it works the same way. Under normal circumstances, when we do not analyze what we see, when a car goes by it looks as if either the base itself is the car or there's a car on that base, and that that's what's going by. This is a complete {{Wiki|hallucination}}. There's no car there, just as there's no A on that configuration of three lines. | + | What is it that makes your [[mind]] decide upon the particular label A? You don't label any old configuration A — it has to be this particular pattern. That's why your [[mind]] chooses to label it A — it sees the appropriate pattern. That is the base; the base to be labelled A. So you can see that the base, that particular pattern, and the label are different. This is the point I'm trying to make. The pattern is the base and the A is the label. These are two different [[phenomena]], not one. They appear as one — without analysis, to your [[mind]] they appear as one. It looks as if the A is on top of the base, that pattern. It looks like that. If you do not analyze, it appears as if the A were right there, on that pattern, as if the A were there on that base. So, the pattern is the base and the A is the label. Now you need to [[concentrate]] on the conclusion. Before your [[mind]] creates the label A, you see the base, that particular pattern, first. That's what [[causes]] you to apply the label A. From this it's clear that the base is not the A. If it were, you should see the A at the very first [[moment]] you saw the base, but that isn't what happens. It doesn't happen no {{Wiki|matter}} what [[phenomenon]] you see. First you see the base; then you apply the label. Your [[mind]] creates the label after [[seeing]] the base. Taking a pillar, for example — the specific base that holds things up, that performs that particular [[function]] — [[seeing]] that base first [[causes]] your [[mind]] to choose the label "pillar." Then you see the pillar. You don't see it from the very beginning. If you saw the base but your [[mind]] didn't label it, you wouldn't see the pillar. Similarly, you see the A later. That means that the pattern and the A are not one. The pattern is not A — it is the base to be labelled A. This is the point to understand. The difference between the two. This is one line of {{Wiki|reasoning}}. A second line of {{Wiki|reasoning}} goes as follows. Look for the A. On that pattern, where is the A? Look at the upstroke (/). You don't find the A there. Look at the downstroke (\). It's not there either. Nor is the A on the crossbar (-). Even when the three lines are assembled into the configuration A, that's not the A because that's the base to be labelled. Only after [[seeing]] it do you label it A. So the three lines together are not the A either. So when you see that three-line pattern on a blackboard, there's no A on the pattern, but there's an A on the blackboard, and the only [[reason]] you can say that is that the pattern is on the blackboard. Similarly, when you look out your window and see a car go by, analyze what happens. First of all, before anything appears, you don't label "car" because you haven't seen anything. There's no [[reason]] for you to label, "There goes a car." When a car does go by, you don't label it "car" the very [[moment]] you see it because for your [[mind]] to choose that particular label, "car," you have to see something first, as we've been saying. What [[causes]] your [[mind]] to create the label? There has to be a prior [[reason]]. You have to see something before you create the label. What you see is the base — the [[phenomenon]] that has the appropriate shape and performs the [[function]] of going here and there, transporting [[people]] and so forth — you have to see that first. The label "car" comes after that. First you see the base; then you see the car. You see the car after you have applied the label. Therefore, it is a {{Wiki|hallucination}}. Whatever you see go by — a [[person]], a {{Wiki|cat}}, a {{Wiki|dog}}, a motorcycle — it works the same way. Under normal circumstances, when we do not analyze what we see, when a car goes by it looks as if either the base itself is the car or there's a car on that base, and that that's what's going by. This is a complete {{Wiki|hallucination}}. There's no car there, just as there's no A on that configuration of three lines. |
The car [[exists]] but it's not there. It's the same thing with the A. When we look at the A and do not analyze, do not [[meditate]], it looks as if the A is there, on that pattern. That too is a complete {{Wiki|hallucination}}. That is the [[object]] to be refuted — the A that is there not merely [[imputed]] by the [[mind]]. An A that if you look for it can be found. That's the [[object]] of refutation; that's what we have to realize is [[empty]]. And that [[Emptiness]] is the [[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]] [[nature]] of the A. The [[reason]] that [[seeing]] an A on the base is a [[false view]] is that if you try to find precisely where on each of the three lines it is (/\-), you can't find it. And when you look for it on the three lines assembled (A), you can't find it there either. Each piece is not A. Nor is the assembled pattern, because that is the base to be labelled A. By analyzing in this way, you can [[recognize]] your everyday [[hallucinations]], your [[false view]], and understand what you have to realize as [[empty]]. What [[Emptiness]] means. Analysis makes it clear. Practicing [[Mindfulness]] of this, [[meditating]] on this, helps you to control your [[emotional]] [[mind]]. It becomes almost impossible for [[emotional]] [[thoughts]], such as [[attachment]] and [[Anger]], to arise. That means you stop motivating [[Karma]], the [[cause]] of [[Samsara]], the [[cause]] of the [[lower realms]]. Thus it becomes incredible [[protection]], a great source of [[Happiness]] and [[peace]], and the [[cause]] of [[liberation]] and [[Enlightenment]] for yourself and all other [[Sentient beings]]. By developing this [[Wisdom]] and practicing [[Bodhicitta]], you yourself can attain [[Enlightenment]] and lead all other [[Sentient beings]] to [[Enlightenment]] as well. Therefore, if you really want to practice [[Dharma]], [[meditate]], and see some [[development]] in your [[Life]], if you want to clarify and deepen your [[understanding]] of [[Emptiness]] and bring yourself closer to [[realizing]] it, these techniques might help, even though they don't utilize [[philosophical]] [[Wikipedia:concept|concepts]], the four-point analysis and so forth. By practicing these techniques, you can see more clearly how the [[mind]] is not I, which is what many [[people]] think. Many things become clear. | The car [[exists]] but it's not there. It's the same thing with the A. When we look at the A and do not analyze, do not [[meditate]], it looks as if the A is there, on that pattern. That too is a complete {{Wiki|hallucination}}. That is the [[object]] to be refuted — the A that is there not merely [[imputed]] by the [[mind]]. An A that if you look for it can be found. That's the [[object]] of refutation; that's what we have to realize is [[empty]]. And that [[Emptiness]] is the [[Wikipedia:Absolute (philosophy)|ultimate]] [[nature]] of the A. The [[reason]] that [[seeing]] an A on the base is a [[false view]] is that if you try to find precisely where on each of the three lines it is (/\-), you can't find it. And when you look for it on the three lines assembled (A), you can't find it there either. Each piece is not A. Nor is the assembled pattern, because that is the base to be labelled A. By analyzing in this way, you can [[recognize]] your everyday [[hallucinations]], your [[false view]], and understand what you have to realize as [[empty]]. What [[Emptiness]] means. Analysis makes it clear. Practicing [[Mindfulness]] of this, [[meditating]] on this, helps you to control your [[emotional]] [[mind]]. It becomes almost impossible for [[emotional]] [[thoughts]], such as [[attachment]] and [[Anger]], to arise. That means you stop motivating [[Karma]], the [[cause]] of [[Samsara]], the [[cause]] of the [[lower realms]]. Thus it becomes incredible [[protection]], a great source of [[Happiness]] and [[peace]], and the [[cause]] of [[liberation]] and [[Enlightenment]] for yourself and all other [[Sentient beings]]. By developing this [[Wisdom]] and practicing [[Bodhicitta]], you yourself can attain [[Enlightenment]] and lead all other [[Sentient beings]] to [[Enlightenment]] as well. Therefore, if you really want to practice [[Dharma]], [[meditate]], and see some [[development]] in your [[Life]], if you want to clarify and deepen your [[understanding]] of [[Emptiness]] and bring yourself closer to [[realizing]] it, these techniques might help, even though they don't utilize [[philosophical]] [[Wikipedia:concept|concepts]], the four-point analysis and so forth. By practicing these techniques, you can see more clearly how the [[mind]] is not I, which is what many [[people]] think. Many things become clear. |
Latest revision as of 00:09, 21 February 2016
Once again, bring your attention away from hallucination to the realities of Life, the nature of which is impermanence and Death. This frees our mind from Delusion and Karma so that we can not only bring to an end the entire round of Suffering, the cycle of Death and Rebirth, but also eradicate even the subtle errors of mind, thereby attaining Enlightenment for the sake of all Sentient beings. All causative phenomena — our Life, our Body, our mind, our self, our possessions, our relatives and friends, all other people — are changing, not only day by day, minute by minute and second by second, but every tiny moment. They do not last for a fraction of a second. Because they are under the control of causes and conditions, they are in a state of constant decay and can cease at any time. This is the nature of our Life. If we can remain aware of this, we will prevent our mind from coming under the control of the delusions — the disturbing emotional minds that hurt us and other Sentient beings, prevent us from transforming our mind and gaining realizations of the path to Enlightenment, and stop us from seeing the ultimate nature of all phenomena. First we stop delusions from manifesting, and then, by actualizing the remedial path, we eradicate even the imprints that they have left on our mental continuum. By destroying the seeds of Delusion, we attain Nirvana, ultimate liberation from The Six Realms of Suffering and its cause, freedom from the circling aggregates, which are Samsara itself. These are the benefits of Mindfulness of impermanence. We free ourselves of disturbing thoughts, immediately experience peace and satisfaction, free ourselves from Samsara, and eventually attain Enlightenment and enlighten all Sentient beings. Contemplate all this.
Now meditate on Emptiness, the actual nature of all phenomena. Think how your I, actions, objects, and in fact all phenomena — everything that is called "such and such" and "this and that" — are just names. Names have to come from the mind; they don't exist from their own side. Names are labels applied by the mind. However, it is not just that phenomena are labelled by the mind — they are merely labelled by the mind. In other words, all phenomena — I, action, object, everything — are merely labelled by the mind, in relation to their base. Think about this.
How things exist
Now I'm going to elaborate a little on the subject of Emptiness. The way in which everything exists is by being merely labelled by the mind. But that does not mean that everything the mind labels actually exists. Even though everything exists by being merely labelled by the mind, that doesn't mean that if your mind labels something it automatically brings it into existence. For example, say I cut up a huge pile of newspapers into little pieces and my mind labels each one "a billion dollars" — that doesn't make each piece of paper worth a billion dollars. Even though my mind has merely labelled those pieces of paper "a billion dollars," that doesn't mean each one has become a billion dollars. If it were possible for that to happen, we wouldn't have to vote in presidential elections. We wouldn't have to put all that effort into raising funds, campaigning, spending all that money, holding inquiries, to elect the president. All you'd have to do would be to label yourself, "I'm the American president," and you'd become president. If things coming into existence were only up to the mind labelling them, if that's all it took, then that's what would happen. Whenever you wanted to be president, all you'd have to do would be to have your mind label yourself president and you'd be president. In that way, everybody could become president. Maybe there'd be nobody left who wasn't president. A magician could hypnotize you into believing that he'd given you a bag full of money, and you might carry it home, believing you were rich, but later, when you opened it up, there'd be nothing there but cut up pieces of newspaper. That's one way of showing that it doesn't exist — for your own mind to discover that it's not true. Later, when you're not under the influence of hypnosis, you realize that it was an Illusion, that the money you saw didn't exist. Everything was there for your mind — the appearance of money and your mind labelling it money — but it wasn't money. Another way of showing that it does not exist is for other people not to see the money. Because of the Illusion created by hypnosis, money appears to your mind, but other people, whose minds are not under the Illusion, don't see it. Therefore, it takes more than appearance and labelling by mind for something to exist. Dreams are another example of something where your own mind can discover that appearance and labelling by mind are insufficient to bring something into existence. For instance, one night you might have a dream in which you became king, got married in a huge wedding ceremony, lived in a luxurious jewelled palace and had many children. While you are dreaming, the appearance of all this and your mind merely labelling it are both there, but when you wake up you again realize it wasn't true. You're not king, there's no palace, no wealth, no princes and princesses — nothing. You don't have any of that.
A valid base
For things to exist, mere labelling by mind is not enough. There has to be a valid base. Not just any base — a valid base. Therefore, I cannot label my bell "car." This object can receive the label "bell," but not "car" or "airplane." It receives the label "bell' by virtue of the way the valid base functions. Mere labelling by mind is not enough — there has to be a valid base. In the case of a bell, the base has to have a certain shape and perform the function of ringing. This is what validates it. Furthermore, the valid base that is merely labelled "bell" by the mind should not be harmed by another's valid mind. What's a valid mind? A mind that perceives things correctly, that is not under the influence of disease, Drugs, mantras or hypnotic spells, which might cause it to see sense objects in an illusory way. Next, the object we claim to exist should not be harmed by a fully enlightened being's mind. A Buddha's mind is completely unmistaken, completely purified, free from hallucination. All existent phenomena are the object of the omniscient mind; it sees whatever exists. If the omniscient mind does not see the bell, the bell does not exist. Finally, for the bell that is merely labelled by the mind to exist, it should not receive harm from the Wisdom realizing Emptiness, ultimate nature. If the bell, which is merely imputed by the mind, is harmed by the Wisdom realizing Emptiness, it does not exist. Thus, there are three kinds of mind that can harm, or invalidate, the existence of what appears to be, for example, a bell: another person's valid conventional mind; an omniscient mind; and the Wisdom realizing Emptiness. Now, regarding this valid base, this phenomenon that has the function of ringing and possesses this particular shape, our mind creates the label, "bell." This, then, is the real bell, the bell that we use, the one that is merely imputed by our mind, the valid base that is labelled "bell" by our mind.
The worst Ignorance
So what is the bell that does not exist? When our mind perceives the bell, it does not see a bell that is merely labelled by the mind. It sees something slightly beyond that, ever so slightly more than that. It sees something as existing from the side of the bell, something existing from its own side, from the side of the object. If you concentrate, if you analyze carefully how the bell exists, that it is merely labelled by the mind, you can see that there's nothing coming from the side of the bell. When you look deeply into the meaning of "merely labelled by the mind," you can see that nothing exists from the side of the object. When you concentrate on this, you can see how its existence comes only from your mind. But the way the bell appears to us, the way we believe it exists, is slightly beyond its reality, slightly more than its actual mode of existence, which is being merely labelled by the mind. That's where the hallucination begins. Starting from there, the rest of the way it appears is a total hallucination. The way it appears, the way we believe it to exist — as something slightly beyond that which is merely labelled by the mind — is our biggest hallucination, the biggest Suffering in the lives of us Sentient beings. That's what keeps us continually circling in Samsara, dying and being reborn, dying and being reborn, experiencing the same beginningless problems again and again. There's no beginning to our experience of samsaric Suffering and so far it has not ended. Why do we still suffer? Because we have not yet realized Emptiness, the ultimate nature of phenomena — that things are empty, that things exist merely in name. We have not discovered reality; we have not discovered the Wisdom that cuts the root of all Delusion and Karma, the true cause of Suffering, the cause of Samsara. We have not eradicated Ignorance, the unknowing mind. We have continually been creating Ignorance, the root of Samsara. Instead of meditating on Emptiness, practicing Mindfulness, we have been making our mind more and more ignorant. That's why we continue to suffer. So, what is this bell (or any other object you care to look at)? It is nothing other than that which is merely labelled by the mind. But our minds are so replete with negative imprints left by past Ignorance, the simultaneously born concept of inherent existence, that even though things exist as merely labelled by the mind, we hold on to them as if they exist from their own side. We apprehend them as inherently existent, as not merely imputed by the mind. Therefore, this bell is merely labelled by the mind. But because of the negative imprints left on our mental continuum by past Ignorance, the concept of inherent existence, the apprehension and belief that phenomena exist from their own side, as soon as our mind creates the label "bell," as soon as it merely imputes "bell" on the base, the negative imprints left on our mental continuum project the hallucination that it exists from its own side. It's like when you take a roll of film to be developed — the images from the negative are projected onto special paper, mixed with chemicals, and a picture appears to make the photograph — or like putting a film into a projector and beaming the images it contains onto a screen. Whatever the object — a bell, your I — the moment it's labelled by the mind, the negative imprints project upon it the adornment of inherent existence. The thing is that we're unaware, or we forget, that what we're seeing is merely imputed by our mind. Basically, there are three things in the Evolution of all this. First of all, as a start, our mind merely labels the object. Second, the negative imprints left by previous concepts of inherent existence project the appearance of inherent existence that the object we're looking at now exists from its own side, that there's a real bell there — not a bell from our mind, but a bell from the side of the bell. This is a totally, totally wrong idea — a complete hallucination projected onto the bell. Third, we allow our mind to believe that this is one hundred percent true. We allow our mind to hold on to this, to grasp this, as completely, one hundred percent true — that there's a real bell over there, that that's the reality. This is Ignorance. At that moment, we are making our mind ignorant, unknowing. We are making our mind ignorant as to the actual nature of the bell, which in reality is totally empty from its own side. What exists is merely labelled by the mind. The bell, which is totally empty from its own side, exists merely in name. Being unaware of this is an example of how we make our mind ignorant.
Just as this applies to the example of the bell, so is it true for all other phenomena. Starting from our I, the way we see ourselves, everything we perceive is as hallucinated as our view of the bell. Our view is completely wrong and so too is the belief that we hold on to. Starting with the subject, I, whatever we perceive in the course of a twenty-four hour day does not exist the way in which we believe. Think of everything we see during the course of one day; all the objects of form with which our eye sense comes into contact — shapes and colors, billions and billions of things wherever we look. No matter which of these billions of objects we observe, we see each one in just the same way as I described our view of the bell. Just as we don't see the bell as merely labelled by the mind, similarly, we don't see anything else we look at in its true nature, as merely labelled by the mind and totally empty from its own side. Even though, were we to analyze the bell's mode of existence logically, scientifically, we would understand the way in which it exists, that's not how we see it. The bell we see is something else altogether. In the same way, we misperceive every other object of form that appears to our eye consciousness. When we go into a supermarket or department store where even one section contains thousands of objects, we don't see even one of them in the way it exists. We're in a totally different world from the one that actually exists; our world is something else completely. What we see does not exist in the supermarket or the department store. In reality, what we see exists nowhere. Everything we see is cloaked in hallucination. We go into a store and our mind labels things "this, this, this, this, this," but a layer of inherent existence completely covers all these objects merely labelled by mind. To us they appear as not merely labelled by mind, as existing from their own side — an appearance that is totally non-existent, a complete hallucination. This hallucination encases the entire world of form, a world that exists merely in name. It's the same with sound. Before I was talking about forms, visual objects of the sense of eye. But we perceive much more than that. We have four other senses — hearing, smell, taste and touch. Thus, sounds also exist merely in name and not from their own side. But again, we hallucinate with every sound we hear, believing it to be inherently existent, when it's exactly the opposite. Every object of every sense exists merely in name, as a valid base merely labelled by the mind. But as long as we don't develop the Wisdom realizing Emptiness, we'll never see sense objects in their nature, the way they exist. Instead, we cloak these merely labelled sense objects in the hallucination of existence from their own side and hang to that as true, allow our mind to believe in our own hallucination that there really is something there. Because we do not practice Mindfulness meditation on Emptiness, or Dependent arising — Mindfulness on the hallucination that it is a hallucination — we constantly make our mind more and more ignorant. For example, when we dreaming, we can practice Mindfulness that this is but a dream. Similarly, during the day, we can practice Mindfulness that what we're seeing is but a hallucination. If we do this, we're not meditating on something that exists as a hallucination — we're meditating that a hallucination is a hallucination. As a result, what comes into our Heart is an understanding of Emptiness, the ultimate nature of the circle of three — I, action and object. By doing this, we stop making our mind increasingly ignorant. We stop constantly creating the basis for emotional thoughts, delusions, attachment — those unnecessary minds that bring no benefit, only harm, and motivate Karma that becomes the cause of Samsara and all its realms of Suffering.
What is the mind? What's true for the physical senses, as above, is also true for the mind, the perceiver, itself. The mind is a phenomenon too. What is the mind? It is a phenomenon that is not Body, not substantial, has no form, no shape, no color, but, like a mirror, can clearly reflect objects. Objects appear to the mind and the mind can perceive these objects. As long as a mirror is not dirty, it will reflect whatever object comes before it clearly. Similarly, since the mind is unobstructed by substance, form, objects can appear to it. The phenomenon that is mind perceives objects. So, that is the base. In relation to that phenomenon, our thought creates, merely imputes, the label "mind," and that's how the mind exists. The mind also exists merely in name; what we call mind has been merely labelled by thought. It's like when a person is given a name. Mine is Zopa. Actually, it's Thubten Zopa, and it was given to me by my abbot. According to tradition, when an abbot ordains new monks, he gives them his first name. My abbot's first name was Thubten, and then he added the Zopa. With his mind, he labelled me "Zopa." You received your name in a similar way. Whether you named yourself or it was given to you by your parents, your name is a mind-created label. In the same way, then, what's called mind is also a name. We think there's a real mind — a real mind existing from there. That's how it appears to us and, without a shadow of Doubt, we believe one hundred percent in this appearance. But if we analyze this phenomenon called mind, it's no different from the name given to you by your parents, which was created by their mind. What you call mind has been merely labelled by your thought in relation to its base, that formless phenomenon that has neither shape nor color, whose nature is clear and that has the ability to perceive objects. That is the base and "mind" is the label. They're two distinct phenomena, not one. They're not separate, but they're different. That's what we have to realize — that these two phenomena are different. This is what we have to discover through meditation. By doing this we can begin to free ourselves from the hallucination that is the root of all Suffering. This is how we start to liberate ourselves from Samsara.
Schools of Buddhist Philosophy and the object of refutation
I started this discussion by saying how everything exists as merely labelled by mind, and then went on to clarify that simply labelling things is not enough to bring them into existence, that just because something is merely labelled, it exists. Then I went on to mention the three things required for something to exist: a valid base, not receiving harm from another's valid mind, and not receiving harm from the Wisdom realizing Emptiness. Now, going back to the bell. As I mentioned before, the way the bell appears to us and the way in which we believe it to exist are slightly beyond the way it actually exists, which is in mere name, as merely labelled by the mind. This difference is a very subtle hallucination that, in Buddhist philosophical teachings, is called the "object to be refuted," or the "object of refutation." There are four schools of Buddhist Philosophy — Vaibashika (che-tra-mra-wa), Sautrantika (do-de-pa), Cittamatra (sem-tsam) and Madhyamika (u-ma-pa). The fourth of these is the Middle Way school and is divided into two: Svatantrika (rang-gyu-pa) and Prasangika (thal-gyur-wa). According to the Prasangika school, the object of refutation (or negation, gag-cha) is an extremely subtle object that is ever so slightly more than — a little over and above — what is merely labelled by the mind. The object of refutation is what appears to us; it is that in which we believe. In order to attain liberation from the entire round of Suffering and its cause, we need to cut its very root, the fundamental Ignorance that keeps us in it. Of the many kinds of Ignorance, which is the specific one that we have to eradicate? It is not the concept that believes the bell to exist the way it appears, which is what the texts usually describe as the root of Samsara — except that in the case of the root of Samsara, we should be talking about the I, not the bell that I've been using as an example here. When the I appears to us, we believe that there is something slightly over and above what is merely labelled by the mind and that this is how the I exists. Then we believe that this is one hundred percent true and let our mind hold on to that. It is this specific, particular Ignorance that is the root of all Delusion, Karma and Suffering. This very one. It's not just any type of Ignorance — it's this one. As well as this kind of Ignorance, there's the one described by the second Madhyamika school, the Svatantrika — the hallucination on the I, the object to be refuted according to their view. I'm just mentioning this so that you'll have an idea of how trapped our minds are, how many different levels of Ignorance we experience, how many kinds of hallucination there are. The hallucination on the I that the Svatantrikas describe is grosser than the one the Prasangikas explain. Then there's the Cittamatrins' version, where they say that the I exists from its own side without depending on mental imprints, without the mind as creator. They describe a seventh level of consciousness — normally we talk about just six — that is called the basis of Samsara and Nirvana.
So they say that the I exists totally from its own side without depending on imprints left on this seventh level of consciousness and describe it as a self-entity. According to Hindu philosophy, the I, which they call Atman, is permanent. While the self is actually impermanent, they believe it to be permanent. Therefore, there's a lot of discussion in Buddhist texts refuting this view, explaining that while the self may appear to us to be permanent, in fact it changes moment by moment due to causes and conditions and is therefore impermanent. If you look at your I right now, you'll see that it appears to be permanent, whereas you know that in reality it is impermanent in nature. Other views hold, for example, that while the I is dependent upon parts, there is the appearance and the belief that it exists alone, not dependent upon parts, or that while the I is dependent upon causes and conditions, there is the appearance and the belief that it exists with its own freedom, without depending on causes and conditions. These gross hallucinations are described and posited as the object of refutation by the first Buddhist school, the Vaibashika. This school has eighteen divisions, each with its own variant view. Then there's the hallucination that even though the I exists dependent upon the group and continuity of the aggregates, it appears to us as a self-entity existing without depending on the group and continuity of the aggregates. So these are some of the positions held by the Vaibashika and the Sautrantika, the lower Buddhist schools. How has it come about that there are these four schools of Buddhist Philosophy? It's due to the different ways of explaining what the I is. In reality, Emptiness is just one, not many. There is only one Emptiness that directly cuts the root of Samsara. This is the Emptiness taught by the Prasangika-Madhyamika school, whose view of Emptiness is the unmistaken, pure one and the only one that can cut the specific Ignorance that I mentioned before. However, not everybody has the Karma to accept this, to understand this, to realize this. Sentient beings have different levels of mind. Therefore, the all-knowing, kind, compassionate Buddha taught varying levels of philosophy to guide Sentient beings' minds gradually up to the level where they could realize the Prasangika view of Emptiness. One could start with the gross explanations of Emptiness taught by the lower schools and gradually progress up to the most subtle, the Prasangika. That's how the four schools came into being. The lower schools were steps to the higher ones, leading ultimately to the Prasangika. So even though the views of these various schools seem to contradict each other, actually they're a method for gradually developing through study and meditation the Prasangika view.
In case you are interested in practicing meditation on Emptiness, I'm going to explain a couple of simple but quite helpful techniques for doing so. The first technique is one that I often mention during meditation courses — walking meditation on Emptiness. This is a kind of Mindfulness meditation but it's much more profound than the usual Mindfulness of walking where you simply maintain awareness of "I'm walking" and so forth. If you can practice that kind of Mindfulness of walking — "I'm walking" — you can also practice Mindfulness of stealing while robbing a bank or picking somebody's pocket — "I'm stealing." Actually, if you are stealing, it's probably not such a bad idea to be mindful — otherwise you might get caught! Mindfulness meditation should be more than just watching what you are doing. What you really need to watch is your motivation. If you don't watch your mind, you don't know what's motivating your actions. What you should be doing is detecting negative motivation, the cause of Suffering, and changing it into positive. You should be applying your meditation like a medicine to the eradication of harmful thoughts, the delusions — the disturbing emotions that harm yourself and others. You need to eradicate these and make your mind healthy and your attitude beneficial, just as The Buddha explained in the verse I quoted before:
Do not engage in any harmful actions;
Perform only those that are good....
Abandon non-virtue, the cause of Suffering, and practice virtue, the cause of Happiness. Transform negative motivation into positive so that your actions will become virtuous. In this way you will not waste your Life but make it meaningful. At least you won't be harming yourself or others. The way to practice more meaningful Mindfulness is this. For example, when you're sitting or when you're walking, ask yourself the question, "What am I doing?" Then your mind will answer, "I'm sitting," "I'm walking," "I'm eating," depending on what it is that you're doing. "I'm cooking," "I'm talking." Whatever you are doing, you can meditate on Emptiness. One way in which you can do this is to reply to the answer "I'm walking" with another question: "Why do I say 'I'm walking'?" Then you analyze; you look for the reason. What you find is, "The only reason I say this is that my aggregate of Body, the base I label "I," is walking." Your Body is walking — just because of that, your mind labels and believes "I'm walking." After you've done that, check how your I appears to you at that moment. Is it the same as before or has there been a change? Usually you'll find that it's not the same, that there's been a definite change. Suddenly, the old view of a real I in your Body, appearing from that side, the I you have always believed to be there in your Body, has vanished, become non-existent. And that's the truth. It's not a false view. The old I was the false one. When you do not meditate, do not analyze, the I that appears to you and in which you believe — the I that seems to be on these aggregates, in this Body — is the false one. In philosophical texts, we refer to that I as inherently existent or existing by nature. In Western psychological terms, we call it the "emotional I." The emotional I — the one that you believe is in your Body or on your aggregates — is totally non-existent. That is what you have to discover — that it's empty. You have to discover that it is totally non-existent, totally empty. If you can realize that — that there's not even the slightest atom of an I there — and feel as if you yourself have become totally non-existent, you have entered the Middle Way. At that time, when you realize Emptiness, you gain full conviction, or definite understanding, that you can attain liberation, you can cease all Suffering and its cause. Remain in the state of your discovery of the absence of the emotional I. Keep your mind in the Emptiness of that. When your mind gets distracted, again ask yourself the question, "What am I doing?" Then, when your mind replies, ask again, "Why do I say 'I'm doing... '? There's no reason other than...," whatever it is. If the answer is, "I'm meditating," ask yourself, "Why do I say 'I'm meditating'?" There's no reason other than the fact that the base, the aggregates of mind, are transforming into virtue (which is what meditation really means). Then check again to see what effect this has had on your I. Has there been a change or not? Doing this meditation again and again helps you see the false I more and more clearly. The more clearly you see the false I, the emotional I, the I that doesn't exist, the more clearly you see, the better you recognize, Emptiness — the better idea of Emptiness you get. The second technique for meditating on Emptiness is one that takes you back to your childhood, to the time before you had learned the alphabet. Imagine yourself before you knew your ABCs. You're sitting in the classroom and your teacher draws a letter on the blackboard for the first time. You, the child, have no idea what it is, what those lines represent. Although the teacher draws an A, you have no appearance of A. Even though you see the lines on the blackboard, A does not appear to you. You see the lines but you don't see them as A. That's because your mind hasn't labelled those lines as A and believed in that. Remember, labelling is not enough — in order for there to be appearance, you have to believe in it as well. At this point in your Life, your mind has not yet labelled that configuration and believed, "This is an A." Then your teacher tells you, "This is an A," and your mind — believing what your teacher has said, in relation to that base, those lines on the blackboard — creates the label A, merely imputes it on the base, and believes in it. Only then do you have the appearance of the letter A. After that, then you see that this is an A. The point to understand here is that first there's that arrangement of lines, which is the base.
What is it that makes your mind decide upon the particular label A? You don't label any old configuration A — it has to be this particular pattern. That's why your mind chooses to label it A — it sees the appropriate pattern. That is the base; the base to be labelled A. So you can see that the base, that particular pattern, and the label are different. This is the point I'm trying to make. The pattern is the base and the A is the label. These are two different phenomena, not one. They appear as one — without analysis, to your mind they appear as one. It looks as if the A is on top of the base, that pattern. It looks like that. If you do not analyze, it appears as if the A were right there, on that pattern, as if the A were there on that base. So, the pattern is the base and the A is the label. Now you need to concentrate on the conclusion. Before your mind creates the label A, you see the base, that particular pattern, first. That's what causes you to apply the label A. From this it's clear that the base is not the A. If it were, you should see the A at the very first moment you saw the base, but that isn't what happens. It doesn't happen no matter what phenomenon you see. First you see the base; then you apply the label. Your mind creates the label after seeing the base. Taking a pillar, for example — the specific base that holds things up, that performs that particular function — seeing that base first causes your mind to choose the label "pillar." Then you see the pillar. You don't see it from the very beginning. If you saw the base but your mind didn't label it, you wouldn't see the pillar. Similarly, you see the A later. That means that the pattern and the A are not one. The pattern is not A — it is the base to be labelled A. This is the point to understand. The difference between the two. This is one line of reasoning. A second line of reasoning goes as follows. Look for the A. On that pattern, where is the A? Look at the upstroke (/). You don't find the A there. Look at the downstroke (\). It's not there either. Nor is the A on the crossbar (-). Even when the three lines are assembled into the configuration A, that's not the A because that's the base to be labelled. Only after seeing it do you label it A. So the three lines together are not the A either. So when you see that three-line pattern on a blackboard, there's no A on the pattern, but there's an A on the blackboard, and the only reason you can say that is that the pattern is on the blackboard. Similarly, when you look out your window and see a car go by, analyze what happens. First of all, before anything appears, you don't label "car" because you haven't seen anything. There's no reason for you to label, "There goes a car." When a car does go by, you don't label it "car" the very moment you see it because for your mind to choose that particular label, "car," you have to see something first, as we've been saying. What causes your mind to create the label? There has to be a prior reason. You have to see something before you create the label. What you see is the base — the phenomenon that has the appropriate shape and performs the function of going here and there, transporting people and so forth — you have to see that first. The label "car" comes after that. First you see the base; then you see the car. You see the car after you have applied the label. Therefore, it is a hallucination. Whatever you see go by — a person, a cat, a dog, a motorcycle — it works the same way. Under normal circumstances, when we do not analyze what we see, when a car goes by it looks as if either the base itself is the car or there's a car on that base, and that that's what's going by. This is a complete hallucination. There's no car there, just as there's no A on that configuration of three lines.
The car exists but it's not there. It's the same thing with the A. When we look at the A and do not analyze, do not meditate, it looks as if the A is there, on that pattern. That too is a complete hallucination. That is the object to be refuted — the A that is there not merely imputed by the mind. An A that if you look for it can be found. That's the object of refutation; that's what we have to realize is empty. And that Emptiness is the ultimate nature of the A. The reason that seeing an A on the base is a false view is that if you try to find precisely where on each of the three lines it is (/\-), you can't find it. And when you look for it on the three lines assembled (A), you can't find it there either. Each piece is not A. Nor is the assembled pattern, because that is the base to be labelled A. By analyzing in this way, you can recognize your everyday hallucinations, your false view, and understand what you have to realize as empty. What Emptiness means. Analysis makes it clear. Practicing Mindfulness of this, meditating on this, helps you to control your emotional mind. It becomes almost impossible for emotional thoughts, such as attachment and Anger, to arise. That means you stop motivating Karma, the cause of Samsara, the cause of the lower realms. Thus it becomes incredible protection, a great source of Happiness and peace, and the cause of liberation and Enlightenment for yourself and all other Sentient beings. By developing this Wisdom and practicing Bodhicitta, you yourself can attain Enlightenment and lead all other Sentient beings to Enlightenment as well. Therefore, if you really want to practice Dharma, meditate, and see some development in your Life, if you want to clarify and deepen your understanding of Emptiness and bring yourself closer to realizing it, these techniques might help, even though they don't utilize philosophical concepts, the four-point analysis and so forth. By practicing these techniques, you can see more clearly how the mind is not I, which is what many people think. Many things become clear.