Zen master Dogen once said:
"Those who greatly enlighten illusion are Buddhas; those who are greatly deluded about enlightenment are sentient beings."
All sentient beings possess the six sense bases (ayatana) of eye and visible objects, ear and sound, nose and odor, tongue and taste, body and touch, mind and mental objects.
They include all beings, whether physical beings, spiritual entities, or metaphysical beings, even plant life and insects. These beings include divinities, humans, animals, ghosts, and hell beings.
However, humans and animals are especially respected in the material realm known as the physical world of material existence.
Since divinities, ghost and hell beings have no material existence, their influence on the physical world is limited.
Yet my mind is open to their metaphysical existence when illustrating a Buddhist teaching.
Showing posts with label ayatana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ayatana. Show all posts
20130305
20130217
The Eight Consciousnesses Revisited (poem)
Introduction
In this world of birth-life-death,
when we do not interact with the world we live in,
reality appears non-existent.
Through the six senses organs
and their corresponding objects
we interact with the world.
During sleep or unconscious,
our six consciousnesses are dormant.
The Sixth Consciousnesses Arise
Reality exists through our experience of phenomena.
By interacting with it through the six senses,
we constantly experience reality as being real.
Our experiences are moderated by our mind as consciousness.
Therefore reality exists because we constantly interact with it.
While awake and fully conscious, our six consciousnesses arise.
When eyes see a visual object, sights lead to visual consciousness arising.
When ears hears a sound, sounds lead to auditory consciousness arising.
When nose detects an odor, smells lead to olfactory consciousness arising.
When tongue detects tastes, tastes lead to gustatory consciousness arising.
When body feels tangibles, feelings lead to tactual consciousness arising.
When mind ideates, thoughts leads to mental consciousness arising.
the Seventh and Eighth Consciousness
From the mind arises
two more consciousnesses,
base consciousness and
storehouse consciousness.
When mind experiences a disturbing emotion or attitude, self grasping leads to deluded awareness.
When mind experiences reflexive awareness, memory leads to all-encompassing foundation consciousness.
The Sense of Self is of the Mind
According to the Tibetan Lama Thrangu Rinpoche,
When sometimes you have a sense of self,
and you think “I”, that is an operation
not of the seventh consciousness
but of the sixth.
The Three Mental Consciousnesses
In the Chittamatra and Svatantrika-Madhyamika schools,
three mental consciousnesses exist, mental consciousness,
base consciousness, and store-house consciousness.
Of these three consciousnesses, mental consciousness
and base consciousness are active, and
the store-house consciousness is not active
being a subtle, neutral level of consciousness.
In it, traces of past actions are stored as "seeds"
ready to ripen into future experience.
For their further manifestations and activities, these seeds are potential energy
retained by the store-house consciousness, which receives impressions
from all functions of each of the other seven consciousnesses.
Seventh Consciousness as Source of the Other Consciousnesses
According to conventional Yogacara tradition, deluded awareness,
being the base consciousness, is the "source" of
the other seven consciousnesses, which all evolve and transform
based on experience of phenomena which make up reality.
The Names of the Seventh and Eight Consciousnesses
According to the Tibetans lamas of Vajrayana,
base consciousness is called emotional consciousness.
Lama Chökyi Nyima calls it afflictive aspect of consciousness.
Padmakara calls it defiled emotional consciousness.
Gyurme Dorje, the Agyur Rinpoche, calls it deluded consciousness.
The store-house consciousness is called all-ground consciousness.
Called the "seed consciousness" or container consciousness,
it serves as the "container" for all experiential impressions
Store-house Consciousness Empowers Rebirth
The store-house consciousness accumulates all potential energy
for the mental and physical manifestation of a sentient being's existence.
It is the storehouse-consciousness which induces transmigration
or rebirth, causing the origination of a new existence.
Base Consciousness Focuses Inward
In Tibetan Buddhism, the base consciousness
focuses inwards on the ground of all (alaya)
that is mistaken for a self that is real,
which results in all experience of reality
then consists of the choice of wanted or unwanted.
Always present, it is the basis for
all ordinary mental states,
be it virtuous, non-virtuous or neutral,
The base consciousness only stops
when the Bodhi Mind arises,
in the highest state of samadhi,
or during the non-abiding nirvana —
the great nirvana beyond
both ordinary existence in Samsara —
this world of birth-life-death, —
and in the basic nirvana of self-power.
Tathagata and Alaya Vijnana are One
Both the Lankavatara Sutra and Ch'an & Zen agree:
the Tathagatagarbha and alaya vijnana are one,
identical and fundamentally pure.
Atman is the permanent, unchanging self,
and prakrti, the original and primal nature
from which all things evolve, whether
it be mental, emotional and physical.
Though the Tathagatagarbha looks similar to atman
and alaya vijnana, prakrti, the Tathagatagarbha
conforms to the non-self doctrine,
and alaya vijnana is the mind-stream.
Mind-stream or consciousness-stream,
both streams are the same, but
cannot be reified as atman at all.
Ayatana (sense bases): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayatana
Salayatana (the six sense bases): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%B9%A2a%E1%B8%8D%C4%81yatana
Eight consciousnesses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Consciousnesses
http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Eight_consciousnesses
In this world of birth-life-death,
when we do not interact with the world we live in,
reality appears non-existent.
Through the six senses organs
and their corresponding objects
we interact with the world.
During sleep or unconscious,
our six consciousnesses are dormant.
The Sixth Consciousnesses Arise
Reality exists through our experience of phenomena.
By interacting with it through the six senses,
we constantly experience reality as being real.
Our experiences are moderated by our mind as consciousness.
Therefore reality exists because we constantly interact with it.
While awake and fully conscious, our six consciousnesses arise.
When eyes see a visual object, sights lead to visual consciousness arising.
When ears hears a sound, sounds lead to auditory consciousness arising.
When nose detects an odor, smells lead to olfactory consciousness arising.
When tongue detects tastes, tastes lead to gustatory consciousness arising.
When body feels tangibles, feelings lead to tactual consciousness arising.
When mind ideates, thoughts leads to mental consciousness arising.
the Seventh and Eighth Consciousness
From the mind arises
two more consciousnesses,
base consciousness and
storehouse consciousness.
When mind experiences a disturbing emotion or attitude, self grasping leads to deluded awareness.
When mind experiences reflexive awareness, memory leads to all-encompassing foundation consciousness.
The Sense of Self is of the Mind
According to the Tibetan Lama Thrangu Rinpoche,
When sometimes you have a sense of self,
and you think “I”, that is an operation
not of the seventh consciousness
but of the sixth.
The Three Mental Consciousnesses
In the Chittamatra and Svatantrika-Madhyamika schools,
three mental consciousnesses exist, mental consciousness,
base consciousness, and store-house consciousness.
Of these three consciousnesses, mental consciousness
and base consciousness are active, and
the store-house consciousness is not active
being a subtle, neutral level of consciousness.
In it, traces of past actions are stored as "seeds"
ready to ripen into future experience.
For their further manifestations and activities, these seeds are potential energy
retained by the store-house consciousness, which receives impressions
from all functions of each of the other seven consciousnesses.
Seventh Consciousness as Source of the Other Consciousnesses
According to conventional Yogacara tradition, deluded awareness,
being the base consciousness, is the "source" of
the other seven consciousnesses, which all evolve and transform
based on experience of phenomena which make up reality.
The Names of the Seventh and Eight Consciousnesses
According to the Tibetans lamas of Vajrayana,
base consciousness is called emotional consciousness.
Lama Chökyi Nyima calls it afflictive aspect of consciousness.
Padmakara calls it defiled emotional consciousness.
Gyurme Dorje, the Agyur Rinpoche, calls it deluded consciousness.
The store-house consciousness is called all-ground consciousness.
Called the "seed consciousness" or container consciousness,
it serves as the "container" for all experiential impressions
Store-house Consciousness Empowers Rebirth
The store-house consciousness accumulates all potential energy
for the mental and physical manifestation of a sentient being's existence.
It is the storehouse-consciousness which induces transmigration
or rebirth, causing the origination of a new existence.
Base Consciousness Focuses Inward
In Tibetan Buddhism, the base consciousness
focuses inwards on the ground of all (alaya)
that is mistaken for a self that is real,
which results in all experience of reality
then consists of the choice of wanted or unwanted.
Always present, it is the basis for
all ordinary mental states,
be it virtuous, non-virtuous or neutral,
The base consciousness only stops
when the Bodhi Mind arises,
in the highest state of samadhi,
or during the non-abiding nirvana —
the great nirvana beyond
both ordinary existence in Samsara —
this world of birth-life-death, —
and in the basic nirvana of self-power.
Tathagata and Alaya Vijnana are One
Both the Lankavatara Sutra and Ch'an & Zen agree:
the Tathagatagarbha and alaya vijnana are one,
identical and fundamentally pure.
Atman is the permanent, unchanging self,
and prakrti, the original and primal nature
from which all things evolve, whether
it be mental, emotional and physical.
Though the Tathagatagarbha looks similar to atman
and alaya vijnana, prakrti, the Tathagatagarbha
conforms to the non-self doctrine,
and alaya vijnana is the mind-stream.
Mind-stream or consciousness-stream,
both streams are the same, but
cannot be reified as atman at all.
Ayatana (sense bases): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayatana
Salayatana (the six sense bases): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%B9%A2a%E1%B8%8D%C4%81yatana
Eight consciousnesses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Consciousnesses
http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Eight_consciousnesses
20121114
Human Barbie Doll Teaching Job Exposed
Valeria Lukyonova, the Russian girl who is a Barbie Doll, is back in the news. According to the Daily Mail, she got a modelling contract with V Magazine.
As well, she is a teacher at the School of Out-of-Body Experience (OOBE) in the Ukraine.
Using Google I found the school run by Michael Raduga, a person who would evoke "tin-foil hat" insults from skeptics.
Think New Age. :p
One of the UFO people is skeptical of him too because he declared that OOBE is a mental state he calls "The Phase", and mistook that to mean their abductions are "all in their head".
However, their cognitive dissonance may have occurred because he debunked UFO abductions in Russia. UFO people take it personally since their abductions are more real than their daily lives. o_0
As far as I can tell, the OOBE people accept Raduga's explanation of OOBE up to a point. However, they hold onto preconceptions about OOBE which deny that it's "all in the brain."
All I will do to sum this all up is to debunk the assertion that there is only one reality, which we know as real life (RL).
As well, there is also an inner reality (the mind). Indeed, the mind is the sixth sense according to Buddhist thought.
Therefore, the UFO abductions are real to the people who experience them, and it would be impolite to call them "delusions" because of their strong denial and unwillingness to accept a psychological explanation for the phenomenon.
Furthermore, it is equally impolite to deny that the Phase described by Raduga works. If it works for 1 person in 5000, then it works.
After all, scientists have discovered that microtubules in human cells remain "alive" after death, and are purported to be the closest thing to the soul.
However, this too is a theory, and so is Raduga's Phase.
Valeria Lukyonova is however real.
20100426
Buddha-Nature (poem)
I. The Essence of Buddha-Nature
Tathagatagarbha simply is
that Buddha-essence which has come,
and having arrived, is not gone;
yet gone is previous spiritual ignorance.
For Tathagatagarbha is the Buddha womb,
Sugatagarbha simply is
incorruptible, uncreated, and indestructible;
yet, it is no-self, and is not a soul.
For Sugatagarbha is Buddha-Nature
II. Buddha-Nature in All Beings
Hidden by mental and behavioural negativities
in every single being,
even the worst of sentient beings,
is that timeless, and
inherently transcendental Buddha-essence.
Indeed, all of us have
within us Buddha-Nature,
but few of us are able to realize it.
III. Buddha-Nature and the Luminous Mind
Unstained is the Luminous Mind,
by nature brightly shining and pure
for it is originally and naturally pure.
Yet it is enveloped in the garments of worldliness,
and soiled with the dirt of
attachment, hatred, delusion
and false imagining.
That stillness of mind
uncovered by the calm insight
of breath meditation
develops too by mindful meditation
this purity of heart
to realize the Luminous Mind,
which sees the original edge of reality
known as Buddha-Nature.
References:
Tathagatagarbha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tathagatagarbha
Sugatagarbha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha-nature
"Garments of worldliness" refers to skandhas, dhatus and ayatanas, specifically:
the Five Aggregates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandha
the Eighteen Dhatus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhatu, and
the Twelve Ayatanas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayatana
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