Mixing the Stream of Rebirth

It's been said that the mixing of Tibetan Buddhism with Pure Land Buddhism may lead to confusion. For when studying both the Vajrayana and the Mahayana, the disciple may lose all faith in the Dharma due to the chaos such mixing makes to understanding your purpose in the life into which you were born. That purpose is, once awakened spiritually to the Bodhi Mind, the disciple aspires to rescue all sentient beings with the determination to attain Buddhahood.

In the case of the dedicated Buddhist born into the faith who has heard of the Buddha from an early age, and who has regularly practiced Buddha Recitation, he learned how to use breath meditation to calm his mind, and achieves more gains than losses in his faith. Though his speech may become incoherent when fatigued, his mind still remains as sharp as ever, all thanks to Buddha Recitation and insightful meditation.

Notes on Buddhist Atomism

In the following annotated text, the text in bold is the quote from the book by Fyodor Shcherbatskoy listed in the references below the following text.

The text after each quoted text are my notes to used to better understand the quoted material.

Out of respect for the fact that Stcherbatsky is referring to Dharmakirti and Buddhist atomism, I have refrained from including in my notes any reference to quantum physics including specific terms for atomic energies and intra-atomic energies.

This is because Buddhist philosophy and specifically Buddhism atomism is still based on the Buddhist notion of non-self i.e. the transitory nature of things.

I also wish to express my disclaimer that I am not an expert on Buddhist atomism. Rather, this note was made to better understand what the quoted author means.

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... The Buddhists denied the existence of substantial matter altogether. - If substantial matter is transitory, then substantial matter does not exist in a permanent state. Likewise, reality is nonexistent because it does not exist in a permanent state. Since nothing at all exists in a permanent state, then everything is transitory i.e. the ebb and flow of consciousness.

Movement consists for them of moments, it is a staccato movement, momentary flashes of a stream of energy... Movement, thus, consists of distinct but brief moments of change. Visualize movement of an object before a strobe light, which shows movement of that object "frozen" in separate instances.

"Everything is evanescent," ... says the Buddhist, because there is no stuff ... - Nothing lasts forever. Paraphrased, everything is liable to vanish or pass away like vapor. Thus, everything in life is fleeting. Yet even distinct change is imperceptible.

Both systems [Sānkhya and later Indian Buddhism] share in common a tendency to push the analysis of Existence up to its minutest, last elements which are imagined as absolute qualities, or things possessing only one unique quality. - In analyzing Existence to its smallest detail, Indian Buddhism exposes the "atoms" of existence itself.

They are called "qualities" (guna-dharma) in both systems in the sense of absolute qualities, a kind of atomic, or intra-atomic, energies of which the empirical things are composed. - Guna-Dharma are absolute qualities, and each quality, an intra-atomic energy. Things that we observe are thus composed of intra-atomic energies. Likewise, things that we experience are composed of intra-atomic qualities known as events and moments of feelings and thoughts.

Both systems, therefore, agree in denying the objective reality of the categories of Substance and Quality, ... and of the relation of Inference uniting them. - Substance refers to that which underlies all outward manifestations beiong the permanent subject or cause of phenomena, whether material or physical. Quality refers to the distinguishing property, characteristic, or attribute of any particular thing in relation to the substance of that thing. Inference refers to the association between substance and quality determined by the act of infering by deduction or induction what qualities make up a thing and what substance that thing is. By denying the objective reality of the categories of Substance and Qualities and of the relation of Inference, it is possible to contemplate things in terms of intra-atomic energies.

There is in Sānkhya philosophy no separate existence of qualities. What we call quality is but a particular manifestation of a subtle entity. - Yet these qualities do not exist separately on their own. Even when we describe the qualities of matter in terms of intra-atomic energies, they lack an independent existence as a permanent quality that lasts forever.

To every new unit of quality corresponds a subtle quantum of matter which is called guna "quality", but represents a subtle substantive entity. The same applies to early Buddhism where all qualities are substantive ... or, more precisely, dynamic entities, although they are also called dharmas ("qualities"). - All qualities which are substantive are dynamic entities called dharmas. Every new unit of quality which corresponds to a subtle quantum of matter is called guna.


References:
Stcherbatsky 1962 (1930). P. 19, Buddhist Logic. Volume 1. New York: Dover.

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Buddhist atomism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_atomism

Right Concentration: Transcending the Six Worldly Dusts

"In your seeing," he said, "there should be only the seeing. In your hearing, nothing but the hearing; in your smelling, tasting, and touching, nothing but smelling, tasting, and touching; in your thinking, nothing but the thought."

-Khuddaka Nikaya


According to Buddhism, the six worldly dusts are form, sound, taste, touch and dharmas (external opinions).

As a metaphor for all the mundane things that can becloud our True Nature, they correspond to the five senses and the discriminating, everyday mind (the six sense).

Thus the above quotes is part of the sutra Khuddhaka, which instructs the seeker on how to use the six senses so as to transcend the worldly dusts of form, sound, taste, touch, and dharmas.

Simply put, do not analyze sense data.