SESSION 5.
Sevenfold division of mind.
The way mind realizes the object.
Today we will go through the awareness or consciousness, but we go through the consciousness from a different angle, it’s more like by dividing the consciousness into seven categories. You already have received a sort of a diagram earlier in the group which is about seven minor awareness. So basically, we can say that it’s about seven awareness and consciousness.
Basically it’s one of the way to categorize awareness into a group of seven and this is one of the very known. These seven are quite very important, because this seven shows how an ignorance transfers towards the valid consciousness. In a simple word, this helps us to understand how the misunderstanding can be transformed into valid understanding.
So this way of categorizing into seven also help us or remind us one of the main purposes of learning lorig or learning about mind and awareness. Earlier, I always have been telling that we have to learn about mind and awareness because our happiness or suffering is not something that is external, that is outside. Suffering is something which we experience within us and the experience is not based on outer phenomena or outer materialistic things which experience happiness, peace or suffering or pain totally within us, inside us.
And it is some small factors, some small things that we are not able to change within us, for example, attachment or a greed. Let’s say a greed, it’s one of the very commons, because of the greed, even if you have a lot, you still unhappy, you still can’t find that contentment in life, then you are not satisfied whatever you have. Many people have enough of what they need to survive or to have a happy life in this world, yet they are looking for more and more so they are in a sort of a race to get more and more. And then at the end they can’t live the life happily by hoping that “I will live happily when I reach some gold”, they run towards something for their whole life and then they don’t get to enjoy the life at all. Many even among Buddhist practitioners, for example, there are many people who are very short-tempered who are Buddhist. They think that “I will practice it, I will practice it later, now I’m a bit busy, I can’t practice much, maybe I’m gonna practice some after some year, after some time”. A sort of delay practicing it, while they are attached to something, while they’re busy with some materialistic things or I have none, now I have to concentrate on my work, or now I have to concentrate on my studies, I am gonna practice patience later on. So many of the cases we spend our entire life by hoping and thinking that we’re gonna practice later or maybe next time or something like that. And then many cases, even when it comes to generosity to be kind to others who are in need.
I usually say when you are not able to be kind when you have like 15 dollars, you won’t be able to practice kindness even if you have 15 million. Because if you think that “I have only 15, I want to have some more so that I can be kind, now I cannot be kind”, so this is a sort of a trap that we might caught in, when you are not able to practice when you have 15, usually I say that you won’t be able to practice generosity even if you have 15 million. It’s not what you have, it’s not how much you have, it’s about how much you are willing to give out, how much you can sacrifice, how much you can divide, how much you can share if your mind cannot release when you’ve 15 in the mind, is the same mind. When you are not able to release something when you’ve 15, even if you have 150, you won’t be able to release because that mind is, like “Now I don’t wanna give, maybe I’ll give later”, so that attitude remains.
There are many factors which are quite easy and simple, but many people are totally ignorant about it, which is the reason why many people think that “I will be happy if I get that job or I will be happy if I get that thing”. Happiness, as I always say, it is a state of mind, it’s just a feeling of satisfaction, it’s just a feeling of contentment and it is totally in your hand. You can be happy right now if you just think that “OK, this is enough, I have what I have”. The moment you think this, the moment you genuinely think it from your heart, it’s more like you fall into a different dimension of happiness. You don’t have to change a place, you don’t have to change anything, you can just be happy.
The moment you think that “Oh I need that or I’m lacking, OK, I need this, I need that and this”, then your mind is on a race. It’s more like thirsty to get more and more, when you are thirsty you can never be in peace, so this is how I was telling the whole time why we have to understand the mind. So today from these seven categories we will be able to understand that many of the suffering and problem and the pain is because of ignorance, is because we are not able to understand, is because we are not understanding the fact, the reality.
We are often trapped in our own sort of delusion of mind, generally we always blame, we always try to find whenever we have a problem or a pain or uncomfortable or anything else, we always look up, look out to blame on something, “Oh my car was not good, my this was not good, my that was not good or that is the reason, this is the reason”. In fact, how might is the reasons? The untamed mind, the mind which is not disciplined, it’s the reason why we have to go through all these up and downs for these problems.
So to convert or to transform that ‘wrong consciousness’ or the mistaken mind, the ignorant mind into awareness, awakening state, generally it’s just a way we have to go through these five, six different minds, that is a way. It’s not like you have to go in a sequence to all of these things, but this is one of the ways to understand how one level can reach out to the next level, how next level can reach out to the next to that.
SEVENFOLD DIVISION OF MIND.
The seven aware minds and awareness that we will go through is ‘direct valid cognizer’, last time, I was talking about ‘direct perceivers’, I was talking about the six types of direct perceivers, the five sense consciousness, and then the mental direct perceiver, so the direct perceiver doesn’t have to be a valid. First I will explain what is ‘the valid cognizer’ and what is ‘the subsequent cognizer’, this is really easy, keep calm, this is something that we experience every day. Usually you say that “Oh, seven categories or last time it was four and there was literally not really easy, today seven, it would be really difficult”. It’s really easy!
Seven basically is: the first three are direct valid cognizer, inferential valid cognizer and subsequent valid cognizer – These three, the first, second, and third are the mind which realizes the object, which knows its object; the rest of the four doesn’t realize its object, for example, a doubt doesn’t know its object, confuses about the object. So the first three realize its object, the remaining four doesn’t realize its object. Very simple!
The first three realizing the object: direct valid cognizers, inferential cognizers and subsequent cognizers.
Among the first three, to realize the object, the first two consciousness are ‘valid cognizer’ and the third one is ‘subsequent cognizer’, ‘subsequent’ means that the third one is the later moment of the first two.
When you look at the car, your eye consciousness realizes the car. The first moment it realizes by itself without depending on other consciousness or any previous consciousness. By the power of its own, it realizes the car. You look at the car, you realize the car and the second moment relies on the first moment of the eye consciousness. The first moment, it is very clear, at the same time, the first is more like it gives its own energy or by its own force. The second moment of the eye consciousness becomes ‘subsequent cognizer’. So a newly incontrovertible consciousness is the pretty much definition of ‘the valid cognizer’. The first and second consciousness are valid cognizers, it has to be new, this means that it shouldn’t be induced by some other ‘valid cognizers’. It should be new, newly realizing something. The second moment of this becomes subsequent cognizer.
So the first two: the first one is ‘direct valid cognizer’, it means that it realizes the object directly like eye-car; the second one is ‘inferential valid cognizer’. Inferential valid cognizer is like you don’t realize it directly, you realize something by thinking the reason. You look at the car and you realize that car, you don’t have to think of any reason. One of the common examples is that: suppose there is a mountain, and there is a forest behind the mountain that you know, but you are on this side of the mountain, and then you can see a huge smoke comes out of the mountain, other side of the mountain, from the other part of the mountain a huge smoke comes out. What you realize? That there might be a fire, the forest causes a fire. By the sign or by the reason that there is a hug smoke comes out, it means that a fire is going on even if you don’t see the fire from your eyes. You just know by thinking the reason “OK, there is a fire because I can see the smoke”. So you realize that the forest causes a fire, that is ‘inferential cognizer’. So the first moment of that is also a ‘valid cognizer’, and the second moment of that is a ‘subsequent cognizer’.
In brief.
So I’m repeating the first, second and third, which are the consciousness which realizes object. The first is ‘direct valid cognizer’ which knows its object directly without thinking any reason, we just realize it directly. The second one is ‘inferential valid cognizer’ which has to rely on some reasons and by your mind, the second one cannot be your eye consciousness, the second one cannot be any of the five senses. ‘Inferential cognizer’ cannot be your nose or tongue or ear or physical consciousness. It has to be mental consciousness because you are thinking, then you are realizing “Oh, there must be a fire”. So that your eye cannot think, your ear cannot think, so that’s why the five sense consciousness are often known as stupid consciousness, because the five sense consciousness cannot think by its own.
So the first three consciousness which realizes object. I’m repeating again, ‘direct valid cognizer’ like eye consciousness which newly realizes object, the ear consciousness which newly realized and also the mental consciousness which newly realises object like a clairvoyance. So the second one is also a newly realizing consciousness but through some reasons and there has to be a mental consciousness. The third one is basically the second moment of the first one and the second one, because these two has to be newly realizing, the consciousness which newly realises object. So the second moment of the first, then the second moment of the second becomes a third one. And of course, the third one which is ‘subsequent cognizer’, either has to be induced by ‘direct valid cognizer’ or it has to be induced by ‘inferential cognizer’. OK, the first three.
The remaining four not realizing the object: correctly assuming consciousness, awareness to which the object appears without being ascertained, doubt consciousness and wrong consciousness.
- Correctly assuming consciousness
Now we have the remaining four. The firsts are quite simple, and then the remaining four are even more simpler. So that fourth one is ‘correctly assuming consciousness’, the fourth one basically has to be a mental, a thought consciousness. It is a ‘conceptual thought’ which doesn’t realize its object, which doesn’t realize but the way it’s assuming is correctly. For example, if you think that “OK, the trees are impermanent”. There is no tree which is permanent, the tree always changes, not like an apple tree becomes a mango tree but apple tree is an apple tree but it changes momentarily. There is always the change, so if a person thinks that the apple tree is permanent, then it is not correctly assuming. That is not ‘correctly assuming consciousness’ if the thought thinks something and if it is incorrect.
A thought has to be like not two side- minded, it is more like ‘maybe it is permanent’ or ‘maybe it’s impermanent’, if such a mind thinks then it becomes ‘doubt consciousness’, the ‘correctly assuming consciousness’ has to be a conceptual thought which one-sided it thinks that “OK this is that, OK a tree is impermanent”, so the ‘correctly assuming consciousness’. I’m gonna tell the relation between the seven consciousness later on, but first we will just go through what it basically means like ‘correctly assuming consciousness’. So that’s quite simple, it has to be a mental consciousness, and then it has to be apprehending or perceiving its object correctly, but it doesn’t realize its object, it’s just assuming. That is the fourth one.
- Awareness to which the object appears without beingascertained
Now, the fifth one is ‘awareness to which the object appears without being ascertained, without being realized. So the fifth one is a consciousness, the object appears to the consciousness but consciousness is not able to realize the object. For example, if you are listening to a very nice music, then you are totally dissolved in the music and then somebody pass by, it’s like the person appeared to you, but you were not able to realize the person. If somebody asks you who was that? Then you’re like “Oh, I’ve seen somebody passing, but I’m not sure who that is”. You’re eating a very delicious food and then somebody said something and you literally haven’t heard what the person said. There is an awareness, the ear consciousness becomes an ‘awareness to be the object appears without being ascertained’, which means without being realized, you were not able to realize.
Sometimes you watch a very nice, let’s see, a movie, you are watching a very nice movie. Suppose you’re watching a movie and then you are having a popcorn, you really love the movie and there was a popcorn around and you just keep eating the popcorn and before the movie ends, let’s say the popcorn finishes and then if somebody asks you like “What was that flavor of popcorn?”. If you are really so much dissolved in the movie, then sometimes like you don’t even know what the flavor was. You were eating it, but you are so dissolved in the movie that you don’t know what flavor of the popcorn was? Was it a caramel or chocolate or was it a salty one or whatever it was?
So your tongue consciousness become this one. Your tongue consciousness becomes awareness to which the object appears, of course, if it is a salty or a caramel, chocolate, whatever flavor, the flavor appeared to your tongue consciousness. But you were not able to realize it because you were too much attached or you were too much dissolved in the movie. So then the awareness becomes an ‘awareness to which the object appears without being ascertained’. That is a fifth one.
- Doubt consciousness.
And the sixth one is ‘doubt consciousness’. ‘Doubt consciousness’ is more like in the same case, suppose you don’t like the salty one, but you know that you enjoyed the popcorn. “If it is a salty one, I usually can’t eat” then you have now the doubt, maybe it’s a caramel or maybe it’s the chocolate flavor then you have the doubt. The doubt you all know but then the doubt has three kinds of doubt:
- Doubt tendingtowards correct, a truth;
- Doubtwhichtending towards the false and
- Equal
It is more like if you think that somebody from some other country who is not really sure whether Biden is the President of United State but he thinks that maybe Biden is a president or maybe Biden is not a president, then it’s equal doubt. This doubt is like equal, maybe yes, maybe no, it’s like equal. If a person has a doubt but the person thinks that “Maybe Biden is a president or not?”, but then he thinks that “Maybe he’s a president”, then it’s a doubt tending towards the truth. If you think that “Maybe he’s not a president”, here’s a doubt, but maybe he’s not, then it’s like doubt tending towards the false.
This is very important, I mean I really think it’s important because like ‘maybe yes’ and yes there is a huge difference. Many people make conclusion on ‘maybe yes’, many people make conclusion based on ‘maybe no’, doesn’t matter whether it’s ‘maybe yes’ or ‘maybe no’, it’s maybe which means doubt, which means it doesn’t realize and then that mind is not reliable. Even when you hear people talking, even in the newest movies or whether movies or wherever, even in real life, ‘maybe it’s that’. And also I see that people are betting based on ‘maybe yes’, this is really funny. ‘Maybe yes’ it’s a doubt, ‘doubt consciousnes’, and ‘doubt consciousness’ is not reliable, ‘maybe yes’ can be tending towards the wrong, can maybe turning towards the right. If you compare ‘maybe yes’ and ‘inferential cognizer’, inferential cognizer is a valid cognizer. So instead of relying on ‘maybe yes’ or ‘maybe no’, it’s very important to think of a reason, rely on the brain, try to think, try to analyze. Anyway the ‘doubt consciousness’ is the sixth one.
- Wrong consciousness.
The seventh one is the ‘wrong consciousness’. So ‘wrong consciousness’ is a consciousness which apprehends such object which doesn’t exist. “Oh, I see a ghost!”, the ghost exists, it’s OK, if the ghost doesn’t exist there, then it’s the ‘wrong consciousness’. Even a mind which thinks that maybe Biden is not president also a ‘wrong consciousness’, because he is president. You meet some stranger, a person, and then normally we are so used to make a conclusion, this is our mind, because our minds are so used to that. As I told earlier in some classes that our mind not able to concentrate on one topic for a long time, it is able to concentrate for a very short time, so when you talk with someone you often miss many things, but you always fill something in by your own mind. When we listen to something and then we think that “Oh that is that, oh there is that”, but then often what we think and those thoughts can be a ‘wrong consciousness’.
So it is very important to think twice, even if you think it is something you know or you heard, but still if it is important you should and you must confirm it again. Because our mind is so used to make conclusion very easily. Generally when a person meet the next person, “Oh, he might be bad, oh he might be this person, he might be that person, etc…”, we often make a conclusion as if we are Buddha, as if we know everything. Many Many people based on feelings, you meet somebody “I feel that” then you make conclusion like or the person is good or the person is bad.
One of advantages to a monk that generally, people think that “Oh he is a monk, it must be a very good person” and if a person is not really tidy in such a stage, then an immediate conclusion like “Oh he might be very bad or he’s a beggar or he must be a thief”. Such conclusions are based on feelings are often ‘wrong consciousness’.
THE WAY MIND REALIZES THE OBJECT.
The reason why I’m saying is because it leads us, it’s some strange situations often. So from such ‘wrong consciousness’, first is a ‘wrong consciousness’, you think of one reason, then you become doubt, ‘doubt consciousness’, and then if you think of one another reason or you listen to someone who knows about it, then it becomes correctly assuming consciousness like “OK, he’s a good person”, but you still don’t realize how and why he or she is a good person, but we correctly assume it. Then you think of a reason “OK, because he’s this and this and that” then you have an inferential cognizer, you realize.
The second moment of ‘inferential cognizer’ is ‘subsequent cognizer’ or you see that person drink something which is positive, which is enough reason to say that person is a good. So in that case you have a ‘direct valid cognizer’, you see it by yourself.
In Buddhism we say every each and everything is impermanent, we have to understand the change, we have to understand the momentarily changing nature. First, you might have a ‘wrong consciousness’ like “No, not everything change, there are many things which doesn’t change.”, that is a wrong consciousness. Then you say like “Oh there is a change”, because even from scientific reasons, like each and every phenomena that change in a year or in a decade, the change takes place every moment. Even from scientific approach it has to change because the electron part always move, even in one cell if you look very closely, deeply is more like a villus, there’s too many things, too many happenings. I’ve heard like there’s some researchers who spend like 20-30 years in just one cell, and also many people in the medical field, the way medicine reacts to such cell to breakdown a cell or whatever,… I don’t know much, but I’ve just heard there are people who spend like 20 years just exploring what is inside one cell, too many things, and then one thing that we can understand is like a lot of things that are moving, changing every moment.
So if you explains in this way and like even a very solid phenomena like diamonds, they also change. It is just that the change doesn’t take place which is very close to us, but if you look at very carefully, if you look it from different angles that a person’s eye, a naked eye, cannot perceive, then you see that things change. So from that perspective, you might have a doubt now, it’s more like everything might be impermanence, every functional phenomena might be impermanence, so then it’s like no other than doubt consciousness. If somebody say “Look at that tree that it changes”, then the change that takes place in the tree and our eye consciousness becomes an ‘awareness to which the object appears without being ascertained’, the fifth one. Now we jump to the six one which is ‘doubt consciousness’. ‘Wrong consciousness’, seventh one, becomes the doubt consciousness when you hear some reasons that everything is impermanent, then to the next level.
If you see at the leaves or a tree, the phenomena which is around us, and if somebody said like everything is momentarily changing, thing appears to our eyes, the change appears to eyes, but we are not able to understand it or realize it because it’s very subtle, that change is very subtle. Even if it appears to our eyes, our eyes is not able to realize, one, it is very fast, second, it is very subtle. The change is very slow or is very subtle, so that’s why our eyes are not able to realize, at this stage we are on the fifth stage, awareness to which the object appears, the change appears, the momentarily change appears, but we are not able to realize then we are on the fifth stage.
Then we think of some more reasons, that moment, things are momentarily changing, then you say like “Yeah, it must be changing, it must change because I see the change in a month”. The change that took place in a month, it doesn’t happen on the last day or no all of a sudden. It has to take place in every week, every day, every hour, every minute, every second, every millisecond. So then you’re like assuming that “Yeah, it must change”. Without a change in a day, there won’t be a change in a week, so then at that stage you are like ‘correctly assuming consciousness’.
You have the ‘correctly assuming consciousness’, but you still hasn’t realized that things are momentarily changing. When you think of a reason that each and everything that we see is made up of many small factors, many small atoms. Every form is made up of electrons, neutrons, protons no less. And from Buddhist perspective, I would say the four elements, every form that we can see with our eyes are made up of like the fire element, the water element, the earth element and then a wind element. So these elements are changing momentarily, so when the causes are changing momentarily, the form, it should change because the causes are changing, the causes are not stable, so the results cannot be stable in a form.
By thinking this again and again, by thinking that things change in a long time, it should change in the short period of time, by thinking the reason again, by thinking many other reasons, then slowly you are able to realize it through a reason. It’s more like because there is a smoke there must be a fire, so by seeing the smoke we get to understand that there is a fire caught on the forest. So similarly by thinking the growth changes and then by thinking that growth change must have taken place slowly, gradually every moment, and then by thinking that again and again, we are able to understand that things are momentarily changing, so every functional phenomena are impermanent. So at that time you have the ‘inferential cognizer’, ‘inferential valid cognizer’, that time you realize.
That ‘inferential valid cognizer’ if you combine it with the meditation, if you combine it with the single-pointed concentration and the specially insight meditation, through that if you practice it for a long time, then you will be able to realize that everything as an impermanence, momentarily changing. You realize as if you see a car directly without relying on a meaning generality, without relying on any image, you will be able to see things very clearly as if you look at your palm. So a person can reach at such a stage.
The momentarily changing is the change that takes place every millisecond but our eyes cannot see , but through the meditation single-pointed if you practice it for quite a bit of time, then you can reach at such a stage where you can develop a mental consciousness as I’ve mentioned earlier, the yogic direct perceiver. When you develop a yogic direct perceiver, you will be able to realize the object that change, a very subtle change as if you look at the palm very clearly without going through any image. You will be able to see the change as if you look at the car.
So that stage you have reached the first division which is the ‘direct valid cognizers’ and the second moment of the ‘direct valid cognizers’ or the second moment of the ‘inferential valid cognizers’ is ‘subsequent cognizers’. So to receive or to achieve such a ‘direct valid cognizer’ you have to go through the ‘inferential valid cognizers’ because first you have to realize through some reasons, then you have to think about it again and again, then the ‘inferential valid cognizers’ become ‘subsequent cognizers’. Then the ‘subsequent cognizers’, you think about it again and again, then slowly you reach at the ‘Arya stage’, and then at that time you will be able to have the direct valid cognizers
I’m talking about impermanence, but ‘direct valid cognizer’ is our eye consciousness looking at the car that is also direct valid cognizer not to make it’s complex. But when it comes to impermanence which is that momentarily changing then it has to reach at such a stage where you have such a power and your meditation is so very high and then you receive some yogic direct perceiver and then you realize impermanence directly. But to make it simple and to know it in a very simple with a very simple things like you just think of a car.
If you attach the whole seven with the car, if it is a Ferrari or BMW, if you don’t know BMW and then you think that the BMW is a Ferrari or a Ferrari is the BMW, it is a ‘wrong consciousness’, then somebody say “Oh no, this is BMW, it’s not Ferrari”, then you have the doubt “OK, maybe yes, maybe no”, you reach to the doubt. Then if the BMW comes and run very fast, we think that the BMW appears to your eyes or a Ferrari appears to your eyes, but then you were not able to realize it clearly what are the features, how it is different from Ferrari or BMW, then it becomes a consciousness to which the object appears without being ascertained. Then somebody come to you and explain you a BMW has to be this and this and that while the Ferrari has to be this and this and that or it’s just a different company, or this feature is there, not here, then you have OK, you think that you understand, but it is not like you realize. When you think that “Oh OK, now I got it”, at that time it’s more like you have the correctly assuming consciousness, sort of understanding the difference between BMW and Ferrari, then you do a little more research and then you realize.
The first moment that you realize becomes ‘inferential valid cognizer’, you realize it. Then the second moment, it becomes a ‘subsequent cognize’, you realize it but it is not by its own, by the power of that mind. The ‘subsequent cognizer’ is because of this and that, then suddenly the both cars arrive or maybe you go to a place where you can get to see the both Ferrari and BMW, but you see both of the cars by your valid eye consciousness, then it is a ‘direct valid cognizer’, you see it directly without going through any reason or without going through any pratya, explanation or by not relying on other mind, your eye consciousness sees by yourself. That is direct valid cognizer.
CONCLUSION.
- The firstthree are consciousness which realize the object:
- ‘Directvalid cognizer’ is the consciousness which don’t rely to the meaning generality, which means that you see it directly, not only see, but you realize it directly, but it has to be the first moment.
- ‘Inferentialcognizer’, you realize the object, it is the first moment also, but through some reasons.
- ‘Subsequent cognizer’ isthe second moment of this first and two.
These three are the consciousness visualize the object.
- Four another consciousness which doesn’t realize its object.
- The firstis ‘correctly assuming’, it is assumption, it is correct but still assumption, it’s not like you realize.
- The secondone is object appears but it is not able to realize like we are so much dissolving in television and we don’t know what the flavor of the food or its taste. Some kids when they eat, they watch something, then a parent might ask “what was it tasty?”, the kids don’t know, the kids are dissolved in a cartoon or something like that.
- The thirdone is like ‘doubt consciousness’, it’s very much common to all of us, you have a doubt, you don’t know, you’re confused.
- The fourth one is a wrong It’slike what you think is not true, such a thought that perceive object that “object doesn’t exist is not true”.
These four consciousness are not reliable at all. So based on these four consciousness, if you are making some decision, then you really have to be very careful, you have to think like few more times. Because based on these four consciousness, you cannot rely on anything because these are not valid cognizers, it’s not valid, so you cannot rely on these four.
So basically this is all about the seven consciousness, of course, each of these consciousness can be divided into two or three, sometimes it is been divided like 3-4 in some texts, then you know the division, you can just think of that, it’s quite easy. But if you know these seven itself, I think it’s much more than enough.
QUESTION AND ANSWERS.
- Lama,when the ‘direct perceivers’ are considered the ‘direct valid cognizers’ because they are unmistaken?
No, for example the eyes, the object appears to the eyes without being ascertained. You’re listening to a very nice music or maybe a Ferrari goes, the Ferrari appears to your eye consciousness, but the eye consciousness doesn’t realize, that eye consciousness is also direct perceiver, it is not mistaken, so it’s a direct perceiver, but it is not a direct valid cognizer because it doesn’t realize its object. The fifth one of the ‘consciousness to which the object appears without being ascertained’, if we take an example of an eye consciousness to which the object appears without being realized, then that eye consciousness becomes ‘direct perceiver’, it’s not a direct valid cognizer because it doesn’t realize its object.
- Can youelaborate the ‘arya stage’?
‘Arya’ is like in English extraordinary. ‘Arya stage’ is like a being when you realize a certain stage through the power of meditation, you reach at the ‘Arya stage’ which means you reach at the extraordinary being stage, that is the time you realize emptiness directly. Now you will be able to understand: a person realizes emptiness, it doesn’t mean that you become ‘arya being’, extraordinary being. If a ‘direct valid cognizer’ realizes emptiness which means you realize emptiness as if you look at the car, then you reach at the ‘Arya stage’.
- Lama, couldwe say that a Buddha mind operates only with ‘direct valid consciousness’ all the time?
Yes, that’s right, Buddhas don’t have convention cognizers, because convention cognizer is also a conceptual thought which doesn’t see its object clearly. So all the Buddha minds are direct valid cognizers.
- Ifeverything is impermanent, is that someone who see the impermanence considered to be permanent?
No, impermanence is also change, so impermanence is also impermanence. There is nothing that is permanent. That is very important, when you see the time as impermanence, that is very helpful. The time change, we have time now, we have opportunity, our body can do so we should do now. Where there is a practice, where there is a meditation or all the good things that you have in your mind that you wish to do, if you can do now, you should start.
There will be a time when even if you wish to, your body may not be able to help you to do such thing like meditation. Or if you want to practice love and compassion, must do now, later you really don’t know or you also don’t know whether the circumstances, conditions are raising in future because we don’t have control over the future, we really don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. If you have any good plan in your mind you should do it as soon as possible. But then if you are not able to do today or tomorrow, you should be patient.
Oh, if you are asking mind which is a ‘valid cognizer’ is permanent? Ah, all right. Many people think that Buddha is permanent. No, Buddha is also not permanent, Buddha also changes momentarily which is why Buddha is not somewhere we can see these days. He was in India like 2500 years back, but then he changes his form, appears in a different form, different forms in different times according to the karma with the disciples, according to karma of both the Buddha and the person. And also the Buddha’s mind is not permanent, the mind cannot be anything, that is made up of conditions, cannot be permanent.
Because based on conditions it will change, but even the Buddha’s mind is made up a lot of different conditions, it has to change. As I told like mind is made up of the four conditions, one of the conditions of the mind is object out there, so the object out there you don’t have a control over it. This cup, Buddha realizes this cup, Buddha sees that this cup is existing, if I break it then that mind changes, the cup doesn’t exist anymore. So one of the conditions of the mind is the object, so that’s why object changes, mind changes. Cup is not a concept, cup is object. The label ‘cup’ is a label, that has been given to such a phenomena which has a function of keeping the water or tea or something inside, to hold something inside. If you talk about that phenomena, it is the thing that can be seen by eyes.
CLOSING.
Thank you very much. I’m sorry that I couldn’t go through the quiz carefully, thank you very much for the team creating the quiz. I’m just happy that you’re reading once again. Many of you might be busy in your work, so sparing a time to reading the quiz is also a way to revise, it becomes a sort of a revision and I’m really happy and thankful to all of you for giving your time to do that and to reach in with your answers regardless of what you think and how you understand.
You don’t have to be correct, what is important is that you think about it one more time, it’s not like we are perfect on the mind even I myself. In the book it says that nobody can be perfect with the mind until we reach that state of Buddha, because for example, ‘the feeling’, it’s not even describable, you can’t even describe. In the book, the feeling is explained very easily known as neutral feeling, happiness feeling, and a feeling of suffering or pain, it is just three, it’s easy, but when it comes to describing it’s very difficult. It’s like somebody said that if you haven’t had honey in your life, you can’t describe how the honey tastes.
So it’s more like a feeling, how you feel? So regardless how many points you got, I’m really happy to receive the answers and I’m really happy that you all spent a bit of time to review, to look on that. Previously I thought that you know in the quiz, you have to select only one answer and then I think that many of you just select one answer. But in the first two, three quiz, I think there are multiple answers, you have to select one, two or three answers. Then if you don’t answer all of the correct answers there is not showing the point which is also a difference, I also didn’t know about that before. But anyways, I’m just happy that you all are reading that once again.
To get familiarized with the English terms for the mind is also very good at the beginning, but then slowly when you go through some more classes you will get used to the names of the mind, the function of the mind and all these things. I’m really very grateful for all your time that you spend towards learning about mind, consciousness. I hope this will be able to help to generate a correct understanding about the mind and thus may bring peace and happiness and harmony within oneself and maybe be able to spread it to our surrounding people who live around us and in this world.
Source.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iL4lYG2Pj9vtHs1xsPQ-xDcHOTUALCuF