13. Epistemology (viii) The Three Delicate Marks

In this post, we discuss one of the most important Buddhist doctrines. Known as the Three Delicate Marks (Chinese = 三細相), Buddha teaches in it the consequences for all beings in the universe with consciousness as their origin. Essentially, the Three Delicate Marks affect all beings in Buddha’s universe because everything is built from consciousness.

The doctrine of the Three Delicate Marks originates in Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (Chinese=大乗起信論), which is “an influential Mahayana Buddhist treatise for East Asian Buddhism.”

A) In Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, it is written, “because of unenlightenment, three marks arise, concomitantly inseparable from unenlightenment (Chinese=依不覺故生三種相,與彼不覺相應不離“).

Mark (Romanized Sanskrit=laksana, Chinese=相), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is together “characteristic,” “attribute,” or a “sign;” is “in Sanskrit, a polysemous term used in a variety of contexts to indicate either the principle characteristics or defining quality of something.”

Let’s start with trying to understand what unenlightenment means. In contrast to enlightenment, which refers to the quiescent mentality of the Ultimate Reality that Adyashanti realized upon his enlightenment, unenlightenment refers to the fluctuating mentality. As Adyashanti acknowledged, the quiescent mentality signifies awareness. On the other hand, the fluctuating mentality signifies consciousness.

Furthermore, while Buddha defines enlightenment as luminous (Romanized Sanskrit=prabhasvara, Chinese=光明), he defines unenlightenment as defiled. Since the fluctuating mentality is defiled, it is no longer luminous. Therefore, in addition to being called unenlightenment, the fluctuating mentality is also known as non-luminous (Romanized Sanskrit=tamasa; Chinese=無明). In other words, when one is unenlightened, one is simultaneously non-luminous. However, their applications differ slightly. While unenlightenment signifies the unenlightened mental nature of conscious beings, non-luminosity indicates the realm of fluctuating mentality spread throughout the cosmos. In other words, one is unenlightened because one exists in a larger, non-luminous external environment.  

So, one can interpret “because of unenlightenment, three marks arise, concomitantly inseparable from unenlightenment” as “because of unenlightenment, three marks arise, concomitantly inseparable from non-luminosity.” So, how can the three marks be “concomitantly inseparable” in a cosmic ocean of fluctuating mentality? Buddha did not explicitly say.

This is where Dr. Frank Wilczek’s remark that “We see particles as epiphenomena. They are kind of ripples on the deep structure” provides a critical missing link: ripples in a fluctuating field are epiphenomena. As an ocean of fluctuating mentality, non-luminosity has its ripples and epiphenomena. Buddha’s epiphenomena are known as “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust (Chinese=鄰虛塵),” where “dust” is a Buddhist term with a similar meaning as particles in science. With consciousness as the foundational block in Buddha’s universe, the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust,” the smallest epiphenomenon in the universe, is the first conscious being in it. So, we can surmise that unenlightenment begins with the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust,” and the three marks are “concomitantly inseparable” on it.  

The Three Delicate Marks are:

  1. Mark of The Non-Luminous Karma (Chinese=無明業相).

According to Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, “Because of unenlightenment, the mind moves, named as karma. There is no motion when enlightened. When there is motion, there is suffering. Fruition is inseparable from causation.” (Chinese=依不覺故心動。說名為業,覺則不動,動則有苦. 果不離因故).”

Karman (Chinese=業), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “action”: in its inflected form “karma,” it is now accepted as an English word, a term used to refer to the doctrine of actions and its corresponding “ripening” or “fruition (Vipaka), according to which virtuous deeds of body, speech, and mind produce happiness in the future (in this life or subsequently lives), while nonvirtuous deeds lead instead to suffering.”

From the few words describing the first Mark, “Because of unenlightenment, the mind moves, named as karma. There is no motion when enlightened. When there is motion, there is suffering. Fruition is inseparable from causation,” Buddha defines why suffering is existential for conscious beings.

  • Unenlightenment is the mind moving. A moving mind is karma. Karma is suffering. Since a moving mind is conscious, it follows that unenlightenment, karma, and suffering are innate for any being born with consciousness.
  • In his doctrine known as the Eight Sufferings (Romanized Sanskrit=astakuhkha; Chinese=八難), Buddha lists birth, aging, sickness, and death as the first four. This is the meaning of existential suffering. Suffering is existential because aging, sickness, and death inevitably follow birth. Life is impermanent. Indeed, it is common sense.
  • Since the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” is the first conscious being in the universe, it is born unenlightened with an impermanent life. In Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Chinese=首楞嚴經), Buddha indicates that the lifespan of the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” is extremely short by describing it as “born here, also annihilated here (Chinese=當處出生,隨處滅盡).” Science agrees with Buddha. Scientists call the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust ” quarks and describe the speed of their annihilation as “one million billion billion frames per second.”
  • Indeed, humans are also born unenlightened. They are accompanied by karma and existential suffering with an impermanent life not because of doing evil deeds or eating forbidden fruits but because they are born with consciousness.
  • However, even as Buddha teaches the cause of existential suffering in the first Mark, he also provides a solution to it in the first Mark.
  • As Buddha says in the first Mark, “There is no motion when enlightened.” In other words, getting enlightened is the fundamental solution to existential suffering.
  • As discussed when discussing the enlightenment experience of Adyashanti, all enlightened people become Arhats, who are those that have overcome afflictive obstructions and are free from “Paricchedajaramarana, or “determinative birth-and-rebirth (Chinese=分段生死).” Enlightened people are no longer subject to karma-produced suffering of cycles of birth, aging, sickness, and death.
  • Therefore, the fundamental solution to solving the problem of “determinative birth-and-rebirth” is to become enlightened.

2. Mark of Ability to Observe, or the Observer (Chinese=能見相):

According to Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, “motion leads to the ability to observe an external realm. Without motion, there is no observation” (Chinese=依動故能見,不動則無見).

3. Mark of A Delusional Realm, or the Observed (Chinese=妄境相):                     

According to Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, “because of the ability to observe, a delusional realm manifested.” “Without observation, there is no realm (Chinese=依能見故, 境界妄現. 離見則無境界).”

Again, like the Mark of The Non-Luminous Karma, the appearance of the Observer and the Observed is also because of the mind moving.  

Additionally, by deeming the observed realm delusional, Buddha indicates that the delusional misunderstanding of reality starts with the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust.” As discussed earlier, both the cause of delusion and its resolution have to do with the Five Aggregates. So, that implies that the Five Aggregates are also “concomitantly inseparable” from the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust.” But where are they?

Let’s explain this with the help of Dr. David Tong’s familiar epiphenomena image.

As shown in Dr. Tong’s image, the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” is without materiality and, therefore, has no sensory faculties or brains. However, sensory faculties and brains are not required for the conscious “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” to have the Five Aggregates.

Let’s start with the second Aggregate and go through the Five Aggregates in the same order discussed earlier to find out why.

1) The second Aggregate is the Aggregate of Sensing, Vedanaskandha (Chinese=受蘊), which corresponds with what Dr. Fisch describes as “the world impacts on us in a causal manner through all our senses.”

As discussed then, the world impacts our senses through the interaction between the conscious waves that carry the “experiential contents” of the world and the consciousness of the sensory faculties. However, as ripples in mentality, “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust,” by definition, is pure consciousness. As pure consciousness, “neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” can sense each other’s conscious waves without having sensory faculties.

2) The third Aggregate is the Aggregate of Active Mentality, Samjnaskandha (Chinese=想蘊), which corresponds to what Dr. Fisch describes as “becoming reading in of the mind.” However, “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” does not need “reading in of the mind” because, as pure consciousness, it has all the brain’s active mentality without an enclosure.

3) The fourth Aggregate is the Aggregate of Action, Samskaraskandha (Chinese=行蘊), which corresponds to what Dr. Fisch describes as “conceptualization in ways we do not govern.” However, as pure consciousness, the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” is undoubtedly capable of conceptualization.

4) The fifth Aggregates is the Aggregate of Consciousness, Vijnanaskandha Chinese=識蘊), the role of which is to project the conceptualized mental constructs to be seen as “the world we experience,” in the words of Dr. Fisch. As pure consciousness, “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” can certainly project its mental constructs to be seen as “the world all Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust experience. ”  

5) The first Aggregate is the Aggregate of Rupa, Rupaskandha (Chinese=色蘊), which corresponds to “the world that all neighbor-to-Emptiness dust experience,” which Buddha calls the delusional observed realm.

By deeming “the world that all neighbor-to-Emptiness dust experience” delusional, Buddha indicates that the delusional misunderstanding of reality begins with the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust.” In other words, the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” is the first conscious being to have a Mind-Body Problem.

The fact that the root cause of the Mind-Body Problem originated from the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” explains why humans have been unable to solve it after centuries of debates. Humans have been unable to solve the Mind-Body Problem because, as with the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust, it is innate in humans. No amount of searching, reasoning, or explaining can solve it because the Mind-Body Problem is the way of nature.

In the next post, we will tie together the concepts discussed in the last few posts by examining how a famous Bodhisattva liberated himself from his existential suffering and satisfied Buddha’s soteriological goal by practicing meditation so profoundly that he gained the Perfection of Wisdom to comprehend the root cause of existential suffering through a correct understanding of the Five Aggregates.

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