In this post, we discuss the relationship between Citta and enlightenment.
Astasahasrika-Prajnaparamita (道行般若波羅蜜經), “is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra in the category of Prajñāpāramitā sūtra literature. The sūtra’s manuscript witnesses date to at least c. Sigma ranges from 184 BCE to 46 BCE, making it among the oldest Buddhist manuscripts in existence. The sūtra forms the basis for the expansion and development of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra literature. In terms of its influence on the development of Buddhist philosophical thought, P.L. Vaidya writes that “all Buddhist writers from Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, Maitreyanātha, Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Dignāga, down to Haribhadra concentrated their energies in interpreting Aṣṭasāhasrikā only,” making it of great significance in the development of Madhyāmaka and Yogācāra thought.”
According to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, in Astasahasrika-Prajnaparamita, Buddha teaches that “the thought of enlightenment is no thought since in its essential original nature is transparently luminous (Chinese=光明).”
In a previous post, we discussed that Citta is the Ultimate Reality because its mentality is quiescent. Its quiescence means Citta has “no thought.” So, according to Buddha’s definition, Citta is enlightened and luminous. Additionally, a quiescent mentality is known as awareness, while a fluctuating mentality is consciousness. Given that Citta is spread throughout, it is the enlightened and luminous cosmic awareness.
In a previous post, Samadhi is defined as:
Samadhi (Chinese=三昧), according to The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, is “a non-dualistic state of consciousness in which the consciousness of the experiencing “subject” becomes one with the experienced “object” – thus is only experiential content. This state of consciousness is often referred to as “one-pointedness of mind;” this expression, however, is misleading because it calls up the image of “concentration” on one point on which the mind is “directed.” However, Samadhi is neither a straining concentration on one point nor is the mind directed from here (subject) to there (object), which would be a dualistic mode of experience.”
In the mentioned dual pair of consciousness, the consciousness of the “experiencing subject” refers to the consciousness of the enlightenment seeker, and the “experienced object” refers to Citta, the enlightened and luminous cosmic awareness.
The goal of the enlightenment seeker is to meditate until his active consciousness becomes quiescent. When that happens, the enlightenment seeker becomes enlightened, according to Buddha’s definition.
When the enlightened mind of the enlightenment seeker and the enlightened Citta meet, they can form a “non-dualistic state” of enlightenment. With the formation of a “non-dualistic state,” the newly enlightened person is said to have “opened his consciousness” and is ready to become a Buddha by “encompassing all objects of knowledge.”
While opening one consciousness is equivalent to direct perception, “all objects of knowledge” is equivalent to “experiential content” mentioned in the definition of Samadhi.
As discussed in several posts in Epistemology, “experiential content” is the same as “all objects of knowledge” that a person must encompass to become a Buddha. “Experiential contents” are the same as “empirical facts,” facts that can be “felt,” as described by Dr. Fisch.
All three are the contents “world impacts on us in a causal manner through all our sensors.” The contents are the information embedded in the mental construct of all phenomena ready to be “experienced.” Buddha calls experiencing reality direct perception.
The benefit of direct perception is it prevents the raw data of nature from becoming “reading-in of the mind” and being conceptualized “in ways we do not govern.” When not conceptualized, these raw data inform the enlightened person of “how things stand in themselves” in nature.
The Mahayana Buddhists use the phrase “transforming consciousness to prajna (Chinese=轉識成智) to delineate Buddha’s two means of knowledge: inference and direct perception.
As discussed earlier, prajna (Chinese=般若) is “in Sanskrit, typically translated as “wisdom.” “The term has the general sense of accurate and precise understanding but is used most often to refer to an understanding of reality that transcends ordinary comprehension.”
As discussed previously, inference (Chinese=比量), Buddha’s first means of knowledge, “allows us to glean knowledge concerning objects that are not directly evident to the senses.“
On the other hand, Buddha’s second means of knowledge, direct perception (Chinese-現量), leads to a non-conceptualized understanding of reality because “it does not perceive its objects through the medium of an image, as does thought.“ Because direct perception avoids “the medium of an image,” it generates an accurate and precise understanding of reality. Buddha calls that level of understanding reality prajna.
In the phrase “transforming consciousness to prajna,“ consciousness signifies an active mind. An active mind allows the contents that “the world impacts on us in a causal manner through all our sensors“ to become “reading in“ of the mind, where the contents are conceptualized “in ways we do not govern.“ Conceptualization distorts contents that “the world impacts on us in a causal manner through all our sensors“ by turning them into “the medium of an image.“ Our five sensory consciousnesses of visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile, then project the conceptualized images created in our minds as “the world we experience.“ Humans then gain knowledge about “the world we experience“ using inferentially connected words. Buddha calls that kind of understanding “ordinary comprehension.“
Buddha’s method of direct perception is a meditation technique known as samathavipasyana (Chinese=止觀). Translated as “stop and insight,“ the meditator must calm his mind until “no thought“ before he can have direct insight into contents that “the world impacts on us in a causal manner through all our sensors.“ When the mind has “no thought,“ no “medium of an image“ can form.
Since “no thought“ is Buddha’s definition of enlightenment, only an enlightened person can have a non-conceptual understanding of the contents that “the world impacts on us in a causal manner through all our sensors.“ Without conceptualization, contents that “the world impacts on us in a causal manner through all our sensors“ inform the enlightened person “how things stand in themselves“ in nature.“ Buddha calls that kind of insight into reality prajna.
Armed with inference and direct perception and encompassing “all objects of knowledge,“ a Tathagata Buddha understands fully both “the world we experience“ and “how things stand in themselves.“
Since Citta is spread throughout the universe, enlightenment should happen to anyone anywhere in the universe at any time. Indeed, as this List of Enlightened People, a compilation of individuals who have achieved enlightenment since the time of Buddha, shows, enlightened people have come from all corners of the world and across centuries. A recent example is the enlightenment of Adyashanti, a contemporary American-born Stephen Gray. His enlightenment experience is discussed here.
While enlightenment is a milestone achievement and allows the enlightened person to experience the mental nature of his being, it is not the end of the journey in Buddhism.
As discussed earlier, tathata (Chinese=真如) is a term for the Ultimate Reality. According to Yogacara, or Consciousness-Only School of Buddhism, tathata “refers to the ultimate wisdom that is free from the subject-object distinction (grahyagrahakavikalpa).” As the example from Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara shows, realizing the ultimate wisdom requires “relying on practicing the perfection of wisdom, realize anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.” The journey in Buddhism does not end until one realizes anuttara-samyak-sambodhi and that subject-object distinction is the fundamental misunderstanding of reality and the root cause of the existential suffering of all humans. Only then can “all objects of knowledge” be fully encompassed and one be liberated from existential suffering, which is the soteriological goal of our historical Shakyamuni Buddha.
As we shall discuss later, at this high level of prajna, Buddha is able to discover where the expansion of the cosmos occurs and solves “the largest discrepancy between theory and experiment in all of science” for physicists.
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