Having discussed that Buddha’s “neighbor-to-emptiness dust“ is equivalent to the gluons in quantum mechanics, we discuss Buddha’s doctrine known as the Three Delicate Marks (Chinese=三細相). The Three Delicate Marks doctrine is critically important for humans to understand because, in this doctrine, Buddha teaches the consequences of having consciousness in Buddha’s universe. These consequences arising from having consciousness are missing from a universe originating from gluons.
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 this context. In contrast to enlightenment, which refers to the quiescent mentality of the Ultimate Reality, unenlightenment refers to the fluctuating mentality. In Buddhism, while the quiescent mentality signifies awareness, as Adyashanti realized upon his enlightenment, 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 unenlightened, 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 usually signifies the unenlightened mental nature of conscious beings, non-luminosity usually indicates the realm of the fluctuating mentality spread throughout the universe, such as its role as the foundation of Buddha’s dependently originated universe. In other words, unenlightened people exist in a larger, non-luminous universe.
Therefore, 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.“ The significance of that slight change is that non-luminosity becomes where the three marks are “concomitantly inseparable from.”
So, where in non-luminosity can the three marks be “concomitantly inseparable from?”
As discussed in the last post, ripples are present in the fluctuating mentality of non-luminosity. According to the Quantum Field Theory, ripples large enough to be measured are known as epiphenomena. This is similar in Buddhism: when ripples are large enough to be observed, they become epiphenomena. So, the epiphenomena in non-luminosity are the only locations where the three marks can be “concomitantly inseparable from.“ The epiphenomena in non-luminosity are known as “neighbor-to-emptiness dust (Chinese=鄰虛塵).“ As the first conscious being in Buddha’s universe, it makes sense for the three marks to be “concomitantly inseparable from“ them.
The Three Delicate Marks are:
- 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.“
Karman is closely related to Causality, known in Romanized Sanskrit as hetupratyaya.
Hetupratyaya (Chinese=因緣), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “In Sanskrit, “causes and conditions,“ or “causality,“ one of the cardinal teachings of Buddhism. In the Buddhist account of this causal process, Hetu designates the main or primary cause of production, and Pratyayare the subsidiary factors that contribute to the production of an effect, or “fruit“ (Romanized Sanskrit=phala; Chinese=果), from that cause. In the production of a sprout from a seed, e.g., the seed would be the cause (hetu), such factors as light and moisture would be conditions (pratyaya), and the sprout itself would be the result or “fruit (phala).”
In the few words describing the First Mark, Buddha defines why suffering is existential for conscious beings.
- Unenlightenment is the mind moving. A moving mind is named 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. Indeed, it is common sense for human beings that their existence is impermanent.
- However, as discussed in the last post, the impermanency of existence starts not with humans but the “neighbor-to-emptiness dust.“ In Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Chinese=首楞嚴經), Buddha indicates that the lifespan of the “neighbor-to-emptiness dust“ is so extremely short by describing it as “born here, annihilated same here (Chinese=當處出生，隨處滅盡).“
- Quantum mechanics agrees with Buddha. As discussed in the last post, the equivalent to “neighbor-to-emptiness dusts“ are known as gluons in quantum mechanics. Like “neighbor-to-emptiness dusts,“ the lifespan of the gluons is also extremely short, living only “one million billion billionths of a second.“
- However, even as Buddha teaches that existential suffering comes from the mind moving, he instructs, “There is no motion when enlightened.“
- Indeed, since the definition of enlightenment is “no thought,“ enlightenment is the solution to ending one’s existential suffering arising from an active mind.
- As discussed when discussing the enlightenment experience of Adyashanti, all enlightened people become Arhats, those who have overcome afflictive obstructions and are free from the karma-produced cycles of birth, aging, sickness, and death that cause existential suffering. These karma-produced cycles of birth and rebirth are known as “Paricchedajaramarana, or “determinative birth-and-rebirth (Chinese=分段生死),“
- Therefore, by keeping the mind inactive, the enlightened person fundamentally solves the problem of existential suffering that arises from an active mind.
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 (Chinese=妄境相), or the Observed (Chinese=所見相):
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).”
Like the Mark of The Non-Luminous Karma, the Marks of the Observer and the Observed realm are “concomitantly inseparable“ from the “neighbor-to-emptiness dusts“ because of the mind moving.
The appearance of an observer and observed duality is the first appearance of duality in Buddha’s universe. It is significant in Buddhism for several reasons.
1) Grahyagrahakavikalpa (Chinese=所取能取分別).
- The appearance of observer-observed duality is the beginning of Grahyagrahakavikalpa (Chinese=所取能取分別), which is “a special kind of discrimination (Vikalpa) used in the Yogacara school to refer to the misconception that there is an inherent bifurcation between a perceiving subject (grahaka) and its perceived object (grahya).”
- As discussed when discussing the experience of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, one can only erase this misconception by realizing the ultimate wisdom (Romanized Sanskrit=prajnaparamita; Chinese=般若波羅蜜多/智度).
- Now we understand why: the highest wisdom is required because this misconception is a natural phenomenon deeply rooted in non-luminosity in the first conscious being in the universe.
2) The Observer Effect.
- The Observer Effect is a term coined to indicate scientists who think that the Observation Effect means that “on the smallest possible scale that we’ve ever discovered, the quantum universe, the mere act of observation changes reality.”
- However, as discussed when discussing the Observer Effect, deeming observation changes reality is delusional because there is no change in reality during observation. Instead, what changes during observation is the visibility of the same phenomenon. While waves of consciousness are not observable, the epiphenomena of the conscious waves are observable.
- As discussed in the last post, Buddha lectured Ananda for his misunderstanding of reality precisely because Anana could see the observed phenomena but not their underlying conscious nature. In his lecture to Ananda, Buddha wanted to let him know that his belief that the observable phenomena were real was delusional because while he could see the observable phenomena, he could not see their underlying mentality, whose mental nature “remains enlightened and luminous (Chinese=其性真為妙覺明體.).”
- So, why do humans, from Anada in ancient times to highly trained contemporary scientists, all have delusional misunderstandings of reality? In the Three Delicate Marks, Buddha provides the answer: the delusional misunderstanding of reality is unavoidable because it is a natural phenomenon innate in all conscious beings, beginning with the “neighbor-to-emptiness dust.”
Indeed, humans are unenlightened, have karma, a delusional misunderstanding of reality, and existential suffering not because they have eaten the forbidden fruit but because they exist. At the same time, however, you can consider your illusional existence a condolence. When you do, you can consider the you that exists similar to the you that exists in your dreams. When you wake up, you realize your suffering was in a dream. That is why enlightenment is also called awakening. However, enlightenment is not easy. Until you are enlightened, you can listen to Buddha and live a wholesome life, be benevolent, without attachments to greed, hatred, foolishness, etc., to mitigate the negative consequences of your existence. Whether you do or not, you are in charge of your destiny. No savior can help you because you have not eaten the forbidden fruit.
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