In this post, we discuss the Three Delicate Marks (Chinese=三細相). In the Three Delicate Marks, Buddha teaches what happens to all conscious beings when their minds become active.
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 Byuddha defines as “no thought,” refers to the quiescent mentality of the Ultimate Reality that Adyashanti realized upon his enlightenment, unenlightenment refers to the fluctuating mentality. In Buddhism, while the quiescent mentality signifies awareness, 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 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 exists in a larger, non-luminous external environment when unenlightened.
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 critically missing link. By linking ripples and epiphenomena, Dr. Wiczek’s simple statement provides a critically missing link between Buddha’s epiphenomena and the ripples in non-luminosity.
As an ocean of fluctuating mentality, non-luminosity has its ripples and epiphenomena. Buddha’s epiphenomena are called “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust (Chinese=鄰虛塵).“ Since the Neighbor-to-Emptiness dusts“ are fluctuations in mentality, they are the first conscious being in Buddha’s conscious universe. Indeed, in a cosmic ocean of fluctuating mentality, the Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust“ is the only conscious being on which the three marks can be “concomitantly inseparable.“
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 that existence is impermanent for human beings.
- However, 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 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.“
- 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 (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.
Since the Observed realm can only be delusional because it exists as “mere projectsions of consciousness,“ it means that the Five Aggregates are also “concomitantly inseparable“ from “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dusts.“ But how can the Five Aggregates be “concomitantly inseparable“ from the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust,“ which is nothing but a fluctuating mentality?
Insert Dr. Tong’s image.
Indeed, Dr. Tong’s image shows that 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 “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 and be sensed by 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 the structure of a brain.
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 Observed realm but deems it delusional.
So, why is the Observed delusional?
Let’s use human observation, which was discussed earlier when discussing the Five Aggregates, as an example.
As discussed in the Five Aggregates, the human observation process starts when the invisible “experiential contents“ of the world impact the eyes. However, these contents immediately become “reading in of the mind“ and get conceptualized “in ways we do not govern.“ Consciousness then projects the conceptualized contents to be seen “on the screen“ as the visible “world we experience,“ in Dr. Fisch’s words.
The significance of the observation process is that conceptualization “in ways we do not govern“ changes the invisible contents of the world that impact our eyes to become the visible phenomenal world when the eyes look out at the world. Since conceptualization happens “in ways we do not govern,“ humans have no idea it happens to them every time they look at the world. To them, the visible phenomenal world is the only reality because humans cannot see its underlying mental nature.
Without the ability to see the underlying mentality of the phenomenal world, humans can’t help but make a distinction between them. This is the reason why the Mind-Body Problem exists. Since the Mind-Body Problem results from the Observation process, Buddha calls the Observed realm delusional. However, delusion begins not with human beings but with the first conscious beings in Buddha’s conscious being, the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dusts.”
Therefore, because a delusional misunderstanding of reality is intrinsic in all conscious beings, humans cannot solve the Mind-Body problem by searching for its solution externally. The only solution to a problem of human nature is to understand the nature of human existence. Understanding the nature of human existence is what enlightenment does.
For example, when Adyashanti and others became enlightened, they solved the Mind-Body problem by realizing that there is Nothing but Mentality in the cosmos.
With the appearance of the Observer-Observed duality, grahyagrahakavikalpa (Chinese=所取能取分別) also debuted. One example is the Time-Space duality, the relationship between which is what Einstein’s Special Relativity is about. It is mentioned because scientists, such as Dr. Matt O’Dowd, now acknowledge that “The special theory of relativity tells us that one person’s past may be another’s future. When time is relative, paradoxes threaten. Today, we peer deeper into Einstein’s theory to find that the immutable ordering of cause and effect emerges when we discover the causal geography of spacetime.“ In the Three Delicate Marks, Buddha teaches that the relationship between Causality and spacetime begins in non-luminosity.
However, while Einstein’s Special Theory of Reality can describe Causality over time-space is good, it would be even better if mentality could replace energy in it. Then, not only can his formula for the Special Theory of Relativity describe Causality over time-space, but it can also express the driver behind Causality to be mental-momentum, as Buddha teaches, not energy-momentum, as currently in this formula. It is a topic to be discussed when we discuss Causality.
It is the same with Einstein’s famous formula, E=mc2. If mentality could replace energy in the formula, then it can explain the delusional misunderstanding of reality by equating the Mind and Body. Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara’s example showed the significance of understanding the equality of the Mind and the Body in making one’s life “carefree and without fear (Chinese=心無罣礙, 無有恐怖,)” and be “far from topsy-turvy reveries (遠離顛倒夢想).”
We will discuss this topic later when discussing the complementary of Buddhism and science.
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