After discussing “How Do We Know What We Know” and the Kalama Sutta, in which Buddha deems that using word-based knowledge is not helpful in the search for an unchanging Truth, in this post, we discuss the method Buddha uses for searching and understanding the unchanging Truth. In Buddhism, the unchanging Truth is the mental nature of all reality. The core teaching of Buddhism is that there is Nothing but Mentality in the cosmos.
Without question, understanding how Buddha can realize the mental nature of reality while other teachings, such as science, cannot is the most important thing to know about the uniqueness of Buddhism. Additionally, Buddha teaches that all humans have the potential to understand the world of mentality the way he did if they can practice direct perception successfully. In other words, an independent enlightened party can verify Buddha’s teachings, such as the enlightened contemporary American, Adyashanti, and the two Buddhist monks in seventh-century China.
Having discussed inference, the first of Buddha’s two means of knowledge in a previous post discussing “How Do We Know What We Know,” we discussed direct perception, the second of Buddha’s two means of knowledge, in this post.
Direct perception (Romanized Sanskrit=pratyaksa; Chinese=現量), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “nonconceptual in the sense that it does not perceive its object through the medium of an image, as does thought.”
Pratyaksa is closely associated with another concept known as adhigamadharma (Chinese=證法), which, according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “realized dharma;” one of the two divisions of the dharma or teaching of the Buddha,” which “leads to the direct realization (Adhigama, Chinese=証), rather than mere conceptual understanding.”
The definition of direction perception as “not perceiving its object through the medium of an image, as does thought” indicates that the goal of direct perception is to prevent an active mind from the process of sensing, as described by Dr. Fisch, because having a thought requires an active mind. When the mind is inactive, “reading in of the mind” cannot occur. When “reading in of the mind” cannot occur, “conceptualization in ways we do not govern” cannot happen either. Indeed, only when conceptualization cannot happen can direct perception “lead to the direct realization (Adhigama, Chinese=証), rather than mere conceptual understanding.”
So, the question is: how does direct perception achieve this goal?
The answer is a meditative technique known as Samathavipasyana.
Samathavipasyana (Chinese=止觀), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “In Sanskrit, “calmness (samatha) and insight (vipasyana), a term used to describe a meditative state that combines clarity and stability of samatha with the understanding of the nature of reality associated with vipasyana.” Furthermore, “The presence of vipasyana is the distinguishing feature of the wisdom that derives from meditation (Romanized Sanskrit=bhavanamayiprajna; Chinese=修慧).
The Chinese translation of Samathavipasyana is “stop and insight.” In other words, one must practice Samathavipasyana until the mind is completely still before one can have insight into reality that is “nonconceptual.”
As mentioned earlier, the reason for keeping the mind still is to prevent the contents that “the world impacts on us in a causal manner through all our senses” from becoming “reading in of the mind.” When “reading in of the mind” is prevented, conceptualization “in ways we do not govern” cannot occur. When conceptualization cannot happen, the integrity of the contents that “the world impacts on us in a causal manner through all our senses” is preserved. When the integrity of the content that “the world impacts on us in a causal manner through all our senses” is preserved, it then “leads to the direct realization (Adhigama, Chinese=証), rather than mere conceptual understanding.” The direct and nonconceptual realization of the contents that “the world impacts on us in a causal manner through all our senses” informs “how things stand in themselves,” to use Dr. Fisch’s words” or “what the world is,” as Dr. Kuhn describes it. In its essence, direct perception informs nature as nature is.
The significance of an inactive mind is that it is how Buddha defines enlightenment.
According to the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, in the Astasahasrika-Prajnaparamita-Sutra (Chinese=道行般若波羅蜜經), Buddha defines enlightenment as the “thought of enlightenment is no thought since in its essential original nature thought is transparently luminous.”
Of course, when one successfully practices Samathavipasyana until their mind is inactive, they have “no thought.” Therefore, they are enlightened by Buddha’s definition.
In other words, only an enlightened person can have a direct and nonconceptual understanding of the nature of reality. Buddha deems the direct and nonconceptual understanding of reality prajna (Chinese=般若), meaning wisdom. This is the meaning of “wisdom that derives from meditation” in the definition of Samathavipasyana.
The significance of enlightenment is expressed in Samadhi.
Samadhi (Chinese=三昧/三摩地), 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.”
So, samadhi is the union of the “no-thought” mentality of the “experienced object” and “experiencing subject” to form a non-dualistic “no thought” mentality.
What is the “experienced object” and “experiencing subject?”
- “Experienced Object” refers to Citta, the quiescent mentality permeating the cosmos and the Ultimate Reality. Because Citta is quiescent, it is, by Buddha’s definition, “no thought” and, therefore, enlightened. In other words, the “experienced object” is the enlightened cosmic mentality.
- “Experiencing Subject” refers to the “no thought” quiescent mental state of the enlightened person.
Enlightenment happens when the “no thought” mentality of the enlightened becomes one with the “no thought” enlightened cosmic mentality. By forming a non-dualistic enlightened mentality with the enlightened cosmic mentality, the enlightened becomes part of the cosmic mentality, thus allowing him to have “the direct realization (Adhigama, Chinese=証), rather than mere conceptual understanding.”
It is important to point out that Citta, as the enlightened Ultimate Reality, exists separately in Buddha’s three-body setup of the cosmos from the unenlightened universe humans are in. The three-body setup of the cosmos will be discussed in a future post.
Dr. Max Planck was a 1918 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics and the originator of quantum theory. He came to the following conclusions after a lifetime of investigating quantum mechanics.
Indeed, Dr. Planck was right on both counts. However, while consciousness is fundamental to the universe that humans experience, it is not fundamental to Buddha’s cosmos. In Buddha’s cosmos, Citta, the quiescent mentality, or awareness, is fundamental.
However, Dr. Planck was right that humans are part of the mystery humans are trying to solve: the mystery of mentality. By becoming non-dualistic with the enlightened cosmic mentality through direct perception, direct perception allows the enlightened person to become part of the mental world. Only by becoming part of the mental world can the enlightened experience all the “experiential contents” defined in Samadhi. “Experiential content” refers to the information embedded in the mental constructs of everything in the cosmos that can be “experienced,” which is what direct perception does. In Dr. Fisch’s terms, “experiential contents” that can be “experienced” are “empirical facts” that can be “felt.”
In a previous post discussing A Few Fundamental Concepts, we discussed that a Buddha is one who has “one who has awakened from the deep sleep of (unenlightenment) and opened his consciousness to encompass all objects of knowledge.”
- “Opening one’s consciousness until one is awakened from the deep sleep of unenlightenment” refers to direct perception until enlightenment. To perceive the “experiential contents” of nature directly, one needs to “open his consciousness.” When one successfully perceives the “experiential contents” of nature directly, one is enlightened and, therefore, “is awakened from the deep sleep of unenlightenment.”
- “Objects of knowledge” has the same meaning as “experiential contents” or “empirical facts” that Dr. Fisch used. All three refer to information embedded in the conscious construct of all conscious beings in Buddha’s cosmos.
However, while enlightenment is a tremendous achievement, it is far from “encompassing all objects of knowledge.” To encompass “all‘ objects of knowledge, one needs to realize the highest level of enlightenment, known as anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.
According to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (Chinese=阿搙多羅三藐三菩提) is “in Sanskrit, “unsurpassed (anuttara), complete (samyak), and perfect enlightenment (sambodhi).” When a person achieves anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, one becomes a Tathagata. One example of a reality only a Tathagata can realize is where the universe expands. Buddha teaches that the cosmos expands in the Ultimate Reality, not our universe, which Buddha deems illusional.
Encompassing “all objects of knowledge” was what our historical Shakyamuni Buddha accomplished when meditating under the Bodhi Tree until his enlightenment. After his enlightenment, Buddha began teaching what he realized to his followers. His verbal teachings were collected in the sutras of Buddhism. In other words, Buddhism is Buddha’s education about “all objects of knowledge” that can be perceived directly. In the words of Dr. Fisch, “all objects of knowledge” inform “how things stand in themselves” or “what the world really is,” as Dr. Kuhn described.
Buddha teaches that all humans have the ability to become enlightened. The inherent ability of all humans to be enlightened is known as buddhadhatu in Romanized Sanskrit.
Buddhadhatu (Chinese=佛性), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “buddha-element,” or “buddha-nature,” the inherent potential of all sentient beings to achieve Buddhahood.”
A person’s potential to achieve Buddhahood is their active mind. Known as consciousness, every person has it. When one can successfully calm one’s active mind to inactive, consciousness turns to awareness, and the person is enlightened. However, while the potential is there, achieving enlightenment is incredibly challenging. Many have tried since Buddha, but only a few have succeeded.
Additionally, enlightenment in the Buddhist way has a stringent standard to meet. While direct perception keeps the original content integral, it also prevents all the steps following the “reading in of the mind,” including “the world we experience,” from the projection of consciousness. Without “the world we experience,” Buddhist enlightenment should lead to the disappearance of our “physical” world, thus illustrating its illusional nature.
The Verification Category has three examples of Buddhist enlightenment: one from Adyashanti, a contemporary American, and two from ancient China. All three affirmed the disappearance of the universe upon their enlightenment. However, because he discussed his enlightenment experience in modern language, Adyashanti’s description of his enlightenment experience is the most relatable to his contemporaries. His amazing description of how the physical universe disappeared, his statement that “the Buddha I had been chasing was what I was,” and “you and your awareness are not two different things,” all confirm Buddha’s teaching on the illusional nature of the visible universe, Buddhadhuta, and awareness, respectively. Indeed, he is the only one using the modern word awareness to indicate the quiescent mentality of enlightenment. You can find the post about his enlightenment here.
For the vast majority of unenlightened humanity, even the brilliant ones interested in consciousness, such as Elon Musk, they must understand that the scientific method, depending on inferentially connected word-based knowledge, can never be part of the world of mentality to understand it. Until enlightened, their alternative is to have faith in Buddha’s teachings. However, faith in Buddhism is not blind because it is verifiable by enlightened third parties.
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