- I was contemplating and marinating in the "not found" essence I posted about a few days ago here when there was a marked changed in perception. I had been seeing the "not here, not anywhere, non-local" taste of everything that was coming up on the cushion and off. At one point I started to feel the whole phenomenal field as flux, then it spread to this body-mind. Everything felt like transient presence that is not found. The mind "interacting" with things was seen to have always been various clusters of conditions exerting themselves as the sense field. It was seen that it has always been this way, no center to anything at all. I sat there with my jaw hanging open for 5 minutes, such a giant sense of relief and gratitude washed over me. It felt like I had been involved somehow with keeping up the radiance of the transient field and I had just dropped that. The whole thing is doing itself, what I think of as me interacting with the world is just scattered transience, not found, not linked. My mind blew up and didn't come back together and it's so much better this way. Empty, Luminous, Not here, Not anywhere, Just flux with no boundaries, all boundaries were strictly conceptual. Fluxing gonna flux.2 Comments
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AuthorI forgot to mention right before this in my practice I was starting to intuit the nature of grasping and how emptiness directly counteracts that. The feeling of "being involved" was grasping and then the whole field was realized to be always already empty. No more conditions for grasping the field itself, so that let go and caused the feeling of everything doing itself - Reply
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What is a good commentary of mmk?
I like Garfield's.
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I’ve read almost all of them, and the one by Mark Siderits & Shoryu Katsura is the most balanced and unbiased by far: https://www.amazon.com/Nagarjunas-Middle.../dp/1614290504
That isn’t always what you want though. Sometimes you want the author to weight in more heavily, and for that nothing beats Mervyn Sprung’s Lucid Exposition of the Middle Way.
AMAZON.COM
Nagarjuna's Middle Way: Mulamadhyamakakarika (Classics of Indian Buddhism)
Nagarjuna's Middle Way: Mulamadhyamakakarika (Classics of Indian Buddhism)
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Thanks
I've actually just started rereading the MMK with Garfield's commentary along with Siderits/Katsura. I find the latter very "lofty", going into little detail, although helpful at times. I'm only 2 chapters in though.
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André, I would distinguish between a commentary and an explanation. A commentary need only clarify what the root text is actually saying, because it was often cryptic to save words and fit the meter. For instance Candrakirti wrote a commentary on MMK, and also his own text explaining Madhyamaka. I think Siderits is an exemplary commentary, and for an explanation I go to Westerhoff.
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John tan said "In terms of ranking, I prefer Jan Westerhoff, Garfield then Siderits. Like what Tyler said Siderits is more of clarifying what the root text is saying, his presentation is quite structured in point forms and the settings behind the text and opponent views help readers understand the root text better. Westerhoff went far beyond and many points are related to anatta insight but more from the philosophical angle. But what all these books lack is how it can help one breakthrough conceptualities, what exactly is mmk trying to arrive at. After studying mmk, how does it help in freeing our mind?”
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There are a couple of things I really like about Westerhoff. The first is that his "Western philosophy" style exposition makes it easier for me to grasp the subtle points than the explanations by shedra trained khenpos/geshes that I have seen. I have the same praise for Garfield. The second is that he incorporates Tsongkhapa's illuminating philosophical insights on various points without being a fully Gelug presentation, which is what Garfield gives.
- Soh, loved the quote by Tsong-Kha-Pa! By the way just to let you know I have started my study of Nagarjuna. Using the book by Mark Siderits. Have you got any other suggestion?1
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- Soh Wei Yu
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JT:
Not found is more tasty than full presence 🤣🤣🤣
If extended to all appearances, then the entire body mind will be pervaded by this single taste of "not found" -- immensely spacious and free, natural and spontaneous. He should spend some quality time on that.
Then relate this taste to essencelessness and understand the conceptual relationship and experiential taste of:
--Essencelessness and the 8 extremes.
--Essencelessness and dependent designations.
--Essencelessness and total exertion.
--Essencelessness and the manifold of appearances.
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Jayson MPaul
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Thanks! I will do that. Not found is more tasty than full presence 😁
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It does not only apply only to referent of conceptual constructs r not found, even non-dual presence is not found...taste this not found deeply...the -A...
Then look at DO....if mind is de-constructed, there is no mind and into anatta, and phenomena too r deconstructed....without privileging either mind or phenomena, move deeply into dependent designation/origination, taste the formation, deconstruction and see the freedom of natural and spontaneous perfection.
Post anatta, insight is not so much about the radiance of presence, that is a given, it is the +A and -A taste...


JT:
Means see the essencelessness of what appears and refine the view of essencelessness according to the abv instead of relating through presence. Put presence aside · 12m
JT: U should focus on that instead of PCEs, it will help u relinquish fear, attachment and energy imbalances, radiance of presence will b soft and light, yet natural and immense. · 8m
Author
Seems
like this: http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../putting-aside...
Putting aside Presence, Penetrate Deeply into Two Fold Emptiness
Putting aside Presence, Penetrate Deeply into Two Fold Emptiness · 8m
JT: Yes related
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[11:35 PM, 1/5/2021] Soh Wei Yu: Oic..
[11:36 PM, 1/5/2021] Soh Wei Yu: But he said awareness is just phenomena?
[11:36 PM, 1/5/2021] Soh Wei Yu: Its not super awareness right
[11:39 PM, 1/5/2021] Soh Wei Yu: He said there is no moment there are no appearances and awareness is interchangeable with phenomena
[11:45 PM, 1/5/2021] John Tan: Then don't sent ·Reply- · 25m
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