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Longchenpa on Nihilism
From Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind.
Those who scorn the law of karmic cause and fruit
Are students of the nihilist view outside the Dharma.
They rely on the thought that all is void;
They fall in the extreme of nothingness
And go from higher to lower states.
They have embarked on an evil path
And from the evil destinies will have no freedom,
Casting happy states of being far away.
”The law of karmic cause and fruit,
Compassion and the gathering of merit -
All this is but provisional teaching fit for children:
Enlightenment will not be gained thereby.
Great yogis should remain without intentional action.
They should meditate upon reality that is like space.
Such is the definitive instruction.”
The view of those who speak like this
Of all views is the most nihilist:
They have embraced the lowest of all paths.
How strange is this!
They want a fruit but have annulled its cause.
If reality is but a space-like void,
What need is there to meditate?
And if it is not so, then even if one meditates
Such efforts are to no avail.
If meditation on mere voidness leads to liberation,
Even those with minds completely blank
Attain enlightenment!
But since those people have asserted meditation,
Cause and its result they thus establish!
Throw far away such faulty paths as these!
The true, authentic path asserts
The arising in dependence of both cause and fruit,
The natural union of skillful means and wisdom.
Through the causality of nonexistent but appearing acts,
Through meditation on the nonexistent but appearing path,
The fruit is gained, appearing and yet nonexistent;
And for the sake of nonexistent but appearing beings,
Enlightened acts, appearing and yet nonexistent, manifest.
Such is pure causality’s profound interdependence.
This is the essential pith
Of all the Sutra texts whose meaning is definitive
And indeed of all the tantras.
Through the joining of the two accumulations,
The generation and completion stages,
Perfect buddhahood is swiftly gained.
Thus all the causal processes
Whereby samsara is contrived should be abandoned,
And all acts that are the cause of liberation
Should be earnestly performed.
High position in samsara
And the final excellence of buddhahood
Will speedily be gained.
- Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind (vol 1)
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Also by Longchenpa:
"To
reject practice by saying, ‘it is conceptual!’ is the path of fools. A
tendency of the inexperienced and something to be avoided.”
— Longchenpa
Din Robinson
"It is astonishing to expect the result while abandoning the cause."
Isn't
the cause always grasping (from the point of view of the separate
self... of someone who exists in time and space and needs to know in
order to navigate this existence) ?
Soh Wei Yu
Din Robinson The cause is referring to the two accumulations of merit and wisdom.
Longchenpa:
“The Fifteenth Word of Advice
Proffering mindless talk on emptiness and disregarding cause and effect,
You may think that non-action is the ultimate point of the Teaching;
Yet to abandon the two accumulations will destroy the good fortune of spiritual practice.
Integrate them both! This is my advice from the heart.”
Padmasambhava:
“Just as is the case with the sesame seed being the cause of the oil and the milk being the cause of butter,
But where the oil is not obtained without pressing and the butter is not obtained without churning,
So all sentient beings, even though they possess the actual essence of Buddhahood,
Will not realize Buddhahood without engaging in practice.
If he practices, then even a cowherd can realize liberation.
Even though he does not know the explanation, he can systematically establish himself in the experience of it.
(For example) when one has had the experience of actually tasting sugar in one's own mouth,
one does not need to have that taste explained by someone else.” - http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../self-liberation...
Acarya Malcolm:
“That
does not matter. Let's say you have a house, and in your house is a
million dollars. If you never discover the million dollars or it is
never shown to you, you will have a million dollars and never know it.
Likewise, unless those buddha qualities are discovered by you in a
direct perception, or pointed out to you, even if you have them, they
are of no use to you.
As
far as Dzogchen view goes, such qualities exist in the form of
potential only. The analogy Longchenpa uses is that even though you may
not need to gather the two accumulations ultimately in order to possess
the kāyas and wisdoms, practicing the two accumulations is like
polishing a dirty gem. One is not really adding anything new, but
instead one is revealing what is already there, but hidden from ordinary
sight.”
"Dzogchen teaching make a clear distinction between the basis (the time of non-realization) and the result.
The
real issue which causes argument is whether tathagatāgabha, a.k.a., the
dharmakāya at the time of the basis, is something that is naturally
perfected or something which requires development. In general, the
Sakyapas for example argue that the natural perfection of the qualities
of awakening in the person does not conflict with transformation in the
same way the natural presence of the quality in milk which produces
butter does not mitigate or render unnecessary the process of
transformation which produces butter (churning). Longchenpa for example
argues that while the two accumulations have always been perfected, they
need to be reaccumulated in the same sense that a gem that has been
lost in a swamp needs to be polished in order to restore its former
luster."
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Soh Wei Yu
As
for the so called accumulation of wisdom, you can take it to mean
rigpa/vidyā (knowledge) achieving its full measure and maturity. In
Dzogchen teachings there is the unripened rigpa, which is the mere
recognition of clarity, the unfabricated Instant Presence (that
sometimes John Tan and I calls the "I AM realization"), and then
rigpa/vidyā ripens with the recognition of selflessness and emptiness.
As Kyle Dixon pointed out before:
"The
total realization of emptiness does not then occur until the third
vision, which is called “the full measure of vidyā” because at that
time, upon realizing emptiness and non-arising, our knowledge [vidyā] of
phenomena is complete, and has reached its “full measure.”"
"We
don’t have any misunderstanding. Again this is rhetoric versus reality,
up until the third vision, “emptiness” is obscured and therefore at the
time of direct introduction it is merely rhetorical. The nature of
mind, as non-dual clarity and emptiness is not truly known until the
third vision, again per Longchenpa, per Khenpo Ngachung, etc., not
something I have made up. What do we generally recognize in direct
introduction? We recognize clarity [gsal ba], and the aspect of vidyā
that is concomitant with that clarity. Vidyā is then what carries our
practice, but vidyā is not the citta dharmatā, the nature of mind.
This is why the first two visions are likened to śamatha, and the last two are likened to vipaśyanā."
And as to the nature of this prajna/gnosis/wisdom of emptiness, Kyle Dixon wrote:
"Raw
awareness is called vijñāna in unrealized sentient beings, which is
dualistic and comprised of a threefold division of sensory faculty
[eye], sense function [sight] and sensory object [visual appearances].
In
everyday people, even if conceptualization is absent, vijñāna is still
experienced as dualistic because we feel we remain in an internal
reference point and that objects are “over there” at a distance.
Through
practice however we have the opportunity to experientially realize
emptiness, and when emptiness is realized, vijñāna reverts to its
natural state as jñāna. Jñāna is a non-dual modality of cognition where
the inner reference point and external objects are realized to be
false."
"Selflessness
means there is ultimately no actual subject, which means there is no
actual internal reference point that is apprehending sensory phenomena.
In
describing this simply it means through your practice you will
hopefully, eventually, awaken to recognize that there is no actual seer
of sights, no hearer of sounds, and so on. The feeling of an internal
seer or hearer, etc., is a useful but false construct that is created
and fortified by various causes and conditions.
We
suffer when we cling to this construct and think it is actually real.
Recognition of the actual nature of that construct is liberating and
freeing."
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Din RobinsonSoh wrote:"Jñāna is a non-dual modality of cognition where the inner reference point and external objects are realized to be false.""False" could also be described as "conditioned" since it's with the belief in a separate sense of self that exists in and as a physical body that internal and external come to be."In describing this simply it means through your practice you will hopefully, eventually, awaken to recognize that there is no actual seer of sights, no hearer of sounds, and so on. "Whether you practice with intent (to practice) or whether it happens naturally and spontaneously with no sense of doing something, it happens that thoughts relating to the separate sense of self can be seen for the empty thoughts that they are through "insight", which is what I experienced. One moment of insight is worth a lifetime of practice!!!
"The feeling of an internal seer or hearer, etc., is a useful but false construct that is created and fortified by various causes and conditions."Yes, we are brought up in world that sees separation as natural and ordinary, it's a world of conditioning, what the catholics refer to as "being born in sin" with "sin" meaning "off the mark" or missing something truthful or important to see or discover.Soh Wei Yu""False" could also be described as "conditioned" since it's with the belief in a separate sense of self that exists in and as a physical body that internal and external come to be."Not just that. One could also identify as formless spirit, as Eternal Witness, as an Awareness that permeates but transcends all phenomena, etc. All these are still subtle identifications and reifications that are to be seen through with the realization of anatman.Soh Wei Yu"it happens that thoughts relating to the separate sense of self can be seen for the empty thoughts that they are through "insight","It is not only labels and coarse concepts that are the target of refutation, but also the very deeply held sense and referencepoint of being a hearer hearing sound, a seer seeing a sight, an experiencer, doer, be-er, watcher, knower, etc.This delusion is quite persistent and goes beyond coarse level conceptual imputation, as Kyle Dixon said, "even if conceptualization is absent, vijñāna is still experienced as dualistic because we feel we remain in an internal reference point and that objects are “over there” at a distance."For my case, my breakthrough to anatta happened while contemplation on Bahiya Sutta -- in seeing only the seen, on hearing only the heard, (no seer or hearer besides) and same for all other senses. Until it is suddenly realized that the whole structure of Seer-Seeing-Seen doesn't apply and there is no seeing besides colors -- no seer, no hearing besides sound -- no hearer, no awareness besides manifestation. This is not just realising the lack of borders or duality but realizing the Absence of an inherently existing Self/Agent/Awareness behind manifestation. This is the realization of anatta.
The Buddha on Non-DualityAWAKENINGTOREALITY.COMThe Buddha on Non-Duality
Din Robinson
Soh wrote:
"The cause is referring to the two accumulations of merit and wisdom."
In my case it can also be called "grace".
Din Robinson
there I was... minding my own business... when I got smacked on the back of the head and told to "wake up!" 
Soh Wei Yu
Usually
these spontaneous awakenings are the initial unripened form of rigpa.
Sometimes the Dzogchen master trying to do a direct introduction shouts
Phat! or the Zen master shouts Katz! and the student snaps out of his
mental bullshit into Instant Presence, and there is a sudden recognition
of one's radiance clarity. That is the said 'recognition of clarity'
but must be further refined and 'ripened' through the realization of
selflessness [anatman] and emptiness [sunyata].
"I’ve
never met anyone who gained any insight into emptiness at direct
introduction. Plenty who recognized rigpa kechigma though.
I
don’t presume to know better than luminaries like Longchenpa and Khenpo
Ngachung who state emptiness isn’t actually known until third vision
and so on. You may presume otherwise and in that case we can agree to
disagree."
Also,
John Tan's reply on something Malcolm wrote in 2020:
“This
is like what I tell you and essentially emphasizing 明心非见性. 先明心, 后见性.
(Soh: Apprehending Mind is not seeing [its] Nature. First apprehend
Mind, later realise [its] Nature).
First
is directly authenticating mind/consciousness 明心 (Soh: Apprehending
Mind). There is the direct path like zen sudden enlightenment of one's
original mind or mahamudra or dzogchen direct introduction of rigpa or
even self enquiry of advaita -- the direct, immediate, perception of
"consciousness" without intermediaries. They are the same.
However
that is not realization of emptiness. Realization of emptiness is 见性
(Soh: Seeing Nature). Imo there is direct path to 明心 (Soh: Apprehending
Mind) but I have not seen any direct path to 见性 (Soh: Seeing Nature)
yet. If you go through the depth and nuances of our mental constructs,
you will understand how deep and subtle the blind spots are.
Therefore
emptiness or 空性 (Soh: Empty Nature) is the main difference between
buddhism and other religions. Although anatta is the direct experiential
taste of emptiness, there is still a difference between buddhist's
anatta and selflessness of other religions -- whether it is anatta by
experiential taste of the dissolution of self alone or the experiential
taste is triggered by wisdom of emptiness.
The
former focused on selflessness and whole path of practice is all about
doing away with self whereas the later is aboutt living in the wisdom of
emptiness and applying that insight and wisdom of emptiness to all
phenomena.
As
for emptiness there is the fine line of seeing through inherentness of
Tsongkhapa and there is the emptiness free from extremes by Gorampa.
Both are equally profound so do not talk nonsense and engaged in profane
speech as in terms of result, ultimately they are the same (imo).”
Dalai
Lama - "Nature - there are many different levels. Conventional level,
one nature. There are also, you see, different levels. Then, ultimate
level, ultimate reality... so simply realise the Clarity of the Mind,
that is the conventional level. That is common with Hindus, like that.
So we have to know these different levels...." - Dalai Lama on Anatta and Emptiness of Buddha Nature in New Book
REDDIT.COM
How exactly does one realize "emptiness"? (1st bhumi)
