Hello! Welcome to the Awakening to Reality blog.

For all new to Awakening to Reality blog, I highly recommend reading the 'Must Read' articles on the right panel, such as 

 

You are welcomed to join our discussion group on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/AwakeningToReality/ (Update: Facebook group is now closed)

If you are interested in realizing and actualizing these insights, do read the following (free) e-books:

1) The Awakening to Reality Practice Guide by Nafis Rahman:

  • Update: Portuguese translation now available here


2) The Awakening to Reality Guide - Web Abridged Version by Pablo Pintabona and Nafis Rahman:

Special thanks to these individuals for their efforts in making these compilations. I trust they will greatly benefit spiritual aspirants.

3) The Awakening to Reality Guide - Original Version compiled by Soh:

  • Feedback:  "I also want to say, actually the main ATR document >1200 pages helped me the most with insight. I am not sure how many have the patience to read it. I did it twice 😂 it was so helpful and these Mahamudra books supported ATR insights. Just thought to share.", "To be honest, the document is ok [in length], because it’s by insight level. Each insight is like 100 plus pages except anatta [was] exceptionally long [if] I remember lol. If someone read and contemplate at the same time it’s good because the same point will repeat again and again like in the nikayas [traditional Buddhist scriptures in the Pali canon] and insight should arise by the end of it imo.", "A 1000 plus pages ebook written by a serious practitioner Soh Wei Yu that took me a month to read each time and I am so grateful for it. It’s a huge undertaking and I have benefitted from it more that I can ever imagine. Please read patiently."  - Yin Ling



John Tan shared https://youtu.be/mS6saSwD4DA?si=UaNHWxL7j_eXe9iU




Jt: “This is a very insightful presentation by Bernardo, arguing that AI can never be sentient. He aptly pointed out that computer scientists aren’t computer engineers; they are primarily power users of computers and don’t understand how computers are made. I appreciate how he compares modern AI to his research as a CERN scientist’s project—it clarifies many things for me.”

Jt:
“However I disagree with the last part when someone asked about what if there is a language that uses verbs and not no nouns and he disagrees. He also mentioned he disagree with Carlo Rovelli.
This comment he made during q&a session is incoherent from what he said in his whole seminar that there r no "things"; "things" r reified constructs mistaken as real. This is incoherent in terms of what I called desync of view and insight.
There is also a big difference in how eastern nominalists (Buddhism) and how realists understand and de-construct substance view.
Btw Bernardo has experiential authentication of "I M".”

Hi @everyone,

I have an important announcement to make.

On October 13th, not long after I arrived in Australia but before I traveled to Namgyalgar (Australia) for the Dzogchen retreat led by Acarya Malcolm Smith, I informed John Tan about my thoughts to close the Awakening to Reality group. I have decided to proceed with closing the group but wanted to consult John Tan for his perspective. I asked John Tan, "I'm thinking maybe I should step aside from the ATR FB group or close it.. what do you think?" He replied, “Yes. Practice diligently but step aside. Don't get involved in these activities. If you want, create a website that just does quality stuff don't answer ppl. 缘分到 (translation: when conditions arrive),then 指点 (translation: point out/guide)。” I discussed with my admins and informed them of my decision on the same day (October 13th).

It is my wish that this group has been helpful and supportive in your spiritual journeys. We the admins are not closing our Facebook accounts, so we remain contactable via private messaging.

The group will not be deleted; instead, it will be closed and archived, remaining available for reading by all members. I recommend making good use of this archive, as many questions you may have have likely been addressed here previously. It has become quite a trove of information, so I hope members can check back whenever they want and continue to benefit from it as a source of clarification.

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all my admins. Without their involvement over the years, this group would not have been possible.

I also want to thank all members for their participation and contributions to this community throughout the years.

I have returned from the Dzogchen retreat and thoroughly enjoyed the teachings of Acarya Malcolm Smith.

Recommendation for Acarya Malcolm Smith as a Teacher:

I highly recommend Acarya Malcolm Smith as a teacher for several reasons, among these reasons would include:

- Clarity in Insight and View: He possesses a rare clarity among Dharma teachers.

- Accurate Translations: His translations are among the best for Dzogchen teachings.

- Accessibility: He regularly travels around the world to give teachings, increasing the chances for anyone to meet him.

- Online Teachings: He holds teachings online, allowing participation even if you are unable to travel. He also has an online forum or community for Zangthal members.

To determine if Acarya Malcolm Smith's teachings resonate with you, please consider the following steps:

Read Chogyal Namkhai Norbu's Book: Crystal and the Way of Light introduces Dzogchen teachings. https://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Light-Chogyal-Namkhai-Norbu/dp/1559391359

Acarya Malcolm teaches Dzogchen in the tradition and lineage of ChNN (Chogyal Namkhai Norbu). Acarya Malcolm Smith was also asked to teach Dzogchen by another teacher of his, Kunzang Dechen Lingpa, who attained rainbow body (Buddhahood).

Watch Malcolm's YouTube Videos: Explore his teachings to see if Dzogchen interests you. If it does, I highly recommend studying under Acarya Malcolm Smith.

Regarding Dzogchen teachings, Acarya Malcolm Smith stands out as a key figure. He offers teachings and practice instructions through his website, www.zangthal.com, with a structured fee. You can watch this highly recommended YouTube video for an introduction to Acarya Malcolm’s Dzogchen teachings, as recommended by Sim Pern Chong on the ATR group: Talk on Buddhahood in This Life ( https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/09/talk-on-buddhahood-in-this-life.html ). Additionally, some of Malcolm’s writings can be found here: Clarifications on Dharmakaya and Basis ( https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2014/02/clarifications-on-dharmakaya-and-basis_16.html ) . His approach includes regular Zoom sessions and encourages students to email their queries concisely due to his large student base and other professional responsibilities (i.e. his Dharma translation works).

Watch this talk by Acarya Malcolm Smith: YouTube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMWJ5TbbxU8

I would also like to announce that I have fixed the issue with DharmaWheelScrapper and uploaded the new PDFs of the DharmaWheel posts by Acarya Malcolm, Krodha (Kyle Dixon), and Astus. You can download the updated compiled PDFs here: Resolving Nested Quotation Issues https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2024/10/resolving-nested-quotation-issues.html

If Acarya Malcolm Smith's teachings do not interest you, there are other sanghas available online with awakened teachers, such as the Anzan Hoshin Roshi & Ven Jinmyo Osho's Soto Zen sangha who also offers training program online and replies queries via e-mail ( https://wwzc.org/long-distance-training-program ). I have also compiled their teachings https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/12/zen-master-ven-jinmyo-renge-senseis.html and https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/11/a-compilation-of-zen-teacher-anzan.html .

Another trusted friend of mine recommends attending the online teachings of Thubten Chodron.

Additionally, there might be local sanghas/communities you can explore if there are good awakened teachers in your area.

The Importance of Finding Quality Awakened Teachers:

It is crucial to find good quality teachers who are awakened to guide you. As I wrote in Finding an Awakened Spiritual Teacher, here is a partial excerpt from https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2024/01/finding-awakened-spiritual-teacher-and.html :

Bodhidharma, esteemed as the first patriarch of Chan/Zen, marking him as a foundational and transformative figure in the lineage and teachings of this tradition, emphasizes the crucial role of a teacher in the journey towards enlightenment. In his teachings, he states, "To find a Buddha, you have to see your nature. Whoever sees his nature is a Buddha. If you don’t see your nature, being mindful of Buddhas, reciting sutras, making offerings, and keeping precepts are not equal to it. Being mindful of Buddhas results in good karma, reciting sutras results in a good intelligence; keeping precepts results in a good rebirth in heavens, and making offerings results in future blessings — but no buddha. If you don’t understand by yourself, you’ll have to find a teacher to know the root of births and deaths. But unless he sees his nature, such a person isn’t a good teacher. Even if he can recite the twelve groups of scriptures he can’t escape the Wheel of Births and Deaths. He suffers in the three realms without hope of release. Long ago, the monk Good Star was able to recite the twelve groups of scriptures. But he didn’t escape the Wheel, because he didn’t see his nature. If this was the case with Good Star, then people nowadays who recite a few sutras or shastras and think it’s the Dharma are fools. Unless you see your own Heart, reciting so much prose is useless.

To find a Buddha have to see your nature directly. Your nature is the Buddha. And the Buddha is the person who’s free: free of plans, free of cares. If you don’t see your nature and run outwards to seek for external objects, you’ll never find a buddha. The truth is there’s nothing to find. But to reach such an understanding you need a good teacher and you need to struggle to make yourself understand. Life and death are important. Don’t suffer them in vain.

There’s no advantage in deceiving yourself. Even if you have mountains of jewels and as many servants as there are grains of sand along the Ganges, you see them when your eyes are open. But what about when your eyes are shut? You should realize then that everything you see is like a dream or illusion. If you don’t find a teacher soon, you’ll live this life in vain. It’s true, you have the buddha-nature. But without the help of a teacher you’ll never know it. Only one person in a million becomes enlightened without a teacher’s help. If, though, by the conjunction of conditions, someone understands what the Buddha meant, that person doesn’t need a teacher. Such a person has a natural awareness superior to anything taught. But unless you’re so blessed, study hard, and by means of instruction you’ll understand.

People who don’t understand and think they can do so without study are no different from those deluded souls who can’t tell white from black.” Falsely proclaiming the Buddha-Dharma, such persons in fact blaspheme the Buddha and subvert the Dharma. They preach as if they were bringing rain. But theirs is the preaching of devils not of Buddhas. Their teacher is the King of Devils and their disciples are the Devil’s minions. Deluded people who follow such instruction unwittingly sink deeper in the Sea of Birth and Death.

Unless they see their nature, how can people call themselves Buddhas they’re liars who deceive others into entering the realm of devils. Unless they see their nature, their preaching of the Twelvefold Canon is nothing but the preaching of devils. Their allegiance is to Mara, not to the Buddha. Unable to distinguish white from black, how can they escape birth and death?

Whoever sees his nature is a Buddha; whoever doesn’t is a mortal. But if you can find your buddha-nature apart from your mortal nature, where is it? Our mortal nature is our Buddha nature. Beyond this nature there’s no Buddha. The Buddha is our nature. There’s no Buddha besides this nature. And there’s no nature besides the Buddha."

Additionally, Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche said:

"If you wish to eradicate your afflictions, you must follow your teacher and study for a long time. Otherwise, studying for only a few days will not have any significant effect ... Some people today are not willing to study or reflect on the Dharma, but they are enthusiastic about meditation. They believe meditating all day with their eyes shut is the ultimate practice. I do not think much of this. Although there are people of the highest caliber who attain enlightenment without study or reflection, are you of such caliber? Therefore, you cannot live in a cave or another completely isolated place when you first start to practice. Instead, you should be with a qualified Dharma teacher and earnestly receive the Buddhadharma; it is best if you are always engaged in study, reflection, and practice. Of course, I am not asking you to study and reflect for a lifetime without ever practicing. But to spend an entire life in blind meditation without any study or reflection is also the wrong path!"

I have no concrete plans yet for what’s next for the ATR blog. I do not intend to close the blog, as I believe it has benefited many and continues to do so. However, it is possible that at some point I may start a new website on my own. Time will tell, and there is no rush, so this will not happen anytime soon.

John Tan is currently working on a book. I have no doubt it will be profound in wisdom and greatly beneficial to all readers. I wish that all beings have sufficient merits to read John Tan's book swiftly, and that John Tan can release/publish his book soon for the benefit of all.

I wish you all a fruitful journey ahead. May all beings awaken and benefit all beings, bringing everyone to the other shore, the state of Buddhahood. 🙏

P.s. one last thing. If anyone reading this hasn’t read the Awakening to Reality blog before, I highly recommend reading these articles at least:

https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2007/03/thusnesss-six-stages-of-experience.html

https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2009/03/on-anatta-emptiness-and-spontaneous.html

Also, more useful resources:

Insight Diagnosis Simplified: http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2014/07/insight-diagnosis-simplified_11.html

Beyond Awareness: reflections on identity and awareness: http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2018/11/beyond-awareness.html

Experience, Realization, View, Practice and Fruition: http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2011/12/experience-realization-view-practice_16.html

Substantial and Insubstantial Non-duality: http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2011/08/substantial-and-insubstantial-non_6.html

Different Degrees of No-Self: Non-Doership, Non-dual, Anatta, Total Exertion and Dealing with Pitfalls: http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2020/04/different-degress-of-no-self-non.html

[insight] [buddhism] A reconsideration of the meaning of "Stream-Entry" considering the data points of both pragmatic Dharma and traditional Buddhism: http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2020/08/insight-buddhism-reconsideration-of.html (Highly recommended reading, especially for those coming from a Buddhist background or those familiar with, or wanting to learn more about, the term 'stream entry': https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/comments/igored/insight_buddhism_a_reconsideration_of_the_meaning/ )

Buddhahood: The End of All Emotional/Mental Afflictions and Knowledge Obscurations https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2022/07/buddhahood-end-of-all-emotionalmental.html

These are additional resources that can be very helpful:

1) **The Awakening to Reality Practice Guide** by Nafis Rahman:

- Guide available in various formats https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2022/06/the-awakening-to-reality-practice-guide.html

- AudioBook on https://soundcloud.com/soh-wei-yu/sets/the-awakening-to-reality

- Feedback: "The shortened AtR guide is very good. It should lead one to anatta if they really go and read. Concise and direct." - Yin Ling

- **Update:** Portuguese translation http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2022/08/translation-of-awakening-to-reality.html

2) **The Awakening to Reality Guide - Web Abridged Version** by Pablo Pintabona and Nafis Rahman:

- Access the Abridged Version https://atr-abridgedguide.blogspot.com/2021/11/this-is-shortened-version-of-complete.html

3) **The Awakening to Reality Guide - Original Version** compiled by Soh:

https://app.box.com/s/157eqgiosuw6xqvs00ibdkmc0r3mu8jg

- Feedback: "I also want to say, actually the main ATR document >1200 pages helped me the most with insight. I am not sure how many have the patience to read it. I did it twice 😂it was so helpful and these [Mahamudra books](https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2022/01/all-thrangu-rinpoche-58-books-at-35.html) supported ATR insights. Just thought to share. The document is ok [in length], because it’s by insight level. Each insight is like 100 plus pages except anatta [was] exceptionally long [if] I remember lol. If someone reads and contemplates at the same time it’s good because the same point will repeat again and again like in the nikayas and insight should arise by the end of it imo. A 1000 plus pages ebook written by a serious practitioner Soh Wei Yu that took me a month to read each time and I am so grateful for it. It’s a huge undertaking and I have benefitted from it more that I can ever imagine. Please read patiently." - Yin Ling

…..

I just found out something. Once this group is paused, only Members can continue reading the contents of this group, and admins will no longer be able to add people in unless it is unpaused. People who wish to join can no longer do so either.

Just wanted to let people know. If you wish to refer back to this group, please do not leave as I cannot guarantee that we can add you back in.

 [22/10/24, 4:36:05 PM] John Tan: https://youtu.be/YRIrf7XzEnA?si=8n_tJtv9YD3jiLFx


 
[22/10/24, 4:36:39 PM] Yin Ling: 2 hours video lol
[22/10/24, 4:38:31 PM] John Tan: This YouTube interview on Federico faggin is really good.  He is trying so hard to connect his understanding of physics, computer design knowledge, quantum mechanics with his experience of consciousness.
[22/10/24, 4:41:48 PM] John Tan: You look at him and his expressions, so difficult to articulate the taste of consciousness radiance as qualia.

The critical point is the he really is able to "feel" the quantum state IS a description of the interiority of the world and he is trying so so hard to express that.
[22/10/24, 4:42:42 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Radiance as qualia is like anatta?
[22/10/24, 4:43:02 PM] John Tan: It is difficult to find one that really know physics that well and consciousness as a direct epxerience.
[22/10/24, 4:44:16 PM] John Tan: Part of it and in terms of intensity but not in terms of view.  But that is altogether a different matter.
[22/10/24, 4:44:42 PM] John Tan: Go watch.
[22/10/24, 4:44:50 PM] Soh Wei Yu: So his experience is like anatta but he dont too much about the view?
[22/10/24, 4:44:52 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Ok
[22/10/24, 4:45:01 PM] John Tan: In taste yes.


[22/10/24, 4:52:48 PM] John Tan: The other guy is Bernardo Kastrup is an analytical idealist, both r very Vedanta in view although I dun think they study them.  Both r scientists that r equiped with the required knowledge in physics and can relate to consciousness esp Federico.
[22/10/24, 4:52:59 PM] John Tan: In 2011, Faggin founded the Federico and Elvia Faggin Foundation to support the scientific study of consciousness at US universities and research institutes. In 2015, the Faggin Foundation helped to establish a $1 million endowment for the Faggin Family Presidential Chair in the Physics of Information at UC Santa Cruz to promote the study of "fundamental questions at the interface of physics and related fields including mathematics, complex systems, biophysics, and cognitive science, with the unifying theme of information in physics."[4]

[22/10/24, 5:48:53 PM] John Tan: Later Federico actually described experience of anatta and total exertion but he doesn't want to put a term or name to it like non-dual, no-self....etc

 

When’s the last time Singaporeans can see stars? Probably in my childhood.. here in Namgyalgar, Australia we can see the milky way. Reminds me of my study days in Australia.
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Sim Pern Chong, Khoo Sing Yiao and 23 others
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Soh Wei Yu
Pretty impressed my old iphone 14 pro max can actually take clear night shots
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William Lim
Are the stars outside your body, or inside your mind? 😂
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Soh Wei Yu
William Lim
When mind radiance is realised to be none other than lucid self-knowing appearances, and mind and phenomena as substantial entities are seen through, can how such notions arise?
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William Lim
Lucid self-knowing appearances have no inside outside?
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Soh Wei Yu
William Lim yeah, in seeing just the seen, no seer, no seeing and nothing seen. So what is there to be inside and outside of?
Just vivid appearances as a spontaneous presenting/presencing that is primordially pure
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William Lim
But the appeerances are still "limited" or "localized" to the sight, sound, smell, touch and taste of a particular, namely Weiyu's, perspective yah? You're not smelling and tasting my laksa in Singapore aren't you? 😂
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Soh Wei Yu
William Lim appearances are not “localized” in the ultimate sense because they are empty and unlocatable.
Conventionally there are mindstreams but these are empty.
Kyle Dixon shared before:
Kyle Dixon wrote
krodha
15 points ·
2 months ago
· edited 2 months ago
Buddhism is just a different approach to liberation. A universal consciousness is deemed unnecessary, and impossible. I used to dabble in Advaita when I was first learning buddhadharma, and this disparity likewise led me to believe that the Buddhist view was somewhat more limited because it involved discrete mindstreams. It felt like Advaita was going further than Buddhism because the negation of discrete entities in its framework was quite simple to understand, and the Buddhist reification of the same conventional entities seemed shortsighted or immature.
Later when I had a better understanding of the philosophical and methodological underpinnings of the buddhadharma, I discovered that the Buddhist view, despite these features, is able to improve upon the Advaitan “singular consciousness” model, and evade the disadvantageous implications of fortifying an ontological principle of that nature.
Which is to say the Buddhist model is in no way limited by virtue of including discrete conventional mindstreams. At the time of the result in Advaita Vedanta the purusa stands alone as true and real, that is an ontological view. Buddhism only lends ontologies a provisional status, and then collapses them with epistemological insight that reveals they were false from the very beginning. Unlike Advaita however, there is no ultimate ontology, instead, the mind is freed from the burden of the misconception of all ontological natures by seeing or knowing the way things really are, as being empty.
This still establishes a non-dual realization and still ultimately negates all entities, but there is no ultimate nature established in the end, because for Buddhism, ultimate truth is nothing more than the lack of substantiality in that which appears to be relative. Thus Advaita reifies a reductive nondual nature via understanding phenomenology via ontology in positing a single overarching universal consciousness, whereas buddhadharma actualizes a non-reductive nondual insight via understanding phenomenology via epistemology in the realization of emptiness and non-arising.
Advaitans like Gaudapāda tried to adopt the Buddhist view of nonarising [anutpāda] in his Ajātivāda, but he still falls into an eternalist trap and fails to accurately actualize nonarising because he still reifies an ultimate purusa. Gaudapāda is saying nonarising is true. In buddhadharma, when nonarising is realized, not even nonarising is established
—-
Someone shared, “From page 118 of the book ‘Inborn Realization’ by Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal “There is not and will never be a single mind that is shared by everyone—there will always be limitless individual minds. Everyone, whether enlightened or not, has his or her own mind. Each individual mind can and does reflect everything and everybody. For these reasons, the teachings say that everyone is the sovereign ruler of his or her universe.”
Kyle replied:
Very nice.
This seems to bother some people, but if they understood that removing the two obscurations unbinds the mind and exhausts the bifurcation into an inner subjective experience versus an outer external world, and everything is then experienced as one’s own immaculate self-display, then perhaps they would not object to multiple conventional mindstreams.
It seems this issue always boils down to people struggling with how convention is understood and applied.
krodha's comment on "Did the Buddha explicitly reject the notion of universal consciousness?"
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krodha's comment on "Did the Buddha explicitly reject the notion of universal consciousness?"
krodha's comment on "Did the Buddha explicitly reject the notion of universal consciousness?"
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William Lim
So, there are different mindstreams, and different non-dual self-knowing appearances "appears" to the different mindstreams yah? For Weiyu, it's the stars in Australia. For William, it's the laksa in Singapore.
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Soh Wei Yu
William Lim
Yes. Mindstreams are also conventional without inherent existence. It is merely a name for a causal rosary of discrete moments, just like the word “mala” is just a name imputed on 108 beads strung together, or the word “army” is a name for a collection of soldiers, or the word “weather” is a name for a plethora of various everchanging phenomena, etc, but no real entity or core or essence can be found whatsoever when sought. Ultimately individual minds are also mere imputations that cannot be found. But since it is functional, we say it is conventionally valid to name different minds/mindstreams as such, just as it is conventionally valid to call you “William” and I am “Soh”. But no self/Self can ultimately be found.
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Soh Wei Yu
Answering someone on whether it is the “same mindstream” that is reborn, Kyle Dixon explained,
“It is neither the same nor different, like a series of candle flames that light one another sequentially.
From the Pratītyasamutpādakarikavhyakhyana:
Therein, the aggregates are the aggregates of matter, sensation, ideation, formations and consciousness. Those, called ‘serially joined’, not having ceased, produce another produced from that cause; although not even the subtle atom of an existent has transmigrated from this world to the next.”
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William Lim
There is no self or inherent existence in a mala or an army, but there is still a kind of "difference" between one mala and another, or one army from another ya? For the appearances (and function) of Soh is "different" from the appearances of William
The designation aren't randomly and arbitrarily assigned ya? For we do not assign the body of Soh together with the chair he sits on as a unified designation. There must be "something" that makes one conventionally impute to a "Soh" or a 'William"... namely some form of congregation of appearances. "Something" differentiate one non-inherently existent cloud from another non-inherently existent cloud?
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Soh Wei Yu
William Lim
Designations depend on the basis of designation which are parts and conditions. These parts and conditions are also name only, and empty. So names all the way down.
Although it is not wrong to say our “appearances” are different, we should be careful not to reify appearances as an ultimate ground of conventions, which will make appearances the foundational or fundamental reality. Appearances also become falsely reified as a real ground when concepts are reified. Presence/appearance is ultimately groundless and illusory.
John Tan said something nice before,
“Not only that. Like anatta, where an agent is not needed to initiate actions, a hearer not needed to initate hearing of sounds; Tsongkhapa wants us to see:
Designation too does not require pure appearances or real aggregates as basis, then what designations r designated upon? It is designations upon designations and designations functions.
In other words, to Tsongkhapa, the inability to understand how nominal reality (existing as name only) can function is what makes us fall into the need of landing onto a real basis.
This does not mean that Tsongkhapa did not experience of taste radiance as appearances in anatta insight free from a background self without name constructs, but he has additional insight of about how "designations" works without relying on basis.”
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Soh Wei Yu
William Lim but you are right that designations are not random or arbitrarily assigned.
Acarya Malcolm:
"“Conventional” simply means “functional,” it does not mean arbitrary or subjective. For example, perceiving water as amṛta, pus, boiling metal, etc., is invalid in the human realm.
One can build many kinds of cars, but if they don’t function as cars, they are not cars, conventionally speaking."
"No, conventions are not subjective, they are conventions because one or more people have agreed to call a functional thing a given name. For example, a truck is called a lorry in England, but they both refer to a heavy vehicle that carries loads."
"Conventional truths are derived from observing functional appearances. Falsehoods are derived from observing nonfunctional appearances. Example, lake vs. mirage."
"No, it is not more correct to say consciousness arises or ceases than a labelled self, a since consciousness is also a conventional label, like the label "self." Prior to analysis there is both a self, akuppa, and a consciousness. After analysis one will find neither self nor consciousness, beyond the designations "akuppa" and "consciousness." For example, take a car as a metaphor for "self". A car cannot be found in any part, all of its parts, or separate from its parts. Likewise, as self cannot be found in any aggregates, all of the aggregates, or apart from the aggregates. Likewise, consciousness cannot be found in the sense organ nor the sense object, both, or separate from them. The mind is also made of parts, and cannot be found in one of them, all of them, or separate from them.
Functionally speaking, we can say there is a self, because when I say "akuppa go there!" You will respond to this directive by saying yes or no. This means that "self" is functional. It is efficient. Whatever is functional corresponds with relative truth. If I said to you, "Malcolm go there!" you would respond, "I am not Malcolm." So calling you "malcolm" is not functional and therefore cannot be considered to be relatively true. Consciousness is a relative truth, as long as it performs its functions, then we can say "there is a consciousness." But when we analyze consciousness, we cannot find it outside of the conventions we use for an appearance we label "mind.""
Acarya Malcolm Smith on Conventional vs Ultimate Truth
AWAKENINGTOREALITY.COM
Acarya Malcolm Smith on Conventional vs Ultimate Truth
Acarya Malcolm Smith on Conventional vs Ultimate Truth
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