Showing posts with label Yogacara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yogacara. Show all posts
Soh

Also see: Buddhahood: The End of All Emotional/Mental Afflictions and Knowledge Obscurations


Someone asked me, "How do you understand the alaya-consciousness relative to Anatta and Emptiness?  

We're doing some 3rd Karmapa study on this and it seems the alaya is the key to Buddhahood.  Somehow there is a change of state which transforms alaya-consciousness into mirror-like wisdom... aka perfect perception of all conditioning everywhere... no more purity or impurity.

Fascinating stuff for me, I hadn't realized this layer existed beneath even Anatta."


I replied:

The ālaya consciousness is fully transformed when not only anatta is realized, but also twofold emptiness is fully realized and actualized to the point of exhaustion of the two obscurations in completeness.

There is a relevant quote from the Lankavatara Sutra in the long ATR guide https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2022/06/the-awakening-to-reality-practice-guide.html:

"On distinguishing the difference in attainment between an Arahat or Pratyekabuddha and a Buddha, the Mahayana scripture Lankavatara Sutra states, 

“…Therefore, Mahamati, the assurances given to shravakas and bodhisattvas do not differ. Mahamati, what doesn’t differ is the taste of liberation when shravakas and pratyeka-buddhas or buddhas and tathagatas get rid of the obstruction of passion, not when they get rid of the obstruction of knowledge. Mahamati, the obstruction of knowledge is purified when they see that dharmas have no self. The obstruction of passion is removed prior to this when they become accustomed to seeing that persons have no self. It is when the seventh consciousness ceases that they are liberated from the obstruction of dharmas. And it is when the habit-energy of the repository consciousness ceases that their purification is complete.”

“[To attain Buddhahood], you must free [yourself] from 2 obscurations and 4 mara.” – John Tan, 2020

According to Kyle Dixon (2021):

“According to Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna there are two obscurations that prevent us from fully knowing the nature of phenomena. The first is called the afflictive obscuration, which is the fetter of an internal subjective reference point that the self is attributed to, and the second is called the cognitive obscuration, which is everything else that stands apart from our deluded sense of self, so all objects; persons, places, things.

For some reason these obscurations can be uprooted at different times.”

Someone suggested that Buddhahood is an athletic project. Soh replied:

“Buddhahood is not an athletic project but the elimination of the twin obscurations*. Several years ago, John Tan had a series of breakthroughs and he told me he had very little knowledge obscurations left after that. (He is not claiming some sort of finality) And that is over a decade after he wrote the 7 stages, etc. So there is plenty more to unfold and anatta is just a beginning.

After anatta, it will be good to look into this compilation of post-anatta advice and the Rigpa Wiki entry on Two Obscurations.”

Two Obscurations (*Tib. སྒྲིབ་པ་གཉིས་, dribpa nyiWyl. sgrib pa gnyis) — emotional and cognitive obscurations.

  • Emotional Obscurations are defined according to their essence, cause, and function.

    • Essence: They are the opposite of the six paramitas, as described in the Gyü Lama:

      "Thoughts such as avarice and so on, These are the emotional obscurations."

    • Cause: Grasping at a personal ego, or the “self of the individual”.
    • Function: They prevent liberation from samsara.
  • Cognitive Obscurations are also defined according to their essence, cause, and function.

    • Essence: They are thoughts that involve the three conceptual ‘spheres’ of subject, object, and action. The Gyü Lama states:

      "Thoughts that involve the three spheres, These are the cognitive obscurations."

    • Cause: Grasping at phenomena as truly existent, or, in other words, the “self of phenomena”.
    • Function: They prevent complete enlightenment.

The cessation of the seventh consciousness occurs after the first obscuration ceases (i.e., at the arahat or eighth bhumi). Meanwhile, the cessation of the habitual tendencies pertaining to the eighth consciousness (ālaya) occurs when the two obscurations are exhausted (Buddhahood).

There is also a very old quote by John Tan from 2006:

"Yes LongChen, very very well said. What you described is very true about the experience of non-duality and no-self is really referring to the illusionary view of a subject-object split. In actuality, there is no such split and, like what you said, there are varying depths and degrees to this experience of non-duality. It will be good to find out more about the 7 factors of enlightenment and five wisdoms in Buddhism.

Sensation is just a word. However, when we name it as ‘sensation’, there are whole lots of imprints and definitions that come along with it, making it difficult to see it in its ‘raw’ form. So what is ‘sensation’ in its raw state? It is what we call Presence, our Pristine Awareness. And yes, they are all just THAT, that ‘sensation in raw’, and the purpose of why Buddha taught mindfulness becomes clear; it is to experience “all is just that”, the One Reality. This must be experienced intuitively and directly. There is no other way.

Next, we must experience more clearly its emptiness nature. Awareness is a luminous presence with emptiness as its nature. Its nature is empty in the sense that there is no way you can point to a who, a place, or a moment in time and say “here it is”. It subsides as it arises and never remains. It is symbol-less and therefore we should not rest ourselves in either form or formless. It is neither this nor that and not even an ‘IT’. Simply empty of a ‘self’! A Source that cannot be pinned down is purely an ever-manifestation of phenomena that rolls on. Its arising and ceasing are best described in the following:

  • When there is this, that is.
  • With the arising of this, that arises.
  • When this is not, neither is that.
  • With the cessation of this, that ceases.

(Dependent Origination – DO)

Do not even ask where it comes from and where it goes. To ask is to satisfy our cognitive thirst. In actuality, it is nowhere to be found, only mere arising and ceasing in raw. The profundity of DO has no depth; zoom deeply into it. Sense the entirety of the moment, the manifolds of Presence, the vividness, texture, and fabric of the raw experience. Earnestly experience the luminous and emptiness truth of our nature.

The experience of this is the awakening of the mirror-like wisdom. This is important because it is the base that prevents us from falling into lower realms. But contrary to what is commonly explained as a clear mirror reflecting phenomena—which is still dualistic—you will not be able to accept such a view. Instead, it is a wisdom that totally transforms the wrong view of phenomena as “out there or in here” to all being manifestations of our pristine awareness due to its emptiness nature. It is the experience of Dharmakaya."

- collection of old forum posts with John Tan/Thusness: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2019/01/thusnesss-conversation-between-2004-to.html


Mr. W: "So the obscurations are just seeds within the alaya.  They can be purified (transformed), but it seems that this isn't the path to Buddhahood... the 3rd karmapa says that it is impossible to purify the entire Alaya because it is endless in subtlety and the stains also reform as fast as you can purify at some point.  They say only through a change of state does the entire Alaya drop away (or more accurately is seen through).  I'm very curious about how this comes about... it seems that level of insight is almost impossible on our own."


Soh: 

It is always through deeper and deeper wisdom, paired with shamatha/samadhi, that progress is made. As John Tan mentioned, deeper cognitive obscurations are released with further progress, but this process is always related to deeper insights.

Once you cut the root of ignorance, the branches fall apart. There is no need to deal with the branches one by one.

Tilopa said:

“Though darkness gathers for a thousand eons.

A single light dispels it all.

Likewise, one moment of sheer clarity

Dispels the ignorance, evil and confusion of a thousand eons.”


Soh


https://www.facebook.com/share/p/KZqhUCxdQYqEaViU/?


Jigme Dorje:


Which AtR stage would such a view fall under:




"If what appears to be apprehended does not exist by its very own essence  apart from that which apprehends it, then what appears to be the  apprehender does not exist either. The reason, here, is that the  apprehender exists in relation to the apprehended, not in isolation.  Therefore, awareness is devoid of both apprehender and apprehended, in  all their various forms. Free from subject and object, by its very own nature awareness is a mere indescribable luminosity."


From - Distinguishing  Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature: Maitreya's  Dharmadharmatavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham



Soh:


Mipham Rinpoche, one of the most influential masters of the Nyingma school wrote http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2020/09/madhyamaka-cittamatra-and-true-intent.html :


…In the cycle of teachings of Maitreya and the writings of the great charioteer Asaṅga, whose thinking is one and the same, it is taught that individuals on the level of earnest aspiration first understand that all phenomena are simply the mind. Subsequently they have the experience that there is no object to be apprehended in the mind. Then, at the stage of the supreme mundane level on the path of joining, they realize that because there is no object, neither is there a subject, and immediately after that, they attain the first level with the direct realization of the truth of ultimate reality devoid of the duality of subject and object. As for things being only the mind, the source of the dualistic perception of things appearing as environment, sense objects, and a body is the consciousness of the ground of all, which is accepted as existing substantially on the conventional level but is taught as being like a magical illusion and so on since it appears in a variety of ways while not existing dualistically. For this reason, because this tradition realizes, perfectly correctly, that the nondual consciousness is devoid of any truly existing entities and of characteristics, the ultimate intentions of the charioteers of Madhyamaka and Cittamātra should be considered as being in agreement.


Why, then, do the Mādhyamika masters refute the Cittamātra tenet system? Because self-styled proponents of the Cittamātra tenets, when speaking of mind-only, say that there are no external objects but that the mind exists substantially—like a rope that is devoid of snakeness, but not devoid of ropeness. Having failed to understand that such statements are asserted from the conventional point of view, they believe the nondual consciousness to be truly existent on the ultimate level. It is this tenet that the Mādhyamikas repudiate. But, they say, we do not refute the thinking of Ārya Asaṅga, who correctly realized the mind-only path taught by the Buddha...


...So, if this so-called “self-illuminating nondual consciousness” asserted by the Cittamātrins is understood to be a consciousness that is the ultimate of all dualistic consciousnesses, and it is merely that its subject and object are inexpressible, and if such a consciousness is understood to be truly existent and not intrinsically empty, then it is something that has to be refuted. If, on the other hand, that consciousness is understood to be unborn from the very beginning (i.e. empty), to be directly experienced by reflexive awareness, and to be self-illuminating gnosis without subject or object, it is something to be established. Both the Madhyamaka and Mantrayāna have to accept this...”


Comments by Soh: if this nondual self illuminating gnosis is mistaken as real (reification) and intrinsically existent, then it does not go beyond thusness stage 4.


If this is realised to be empty, it is at least stage 5, and if twofold empty then it is 6.


John Tan wrote more than a decade ago:


Haha Jackson, u never give up.


    This heart is the "space" of where, the "time" of when and the "I" of who.


    In hearing, it's that "sound".


    In seeing, it's that "scenery".


    In thinking, it is that "eureka"!


    In snapping a finger, it is seizing the whole entire moment of that instantaneous "snapping".


    Just marvelous such as it is on the fly.


    So no "it" but thoroughly empty.


    To u this "heart" is most real, to dzogchen it is illusory. Though illusory, it is fully vivid and brilliance. Since it is illusory, it nvr really truly arise. There is genuine "treasure" in the illusory.


    I think Kyle has a lot points to share. Do unblock him.


    Nice chat And happy journey jax!


    Gone!

    December 12, 2013 at 8:24am · Unlike · 10




Nafis:


I read the Maitreya book that he posted just now. The excerpt itself sounds like one-mind, but going through the whole text, Asanga/Maitreya was pointing to Stage 6.


But it's good to clarify in case people interpret the excerpt as dissolving subject/object into an underlying awareness.


The book has a commentary by Mipham as well.



Soh:


Yes i do think so. Its not possible that maitreya, a tenth stage bodhisattva, could have substantialist view.. even asangha (3rd stage?) or a first bhumi would not possibly have a substantialist view


I just wanted to clarify the subtleties.

Soh

From Dharmawheel - see Acarya Malcolm Dharmawheel Posts + Astus, Krodha (Kyle Dixon), Geoff (Jnana), Meido Moore

Also See: Madhyamaka, Cittamātra, and the true intent of Maitreya and Asaṅga self.Buddhism


Author: Astus

Date: Tue Feb 6, 2024 11:49 PM

Title: Re: Yogachara: Ontological or Epistemological Idealism?

Content:

They uphold the twofold emptiness. Again from Brunnhölzl (p 26):


'The perfect nature is emptiness in the sense that what appears as dependent false imagination is primordially never established as the imaginary nature. As the ultimate object and the true nature of the dependent nature, this emptiness is the sphere of nonconceptual wisdom, which is nothing other than phenomenal identitylessness.'



Author: Astus

Date: Tue Feb 6, 2024 5:00 PM

Title: Re: Yogachara: Ontological or Epistemological Idealism?

Content:

This practical clarification by Karl Brunnhölzl might help (https://dharmaebooks.org/an-overview-of-the-five-texts-of-maitreya/, p 19-21):


'Cittamātra is not a metaphysical assertion of a transcendental reality consisting of “mind-only” but a description of our delusion — the dreams of this sleep from which the Buddha has awakened. If the dream-world saṃsāra is “merely mind,” freedom and the Buddhist path are possible because we can change our minds through creating a counter-dream within the dream of our delusion. Most important, we can wake up from this dream.


That cittamātra is constantly referred to in Yogācāra texts as the delusional perception of what does not exist (these texts moreover abound with dreams, illusions, and so on as examples for it) hardly suggests that it exists in a real or ultimate way. Thus, the notion of “mere mind” refers only to the mistaken minds and mental factors of saṃsāra (the realities of suffering and its origin) but not to the realities of the path or cessation. Many Yogācāra works make it clear explicitly and repeatedly that not only external objects but also “mere mind” does not exist and is to be relinquished in order to attain the realization of the path of seeing and eventually buddhahood.


In this context, the four “yogic practices” (Skt. prayoga) in Yogācāra works are the following four steps of realization:


1. Outer objects are observed to be nothing but mind 

2. Thus, outer objects are not observed as such

3. With outer objects being unobservable, a mind cognizing 

them is not observed either

4. Not observing both, nonduality is observed


This means that stages (1)–(3) — and thus the notion of cittamātra — are progressively dealt with only up through the end of the path of preparation. Stage (4) marks the path of seeing (the first bhūmi), on which bodhisattvas have to let go of the notion of cittamātra as well. In other words, like so many other Buddhist notions, cittamātra is no exception to simply being an expedient pedagogic tool to realize a certain level on the path. However, it is neither the final realization, nor to be reified in any way (thus becoming an obstacle to this very realization), but to be discarded once its intended function has been accomplished.'




Author: Astus
Date: Wed Feb 28, 2024 6:12 AM
Title: Re: Was Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka an implicative negation?
Content:
Yogacara accepts the emptiness of both self and dharmas, and it denies ultimate reality to both mind and its objects. What foundation is left?

Soh

 

  • William Kong
    On the surface, the Mind-Only schools sound very much like "Consciousness is All" of Advaita - up to a point, since the article states that its very essence is of dependent nature, rather than being some unchanging absolute reality.
    Chittamatra - Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
    TIBETANBUDDHISTENCYCLOPEDIA.COM
    Chittamatra - Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
    Chittamatra - Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia

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    Soh Wei Yu
    Admin
    Yes, Yogacara is different from Advaita. Whereas Advaita postulates an unchanging and universal consciousness, yogacara consciousness is momentary and personal. It is however of a somewhat subjective idealist view, also argued to be subtly realist (although not of the vedantic type).
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    William Kong
    Soh Wei Yu Thanks, that clears up a bit of confusion.

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