Special Insight 1: Wisdom of Emptiness (3 May 2011)

0:22 Developing a wish to help these beings, help to liberate them from saṃsāra. The best Report an error in the passage at 0:22

0:56 way to do that is to become enlightened ourselves so Report an error in the passage at 0:56

1:05 that we have the wisdom, we have the power, we have the compassion to help all beings. Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:05

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2:09 then we'll start with the Praise to Manjushri on page one of the white book. Report an error in the passage at 2:09

2:28 So we'll just recite this once. Report an error in the passage at 2:28

2:34 Obeisance to my guru and protector Manjushri, who holds to his heart a scriptural text symbolic of his seeing all things as they are, whose intelligence shines forth as the sun, unclouded by delusions or traces of ignorance, who teaches in sixty ways with the loving compassion of a father for his only son, all creatures caught in the prison of saṃsāra, confused in the darkness of their ignorance, overwhelmed by their suffering. Report an error in the passage at 2:34

3:00 You, whose dragon-thunder-like proclamation of Dharma arouses us from the stupor of our delusions and frees us from the iron chains of our karma, who wields the sword of wisdom, hewing down suffering wherever its sprouts appear, clearing away the darkness of ignorance. You, whose princely body is adorned with the 112 marks of a Buddha, who has completed the stages achieving the highest perfection of a Bodhisattva, who has been pure from the beginning, I bow down to you, O Manjushri. Report an error in the passage at 3:00

3:28 Amarapatsanadi. Report an error in the passage at 3:28

3:43 With the brilliance of your wisdom, O compassionate one, illuminate the darkness enclosing my mind. Enlighten my intelligence and wisdom so that I may gain insight into Buddha's words and the texts that explain them. And then the Heart Sūtra on page 76. Report an error in the passage at 3:43

4:23 I prostrate to the Arya Triple Gem. Thus did I hear at one time the Bhagavan was dwelling on Mass Vulture's mountain in Rajgriha together with a great community of monks and a great community of bodhisattvas. At that time the Bhagavan was absorbed in the concentration on the categories of phenomena called profound perception. Also at that time the bodhisattva, mahasattva, Arya, Avalokiteshvara looked upon the very practice of the profound perfection of wisdom and beheld those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. Report an error in the passage at 4:23

4:56 Then, through the power of Buddha, the Venerable Shariputra said this to the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara, How should any son of the lineage train who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom? He said that, and the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara said this to the Venerable Sharivadiputra, Shariputra, any son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom should look upon it like this, correctly and repeatedly beholding those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. Report an error in the passage at 4:56

5:33 Form is empty, emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form. Form is also not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Shariputra, likewise, all phenomena are emptiness, without characteristic, unproduced, unceased, stainless, not without stain, not deficient, not fulfilled. Report an error in the passage at 5:33

5:59 Shariputra, therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness, no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind. Report an error in the passage at 5:59

6:26 is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so on, up to and including no aging and death, and no extinction of aging and death. Similarly, there is no suffering, origination, cessation and path. There is no exalted wisdom, no attainment and also no non-attainment. Shariputra, therefore, because there is no attainment, bodhisattvas rely on and dwell in the perfection of wisdom, the mind without obscuration and without fear. Report an error in the passage at 6:26

6:54 Having completely passed beyond error, they reach the end point of nirvāṇa. all the buddhas Report an error in the passage at 6:54

7:05 possible. Perfect. Complete enlightenment. Reliance on the perfection of wisdom, therefore the mantra, to have great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, to be equal to the perfection Report an error in the passage at 7:05

7:26 of wisdom is declared. Report an error in the passage at 7:26

7:43 from that concentration and commended the Bodhisattva Maha Sattva Arya Avalokiteshvara saying, Well said, well said, son of the lineage. It is like that. It is like that. One should practice the profound perfection of wisdom, just as you have indicated. Even the Tathagatas rejoice, the Bhagavan having thus spoken, the Venerable Sharivati Putra, the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya, Avalokiteshvara, and those surrounding in their entirety, along with the world of gods, humans, asuras and gandharvas. Report an error in the passage at 7:43

8:16 We're overjoyed and highly praise that spoken by the Bhagavan. And then refuge in bodhicitta on page 98. I Report an error in the passage at 8:16

8:33 go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 8:33

8:54 May I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am enlightened. To the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma. May I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. Thanks, Report an error in the passage at 8:54

9:20 I just, I was just choking on my saliva. Thank you. Yeah, if I need some I'll let you know. Alright, Report an error in the passage at 9:20

9:36 okay. No. Sure will be. Report an error in the passage at 9:36

9:39 So last time we were talking about the Sotrantika school, the sūtra school, which is the second, can you guys even read that? Is that way too small? The second of the four tenet schools, the first one is the Vibhashika or the great exposition school that we covered. And so last time we started with the Sotrantika or the sūtra school. And so we were talking about... Report an error in the passage at 9:39

10:08 Direct perceivers versus conceptual consciousnesses. So direct perceivers are things like, well, they perceive, as the name says, they perceive objects directly as they are. According to Sotrantikas, the direct perceivers perceive things as they actually exist. Whereas conceptual consciousnesses perceive things through... Report an error in the passage at 10:08

10:40 A mental image through a generic image or a mental image. So direct perceivers are like our sense consciousnesses, our eye consciousness, our ear consciousness, our nose consciousness, our tongue consciousness and our body consciousness. So direct perceivers, I mean for we ordinary beings, those are our primary direct perceivers. Report an error in the passage at 10:40

11:08 So the eye consciousness that sees. Colors and shapes, the Report an error in the passage at 11:08

11:19 ear consciousness that sounds, the Report an error in the passage at 11:19

11:27 nose consciousness that perceives odors, taste Report an error in the passage at 11:27

11:38 consciousness, or Report an error in the passage at 11:38

11:43 sometimes the tongue consciousness that perceives tastes. Don't get distracted. Report an error in the passage at 11:43

11:54 So Report an error in the passage at 11:54

11:59 use your ear consciousness right now and dim your eye consciousness for a moment. Distracted. Report an error in the passage at 11:59

12:08 right. So. So, like when we eat food, our taste, our tongue consciousness is operating. When we see, it's our visual consciousness. When we hear, when we listen to music or hear traffic sounds and things like that, that's the ear consciousness. That's great. Can you guys see? Report an error in the passage at 12:08

12:38 That's okay, that's great. There Report an error in the passage at 12:38

12:47 are also other direct perceivers like yogic direct perceivers. Where in meditation with common binding and special insight you can realize things like emptiness and impermanence directly. But those require some advanced training. So for most of us it's the sense consciousnesses. There's also a mental direct perceiver that according to Sotrantika we don't even actually really notice. Report an error in the passage at 12:47

13:17 Anyway, we won't get into the mental direct perceiver. Report an error in the passage at 13:17

13:23 So normally when we perceive an object, we perceive something through our senses for a few moments and then almost immediately the conceptual consciousness jumps in and adds the label, tells the story and all of that. So conceptual consciousnesses perceive objects through a mental image and therefore they're all considered mistaken. Report an error in the passage at 13:23

13:53 Mistaken because we mistake. The image that's in our mind for the actual object. So if you look at this whiteboard, well, let's look at these colors and shapes right here. So your eye consciousness perceives some gold and some black, sorry, and some yellow. And then how quickly did the conceptual consciousness pop in there and label Buddha? Report an error in the passage at 13:53

14:28 And then suddenly, we're not even really perceiving it directly anymore. We're perceiving, I mean, we're still perceiving the colors and shapes, but we're perceiving it through the image, oh, that's a Buddha. Oh, what does that mean? Oh, that must be Shakyamuni Buddha. What does Shakyamuni Buddha represent, right? We have a whole story in our minds that came from our conceptual mind. Report an error in the passage at 14:28

14:54 So very rarely do we perceive things kind of nakedly as they really are because we immediately jump in with our conceptual mind and bring in all the history and all our biases and all our judgments and all that, right? Our preferences, our likes and dislikes, right? So all conceptual consciousnesses are mistaken, but they're not necessarily wrong. Report an error in the passage at 14:54

15:22 So Report an error in the passage at 15:22

15:27 there are conceptual consciousnesses that are correct. And valid and useful and there are conceptual consciousnesses that are incorrect. So Report an error in the passage at 15:27

15:42 what are some examples of conceptual consciousnesses? The labeling consciousness, a reasoning consciousness, a doubting consciousness, a worrying consciousness, a Report an error in the passage at 15:42

16:06 consciousness that's fantasizing about something, as well as our mental afflictions, anger, irritation, jealousy. Report an error in the passage at 16:06

16:19 So all of the mental afflictions are wrong consciousnesses, not just mistaken, but they're wrong. So I want to talk a little bit about that. This is going to get a bit technical, but it's kind of important. Report an error in the passage at 16:19

17:06 Well, it doesn't really matter. As soon as you guys can see. Report an error in the passage at 17:06

17:13 let's say we have a... Report an error in the passage at 17:13

17:29 there's three types of objects. Report an error in the passage at 17:29

17:42 object of engagement. Report an error in the passage at 17:42

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18:18 An appearing object and a referent object. Report an error in the passage at 18:18

18:23 So for the referent object it only applies for conceptual consciousness. So let's say for a direct perception of Report an error in the passage at 18:23

18:54 the Buddha statue. The Report an error in the passage at 18:54

19:06 object of engagement is the Buddha statue. What is the object that we're perceiving? The Buddha statue. What's the appearing object? Report an error in the passage at 19:06

20:07 imagine the Buddha statue now? your eyes and imagine the Buddha statue. Report an error in the passage at 20:07

20:16 image of a Buddha statue in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 20:16

20:36 object of engagement is the same, Because we're... Report an error in the passage at 20:36

20:47 actual object that we're thinking about, the appearing object... Report an error in the passage at 20:47

20:59 the Buddha statue. Report an error in the passage at 20:59

21:17 It's Report an error in the passage at 21:17

21:24 being referred to. Report an error in the passage at 21:24

21:28 for conceptual consciousnesses, what's actually appearing to the mind is a mental image. Report an error in the passage at 21:28

21:39 you're actually accessing the Buddha's statue. what's actually appearing to your mind is a mental image. Report an error in the passage at 21:39

21:51 So, consciousness is all... Report an error in the passage at 21:51

22:01 Because appearing object is a mental image. Report an error in the passage at 22:01

22:07 a correct, direct perception, the appearing object is the object itself, so it's not mistaken. Report an error in the passage at 22:07

22:16 once again, a conceptual consciousness is mistaken because what appears to it, the appearing object, is actually a mental image. What Report an error in the passage at 22:16

22:32 if you're blind? Because a lot of how I see things is conceptually based on somebody saying there's a Buddha statue. And that's a lot of how my vision is now, that I will get the bare outline of something. And fill it in with my mind based on prior sight. So how would that consciousness be labeled? Report an error in the passage at 22:32

22:54 mean, your direct perception. Report an error in the passage at 22:54

23:03 you still Report an error in the passage at 23:03

23:07 your conceptual consciousness, you still have an appearing object that's a your optic engagement is still the Buddhist statue. still, what your mind engaged with. Report an error in the passage at 23:07

23:22 like with an ear consciousness, you stronger ear consciousness than most Report an error in the passage at 23:22

23:30 I guess it's only an issue for me because I'll see a group of statues on an altar and they're all sort of generic Buddhist images and somebody will have to tell me that's Amitayus. And then my mind fills in the attributes of Amitayus. But my consciousness is heavily dependent on getting an outside description in order to fill in the details of it. Report an error in the passage at 23:30

23:51 So I was just wondering how that would fit in. Report an error in the passage at 23:51

23:58 to, for example, I mean, someone who's, if you've gone to, if we've been to Tibet, we have a very vivid mental image of Tibet based on actual experience. Report an error in the passage at 23:58

24:16 those of us who haven't been to bed we still have a mental image of it but it's based on seeing pictures and reading about it and hearing people's descriptions Report an error in the passage at 24:16

24:34 same episode. Report an error in the passage at 24:34

24:37 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 24:37

24:49 So that's another reason why a direct perception is valued more than a conceptual consciousness. A direct perception of Tibet, if you've actually been there, it's said that all of the various attributes of the object appear to your senses, to your direct perception. So the sights, the smells, the energy, the tension, all of the various attributes appear. Report an error in the passage at 24:49

25:20 To the direct perception. Whereas a conceptual consciousness of Tibet only isolates out certain qualities. My conceptual, my mental image of Tibet is very limited because I haven't been there and I have this image of the Patala and the sky and that's pretty much it. It's pretty limited compared to someone who actually has been to Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 25:20

25:47 So the conceptual consciousness can be very useful, but it's always more limited than the direct perception. Report an error in the passage at 25:47

25:58 Just thinking about places I've been and the perhaps memory of those places. So now, yes, when I was there perhaps I had that moment of direct perception, but now it's been filtered through years of memory. So is it any better? Is it anything more than a conceptual conscious image now? In other words, that direct perception is like the value of the first moment of engagement? Report an error in the passage at 25:58

26:39 I mean, I know it will be a more vivid experience and perhaps it may or may not be more accurate, depending upon what the mind does with that experience. Report an error in the passage at 26:39

26:57 I mean, this is kind of getting into some areas that I didn't really want to get into because there are different types of mental images. There's what they call meaning generalities versus sound generalities. Meaning generalities are based on actually experiencing it, whereas a sound generality is based on just... Report an error in the passage at 26:57

27:17 actually hearing descriptions of it or a name of it or something like that. But either way, it's a conceptual consciousness. In either way, therefore, it's mistaken, and therefore, it's limited. Report an error in the passage at 27:17

27:29 Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Report an error in the passage at 27:29

27:38 Lama Or not, right, depending on what we've done with it. Report an error in the passage at 27:38

27:51 Conceptual consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 27:51

27:59 They're all mistaken but not necessarily wrong. Report an error in the passage at 27:59

28:05 Conceptual consciousnesses are all mistaken because what actually appears is the mental image instead of the actual object. Report an error in the passage at 28:05

28:20 So in this example of the conception of a Buddha statue, well let's assume this is a correct image of a Buddha statue. Then this is a correct. Report an error in the passage at 28:20

28:35 consciousness. It's mistaken. This is Report an error in the passage at 28:35

28:59 where the teachings on emptiness really get involved. Report an error in the passage at 28:59

29:22 use... He has direct perception, I have conceptual. No, conceptual will say C-O-M. Direct would say orange on paper. Enemy is blue again. Conception. Report an error in the passage at 29:22

30:02 So the example I put up here is the conception of a self-sufficient person. So this is the person that comes to our mind instinctively when we feel attacked. I didn't do that. Or maybe we feel really good about ourselves. Oh yeah, I'm really good at drawing or I'm really good at cooking. I'm really, you know, that I, right, that I that seems to be on top of the body and mind. Are people getting the experience of that I that's on top of the body and the mind, that seems to be separate from the body and the mind? Report an error in the passage at 30:02

30:49 Because that'll be really important, right? That's really important to make these teachings not merely an intellectual exercise, but actually making it relevant in our lives. Is getting that experience, that strong I, that self-sufficient I. Report an error in the passage at 30:49

31:10 Anyway, but it takes practice. So this conception of a self-sufficient person, there's a, right, we have a, like if we're attacked, we have a strong experience of I, I didn't do that. Or wrongly accused, I didn't do that. So we have first a thought I, and then we have a sensation throughout our body, right? Report an error in the passage at 31:10

31:34 Or a strong sensation in our heart. That comes from, actually arises from the conception of self-sufficient person. So this is a very strong experience. Report an error in the passage at 31:34

31:48 And the appearing object of that is Report an error in the passage at 31:48

31:59 a mental image of a self-sufficient person. Report an error in the passage at 31:59

32:10 Well, as the referent object is a self-sufficient person. Report an error in the passage at 32:10

32:22 So what appears to the mind is a mental image of that self-sufficient person. The referent object is a self-sufficient person. Does this referent object exist? Report an error in the passage at 32:22

32:40 No, not at all. Does a mental image of a self-sufficient person exist? Exactly. What makes this a wrong consciousness, the conception of a self-sufficient person, is that the referent object does not exist. We Report an error in the passage at 32:40

33:08 have a mental image of something that doesn't even exist. And Report an error in the passage at 33:08

33:16 the object of engagement is also a self-sufficient person. Report an error in the passage at 33:16

33:30 So I'll repeat that. If a conceptual consciousness has a referent object that does exist, then it's a correct consciousness. It has an element of mistake to it. Report an error in the passage at 33:30

33:47 A mental image appears, but it's still a correct consciousness and it's useful. Report an error in the passage at 33:47

33:54 Whereas a wrong consciousness, a wrong conceptual consciousness has a referent object that does not exist like the conception of a self-sufficient person, like the conception of an annoying person from its own side or the Report an error in the passage at 33:54

34:18 conception of an attractive person from its own side. Every single one of our mental afflictions is one of these wrong consciousnesses. It has a referent object of something that doesn't exist at all. We've created a mental image in our minds of something that doesn't exist, which is pretty cool. Report an error in the passage at 34:18

34:52 Why do they consider all mental images mistakes? That seems pretty strong. Yeah, I mean it's only mistaken in the sense, I'm Report an error in the passage at 34:52

35:07 not, or Oprah I guess. Report an error in the passage at 35:07

35:16 So it's only mistaken, oh gosh that's a mess, I'm sorry. It's mistaken because we mistake that mental image for being the actual object. Report an error in the passage at 35:16

35:30 Like if you, yeah, I mean if you, yeah, Report an error in the passage at 35:30

35:41 I mean if you know it's a mental image, right, so then you know. There's an element of mistake there, but still what's appearing is, yeah. I mean, for want of a better word. Report an error in the passage at 35:41

35:55 But most of the time we're mixing our mental image with what we're actually seeing. If we think of any person, it seems almost impossible to perceive just the colors and shapes of a person. Like when I look at... You know, Carol or David or any of you, it's hard to just stay with direct perception, right? Immediately I think, oh, that's David. Report an error in the passage at 35:55

36:24 Oh, David was in the calm ablating class too. And, you know, this is what I know about David, right? All of that kind of gets overlaid immediately, right? As soon as, well, almost immediately as soon as I see him. And this is what we're doing all day long. Right? We're perceiving some colors and shapes. We're perceiving some sounds. We're perceiving, you know, different things. And we're immediately jumping in and overlaying it with our mental image. Report an error in the passage at 36:24

36:56 You really see that when you're in a crowd and, you know, you see people and you think it's somebody you know. Or you see an object and you can't quite make it out, but you think it's, your mind always puts something there. It's not satisfied just to, you know, see the object. Report an error in the passage at 36:56

37:13 to identify it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, sometimes people tell me, oh, they get really confused if they don't have a label for something. Like if they see something and they don't know what it is, know, it's uncomfortable, right, to just with, right, the direct perceptions. Like, okay, I've got to fit that into, you know, the appropriate box. I need to know what that is, right, the label. Or I I love love your... Report an error in the passage at 37:13

37:40 your, your... Example of being in a crowd, like if you're in a crowd, right, you see all these colors and shapes. But when you recognize somebody, there's like this sense of relief, like, oh, that's a person, right, that's a person I know, right? Report an error in the passage at 37:40

37:56 Yeah, it's very interesting how we feel uncomfortable, or many of us feel uncomfortable just staying with the direct perception, just with a sense perception. We like to label things and categorize things. And it can be useful, right? I mean, it is useful. We need to do that in order to function in life. We need to know, you know, this thing, right? Report an error in the passage at 37:56

38:19 This thing can drive me home, right? This thing called a car can drive me home and this table isn't going to get me home, right? I can sit on the table, but it's not going to get me home no matter how long I sit there, right? We need to be able to distinguish between objects. But the problem is when we grasp onto, well, that is like that. It really is David, merely labeled David. Report an error in the passage at 38:19

38:52 So I have a question in terms of your eye consciousness perceiving an object or something. So commonly if I look at you, I would have this conception that I'm looking at Emily. If I turn my back and I hold up a mirror, There's a part of my mind that would say, well, I'm looking at a mirror image of you, not actually you, a mirror image. And that in terms of like physics, you know, there's really not other than, you know, particles traveling a little bit farther being affected by the refractive index of the mirror. Report an error in the passage at 38:52

39:32 When I look at you or whether I look at your image in a mirror, I'm actually not looking at you per se. What I'm doing is I'm experiencing. experiencing you know these phenomenon electrons you know photons and stuff that are bouncing off you and affected by light and and whatnot so when we're talking about you know perceiving an object as Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Lama Are we differentiating between just that process of labeling, you know, that when I look at the shape and color, whether I'm looking at it in this direction or backwards like this with a mirror, how it's coming at me versus the fact that if something's existing, occupying space or whatever, that no matter what I'm looking at, I'm not actually experiencing that object because everything's influenced by spatial relationships and gravity affects light. I mean, everything. Report an error in the passage at 39:32

40:35 Is that too odd? Report an error in the passage at 40:35

40:40 I'm not quite sure what your question was. This idea of when I look at something and there's this object that is a conglomeration of shapes and colors that's occupying space and somewhere and I experience that as an image and then label it. It's this idea of like... So, you know, good idea. Report an error in the passage at 40:40

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41:08 Perceiving something directly for what it is has to do with an understanding of dependent arising and sort of where it fits into everything and not seeing it as something that's inherently self-existent or does it have more to do with... It's not that complicated. In Sotrantika, in the sūtra school, if you're perceiving the shapes and colors of the Buddha, As being in this space right here, your eye consciousness is perceiving that. That's a correct consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 41:08

41:47 According to Sotrantikas, there really is something existing, something that we're calling a Buddha statue right here. It really exists out there, separate from your mind. It really exists in space, in this space. It's external to your mind and it's there waiting for you to experience it. So if you leave the room, it's still really there. Report an error in the passage at 41:47

42:18 And you walk in the room and you perceive the shapes and colors. And what, according to Sotrantika, is happening is that it's, in effect, the Buddha statue is casting its image to your mind, to your eye consciousness. And your eye consciousness reflects it, kind of like a mirror. Your eye consciousness reflects this Buddha image. So, according to Sotrantika, the Buddha image really exists. Report an error in the passage at 42:18

42:50 It ultimately exists. It exists the way that it appears. It's a functioning thing. It really exists. It inherently exists. It truly exists. It exists the way it appears. According to Sotrantika, it is an ultimate truth because it does exist the way that it appears. Unless you have some sort of problem with your eyes or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 42:50

43:21 It exists the way it appears to your eye consciousness. When we get up to the higher schools, then it becomes... But at the Sotrantika level, the things that we perceive with our eyes, ears, nose... This is how we perceive the world. This is what we normally think. We think that when we go home there's really a Satchinling there. There's really a Buddha statue there. It has nothing to do with our minds perceiving it. Report an error in the passage at 43:21

43:57 It's really there. This is what we all think. Report an error in the passage at 43:57

44:05 Even if we've had a lot of teachings on emptiness, probably 99 % Or 99.9 % of the time, this is what we think, it's really there. And so we think that the way we perceive things and the way we conceive things is as it really is. My perception of that person is correct. My perception of that person is how they really are. We don't think, oh, my perception of that person, well, I mean, especially if we have a mental affliction about that person, if we're annoyed at them, we are quite convinced that our perception of them is correct. Report an error in the passage at 44:05

45:02 That person is really from his own side. Irritating or that person is from his or her own side. Irritating or wonderful or really smart or really funny. They're really like that. Most of the time we quite believe in our perceptions. Our perceptions are correct. We perceive things as they actually are. Right? Don't we think that? Right? There you go. Sotrantika. Right? That's the way. So that's how Sotrantika believes that things exist. Report an error in the passage at 45:02

45:49 But then on top of that is the conceptual consciousness, which oftentimes we don't think about how the image in our mind is just a superimposition on it. Report an error in the passage at 45:49

46:02 Oh, yeah. We have eons of practice, right? The other way, right? And, you know, maybe a few hundred or a few thousand hours, right, of thinking about emptiness. Betty. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The merely labeled microphone. Basically, my understanding is because I perceive it, that makes it real in this school, right, the sūtra school. Report an error in the passage at 46:02

46:35 Because I have a direct perception of it, that makes it real. Not necessarily, right? I mean, you can have correct direct perceptions and incorrect direct perceptions. Like if you're feeling dizzy and the world seems to be spinning around, right, that eye consciousness is not correct, right? Report an error in the passage at 46:35

47:01 And so if there's what they call a superficial, a superficial, superficial cause of error, like I just stood up too quickly and everything is spinning. Then that's an incorrect. So a correct direct perception. A correct direct perception is perceiving things as they actually exist, according to Sotrantika. Report an error in the passage at 47:01

47:25 With the direct perceptions, with the conceptual consciousnesses, there are correct ones and incorrect ones also. The conceptual are all mistaken. They all have an element of mistake. But they can be correct or incorrect. So the conceptual consciousness, correctly labeling this a Buddha Shakyamuni statue, is a correct conception. Report an error in the passage at 47:25

47:56 It's mistaken, but it's correct. Whereas the conception of a self-sufficient person or the conception of an inherently existent person. Or the conception of an irritating person from their own side are all incorrect. They're wrong consciousnesses. Report an error in the passage at 47:56

48:21 Because the referent object of that conception doesn't actually exist. The Report an error in the passage at 48:21

48:32 referent object doesn't exist. Because we're having a mental image of something that doesn't actually exist. Like we can have mental images of anything. We can have mental images of flowers floating in the sky. It doesn't mean that exists, right? The classic example in Tibetan Buddhism is horns of a rabbit, a rabbit with horns. Report an error in the passage at 48:32

48:57 We can have a mental image of that, but that doesn't actually exist in reality. So we can have conceptual consciousnesses that are correct and conceptual consciousnesses that are not correct, that are wrong. Report an error in the passage at 48:57

49:17 So later on... Lama Tsongkhapa and Nagarjuna, they talk a lot about we need to refute the referent object of a conception of inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 49:17

49:35 We need to refute the referent object of a conception of inherent existence. So that's why I wanted to bring this up, is we're refuting the referent object, which would be... The inherently existent object or this, you know, in that example of the conception of inherent existence. For Prasangika, that will come up again and again. You need to refute the referent object of the conception of inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 49:35

50:19 So how are we on... Mostly I'm concerned with appearing object and referent object. We understand the difference between those two. The appearing object of conception is always a mental image. The appearing object actually exists. It's a mental image. The referent object may or may not exist, depending on if it's a correct consciousness or not. Report an error in the passage at 50:19

50:56 Yeah, that would be correct. If you're thinking of me as... This is Emily, but if you're thinking of me as inherently Emily, then it would be incorrect. And Lama Tsongkhapa says that we have both. We have moments of perceiving things as being inherently existent and moments of perceiving things as being neither inherently existent nor non-inherently existent. Report an error in the passage at 50:56

51:23 We're not always perceiving, or we're not always conceiving of inherent existence, according to Lama Tsongkhapa. Report an error in the passage at 51:23

51:37 So this is why in Prasangika they're always saying merely labeled Emily or merely labeled I. Yeah, we'll get into that in much more detail later. Sorry, I jumped up into Prasangika, but back with Sotrantika. So objects of our direct perception, correct direct perceptions, actually exist and those are ultimate truths because we see those as they appear, as they actually are. Report an error in the passage at 51:37

52:09 Objects of conception, Report an error in the passage at 52:09

52:15 appearing objects of conception also exist. The mental image exists and those are conventional truths. Objects of conceptual consciousnesses, appearing objects of conceptual consciousnesses exist and they're conventional truths. So Report an error in the passage at 52:15

52:44 that's how Sotrantika distinguishes between ultimate truths and Conventional truths, ultimate truths are perceived directly. Conventional truths aren't things that actually exist separate from the mind. They are mental constructs, like mental images. They don't disintegrate from moment to moment, like clocks and cups and pens disintegrate from moment to moment. Report an error in the passage at 52:44

53:21 And they actually function, right? Pen in my hand will actually function if there's ink in it, function to write, whereas the mental image of my pen won't actually help me to write on the board. Report an error in the passage at 53:21

53:41 So ultimate truths are impermanent phenomena. They are functioning things. They actually can perform a function. Report an error in the passage at 53:41

53:56 Okay, let me just finish this thought. And then conventional truths. Or what they call permanent phenomena. Permanent in the sense of not changing from moment to moment. Not static. Report an error in the passage at 53:56

54:14 I mean, relatively static. I mean, a mental image can be like a movie or something, but they don't change from their own side from moment to moment. Report an error in the passage at 54:14

54:27 They are mere imputations. They are mental constructs. Conventional truths. Mental constructs. Mere imputations. Report an error in the passage at 54:27

54:41 Are you keeping up with me? Report an error in the passage at 54:41

54:51 A lot of words being thrown around. Report an error in the passage at 54:51

54:57 Emerging object? Emerging object? I didn't say emerging. I don't know what an emerging object is. Object of engagement? Okay. That's the object that the mind is engaging with or operating with. And that's always the actual object itself. Report an error in the passage at 54:57

55:25 So that's the Buddha statue if we're thinking about it or if we're directly perceiving it. That's the object that we're engaging with. Report an error in the passage at 55:25

55:36 But the appearing object tells you what is actually appearing to the mind. Is it a mental image or is it the actual object? So the actual object is the ultimate truth. The mental image is a conventional truth. Report an error in the passage at 55:36

56:00 Can I ask a question? I was just wondering, and this is kind of maybe tangential, but thinking about emotions and whether they are conceptual consciousness or direct perception, because I was sort of thinking when you're having an emotional experience, it's definitely very sensual, sensation-based, but I would guess that they would put that in the category of conceptual consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 56:00

56:30 Yeah, emotions are started off by conceptions, right? An emotion like sadness. Sadness starts off, well, I mean, you maybe perceive something directly, some shapes and colors or some sounds or whatever. And then we label it something, right? Oh, that's something I don't want. Oh, that's suffering. And then the... Report an error in the passage at 56:30

56:57 Physical sensation of sadness arises as well as the emotion and then all the... Report an error in the passage at 56:57