Sun Radiance: Thought Transformation, 15 May 1990, part 2

Odors, pleasant odors, unpleasant odors, the objects of the taste, delicious taste, undelicious taste, the objects of body, soft, smooth. These are all objects. So we can also, we’ve talked about objects, but there are also object possessors. And there are three types of object possessors. There are terms, that is the articulate sounds.

For example, the sounds that we speak, articulate, they have an object, therefore they are called object possessors. Also the various consciousnesses, that which knows, for example the consciousness which smells various odors, the consciousness which hears various sounds, they have an object which they know, therefore they are object possessors. And then there is the person who is also doing the knowing, that being which has the intelligence. Therefore these all are termed object possessors, or in the case of persons, are considered object possessors. So all objects are like a dream. The root text goes on to say, Analyze the nature of the unborn awareness.

Analyze the nature of the unborn awareness. So this refers to the fact that not only are objects like a dream, but also the object possessors, the awareness, is not truly existent. Then the, not only that, but the next, as the next line, the root text goes on to say, The remedy itself is released in its own place. The remedy itself is released in its own place. And this refers to the person who is doing the meditating on emptiness.

The meditator is also not truly existent. The meditator is also like a dream. We have to listen to the teachings on emptiness again, and again, and again. It’s an extremely profound subject. One simply listen to it once, we are not going to come to an understanding of it.

We have to not only listen to it again, and again, but reflect upon its meaning. If we do this, then we will slowly, the understanding will slowly dawn. It’s very difficult to come to an understanding all at once. So the method whereby we can come to an understanding of emptiness begins with the process of again and again listening to the teachings on emptiness, reflecting upon the meaning of what you have heard, and then meditating on that. And this way we can come to an understanding of emptiness.

And as our understanding of emptiness increases, we can develop a calm abiding observing emptiness, and by means of this calm abiding, observing emptiness, special insight. And it’s by means of this mind of special insight that we can eliminate the root of all our suffering, the afflictive emotions, and attain complete happiness. So it’s necessary to, again and again, listen to the teachings on emptiness, reflect upon them, train in the meaning, and come to the understanding of emptiness. If we do not come to an understanding of emptiness, there is no way that we can remove the root of our suffering. We cannot attain liberation.

We cannot attain liberation from our suffering. Why is that? Without the understanding of emptiness we can never eliminate our suffering. It’s because just as in the case of a tree, the tree is dependent upon its roots. Everything which grows forth, the leaves, the branches, all arise from the roots.

Likewise, all our various types of suffering have as their root ignorance, or lack of awareness. Without eliminating this lack of awareness, this ignorance, then we cannot eliminate the sufferings which arise out of this ignorance. All suffering arises out of ignorance. Without bringing an end to this ignorance, we cannot obtain liberation from our suffering. Just as in the case, if by cutting a tree at its roots, we are rid of all the branches, the leaves, etcetera.

Likewise, if we cut at the root of our suffering, which is ignorance, then we can attain a liberation completely from our ignorance, from our suffering. We can attain a state in which there is absolutely no suffering whatsoever. Now what is it that we want? That we’re all seeking? It is a complete happiness in which there is no suffering.

But more than that, that is stable, that is not changing. All the happiness that we’re able to attain is like the changeability of the weather during the summer rains. One day it’s sunny and one day it’s not. This is the nature of our happiness that we’re able to attain. It’s changing moment to moment.

And it is only by means of the wisdom understanding emptiness that we can achieve a stable, complete happiness in which there is no suffering whatsoever. It is said that without the view of emptiness, that is to say the realization of emptiness, then we can attain none of the liberations whether it be of the Hearer vehicle, the Solitary Realizer vehicle, or the Bodhisattva vehicle. The Buddha himself said, as long as we think that all phenomena are truly existent, there is no liberation. As long as we see things as truly existent, that they exist from their own side objectively, then there will never be complete happiness. Therefore, we must meditate on emptiness, realizing the extreme benefit to be derived from it.

So today we more or less talked about the benefits to be derived from coming to an understanding of emptiness. If we do not meditate on emptiness, we will not realize emptiness, and we will never be free from cyclic existence, and we will forever remain in suffering. This is the fault of not coming to an understanding of emptiness. On the other hand, by meditating on emptiness, we can begin to understand the great benefits of it. By realizing emptiness, we can be freed from cyclic existence altogether and attain complete happiness.

So how can we come to an understanding of emptiness? What is the method? The Buddha himself said that in the future there will come a master who will be able to commentate unerringly on the view of emptiness and to revive the teaching on emptiness. And this master was Nāgārjuna. And that one should, one can place complete trust in his teachings.

So we rely on Nāgārjuna, but not only him, but his follower Candrakīrti, the author of Entering into the Middle Way. By, I hope that by means of relying on these two great masters, we can all come to an understanding of emptiness. So today, more or less, in our explanation of emptiness, we’ve talked about the benefits of realizing emptiness, and the disadvantages when it’s not realized in order to see the necessity of working toward this understanding. And in the next teaching, and the future teachings, we will begin the actual explanation of what we mean by emptiness. So therefore, in our proceeding teachings, I am going to be teaching Madhyamakāvatāra, Entering into the Middle Way, as a means to come to an understanding of emptiness.

If we can, by means and dependence upon this profound text, come to an understanding of emptiness in this very life. But even if we don’t do that, we can begin to plant latencies, dispositions of coming to this understanding for future lives. Just as in the case of a field, if we plant seeds in that field, when the rains come, they will arise, sprouts will arise. If we don’t plant any seeds, then no matter how much it might rain, there’s no arising of the sprouts. Likewise, by listening again and again to these teachings on emptiness, it’s as if we are planting a seed.

And there will definitely arise the sprout of realization of emptiness as a consequence of that. With no seed, there is no sprout. If we listen again and again planting these latencies, dispositions with respect to understanding emptiness, then there will definitely arise the harvest of the wisdom understanding emptiness. So if you have questions, ask me questions. Yes.

So to a person who has realized emptiness, objects appear as illusions. By way of analogy, if there is an illusionist, someone who, like a magician, someone who conjures up illusions, by means of a special mantra, he recites the mantra and he blows on a stone. And he casts the stone and the stone due to the force of the mantra appears like a horse. To that magician, there is a horse appearing, he knows it’s merely an illusion. He is not sucked in.

It’s not really a horse, it merely appears like a horse. But to the audience, when they see the appearance of the horse, they say, Ah, look at that horse. What a great horse. That’s a fantastic horse. They are sucked in.

They think, Oh, that’s really a horse. Therefore, the person who has not realized emptiness is like the audience. They think what appears to them really exists the way it appears. Those who have realized emptiness are like the magician. They realize it is merely an appearance.

It does not exist that way. You have a good question there, if you can find it. Okay. In our meditation, we gave an explanation of the means of meditating on emptiness when we had our retreat up in the mountain, in the hill. By way of an analogy, if we had a coiled striped rope, and due to, it was dark, and it was unclear.

And it would be, one could see that what is a coiled striped rope could appear to one as a snake. And one could generate fear with respect to that. There’s a snake, snake, snake. When actually there’s no snake there whatsoever. It’s merely the appearance of a snake.

There is only due to the appearance of a snake and due to the conditions of obscurations, one misconceives of that object and generates fear. Likewise, all phenomena appear just like that snake. They appear wrongly. They appear to exist from their own side, but they don’t exist from their own side objectively. Therefore, that’s why we say that they’re all like a dream.

They appear, but they don’t exist that way. Due to this obscuration, this unclarity, there appears a snake when, in effect, there is no snake and one conceives of snake. So just as in the case of this rope appearing to be a snake due to the force of this obscuring condition, this situation in which there is an unclarity, there is a certain darkness, therefore there is an obstruction to seeing as it actually exists. Likewise, ignorance is the condition which obscures us from seeing the reality of phenomena in general. It obscures, obstructs us from seeing its actual nature and thereby serves as the root of cyclic existence.

When light is brought, when the darkness, the unclarity is removed, we come to understand that in fact there was no snake there, that we understand the reality of what is there, that is to say there was a rope there. Likewise, by eliminating the distorted awareness, which is ignorance, we come to see the actual reality of what is there, and that is emptiness. So the training in the conventional awakening heart would not enhance the holding that sentient beings, for example, exist from their own side. It would not cease holding that objects, the sentient beings exist from their own side, but neither would it enhance it. It would not strengthen the holding that these objects exist from their own side, these sentient beings.

But more so, but additionally, by training in the mind of the awakening, the conventional awakening heart, we develop a great massive positive potential. And by means of this, when we do reflect upon the nature of phenomena, we can develop quite readily a very strong wisdom, and by means of this wisdom come quickly to an understanding of emptiness. So however much we are able to train our mind through the thought transformation methods, to that same degree our wisdom is going to become greater, it’s going to become clearer, it’s going to become more efficient. Our intelligence is going to increase that much more. And having this as a foundation, whatever we turn this wisdom to, whatever is pointed out to us, we quickly understand.

The fact that we have this wisdom, the mark of that, is that when something is explained, it’s easily apprehended. We immediately know what the person means, what they say when something is pointed out to us. On the other hand, if we do not have this wisdom, if we have not trained our mind and have not developed this wisdom, though things are pointed out to us, we look around rather stupefied. We simply don’t know what people are talking about. So in degree, to the difference in the degree of mind training, the degree of wisdom becomes apparent in how much explanation a person needs in order to come to an understanding.

Those of lesser degree of intelligence and mind training, they cannot understand in dependence upon abbreviated explanation. They need extremely vast explanations in order to come to an understanding. Those of sharp intelligence, just a few words, and they quickly understand. So we want to be happy. We want to get rid of our suffering.

In order to do that, we have to train our minds. And if we train our minds, we can come quickly to an understanding of emptiness. Question? That’s it. So the sensory consciousnesses have little power, and the refutation of the appearance has to be done by the powerful consciousness of the mental consciousness only.

The sense consciousness cannot refute that the appearance does not exist the way it, that the object does not exist the way it appears. The sense consciousness doesn’t have that power, only the mental consciousness has that ability to refute that the object does not exist the way it appears. It has to be a mental consciousness that does the examining. So until the actual attainment of Buddhahood, that is to say, the elimination of all faults and the development of all the excellent qualities, one can only realize emptiness by means of the mental consciousness. One can only realize emptiness by means of the mental consciousness.

The sensory consciousness cannot realize emptiness. Only upon the attainment, only upon the elimination of all faults and the development of all the excellent qualities can the sensory consciousness realize emptiness. So this is when the awakening heart is the motivation and the mind is realizing emptiness, then this is the coupling of method and wisdom. So often I’ve heard it explained in reference to the general Mahāyāna and the esoteric. That’s okay.

In the tantra, you know, supposedly the difference in practice is that skillful means and method and wisdom are combined whereas in the sūtra. So for example, one that has the motivation of the awakening heart develops calm abiding and makes use of that calm abiding to observe emptiness. So the two are not existent simultaneously. They lack — the two bodhicittas, the awakening heart and the awakening mind.

So, the difference between the Tantra and Sūtra as far as these two, method and wisdom, are concerned is that in Sūtra you can have two minds, two awarenesses of method and wisdom simultaneously, but they are not the same entity. They are not one awareness. They are two different awarenesses existing simultaneously, method and wisdom. But in the Tantra, one awareness, one entity, one awareness is both method and wisdom. That’s the difference.