Asian Philosophy

Lecture 6

Three Buddhist Insights

1. Everything is dependently co-originated. Nothing exists independently of everything else.

2. Reality is a constant flux of change. What we perceive as being our external reality is in fact an illusion. The real nature of things is not disclosed to us in our experience.

3. There is no self. What appears to us as a permanent substantial self that persists over time is actually an illusion.

Dependent Arising

1. When this is, that is. (presence of cause followed by presence of effect)

2. This arising, that arises.

3. When this is not, that is not. (absence of cause followed by absence of effect)

4. This ceasing, that ceases.

Twelve Conditions of Suffering– Buddhist Psychology

1. Ignorance conditions volition.

2. Volition conditions consciousness.

3. Consciousness conditions the mind-body.

4. The mind-body conditions the six-senses.

5. The six senses condition contact.

6. Contact conditions feeling.

Twelve Conditions of Suffering: Buddhist Psychology

7. Feeling conditions craving.

8. Craving conditions grasping.

9. Grasping conditions becoming.

10. Becoming conditions birth.

11. Birth conditions aging and death.

12. In this way all of dukkha arises.

Ignorance is the Root of all Suffering

Two aspects of ignorance:

(a) Not seeing things as they are.Failing to see the rope as a rope.

(b) Imputing something into the experience that is not a representation of how things are. Seeing the rope as a snake.

(c) Ignorance of the fundamental nature of reality: interdependent arising.

Ignorance is the root condition of all suffering

Ignorance Conditions Volition

Because things are presented to us as being

Separate and Permanent

We choose with volition to live lives that are separate and permanent.

We seek things that will make us valuable in our independence as well as permanent in our being.

Volition Conditions Consciousness

Because we want to live in an illusory world of

Separate and Permanent Beings

We tend to see the world as consisting of separate and permanent entities.

We further tend to mark things as either something to be avoided or something to be craved.

Our consciousness thus jumps from thing to thing driven by either aversion or craving.

Consciousness Conditions Body-Mind

The Body-Mind complex is driven by one’s consciousness.

When the Body-Mind complex is driven by consciousness of objects as things which should be avoided or grasped at, the body-mind complex follows.

A person grasps at or avoids things based on what they are conscious of and how they are conscious of those things.

Seeing things as those which are to be avoided or attained leads one to act so as to avoid or attain a certain good.

Body-Mind Conditions Six Senses

The Body-Mind operates and conditions the six senses:

SeeingHearingTastingSmellingTouchingThinking

The senses apprehend their objects as separate and permanent.

Six Senses Condition Contact

The six senses condition contact.

Because we see things as being separate and to be avoided or craved

Our contact with things is represented as being reunited with things we long for.

Things we crave are things we hope to be reunited with. We long for them.

We don’t hope for contact with those things that are to be avoided.

Contact Conditions Feeling

Feeling is the result of sense contact.

Feelings are either pleasant or painful.

They are conditioned by contact. Because of our prior experiences with objects our contact conditions our feelings.

A person moves toward or away from an object based on the feelings they derived in the past from being in contact with the object.

Feeling Conditions Craving

Craving is conditioned by contact. Feelings give rise to craving and aversion.

Pleasant contact yields to craving.

Unpleasant contact yields to aversion.

Craving cannot be satisfied.

Craving Conditions Clinging

Clinging is conditioned by craving. Because we carve things we attempt to attain them time and time again.

Clinging is also caused by the fact that we are often ignorant of our dependent arising. Since there are no independent things and all individuals are dependent on one another.

Clinging is often aimed at what we need in order to be an independent self that is permanent. We cling to those things that can bring about and preserve the self as an independent entity.

Clinging Conditions Grasping

Grasping occurs because we cling to those things that we crave.

Grasping forces us to strive for those things that we desire.

It forces us to find a way to solve our craving and clinging.

It often forces us to go to extreme measures to satisfy our desires.

Grasping leads to becoming

Grasping Conditions Becoming

Grasping conditions new pain.

By grasping at things we crave and cling to we create new pains.

Pains enter our life because we cannot always satisfy our craving and clinging.

In addition to the pain of not having what we want, we have the pain of the continual cycle of failing to have what we want, and our recognition that we may not get it.

Becoming Conditions Birth

Becoming conditions birth

The birth is the birth of new pains.

Pains enter our life because we cannot always satisfy our craving and clinging.

In addition to the pain of not having what we want, we have the pain of the continual cycle of failing to have what we want, and our recognition that we may not get it.

Birth Conditions Aging and Death

Birth of new pains and the recycling of old pains conditions how we live.

Our pains condition our aging.

Our pains condition when we die.

How we look at the failure of our cravings to be satisfied conditions how we go through life.

Using the Wheel to Escape Suffering

The wheel tells us how suffering comes about

but

The wheel can also tell us how to eliminate suffering by giving us knowledge of how suffering arises from ignorance and conditions and causes.

If we use wisdom rather than ignorance, then we can avoid suffering caused by conditions stemming from ignorance.

Consequences of Interdependent Arising

Nothing is simply the effect of a single cause.

Nothing is solely other created. Everything participates in mutual self-creation.

Space and Time are not absolute containers of objective reality. They are derived.

Conceptual constructions are our access point to reality. But in actuality they do not describe reality actually.

Why Concepts Cannot Mirror Reality

Concepts cannot mirror reality because:

(a) Concepts necessarily distinguish objects from one another, when in fact they are not distinguishable as separate and permanent.

(b) Concepts are static, but reality is dynamic and changing. A concept is like a photo, when reality is more like a movie.

Mindfulness

Two Central Questions:

What should one be mindful of?

Answer: The interdependent arising of everything.

How does one practice mindfulness?

Answer: Calming the mind and seeing directly into reality?

Fourfold Establishment of Mindfulness

1. Observation of the body.

2. Observation of feelings.

3. Observation of the mind.

4. Observation of the objects of mind.

Letting Go

A core component of mindfulness requires putting one in a state where they can observe things.

Observation requires letting go of what may arise.

Observation requires recognizing the mental state.

Observation requires examining the mental state.

Observation requires looking for how the mental state came about.

Mindfulness in Observing the Body

Body awareness requires attending to

1. One’s breathing.2. One’s bodily processes.3. Activities of the body.4. Parts of the body.5. Elemental components of the body.6. The decomposing of one’s body.

Mindfulness in Observing Feelings

Feeling awareness requires

1. Becoming aware of one’s feelings.2. How they arise.3. How they transform.4. What their nature is.5. What they cause us to do.6. What they cause us to think.

Awareness of feelings through deep insight allows us to understand our motivations.

Mindfulness in Observing Mind

Mind awareness requires that we be aware of certain states that the mind can be in, such as

desiring hatingbeing tense distractedcapable of reaching a higher state being free

Observing Objects of the Mind

There are many objects of the mind. They fall under five groupings.

1. Things that hinder practice (desire, anger, dullness, remorse, and doubt. )

2. The five attachment groups (body, feelings, perceptions, dispositions, and consciousness.

3. The six senses: eye/form, ear/sound, nose/smell, tongue/taste, body/ touch, mind/object of the mind.

4. The seven factors of awakening: mindfulness, investigation of phenomena, energy, joy, ease, concentration, and letting go.

5. The Noble Fourfold Truth.

Mindfulness as Practice

The mind moves from item to item. To calm it takes practice.

One needs to be aware of the object of awareness in the very object.

The idea is that in ordinary knowledge we know indirectly. We are the subject and there is an object of knowledge that is known.

In clear understanding of an object the mind through mindfulness gives one direct access to the entity.

In true mindfulness there is no subject-object distinction.

Emptiness

A core component of Buddhism is the idea that everything is Empty of self-existence.

Emptiness is related to interdependent arising.

Everything is empty of self-existence, because everything depends on multiple causes and conditions for its existence.

Emptiness does not mean no-existence, it means without self-existence and permanence.