Yogic Perception, I.4-6 

 

 

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"Candrakirti and Yogic Perception"

Anne MacDonald

133-168

 

p. 139 independent existence is tantamount to indestructibility

"Phenomena {of the material universe} must be empty of a real nature, of an own-being (svabhava) {actually, 'own-becoming'}, the Madhyamaka argues, because they arise in dependence (pratityasamutpada) upon other things {particulars arising from other particulars, but only in accordance with universals}; whatever arises in dependence, in being reliant on something else {from other particulars, but, more importantly, through application of universal laws} and thus not capable of existing without the other's support, obviously does not exist of its own accord, by its own nature. {This argument must effectively be tantamount to a demolition of the notion of independence of particulars from universals.}

{The particulars which are constituents of the material universe in the waking-state, are themselves non-existent in the sense of not possessing meaning or purpose in relationship to the material universe as such, because in-and-of itself the material universe in the waking-state is simply devoid of meaning-and-purpose; for, meaning-and-purpose must have consciousness as their basis, and consciousness is absent from the material plane, being praesent only in the composite-but-indestructible consciousnesses which collectively constitute the contents of the aitheric plane (and additionally being praesent in the "pure lands" which are non-composite in regard to planes, though potentially composite in regard to sub-planes of a single plane).}

Would things exist on their own, i.e., be real, they could as a consequence neither arise nor perish ... . ... Such an entity {if an abstract law of logic could be described as "an entity"} would exist forever ... . "

{The "things" that exist on their own, exist, indeed, forever. These "things" are the laws of logical reasoning, along with the laws of physics (which are rigidly deducible from the laws of reasoning).}

 

{The litteral meaning of \sva-bhava\ is 'own-becoming' : thus, ontological particulars do not become (viz., change themselves into) anything else under action of their own intrinsic accord, but rather, instead, they become else only under action of the accord of universals (i.e., of the universal laws of physics, as motivated through the meaning-and-purpose of the collectivity of the indestructible consciousnesses which act through these aeternal laws).} [written 12 January 2019]

 

p. 140 just exactly what hath never existed?

"According to the Madhyamikas, no thing has ever really existed and no thing will ever come into existence.

{The indestructible aeternals, which have never "come into existence" because they have always existed (co-aeval with Time itself) include : the laws of logic-and-physics, the planes-of-existence and their subplanes, and the particular consciousnesses along with their capacity for intercommunicating.}

The cycling through repeated births and deaths ... has never really occurred."

{From the point-of-view of non-conscious qualities of the merely material waking-world : yea, cycling through lives (by consciousnesses of mortal entities) hath never occurred.}

 

{In essence, this Madhyamaka mode of contemplation is suggesting that we hold open the the quasi-capacity of entities to a considering of understanding the nature of life-and-consciousness from a non-conscious material perspective, in order (by such an adroit manoeuvre) provisionally to eliminate any vulnerability to be overcome by the blind mechanisms of samsara. This is a plan cleverly-devised so as to compell the material-plane aspect of samsara to protect oneself against the possibility of becoming redincarnated (on any further occasions) into the material world.} [written 12 January 2019]

 

p. 162 a mark is not useful as an object of metaphysical-ethical knowledge

"experience of the ultimate ..., viz., "gnosis" (jn~ana) ... does not take, ... as Candrakirti sometimes terms it, a mark (nimitta) as its object."

{A "mark" would be an emblem, which in-and-of-itself would not be a secure basis for establishing thereon a metaphysical system of an ethical nature, inasmuch as the natural signification of any emblem may be multifarious and variable.}

 

pp. 164-5 the way whereby both understandings and personal entities can evade the the definiteness of countability

p. 164

"Candrakirti describes gnosis ... as "transcending all manifoldness" (prapan~catita). ... Just as striking is Candrakirti comment ... that the Tathagatas ... are

{Where \manifoldness\ would be defined as definiteness as to where more than understandings is being explicated (or more than one personal entity is being communicated withal), to \transcend manifoldness\ could be defined as an means or mechanism for blurring over such explications (or communications) in such a fashion as to leave uncertainly whether all such explications are aimed as the same understanding (or whether all such communications are with the same personal entity).}

p. 165

"completely outside ["the domain of"] manifoldness.""

 

{When actually receiving messages concerning understanding, they may be so vaguely (or ambiguously) worded as to be indefinite whether they all refer to the same understanding (especially when the understanding aimed at, is involved in the metaphysics of ethics); and likewise when actually receiving messages from (or concerning) personal entities, they may be so vaguely (or ambiguously) worded as to be indefinite whether they all refer to the same personal entity (especially when the personal entity be praeternatural and otherworldly). A further way in which there may be a "transcending of manifoldness" might be a circumstance wherein the source of a divine message may be in an indefinite state of awareness as a whether the various message have the same reference, or as to whether they originated from the same entity (which indefiniteness would be rather usual for a group of immaterial-bodied entities who commonly think collectively via collective thought-transference).} [written 13 January 2019]

 

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"On the Career and Cognition of Yogins [according to the Praman.a-varttika by Dharma-kirti]"

Vincent Eltschinger

169-213

 

p. 186 additional achievements required for bodhi-sattva-s

"this Buddha-to-be {bodhi-sattva} ... (2) unlike Hearers {s`ravaka-s} and Buddhas-for-themselves {pratyeka-buddha-s}, ... will have to eliminate ... traces or after-effects (vasana), which regularly manifest themselves in Arhats through corporeal, vocal or mental deficiencies (kaya[-]vak[-]citta[-]vaigun.ya). (3) The Buddha-to-be must still uproot the so-called undefiled nescience ... (aklis.t.avidya {a-klis.t.a a-vidya} ...). To put it technically, the Bodhisattva still must eradicate two kinds of obstacles (avaran.a) ... : the obstacle that consists in the ... after-effect (sa[-]vasana[-]kles`[a-]avaran.a), and the obstacle that conceals the knowable (jn~ey[a-]avaran.a)."

 

p. 189 the final achievement by a bodhi-sattva

"the Bodhisattva has rid himself of the (non-productive) trace or after-effect of defilements. This  after-effect of defilements consists in a ... defectiveness (vaigun.ya) or unwieldiness (a[-]karman.yata)."

 

p. 189 instances of continuation (even for an arhant) of propensities from former lives

"This after-effect ... still affects liberated saints like the Arhat Maudgalyayana, who kept hopping around because he had been born as a monkey 500 lifetimes earlier,

or the Arhat Pilindavatsa who, because he had been a brahman.a before, continued to say harsh and belittling words ... ."

 

p. 190 a buddha's personal eradication of any lack of skill in teaching

"contrary to them (... Arhats), a Buddha has rid himself of unskilfulness in teaching the path (margoktyapat.uta {marga ['pathed']-ukti ['proclamation, expression']-apa.tuta ['awkwardness']}) ... also to entail the elimination of the obstacle that conceals the knowable (jn~ey[a-]avaran.a, and hence {this riddance must result in} an omniscience of the sarvasarva[-]jn~ata-type) ... ."

 

p. 191 the atman ('abstract nature') of yoga

"Dharmottara (740-800) is one of the few authors to supply any substantial definition of ... yoga ..., it consists of tranquillity (of mind, s`amatha) and discernment (vipas`yana), which have (psychic) concentration and insight (prajn~a) for their nature, respectively.

A yogin is one who is possessed of tranquillity of mind and discernment into the nature of things ... ."

 

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"Purity ... of Perception in ... Buddhism"

Dorji Wangchuk

215-239

 

pp. 221-2 potential internal structure of atoms

p. 221

"Buddhist {viz., Maha-yana} scriptures are full of allusions to the ... superatural or supramundane phenomena or perceptions that ... in just a single atom there ... exist Buddha fields numbering as

{The statement "nor the size of the atom expanded" must mean that the Buddha-Fields internal to atoms really are tiny indeed; whereas, that those Buddha-Fields have not "been contracted" would simply mean that relative to their own internal units of measurement they are quite huge.} {Though not observable in the currently existent universes, nevertheless via extrapolation of potentiality beyond the actual reach of Consciousness itself, such transcendental Implicate Orders (similar to that envisaged by David Bo:hm) in the conceptual envisagement of internal structure within atoms, can be feasible. [written 22 January 2019]}

p. 222

many as the total number of atoms. It is even explicitly stated neither has the size of the Buddha fields been contracted nor the size of the atom expanded. ...

 

Mi-pham's motive thus seems to have been to propose an upgraded and updated theory that could explain the ...  pure appearances and pure perceptions (thematised in both tantric and non-tantric Maha-yana scriptures)."

{Thus, in such a context, "pure appearances and pure perceptions" could only signifying apply to the apparitional perceptivity attained by dhyani-buddha-s abiding in "Pure-Lands" of "Buddha-Fields", viz., as concerning abstractly conceptual realms beyond the actual reach of Time itself. [written 22 January 2019]}

 

{Beside the repraesentation in terms of increasingly finer quantum structure at increasing distance-ranges in both remote past and remote future, another means of repraesentation would be in terms of increasingly greater number of spatial dimensions at increasing distance-ranges extending into both remote past and remote future. A calculus of convergent series (as in the Taylor Series as could easily yield finite, and praecise, numerical solutions for calculation applied even into the infinite past and the infinite future of Time itself, as it can for calculation into infinitude in the convergent series applied Space, via the indefinite integral invented by Isaac Newton via combining, with Hindu-invented al-gebra, the method of Arkhimedes in calculating the volumes of cones and of sphaires.) [written 22 January 2019]}

 

p. 224 divine nature (of divine entities) immanently pervading and controlling the material universe

"In Tibetan sources ... occurs ... what is called "establishing the divinity of appearance" (snang ba lhar sgrub pa), that is, establishing the supramundaneness of the very mundane, the divinity of the very earthly -- according to Mi-pham, a uniquely rNying-ma concern, which stems from the eleventh-century rNying-ma scholar Rong-zom-pa, and is described by him as the "lion's roar" (seng ge>i nga ro) of this scholar."

{That the power of divine entities pervadeth and controlleth all levels and features of the material universe is a fact well-known, traditionally, as it hath indeed remained, for perhaps scores of millennia, amongst so-called "primitive" peoples throughout this planet's surface -- Sub-Saharan Africans, Australian aboriginals, Siberians, AmerIndians. (The folk furthest removed from understanding this fact have been modern self-styled "materialists" of mainly European extraction.)}

 

p. 226 "special Maha-yana" as proclaiming indivisibility of the "two truths"

"by great equality (mnyam pa chen po) ... the two modes are characterised by great indivisibility (dbyer med pa chen po). ...

By "special Mahayana," he means ... the indivisibility of the two kinds of truths ..., that is, ... that in reality ... its division into conventional and absolute is merely a device for enabling access to that single truth. ...

This "special Mahayana" of Rong-zom-pa includes ... both {vaipulya} sutras, such as the Vimalakirti[-]nirdes`a[-]sutra and Ratna[-]gun.a[-]samucaya[-]gatha, and tantras, such as the *Guhya[-]garbha[-]tantra. According to him, the "special Mahayana" ... is special because it proposes ... nirvan.a in samsara itself ... ."

 

p. 227 svayam-bhu 

"our ordinary minds are by nature self-occurring gnosis (svayambhujn~ana : ) {\Svayambhu\ is the name of (worshipped as Supreme Being in Nepal) the mightiest of the deities, a personification of the power of shape-shifting, which is hardly an ability of "ordinary mind".}

{WRONG MEANING. The meaning of \bhu-\ is 'become' (i.e., 'change oneself into another category of entity'), so that \svayambhujn~ana\ would be 'esoteric knowledge of how to change oneself (viz., the shape of one's body) into another species of living entity' : a practice engaged in by great shamans in their transcendent dreaming.}

 

{C^>an/Zen philosophy also proclaimeth the bodhi (or "buddha-nature") inhaerent in "ordinary mind" : this may be "ordinary" enow to miracle-working sorcerers (perfected saints).}

 

p. 228 characteristics of "reality"

"within the Buddhist systems one assumes that there is a kind of reality ... that is cognisable, timeless, and independent of being cognised and the person who cognises it. ... This ... can be found in non-Mahayana sources (such as the Samyutta[-]nikaya and Anguttara[-]nikaya), in non-tantric Mahayana literature (such as the Lankavatara[-]sutra, Saddharma[-]pun.d.arika[-]sutra, and Jn~analokalamkara[-]sutra), and tantric sources (such as the Vairocanabhisambodhi[-]tantra)."

 

pp. 229-30 "self-cognition"??

p. 229

"the power of self-cognition is explained as ... mind, being always self-cognitive ... .

{UNTRUE! Self-cognition is not possible, and this fact is the main reason for asserting non-existence of a personal atman ('self-nature') -- which is a fundamental and distinguishing feature of Bauddha doctrine.}

 

If the mind were not self-self-cognitive ...

{This is NOT ACTUALLY TRUE! Everything whereof one's mind is ever aware is aways primarily located outside itself.}

p. 230

nothing would appear."

 

{The fact of the impossibility of self-cognition is the only secure reason for denying existence of the atman. The compositeness of personality, i.e., that it is constituted of so-called skandha-s (which compositeness is usually given as a reason denying existence of the atman), is utterly invalid as any indication; for, all that exists is always composite -- for example, all reasoning must, of and by its own nature, be composite (in being composed of axioms and steps of logical inference), and the validity of all reasoning must be therefore be denied by applying the same very lame excuse (namely, its "compositeness") as is usually applied for denying existence of the atman. Indeed, must not have the Buddha hypnotized (by unsavory means of witchcraft) his audiences in order ever to have convinced their membership by means of such an inapplicably-invalid excuse? Or did his being of membre of the royal family terrify his audience (who were aware that they would be summarily put to death -- very likely tortured-to-death -- for daring a defy a royal declaration) into praetending that they actually agreed to patently faulty reasoning which any sensible person could readily perceive to be quite invalid? Anyway, Bauddha dharma immediately collapsed in Bharata the moment when the despotic royal dynasty (namely, Maurya) forcibly upholding it was (thankfully) overthrown -- with only a few local holdovers temporarily maintained by a few local despots. It is very well understood that the only reason why Bauddha dharma was ever able to exist in sTod-Bod was that it allowed the king to claim to be an incarnate god; and that the only reason why Bauddha dharma was ever able to exist in Indo-China (Bhurma, Syama, Kambhujiya) was that its attitude of contempt toward gods generally allowed royalty to claim to be greater than the gods. (The only other Eastern-Hemisphaire country wherein royalty were ever able to maintain such extreme arrogance was TL-MRJ/Aiguptos, notorious for its intolerantly extreme harshness toward commoners and foreigners.) [written 22 January 2019]}

 

p. 233 perception of the subtle planes-of-existence by a yogin (an adept, during dreaming or trancing) is qualified to invalidate the perception of the material plane-of-existence by a non-yogin [thus proving, of course, the relative irreality of the mere material universe]

"That the undefiled {viz., not defiled by the mere material universe} cognition of a yogin {while entranced or holding in mind the content of trance} can invalidate the defiled {viz., material-plane-based} cognition of a non-yogin and not vice versa has been clearly stated by him [Candra-kirti] in his Madhyamakavatara {Madhyamaka-avatara} [6:27] ... ."

"The perception ... (dhi : blo) of the ordinary [viz., material] world can be invalidated by that of the yogiloka {'yogin's world', viz., the subtle -- astral, mental, causal -- planes-of-existence}, as made explicit by Prajn~a[-]kara[-]mati."

 

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Eli Franco (ed.) : Yogic Perception, Meditation, and Altered States of Consciousness. BEITRA:GE ZUR KULTUR UND GEISTESGESCHICHTE, Nr. 65 = O:STERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, PHILOSOPHISCH-HISTORISCHE KLASSE, SITZUNGBERICHTE, 794. Band. Wien, 2009.