Thursday, May 26, 2016

(5) The Contemplation of the Objects of Mind in the Objects of Mind

Watch the following Thay's video on "The Contemplation of the Objects of Mind in the Objects of Mind" from 1:54:18 to 2:02:30.


The followings are excerpts.

Quote:
(14. non-craving)
And the next exercise is the concentration on non-craving. There is object of craving like fame, like success, like power, like money, like sex. And we believe that happiness will not be possible unless we get that. So, we invest our whole body, our mind, running after the object of our craving. And many of us suffer deeply in the process of running after the objects of our craving. But if we look deeply into the objects of our craving, we see a lot of dangers into it. Many people had destroyed their body and mind, just trying to run after these 4 objects of our craving. And many people had died, even committed suicide. When they have plenty of these kinds of things, they are not happy with them.

So, looking into the object of your craving deeply, you can see a danger in it. And once you see the danger of the object of your craving, it does not attack you anymore. You know that you can be perfectly happy without it. If a fish realizes that in the bait there is a hook, then she never bites. If she bites, she will be hooked up and then she will die. So, if looking deeply into the nature of our craving, you can see a lot of dangers. And if you see the danger in the object of your craving, you stop, you are free.

(15. nirvana)
And the 15th is the concentration on nirvana. Nirvana is the ultimate reality, is the true nature of no birth, no death, no being, no non-being, no coming, no going, no sameness, no otherness. All kinds of distinction, all kinds of discrimination are removed, including the notion of subject and object, matter and mind as two distinctive reality. All these discrimination are removed. And when you touch nirvana, you are free, free of all afflictions, including fear and craving and despair. And where can you find nirvana? And the answer is very clear. In the object of your perceptions.

There are two levels of reality. There are two dimensions to reality. And in Buddhism, we speak of the ultimate reality, the ultimate dimension, and the historical dimension. "本門" is the ultimate dimension of reality and that is nirvana. And the other is "迹門", the historical dimension of reality. In the historical dimension of reality, you can see the beginning and ending, you can see birth and death, you can see time and space as two separate entities, you can see the subject and object. In the historical dimension, we need a birth certificate, proving that you were born on such an hour and date from such and such parents. If you don't have that, you don't have the identification card. You can not do anything. You do not have a job. You can not draw a money from the bank. You need an identity. You need the date of birth and so on. And so, in the historical dimension, there is birth and death. You are there or you are not there. So, the notions of being and non-being, birth and death, coming and going, these belong to the realm of the relative truth, conventional truth

But looking deeply into the world of phenomena in the historical dimension, and this is the practice of meditation. The other day, we spoke about looking deeply at a cloud. A cloud is in the historical dimension because yesterday it was up there but today it's no longer there. And we can speak about the birth of a cloud and the death of a cloud. So, birth, death, being there, not being there, all these notions belong to the realm, to the dimension called the historical dimension. But when we look deeply into the nature of a cloud, we see that the nature of a cloud is the nature of no birth and no death. There is no beginning, no ending. It is impossible for a cloud to die. It can become snow or tea or rain or ice. But it is impossible for a cloud to pass from the realm of being into non-being. So, touching the historical dimension deeply enough, we touch the ultimate dimension. We don't have to go anywhere for the ultimate dimension. The ultimate dimension is right in the historical dimension. 
:Unquote 

(My commentary)
Thay mentioned, "Where can you find nirvana? In the object of your perceptions." Perceptions are series of notions in the brain and cause illusions or delusions. And nirvana is the extinction of all notions, which enables us to touch the reality as it is. So, in other words, nirvana is the extinction of all perceptions. And the world, or nature is the object of our mind, and it is the projection of mind if our perception is there. Therefore, as David Bohm said, "The way we see depends on the way we think.", whether we see illusions or realities entirely depends on our mind. If our mind is not calm like wavy water, we see illusions. Meanwhile, if our mind is calm like still water, our mind can reflect the nature like a mirror and we can touch the reality as it is. Everything depends on our mind. In other words, everything depends on who we are. The way we see is different between ego (separate self) and awareness (non-separate self) even though the object of our mind is the same. If we are ego (separate self), we see illusions or delusions. If we are awareness (non-separate self), we touch the reality as it is. But ego can't recognize that they see illusions. The only solution is self-transformation from ego to awareness. Nirvana is available for awareness (non-separate self) in the here and the now. And nirvana is available for 24 hours a day for those who attained full enlightenment.

(Cf.) http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/notion
http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/subject-and-object
http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/self-transformation-44490452
http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/goodbye-to-brain
http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/3-versions-of-oneself
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04
http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2016/04/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing-whole.html