A Commentary On In Praise Of The Dharmadhatu
Khenpo inpoche continues from Bodhi 4
his explanation of some very important verses by Nagarjuna, the great protector and Noble being prophesied by the Buddha himself as the person who would clear away all confusion regarding the view of Buddhadharma. "Of the twelve sources of consciousness, the six inner ones are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind, and the six outer are form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and phenomena. These twelve are called the six inner and six outer sources of consciousness because consciousness arises in dependence upon them. The common explanation for how a sense consciousness arises is that it arises in dependence upon two conditions: the focal condition, which is the object of the sense faculty, and the empowering condition, which is the sense faculty itself."
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by Venerable Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche
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 The Inner Source of Consciousness: The Mental Consciousness
The inner source of consciousness, that is the mental consciousness, has two aspects to it. One is the nonconceptual aspect that directly perceives outer objects. This is very difficult for us to understand; it is very subtle. The part we
are more familiar with is the conceptual part of the mental consciousness, which thinks about things, and assigns them names, labels, terms and definitions. Of the six outer sources of consciousness appearing to the conceptual mental consciousness, the main one is "phenomena," referring to "objects of thought." Primarily, thoughts depend on names, particularly, names of things. However, names do not exist inherently in the
object that is being thought of. Furthermore, these thoughts themselves do not really exist. They never really happen. They never really come into being. They never really remain. They never really stop. Since the mental consciousness transcends both shape and color, it is indescribable and cannot be said to look like this or that, or to have this or that color. You cannot use those types of references when you are talking
about the mind. Furthermore, the mental consciousness cannot be said to come from anywhere, remain anywhere or go anywhere. It is "the emptiness that transcends coming and going." From a superficial perspective, we can say that the mind comes from the past life to this life, and that it will go on to the next life. However, once we use our intelligence to examine this mind, we can see that the true nature of the mind, the true nature of reality, does not
come from anywhere, stay anywhere or go anywhere. The mind is also the dharmadhatu that is free from bondage and free from liberation. It may appear sometimes that the mind is bound up or tied up by mental afflictions, mental anguish or pain. However, the true nature of mind is never bound by anything. The true nature of mind is never liberated either. The fact of the matter is that these mental afflictions, and so forth, which
appear to bind us, have no essence. They do not really exist. There is nothing to bind anyone. Moreover, if there is nothing to bind anyone, then neither is there any freedom. No one has ever been bound up in the first place. Therefore, the true nature of mind is the dharmadhatu that is free of bondage and liberation. What is the true nature of mind? From the perspective of the sravakayana,
the true nature of mind is "the selflessness of the individual." There is no "I." From the perspective of the Mahayana school of Mind-Only, the Cittamatra, the mind is "empty of the duality of perceiver and perceived." From the perspective of the Middle-Way Autonomy School, or Svatantrika, the true nature of mind is "neither one thing nor many things." It is "emptiness like
space." According to the Prasangika Madhyamaka, the Middle-Way Consequence School, the true nature of mind cannot be described with any conceptual terms. It is "neither empty nor not empty." It is "neither truly existent nor not truly existent." It transcends all conceptual reference points and elaborations. According to the Shentong, or the Empty of Other School,
the mind's true nature is "clarity and emptiness undifferentiable." It is the "expanse and awareness undifferentiable." In its essence, there is nothing that makes it imperfect or causes it to be stained; it is completely free of any flaw or obscuration in its own basic nature. According to Mahamudra, the true nature of mind is "clarity–emptiness," and when joined with mantra, it is
explained as "voice–emptiness undifferentiable." According to the explanation of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, the true nature of mind is "awareness that transcends ordinary mental activity." This is an excerpt from the full text of the article published in Bodhi 5. |
