Reality and Your Religious Bell

Twelfth in a series There are virtuous objects that are connected to preparation practices for transformation such as Buddha statues, holy texts, and one's lama guiding your progress. Other phenomena not to be discarded are bodhichitta motivation, your meditation practice, and taking responsibility for what you have promised and are able to accomplish in virtue such as Dharma service.

This begins the commentary of point number Eleven, of twenty emptinesses analysis to ascertain reality by Chandrakirti. Emptiness of what should not be discarded. “What should not be discarded is empty of itself since this emptiness is its very nature. It is spoken of as the emptiness of what should not be discarded”.

During analysis or eventually while meditating you are expected to enter into perceptual dissolution, the state without foundation which is closer to how things actually exist in their own nature. The fact that they do exist in the conventional sense continues to act as a support of your innate confusion, and that confusion as to how they exist should be removed. You will then be capable of learning other things, not because you remain in that state without a foundation. Did anybody think that enlightenment is a state with no foundation? One arises in the enlightened state! I think even normal philosophical inquiry sometimes produces different sensations in the body, mind and energetic system when new logic undermines current understandings.

These and other objects that assist your practice should be regarded as treasures connected to your virtuous karma and are not to be discarded out of a sense that, because they are holy and connected to the path to reality, they should be abandoned out of an intellectual understanding of the empty nature of outer and inner objects. These objects such as your mentor and also mental constructs, such as bodhichitta, are victoriously empty of inherent existence. They are victoriously empty of inherent existence. Most of them glow with inner aliveness and encouragement toward the correct view.

Even when your immature practice tries to solidify them, these forms persist in being correct objects of virtue toward the transformed state. These precious objects are held in esteem and do not enter a kind of grinding up of all phenomena in order to decay them to arrive at the knowledge of their lack of inherent existence from their own side. This is because they are already producing a kind of effect toward the correct view, being themselves correct objects of virtue. This also applies to bodhichitta motivation and other states of mind that are helping you toward the transformed state. However, they are also empty of the very thing that holds you away from understanding their true nature as empty of inherent existence.

They are uncontaminated in the way that consecration by means of emptiness holds them from being abused in their function. This is why even in the monasteries; they reconsecrate everything on a regular basis. They do something called rabnye to repair the blessing because as time goes on, peoples' innate views energetically change this victorious calling of emptiness. This is why holy places required enlightened beings to visit or to add to the cleansing of holy places. They have to be refreshed in this. Rinpoches are supposed to know this from their training. They are expected to be doing this kind of meditation work when they go to holy places, and they are encouraged to do that for the benefit of living beings coming to holy places.

Precious objects that have been plunged into emptiness to clean and then blessed are held in esteem and do not enter a kind of grinding up or destruction of all phenomena. They are easily perceived as empty. In other words, right now you might be thinking to destroy all inner traces of phenomena (makes chewing sound), it exists, it does not exist (chewing sound). You are phenomena? (chewing sound) I will not give you my respect because you have permanence. But, in order to arrive at the knowledge of their lack of inherent existence from their own side, you do not need to do this because they are objects that are attached to your process of transformation and display their emptiness.

Number Twelve: Emptiness of the True Nature: “The true essence of composite and all other phenomena is pure being. Therefore, neither the students, the solitary realizers, the bodhisattvas, nor the Buddhas, created this essence anew. Therefore, this essence of the composite and so forth is said to be the very nature of phenomena. It itself is empty of itself. This is the emptiness of the true nature”.

All created phenomena arise due to causes and conditions, whether they are virtuous or non virtuous in your estimation. This dependent arising is a feature of Madhyamika Buddhist philosophy and is logically coherent in understanding how the world and its contents arise. Our work here is not to teach you all of Madhyamika philosophy. You are free to explore the various philosophical positions. However, dependent arising is a very important feature of that and we have discussed dependent arising on numerous occasions.

So, the descriptions of dependent origination explaining how the world and its contents arise is not only coherent in gross manifestation, but it is also consonant with how things exist in higher stages and other realms of existence. At no time does the Madhyamika Prasangika philosophy depart from the microcosmic or macrocosmic ramifications of Chandrakirtis statement. Not only is this essence, that is core to deep wisdom being of Buddhism coherent, it is also consonant. Now, what I mean is that not only does it make logical sense from the ordinary point of view, but it also has a kind of hum in its correct dynamic. Does that make sense?

It is consonant with how things exist in higher stages of development and other realms of existence that also carefully display reality instead of dysfunctional fantasies. In general there is a connection between that which is beyond words and the logic of ordinary human valuation for dwellers of the human realm. This is the connection between reality beyond the barrier of the innate view and human beings interpreting the Madhyamika philosophy to enter valid relationship with higher-level beings such as buddhas. This is done so skillfully by Chandrakirti and others, so that the emerging meditator can come into alignment with correct human valuation of Buddhist learning and thereby enters into emptiness and then into union with the Buddha awakened ones via the human realm.

Regarding the actual way that phenomena exist in its generalized form, it has the flaccid and unsatisfactory element that you in your grasping are trying to apply your view of it as real. Its actual nature remains beyond the grasp of the innate view that takes the transitory, unstable and temporary to be ultimately real. The path of dharma to the perfected state will not be subjugated to the inferior view that you grasp toward and remains empty. To be continued…