Tibet House New Delhi Nalanda
Certificate Course NCC1
9th
Session Notes /03/07/2022) Sun
Deceptive
(wrong) consciousness (Tib:log shes), is the last from the seventh division of
mind we studied earlier.
Let
us say, you love flower and you are given a flower. You look at it and feel joy
and happiness. There is an interaction between subject mind and object flower.
If the interaction is not there, no feeling comes. It is the interaction
between subject and object that give rise to all emotions and reactions. Two
activities are there: Appearance and apprehension.
There
is an act of appearance of the object to the subject as to how the flower
appears to my mind. We don't say mind appears to the subject. The act of
appearance is related to the subject. There is an act of apprehension of the
object by the subject, mind apprehends the flower. There is an act of
appearance and act of apprehension by object and subject.
When
we see an object, misconception may occur at two levels:
¾ At appearance level:
When mistake happens at appearance level, it is called mistaken mind or
consciousness (Tib:'khurl shes).
¾ At apprehension level:
When mistake happens at apprehension level, it is called deceptive mind or
consciousness (Tib:log shes).
They
look same, but it is not. This mistake is ignorance. Ignorance is the root
cause of our misery. It occurs due to our misconception of what is reality. We
don't see reality. What we see and what reality is, there is contradiction.
This is misconception. It occurs at two levels: When the mind is mistaken at
the act of appearance and when the mind is mistaken at the act of apprehension.
Snow
is white. If you see through a blue goggle, it appears blue. But your mind
knows it is white. Your mind is mistaken at appearance level but not at the
apprehension level. So it is mistaken mind and not deceptive mind. This
distinction is very important.
Whatever
is deceptive mind should necessarily be mistaken mind. Whatever is mistaken
mind may not be a deceptive mind. Whatever is a girl is human being; whatever
is human being may not be a girl.
Mistaken
mind is a mind which is mistaken with respect to the object of appearance.
Deceptive mind is a mind which is mistaken with the object of apprehension.
Exercise:
Think of H.H. the Dalai Lama. What appears, picture, image, memory etc. Image
becomes the object of appearance and Dalai Lama is your object of apprehension.
What you apprehend is not the image but Dalai Lama. But what appears is an
image.
When
conceptual mind works, image has to come. This image is known as image of
meaning generality (Tib:don spyi), a mental image.
I
asked you to think of Dalai Lama, not the picture or image of Dalai Lama. We
see that only through a picture or image we can think of Dalai Lama. That image
becomes the object of appearance and Dalai Lama is the object of apprehension.
When conceptual mind works, image has to come. This image is known as Meaning
Generality.
A
conceptual mind is a mind apprehends its primary object through meaning
generality. Direct mind is a mind which directly perceives the object without
using meaning generality.
Meaning
generality is a mental image which comes to our mind through which the
conceptual mind apprehends the primary object.
Sense
direct perceiver doesn't use meaning generality. Mental direct perceiver, close
your eyes and think of anything. All clairvoyance things happen at mental
consciousness level not at sensory level. Conceptual mind is seen as a direct
perceiver.
All
afflictions (deceptive mind) are conceptual mind, anger, attachment, etc.
Three
fold division of mind:
1. Conceptual
consciousness (Tib:rtag pa): Conceptual consciousness that mix a meaning
generality as their apprehended object on the appearance level
2. Non-conceptual
non-mistaken consciousness that take a specifically characterized phenomenon as
their apprehended object
3. Non-conceptual mistaken
mind consciousness that take a clearly appearing non-existent as their
apprehended object.
Two
fold divisions of mind:
¾ Prime cognizers and
non-prime consciousness
¾ Conceptual and
non-conceptual consciousness
¾ Mistaken and
non-mistaken consciousness
¾ Mental and sense
consciousness
¾ Awareness which are
eliminative engagers and collective engagers
¾ Mind and mental factors
Mental consciousness and sense consciousness
(Tib: yid shes dang dbang shes) are both mind. Sense consciousness is what you
get depending on your senses and mental consciousness are those which are not
directly dependent on the five senses.
Is feeling of gratitude a mental consciousness
or sense consciousness?
All afflictions are necessarily mental
consciousness (except for Sauvatantrika and Vaibashika). Sense consciousness
shuts down at the time of death, but mental consciousness does not. It ejects
from the body and go to the next body.
Meditation should be through mental consciousness
and not through sense consciousness. Meditation is to purify our mind to
achieve Buddhahood, this process relates to mental consciousness. Feeling is
with all primary mind. Meditation is to purify our mental defilement and this
defilement is to be removed from our mental consciousness. Our mental
consciousness should become Buddha. Let us not forget that sense consciousness
in only a mind.
Eliminative engager awareness and collective
engager awareness (Tib:sel 'jug dang sgrub 'jug): Selective mind is eliminative
engager, it selects or picks up from many. A notebook with many pictures, what
each student see is very selective. When you become Buddha or omniscient you
see all the details and nothing is left out. You are aware of everything. We usually
behave in an eliminative way in dealing with other people and objects.
What I could get from this person concept is
the failure of modern education. All conceptual mind use generic image or
meaning generality wherein an image is created by our mind. All conceptual
minds are selective engager or eliminative engager awareness. Our mind create
an image and try to select and eliminate the rest.
All non-conceptual minds are collective
engager. It does not eliminate anything, it picks or selects everything. Eye
consciousness is not conceptual mind, it is not eliminative engager. All
conceptual minds are mental consciousness. Two mental consciousnesses cannot
co-exist but a mental consciousness and sense consciousness can co-exist.
Mental consciousness exist all the times, sense consciousness comes and goes.
Next division: mind and mental factors, we need
to see which of the seven fold division of mind are Conceptual or
non-conceptual (C & NC), Mistaken or non-mistaken (M & NM), and Sense
consciousness and mental consciousness (SC & MC):
1. Direct valid perceiver /NC
/ NM / SC /
2. Inferential cognizer /
C / M / MC /
3. Subsequent cognizer / Can
have both C & NC / Can have both / have SC&MC /
4. Correctly assuming
consciousness /C / M / MC /
5. Non-discerning direct
perceiver / NC / Can have M&NM /
6. Doubting consciousness /
C / M / ? /
7. Deceptive (wrong)
consciousness / Can have both C & NC / M / ? ?/
Mind has two functions: to see other things and
to see itself like a bulb light. All agrees to this but not the Parasangika
school. Seeing itself is a self cognizing mind and seeing other is other
cognizing mind. We need to which of the seven minds are mistaken or
non-mistaken minds?
All minds should necessarily have object of
appearance and all mind should necessarily engage but it may not discern.
Object of appearance and apprehension are there but not discerning.
Self
cognizing mind is a non-conceptual mind, but in a deep sleep, it is a non
discerning mind. All mind has two functions. It apprehend other things and it
self too. Label given to other is other cognizing mind, and to self is self
cognizing mind. Other cognizing mind can be conceptual or non conceptual, but
self cognizing mind is always non-conceptual because it never uses meaning
generality and it is always mental consciousness. Self cognizing mind is always
direct perceiver but may not be direct valid perceiver.
Note:
This is a student's note. Error and omissions are bound to be there. A serious
student should study the actual teachings of the teacher, Geshe Dorjee Damdul
la, from www.tibethouse.in website. I write these notes to help my
understanding and recollections. (Tib:Rang gi yid la nges phyir ngas dhi
brtsams).
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