Nalanda Buddhism Certificate Course 1

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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Nalanda Buddhism Certificate Course 1

Tibet House New Delhi Nalanda Certificate Course NCC1

8th Session Notes /04/07/2022) Wed

 Proper study and understanding of the seven fold division of mind is very important to  understand Buddhist psychology. They are:

1.      Direct valid perceiver (Tib: dngon sum)

2.      Inferential cognizer (Tib:rjes pa)

3.      Subsequent cognizer (Tib:bcad shes)

4.      Correctly assuming consciousness (Tib:yid dpyad)

5.      Non-discerning direct perceiver (Tib:snang la ma gnas pa)

6.      Doubting consciousness (Tib:the tshom)

7.      Deceptive (wrong) consciousness (Tib:log shes)

 1. Direct valid perceiver: A non-mistaken knower that is free from conceptuality. It has four categories:

a)     Sense direct perceiver: A direct perception through our senses

b)    Mental direct perceiver: A mental perception like presence of a lung, things about past and present.

c)     Self cognition direct perceiver (Tib:rang rig mngon gsum): The mind is said to be self cognizing mind. It has an ability to see itself and other. When a light in introduced in a dark room, we could see things. We could also see the light. It could illuminate other and self too. Mind has an aspect or ability to know or perceive itself. (Some schools don’t accept this.)

d)    Yogic direct perceiver: Its direct perception of subtle phenomena by the Arhats, seeing impermanence and emptiness through refined practice of the five paths.

 2. Inferential cognizer: Inference through knowledge and confidence like dated of birth, dependent on testimony, knowing presence of fire on seeing smoke etc. Emptiness is to be realized through power of fact not by inference.

 3. Subsequent cognizer: Things seen after the direct valid cognition. It is said to really on the teachings, not on the person; really not on provisional teachings but on the ultimate teachings. Within the teachings of ultimate reality, we must really on direct valid perceiver rather than on conceptual realization.

 4. Correctly assuming consciousness: We may not know how e=mc2 is derived, but we assume it is correct. We may not have realized emptiness but we can talk and faith in it.

 5. Non discerning direct perceiver: Your mind is focused on something and you don’t see things before you.

 6. Doubting consciousness (Tib:the tshom): It has three kinds, a mind titled toward fact, non-fact, and neutral.

 7. Deceptive (wrong) consciousness (Tib:log shes): When we see an object, misperception may occur at two levels: appearance and apprehension levels. When mistake happens at appearance level, it is called mistaken mind (Tib:'khul shes). When mistake happens at apprehension level, it is called deceptive mind. We shall explain more in the next session.

 These seven fold division of mind should be on our fingertips, it's important to understand our mind.

 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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Nalanda Buddhism Certificate Course 1

Tibet House New Delhi Nalanda Certificate Course NCC1

7th Session Notes /27/06/2022) Mon

 Buddhist psychology:

 How does mind as subject interact with the object flower? Ignorance drives us to object misconception and subject deception.

 To understand the object so well we study philosophy, physic, quantum mechanic, modern science and ontological reality.

 For the subject, our reactions are different. It’s the same flower, it’s the subjective thinking that make us to see different. This subjective study is psychology, study of subject. Study of object is science and study of subject is psychology, what is mind? To know your mind well is study of Buddhist psychology.

 To know the mind, we need to know that this universe has infinite phenomena, they can be grouped under 3 categories:

1.      Manifest phenomena: Something we see directly through our sense, a flower.

2.      Slightly hidden phenomena: Something we know through inferences. A flower made of number of cells, electrons, neutrons etc. We know there is fire because we see smoke.

3.      Very hidden phenomena: Something we know or believe through the knowledge of third persons like date of birth. It exists, but its existence is known through some reliable testimony and not directly.

 Modern science explains on the first and a part of the second category only. They cannot speak of a part of the second phenomena and full of very hidden phenomena. So the modern science does not explain all the phenomena. Physic does not explain neuroscience. Neuroscience does not explain quantum mechanics. Simply because something is not explained by modern science does not mean that it does not exist. Karma and rebirth are belongs to the category of slightly hidden phenomena, modern science does not speak of these phenomena.

 Neuroscience has not been able to explain mind properly. Brain and mind, a scientist may see your brain wave on computer screen, but he cannot see or know what you are thinking. "In search of memory" by Prof Eric Kandel is a good book. There is two hypothesis: 1) No mind, only brain 2) There is mind, but it is a derivative of brain. When one dies, mind disappears. This what current neuroscientists believe in.

 Parmanavartika chapter 2 explains how mind exit as a distinct entity which is closely connected to brain but different entity wise. All beings come from karma, without mind there is no karma to operate. A gymnast in a space suit, he or she is moving inside, space suit is moving slowly. We cannot see the person; this does not mean that there is no person inside. Simply because the space suit is moving does not mean that there is no person inside.

 The brain and mind, we can see the brain wave not the mind. A scientist can see the brain wave only. We can see both. What we experience is mind, what a neuroscientist sees is the brain, not mind.

 Valid cognition mind is most refined version of your mind and thinking. Mind is defined as clear and knowing agent. Mirror has to be clear to see the reflection clear. Water surface is also same to see the reflection of a moon. Close your eye and think of a blue flower. This mind should be clear to get a clear image of a blue flower.

 Mind is clear and luminous. Mind has two elements, it is clear and knowing. But it is not substantial and physical. When reflection is formed on the mirror, the mirror does not know that a reflection is formed. But when you think of a blue flower, image is formed and your mind knows it.

 There is two state of mind: 1) Resultant state, happy or sad. 2) Causal state of emotions and karma. Virtuous mind result in happiness and non-virtuous mind gives pain and sadness. Causal state has 2: 1) Cognitive mental state (seeing a robber) and 2) Afflictive mental state (reaction on seeing the robber). The two affect each other. Buddhism stresses on sharpening the cognitive mind. Cognitive thought process should be developed sharply. For this, seven divisions of mind are explained. They are:

1.      Direct valid perceiver (Tib: dngon sum)

2.      Inferential cognizer (Tib:rjes pa)

3.      Subsequent cognizer (Tib:bcad shes)

4.      Correctly assuming consciousness (Tib:yid dpyad)

5.      Non-discerning direct perceiver (Tib:snang la ma gnas pa)

6.      Doubting consciousness (Tib:the tshom)

7.      Deceptive (wrong) consciousness (Tib:log shes)

 We need to study and develop cognitive thought process. Once we have learnt cognitive thought process through the seven divisions of mind, we have to apply it to afflictive thought process.

 Brain - mind and heart. Intelligent - compassionate. Knowledge - wisdom. View - mind of the view nature. Afflictive - mind of non-view nature.

 Mind of the view nature is cognitive state of mind, which has seven divisions. Valid cognition (Tib:tshad ma)is a mind which cognizes its primary object newly or freshly. Any cognition happening newly is a valid cognition.

 Mind and consciousness are synonymous. The mind in general can be divided into two, mental consciousness and sensory consciousness. Our meditation has to be done through mental consciousness and not through sensory consciousness.

 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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Nalanda Buddhism Certificate Course 1

Tibet House New Delhi Nalanda Certificate Course NCC1

6th Session Notes /22/06/2022) Wed

 Composite phenomena, compounded phenomena, and impermanent are synonymous. Non-composite phenomena, uncompounded, and permanent are same.

 I have a book in my hand, a book is there. If it is removed, we may say nothing is there. But we may say absence of book is there. Absence of a book has no substance. Whereas as a presence of book has substance. This is how our conventional looks at the things.

 What does not have substance there is nothing to undergo change. So it is not changing. If it is not changing, then it is permanent. A phenomena which is absence of change is a permanent phenomena.

 Absence of book does not have substance, it exist from conceptual mind. Book is object and mind is subject. Compounded phenomena are those which have substance. Uncompounded phenomena are those which do not have substance. This is what is meant by composite and non-composite phenomena.

 All composite substance changes, a diamond, which is very solid is made of many atom. Inside it keeps on changing. It does not remain same and permanent. Heat is there, so movement is there.

 Composite - substance - momentary changes - impermanent

 Uncompounded phenomena, an absence of book does exist, but is does not exist substantially. It is not compounded, there is no change. What does not change is not impermanent, it is permanent.

 Suatantrika Madhyamika discusses substantial existence and conceptual existence.

 The first two seals are done with this. Contaminated composite phenomena, contamination refers to affliction and self grasping ignorance.

 The root cause of our suffering is self grasping ignorance, which has to be removed. Arya Nagarjuna has rightly said in Mulamadhyamikakarika:

Through ceasing of karma and affliction, Nirvana is achieved

          Karma and affliction arise from (distorted) conceptual thought

These arise from elaboration (of self grasping at true existence)

Elaborations cease by (or into) through emptiness

 Ceasing of karma and affliction is Nirvana. Karma and affliction arise from conceptualized inattentive attention, which in turn arises from elaboration of the self grasping ignorance. This ignorance cease through realization of the wisdom of emptiness.

 So the root cause of our suffering is self grasping ignorance. We need to address this. For this darkness of ignorance, a light of wisdom has to be introduced. Wisdom is a discerning mind whose apprehension of the object tallies with reality. What is reality? Reality is what Buddha indicated in the 3rd seal, everything is in the nature of emptiness and suffering.

 A dream of going to picnic and enjoying, later a typhoon comes and you suffer, and later you wake up and relieved, happiness, suffering, and enlightenment. The first is suffering of change, second is suffering of suffering, and third when you wake up the fear is gone, its enlightenment.

 Common thing is the first two is you have no control, lack of control, lack of freedom. This is misery. Therefore, even a pleasant dream has an element of misery. When you wake up, you have control; this is freedom from the contents of the dream, total fearlessness. The moment you wake up, fear is gone. This is transcending sorrow, Nirvana, the fourth seal.

 Involuntary push and pull is sorrow, to stop this push and pull, you need to wake up, so that you are beyond sorrow. Transcending sorrow is absolute peace of mind, not affected by the contents of the dream.

 Everything comes from subject; it's not from the object. Everything coming from the object is empty nature. The third seal, all phenomena are empty of self, has to be understood from the Pransangika school's concept.

 Let us put the Four Noble Truths and Four Seals, in the context of Dependent origination mantra, Om he ye dharma (Tib: rten 'brel snying po):

ཆོས་རྣམས་ཐམས་ཅད་རྒྱུ་ལས་བྱུང་། All phenomena arises from causes

དེ་རྒྱུ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པས་གསུངས། The causes are taught by the Tathagathas

རྒྱུ་ལ་འགོག་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ།  Cessation of the cause as well

དྲང་སྲོང་ཆེན་པོས་འདི་སྐད་གསུངས། Is taught by the great seers

 Om, meaning the dirty body, dirty speech, and dirty mind be transformed to Buddha's body, speech, and mind, i.e. Buddha body free of disease, Buddha's divine speech, and Buddha's mind of perfect knowledge, perfect power, and perfect love.

  The Four Noble Truths, the Four Seals, and Dependent origination mantra are linked.

 According to the Sautantrika school's understanding of objectivity and subjectivity, they talk about substantiality as opposed to conceptuality imputation. Substantial existence v/s existence by conceptual imputation, substantial existence is objectively and conceptual existence is subjectively. They existed by the imputation of conceptual mind, not in mind.

 Through our practice it would be good to have a glimpse of emptiness and Bodhicitta. The practice of Bodhicitta through 2 methods of equalization and exchanging self for others and 7 fold cause and effect method. We need to study and gather wisdom. It's like gathering ingredients and cooking. If you don't cook, you have nothing to eat. If your ingredients are not good, food will not be good. So it is important that your knowledge and understanding of Dharma should be good. When you are hungry and when there is nobody to cook for you, then you have to cook. Here you need good ingredients, like wise in your difficult time Dharma knowledge will definitely come useful.

 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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