Human beings down the ages have sought the deep and sublime within; many have realized. Yet, all had to first plow through the plethora of what’s in the mind, then sort out the layers of mind, then – like an inch worm at the base of a great sequoia tree – realize that no labor will get one “there”. Displayed by Gautama, years of austerity and rigorous effort at concentration served and did not at the same time. The subject-object primary dualism was being reinforced with every waking moment. Fair enough. It seems that letting be requires a pre-measure of futility; we have to experience for ourselves that the nature of mind is not all the cats displaying upon it that we’ve been trying to herd. Yet, let go and let be too early on the Path, and it will not work. The causes and myriad factors at play have not been understood adequately. It is the self that wants the easy path, rather than the self looking into itself and finding no thing there (this done through rigorous examination and reflection).
So, below is a list given by the Buddha in one of the Prajnaparamita Sutras of what is in the mind and included under the term mind. All of it is phenomena, common and unregistered, to be explored and clarified, and some are powers, qualities, capacities, and such. Yet, all are phenomena. In other words, the subject-object display and causative matrix of all phenomena, mundane and profound, is still operative. Hence why the nature of mind is difficult to penetrate. This list is commended to you. Read through it. Recite it out loud. A few are opened up, dissected as it were, so that we can register how entangled and enamored we are with phenomena; and so that we can say to ourselves, “fair enough. I am entangled.” All the while … it is the elusive nature of mind that will guide and is guiding us to the deep no-thing of ease and peace; all being done through boredom or disenchantment, frustration or doubt, joy and creative expression, love and generosity, as well as musing, contemplation, and meditation.
The nature of mind is right now, here, and no where else. The brambles and thickets of what displays in the mind – like clouds in the vast sky- are also here. The trick is to not get caught or caught up in the brambles, then the nature of mind can be recognized. Ahhh.
Here’s the list.
from the sutra The Prajnaparamita in Ten Thousand Lines
(what is included under the category of mind?)
the five psycho-physical aggregates,
the twelve sense fields,
the eighteen sensory elements,
the four noble truths,
the twelve links of dependent “origination,
the four applications of mindfulness,
the four correct exertions,
the four supports for miraculous ability,
the five faculties, the five powers,
the seven branches of enlightenment,
the noble eightfold path,
the emptiness that is a gateway to liberation,
the signlessness that is a gateway to liberation,
the aspirationlessness (desirelessness) that is a gateway to liberation,
the four meditative concentrations,
the four immeasurable aspirations,
the four formless meditative absorptions,
the eight aspects of liberation,
the nine serial steps of meditative absorption,
the nine contemplations of impurity,
the ten recollections,
the six aspects of perception,
the knowledge of phenomena,
the subsequent knowledge,
the knowledge of other minds,
the knowledge of relative appearances,
the knowledge of suffering,
the knowledge of the origin of suffering,
the knowledge of the cessation of suffering,
the knowledge of the path,
the knowledge of the extinction of contaminants,
the knowledge that contaminants will not be regenerated,
the knowledge that is definitive,
the meditative stability endowed with ideation and scrutiny,
the meditative stability free from ideation and merely endowed with scrutiny,
the meditative stability free from both ideation and scrutiny,
the faculties that will enable knowledge of all that is unknown,
the faculties that acquire the knowledge of all things,
the faculties endowed with the knowledge of all things,
the eight sense fields of mastery,
the ten sense fields of total consummation,
the eighteen aspects of emptiness,
the ten powers of the tathāgatas,
the four assurances,
the four kinds of exact knowledge,
great loving kindness,
great compassion,
the eighteen distinct qualities of the buddhas,
the understanding of all phenomena,
the understanding of the aspects of the path,
the understanding of omniscience,
the six transcendent perfections,
the five extrasensory powers,
the five eyes,
the thirty-two major marks of a superior person,
and the eighty excellent minor marks. 1.11
Let’s unpack a few from this list that are operative every moment for human and all sentient beings:
– “the ‘five psycho-physical aggregates’ comprise (1) physical forms, (2) feelings, (3) perceptions, (4) formative predispositions, and (5) consciousness.
– the ‘twelve sense fields are the ‘six inner sense fields: (1) the sense field of the eyes, (2) the sense field of the ears, (3) the sense field of the nose, (4) the sense field of the tongue, (5) the sense field of the body, and (6) the sense field of the mental faculty.
– the six outer sense fields: (7) the sense field of sights, (8) the sense field of sounds, (9) the sense field of odors, (10) the sense field of tastes, (11) the sense field of tangibles, and (12) the sense field of mental phenomena.
– the ‘eighteen sensory elements: 1) the sensory element of the eyes, (2) the sensory element of sights, and (3) the sensory element of visual consciousness; “(4) the sensory element of the ears, (5) the sensory element of sounds, and (6) the sensory element of auditory consciousness; (7) the sensory element of the nose, (8) the sensory element of odors, and (9) the sensory element of olfactory consciousness; (10) the sensory element of the tongue, (11) the sensory element of tastes, and (12) the sensory element of gustatory consciousness; (13) the sensory element of the body, (14) the sensory element of tangibles, and (15) the sensory element of tactile consciousness; and (16) the sensory element of the mental faculty, (17) the sensory element of mental phenomena, and (18) the sensory element of mental consciousness.
– the ‘twelve links of dependent origination,’ (1) fundamental ignorance, contingent on which (2) formative predispositions arise; (3) consciousness, which arises contingent on formative predispositions; (4) name and form, which arise contingent on consciousness; (5) the six sense fields, which arise contingent on name and form; (6) sensory contact, which arises contingent on the six sense fields; (7) sensation, which arises contingent on sensory contact; [F.4.b] (8) craving, which arises contingent on sensation; (9) grasping, which arises contingent on craving; (10) the rebirth process, which arises contingent on grasping; (11) actual birth, which arises contingent on the rebirth process; and (12) aging and death, along with sorrow, lamentation, suffering, mental discomfort, and agitation, which all arise contingent on actual birth. It is in this way that these great corporeal aggregates, exclusively endowed with suffering, arise.
As the few of us meditate next weekend, the nature of mind IS already. We will muse and share on the phenomena that arise, often experienced as blessing, or profound, or emanative blessing all beings; and we will laugh with phenomena, the displays that can arise only due to the nature of mind, smile with the sense of self that loves all the arisings, and smile again now understanding more truly that “The nature of the mind alone is seed of everything.” pg.48 and that … “wherever in the three realms you may go Buddha is not found outside yourself; indeed the perfect Buddha is the mind.” pg. 50 White Lotus by Jamgon Mipham
