The Lankavatara Sutra: a treatise on the self-realization of noble wisdom (90)

thank you for your patience I just wanted to take a moment out this evening I'm going to explore one of the great suitors of the Buddhists called a lack of a taught Rose Sutra and I chose that because I spent some time studying this with Alan Watts many years ago and this was the central sutra that a group of us studied together for a couple of years so getting back into it and rethinking it is a fond experience but before I get into it I'd like to read you just one quick paragraph actually a part of a paragraph and Suzuki's commentary on the Lanka chakra Sutra and I'm reading on page 285 one of the most important things that students of Buddhism have to realize at the very outset of their study is that Buddhism is not a system of philosophy has nothing to do with speculations as such has no intention to present a logically coherent formula of thought but the Buddhist teaching professes to do is to get us truthfully acquainted with the ultimate facts of existence it requires us firmly to grasp facts based on personal experience once this is attained including intellectualization and theorizing and philosophizing will follow by itself so that's the way it starts it's not a flies not it's not a logically coherent system as a matter of fact if you try to read it that way you will realize quickly that it doesn't have an ordered structure doesn't have an ordered structure doesn't proceed with any grand design the hole isn't captured in a series of integrated parts rather it takes its subjects as subject-matters separate distinct and then pieces them together in a at times or random order because they're in tension and therefore is not to presenta logically coherent form below thought that's quite right they didn't do it but they did do is something else so that's what I'd like to get to what is the length of a taro Sutra it's going to present one idea and it only has one goal it wants to get to the point where you can see realize with the mind of course understand just what I do that everything-everything exclusive includes everything excludes nothing have to understand that all is nothing but mind that's the goal now to do that they go through a particularly interesting development that combines a philosophical and psychological perspective which I'm going to try to represent now to do that I thought what I might do is to quickly contrast it with a platonic view because then it will be much easier to see it as a whole and I'm going to pull out for the moment just the fundamental ideas of Plato's time use Plato's tyover time is is a cosmology it really starts with there is a god a demi Argos all right virgos this to work deme Argos and gladly daughter a maker or a ghost as a maker worker Denny's argon it's a God that produces and in order to create he first of course must look upon himself and using that as a model create the universe so therefore in the mind of God as it were there is a model this model then becomes the basis that the creator then creates the universe and therefore its beginning and end right cycles again and again and again is already contained seed like in the model therefore the universe as it unfolds is nothing other than working out the implications of that model the entire thing therefore in the mind of God is a model and one interesting word will capture the whole thing if you have a model that includes everything as a whole simultaneously simultaneous whole now what does that mean that means that take an example if you can take man mankind man and if you can see how he emerged where he is and where he's going if you can see that entire development as a whole simultaneously is if that were a seed like in its in its compactness and beauty then you would be seeing the image of man under the aspect of eternity under the aspect of internally therefore the whole thing is there and all of its completeness it's not going anywhere its complete in itself and it's simultaneously as a whole so to the entire universe through all of its forms it's all compact together in a model and it's just the mind of in the mind of God therefore creations nothing but God reflecting upon the ID in his own mind that's the model and which that is used then with the skill of creation produces the entire universe from beginning to end as it cycles its way on and on now with that in mind simple as it is I'm going to now take the lock of autocracy juror and read into it now if you could let's picture this for the moment a moment further looker suppose it was possible to be able to in some way catch a glimpse of this most directly then it's not active it's complete it contains everything it can change all the forms that are there it naturally since it's not doing anything it's simply reflecting them much like a mirror would it contains everything only in a simultaneous whole therefore we can picture this as if it were a mirror that contains all all forms so we'll make a mirror out of it with my artistic ability here you can see that's a beautiful looking murk right know therefore that contains everything from the beginning was passed all the way through it contains all possible forms it preserves in itself the entire development which later is carried out in its transformation you see the interesting step in creation is that from this aspect of eternity it must move into time for time allows it to unfold so as it enters into the realm of time it unfolds what was before you might use the charm and say what before lied potentially within it therefore time of course then is nothing other than a moving image of eternity right now that's called the ally of Indiana all right now the giana of course jana a way of knowing the giana is the five senses so therefore if you could look directly into this what you would see then would be in itself all the memory and from the beginningless past and into the future it preserves it there and as such is ready for evolution it's like an ocean without ways but everything is there that never acts just perceives in such a case what is known and knowing is one now there is something now that emerges let me get a marker now there's another principle that develops beyond the alley of edge dianna and that's Manas now that's a principle of individuation what we can call right you have here now we're in man you have Manas that allows you to intellectually perceive things right it can discriminate now in seeing the entirety and seeing the entirety this this would be in Hindu terms when vision when Arjuna when Arjuna has the divine vision in book eleven in the Gita our jonah tasks krishna he says Krishna show me your form show me your splendid form so Christian says okay I'll show you it and what he does is just unfolds what lies here potentially in time and that goes to a terrifying experience as it goes on and on and on until finally Arjuna says I've seen it because if you were to see this in a brief period of time you would then see the whole creation of universes come into existence pass out of existence different species rising and fall civilizations rising being engulfed in flames and passing out into non-existence you would see a fury if you could see it all in such a brief span of time that's Arjuna's vision and finally he says to Krishna Hey look I've had enough please hold back return to your everyday form and he does that that is you see being able to see discriminate this the awliya vijana through that Manas or the intellect that's what it is and in that way then you can react to it just like Arjuna did and he's affected by it passions desires fears he struggles with it but through that Manas there are two things that are primary and that is you see there's a struggle for existence and that and supremacy so therefore when we then catch in any way a glimpse of this from our figure here within the intellect we have some principle within us as human beings and that is the struggle for supremacy and equally the struggle to grasp existence so that comes together the struggle for existence and not just mere existence as survival but for us or some kind of supremacy now this idea of supremacy lies at the heart of the lungs of doctor Sutra because that means then within us within us we want to aspire for something that is terribly profound and while we can have other kinds of goals within this alia vigil Jana which is as we were talking a moment ago that somewhat liked the idea in the mind of God at the moment of creation or preceding creation therefore within it must therefore be all the stages all the stages possible for man's development and therefore among those stages there must be certain kind of earthly struggles but then there must be the particular stages of development that in Buddhism are called the stages of the Bodhisattva I which is the far-seeing one Bodhisattva chakra courses sir what is odious mind therefore a bodhisattva is someone then who can grasp the nature of being with the mind you can in grasp what is and they are stages until there was a complete and pure perfect enlightenment which of course is this historically said to be the Gautama Buddha now once that Manas has stirred up right and you can you have a struggle for existence and supremacy that awakens the five senses that awakens the five senses and therefore the five senses come into existence because what you are doing is nothing other than in the realm of times struggling to achieve and experience which is nothing out of them the idea is the mind of God putting it and again in platonic terms just to talk about it right now there is one other thing that's very curious the Manas functions with what is called the MonaVie gianna which is a particular faculty they're joining together they're joined together they work and this is the intellectual you might say the intellectual discriminations necessary for dealing with the phenomenal world so in Western philosophy this is very much akin to Kant's categories that is to say within the structure of them the mind there are categories which allow us to integrate much of our experience because it passes through the basic categories that are needed for the formation of thought and therefore it allows us to engage actively the world of appearances now therefore let's go back what is it now we have this person identical person who grasps it now we have this person I pathetical person who grasps in one flash all that is and the idea in the mind of God that's the ally of you Gianna right in order to do that you see there has to be some transformation of man because let's work backwards now normally the five senses focus on the phenomenal world this is our phenomenal world ah and focus on the phenomenal world we also need this intellectual apparatus that allows us to understand through these categories our experience we then have a way through that to intellectually engage the world of appearances this is the world of appearances or our everyday world now it's through that that we cling and desire etcetera therefore in the Buddhist would say no you know what you have to do the whole goal of getting into this higher stages of man's development there has to be a revolution there has to be a radical turning around to break through this tie to the phenomenal world which is nothing other than the particular ideas of the mind of God unfolded in time and that's called a pomp para pretty in Sanskrit it's training the mind around its bringing about a revolution turning about breaking the tie with a phenomenon world freeing Manos and the mono vagina so that therefore this perception is therefore possible into the mind it's with a Leah vagina no and that of course that produces the world the particulars now let's look what we have now right now through this through this your experience through your experience we need another faculty called the cheetah right that gathers together gathers all the consequences of whatever deed whatever thought whatever idea whatever action you engage in therefore it gathers all Carmy together and that becomes part of your own inheritance but that's also working out the implications of with lies here too it's all programmed in that sons now what can we say about those well it's very clear now let's go back to the major idea the lack of a Tantra Sutra therefore the only thing wherever engaging and continuously is nothing other than mind only and mind only means nothing other than mine the world is nothing other than mind there's nothing but subject objects and both are nothing other than mind the triple world nothing but mind existence itself is nothing but mind all is mind mind evolves mind evolves all the forms to which all the forms are manifested because the mind evolves to all the forms that are manifested because all of those forms lie potentially within this model and therefore it naturally follows therefore if we are going to be involved in a developmental model sooner or later all beings therefore must from their particular struggles in the phenomenal world to mount these steps of the Bodhisattva ideal and that's an entry into Buddhahood therefore each of those stages represent levels of enlightenment which at the same time means their willingness therefore to help others see the nature of ultimate reality and nature of ultimate reality is a what they call a yacht to boot on not seeing things just the way they are which is nothing other than mind so we need we need a revolution in consciousness and the whole system of the vagina that's the vagina it just means the five senses by the way we must see most clearly our imagined emancipation and our freedom from this involvement that takes a direct perception of things the way they are it's only one thing you're going to encounter when you see things the way they are and that's that this is nothing other than mine projection of mine our participation in projection of mine and therefore its mind as an idea going into a platonic world for a moment so we can play with it it's a participating in mind as you understand mine to be the ultimate reality and that's all there is no to go into a more more interesting are we on push the implications of this now what is mind and how do they talk about it now when the sheets I passed around I passed these sheets around from Suzuki's translation of life with dr. sutra and i would like to direct you to page 186 186 yeah okay yes this is the most interesting part of Lanka thought research room the abodes and stages of Buddhahood are established in the mind only which is imageless now I'm going to read quickly through a couple of the items in order to go on to what I think is more central now previously to this section there's a description of the eleven stages and this is where he redefines them the author the first seven stages are still in the mind but the eighth is imageless the two stages the ninth in the tenth have still something to rest themselves on the highest stage that is left belongs to me all right now here's where we're going to explore it now self-realization and absolute purity this stage is my own it's the highest station of Mahavira the AH konista heaven shining brightly now look at the way in which they're describing it it's rays of light move forward like a mass of fire they who are bright colored charming auspicious transform the triple world of course some worlds are being transported others are already been transformed there I preached the various vehicles which belong to my own stage so I'd like to stay with three and four maja Monte in ultimate reality there is neither gradation or continuous succession only the truth of absolute solitude is taught here in which the discrimination of all the images is quieted so it is said that the abodes and stages of Buddhahood are established in mind only and now we're going to get to that stage that is left to me this is of course said to be the Bodhi Bodhi Dharma because this was given to wakey his disciple right now that stage belongs to me what is it self-realization absolute purity what do we have here of course you need my figure back all right now this last stage that's what we're looking at this belongs to him that last stage is the stage of self-realization absolute purity i Kennish the shining brilliantly that's heaven the kitchen as the Sanskrit word founded right it shines brilliantly the chimes brilliantly it's rays of light move forward like a mass of fire bright color chiming auspicious transforms through all that is therefore what we have here is a doctrine of mind only that has a set of characterizations we can characterize it we can say we can name it we can name it in this way this therefore allows us to say there is in fact a realization therefore this person realizes that this is nothing other than in the highest sense the self self realization it's an absolute purity shining brilliantly it's rays of light move forward what is the sin - what can we like in it I'd like to introduce three ideas the first idea is goes back to Arjuna in the 11th book of the gita before the unfoldment of the entire universe in time he has a most brilliant light experience which he describes as it's as if ten thousand suns were suddenly blazing itself in the heavens that's a light experience right that's a light experience certainly I'd like to think now if we can go back to perhaps a talk we had once before about the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Tibetan Book of the Dead of the Evans bench between 96 and 99 they make two interesting distinctions intellect consciousness now this word shines brilliantly can be understood in two ways in the Tibetan Book of the Dead is a clear example of how these terms can be used intellect when it's pure when you can turn about and see the very nature of the intellect itself that's a turning about that's a turning about a Parvati this is still a turning about at that point it's called an experience where one recognizes the thrilling shining nature of the intellect itself now there are two uses of the word light and brilliant one is clearly the example we're just using the other is much more profound I think but perhaps we can talk about it sometimes when you're out on a very very clear sharp day cool day perhaps in the mountains and you can be suddenly struck by the wonder of a certain brilliance that isn't light it isn't lighted it isn't that it isn't something that is shining it has a Newman and has a a Newman equality to it like a new Manasa tea to it it is pure it's empty they describe that as pure consciousness in the Tibetan Book of the Dead these are two different experiences therefore some of the same terms can be used for both but the one set in its totality cannot be used to describe the other third case in Plato in the Republic and in part of the Phaedrus he talks about the difference between the good itself or the one and the idea of the good as you undoubtedly know it is a mistake to use the word idea as if it were a concept it should all be all the way used as the capital because the word idea is a Greek word it hasn't it hasn't even been a closest idea that means to behold means to see to behold so with the experience of to behold the good is described as the most brilliant light of being that's what this is called the most brilliant light of being now the most brilliant light of thing has such power and immensity that in the allegory of the cave when anyone comes to has the experience it's so overpowering it strikes them which with such tremendous such over-over overpowering experience that one has to adjust to it it's an overwhelming experience now the good also called the one and this can be found in Plato as well as Platina some protists especially Latinas well I should add before I go you can find this very clearly in Platina suppliant Latinas talks about an idea sparkles and glows that's what it is it's it's and it's a luminosity at experience of the manasa T now when he talks about the good in the one he says no predicates are possible no predicates are possible can't call a light chemical in it it's beyond all classification no possible with what you can't even say it is reality it's beyond reality now here again we have something that shines brilliantly and the idea the good we have it in plutinos we have an improv the grid itself is beyond all categories therefore it's beyond all dualisms now you can also say the experience of the luminosity that one experiences as pure intellect or mind there's also a non duality because the knower and known are one no distinction between no are none because there is any separation there's an all-encompassing engulfing light experience and if you enjoy making compact nine or chapter nine in the Gospel of Mark and it's also by the way and Homer if you want to go back to Homer and the Iliad several very beautiful examples in that Elliot as well but now going back what do we have here if we make a comparative study of it just as we're doing we will have to say that the lack of a Tantra as brilliant as it is and as such a use of brilliance and light experiences has really talked about in platonic language a Neoplatonic language the idea of the good if we talk about it in terms of the Gita that is that overwhelming experience of Arjuna in book eleven the proceeded the experience of the unfolding of time if we talk about it in terms of the dependent book of the dead this is a clear example of the overwhelming light experience that occurs at the moment of death or between two thoughts between sleep and awake that one is able to access but very clearly for the Tibetan Book of the Dead is an experience of the pure intellect but not pure consciousness therefore there's a similarity theoretically between pure consciousness the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the idea of the good and the one equally well in Hindu terms the Manduca upon Ishod with kota pada and Shankar Acharya is commentary very clearly the idea of Turia Turia the fourths the fourth part of elm the fourth part is purely a non dual it's a non dual in which no description can be made therefore it has a kinship with pure consciousness and the good and the one and therefore this interesting study of the Lanco Tantra Sutra brings forward and returns as he it turns everything around in Buddhism like lithography because it goes back to the fact that there is a so not an a not bone but another it's the realization of a soul that even though we can call it absolute purity it's still talking about something as as real and the lack of a doctor suture does use the idea of shunya or Shunyata it doesn't stress it at all in this work and equally well or the triple body of the try kiya is only touched somewhat because it appears that it may have been too early for the development of the try kiya movement and buddhism therefore all they have is near Mauna Kea but to talk about something as real is not to say Shunyata it's talking about something that is that has these qualities and therefore it can be described now it's a magnificent sutra I'm not in any way criticizing it obviously but I think we can approach it the comparative way and this is what I wanted to bring to your attention tonight so hope I can answer some questions for it thank you to understand yes one must become educated there's a certain way of reading Plato it takes such strictness of reading one has to approach it with great integrity and follow every metaphor and Link it alt see as this doesn't have an organic Holand structure Plato's Republic has a vast and intricate structure which plays on levels of meaning in a very very magnificent beautiful way but not just for artistic reasons it carries a level of meaning throughout the whole and especially the way unfolds the dialectic and I presume you're familiar with it yes I think that's probably one of the works that is probably the least understood in the academic world because most people want to take it as a model for the reason for the state a republic and they forget that the subtitle is righteousness Takai a schooi you know which is not legal I used to wear a justice it has a legalistic side to it but that isn't the side and the Republic together suing his righteousness you know that's a higher principle I hope I've answered your question sir using play-doh you use the idea of God yes but in the locker no no not the concept not absolutely correct they would object to her yes I did this just to try to show that there's a way of talking about the olive the Gianna because in all of those characteristics can be said to be similar though the lack of a tiger Sutra adds some things the play-doh didn't have them therefore it's a very nice thing to bring into it such as its mirror like quality the fact that it is an active the fact that it is something that contains everything in in itself and in order to I brought in the idea into Lanka doctor suture which doesn't have it of course is the difference between eternity and time that comes from the Platonic world but I used that to help make the bridge and make it more neuron accessible I hope you know so I I picked up a couple of colors from one while I was painting with the other no it's quite the idea idea the gun it's a spoken word maybe you should talk more before our session it is a spoken word logo the image I don't know whether I'm going to take you off of it the thing that we don't spend too much time on which I really think is very important is you see this works blank of a Tantra and a good deal of philosophy tries to make clear or tor to make accessible to our understanding the relationship between this and the universe and so much attention is paid to this that the really the higher and the more interesting question is this relationship that's the that's the real that's the Magnificent problem and the only one I know who deals with it in depth is the six the need of Latinas seven the seven oh six what's called six seven and if I can introduce you to it you'll find a magnificent study of this from 21 to 42 now let me see if I can take it out of this obvious abstraction here what is that he's trying to do what he's trying to do is say look her given the fact that the idea of the good or what we were now calling the most brilliant light of being a magnificent transformative experience of divine luminosity he has two problems he wants to say how this can become a model for this and he deals with that from 1 to 20 but he's what's very interesting is how he can talk about the relationship between these two because there are all kinds of interesting descriptions of people who have had this divine luminosity you know it's overwhelmingly beautiful and they see in the moment the nature of mind itself they see there can't be anything more real than that because everything after that is in contrast to that and therefore we get the sense of the phenomenal universe and in it there's a bliss that's exceedingly powerful and overwhelming and some sometimes and it is for those who experience it in ultimate experience but this is not an experience an experience has a beginning middle and end it is something that took place this is not an experience when you when someone who has had this here's of theirs they get very upset you're very upset I've seen it many many times because it's impossible to conceive from it that there it could be anything higher because nothing else can be higher it can't be an experience higher than that but then to deal with the possibility that maybe there's something that is not an experience that transcends this in both dignity and power that's a very profound challenge to the person who is identified with that experience rightfully you know rightfully does this yes is something that the debian so I would be like when you're saying now that the idea of the hood is likened to the imagination of the deaf ear because as you've drawn about that within that imagination was the beginning the middle at the end of the universe and there would be people that would be constantly present and yet there is something in perception beyond that Oh she'll which relationship those are just question you about it the word you're using the word amount imagine because therefore it has no reality to just imagine it not one when one imagined something what is in dealing with a reality but the mark of that experience is that there can be nothing higher in respect to an experience of reality no I think you might be saying if I could guess what you're saying you're saying but still it's in the mind of God as it were and what's in the mind of anything is going to be an idea or imagining something is that not correct where your reasoning created so being outside of that it's completely free from that continuous beginning middle again okay yes quite right but in terms of their principles and then like with dr. sutra there isn't anything else there's nothing outside of mind right there's nothing outside of mind it existence is nothing other than mind all his mind so therefore there can't be anything transcends it for this and mind or whatever is described here as mine then in the final stage is described in this way this is by a stage of Buddhahood just to bring us together no that's please how similar or different is it from Bishop Berkeley this is if this is a pure idealism you're quite right absolutely yes this is a pure idealism yes oh no this is it formerly classically this is a pure idealism Langley Contra Sutra is it is we would classic in Western philosophy is a pure idealism and therefore belongs in the class of writings such as Bishop Berkeley oh yeah oh yes everything the mind of God oh yeah No if that's it's not that use of the word its see that it's not the use see we want to say this belongs in the class of concepts thoughts as activities of a mind yeah the word idea this one of the big problems in Greek philosophy that traditionally the people who've translated Plato when they get to this word idea they just take AI d e a idea that's the way it is well it's not quite fair you have to explain with them well why not translate it literally it means to be hold to cease to be hold therefore there must be something in them that man has it that it is possible to turn about in Plato there's a turning about in seventh book of the Republic where you have to turn about you have to turn from the world to be coming to the world of being that turning about is very much like the power of Richie and the like photography Sutra which is turning the mind away from the senses same kind of thing so this really just a in classical thought this really should be I think a better way of talking about it should be intellect right with a capital on that ability of the mind to perceive and what it perceives therefore must be the intelligible the intelligible therefore in in this system therefore would be being right intellect therefore perceives the intelligible the entire thing to do to take that plutinos thing it's a absolutely magnificent piece of work I've never talked about it before it's a very nice opportunity to make me reflect on it when you say your own now that is not something you can preserve something you participate in that's a participation model it has an independent existence there is more work today being done and the philosophy and the scholarly world on Neoplatonic thought as they call it than there ever has been ever has been they are now Institute's their conferences new books are being published that it never could never been published 25 years ago there's a magnificent commentary of Plato's Parmenides done by Pro colas that's just been translated there's a whole new development in the in philosophy called philosophical counseling and they're bringing and studying the processes of meditation and philosophy for the first time in a platonic world this is unheard of you know it's twenty five to twenty five thirty years ago I can assure you I was there at the time yes yes Beauty itself just as itself yes there's a way of seeing how they necessarily interrelate in such a way that you can then cross the use that as a bridge to understand that this experience would necessarily have that luminosity quality to it there's a way of arguing and bringing a person through it I don't know we have time but it's quite possible to do though that is to say it is possible to talk about an experience of beauty itself to show its kinship with the idea of justice and the Republic it's quite natural in the Platonic world to show that the idea of justice itself depends upon bringing together a oneness in oneself which is the precondition for a vision it's a natural product of that to see how that fits into a dialectical development and training of the mind for vision no that's that's oh that's plenty that's Republicans don't that that is all that is seed like perfect that done unfolds through our experience using the mind the way in which we do therefore that's all that really is that becomes becomes mind only pure pure ideal it's a dance partner no no yes yes yeah it says it there's a turning about upon itself yeah poverty and that's the that's the metanoia and Greek and that plays that turning over see Noah news that's news the highest aspect of the mind of the intellect met is to turn about turn about you to turn about the intellect so that you can then use it as a vehicle for seeing the nature of what is a few minutes ago I thought you were gonna say more than what you did you were talking about the the idea of good people having that experience mm-hmm and you said that that was somehow antithetical to that person grasping yes that's why because it's not you said because it's just something good even when it's not something to be experienced that's right not my distinct says why does it exist okay there we're going to enter into the realm of metaphors the nature the good in the one the only term for it is unlimited now the influence the influence and the what they often consider it like in literature right is that just as a candle necessarily when let there is an outpouring of light so in this metaphysical world this outpouring of light is the luminosity luminosity this is the good itself or the one there for that and to shift gears in plutinos you can say that the vestibule of the good is beauty its own the entranceway and I have there is a theory which I don't hold but though I pay attention to it and reflect upon at a time there are some people who claim it is possible to go through that luminosity and go through it as it were into a pure experience of the good and one myself but I only heard it from one person I've never seen that idea any other place except from this one person who claimed it for themselves yes yes yeah okay thank you very much for letting me share it with you I enjoy it thank you

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Length: 62min 56sec (3776 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 08 2015