I love to face the truth about how this works. Morning. This morning I'm going to continue with my talk on the 100 Dharmas as laid out by Vasubandhu, and today I'm going to talk about what's called the 11

[01:03]

We have, as I talked about last time, we have the five skandhas, form skandha, the feeling skandha, perception skandha, mental formation skandha, and consciousness skandha. And these skandhas are the categories or the five streams of what we call a human being. The reason they're called streams is because they're continually transforming and moving. So when we talk about in Buddhism, when we talk about a person, there is no such thing. So we study it and describe it as kinetic energy, maybe.

[02:34]

So each one of us is a field of streams and dreams. field of streams in a field of dreams and the dreams are consciousness. So the form skanda is the skanda of form and the other four skandas are the skandas of feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness. So the body or the forms, physical forms are the kind of vehicle

[03:42]

and its concomitants, as we know. But it's not like the body is a vehicle. Some people think that the body is just a console for the mind. but mind and body are inseparable. There are two aspects of Buddhist study, two categories. One is the analytical side and the other is the synthetic, in the sense of synthesis side. So Abhidhamma is the analytical side where you take the machine apart and look at every part in detail and how it all works.

[04:54]

And the synthesis side is more like intuition. It just works. Make it work or work it. practices more at the synthetic side, like the whole universe is one big being. The synthetic side is, the analytical side is, there is no such thing. When you take it all apart, there's no such thing. elements in flux, and the elements themselves have no substantial existence. So this is one of the main controversies in early Buddhism.

[06:02]

So it was taken as a foregone conclusion that there is no self in the skandhas. That's the most basic Buddhist understanding. There is no self, no self can be found in the skandhas, in the five skandhas. But many of the schools thought the dharmas are real though, the elements that make up this phantom body and mind, those are real, but then the Mahayana came along and said, no, the dharmas also have no own being, the elements also are empty of an own being. This is how the Heart Sutra or the Prajnaparamita Sutra is addressing the addressing that belief that the dharmas have some reality, independent reality.

[07:20]

Say, no, they don't. All dharmas are empty as well as the skandhas. That's the message of the Heart Sutra. Not only are the skandhas empty, the dharmas are also empty. So there's no place that you can stand. There's no permanent place to stand anywhere. There's nothing to hold on to any place. Which looks like, oh my, despair. But actually, this is our saving grace. Fortunately, there's nothing to hold on to. When we know how to let go, we see the truth of that.

[08:29]

But when we try to find security the skandhas and the dharmas we have suffering. So the Buddha's message is how do we get out of that suffering of clinging to a self that is not a self. How do we escape it? I don't like to use the word escape, but how do we get out of that? Maybe escape is good. Escape our own mind, because the world is, according to Vasubandhu, the world is a projection of consciousness.

[09:36]

So projection of consciousness doesn't mean that this doesn't exist as it is, that I'm inventing the material aspect of the world, but what I'm inventing is what I think it is. Things are not what we think they are because we just think up We just name things according to our limited understanding of what they are. So each one of us sees the world according to what we think it is. We all look at the same objects and there are many things that we agree on. But it's just a projection of our imagination.

[10:44]

Our naming is just a projection of our imagination. So we create a world, an imaginary world, and take it as real. And it really seems real. It seems so real that it hurts. hard to get out of it. So the hundred dharmas is an analysis of the constituents of the human being. What are the constituents or the dharmas of a human being? that describe some aspect of the human nature and how it all works together.

[11:50]

I'm going to talk about the 11 form dharmas. There are three things that human beings grasp for when looking for security. One is a central unifying factor, something at the center that we can identify as stable. And then we look for an enjoyer, someone who does the enjoying. And then we look for a doer, someone who does something. Those are three things that we grasp onto.

[13:18]

And each one of those presumes a self. So when we look at the form dharmas, the form dharmas are actually the sense fields called ayatanas, except that it's a little different than the ayatanas because there are 12 ayatanas, but the ayatanas also consciousness, sense consciousness, but these form dharmas don't include consciousness per se. To simply explain, so the form dharmas are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. Those are the dharmas of form.

[14:22]

then there are the objects of those dharmas of forms, which are called forms, objects of touch. So for each one of the form dharmas there is a corresponding object. So for the eyes there's what is seen, right, which is called forms. The eye sees form. They usually say form and color. Sometimes you read in Buddhist literature and Suzuki Roshi used this term a lot, form and color, and you think he's talking about something specific but he's really talking about the object of the eyes, it's called form and color.

[15:37]

And the object of the ears of course is sound and the object of the nose is smell and the object of the body is touch. So these are the 10 of the form dharmas. And the 11th form dharma is called the dharmas pertaining to form. which means the four elements. Of course, there are many more elements, but in Buddhism, since the beginning of Buddhism and in the ancient world, the four elements are earth, air, fire and water. These are fundamental elements which most of the other elements fall under as categories. So liquid is water and heat is fire and air is like breath and flesh and bone is like earth, corresponds to earth.

[16:56]

So these four elements, all the formed elements are composed of these four elements and So even though fire and water are opposites, they work together as creative elements. A little bit of water, a little bit of heat, and you have tea. Right. So all the form dharmas are created from these four elements and have aspects of all these four elements, as we know.

[17:58]

form dharmas but there's something missing in order to activate them. So what activates the form dharmas is consciousness. So we say the eye and form and color plus consciousness makes seeing The eye and the form, there's nothing seen. So as we know, the eye does not see. We say the eye sees, but the eye, as we know, doesn't see. The ear doesn't hear. The nose doesn't smell. Consciousness perceives. So it's consciousness that knows seeing and knows hearing and knows smelling. is aware, so it takes all three elements in order for cognition to happen.

[19:14]

Consciousness by itself arises with seeing and the object. If any one of those elements is missing there's no seeing. So the form and consciousness all have to work together. So form is not separate from consciousness and consciousness is not separate from form. So in order to look at this, we take it apart and look at all the details. But actually, when we see, we don't think in this way. But we just say, oh, I see something over there. Or I hear the airplane. But it's a very complex activity that's going on.

[20:27]

and it's so quick that we take it all for granted. So the early Buddhists broke down this kind of activity into moments and they broke it down into how many milliseconds, you know, or trilliseconds it takes to cognize something through this process. So this is the kind of study that the early Buddhists did, not taking anything for granted and analyzing the processes. How long it takes to for the cognition to take place when you hear something or when you see something. So in this analysis what's left out is mind consciousness or sense consciousness.

[21:48]

And as I've talked about before, sense consciousness is number six. We have eye, ear, nose, taste, and touch, and then thought consciousness, or sense consciousness, which is a discriminating consciousness which says, I hear, I see, I smell, and taste, and so forth. And it prevents you from getting mixed up. Instead of saying, well, I hear the floor, we say, I see the floor. But Master Tozan says, you should be able to hear the floor, you should be able to hear the color and see the sound if you're totally free.

[22:52]

Because all the sense consciousnesses are really aspects of one consciousness. but it's divided into five or six. So up to this point, there's no self. This sixth sense consciousness which is considered part of this system, the six senses, is a discriminating consciousness, but it's not an egotistical consciousness. So people say, well, in Buddhism, you talk about non-discriminating mind, but I have to discriminate all the time.

[24:05]

I'm always choosing. The third patriarch says, the only problem is in picking and choosing. But we say, well, I'm picking and choosing all the time. How can you not pick and choose? That's right. You have to make a decision on every moment. Every moment you have to make a decision on something, which way to go, how to turn, what to do. This is the function of the sixth consciousness is to make that kind of discrimination, but it's not an egotistical discrimination, simply discrimination based on necessity. So that's not counted as discrimination in the sense of if only you don't discriminate, everything will be fine. If you walk out in the street, you know, get run over by a car, that's false non-discrimination.

[25:14]

So there's another consciousness, another level of consciousness, which is called discriminating consciousness, which is egotistical discriminating consciousness. is simply necessary discrimination, which is not based on a self. But the seventh consciousness, manas, is based on self-centeredness. That's the consciousness called defiled consciousness or consciousness which is based on imagination and has no basis in fundamental reality. Simply imaginative consciousness. We say, well, what's wrong with imagination?

[26:21]

Well, nothing's wrong with imagination. In order to function, we have to have imagination. Matter of fact, all of our life is imagined. it's imagined, it's dreamed and thought and then we act out our dream and we act out our imagination, but we act out in accordance with volitional karma, which dharmas which are interactive with the mind, like the good dharmas and the unwholesome dharmas. So this is called building up a self. The seventh consciousness is creating a self out of imagination.

[27:28]

So some imagination is good, some imagination is not so good, but problem is that imagination distorts reality. even though without imagination it's pretty hard to do something but there's an imagination which is not egotistical but most imagination imaginative thinking is egotistical it's hard to know what's real.

[28:35]

So I have a koan that illustrates this point and you're probably familiar with it. It's a koan of Joshu The monk asked Joshu, does a newborn baby possess the six senses or not? Joshu said, it's like throwing a ball onto the rapids or onto a flowing stream. The monk later asked Tosu, what's the meaning of throwing a ball onto the rapids? Tosu said, nen after nen without ceasing. just this moment, this particular moment without anything added.

[29:43]

It's like the moment of a moment, the essence of a moment. And then Setso has a verse and he says, the question, the six senses, purposeless. When well acquainted with it, the masters, a ball is thrown into the rapids. Do you know where it's carried? So in this poem, he addresses this question. He says, the question, the six senses, purposeless. So the six senses by themselves have no purpose. Only when met with consciousness or the seventh consciousness, manas, do they take on some purpose.

[30:53]

which can go anywhere. And then he says, we'll acquainted with it, the masters. It's okay, he's not gonna come in. Bravo, out. Out. So, Well acquainted with it means purifying the senses. We talk about purifying the senses. Actually, the senses can't be purified. It's only the mind that can be purified. The senses are always purified. But the mind covers the purity of the senses. So what about the newborn baby?

[32:00]

Does the newborn baby have the six senses? Well, it's not a matter of have. It's a matter of how do they function. That's the meaning. How are they functioning? So newborn baby, you know, this word nin, has to do with this moment but it means this moment of consciousness, this moment of consciousness. So there are three or four divisions of Nen consciousness. The first division of Nen consciousness means pure consciousness without defilement. there is just seen, something seen. There's no naming, there's no imagination about it.

[33:01]

Simply, the object is seen by the eye and cognized without any discursiveness or discrimination. or partiality. So this is actually clearly seeing. This is seeing reality as it is. This is zazen, hopefully, to not discriminate what is seen or heard or felt. But we say, oh, this is painful. That's simply a mental discrimination. Actually, it's not painful. It's simply a feeling. But through our imagination and through our discriminating partiality, we say, this is pain.

[34:04]

And we all fall into this, you know. Hard for the human being not to fall into this, but we do. In Zazen, the purpose is to let go of that discriminating consciousness, to just drop it in order to be comfortable. The reason we're not comfortable is because not only do we say, this is pain, we say, I don't like it. We shouldn't have this. Life should be joyful, happy. These are just mental discriminations. Life should be happy. Just let go of everything. Life will be happy. Just let go of your mental discriminations. And Dogen says, this is the comfortable way.

[35:09]

it is a comfortable way when we let go of our discriminations and our imaginative ruminations. So imagination, you know, is wonderful and the arts and everything, but it's also painful. It leads to, if we're not careful, leads us into dark alleys. So purifying the senses, purifying the mind, purifying our practice. Purity in Buddhism means non-duality. That's the meaning of purity, pure practice. So Suzuki Roshi in the opening talk Zen is not difficult because your legs hurt.

[36:21]

Zen is difficult because it's hard to keep our mind pure, really hard to keep our mind pure, which means, and he says, which means not dualistic. So consciousness, Ego consciousness is discriminative and dualistic. I like this, I don't like that. So, you know, it's natural to like and dislike, but to get beyond the partiality of liking and disliking, we have to go through the painful process of then we can sit comfortably even though there's what we call pain or whatever.

[37:30]

And we see everything or experience things without discriminating them. But you may say, but isn't that dangerous? Well, it's dangerous if you change horses in the middle of the stream. It's like walking a tightrope, you know. And if you decide over a chasm to turn around and go the other way, you'll probably fall down. You have to keep going. So it's hard to leave Sashin because when we sit Sashin, I mean, unless you planned on leaving beforehand, but if you decide, you know, this is too much and leave, there's nothing you'd be able to do because you have to complete what you started in this area.

[38:43]

even though it may seem like you're failing or whatever, the only failure is to leave. Otherwise, there's no failure. You may think, oh, I can't sit still. My mind is always blah, blah, blah. That's not failure. Success is simply staying to the end. no matter what. So your effort to deal with the difficulties, even though you can't surmount them, is itself purifying the mind. So he says, a ball is thrown into the rapids.

[39:55]

Do you know where it's carried? You know, someone who has a purified mind and no egotistical motives is perfectly free to do anything. and has nothing special to do, but simply responds to whatever is necessary. So that person is always very busy, but without anything to do, without anything special to do. not necessarily making up the world but simply responding to circumstances.

[40:57]

So these six senses, the five senses and the five sense fields are totally neutral. keep the senses open. The senses are the doorways of perception. As Huxley says, the doorways of perception. This is where all our information comes. Information comes through these doorways. And the way it's perceived is instrumental in how we make up the story of our life and the story of our world. You know Dogen in Genjo Koan talks about the ocean. He says the ocean is neither round or square nor any particular shape that you think it is.

[42:09]

You say, oh, the world is round. That's just a great idea. Probably more accurate than the world is square. But for some, the world is square. For some, the world is an oblate spheroid. For a fish, the ocean is a palace. For a hungry ghost, it's pus and blood. For a human being, it's a place where they catch fish or row a boat, you know. Perception is everything. A slave trader looks at Africans and sees slaves and nothing else. A humanitarian sees those same people and sees human beings with all kinds of wonderful qualities.

[43:24]

We just see things according to our, we see everything according to our disposition, our partialities, our wants and likes and dislikes. If you notice, in Sashin, we all sit here day after day, and pretty soon little annoyances arise. I don't like the way so-and-so eats their gruel. I don't like the way so-and-so picks up their chopsticks. I don't like the way that particular server moves. Pretty soon, you know, these little things are moving in our mind and we create all kinds of scenarios which are totally meaningless. And our mind is working that way all the time. If you analyze it, you can see your mind is in the bigger picture of the world.

[44:27]

Our minds are working like crazy, inventing and creating the world out of our imagination, creating the world out of our perceptions. So we say that this school says the universe, the world, is a projection of our mind. Simply a projection of our mind. Consciousness only, simply consciousness. And that's the thrust of this study is that consciousness or the world is a projection of our conscious mind and we take it as real.

[45:30]

We take this projection as reality. So we should at least know the difference between delusion and reality. So slowly, little by little, I'm presenting this study.

[46:11]

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