No More Learning

-- Answer: It is not feasible for the principal, which is matter and permanent by nature, also to undergo temporary changes into things like milk and curd. Such transformations are not perceived even by mental consciousness that engages with extremely subtle objects, let alone observed by the five kinds of sense consciousness. Although transformation with respect to the present and its causes is not observed, those who lack wisdom and are ignorant about the meaning of suchness consider the present truly existent. )
.
L3: [II. Refuting the proof [of substantially established time]]
L4: [A. Refuting existence of substantially established functional things as a basis for time] L5: [1. Refutation by examining whether or not things have duration]
L6: [a. Actual meaning]
.
\ ###
\ 267.
\ How can there be things with no duration?
\ Being impermanent, how can they endure?
\ If they had duration first,
\ They would not grow old in the end.
.
(i. e. No objective absolute basis for time: Time is usually measured by the duration of something; but there is no real origination, duration, or cessation. Nothing functional is truly existing as shown in another chapter. )
.
( -- Assertion: Time exists because functional things which acts as the basis for imputing time exist. Since time may be investigated by considering functional things but not on its own, time is truly existent.
-- Answer: How can functional things, the basis for time, be truly existent? It follows that they are not because of not having inherent duration. How could they have inherent duration, since they are continually consumed by impermanence? Moreover, if they had inherent duration at the start, they would not grow old in the end, because that which is inherently existent cannot cease. )
.
L6: [b. Proving that duration is not inherently existent]
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.
\ ###
\ 268.
\ Just as a single consciousness
\ Cannot apprehend two objects,
\ Similarly two consciousnesses
\ Cannot apprehend one object.
.
(i. e. Duration is not directly perceptible; so it is no objective absolute basis to measure time. )
.
( -- Furthermore there is no inherent duration, for just as a single moment of consciousness does not apprehend two consecutive objects actually presenting their own likeness, two consecutive moments of consciousness do not apprehend a single object simultaneously, for they undergo momentary production and disintegration.
-- Objection: Well, that contradicts the assertion in the sutras of knowledge that five objects such as visual form are each apprehended by two kinds of consciousness.
-- Answer: If one does not accept momentary disintegration, one is not a Buddhist. If one does, the object of observation of a visual consciousness cannot act as object of observation for a subsequently arising consciousness. The sutra passage means that the visual consciousness cognizes the form clearly and the mental consciousness which is produced subsequently cognizes it in an unclear way. )
.
L5: [2. Refutation by examining whether or not time has duration]
.
\ ###
\ 269.
\ If time has duration
\ Duration is not time.
\ If it has not, without duration
\ There will also be no end.
.
(i. e. Duration cannot be used to define or prove the existence of an absolute time - or vice versa: Like the characteristics and the characterized, time and duration are not two separate things, nor the same. One cannot be used to prove the other. They are interdependent, two co-dependently arisen concepts. )
.
(-- Assertion: Duration has inherent existence because of being the characteristic of present time.
-- Answer: If time and duration are different and have an inherently established relationship, they must act as basis and that which is based upon it.
-- If duration relies on time as something separate, duration is not time because they are mutually exclusive. If time does not have duration, then without duration there cannot finally be disintegration. Therefore since time does not have inherent duration, the latter is unsuitable as the present's characteristic. )
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L5: [3. Refutation by examining whether things and impermanence are one or different]
.
\ ###
\ 270.
\ If impermanence and things are separate
\ Things are not impermanent.
\ If they are one, since things are precisely that which is
\ Impermanent, how can they have duration?
.
(i. e. Impermanence cannot be used to prove the existence (duration) of something. Like the characteristics and the characterized, impermanence and something (a duration) are not separate, not the same. In both case there would be no duration possible. One cannot be used to prove the other. They are interdependent, two co-dependently arisen concepts. It is contradictory to say that something exist and is impermanent. )
.
( -- Assertion: Duration exists because there are impermanent things that have duration.
-- Answer: If impermanence and functional things are separate in nature, it follows that things are not impermanent. If this is accepted, they must be permanent. If things and impermanence are one, since precisely that which is impermanent is a functional thing, how can they have inherent duration? Duration is impossible. )
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L5: [4. Refutation by examining which is stronger, duration or impermanence]
L6: [a. Consequence that subsequent reversal is unfeasible if impermanence is weaker]
.
\ ###
\ 271.
\ If duration is not weak
\ Because impermanence is weak,
\ Why should a reversal
\ Afterwards be seen?
.
(i. e. Refutation of another position: some think duration and impermanence are two alternate characteristics of everything. But that doesn't explain anything. What makes the switch from duration to impermanence if duration is stronger? )
.
( -- Assertion: While things continue to exist, duration is stronger and impermanence weaker, but it is not impossible for the weak to overcome the strong.
-- Answer: How can such a reversal be seen when things later finally become impermanent? It follows that it is unfeasible. If duration is not weaker because impermanence is weaker while things continue to exist, nothing can harm what has inherent strength. )
.
L6: [b. Consequence that nothing will have duration if impermanence is stronger]
.
\ ###
\ 272.
\ If impermanence is not weaker
\ And is present in all things,
\ None of them will have duration
\ Or nor all are impermanent.
.
(i. e. On the other hand, if impermanence is the dominant characteristic, then nothing has duration. Or is it that some things are permanent. )
.
(-- If impermanence is not weaker and is present in functional things at all times, it follows that all functional things do not have inherent duration, for impermanence, which overrides it, is always present. Alternatively, if not all things are impermanent, it follows that those which are not are permanent, because impermanence is weaker and duration has inherent strength. )
.
L6: [c. Consequence that what was permanent will later be impermanent if duration is stronger]
.
\ ###
\ 273.
\ If there is always impermanence
\ There cannot always be duration,
\ or else that which was permanent
\ later becomes impermanent.
.
(i. e. All of this is absurd. Those two cannot be to separate and alternate characteristics. )
.
(-- Furthermore, does impermanence arise together with the products it characterizes or does it arise later?
-- If there is always impermanence because that which is characterized and its characteristics are inevitably concomitant, it follows that duration is not inherently existent. Alternatively, having been permanent, a thing would later become impermanent, and if it remained for a second moment, it would be permanent. Yet one thing cannot be both permanent and impermanent. )
.
.
\ ###
L5: [5. Refuting that both exist together]
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\ 274.
\ If things have duration
\ And impermanence together,
\ Either it is wrong that things are impermanent,
\ or duration is a fallacy.
.
(i. e. Nor can they exist simultaneously. )
.
(-- The characteristics of products are concomitant with one another. Thus if one accepts that the duration of a thing's existence and the impermanence of its existence are simultaneously of one nature with a thing, either it is wrong that things are impermanent or else inherent duration is a fallacy. These two can exist together in false products [which do not exist as they appear] but cannot have a common locus in truly existent functional things. )
.
L4: [B. Refuting proof based on memory of the past]
.
\ ###
\ 275.
\ Things seen do not reappear,
\ Nor does awareness arise again.
\ Thus memory is in fact deceived
\ With regard to a deceptive object.
.
(i. e. The Middle Way about past: the past is not inherently existing, not non-existing either. The causes are not absolute, nor are they without any effect. Memories are not inherently existing, absolute; they are not without any foundation at all either. Empty of inherent existence because dependently arisen. )
.
( -- Assertion: Time exists because there is past time depending on past products. If that were not so, it would be impossible to remember past rebirths, thinking that one was this or that in the past.
-- Answer: This proof of time's true existence is also without the slightest substance. Memory focuses on an object which one has experienced.
-- Though things seen previously do not reappear later, and though awareness observing objects belonging to a past rebirth does not occur again, memory arises with a sense of seeing as one sees present objects. Memory which is in fact mistaken and deceived arises in relation to a so-called remembered object which is false and deceptive like an optical illusion. However, we do not deny that memory focusing on past objects arises dependently. This is certainly accepted in our own system. )
.
L3: [The summarizing stanza:] .
\ ###
\ Not knowing how to posit continuity and transitoriness,
\ They say time is permanent and the three times exist substantially.
\ Having understood that phenomena are like optical illusions,
\ Learn how the three times are perceived.
.
(i. e. There is no need for inherently existing time to support dependent origination / karma: Because we observe some regularity and continuity, and long to be able to control everything, we assume the inherent existence of causes, effects, space and time as if objectively existing. We think dependent origination implies inherent existence. But, on the contrary, dependent origination implies emptiness of inherent existence, and vice versa. Causes, effects, space and time are not inherently existing, not completely non-existing, not both, not neither. They are empty of inherent existence because dependently arisen, co-dependently arisen concepts. )
.
\ ###
\ This is the eleventh chapter from the Four Hundred on the Yogic Deeds, showing how to meditate on refuting time.
.
This concludes the commentary on the eleventh chapter, showing how to meditate on refuting time, from Essence of Good Explanations, Explanation of the "Four Hundred on the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas".
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L2: [Chapter 12 - Refuting Wrong Views - We need a gradual path combining virtuous methods and wisdom. There is no final view to arrive to. -- P. 239]
(i. e. SHOWING HOW TO MEDITATE ON REFUTING VIEWS. -- Refuting the true existence of that which is viewed.
.
-- Importance of a gradual path
-- Danger -- Do not present emptiness to an unprepared student; he might react in rejecting everything, or misunderstand completely -- going to the other extreme. He might even kill you :-)
-- Required qualities: open-minded and unbiased, intelligent and interested -- in the absence of these qualities the consequences may be grave.
-- Even though, ultimately, the right view is preferable to the right conduct, it is preferable to start with morality based on protecting a self; until they are calm and their great fear is appeased enough.
-- So it should not be presented to the beginners, they would have great fear, or misunderstand it
.
-- Non receptivity may be due to:
-- fear of annihilation, based on unfamiliarity
-- misinterpretation of emptiness, due to knowing just a little
-- resistance to change
-- attachment to one's own views and practices -- thinking they are impartial, exact, absolute -- identifying self with those, being proud of those
-- pride, conceit, partisanship
-- People judge from their own erroneous position thinking it is impartial; when they do not understand, they accuse the teacher
-- (Because of past successes, they have adopted views, the have invested in them; and they will question them only if they fail; and they will fail)
-- Fear is caused by unfamiliarity
-- People fear emptiness thinking it is annihilation
-- Emptiness destroys all views
-- Importance: Emptiness is the only final antidote (all other methods, practices, and views, are to gradually prepare the student for it)
.
-- Emptiness destroys all other views
-- All views are flawed because they are all based on inherent existence of something or another
-- All views are flawed; all other paths are attachment
-- It destroys all other views, but not in order to gain personal advantages in debates -- that would be like taking side for some views against others
.
-- It fights all extremes
-- desire and fear
-- attachment due to eternalism, fear due to annihilationism
-- liberating from unfulfilled desires, obsessions, fears,
.
-- The only to things you need
-- Methods: temporary antidotes, based on non-violence (morality, then love and compassion), based on dependent origination, things, self . . .
-- Wisdom: the final antidote, based on emptiness
-- (The two accumulations: merit and wisdom)
-- The truth is very subtle and hard to appreciate; people are more attracted first with short term superficial easy solutions -- it takes a shock to start looking for something deeper
-- See for yourself the truth about dependent origination and emptiness; do not rely just on scriptures and blind faith -- You do not need to adopt any other views, knowledge, practices
-- Why waste time with superficial inefficient ridiculous solutions
-- Do not get impressed by those superficialities; they are dead ends
.
L3: [I.
Why most ordinary people do not follow this teaching] L4: [A. Difficulty of finding a listener with the prerequisite qualities]
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L5: [1. Prerequisite qualities of the listener]
.
\ ###
\ 276.
\ An unprejudiced, intelligent and interested
\ Listener is called a vessel.
\ Neither the teacher's nor the student's
\ Good qualities will be taken as faults.
.
(i. e. Prerequisites: Not everybody is receptive enough at first. Many find faults in the teachings because they are conditioned by their own accumulated karma. One has to be open-minded, intelligent and interested. )
.
(-- The twelfth chapter begins by examining what qualities make one an ideal recipient for explanations concerning emptiness. Only benefit ensues for both student and teacher when the nature of reality is explained to such a person, while in the absence of these qualities the consequences may be grave.
-- The ideal recipient for instruction on emptiness is therefore open-minded, intelligent and interested.
-- Question: even though you have explained selflessness very clearly and extensively and the Tathagata fully understood and gave instruction on it, why do most people not follow this teaching?
-- Answer: Although the one who formulated it and those who elucidate it may be the perfect embodiment of greatness, a listener with great qualities is extremely hard to find.
-- What qualities does one need?
-- Answer: One should be unprejudiced, without attachment to one's own position or aversion to others' positions. Heart of the Middle Way says:
~ One will never know peace
~ While prejudice afflicts the mind.
-- If one is not unprejudiced one will fail to understand a good explanation because of thinking it is someone else's. One must have the intelligence to distinguish between good and bad explanations, otherwise one may reject correct explanations and adopt incorrect ones. A keen interest in good explanations is needed, for without that one will make no effort and simply be like the lifeless picture of a human being. One should appreciate and be attentive to the teaching and the teacher. A listener with these five qualities is said to be a vessel for the teaching. Someone with all these attributes will recognize the teacher's good qualities and fully understand the clarity and orderliness of the teaching, as well as the good intentions of other listeners. The teacher's lack of self-interest and the like will not be seen as faults and other than as they are, but only as virtues. Nor will the good qualities of the listeners be construed as faults. )
.
L5: [2. Disadvantages of not possessing the prerequisite qualities]
.
\ ###
\ 277.
\ He explained existence and its causes,
\ The means to peace and peace itself.
\ What people do not understand
\ Is seen as the Subduer's [fault].
.
(i. e. When with too much bad karma: People judge from their own erroneous position, under the influence of accumulated karma, thinking it is impartial. )
.
(-- Someone who is not genuinely open-minded and unbiased easily misunderstand even what has been well and clearly explained.
-- Although the teacher may be perfect, if the listeners lack the prerequisite qualities, they will not recognize their own faults but will consider faults as virtues and virtues as faults.
-- The Subduer taught about worldly existence in the form of the five contaminated and suffering aggregates and about true sources, the cause of worldly existence. He taught about true paths, the means to peace, such as the eightfold path of the Exalted, and also about peace, liberation and nirvana. He taught the four noble truths for those who seek liberation, but ordinary people who make no effort to hear, think and meditate are unaware that they do not possess all the qualities of a suitable vessel. Whatever they fail to understand correctly, they see as the Subduer's fault, saying he did not explain it in sufficient detail. However, merely that does not mean the Teacher is to blame. A blind person's inability to see is not the sun's fault. )
.
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L5: [3. Eliminating arguments]
L6: [a. Proving the Subduer's omniscience]
L7: [(1) Appropriateness of being glad about the teaching of emptiness which annihilates suffering and its sources]
.
\ ###
\ 278.
\ These strange people all agree that by
\ Giving up everything one attains nirvana.
\ For what reason do they dislike
\ That which puts an end to all?
.
(i. e. Grasping at the Hinayana approach: Some people can accept the Hinayana teachings but refuse to see the benefits of the Mahayana teachings because they are grasping at their own views as if it was an absolute truth, an absolute path. )
.
(-- Although one may accept that liberation can be achieved by overcoming faulty states of mind, lack of open- mindedness prevents one from recognizing that only a correct understanding of reality can eradicate them completely. -- Assertion: Although the Subduer's discussion of high rebirth is extremely clear, we do not understand or approve of his discussion of definite goodness, since the teaching that everything is without inherent existence refutes the very nature of things.
-- Answer: These strange Samkhyas, Vaisesikas and the like, who believe in liberation, all agree that one attains nirvana by giving up attachment to everything associated with disturbing emotions, such as pleasure, pain and so forth. Why do they dislike it when the person and aggregates are said to be empty of existence by way of their own entities? The understanding of this destroys all that is associated with disturbing emotions. Therefore they should be glad. Sutra says:
~ In nirvana there are no phenomena.
~ Whatever does not exist then never existed.
~ The suffering of those with ideas of existence and non-existence
~ Who act accordingly will not be pacified.
.
Since only the Buddha's words contain undistorted statements about suchness, and Samkhyas and so forth do not make even the slightest mention of it, one should recognize it as a unique teaching. )
.
L7: [(2) Why there is no liberation in any teaching other than the Teacher's]
.
\ ###
\ 279.
\ How will one who does not know
\ The means to give it up, do so?
\ Certainly, therefore, the Subduer said
\ There is no peace in any other [teaching].
.
(i. e. It is not about artificially dropping all, but about directly seeing the real nature of everything: They do not know how to drop all attachments; they have no methods. It only by directly seeing the real nature of our own mind, and thus of everything, that all attachments and fears are automatically dropped. It is not by artificially trying to drop them all that one attain Nirvana. Nirvana is not produced by doing this or not doing that, by getting this or dropping that; it is beyond causality space and time. )
.
(-- Question: If these strange people all agree that one attains nirvana by giving up everything, what difference is there between you and the Forders?
-- Answer: They are different in that they merely have the wish to give everything up but do not know how to do so.
-- How can those belonging to other systems give up cyclic existence while they cling to the wrong methods? They do not know that the means to give it up is to understand that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence. Therefore certainly with this in mind the Subduer said, "The first practitioner of virtue has come about thus. The second and third have come about thus. The fourth has come about thus. Others' doctrines lack such practitioners of virtue. " On account of this he said, "There is no peace in any teaching other than this. ")
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L7: [(3) Means to gain certainty regarding extremely hidden matters taught by the Teacher]
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.
\ ###
\ 280.
\ Whoever doubts what the Buddha said
\ About that which is hidden
\ Should rely on emptiness
\ And gain conviction in him alone.
.
(i. e. Gradually gaining confidence and faith in this Buddha's teachings can be done first by understanding intellectually the importance and efficacity of realizing the emptiness of all dharmas in the elimination of all causes of suffering. One also realize then that a mere intellectual understanding is not enough to actualize Nirvana, but one has to directly see this truth in his own mind in action in the present. )
.
(-- It is thus vital to gain conviction in the importance and efficacity of understanding emptiness.
-- Question: If he is omniscient, he must have super-knowledge of hidden things such as the size of Mount Meru and the continents, but how can one be sure of that?
-- Answer: One can ascertain it with the help of inference.
-- One might wonder whether what the Buddha has said is true or not regarding the size of the abodes, bodies and lifespans of the six kinds of gods of the Desire Realm and so forth from whom one is separated by time and place, and regarding the size of the human physical world and so on, all of which are hidden to common beings. To dispel such doubts one should take as example the fact that the feature of the two truths which are very subtle and difficult to understand -- the teaching that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence together with the feasibility of all actions and agents -- are actually as he explained. Understanding through this that the extremely hidden things he taught are just as he described, one should gain conviction that he alone is omniscient. Having ascertained dependent arising free from fabricated extremes through correct reasoning without relying on scriptural citations as proof, one should ascertain extremely hidden things relying on the Buddha's words as reason. Regarding the general presentation of this, the explanations of Dignaga and his spiritual son are like those of the great trailblazers. In this context objects can be understood through the presentation of four kinds of valid cognition. )
.
L6: [b. Showing that others' teachers are not authentic]
.
\ ###
\ 281.
\ Those who find it hard to see
\ This world are ignorant of others.
\ Those who follow them will be
\ Misled for a very long time.
.
(i. e. Not all paths are equal. Some paths proposed by ignorants only create more attachment to views, more conditioning (bad karma), more obstacles to Liberation. )
.
(-- Through lack of intelligence people follow misleading teachers and are led astray into thickets of wrong views.
-- Non-Buddhist teachers who have difficulty in discerning even the way coarse cause and effect operate in relation to the physical environment and inhabitants of this world are ignorant regarding other subtle matters. People who follow them will thus come under the influence of innate and intellectually formed attitudes which must be given up, and they will be misled for a very long time. Those interested in their own good should leave false teachers. They should trust and value the true one. )
.
L4: [B. Difficulty of understanding the meaning of the fundamental mode of existence] L5: [1. Why emptiness is feared]
L6: [a. Why some, although seeking liberation, follow the Forders]
.
\ ###
\ 282.
\ The unwise take no delight in letting
\ Their mind follow a guide
\ Who has done that which is
\ Most difficult -- attained nirvana.
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.
(i. e. Lack of interest: Because they do not find short term gratification for their self, and fear emptiness. See next verse. )
.
(-- Lack of interest prevents one from finding out how to gain liberation and from following what was explained by the Buddha who taught from his own experience.
-- Question: Why do those who seek liberation follow the Forders?
-- Answer: Because they are afraid to listen to teaching on emptiness. It is as follows: "the four lines of this verse".
-- To be taken care by a spiritual friend and go to the city of Nirvana, having rid oneself of the stains of conceiving things as truly existent, is very difficult. Though one with great compassion who did what was difficult to do has come to guide them, unwise people take no delight in letting their minds follow this guide because they fear emptiness. )
.
L6: [b. Recognizing a person who fears emptiness]
.
\ ###
\ 283.
\ When it is not seen, fear does not begin.
\ When seen, it stops completely.
\ Thus one can say with certainty;
\ Those who know a little are afraid.
.
(i. e. Fear of emptiness: They fear because they know a little, but not enough, about emptiness. )
.
(-- Ingrained ideas about the self prevent ordinary people from considering the possibility of emptiness and cause them to fear it.
-- Question: Who is afraid?
-- Answer: People like cowherds, who see neither virtues not faults in it, can hear about emptiness a hundred times without beginning to feel afraid, because they do not regard it as either beneficial or harmful. When one perceives emptiness directly through a gradual process of hearing, thinking and meditating, fear stops completely because one is free from conceptions of a self which are the cause of fear. Thus one can say with certainty that fear arises in people who have only a little knowledge of emptiness. It is like the following analogy: A well-trained person is not afraid to mount a mad elephant, nor is an extremely stupid person. Yet someone who knows a little about the dangers and benefits involved feels frightened. )
.
L6: [c. Why childish people fear emptiness]
.
\ ###
\ 284.
\ Childish beings are certainly only
\ Familiar with that which involves them.
\ Because of unfamiliarity
\ They fear that which extricates them.
.
(i. e. All of this because of unfamiliarity with emptiness: It is a childish reaction due to unfamiliarity with emptiness)
.
(-- Question: Why do they fear emptiness?
-- Answer: Because of a lack of familiarity.
--- Childish beings are certainly only familiar with innate and intellectually formed conception of a self which involve them in cyclic existence. Since such childish beings have no previous familiarity with a teaching that extricates one from the cycle of birth and death, they fear emptiness. One should therefore give up doctrines that are wrong and unwholesome.
-- Emptiness should be taught to those who, because they feel grateful to the Tathagata, are suitable vessels, but who, because of their great fear, are tempted to reject it. )
.
L5: [2. Faults of impeding others' understanding of emptiness]
.
\ ###
\ 285.
\ If someone who is shrouded in
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\ Complete ignorance and impedes suchness
\ Will not even attain good fortune,
\ What need to mention liberation? .
(i. e. The need of a gradual path: Do not present emptiness to an unprepared student; he might react in rejecting everything, or misunderstand completely -- going to the other extreme, nihilism. )
.
(-- Since rejecting emptiness makes it difficult to attain a good rebirth and impossible to achieve liberation, great care must be taken to prepare students sufficiently and ensure that they are receptive, otherwise this precious teaching acts as a poison instead of panacea.
-- Someone who not only has a total disregard for emptiness but is completely shrouded in ignorance and impedes teaching, hearing and thinking about suchness out of jealousy, meanness and the like will not even attain the good fortune of a high rebirth. This being so, what chance is there of such a person attaining liberation, since such actions are grave ill deeds?