geshengawangsherab lorig

7/28/2019 GesheNgawangSherab LORIG

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GESHE NGAWANG SHERAB

M I N D - nature & function

A Types

1. Object possesors

2. Conceptual & nonconceptual minds

3. Sense and mental awarenesses

4. Direct perceivers

5. Inferential cognizers

6. Re-cognizers

7. Correct beliefs

8. Non-ascertaining perceivers

9. Doubts

10. Wrong awarenesses

11. Valid & non-valid cognizers

1.1 Object possesor - a functioning thing that expresses or cognizes

an object;


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object possessor & objects mutually dependent; obj. possessors &

specially mind without an object any time;

1.2 Divisions

1.21 Expressive sounds - object of hearing, having sense

meaning expressing definate object/thing; articulate

sounds such as spoken words

1.22 Persons - Inputed upon the five aggregates of form, feelings,

discrination, evolving facts & consiousness;

cognizing things/objects through their minds;

performs actions and expereinces the results thereof;

1.23 Minds - principal function is to cognize objects; clarity

(nature) & cognition (function);

1.231 Mind - levels - grosss (normal waking minds) , subtle, very

subtle (dream, death &meditative poise for

completion stage practitioners);

1.232 Mind - (subtle) - location - crown chakra (discursive

minds, dull minds, confused minds); heart chakra

(love, compassion, hatred); navel chakra (desirous

attachment);


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2. Conceptual & nonconceptual minds

2.1 Conceptual - a thought that apprehends its objects through a

generic image (of the object);

2.11 Objects: (5 types) a appearing - seeing a table directly

appearing

b observed - also the table

c ebngaged - also the table

d aprrehended - also the table

e conceived - table not; any object

through image

division (a) - 1. peceiving through image mainly from force of

reading or listening, image of flower after

seeing it

2. through image & force of contemplating the

meaning of an object - image of flower after

thinking of it

3. image through previous inprints - like I

division (b) - i. Correct & ii. wrong or


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THE MIND

since our birth we have been using the faculties we call the

mind. It is not something which is new and we are not going to

learn something which we do not know. It is possible that we

are not very clear about what our mind is as there are different

theories about it.

If we are going to study the mind from the aspect of

understanding the outside world then we will only understand

that aspect. If we are going to study the mind with respect to

the internal working of the mind then we will understand it

from that aspect. If we have about the mind then our

understanding will be limited by those theories.

First of all we should put a question to ourself, in which we ask

- what is the mind? Before we try to get any answer we must

make it clear about the function of the mind and that which we

generally talk about; one is called the subject and one is called


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the object. If there is something to be seen or to be known then

there must be something which observes, which sees or which

knows it. The one which knows is what we call the subject and

that which is seen or known is the object. There are three

different parts which can take the role of the subject and then

all other phenomena are the object. So we have to understand

the difference between the one observing and the one observed.

@@@@ the entire universe or existance can be divided into two

portions, one which observes that is subject and one that is

observed which is the object. The subject can have three classes,

it can be either a mind, a person or articualted verbal sound.

Everything else including these three things can be the object.

The subject is dependent on the object. It does not mean that

one thing is the subject and cannot be the object, this is not true,

the subject itself can be the object. For example, if we talk abouta person being the subject that very person at the same time can

be the object of another person. In a similar way if we talk

about the mind being a subject, the very same mind which is

now seeing a house and a flower, can also be the object of


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another mind. The mind, the person and the articulated verbal

sound can be both subject as well as object. Everything in the

universe, everything in existence can be object, however all

phenomena cannot be the subject. A chair, is a material thing

which can only be the object it cannot also be the subject. A

person can be both the object and subject, for example when I

am speaking, at this time I am the subject and you are the

object, at the very same time you can also be the subject because

in your mind you are observing me as the speaker. When you

observe me speaking I become the object of your observation.

What is mind?

First we should try to define what is mind. The mind is defined

to be something which has clarity and which is a cogniser. The

clarity aspect of the definition of the mind refers to somethingwhich is not material, it does not have a form, it does not have a

colour, it does not have a shape, it can be described as similar to

space like nature but, it is not space. The mind has the faculty of

cognition, it has the conscious faculty of apprehension, it can


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know things. Without the mind we would not know. At the

time of our sleeping, people may come around us but we do not

know because we are on a sub conscious level. We say that

material things do not have the faculty of consciousness. The

faculty of consciousness is possessed only by living beings. In

buddhism we do not only talk of human beings as living

beings, generally we consider that living beings consist of 6

classes. One class we are very aware of is human being or the

human race. The second class of beings are called gods. Here

we have to make the clarification that it is not the God but

gods, who like human beings are also numberless. In many

ways the gods and demi-gods (the third class) possess similar

qualities to human beings but they have other different

qualities which human beings do not possess. The majority of

gods are said to be self born, without depending on the motherswomb. Their sustainance of living is also not dependent on

material foods like we need. They subsist on subtle energies

and essences of nutrients. The gods and demi gods are often

classed together because in many ways they are quite similar


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but they do have some different characteristics. These three

groups of beings; gods, demi gods and human beings are said

to be of the better part of the universe. The other three lower

classes of beings are; the animal kingdom, the hungry ghosts

and hell beings. The animal kingdom consists of the smallest

insects to the biggest animal such as the elephant or even earlier

the dinosaur. The hungry ghosts are said to not always be

miserly and living in misery but their main problem is always

suffering from the inability to supress or satisfy their

hunger,thirst and so on. It is not that they do not have material

things, many of them are said to be rich with lots of material

possessions but they are not able to enjoy them. The last class of

beings is the hell beings. The western term hell suggests a very

horrible thing but there are human beings who are also in this

part of existence as a hell being. It is not easy for us to know orto have a good understanding of these things because as human

beings we are only aware of ourselves and we do not give

much thought to other beings but it is possible to have some

idea about such things. Even among human beings we find that


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some people have a better physical body and a lighter way of

living, which we can compare to the gods and demi gods. On

the other side we can see similar situations to the hungry ghosts

or the hell beings. Very often we find in many countries that

there are wars going on, especially now in Bosnia, many people

are living in the terror of guns and they do not find security in

their lives. When we see this kind of thing we can imagine the

possibility of other beings in such conditions. We are talking of

these different kinds of beings because the subject which we are

talking about is the mind and the mind is possessed by each

and everyone of these beings. As living beings we have the

nature of either suffering, having pain or having pleasure and

this is because of the mind. We will all agree that this material

table does not have pain, nor can we think of this table as

having pleasure. The function of the mind is to cognise, forexample through seeing things, observing things, tasting and so

on. These are the functions of the different aspects of the mind.

So whoever possesses a mind can be described as a living

being. An overall general quality of the consciousness is


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apprehension and consists of seeing, observing and so on. The

work of the mind or the capability of the mind is to know, for

example the hand itself cannot know although when I touch

this I will feel something, this feeling is actually because of the

mind. We sometimes say that our hands are senseless, this is

because the mind is not able to give the connectivity to that part

of our body and so we feel it to be senseless.

This is a basic definition of the mind and from that definition

we can talk about the mind as being something subtle, it is not a

material thing and it cannot be touched. It is a substantial

phenomena and it is a phenomena having a mental function, a

knowing function. It is momentary, from one moment to the

next it is moving, for example the second moment of the mind

is caused by the earlier moment of the mind. Todays mind is

the cause for the birth of tomorrows mind and todays mind isthe result of yesterday mind. This is cause and effect, any

phenomena can be the cause and the effect. So what is the cause

now can be the effect in the next moment. One important thing

that we need to know about the mind is that it is not


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permanant. When we say that a thing is not permanant it does

not mean that it will disappear it means that it is moving from

one moment to the other.

Many people these days believe that the brain is the mind.

Many people who think that the brain is the mind do so

because if we observe the brain, by using different kinds of

mechanical instruments, whenever there are sensations or

activities taking place somewhere something is definitely

happening in the brain. Even medically whenever the brain is

damaged the person is said be in a dying state.

There are many reasons why we think that the brain is the

mind; firstly when something is happening in the brain it is

very evident and secondly many of the sensual organs (exceptthe physical body) are on the head. The eyes we find on the

head, the ears we find on the head, the nose and the mouth,

even part of the sensation of the body is here. So we find

everything on the head and the brain is in the head. This might


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lead us to believe very easily that the brain can be identified as

the mind.

There are other traditions and theories according to which, the

energy channels in the body are considered to be the mind. We

have a lot of energy passing through our body, the channels are

there and they pass through different points. So why do some

people take these channels to be the mind? It is because the

mind itself is dependent upon these energies, they are related in

many ways. The mind is said to ride the energies which are

passing through the channels and therefore those who theorise

these things are basing their reasoning on this kind of thing. It

is said that the energies are used like a vehicle by the mind and

therefore for those who are observing or studying the working

of the energies it is very difficult to differentiate which is the

mind and which are the energies because the mind is verymuch dependent on the energy. For us who perhaps cannot

even recognise these energies then there is no point in making

this confusion.


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Many other theories subscribe to the theory that the sense

organs can be regarded as or identified as the mind. When I use

my eyes to look at something then I think that the eye sense

organ is observing that thing I do not recognise that the mind is

also working there. In a similar way each of the sense organs

are regarded or confused to be working as the mind. The

confusion is because the functions of the sense organs are

working similarly to the function of the mind.We need to

observe how the sense organs themselves are working. We

have to observe the materials of the organ itself, when we

observe the eye organ we find the eyeball itself or even the

different parts of the eyeball. This cannot really be the only

agent which makes it possible to see something. If it was then

without the mind working people should still be able to see

because the sense organ is still active.We know that a dyingperson has a certain time limit, but still the sense organs can be

very active and can be utilised even for other human beings,

that means it still has the capability of a full organ. In a similar

way the different sense organs of a person are still active even


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when the person is dead, so why is the dead person not able to

observe, see, hear, say something. When someone is declared to

be dead, at that moment, the organs still have the capacity of

regular organs but why are they not able to do the functions

which they did? By technological advancement we have learnt

how to identify things, which makes it possible to see things

such as the organ itself and so now we can also replace things.

Although we can make these things we cannot make the

functioning of the sense organ. We have studied these things

and we know that it is the mind which is coming through the

sense organ of the eye and so we still cannot make fingers see

like the eye sense organ does, that is the difference.

Can we consider the camera to be similar to the eye sense

organ? If we observe this kind of thing then we will have more

understanding of this kind of mental factors. Even if weexamine sound, the tape recorder when it is played is making

some sound so can we say that it has the same capability as the

mouth? In a similar way the tape recorder when it is recording

has the similar capacity as the sense of hearing. The reception of


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the sound is done by the recorder and this function is similar to

the sense of hearing. There are many similar questions that we

can put about the different sense organs, then we will know

that the sense organ itself is not mind as some theories now say.

It is sure that the mind is dependent on the sense organs

because when an organ is damaged the mind cannot function

for example, if the organ of hearing is damaged we cannot hear,

when the eye sense organ is damaged we cannot see. If

someone has a damaged eye he may not be able to see for some

time but after medical care and if the eye organ is repaired then

he is able to see again. This also shows us that there is

something other than the sense organ itself through which the

mind is acting. Without the eye organ then the mind cannot

have the function of seeing. We know that there is a relation

between the eye organ and the sense of seeing but they are notseeing.

The fourth theory is that the mind itself is some kind of a

phenomena which is a part of the body, a physical force which

is present in the body is considered to be the mind. This kind of


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theory is different from thinking that the brain is the mind or

that the sense organs are the mind because they think that it is

some kind of identical part of the body, it is very similar to the

body and when the body goes the mind also goes. They think

that the mind is something which can not be differentiated from

the body. It is a physical force which is present in the body, an

element of the body and that the life span of the mind is the

same as that of the body. This kind of thinking was also quite

prominent in ancient times as it is now. That is why it is

thought that when a man dies the life of the mind also dies.

There is nothing different between the mind and the physical

body itself, because they think the mind is something which is

similar to the physical body itself. This kind of attitude makes

us very much concerned only with this present life and so we

do not bother about any future existence, it makes us concernedonly for the physical body and the requirements of the physical

body.


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Even if we are not concerned about future existence, having this

kind of attitude in this present life will make us only more

concerned for the physical part of

the body than for the different parts of life which we can talk of

as the mind. This kind of thinking leads us to the attitude of

considering or treating this body as the most important thing

and for this reason we are very much concerned with the

physical body.

Why is this kind of attitude making us only concerned with

our physical body? It is because this thinking makes us not able

to even consider existence apart from the physical body, the

existence of a mind seperate from the physical body. We canunderstand that there is something other than the physical

body in our life by examining and asking ourself - what are the

requirements of the physical body? We could meet every

requirement of the physical body and still there would be


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something which makes us feel unhappy or discontent. If we

think what the requirements of the physical body are and we

meet every requirement, there would still be something which

we would find missing in our life. We have to go into detail on

this because if we are not able to arrive at an understanding

about the mind, the existence of a mind apart from the physical

body then we would not be able to talk about the mind which is

having an effect. We know that there are certain things which

effect us that are not the physical or the material body.

During the last one and half hours I have been thinking and

talking and you have been listening and thinking. All of this

process is seperate from the physical body and even apart from

the sense organs. If we try to go back into our childhood and

from then onwards we try to remember different levels of our

age we can still remember a lot of things and these memoriesare also not a physical thing. If we have been to many different

places even sitting here now, we can go back to those places

immediately. The pains that we have had in our life, the

pleasures that we have had in our life, even if they were ten or


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twenty years before, however far we go back we can still

remember those things very cleary. Without the phenomena

called the mind which has the cognitive force, we could not

have these memories going into the past or project ourself into

the future.

I think we need to leave a little time for some questions. We

may still have to cover the same subject in more detail going

into the different factors of the mind but first we must have a

clear idea about what the mind is and how far we can

comprehend this idea of the mind. Only then can we talk about

the factors. Therefore it is very important and so tomorrow we

may touch again this subject in more detail. I think you would

also agree that it is not important what we know quantity wise

but it is more important we know something clearly, in this

way it is much more useful. if it is not clear it is not useful.Knowing anything depends upon us applying our own mind,

somebody telling you many things cannot make you

understand unless your mind is going with those things.

Otherwise there are millions of books in which there is all of


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this information but until we apply our mind to knowing it

even while reading we do not understand because the mind is

not applied. We have laziness in everything, maybe physically

we are very active, maybe we are holding a book and reading a

lot but applying the mind is very difficult in the beginning but

when we become used to it it can become quite easy.

Enthusiastic perserverance generally is not only hard work it

means having the wish to know the good and positive things.

Question

Can we say that the mind and the consciousness are the same

thing?

ANSWER

Yes.

The mind is not the brain, it is not the sensual organs, it is not

the energy, it is not material. We can say what it is not and at

the end we realsie what is the nature of the mind by the process

of elimination.


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Other questions?

QUESTION/DISCUSSION

What is the difference between the mind and the person?

ANSWER

The person is a physical and mental entity. We say this person

and that person, it is a physical entity which is composed of

both physical phenomena as well as mental phenomena, it is

very clear that man is a person but animals are also person.

Generally we misunderstand this but animals are person

because they are made from physical and mental. Every

sentient being has to be regarded as a person, that is why at the

beginning I was going around the different classes or realms ofhuman beings, gods and so on because if we do not do this then

we may think that human beings are the only person. When we

talked about the subject which consists of three things; one is

the mind, the second is the person and third is the articulated


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verbal sound. The second class, the person, consists of all living

beings. Not every phenomena is the subject but everything can

be the object. This means the subject is less and the object is

more.

QUESTION

The person is a knower?

ANSWER

YES.

QUESTION

So, the mind is also a knower?

ANSWERYes. The mind, the person and the articulated verbal sound are

the three subjects and they are what know.

QUESTION


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The mind is the part of the person that knows.It is not the body

of the person that knows.Why do we not put together the

person and mind?

ANSWER

The person does not mean only the physical part of the body.

The person is a living entity. Here it may be confusing because

we are saying mind and then articulated sound and then the

person. In the person there is also mind but here the person is

regarded as one of the subjects seperately. It is important

because person consists not only of the mind but also of the

physical aspect and that is why it is put seperately, the mind is

only the mind. The mind is singular whereas the person is a

combination of the body and mind. Otherwise if we simply take

the mind, then person can also be seen as the subject but wemay be confused because of the physical body. The person

consists of both the physical body and the mind. We have to

regard the person seperately as a subject because if we simply

talk about the mind and articulated sound as subject then we


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will see that the person can also be a subject and then we will

get confused because of the physical entity.The two exclude the

misconception of confusing the person when regarded as a

subject and exclude the misconception about the physical body

as an object.

QUESTION

Is it correct to say that the mind itself cannot exist without the

person?

ANSWER

Yes. Mind is not existing as a living entity, it is necessary for the

mind to be person.

QUESTIONThen it is the person who is knower not the mind?

ANSWER


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Within the person the mind can also function to know the

different aspects of the mind. The subject mind becomes the

object of the mind of the person. We often talk about the six

senses, when you are looking at something at that moment

your sixth sense can know that you are seeing something.

QUESTION

The mind exists by itself or only with the person or with the

body?

ANSWER

Generally every phenomena even the smallest exists by itself

but to be a functional thing then it has to come intocomposition. If we define and seperate things into atoms and

further into atoms then they exist but to be functional they have

to come into some composition.


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QUESTION

Does the mind remain with a body which is dying?

ANSWER

That is what we discussed in one of the theories. There are

those who regard the physical body as the mind, something

which is not different from the physical body, they say that

when the man dies the mind also dies. If we do not accept the

existence of the mind other than as a part of the body we have

to believe in the disappearance of the mind along with the

death of the body.We know however that while living the

seperation of the mind and the body can take place, even for

short periods of time. I can relate one quite recent event.

QUESTIONThe mind is knowing also without sensory organs?

ANSWER


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Yes. It is the sixth sense. The five senses come through the five

sense organs and the sixth is not requiring this. We call it mind,

mental.

QUESTION

>Not possible to hear

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