Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Virtue And Reality (Buddhanet 1998, Buddhism, English)

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As well as this kind of ignorance, there s the one described by the second Madhyamika school, the
Svatantrika the hallucination on the I, the object to be refuted according to their view. I m just
mentioning this so that you ll have an idea of how trapped our minds are, how many different levels
of ignorance we experience, how many kinds of hallucination there are. The hallucination on the I
that the Svatantrikas describe is grosser than the one the Prasangikas explain. Then there s the
Cittamatrins version, where they say that the I exists from its own side without depending on mental
imprints, without the mind as creator. They describe a seventh level of consciousness normally we
talk about just six that is called the basis of samsara and nirvana. So they say that the I exists
totally from its own side without depending on imprints left on this seventh level of consciousness
and describe it as a self-entity.
According to Hindu philosophy, the I, which they call atman, is permanent. While the self is
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actually impermanent, they believe it to be permanent. Therefore, there s a lot of discussion in
Buddhist texts refuting this view, explaining that while the self may appear to us to be permanent, in
fact it changes moment by moment due to causes and conditions and is therefore impermanent. If
you look at your I right now, you ll see that it appears to be permanent, whereas you know that in
reality it is impermanent in nature.
Other views hold, for example, that while the I is dependent upon parts, there is the appearance
and the belief that it exists alone, not dependent upon parts, or that while the I is dependent upon
causes and conditions, there is the appearance and the belief that it exists with its own freedom,
without depending on causes and conditions. These gross hallucinations are described and posited as
the object of refutation by the first Buddhist school, the Vaibashika. This school has eighteen
divisions, each with its own variant view. Then there s the hallucination that even though the I exists
dependent upon the group and continuity of the aggregates, it appears to us as a self-entity existing
without depending on the group and continuity of the aggregates. So these are some of the positions
held by the Vaibashika and the Sautrantika, the lower Buddhist schools.
How has it come about that there are these four schools of Buddhist philosophy? It s due to the
different ways of explaining what the I is. In reality, emptiness is just one, not many. There is only one
emptiness that directly cuts the root of samsara. This is the emptiness taught by the Prasangika-
Madhyamika school, whose view of emptiness is the unmistaken, pure one and the only one that can
cut the specific ignorance that I mentioned before.
However, not everybody has the karma to accept this, to understand this, to realize this. Sentient
beings have different levels of mind. Therefore, the all-knowing, kind, compassionate Buddha taught
varying levels of philosophy to guide sentient beings minds gradually up to the level where they
could realize the Prasangika view of emptiness. One could start with the gross explanations of
emptiness taught by the lower schools and gradually progress up to the most subtle, the Prasangika.
That s how the four schools came into being. The lower schools were steps to the higher ones, leading
ultimately to the Prasangika. So even though the views of these various schools seem to contradict
each other, actually they re a method for gradually developing through study and meditation the
Prasangika view.
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How to meditate on emptiness
In case you are interested in practicing meditation on emptiness, I m going to explain a couple of
simple but quite helpful techniques for doing so.
The first technique is one that I often mention during meditation courses walking meditation
on emptiness. This is a kind of mindfulness meditation but it s much more profound than the usual
mindfulness of walking where you simply maintain awareness of I m walking and so forth. If you
can practice that kind of mindfulness of walking I m walking you can also practice [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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