Geshela opened the teachings on Sunday with this quote from Aryadeva's 400 Verses on the Middle Way: The consciousness that is the seed of existence Has objects as its sphere of activity. When selflessness is seen in objects The seed of existence is destroyed. དབུ་མ་བཞི་རྒྱ་པ་ལས། ་།སྲིད་པའི་ས་བོན་རྣམ་ཤེས་ཏེ། །ཡུལ་རྣམས་དེ་ཡི་སྤྱོད་ཡུལ་ལོ། །ཡུལ་ལ་བདག་མེད་མཐོང་ན་ནི། །སྲིད་པའི་ས་བོན་འགག་པར་འགྱུར། །ཞེས་གསོངས་སོ། In Chapter 9 vs. 3 Shantideva states that there are two kinds of individuals: yogis who hold insight, and the common run of people. When we see the ultimate mode of abiding, we see things as they truly are. When we see the true reality, we do not form associations that lead to ensuing kleshas. Our connection to that which is apparent is now free from liking, disliking; approval, disapproval; wanting, not wanting. This is the domain of the yogi. But if through the sense of an I, and through ignorance that is the basis of misperception, we take all that is apparent to be just as it appears to be(with no investigation)- we get all caught up in the ups and downs of turmoil caused by emotional reactions: liking, disliking...etc. This is the domain of the common run of people. Geshela explained that it is not the eye sense-perception itself, nor the nose sense-perception itself, etc. that come into play that likes, or dislikes, ...etc., and causes turmoil. But rather, it is the mental consciousness perception that is the determinate factor. Thus, when through the unwavering, penetrating samadhi of a meditator, the true reality of phenomena is seen(emptiness is seen in objects), things are no longer perceived in the mode that formerly caused us so much difficulty and pain, but are now seen just as they are, and that former ignorance of the true nature is ended. (The seed of existence is destroyed). To find our way to wisdom- to that penetrating insight that sees into the true nature of phenomena ( thus ending all delusion), we must first understand the Two Truths: the apparent reality of conventions, and the deeper ultimate reality. Geshela stated that the above quote from Aryadeva, and an earlier cited quote below from Master Nagarjuna, hold the same meaning and sum up the difference between the two types of individuals mentioned in vs. 3. Liberation is the exhaustion of karma and afflictions. The perpetuation of proliferating elaborations Coming from karma and the afflictions Ceases by the realization of emptiness.
ལེས་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་ཟཔ་པའི་ཐར། ལས་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་རྣམ་ཏོག་ལས། དེ་དག་སྤྲོས་ལས་སྤྲོ་པ་ནི། སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་འགག་པར་འགྱུར། Please join us as Geshe Jinpa Sonam instructs us with his expertise and skill as he continues his commentary on the profound Wisdom chapter of the Way of the Bodhisattva.
Dianne McKinnon for #Indiana #Buddhist Center