What Is Consciousness?

A brief investigation of consciousness may lead to the idea that we have a consciousness that experiences things—consciousness is the self and the world around us is other.

Vasubandhu, the influential 4th/5th century ce Buddhist monk, scholar, and philosopher, expressed another view, "Everything conceived as self or other occurs in the transformation of consciousness."

Neither the self or the other is consciousness. They're merely conceptions occurring within the process of consciousness.

On Rebirth

To think that "I will have to bear it"
Is in fact a false idea.
For that which dies is one thing;
What is born is something else.

                    ~Shantideva, in The Way of the Bodhisattva, verse 8:98

Seeing the Buddha

When your practice and understanding meet, you will see the Buddha.

~Seng-chao

Ultimate Nature

Tibetan Buddhist philosophy the ultimate nature of all things is to be "empty of inherent existence."

Thunderstruck

But all my foes will cease to be,
And all my friends will cease to be,
And I will also cease to be,
And likewise everything will cease to be.

All that I possess and use
Is like the fleeting vision of a dream.
It fades into the realms of memory,
And fading, will be seen no more.

                                   ~Shantideva, in The Way of the Bodhisattva

Drinking the Mountain Stream

Happy is one who knows samsara and nirvana are not two.

                                                                                Milarepa

The Middle Way

Were mind and matter me,
I would come and go like them.
If I were something else,
They would say nothing about me.

                       ---Nagarjuna---

Thoughts

Thoughts of themselves have no substance; let them arise and pass away unheeded. Thoughts will not take form of themselves, unless they are grasped by the attention; if they are ignored, there will be no appearing and no disappearing.

                                                                                                                                 ---Ashvaghosha---

The Great Middle Way

The Great Perfection takes no sides.
If it takes sides, it is not the Great Perfection.
The Great Seal doesn't negate or affirm.
If there is negation or affirmation, it is not the Great Seal . . .
In the Great Middle Way, there is no identity at which to grasp.
If identity is grasped at, then it is not the Great Middle Way.

---Milarepa---

Sit With This

Everything is real and not real,
both real and not real,
neither real nor not real—
this is the Buddha's teaching.

                                       ---Nagarjuna---

Happiness

Why be unhappy about something
if it can be remedied?
And what is the use of being unhappy about something
if it cannot be remedied?

---Shantideva---

The Word of the Buddha

Whatever is well spoken, all that is the word of the Buddha.

---Shantideva---

The Word of the Buddhas

Through four factors is an inspired utterance the word of the Buddhas.

What four?

(i) . . . the inspired utterance is connected with truth, not untruth;

(ii) it is connected with the Dharma, not that which is not the Dharma;

(iii) it brings about renunciation of moral taints not their increase; and

(iv) it shows the laudable qualities of nirvana, not those of the cycle of rebirth.

---Shantideva---

Hinder You

The Lord said, "If anyone should criticize me, the Dharma, or the Sangha, you should not because of that be angry, resentful, or upset. For if you did, that would hinder you and you would not be able to know whether what they said was right or wrong. Would you?"

"No, Lord," the monks answered.

"So, if others criticize me, the Dharma, or the Sangha, simply explain what is incorrect, saying, 'That is incorrect. That is not right. That is not our way. We do not do that.' But also, if others should praise me, the Dharma, or the Sangha, you should not because of that be please, elated, or self-satisfied. For if you were, that would hinder you. So, if others praise me, the Dharma, or the Sangha, simply explain what is correct, saying, 'That is correct, That is right, That is our way. That is what we do.' "

---The Digha Nikaya---

Emptiness

Nowhere and at no time can an object be found to exist through origination from itself, from another, from both, or from no cause whatsoever.

---Nagarjuna---

The Correct Way

Treat others justly, fairly, and with compassion guided by wisdom.

Do this not because of the hope of a reward.

Do this not because of the fear of punishment.

Do this because it is the correct way, the civilized way, the humane way.

We are all in this together.

We are all this.

What I do to you, I do to me.

What I do to me, I do to you.

What I do to that person, I do to all persons.

What I do to that Life I do to all Life.

Pluck the web and it vibrates everywhere.

With or Without End

If this world had an end, how could there be the other world? But if this world were without an end, how could there be the other world?

---Nagarjuna---

Neither Cessation Nor Origination

I salute the Fully Enlightened One, the best of orators, who taught the doctrine of dependent origination, according to which there is neither cessation nor origination, neither annihilation nor the eternal, neither singularity nor plurality, neither the coming nor the going [of any dharma, for the purpose of nirvana characterized by] the auspicious cessation of hypostatization.

---The Dedicatory Verse in Nagarjuna's Middle Way (The Mulamadhyamakakarika), translated by Mark Siderits and Shoryu Katsura---

A Blind Man

A man that possesses knowledge of the written word,
And yet he does not apply what he has learned,
Is like a blind man carrying a lamp during the day,
He is still unable to see the road.

---Nagarjuna---

Wisdom and Charity

Wisdom is the chief of the ten thousand virtues, and charity is the foremost of the myriad practices.

---Seng-chao---