When you study the mind, and this little text that’s out there, called Lorig, Mind and Awareness, the first part of it is the epistemological model of the mind, and this already is mind-bogglingly fascinating, I tell you. If modern thinkers and scientists just opened their mind to the possibility that the mind isn’t physical, and studied this, they would be blown away by the sophistication of this presentation of the way mind works.
One of the first things we learn is the two ways the mind functions. This is seemingly so simple, but you listen to it – if we can get this one, already it tells us so much about how the mind works and therefore why we suffer, you know.
There are various ways of dividing, but one way of dividing how our mind functions is 1. we have sensory consciousness, 2. we have mental consciousness – hear the words, please.
When we hear “sensory consciousness,” we assume that it’s a function of the body, because in the modern world we only posit the body.
But using the Buddhist approach when we say eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness and so forth, we have to look at these words carefully. First, consciousness, remember, is another word for the word “mind” – broadly they are synonymous. Second, consciousness is necessarily non-physical – that’s the absolute assumption here. No one’s asking you to believe it, but you have to hypothesize it – be intelligent, you know, we’re big girls and boys, we can dare to hypothesize something, not have a panic attack.
Therefore eye consciousness – let’s spell it out – is that part of your mind – which is not physical, remember – that works along with, interdependently with the eyeball and the nerves and all the bits and pieces working nicely. That’s the way to put it, very clear. Then you have ear consciousness, same thing, and the other three sense consciousnesses.
Now, let’s look at an ordinary experience. As you can see, there’s a thermos there: we know what it’s called. But when I look at the thermos, within a millisecond I will say, “Oh, what a really nicely designed thermos.” Now, let’s analyze what part of my mind is cognizing a “really nicely designed thermos” – this is the point I’m getting to now.
Each part of your mind has its own specific object that it cognizes – it’s very precise. “Object” not in a physical sense, but anything that can be known by mind is by definition known as an object, or an object of knowledge, or an existent, or an established base – there are four or five synonyms. Each part of our mind does its job of cognizing something.
So just naturally we assume that my eye consciousness cognizes “a really nicely designed thermos” – but it’s not possible! Sensory consciousness does not have the capability to cognize “really nicely designed thermos.” This is the point I’m getting at: all the sensory consciousnesses are profoundly limited in their capacity for cognition. The only things eye consciousness can cognize are shape and color, that’s it – not even the word “black,” just mere color – that’s all it cognizes: bare-bones shape and color.
And then ear consciousness can only cognize sound. It can’t say, “Oh wow, there’s Miles Davis, bliss out!” like I’d say if I heard the first note of that trumpet.
Senses are so limited in their capacity for cognition, but look how, as Lama Yeshe puts it, we make the body the boss. In the modern world we are only the body: we know we have thoughts and we know we have sensory, but we so merge them in our way of experiencing things and end up giving way more power to our senses than they actually have.
Sensory consciousness is our doorway into the world, because we’re so gross, isn’t it? We can’t cognize people’s minds – we’re not subtle enough – so we have to go via the senses, we experience everything first through the senses. But we give them so much power over our lives, it’s clear.
Now look at the point I’m getting to. If your eye consciousness is not capable of cognizing a well-designed thermos – it’s not capable, it’s not its job, it’s too sophisticated for it, it’s not possible – then which part of my mind is cognizing, is asserting, “There is a well-designed thermos”? And then Ven. Kunphen here: as I say that, she’s going, “Oh, don’t be ridiculous, it’s a really ugly thermos!” And then we’ll have a war – because she believes what she sees and I believe what I see.
So, what do we “see”? What happens is, the millisecond your eye consciousness cognizes that shape and color, quicker than Google your mental consciousness is accessed: all those thousands of thoughts and feelings and viewpoints and opinions that we’ve made up throughout our life – lifetimes! All stored there! As Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, “That’s where the workshop is.” In my case: I recognize from the shape that it’s labeled “thermos” and then based on my attachment I come up with the concept “well-designed thermos”: an opinion, a thought, a concept, an interpretation.
We basically live our lives like this: you open your eyes in the morning from sleep, your sensory consciousnesses come back to life, and suddenly everything out there bombards you. And then what happens is your mental consciousness takes over and starts having opinions about everything.
You notice a pain in your knee: there is your knee, which is physical, but it’s pervaded by your sensory consciousness, in this case tactile consciousness. Straight away your mental consciousness is accessed, you recognize the pain and then anger comes: “How dare that pain be there? It is not fair, poor me.” It’s an opinion, a viewpoint, an interpretation. You smell the coffee, you go, “Oh wow, the divine coffee”: it’s an opinion.
The second we wake up, our senses greet the world and our mental consciousness kicks in – and we spend our lives doing this – it continuously and unceasingly, moment by moment, comes up with interpretations of the objects of the senses.
So we go through life making up interpretations of the outside world, and then – and this is the killer – we believe that our interpretations are objective fact. When Ven. Kunphen sees that thermos, she believes that “ugly thermos” is in the thermos. I believe “well-designed thermos” is in the thermos. You read the news and you hear some politician you don’t like, and you believe he is a monster. We believe everything we think, and this is the tragedy – this is how we live in samsara.
This is a revelation when we can understand it. In other words, we’re making things up all day. And because there’s nothing we’ve ever seen or heard or tasted or touched or smelt or thought about since beginningless time that is not stored in our mind, then whatever interpretations arise are based on 1. our karmic imprints and 2. our delusions – 0r virtues, because they too are interpretations, but at least they’re relatively correct.
We hear a sound and we interpret it as ugly, we feel a sensation in our knee and we call it bad. When we realize the distinction between these two ways the mind functions – sensory and mental – we can realize that the interpretations are not existing in the object itself and in fact are exaggerations, distortions, embellishments. And gradually we can start to see things as they actually exist – that’s the job to be done!