Even More from Holy Isle

From Relative Truth… p. 55

On our spiritual journey, we need to move from conceptual knowledge to direct experience [he means "prove", not self-reflection] of the subjects we are studying. The mechanics of how we accomplish this are the key points of the Sautrantika presentation: what conceptual and perceptural consciousnesses are, how they operate, and how we move from conceptualization to direct perception.

p. 72 Please don’t think that this school [Sautrantika] is saying that concepts are essentially bad; it is saying, however, that concepts by their very nature obscure the truth. We couldn’t make sense of the world without concepts…although maybe, because we would only have direct perceptions, we would already be there! [spiritual attainment]…[but] we need to see the uses and traps of the conceptual mind—something few of us do.

p. 94 The Compendium of Ascertainments states that ultimate truth has five characteristics: 1. inexpressible, 2 nondual, 3. beyond apprehension by the conceptual mind, 4 beyond diversity, 5 all of one taste. [Chittamatra school]

Inexpressible, as the name implies, means that it is impossible to verbally describe ultimate truth precisely. Nondual means that within [95] that realization of an arya being in meditative equipoise who is realizing ultimate truth directly, there is no differentiation—no duality—of subject and object. The third characteristic, beyond apprehension by the conceptual mind, shows that ultimate truth cannot be realized by ordinary people’s cognition but only by the direct perception of an arya being. Beyond diversity means that the ultimate truth of an object is not one with its dependent nature, which has many ‘diversities’—different factors such as production, result, causes, conditions, and so on. For example, when we establish the final mode of existence of form, that final mode of existence is the nonduality of subject and object, so all diversities cease.

The final characteristic is that ultimate truths are all of one taste. The ultimate truth of a book is the absence of duality of subject and object. Tables, chairs, and so on are different objects, but their ultimate truth is the same. Their final mode of existence is also the mere absence of duality of subject and object. Thus, the ultimate truths of all phenomena are all of one taste.

The Ngöndro by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

p 33 [karma] It is not that somebody else tells you tat you should do this or that, or that things are prohibited by religion, or by some commandment. Sometimes, everywhere, but especially in the West, people take religion that way, like the Ten Commandments in the Bible, and they react by thinking that it’s a commandment, and you usually react against it. On the other hand, if you understand karma, you will just do it for your own sake. If I understand that it is for my own good, I will do it. Thus we naturally try to work with our negativities and refrain from doing negative things, because we know they would have painful results for us or for others.

p. 34

If we know what it wrong and what is right, and if we are a little mindful or watchful, we will refrain from the negative. We shouldn’t be too watchful though because we could not sustain the effort for too long before becoming tired. When we intend to walk a long way, we walk slowly and don’t run, knowing there is a long journey ahead. If we started running, we wouldn’t get very far. Therefore it is better to be watchful and mindful in a lighter way.