The Buddha Project Reply To: Y2Q17) The producer of my own experience
As Buddhists, we believe that Right Speech takes priority over Free Speech. Put simply, Right Speech means abstaining from gossip and talk which is false, malicious, or harsh. Write only what you believe to be true and relevant, voicing your opinion with kindness and patience. Avoid worldly, partisan, or discriminatory topics and remarks that are patriarchal, misogynist, sexist, racist, anti-semitic, pro-nazi, bio essentialist, xenophobic, transphobic, homophobic or any other kind of hateful views even if such advocacy is couched in terms of ‘discussing the texts’ or ‘maintaining tradition’.
By participating in the forum, you agree to adhere to these guidelines and help maintain the forum as a supportive and enriching place for Dharma discourse. Moderators will be free to delete offensive content without having defend their choices.
If you have a question, need any sort of help, or want to inform us about offensive content or behavior, please contact us at info@thebuddhaproject.org.
You are taking an interesting direction here, Amrita. All schools (tenets) accept the four noble truth, also the Vaibashika’s and Sautrantika’s, discussed during Year 1. These two schools believe in a real world out there build up from the elements. The Vaibashika’s claim that we can directly perceive the world out there (something most ordinary people present day would agree). Sautrantika’s claim that our perception is distorted by our conceptuality (Western philosophers would also agree). As we are now exploring yogachara, likely Ven Gendun’s statement is linked to the way yogachara explains how appearance/perception works.
My contribution:
“I am addicted to my experience”: We really believe what we perceive. The objects seem to us as cut off from our mind and distant from us. We are so convinced of this that our behaviour blindly follows, like an addicted person who has no choice but chase the object of addiction.
“I am the producer of that experience”: this is the yogachara explanation of perception/appearance/experience. Yogachara states it comes from the mind, not from the reality out there. The mind creates an appearance in a dualistic manner, as if the objects is out there. “Cut off and distant”. Separate from the perceiving mind, which seems to be here, somewhere in the body, e.g. behind the eyes. This dualistic perception is caused by the klistha manas (afflicted consciousness) looking at the alaya vijnaya (foundational consciousness). Let’s discuss in Y2Q19) whether we can find examples from our daily life whether the mind is indeed dominant in creating perception.