Experiencing versus perception?
Photo: Kechara Forest Retreat when we first visited the land
On June 2nd 2014, Tsem Rinpoche, in kindly responding to a question posed by a student gave a very important teaching. For me, it is one of those very crucial key teachings for a number of reasons, amongst which are:
1. It provides tremendously valuable insight into the mind of the Buddha – how a Buddha ‘thinks’ versus how we think that returns us to samsara’s trap lifetime after lifetime.
2. It is in fact the Lamrim, an easy to understand and apply manual that charts the way for us to realign our thought process or at least begin to, to take us down the right path towards enlightenment. This is important because we can do all the external exercises and rituals and prayers we like but if we do not adjust or rewire or thoughts which have become instinctive, we may not achieve our potential in dharma. For instance the decision to run faster and to fight the fatigue and keep going may be futile if in fact we are actually running in the wrong direction. This is a road map to enlightenment;
3. It is one of those very precious teachings that provides a visual platform and triggers us to step away from our usual helpless and completely involved mind and instead allows us to become ‘observers’ of how we create the kind of karma that defeats us. How we reinforce the karma that keeps us in samsara;
4. It provides an opportunity to see how just by the way we go about our normal and habituated routine that are not seemingly harmful, we do ourselves no favours but the opposite;
5. It is the treasured teachings of our Guru. And it explains the kindness of a Guru who retrains from celebrating joyous experiences and events and in all compassion, refrains from pandering to all our samsaric complains and grievances.
The question that the student asked Rinpoche was as follows:
“Rinpoche,
Is the state of enlightenment also an experience albeit a prolonged one? Or is the phenomenon of ‘experience’ altogether absent in that state? Does an enlightened being feel as human beings feel, but with perfect understanding of that feeling? Or are feelings absent”?
Below, I have transcribed Rinpoche’s answer and Teaching with some minor edition. I hope many will benefit from this Teaching as I have.(From Mr. Martin Chow)
Audio teaching by Tsem Rinpoche
Teaching by Tsem Tulku Rinpoche On ‘The Enlightened Mind Versus Our Samsaric Mind’
1. Enlightened beings do not ‘experience’ per se. They do not see something and like it and feel attached and from attachment create grasping and…from grasping create different mental states of aversion or liking and then engaging in the act and then become stuck in the act and then be overwhelmed by the act and then be overwhelmed by the habituations of the act and then further be caught up in the act and create karmas and then do it over and over again.
So therefore an enlightened being does not experience positive or negative from a deluded mind. When we experience things from a deluded mind, we actually experience…and experience can be positive or negative [but regardless of positive or negative]…grasping comes. For a negative experience a grasping to eliminate and the actions that follow and the karma that follows and the repeat of that action and the habituations and all the tumultuous states of mind that follows that action comes and then we are stuck and we are in a kind of quicksand. When we see something that we like and we grasp, the same thing happens except we desire it. So enlightened beings definitely do not experience or grasp. They perceive. When they perceive, it is without attachment because the deluded mind which it arises from, the ‘I” consciousness, the ‘I’ grasping is not present.
2. [Rinpoche made some comments on the question… and then proceeded in Rinpoche’s elucidation]. Therefore an enlightened being is a permanent state – it’s not a state to achieve, it’s not a state to grasp, it’s not a state to be grasped, it’s not a state to be looked for. It’s a state within us.
So it’s not a matter of achieving it, it’s a state of finding it for the lack of a better word. It’s a matter of finding that enlightened state – so when we find that enlightened state…to be in that enlightened state we must eliminate the space that occupies it which is grasping on to a non-existing ‘I’. [A grasping for] hatred, desire, fears, attachments, delusions, sensory perceptions, sensory grasping – all that arise from a non-existing ‘I’ because for example, if we were to remove someone’s eyes, ears, nose [and so on] we will nullify their nervous system. They do not have their 5 sensory perceptions – they cannot taste, touch, see, hear [and smell]…so therefore when someone is without the 5 senses, they can still perceive.
So sensory perceptions are also something that arises from a non-existing ‘I’. How? Because the non-existing ‘I’ has the existence of the ‘I’ that denotes grasping and that grasping manifest in the 5 sensory perceptions of ‘I want this’, ‘I smell this’, ‘I hear this’, ‘I touch this’, ‘I desire this’, ‘I want this’…So when we have that grasping, we re-habituate ourselves.
3. So when we have that grasping, it re-habituates ourselves over and over until a point where we cannot hear, see , perceive, understand or listen to anyone or anything – dharma, a monk, a teacher, a friend, wisdom – we cannot hear or perceive anyone teaching us otherwise. In fact we are so caught up with our delusions, we are so caught up in our grasping, we are so caught up in the self-perceived ‘I’ and all that arise from it which is grasping, sensory perceptions, attachments, anger, hatred…we are so caught up in it that if we were told anything else we will see that person or that doctrine as an enemy.
We will see that as someone who disrupts, disturbs and destroys our ‘peace of mind’ – our false peace of mind. Therefore we will [have the urge] to escape from the dharma, the truth…we will wish to escape that truth, that meaning, that realization, that understanding and the institution, the people, the doctrine and anything that has to do with it because it threatens our false peace of mind. Why? Because that peace of mind we have is being enraptured, caught up in our habituations, caught up in our sensory perceptions, caught up in our grasping, caught up in our ‘good’ or ‘bad’, caught up in our prejudices…and all that arise from the self-grasping ‘I’. So when we do that lifetime after lifetime, it becomes very difficult to escape. Hence the blind turtle coming up once after a hundred years and having a ring slip through it, is a very good analogy of our samsaric situation. And once we get the dharma we have a chance to become better, we should never let it go and go back to it.
4. Hence the analogy of the blind turtle coming up and having a ring slip through its neck is the rarity of us hearing the dharma, the teachings, having the truth – remember that dharma is manifested as the truth not in the sense that Buddhist dharma is the ultimate truth but that the Buddha taught the ultimate truth. So in His Teachings, you have the ultimate truth.
There is a possibility that there are other teachings, other masters and other manifestations of the truth that may come under different labels, different people, different ideas, different types of outer appearances, different dimensions, and different planets. It is possible. But right now we have the Buddha manifesting as the Buddha and the Buddha speaking the universal truth. Again, I would like to reiterate – this truth of the self-grasping mind, the non-existing ‘I’ that creates a self-grasping mind that blinds us, is not something the Buddha made up, something that is indigenous of the Buddha’s perception. It is something that exists and because a Buddha became a Buddha, by the process of eliminating it he or she [Buddha] is able to perceive it, and to expound it and share with us.
Therefore when we come across such a rare doctrine we should do everything we can to fight all the heavy torrential current of the river, to go up-river rather than down-river, to understand, practice and put it into our minds. Because this chance is absolutely rare and will not come again easily due to the explanations that have been given.
SARVA MANGALAM AND ALL ASUPICIOUSNESS TO YOU
~ Tsem Tulku Rinpoche
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A profound teachings …. The mind of self-grasping gives rise to all other delusions. It is the root cause of all suffering and dissatisfaction. If we walk the correct path under an genuine Guru and are willing to keep walking we eventually make progress in our spiritual path with good samaya. We must change and take this opportunity to learn and practice to transform our mind. Eventually will lead us to the path of Enlightenment.
Thank you Rinpoche for this profound teachings.
I have heard the following statement before and thought about the true meaning and whether it will entail the practice of perception.
“Experience your experience, verbalise your experience and then let it GO”.
Now reading this profound teaching of an enlightened mind against that of our normal minds of delusions, would the above statement be the first step to entering that state of mind of being without SELF and the duality of emotions from experiences?
Amazing realisation for the training of the mind to reach such a state of equanimity. A mind of seeing the truth without the delusions of judgement by our five senses.
This is a perfound teaching of how we caught up with our samsara mind vs enlighten mind. With respect, people who follow bodhisattva path well, they with not caught up with ‘I’ existing and operate with attachement feeling, creating cause bringing unhappiness to themselve or to others. Is important to understand this well and put in our practice and transfrom our bad habit, creating better cause and happiness to benefit people around us.
Indeed, Buddha is sharing with us what he discovered, the ultimate truth. It’s real & we will never able to challenge the truth but stubbornly we will always have doubt & create excuses to criticise & escape from the truth because the ultimate truth seem “sour & bitter”.
To get in touch into Dharma is so rare & precious but many of us will never explore what have lead us to Dharma this life, what great deed we have done that brought us Dharma.
As we’re living in samsara, it can be said we’re unfortunate and fortunate to have all the senses and feeling. Unfortunate is, we will attach to our senses and make wrong perception, which also will give us wrong experiences. Fortunate is, as a human, we can make choices. We can make choices to practice Dharma or not. Although we’re born in samsara which was not our choice in the previous life, but in this life, we can choose to practice Dharma, so that we can liberate from samsara and get enlightenment. We are lucky to meet our Guru in this life, to guide us in our Dharma practice. So that when we are enlighten one day, we don’t need to stay in samsara anymore. ??
What a powerful teaching. Looking at the education system at our current time, we are being thought to be materialistic and we are being educated to believe samsara activities bring eternal happiness. All this being fed into our mind and become a habituation. As we grow older our delusion mind and the self-grasping mind will get stronger. The more we hold on to it the harder for us to make a change for good. The Buddha has gone through our very human experience and found that we can’t escape from birth, old age, sick and death. No matter what we want to say it is a something that we should look in deeper within ourselves. We may not see that the ‘I’ had created so much pain in us and also people surrounding.
What important is to make a change. To unlearn and learn through the Buddha experience. Realise that everyone here has a great opportunity to liberate themselves from all the suffering that the samsara promise us. Yes, it’s easier to say but if we don’t take the first step and continue consistently to make a positive change then when can we make a change for this life? Especially when we met a genuine Guru that only wants us to transform our mind. Grab this opportunity to learn and practice from a guru and stay all the way with good samaya.
读这篇文章，知道它说了什么，但悟不到文章的佛法论，我想这只能从生活的经验中体会出来。智慧不够，不能深入的理解师父所说的法， 所以还在娑婆世界.
A Guru is very important to lead us to the path of Enlightenment. We, as normal human beings are unable to walk the path on our own without the teachings and guidance of a qualified Guru. Enlightenment is achievable by everyone who follows and walk the path as shown by Buddha Shakyamuni himself. We all can experience this state of enlightenment by doing our part to get there. But if we say we cannot or unable to do it, then we can only perceive the state of enlightenment and continue to stay in samsara with endless cycle of sufferings due to our grasping of the 5 senses.
As far as I know, perceiving comes from experiences. We may have wrong perceptions from our experience due to wrong projections. Hence, our mind and mentality take important part to govern our perception. Therefore, having a right Guru to guide and explain is much needed by us.
At our weekly discussion in Kechara Forest Retreat, we talked of this interesting article. It may be short but so profound. We may understand some of it but none of us has realisation of it. That’s why we’re still here whereas the great masters have gone to bliss.
How fortunate to have a Guru explain such profound teachings. It’s definitely not a simple teaching that one can read and immediately grasp the importance of the teachings but always a good reminder for us to practice.
Imagine how powerful the ‘I’ is, to a point it is the only thing that is keeping us away from spirituality and path to Enlightenment. As for those who have the merits to be on spiritual path to slowly eliminate the ‘I’ should hang on tight and continue to practice, for they are truly blessed to even hear/learn the Dharma.
We are made up of what we experienced/data for the last dont know how many lives. All that experience or data we collected is called deluded mind. That deluded mind continued and add on more and more karma whenever we think for only ourselves but others with our strong 5 sences ( what we see, what we hear, what we touch, what we taste and what we smell) hence we judge with our experience and perceptions that lead to our emotions of being happy, sad, down, lost, fulfilled, confused, empty, and sometimes even mixture of many emotions. Which is true..
Hence we live in a space that we constantly creating karma but nothing else with all our feelings and emotions for us to be taking rebirth in this cycle existence without end. Dharma is to over come this.
In order to live like a buddha who’s mind that is no longer affected by the 5 senses, a mind that do not work on experience but via the truth, a mind that works through compassion and wisdom that constantly wanted to help all sentient beings. Imagine everything you see filtered with compassion and wisdom first. Hence they do not upset they do not feel sad, they do not attach, they do not hate etc. nothing about like or dislike, nice or not nice, hot or cold, attractive or not attractive etc. Hence we are very safe to take refuge in the Buddha.
The only and the nearest experience I have with enlightened mind is my guru. By watching how Rinpoche work and think which is very different from us. I find it Hard to understand and I even disagreed at the beginning but now I understand that’s just simply because our minds are working on experience and perception which also come with baggages of bad experience, yet my guru’s mind is working on compassion and wisdom which base on the truth of universe.
Rinpoche once told me: no matter you are poor, rich, smart, stupid, lazy, hard working, ugly, beautiful even animals, that makes no different to him.
Enlightened mind works in this system:
May all sentient beings have happiness and it’s causes
May all sentient beings free of sufferings and it’s causes
May all sentient beings never be separated from sorrowless bliss.
May all sentients abine in equalnimity, free of bias, attachment and anger.
Self grasping mind is the main reason we are here in Samsara. An enlightened being does not experience those experiences from the “I” but perceive it from their compassion and wisdom which everyone actually possesses. It is a matter of how much we can discover our true potential and realise the false perception we have so far. Realising it is one thing as it is difficult to even come to that stage. Whether own up and do something about it is another thing. Hence the self grasping mind over the true state of enlightened mind.
What would it feel to see things without grasping or aversion to it, and see it with eyes of compassion for all sentient beings? I would think thats what a Buddha perceives.
_()_ Thank you for this wonderful piece Rinpoche, it is mind transforming. I never come across such direct discription and the logic behind how and what the enlightened beings perceive and how we normal beings experience.
Thank you _()_
Thank you Rinpoche for this profound teaching it really well explain how our habituation brought us so much of suffering in life, but unfortunately a lot of us that already meet the teaching and study the holy teaching still can’t transform or some even avoid the teaching completely like what Pastor David said in order for us to trasform we need vast amount of merits.
The enlightened beings mind, are not encumbered by grasping, hence they work fast to liberate sentient beings.
Thank you Rinpoche for this very meaningful and profound teaching.
From a deluded mind, we experience things positively or negatively by grasping at the non- existing “I” and this grasping at the non- existing “I” manifests in the 5 sensory perceptions of ‘I want this’, ‘I smell this’, ‘I hear this’, ‘I touch this’, ‘I desire this’, ‘I want this’ OR ‘I see it’, ‘I smell it’, ‘I dislike it’, ‘I must get rid of it’.
When the experience is ‘negative’, we react with aversion and a grasping to eliminate and this is followed by negative actions which create negative karma and negative habituations, which reinforce the grasping.
When the experience is ‘positive’, we grasp with attachment – we see something that we like and we grasp with desire for it. From grasping with attachment or desire, we engage in negative actions and then become habituated in the actions and create negative karma and reinforce the grasping.
We re-habituate ourselves with grasping at these delusions of attachment or aversion over and over “until a point where we cannot hear, see , perceive, understand or listen to anyone or anything – dharma, a monk, a teacher, a friend, wisdom “. We will experience tremendous suffering and will spiral downward all the way.
On the other hand, Enlightened Beings do not ‘experience’. They perceive without attachment because the deluded mind, with its grasping at the non-existing ‘I” is not present. An Enlightened Being does not experience positive or negative as the Enlightened Mind is free of any trace of delusions,
Thus in order to remove our delusions and free ourselves from our grasping at the non-existing “I”, we have to study, contemplate and apply the rare and precious Dharma , Lord Buddha’s teachings and our Spiritual Guide’s lineage teachings , to our mindstream and transform.
Through the article it has made me see clearer how our deluded minds with that perceived “I” we have for everything that we do cause us to be fixated on the things that we do. It is because of the projections that we are doing and acting in certain manner to fit into the mould that we have for ourselves. Thus, when we are free from that “I” that ego that we have and project, we will never approach any situation we face we the desire of “what we can get back from it”.
For enlightened beings, since they act without ego, their actions are free from the thought/intention to benefit themselves, but only for the thought/intention to benefit others. The factor of “I” will no longer be there to benefit themselves to create karma for them to be further dwell in samsara.
Thus, when we act based on the experience that we previously have, we constantly reinforce the thought in us that it is alright for us to act in accordance to the perceived I that we have, and we reaffirm the negative emotions that we have. Each time when we act in accordance to the “I”, we are telling ourselves that it is fine for that strong projection that we have, and that what our deluded minds believe in is correct. This is very dangerous as over time, without correcting and changing that projection and perception of ours, we will only be more upset and bitter. This is because we only believe in ourselves, thus, we will act and behave in a way that is constantly decided by the factors around us. When that happens, we are a walking time bomb ready to explode and have melt downs because of that.
Hence, we should not be riding on that emotional rollercoaster that our deluded minds show us, but to learn and know that “I” is not permanent and we should stop viewing things in a way that everything needs and must revolve around us.
This article has made me understand how our perceptions can be so deceptive to lure us into the state of mind where we are trapped and getting very fixated with our projections. Most of the downfalls in life are created by our wrong projections, we have been repeating the same habit, the same pattern, the same thinking ever since the beginning of time or rather ever since the beginning of life. Yes it is hard to get rid of the ‘habit’, but with determination and devotion, it is definitely possible for us to transform.
It is very important for us to practise dharma now, especially in this modern era where everything is a mara or distraction towards our spiritual practise. Having a teacher is indeed very important, just studying the Buddha’s teachings is not enough. I’m not saying that the Buddha’s teachings are not effective but having s mentor/ teacher to guide us through the whole ‘course’ is always easier than us studying by ourselves isn’t it? It is always said that to find a dharma teacher is like looking for a needle in the middle of the ocean. It may sound very exaggerating but sadly it’s the truth. Due to the insufficient of our merits, makes it very hard to find a dharma teacher who teacher you the path. Therefore, it is very important to have gratitude and treasure the guru.
One who is in harmony with emptiness
is in harmony with all things.
~ Nagarjuna, Treatise on the Middle Way
The reason we remain in this cyclic existence of Samsara is due to our delusions that we continue to engage in contaminated actions. Rinpoche has explained it very clearly that “grasping create different mental states of aversion or liking, and then engaging in the act and then become stuck in the act, and then be overwhelmed by the act, and then be overwhelmed by the habituations of the act, and then further be caught up in the act and create karmas, and then do it over and over again.”
Self-grasping is the source of all our problems, and the good news is that there is a way to remove it. Freedom from suffering comes when we realise that we ourselves, as well as all things, are empty in that we/things do not inherently exist.
To even know about this, and how this will possibly work, we must have met a compassionate teacher who taught us (through any media: books/ online/ in person), and that because the Buddha has taught dependent arising. It is important that we who called ourselves Buddhists to have faith – not blind faith or praying to the Buddha as a saviour; but rather, to study his teachings, and examine the teachings to understand and apply them.
Here is one teaching from Rinpoche which we should not miss: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/53605.html
Over the years, Rinpoche has given countless profound and impactful teachings and this is just one of them.
When I first heard this teaching a couple of years ago, it hit me very hard. I realised that unlike enlightened beings who do not view phenomena from the perspective of ‘experience’ we do the complete opposite. We view everything and act based on our experiences which can only occur if there is an ego (‘I’). And so every time we do this, we habituate that we takes us deeper into samsara and away from liberation.
I guess it is easy to see how chronic our habituation is. Take the 5 senses for example. We cannot see, hear, smell, taste or touch anything without forming immediate or almost concurrent decisions as to whether we like or dislike what the senses picked up. We cannot see or hear anything without automatically imputing feelings into it.
Our senses such as the eyes/sight is supposed to be mere windows that convey in totality the image that we see without forming judgement (based on ‘experience’). It is supposed to be like the lens of a camera that records everything. The lens of a camera does not behave in such a way that when it sees something it doesn’t ‘like’ it shuts down or refuse to work. That would make it faulty but in fact that is how our senses are being used – NOT to take in all information but to make ego-centric judgements.
There is more than one lesson or conclusion to this precious teaching and I feel strongly that it applies at all levels of Dharma understanding. To begin with, we all need to be vigilant and be aware that our very ‘awareness’ is tainted to begin with.
What I understood is that enlightened beings do not experience, but they observe and then react accordingly. Meaning, they are not caught up in the actual phenomena but can objectively observe it, understand its causes and the results, and then act in such a manner that is free from any kind of projections of value we impose upon the phenomena, and that is egoless – that is, free from any kind of desire to benefit themselves.
Since they act from egolessness, there is no reason why they would act in a manner that harms you because they never approach any situation with a perspective of self-interest or self-gain.
So when people advise us to “experience” an emotion (for example, anger), this is contrary to how an enlightened being acts. Such people are in actuality telling us to reinforce our negative habituations because instead of dealing with the root problem which caused the anger, they are actually telling us it’s okay to get angry. All we have to do (according to them) is to experience it then let it go.
But why does the anger even need to arise in the first place, in order for us to HAVE anger to experience, when there are methods to stop the anger (or whatever afflictive emotion we are playing out)?
Each time we experience the anger, our subconscious learns it’s OKAY to get angry because the way to deal with it is to just experience it and let it go. Over time however, being okay with experiencing anger leads to an uncontrolled mind that is always angry, because our subconscious automatically excuses it as being an ‘experience’.
Why we experience all of these afflictive emotions, as Rinpoche says, is due to our self-grasping mind and sense of ‘I’. “I was not fulfilled”, “I was not successful”, “I was hurt”, “I was cheated” – when we do this, we leave our emotions at the mercy of external phenomena because we relate to everything that’s impermanent and in flux from the basis of our self.
So definitely our feelings, moods and minds will be volatile and go up and down because how can a permanent happiness arise when our sense of ‘I’ is not permanent, AND the phenomena we are relating to with our ‘I’ is not permanent either? Proof our sense of ‘I’ is not permanent is how we view ourselves now is very differently to how we viewed ourselves when we were 5 years old. So when we cut our sense of ‘I’, all of our tumultuous feelings disappear because we stop viewing and dealing with all impermanent phenomena from the basis of our impermenant self.
I think ‘experience’ is important as it adds to our knowledge, and that we should experience things without grasping so that we can learn from such experiences. It is however, when we experience something with grasping, that it becomes counterproductive to our spiritual path for the reasons described above.
A very profound topic explained in such lucidity by Rinpoche. All Buddhists strive to attain Buddhahood, but what is Buddhahood? A man sitting on a lotus peacefully with halo shining from the back of his head? Rinpoche explains very clearly how a Buddha would “behave and act”: a Buddha would perceive everything for sure, but NOTHING that he perceived would affect his mind, either positively nor negatively, thus Rinpoche in the very beginning said a Buddha does not “experience” per se, because to “experience” means you will react either positively or negatively to a situation, but Buddha abides in a permanent state of mind that reacts neither way, hence the ultimate calm-abiding and true equanimity can arise and sustain in a person who has achieved the state of a Buddha’s mind.
Thank you Rinpoche for this profound teaching on the non-existing “I” which is based on our own false projection which we create. We really are the culprits behind all our pain and suffering because we’re so attached to our “experience”. By being so attached we relive our pain over and over again and reinforces that pain until we become crazy or basically not able to get out of it. Now it is clear why there is so many people now a days who are suffering from depression.
How many of us are just so caught up with our delusions, so caught up in our grasping, so caught up in the self-perceived ‘I’ and all that arise from it which is grasping, sensory perceptions, attachments, anger, hatred. We’re all so caught up in it that if we were told anything else we will see that person or that doctrine as the “enemy”. And when people point it out to help us correct the mistake, or have a different point of view, we get disturbs and ‘peace of mind’ is disrupted is a clear indication that our false sense of self – the ego is tremendously huge. When we know this then we can learn to let go more. Hence this is the difference between enlightened beings who perceives while we experiences.
This is why Rinpoche always tries to break our hang up, our quirks until we are no longer hung up over it and from there can operate better without attachments, without false emotions, without anger and frustration. This is why I suppose Buddhist teachings can help people get out of depression and help them fins some form of peace and happiness with themselves and with this affects the people around them also. So when I apply this teaching with myself, I learn to let go even more and stop abiding in the pain which I experience from my past.
Thank you Rinpoche… this is a profound teaching which many can benefit directly and instantly from.
If I may say so humbly, this is a brilliant, concise and profound teaching of the Dependent Origination (12-links of Dependent Arising, Pali: PaticcaSamuppada, Sanskrit: Pratityasamutpada) and No-self. It is mind blowing and thought provoking to say the least.
The cessation of the non existence “I” (both consciousness and phenomena) is a limitless space that has always been in existence yet temporary filled with selfmade thoughts a deluded mind grasp strongly. Due to ignorance, volitional formations come and the list goes on to becoming, birth, ageing and death – an endless cycle that trap us in the cyclic of existence continuously.
A deluded mind is like clean air being polluted by haze. As long as pollution continues, we are caught in haze, experiencing it with like and dislike. Until we realised clean air has always been there, we continue to pollute.
A Buddha’s mind is like a limitless space with clean air, no pollution, no actions, just be. It is vast, clear, stable and neutral, anything can come and go into this space without affecting this space in any way. This is the ultimate truth that the Buddha taught. The ultimate truth can be manifested in different ways, to be taught and presented in different ways. Hence Buddha dharma (ultimate truth) is dharma, but dharma is not necessary the Buddha dharma.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing such thorough and deep teaching in such a direct and simple to understand way.
I really enjoy the fun of putting something out and people liking it or hating it or talking about it, but vacuous attention. In this article Rinpoche has explained one of the fundamental differences between a samsaric life. grasping mind re-habituates ourselves not to hear good things there for must not attach..
Thank you for conveying this profound teaching of Rinpoche about something that we do daily: experiencing and perceiving. Like Rinpoche said in another teaching about highly attained and enlightened being who take on the Sambogakaya form, they go through the same mundane processes like we do. The distinction is that while we get all entangled by our attachment to the sensory pleasures we experience, the minds of this highly evolved beings do not get effected by it.
From this, I learn that it is really not about ridding of and avoiding events and phenomena but rather reflecting on our relationship, response and our view of them so that we are not controlled by them. One simple example is my observation of Rinpoche. Rinpoche can get very sick whether it is a high fever and migraine or the chronic pain from Rinpoche’s fractured tailbone but when someone needs Rinpoche’s help, support and care, Rinpoche would be there for others and not show the slightest sign of discomfort. On the other hand, when unattained minds experience something as mild as fatigue from lack of sleep (anything below 8 hours is considered by some a sleep deprivation…I am not kidding!), they get into bad moods and are overwhelmed by their experience and emotion that they are not able to function properly.
Another point Rinpoche brought up (we are so caught up the self-perceived ‘I’ and all that arise from it which is grasping, sensory perceptions, attachments, anger, hatred…we are so caught up in it that if we were told anything else we will see that person or that doctrine as an enemy.) cause me to see the irony in our pursuits. We dedicate time, energy and resources to please our senses. However, this pleasure only leads to our attachment to them that eventually makes us deaf, blind….literally senseless.
Clear teachings like this shared is very empowering because to reveals the lies in our daily actions and thoughts and beliefs.
Thank you again for sharing this teaching with the public.
I really like how H.E. Tsem Rinpoche differentiates between a samsaric being’s experiencing vs an enlightened being’s perception. Though subtle, this is very profound. For myself, I realise that I experience, even though I believe that I may be perceiving. Even when I do perceive something, which I believe I am doing objectively, if I really examine my thought process, I become aware that there are feelings of like or dislike involved. These stem from attachment and aversion, which is based on the self. This is in stark contrast to the perception of a Buddha, who ‘seeks things as they are’ rather than based on our own projections, which come about from self-grasping.
Another very interesting point that was mentioned was about disturbing our ‘peace of mind’, this peace of mind comes from and is based on attachments and self-grasping nature and therefore is not a continuous and lasting peace of mind. That only comes about when you are in the state of enlightenment. This to me is why the Dharma and Dharma practice is so powerful, it literally shakes the foundations of your reality to transform your mind and make you a better person. But since we are so used to living within samsara, when our peace of mind is challenged, we need to fight against this habituation which is very strong. This is what is described as an ‘inner battle.
In this short explanation Rinpoche has explained one of the fundamental differences between a samsaric beings vs. and enlightened being, if you read between the lines a little then you will understand that it also shows us the path to practice and the results…which is Buddhahood. This teaching is precious to say the least. Thanks to Rinpoche who taught this, the student who asked, and Martin for posting it up for us.
Just to understand the futility and mindless cycle of grasping and aversion of an ordinary deluded mind requires merits. Many people may intellectually think that it is not right but few have the will to break out of this cycle.
I observe this in many people who come to Kechara and more so with friends outside of Kechara. Fortunately, within Kechara and the Dharma, there are plenty of teachings by Rinpoche and also opportunities to collect spiritual merits which are like keys to open the endless locks within our minds to be free of this vicious cycle.
I think everything begins within us and how much we know, which on its own is not enough as well. It is how we apply the teachings that will unlock our minds to be free from gasping and aversion. At our level, we may not be totally free but the application of the teachings helps us one step at a time. Better to begin this journey of unravelling ourselves than to defer it to another time, where opportunities and the right frame of mind may not be there again.
Dear Rinpoche
Thank you for the article: Experiencing versus Perception. I learned a lot on it. I realized that my perceptions that give rise to the feeling of likes and dislikes came from my own deluded mind. At first I thought they come from a set of values that was developed when I grew up. Certain things raised a feeling of disgust and annoyance within myself, but other things raised the feeling of happiness and excitement.
I realized that we cannot control the happenings around us, but we can control how we react towards the event instead of reinforcing our habituation of feeling or reacting a certain way.
Valentina
Thank you for this sharing. Indeed we are most lucky to have our spiritual guide who teaches us tirelessly so that we don’t take the wrong direction but improve and move on towards Bodhicitta and enlightenment.
To experience or to perceive makes the difference. Experiencing will lead us to create karma by liking or disliking and reinforces the I, me and with it negative emotions like anger, jealousy which will keep us in samsara.
We have to investigate and fight against our deep rooted habits. The opportunity is rare and we have to go full force against our attachments and delusions.
Thank you Rinpoche for the teaching and Martin for sharing Rinpoche’s teaching on experiencing versus perception. It is both interesting and challenging with some questions arising. Definitely will need to contemplate more.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you so much for sharing this fundamental teaching on the “I” and non-self concept of an enlightened mind vs. a non enlightened mind.
It is basically another reminder that we should not waste anymore time in this samsaric world but rare opportunity to be born a human with the right conducive condition to learn and practice Dharma, more so under a very compassionate and skillful Lama like yourself.
Are we worthy of such a precious teaching? I certainly don’t think so, but with your kindness and compassion, we are able not only to receive but given such ample opportunities to be in Dharma through Kechara.
Thank you.
_/\_
Lum Kok Luen
Thank you Rinpoche for this profound teaching of the “I” versus non-self. As Rinpoche told me once, Enlightenment is only a hairline away.
Everything in Kechara is designed to rid the “I” so that we perceive and not experience. We are given many platforms to focus out all the time so that we don’t operate from the “I”. I believe that it is through this “rehabilitation” that we get to slowly lessen the “I” so that we have the clarity of the mind to perceive the truth without being tainted from the “I”.
This is a very profound topic and took me some time to contemplate on it. What we experienced through our deluded mind can generate both negative and positive feelings, that we reinforced in our mind stream over and over again by reliving those experiences as they arise. It is a cyclic activity that happens in our mind as natural as our breathe.
In order to break free, we have to let go of our gasping.
For me, the positive experience is more difficult to monitor, hence more detrimental. Because most of us will associate positive experiences and pleasures in life with good karma arising, making it difficult to remove the “I” in these scenario.
This is my understanding at the moment. I hope I can have a deeper understanding and realization in this topic soon as I am trilled to find out more on how our mind works.
Thank you Rinpoche for this profound teaching.
The difference between an enlightened mind and a deluded mind is that, an enlightened mind do not “experience” anything whether it is positive or negative. Enlightened mind perceive. Whereas a deluded mind “experience”. When one “experiences” a judgement will arise; i.e. like it (positive experience) or don’t like it (negative experience). The deluded mind would endeavor to generate more of the positive experience and eliminate negative experience; these are grasping.
The experience is to satisfy the 5 sensory and fool the deluded mind into believing the experience. It is through grasping that one create more karma and re-enforce the state of mind that eventually becomes a habituation.
Whereas enlightened being perceive; perceive with an understanding and realization but without attachment. Since it is without attachment, therefore there is no grasping. One can achieve the state of mind and perceive without the 5 sensory. Since the 5 sensory is not needed to perceive, there is no grasping.
Thank you Rinpoche for this profound teaching made simple.
Humbly, bowing down,
Stella Cheang
一位证悟者（佛菩萨）是已经出离所有的执着，断除了永远的苦以及摆脱了生死的轮回。诸佛菩萨是不会再有任何经历与执着于娑婆世界里所有的一切。但是，因为诸佛菩萨们的慈悲，他们是会同时化现成佛或是其他的形象在不同的时间、地点、文化和环境来教导我们如何成为一个慈悲与和蔼可亲的人。
在这个时候，由于业力的纠缠，让我们不停的在挣扎，到底要修行佛陀的法门还是要修行娑婆世界的法门？有时候，因为我们坚持的去争辩这些事，而错过了修行所得到心灵上的宁静。
我们必须要自我拯救。要忍受所有的贪恋、嗔怒与迷惑。当我们开始忍受这一切而且也不受他人影响，开始为他人而修行，这样我们可以去得更远。
于此，我们的业报成熟了，我们看到了，就去接受它，经历了过后，就把它放下。唯有放下，我们将避免继续造恶下去。
感谢仁波切的教诲，让我受益不浅。
GOOD MORNING ROOM!
Dear Rinpoche thank you for this profound teaching need time to read again this teaching and internalise it is really a fact we are very fortunate to hear the Dharma and we should not let it go .
In order “to be in that enlightened state we must eliminate the space that occupies it which is grasping on to a non-existing ‘I’. [A grasping for] hatred, desire, fears, attachments, delusions, sensory perceptions, sensory grasping – all that arise from a non-existing ‘I’”. We have to stop grasping at ‘I want this’, ‘I smell this’, ‘I hear this’, ‘I touch this’, ‘I desire this’, ‘I want this’, cause when we have that grasping, we re-habituate ourselves. In this grasping process we continuously create the karma to grasp more and more and we only go downhill in our sufferings.
Once we have the perfect opportunity to meet the precious Dharma we have to work very hard to ELIMINATE the grasping and non-existent I, by learning and putting into practice the Dharma, every second of our life !
Enlightened beings are not blinded by any attachments, they see things as they truly are. They understand the presence of sufferings but they do not experience, feel it. Thank you for your explanation, Rinpoche!
Dear Rinpoche for sharing this profound teaching. We should not give up Dharma because for us to meet the Dharma is like what Rinpoche said is very rare down to impossible if ever we miss it there will be unlikely for us to meet Dharma and a perfect guru .
An enlightened mind is in a state of equanimity, there is no like or dislike. It is not disturbed by the delusions arise from the 3 poisons, hatred, attachment & ignorance. When the mind is at this state, it stay there permenantly & peace abiding all the time. As Rinpoche has mentioned, it is not something to achieve but rather to find it because the Buddha nature is within us. It is just that we cannot “see” it due to our mental obscurations caused by our deluded mind & karma. Therefore, everyone can be enlightened.
Thank you Rinpoche for this profound teaching which give a glimpse at how the enlightened mind perceive but not experiencing.
What I understand from this profound teaching and wish to find is that enlightened state of mind within me so that I can enjoy peace free from the grasping and desire may it be negative or positive from the deluded mind of a solid self.
Now my thoughts are turning to whether this desire to find that enlightened state of mind is a form of grasping. Is this grasping positive for the practice of Buddhism?
I am now remembering the teachings from Rinpoche that all phenomena are completely pure like space without any inherent values, and I have, out of ignorance, attached my emotions and feelings to them and grasped at them, thereby closing out the opportunity to really see the truth of emptiness. Thus also closing out any opportunity for me to be compassionate and kind to what is experienced as right or wrong.
This realisation is very empowering but will definitely be difficult like “to go upriver rather than downriver” against all odds.
Thank you for the wonderful explanation, and the insights to how an enlighten being thinks and perceives.
Enlightened beings see things as they are. They perceive suffering but do not experience it. Ordinary beings suffer because they are attached to “happiness”. Enlightened beings are not attached to happiness, therefore, they do not experience suffering.