Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind by Longchenpa

Author:Longchenpa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2017-12-05T05:00:00+00:00

Therefore, since the mind is the root of all happiness and sorrow, the taming of it should be our sole concern.

[Taken from the autocommentary, 144: 3–147: 1]

MIND, INTELLECT, AND CONSCIOUSNESS

THE BODY, BEING numbered among gross material things, is referred to in the root text as a “manifest city.” Speech, like an echo, is perceptible but not physically present and is therefore referred to as a “half-manifest city.” Finally the mind, in being devoid of the five sense doors, is utterly insubstantial and is therefore described as an “unmanifest city.” These three cities are respectively designated as “desire,” “form,” and “formless.” This is because in the scripture entitled Summarized Wisdom, the coarse body is associated with the desire realm; the speech, which is more subtle, is associated with the form realm; and the mind, which is most subtle, is associated with the formless realm. It also declares that the Acintyaprabhāsa,150 the Child of Sublime Light, dwells in these three cities, and explains that this refers to self-arisen primordial wisdom.

The three kinds of suffering, whereby the body, speech, and mind are all tormented, arise through the circumstance of thought and are experienced, one after the other, in a manner that is deluded. How do they arise? The six consciousnesses issue forth through their corresponding sense doors toward the objects of the six gatherings, and the apprehension of these same objects results in the experiences of happiness, sorrow, or indifference which are understood to exist truly.

The mental state arising in the distinct aspects of form, sound, and so on is consciousness (rnam par shes pa). The first vivid cognition of the general aspect of the object is mind (sems). Finally, the mental factor (sems byung) that discerns the features of this object, and is continuously involved with craving, aversion, and ignorance is, in this context, called intellect (yid). As it is said in the Bodhisattvabhūmi-śāstra, “The perceived appearance of an object is consciousness. The first detecting cognition of it is mind. The mental factor of the subsequent discernment of the particular features of this object is intellect. These three states interpenetrate and are concomitant with each other.”

Wherever there is mind, there is also the mental factor that is concomitant with it, constantly present in the mind in the manner of an ancillary. Conversely, the mental factor is itself pervaded by the mind with which it is related. The mind is thus concomitant with the mental factor and is ever present in the mental factor in the manner of an ancillary.

When an object is encountered in an act of knowing, the first moment of cognition, which focuses on the general aspect or identity of this object, is called mind. Then, when the individual features of the object are assessed, one speaks in terms of mental factor. Although these two are labeled differently, they are in fact none other than the very perception and discernment (intellection) of that object. As it is said in the Ratnāvalī,

If one says the mind is seen,

One does so only on the level of convention.

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