| Philosophy and Religion / The twenty-eight categories of yogic precepts. |
Gampopa (Dvagpo-Lharje)
XXVII. The Ten Figurative Expressions1
(1) As the Foundation Truth cannot be described [but must be realized in samādhi], the expression ‘Foundation Truth’ is merely figurative.2
(2) As there is neither any traversing nor any traverser of the Path, the expression ‘Path’ is merely figurative.3
(3) As there is neither any seeing nor any seer of the True State, the expression ‘True State’ is merely figurative.4
(4) As there is neither any meditation nor any meditator of the Pure State, the expression ‘pure State’ is merely figurative.5
(5) As there is neither any enjoying nor any enjoyer of the Natural Mood, the expression ‘Natural Mood’ is merely figurative.6
(6) As there is neither any vow-keeping nor any vow-keeper, these expressions are merely figurative.
(7) As there is neither any accumulation nor any accumulator of merits, the expression ‘Twofold Merit’7 is merely figurative.
(8) As there is neither any performing nor any performer of actions, the expression ‘Twofold Obscuration’8 is merely figurative.
(9) As there is neither any renunciation nor any renouncer [of worldly existence], the expression ‘worldly existence’ is merely figurative.
(10) As there is neither any obtaining nor any obtainer [of results of actions], the expression ‘result of actions’ is merely figurative.
These are The Ten Figurative Expressions.9
Footnotes
1. This category of negations concerning Truth is probably inspired by the canonical Prajňa-Pāramitā
2. The Foundation Truth, which is synonymous with the Dharma Kāya (or 'Divine Body of Truth'), is the All-Truth, in its primordial or unmodified aspect. Yoga, the Science of Mind (or Truth), consists of three divisions, namely, the Foundation Truth, the Path (or method of attaining realization), and the fruit (or the realization itself)
3. 'Path' is merely a metaphor descriptive of the method of realizing spiritual growth or progress.
4. The True State, realizable in the highest samādhi, is in its microcosmic reflex, a state wherein the mind, unmodified by the process of thought, resembles in its quiescence an ocean unruffled by the least movement of air, as has been similarly stated above. All doors of perception are closed. There is complete oblivion of the material universe of phenomena.
The microcosmic mind becomes attuned to the Macrocosmic Mind. Thereby is attained the knowledge that in the True State there are no seeing or seer, that all finite concepts are really non-existent, that all dualities become unities, that there is but the One Reality Primordial Cosmic Mind.
5. The Pure State is an intensified aspect of the True State, wherein mind, in its primordial condition, exists unsullied by any predication. In the realizing of it, in the samādhic condition, the act of meditating, the meditator, and the thing meditated upon are indistinguishably one.
6. The Natural Mood refers to a state of mind, likewise reached in the highest samādhi, concomitant with the True State and the Pure State. Therein there is realized that there are really no enjoying or enjoyer, no actions or doer of actions, that all objective things are as unreal as dreams; and that, therefore, rather than live as the multitude in the pursuit of illusions, one should choose the Path of the Bodhisattvas, the Lords of Compassion, and be a worker for the emancipation of beings karmically bound to the Wheel of Ignorance.
7. This is: Casual Merit, which is the fruit of charitable deeds, and otherwise known as temporal merit; and Resultant Merit, which arises from super-abundance of Casual Merit, and otherwise called spiritual merit.
8. That is: Obscurations of intellect resulting from evil passions; and Obscurations of intellect resulting from wrong belief, such as the belief that there is an immortal personal self, or soul, or the belief that phenomenal appearances are real.
9. All these aphorisms of negation rest upon the Bodhic doctrine that personality is transitory, that personal (or soul) immortality is inconceivable to one who has attained to Right Knowledge. The microcosmic mind, a reflex of the Macrocosmic Mind (which alone is eternal), ceases to be microcosmic, or limited, when immersed in the ecstasy induced by the highest samādhi.
There is then no personality, no obtainer, no renouncer, no performer of actions, no accumulator of merits, no vow-keeper, no enjoyer of the Natural Mood, no meditator of the Pure State, no seer of the True State, no traverser of the Path: and the whole conceptual or illusory state of mind is obliterated. Human language is essentially a means of enabling man to communicate with man in terms based upon experiences common to all men existing in a sensuous universe; and the employment of it to describe supersensuous experiences can never be anything more than figurative.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
