- Imagining by this imagination, self-substance is conceived to rise by the conditions of origination (pratyayabhava); an external world is recognized in distortion, there is [in fact] no such external world, but just the Mind.
Pratyayabhava: from the root pratyaya:
paccaya (Pāli, condition; Skt., pratyaya). A condition, or that on which something depends. The *Abhidharma arrived at a comprehensive list of 24 kinds of conditions. These are described in the *Paṭṭhāna, the last book of the *Theravāda Abhidharma. The analysis is thought to encompass all conceivable relationships between phenomena, whether mental or physical. (Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism)
The term signifies literally and every kind of conditionality that is dependently originated: belief, firm conviction, faith, trust, proof, ascertainment, conception, assumption, notion, consciousness, understanding, intelligence, intellect, analysis, solution, explanation. Generally speaking, almost all psychical functions available. (Andrey Safronov. Supernatural Beings vs People of Spiritual Flow. Mysterious Pratyaya. Sloka 1.19) Hence, all these variables give rise to a conditioned world that is totally dependent on those variables; yet, when the variables have subsided, what remains is just a blank state once more. In Mind-only even the blank slate is dissolvable.
- To those who see [the world] clearly and properly, the separation between that which perceives and that which is perceived ceases; there is no such external world as is discriminated by the ignorant.
Cleary states succinctly, “To those seeing accurately, what grasping grasps disappears.” This reminds me of the old song (and hence today’s blog) “I Can See Clearly Now.” One could almost say that it is a theme song for Lankavatarians, because once all those skandhic-variables have been swept clean, this bespeaks the wonderment of awakening from the bad dream and seeing more clearly through that Clear Unadulterated Light of the Unborn Essence. For fun, let us consider the words from the song:
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.
I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I’ve been prayin’ for
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.
Look all around, there’s nothin’ but blue skies
Look straight ahead, nothin’ but blue skies
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.
I can see more clearly now because the dark rain clouds of discrimination have cessated. All apparent obstacles and obtuse feelings slip-away. What remains is the Clear Light of the Unborn Mind. All-about is nothing but blue-skies—meaning the vastness of the unbounded Sky of Mind. However, unlike the song, there is no praying for rainbows appearing on the horizon because the only vista is empty of all phenomenal attributes. Even the popular Rainbow-Body is rendered insufficient for such a realization. And the One who sees more clearly is not the apparent you with its aggregated bundle, but the Mind King itself.
- When the Mind is agitated by habit-energy (or memory) there rises what appears to be an external world; when the dualistic imagination cease there grows [transcendental] knowledge (jnana); the realm of suchness, the realm of the wise, which is free from appearances and beyond thought.
Habit-energy induces wrong-impressions that form into bubbles of illusion, all drifting on the agitated skandhic-sea. When the imaginative-bubble bursts, the way of Buddha-gnosis is made clear—informing and leading all to the realm of the Such.
- [Cleary]: The sphere of the wise occurs without images, inconceivable: conception of name and sign characterizes two natures; true knowledge, veritable, characterizes the absolute.
The sphere of the wise (suchness) is devoid of all images, it is thus an imageless-realm—inconceivable to the lesser-able.
- From the union of mother and father, the Alaya gets connected with Manas; like a rat in a pot of ghee, the red together with the white grows up.
Ghee: clarified butter made from the milk of a buffalo or cow, used in South Asian cooking. (google)
Utilizing reproductive imagery, this is when the Alaya-seeds become deeply activated within the Manas (the thinking intellect). We can see how the Lanka looks down with distain on such imagery, such as the red menstrual blood mixing with the white semen—likened unto a rat mixed in with ghee.
158. Through the stages of Pesi, Ghana and Arbuda, the boil grows -an unclean mass bearing a variety of karma; nourished by the wind of karma and the four elements, it comes to maturity like a fruit.
From the Garbhāvakrānti sutra (Sutra on the entry into the womb.)
First, [the semen and blood] change into the kalala.
Then is changes into the arbuda.
From the arbuda, it changes into the peśī.
From the peśī, it changes into the Ghana.From the Ghana, the limbs,
Four (of them), as well as the head, are produced indeed.
From the cause that is karma,
The various groups of bones will arise. (Taken from Transforming the Void. Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions. Edited by. AnnaAndreeva and Dominic Steavu)
Once again, utilizing elements from the gestation process sparked by the reproductive organs.