Buddhas don't have thoughts, only wisdom

An Eternal Now SG

Following Chinese article written by Ven Jue Xing:

An Eternal Now SG

Loppon Namdrol:

The primary Mahayāna sutra metaphor for a Buddha is a wishfulfilling gem because a wishfulfilling automatically gem fulfills the wishes of sentient beings without concepts.

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What I am saying is really simple: Buddhas do not have conceptual minds, therefore, their acts of speech are not connected with concepts and signs.

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Buddha's interactions with sentient beings are completely spontaneous and non-conceptual.

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Buddha don't have thoughts, therefore, they have no concepts. They are however omniscient.

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MMK 18:

Buddhapalita comments:

According to Mahāyāna, a buddha is in a state of continuous equipoise on reality. It is impossible therefore that a buddha will experience concepts.

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This is a very huge polemical area in Tibetan Buddhism, but in general, Nyingmas, Sakyapas and Kagyupas hold that a Buddha's actions, whether verbal or physical are completely spontaneous and free from conceptuality and cognition of conventional signs.

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Buddhas perceive only wisdom.

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one perceives all phenomena as the display of one's wisdom.

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A correct perception takes ultimate truth as its object.

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When in equipoise on reality, is is not like there is some mental focus that designates an object called "reality". Equipoise on reality is not a mental state. It is beyond mind.

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The inexpressible realization of emptiness is the same in every respect from the moment of the path of seeing until full buddhahood. We can talk about afflcitive obscurations and knowledge obscurations and so on, but the real difference between buddhas and bodhisattvas on the stages is whether there is a difference in equipoise and post-equipoise. Buddhas are never not in a state of equipoise. Thus the notion of the two obscurations apply only in post-equipoise, not while in eqiupoise on the ultimate. However, this crucial difference is responsible also for the difference in qualities of a buddha and for example, a tenth stager.

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Well, for bodhisattva on the stages, apprehension of the conventional occurs only in post-equipoise. Buddhas experience no post-equipioise phase, ergo, no apprehension of conventional i.e. deluded phenomena.

An Eternal Now SG

I remember Thusness telling me he seldom have any thoughts nowadays, only pure awareness.

An Eternal Now SG

This is eluded to by Kenneth Folk's 8th Stage of Enlightenment. (7th stage = anatta realization)

Antero:

The last time I talked with Kenneth about 8th Stage, he defined it as an end of developmental enlightenment, so after that point no further progress is possible. It means that the mental fluctuations have stopped completely and there is no unwanted discursive thinking arising at all.

“Through this process [recognizing your mind and resting loosely], our though involvement grows weaker and weaker. The gap between thoughts begins to last longer and longer. At a certain point, for half an hour there will be a stretch of no conceptual thought whatsoever, without having to suppress the thinking.
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By growing used to this natural, original emptiness again and again, we become accustomed to it. Then there will be a stretch throughout the whole day from morning to evening, which is only empty awareness untainted by notions of perceived objects or the perceiving mind. This corresponds to having attained the bodhisattva levels, the bhumis. When there is never a break throughout day and night, that is called buddhahood, true and complete enlightenment.”

- Tulku Urgyen Rinpoce, Quintessential Dzogchen p. 130

An Eternal Now SG

Vidyādhara Garab Dorje stated:

There isn’t a smidgeon of benefit in buddhahood apart from steadying an unsteady mind.

An Eternal Now SG

It should be understood that non-conceptuality or non-thought should not become an object of practice (like in pure shamatha practice) but rather is a natural side-effect of arising and abiding in equipoise/wisdom/pure awareness [wisdom of ultimate truth].*

Part of this process is to give rise to the realization of the twofold emptiness (of self and objects), resulting in a meditative, direct vision of the union of luminosity and emptiness.

Practicing non-conceptuality without arising wisdom will not lead to liberation. An ordinary unawakened person's sense consciousness is also non-conceptual, however they are not the same as wisdom.

For someone who awakens, all phenomena are perceived as one's wisdom, eluded by 'eight consciousnesses transforming into the five wisdoms'.

*"Jigmé Lingpa insists upon the importance of the distinction. He argues that, if the meditator attempts to stop conceptual activity without distinguishing between mind (sems) and awareness (rig pa), the result is a blank indeterminacy (lung ma bstan). In awareness, he argues, conceptualisation is neutralised in a state that is “like a crystal ball”, a simile which points to clarity and vividness, rather than indeterminacy and blankness." Sam van Schaik

KZL Jigme Lingpa:

"having distinguished between reflexive awareness (which is all-penetrating primordial wisdom) and mind (which is nescient conceptualization and delusive forms), you should maintain freedom from limits in the state of the vast spacious expanse of gnosis, without following after it. Through this, the imprints of the conceptual mind are purified, and errors and straying are cut off."

Tilopa:

http://www.keithdowman.net/mahamudra/tilopa.htm

Gazing intently into the empty sky, vision ceases;
Likewise, when mind gazes into mind itself,
The train of discursive and conceptual thought ends
And supreme enlightenment is gained.

Like the morning mist that dissolves into thin air,
Going nowhere but ceasing to be,
Waves of conceptualization, all the mind's creation, dissolve,
When you behold your mind's true nature.

An Eternal Now SG

For us, it is impossible to not have thoughts. Thoughts will arise, yet they should be self-liberated upon inception, then thoughts serve no harm. They are not discursive, they do not bind us like a chain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHmaBRlmYNw

Jacky Woo SG

so Buddha also doesnt have dreams isn't it.

An Eternal Now SG

Buddhas no longer dream.