Whatever you said about four foundations of mindfulness is
alright... however mindfulness is not a conceptualization process.
Mindfulness means bare naked observation of reality... it is also
what gives rise to direct experiential insight provided there is
right view. Here's an article on mindfulness I consider a
'must-read' for everyone practicing
Buddhism: Chapter
13 ...(Mindfulness - Sati)
About consciousness: in Buddhism, we do not say there is no
consciousness. There is consciousness, but consciousness is not a
Self. Consciousness is not an ultimate observer of objects... this
is the ordinary being's thinking and even those with transcendental
glimpses of the I AM Presence.
So what is consciousness? In http://www.leighb.com/mn38.htm
The Buddha reprimanded a monk who thinks that consciousness
'is that which
feels and experiences, that which reaps the results of good and
evil actions done here and there' and that 'this
consciousness transmigrates through existences, not anything
else'.
Why is this monk reprimanded for holding such a view of
consciousness? It is because he thinks that Consciousness is a
soul, a Self that experiences and observes things and that this is
ultimately that unchanging entity that transmigrates through
different lifetimes.
The Buddha furthermore states that
Note that the Buddha is saying two things here: 1) Consciousness
is a manifestation that dependently originates. 2) By holding on to
the wrong view, you create much demerits for yourself and prevent
your own enlightenment.
So it goes two ways: having right view ensures your
enlightenment, while holding on to the wrong view prevents
awakening and further to propagate these views as truth
or worse as Buddha's words (called slandering) destroys yourself
and accumulate a lot of demerits. This is why having this
discussion in this forum is very important, it is my wish that
everyone can attain Nirvana ASAP.
Now back to the topic of consciousness... now we understand that
Consciousness is not a self, but a manifestation that dependently
originates. It is an Arising... it is not a Self or a Soul, or an
Observer/Experiencer/Feeler.
What kind of arising is called consciousness? The Buddha further
explains:
So we can see from here, there is no one single type of
consciousness. There is actually six different types of
consciousness, which arises due to interdependence and supporting
conditions.
The act of hearing music depends on many things: the ears, the air,
the speakers, and so on... that act of cognizance is an arising
with supporting conditions.
Consciousness is a pure cognizance manifestation. There is no
'self' involved... there is no 'self' hearing, seeing, there is
pure seeing, pure hearing, everything happening without an
experiencer. This is the nature of consciousness. There is no 'you'
in here watching the 'tree out there'... there is just the pure
seeing of tree without a seer and external object being seen -
there is no distance, only distantless pure visual
consciousness.
Lastly, I believe you hear from Heart Sutra that the five skandhas
are empty and that forms, feelings, perception, volition and
consciousness are all empty. What does 'empty' mean? Doesn't mean
they don't exist, but that they interdependently originate, are
impermanent, non-self, and thus are without an inherent, permanent
essence.
Consciousness is empty because it does not have an inherent,
independent, permanent nature: consciousness is an act of
cognizance that dependently originates with supporting
conditions.
Everything we experience is an act of cognizance that appears to be
solid, real, 'out there' but is actually just a dependently
originated 'magic show'.
Thus the Buddha says in Phena Sutta that consciousness is like a
magic trick:
Form is
like a glob of foam; feeling, a bubble; perception, a mirage;
fabrications, a banana tree; consciousness, a magic trick — this
has been taught by the Kinsman of the Sun. However you observe
them, appropriately examine them, they're empty, void to whoever
sees them appropriately.
thx AEN... for this link http://www.leighb.com/mn38.htm
I think there's the Twelve-linked Chain of Dependent Origination
inside this article.
Have understood that consciousness is just an arising... but
still got 1 last troublesome doubt...
Just to check, due to ignorance, our actions are affected. Be it
good or bad, the karma is all "stored" in consciousness and enters
the mother's womb right?
I feel funny that when I ask this question is like 欠打 lol
