Tony
28th October 2011, 08:59
What is the difference between Essence and Consciousness?
From a Buddhist point of view, they like to break every thing down, take it apart, and see what is left, and then ask, “Does it exist?” Then there is the problem of using language to describe what is seen, or known.
On an ordinary level, consciousness is awareness.
We are conscious of some thing.
So that is the first point of duality.
Then we might ask,
“Am I not this consciousness?”
“Am I being aware?”
“Being... aware.”
The answer is yes!
You can see here how the breaking down of Being and Awareness works.
So what is Being?
At the subtlest level it has to be pure and untainted...in fact Empty of any fabrication.
It is before being happy, being an identity, being anything.
It is Empty of any idea of existing or not existing.
Essence is your purest element.
It is your Absolute truth.
It is like the white of this screen: it allows everything to manifest.
The manifestation is Consciousness, Relative truth.
If you ask, “Why did Consciousness manifest?” then here I would have to speculate.
One: Consciousness manifests to help all sentient beings realise their true Essence.
Two: Sentient beings, not noticing their true Essence, became Conscious of a self and other.
This was the birth of Ignorance!
The only way to experience this is through mediation. Meditation produces a flexible mind.
Below is a repeat of a thread written for the meditation group.
Obstacles to enlightenment...there aren't any! So what are these so-called obstacles to enlightenment?
Our Essence, our pure being, prisms into three aspects:
Emptiness, Consciousness and Compassion.
Can we be anything else?
How do obstacles occur?
Well, the three pure aspects of being Emptiness, Consciousness and Compassion became distorted, into three poisons – Ignorance, Desire and Aversion.
This is how it works:
If our empty essence does not recognise itself, this is ignorance.
If our consciousness gets attracted, this is desire.
If our compassion does not like what it sees, this is aversion.
The poisons or negative emotions do not actually exist!
From this distortion came the whole of our creation, which is maintained from moment to moment. This is not at all bad news, as we can use these disturbing emotions to find our way back to essence.
We can give Essence any name you wish, but Essence is beyond words or description. It is because we now know or get an inkling of essence, that we can now deal with the emotions in the correct way.
This is how Relative truth and Absolute truth work as a unity, each reflecting the other.
Remember: Relative truth is seeming reality, and Absolute truth is actual reality.
(Laughing...this is a technical description for the unshakeable basis of love...!)
From a Buddhist point of view, they like to break every thing down, take it apart, and see what is left, and then ask, “Does it exist?” Then there is the problem of using language to describe what is seen, or known.
On an ordinary level, consciousness is awareness.
We are conscious of some thing.
So that is the first point of duality.
Then we might ask,
“Am I not this consciousness?”
“Am I being aware?”
“Being... aware.”
The answer is yes!
You can see here how the breaking down of Being and Awareness works.
So what is Being?
At the subtlest level it has to be pure and untainted...in fact Empty of any fabrication.
It is before being happy, being an identity, being anything.
It is Empty of any idea of existing or not existing.
Essence is your purest element.
It is your Absolute truth.
It is like the white of this screen: it allows everything to manifest.
The manifestation is Consciousness, Relative truth.
If you ask, “Why did Consciousness manifest?” then here I would have to speculate.
One: Consciousness manifests to help all sentient beings realise their true Essence.
Two: Sentient beings, not noticing their true Essence, became Conscious of a self and other.
This was the birth of Ignorance!
The only way to experience this is through mediation. Meditation produces a flexible mind.
Below is a repeat of a thread written for the meditation group.
Obstacles to enlightenment...there aren't any! So what are these so-called obstacles to enlightenment?
Our Essence, our pure being, prisms into three aspects:
Emptiness, Consciousness and Compassion.
Can we be anything else?
How do obstacles occur?
Well, the three pure aspects of being Emptiness, Consciousness and Compassion became distorted, into three poisons – Ignorance, Desire and Aversion.
This is how it works:
If our empty essence does not recognise itself, this is ignorance.
If our consciousness gets attracted, this is desire.
If our compassion does not like what it sees, this is aversion.
The poisons or negative emotions do not actually exist!
From this distortion came the whole of our creation, which is maintained from moment to moment. This is not at all bad news, as we can use these disturbing emotions to find our way back to essence.
We can give Essence any name you wish, but Essence is beyond words or description. It is because we now know or get an inkling of essence, that we can now deal with the emotions in the correct way.
This is how Relative truth and Absolute truth work as a unity, each reflecting the other.
Remember: Relative truth is seeming reality, and Absolute truth is actual reality.
(Laughing...this is a technical description for the unshakeable basis of love...!)