Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 50-minute session from Khensur Rinpoche’s Awareness and Knowledge series, the central puzzle is deceptively simple: what happens in the mind the moment after you close your eyes on a rose? Rinpoche uses this example to distinguish mental direct perceivers from the five sense perceivers, presenting three accounts of their arising and favouring Tsongkhapa’s view that one mental moment follows at the end of each sensory continuum — sixty-five such moments, he notes, fit within a single finger-snap. He then examines self-knowing direct perceivers, explaining why the Sūtra and Mind Only schools accept them as the basis for memory while Prāsaṇgika Madhyamaka rejects them as implying true existence. The session closes with a brief introduction to yogic direct perceivers, which arise only in the minds of advanced practitioners through the union of calm abiding and special insight.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 07 AK 1988-10-20.mp3
UUID: 0fe3355f-6b11-4f80-b588-9a55fb3eac04
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Awareness and Knowledge 1988-1989 (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1988-10-20
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 50.6 minutes
Words: ~2,619
So we’re explaining we’re explaining the four divisions of direct perceivers, that is sense direct perceivers, mental direct perceivers, self knowing direct perceivers, and yogic direct perceivers. We finished the first of these four that is sense direct perceivers. So what is the difference between sense direct perceivers and mental direct perceivers? When we talk about the senses, the sense direct perceivers, we’re talking about the various perceivers, such as the eye, ears, nose, tongue, and body perceptions. Those senses are what we call the senses.
So we call those five the sense direct perceivers. So these five sense direct perceivers each each rely on one of the five senses, such as the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body. But the mental direct perceiver does not rely on these five physical senses. It relies primarily on the mental sense, and therefore it’s called the mental direct perceiver. So the the definition of mental direct perceiver is a non mistaken, non conceptual knower that arises from its own uncommon empowering condition, a mental sense power.
So it is a non mistaken, non conceptual knower that arises from its own uncommon empowering condition, a mental sense power. So, for example, when we talk about the eye direct perceiver, its uncommon empowering condition is form. When we talk about the mental direct perceiver, its uncommon empowering condition is non physical. It is the preceding consciousness. It relies for its uncommon empowering condition on the preceding consciousness.
It is non its empowering condition is non physical. So if we divide mental direct perceivers, there are five types. So the five types of mental direct perceivers are classified according to object which they take, their object of perception. And these are the various objects, for example, form which is seen by the eye consciousness, the sound which is, heard by the ear consciousness, etcetera. That would be the eye, ear, no, the forms, sounds, odors, tastes, and tangible objects.
So, those five are taken as the objects of the mental direct perceiver, making five different types of direct perceivers, such as the mental direct perceiver taking as its object form, the mental direct perceiver taking as its object sound, etcetera. So, within our continuums, within our within our continuums, there, we develop mental direct perceivers. Now the way these mental direct perceivers are actually generated, there are differing, there are different assertions. There are various various, scholars assert different ways assert different ways in which the mental direct perceivers are, generated. So so there are basically three different explanations on the way the mental direct perceivers are are generated.
The first is the the alternate or alternating production. Alternating production is one assertion. Then there is the production of three types. It’s the second. Then there is the production only at the end of a continuum. So there’s alternating production, then there is production of three types, and then there is production only at the end of a continuum.
These are the three different explanations for the generation of mental direct perceivers. So if we take an example this the rose. The the first moment there there is a at the first moment there is a an eye consciousness perceiving rose. And there is an eye consciousness perceiving rose in the fir the first moment. Then the second moment, there is a mental direct perceiver perceiving rose.
The second moment then there’s there’s generated a mental direct perceiver perceiving rose. The third moment, there is a eye consciousness perceiving rose is generated. Eye consciousness perceiving rose is generated. So taking as an example of these first three moments, there is the, there would be two moments of eye consciousness and there would be one moment of the direct, of mental direct perceiver. There would be two moments of eye direct perceiver, one moment of mental direct perceiver.
They would be alternating. First the eye mental direct, the eye direct perceiver, then the mental direct perceiver, then the eye direct perceiver. This is why this is called alternating production. So in the third, in the second mode of explanation, the production of a mental direct perceiver, that is production of three types. In the first moment, there would be generated an eye consciousness perceiving In the second moment, there would be the second moment of the eye consciousness perceiving rose, and simultaneously there would be the first moment of a mental direct perceiver perceiving Rose, and simultaneous with that a self knower experiencing So simultaneous simultaneously there would there would be generated the self knower experiencing both the the eye consciousness and the mental direct perceiver.
So at this second moment there are three consciousnesses simultaneously. Now this this assertion is was set forth by by previous scholars, pre that is to say previous to Tsongkhapa. Tsongkhapa set forth this third mode of explanation that is production only at the end of a continuum. According to this mode of assertion, there would be first, for example, there would be the the, eye consciousness perceiving the rose would be generated. Now, you know, it could last, this eye consciousness could last for for example, five moments.
You know one, the first moment there would be an eye eye consciousness perceiving rose, the second moment, the third moment, the fourth moment, the fifth moment. Now once this continuum of moments is finished, there will arise subsequent to that a moment of a mental direct perceiver, perceiving rose. This makes a lot of sense, you know, we can experience this for ourselves. If we look at the rose for example, you know, while we’re looking at the rose, the eye consciousness is operating, resting, abiding on the rose itself. And the moment we close our eye, then the eye consciousness ceases to, perceive the rose, but there is a moment where we can still we still have the object, and this is the mental direct perceiver perceiving the rose.
So and when we talk about these these, these moments, we’re talking about extremely fine moments of time. For example, in the, it is said that in this, you know, the snap of a finger, the time of a snap of a finger, there are sixty five mind moments, sixty five moments of consciousness within the time of a finger snap. So in the case of at the end of a continuum when this single moment of mental direct perceiver arises, it only lasts one moment, and then it’s replaced by a conceptual consciousness which will arise immediately. And likewise, this also applies to, for example, the mental consciousness which mental direct perceiver which rises rises at the end of the continuum of an ear consciousness perceiving sound. At the end of this continuum of the ear consciousness hearing sound that arises a single moment of a mental direct perceiver perceiving sound, but again, it only lasts this only this one mind moment.
This applies to all the all moments of consciousness, the mental perceivers which rise at the end of the continuum of the, sense perceivers such as the, the nose direct, the nose consciousness perceiving smells, tongue consciousness perceiving tastes, the body consciousness perceiving tangible objects. At the end of each of these there will arise a direct perceiver, a one, a single moment of a direct perceiver apprehending that particular object. But this is only one single moment and we aren’t able to, actually apprehend, to come to understand that object since it only, this moment is only lasting one instant, and therefore it’s called, appearing but not ascertained. There is the appearance of the object, for example, the the sound or the form to the mental consciousness because it only lasts one moment. It’s not ascertained.
So with respect to this this mental direct perceiver, there are those for for whom this isn’t true. You know, for for the ordinary person, this mental mental direct perceiver only lasts one moment, and therefore, it is a it is a a an awareness to which an object appears but is not ascertained. But there are individuals who, having developed calm abiding, go on to develop various clairvoyances. And these clairvoyances are mental direct perceivers. For example, the the the clairvoyance which is able to read other people’s minds.
You know, who whatever person that you want to choose, you you take them as your object and you’re able to read all their thoughts. You’re able to know all their thoughts. This is a case of a mental direct perceiver, knowing their thoughts. So therefore there are three types of mental direct perceivers. For, there are, from the point of view that there are the mental direct perceivers which are prime cognizers, which are subsequent cognizers, and awarenesses to which an object appears but is not ascertained.
There are mental direct perceivers which are prime cognizers, which are subsequent cognizers and and awarenesses to which an object appears but is not ascertained. So now so now we’ll move on to self knowing direct perceivers. So in in general, we can talk about two types of consciousnesses, other knowers and self knower. Other knowing consciousness and self knowing consciousnesses. So when we talk about a an other knowing consciousness, we’re talking about a type of consciousness which does not know itself.
It knows phenomena other than itself. That is to say, you know, the various examples that we’ve already covered up to now. The eye, consciousness perceiving forms, the ear consciousness, perceiving sounds, the the various the eye consciousness, the, the, prime cognizer perceiving, the eye, the eye prime cognizer perceiving, forms. So all all these are taking an object other than themselves and and apprehending or perceiving that object. So they’re knowing something other than themselves.
They’re other knowing consciousnesses. For example, the eye consciousness perceiving the rose is an other knowing consciousness. So we’re going to take the example of the eye consciousness apprehending the rose. So that’s an other knowing consciousness. Then there is an, there is the, with respect to the eye consciousness apprehending the rose, there is another consciousness which realizes that eye consciousness.
So there is the eye consciousness apprehending rose and then there is another consciousness apprehending the eye consciousness apprehending the rose. So this second consciousness is the self knowing consciousness. So amongst the various tenets, some accept self knowing consciousness, some do not accept self knowing consciousness. For example, the Great Exposition School and the Consequentialist Middle Way School do not accept the existence of a self knowing consciousness. Whereas the Sūtra School, which is primarily the school in which this presentation of awareness and knowledge is being presented, they accept the existence of a self knowing consciousness.
Also the mind only school and the autonomous middle way school. They also accept the existence of a self knowing consciousness. For example, the Great Exposition School does not accept the existence of self knowing consciousnesses. This is because they based their tenets on a set of seven treatises and this and the self knowing consciousness is not mentioned amongst these seven. Whereas the Prāsaṇgika Madhyamaka school does not also does not accept the existence of self knowing consciousness.
They say that if such a self knowing consciousness exists, it would have to be naturally existent and truly existent. And the Consequence Middle School assert that no phenomena are exist naturally or truly. There are no naturally existent or or truly existent phenomena. Therefore, self knowing consciousness do not exist. So the Sūtra School and the Mind Only School, they accept the existence of self knowing consciousness.
The Prāsaṇgika Madhyamaka school, they do not accept the existence of self knowing consciousness. Therefore there’s a lot of dispute between these schools. So the the Sūtra School and the mind only school accept the existence of self knowing consciousnesses. They say that it must exist and they use as their proof that the fact that that we are able to remember things that happened in the past. If there was not this self knowing consciousness then there would be no way to remember things after they happened, after the event.
The self knowing consciousness acts as the basis for memory. So the self knowing consciousness takes as its object consciousness. So therefore it’s called a self knowing consciousness. It takes itself as its own object of awareness. The self knowing consciousness takes consciousness as its object.
So this, self knowing consciousness is also, non non conceptual and non mistaken. So the definition of self knowing direct perceiver, the definition of a self knowing direct perceiver is a non conceptual, non mistake, is the definition of a self knowing direct perceiver is that which is non conceptual, non mistaken and has the aspect of an apprehender. That which is non conceptual, non mistaken, and has the aspect of an apprehender. So likewise as was classified before, there are three types of self knowing direct perceivers. The self knowing direct perceiver which is a prime cognizer, which is a subsequent cognizer, and which and and the self knowing direct perceiver to which an object appears but is not apprehended.
Okay. We’ll give the examples for each of these three types of self knowing direct perceivers. The first one is prime cognizer. So this would be the first moment of a self knowing direct perceiver experiencing an eye consciousness apprehending form. The first moment of a self knowing direct perceiver experiencing the eye consciousness apprehending form is an example of a self knowing direct perceiver prime cognizer, self knowing direct prime cognizer.
Then the subsequent cognizer, an example would be the second moment of a self knowing direct perceiver experiencing an eye consciousness apprehending form. The second moment. That would be a subsequent cognizer. Then the example of a conscious to which an object appears and a self knowing direct perceiver to which an object appears and which is not ascertained would be the self knowing direct perceiver experiencing a mental direct perceiver to which an object appears but is not ascertained. So it’s a self knowing direct perceiver experiencing a mental direct perceiver to which an object appears but is not ascertained would be an example of a self knowing direct perceiver to which an object appears and is not ascertained.
So these three first direct perceivers that we’ve covered, they’re in the continuum of all sentient beings. You know, the sense direct perceiver, mental direct perceiver and self knowing direct perceiver. These are are in the continuums of all sentient beings. But this fourth is yogic direct perceiver is not in all our continuums. So a yogic direct perceiver is that which So it’s, you know, presented its meaning first very roughly.
It is a consciousness which has as its cause or as its own cause or its own uncommon empowering condition. That is simply to say its cause, its own uncommon empowering condition. Calm abiding, calm abiding and special insight. The union of these two of calm abiding and special insight, the union of these two. And it takes its object, various types of objects, for example, the subtle impermanence, selflessness, and it’s it’s only found in the continuum of a superior of a of a, an ārya, a superior.
So this yogic direct perceiver among the Three Jewels that is the the Buddha jewel, the Dharma jewel and the Sangha jewel, it is included within the second that is the Dharma jewel, the Dharma Supreme rarity, the Dharma jewel. So such a type of consciousness as Yogi direct perceiver is not generated in the minds of ordinary beings. It’s only developed, in the minds of those with, great qualities such as a superior.