Prajnaparamita... Dharmas as Own Being, 太虚, and 空

Prajnaparamita Dharmas and Own-being

Awareness in Focus

The best brief explanation of the concept of own-being that led to a prajnaparamita emphasis that eventually allowed the development of contemplations of Awareness in its different applications is the following which was presented by Dao'an:

Tathata is "being such-as-it-is", which is such-as-it-is from beginning to end, and nothing can cause it to be otherwise than it is. Buddhas may arise and disappear, but tathata remains as it is in all eternity, everlasting and without support.

Dharmakaya is "Oneness". It is eternally pure. In it being and non-being are together purified and it is never affected by what has names (Tao Te Ching 1). . It is the eternal Way.

Bhutakoti, is "the Absolute", and is free from all attachment. It is unmoving like a moored boat (Dao De Jing, 20). . . . It is non-activity and universal activity (Dao De Jing, 37). The myriad dharmas are all active, but this dharma is steeped in abysmal silence, and so it is said to be exempt from being. It is the one of the two dharmas which are real.

All that appears to the senses is indeed false, being a product of the mind and without "reality" in any sense. But the ultimate facts of reality, known as Dharmas, are different. 

Their nature, however, is covered from perception by human ignorance and in order that that ignorance be penetrated a distinct force, known as "wisdom" (prajna), is alone able to attain knowledge of their "own-being."

The scientific mind of Buddha Dharma regards the world of the senses as composed of an unceasing flow of momentary dharmas all of which are conditioned, except two: space and what is termed Sunyata.

The normal academic sciences speak of electromagnetic fields, atoms, molecules, quarks, antiquarks and much more. They speak of their properties, tendencies, and habitual activities. These concepts, useful as they are and essential for conscious undrstanding of the visible universe around us, are in and of themselves just expressions of a cognitive observing intelligence.

  Conditioned Dharmas 

Conditioned dharmas are all the sense data, the world of form, and also the world of no-form, its antithesis. 

Unconditioned dharmas are: That of which there is no production, no passing away, no alteration of stability.

Extinction of greed, hate, and delusion, Suchness, Non-falsehood(avitathataa), undharma, Suchness,the true nature of dharma(dharmataa), the element(dhaatu) of the established order of dharma (dharma-sthititaa) ,the fixed sequence of dharma (dharma-niyaamataa), the unthinkable element, the Reality-limits (3a).

The distinction between "dharmas" and what we think of as real things is implicit in the Prajaparamita Sutras and without understanding that difference one may wander about in the mud of intellectual folly.

When one sees the dharmas as they really are in and of themselves, one sees their "own-being."

 A) One kind of "own being" is the essence, or special property, of the apparent phenomenon. This form of own-being always accompanies the object and is not tied to anything else.

The cave for example is a "thing" and the "nature of the space that makes it" is its "own-being."

We can say that a flame is a thing and that its heat is its "own being." Try and grasp that concept.

B) This own being carries its own mark and each Dharma then as a separate entity carries its own mark and none other. In any given moment a flame with its mark is different than another flame with its mark.

It is then by its mark that it is recognized.

Now we must differentiate these own-marks from function, for function is what that mark attains.

The Prajnaparamita gives the "own-marks" which define the the entity concerned.

The mark of sensation is experiencing.

The mark of discriminating is moving.

The mark of perception is taking up (by forming and naming).

The mark of cognition is together making.

The mark of consciousness is being aware.

Can you see that "function" is one step beyond "own being," it is essentially "the why."

C) The mark of each own-being is that it is not contingent, not conditioned, not related to anything other than itself.

Now the principal teaching then of Prajnaparamita is that all "own being" is empty, all dharmas are empty of own being, that is to say that they are not ultimate reality but are merely imagined and falsely discriminated, for each and every one of them is dependent on something other than itself.

In returning to our cave with its mark of "the nature of the space that makes it" we see that that "nature of space" is really then "empty" and does not exist as separate entity. The dharmas and their marks are then all provisional constructions.

The only valid point is that the appearance of own being and marks are contingent and dependent upon conditions

All appears to be impermanent and change is incompatible with the "own being" of any phenomenon. So we must ask really if Dharmas exist and the answer is no, they are conditioned except two.

With a profound understanding of this one can perhaps see that in that emptiness of Dharmas there is just one undivided, unbroken essential nature of all dharmas, one undivided own-being.

Since change is incompatible with own-being, true own-being would be independent of conditions. "True Own-being" is the " unstained  essential nature," "the unbroken unity of all dharmas."

"True Emptiness" then is the "own-mark" of this unbroken unity.

It is then the eternal base of the Life Force, without support, purified of duality, absolute and exempt from being. It can be named as 太虚, tai xu, the "Nature of the Great Emptiness, the original essence of the cosmos" and as 空, kōng, "Sunyata."

But pronounced as kōng not kòng, it has the "nature of space." It is vast and exhausts all concepts, being unreal and reduced to the extreme.

Its etymology is that of the "emptiness of a cave," difficult conceptually to grasp except by experiencing it, which allows its continuation as a cave even when it something is apparently contained by it. Sunyata is beyond that emptiness.

Now theory then links with the contemplation here, for the contemplation required to penetrate is the bridge of the illusion of conscious awareness of all Dharmas.

But beware, for this is not the awareness of the emptiness of all sense objects nor the awareness of the emptiness of all sense data, nor the emptiness of all sensations, but an awareness of that awareness itself.

How does this differ from the Thervavadin position?

They are content to understand Identity as a conglomeration of dharmas making up the self and to make their meditations basically turning upon the "emptiness of self."

This indeed releases the apparent person from the symptoms of Identity but not duality.