Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book - Revised and Expanded Edition

by Daniel M. Ingram

The terminology that I am used to involves seeing thoughts as they are, thus having them be just a very small and transient part of the natural, causal field of experience. However, it must also be admitted that, since thoughts can only be experienced as aspects of the other five sense doors, then labeling thought as thought is also just an abstraction and just as arbitrary as is labeling the other five sense doors as such. These are simply convenient designations (thoughts) for the sake of discussion. When one notices that all things simply arise on their own, including those sensations that may or may not be designated as thoughts, to be empty of a self, as they are and always have been, with no separate or independent observer or controller or doer that is not just a part of the field of experience or manifestation, then one has understood at some level what the Buddha advocated that people understand. Thus, the model that I prefer, as it is practical, non-esoteric and direct, is that: 1. Sensations that can be labeled as thoughts occur. 2. Thoughts are natural, causal, and essential to nearly every function we perform. 3. Thoughts are not self, not other, part of life, and empty in the good sense. 4. They always have been this way, before and after any spiritual achievement, and when their true nature is seen, they are still as they were. An essential question regarding enlightenment is: does it make things different from how they were, or does it merely reveal a true ...