Unconditioned
These essays I share on this site are as much a therapeutic practice for me as I hope they may be of some value to readers. I find that the discipline of putting structure in words into whats appearing in my own limited consciousness (having read the works of teachers and philosophers of course – it’s not as if I’ve come up with anything profound myself) serves as a tool for getting a glimpse at what is beyond the structure of words.
This little essay is a meditation on the Yogacara way of understanding reality in terms of the three modes of existence. It’s a teaching that goes back to the Indian Buddhist philosopher, Vasubandhu and thence though the Chinese philosopher-cleric, Xuanzang.
Here goes.
Imagined existence is both subjective and objective
Dependent existence is neither subjective nor objective
Imagined existence is the field of consciousness which objectifies the world into discrete objects and imputes to them substantiality and independent existence while at the same time, substantialising the subject in analogue to these objects.
Dependent existence has/is the characteristic of dependent origination, flux, without any ultimately independent self-existence, without any ultimate differentiation, beyond yet inclusive of conventional designation, determined by conditions yet inclusive of the apparent self-determination of a conventional subject as a condition.
Dependent existence is Conditioned existence. Conditioned existence in itself is unconditioned.
Unconditioned; It’s essence is essencelessness, it’s permanence is impermanence, it’s form is becoming, it’s being is selflessness, it’s constant is change, it’s time is relativity.
It’s unity is realised by clearing off imposed dualities, rather than grasping plurality into a one.
It’s immanence is realised through transcending self-and-object consciousness. It’s continuity incorporates discontinuity.
It’s identity is ungraspable, it’s dialectic is enveloped in nothingness.
It’s selfless self-realisation is called the Perfected mode of existence
Whether seen through silence or intricate descriptions, it remains just as it is.