Vinaire's Blog

Observation is the activity of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses.

Experience is observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event.

Looking is the use of sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind) to observe and experience what is there.

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Please note that mind is defined here as a sense organ and not as a computing machine.

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From What Buddha Taught:

A word about what is meant by the term “Mind’ (manas) in Buddhist philosophy may be useful here. It should clearly be understood that mind is not spirit as opposed to matter. It should always be remembered that Buddhism does not recognize a spirit opposed to matter, as is accepted by most other systems of philosophies and religions. Mind is only a faculty or organ (indriya) like the eye or the ear. It can be controlled and developed like any other faculty, and the Buddha speaks quite often of the value of controlling and disciplining these six faculties. The difference between the eye and the mind as faculties is that the former senses the world of colours and visible forms, while the latter senses the world of ideas and thoughts and mental objects. We experience different fields of the world with different senses. We cannot hear colours, but we can see them. Nor can we see sounds, but we can hear them. Thus with our five physical sense-organs-eye, ear, nose, tongue, body-we experience only the world of visible forms, sound, odours, tastes and tangible objects. But these represent only a part of the world, not the whole. What of ideas and thoughts? They are also a part of the world. But they cannot be sensed, they cannot be conceived by the faulty of the eye, ear, nose, tongue or body. Yet they can be conceived by another faculty, which is mind. Now ideas and thoughts are not independent of the world experienced by these five physical sense faculties. In fact they depend on, and are conditioned by, physical experiences. Hence a person born blind cannot have ideas of colour, except through the analogy of sounds or some other things experienced through his other faculties. Ideas and thoughts which form a part of the world are thus produced and conditioned by physical experiences and are conceived by the mind. Hence mind (manas) is considered a sense faculty or organ (indriya), like the eye or the ear.

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There is no absolute truth or untruth. Truth is found only to be relative. Please see the essay The Nature of Truth.

What appears to be true simply dissolves into a sense of harmony. This harmony forms the very background of what one is. There is nothing specific about this background to be asserted. This background may only highlight things that are not in harmony.

Thus, as far as specifics are concerned, there are only things that are not in harmony with this background. We may call them inconsistencies. An inconsistency may manifest itself as uncertainty, incoherence, confusion, contradiction, dissonance, illogic, discord, conflict, unwanted condition, etc.

It is only when all inconsistencies are resolved that one may go back to one’s natural equilibrium. Only then the ultimate truth, if there is one, may be grasped.

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THEORY

Sensory input, as it is processed, flows down as follows:

1. Sensation
2. Perception
3. Experience
4. Information
5. Hypothesis
6. Theory
7. Principles
8. Axioms
9. Self

Each succeeding layer represents greater integration of input. The degree of integration depends upon the harmony among the elements. A greater integration and harmony means increased rationality.

A greater harmony brings about increased rationality.

An inconsistency may enter at any point when this processing is interrupted or corrupted.  The inconsistencies just float around since they are not integrated. They influence the thinking in unpredictable ways, making it irrational.

Inconsistencies introduce irrationality into thinking.

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Thinking & Memory

Thinking involves retrieval of required memory from the mind. The data exists in the mind in the form of the layers as described above. There is no ready made memory. At the time of retrieval, memory is created newly from the indexing of data among these layers. 

It would be difficult to re-create memory when the data is not properly indexed. Lack of indexing occurs due to a lack of integration of input, which, in turn, is caused by the presence of inconsistencies.

The problem with some memory is not that it cannot be accessed. The problem boils down to the presence of unresolved  inconsistencies in the mind. If a memory in certain area is “difficult to access” then the approach should be to identify and resolve all inconsistencies in that area.

Underlying any difficulty in accessing memory there are inconsistencies that needs to be identified and resolved.

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Thinking & Visualization

Thinking also involves the visualization of new possibilities and solutions. These visualizations then feed back as input into the layers above. When these visualizations are in harmony with the processing of the sensory input they speed up the integration greatly. On the other hand, when these visualizations are not in harmony, they may contribute to inconsistencies themselves.

For example, a belief may come about in an effort to restrain some confusion. This belief may then appear as an inconsistency at the level of hypothesis when not in harmony with the sensory input.

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Nature of Inconsistency

Inconsistencies on various levels may be named as follows:

1. Perception …..(Engram)
2. Experience …..(Unwanted feelings & emotions)
3. Information …..(Indoctrination)
4. Hypothesis …..(Beliefs)
5. Theory ……….(Doctrines)
6. Principles …….(Fixed ideas)
7. Axioms ……….(Fixed viewpoints)
8. Self …………..(Fixed identity)

The inconsistency may be defined as the variance between the way something appears and the harmony that should be there. Therefore, the method for dissolving any inconsistency would be to look at the area of inconsistency non-judgmentally and without resistance as described in KHTK 1 & 2. This will help restore the harmony.

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APPLICATION

In the absence of a guide these exercises may be done by oneself. The guide may help the student as follows.

(A) Go over the theory section with the student.

1. Answer any questions as best as you can.
2. Discuss the theory materials until no questions remain.
3. Make sure the student understand the main points highlighted in bold in theory section.

(B) Have the student do the exercises in sequence.

1. Guide the student through the exercises.
2. Maintain an open and friendly communication about student’s experience on the exercise.

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EXERCISE

THE PURPOSE OF THESE EXERCISES IS TO PRACTICE SPOTTING THE INCONSISTENCIES AT VARIOUS LEVELS. 

Preliminary steps:

1. Find a place where you can sit comfortably for a while without being disturbed or distracted.

2. Simply observe with your eyes open. If you find your mind adding to what is plainly visible, simply notice that fact and continue.

3. Once you can comfortably notice what is there, you may close your eyes.

Step 1

Pay close attention to what comes up in the mind. Continue until some confusion or thought appears, which does not seem to make sense. 

Step 2

Observe the layer on which that confusion or thought seems to belong to. Then approximate the possible nature of the underlying inconsistency from the list below.

1. Engram = Inconsistency on the layer of perception
2. Unwanted feelings & emotions = Inconsistency on the layer of experience
3. Indoctrination = Inconsistency on the layer of information
4. Beliefs = Inconsistency on the layer of hypothesis
5. Doctrines = Inconsistency on the layer of theory
6. Fixed ideas = Inconsistency on the layer of principles
7. Fixed viewpoints = Inconsistency on the layer of axioms
8. Fixed identity = Inconsistency on the layer of self

Step 3

Examine that inconsistency more closely by applying KHTK principles.

1. Simply perceive what is there without adding anything to it.

2. Experience any emotions as they come up without putting any resistance.

3. Acknowledge any ideas, thoughts, and considerations that come up without being judgmental.

4. Continue until your attention starts to move by itself to another subject.

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Glossary

Inconsistency

1. The inconsistency may be defined as the variance between the way something appears and the harmony that should be there.
2. There are things that are not in harmony with their background. We may call them inconsistencies. An inconsistency may manifest itself as uncertainty, incoherence, confusion, contradiction, dissonance, illogic, discord, conflict, unwanted condition, etc. It is only when all inconsistencies are resolved that one may go back to one’s natural equilibrium.
3. An inconsistency is arbitrary to some degree. Yet it is accepted because it seems to explain some confusion. Examples of this would be unreal beliefs that people carry around, and strange rituals that they engage in.
4. Inconsistency exists where consistency is missing and contradictions exist. For example, Bill claims to be a successful businessman, but he is often filing for bankruptcies.

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