If a yogi is told by his guru to meditate on the I's non-inherent existence using dependent-arising logic, he should think to himself, "I don't intrinsically exist since I'm a dependent arising."
There are three stages to the meditation:
In the context of selflessness, identifying the object is prohibited.
- This phase is the same as the sevenfold reasoning process.
- The yogi recognizes the appearance of an I as if it covers all of its grounds of identification, and he or she also recognizes how the mind responds to this appearance.
Determining that selflessness is a result of the rationale
- Because intrinsic or independent existence is the polar opposite of dependent-arising, it is determined that whatever is a dependent-arising does not inherently exist.
Establishing the existence of the subject's rationale
- Because the life of a being in cyclic existence is formed by predispositions set by an action motivated by ignorance, the I is a dependent-arising because it is produced by contaminated acts and afflictions.
Ignorance of the nature of the individual motivates even the virtuous acts that lead to joyful migrations and the non-moving deeds that lead to life in the form and formless worlds.
- Because it achieves its existence in reliance on its parts—its earlier and later moments, mind and body, and so on—the I is a dependent-arising.
- Because I am imputed in reliance on a consciousness that specifies, ", I am a dependent-arising.
- Without more thought, one realizes that the I does not exist inherently since one has already established that whatever is a dependent-arising does not exist essentially and has now established the existence of the reason—being a dependent arising—in the subject I.
The shortness of dependent-arising reasoning demonstrates why yogis first use the sevenfold reasoning, which elucidates in detail how the I cannot be discovered under examination.
- The sign of dependent-arising is sufficient to demonstrate that the subject cannot be discovered under analysis.
- Nevertheless, it takes more than one examination of dependent-arising to understand that analytical unfindability or non-inherent existence are both associated with being a dependent-arising.
- Dependent-arising reasoning is also used to things other than people, such as the body: Because it is a dependent-arising, the body does not exist fundamentally.
In the context of selflessness, identifying the object is prohibited.
One recognizes a body that seems intrinsically existing and self-established in the context of being indistinguishably intermingled with the appearance of the five limbs and trunk.
- It's the look of the body covering all five limbs and the trunk.
- Determining that selflessness is a result of the rationale
- Whatever is dependent-arising does not exist essentially, since inherent existence refers to something that existing independently of others.
Establishing the existence of the subject's rationale
- Because it is created by the mother's blood and the father's sperm, the body is a dependent-arising organism.
- Because it achieves its own existence in reliance on its parts—arms, legs, head, trunk, and so on—the body is a dependent-arising entity.
- Because it is imputed in reliance on arms, legs, head, trunk, and so on, the body is a dependent-arising entity.
Without more thought, one understands that the body does not exist by default.
The body does not inherently exist because,
- it is not the arms, legs, etc.,
- it is not a separate entity from the arms, legs, etc.,
- it is not the base of the arms, legs, etc.,
- it is not inherently dependent on the arms, legs, etc., and
- it is not inherently possessing the arms, legs, etc.
List Of Research Sources
- The Great Exposition of Tenets by Jam-yang-shay-ba.
- Annotations by Nga-wang-bel-den