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Page 1 of 21904 · PDF PAGE 115
SCIENCE AND BUDDHISM 108 VII. THE RELATIVE REALITY OF CERTAIN STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS Whether we adopt Herbert Spencer’s dictum that the primary testimony of con- sciousness is to the existence of externality, or no;1 whether or no we fly to the extrem e idealistic position; there is no question that, to our normal consciousness, things as they present themselves—apart from obvious illusion, if even we dare to except this—are undisprovable to the immediate apprehen- sion. Whatever our reason may tell us, we act precisely as through Berkeley had…
1904 · PDF PAGE 73
THE SWORD OF SONG 66 thing called consciousness exists.” He denies the assertion of duality: he has no datum to assert the denial of duality. I have. Consciousness, as we know it, has one essential quality: the opposition of subject and object. Reason has attacked this and secured that complete and barren victory of convincing without producing conviction.* It has one quality apparently not essential, that of ex- ceeding impermanence. If we examine what we call steady thought, we shall find that its rate of change is in reality inconceivably sw…
1904 · PDF PAGE 35
… and the—Christian ? teach That which compels, includes, absorbs Both mighty unrevolving orbs In one informing masterless Master-idea of consciousness— All differences as these indeed Are chess play, conjuring. “Proceed !” Nay ! I’ll go back. The exposition Above, has points. But simple fission Has reproduced a different bliss, At last a heterogenesis ! The metaphysics of these verses Is perfectly absurd. My curse is No sooner in an iron word I formulate my thought than I Perceive the same to be absurd (Tannhäuser). So for this, Sir, why ! Your…
1904 · PDF PAGE 124
…knowledge be dangerous in unexpected way s, what of bacteriology? I have obtained one result; a result striking at the very condition of consciousness; which I may formulate as follows: “If a single state of consciousness persist unchanged for a period exceeding a very few seconds, its duality is annihilated; its nature is violently overthrown; this phenomenon is accompanied by an indes cribable s ensation of bliss.” Very well! but I want this formula verified a hundred times, a t housand times, by independent investigators. I want it better st…
1904 · PDF PAGE 36
PENTECOST 29 Such view our normal consciousness Tells us. I’ll quote now if you list From Tennyson. It isn’t much ; (Skip this and ’twill be even less) He say : “I am not what I see,38 And other than the things I touch.”* How lucid is our Alfred T. ! The Hindu, an Advaitist, Crosses off Maya from the list ; Believes in one—exactly so, Dhyana-consciousness, you know ! May it not be that one step further “’This lotused Buddha roaring murther !” ?39 Nibbana is the state above you Christians and them Hindus—Lord love you !— Where Nothing is perceiv…
1904 · PDF PAGE 113
SCIENCE AND BUDDHISM 106 consciousness to consciousness by its eternity, while it fixes a great gulf between them by its changelessness. He states the knowable, states it accurately , and leaves it there. But there is a practical application of this analysis which I will treat of later. (See VIII. Maha- satipatthana.) We are told that the memory is a proof of some real “ I.” But how treacherous is this ground! Did a past event in my life not happen because I have forgotten it? O the analogy of the river water given above is most valid! I who wr…
1904 · PDF PAGE 58
…bolsters up by stating that whoso should pretend to doubt it, would thereby but confirm it. Yet might it not be said “(Something called) Consciousness appears to itself to exist,” since Consciousness is itself the only w itness to that confirmation ? Not that even now we can deny some kind of existence to consciousness, but that it should be a more real existence than that of a reflec- tion is doubtful, incredible, even inconceivable. If by consciousness we mean the normal con- sciousness, it is definitely untrue, since the
1904 · PDF PAGE 119
…g in say ing that idealists are bewildered by their own terminology ; the fact is that idealis t conclusions are pre- sented directly to consciousness, when that consciousness is Dhyanic. (Cf. Section XI.) Nothing is clearer to m y m ind that that the great difficulty habitually experienced b y the normal mind in the assim ilation of m eta- physics is due to the actual lack of experi- ence in the m ind of the reader of the phenomena discussed. I will go so far as to say that perhaps Mr. Spencer himself is so bitter because he him self has actua…
1904 · PDF PAGE 112
…hm. They then distinguish between Jivatma, the soul-conditioned, and Paramatma, the s oul free; the former being the basis of our normal consciousness; the latter of the Nirvikalpa-Samadhi conscious- 1 The Buddhist position may be interpreted as agnostic in this matter, these ar guments being directed against, and destructive of , the unwarranted assumptions of the Hindus; but no more. See Sabbasava Sutta, 10. “In him , thus unwisely consider ing, ther e springs up one or other of the six (absurd) notions. “As something real and true he gets th…
1904 · PDF PAGE 110
…t, but an essential constituent of the Cosm ic Process.” And in the same essay, though he is disposed to deny more than the rudiments of consciousness to the lower form s of life, he is quite clear that pain varies directly (to put it loosely) with the degree of consciousness. Cf. also “Animal Automatism,” pp. 236-237. (2) S ORROW’S CAUSE.—The caus e of sorrow is desire. I take desire here to include such a phenomenon as the tendency of two molecules of hy drogen and chlorine to com bine under certain conditions. If death be painful to m e, it …
1904 · PDF PAGE 76
…ection x.57—Vide supra, “Ascension Day.” 710. Steel-tired.58 For Dunlop people did not know Those nineteen hundred years ago. 723. Super-consciousness.59—The Christians also claim an ecstasy. B ut they all admit, and indeed boast, that it is the result of long periods of worry and anxiety about the safety of their precious souls : therefore their ecstasy is clearly a diseased process. The Yogic ecstasy requires absolute calm and health of mind and body. It is useless and dangerous under other conditions even to begin the most elementary practic…
1904 · PDF PAGE 59
THE SWORD OF SONG 52 Dhyanic consciousness includes it and denies it. No doubt “something called” acts as a kind of caveat to the would-be sceptic, though the phrase is bad, implying a “calling. ” B ut we can guess what Huxley means. No doubt Buddha’s scepticism does not openly go quite so far as mine—it must be remembered that “scepticism” is merely the indication of a possible attitude, not a belief, as so many good fool folk thing; but Buddha not only denies “Cogito, ergo sum”; but “Cogito, ergo non sum.” See Sabbasava Sutta, par. 10.* At an…
1904 · PDF PAGE 41
THE SWORD OF SONG 34 Known as I know my consciousness, That all divisons hosts confess A master, for I know and see The absolute identity Of the beholder and the vision. How easy to excite derision In the man’s mind ! Why, fool, I think I am as clever as yourself, At least as skilled to wake the elf Of jest and mockery in a wink. I can dismiss with sneers as cheap As your this fabric of mine own, One banner of my mind o’erthrown Just at my will. How true and deep Is Carroll47 when his Alice cries : “It’s nothing but a pack of cards !” There’s t…
1904 · PDF PAGE 47
…o our Saviour’s word) That all the Saints at Pentecost Received the gift—the Holy Ghost ; Such gift implying, as I guess This very super-consciousness.59 Miracles follow as a dower ; But ah ! they used that fatal power And lost the Spirit in the act. This may be fancy or a fact ; At least it squares with super-sense Or “spiritual experience.” You do not well to swell the list Of horrid things to me imputed By calling me “materialist.” At least this thought is better suited To Western minds than is embalmed Among the doctrines of Mohammed, The d…
1904 · PDF PAGE 46
…Back to your mind. But gathering strength And never, you come (ah light !) at length To dwell awhile in the caress Of that strange super-consciousness. After one memory—O abide ! Vivid Savitri lightning-eyed !— Nothing is worth a thought beside. One hint of Amrita55 to taste And all earth’s wine may run to waste ! For by this very means Christ gained56 His glimpse into that world above Which he denominated “Love.” Indeed I think the man attained By some such means—I have not strained Out mind by chance of sense or sex To find a way less iron-br…
1904 · PDF PAGE 111
…nce of thes e desires, or rather necessities, which I realise to be m ine, is unpleasant. It is this desire inherent in me for continued consciousness that is responsible for it all, and this leads us to the Third Noble Truth. (3) S ORROW’S CEASING.—The ces sation of desire is the cessation of sorrow. This is a simple logical inference form the second Truth, and needs no comment. (4) T HE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH.— There is a way , to be cons idered later, of realising the Third Truth. But we must, before we can perceive its possibility on the one …
1904 · PDF PAGE 69
…a are portions of the human brain. Their seals therefore represent (Mr. Spencer’s * Thought is a secr etion of the br ain ( Weiss- man). Consciousness is a function of the brain (Huxley).—A. C. † Apart from its value in obtaining one- pointedness. On this subject consult tycarb, infra.—A. C. projected cube) methods of stimulating or regu- lating those particular spots (through the eye). The names of God are vibrations calculated to establish: (a) General control of the brain. (Establish- ment of functions relative to the subtle world). (b) Cont…
1904 · PDF PAGE 103
… “the number of a, b, and c,” it does not matter if I write 3 or 50 3 ; the idea is a definite one ; and it is the funda-mental ideas of consciousness of which we are treating, and to which we are com pelled to refer every thing, whether proximately or ultimately. So also my equation, fantastic as it may seem, has a perfect and absolute parallel in logic. Thus: let us convert twice the pro- position “some books are on the table.” By negativing both terms we get “Absence- of-book is not on the table,” which is precisely my equation backwards, an…
1904 · PDF PAGE 118
…of a raising, &c.” Sensations are further clas sed as pleasant or unpleasant. When this is the true intuitive instantaneous testimony of consciousness (so that “There is a raising, &c.” is rejected as a palpable lie),1 we procede to Sañña, perception. “There is a perception of a (pleas ant or unpleasant) sensation of a raising, &c.” When this has becom e intuitive—why ! here’s a strange result ! The emotions of pain and pleasure have vanished. They are subincluded in the lesser skandha of Vedana, and Sañña is free from them. And to him who can …
1904 · PDF PAGE 116
… ey e we substitute the Introspective Faculty with its keen observa- tion of the most minute disturbance, while the spot of light is the Consciousness itself, the central point of the galvanometer scale the predetermined object, and the other figures on the scale, other objects, c onnected with the primary by order and degree, sometimes obviously, sometimes obscurely, perhaps even untraceably , s o that we have no real right to predicate their connection.2 1 Huxley, Essays, V., 136. 2 This last sentence will be best understood by those who have…