Rationalism and Empiricism

Thich Nu Tinh Quang

On the way, we start from the outside or from the inside. This is the way with many turns, of course the perception of the way is different even though it is still on that path.

Using Rationalism, you perceive the way and things along the path with knowledge; you follow the path with your senses; using Empiricism, you discover new awareness and insights from your experiences.

It is the outer world of the six senses and the six objects, while the trained and attached world has a pattern and genetic system rooted in desires: the eyes are a form that can be grasped; and there is a desire to cling to what they see. Holding on to the lust, clinging to the hearing...These are called attachment forms, and (the six senses) are all grasping (“Upādāniya Sutta: Cakkhuṃ, bhikkhave, upādāniyo dhammo. Yo tattha chandarāgo, taṃ tattha upādānaṃ … pe … jivhā upādāniyo dhammo … pe … mano upādāniyo dhammo. Yo tattha chandarāgo, taṃ tattha upādānaṃ. Ime vuccanti, bhikkhave, upādāniyā dhammā, idaṃ upādānanti.”)

There is a world, it is a path we can only traverse from the six doors of attachment of the senses; of course there are obstacles along the dusty path that prevent us from seeing new things. The hindrance (or tribulation) is not so much about the specific dharmas on the path, because the path is the same, but the perception is different. I see myself moving in the right direction more than others. I find my beliefs more correct… and beliefs cannot be called 'right'; they can be either wholesome or unwholesome. Regardless of whether you believe in a world after death, a spirit, or a soul, all of these beliefs are rationally based and can be proved with a rational system. Faith is the belief (or wish) that after dying we will go to heaven, bliss, reincarnation into another life, or enter a higher realm based on the teachings of certain gurus. In the same way, with different brands of shoes on our feet, it is significant whether our feet are smooth or not. It is only the shoes, a vehicle on the road, that pose a rational problem.

Experience is the only source of information we can get from the senses. The mind can tell us about the relationships between our ideas, but the ideas themselves can only be represented on the basis of sensory experience and conceptual trails.

According to the Mind Only philosophy, experience is not outside of mind-consciousness. In mind-consciousness, depending on the scene, eight consciousnesses operate together (eye-consciousness/distinction of the eye, ear-consciousness/distinction of the ear, nose-consciousness/distinction of the nose) , tongue-consciousness/discrimination of tongue, body-consciousness/discrimination of body-contact, thinking-consciousness/discrimination of the totality of the five consciousnesses, mentation-consciousness/self-grasping consciousness, and alaya-consciousness (alaya-vijñāna/阿賴耶識) consciousness stores all. The previous six consciousnesses are from the six senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind) that are related to external objects (form, sound, smell, taste, and touch dharma) that give rise to perception. Here, due to eye contact with form, the perception of seeing (eye-consciousness) is born, ear-linked with sound gives rise to the perception of the ear (ear-consciousness), and the nose is dependent on smell, which causes rise to the perception of the nose. Nose-consciousness), tongue in contact with taste which produces tongue perception (tongue consciousness), body contact with touch produces bodily perception (body-consciousness), mind conditions with mundane phenomena that arise from perception of the mind (mind), the self-grasping consciousness that provides rise to the perception of the mind-base (manna consciousness), all dharma objects are preserved in the Alaya consciousness.

Mental consciousness is conditioned by the worldly scene: feeling -> thought -> action -> consciousness. 'Feeling' is the six senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and thoughts) when in contact with and absorbing the six sense objects (form, sound, smell, taste, touch and mundane dharmas) arise from the six senses. Eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness...), 'discrimination-consciousness' is the sixth consciousness (mentation-consciousness) according to 'feeling' (feeling) that gives rise to discriminating and judgmental thinking, based on discrimination and judgment it is due to the manna consciousness grasping from within the store consciousness (alaya consciousness) which is related to the dhammas within the supply. 'action' is the consciousness 'thinking' that gives rise to mental formations, that is, the incessant creation of the mind, such as: love, hate, hatred, anger, etc. 'Consciousness' is the sum total of the perception of 'feeling'. , 'perception' and 'action' aggregates and form the clear synthesis of each form.

Using our faith and understanding, we lead the way from the six senses through rationality. When we go, we think we'll arrive where we're supposed to be. To the extent we have knowledge in the subject, research; our knowledge is an inherited thought, dependent upon sensory experience. Rational sensory experience with all ideas is trained by formative, reasoned, and externally transmitted knowledge. Some rationalists say that experience can't provide us with updated knowledge; we don't know anything; we just memorize the old texts, the text of the forerunner. In Rationalism, intellectuals only perceive things in the past and future but are cold to the present. An existential philosophy holds that a rational person with a past or a future is the same. A complete fool who cried because he thought he didn't live a thousand years ago? Or a fool crying because he won't live another thousand years? The reality of life includes the past, present and future. On the basis of knowledge, thought is a measure of the value of things, and ideas differ according to the operation of things; however, on the intellect, the view of mindfulness, intuition, the dharmas are calm in the fluctuations of things, changeable and harmonious in the cycles of birth and death. Usually, we look at things and people through different perspectives: We look at a rich, poor, successful, unsuccessful person according to inherent prejudices - the truth is not right with our view; anything that has come to an end, of course, must return: "If it is too long, it will become shorter; if it is too short, it will grow longer. It is such a natural thing” (I Ching). Too beautiful and then devastation, too proud and then 'lost', too laughing and then crying, too happy and then sadness, too many friends and then lonely. Knowing the biochemistry of the two sides, practitioners should know when to show, when to hide, when to speak, when not to speak. Lao Tzu said: "being and non-existence are related, difficult and easy to be compatible, long and short are related, sound is compatible, before and after are dependent." (老子道德經: 有無相生，難易相成，長短相形，高下相盈，音聲相和，前后相隨。恒也/老子道德經)

Tao (way or path) is the experiment of seeing the Tao from within, which is the essence of the noble path, the ultimate experience of one's life. Socrates famously said: "An unexamined life is not worth living."

How to live with this ultimate experiment? In the first step, being mindful of arising, observing consciousness and not giving rise to attachment (seventh consciousness/Manas-vijnana), recognizing the arising of mental formations, the cultivation and preservation of the seeds unhealthy from the place of consciousness (alaya-vijnana) has no chance of recurrence.

When ethical principles and doctrines are examined without habitual ego bias from the six senses, seeing the world and oneself with impersonality and objectivity, from the point of view of universality, from contemplation he thinks deeply, doesn't lean to either side - being or not - here or there - he doesn't cling when he observes doctrines  (Paramatthaka Sutta: “Yassūbhayante paṇidhīdha natthi, bhavābhavāya idha vā huraṃ vā; Nivesanā tassa na santi keci, dhammesu niccheyya samuggahītaṃ.”). In non-analytical observation, the meditator can liberate his individuality and perceive himself as part of nature and part of universal reason.

Part of nature is part of childhood, where true happiness is innocent observation, without analysis or doubt. The following 'Zen Dialogue' story can help us live fully in present-day consciousness, without inquiry:

“Zen masters often train their disciples to express themselves. The two Zen monasteries have two young yogis entrusted to them. One boy used to shop to buy vegetables every morning, met the other boy on the street.

"Where are you going?" asked a boy.

"I go wherever my feet lead," replied the other.

Such an answer confused the boy, so he turned to his teacher for help. "Tomorrow morning," said the master, "when you meet that jerk, ask the same question again. He will answer the same question, then ask him: 'Suppose you don't have legs, where are you moving?' Like that will fix his back."

The two Zen boys met again the next morning.

"Where are you moving?" he asked first.

"I move wherever the wind takes me," replied the other.

So the boy was shocked, so he came back to see the teacher.

"Ask him where he'll go if there's no wind," said the master.

The boys met again the next day, for the third time.

"Where are you going?" he asked first.

"I go to the market to buy vegetables," replied the other. (101 Câu Chuyện Thiền -Trần Trúc Lâm dịch)

Being in the present moment and liberating oneself from the past and future can be called attainment or profound mindfulness. Time must be experienced in a completely different way from everyday experience, where we are constantly drifting between memory and hope, regret and anxiety, and when the present moment is shattered, search the demand is gone, the light of liberation, freedom flashes between two moments, this can be temporarily called 'enlightenment'; This is the time that Master Hui Neng said: “No wonder self-nature is self-sufficient."( 何 其 自 性 本 自 具 足) but if the meditator 'grasps' on this intuitive moment, he falls into the view of perception and non-perception, a delusional disease of the Way. The In Sandhi-Nirmocara sutra says: “All dharmas are devoid of self-nature, have no birth and death, have always been tranquil, and have the intrinsic nature of Nirvana ( 解深密经: “一切诸法皆无自性、无生无灭、本来寂静、自性涅槃.).Just by realizing the nirvana calmness of phenomena and beings, that's when we have real freedom.

As the meditator notices the quiet nature of the thesis and the essence on the path, he or she has truly entered the path. This is when all the worldly names and appearances are only in the smile of the person who walks out the door.

From ENTERING THE GATES OF MEDITATION