Consciousness without signs
(anidassana viññāṇa)
The exit door to nibbana.
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Please, use the sketchy representation of paṭiccasamupāda at the bottom of the page as a visual aid.
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The Tathagata isn't concerned with whether all the world (loko) or half of it or a third of it will be led to release by means of that [Dhamma]. But he does know this: 'All those who have been led, are being led, or will be led [to release] from the world have done so, are doing so, or will do so after having abandoned the five hindrances (nīvaraṇe) — those defilements of awareness that weaken discernment (cetaso upakkilese paññāya dubbalīkaraṇe) — having well-established their minds (citta) in the four frames of reference, and having developed, as they have come to be, the seven factors for Awakening. |
Consciousness/viññāṇa (the "is known" of Buddhism,) is consciousness of something. Therefore, there must be something to be known that predates consciousness.
And that is saṅkhāra nidāna.
What consciousness at inception is, is the knowledge of the output of the three pairs of saṅkhāras in Saṇkhāra nidāna (kāya, vacī & citta saṅkhāre > |assāsa-apassāsā|, |vitakka-vicārā|, |saññā-vedanā|).
Consciousness "knows" the output of Saṅkhāra nidāna, so to speak. (see paṭiccasamuppāda)
The "subjectivity" of the body, mental, and verbal, (accreted and coalesced) saṇkhāras, is caused by ignorance, and has intentionality. The intentionality to know further. And it yields consciousness.
And this consciousness seems to be "light" (with its space-time properties). The anidassana viññāṇa, consciousness without feature/signs of DN 11, MN 49 & MN 140. A consciousness that is purified and bright; radiant/luminous all around. This conciousness is consciousness at inception.
Yet light is not enough for a perfect actualisation - for a perfect objective knowledge - Therefore, there is the necessary concomitance of nāmarūpa and saḷayātana (satta's internal sphere of senses & the external sphere of senses,) in the spacetime realm of light (consciousness).
Knowledge needs to come from more than just spatial and temporal inputs. There must be some attribute attached to what spacetime yields. It must make some sense. The dhatus must combine together, to yield a subjectivity that will appraise the result. (For some additional content on elements (dhatus) see here). There must be a bodily, verbal and mental entity in the world. An entity that mirrors Saṅkhāra nidāna; but a real entity.
How does the process works at the level of reality?
Paṭiccasamuppada is essentially a recursive process.
Once the vicious circle (on the diagram below,) has turned at least once, consciousness (viññāṇa nidāna) establishes itself in the first three khandhas of nāmarūpa (feeling, perception, intention). That has for effect the descent of nāmarūpa and the concomitant becoming of saḷāyatana. (see here the establishing of consciousness).
We know the rest, namely:
Satta (man) experiences the signs and details of the external sphere of senses with his internal sphere of senses; and that is called sense-consciousness.
Sense-consciousness triggers contact, feeling, craving, holding/clinging and being/existence. This output is perceived and thought upon by the intellect (mano); as man imagines and intends more.
This intention of the mind (manosañcetana) is fed to viññāṇa nidāna (consciousness stores signs; not things).
Viññāṇa nidāna establishes itself once again in nāmarūpa; and so the (vitiated) process loops recursively. Vitiated, because, by now, man should have realized the falsity of an "I", and the making of dukkha.
The process is vitiated, says Buddha. It generates dukkha.
The ignorance of the first order, educes a second order ignorance; that is the ignorance of dukkha; described in the vicious circle process in SN 12.65, and depicted in the sketch below; namely:
Consciousness of the second order (sense-consciousness in saḷāyatana) feeds consciousness of the first order (the dhatu-consciousness that sullies anidassana viññāṇa in viññāṇa nidāna); and the latter descends into nāmarūpa (establishing of consciousness); so on and so forth.
Until the arahant stops feeding consciousness of the first order, with the second order sense-consciousness and its added ensuant perceptions and thoughts and intentions (as maññana/papañcas/manosañcetana...).
Then and only then, the light that has been clouded by consciousness of the second order, (along the ongoing process,) finally breaks through again.
Note:
In SN 22.83, what satta (the young woman) sees in the mirror, is nāmarūpa with its forms, feelings, perceptions, intentions and established consciousness.
She senses the signs and details (nimitta & nānubyañja) of the form in nāmarūpa + the khandhas in nāmarūpa (feeling, perception, intention) + the established consciousness in its khandhas. In other words, she senses the constituents of the external sphere of senses (signs), that correspond to the constituents of nāmarūpa (real stuff).
Like the king senses the sound of the lute (that is a conglomerate of different real parts) in SN 35.246.
Clinging indirectly to these nāmarūpa's constituents, and directly to their signs, in the external sphere of senses (through the process of sense-consciousness > contact > feeling > craving > clinging), induces the "I" in the being (english=am/Pali=asmi), and also the upholding of existence (bhava). (SN 22.47).
Clinging induces the "I" and the descent of the sense-faculties (indriya).
The "reality" is in the mirror.
The onlooker + his clinging is the delusion; and a factor of continuance of existence; with its lots of manosañcetana (mental intentions => maintenance of beings MN 38 - SN 12.11, etc.) and pakappana and anusaya (plans (projections) and tendencies => maintenance of consciousness - SN 12.39).
Asmi is born in nāmarūpa and present in satta, as Aristotle defined this type of beings in his "Categories". Asmi (the "am" in "I am", belongs to nāmarūpa, until it differentiates and frees itself with the help of mano.)
This is why the Buddha says that nothing is ours (SN 35.101 & MN 22).
The idea is to carry that asmi back to anidassana viññāṇa and above.
The "am" (asmi) has been delegated (by nāmarūpa,) the actualised implementation of "true knowing", and the task to send the result of its true knowledge to dathu-consciousness in viññāṇa nidāna. But the "I" gets in the way of man (satta).
There is a (fallacious) appropriation of nāmarūpa's khandhas by the "I" (SN 22.47 - see also the Chinese versions of the sutta)); and the "I" makes the khandhas of nāmarūpa his own khandhas (clinging-khandhas) (MN 18 - SN 35.121 - SN 35.130 - also SN 12.62 - MN 28 - SN 22.81 - SN 22.57, etc.).
What seems to be a "good?/no good?" inquiry, ends up being an endless desire of becoming, that brings forth dukkha. It brings forth dukkha because the process is impermanent.
Instead of seeing his/her "pseudo-self" in the upper dimensions (anidassana viññāṇā and above); which is a false view anyway, says Buddha - for there is no "self" or "Self" in paṭiccasamuppāda in any case.
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"'Having directly known the all (sabba) as the all, and having directly known the extent of what has not been experienced through the allness of the all, I wasn't the all, I wasn't in the all, I wasn't apart from the all, I wasn't "The all is mine." I didn't affirm (praise) the all. |
man sees a pervasive self that permeates himself as the "I". And he arrogates himself what is not his. (more on the Self/self here )
The "I" not only attaches itself to nāmarūpa's khandhas*; but to its "own" (elaborated) clinging-khandhas as well. This is where the descent of the five sensual indriyas take place (SN 22.47). Ayatana is replaced by indriya, so to speak.
Consciousness is first a consciousness of the constituents of nāmarūpa; then (once the "I" and the descent of the indriya (faculty/function) have taken place), a consciousness of the projected object in becoming replaces it. The "I" adds its own intentions to the object seen (and feeds that mental object to viññāṇa nidāna). So the vicious circle can't stop.
There is no possible escape through anidassana viññāṇa in these conditions.
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you should train yourself in this way: 'I won't cling to the eye; my consciousness will not be dependent on the eye.' That's how you should train yourself. 'I won't cling to the ear... nose... |
The "I" sees two objects - an object as such (from the signs and details of the dependently co-arisen elements of nāmarūpa) - and - after the descent of the indriya, an object that is projected (mentally envisioned), and that mano feeds to the dhatu-consciousness in viññāṇa nidāna.
Note 2:
* Because what satta is percipient of, and think upon, is the extent of the range of the two types of khandhas (nāmarūpa's and satta's), the "I" cannot relate to satta alone - making it impossible to speak of an "I", when it comes to satta or the "all".
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So too, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu investigates form to the extent that there is a range for form, he investigates feeling to the extent that there is a range for feeling, he investigates perception... As he investigates form to the extent that there is a range for form ... consciousness to the extent that there is a range for consciousness, whatever notions of ‘I’ or ‘mine’ or ‘I am’ had occurred to him before no longer occur to him.” |
Acknowledging that the clinging-khandhas are borrowed from nāmarūpa's khandhas, the bhikkhu cannot have the notions of ‘I’ (ahanti) or ‘mine’ (mamanti) or ‘I am’ (asmīti) anymore.
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"I do not speak of form as ‘I am’ (asmī’ti), nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from form. I do not speak of feeling as ‘I am’ … etc." ). |
Buddha says that THAT BY WICH perception and thinking is done, is called the world.
The definition He gives of the world is: the "all" (SN 35.23), (a.k.a. the internal sphere of senses, viz. the sensitive part of satta) + sense-consciousness + the things to be cognized by sense-consciousness (a.k.a. the external sphere of senses) (SN 35.68).
Sense-consciousness being somewhat external to satta, as it encompasses the external sphere of senses, this is an other reason not to consider satta as the "I".
Even if SN 35.68 has no parallel in the other books, it is obvious that sense-consciousness must be accounted in the concept of the "world". "That by which" includes sense-consciousness.
Therefore, the following excerpt from SN 2.26 (or AN 4.45)
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Yet it is just within this fathom-long body, with its perception & intellect, that I declare that there is the world, the origination of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of the world." |
should be interpreted as follows:
The descent of nāmarūpa causes the saḷāyatana. The internal sphere of senses in satta triggers (or inactivates) the all "knowledge" process.
People should notice here, that the primary contact originates from nāmārūpa. Contact is an element of nāmarūpa. Nāmarūpa is enticing. Nāmarūpa is the lurer.
Nāmarūpa "creates" saḷāyatana, and provokes contact with the internal sphere of senses.
Satta creates or not the descent of the indriyas (by clinging or not).
This is what is meant by the "fathom-long body" is the origination of the world (or its cessation).
This is the turning point, when asmi (am/being) differentiates and frees itself from nāmarūpa, by dropping the "I", and turns back to anidassana viññāṇa nidāna, with in its suitcase, the true knowledge that ensues (that is to say: no descent of the sensuous indriyas - awareness of the co-arisen nature of nāmarūpa's elements and its inherited properties, such as the established consciousness - abandonment of the khandhas and the "all" (sabba) - etc. - in other words the true knowledge that the process is vitiated).
This is the "no-good" answer to Ignorance's quest.
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The knowledge of dukkha (second order ignorance) is enough to settle the first order ignorance as ultimate knowledge:
Because arahantship has understood ignorance of the second order, there is no more need for consciousness. Ignorance of the first order becomes ultimate knowledge (aññā), thanks to the ignorance of the second order. The knowledge of dukkha is sufficient to bring about the ultimate knowledge.
Like if you were to see a fruit on a tree and know not about it. You would try it again and again; not knowing that it is slowly poisoning you (second degree ignorance). Yet, when you discover that fact at last, ignorance of the first order (what's that fruit?) settles with the ignorance of the second order. You just know it's not good. You dismiss it. You need no extra knowledge.
At that level of viññāṇa anidassana, (almost) totally purified from ignorance, you don't need to know anymore, you don't need to remember, you don't think anymore; you don't call/you don't denominate (sankya) any longer. There is no-thing to reflect and intend upon.
Consciousness has to fade away and disappear. It is not necessary anymore.
Remains perception, feeling and breath.
The "self-presentational" phenomena that was, at inception, the perception of the feeling of the first breath and the pondering over it, went through the all paṭiccasamuppāda's process. Once the process is known and perceived by the arahant as vitiated, the new phenomena becomes the absolute stilling of that breath and its concomitant feeling.
The saṅkhāras (at inception,) were roaring with the intention of knowing what that was all about. Now, arahantship is what stills them with actualisation and true knowledge.
The pre-predicative speculative experience becomes a post-actualized certainty.
Consciousness feeds first order perception with certainty; and vanishes.
Intentionality of knowing vanishes with knowledge.
Ignorance of the first order vanishes also.
We might just be an idea that has to be substantiated; and it happens that it does so through a hell of an actualisation.
An idea that has a purpose at inception.
An ignorant idea that yields and carries the body, mental and verbal combos on a first and second order level; so as to know the desirability (bien fondé) of its motive.
Is it good?
The answer is no, says the process (and says Buddha).
Why ignorance yields (Iti imasmiṃ sati idaṃ hoti) the body, mental and verbal saṅkhāras is the question.
Something else behind that ?!?!? - No reason to talk about it, says Buddha.
Liberate yourself, then wait & see.
All that to say that intentionality is the desire to know; at inception, and all the way along the knowing process.
The actualisation of knowledge is dependent on the senses; but, at inception, cetana (intention) is the desire to know. Intentionality transcends any process involved. It is the way to make something known by consciousness.
Cetana is in nāmarūpa (MN 44), before the senses hit satta.
Cetana is in satta (manosañcetana) and "adds" to the sense-consciousness, before the result gets inputed back to the dhatu-consciousness in viññāṇa nidāna. It processes sense-consciousness + satta's own feelings and perceptions (thought upon).
Sense-consciousness > Contact > ** Feeling > Perception > Saṅkhārā (cetana) > dhatu-Consciousness **; to put it short.
Senses are a necessity; but not a sufficient element in the process.
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A BIT MORE FOR THE COURAGEOUS SEEKER
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Understanding the point of inception of second order ignorance (a.k.a. element of ignorance = avijjadhatu) (again see SN 22.47):
Once he "sees" (understands) that the sound comes from the lute, he dismisses and destroys the lute.
Let's say we talk about the eye.
Then satta sees a form (external sphere (bāhirā āyatana) - from a tree (namarupa's co-arisen khandhas).
He could also have heard a sound from a lute; but let stick with the eye.
So, satta sees the form (its signs and details) with his eye (internal sphere (ajjhattika āyatana). The meeting of the eye with form, produces eye-consciousness.
So far, so good?
IF satta appropriates this form to himself (idea of self - SN 22.47), then there is the making (or maintenance) of an "I", with the descent of the indriyas, the mind ( mano), the mental phenomena (dhamma) and the element of ignorance (avijjādhātu). And ensues the concomitant ignorance-contact and the clinging khandhas. Whose last khandha in the process (consciousness) is fed to viññāṇadhatu in viññāṇa nidanā (viññāṇa nidanā being made of viññāṇadhatu and anidassna viññāṇa, as you may remember). The latter (viññāṇa nidāna descending in the khandhas in nāmarūpa (establishing of consciousness) - so the recursive vitiated process (the vicious circle) continues for ever.
Until the arahant stops the descent of the indriyas, by understanding that nāmarūpa's khandhas are not his. No self > no "I" > no descent of the sense-functions (indriyas) > no clinging khandhas...
The process stops.
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Sā me dhammamadesesi,
khandhāyatanadhātuyo
She taught me the Dhamma:
aggregates, sense spheres, & elements.
Thig 5.8