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conditional existence in any form (or as any
individuated being) is (1) necessarily temporary
(or always changing).
program for release
what distinguishes Gautama from other Buddhist
and Advaitist Adepts is his sixth stage “realist”
orientation toward descriptions of existence and
his intention to Argue for Realization on the basis
of a description of existence that implies release
as the only appropriate or rational goal of human
endeavor.
But his language of Argument was not equipped or
intended to describe the very Condition that was
the ultimate import of his life and Teaching. This
is the surest indicator that Gautama’s “realism”
and Gautama’s “problem” are simply devices of mind
developed for the sake of motivating beings toward
release via the logical force of certain basic
mental propositions.
Gautama’s Argument of the Way may thus be seen
as a creative result of his will to motivate as
many people as possible toward Realization.
What distinguishes such Adepts from one another
are (1) the characteristic limitations of the first
six stages of life that may yet affect their
thought and communication, and (2) motives and
tendencies in their Teaching to Argue the Way
toward Realization rather than simply express
ultimate Realization Itself.
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Samadhi or unconditional Realization of the
Transcendental (or Nirvanic) Condition
Gautama’s motive for considering the Way of
Transcendental Realization in the terms of
“realism” was simply his commitment to motivate
people toward Realization via a rational
consideration (or a logic of inevitability).
“Realism” was Gautama’s tool of motivation. Above
all, he wanted to motivate people toward release,
and the logic of “realism” seemed to him to be the
most direct means.
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his commitment to “realism” (and to the role of
motivator or cause of the Way toward release) made
it necessary for him to be silent when asked to
describe the Transcendental Condition. There is no
doubt that he had Realized that Condition and that
he wanted all beings to Realize that Condition.
The “realist” Argument must, therefore, be seen
not simply as a patently or exclusively true
conception of conditional existence but as a kind
of method or devicea kind of yogic means,
which may be called “Buddhi Yoga,” 1 or the
exercise of the discriminative and intuitive
faculty of mind in order to understand the process
of conditional existence and, on that basis, Awaken
to the Transcendental Condition.
Such Buddhi Yoga is a sixth stage yoga that
focuses on the exercise of the processes of the
abstract or discriminative mind in relation to all
the internal and extended aspects of the
body-mind.
The exercise of Jnana Yoga is directed first to
the analytical differentiation of the “knowing”
consciousness from the grosser faculties or
structures of self (represented by the three lower
or grosser sheaths). And this is followed by the
ultimate exercise, which is the inversion of the
mind upon its even subtler root (anandamaya-kosha,
the innermost sheath or blissful and essential core
of self). This ultimate exercise of inversion upon
the atman is done until the individuated character
of the self-essence is transcended in
Transcendental Awakening.
Buddhi Yoga specifically avoids the “idealistic”
gesture of the inversion of mind (or attention)
upon anandamaya-kosha in order to develop a state
of absorptive identification with the atman.
Instead, it rigorously maintains the position of
vijnanamaya-kosha (the fourth most subtle) itself,
and thus works to observe, understand, and directly
transcend the inner atman (the fifth or most subtle
sheath of the conditional self) as well as the
three lower sheaths. Jnana Yoga also eventually
transcends the limits of the anandamaya-kosha or
atman, but it does so only after submitting
vijnanamaya-kosha to anandamaya-kosha and thus
entering attention into a process of absorptive
internal contemplation.
this specific difference in technique of
approach to Realization that distinguishes Buddhi
Yoga (or the yoga of “realism”) from Jnana Yoga (or
the yoga of “idealism”). But both of these sixth
stage techniques ultimately pass beyond themselves
to Transcendental Awakening (to the Condition of
self and not-self), or the seventh stage of
life.
Therefore, neither the philosophies (of
“realism” as opposed to “idealism”) nor the
techniques (of Buddhi Yoga as opposed to Jnana
Yoga) of the sixth stage schools should be regarded
as ultimately or exclusively true. Each simply
represents a different but characteristically sixth
stage approach to the same Transcendental (or
seventh stage) Realization. And as sixth stage
philosophies and methods of approach to
Transcendental Realization, both the “realist” and
the “idealist” yogas contain inherent
limitations.
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