14. The Supreme wisdom is to not grasp onto anything as the self

Note: This blog is part of a series sharing the teachings of the Atisha's Lojong Root Verses on Training the Mind as shared by Jetsumna Tenzin Palmo in London May 28 & 29, 2016.  These are not transcriptions of the lectures, rather a collection of her thoughts sewn together.

14. The Supreme wisdom is to not grasp onto anything as the self.

Wisdom is represented by Prajnaparamita, a female and the mother of all the buddhas.  All the buddhas are born of wisdom, and wisdom is feminine.  By comparison, compassion and skillful means are masculine.

Means on their own, will not lead to liberation.  They have to be conjoined with clear seeing.

There are three ways ignorant generosity bonds.

  1. Subject
  2. Action
  3. Object

For example: “I” am giving “it” to “her”.

Any belief in any of these “three” creates a bond. The wisdom understands emptiness and these as false concepts. It understands that nothing exists from its own side and there is no self existence.

Normally, when we perceive, we mentally assume something to be:

  • Self-existent
  • Independent
  • Enduring

Buddhist wisdom is concerned with deconstruction. Where is it? What does it look like?

Looking for the essential nature of something reveals that it can never be found.

Jetsumna used her glasses as an example. Are the glasses the lens? The frames? The function they provide? The parts holding them together? The places from where the materials come? The people who made them? The parents of the people that made them? The atoms that make up the glass? The space in between the atoms? And so on until we understand that there is nothing independent and graspable.

 

“It doesn’t mean that things don’t exist.  They don’t exist in the way we perceive it.” ~ Jetsumna Tenzin Palmo
 

The same is true for us.

Jetsumna went into great detail here of the differences between the 6th Consciousness School and the 8th Consciousness school and the different ways of understanding where we store our consciousness and karma.  I am not going to attempt to relay this part of the lecture.

 

“Everything arises in the interdependent…Everything is intimate…We are seeking intimate interconnectedness with everything.” ~ Jetsumna Tenzin Palmo
 

Read Verses fifteen & sixteen and the teaching notes.