Awareness

By Victor M Fontane

Cultivation is regarded as a profound inner reversal. Its core lies in the inquiry into "self-nature" (svabhāva). In every human interaction, in the arising of every single thought, there exists an infinitesimally subtle space for awareness. Thoughts, especially those originating from the three poisons of greed, aversion, and ignorance (lobha, dosa, moha), are considered to lack a solid, unchanging substance at the moment of their arising. They are products of interdependent causes and conditions (pratītyasamutpāda), like waves on water, ceaselessly appearing and disappearing. When the observer reflects back upon the flow of inner thoughts and outer dialogues, they discover that because these thoughts are inherently without substance, the very concepts of "gain" and "loss" also lose their foundation. This process is seen as a secret, reverse-path meaning (密意): first, one realizes the illusory and continuous nature of conceptual phenomena (假名相續相) in the external world, and then uses this understanding to turn awareness inward, borrowing the external world to cultivate the true nature within.

Direct experiential proof (體證) sometimes precedes theoretical understanding. An act of giving, done without conscious intention, may be recognized in hindsight as perfectly aligning with the concept of "emptiness of the three wheels" (trimaṇḍala-pariśuddhi) in giving—that is, in the act itself, there was no conscious awareness of a "giver," a "receiver," or the "gift" being given. When this is clearly cognized, the path forward becomes clear.

As this awareness deepens, a transformation may occur: a reduction in language and judgment. When that which is called "I"—the strong sense of self that is the primary source of judgment and intervention—gradually recedes into the background, a state of mental clarity emerges. In this state, the individual can see the deeper, broader network of cause and effect in the world more clearly. The world as it truly is, after the filter of the "I" has faded, reveals a different appearance.

From this, one's perspective may undergo a quantum leap. Existence itself, from the birth and death of all things in the universe to the impermanence and suffering (dukkha) manifested by all sentient beings, is seen as a grand and silent performance.

This performance, like a cosmic-level act of "giving" (dāna), continuously reveals certain truths through its very state of being. The impermanence and suffering of life, from this viewpoint, are transformed into a compassionate force that impels one toward awakening.

However, all these realizations point to an even deeper core: the transcendence of concepts themselves. Even spiritual tools like "non-attached giving" or "the emptiness of the three wheels," if clung to, become new fetters. The ultimate insight lies in realizing that all dharmas (phenomena) lack an independent, permanent self-nature, and that there is no "real" dharma to be attained.

Within such an understanding, the rising and falling of thoughts are neither "I" nor "not-I." The driving force behind action and inaction is not governed by a solid, unchanging "self." All phenomena, whether mundane daily affairs or matters of life and death—such as a person unhesitatingly saving another's life in an instant, or a highly skilled driver meeting with an accident—are natural expressions of conditioned arising and emptiness (緣起性空). It is like a mirror reflecting all things: when an object comes, its image appears; when it goes, the image vanishes, leaving no trace. This is a state of "acting without acting, yet leaving nothing undone" (無為而無所不為), the most natural flow of existence itself. It is a dedication (迴向) of great giving to all sentient beings, by acting in harmony with them.

As long as the concept of "the emptiness of the three wheels" enters your mind during so-called cultivation, it becomes difficult to practice the nominal giving of the three-wheeled emptiness. This is because cause and effect are neither real nor unreal; karma (業) has no self-nature, yet its nominal, continuous form (假名潛在相續相) persists in the mind-stream (at the seventh consciousness, manas). This is also why the Blessed One (世尊) manifested in this world—drawn by the suffering of sentient beings—and taught through reverse, expedient means (方便說).

One can only exist without intervening. To speak or not to speak, to act or not to act, without any attachment—the mind is fundamentally empty.