The danger that consciousness poses

The growth of excessive consciousness has profound consequences for the way we experience ourselves and the world. — Iain McGilchrist

 

Basically, the Buddha is telling us that the arising of suffering is caused by consciousness and that with the complete ending of consciousness there can be no arising of suffering.  This is borne out by this passage from the Sutta-Nipāta:

“Whatever suffering arises, all is caused by consciousness.  With the complete ending of all consciousness there is no arising of suffering” (734).

As humans, before the nine months in our mother’s womb, we were consciousness in the bardo/antarabhāva or intermediate existence (between our last death and a new birth). This same consciousness connects us to a new birth place by attaching to our next mother’s fertilized embryo. 

It is thus from the bardo/antarabhāva, that consciousness causes itself to experience another round of birth and with it more suffering by clinging to the illusory shadows of its previous existence (this is not so for those who have transcended consciousness thus acquiring the intuition of that which forever lies beyond consciousness). 

This backward review by consciousness, if I can call it that, is reified and intensified by the conscious agent who then blindly and willfully attaches to another life, that is, connects with a new embryo.

As a result, the world of conscious agents never seems to leave the enclosure of consciousness.  This enclosing further develops into an individual existence with a head, arms, torso, legs and the rest of the things that make up a body.  This is a catastrophe, opening up new problems and new forms of suffering. 

But, believe it or not, there is an advantage to this.  Because consciousness is compressed into an individual with its outside world together with the subject and their mental and emotional activity it is now possible to overcome the implicit duality that makes up consciousness since it is now disclosed.  By right meditation; overcoming the deceiving power of consciousness; returning to the primordial enlightened state (buddhatā), this new, transformed being is able to help rescue those lost in the enchanting and dangerous powers of consciousness.

Switching gears, I find it odd that latter-day Buddhists don’t realize what meditation is supposed to achieve and overcome.  Not only that, but also the danger that consciousness poses if not transcended.

 

Comments

[TheZennist]

Thanks for the feedback. Transcending the dyadic nature of consciousness is certainly awakening to the original, primordial one. But this transcending is also an overcoming power, for want of a better term, that allows the Buddha to save sentient beings in all worlds caught in this dyadic consciousness. The verse from the Sutta-Nipata says it all.

[Jung]

To this date - One of your most important articles.

Specifically, this part is and has been, a must in original Chan Buddhism since its very conception in China by Bodhidharma;

"By right meditation; overcoming the deceiving power of consciousness; returning to the primordial enlightened state (buddhatā)". Period.

There are only so many ways one can explain the underlying purpose about genuine zen practice - this, what you wrote, is certainly one of the most profound because its very implication, for those with little sand in their eyes, is certainly earth (birth-death) shattering.