Forests of Imagination

Breaking through the walls of perception.

May 2007 Padmayogini

Today we are looking at the nature of perception, how we see the world and from that basis of seeing and perceiving, how we respond, or describe that world.

In the Buddhist tradition, the basic tenant, if you like, is that there is reality, a non-dual reality, not separated by the ego we call self. Then there is the reality or worlds we perceive, through that filter, a notion of a fixed unchanging ego self.

As artists or those wanting to take our creative practise further, how we see an object we want to depict, or make a response to the situation we are in, is tremendously important. We may already be aware of how difficult it can be to really see the subject in front of us. We may also have realized that if we get cross or irritated with what’s happening in our art work, things only get worse! What’s happening from the Buddhist perspective is that we are imposing our ego self more and more into the process of creating. When what we actually need to do is get out of the way.

Today we will be practising this getting out of the way, and hopefully allowing a deeper perception to arise.

Artists over the centuries have worked with perception and optical illusion. I have some examples for you to look at today. The brain it seems can be fooled quite easily. This gives us however a clue as to the constructed nature of perception.

For this short talk I have used works by Chogyam Trungpa and our founder Sangharakshita. We also have extracts and talks from our last perception workshop for you, which will give you some flavour of this important subject.

In Chogyam Trungpa’s description in Glimpses of Abhidharma, the nature of ego self is set up by a basic bewilderment, when there is a flashing in the primordial ground of conciousness. This creates tremendous space, which the basic form of ego tries to fill or freeze into solid space. From this freezing of space, form arises, then feeling, then perception. In what are called the skandhas, heaps of conditions.

This process is not something easily understood, and not something most people can experience, but in the Buddhist tradition, there are those enlightened beings who have seen this process and described it.

So we have the basic set up of ego self and then looking out from this self, with our 6 senses we see other, you, me, the world as separate. Through our sight,, hearing, tasting, touching, feeling and sense mind (the sixth sense in Buddhism,) we reinforce this notion of a separate self.

So we do not just see, just receive the visual information sent from our optic capacities, or just taste with out taste buds. As you are all probably aware, we try to make sense of what we see according to our own conditioning, our culture, etc, with this sense of sense.

Interestingly, science has shown that we can even blank out what we don’t want to see at quite an early part of our visual perception. In these experiments participants were shown a range of objects including some that were embarrassing or not agreeable in religious or cultural norms. Although it could be seen in the participants brain that their eyes had taken in all the objects, some of the participants denied being shown some of the objects. We may have examples of this ourselves, like for instance standing in a room and not seeing things till someone says look at that. I usually say oh yes I never noticed that. Actually we have probably scanned the room quite well, but we haven’t really seen or perceived in this conscious way.

Usually when we first see an object, like this table we firstly try to identify it, there is a flashing out towards it, then we want to name it, label it, in this case table. This is usually a very important part for us, we feel safer if we can give something a name, we feel we know it. Or with a person, ah yes that’s Maria.

But as Sangharakshita says in Wisdom Beyond words, “clearly just because someone can put a name to your external appearance does not mean that they recognise you in any real sense. Even in the case of ordinary folk, first impressions can be both deceptive and superficial.” The danger in terms of trying to really see the world is that once we have given something a name, we no longer engage with that object, like the table I’ve named. I know what a table is I think, though this particular table is quite different from my table at home, that trestle table over there and so on. I am not engaging with its individual qualities at all

As Chogyam Trungpa writes in Dharma Art the natural way we respond to the world veers between boredom and excitement. Boredom because we label so many things around us, and in this way are not able to really perceive them and connect with them. Excitement when we are presented with something new. Something that stimulates us. We are generally always seeking this something new to entertain our senses, and because of this we rarely experience peace in our minds.

This moving between boredom and excitement also causes a form of aggression, that can be quite subtle. When we are bored there can be an irritation with the world and when we are stimulated we want it to continue and can get upset when it stops, or is taken away.

So just to go back a little, from the basic ground, conciousness flashes and bewilderment sets in, a basic separation ego develops which tries to freeze or solidify the situation and the 5 skandhas arise one of which is perception.

With the faulty idea of a separate self we then engage with the world, building ever more sophisticated ideas and judgements, we label things, then we decide if we like them or not, whether we want to hold onto them or get rid of them.

The way to see some of this later process is through the activities we are doing today and generally through meditation and reflection. You may have already begun to have some of this experience if you meditate or have been on retreat. How the world can start to seem different, you are able to notice and appreciate things much more. Perhaps the colours are richer or even more vivid around you, there seems to be more details to see in an object. What is happening is that we have reduced the reliance on our ego based senses for a while, we are not standing in the way of seeing the world quite so much.

Of course falling in love can also make the world seem a very different place. In fact any strong skilful or unskilful emotion or feeling can change how we see the world. Which I’m sure we’ve all experienced. The actual world of course has stayed the same, this table hasn’t changed, but my response to it can change, and what I see will change because of my changing response. I might begin to notice the particular shapes, texture, colours and so on about this particular table.

In meditation we can experience more fluidity, movement and expansion. It can sort of unblock the solidity that we try to put in the world. There is according to Chogyam Trungpa wisdom inherent in each situation, for in our awareness there is the potential for wisdom to draw on our Buddha nature. “The earthy situation of actual things as they are is the source of wisdom. You can become completely one with the smell, with sight, with sound and your knowledge about them ceases to exist. Your knowledge becomes wisdom. There us nothing to know about things as an external educational process. You become completely one with them.”

With meditation practices using the breath for instance, using a simple process, you can start relating to non-duality on a practical level.

Today we will be practicing methods that can help us understand and start to see the world in a new richer way. We will be slowing down the whole perceptual process and also working with short meditation and reflection exercises and we will be using these lovely material to express our experience, put down something of what we see.

Moving away from a solid fixed sense of self and the world brings a much greater sense and appreciation of the individuality of things, we can play much more easily in free space, there is so much potential for us to explore, and to create in.

We can relax if we are not focused on comparing everything and making those endless decisions about what we like or don’t like .Personally it feels like a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders when ever I am able to just be with what’s happening.