Ways of Cognizing the Two Truths: Gelug Prasangika

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Cognition of an Object

All Tibetan traditions accept that in cognizing a validly knowable phenomenon (shes-bya), mental activity (sems, mind) simultaneously gives rise to (shar-ba, produces) a cognitive object (yul) and cognitively engages (jug-pa) with it. In the definition of mind, “giving rise to a cognitive object” is referred to as “clarity” (gsal), while “cognitively engaging with such an object” is referred to as “awareness” (rig).

For example, in seeing a white rectangular towel, mental activity simultaneously produces the sight of a white rectangular towel and sees it. What we see, however, is not just sensibilia (a white rectangle). In order not to contradict convention (tha-snyad), we need to assert that we also see the towel itself – the so-called “commonsense (’jig-rten-la grags-pa) towel.” Cognition of a towel, however, does not create the towel.

Producing a cognitive object and cognitively engaging with it are two aspects of the same mental activity, two ways of describing the same phenomenon. It is not that production of a sight comes first and then, a moment later, the seeing of it occurs.

Moreover, mental activity occurs without there being a findable agent “me” or “mind” existing independently and separately from the activity and making it happen, like a person using a computer to make images appear on a screen. Thus, mental activity (mind) is defined as the “mere” arising and cognizing of objects – in other words, “mere clarity and awareness” (gsal-rig-tsam).

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