Details of Ways of Knowing: 6 Non-Determining Cognition

Extensive Explanation of “Compendium of Ways of Knowing”

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Introductory Discussion of Non-Determining Bare Cognition 

When divided, there are three: (1) (non-determining) sensory bare cognition, (2) (non-determining) mental bare cognition and (3) (non-determining) bare cognition by reflexive awareness.

In general, according to the Sautrantika tenets, there are four kinds of bare cognition: sensory, mental, that of reflexive awareness and yogic. With these, you may know objective entities as the involved objects, and do so without reliance on a line of reasoning or through the medium of conceptualization with a metaphysical category. When, through a non-defective sense organ, one of your five types of sensory consciousness accurately cognizes an object, this is sensory bare cognition. An example is your visual consciousness accurately cognizing the visible form of a clay jug. After having such a sensory bare cognition and before your mind begins to conceptualize about it, your mental consciousness must first also take the visible form of this clay jug as its involved object. This is the mental bare cognition of a visible form. It lasts only the shortest moment. Your awareness of any cognition, which allows you later to remember it, is the bare cognition by reflexive awareness.

As previously noted, when all such bare cognitions are both fresh and apprehend their involved objects, they are valid. These bare cognitions, however, may not necessarily be fresh. Still, if they apprehend their objects accurately and decisively, they are non-fraudulent but invalid subsequent cognitions. Further, these three types of bare cognition need not even apprehend their objects, let alone freshly by their own power. While their involved objects appear clearly and accurately to them, there may be no decisive determination (nges-pa, decisive cognition) of them, such as when your attention is preoccupied with one of your other types of consciousness. At such occasions, your bare cognition, whether sensory, mental, or by reflexive awareness, is non-determining (snang-la ma-nges-pa), lacking validity and apprehension.

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