Análisis de la demanda

In order to analyze the five skandhas, we must start with a complete description of the first, the skandha of form. When we mention form, we must remember that form can be either visible or invisible (imperceptible) to the eye, yet all form is still composed of the four great elements in conjunction with the fifth element of space. The four great elements—earth, wind, water and fire—are the fundamental forces comprising matter. Thus, they enter into the composition of all material substances from the minutest particle of subtle energy to the largest planet of densest matter.

As to the element of space, this naturally refers to a materialistic space rather than to a mental emptiness. It refers to a space having form because the space element is what exists between objects. We sometimes define form as something that offers resistance and takes up space. Thus, form provides an obstacle to other forms which try to occupy the same space. The space element is therefore that element which divides or separates form.

In ancient times people did not have the highly developed scientific system we have today with periodic elements and phase transition states and so on, so they just classified the material realm in terms of the four fundamental elements and the element of space. Even though this conceptual framework seems quite simplistic, the five elements can be a quite powerful classification scheme when used in cultivation analysis. In fact, it actually corresponds to a realm of fundamental, primordial physics of which science is yet unaware. Why did Buddha talk of all matter being made up of these five elements? Cultivate to a high state of samadhi so as to see the essence of these elements, and then you will know.

All form has some type of dimensionality, meaning shape or configuration, but the visible aspect of form also has appearance characteristics such as color. The universe is basically composed of a physical aspect we can see and an invisible aspect of form which exists but which we cannot see unless we cultivate. Part of this unseen aspect includes an energetic structure which underlies the form realm and maintains its composite structure. Since every moment this world of form is changing, so with every moment it becomes (or is) completely different, and these

transformations are all produced in conjunction with this invisible energy aspect underlying everything. One of the very purest forms of this energy aspect, which science has not yet discovered, can be labeled as the five elements.

From the highest standpoint, both the mind and the material realm share some common

properties: both come from the same ultimate source, and neither will ever cease to exist. Due to the work of Albert Einstein, people have found that matter can be transformed into pure energy and energy into matter—which is one of the laws of the form realm—and the total energy involved in these transformations is always conserved and remains forever. So modern man has already gained a small insight into some spiritual principles through the reasonings of science and physics.

By nature from the very beginning, the original primordial awareness of mind and the phenomenal world are both uncreated. But let us first focus on the phenomenal world. You cannot say that its form is either a true or false existence as it is more like the substanceless image of the moon reflected in a pond. It is more like an illusive appearance or display rather than a true thing that sits there and never changes. This is why we say it is uncreated, for it exists in the nature of a dream or illusion that cannot be grasped, and so is not a true thing that has been created. It seems to be real and unchanging but it is not, and yet on the other hand, you cannot deny that something is there.

In lacking any fixed true nature of its own we say form is not real, but in seeming to exist in a consistently logical way subject to an inviolable, unfailing, interlinked process of cause and effect, we can indeed say that form indeed has a conventional existence. Nevertheless, it lacks an

independent self-so nature wherein it does not exist as a real thing, but as an illusory existence, and so its status as a real thing is unproduced. This is why you cannot really say that form is real, or unreal.

Therefore while neither the mind nor the essence of form will ever disappear, you cannot say that the world of form is real, and you cannot say it is nonexistent. On a conventional level things seem real because they are a display which follows the a consistent interdependence of cause and effect, but they are empty because reality does not remain fixed for even the tiniest moment of time; you can never grasp them for a single moment and hold them in that state without change.

Whether you analyze substance down to its smallest part or time down to its smallest unit, there is nothing you can dependably call fixed or real! The universe is one gigantic, functional but substanceless illusion. It is a shimmering dream world display that is functionally valid because of infinitely interlinked laws of causality, but which does not possess any true self-nature of its own.

Hence, what we refer to as “phenomena” are just arbitrary names and labels for transient configurations of quantum soup that we try to segment out of this whole. There is no ultimate truth to any of these selected formats at all.

The universe is always moving and always changing, never to be destroyed or annihilated. In ontological terms, form will always continue to seem to exist, and will always be characterized by this ongoing process of ephemeral transformation. It will always exist in the nature of an illusion.

Form is empty of true substance or being, not physical emptiness—if the entire universe were suddenly converted into one big empty vacuous space, quantum electrodynamics shows that this space gives birth to various types of form. The void of physical space would still give birth to virtual particles, such as photons, which would keep popping into existence and then

disappearing. So physical voidness, or physical emptiness, is still a type of form.

Thus, we have our proof of a cultivation principle expressed ages ago: the universe, which is always changing, is empty of an unchanging nature. And yet the phenomena of the universe follow the illusion-like process of cause and effect which gives the universe a semblance of concrete existence. So we cannot say that the universe is real or not real, existent or nonexistent, a truth or a falsity. Neither extreme can be taken as the truth because it can always be countered with the opposite extreme. It is only when you awaken to Tao that you will finally perceive what is really and ultimately so, what is prepositionally behind both these extremes. You will finally experience what is the truth of Suchness beyond both these dualities.

From the ultimate perspective of our unchanging fundamental nature, even the “purity” of the various samadhi mental states is a gross mental projection. We always consider these states as

more subtle and refined than conventional consciousness, and thus closer in resemblance to the Tao, but the most refined state is still not Tao; it is still as far away from Tao as the coarsest state.

Because of this there is a Zen saying: “If you are off by as much as an atom, the difference is as between night and day.”

In other words, you are either totally right or totally wrong in terms of the fundamental nature.

There is no approximation or resemblance, for you either realize it or you don’t. However, in terms of the path of spiritual cultivation, within our conventional realm of illusion there is indeed a gradual process of purification which takes us through more and more refined states of mind until our prajna wisdom allows us to jump out of this mind frame and recognize the unborn original nature behind everything.

This is what we call “turning around within” to see the true nature of the mind. In spiritual cultivation you do not try to actually cultivate form since it is always changing, but to cultivate your inherent prajna wisdom. You practice clearing the way for its ever-present clarity to shine and see the true nature. All these words are inadequate to actually describe matters to the extent you may need and produce for you an awakening, but we hope our words will be like a finger pointing at the moon, and that you will concentrate not on the finger, but become targeted or focused on that to which it is pointing.

People who practice spiritual cultivation are always told to forget about form. They are told to forget about their physical bodies and cultivate their inherent mind instead, however, there are indeed points where you still have to take form into consideration. For instance, the truly enlightened must master the entire realm of samsara or illusion, which is the realm of form, to understand this aspect of primordial ignorance and save the beings trapped within, otherwise one’s cultivation and understanding will only be half complete.

Emptiness (mind) and existence (form or appearance) co-exist, and to be enlightened you must fully understand both sides of the one whole. It is absolutely true that if you only emphasize form as the route of spiritual cultivation you will get nowhere in terms of true samadhi and spiritual development. Nevertheless, you simply cannot ignore the realm of seeming existence entirely, for if you do, then like the Arhats, you will never reach perfect and complete self-realization. Thus, we have the two sides of the one great matter.

We typically say that mind and matter (form) are opposites, and then again they are not at all since they are two parts of one nature, two intertwined aspects which belong to one final unity.

Since they share the same root nature, they are perfectly interpenetrative. When Shakyamuni Buddha talked of cultivation and said, “become liberated, be free,” he was instructing spiritual cultivation practitioners to first free themselves from any mental bondage to the material realm of form characterized by material distractions and sensations. The first task on the road of

cultivation is to free yourself from this bondage and the view of having, or being a body.

As an individual progressively succeeds in cultivating this mind-only path, their physical body will naturally begin to transform. After all, form is always changing so it is reasonable to expect it to change during the process of spiritual cultivation, but along the lines which represent a more evolved human being since that is inherent within spiritual cultivation. And because the body will naturally change as you purify your mind, it is unnecessary to make any forceful efforts to

transform it if you are on the route to a true, nonartificial Tao. Yet without making a concerted effort to bring physical changes about, you must allow the internal alchemical changes of form to naturally transpire without trying to block them.

As to the greater aspect of environmental form that surrounds you, an enlightened individual is one who fully devotes himself or herself to transforming this material nature. We call this involvement their exhibition of “skillful means,” or their “vow” to help sentient beings. This involvement to “change phenomenal form” is their compassionate involvement in society, namely the world of conventional existence.

Thus, people attain samadhi in order to develop wisdom and attain enlightenment, but after their enlightenment, they must still work on purifying their vehicle of form. The Taoists during China’s Ming and Ch’ing dynasties said:

Cultivating life without cultivating true nature is the first error of practice.

But if one only cultivates the fundamental nature and does not practice internal alchemy [transforming the body], then it will be difficult to realize sagehood even in ten thousand kalpas.

Your physical body will be transformed on the spiritual path to self-realization, and you must allow this to happen without becoming overtly concerned. After all, the body, like samadhi, is just an ephemeral, impermanent construction rather than the real you. In fact, were someone to solely concentrate on trying to transform their physical nature (such as is done in science) without trying to purify their mind, they would waste their life without achieving any significant spiritual achievements at all. It should not become the focus of your concern.

The Tao school, yoga sects, and school of Esoteric Buddhism all emphasize the route of cultivating form to some extent. They also emphasize that the spiritual path is ultimately one of cultivating mind. Hence, they only emphasize the act of transforming form to the extent of making it a more efficient vehicle for the spiritual path, but people usually forget this when they drop into these schools. They forget that the ultimate emphasis of the form schools still squarely rests on cultivating the emptiness of mental discrimination. That is, their target is to naturally decrease the amount of thought chatter within the mind so that a spiritual aspirant can reach a state we call mental emptiness.

Thus it is that after the Sixth Zen Patriarch attained enlightenment, he spent fifteen years in

seclusion in order to strengthen his realization and let his physical body complete some stages of spiritual transformation. Most people who succeed in Tao never bother to work at this sort of task in order to “finish the course completely” because they do not understand the necessity of transforming the physical nature even after the breakthrough to enlightenment. But you have to transform the physical nature otherwise your realization will not be stable. Furthermore, you have to accomplish the perfection of the sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya bodies which become possible at various stages of spiritual realization.

To be frank, in the last 2,500 years since Shakyamuni, and despite all the wonderful testimonials that have been made about the world’s various saints and sages, perhaps only a half-dozen or so individuals in the human realm have actually completed the full course of successfully attaining their complete dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya bodies! Yet this is the world in which you must lay a foundation for these accomplishments.

The Four Great Elements and Space

In terms of form or matter, we have mentioned that all material things are composed of the four great essential elements, plus space. Earth represents the solidity of form and its tendency towards containment, while space represents its divisibility. Water represents moisture, fluidity and agglomerative tendencies, fire represents heat or warmth energy, and the wind element represents gaseousness, the tendency to spread out and grow, and movement.

Although they generally represent material qualities, these five elemental categories are so useful that you can use them to analyze mental factors as well. As Zen master Lin-chi once mentioned,

If you give rise to the thought of love in your mind, you will be drowned by water.

If you give rise to the thought of anger, you will be burned by fire. If you give rise to the thought of doubt, you will be obstructed by earth. If you give rise to the thought of joy, you will be whirled away by wind.

The only reason we mention these analogies is to show that the elements are much more useful than they appear at face value, and can be employed in quite a variety of ways.

Now the four primary elements are called “great” because they are the fundamental agents which combine to produce all other form, or “resultant form.” They can be considered the most basic elements of form in the sense that they bear their own intrinsic natures that are not further composed of other elemental forces. Thus each one is responsible for some specific characteristics of matter. Let us go into some of these characteristics.

The earth element, for instance, functions as the basis of material phenomena in providing them with the characteristic of hardness. Like the earth, it serves as the support or foundation for

coexisting material phenomena. Since it functions as the solid basis for holding things in place, we say that the earth element represents the principle of extension. In general, it is the solid

“ground” for all material phenomena.

We experience the earth element through the hardness or softness of a phenomenon. When the body feels heavy and our limbs feel slack as we are dying, this is also because the earth element within our bodies is undergoing dissolution. As the earth element disintegrates during death, the power of the water element in the body becomes relatively stronger, which is why the dying sometimes see the shimmering, mirage-like visions. These are caused by a relative overabundance of the water element.

The function of the water element in the universe is cohesion or agglomeration, for it represents the force which makes different particles of matter cohere. Another way of thinking about this is to remember that water has the ability to freeze. Since the water element thus prevents matter from spreading about, it cannot always be materially sensed but must be known inferentially from observing the cohesion of matter. For this reason, many forms of energy bear the attraction and cohesion aspects of the water element.

When people are dying and become thirsty, or stop speaking clearly because their tongue has become dry, this is due to the dissolution of the physical body’s water element during the death process. As the water element dissolves, the fire element becomes relatively stronger and thus, those who are dying sometimes see manifestations of this in the form of smoke.

The fire element has the characteristic of heat that matures, ripens and transforms material phenomena. During meditation we sometimes have feelings of hot or cold, and these are due to the fire element within our physical nature. The warmth nature inherent in life—for all life is accompanied by warmth—is the fire element as well.

When the fire element departs from the physical nature upon our deaths, the sign of its dissolution is the dissipation of the body’s physical warmth. As this happens, people who are dying often see the appearance of sparks or fireflies due to the increasing strength of the wind

When the fire element departs from the physical nature upon our deaths, the sign of its dissolution is the dissipation of the body’s physical warmth. As this happens, people who are dying often see the appearance of sparks or fireflies due to the increasing strength of the wind