Conventional Truth/Ultimate Truth
Cannot teach Ultimate without Conventional and cannot obtain liberation from samsara without Ultimate.
Buddha taught in stages:
- everything exists
- nothing exists
- both
- neither
Faith (confidence) and Wisdom
So wisdom in the context of Perfection of Wisdom is not accumulation; it is getting rid of impediments, obscurations, dualities and erroneous views.
The three steps to attaining wisdom are listening or studying, consideration and meditation.
- purification of mind
Perfection of Wisdom means the two-fold understanding of the insubstantiality: the insubstantiality of person (pudgala) and the insubstantiality of factors or phenomena (dharma).
Analytical and Relational examinations
- we can divide consciousness into 121 types, volitions into 52 types, feeling into 8 types
- divide matter into atoms and beyond
- ad infinitum
Examination of pudgala:
- Is the body the self?
- Does the self control the body?
- Find self in the body?
- Find body in the self?
Relational Examination
- Self in mind, feelings, etc.... (aggregates)
Examination of objects:
- Analytical dissection (chariot, table, etc.)
Relational Examination
- Dependent co-arising
- Emptiness
Examination of consciousness:
- Cannot find it
- Object-dependent (senses)