Where Do Thoughts Come From?

This continues from yesterday’s writing. Thoughts come from, or dwell, in the 7^th and 8^th consciousnesses: judgement and memory. This works like automatic programming just chuntering away, reliving past experiences and projecting those memories on to the future. This obscures the present moment – our clear view. It is this obscuring that is the devil-demon! Anything that obscures our view, such as likes and dislikes, is the devil. It’s like placing our hand over our own eyes: we’re doing this all the time, with a crack of light shining through the fingers 🙂

Beyond the 8^th consciousness is pure awareness – “the light” – which is not a construct as it is just there. It does nothing but recognises purely being aware (a bit like God). We may ask why pure awareness (or God) allows suffering in the world. There is no blame for this suffering and confusion: it is our path back as we created it and so we have to undo it, as we have done many times in the past. There is no other answer, and it’s a tough lesson to learn.

This mistaken ‘self’ identity obscures the light, running amok causing havoc in the world. When pure awareness finally realises what is happening, the running amok ceases. Thank goodness. However, this only happens when we realise that is it causing us suffering. Until then, pure awareness (God) is…patiently waiting.

The 8^th consciousness of memory has two aspects; software and hard drive. The software, known as the Alaya, is the clutter in the mind: conceptual thoughts, both beneficial and harmful. The hard drive is the basis for memory. It is known in Sanskrit as the Alaya-vijnana; the storehouse of experiences. It’s a base or ground, sometimes called the “all-ground”, and is the bank of karmic investments. When the software is exhausted, the karmic bank become bankrupt and collapses and enlightenment occurs, so I was told.

Through the senses, the mind picks up information (software programming) and stores it on a hard drive (a mental bank). With the ‘right’ stimulus, a reaction spews out. We spend most of our time regurgitating and spewing: a few notes are heard, and we start humming a tune from childhood…or is that just me? 😉 The memory of feeling is held in the subtle body, and that’s why we experience sensations.

Essential nature (what we are – pure awareness) merely observes, but has become fascinated with its own reflections, and so attention is caught and held. We keep replaying our regurgitations and so, a personality is built, and a full blown programme of a ‘me’ struts around. This personality is not us; it’s an erroneous reflection.

At the moment, we are caught in a loop of confusion, held together by the thoughts in the 7^th and 8^th consciousnesses.

There is always a chink of light illuminating the clutter.
Pure emptiness.

In actuality, the clutter does not exist
and has never existed.
Believing otherwise has always been our problem.

This leads us onto the five aggregates or skanda, which is an analysis of personal experiences and a view on cognition from a Buddhist perspective.