ACI 4 Final

Question 1

Give the Sanskrit and Tibetan names for the Buddhist study of logic and perception, which is the same as the word for “correct or valid perception.”

Answer 1

Tibetan: tsema
Sanskrit: pramana

Question 2

What is the Buddhist definition of existence?

Answer 2

That which is perceived by a valid perception

Question 3

What did the Buddha himself say is the purpose of Buddhist logic?

Answer 3

“I or someone like myself can judge a person, but no normal person should judge another, for he or she will fall.”

Question 4

Name the three levels of reality, and give one example of each.

Answer 4

a) That which is evident; for example, colors or shapes.
b) That which is hidden; for example, hearing a sound around the corner and deducing who has made it, without directly seeing them
c) That which is deeply hidden; for example, the subtle workings of karma

Question 5

Name the two basic types of valid perception, and what levels of reality they are used to perceive.

Answer 5

a) Direct valid perception: used to perceive evident objects.
b) Deductive valid perception: used to perceive hidden or deeply hidden objects.

Question 6

Give the text of Master Dignaga’s famous opening statement.

Answer 6

I bow down to the One who turned correct, Who helps all beings, the Teacher, The one who went to bliss, And our Protector.

Question 7

Give the definition of valid perception.

Answer 7

A fresh, unmistaken state of mind.

Question 8

Describe very generally the meaning of the term, “person of valid perception.”

Answer 8

The term is used to describe an enlightened being and has the primary connotation of a person who cannot lie.

Question 9

Name the three objects that we will be trying to establish with valid perception.

Answer 9

a) Nirvana
b) Omniscience
c) The path for travelling to nirvana and omniscience

Question 10

The term “valid” or “correct” perception( tsema or pramana) is sometimes used with reference not to a state of mind, but to the Buddha himself. This is because of the special object towards which only a Buddha has correct perception. Describe the two parts of this object.

Answer 10

a) He sees the “totality” of all objects (referring to all the things that belong to our normal world).
b) He sees all existing things “as they really are” (referring to the emptiness, or the ultimate nature, of all the objects around us).

Question 11

What are the three main methods for a normal person to determine that the Buddha is totally correct about the very deep teachings He gave?

Answer 11

a) The teachings cannot be disproved by any direct valid perception that we have or have had.
b) The teachings cannot be disproved by any airtight reasoning.
c) The teachings themselves are free of any internal inconsistency:

Question 12

Name and describe briefly the three “ground rules” for interpreting the Buddha; that is, for deciding that something which Lord Buddha said was meant only figuratively, and not literally.

Answer 12

a) True intent: Lord Buddha must have had something else specific in
mind when he said something which was not literal.
b) Contradiction: The statement that Lord Buddha made must contradict
what we know to be actually true.
c) Need: There must be some compelling need or purpose served by the
Buddha saying something which is not technically true.

Question 13

Name two purposes why Master Dignaga stated the words “who turned” in the opening lines of his work, The Compendium on Valid Perception.

Answer 13

a) To make it clear that the Buddha wasn’t always a Buddha, that he
turned into a Buddha from an imperfect state.
b) To indicate that He followed some method or path to become a
Buddha.

Question 14

An omniscient being perceives all existing objects. Some of these objects are changing, and some are unchanging. Why does this prove that the mind of an omniscient being must be a changing thing?

Answer 14

As the mind follows the changing object, it changes; that is, it must move and change with the changing of its object.

Question 15

What does a person have to know in order to be all-knowing?

Answer 15

He or she must know perfectly what it is that we must give up in our
behavior and worldview, and what we must take up in the same.

Question 16

What evidence do we have that the Buddha is “unerring”?

Answer 16

Of all the people we have ever met or heard of, it is only Lord Buddha
who has described our daily suffering perfectly, in a way we can confirm ourselves.

Question 17

Explain the meaning of “material cause.”

Answer 17

A “material cause” is the main material or stuff that turns into the result: the thing that “flops over” into the result.

Question 18

Why can’t the cause of your mind at birth be living physical matter?

Answer 18

All living physical matter is involved with one or more of the sense
powers. If living physical matter were the cause of your mind at birth,
then it would either be one or a combination of the sense powers which
was causing this mind. The mind cannot have come from any one of the
senses alone since, if this were the case, then a person who lacked this
sense (such as a blind or deaf man) could never have a mind. The mind
cannot either have come either from all the senses together, or from
some combination of them, because in this case a person who lacked any
of the sense powers involved could never then have a mind.

Question 19

Why can’t this cause be outside physical matter?

Answer 19

If some particular kind of outside physical matter—such as some
chemical element—were the cause of the mind at birth, then a new mind would be produced whenever this particular chemical element was
present. If a combination of particular elements caused this mind, then the mind would disappear whenever any one of the elements was removed from the combination.

Question 20

If this cause is mind, why can’t it be the mind of someone else?

Answer 20

The result of a material cause must resemble that cause. Suppose then
that the cause of our mind at birth were the mind or minds of others:
those of our parents, for example. In this case the minds of children
must always resemble the minds of their parents—the child of an
artisan, for example, would always have to exhibit the skill of its parent.
But it is obvious that this is not generally the case at all.

Question 21

What is the basic principle underlying Master Dharmakirti’s arguments in favor of past and future lives?

Answer 21

The result of a material cause must resemble that cause, and come after it; that is, the mind of a newborn child at the moment of conception must come from another state of mind which occurred in the moment before it.

Question 22

In his first proof, Master Dharmakirti lists three characteristics that must have involved a previous life. Name them.

Answer 22

Functioning sensory powers.
Breathing.
A functioning mind.

Question 23

Give three reasons why the three characteristics don’t come from the elements.

Answer 23

a) Any time you combined the elements or had an element alone, mind would arise.
b) Mind is living and the elements are not
c) The three characteristics must come from something earlier, of a
similar type.

Question 24

Let us consider the various elements in the form of the sense powers, or living tissue. Explain why they are not the unique cause of the mind.

Answer 24

You can damage your sensory powers without damaging your mind. If tissue were the material cause of mind, mind should always be damaged
when you hurt your sense powers (your living tissue).

Question 25

Explain why mind is considered a basis for the sense powers, rather than vice versa.

Answer 25

Karma projects your upcoming life, and the physical form you will have in this life.

Question 26

Explain what keeps the mind itself going in this life; the basis for the staying of the mind.

Answer 26

Mental karma from your past causes the mind to continue. When the
past karma for this life has ended, then the life itself ends, and the
senses and body stop.

Question 27

Explain why the mind of a normal person at the moment of death crosses into another state of mind of a similar type.

Answer 27

A normal person has emotions of desire in their mind as they die. This emotion causes their mind to cross the line into the next life as a continuation of the current mind.

Question 28

Give the three parts for Master Dharmakirti’s main proof for future lives.

Answer 28

Consider the mind of a normal person at the moment of death.

That mind will cross the line into a future mind;

Because that mind possesses desire.

Question 29

Name and describe the three types of the eighth link of the chain of dependence from the
Wheel of Life.

Answer 29

1. Craving desire: an emotion of craving where you desire not to lose an attractive object.
2. Craving fear: an emotion of craving where you desire to avoid unpleasant objects.
3. Craving for existence: An emotion of craving where you desire that the “me” continues to exist; this happens at the
   moment of death, when you are gripped by fear that your being
   is ending.

Question 30

The key to why craving triggers your existing karma at the moment of death is how it
focuses upon yourself. Describe the four levels of focusing upon yourself, and explain
which ones can trigger this karma.

Answer 30

Focusing on yourself or “me” in a general way, without checking or
examining your true nature. This state of mind is a valid
perception and does not trigger this karma.

Seeing yourself as self-existent, or as having some nature of your own
or as coming from your own side, and believing what you see.
This is a mistaken state of mind which does trigger the karma
mentioned.

Seeing yourself as self-existent, but not believing what you see,
because you have previously seen emptiness directly. The karma mentioned will still be triggered.

Neither seeing yourself as self-existent, nor believing that you are.
This refers to a person who has overcome even the inborn
tendency of seeing things as self-existent, and does not trigger this
karma.