INTRODUCTION

The subject In this context, the "subject" refers to the perceiver or the individual consciousness. is an entity in which mental operations are awakened whenever there are objects, while the object consists of all things, visible and invisible, knowable and unknowable, etc. The subject is not something that occupies some space in the body alone, nor does the object exist outside of the subject. original: "The Enlightenment of Ananda." This refers to a dialogue in the Shurangama Sutra where the Buddha, known here as Sakyamuni (the Silent Sage of the Shakyas), instructs his cousin and disciple Ananda on the nature of where the mind "resides."

“The various phenomena which appear as subjects and objects are divided into two kinds:—the perceptible and knowable, the imperceptible and unknowable. . . . Now, what are the imperceptible and unknowable phenomena?

“Through the influence of habitual delusions, boundless worlds, innumerable varieties of things spring up in the mind. This boundless universe and these subtle ideas are not perceptible and knowable Compare to the discussion on pages 102 and 103 regarding the limits of human perception.; only Bodhisattvas Sanskrit: individuals who seek enlightenment not just for themselves, but for the sake of all living beings. believe, understand, and become perfectly convinced of these through the contemplation of Vidyamatara Sanskrit: Vidyā-mātra, the philosophical concept that all perceived reality is "Mind-Only" or "Representation-Only." (the realization that all things are nothing but phenomena in the mind); hence they are called imperceptible and unknowable. What are the perceptible and knowable phenomena?

“Not knowing that these imperceptible and unknowable phenomena are the productions of their own minds, men from their habitual delusions invest them with an existence...”