Summary of Prasangika mental direct perception

How does mental direct perception know forms?

• Not like sense direct perception knows forms;
• Not like the mental factor of feeling knows feelings.

Sense direct perception realises forms nakedly / unmixed with a meaning-generality and therefore directly realise forms.

Mental direct perception:

• Explicitly realise forms (དངོས་སུ་རྟོགས་པ།)
• Do not directly realise forms (མངོན་སུམ་དུ་རྟོགས་པ།) because mixed with meaning-generality; because conceptual.

So why is it direct perception? Because:

1. It is a valid cogniser apprehending form;
2. It does not depend upon a correct sign in order to realise form / realises form through the force of experience

Illustration: Exalted wisdom of meditative equipoise on emptiness of a definite lineage Bodhisattva on the path of preparation

• It is a valid cognition, so direct or inferential?
  • It is not inferential because of not arising in dependence upon a correct sign; because realising that in dependence upon a sign has already been attained on the path of accumulation or even before entering the path
  • Therefore, it is a direct valid cognition.
• It follows that it directly realises emptiness because it is a direct valid cognition.
  • No pervasion!

Feeling mental factors directly realise their respective objects: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral.

• If the object is emptiness etc. then that mind cannot have a functioning thing as the object it is directly realising
• If it is a non-conceptual consciousness, then it only directly realises their respective objects; e.g. eye-consciousnesses can only directly realise forms etc.

Therefore: The intention is the feelings in the retinue of conceptual mental consciousnesses of those who have not realised coarse or subtle selflessness.

Mental direct perception of form does not directly realise form in the way that the feelings in the retinue of those consciousnesses realise feelings.

Therefore:

• All awarenesses are pervaded by being valid cognitions wrt their own appearances because of being non-deceptive knowers wrt their own appearances;
• They are pervaded by being direct valid cognitions wrt their own appearances because 1) they are valid cognitions wrt to those and 2) they are not inferential valid cognitions wrt those; because of not depending upon a correct sign.

Up a level: Mental direct perception