Day 20 of 365: Cognition

Sunday and Monday offered up some good opportunities to work with conception and perception, which coincided very nicely with some reading I was doing on the Sautrantrika school.  Basically, the Sautrantrikas take genuine reality to be "what is direct perceived and things that can perform a function."  It is important here to take a look at the differences between conception (thinking) and perception and to try to see the difference.

This last weekend, I visited NYC, a city which I have visited many times and have may preconceived ideas about.  What was interesting was watching these ideas mix with the fresher experiences.  What was the difference between my ideas about the city, or the idea of city period, and the experience as it unfolded?  It was refreshing to allow some fresh air in and enjoy the city in a new more direct way.  Old thoughts swirled around with new labels and moments of more direct perception.  Some opportunities for direct experience included the smell of trash, some car horns, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and some delicious desserts.

Attempting to notice my conceptions about the ridiculously good carrot cake versus the perceptions. 

Someone's concepts about animals on the High Line in NYC

On a side note, I've purposely stayed away from any sort of heady discussions on the various philosophical schools. However, I did want to mention that, while neither the Sautrantrikas nor the Vaibhashika's (breaking experiece down into moments of the skandhas) are Middle Way schools (they are more in the Hinayana), understanding the view of these schools and the arguments that they use to poke holes in our solid reality seem to be very beneficial to work with.  Understanding the refutations between the schools offers approaches to unraveling my own doubts.  It has also been beneficial to look more closely at the perspectives behind the claims that the Middle Way schools refute.  And, one can always carry the heart intention of the Mahayana...