The Five Diamonds of Perfection

The Five Diamonds of Perfection consist of:

1. Proper Reason
2. Proper Mind
3. Proper Intelligence
4. Proper Thought
5. Proper Understanding

The Mind System

Mahamati said to the Blessed One: Pray tell us, Blessed One, what is meant by the mind (citta)?

The Blessed One replied: All things of this world, be they seemingly good or bad, faulty or faultless, effect-producing or not effect-producing, receptive or non-receptive, may be divided into two classes: evil out-flowings and the non out-flowing good. The five grasping elements that make up the aggregates of personality, namely, form, sensation, perception, discrimination, and consciousness, and that are imagined to be good and bad, have their rise in the habit-energy of the mind-system,–they are the evil out-flowings of life. The spiritual attainments and the joys of the Samadhis and the fruitage of the Samapattis that come to the wise through their self-realisation of Noble Wisdom and that culminate in their return and participation in the relations of the triple world are called the non out-flowing good.

The mind-system which is the source of the evil out-flowings consists of the five sense-organs and their accompanying sense-minds (vijnanas) all of which are unified in the discriminating-mind (manovijnana). There is an unending succession of sense-concepts flowing into this discriminating or thinking-mind which combines them and discriminates them and passes judgement upon them as to their goodness or badness. Then follows aversion to or desire for them and attachment and deed; thus the entire system moves on continuously and closely bound together. But it fails to see and understand that what it sees and discriminates and grasps is only a manifestation of its own activity and has no other basis, and so the mind goes on erroneously perceiving and discriminating differences of forms and qualities, not remaining still even for a minit.

In the mind-system there are three modes of activity distinguishable: the sense-minds functioning while remaining in their original nature, the sense-minds as producing effects, and the sense-minds as evolving. By normal functioning the sense-minds grasp appropriate elements of their external world, by which sensation and perception arise at once and by degrees in every sense-organ and every sense-mind, in the pores of the skin, and even in the atoms that make up the body, by which the whole field is apprehended like a mirror reflecting objects, and not realising that the external world itself is only a manifestation of mind. The second mode of activity produces effects by which these sensations react on the discriminating mind to produce perceptions, attractions, aversions, grasping, deed and habit. The third mode of activity has to do with the growth, development and passing of the mind-system, that is, the mind-system is in subjection to its own habit-energy accumulated from beginningless time, as for instance: the “eyeness” in the eye that predisposes it to grasp and become attached to multiple forms and appearances. In this way the activities of the evolving mind-system by reason of its habit-energy stirs up waves of objectivity on the face of Universal Mind which in turn conditions the activities and evolvement of the mind-system.

Appearances, perception, attraction, grasping, deed, habit, reaction, condition one another incessantly, and the functioning sense-minds, the discriminating-mind and Universal Mind are thus bound up together. Thus, by reason of discrimination of that which by nature is maya-like and unreal false-imagination and erroneous reasoning takes place, action follows and its habit-energy accumulates thereby defiling the pure face of Universal Mind, and as a result the mind-system comes into functioning and the physical body has its genesis. But the discriminating-mind has no thought that by its discriminations and attachments it is conditioning the whole body and so the sense-minds and the discriminating-mind go on mutually related and mutually conditioned in a most intimate manner and building up a world of representations out of the activities of its own imagination. As a mirror reflects forms, the perceiving senses perceive appearances which the discriminating-mind gathers together and proceeds to discriminate, to name and become attached to. Between these two functions there is no gap, nevertheless, they are mutually conditioning. The perceiving senses grasp that for which they have an affinity, and there is a transformation takes place in their structure by reason of which the mind proceeds to combine, discriminate, apprise, and act; then follows habit-energy and the establishing of the mind and its continuance.

The discriminating-mind because of its capacity to discriminate, judge, select and reason about, is also called the thinking, or intellectual-mind. There are three divisions of its mental activity: mentation which functions in connection with attachment to objects and ideas, mentation that functions in connection with general ideas, and mentation that examines into the validity of these general ideas. The mentation which functions in connection with attachment to objects and ideas derived from discrimination, discriminates the mind from its mental processes and accepts the ideas from it as being real and becomes attached to them. A variety of false judgements are thus arrived at as to being, multiplicity, individuality, value, etc., a strong grasping takes place which is perpetuated by habit-energy and thus discrimination goes on asserting itself.

These mental processes give rise to general conceptions of warmth, fluidity, motility, and solidity, as characterising the objects of discrimination, while the tenacious holding to these general ideas gives rise to proposition, reason, definition, and illustration, all of which lead to the assertions of relative knowledge and the establishment of confidence in birth, self-nature, and an ego-soul.

By mentation as an examining function is meant the intellectual act of examining into these general conclusions as to their validity, significance, and truthfulness. This is the faculty that leads to understanding, right-knowledge and points the way to self-realisation. (Lankavatara Sutra)

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The Six Ideals of Spiritual Perfection

To practice the Six Ideals of Spiritual Perfection brings rewards of happiness and success.

The Six Ideals are:

1. Charity

2. Good behaviour

3. Patience

4. Zeal

5. Thoughtfulness

6. Wisdom

Steps on the Path of True Knowledge

Not everything is as it seems to the human eye. For example, many a questionable teacher will say that you can only become enlightened if you become their disciple and become one with them. Usually, these questionable teachers are also asking for money for their seminars or their three day “spiritual retreats”.

“When the form of the rope is understood, the appearance of a serpent disappears. So too when the ultimate reality is realised, the universe vanishes.” (Sri Shankaracarya)

The body is only a shell for one particular phase of life. Once this is realised, the body is less important than the soul – for the body is only going to one place – the grave, but the soul has choices and the results are eternal.

There is no realisation without true knowledge. One does not gain a lifetime of knowledge in the span of one night or even one month. Questionable are those who claim the title of guru and who misguide their devotees with false knowledge leading to an eternity of darkness. True knowledge is gained gradually, in meditation, in ones day to day life, in interaction with others, over an entire lifetime. It can not be gained in this lifetime. Learn a little now, become awake and you will be taught true knowledge which leads to full enlightenment in the hereafter, after the soul has shed the body of flesh.

“The control of the senses, the control of the intellect, the avoidance of unreality, spiritual silence, place, time, posture, the subdual of the root-cause, the equipoise of the body, the firmness of vision, the control of life-forces, the withdrawal of consciousness, the holding of consciousness, self-contemplation, and absorption,—these, in order, are said to be the steps.” (Sri Shankaracarya)

Truly, these are the practices that cause a being to be awakened, bringing ones soul closer to the path of full enlightenment.

If you keep yourself on this path and continue in these auspicious practices, you will become awakened and be prepared for full enlightenment. This is something that Vishnu promises to each of you who take these practices to heart and observe them in your daily lives, neglecting not a single one of them. These are the steps on the path of true knowledge and full liberation.

May Divine Mother bless you.

See also: The Denunciation of False Teachers