Bodhicharyavatara Chapter 9, Stanzas 145-150

The third system of analysis: in this session, Rinpoche elucidates on the final stage of examining the truth of the philosophical view on cause and result through the three doors of liberation, focusing here on the analysis of the result.

Staying with the metaphor of a dream, here he unpicks the reasoning of certain schools, which argue that entities do not need a cause in order to truly exist and asks us to consider how can things arise from nothing, pointing to non-existence as an equally valid state. Here the text reminds us that our reasoning logical mind attempts to comprehend the existence of phenomena by ascribing a cause and as an example Rinpoche points to our creation of a God and creator in order to help us give meaning. He or she had no cause, but in the Christian mind always existed, however we have ascribed to that God the power to create without a cause.

Understanding the way our mind constructs these arguments to make sense of experience will point us to an understanding of the concept of emptiness.

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