Seeing into the True Nature of Emotions #2
by Lama Gendun Rinpoche

The text on which the teaching is based is a work by Chagme Rinpoche, a learned and experienced lama of the 17th Century.

Perception, Emotion and Wisdom
The emotions appear because of the conditions created by our confused mind. Our fundamental consciousness, which is in a state of ignorance at the present time, projects from itself the idea of a world experienced through the five senses, the five sense organs and their active relationship with external objects. Because of our previous habits, the mind projects from itself images which it considers separate from itself. These then become forms which act as objects for the eyesight, sounds which are objects for our hearing, and so on. The presence of these apparently independent objects causes the mind to become disturbed, allowing the emergence of the emotions.
For instance, when our eyes see a form, things do not stop there, we immediately react to it. When we find the form pleasing, we feel attracted to it. If we find it unpleasant or repulsive, we reject it and want to get away from it. The same applies to all our other sensory information, whenever we hear, smell, taste or touch something.
Each time the sensory organs function we should look directly at the real essence of what is taking place. Gradually we come to see that the object we are perceiving is actually only the mind in action. No different from the mind, the object is the mind, and there is therefore no need to create any artificial duality by maintaining a clear distinction between subject and object. If we look at the essence of this non duality, the true nature of both the object and the mind that perceives it, we will discover the essence of the mind itself.
This perception of the essence of mind takes place when all previous thoughts have come to a stop and the next thought has not yet appeared. The mind is in the spontaneous present, its own reality. It is mind which sees its own essence, and this is what we call primordial wisdom. The presence of primordial wisdom in the mind then clears away the emotions automatically. It is just like lighting a candle in a dark room: as soon as the light is present the darkness automatically vanishes. Similarly, the simple fact of wisdom being in the mind serves to completely banish all emotions. If we succeed in meditating in this way, the moment we detect one of the emotions in our mind, in that very same instant we see its wisdom and thereby become free of its emotional aspect. This is what is known as the simultaneous appearance and liberation of the emotions. Each of the five poisons is then recognized to be one of the five wisdoms.
If however we do not manage to see the wisdom aspect of the event taking place in the mind, we become once again involved in duality. We follow the thought, become influenced by it, and begin to react to the object, either accepting it or rejecting it, until the mind is invaded by confusion and emotion and we end up having to experience the suffering that ensues.
It says in the text that if we give up the five poisons it will be impossible to find any wisdom. The activity of the emotions is the activity of the mind. Each emotion that appears is nothing other than the mind itself in action, so if we reject the emotions we are at the same time rejecting the mind. Yet it is only through its activity that we will come to discover the activity of wisdom, so in rejecting the emotional activity of the mind we reject at the same time the possibility of encountering its wisdom activity. This will never lead us to realize the ultimate reality of the mind.

Ignorance as Emotion
It is difficult for us to think of ignorance as an emotion, but if we think carefully, we can be influenced by ignorance just as well as by desire or anger. Ignorance is not a something neutral without effects or consequences, it is a definite state of mind which causes us to act in a certain way.
Ignorance is when we are incapable of seeing things as they really are. This may be conscious or unconscious, the inability to recognize what is happening, sometimes lauded as innocence, or a definite feeling of indifference, even deliberately not wanting to know. It can range from general confusion about what is really going on, to the formation of definite wrong views. There is also a certain element of attachment. Ignorance can even feel quite comfortable ('ignorance is bliss...') If we look at ourselves closely we will find this attitude in a lot of our behavior. From the Buddhist point of view ignorance is anything but bliss and innocence. Indeed, it is the main cause of our suffering, which is why we find it firmly included in the five poisons.