bLOGOS/HA HA: the mark of self

David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.

02 July 2022

the mark of self

Special comments : Vasubandhu, Treatise on Buddha Nature

"All non-Buddhists, in their various ways, conceive of and grasp a self in those things that lack self; namely the five aggregates (form, sensation, perception, volition, consciousness). Yet these things differ from what one grasps as the mark* of self; therefore, they are eternally lacking in self.

*substance, permanence, independence

However, with the wisdom of Thusness, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas realize the perfection of not-self in all things. Because this perfection of not-self and that which is seen as the mark of not-self** are not different, the Tathagata says that this mark of the eternal not-self is the true, essential nature of all things. It is because of this that the perfection of not-self is called True Being."

**insubstantiality, impermanence, dependence on causes and conditions