Thinking-based cognition is the conclusion that humans draw from their sense organs and mental consciousness through coarse thinking. Due to the coarseness and one-sidedness of the thinking mode, the correctness of the conclusion cannot be determined.
Thinking-based cognition, filled with opinions about everyone and everything, is a limited, biased, and superficial form of cognition. “This person is good." "That person is bad." "This thing works for me." "That thing doesn't work for me." "I think the chubby man on the Dharma seat is full of cursed words.” We have a lot of opinions in our minds.
There are over a hundred people in the audience, and each person has both similar and completely different views of me sitting on the stage. Although everyone has a rough and similar conclusion about me, such as I can talk about Buddhism well- it is also because of this that everyone flew from all over the world to Chiang Mai to listen to my lecture. This conclusion is valid, otherwise why would everyone come? However, everyone has many different views on me, this chubby guy. For example, some people say, “Wow, how can he be so chubby? So ugly!” Some people say, “He’s not that ugly, I think he's still good looking!” These are the conclusions they draw from our sense-organs and mental consciousness through thinking.
When it comes to the perception of our five sense organs, their accuracy and reliability are far from perfect. What our eyes and ears pick up is quite coarse and superficial. Our sense of smell, in particular, is notably weak. On the other hand, our thinking abilities, as humans, are highly developed. For instance, after attending my lectures and interacting with me, some might see me as morally corrupt, a devil, while others might view me as morally upright, almost like a holy being. You would hear various stories about me. True or false, good or bad, narratives will inevitably emerge. However, I genuinely believe that most of them are not true. Do not put too much stock in the positive tales about me; as for the negative ones, believe them if you would like–it really does not matter.
It is impossible to say definitively whether the conclusions drawn from the sense organs and thinking are correct or not. Essentially, what you hear is just words. Therefore, when someone tells you that someone is good or bad, do not believe it easily. Many people tend to form one-sided judgments, relying on their personal observations, thinking, and experiences, to arrive at conclusions they believe to be true. Consider this scenario: When a group of women and men see a beautiful girl, their opinions about her may vary based on their individual perspectives and observations. In my previous company, during a new staff recruitment drive, the office manager, a middle-aged woman, hired only male candidates and rejected all the female candidates. I felt this was unfair, so I asked my buddy to lead a separate recruitment team. However, their team ended up hiring only attractive women.
Fundamentally, judgements about people are entirely shaped by one's own needs and feelings—the coarse cognitive processes of humans, and, unfortuantely, we find ourselves getting stuck in it. People frequently say that this person is good, that person is bad, this thing is wrong, that thing is right, we should do this and that—these are all nonsense. It is fine to talk nonsense, but once you choose to believe it, things get more peculiar! Pity! Naivety!
Excerpted from:Cognition and Expression Part One
