Expressions of practice describe practice views, methods, and their resulting experiences, insights, and states. These expressions can be inferential, direct valid perceptions, or invalid perceptions.
When practitioners speak about their practice:
● Some statements are logical inferences, expressing views.
● Some are direct valid perceptions, describing experiences or states.
● Some might be imaginary, expressing things that don't actually exist.
For example, someone might claim to have realized emptiness and the illusory nature of reality, but if it's just imagination, not genuine experience, it becomes an invalid perception.
This expression "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, or shadows; like dew or lightning" can be an expression of view. We can analyze it using Middle Way reasoning, like the neither-one-nor-many argument, to understand how all phenomena are indeed like dreams or illusions - unreal and fleeting.
In practice, saying "everything is like a dream or illusion" is an expression of practice that can express a method as well as an insight and experience.
Expressions of practice cover a wide range, including expressing methods, insights, and experiences. "Everything is like a dream" teaches you how to perceive reality this way. For instance, the dream-like meditation:
● Consider daytime experiences as nighttime dreams.
● Apply this feeling to various life situations.
● Imagine what it's like when a dream ends - everything in it disappears.
● Contemplate what it’s like after everything in a dream vanishes.
This way, seeing things as "dreams, illusions, bubbles, or shadows" becomes an expression of practice.
Since the content expressed in the language of practice is related to personal experiences and states of realization, speakers must be thorough and careful in their descriptions. They should provide detailed explanations to avoid misunderstandings and misleading their audience.
When discussing one's own practice, it's crucial to be cautious and comprehensive. Tailor your explanations to your audience, approaching the topic from various angles. Vague or unclear explanations can confuse many people.
For basic Buddhist teachings, any qualified teacher can suffice. However, when seeking specific practice instructions, it's essential to find an experienced master. Effective teaching of practice techniques requires personal experience, practice, and methodology. Without these, a teacher might offer disconnected or purely theoretical instructions, essentially reciting from books like a recording. This approach is inadequate for genuine practice.
Excerpted from: Cognition and Expression Part Three
