One can certainly know the location of brain activity,rachmiel wrote:In the book Vivid Awareness, it is asserted that one cannot know the location of one's mind. Is it in the head? No. In the heart? No. Inside? No. Outside? No. And so on.
just as one can know where all the mirrors are located in one's house.
But physical brain activity isn't what that statement refers to.
When phenomena occurs in the space (context) of awareness, mind arises.
where there is no awareness, even if phenomena occur, there is no arising of mind.
Where there is awareness, of there in no object of awareness, mind does not arise.
The physical brain produces the mans of cognition.
"awareness" meaning cognition, such as "I am aware of that thing"
is not the same meaning as
primordial or fundamental awareness, or "the ground of awareness".
cognitive awareness of things has many causes and factors. It is, as you say, dependent on a brain.
"awareness" , when referred to as the existent context in which all thought arises is something else.
The reason you cannot find mind anywhere inside or outside the body
is because the physical body exists in space
and thoughts only occur in time.
So, it's like looking into a saxophone to see where the notes are kept.
You can't locate mind because mind isn't an existent thing in itself.
Like a mirror's reflections, it only arises due to conditions.
So, what Khenpo Gangshar is saying is that clinging to it as though it exists somewhere is futile.
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