The End of the World (Part 01) At your fingertips | A prologue

At your Fingertips

A prologue

Some  seers  of  ancient  India  held  that  it  is  impossible  to understand  consciousness  itself,  because  it  is  with  consciousness  that  we  get  to  know  everything  else.  They  thought  that  it  is  like    trying to  touch one's finger-tip with the same finger –tip. 

The  Lord Buddha  understood  their  difficulty  when  he  compared consciousness  to  a  magical  illusion  or  māyā.  But  he  pointed  out  a    way  out  of  it.  Instead  of  taking  seriously  the  worldly  notions  of  'I'    and  'mine',  he  analyzed  experience  in  terms  of  an  interdependence between  'consciousness'  on  the  one  hand  and  'name  and  form'  on   the other. 

Now  what  is  this  'Name'  and  '  Form'.  Venerable  Sariputta,  the Chief  Disciple  of  the  Buddha  explains  it  for  us.  “Feeling,  Perception, Intention¸  Contact,  Attention–these  O!  friends,  are  called  'Name!'. The  four  great  primaries  and  Form  dependent  on  them  these  O! friends are called Form”. 

Feeling,  Perception,  Intention,  Contact  and  Attention,  are collectively,  called  'Name'  because  they  are  the  primaries  of  all  what is  named.  The  four  great  elements  of  solidity,  liquidity,  heat  and motion,  represented  by  earth,  water,  fire  and  air  are  the  primaries     of  all  what has to do with   'Form'.

Between  Name  and  Form  themselves,  there  is  a  reciprocal relationship.  It  is  with  Name  that  one  understands  Form  and  it  is  Form that gives a content to Name. Name is such that it conjures       up a Form and Form is such that it  calls forth a Name. 

But we have to get more acquainted with the five representatives of Name. Let us have them at our fingertips. In        fact one can even count them on one's fingers. Feeling is the little finger – small but mischievous. Perception is the ring – finger. both popular and notorious. Intention is the – middle finger, prominent and intrusive. Contact is the fore finger- fussy and busy all the        time. Attention is the thumb- standing apart, but approachable to the rest. 

Now out of the whole lot, who is going to be our witness of     the back-stage workings of the magic – show of consciousness. Attention, of course. He is the most competent. When there are no witnesses to prove a case of murder of theft, sometimes judges      give 'free pardon' to one of the alleged culprits under the oath “you have to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but truth” 

So it is in this case of the tragic drama of consciousness.    Though himself culpable, attention is dependable as a witness, provided he does his duty as Right attention. 

Now attention will gradually disclose what feeling felt, what perception perceived, what intention intended, what contact contacted and last but not least, what attention attended to. 

This is why all insight meditators single out attention for preferential treatment when they want to get the full inside story  of the tragic drama of consciousness.