Before everything, I'm just going to disclaim that this is a complete hypothesis that is based on personal experience and also some Buddhist teachings, with my own interpretation on it. It's a open hypothesis and of course, if could be verified by everyone else, perhaps it would become an actual meditation theory - how awesome would that be?

I assure you that this isn't purely theoretical, but is also quite practical, therefore I urge you to join me through this long post - which could be very worth it. Who knows? It might save you a lot of time (which I spent years wasted!).

I tried to make this non-denominational, drawing from all sources from the Pali Canon to Mahayana and Vajrayana sources.

We are building this argument with the following premises:

1. Everyone is inherently enlightened
2. Buddha-Nature is Unborn and Undying
3. The Qualities of the Tathagata
4. Non-Abiding Awareness
5. The Problem is Confused Clinging

Premise 1: Everyone is inherently enlightened.

In the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, every sentient being has the seed of Buddhahood, and is inherently enlightened.

The spontaneous reply to this premise is: If everyone is enlightened, then why do we need to meditate? Why is there suffering? Why is there a need to cease suffering?

What a puzzling question, isn't it?

But if we actually look at what this premise means, it is saying that our original state is Buddha or the Tathagata. Tathagata and Buddha actually has a different chinese translation from the Sanskrit scriptures: "Ru-Lai". I feel that this translation, meaning "As-If-To-Come" captured the essence of this meaning very well. "As If To Come" means that a Buddha has not actually risen, it is that it appears as if a Buddha has risen. This might seem like semantics, but it is actually an extremely important statement.

There is a philosophy in Western philosophy called the Tabula Rasa. It assumes that every being arrives in the world as a 'blank slate' before receiving outside impressions. Many people argue that beings cannot have a Tabula Rasa because when they are born, they have different characteristics and personalities.

IMO, this Tabula Rasa is actually referring to our starting point as Buddhas.

It is not referring to the state when a being arrives in the world, but referring to what Zen calls the Original Face, Buddhahood, True Nature.

Suppose we all subscribe to this premise that all of us are Buddhas at the very start before the causes of suffering came into place. I think that everyone can agree on this, based on the understanding of the Four Noble Truths.

Premise 2: Buddha-Nature Is Unborn & Undying.

The second premise that comes in is the fact that Buddha-Nature is Unborn and Undying. This is very prevalent in all schools of Buddhism. In the Pali Canon, the Deathless state is described multiple times. In Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, the Buddha-Nature is said to not arise or pass away.

Now suppose we had the first premise of being a Buddha in a Deathless state.

The problem is obvious here now.

If the second noble truth, the cause of dukkha (suffering), comes into play, we have a big problem here: Where did this Buddha-Nature go to? Did it "die"? Did it "pass away"? Was it that this Buddha-Nature was replaced by a Sentient-Being?

From here, we know - that from the very start, it was the Deathless, the Buddha-Nature, then it would be illogical to conclude that this Buddha-Nature suddenly disappeared. It would also be illogical to say that we have ever departed from this Nature if we were Buddhas from the very start.

Here is the second implication from this premise.

If it is truly Deathless, it will be Unborn as well. That's because whatever with the cause of birth will have the effect of death.

This means that you cannot actually attain this Buddha-Nature. You cannot be a sentient-being and suddenly, this Buddha-Nature takes birth! It is completely illogical.

So from these two implications above, and the premise that Buddha-Nature is unborn and undying, we can suppose that we have never departed from Buddha-Nature.

Therefore, from premise 1 to 2, we have the following argument: We are originally Buddhas, and have never departed from the Deathless.

Premise 3: The Qualities of the Tathagata

There are ten exclusive knowledges of the Tathagata, that is found in MN 12 (Pali Canon) and the Daśabhūmika Sutra (Mahayana).

1. With direct, unmistaken perception the Tathāgata knows the tenable and the untenable, the relations between actions and their results as well as the implications of actions done by āryas and ordinary beings.
2. Only the Tathāgata fully and accurately knows the intricacies of past, present, and future karma and their results, including subtle causes leading to a particular experience in the beginningless lives of each sentient being.
3. The Tathāgata knows the various destinations of ordinary beings—the saṃsāric realms—and the paths leading to rebirth there. He also knows the destination of the āryas of the three vehicles—nirvāṇa—and the paths leading to that.
4. He fully understands the world and the various elements (dhātu) that compose it—the eighteen constituents (dhātu), six elements, external and internal sources (āyatana), twelve links (nidāna) of dependent arising, twenty-two faculties (indriya), and so on—with wisdom seeing them as impermanent, conditioned, and dependent processes.
5. He knows the different inclinations of beings (adhimutti, adhimokṣa)—their spiritual aims and the vehicles they are attracted to. This enables him to teach them the Dharma according to their individual faculties, abilities, and aspirations.
6. He knows the strength of each being’s faculties (indriya) of faith (saddhā, śraddhā), effort (viriya, vīrya), mindfulness (sati, smṛti), concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (paññā, prajñā) and teaches each being accordingly.
7. Because the Buddha has mastered the jhānas, the eight meditative liberations (vimokkha, vimokṣa), and the nine meditative absorptions (samāpatti), he knows the defilements, cleansing, and emergence (Pāli: sankilesa, vodāna, vuṭṭhāna) regarding them. Defilements are impediments hindering a meditator from entering a meditative absorption or, having entered, make it deteriorate. Cleansing is the method for removing the impediment. Emergence is the way to come out of a state of meditative absorption after having entered it. He is able to guide others to attain these meditative states without their becoming attached to the bliss of concentration and urge them to continue practicing the path to nirvāṇa.
8. The Tathāgata recollects in detail his manifold past lives with their aspects and particulars. This and the next power are the last two of the five superknowledges (abhiññā, abhijñā). Thus he knows his previous relationships with each sentient being and what types of relationship would be most beneficial to have with them now and in the future.
9. With the divine eye, he sees beings dying and being born according to their karma. Knowing this, he does whatever is most beneficial to guide each being on the path to awakening.
10. Realizing with direct knowledge, the Tathāgata here and now enters upon and abides in the unpolluted deliverance of mind (cetovimutti, cittavimukti) and deliverance by wisdom (paññāvimutti, prajñāvimukti) and knows that all defilements have been eradicated. He also knows the level of realization and attainment of each being of the three vehicles. The last three powers are the three higher knowledges that the Buddha gained while meditating during the night prior to his awakening.

These are the ten qualities of the Tathagata.

IMO, looking at all of these qualities, it becomes a very clear picture that the main ability of the Tathagata is omniscience, the state of knowing everything, regardless of how supramundane it may be. Very clear discernment and perception.

But this begs the question: If I am originally the Buddha-Nature, why then, can I not know all of these ten things?

Again, this is a very powerful question.

In the Mahayana tradition, we say that while the Buddha-nature is within us, it is not manifested fully due to confusion about our true-nature. If we were to fully NOT confused about our true being, then we would have access to the Tathagata's omniscience.

Therefore, from premise 1 to 3, we have the following argument: We are originally Buddhas, and have never departed from the Deathless. However, confusion about our Buddha-nature has masked its full omniscient qualities.

Premise 4: Non-Abiding Awareness

This premise starts to explore: How exactly does the Deathless manifest if there is no confusion about our Buddha-Nature?

For this premise, we gather the support of three canonical suttas.

AN 10.81:

"Freed, dissociated, & released from ten things, Bahuna, the Tathagata dwells with unrestricted awareness. Which ten? Freed, dissociated, & released from form, the Tathagata dwells with unrestricted awareness. Freed, dissociated, & released from feeling... Freed, dissociated, & released from perception... Freed, dissociated, & released from fabrications... Freed, dissociated, & released from consciousness... Freed, dissociated, & released from birth... Freed, dissociated, & released from aging... Freed, dissociated, & released from death... Freed, dissociated, & released from stress... Freed, dissociated, & released from defilement, the Tathagata dwells with unrestricted awareness.

"Just as a red, blue, or white lotus born in the water and growing in the water, rises up above the water and stands with no water adhering to it, in the same way the Tathagata — freed, dissociated, & released from these ten things — dwells with unrestricted awareness."

AN 3.99:

"Now, a trifling evil deed done by what sort of individual is experienced in the here & now, and for the most part barely appears for a moment? There is the case where a certain individual is developed in [contemplating] the body, developed in virtue, developed in mind, developed in discernment: unrestricted, large-hearted, dwelling with the immeasurable. A trifling evil deed done by this sort of individual is experienced in the here & now, and for the most part barely appears for a moment.

SN 42.8

"That disciple of the noble ones — thus devoid of covetousness, devoid of ill will, unbewildered, alert, mindful — keeps pervading the first direction with an awareness imbued with compassion... appreciation... equanimity, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth. Thus above, below, & all around, everywhere, in its entirety, he keeps pervading the all-encompassing cosmos with an awareness imbued with equanimity — abundant, expansive, immeasurable, without hostility, without ill will. Just as a strong conch-trumpet blower can notify the four directions without any difficulty, in the same way, when the awareness-release through equanimity is thus developed, thus pursued, any deed done to a limited extent no longer remains there, no longer stays there."

There may be more suttas, but I chose these 3 to illustrate two essential points:

1. Pure awareness is unrestricted by the Five Skandhas and mass of suffering (birth, aging, death, dukkha).

2. Pure awareness is imbued with equanimity, large-hearted and imbued with the immeasurable.

This is cross-supported by the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions that talk about the key to Prajnaparamita (Unsurpassed Wisdom of the Buddha) being a mind that does not dwell anywhere, not in the five skandhas of form, feelings, perceptions, sankharas or consciousness, or all dharmas.

In Mahamudra or Dzogchen, there is an emphasis that Pure Awareness is letting go of all things, without clinging onto things or suppressing them by resisting them. There is no mental exertion, such as trying to recall the past, think of the future, and so on. These are encapsulated in Tilopa's Six Words of Advice:

1. Don't recall

2. Don't imagine

3. Don't think

4. Don't examine

5. Don't control

6. Rest

It is however, not easy to do that, as a practitioner will find himself or herself fluctuating between any of the six above, therefore always remaining at a surface level of attention, rather than diving deeply into the pure, unrestricted awareness of Buddha-Nature.

Therefore, from premise 1 to 4, we have the following argument: We are originally Buddhas, and have never departed from the Deathless. However, confusion about our Buddha-nature has masked its full omniscient qualities. Being clear about our Buddha-nature means to be in non-abiding, unrestricted awareness.

Premise 5: The Problem Is Confused Clinging

For this premise, let us start off with a quote by Ajahn Chah, a Theravadan Thai Forest master:

"That is, we have awareness, we know what's going on, but we still can't let go." in his essay on "No Abiding"

But what exactly are we clinging onto? Again, we come to a canonical sutta, SN 12.52:

There the Blessed One said to the monks: "In one who keeps focusing on the allure of clingable phenomena, craving develops. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance. From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. Such is the origin of this entire mass of suffering & stress.

This can be a very puzzling statement.

Have you ever wondered why something is alluring to one person and not alluring to another? For example, a person may be addicted to video-games, another person may be addicted to drugs, and yet another person may be addicted to sex. They may very well be addicted to all three, but there is quite a variation over here. What makes a person like this over that?

The Buddha says this very clearly: "Focusing on the allure" is what leads to "development of craving".

In the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, this is often explained in terms of Yogacara/Chittamatra doctrine. It is explained in the following manner.

We have Eight Consciousnesses in total (The Sixth consciousness in the Pali Canon is subdivided into three others, making a total of Eight instead of Six). The first five are Sense-Consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue and body. The sixth is the mental-consciousness, the seventh is the ego-consciousness and the eighth is the consciousness that stores karma.

To explain how "focusing on allure" happens, the doctrine teaches that the culprits are the Sixth and Seventh Consciousnesses.

The Sixth Consciousness has three modes of functioning:

1. Direct perception: Directly perceiving as it is.

2. Discriminative perception: Perceiving through comparing and contrasting things.

3. Imaginative perception: Making up things while perceiving, such as stories, hallucinations... (Things that do not originally exist.)

When it is in the 2nd and 3rd mode, these are what causes us to "focus on allure" and start to develop clinging. Why?

Because if we never made any discriminative or imaginative perception about the sense-object, we would not have any basis to think of this object as inherently satisfying or repulsive, good or bad, exhilarating or downing.

This is when our consciousness faces outwards to our five-organs. What happens when our consciousness faces inwards to our perceiving nature? Now this consciousness starts to think that there is a Subject, a witnessing division, that is looking, hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling or cognizing the sense-objects.

This is what the Seventh Consciousness does. It takes this imaginary Subject as existing, calls it the "I". Therefore, this "I" is always imagination, presumption, conjecture, and habitual. It is crucial to understand that this sense-of-self is when the consciousness faces inwards and grasps onto natural occurring processes of seeing, hearing, sensing and cognizing.

This is completely supported by the Buddha by a canonical sutta, Ud 1.10:

"Then, Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus: In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen. In reference to the heard, only the heard. In reference to the sensed, only the sensed. In reference to the cognized, only the cognized. That is how you should train yourself. When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Bāhiya, there is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of suffering."

To summarize this lengthy premise, we have the two understandings:

1. By facing outwards to sense-objects, we cling onto their characteristics or produce imaginary ideas - this causes Confusion and Clinging.

2. By facing inwards to consciousness, we cling onto its function of seeing, hearing, sensing and cognizing - this causes Confusion and Clinging.

Therefore, from premise 1 to 5, we have the following argument: We are originally Buddhas, and have never departed from the Deathless. However, confusion about our Buddha-nature has masked its full omniscient qualities. Being clear about our Buddha-nature means to be in non-abiding, unrestricted awareness. We lose this awareness by being confused about outward-objects or inward-consciousness.

Application of the Five Premises into Practice

Assuming that you had faith in the first premise, and built your way up to the fifth premise, and agree with our argument formed above, then we can also explore how to bring this understanding into Dharma practice.

We must know clearly that we are already Buddhas. However, due to our dualistic confusion, we do not manifest the qualities of Buddha-Nature.

This is my real hypothesis: We must practice not from the perspective of being confused, but from the starting point of already BEING a Buddha, albeit not fully-manifesting the Tathagata's qualities.

So how can we bring this into practice? Let us explore several common Buddhist practices, along with my hypothetical understanding of them, feel free to interject!

Anapanasati

Already in Buddha-Nature, already with unrestricted awareness, we attend to the wind-element of the body (out of four elements). Anapana means the ingoing and outgoing of the wind, the movement of air-sensations in and out of the body.

This treats multiplicity of confusion, bringing it down to one single confusion, one continuous single contemplation on the Wind element of the body. This is also known as One-Mind, or Unification of Mind.

At first, there is resistance and the mind jumps from attention on the Wind element to thoughts, then to sensations, then to here and there. Eventually, it rests completely on the impermanent ingoing and outgoing of the Wind element.

But given that it is impermanent, we then realize: This One-Mindedness is grasping onto impermanent Wind. We see its birth and death of the inhalation, birth and death of the exhalation. We then go through the other stages, leading to extinguishment, dispassion and eventual liberation from the one last remaining confusion.

With no more confusion-objects, the mind is released. This is what I hypothesise as Anapanasati being the practice of "Non-abiding Awareness of the Wind element".

Mindfulness of Four Bases

Again, being already in Buddha-Nature, Non-abiding awareness is applied again to Body, Feelings, Mind (Citta) and Dharmas. This is not only done in sitting practice but in daily life - applied to how we move our bodies, the awareness of all the elements of the body, our feelings and emotions, our thoughts and mental states.

There is a slight difference here however, because it does not use the principle of turning multiple-confusions into single-confusion. Instead, it directly uses the impermanence of all objects to directly cultivate the Permanent, Non-dualistic, Non-abiding Awareness.

Four Brahmaviharas

Being already in Buddha-Nature, these four immeasurables (brahmaviharas) will already be present.

These turn an inward-clinging into an outward-release. For example, Loving-kindness is the antithesis of Victimization that results in anger. If you realize, all four of them are radiating outwards. They are to counteract the habitual action of confusion that tends to draw things inwards as "clinging". Eventually, it has to lead towards pure, unrestricted awareness.

Mantra Practice

Being already in Buddha-Nature, Mantras are sounds that bring us towards one particular sound-vibration. Again, turning multiplicity-of-confusion into a voluntary single-confusion. The added advantage of this is that mantras can work on karma directly and in the Bodhisattva path, this is said to produce merit which helps to manifest the unrestricted awareness more easily by getting rid of hindrances that surface.

Vipassana

Being already in Buddha-Nature, this is actually very similar, if not identical to the mindfulness of four bases practice.

Silent Illumination/Just-Sitting

Again, this is very similar to the mindfulness of the four bases practice, except that now, the practitioner is sitting. Due to a reduction of the body's inputs, there is an easier ability to see through fewer multiple-confusions.

Pure Awareness

In Buddha-nature, having being introduced to it directly, either through a master or having "seen it" through a small-glimpse (kensho, jian-xing 见性, seeing one's nature). Then one just directly assesses this, again and again, until cause and conditions mature enough - and then it suddenly breaks into complete enlightenment (awakening/realization, wu-dao 悟道, satori, anuttarāsamyaksambodhi).

Hope you enjoyed my endless rambling!

Would love a discussion. :)