MAKE A CLEAN SWEEP OF YOUR MIND

Everyone is welcome to join the globally distributed on-line congregation at this 24 hour drop-in service from Manjushri Centre, Cumbria

"In general, prayers made by an assembly of many practitioners are very powerful and cannot be compared to the prayers of one or two people. The scriptures give the analogy of a broom. If we try to clean a floor with a few bristles we shall make little progress, but if we gather many bristles to make a broom we shall be successful."
VENERABLE GESHE KELSANG GYATSO RINPOCHE

To be repeated monthly.

Details and timetable
https://kadampa.org/2020/03/liberation-from-sorrow

Mind is its own cause

ouroboros loop

Following on from the previous article on the repeated failures to produce mind from machines (Artificial Intelligence or AI), Paul Kieniewicz at the Scientific and Medical Network  offers an additional explanation why AI is bound to fail.  It is because the mind is self-causing:  

'...Another curiosity about consciousness is that it is its own cause. Koch provides a metaphor to explain this. In Plato’s dialogue with the ‘stranger from Elea’, the argument is made that for something to exist, it must affect something else, or be affected by something else.

But consciousness is not like this (paranormal powers excepted). We feel sure it exists but it doesn’t appear to cause anything, nor can anyone else observe it. Unless it is its own cause — consciousness arises from and ends in consciousness, like an ouroboros loop.

According to Koch, the basic circuitry of computers and AI systems do not have this feature. This suggests that machines, unlike the human mind,  cannot create a whole picture and therefore can never be conscious. The conclusion is similar to Penrose’s in The Emperor’s New Mind, where he points out that the feature of self-reference of the mind poses an insurmountable problem for computer algorithms...'
 
This is very similar to the Kadampa Buddhist teaching that the main cause of mind is the previous moment of mind:  'A non-material phenomenon with the power to cognize objects cannot arise from insentient matter, nor can it arise from no cause; the only thing it can arise from is another non-material phenomenon with the power to cognize objects – i.e. a previous moment of mind.' from http://www.aboutreincarnation.org/consciousness.php/

See also

https://kadampalife.org/2014/11/23/are-you-a-traveler-where-are-you-bound-rebirth-part-1/

BUDDHIST TOLERANCE

From Lankaweb  by Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

'...The Buddha Dhamma is described as ehipassiko, inviting one to come and see for himself. There is no concept of coercion or proselytization in Buddhism. Buddha taught the importance of patience, tolerance, and non-aggression, providing a splendid ideal of tolerance for Buddhists to follow. There is not a single occasion in the Buddhist scriptures of the Buddha being less than compassionate, not only to those who accepted his teachings but also to the followers of all faiths, not only to the good but also to the wicked, not only to humans but also to animals and to all living beings. In striking contrast to the spread of other world religions, which are replete with unethical and forcible conversions and sectarian strife, the history of Buddhism is remarkable for the complete absence of bloodshed in the name of the teacher.

Buddhism started to enjoy a strong interest from the general population in the West during the 20th century, following the perceived failure of social utopias including the conventional religions of the West. After the Second World War, the focus of progress tended to shift to personal self-realization, on the material as well as spiritual plane. In this context, Buddhism has been displaying a strong power of attraction, due to its tolerance, its lack of theistic authority and determinism, and its focus on understanding reality through self-inquiry. According to the latest census it is now the fastest growing religion in several countries in the Western world...'

Read it all

Tantra and Identity

The Real You

Following on from the article on Queen Madālasā’s advice to her young son on not identifying with his identity, Jan Willis has some interesting comments on the liberating effects of tantra on self-constructed or externally imposed identities in this Tricycle article:

‘...According to Buddhist tantra, we remain trapped within a circle of dissatisfaction because our view of reality is narrow and suffocating. We hold onto a very limited and limiting view of who we are and what we can become, with the result that our self-image remains oppressively low and negative, and we feel quite inadequate and hopeless. As long as our opinion of ourselves is so miserable, our life will remain meaningless.

One of the essential practices at all levels of tantra is to dissolve our ordinary conceptions of ourselves and then, from the empty space into which these concepts have disappeared, arise in the glorious light body of a deity: a manifestation of the essential clarity of our deepest being. The more we train to see ourselves as such a meditational deity, the less bound we feel by life’s ordinary disappointments and frustrations. This divine self-visualization empowers us to take control of our life and create for ourselves a pure environment in which our deepest nature can be expressed. . . . It is a simple truth that if we identify ourselves as being fundamentally pure, strong, and capable we will actually develop these qualities, but if we continue to think of ourselves as dull and foolish, that is what we will become.

The health of body and mind is primarily a question of our self-image. Those people who think badly of themselves, for whatever reasons, become and then remain miserable, while those who can recognize and draw on their inner resources can overcome even the most difficult situations. Deity-yoga is one of the most profound ways of lifting our self-image, and that is why tantra is such a quick and powerful method for achieving the fulfillment of our tremendous potential... ‘  

Read it all 

The mind is nothing but a machine...

Déjà vu  - (many times)

'The mind is nothing but a machine because very soon (if not next year then certainly within five years) computers will be able to think and do everything humans can do - and probably do it better'

This popular belief, known as computationalism or strong AI, goes back at least 70 years, and seems to gain strength and then become discredited in approximately ten year cycles.    The belief-cycle is fed by hype about Artificial Intelligence in the popular press, and when the hype fails to deliver, the computationalist meme goes dormant and has to wait for a new generation of gullible journalists before it can resume its growth. 

In fact computationalism is just the latest version of a school of thought known as 'philosophical mechanism', which predates the first computers by several centuries. The earliest appearance of philosophical mechanism goes back to 1651  (for 'electronics' substitute 'clockwork'). 

After several years of hype in the late 2010's ('AI summer')  the recent failures of AI to deliver human-like thought capabilities are again leading to increased skepticism and the onset of an AI winter.

Perhaps this may be an opportunity for Buddhists to explain to a wider public why the mind is far more than a machine, and is not reducible to material bits and pieces such as transistors or cogwheels, or indeed any other physical system.