Druptha Discussion Session 8 (4/21/2024)

We resume our weekly discussion sessions held in Tibetan. The topics of discussion range from the subject matter covered in Pramanavartika's chapter 2 and Madhyamakavatara's chapter 6 (based on Je Tsongkhapa's commentary), as taught in Tibetan by ven. Geshe Dorji Dadul la.

[@Bhoepavlogger]

Thank you very interesting and helpful 🙏🏽
In the discussion whether you see space or not? I agree with lady Genla that we do see a space. If you don’t see a space then how do you park in the space between two cars?

[@rabga_tenzin]

Thank you for watching and for engaging. That’s a very good point, and something at the heart of the conundrum. Personally for me, the confusion arises from this: if the space is the object of appearance (སྣང་ཡུལ) of the eye consciousness, which is a direct perceiver (མངོན་སུམ), then this space must be a specifically characterized phenomenon (རང་མཚན). If it is, then it must have a substance (རྫས), and must be impermanent. Now, it is difficult for me to imagine that the space between objects is substantially established, has a substance. Moreover, as per the person who brought up this doubt, in science, visual perception relies on the interaction between our eyes and the light that scatters from an object. Since it is difficult to say that the space or the vacuum scatters light, it’s difficult to say we “see” the vacuum in the above sense. But, you’re absolutely right, we do have perception of depth, or spatial extension, and of separation between objects.