"The aggregate of dispositions is of crucial importance, for it is this
aggregate
which, more than any of the other four, flavors the character of the whole
bundle.
In terms of the human individual, dispositions are most directly responsible
for
giving shape and uniqueness to the personality. The importance of this
aggregate
and the frequency of Nagarjuna’s reference to it warrants further elucidation
of its
nature. The first three ag- gregates provide for the material world, sensations
of it,
and the resultant cognizing of sensation called perception. For example, the
first
aggregate may be an object, the second aggregate senses the light reflecting
from
the object and reports the frequency of the light, and the third aggregate
identifies
that frequency as “blue.” The fourth aggregate is a mix of at- titudes, habits,
emotions, passions, and thoughts which cause the person to react to this
perception,
e.g. “I like blue.”
This is also the place where, if one is not careful, such preferences and
attitudes
can lead to grasping. These dispositions are what turn an otherwise passive
receiver of perceptions into a conceptualizing and act- ing individual. These
four all provide first an awareness of the external world and then reactions to
it.
The fifth and final aggregate, conscious- ness, is not a sort of higher result
arising
from the first four, for the inter- nal mental life is found in the fourth
aggregate.
Rather, consciousness is a term for the all-pervading awareness which makes
possible sensations, perceptions, and dispositions.
A quote from the philosopher William James, while written in reference to a
different tradition, is nonetheless one of the clearest and most cogent
expressions
of the function and importance of the dispositions this author has yet found.
“Conceive yourself, if possible, suddenly stripped of all the
emotion with which your world now inspires you, and try
to imagine it as it exists, purely by itself, without your favorable
or unfavorable, hope- ful or apprehensive comment. It will be
almost impossible for you to realize such a condition of
negativity and deadness. No one portion of the universe would
then have any importance beyond another; and the whole
collection of its things and series of its events would be without
significance, character, expression, or perspective.”
The dispositions are thus vital if the person is to act in and react to the
world, and
action and reaction are themselves vital if one is to follow the Eightfold
Path. On
the other hand, the dispositions can also be the chief cause of grasping and
will
bind one to the cycle of suffering if one is not careful. It is dispositions
which constitute
preferences, but it is these preferences which can easily become passionate
attractions
and aversions. As Kalupahana puts it, “we are, therefore, in a double-bind.” We
need
the dispositions in order to live, but they can also contribute most to our
suffering. The
key is to use dispositional preferences without being used by them. Nagarjuna’s
section
here offers explanations and guidance about how one is to do this."
(Winters, Jonah,'Thinking in Buddhism: Nagarjuna’s Middle Way', pp.53-54)
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