Awareness, Consciousness, and Buddha Nature

There has been a recent buzz questioning if insects possess consciousness. This is a classic example of the confusion made inevitable when we do not differentiate between consciousness and awareness.

Awareness is the ultimate property of life, and the ultimate truth of Self. Awareness could be thought of as composing what religionist call the "Spirit". Consciousness is the result of awareness inhabiting a nervous system, and varies with the mechanical capabilities thereof. Consciousness could be thought of as comprising the realm of the "Soul".

As to whether or not insects have consciousness I will relate a personal anecdote.

Once, years ago, I came down from the sleeping loft to find that the huge black wood ant so common around here had discovered the honey-bowl. The bowl was very nice porcelain, hand thrown by a friend, and had a notched lid for the cherrywood honey dipper (all broken and discarded long ago). Well anyway, I came down that morning to find a steady line of very large black ants climbing the side of the bowl, slipping through the dipper notch, and getting after the honey. I opened the bowl to find about a half inch of ants flailing in the upper reaches of the honey like sabertooth tigers in a tar pit. My first thought was "Damn, now I'll have to throw the honey out." My second thought was that since the ants were a nuisance and since they were exterminating themselves why not let them have at it. That is what I did. I left the honey bowl untouched on the counter and went on about my business.

The following morning I came down from the sleeping loft to find a ring of ants surrounding the honey-bowl. Like a ring, shoulder to shoulder, of tundra musk ox defending their young: all were facing out.



Does a dog have Buddha Nature?

Post-Modern Possession and Zen

The equanimity displayed by the masters of Zen, past and present, is an illustration of the qualitative differences in a mind informed by Awareness and a mind blinded by consciousness.

The consciousness which moderns are so quick to celebrate is driven by the sway of unconscious forces. A description of demonic possession quite accurately fits the situation of that mind to which the archaic structure of congenital preprograms is invisible. A mind in this state believes its self to be "self possessed" when actually its behavior is dominated by autonomous forces (referred to by Carl Jung as the Collective Unconscious) to which the mind has said "I". They are possessed.

The Enlightenment which we seek in Zen is no less than Awareness pulling down the curtain of consciousness which insulates Self from archetype. Awareness is stillness in the midst of movement, and that stillness betrays the machinations of the ancient deep-mind.

The ills of the modern world are the knock-off results of a clever creature in spiritual infancy. The general population, the captains of industry, the political classes, are all of them in a state of demonic possession: their behaviors public and private are those of a mind which does not suspect the existence of an Awareness which is the true substance of Self and of all life, and which transcends consciousness. They therefore serve invisible forces in darkness: the latent contents of the unconscious mind. They are conscious, yes; but they are not Aware.

An ancient Master once remarked that Zen is the brick with which we knock at the door.



What then to do when the door has opened.

Another ancient Master while walking in the imperial garden remarked to the Emperor "Sire, when the people of the world look upon these flowers they see them as if in a dream."