Visions Beyond Reach

 As you review all things by your perfect intelligence and compassion, they must seem to you like visions beyond the reach of the human mind, as being and non-being do not apply to them.Gautama, Buddha. THE LANKAVATARA SUTRA (p. 3). Independent. Kindle Edition. 

What does this term mean, "visons beyond reach of the human mind"? I think the clue to this lies in the second part of the sentence, which says "as being and non-being do not apply to them". It seems to suggest that the more we reach a stage of enlightenment, the more things take on the nature of appearances, rather than solid and living entities that we can refer to as "existent" as opposed to "non existent". We often distinguish between "real" and "unreal" or "fantasy" vs. "reality", without truly defining the terms. What exactly do we use to measure the real as opposed to the fantastic?

 Scientists would say that the burden of proof always lies with the observer or the believer. In other words we need some kind of quantitative or experimental proof to confirm that something is true. But we often take things purely on faith and trust, such as when we eat food at a restaurant believing that it's "safe" when we haven't directly seen any inspection of the kitchen or staff. Our observations are often, in fact, a combination of sensation and beliefs. There is nothing inherent in the appearance of a snake that would make us feel it is dangerous in any way, yet we flinch when we see a snake darting in front of us. We might think the snake "appears" harmful, but what exactly does "harmful" look like, and how do we really know? Our knowledge is often a combination of direct observation and passed down folklore that takes the form of common sense. In so many ways, our knowledge is not directly perceived but is rather culturally acquired at a very early age.

The point is, the more we look at what believe to be "existent", the more we realize that what we take to be "real" is often the result of interpretation, hearsay and faith, rather than direct experimental proof or experience. Fact and fiction can at times blend together to create imagination. Perhaps an enlightened being is so attuned to the impressions of the mind that they are more sensitive to fantastic visions o that don't necessarily have a grounding in empirical observation. Here, neither being nor non-being apply, since these fantastic visions are purely created by the mind or are mental energies.

Looking this way, one may start to see the world in a new way. The apparently real seems all the more fantastic because it is momentary and created by the mind. The present unfolding moment seems to be a source of awe and splendor when we stop buying into the idea that what we experience is external to an observing I. This can be a delightful vision that happens because we are not attached to an idea of the world that situates things as self-existent and outside of the mind.