Established Base - 02

Basic concepts of dharma, existance, impermanence, and more.

Buddhist Epistemology

Although we have previously studied various classifications of dharmas—such as color, form, evident scope, hidden scope, and so forth—the most fundamental way to identify what qualifies as a dharma begins with the concept of ‘established base.’ This is why the present chapter is titled “Established Base.”

We posit dharmas through the relationship of definiendum and definition, so we must first clarify these two basic concepts.

Definition: The intrinsic connotation or essential meaning of a certain dharma.

Definiendum: On the basis of the definition, posited in dependence upon linguistic names, becoming that which is defined by the definition.

The definiendum is the defined, and the definition is the definer. When defining a certain thing, the definiendum that is defined and the definition that defines it are equivalent. However, “definition” and “definiendum” themselves are contradictory.

ཚད་མས་གྲུབ་པ། གཞི་གྲུབ་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།

That which is established by measure, is the definition of established base.

“Established by measure” is the definition of established base.

“Established base” is the definiendum of “established by measure.” “Measure” is a new, non-deceptive awareness that is able to realize the object. Here, “measure” does not refer to any particular instance of measure, but to measure in general. In other words, for something to exist as a dharma, it must be capable of being established by measure.

“Established” is from the perspective of the object: if it can be realized and established by measure, that object must exist. Therefore, whatever is an established base necessarily exists; and whatever can be established by measure is necessarily an established base. Thus, established base and dharma (dharma) are equivalent.

ཚད་མས་དམིགས་པ། ཡོད་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད།

That which is aimed at by measure, is the definition of existence.

“Aimed at by measure” is the definition of existence.

Being aimed at by measure means that this object exists. Established base and existence both describe the existence of dharma: whatever exists is pervaded by being an established base, and whatever is an established base is pervaded by existing.

བློའི་ཡུལ་དུ་བྱར་རུང་། ཤེས་བྱའི་མཚན་ཉིད།

That which is suitable to be the object of intellect, is the definition of knowable.

“Being suitable to be the object of intellect” means it can serve as the object of an intellect subject which is a knower, where “object” refers to that which is known. Object, knowable, established base and existence are all equivalent. A possible doubt here: “Can a rabbit’s horn be suitable as an object of intellect? Because the intellect apprehending a rabbit’s horn exists.” A rabbit’s horn does not exist; although the intellect apprehending a rabbit’s horn exists, a rabbit’s horn cannot be aimed at by measure. The intellect apprehending a rabbit’s horn is a mistaken consciousness, and the main object of a mistaken consciousness does not exist. Only something that is the main object of a non-mistaken intellect can qualify as a knowable.

ཚད་མས་རྟོགས་པར་བྱ་བ། གཞལ་བྱའི་མཚན་ཉིད།

That which is realized by measure, is the definition of measuree.

“Realized by measure” is the definition of measuree. Measuree emphasizes the object that can be realized by measure.

Among established by measure, aimed at by measure, and realized by measure, all involve “measure.” Measure is the subject; thus, what is established, aimed at, or realized by it belongs to the object—these objects are precisely established base, existence, and measuree.

A point of clarification here: the “measure” in “established by measure” is the subject, and measure itself exists and can be aimed at by a subject—meaning measure can also serve as an object that is realized by a subject. So, in “established by measure,” is this measure the subject or the object? Although the measure here is a subject, in general it is also an object and is aimed at by measure. In debates, we usually say that measure is the subject in the division of subject and object, not the object in that division.

རང་གི་ངོ་བོ་འཛིན་པ། ཆོས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།

Bearing its own nature, is the definition of dharma.

“Bearing its own nature” means every dharma has its own unique function, meaning, or concept, capable of being realized and established by measure. If a dharma completely lacked its own characteristics, nature, or function, such a dharma would not exist. This is the broad meaning of “dharma,” which includes everything that is knowable.

Dharma also has a narrow meaning: the ability or function to change things, specifically referring to “method” used to solve problems or accomplish particular results. For example, worldly “methods” are pathways designed to achieve something; when applied, they inevitably perform their unique function, transforming or changing related dharma—this is the narrow connotation of dharma. This narrow connotation is especially important in practice: the essence of practice is “practicing the method.” The core function of dharma is to change the practitioner’s continuum, gradually transforming an ordinary being into an Arya (one who has attained the path of seeing) until the interim fruition is achieved. This transformation process relies entirely on the power of the true dharma; thus, the Buddha’s activity is to propagate the true dharma.

དེ་དག་ལ་དབྱེ་ན། རྟག་མི་རྟག་སོགས་དུ་མ་ཡོད།

Their classification: permanence, impermanence, and so on; there are many.

There are many classifications of dharma, such as the previously mentioned classification into evident scope and hidden scope; here, permanent dharma and impermanent dharma are also one classification of dharma.

སྐད་ཅིག་མ། མི་རྟག་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད།

Momentariness is the definition of impermanence.

“Momentariness” is the definition of impermanence.

Momentariness simply means dividing time into segments. For example, yesterday, today, and tomorrow are three moments; last year, this year, next year are also three moments; the previous eon, the present eon, the future eon are also three moments. Thus, “moment” is merely a concept of dividing time with no fixed standard—it can be long or short; even an eon or multiple eons can be considered one moment. In Buddhist teachings, this is further explored to establish a standard: the duration of an adult snapping their fingers once is taken as the shortest “moment of accomplishment,” meaning the time required to complete one action.

The “moment of temporal limit” is the smallest unit of time that can be aimed at by measure. According to different tenets: for Vaibhāṣika, it is 1/65 of the shortest functional moment; for Sautrāntika, it is 1/368. The moment of temporal limit is what Hinayana proponents, through meditative concentration, can observe as the shortest flow of time within the temporal domain, indivisible further.

Mahayana proponents do not accept such a moment of temporal limit as the absolute shortest unit of time; they only accept it as a conventionally agreed unit for communication, without asserting it as indivisible.

Here, the purpose of defining impermanence as ‘momentariness’ is to highlight that impermanent dharmas cannot remain static even for an instant; they continuously arise and cease.

དོན་བྱེད་ནུས་པ། དངོས་པོའི་མཚན་ཉིད།

That which is able to perform a function, is the definition of entity.

“Being able to perform a function” is the definition of an entity.

We must be careful not to confuse this with coarse everyday meanings. The “function” referred to here is not simply something like a pot holding water or a stove cooking rice; rather, it is the capacity to produce an effect. The “function” in “able to perform a function” specifically refers to the ability to produce its own effect. Entity and impermanence are equivalent: only an impermanent dharma can have the function of producing its own effect. Moreover, all coarse worldly functions are necessarily manifestations of this “producing its own effect.”

སྐྱེས་པ། བྱས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད།

That which is arisen is the definition of product.

“Arisen” means produced through certain causal conditions. “Produced” does not necessarily mean artificially made by humans. For example, sound is produced through the vibration of objects. Thus, sound is certainly a product, arisen through the causal conditions of vibration.

Product is a coarse concept, as it is relatively easy to understand. Take a vase as an example: without artificial production, a vase cannot appear, so the vase arises from causal conditions. However, the momentariness of the vase is a subtle concept; without studying tenets, it is not easy to understand that the vase is momentarily changing. Thus, the difference between coarse and subtle lies in ease of realization: a coarse object of knowledge is easy to realize by measure, while a subtle one is difficult. If easy to realize, it is a coarse concept; if not easy, it is a subtle concept.

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