This is because there is already a technical Buddhist term for "the appearances that appear via the mind." It is "rūpasaññā." Buddhist modernists regularly dramatically misunderstand the relationship between rūpa and rūpasaññā.Vivekananda wrote: ↑Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:04 amQuite understandably, as it went against my understanding of DO.
There's an entire thread here, many many pages, where a core of Buddhist modernists try vainly to argue that, once someone is Awakened, his "sense bases disappear" (!). One of these modernists, one who claims he is Awakened, has even argued here on this forum that the "disappearance" of his sense bases has caused him to be more intensely assailed by sensory impingement. This is ultimately where this kind of Buddhist modernism leads: to a lack of understanding of rūpa, a lack of understanding of the what "the body" refers to, and a lack of understanding of what "sense bases" refers to. This then spirals out of control. Because the sense bases are misunderstood, contact is misunderstood. Because "the body" is misunderstood, the "birth" of that body is misunderstood. From these misunderstandings and many others like them, there arises a great aggregated mass of suffering for the Buddhist modernist, but one they don't see, one they don't acknowledge. Why is this? The metaphorical "Māra of the kilesas" has disguised himself as the Buddha, and he has disguised vanity and delusion as "the Dhamma." Seeing their vanity and delusion as "the Dhamma," they are not moved to renounce it, and the misunderstandings only proliferate further.
The Buddha could manifest rūpasaññā, as evidenced by his lack of blindness, amongst other things, such as his sense of touch. In the EBTs, the "rūpa" that he discards is future embodiment. It is "future" embodiment, because his body didn't disappear in the style of a Tibetan "rainbow body."
Why is the discarding of future embodiment "liberation?" Because the worldlings are trapped in DO, and this entrapment will cause subsequent bodies and subsequent minds (i.e. "birth," etc.).
If you "freed" yourself from rūpasaññā, you'd be incapable of perceiving the beings who suffer in saṃsāra. Unable to perceive them, you'd be unable to help them. This is not an acceptable position for a Buddha to be in, given that the Buddhas teach the Dhamma to worldlings who are so entrapped. If there is no rūpasaññā, there is no teaching the living beings who are comprised, in part, of rūpa.
How are living beings comprised of rūpa? Via the "rūpakkhandha," or "aggregate of rūpa."
How do we know that the aggregates of rūpa refers not only to physical material, but the physical material making up the body? From sources like MN 109 & 119:
"Monk, the four great existents (earth, water, fire, & wind) are the cause, the four great existents the condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of form."
(then 119:)
"Furthermore, the monk reflects on this very body from the soles of the feet on up, from the crown of the head on down, surrounded by skin and full of various kinds of unclean things: 'In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, gorge, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, skin-oil, saliva, mucus, fluid in the joints, urine.' Just as if a sack with openings at both ends were full of various kinds of grain — wheat, rice, mung beans, kidney beans, sesame seeds, husked rice — and a man with good eyesight, pouring it out, were to reflect, 'This is wheat. This is rice. These are mung beans. These are kidney beans. These are sesame seeds. This is husked rice'; in the same way, the monk reflects on this very body from the soles of the feet on up, from the crown of the head on down, surrounded by skin and full of various kinds of unclean things: 'In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, gorge, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, skin-oil, saliva, mucus, fluid in the joints, urine.' And as he remains thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, any memories & resolves related to the household life are abandoned, and with their abandoning his mind gathers & settles inwardly, grows unified & centered. This is how a monk develops mindfulness immersed in the body.
"Furthermore, the monk contemplates this very body — however it stands, however it is disposed — in terms of properties: 'In this body there is the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, & the wind property.'"
Then we have MN 28:
“And what is the material form aggregate affected by clinging? It is the four great elements and the material form derived from the four great elements. And what are the four great elements? They are the earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the air element. What, friends, is the earth element? The earth element may be either internal or external. What is the internal earth element? Whatever internally, belonging to oneself, is solid, solidified, and clung-to; that is, head-hairs, body-hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone-marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery, contents of the stomach, feces, or whatever else internally, belonging to oneself, is solid, solidified, and clung-to: this is called the internal earth element.
(this one very clearly lays out the internal earth-element, and indeed all four internal elements, as referring to the physical body)
SN 12.62:
"Mendicants, when it comes to this body made up of the four primary elements, an unlearned ordinary person might become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed."
(translations from Ven Ṭhānissaro, last from from Ven Sujāto)
When rūpa is external, it is not the physical body itself. Instead, it is the direct object of the eye (cakkhu) and the indirect object of senses like "touch," etc. We can see this substantiated in suttas that outline the historical Buddhist theory of cognition, involving "contact" (phassa) and the like. What appears in the mind after this cognitive process is known as the aforementioned "rūpasaññā."