Part 8 - Consciousness: The Light That Follows the Push

“Consciousness is reckoned by the condition
through which it arises.”
— SN 22.79

Why consciousness follows formations

Formations push the mind toward something.
Consciousness lights up that “something.”

Sequence:
1️⃣ Ignorance blinds
2️⃣ Formations push
3️⃣ Consciousness arrives

Consciousness does not lead the process —
it responds to conditions already set in motion.

It is not a controller.
It is a result.

The nature of consciousness

Consciousness is always:

  • of something
    (there must be an object)
  • established somewhere
    (there must be a domain)
  • dependent on conditions
    (it cannot stand alone)

In the moment it arises, it already depends on:

  • a sense base
  • a sense object
  • contact between them
  • and the inclination set by formations

Consciousness is a flame that needs fuel.

How consciousness “lands”

The Buddha described consciousness as:

  • “establishing”
  • “landing”
  • “taking a footing”

When conditions appear, consciousness claims:

“This is where I am.”

This creates a location of identity:

  • “I am the seer of this sight”
  • “I am the thinker of this thought”
  • “I am the feeler of this feeling”

Awareness takes ownership.

That is the beginning of self-as-knower.

Consciousness has no autonomy

Without:

  • formations
  • organs
  • objects
  • contact

→ consciousness cannot arise.

Consciousness is not an eternal witness
or a “true self” behind experience.

It is a conditioned event:

  • arising
  • changing
  • ceasing

It has no fixed core.

How this appears in practice

Watch closely:

  • A sound occurs
  • Consciousness makes it “heard”
  • Identification says “I heard it”

That last step is fabricated.

Consciousness:

  • arises suddenly
  • stays only by support
  • disappears instantly

It is impermanent by design.

Seeing this releases fascination with “the knower.”

Culmination Link for Part 8

Formations push toward experience.
Consciousness lights up the constructed domain.
But because both are conditioned:

The “knower” is not a being.
It is a dependent event.

Thus:

  • There is no self who knows
  • Only knowing that depends on causes

When the supporting conditions cease,
the entire illusion of a knower collapses.

This is Dependent Origination
revealing the emptiness of “me.”