On playing with demons
Vajrayana view of social order
Living in a society means that whatever we do is intricately entangled with what everyone else is doing. This miracle of synchronisation is achieved through individuals acting in patterns, which fit together. It is like a fractal mandala made of interlocking gears of anticipation, action and reaction.
The social is a dance between common and individual. Conventions and norms homogenise the patterns of interdependent activities, while identities differentiate them. Together these patterns form a culture—a library of behavioural patterns and their meanings. Identity indexes the library by providing an answer to “who am I in the situation that I’m in?”. Knowing the answer, we then know how to act conventionally.
If you have a reinforcement learning background, you could think of culture as an options model. Assemblage theory or figurational sociology could be helpful if you are more philosophically inclined. But for the metaphor that works best for a first person experience of having and acting out an identity is that of demonic possession. When you act conventionally you let yourself be possessed by a named pattern—a little demon. It controls your attention, it interprets the world for you and controls your actions—“As a progressive millennial, I will be bringing my reusable coffee mug”. We switch between dozens of demons, small and large, every day, simply to get by.
These demons are very much real and apparent. They are not simply a figment of our imagination. They are an emergent phenomena of the socio-cultural process and are represented not only in our minds, but also in physical artefacts. To actually be a policeman one must wear a badge. Clothes convey much of one's demonic allegiance (devil wears Primark). Legal acts can conjure, control and banish those demons.
Relationships with these demons can become problematic. One can mistake a demon for oneself or even one’s essence or soul. This can lead to a severe idiocy, what in tibetan is called “thom-yor” [4]. Thom-yor is fixated on a particular identity demon and identifies with it so deeply, that they lose the ability to see the apparent circumstances and their role in it. They would keep performing the dance even though music has stopped. If I was an academic thom-yor, I would go around introducing myself as Doctor Vezhnevets, insisting on people using my title even when I’m not present and turn every conversation into a presentation of my most important research.
One could also develop a hatred for a particular demon and try to hide from it—“Don’t call me a posh tech bro, I’m definitely not that!”. The mistake here is to think that we have full choice over what identity-demon is in possession of our activity pattern. The identity-demons are not just within us, they are also in the mind of others and their perceptions and in the very physical world around us. Who we are to others is an ever ongoing negotiation-dance. One can also really want to find a demon to be possessed by, but fail to find one—“I need to find my identity! Maybe I’m post-woke-enviro-punk?”.
The essence of conventional wisdom is knowing who you are in the situation you are in, and what is the appropriate thing for you to do. This is good wisdom to have. The best way of attaining it is honesty and awareness of context. To find out “who am I?”, why not simply look at one’s relevant history and context and ask, who does this person seem to be? With enough cultural knowledge the answer is usually rather straightforward. In the context of you reading this, I’m an author and you are a reader.
By the way, I think that large language models are capable of conventional wisdom (see [1]) and are the closest we have to cultures being captured in an artefact. A genie, trapped in a transformer.
Conventional wisdom is self-contradictory, because it tries to separate the action from its purpose. Conventional actions serve the goals and habits of our identities. They are in service to these little demons. An individual will always find themselves in between conflicting identities, a pandemonium of quarrelling demons arguing over their importance. “As a father, I want to get home early, but as a scientist I really need to run one more experiment before the deadline.” There is no way to resolve this puzzle through the means of culture itself, it only leads to a lengthier argument among the demons. There is no overarching, final identity one can adopt. No ultimate purpose that can capture the full complexity of our experiences. To deal with this paradox conventional wisdom is useless.
Being instead of identifying
Unconventional wisdom dissolves all struggles. It is true, simply because it lacks the complication of falsity.
Heart Sutra, Ngak’chang Rinpoche translation
Wisdom of Vajrayana is not conventional (unconventional wisdom is the classic term, but given the latest fashions, maybe meta-conventional would be more appropriate). It is not an answer to who you are or what’s happening. It is not a role to play. But neither is it a denial of culture and our relationship with it. It is not a counter-culture or ignorance of culture. It is not a lack of conventional wisdom.
If it isn’t any of those things, what is it?
Yidams
Yidam practice is a tantric answer to how to be and act in the world without a demon circus in ones head—be a Yidam. Yidam is not an identity. Yidams are not hyperobjects, assemblages or figurations, archetypes, zodiac signs, etc. They are enlightened awareness beings—defining them is a fool's errand, but having a relationship with one or even being one is attainable through specific practice (see, for example [2]). One can only be a Yidam, not identify or act as a Yidam.
Whatever happens; may it happen!
Whichever way it goes; may it go that way!
There is no purpose!
The three terrible oaths of Dorje Tröllö
This is Dorje Tröllö. There is no way to answer what Dorje Tröllö would do in a situation, unless you are Dorje Tröllö in the situation. His three terrible oaths point to a place from which action requires no answers to any silly questions. There is no grand purpose that needs to move him to action. He is open to whatever happens and because of that he can the situation with clarity. He accepts the inevitable death and the brutality of the being alive. His actions arise out of the clarity, openness and courage of his awareness. He cuts though the demon circus with his wrath.
Yidam practice is a trip, an over-the-top performance. It is grand and somewhat silly, but incredibly effective. It is elaborate and very specific.
Spontaneous activity of Dzog’chen
Therefore the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything.
Tao Te Ching, translated by Stephen Mitchell
Distinct from the tantric view, Dzog’chen offers something more subtle and elegant, if not as boombastic—spontaneous self-liberating activity. Spontaneous actions arise without effort to manipulate the experience in any way. No need to fight the demons or break up their circus. Watch the show, but see it for what it is—a show about the social activity, not the activity itself. Play with demons, but don’t feel obliged to repeat their moves.
The unconventional wisdom of Dzog’chen is the ability to see the social world without separating the action and its purpose. Phenomenologically (as experienced), purpose arises together and within the action, not separate from it, so do identities, circumstances, purposes and meanings. Put simply, the action is its own purpose in itself and for itself.
Likewise, actions are not initiated by any identity or self. Self, identity, doer, action, purpose—all arise together within the action; distinct but not separate. Activity needs no explanation, reason or justification. The pattern of social activity is recognised and is let to manifest itself and then dissolve. The apparent contradictions of our identities are not a problem, but a source of life—the liberated energy that shines through these cracks in the pattern.
Because the Mind-warrior’s awareness is characterised by this unconventional wisdom, even the four philosophical extremes are not perceived as dualism. Likewise all those who realise non-duality—in the past, present, and future—dwell in the knowledge of unconventional wisdom which is the none other than rigpa.
Heart Sutra, Ngak’chang Rinpoche translation
Disclaimer: The above is an expression of my personal experience as a meditator and practitioner of contemporary Vajrayana. It shouldn’t be regarded as in any way canonical or historically accurate explanation of Vajrayana.
References
“Generative agent-based modelling with actions grounded in physical, social, or digital space using Concordia” Alexander Sasha Vezhnevets, John P. Agapiou, Avia Aharon, Ron Ziv, Jayd Matyas, Edgar A. Duéñez-Guzmán, William A. Cunningham, Simon Osindero, Danny Karmon, Joel Z. Leibo https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.03664
Yidams: a godless approach, naturally! https://vividness.live/yidams-a-godless-approach-naturally
Image of Dorje Tröllö taken from https://www.aroencyclopaedia.org/shared/text/d/dorje_trollo_th_01_aro_02_oaths_eng.php
Wisdom Eccentrics rumours of realisation as told by Künzang Dorje Rinpoche with additional tales of the unexpected By Ngakpa Chögyam https://arobuddhism.org/books/wisdom-eccentrics.html
Such a great read, thank you. In a world obsessed with purpose and meaning, I find the idea of “acting without grand purpose” so beautiful, decadent, liberating.