DALAI LATMA & MIKE AUSTIN
object reappears, the thought that it doesn’t exist in the way that it seems to, is induced. This is called the illusory - like appearance. At this point you are able to control your afflictive emotions. These faulty consciousnesses can in no way be produced without the assistance of the conception of inherent existence. Even though for beginners there are cases when the conception of inherent existence acts as an assistor to a virtuous consciousness, in general, it is not necessary that such a consciousness have assistance from the misconception of the nature of existence. Therefore, a consciousness realizing that objects do not exist in their own right serves to obstruct the generation of afflictions whereas it doesn’t serve to obstruct a virtuous consciousness. Mike Austin: At the moment emptiness is understood - when the object vanishes - what does it feel like? Dalai Latma: I’ll just give a conventional example. For instance, the reflection of a face is empty of being a face, but its emptiness of being a face is not 143