Now let's dive deeper into these seven facets of our perception, as if in the seven rooms of our minds, each of which reveals its own way of knowing the world.

Direct perception (Skt. pratyakṣa; Tib. mngon sum):

It's like a first look at the world, pure and unclouded by thoughts. Imagine looking at a bright red flower. At that moment, there are no judgments, no comparisons, just a pure visual sensation of the red color and shape of the flower. This is direct perception – pure sensory experience, free from conceptual layers.

Example: Imagine that you are drinking hot tea. The moment the liquid touches your tongue, you feel warmth and taste. This is pure, immediate perception – a feeling of warmth and sweetness without the admixture of thoughts about whether this tea is good, how much it costs or who made it.

Parable: Once a man who was blind from birth asked a sighted man: "What is white?" The sighted man tried to explain, comparing white with snow, with clouds, with swan down. But the blind man did not understand. Then the sighted man took a shell in his hands and gave it to the blind man to touch, saying: "White is like this smooth, hard surface." What is the color white. But he knew only the sensation of touch, and not the visual experience of whiteness itself. This parable, like a mirror, reflects how difficult it is to convey direct sensory experience through concepts.

Inference (Skt. anumāna; Tib. rjes dpag):

This kind of cognition, like a wise detective, is based on logic and reasoning. Imagine that you see smoke rising from behind a hill. You do not see the fire itself, but from your experience and knowledge that smoke usually accompanies a fire, you conclude that there is a fire burning behind the hill. Inference is the ability of our mind to draw conclusions based on available facts and logical connections.

Example: You wake up in the morning and see that the asphalt in the yard is wet, and there are drops of water hanging on the trees. You did not see how it rained, but based on these signs, you conclude that it rained at night.

Parable: Once the sage saw the tracks of large hooves on the bank of the river. He carefully examined them and said to his disciples: "These tracks belong to a huge elephant, which is lame on one leg, hungry and carries a lot of luggage." The disciples were surprised: "How can you know this without seeing the elephant?" The sage explained: "The footprints are deep, which means that the elephant is very heavy. One leg leaves a less deep mark, which means it is lame. There is no grass around the tracks, which means that he is hungry. And the uneven depth of the tracks indicates that he is carrying a heavy load." This parable, like a magnifying glass, shows the power of inference based on careful observation and logical thinking.

Subsequent knowledge (Skt. paricchinna-jñāna; Tib. bcad shoes):

It's like meeting an old friend – recognizing something that we've already perceived. When you meet someone you know on the street, you immediately recognize their face, voice, or behavior. This is subsequent cognition – our mind compares the current perception with the information stored in the memory and identifies the object.

Example: You hear a familiar tune on the radio. After a few seconds, you recognize the song and remember its name and artist. This is the subsequent cognition – your mind compares what you heard with the information stored in your memory.

Parable: A monk who had spent many years in seclusion in the mountains came down to the city. He saw many unfamiliar things and people. But when he heard the sound of a bell coming from the temple, he immediately recognized it.