my mind on books

From The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology by Jack Kornfield (Bantam Dell, 2008) p. 39-40.

Through Buddhist analysis, consciousness, like light, is found to have two dimensions. Just as light can be described as both a wave and a particle, consciousness has an unbound wave or sky-like nature and it has particular particle-like aspects. In its sky-like function, consciousness is unchanging, like the sky or the mirror. In its particle-like function, consciousness is momentary. A single state of consciousness arises together with each moment of experience and is flavored by that experience. ….

Here is a description of the two fundamental aspects of consciousness:

Consciousness       ………         Consciousness
in its sky-like nature                in its particle-like nature
_________________                    _____________________
Open                                         Momentary
Transparent                               Impersonal
Timeless                                    Registering a sense experience
Cognizant                                  Flavored by mental states
Pure                                           Conditioned
Wave-like, unbounded               Rapid
Unborn, undying                        Ephemeral