Hylics and not Hylics

If there is an aspect of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy worthy of deep consideration, it is the notion of samvṛti. Only questioning minds or sensitive hearts understand that the reality we inhabit is one of total and complete covering. Candrakīrti, in his Prasannapadā, defines this as samantādvaraṇam - a shroud cast over truth. 

Questioning minds or sensitive hearts feel that the phenomena of the world are not what they seem to be. Samvṛti acts as a screen, and by its effect, what is merely an elaboration appears as reality. 

Samvṛti is the misery in which Hylics - i.e., the masses - live.

If you let yourself become part of the mass (Hylics), you miserably cohere with the totality of individuals, because you’ll live in dependence on one another, without ever questioning reality. 

You’ll live in a covered reality, and you’ll live for it, following what others think - you’ll live in a co-dependent existence, the way the masses live.

Samvṛti is characterised by signs and symbols - language itself - which enable the business of the world (loka-vyavahāra). The man who doesn’t question reality will live in this appearance, elaborated by the business of the world (loka-vyavahāra), and will accept its beliefs and rules, becoming a co-originated individual.

Ultimately, Hylics, with their co-originated nature, are bound to the roots of suffering. 

In order to avoid suffering, they cling to a common nature that deprives them of any responsibility and becomes an anodyne way of life.

They become entities that arise and perish only in dependence on one another, devoid of “intrinsic Being”, for they are empty of any inherent nature. They constitute a mere fact - an appearance in the world - acting as a reflection of existence.

Questioning minds or sensitive hearts act in such a way as to establish a svabhāva - a proper, independent individuality in contrast to the mass. Svabhāva, as Mahāyāna Buddhists say, is itself a source of suffering.

Questioning minds or sensitive hearts (especially saints) perceive the things of the world as they are: not as the saeculum (the societal order) sees them. A Supernatural reality operates within them, and svabhāva is this intrinsic operating nature: that is, the Supernatural. It is in the world and reveals itself through the world. And those who discern this operating intrinsic nature stand against the saeculum, and are not believed, but are often rejected, persecuted, and cast aside by it.

It is told that some distinguished visitors, expecting to find Heraclitus in lofty contemplation or surrounded by symbols of wisdom, instead came upon him sitting by an ordinary household hearth, warming himself. At first, they were taken aback by the ordinariness of the scene - their philosopher, whose teachings penetrated the mysteries of logos and cosmic order, appeared engaged in the most mundane, bodily necessity...but perceiving that they could not perceive what he perceived, he said:

εἶναι γάρ καὶ ἐνταῦθα θεούς
“There are gods even here.”