Nonduality"
Nonduality.com Home Page

Click here to go to the next issue

Highlights Home Page | Receive the Nondual Highlights each day

#2006 - Friday, December 17, 2004 - Editor: Jerry


 


 

 

The following excerpt from Nirvanasara addresses the nature of attentional processes to realize Truth, according to Advaita (inquiry -- Who am I?), Buddhism (mindfulness), and Da Free John's Advaitayana Buddhism (relatedness - Avoiding relationship?).

 

The Three Teachings of the One Way

 

Da Free John

 

There are three principal Transcendentalist (or sixth to seventh stage) Teachings: Realist Buddhism (or Realist Transcendentalism), Idealist Advaitism (or Idealist Transcendentalism), and Advaitayana Buddhism (or Radical Transcendentalism).

 

The Buddhist Teaching of Realism is epitomized in the considerations of Gautama, and the Realization based on that Teaching is epitomized in texts such as the Lankavatara Stra and the Sixth Patriarch's Altar Sutra. In this view, manifest existence, seen in itself, is regarded to be unnecessary suffering. The Way is to inspect every aspect of self, mind, body, and the world and see that every part is conditional, temporary, limited, and merely the result or effect of other conditional, temporary, and limited motions or events. When this inspection has become most profound, then it is obvious that no part of self, mind, body, or the world is anything but a form of conditional motion—an effect of previous motions and a cause of motions that will follow it. Therefore, it becomes obvious that Happiness is not in the form of any part of self, mind, body, or the world—or any form of effect or cause. The Truth is Transcendental (prior to effect and cause), and the Realization of Truth is a matter of Awakening to the acausal (or Nirvanic) Condition on the basis of first inspecting and transcending attachment (and conceptual confinement) to all forms of cause (or desire, or motivation, or motion) and all forms of effect (or self, mind, body, or world).

 

The Advaitist Teaching of Idealism is epitomized in the considerations of the Yoga Vasishtha and the philosophers Gaudapada and Shankara, and the Realization based on that Teaching is epitomized in the Confessions of Adepts such as Ashtavakra and Ramana Maharshi. In this view, manifest existence, seen in itself, is regarded to be an unnecessary illusion. The Way is not merely to turn attention away from the world, the body, the mind, and the self, but to turn or invert it toward the Transcendental Self or Consciousness in which the thought of self (or "I"), all other thoughts, and the experiential conception of the body and the world are arising. If this is done most profoundly, then the illusory independence of the phenomenal self, mind, body, and world will vanish in the Bliss of Unconditional Being. Therefore, it becomes finally obvious that self, mind, body, and world are not in any sense or to any degree independent from the Transcendental Self-Source, and it also becomes obvious that self, mind, body, and world have no necessity or binding power when viewed in the context of the Transcendental Self. The Truth is the Transcendental Self-Reality, and the Realization of Truth is a matter of Awakening to the Original or Natural and Native State of Identification with that Self-Reality on the basis of the inversion (or conversion) of attention into its noumenous Ground.

 

The Teaching of Advaitayana Buddhism (or Radical Transcendentalism) and the demonstration of its Way of Realization have their origin and epitome in my own Teaching Work. In this view, manifest existence is not a problem to be solved or escaped, but it is simply to be always already understood (and thus natively and naturally transcended, but not strategically avoided or egoically embraced). The Way is to observe that all problems and all seeking for solutions arise on the basis of self-contraction (or the Narcissistic effort that is the ego). Therefore, it is a matter of constantly observing, re-cognizing (or knowing again), and transcending this self-contraction (which is chronically manifested as the avoidance of relationship in the midst of all the kinds of psycho-physical relations).

 

When this process of understanding has become most profound, the relations, activities, and states of body and mind will have all been observed and felt beyond, so that only the most primary evidence of the self-contraction remains in view. That of relatedness. Therefore, the ultimate exercise, by which a natural transition is made to the seventh stage of life, is to recognize the sense of relatedness itself (which is the primal cognition or root-event of conditional existence, on the basis of which both the separate self and its apparently independent objects of all kinds are subsequently and simultaneously conceived and differentiated). The sense of relatedness is itself to be recognized as contraction, directly, free of any strategic resort to introversion upon the self or to extroversion, beyond direct cognition of the sense of relatedness itself, into the wandering of attention in the differentiated field of objects. When this ultimate form of re-cognition is most profound, the Consciousness in which self, mind, body, world, or all forms of contracrion are arising stands forth as the Obvious Reality, and Its Status as the Divine or Transcendental Identity and Condition of self and notself is also inherently Obvious. Since Reality, or the Real Condition, is necessarily That which is always already the case, prior to all subsequent acts that cause It to appear other than It is, the re-cognition of all such acts, or of the primary action that is the root-constant of all such acts, necessarily and naturally or inevitably Reveals That as the Obvious. That which is ultimately Obvious is the ultimately Real. And the Obvious, prior to all forms of contraction, and prior to the cognition of separate self, its objects, or the primary sense of relatedness, is unqualified consciousness, or Radiant Transcendental Being.

 

In the view of Advaitayana Buddhism, the Truth is Radiant Transcendental Being, Consciousness, Love-Bliss, or Happiness, and all arising conditions are transparent, or merely apparent, unnecessary, and non-binding modifications of That. Realization of That is a matter of the inspection, re-cognition, and inherent transcendence of the self-contraction, which is conventionally perceived via the dual sense of separate self and the otherness of all conditions that confront the self, but which is singly or most basically evident in the sense of relatedness itself (prior to the conventional distinctions and elaborations of the play between self and not-self).

 

All three of these most basic and unique Transcendentalist Teachings ultimately involve a practice and a Realization that goes beyond or transcends the world, the body, the mind, and the separate or egoic self. But there is no such transcendence until there is in fact such transcendence. Therefore, until the Way becomes most profound, practice is inevitably associated with various disciplines of the body-mind and attention. But the purpose of such disciplines is always secondary or supportive to the ultimate consideration, or the practice and process in consciousness. Therefore, the basic purpose of the supportive disciplines is to release energy and attention from the bind of egoic habituation, so that the conscious process may become most profound.

 

The traditions of Buddhist Realism and Advaitist Idealism are the two Great Schools coming out of the two primary ancient streams of consideration—or the "realistic" and "idealistic" traditions of philosophy. Buddhist Realism is a Transcendentalist philosophy that founds its Argument on the language of "realism," and that language is specifically intended as a criticism of the speculative metaphysical and "eternalistic" views of the tradition of subjective "idealism." Even so, the Way of Buddhist Realism eventually leads to a Realization that transcends all of the conventions and structures (or "dharmas") of "realism" (all of which are, from the beginning, regarded as unnecessary suffering). In contrast to the tradition of Buddhist Realism, Advaitist Idealism is a Transcendentalist philosophy that founds its Argument on the language of subjective "idealism" and that language is specifically intended as a criticism of the "nihilistic" tendencies of the "realist" position. Even so, the Way of Advaitist Idealism eventually leads to a Realization that transcends the Narcissistic or world-excluding subjectivism of conventional "idealism." Advaitayana Buddhism, which is only now appearing, epitomizes the Transcendental tradition as a whole, but the language of its Argument transcends the conventional limitations of both "realism" and "idealism," so that, from the beginning, its Way transcends the orientations of the two ancient attitudes of Realist Buddhism is the Way that Realizes the Transcendental Truth beyond the not-self (or all phenomenal conditions—all of which, including the ego, bear the characteristic of not-self or no-self).

 

Idealist Advaitism is the Way that Realizes the Transcendental Truth beyond the self (and thus also beyond all that is notself, or all the insentient phenomenal relations of the conscious phenomenal self—all of which relations bear the illusory appearance of independence from the conscious self).

 

Advaitayana Buddhism is the Way that Realizes the Transcendental Truth beyond (or prior to) the primary sense or cognition of relatedness, which is the single basis or prior and original sign of the subsequent and simultaneously arising pair of opposites—the self and the not-self. Both the self and the not-self are simply apparent (and apparently different or opposite) aspects of the same unnecessary contraction from the Condition of Radiant Transcendental Being, and neither of them is directly and finally transcended unless the conventionally unconscious or uninspected contraction is directly inspected in the form of the primary sense of relatedness.

 

The Transcendental Truth realized via each of these three principal Ways is the same. The Way that is chosen depends, apart from the karma or accident of mere cultural proximity, on the quality or kind of intelligence that moves the individual. And the Way of Advaitayana Buddhism (or Radical Transcendentalism) is the epitome or ultimate fulfillment and single form of the two separate Ways conceived according to the logical opposites of Buddhist Realism and Advaitist Idealism.

 

 

 


 

 

 

In the following piece, Da Free John, or whatever his name was by then, offers that  "the only reason Christianity ever became associated with the myth (or tradition) of blood sacrifice was that the stark "reality" (and circumstance) of Jesus' death required some kind of archetypal (or psychically significant) justification. However, by his own Teaching during life, Jesus effectively denied such Significance to his death."

 

Blood Sacrifice and the Death of Jesus
(an excerpt from The Basket of Tolerance ( 1991 )

by
The Ruchira Buddha,
Avatar Adi Da Samraj

 

The idea that Jesus' death was a universally effective blood sacrifice (now either magically re-enacted in the "Mass" or otherwise memorialized in the Eucharistic ritual of bread/body and wine/blood) depends upon ideas that belong to the ancient "primitive" and popular culture of ritual magic (commonly referred to as "shamanism") and its traditional ritual blood sacrifice of animals (and even human beings). In shamanistic cultures (and all the cultures of ritual sacrifice, all of which developed from the "primitive" base that we may, for the sake of simplicity, refer to by the general term "shamanism"), prayers are offered Up (either to God or to various deities in the "air", or in the space between "Heaven" and Earth). The participants in such cultures believe that prayers cannot ascend unless they are carried up by "mana", or the life-force of freshly sacrificed animals (or even humans). That is to say, from such a point of view, every time a prayer (or request) is offered Up, it must be "delivered" by the released (and naturally ascending) energy of a blood sacrifice, or else it will not "arrive". Likewise, the "mana". (or blood-energy) sent Up with a prayer functions as a kind of "self-addressed envelope", to convey the resultant blessing (or the prayer's "answer") back to the sender.

 

Such ideas were common to both the old ritual religion of Israel and the popular Hellenistic religions that existed at the time of Jesus and early Christianity. Therefore, the death (and the apparently miraculous, or magical, "disappearance") of Jesus, coupled with all kinds of "reports" and visions and dreams and hopes, eventually became an "official" interpretation of Jesus' death as a blood sacrifice, not only effective, but universally effective (such that "faith" in the Spiritual Power, or Great "Mana", released by Jesus' death, "Resurrection", and "Ascension" would, in any and every moment, grant any worshipper direct access to God in "Heaven", above, without the necessity to go through any other rituals of purification or blood sacrifice).

 

Thus, Jesus was "officially" interpreted to be a human sacrifice that grants everyone the "Mana", for effective prayer (or direct access to the "Heavenly" Blessings of God). It is obvious that most people living in modern post-industrial societies would not claim it is necessary to kill animals (or humans) in order to provide an energy-vehicle (to and from God) for prayer-requests. Therefore, it must be asked, in a non-shamanistic culture (or a culture that has lost all sense of either the necessity or the meaning of the process of ritual sacrifice), what is the "meaning" of the death of Jesus? Without the shamanistic mind, or the ritual "idea", the death of Jesus can no longer be understood as a sacrifice at all (whether effective or ineffective), and his death is, therefore, simply a death.

 

However, modern societies have also traveled a long distance in the direction of Spiritual blindness (or the simultaneous abandonment of both Spiritual Enlightenment and archaic, or otherwise "superstitious", beliefs and techniques) in the quest for ordinary knowledge and both mental and technical (or physical) superiority and power over the natural world. Therefore, a little recovery of real Spiritual understanding will also necessarily re-Awaken something of the higher dimension of the human faculties that were (or are) activated by the ancient and traditional shamanistic mind.

 

Indeed, Jesus himself Taught a Way that represents both a higher evolution of the shamanistic point of view and a denial of both the validity and the necessity of any kind of blood sacrifice. As reported in the fourth chapter of the "Gospel" of "John", Jesus said: "The time is coming, indeed, it is already here, when all true worshippers will worship the Father (or God) In Spirit (or Spiritually) and In Truth (or without falsehood and deception), for such are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God Is Spirit, and, therefore, those who worship the Father must do so In Spirit and In Truth (or As Truth requires).''! Jesus Taught that God Is Spirit (or "Mana") and that true worship of God is identical to prayer (and, specifically, prayer In Spirit). That is to say, true worship is always associated with the prayer of Divine Communion (or Communion with God In Spirit), and such prayer is necessarily a Spiritual exercise.

 

The ancient word for "spirit" (in the common Greek language of Jesus' day) is "pneuma", which means "breath". Therefore, in true prayer, the Divine Spirit ("Pneuma., or "Mana") is breathed (and, ultimately, identified with) by the individual, and if there is correct Spirit-breathing (or psycho-physical identification with the Divine Power), prayer is inherently effective.

 

Jesus certainly Taught inherently effective (or Spiritual) prayer. He apparently Taught higher esoteric prayer (or the fourth to fifth stage prayer of mystical ascent) as well as the basic esoteric prayer of heart-reception of the descending Spirit-Power, "Mana", or Blessing of God). And such prayer is the sign of a cultural point of view based on Spirit religion (or advanced, or esoteric, shamanism, rather than lower shamanistic, or exoteric and even "pagan", blood sacrifices). Therefore, Jesus himself Taught a Way that specifically denies both the necessity and the value of blood sacrifices.

 

How, then, can a church be rightly established (in the name of Jesus) that bases itself on the idea that Jesus is the ultimate blood sacrifice? Jesus Taught a Way that has not been understood by his own (exoteric) church (just as exoteric Christianity has not understood, or has forgotten, the significance of its "Resurrection" and "Ascension" myths).

 

Jesus proclaimed a Way for all that required no blood sacrifice (not even his own), but only the true "Mana" of Spiritually Inspired prayer (or devotional and mystical Communion with the All-Pervading and Eternally Living Divine Spirit). Jesus' death by crucifixion was either murder or misfortune, but it was not a Cosmically Significant ritual blood sacrifice. Indeed, the only reason Christianity ever became associated with the myth (or tradition) of blood sacrifice was that the stark "reality" (and circumstance) of Jesus' death required some kind of archetypal (or psychically significant) justification. However, by his own Teaching during life, Jesus effectively denied such Significance to his death. Therefore, he stands together with all other True Spirit-Masters, affirming that it is not the death-sacrifice of any Spirit-Master that is needed by (or is in any sense useful to) mankind.

 

The only useful (and needed, or necesary) "sacrifice" of a Spirit-Master is his or her Love-Surrender to the Spiritual (and, ultimately, Transcendental) Divine, and his or her subsequent Love-Gift (of Teaching, Spiritual Demonstration, and Spirit-Quickening Blessing) to devotees (and the total world). Therefore, it is a Spirit-Master's Spiritual Realization and subsequent Teaching Work and Spiritual Work (rather than his or her mere death) that are needed (and must be used) by mankind. And all true Spirit-Masters, in all times and places, have made this "sacrifice" and performed this Service for their devotees and the total world.

 


 

 

 

Adi Da Love-Ananda Samraj has Given ten questions for pondering of His Arguments relative to the root of the self-contraction and the Mystery of Existence. His devotees may ask these questions of themselves in formal meditation or in daily life.

 

 

 

The Ten Fundamental Questions


"What Am 'I' Always Doing ?"

 


"Avoiding Relationship ?"

 


"Who or What Is Always The Case
(Before 'I' Do Anything At All) ? or
"Who, What, and Where Is
The Inherent Feeling Of Being or Existence Itself ?"

 


"Am 'I' The One Who Is 'Living' (Animating or Manifesting)
me (the body-mind) Now ? "

 


"Who Is 'Living' me Now ?"

 


"How Do 'I' Relate To The One Who 'Lives' me ?"

 


"Do 'I' know What any one or any thing Is ? or
(in relation to any particular being, thing, condition, or event that arises)
"What Is it ?"

 


"Who, What, and Where Is Inherent Love-Bliss, or Happiness Itself ?"

 


"Who, What, and Where Is Consciousness Itself ?"

 


"What Will 'I' Do If 'I' Love
Adi Da Love-Ananda Samraj (or replace with Guru of your choice) ?

 

top of page