(Sanskrit: “Nondualism,” or “Monism”), most influential of the
schools of Vedanta, an orthodox philosophy of India. While its
followers find its main tenets already fully expressed in the
Upanisads and systematized by the Vedanta-sutras, it has its
historical beginning with the 7th-century thinker Gaudapada,
author of the Ma n d ukya-karika, a commentary in verse form on
the late Ma n d ukya Upanisad.
Gaudapada builds further on the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy of S
unyava-da (“Emptiness”). He argues that there is no duality; the
mind, awake or dreaming, moves through maya (“illusion”); and only
nonduality (advaita) is the final truth. This truth is concealed
by the ignorance of illusion. There is no becoming, either of a
thing by itself or of a thing out of some other thing. There is
ultimately no individual self or soul (jiva), only the atman (all-soul), in which individuals may be temporarily
delineated just as the space in a jar delineates a part of main
space: when the jar is broken, the individual space becomes once
more part of the main space.
The medieval Indian philosopher Sankara, or Sankaracarya (Master Sankara, c. 700–750),
builds further on Gaudapada's foundation, principally in his
commentary on the Vedanta-sutras, the S ari-raka-mima msa-bha sya
(“Commentary on the Study of the Self ”). Sankara in his
philosophy does not start from the empirical world with logical
analysis but, rather, directly from the absolute (Brahman). If interpreted correctly, he argues, the Upanisads
teach the nature of Brahman. In making this argument, he develops
a complete epistemology to account for the human error in taking
the phenomenal world for real. Fundamental for Sankara is the
tenet that the Brahman is real and the world is unreal. Any
change, duality, or plurality is an illusion. The self is nothing
but Brahman. Insight into this identity results in spiritual
release. Brahman is outside time, space, and causality, which are
simply forms of empirical experience. No distinction in Brahman or
from Brahman is possible.
Sankara points to scriptural texts, either stating identity (“Thou
art that”) or denying difference (“There is no duality here”), as
declaring the true meaning of a Brahman without qualities ( nirguna ). Other texts that ascribe qualities (saguna) to
Brahman refer not to the true nature of Brahman but to its
personality as God (I svara).
Human perception of the unitary and infinite Brahman as the plural
and infinite is due to human beings' innate habit of
superimposition (adhya sa), by which a thou is ascribed to the I
(I am tired; I am happy; I am perceiving). The habit stems from
human ignorance (ajñana, avidya ), which can be avoided only by
the realization of the identity of Brahman. Nevertheless, the
empirical world is not totally unreal, for it is a misapprehension
of the real Brahman. A rope is mistaken for a snake; there is only
a rope and no snake, but, as long as it is thought of as a snake,
it is one.
Sankara had many followers who continued and elaborated his work,
notably the 9th-century philosopher Vacaspati Misra. The Advaita
literature is extremely extensive, and its influence is still felt
in modern Hindu thought.
Sanskrit Atman,
one of the most basic concepts in Hindu philosophy, describing
that eternal core of the personality that survives after death and
that transmigrates to a new life or is released from the bonds of
existence. While in the early Vedic texts it occurred mostly as a
reflexive pronoun (oneself), in the later Upanishads it comes more
and more to the fore as a philosophic topic: atman is that which
makes the other organs and faculties function and for which indeed
they function; atman underlies all the activities of a person, as
Brahman (the absolute) underlies the workings of the universe; to
know it brings bliss; it is part of the universal Brahman, with
which it can commune or even fuse. So fundamental was the atman
deemed to be that certain circles identified it with Brahman. Of
the various systems (darshans) of Hindu philosophy, the schools of
Samkhya and Yoga (which use the term purusha to convey the idea of
atman) and the orthodox school of Vedanta particularly concern
themselves with the atman, though the interpretation varies in
accordance with each system's general worldviews.
born 700? , Kaladi village?, India
died 750? , Kedarnath
also spelled Shankara , also called Sankaracarya philosopher and
theologian, most renowned exponent of the Advaita Vedanta school
of philosophy, from whose doctrines the main currents of modern
Indian thought are derived. He wrote commentaries on the
Brahma-sutra and the principal Upanisads, affirming his belief in
one eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the illusion of
plurality and differentiation.
There are at least 11 works that profess to be biographies of
Sankara. All of them were composed several centuries later than
the time of Sankara and are filled with legendary stories and
incredible anecdotes, some of which are mutually conflicting.
Today there are no materials with which to reconstruct his life
with certainty. His date of birth is naturally a controversial
problem. It has been customary to assign him the birth and death
dates 788–820. But the dates 700–750, grounded in 20th-century
scholarship, are more acceptable.
According to one tradition, Sankara was born into a pious
Nambudiri Brahman family in a quiet village called Kaladi on the
Curn a (or Purn a, Periyar) River, Kerala, southern India. He is
said to have lost his father, Sivaguru, early in his life. He
renounced the world and became a sannyasin (ascetic) against his
mother's will. He studied under Govinda, who was a pupil of
Gaudapada. Nothing certain is known about Govinda, but Gaudapada
is notable as the author of an important Vedanta work, Ma n d
ukya-karika, in which the influence of Mahayana Buddhism—a form of
Buddhism aiming at the salvation of all beings and tending toward
nondualistic or monistic thought—is evident and even extreme,
especially in its last chapter.
A tradition says that Siva, one of the principal gods in Hinduism,
was Sankara's family deity and that he was, by birth, a S akta, or
worshipper of Sakti, the consort of Siva and female
personification of divine energy. Later he came to be regarded as
a worshipper of Siva or even an incarnation of Siva himself. His
doctrine, however, is far removed from Saivism and S aktism. It is
ascertained from his works that he had some faith in, or was
favourable to, Vais navism, the worship of the god Vishnu. It is
highly possible that he was familiar with Yoga (one of the
classical systems of Indian philosophy, as well as
a technique to achieve salvation). One study has suggested that in
the beginning he was an adherent of Yoga and later became an
Advaitin (Nondualist).
Biographers narrate that Sankara first went to Ka s i (Varanasi),
a city celebrated for learning and spirituality, and then
travelled all over India, holding discussions with philosophers of
different creeds. His heated debate with Man dana Misra, a
philosopher of the Mima msa (Investigation) school, whose wife
served as an umpire, is perhaps the most interesting episode in
his biography and may reflect a historical fact; that is, keen
conflict between Sankara, who regarded the knowledge of Brahman as
the only means to final release, and followers of the Mima msa
school, which emphasized the performance of ordained duty and the
Vedic rituals.
Sankara was active in a politically chaotic age. He would not
teach his doctrine to city dwellers. The power of Buddhism was
still strong in the cities, though already declining, and Jainism,
a nontheistic ascetic faith, prevailed among the merchants and
manufacturers. Popular Hinduism occupied the minds of ordinary
people, while city dwellers pursued ease and pleasure. There were
also epicureans in cities. It was
difficult for Sankara to communicate Vedanta philosophy to these
people. Consequently, Sankara propagated his teachings chiefly to
sannyasins and intellectuals in the villages, and he gradually won
the respect of Brahmans and feudal lords. He enthusiastically
endeavoured to restore the orthodox Brahmanical tradition without
paying attention to the bhakti (devotional) movement, which had
made a deep impression on ordinary Hindus in his age.
It is very likely that Sankara had many pupils, but only four are
known (from their writings): Padmapada, Suresvara, Totaka (or
Trotaka), and Hastamalaka. Sankara is said to have founded four
monasteries, at S r ngeri (south), Puri (east), Dvaraka (west),
and Badarinatha (north), probably following the Buddhist monastery
(vihara) system. Their foundation was one of the most significant
factors in the development of his teachings into the leading
philosophy of India.
More than 300 works—commentative, expository, and poetical—written
in the Sanskrit language, are attributed to him. Most of them,
however, cannot be regarded as authentic. His masterpiece is the
Brahma-sutra-bha sya, the commentary on the Brahma-sutra, which is
a fundamental text of the Vedanta school. The commentaries on the
principal Upanisads that are attributed to Sankara are certainly
all genuine, with the possible exception of the commentary on the
Sveta svatara Upa ni sad. The commentary on the Ma n d ukya-karika
was also composed by Sankara himself. It is very probable that he
is the author of the Yoga-sutra-bha sya-vivarana, the exposition
of Vyasa's commentary on the Yoga-sutra, a fundamental text of the
Yoga school. The Upadesasahasri, which is a good introduction to
Sankara's philosophy, is the only non-commentative work that is
certainly authentic.
Sankara's style of writing is lucid and profound. Penetrating
insight and analytical skill characterize his works. His approach
to truth is psychological and religious rather than logical; for
that reason, he is perhaps best considered to be a prominent
religious teacher rather than a philosopher in the 20th-century
sense. His works reveal that he was not only versed in the
orthodox Brahmanical traditions but also was well acquainted with
Mahayana Buddhism. He is often criticized as a “Buddhist in
disguise” by his opponents because of the similarity between his
doctrine and Buddhism. Despite this criticism, it should be noted
that he made full use of his knowledge of Buddhism to attack
Buddhist doctrines severely or to transmute them into his own
Vedantic
nondualism, and he tried with great effort to “vedanticize” the
Vedanta philosophy, which had been made extremely Buddhistic by
his predecessors. The basic structure of his philosophy is more
akin to Sa nkya, a philosophic system of nontheistic dualism, and
the Yoga school than to Buddhism. It is said that Sankara died at
Kedarnatha in the Himalayas. The Advaita Vedanta school founded by
him has always been preeminent in the learned circles of India.
Nirguna: (Sanskrit:
“distinctionless”), concept of primary importance in the orthodox
Hindu philosophy of Vedanta, raising the question of whether the
supreme being, Brahman, is to be characterized as without
qualities (nirguna) or as possessing qualities (saguna).
The Advaita (Nondualist) school of Vedanta assumes on the basis of
selected passages of the Upanisads that Brahman is beyond all
polarity and therefore cannot be characterized in the normal terms
of human discursive thought. This being the case, Brahman cannot
possess qualities that distinguish it from all other magnitudes,
as Brahman is not a magnitude but is all.
The fundamental text of this tenet is the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad
definition of Brahman as neti-neti (“not this! not that!” 2.3.6).
The scriptural texts that ascribe qualities to Brahman, leading to
the conception of a qualified Brahman (saguna) are, according to
the Advaita school, merely preparatory aids to meditations.
Others, notably the theistic schools of Vedanta (for example,
Visis t advaita), argue that God (Brahman) is possessed of all
perfections and that the scriptural passages denying qualities
deny only imperfect ones.
The principle of nonduality is a key which opens
Christian scriptural interpretation, theological reflection and
spirituality toward the mystery’s intrinsic fullness and
power.
It becomes clear that the center of gravity of
Bede’s vision is high, and that to meet the Gospel on its own
ground a descent will be required. Bede’s faith was deeper than
his gnosis, faith reaches lower than gnosis. Faith comprehends
levels of unitive reality which are too dark for gnosis. Salvation
(that is, divinization), according to the New Testament and the
early patristic tradition, takes place in and through the body; it
is sacramental. A Christian advaita must be grounded in the dark
that is before and after knowing. There is a nonduality before
intuition and knowledge. There is a baptismal nonduality of
identity deeper than knowing, that precedes experience and
knowledge. There is a eucharistic nonduality -expressed in
surrender- that is fuller than knowing, and that succeeds mystical
experience and knowledge. Bede's last years witness to this latter
'dark' advaita.
In the “foolishness of God” which Paul proclaims,
the nondual Absolute descends lower than we can know or feel. We
can imagine a further incarnation of Bede’s advaitan vision, in
which this prior dark and latter dark of a Christian advaita are
recognized in their sacramental depth. Atman may be recognized in
the baptismal rebirth—in the nondual identity that is received at
the dawn of knowledge, in Christian initiation. Love and its
consummation in the surrender of self may be understood as a
eucharistic participation in the cross of Christ—in the
actualization of the original nondual gift at the sunset of
knowledge, in the loving gift of self which is surrender. Symbol,
incarnated, becomes sacrament. Knowledge is fulfilled in body;
knowledge is completed in act.
Non-duality: Historically, all
observers who have reached a consciousness level over 600 have
described the reality now suggested by advanced scientific theory.
When the limitation of a fixed locus of perception is transcended,
there is no longer an illusion of separation nor of space and time
as we know them. All things exist simultaneously in the
unmanifest, enfolded, implicit universe, expressing itself as the
manifest, unfolded, explicit perception of form. These forms in
reality have no intrinsic independent existence but are the
product of perception (i.e., man is merely experiencing the
content of his own mind.) On the level of non-duality there is
observing but no observer, as subject and object are one.
You-and-I becomes the One Self experiencing all as divine. At
level 700 it can only be said that "All is;" the state is one of
Being-ness; all is consciousness, which is life, which is
infinite, which is God and which has no parts nor beginning or
end. The physical body is a manifestation of the One Self which,
in experiencing this dimension, had temporarily forgotten its
reality, thus permitting the illusion of a three-dimensional
world. The body is merely a means of communication; to identify
one's self with the body as "I' is the fate of the unenlightened,
who then erroneously deduce that they are mortal and subject to
death. Death itself is an illusion based on the false
identification with the body as "I." In non-duality, consciousness
experiences itself as both manifest and unmanifest, yet there is
no experiencer. In this Reality the only thing that has a
beginning and an ending is the act of perception itself. In the
illusory world, we are like the fool who believes that things come
into existence when he opens his eyes and cease to exist when he
closes them. A Saddhu's
Reminiscenses of Ramana Maharshi
By Saddhu Arunachala (A.W. Chadwick)
Lama Yeshe: When you contemplate your
own consciousness with intense awareness, leaving aside all
thoughts of good and bad, you are automatically led to the
experience of non-duality. How is this possible? Think of it like
this: the clean clear blue sky is like consciousness, while the
smoke and pollution pumped into the sky are like the unnatural,
artificial concepts manufactured by ego-grasping ignorance. Now,
even though we say the pollutants are contaminating the
atmosphere, the sky itself never really becomes contaminated by
the pollution. The sky and the pollution each retain their own
characteristic nature. In other words, on a fundamental level the
sky remains unaffected no matter how much toxic energy enters it.
The proof of this is that when conditions change, the sky can
become clear once again. In the same way, no matter how many
problems maybe created by artificial ego concepts, they never
affect the clean clear nature of our consciousness itself. From
the relative point of view, our consciousness remains pure because
its clear nature never becomes mixed with the nature of confusion.
From an ultimate point of view as well, our
consciousness always remains clear and pure. The non-dual
characteristic of the mind is never damaged by the dualistic
concepts that arise in it. In this respect consciousness is pure,
always was pure and will always remain pure. We can compare
positive states of mind to water at rest and deluded states of
mind to turbulent, boiling water. If we investigate the nature of
the boiling water we will discover that, despite the turbulence,
each individual droplet is still clear. The same is true of the
mind: whether it is calm or boiled into turbulence by the
overwhelming complexity of dualistic views, its basic nature
remains clear and conscious.
The conclusion, then, is that we all have the
capacity to move from the confused, polluted state of ego-conflict
to the natural clean clear state of pure consciousness itself. We
should never think that our mind has somehow become irreversibly
contaminated. This is impossible. If we can train ourselves to
identify and enter into the natural, unaffected state of our
consciousness, we will eventually experience the freedom of
non-dual awareness. Aziz:
The essence of the Non-dual perception is the
desire of a particular Me to identify itself with the Source and
the Totality of Creation. In awakening to the Oneness, which is
Enlightenment, Me may wish to negate its very own existence. Me
wants deeply to dissolve its identity within the ocean of
Existence. The personal wants to become the Impersonal, the
Universal.
So the question arises: can Me really negate its own existence?
Can it simply disappear in the experience of Wholeness? At this
point one can see that Truth and Reality are subject to the
interpretation of the individual Me with its unique psychology and
desire to position itself in a way that suits its intelligence
best. But one thing is clearly certain: for any proclamation of I
am That to take place, the individual Me has got to be there to
proclaim it. How could the Universal be expressed, without the
existence of the particular? Me is the experiencer of all states
and cannot cease to be present. When Me dissolves, one returns to
the Original State, prior to consciousness.
Me is that which allows us to experience the I AM. The I AM which
one experiences is not Me it is that which created Me. One can
never become the Creator. It is true that Self-realization is a
state of complete Oneness with the universal I AM, but Me which
experiences this Oneness is not this I AM. Me can disidentify with
the whole universe, but is not able to identify with its Creator.
The Self-realized Me rests upon the Ultimate Subjectivity and
experiences it through itself. Me cannot become the Ultimate, no
matter how deeply it is awakened to the dimension of Pure Rest and
Wholeness. Why? For the very simple reason that Me always,
regardless of the State it is in, feels itself.
The philosophy of Non-duality traditionally was designed to negate
the essential presence of Me in all states and levels of
experience. The nature of Me, is from a certain perspective, much
more subtle than all the inner states, for it is the Nearest. Me
cannot simply disappear in any state, for without Me the
experience of that very state vanishes. What I am is not eternal
though it evolves eternally within the universal I AM. It is born
and it dies. It dies, and is reborn into a new Me. Me expands
infinitely into the vastness of the Universal Intelligence. It is
the journey of the Spirit into the ultimate experience of love,
beauty and happiness.
It is possible to call the Creation an illusion, the Creator --
emptiness, and the Soul - - non-existent. This would be the
shortest way to the impersonal. Seemingly, the impersonal is
reached by the impersonal and dissolves into the impersonal. This
is the ideal of Non-duality. But in truth, to meet the impersonal
face to face, the personal must be there to face it. Here, the
ultimate duality serves its supreme purpose, and Me rests in full
acceptance of its supreme dual existence and truth.
Non-duality, without the awakening to Me, represents the Wholeness
of Perception in which Me refuses to see itself as a dynamic and
alive center of identity behind the Perceived. When Me is awakened
to itself for the first time, the new and true Non- dual vision of
reality is apperceived. In this apperception, the Wholeness
embraces its very experiencer, the unique Soul, the intimate heart
of Me, as itself. This Me is an indivisible part of the Ultimate
Seeing. The Non-dual Perception is not the end of Seeing. The
evolution into the Seeing of Reality does not have an end. And
this evolution can take place only through the Me, the mysterious
perceiver of the Universal I AM. This Perceiver is not separated
from the Wholeness. It is this part of the Totality through which
the Now becomes the Seen. Harold
Stewart
One zen abbot said "things become very close"
when asked what nonduality looked like and he was right.
Nonduality is about vanishment of the seer, the observer, it's not
more difficult (or not easier) than that. Some ppl have compared
it with turning inside out and having everything happen inside one
instead of outside like before and in that, there isn't even a
witness to speak of. --Fireceremony
...the Non-Dual paradigm is simply when the world
is Known as empty in nature and therefore part and parcel of
Source..... it remains no longer felt as duality that is separated
into God versus Man..... Source/Creation are not two....... --Ganga
Karmokar
Here are three different definitions, having to
do with the nature of all things:
- there are no two things, or even one
- everything is consciousness
- there is neither any absolute existence nor any absolute
non-existence --Greg Goode
The ego, body, mind mechanism is conciousness.
Yah, it's the old you are what you seek definition. It's a no
frills advaita, one might say. Nothing is left out, nobody is
excluded and there is nothing to do. --Michael Read
Nondualism is the end of religious and spiritual
searching and all thought systems because you see they don’t lead
you into peace. You dis-identify from the childish mind and go
into true self which is the silent witness before conceptual
thought. Enlightenment is the result of anihilating the ego mind
made self and becoming the holy ghost or still small voice. It is
a place of complete integrity, peace, and joy. Any act of
non-integrity causes mental thought energy which tries to recreate
an ego and justify your action but a nondual person will be aware
and improve integrity and disregard the mind’s attempt to recreate
an ego. Make no mistake; there is no other path to enlightenment.
-William Talada
"Nonduality is assuming the position that there
is a position to assume.
However, there are no links to this position--(as) it is a
virginal assumption."
Anna Ruiz
non-duality
..............................................................................?????
when words cease to be words...........
and the soundless sound sounds so sweet .............. narinder
bhandari
Non duality is all
that dual folk keep failing to define.Tbone J
it strikes me, friends, that it is all a matter
of
"nondual attitude". simple non-identifying reveals ALL is in
fact nondual, one and indivisible; including following this
conversation - the typing, the reading, reader, writer and
observer included...
absence of particular identity, full harmony of thought,
speech and action moment-to-moment, regardless of
circumstances, is really a manifested nonduality.
yosy
Nonduality is realization of that which is
timeless, which is time, which is awareness, which is
synchronicity, which is movement, which is stillness. Tim Gerchmez
As a word nonduality just means "not two," and
that can refer to a lot of different types of experiences and ways
of understanding. In this particular case, the one I am most
interested about, most concerned about, is subject-object
nonduality, the nonduality between the self and the world. David
Loy
Non Duality is the direct realisation of Oneness
within the appearance of duality, the direct realisation that
you are everything. The realisation comes when the appearance of a
separate 'you' falls away, so in a way 'you' don't come to realise
non duality as you already are it anyway. Since you already are
what you are looking for, there is no practice that can 'take' you
to there. Any practice is simply part of the game of separation as
it re-enforces the sense of a separate 'you' that has somewhere
else to go. What can happen tho is the falling away of concepts
and the simple seeing of 'what is' -Andina
Vimalakirti was asked, “What is non-duality
(Emptiness)?” He remained silent, implying that all words distort
reality. -www.thereisnogap.com
Non-dual understanding provides the visceral
answer to the age-old question “Who am I?” It is the perception of
our true nature, and confirms what sages have been saying for
eons: Who we truly are is neither mind nor body, both of which are
transient and therefore illusory. Who we are, essentially, is
consciousness or awareness. -James Braha
The statement of nonduality is that Consciousness
is all there is. Advaita, the Sanskrit word for nonduality, means
absence of both duality and nonduality. There is neither duality
nor nonduality in Consciousness, since both are nothing but
concepts. This means that Consciousness cannot be
objectified---rather, it is transcendent to all objectification.
Consciousness includes all existence, all absence of existence,
and all that transcends both existence and non-existence. -Stanley
Sobottka
Nonduality is no thought in no thought and no
thought in thought. -Clara Llum Jan Barendrecht
Truth occupies a very important position in the
Buddha's teaching. The Four Noble Truths are the hub of the wheel
of the Dhamma. Truth (sacca) is one of the ten perfections to be
cultivated in order to purify oneself.
Truth can have different aspects. If we want to find an end to
suffering, we have to find truth at its deepest level. The moral
precepts which include "not lying" are a basic training without
which one can't lead a spiritual life.
To get to the bottom of truth, one has to get to the bottom of
oneself, and that is not an easy thing to do, aggravated by the
problem of not loving oneself. It naturally follows that if one
wants to learn to love oneself, there must be hate present, and we
are caught in the world of duality.
While we are floating around in the world of duality, we can't get
to the bottom of truth, because we are suspended in a wave motion
going back and forth. There is an interesting admonition in the
Sutta Nipata, mentioning that one should not have associates,
which prevents attachments. This would result in neither love nor
hate, so that only equanimity remains, even-mindedness towards all
that exists. With equanimity one is no longer suspended between
good and bad, love and hate, friend and enemy, but has been able
to let go, to get to the bottom where truth can be found.
If we want to find the basic, underlying truth of all existence,
we must practice "letting go." This includes our weakest and our
strongest attachments, many of which aren't even recognized as
clinging.
To return to the simile of the truth to be found at the bottom, we
can see that if we are clinging to anything, we can't get down to
it. We're attached to the things, people, ideas and views, which
we consider ours and believe to be right and useful. These
attachments will keep us from getting in touch with absolute
truth.
Our reactions, the likes and dislikes, hold us in suspense. While
it is more pleasant to like something or someone, yet both are due
to attachments. This difficulty is closely associated with
distraction in meditation. Just as we are attached to the food
that we get for the body, we are equally attached to food for the
mind, so the thoughts go here and there, picking up tidbits. As we
do that, we are again held in suspense, moving from thought to
breath and back again, being in the world of duality. When our
mind acts in this way, it cannot get to rock bottom.
Depth of understanding enables release from suffering. When one
goes deeper and deeper into oneself, one finds no core, and learns
to let go of attachments. Whether we find anything within us which
is pure, desirable, commendable or whether it's impure and
unpleasant, makes no difference. All mental states owned and
cherished keep us in duality, where we are hanging in mid-air,
feeling very insecure. They cannot bring an end to suffering. One
moment all might be well in our world and we love everyone, but
five minutes later we might react with hate and rejection.
We might be able to agree with the Buddha's words or regard them
as a plausible explanation, but without the certainty of personal
experience, this is of limited assistance to us. In order to have
direct knowledge, it's as if we were a weight and must not be tied
to anything, so that we can sink down to the bottom of all the
obstructions, to see the truth shining through. The tool for that
is a powerful mind, a weighty mind. As long as the mind is
interested in petty concerns, it doesn't have the weightiness that
can bring it to the depth of understanding.
For most of us, our mind is not in the heavy-weight class, but
more akin to bantam weight. The punch of a heavy-weight really
accomplishes something, that of a bantam weight is not too
meaningful. The light-weight mind is attached here and there to
people and their opinions, to one's own opinions, to the whole
duality of pure and impure, right and wrong.
Why do we take it so personal, when it's truly universal? That
seems to be the biggest difference between living at ease and
being able to let the mind delve into the deepest layer of truth,
or living at loggerheads with oneself and others. Neither hate nor
greed are a personal manifestation, nobody has a singular claim on
them, they belong to humanity. We can learn to let go of that
personalized idea about our mind states, which would rid us of a
serious impediment. Greed, hate and impurities exist, by the same
token non-greed and non-hate also exist. Can we own the whole lot?
Or do we own them in succession or five minutes at a time for
each? Why own any of them, they just exist and seeing that, it
becomes possible to let oneself sink into the depth of the
Buddha's vision.
The deepest truth that the Buddha taught was that there is no
individual person. This has to be accepted and experienced at a
feeling level. As long as one hasn't let go of owning body and
mind, one cannot accept that one isn't really this person. This is
a gradual process. In meditation one learns to let go of ideas and
stories and attend to the meditation subject. If we don't let go,
we cannot sink into the meditation. The mind has to be a
heavy-weight for that too.
We can compare the ordinary mind to bobbing around on the waves of
thoughts and feelings. The same happens in meditation, therefore
we need to prepare ourselves for becoming concentrated. We can
look at all mind states arising during the day and learn to let go
of them. The ease and buoyancy which arises from this process is
due to being unattached. If we don't practice throughout the day,
our meditation suffers because we have not come to the meditation
cushion in a suitable frame of mind. If one has been letting go
all day, the mind is ready and can now let go in meditation too.
Then it can experience its own happiness and purity.
Sometimes people think of the teaching as a sort of therapy, which
it undoubtedly is, but that's not its ultimate aim, only one of
its secondary aspects. The Buddha's teaching takes us to the end
of suffering, once and for all, not just momentarily when things
go wrong.
Having had an experience of letting go, even just once, proves
beyond a shadow of a doubt that it means getting rid of a great
burden. Carrying one's hate and greed around is a heavy load,
which, when abandoned, gets us out of the duality of judgment.
It's pleasant to be without thinking; mental formations are
troublesome.
If we succeed even once or twice during a day to let go of our
reactions, we have taken a great step and can more easily do it
again. We have realized that a feeling which has arisen can be
stopped, it need not be carried around all day. The relief from
this will be the proof that a great inner discovery has been made
and that the simplicity of non-duality shows us the way towards
truth. ADVAITA:
Introduction
KW: You know the Zen koan, "What is the sound of one hand
clapping?" Usually, of course, we need two hands to clap--and that
is the structure of typical experience. We have a sense of
ourselves as a subject in here, and the world as an object out
there. We have these "two hands" of experience, the subject and
the object. And typical experience is a smashing of these two
hands together to make a commotion, a sound. The object out there
smashes into me as a subject, and I have an experience--the two
hands clap together and experience emerges.
And so the typical structure of experience is like a punch in the
face. The ordinary self is the battered self--it is utterly
battered by the universe "out there." The ordinary self is a
series of bruises, of scars, the results of these two hands of
experience smashing together. This bruising is called "duhkha,"
suffering. As Krishnamurti used to say, in that gap between the
subject and the object lies the entire misery of humankind.
But with the nondual state, suddenly there are not two hands.
Suddenly, the subject and the object are one hand. Suddenly, there
is nothing outside of you to smash into you, bruise you, torment
you.
Suddenly, you do not have an experience, you are every experience
that arises, and so you are instantly released into all space: you
and the entire Kosmos are one hand, one experience, one display,
one gesture of great perfection. There is nothing outside of you
that you can want, or desire, or seek, or grasp--your soul expands
to the corners of the universe and embraces all with infinite
delight. You are utterly Full, utterly Saturated, so full and
saturated that the bound- aries to the Kosmos completely explode
and leave you without date or duration, time or location, awash in
an ocean of infinite care. You are released into the All, as the
All--you are the self-seen radiant Kosmos, you are the universe of
One Taste, and the taste is utterly infinite.
So what is the sound of that one hand clapping? What is the taste
of that One Taste? When there is nothing outside of you that can
hit you, hurt you, push you, pull you--what is the sound of that
one hand clapping?
See the sunlight on the mountains? Feel the cool breeze? What is
not utterly obvious? Who is not already enlightened? As a Zen
Master put it, "When I heard the sound of the bell ringing, there
was no I, and no bell, just the ringing." There is no twiceness,
no twoness, in immediate experience! No inside and no outside, no
subject and no object--just immediate awareness itself, the sound
of one hand clapping.
So you are not in here, on this side of a transparent window,
looking at the Kosmos out there. The transparent window has
shattered, your bodymind drops, you are free of that confinement
forever, you are no longer "behind your face" looking at the
Kosmos--you simply are the Kosmos. You are all that. Which is
precisely why you can swallow the Kosmos and span the centuries,
and nothing moves at all. The sound of this one hand clapping is
the sound the Big Bang made. It is the sound of supernovas
exploding in space. It is the sound of the robin singing. It is
the sound of a waterfall on a crystal-clear day. It is the sound
of the entire manifest universe--and you are that sound.
Which is why your Original Face is not in here. It is the sheerest
Emptiness or transparency of this shimmering display. If the
Kosmos is arising, you are that. If nothing arises, you are that.
In either case, you are that. In either case, you are not in here.
The window has shattered. The gap between the subject and object
is gone. There is no twiceness, no twoness, to be found
anywhere--the world is never given to you twice, but always only
once--and you are that. You are that One Taste.
This state is not something you can bring about. This nondual
state, this state of One Taste, is the very nature of every
experience before you slice it up. This One Taste is not some
experience you bring about through effort; rather, it is the
actual condition of all experience before you do anything to it.
This uncontrived state is prior to effort, prior to grasping,
prior to avoiding. It is the real world before you do anything to
it, including the effort to "see it non-dually."
So you don't have to do something special to awareness or to
experience in order to make it nondual. It starts out nondual, its
very nature is nondual--prior to any grasping, any effort, any
contrivance. If effort arises, fine; if effort doesn't arise,
fine; in either case, there is only the immediacy of One Taste,
prior to effort and non-effort alike.
So this is definitely not a state that is hard to get into, but
rather one that is impossible to avoid. It has always been so.
There has never been a moment when you did not experience One
Taste--it is the only constant in the entire Kosmos, it is the
only reality in all of reality. In a million billion years, there
has never been a single second that you weren't aware of this
Taste; there has never been a single second where it wasn't
directly in your Original Face like a blast of arctic air.
Of course, we have often lied to ourselves about this, we have
often been untruthful about this, the universe of One Taste, the
primordial sound of one hand clapping, our own Original Face. And
the nondual traditions aim, not to bring about this state, because
that is impossible, but simply to point it out to you so that you
can no longer ignore it, no longer lie to yourself about who you
really are.
Q: So this nondual state--does this include the duality of mind
and body, of Left and Right?
KW: Yes. The primordial state is prior to, but not other to, the
entire world of dualistic Form. So in that primordial state there
is no subject and object, no interior and exterior, no Left and no
Right. All of those dualities continue to arise, but they are
relative truths, not absolute or primordial truth itself. The
primordial truth is the ringing; the relative truth is the "I" and
the "bell," the mind and the body, the subject and the object.
They have a certain relative reality, but they are not, as Eckhart
would say, the final word.
And therefore the dilemmas inherent in those relative dualisms
cannot be solved on the relative plane itself. Nothing you can do
to the "I" or the "bell" will make them one; you can only relax
into the prior ringing, the immediacy of experience itself, at
which point the dilemma does not arise. It is not solved, it is
dissolved--and not by reducing the subject to the object, or the
object to the subject, but by recognizing the primordial ground of
which each is a partial reflection.
Which is why the dilemmas inherent in those dualisms--between mind
and body, mind and brain, consciousness and form, mind and nature,
subject and object, Left and Right--cannot be solved on the
relative plane--which is why that problem has never been solved by
conventional philosophy. The problem is not solved, but rather
dis- solved, in the primordial state, which otherwise leaves the
dualisms just as they are, possessing a certain conventional or
relative reality, real enough in their own domains, not but
absolute.
The Immediacy of Pure Presence
Q: Are there any orthodox or mainstream Western philosophers who
recognize nonduality?
KW: I always found it fascinating that both William James and
Bertrand Russell agreed on this crucial issue, the nonduality of
subject and object in the primacy of immediate a wareness. I think
this is very funny, because if you can find something that these
two agreed on, it might as well be coming straight from God, so I
suppose we can embrace nonduality with a certain confidence.
Russell talks about this in the last chapters of his great book, A
History of Western Philosophy, where he discusses William James's
notion of "radical empiricism." Now we have to be very careful
with these terms, because "empiricism" doesn't mean just sensory
experience, it means experience itself, in any domain. It means
immediate prehension, immediate experience, immediate awareness.
And William James set out to demonstrate that this pure nondual
immediate- ness is the "basic stuff" of reality, so to speak, and
that both subject and object, mind and body, inside and outside,
are all derivative or secondary. They come later, they come after,
the primacy of immediateness, which is the ultimate reality, as it
were.
And Russell is quite right to credit James with being the first
"mainstream" or "accepted" philosopher to advance this nondual
position. Of course, virtually all of the mystical or
contemplative sages had been saying this for a few millennia, but
James to his eternal credit brought it crashing into the
mainstream . . . and convinced Russell of its truth in the
process.
James introduced this nondual notion in an essay called "Does
'Consciousness' Exist?" And he answered that consciousness does
not exist, which has confused many people. But his point was
simply that if you look at consciousness very carefully, it's not
a thing, not an object, not an entity. If you look carefully,
you'll see that consciousness is simply one with whatever is
immediately arising--as we saw with the mountain, for example. You
as a subject do not see the mountain as an object, but rather, you
and the mountain are one in the immediacy of the actual
experience. So in that sense, consciousness as a subjective entity
does not exist--it's not a separate something that has an
experience of a separate something else. There is just One Taste
in the immediateness of experience.
So pure experience is not split into an inside and outside--there
is no twiceness, no twoness, about it! As James characteristically
put it, "Experience, I believe, has no such inner duplicity."
And notice that duplicity has the meaning of both "twoness" and
"Iying." The twoness of experience is the fundamental lie, the
primordial untruthfulness, the beginning of ignorance and
deception, the beginning of the battered self, the beginning of
samsara, the beginning of the lie lodged in the heart of infinity.
Each and every experience, just as it is, arrives as One Taste--it
does not arrive fractured and split into a subject and an object.
That split, that duplicity, is a lie, the fundamental lie, the
original untruthfulness--and the beginning of the "small self,"
the battered self, the self that hides its Original Face in the
forms of its own suffering.
Small wonder that D. T. Suzuki, the great Zen scholar, said that
James's radical empiricism (or nondual empiricism) was as close as
the West had gotten to "no-mind" or Emptiness. That's perhaps too
strong, but you get the point.
Russell had a rather thin understanding of the fact that the great
contemplative philosopher-sages--from Plotinus to Augustine to
Eckhart to Schelling to Schopenhauer to Emerson--had already
solved or dissolved this subject/object duality. But aside from
that misunderstanding, Russell introduces James's great
accomplishment in a very clear fashion:
The main purpose of this essay ("Does 'Consciousness' Exist?") was
to deny that the subject-object relation is fundamental. It had,
until then, been taken for granted by philosophers that there is a
kind of occurrence called "knowing," in which one entity, the
knower or subject, is aware of another, the thing known or the
object (the "two hands" of experience). The knower was regarded as
a mind or soul; the object known might be a material object, an
eternal essence, another mind, or, in self-consciousness,
identical with the knower. Almost everything in accepted
philosophy was bound up with the dualism of subject and object.
The distinction of mind and matter and the traditional notion of
"truth," all need to be radically reconsidered if the distinction
of subject and object is not accepted as fundamental.
To put it mildly. And then Russell adds, "For my part, I am
convinced that James was right on this matter, and would on this
ground alone, deserve a high place among philosophers."
Q: So they both caught a glimpse of nonduality.
KW: I think so, yes. It's fairly easy to catch at least a brief
glimpse of nonduality. Most people can be "talked into it," as we
were doing a moment ago, and at least get a little taste of it.
And I think this is exactly what William James did with Bertrand
Russell, in person, which is what Russell himself reports. Right
after he says, "I am convinced that James was right on this
matter," Russell adds, "I had thought otherwise until he persuaded
me of the truth of his doctrine." I think James just pointed it
right out to him! See the mountain? Where is your mind? Mind and
mountain . . . nondual!
Q: So they were onto a taste of Zen? A taste of the Nondual?
KW: Well, a glimmer, a taste, a hint of the nondual--this is easy
enough to catch. But for the Nondual traditions, this is just the
beginning. As you rest in that uncontrived state of pure
immediateness or pure freedom, then strange things start to
happen. All of the subjective tendencies that you had previously
identified with--all of those little selves and subjects that held
open the gap between the seer and the seen--they all start burning
in the freedom of nonduality. They all scream to the surface and
die, and this can be a very interesting period.
As you rest in this primordial freedom of One Taste, you are no
longer acting on these subjective inclinations, so they basically
die of boredom, but it's still a death, and the death rattles from
this liberation are very intense. You don't really have to do
anything, except hold on--or let go--they're both irrelevant. It's
all spontaneously accomplished by the vast expanse of primordial
freedom. But you are still getting burned alive, which is, gosh,
just the most fun you can have without smiling.
Fundamentally, it doesn't matter what type of experience arises--
the simple, natural, nondual, and uncontrived state is prior to
experience, prior to duality, so it happily embraces whatever
comes up. But strange things come up, and you have to stay with
this "effortless effort" for quite some time, and die these little
deaths constantly, and this is where real practice comes into
view.
Neither James nor Russell did this, and it clearly shows in both
of their philosophies. Russell announces that he completely agrees
that the subject and the object are derivative to primordial
awareness. And then, in his own life, he promptly goes right back
to identifying with the derivative subject, with the derivative
self, with the little rational mind, and he constructs his
analytic philosophy based on this lie, based on this duplicity.
What good is that? He doesn't have a clue where this nondual state
will actually lead.
Even James doesn't penetrate into this primordial state with much
profundity, and so his radical empiricism degenerated very rapidly
into sensory phenomenalism, which collapses into Right Hand
empiricism and pragmatism--an extremely disappointing development,
American to the core. Although this certainly doesn't detract from
the amazing first steps that he took.
Enlightenment
Q: You said nonduality doesn't reject dualism on its own level.
KW: No, that would miss the point completely. These dualisms--
between subject and object, inside and outside, Left and
Right--will still arise, and are supposed to arise. Those
dualities are the very mechanism of manifestation. Spirit--the
pure immediate Suchness of reality--manifests as a subject and an
object, and in both singular and plural forms--in other words,
Spirit manifests as all four quadrants. And we aren't supposed to
simply evaporate those quadrants-- they are the radiant glory of
Spirit's manifestation.
But we are supposed to see through them to their Source, their
Suchness. And a quick glimpse won't do it. This One Taste has to
permeate all levels, all quadrants, all manifestation. And
precisely because this is the simplest thing in the world, it is
the hardest. This effortless effort requires great perseverance,
great practice, great sincerity, great truthfulness. It has to be
pursued through the waking state, and the dream state, and the
dreamless state. And this is where we pick up the practices of the
nondual schools.
Q: Does "Enlightenment" mean something different
in these schools?
KW: Yes, in a sense. There are two rather different schools about
this "Enlightened" state, corresponding to the two rather
different meanings of "Emptiness" that we discussed.
The first takes as its paradigm the causal or unmanifest state of
absorption (nirvikalpa, nirodh). That is a very distinct, very
discrete, very identifiable state. And so if you equate
Enlightenment with that state of cessation, then you can very
distinctly say whether a person is "fully Enlightened" or not.
Generally, as in the Theravadin Buddhist tradition and the Samkhya
yogic schools, whenever you enter this state of unmanifest
absorption, it burns away certain lingering afflictions and
sources of ignorance. Each time you fully enter this state, more
of these afflictions are burned away. And after a certain number
and type of these entrances--often four--you have burned away
everything there is to burn, and so you can enter this state at
will, and remain there permanently. You can enter nirvana
permanently, and samsara ceases to arise in your case. The entire
world of Form ceases to arise.
But the Nondual traditions do not have that as their goal. They
will often use that state, and often master it. But more
important, these schools--such as Vedanta Hinduism and Mahayana
and Vajrayana Buddhism--are more interested in pointing out the
Nondual state of Suchness, which is not a discrete state of
awareness but the ground or empty condition of all states. So they
are not so much interested in finding an Emptiness divorced from
the world of Form (or samsara), but rather an Emptiness that
embraces all Form even as Form continues to arise. For them,
nirvana and samsara, Emptiness and Form, are not-two.
And this changes everything. In the causal traditions, you can
very definitely say when a person is in that discrete state. It is
obvious, unmistakable. So you have a clearly marked yardstick, so
to speak, for your Enlightenment.
But in the Nondual traditions, you often get a quick introduction
to the Nondual condition very early in your training. The master
will simply point out that part of your awareness that is already
nondual.
Q: How, exactly?
KW: Very similar to when we were talking about the Witness, and I
sort of "talked you into" a glimpse of it; or even further with
the nondual One Taste of you and the mountain. The Nondual
traditions have an enormous number of these "pointing out
instructions," where they simply point out what is already
happening in your awareness anyway. Every experience you have is
already nondual, whether you realize it or not. So it is not
necessary for you to change your state of consciousness in order
to discover this nonduality. Any state of consciousness you have
will do just fine, because nonduality is fully present in every
state.
So change of state is not the point with the Nondual traditions.
Recognition is the point. Recognition of what is always already
the case. Change of state is useless, a distraction.
So you will often get an initiation taste, a pointing out, of this
Nondual state that is always already the case. As I said, I think
this is exactly what James did with Russell, in a small way. Look
at immediate awareness closely, and you will see that subject and
object are actually one, are already one, and you simply need to
recognize it. You don't have to engineer a special state in which
to see this. One Taste is already the nature of any state, so
pretty much any conscious state will do.
Q: It's simply pointed out.
KW: Yes. You've seen those silly newspaper puzzles, something
like, "There are fifteen Presidents of the United States hidden in
this picture of the ocean. Can you spot all fifteen?"
Q: The comedian Father Guido Sarducci has a joke on those-- "Find
the Popes in the Pizza."
KW: We'll get in trouble here! Maybe we better stick with
Presidents, who are used to being blankly humiliated.
The point in these games is that you are looking right at all the
faces. You already have everything in consciousness that is
required. You are looking right at the answer--right at the
Presidents' faces-- but you don't recognize them. Somebody comes
along and points them out, and you slap your head and say, Yes, of
course, I was looking right at it.
Same with the Nondual condition of One Taste. You are looking
right at it, right now. Every single bit of the Nondual condition
is fully in your awareness right now. All of it. Not most of it,
but absolutely all of it is in your awareness right now. You just
don't recognize it. So somebody comes along and simply points it
out, and you slap your head--Yes, of course, I was looking right
at it all along.
Q: And this happens in the training?
KW: Yes. Sometimes right at the beginning, sometimes down the line
a bit, but this transmission is crucial.
But the central point we were discussing is that, because this
Nondual condition is the nature or suchness of any and all
states--because this Emptiness is one with whatever Forms
arise--then the world of Form will continue to arise, and you will
continue to relate to Form. You will not try to get out of it, or
away from it, or suspend it. You will enter it fully.
And since Forms continue to arise, then you are never at an end
point where you can say, "Here, I am fully Enlightened." In these
traditions, Enlightenment is an ongoing process of new Forms
arising, and you relate to them as Forms of Emptiness. You are one
with all these Forms as they arise. And in that sense, you are
"enlightened," but in another sense, this enlightenment is
ongoing, because new Forms are arising all the time. You are never
in a discrete state that has no further development. You are
always learning new things about the world of Form, and therefore
your overall state is always evolving itself.
So you can have certain breakthrough Enlightenment
experiences--satori, for example--but these are just the beginning
of an endless process of riding the new waves of Form as they
ceaselessly arise. So in this sense, in the Nondual sense, you are
never "fully" Enlightened, any more than you could say that you
are "fully educated." It has no meaning.
Q: Some of these Nondual traditions, particularly the Tantra, get
pretty wild.
KW: Yes, some of them get pretty wild. They are not afraid of
samsara, they ride it constantly. They don't abandon the defiled
states, they enter them with enthusiasm, and play with them, and
exaggerate them, and they couldn't care less whether they are
higher or lower, because there is only God.
In other words, all experiences have the same One Taste. Not a
single experience is closer to or further from One Taste. You
cannot engineer a way to get closer to God, for there is only
God--the radical secret of the Nondual schools.
At the same time, all of this occurs within some very strong
ethical frameworks, and you are not simply allowed to play Dharma
Bums and call that being Nondual. In most of the traditions, in
fact, you have to master the first three stages of transpersonal
development (psychic, subtle, and causal) before you will even be
allowed to talk about the fourth or Nondual state. "Crazy wisdom"
occurs in a very strict ethical atmosphere.
But the important point is that in the Nondual traditions, you
take a vow, a very sacred vow, which is the foundation of all of
your training, and the vow is that you will not disappear into
cessation-- you will not hide out in nirvana, you will not
evaporate in nirodh, you will not abandon the world by tucking
yourself into nirvikalpa. Rather, you promise to ride the surf of
samsara until all beings caught in that surf can see that it is
just a manifestation of Emptiness. Your vow is to pass through
cessation and into Nonduality as quickly as possible, so you can
help all beings recognize the Unborn in the very midst of their
born existence.
So these Nondual traditions do not necessarily abandon emotions,
or thoughts, or desires, or inclinations. The task is simply to
see the Emptiness of all Form, not to actually get rid of all
Form. And so Forms continue to arise, and you learn to surf. The
Enlightenment is indeed primordial, but this Enlightenment
continues forever, and it forever changes its Form because new
Forms always arise, and you are one with those.
So the call of the Nondual traditions is: Abide as Emptiness,
embrace all Form. The liberation is in the Emptiness, never in the
Form, but Emptiness embraces all forms as a mirror all its
objects. So the Forms continue to arise, and, as the sound of one
hand clapping, you are all those Forms. You are the display. You
and the universe are One Taste. Your Original Face is the purest
Emptiness, and therefore every time you look in the mirror, you
see only the entire Kosmos. The following
material is take from The Basket of Tolerance, Version dated
June 10, 1991.
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very
persistent one."-Albert Einstein
In late October, many luminaries of the nondual
community will be gathering in San Rafael,
California, at the Science
and Nonduality Conference. For those unfamiliar with the term,
nonduality is like the final destination for those wanting to
uncover the ultimate Socratic quest to "know thyself." Nonduality
is the sudden and absolute realization that all perceived
separation is entirely illusory, and that, instead, everything
that you experience is, quintessentially, only One. To explain
this sense of unicity that underlies the multitudinous universe,
nondualists often resort to the metaphor of a movie that's being
projected on an infinite screen. Even though the characters and
the scenery appear to be separate and interactive, the only thing
that's really real is the white, seamless screen that's accepting
the melodramatic and illusory story that's being projected upon
it. Nondualists claim that, instead of you being just a small and
limited character playing a part in your life's story, that, in
truth, you're actually the entire infinite screen itself! From
their point of view, you are the very context in which ALL of life
itself is showing up in. According to the nondualist, your
fundamental nature is Pure Consciousness, Itself. In short,
"you-are-what-is."
Obviously, a non-dual perspective like that has a
built in problem: the moment that you start talking about
nonduality is the very same moment that you've re-entered the
wonderfully wacky world of duality. So the logical question then
becomes; what are all of these non-dualists going to be talking
about anyway??
Well, the issues that are addressed often take
the form of the ultimate, primordial questions of life itself:
e.g. Who or what am I? Am I my feelings, or do I just have
feelings. Am I my thoughts, or do I just have thoughts. Can there
be thoughts without a Thinker. Can there be feelings without a
Feeler? And, of course, WHO is the one who's asking all of these
questions, anyway? In short, "who's the who?" Nondualists claim
that, by tracing the origin on the "I" thought back to its true
source, these answers can be found. But, in these amorphous areas,
the answers cannot be clearly articulated in ways that make sense
to our logical minds. The realization of this absolute Oneness
that underlies everything is more of a kind of "knowingness" than
it is a scientific conclusion that's been arrived at through any
form of linear cerebration. And, because its base position is
logically "un-figure-out-able," it's not something that is,
well....debatable. Either you get it or you don't get it. And
here's the real kicker: nondualism has absolutely nothing to do
with "belief."
In fact, it's this very belief in the separation
of all things that is the root cause of much of the suffering in
the world. Separation creates borders which in turn, invites
defenses, both internal and external. Instead of having beliefs,
we then make an inward shift to, in a sense, becoming those
beliefs After that unfortunate reframing, then any perceived
attack on my beliefs is likely to be experienced as a personal
attack upon my own self and will be answered accordingly.
Most people struggle with the possibility that
they are not their body. This belief is a lot tougher to let go of
because our experience is of peering out into the world though
these two holes in our skulls. Our senses seem to validate that we
are walking through the world and that, in turn only reinforces
our beliefs that we are separate and alone.
But the nondualists tell us that we are really
the underlying fabric from which all-that-IS mysteriously emerges.
You are, they insist, the entire context in which the entire
universe shows up in to play in your play. In other words, you are
not as much in the world as much as the world is in you.
Indeed, the scientific evidence is beginning to
show that we live in a holographic universe where everything is
contained in everything else. From that perspective, there are no
separate parts. There's only the One indivisible whole that
appears to be fragmented and separate. When enough people really
get this Truth, the understanding would radically alter the way in
which we interrelate. That's what makes conferences such as the
Science and Nonduality Conference so important.
Media and culture play an important role in
shaping how we perceive reality. Today's media promotes fear,
consumerism, and a "dualistic" (or "multiplistic") worldview.
Fortunately, the subject of Nonduality is making its way into
films and new media. The Science and Nonduality Conference also
includes a film festival which will include a new film, The
Quantum Activist, about the work of Amit Goswami who will be tying
the science of quantum mechanics to consciousness and to the many
world's religious traditions. Professor Goswami will also be in
attendance.
My friend, author Chuck Hillig wrote a book
called Enlightenment for Beginners that will be shown as a short
animated film at the October conference in San
Rafael. His talk will include how and
why we began this playful game with nothingness. Chuck's website
is: www.chuckhillig.com.
Isaac Allan and Chad Cameron, the co-producers of
the Leap! Movies will also be screening their latest movie called
Leap 3.0. which further explores this whole idea of the material
world as illusion.
Among the speakers participating in the event are
authors Stephen Wolinsky and Jeffrey Martin, Stuart Hameroff the
director of the Center for Consciousness Studies, Marilyn Schlitz
who heads up the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Futurist Peter
Russell , Master Teacher Olga Louchakova, and investigators into
altered states of consciousness including Frank Echenhofer,
Reality Sandwich maker Daniel Pinchbeck, and Tom Ray just to name
a few.
For more information about the exciting lineup
the organizers have planned at the upcoming Science and Nonduality
Conference which will be held from October 21-25, 2009, at the Embassy
Suites/Marin Civic Center in San Rafael,
California, please visit
their website at http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1010851
Nonduality, also called non duality or nondualism
is a philosophy, which says that there is just One Eternal Spirit
in existence, and that everything in the Universe was created by
it and is an inseparable part of it. At the same time, nonduality
also says that the world is not real, but is an illusion perceived
by the mind.
The mind finds it hard to accept the concept of
non duality, becuase it does not accept that the world is a
creation of the senses and is not real. In order to understand
what is nonduality, one has to be in a state beyond words and
thinking, and be able to silence the mind. In this silence one
realizes the real meaning of non duality.
When you meditate and focus your full attention
on your consciousness, rejecting all thoughts, good and bad, you
ultimately arrive to the experience of non-duality. In this state,
of being without thoughts, you realize your Oneness with the One
Spirit.
The mind, with its thoughts, ideas, beliefs and
habits prevents you from seeing what is beyond it. It is as though
it envelops your consciousness and obscures your vision. It lets
you see the world only through the eyes of the mind, which means
that you see the world and everything in it, including yourself,
as being separate from each other. Only after removing the veil
that the mind creates, you will be able to realize the Oneness of
everything, and thereby realize what nonduality is.
It will be easier to understand the meaning of
non duality through a simile. Imagine that the sky is hidden by
clouds of different shapes. These clouds constantly move around
and change their shapes, and it is only when they disperse and
disappear that one can see the blue sky again. The sky never moves
or changes. It is here all the time, but is sometimes hidden by
clouds. The sky is permanent and always here, only the clouds are
transitory, coming and going view.
Thoughts, people and events constantly come and
go, just like the clouds, while the background is the One Eternal
and Formless Spirit, which is always here and never changes. It is
the only reality. To be aware of the One Spirit, and understand
that everything else is transitory and dependent on it, is to
understand what nonduality is.
Here is another simile. While dreaming during
sleep, you go through all sorts of pleasant and unpleasant
experiences. In the dream everything seems so real, but when you
wake up you realize that these experiences were just a dream. They
were not real, and lasted only while you were dreaming.
Before, during, and after the dream, you are the
same person, living in the same conditions and circumstances, but
in your dreams you go through all kinds of experiences, situations
and circumstances, which don't really exist. In this case, there
is one constant factor, which is you, and all else i.e., the
activities in the dream, are only illusions.
It is like watching a movie and identifying with
the heroes, and then, when it is over, you forget about it. In
both cases you - your consciousness - spirit, is the stable
factor, and all else just come and go. You are one with the One
Real Spirit, which is Omnipresent, while everything else is
transitory, like moving pictures projected on a screen.
What prevents you from realizing and
understanding nonduality?
The restless, thinking mind and the belief in the reality of the
ego, of separate individual existence, prevent you from seeing
what is beyond them and understanding nonduality.
What can help you to realize and really
understand nonduality?
Looking within you, and searching for the source of your mind and
thoughts, where they come from, and discovering who you really
are, bring the knowledge and understanding of what nonduality is.
Nirmala What is Advaita or nonduality? Advaita means nondual or "not two."
This oneness is a fundamental quality of everything. Everything is
a part of and made of one nondual conciousness.
Often the question arises, If it is all one non-dual thing why
don't I experience it that way? This is confusing oneness or
nonduality for the appearance of sameness. Things can appear
different without being separate. Just look at your hand for a
moment. Your fingers are all different from each other, but are
they separate? They all arise from the same hand.
Similarly, the objects, animals, plants and
people in the world are all definitely different in their
appearance and functioning. But in their ultimate nature, they are
all connected at their source. So, this one nondual oneness of
Being has an infinite number of different expressions that we
experience as different objects.
It also turns out that your fingers are all made
of the same substance. As you explore the nature of your hand with
greater subtlety, you discover more and more similarities. Your
fingers are actually made up of very similar tissues, cells,
atoms, and ultimately subatomic particles. When your experience of
reality becomes even more subtle, you discover that everything is
just a different expressions of one non-dual field of Being. Below
is a wonderful little story about and definition of nonduality or
Advaita written by Dennis Waite (of advaita.org.uk) that explores
this in more depth.
But what about your experience right now? Is it
possible to realize this subtle oneness or nonduality in
ordinary experience? It is, if you set aside the expectation of a
dramatic awakening to the experience of oneness and explore
the nondual nature of reality a little bit at a time. Just as even
a single drop of water is wet, you can experience nonduality or
oneness in even simple everyday experiences, since Advaita or
oneness is a fundamental quality of everything that exists.
As an experiment, just notice your fingers and
the palm of your hand. Can you really say where one starts and the
other ends, or are they one thing? To take this further, where
does your hand stop and your forearm begin? Can you experience the
oneness of your hand and your forearm? If these are not separate,
then what about all the other parts of your body? Are your feet
and your ears really one even though they are so different? Now
notice if there really is a separation between your thoughts and
your head. Where does your head stop and something else called
thought begin? What about feelings or desires? Are they really
separate from you or your body?
Now, notice the simple sensations you are having: the sounds you
are hearing, the sensations of touch, and the objects and events
you are seeing. If you are seeing, something, where does the
seeing stop and something else called the eye begin? If you are
hearing sounds where does the sound start and the ear stop?
Perhaps the hearing and the sound and your ear are all one thing.
Yes, the ear is different from the sound, but in the act of
hearing they become one thing.
Then, where does the source of the sound stop and
the sound itself start? For example, if a bird is singing outside
your window, where does the bird stop and the sound of its song
begin? Or are they one thing? If the bird and its song are one
thing, and your hearing and the song are really one thing, then is
it possible that you and the bird are one thing also? What is Advaita or
Nonduality? - by Dennis Waite
Almost all of the elements are found in this
experiential revelation of nonduality (which literally means “not
two”), composed by Seng T'san, the third Zen Patriarch, in The
Mind of Absolute Trust:
Don't keep searching for the truth; just let go
of your opinions.
For the mind in harmony with the Tao, all
selfishness disappears.
With not even a trace of self-doubt, you can
trust the universe completely.
All at once you are free, with nothing left to
hold on to.
All is empty, brilliant, perfect in its own
being.
In the world of things as they are, there is no
self, no non self.
If you want to describe its essence, the best you
can say is "Not-two."
In this "Not-two" nothing is separate, and
nothing in the world is excluded.
The enlightened of all times and places have
entered into this truth.
In it there is no gain or loss; one instant is
ten thousand years.
There is no here, no there; infinity is right
before your eyes.
The tiny is as large as the vast when objective
boundaries have vanished;
the vast is as small as the tiny when you don't
have external limits.
Being is an aspect of non-being; non-being is no
different from being.
Until you understand this truth, you won't see
anything clearly.[2]
Most definitions of nonduality or advaita are
found in the words of teachers.
Francis Lucille:
Advaita is a Sanskrit word that literally means
"not two". Synonyms of Advaita are non-duality (nonduality, non
duality). Advaita is not a philosophy or a religion. Non-duality
is an experience in which there is no separation between subject
and object; a "me" and the rest of the universe; a "me" and God.
It is the experience of consciousness, our true nature, which
reveals itself as absolute happiness, love and beauty.
Consciousness is defined as that, whatever that is, which is aware
of these very words right here, right now.[3]
Nisargadatta Maharaj:
When you go beyond awareness, there is a state of
non-duality, in which there is no cognition, only pure being. In
the state of non-duality, all separation ceases.[4]
Adyashanti:
To awaken to the absolute view is profound and
transformative, but to awaken from all fixed points of view is the
birth of true nonduality. … Enlightenment means the end of all
division. It is not simply having an occasional experience of
unity beyond all division, it is actually being undivided. This is
what nonduality truly means. It means there is just One Self,
without a difference or gap between the profound revelation of
Oneness and the way it is perceived and lived every moment of
life. Nonduality means that the inner revelation and the outer
expression of the personality are one and the same. So few seem to
be interested in the greater implication contained within profound
spiritual experiences, because it is the contemplation of these
implications which quickly brings to awareness the inner divisions
existing within most seekers.[5]
James Traverse:
Nonduality is the living understanding of one's
true nature as that which is empty of itself and full of the
unfolding of being. Nonduality is a wave as the living
relationship of complementary extremes. Nonduality, like Emptiness
or Silence, is not a thing yet no thing can be without it.
Nonduality is the Numberless One. Nonduality is the living heart
of being. Nonduality is its own knowing as "Form is Seeing and
Seeing is Being"(Quote
is from Atmananda Krishna Menon). Nonduality is the path that is
formed by walking it.[6]
Some define nonduality at length. The following
is part of a discussion by philosopher James M. Corrigan:
Simple Answer:
Nonduality is the state or condition of not being
separate and distinct even if appearing to be so. It is the
condition which allows us to say that there is no true separation
between ourselves and anyone else or anything else in the world,
for instance. When we say things like “We are all one,” or “God is
in all things,” we are asserting that the presence we call
‘reality’ is a nonduality.
A “nondualism” is a systematic description of
nondual reality, or the tradition of spiritual practices of
nonduality.
More Complicated Answer:
Nonduality is the condition that one arrives at
when all distinctions and relations between ‘things’ are removed.
Fundamentally, all such distinctions and relations are the result
of error on our part because it is we that impose the idea of
plurality on the whole. Nonduality is thus a simple wholeness,
rather than an “all in one” whole. It is very difficult to clearly
contemplate such a simple wholeness, because by thinking about it
and conceptualizing it, we have lost the simple wholeness that is
the real nonduality that we were trying to grasp, which is always
already our very nature – we are reality. Nonduality is the
Infinite because we can both indivisibly apprehend it and
enumerate it inexhaustibly into parts and relations between parts.
Nondualism according to this understanding is an
error because fundamentally anything that we say or think about
the Infinite removes this simple wholeness of reality from our
grasp.
The Ultimate Answer:
Nonduality is ineffable. Any words that attempt
to capture its essence instead hide it from us.
Nondualism according to this understanding must
be an apophatic* performance that uses words to lead us towards
nonduality and then at the horizon of understanding pulls these
words away so that reality can stand in its pure simple beauty.
For example, in order to say that Nonduality is ineffable, we
first posit 'Nonduality', making ‘Nonduality’ a creature of reason
and thus positively identifying ‘Nonduality’ as some thing that
can be thought about, and then in the same breath we take away
this assertion by adding that this ‘what’ of which we speak is
ineffable and thus beyond the reach of reason. The point being
made by this performance is that Nonduality is not nothing,
because then we could not even speak of ‘it’; but it is not
something either, because if it were it could not be Nonduality;
yet it is all things and no thing itself. Thus the name
"Nonduality" is used to indicate a denial of multiplicity, yet the
mind, seeing this denial, may assume that it means 'One' as that
is the opposite of multiplicity in quantitative reasoning, and
while reasoning the mind is locked into certain forms of thought,
among them the form of contradictories. But the name "Nonduality,"
while it denies multiplicity, also denies its contradiction and
subsumes both. These words are an apophatic performance. If you
can ‘see’ their meaning, you do not need any more definitions.[7]
The book I edited, One: Essential Writings on
Nonduality, is filled it with diverse writings from nondual
traditions and nondual perspectives. There’s something for
everyone.
Using the elements that are common to definitions
of nonduality, listed earlier, I have constructed a table which
you may reproduce to you own liking. Using some, all, or none of
the elements, create your own definition of nonduality and send it
to me: jerry@nonduality.com.
I might publish it here and elsewhere.
Element
Description
A
statement that nonduality means non-separation
A
confession from your knowing
A
method for experiencing nonduality
A
statement that defining nonduality requires experiencing
it
A
metaphor
A
reference to an authority
A
disclaimer based on the paradox exposed by trying to
define nonduality
Add
another element
The word nonduality
One of my stumblings into nonduality was upon the
word itself. One day in the early 80s I was sitting at the counter
of a deli in Santa Monica
and the guy beside me was reading an oversized leather bound book.
I casually asked him what he was reading. He said, “The
Upanishads.” I asked him what it was about. He didn’t answer me at
first. He looked away, up and down, like he didn’t want to be
bothered with me, but also as though he felt obligated to say
something. After a few seconds he looked straight into my eyes and
said the word as though it were a challenge: “Non-du-al-i-ty.”
In that way the unspoken power of the word was
given to me. Here are 7 reasons why the word nonduality is
powerful:
1. The word nonduality is fresh and
untainted by loose-end connotations, such as the words Zen,
consciousness, or spirituality are. As such, it conveys a new
perspective, perception, and paradigm. It crystallizes what one
has been feeling, intuiting, sensing, or knowing within about the
fundamental truth of the teachings of oneness.
2. The word nonduality, for full understanding, demands
its experience.
3. The word is a key that opens search
engines and allows you to encounter, engage, and contribute to a
multitude of teachings, conversations, and people.
4. The word nonduality is a portal,
revealing the nondual perspective of many fields of knowledge:
literature, psychology, cinema, education, art, physics,
neurosciences, ecology, philosophy, mathematics, architecture,
dance, music, martial arts, and more.
5. The word, like any word when it is first heard
and valued, is a magnet. Once a person hears the word
nonduality, it becomes a magnet drawing attention to other
appearances of the word. As well, the user of the word becomes a
magnet for others who are sensitive to the appearance of the word
nonduality.
6. The word nonduality is a “red pill.”
Recall that in the movie The Matrix, Neo was offered either a blue
pill or a red pill. The blue pill would have returned Neo back to
his dream world whose unreality he sensed but did not understand.
The red pill would have awakened him to who he really was, which
would have begun his journey through life and to the source.
The word nonduality could work as a red pill if
you value its meaning enough to follow it as deeply as you can.
When Neo was being given his choice of pills, his teacher and
mentor Morpheus explained to him:
This is your last chance. After this there is no
turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up
in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the
red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the
rabbit hole goes…. Remember, all I’m offering is the truth,
nothing more….
7. The word is a pointing to “the
seemingly indefinable underlying nature of reality.”[8]
8. The word is a category holding “the
body of works created by those who are open to experiencing
life/reality beyond the limiting beliefs and definitions of mind.”[9]
Conclusion
At one time the word nonduality was essentially
unknown to the public. The word belonged to philosophers, scholars
in comparative religion, Buddhists, and Hindus. The last ten years
have seen the coming together of world teachers and the Internet,
the wide dissemination of the teaching of nonduality in a variety
of forms, the waking up of many, and the entry of the word
nonduality into the spirituality mainstream.
A person at any level of understanding should be
able to find a definition or description of nonduality that makes
sense. However, I haven’t included the most elementary definitions
of nonduality, for example, as one young person explained it to
her not-so-spiritually-inclined parents, “Beyond good and bad.”
The collection of material on the definition of
nonduality is still being generated, identified, accumulated, and
published. Right now the collection is diverse, accessible, and
open to new offerings and commentaries.
About the author
Jerry Katz has been promoting nondual awareness
since 1997. His main website is http://nonduality.com. Jerry lives in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Canada
and may be reached at jerry at nonduality.com.
*You may prefer a term other than awareness, such as
God, consciousness, emptiness, reality, Brahman, Self, the
Absolute, or Truth.
**Apophasis - the
Greek designation for language that 'speaks away' or 'unsays'
what it first affirms.
[2] Mitchell, Stephen, ed. The Enlightened Heart: An
Anthology of Sacred Poetry. New York:
Harper and Row, 1989. Print.
[3] Lucille, Francis. "A Primer on Advaita." Francis
Lucille. Web. 19
Aug. 2009. <http://francislucille.com>.
[4] Maharaj, Sri Nisargadatta. I Am That: Talks with
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Trans. Maurice Frydman. Ed.
Sudhakar S. Dikshit. Durham,
NC: Acorn, 1992. Print.
[5] Adyashanti. "Selling Water by the River." Adyashanti.
Web. 19 Aug. 2009.
<http://www.adyashanti.org>.
[6] Personal email communication from James Traverse.
[7] Corrigan, James M. "What is Nonduality?" An
Introduction to Awareness. Web. 19 Aug. 2009.
<http://anintroductiontoawareness.com>.
[8] Personal email communication from Mandee Labelle.
[9] Ibid.
Nonduality is like the final destination for
those wanting to uncover the ultimate Socratic quest to "know
thyself." -Chuck Hillig
The philosophy of Nonduality, or as it is called in India,
Advaita-Vedanta, says that there is just One Spirit in the
Universe, and that everything, living or inanimate, is an
inseparable and indivisible part of this One Spirit. Nonduality
further says that it is only illusion, caused by the mind and the
play of the senses, which make us regard the world and everything
in it, as real and separate from us.
For someone not familiar with this philosophy, it might sound
strange and even weird, but once understood, it can completely
change one's attitude and perspective about life.
Imagine a state, in which you feel oneness with the Universe,
enjoying bliss and peace of mind, and at the same time acting and
functioning normally in your day-to-day life. A state of being
active in the world, yet maintaining a state of inner detachment.
In this state you are aware of your oneness with the One Spirit,
and also aware that the One Spirit is acting and manifesting
through everything, things, plants, trees, animals and people.
This is the experience of nonduality in its highest condition.
Ordinarily, the veil of thoughts and the five senses draw the mind
outside, to the external world, and obscure the awareness of the
consciousness that is beyond the mind. Meditation brings peace to
the mind, and develops the ability to silence it, thus enabling us
to experience the "state" of nonduality. In this state of inner
silence, one rises above the illusion of identification with the
mind, thoughts and ego, gets beyond the illusion of separateness,
and realizes the oneness with the One Spirit. It is as if a new
sort of consciousness dawns, and one sees the world in a different
way.
With this kind of consciousness, we are able to allow the mind to
be active or command it to be silent at our command. It becomes
our faithful servant, instead of being our master. We function
very effectively in the outer world, yet our basis is in pure,
calm and limitless consciousness, which is not attached to
anything and not limited by anything. In this state, we live and
view the world from the nonduality point of view.
Though in our day-today life we refer to other people, as separate
from us, this is only a mental viewpoint, convenient for
functioning in our daily lives. From a higher state of
consciousness, all are One, and the terms "I", "you", "he", "she"
and "they" are not real. There is only the One Spirit,
Consciousness, which seems to manifest in limitless forms and
ways.
The concept of nonduality is not a strange or weird idea. It can
be experienced and lived right here and now, no matter where you
are, and without attracting anybody's attention. It is an inner
state of consciousness, not an external state.
It is possible to realize the meaning of nonduality and attain
spiritual awakening and enlightenment in an ashram or a cave, and
it is also equally possible to do so while living in a town or
city with family and job. It is all a matter of strong desire,
inner attitude and dedication.
Most people cannot afford to live a secluded life in order to
meditate and lead a purely spiritual life. Most of us need to work
and support a family, and can therefore devote only part of the
day to spiritual pursuits. The good news is that we can practice
meditation and realize our true being, without abandoning our
present style of living. With proper planning, it is possible to
find the time and the energy.
Meditation, walking on the spiritual path and the realization of
nonduality can be practiced anywhere, without making external
changes in our life. You can stay with your job and family, and
still make spiritual progress and realize the true meaning of
nonduality.
There are many shades of meaning to the word nonduality. As an
introduction, we might say that nonduality is the philosophical,
spiritual, and scientific understanding of non-separation and
fundamental oneness.
Our starting point is the statement “we are all one,” and this is
meant not in some abstract sense but at the deepest level of
existence. Duality, or separation between the observer and the
observed, is an illusion that the Eastern mystics have long
recognized and Western science has more recently come to
understand through quantum mechanics.
Dualities are usually seen in terms of opposites: Mind/Matter,
Self/Other, Conscious/Unconscious, Illusion/Reality,
Quantum/Classical, Wave/Particle, Spiritual/Material,
Beginning/End, Male/Female, Living/Dead and Good/Evil. Nonduality
is the understanding that identification with common dualisms
avoids recognition of a deeper reality.
So how can we better understand nonduality?
There are two aspects to this question, and at first glance they
appear to be mutually exclusive, although they may be considered
two representations of a single underlying reality.
The first aspect is our understanding of external reality, and for
this we turn to science. The word science comes from the Latin
scientia, which means knowledge. The beauty and usefulness of
science is that it seeks to measure and describe reality without
personal, religious, or cultural bias. For something to be
considered scientifically proven, it has to pass exhaustive
scrutiny, and even then is always subject to future revision.
Inevitably human biases creep in, but the pursuit of science
itself is intrinsically an evolving quest for truth. But then
quantum mechanics turned much of this lauded objectivity on its
head, as the role of the observer became inseparable from the
observed quantum effect. It is as if consciousness itself plays a
role in creating reality. Indeed, the two may be the same thing.
As quantum pioneer Niels Bohr once put it: “A physicist is just an
atom's way of looking at itself!”
The second aspect is our inner, personal experience of
consciousness, our “awareness of awareness.” We have our senses to
perceive the world, but “behind” all perception, memory,
identification and thought is simply pure awareness itself.
Eastern mystics have described this undifferentiated consciousness
for thousands of years as being the ultimate state of bliss, or
nirvana. Seekers have attempted to experience it for themselves
through countless rituals and practices, although the state itself
can be quite simply described. As Indian advaita teacher
Nisargadatta Maharaj said: “The trinity: mind, self and spirit,
when looked into, becomes unity.”
The central challenge to understanding nonduality may be that it
exists beyond language, because once it has been named, by
definition -- and paradoxically -- a duality has been created.
Even the statement “all things are one” creates a distinction
between “one” and “not-one”! Hardly any wonder that nonduality has
been misunderstood, particularly in the West. What is Non-Duality?
There are many shades of meaning to the word nonduality. As an
introduction, we might say that nonduality is the philosophical,
spiritual, and scientific understanding of non-separation and
fundamental oneness.
Our starting point is the statement “we are all one,” and this is
meant not in some abstract sense but at the deepest level of
existence. Duality, or separation between the observer and the
observed, is an illusion that the Eastern mystics have long
recognized and Western science has more recently come to
understand through quantum mechanics.
Dualities are usually seen in terms of opposites: Mind/Matter,
Self/Other, Conscious/Unconscious, Illusion/Reality,
Quantum/Classical, Wave/Particle, Spiritual/Material,
Beginning/End, Male/Female, Living/Dead and Good/Evil. Nonduality
is the understanding that identification with common dualisms
avoids recognition of a deeper reality.
So how can we better understand nonduality?
There are two aspects to this question, and at first glance they
appear to be mutually exclusive, although they may be considered
two representations of a single underlying reality.
The first aspect is our understanding of external reality, and for
this we turn to science. The word science comes from the Latin
scientia, which means knowledge. The beauty and usefulness of
science is that it seeks to measure and describe reality without
personal, religious, or cultural bias. For something to be
considered scientifically proven, it has to pass exhaustive
scrutiny, and even then is always subject to future revision.
Inevitably human biases creep in, but the pursuit of science
itself is intrinsically an evolving quest for truth. But then
quantum mechanics turned much of this lauded objectivity on its
head, as the role of the observer became inseparable from the
observed quantum effect. It is as if consciousness itself plays a
role in creating reality. Indeed, the two may be the same
thing. As quantum pioneer Niels Bohr once put it: “A physicist is
just an atom's way of looking at itself!”
The second aspect is our inner, personal experience of
consciousness, our “awareness of awareness.” We have our senses to
perceive the world, but “behind” all perception, memory,
identification and thought is simply pure awareness itself.
Eastern mystics have described this undifferentiated consciousness
for thousands of years as being the ultimate state of bliss, or
nirvana. Seekers have attempted to experience it for themselves
through countless rituals and practices, although the state itself
can be quite simply described. As Indian advaita teacher
Nisargadatta Maharaj said: “The trinity: mind, self and spirit,
when looked into, becomes unity.”
The central challenge to understanding nonduality may be that it
exists beyond language, because once it has been named, by
definition -- and paradoxically -- a duality has been created.
Even the statement “all things are one” creates a distinction
between “one” and “not-one”! Hardly any wonder that nonduality has
been misunderstood, particularly in the West. from http://suzukiroshi.sfzc.org/dharma-talks/?p=212
Attention! Yuima-kitsu (Vimalakirti) asked
Mañjushri: “What is Bodhisattva’s doctrine of attaining
non-duality?”
Mañjushri said: “In my comprehension, on each
doctrine there should not be any word, any verses, any
interpretations or any understandings. This is the true entrance
to the doctrine of non-duality, and all discussion about it makes
no sense. This is the doctrine of attaining non-duality.”
Then Mañjushri asked Yuima-kitsu: “Each one of us
already has finished giving our interpretations; what is your
explanation of this doctrine of the oneness of duality?”
Here Setcho said: “What did you Yuima say? Did
you understand?” (Setcho was the compiler of the Blue
Cliff Records).
Each one of the Bodhisattvas had tried their
interpretations on the supreme doctrine of non-duality. When Yuima
was asked to give some interpretation to the doctrine, he did not
say anything about it. None of the other interpretations were
better than the silence of Yuima.
If you understand this Model Subject in this way
only it may not be perfect, because Yuima’s silence was not just
to keep his mouth still. Setcho was very kind to us just to leave
this point to our own effort, so that we would not be caught by
Yuima’s powerful silence. Yuima’s way, including his silence, is a
good example of the Bodhisattva’s way to help others before
helping himself, through suffering the same suffering with others,
in accordance with the circumstances and the temperament of the
people.
Appreciatory Word:
Totsu! Foolish aged Yuima![2] Grieving for the
people who suffer in vain,[3] he helplessly
laid himself in the sickbed at Vaisali. His whole body was
withered and exhausted. When the teachers of the seven Buddhas
came, he tidied[4] up his room
thoroughly. Earnestly he asked them about the doctrine of
obtaining non-duality, but when he was asked back about it, he
seems to have collapsed.[5] However, he was
not broken down.[6] Even the
Golden-Maned Lion (Bodhisattva Mañjushri) could not follow in
Yuima’s track.
[2] An ironical eulogy by Setcho of Yuima,
who is a good example of the bodhisattva.
[3] See the quotation from Dogen’s Shobogenzo,
below:
After all, Yuima’s silence and his illness should
be understood not just as the “finger to point at the moon,” but
also as the actual practice of the ultimate teaching of Buddha.
This is the Bodhisattva’s way which is neither for yourself nor
for others, but for Buddhism. Dogen-Zen master says: “When
you practice right practice, your inner treasure house will open
by
itself and the treasures will offer themselves
for your free use (Oneness of duality).”
“By the Awakening of the Wisdom-Heart is meant
the earnest desire to save all beings, even before we ourselves
(laymen and priests) have attained Enlightenment. Anyone who
cherishes this desire is the great teacher of all living beings.
Even a little girl seven years old may be the teacher of four
classes of men. This spirituality has nothing to do with sexes or
age in the law of the supreme teaching of Buddha (duality of
oneness).”
“The Buddha Shakyamuni is to be found in one’s
own mind. Find out what this one mind is, and by so doing you will
show your gratitude to the Buddha” (Dogen).
[4] He cleared up his mind of
discriminating ideas, of gaining or losing, good or bad, and
waited for Buddha’s disciples’ visit.
[5] When Mañjushri was asked about the
doctrine of obtaining non-duality, he said: “No words, no verses,
no interpretations.” But Yuima did not say anything when he was
asked back about it, just as if he had collapsed. But his “no
answer” in this case was the best relish ever given by any
disciple of Buddha to the eternal teaching of non-duality.
[6] However, later, even Zen students
became attached to his silence without knowing that we should
realize the same truth even in the prattle of an old man. Setcho
is said to be very kind in that he did not say anything about
Yuima’s silence so that his students would not be attached to the
practice of silence alone. When Mañjushri was talking about the
ultimate teaching, the whole world was nothing but Mañjushri’s and
there was no Yuima; and when Mañjushri and the other disciples of
Buddha were listening to Yuima, the whole universe was Yuima and
there were no disciples of Buddha. For this reason, you should say
that before Mañjushri disappears Yuima appears expressing one
whole universe in different connotations. This is called the
oneness of the duality or the doctrine of non-duality. The
Bodhisattva’s way of life is supported by this truth. George Poggemann
Advaita (pronounced aahdwaituh) is a Sanskrit compound that means
‘not two.’ Although it can refer to anything, it is a particularly
important word in the Vedic spiritual tradition because it
indicates an important fact about the nature of consciousness, the
Self. The portion of the Vedas that deal with the topic of
enlightenment is called Vedanta. Vedanta contends that reality is
advaita, ‘not two.’ This means that the subject-object distinction
that is the most salient feature of what unenlightened individuals
consider to be reality, does not actually obtain, although it
seems to. This is a very important fact about existence because it
is the subject-object distinction that is responsible for much of
the existential suffering that characterizes human life. It causes
all manner of emotional turmoil because taking the subject-object
duality to be a fact puts the individual at odds with objects.
In duality, the subject, the person I have been conditioned to
believe I am, takes his or her self to be limited and incomplete.
Because of this fact, he or she feels he needs objects…a house, a
job, a relationship, children, etc…to eliminate the sense of
incompleteness associated with his or her status as a subject. He
or she must develop strategies to obtain desired objects and to
avoid undesirable objects. The pursuit and avoidance of objects
accounts for considerable suffering. Because both the subject and
the objects are subject to change, in so far as they are in time
where duality obtains, it is difficult to obtain and keep desired
objects. Time, the most salient feature of duality, puts
considerable stress on the subject too. His or her desires are
constantly changing. When an object is obtained, a change takes
place in the subject that causes his or her relationship to the
object to change. The constant friction caused by the interaction
between the subject and the objects inevitably leads to loss of
energy and death.
Vedanta contends that duality is merely a belief brought on by
ignorance of the nature of reality, not a fact. In fact, reality
is non-dual. This means that the subject-object distinction does
not actually obtain. The subject is not different from the
objects. Both the subject and the objects are apparent
manifestations of the non-dual self or consciousness.
Enlightenment is the freedom from suffering that arises when the
non-dual nature of the self is fully appreciated. When you no
longer take yourself to be separate from the world of objects…yes,
people too are objects in duality…conflict dies and the subject is
free of the desire to obtain and maintain objects. Vedanta is a
time tested means of inquiry into the nature of reality that
ultimately resolves the subject-object duality by revealing the
non-dual nature of the Self.
Definition of the nondual from How to
Attain Enlightenment, by James Swartz
p.17: “nondual reality means that there is only
one principle operating in reality, not two or more, appearance to
the contrary notwithstanding.”
p.133: “Nondual vision means that everything in
the creation is of equal value to everything else from God’s point
of view; the whole of existence sinks or swims together.”
p.139: “non-dual love is the realization of
oneness with the self. Because the self is everything that is,
non-dual love is unconditional love of everyone and everything.”
p.89: "The self is non-dual. The meaning of these
words erases the belief that there are other selves and that
perceived objects are different from the subject. “
p.177: “The vision non-duality means that there
is no other.”
There are many statements of nonduality, e.g.,
consciousness
is all there is, love is all there is, there are not two, there is
only
oneness, etc. These are useful to begin with but the statements
themselves don't take us very far. To believe the statements is to
make
nonduality into a religion rather than accepting it as a teaching.
Instead of belief, what is necessary is a clear, direct seeing of
truth.
The essence of direct seeing is to see that there is no separate
me. If
there is no separate me, there is no separation.
How do we see that there is no me? Simply speaking, we just look
for the
me. If we don't find it, then we look for what-it-is that sees
that
there is no me. We might think that then is the true me. In that
case,
we just take another step back and look for what-it-is that sees
that.
We might think that we will have to keep on stepping back forever
but
that proves not to be the case. Once we see that there is no me,
the
next step, the step of seeing the witness of no-me, is likely to
be the
last one because the seeing of the witness likely dissolves the
witness,
and then there is only pure awareness.
What if we find a me in the first step? The process is the same as
above. We step back and see what-it-is that sees the me. If we
find the
witness of the me, we take another step back and see what-it-is
that
sees the witness of the me. That seeing will likely dissolve the
witness, leaving pure awareness.
Even if we can find no me and no witness of no-me, we might still
feel
that our awareness is confined to the skull. In that case, we look
for
what-it-is that sees that awareness is confined to the skull. If
we see
an awareness that is confined to the skull, we immediately see
that what
seems to be confined awareness cannot be true awareness. Again, as
we
step back and look for what sees this, we might find a witness of
no-confined- awareness. Once again, we step back to see what-it-is
that
sees the witness. In so doing, the witness again dissolves into
pure
awareness.
Once we see that there is no me, no witness of no-me, and
no-confinement, all separation dissolves. This seeing might have
to be
repeated many times for it to be a continuing awareness of no
separation. It is very helpful to realize that both the apparent
me and
apparent confinement are just arisings. Since all arisings rapidly
come
and go, the me and confinement are never permanent, even for a
short
time. There are many times when there is no me and no confinement
but we
are not aware of it because we are not at the moment suffering
from
separation. Consequently, we can save our practice times for the
times
that we are suffering. Peter Fenner:
Manifestation is duality; the world is duality.
Consciousness and the objects of consciousness constitute duality.
However, there is something that serves to support all this.
Whether it is called God, Awareness, the Absolute or any other
name, it is the inherent Oneness from which every thing emerges
and returns. it is Non-Dual.
Nonduality is a hard concept to grasp at first
because the mind is trained to make distinctions in the world and
nonduality is the rejection of distinction. Not to say that all
differences are eliminated, merely transformed into relationships.
Exploration is like a journey toward the understanding of truth
and the desire for nonduality. Conclusions and explanations are
drawn from every walk of life. There is something for everyone in
the journey including beliefs from Judaism, Christianity, Islam,
the Native American tradition, Hinduism and Buddhism.
The most fundamental proposition is that ”I"
exist, and all else in the universe is ”not I". While making
practical distinctions, such as day and night, hot and cold, north
and south, etc., our conditioned awareness also expresses itself
as a judgmental spectrum with negative at one pole and positive at
the other. And it ingrains a habitual mindset, a thought pattern,
based inevitably on this kind of division, and the desire, fear,
and actions that arise from it. In other words, our dualistic
viewpoint -- which we take for granted -- is at the root of our
divisiveness, dissatisfaction, and conflicting values; in short,
of our unhappiness.
For millennia, teachers of nonduality, in
traditions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Gnostic Christianity, and
Advaita Vedanta, have assured us that it is possible to transcend
the limitation of dualistic awareness, and thereby live in an
awareness of dualities absence, which turns out to be: harmony,
contentment and equanimity. Non-dual, of course, means ”not two";
so, nonduality is the condition of Oneness as a living experience;
the transcendence of our dualistically perceived unhappiness.
Non Dual awareness represents a shift in
perspective. It is what results by the dissolution of the
separative image of a self, an ”I", the concepts used to describe
who we think we are. At this juncture, I believe it is more
appropriate to allow others to define the non-dual tan for me to
continue the endeavor myself:
When the Ten Thousand things are viewed in their
oneness, we return to Origin and remain where we have always been.
[Sen T’sen]
As long as this ordinary ”I” was present . . .
everything I perceived was confused and hidden by that
personality. Now that the everyday ”I” had been put to one side I
could see the world as it really was. And there was nothing
trivial about its appearance: instead it was full of beauty and
joy. [Rabindranath Tagore]
All is everywhere. Each is there All, and All is
each. Man as he now is has ceased to be the All. But when he
ceases to be an individual he raises himself again and penetrates
the whole world. [Plotinus]
The more God is in all things, the more He is
outside them. The more He is within, the more without. [Meister
Eckhart]
The Atman is that by which the universe is
pervaded, but which nothing pervades. [Shankara]
[The Principle] is in all things, but is not
identical with beings, for it is neither differentiated nor
limited. [Chuang Tzu]
The Beloved is all in all; the lover merely veils
Him. [Jalal-uddin Rumi]
Strictly speaking, there is no path to unity
consciousness. Unity consciousness is not a particular experience
among other experiences, not a big experience opposed to small
experiences. . . . Rather, it is every wave of present experience
just as it is. And how can you contact present experience? There
is nothing but present experience, and there is definitely no path
to that which already is. . . . It is for all these reasons that
the true sages proclaim there is no path to the Absolute, no way
to gain unity consciousness. . . . We won’t hold still long enough
to understand our present condition. And in always looking
elsewhere, we are actually moving away from the answer, in the
sense that if we are always looking beyond, the essential
understanding of the present condition will not unfold. . . .We
are not really searching for the answer—we are fleeing it.
........................ You don’t look at the sky, you are the
sky. Awareness is no longer split into a seeing subject in here
and a seen object out there. There is just pure seeing.
Consciousness and its display are not-two…The pure Emptiness of
the Witness turns out to be one with every form that is witnessed,
and that is one of the basic meanings of ”nonduality. [Ken Wilber]
Your very existence has been delivered from all
limitations; you have become open, light, and transparent. You
gain an illuminating insight into the very nature of things which
now appear to you as so many fairy-like flowers having no
graspable realities. Here is manifested the unsophisticated self
which is the original face of your being; here is shown all bare
the most beautiful landscape of your birthplace. There is but one
straight passage open and unobstructed through and through. This
is so when you surrender all—your body, your life, and all that
belongs to your inmost self. This is where you gain peace, ease,
non-doing, and inexpressible delight. All the sutras and sastras
are no more than communications of this fact; all the sages,
ancient as well as modern, have exhausted their ingenuity and
imagination to no other purpose than to point the way to this.
[D.T. Suzuki]
To sum up, in nondual consciousness,
consciousness has experientially accessed its”ground” nature, and
is aware of itself as pure sentience, transcendent of
subject-object distinctions, and present in all apparent subjects
and objects.As a consequence of stably experiencing its ground
nature, consciousness has shed the sheath of egoic identity,
becoming free of motivations, fears, and anxieties related to the
bodybased, conceptual construct of a separate and bounded self.
Knowing itself as the unchanging substratum of the phenomenal
world, consciousness imbues living with a profound equanimity
amidst diverse events.
Free of the perplexing influence of dualistic
mentality, the consciousness of the mystic engages the flow of
life with intuitive spontaneity and cognitive clarity. In the
absence of emotional negativity, the intrinsically loving and
joyful qualities of consciousness form an affective base that
informs life with an abiding sense of blessedness and identity
with all that exists. Rabbi Rami
Shapiro
At the Nonduality Institute, nonduality is
understood as the realization of a very subtle, non-conceptual,
unbounded consciousness that is experienced as the essence of
one’s own being and of all life. This is a mutual transparency of
self and other, in which everything, including one’s own being, is
revealed as made of a single, vast expanse of consciousness. It
arises together with phenomena; it pervades the movement of
perceptions, thoughts, emotions and sensations. This nondual
consciousness is not known as an object separate from ourselves;
rather, it knows itself.
This level of consciousness has been
regarded as the source of positive qualities of being, in the
sense that such qualities as compassion, insight, joy and
equanimity manifest spontaneously when one realizes it. These
qualities are experienced as non-referential, in other words, not
a specific compassion for someone, but an open-ended state of
compassion that pervades one’s entire field of experience.
Most contemporary teachings consider nonduality
to be the direct unmediated perception of phenomena, along with
spontaneous, unmediated expression and action. In other words,
direct, spontaneous participation in life, unhampered by
preconceptions. Students of this view are usually instructed to
fix their attention on the present moment, or to relax into an
all-inclusive awareness.
There are two limitations with this approach.
One, nondual consciousness is more subtle than simple attention.
It not only focuses on phenomena, it pervades phenomena. It
renders all of one's experience as suffused with a radiant
emptiness. Two, the fixations that obscure the present moment are
not just mental. Long-held constrictions in the body limit our
perception, cognition, emotional responsiveness and physical
sensation. We cannot open to our fundamental nature just with our
minds, we need to open throughout our whole body. Because of these
bodily constrictions, when we attempt to let go into the present
moment, we generally let go only from the surface of ourselves. In
order to realize nonduality, we need to let go from deep within
the core of our being.
Approaches to nonduality that focus on
recognizing and dissolving mental constructions also de-construct
the notion of the self. Any fixed ideas of the self, such as "I am
a teacher" or "I am a good person" will obscure our realization of
nondual consciousness. However, when we realize nondual
consciousness pervading our body and environment, we uncover a
qualitative, authentic sense of our individual self. Nonduality is
neither the subject nor the object of experience. It is the unity,
the oneness of subject and object.
Nondual awakening is not dependent upon a
particular spiritual lineage. When we realize nonduality, we are
not realizing Buddhism or Hinduism. We are realizing our own
fundamental nature—the spiritual foundation of our being is
self-arising. It is naturally there, and it appears spontaneously
as we become open enough to uncover it. Although the different
spiritual lineages describe nondual awakening in different ways,
the arising of nonduality itself is unmistakable.
BOYT: Please explain how you define
consciousness, this term is often used but also often
misunderstood.
Ivan: Consciousness cannot be defined, it has
never been defined and it will never be defined. To define
something you have to create a distance, you need to stand out of
it; you need a space between definer and defined. How can you
define yourself? If you are outside of yourself, who is there to
define it? Everything else can be defined, watched, observed,
experimented, moved, dissected, but not the definer, because
everything else is before consciousness. Who will define
consciousness? Consciousness is you. It is mystery not to be
known, but to be lived. You can know outside, but you can never
know inside—because you are already there, melted in oneness with
the essence of you.
This is the paradox: those who claim to know the
consciousness are unconscious, and those who come to a point where
they don’t know the consciousness are conscious. If you say, “I am
conscious,” then the question arises, “Conscious about what?”
Consciousness has no idea of “I” or “Me”; it has no personality,
no ego, no idea of one’s separation from the wholeness. It is one
with the existence. It is flowing into the wholeness, and the
wholeness is flowing into the one. Consciousness is a process, a
flow like breathing—when you breathe in, the whole enters in you,
when you breathe out, you enter the whole.
When we think about consciousness we usually
think about the mind. The mind is not consciousness. The mind is
using consciousness for its own existence. So, the mind cannot
exist without consciousness, but consciousness IS the existence.
Consciousness without thinking is awareness, or what I like
calling it, The Infinite Consciousness. It is awareness that YOU
ARE—whole, wholly, present, alive and infinite. It is not a
thought; it is alertness without the thought. It is the essence of
ALL THAT IS. What is IS at this moment of NOW. So, the moment of
NOW is consciousness. Be in the moment and you are with it, you
are IT.
1. Nonduality means there is no duality. There
is only one reality. There is only one life. There is variety and
difference in appearance, in name and form, but no separation
anywhere. Everything is made up of the same one thing;
consciousness, spirit, energy; whatever you want to call it. This
realization doesn’t negate duality, it embraces duality. It is
seen that everything is appearing and disappearing in this one
present awareness, which is always and already here and now.
2. There is no separate self. Seeing that there
is no separate self means that when you look within, you don’t
find a person inside. Awareness is aware of thoughts, feelings,
and sensations, but awareness never comes across a separate little
person living inside the body. As Ramana Maharshi said, “If you
open a radio, you don’t find anyone in there speaking. The same is
with the body; if you open it up, you don’t find someone inside.”
3. There is doing, but no doer. Thoughts appear,
but you can’t find a thinker. Feelings arise, but you can’t find a
feeler. Doing happens, but you can’t find a doer. You may find a
sense of a separate self, but that is only a sense and not an
actuality. There is no owner to be found. If you find a thought
that says, “I am the owner. I am the doer,” then it must be seen
immediately that these are only thoughts as well and you can’t
find an owner for these thoughts, either. There is no one behind
thought. There is no one behind awareness.
4. Everything is happening all by Itself. Since
we can’t find a doer, then it must be recognized that life is
simply happening all by itself. You could say that this life shows
signs of creativity and intelligence, but again, there is no
separate someone who is intelligent and creative behind the scenes
doing the doing, it is just part of the fabric and expression of
this one life. Sometimes it is said that God is the doer, but do
we ever find a God that is separate from our self? As Rumi said,
“When you find God, you find your self and when you find your
self, you find God.” God and Self are one and the same. This is
the end of I and other, of you and me, and then only This remains.
This never came and This never left; it is always and already here
and now.
5. All there is, is This. Oneness is everything,
Oneness does everything. This is the absolute appearing as the
relative. This is the impersonal appearing as the personal. This
is energy appearing as matter. This is formlessness appearing as
form. This is emptiness appearing as fullness. This is spirit
appearing as creation. This is the unmanifest appearing as
manifestation. You open your eyes in the morning and awareness is
aware of only one thing; life. This life could be said to be an
appearance which is both real and unreal at the same time.
Scientists have looked deeply into matter and ultimately what they
find is no-thing. This is no-thing appearing as everything.
6. You are awareness without the you. Awareness
is prior to everything. If awareness were not present first, then
nothing would be perceived. Awareness is the substratum of every
experience. Consciousness is always changing its shape, form, and
expression and awareness is the only thing that is aware of that
play of being. However, the objects of awareness are not separate
from awareness, as they are appearing and disappearing within this
vast space-like awareness, which is always and already present.
This awareness is impersonal and no self can be found behind
awareness. The person is not aware, awareness is aware of the
person. The ego is not aware, awareness is aware of the ego.
Changeless awareness is aware of changeful consciousness and this
seemingly dualistic play make up the two sides of the one coin of
Being.
7. These are only thoughts about Nonduality.
Thoughts, at best, can only point awareness back to itself,
consciousness back to itself, beingness back to itself.
Understanding isn’t realization and realization isn’t liberation.
The mind is always telling a story about the me; the me-story. But
what is aware of the me-story? Only awareness is aware. That is
why Nonduality as a belief system or religion isn’t the end of the
journey and isn’t enough to exhaust the spiritual seeker. It’s
unsatisfactory. Nonduality must become your direct experience and
living reality. The sense of separation must truly and
authentically end and disappear. Then it is seen by no one that
all there is is this; nothing appearing as everything. You are
Freedom itself.
This article
introduces the message of non-duality, highlighting the dilemma
for the spiritual seeker in looking for what was never lost. Posted by
Michael Jenkins | Last updated: Mar 25, 2013
Non-Duality
What is Non-Duality? The
word 'non-dual' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Advaita' which
simply means, 'not two'. In recent years, there has been much
written about non-duality and many non-dual teachers have appeared
to deliver the Advaita message. But what exactly is the message?
Essentially, what is
pointed to in a non-dual message cannot actually be named. This is
because thought and language are part of the dualisitc world of
form and therefore any description of non-duality is inherently
dual. However, a discussion can take place that may illuminate the
dilemma for the spiritual seeker.
The core message states
that there is only 'this' or there is only 'being' and what arises
in being or what arises in this, is the belief and experience that
'I am a separate individual with free will and choice'. The
experience of being a separate individual is accompanied by a
sense of loss or longing and that feeling gives rise to seeking.
In the world of the individual, the individual must seek to do,
have or be in order to 'make my life work'.
The message of
non-duality points to another possibility. The possibility that
what is sought after, never went away. It seems as if something is
missing simply because 'you' are out there looking for it. This
message has been pointed to many times over the years by the great
spiritual teachers and can be found hidden in many of our
traditional, sacred texts.
What Is Sought Is Already
Here
In the bible, we have the
story of the Prodigal Son who returns home after years of living
as a poor man to find that he is heir to a great fortune. This is
an allegory that delivers the same message that a pure non-dual
message delivers. That which you seek, you already have. The son
returns home to realise that all that he longed for was at home
all along. He needn't have gone anywhere to seek it.
The Fuel of The Spiritual
Search
Yet, it seems we must
first forget in order to remember. When we are tiny babies, there
is no sense of being an individual. The concept of 'me' has not
yet been developed. As we grow up, we come to learn that 'I am in
here and the world is out there' and so the brain simulates a 'me'
and a sense of separation is experienced. The feeling of
separation increases as we get older until it is accepted as
reality. The belief is then: 'I am a separate individual in world
full of other separate individuals'. And from that separation
arises pain and suffering. The individual never feels completely
whole. There is always the sense that something is missing. That
sense of loss fuels all worldly and spiritual seeking.
The End of The Individual
Non-duality points to the
possibility that there is no separation and there never was. It
points to the possibility that the freedom we seek in our worldly
pursuits or our spiritual seeking is already immediately
available. It is only seen however when the illusion of separation
is seen through.
The illusion of
separation is seen through most clearly when the sense of being a
separate individual falls away. When there is no 'me' looking,
then wholeness is seen. It is seen by no one. You could say that
wholeness sees wholeness. Or 'being' sees 'being'.
The trap of separation is
seen clearly when a spiritual seeker hears that what happens for
liberation to take place is the loss of the sense of being an
individual. So, the seeker then thinks that it needs to get rid of
itself in order to be free. But who is going to get rid of the
individual? There is a still a 'me' there that hopes to eliminate
'me'. The individual has cleverly split itself in two and gives
one the job of slaying the other. The individual of course, still
remains.
The Eternal Message
Lao Tzu said that the Tao
that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao. So, non-duality is
the eternal message that cannot truly be spoken of. The moment we
think we have captured non-duality, it has become a concept and
therefore has re-entered the world of duality.
What is
Advaita?
by S. R. Allen
The Sanskrit word ADVAITA means
“not two”, or “nonduality”. So, what is it, really? Looking at the
world from the standpoint of dualistic perception is partial and
errant perception mixed with superimposed conceptual
classifications with reference to ego-notions and selfhood.
Awakening to the standpoint of nondual wisdom where there is
certainty of understanding in spontaneous presence we can remain
in the absence of false discrimination. What is usually taken as
normal perception and cognition is, in fact, a state of false
understanding in which nearly everyone abides constantly when they
fail to honestly inspect their mental mechanisms and recognize the
truth of things as they really are. Enlightening texts always
suggest inspection and analysis of our inner and outer worlds so
we can awaken to the real nondual situation. Even the “inner” and
“outer” are mere conceptual designations and are not two in
reality because reality cannot be one-sided. But this is the way
the mind habitually splits one reality into a relative
pseudo-dualism.
The real nature of phenomena is
nonduality. No single object or event has its own self-essence, so
no two things can be ultimately different since they both are
merged in the totality of the matrix of existence. The flux, the
process, and all functions within the totality of existence are
the matrix of reality. Reality has no opposites or anything that
is not included within it. There is nothing outside the matrix; it
is all inclusive.
There is no thing that can be
accurately or completely described and defined by limited language
because characteristics are infinite. Therefore, reality is
inconceivable, beyond any kind of conceptual elaboration, beyond
the discriminations of the mind. All manifested appearances of
objects and events are always simultaneously the same in their
real identity, no matter what the apparent temporal differences
and characteristics may seem to be. The reality of any thing is
the same as the real reality of anything else. The interdependence
of all phenomena is as it is because, ultimately, any one thing
depends for its existence on all else, and all depends on each
one, whether remotely or immediately.
The mind gathers in partial
details and characteristics of things through sense contact, and
then compares qualities and discriminations. The human mind is
limited, while details of knowledge are limitless because of the
limitless change and infinite motion taking place within
conditional perpetual flux. Reality cannot be known through any
intellectual construct; reality is known only through identity
with it. This means it is crucial to dissociate with conceptual
error. To try to conceptualize what is too vast to be conceivable
by the discriminating mind is to quit the race one step short of
the finish line.
Consciousness in the individual
is just ordinary wakeful awareness interacting with the supposed
differentiations of the manifested world. In its unobstructed and
unconfined state consciousness has a natural lucidity, the
individual contemplative, once having recognized his natural
holistic presence, is then concerned with integrated wholes, or
the total system of manifestation within the phenomenal matrix,
rather than with deluded absorption in and attachment to the
supposedly separate parts of it. All phenomena are then recognized
as they really are, as interrelated components of the unified
field of ever changing conditionality. In undifferentiating,
nondual holistic lucidity all the implications of the afflictions
of conceptual dualism have ceased to be and the phenomenal matrix
is clearly observed and understood.
The basis of nescient dualistic
concept-making and distracted inattentiveness is the ego-notion.
That’s all ego is; it is not an entity, but only an habitual
errant notion. The objectifying of one’s subjectivity is the
dichotomy of errant perception to be transcended, and one who has
stabilized his attention perfectly does not fluctuate back into
conceptual aberration. This means one must learn to detect and
recognize the very beginnings of distraction and gain a decisive
understanding of its mechanics. When automated, reactive
concept-making is stopped by attentiveness to present mental
situations themselves, always based on the dualistic ego-notion,
then the ego-notion will simultaneously subside and automated
dualistic thought activity will stop. This is the nondual,
nondichotomous realization of one’s true identity as pure
consciousness, but possible only in the total abscence of the
counterfeit identity, ego.
Unicity is the source of all
multiplicity; noumenon is the source of all phenomena;
subjectivity is the source of all objectivity. There is no thing
anywhere in the totality of existence which is separate or other
than this one source, hence there is no thing which possesses its
own separate or real being separate from essential source
noumenon. So consciousness, as subjective, cannot be separate from
its counterpart, phenomenal objectivity. They are nondual too. The
primary delusion of any individual is that individual’s primary
bondage, conflict, hindrance, and blindness. The delusion will
last because an errantly discriminating mind perceives an object
as a separate entity, separate from the one source noumenon. This
is the primal dualism of the mind. When this errant notion
dissolves away, the bondages, conflicts, hindrances, and blindness
dissolve away also. The whole problem is mental and arises because
each person conceptually imputes himself to be an independent and
separate entity within spatiotemporality, not realizing that his
innermost real essence is the source of, and same as, that
space-time continuum.
The pure subjectivity is pure
consciousness, all objectivity is an expression of its
subjectivity. When subject, as noumenon, identifies itself with a
particular object, excluding all other objects, then the ignorance
of presumed dualism dominates. Subject identifies itself as a
particular body and mind in which it seems to be stationed; then
the ego-notion dominates all perception and thinking. Identifying
with any object particularly, such as the body or the contents of
the mind is a conditioned artificial fault in mental functioning
that prevents our seeing things as they really are, in particular
seeing ourselves as we truly are.
Understanding things in this way,
as subject vs. object, or as “me” and “the other”, or as “this”
over against “that” is dualistic, and there seem to be the two
polar terms. Dualistic perception may have some usefulness for
conventionality or mundane purpose, but it is sadly incomplete and
errant. In the final vision, subject and object are not two
(Advaita), since “each”depends on the existence of the “other”, as
do space-time objects. The unicity of known object and knowing
subject is a totalistic, holistic vision, a complete wisdom-view –
not perceiving some sort of mystical oneness, but an elimination
of conceiving all objectivity as separately existing outside of
subjectivity.
In order to accomplish such an
elimination of wrong conceptions, it is necessary to understand
many things, for instance, determining what the difference between
pure consciousness and mind is, how the ego-notion is developed
and how it is purgated, how the mind superimposes, why volition is
not ultimately free, what time really is and what is appearance
and what is actuality, and how to return to the Source.
Nonduality is known by
depth-perception. This is not going to be easy. If it were easy
most people would already be liberated and enlightened.
What Is Nonduality?
Nonduality is the human experience of oneness with all things; a
sense of connectedness and identity with the entire universe. It
is intimacy with everything. In this experience, the sense of
being a witness or seer of things vanishes completely, and instead
you feel yourself to be whatever thing you are beholding. You
don’t see the mountain, you are the mountain. You don’t hear a
bird, you are birdsong. Awareness is no longer split into a
experiencer and the thing that is experienced, there is just pure
experience with no divisions. This experience of oneness is the
essence of nonduality.
How to Have an Experience of Nonduality
Every culture worldwide has known about nonduality, and they have
developed hundreds of techniques to help human beings to have this
experience. (If you want to give one of these a try, click
here.) But one of the many things that makes nonduality so
fascinating is that you don’t actually have to do a practice at
all to experience it, because it’s not a kind of altered state or
religious vision. Instead, the experience of nondual awareness is
an essentially human one.
Perhaps it is true, as many nondual philosophies have insisted,
that nondual awareness is actually at the root of all human
awareness. Maybe nondual awareness is simply there, in all of our
experience like a spleen or a leg bone, for anyone who looks
deeply enough to discover.
So while it’s possible to do special meditation practices to
induce nondual awareness (or maybe we should say to reveal nondual
awareness), and I recommend that you do that if you’re interested,
it’s also the case that many people only need to have their
always-already-existing nondual awareness pointed out to them to
have at least a little taste of it. Whether you get their via
meditation or via “pointing out,” however, nondual awareness is
something that underlies all your perceptions of yourself, the
world, and the transcendental. It’s there for you to find, if you
want to go looking.
Nonduality in Religion
There are some religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism that have
concepts of nonduality at the core of their belief systems. Other
religions and philosophies include at least a branch that is
concerned with a nondual view. Even indigenous cultures and
shamanism talk about such a view of the world.
Because nonduality is at the core of human experience, most groups
of people get around to talking about it at some point. However,
there was one place in the world where culture became utterly
captivated by ideas about nonduality and methods for achieving (or
revealing) nondual awareness, and that was in the Indian
subcontinent. Indian culture became strongly focused on
nonduality, as you can see from the religious terms used for it.
In Hindu contexts, nonduality is called advaita, which literally
means “not-two-ness” and is the source of the English word
nonduality.
In Buddhist tradition, nonduality is called either no-self
(anatta) or emptiness (shunyata).
You may be wondering why Indian religions became so focused on
nonduality.
If you want to learn more about the history of nonduality in
Indian religion, click
here. Nonduality and Awakening
To say it simply, nonduality is the essence of awakening; what is
also called enlightenment, liberation, realization, divine union.
When a person has a strong nondual experience, they have begun the
process of awakening. For most people this process takes an entire
lifetime, and is always growing deeper and broader, encompassing
more and more areas of their life.
Because in a religious context nondual awakening is considered to
be the ultimate salvation, Indian religious are extremely focused
on ways to gain this salvation. It is somewhat similar to the way
Christian religion became obsessed with ways to gain the salvation
of Heaven (although also different in important ways).
In short, if you have any interest in “getting enlightened,” then
what you are actually looking for is an experience of nondual
awareness. Because nondual awareness is at the base of the mind, a
first experience of nonduality—however minor, fleeting, or
shallow—is luckily not all that difficult to achieve (or notice).
After that, it becomes a process of deepening and expanding your
nondual awareness to affect all areas of life. The profoundity of
access to nonduality in daily life is what distinguishes spiritual
dabblers from the heavyweights.
Is Nonduality Some Kind of Ultimate Reality?
In most religious descriptions of nonduality, it is described as
the ultimate reality. The extent to which you contact nondual
awareness is the extent to which you contact God, the Universe,
and Everything. Another way to say this same idea is that
“consciousness is everything.”
But is this really true?
In short, any assertion about ultimate reality is untestable by
definition. That means that nobody can prove whether nonduality is
the ultimate reality or whether consciousness is everything. No
matter how much you believe that to be true or believe it to be a
fantasy, there is literally no way of testing, proving, or knowing
whether you’re right.
In one way of looking at it, having the experience proves that
it’s real, at least to the satisfaction of the person to whom it’s
happening. If you have a deeply spiritual experience of oneness
with all things, which utterly revolutionizes your life, and
transforms your interactions with everyone else, who cares whether
it’s real in some scientific sense? It’s certainly real enough in
the ways that matter.
However, there is another way to look at it.
How Does Nondual Awareness Arise?
The basic understanding of nonduality in a religious context is
that it is the true, real view of ultimate reality. Because
everything is made of consciousness, to see that everything is one
in awareness is to see ultimate reality.
But let’s talk about the same experience in a different way for a
moment.
From a scientific viewpoint, a human being only knows about their
environment through the senses. For example, you don’t see the
world directly through your eyes, as if you’re inside your head
looking out two open windows. Instead, the eyes function very much
like video cameras. The photons from the exterior world stream
through the lenses and strike the retinas. The cells of the retina
convert these photon strikes into electrical pulses which are then
sent down the optical nerve deep into the brain.
These electrical pulses represent digital information about the
visual field outside the eyes. The brain then decodes this digital
information through many layers of pre-processing and processing
until it is eventually assembled into a mental image of the
outside world. It is this mental image that arises in
consciousness.
Therefore, you never see the outside world. You have never seen
the outside world in your entire life. You only see your
constructed mental representation of decoded signals from the
eyes.
And it is the same for all the other senses. The ears encode air
waves, which the brain decodes into the experience of sound. The
nose and tongue encode chemical signatures, which the brain
decodes into smell and taste. The skin encodes pressure, heat, and
so forth, which the brain decodes into touch.
Therefore, you have never experienced the world directly in any
way. You have only experienced the constructed mental
representation of decoded signals from the senses. If you
understand this fundamental point, you understand how “the entire
world is consciousness.” Because your experience of the world
always arises only in consciousness, it would be more accurate to
say “my experience of the entire world is consciousness.”
For the same reason that you cannot prove that nonduality is
ultimate reality, you cannot prove that the above description is
ultimately true. It does have the advantage of being
scientifically provable, however. It also has the very big
advantage of removing a tremendous amount of confusion,
superstition, and wasted time. You can read more about that here.
And here.
In the end, it probably doesn’t matter which view of nonduality
you believe is real (“consciousness is everything” or “the
experience of consciousness is everything”). The important thing
is to contact nondual awareness.
Does a Nondual Experience Require Effort?
Another big controversy concerns what a person has to do to have
an experience of nonduality. Because from a spiritual viewpoint,
nondual awareness underlies everything, and is always already
there at the base of all experience, it’s possible to state that
absolutely nothing need be done to experience it. It’s already
there and you’re already experiencing it. You just have to notice
it. This is the “effortless” model.
A second way of looking at it is the “effort” model, which says
that while, yes, nondual awareness underlies everything, there are
a lot of layers of belief, psychological blockages, and simple
ignorance getting in the way of seeing this experience. The
purpose of meditation and other practices is not to create
awakening, but to remove what is blocking the experience of the
nondual awareness that is already there. Even if you’ve already
had a strong nondual experience, the deepening of your awakening
requires more effort.
Proponents of the effortless model say that even making an effort
at all is just putting more blockages in the way of seeing the
nonduality that is already there. The very act of meditating to
“get something,” they say, is paradoxically just one more thing
that’s getting in the way of direct perception of ultimate
reality.
Try this practice of effortless meditation, called “Do Nothing”
Proponents of the effort model say that very often people who
pursue the effortless path don’t have very deep awakening. They
see the effortless model as being more about developing a concept
of nonduality—i.e. being able to talk about it, and being very
concerned with language around it—rather than developing actual
depth of nondual experience.
Given that this (ironically dualistic) dichotomy has been
discussed for thousands of years without reaching a conclusion
that is satisfying for everybody, we can say with confidence that
you have to choose for yourself which side you feel more drawn
towards.
Even better would be to let go of the need to see either one as
right or true or the best, and simply notice the nonduality at the
center of the apparent dichotomy.
Talking about Nonduality
Nonduality contains within it a lot of paradoxes. This is only
natural when you think about it, since a paradox is something that
contains apparent opposites—and the essence of nonduality is the
union of opposites.
One of the big paradoxes is that it’s hard to talk or write about
correctly. Almost any language you use is actually incorrect,
misleading, or contains dualisms.
For example, even simple statement in the above text such as
“having a nondual experience” are slightly misleading. Think about
it. If nondual awareness, as described above, means the collapse
of the experiencer and the experienced, the seer and the seen,
then in precise language it may not be correct to call nondual
awareness an experience at all.
Even apparently simple ideas in the text above, such as the
“external world” don’t really make sense in the mode of
nonduality. For there to be an external world, there needs to be
an internal world, and those two things need to be opposite and
different—which of course they are not in nondual awareness.
The simple fact is that language is inherently dualistic, and
there’s no way to say anything intelligible if you try to talk
about nonduality from an absolutely nondual perspective. It cannot
be done, and yet it is important and useful to talk about
nonduality. Therefore, in this article I’ve chosen to just go
ahead and talk about it from a normal, dualistic perspective.
Conclusion
Nondual experience is something that is always available, and also
something that you may spend the rest of your life cultivating,
deepening, and integrating into your everyday experience. It’s
very helpful to find someone who can point it out to you with
confidence and clarity, since it’s easy to mistake various other
experiences for nonduality. Just like some of the more famous
internet memes, nondual experience is something that, once seen,
it cannot be unseen. You and your relationship with other people
and the world are forever changed.
When we meditate, if we go very deep, we can actually awaken to
the deepest dimension of reality itself. Mystics often refer to
this depth dimension as the nondual ground of being.
The word ‘nondual’ means ‘not two’. Teachings of nonduality state
that the ultimate nature of all things – seen and unseen, known
and unknown – is one and not two. This is not simply an abstract
metaphysical idea; the nondual ground is a real domain, an actual
dimension.
This timeless, formless, empty ground is that which predated the
emergence of the known universe 14 billion years ago, before the
Big Bang. It is that which always already exists, prior to the
relative domain, prior to the space-time continuum. In meditation,
we can dive deeply into this domain.
Our awareness of passing thoughts starts to fade, and eventually
cognition disappears altogether. As we keep sinking into
meditative depth, not only will our minds disappear but also our
awareness of the world and everything in it, including our own
biological form. The familiar and the known fall ever further away
from awareness, and we awaken more and more to the infinite nature
of this depth dimension in which there is no beginning, no end,
and no time.
When we go this deep, we enter a domain where nothing ever
happened. There is no time, no history, and no Karma. The universe
has yet to be created. You have not been born. No one has been
born and no one has suffered, and so there is a felt sense of
extraordinary, limitless freedom. When the Buddha sat in
meditation under the Bodhi tree 2,500 years ago, what he realised
was this causal depth awareness. He discovered the unconfined,
unimaginable and infinite freedom of the ground of being.
The classical definition of non duality that emerged from this
discovery states that the ultimate nature of all things, seen and
unseen, known and unknown, is ultimately this timeless, formless,
empty ground – and ‘I Am That.’ Gurus and mystics who teach this
definition tend to proclaim that the world is an illusion, and
that consciousness alone is real. My own teacher, the great H. W.
L Poonja, taught in this way – and there’s no doubt that he
awakened many people to this nondual truth, including me.
But since the time of the Buddha, our understanding of the cosmos
has expanded enormously, and around 200 years ago, something new
and paradigm-shattering emerged. With the discovery of evolution,
we finally understood that the world of biological forms is
evolving – in a state of endless becoming and reaching for ever
greater complexity. Given vast eons of time, energy and matter can
organise themselves into patterns of such unimaginable complexity
that eventually life, mind, consciousness, and the human capacity
for self-reflective awareness can emerge.