Sunday, December 24, 2023

Byron Katie - The world is your mind

 

When the mind believes what it thinks,
it names what cannot be named and tries to make it real through a name.
It believes that its names are real,
that there’s a world out there separate from itself.

That’s an illusion. The whole world is projected.
 
When you’re shut down and frightened, the world seems hostile;
when you love what is, everything in the world becomes the beloved.
Inside and outside always match—they’re reflections of each other.

The world is the mirror image of your mind.

 


 

 https://thework.com/

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī - A Sacred Blasphemy

 

 

 A Sacred Blasphemy

Be off and know
That the way of lovers is opposite all other ways.
Lies from the Friend
Are better than truth and kindness from others.

For Him
The impossible is commonplace,
Punishment is reward,
Tyranny is justice,
Slander is the highest praise.

His harshness is soft,
His blasphemy is sacred.
The blood that drips from the Beloved's thorn
is sweeter than roses and basil.

When He's bitter
it's better than a candy-shop.
When He turns his head away
it's all hugs and kisses.
When He says, "By God, I've had enough of you!"
it's like an eternal spring
flowing from the fountain of life.

A "No" from his lips is a thousand times "Yes."
On this selfless path
He acts like a stranger
yet He's your dearest friend.

His infidelity is faith,
His stones are jewels,
His holding back is giving,
His ruthlessness is mercy.

You may laugh at me and say,
"The path you're on is full of curves!"
Yes, for the curve of His eyebrow
I have traded in my soul!

This curvy path has gotten me drunk,
I cannot say another word!
Carry on, my glorious heart,
finish the poem in silence . . .

O Shams, Lord of Tabriz,
What sweetness you pour upon me  
All I need to is open my mouth
and all your songs flow out.



-- Translation by Jonathan Star
"Rumi - In the Arms of the Beloved"
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997

 

https://www.jonathanstar.com/ 

 


 

 

 

Sunday, December 17, 2023

ᖇᑌᗰƗ ♡’s Wedding Night – December 17th, 1273

 


Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

On December 17th, 1273 AD, Mevlana Jalal al-din Rumi died at Konya. The 17th of December is thus called Sheb-i Arus, meaning ‘Bride’s Night” or ‘Nuptial Night’ or ‘Wedding Night,’ because of the union of Mevlana with God. As Rumi’s epitaph states:

‘When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men.’

Rumi was a universally loved genius, one of the greatest servants of humanity, founder of the Mevlevi Sufi Brotherhood, his poetry and doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness and charity, and awareness through love. Looking with the same eye on Muslim, Jew and Christian alike, his peaceful and tolerant teaching has reached men of all sects and creeds.




J.Krishnamurti - What Love Is Not


 

 

 LOVE IS NOT DESIRE.

 It is a great thing to find out this for oneself. And if love is not desire then what is love? Love is not mere attachment to your baby, love is not attachment in any form; love is not jealousy, ambition, fulfilment or becoming; love is not desire or pleasure. The fulfilment of desire, which is pleasure, is not love. So I have found out what love is. It is none of these things. Have I understood these elements and am I free of them? Or I just say, ‘I understand intellectually, I understand verbally, but help me to go deeper’? I can’t; you have to do it yourself.

Krishnamurti in Saanen 1979, Discussion 2

Facing the Fact That You Do Not Love

QUESTION: The strongest underlying commandment in all religions is to love your fellow man. Why is this simple truth so difficult to carry out?

KRISHNAMURTI: Why is it that we are incapable of loving? What does it mean to love your fellow man? Is it a commandment, or is it a simple fact that if I do not love you and you do not love me, there can only be hate, violence, and destruction? What prevents us from seeing the very simple fact that this world is ours, that this earth is yours and mine to live upon, undivided by nationalities, by frontiers, to live upon happily, productively, with delight, with affection and compassion? Why is it that we do not see this? I can give you lots of explanations, and you can give me lots more, but mere explanations will never eradicate the fact that we do not love our neighbour. On the contrary, it is because we are forever giving explanations and causes that we do not face the fact. You give one cause, I give another, and we fight over causes and explanations. We are divided as Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, this or that. We say we do not love because of social conditions, or because it is our karma, or because somebody has a great deal of money while we have very little. We offer innumerable explanations, lots of words, and in the net of words we get caught. The fact is that we do not love our neighbour, and we are afraid to face that fact, so we indulge in explanations, in words and the description of the causes; we quote the Gita, the Bible, the Koran, anything to avoid facing the simple fact.
With the facing of that fact there comes a different quality; and it is this quality that saves the world.
What happens when you face the fact and know for yourself that you do not love your neighbour or your son? If you loved your son, you would educate him entirely differently; you would educate him not to fit into this rotten society, but to be self-sufficient, to be intelligent, to be aware of all the influences around him in which he is caught, smothered, and which never allow him to be free. If you loved your son, who is also your neighbour, there would be no wars because you would want to protect him, not your property, your petty little belief, your bank account, your ugly country or your narrow ideology. So you do not love, and that is a fact.
The Bible, the Gita or the Koran may tell you to love your neighbour, but the fact is that you do not love. Now, when you face that fact, what happens? What happens when you are aware that you are not loving, and being aware of that fact, do not offer explanations or give causes as to why you do not love? It is very clear. You are left with the naked fact that you do not love, that you feel no compassion. The contemptuous way you talk to others, the respect you show to your boss, the deep, reverential salute with which you greet your guru, your pursuit of power, your identification with a country, your seeking – all this indicates that you do not love. If you start from there you can do something. If you are blind and really know it, if you do not imagine you can see, what happens? You move slowly, you touch, you feel; a new sensitivity comes into being. Similarly, when I know that I have no love, and do not pretend to love, when I am aware of the fact that I have no compassion and do not pursue the ideal, then with the facing of that fact there comes a different quality; and it is this quality that saves the world, not organized religion or a clever ideology. It is when the heart is empty that the things of the mind fill it; and the things of the mind are the explanations of that emptiness, the words that describe its causes.

So, if you really want to stop wars, if you really want to put an end to this conflict within society, you must face the fact that you do not love. You may go to a temple and offer flowers to a stone image, but that will not give the heart this extraordinary quality of compassion and love, which comes only when the mind is quiet, and not greedy or envious. When you are aware of the fact that you have no love, and do not run away from it by trying to explain it, or find its cause, then that very awareness begins to do something; it brings gentleness, a sense of compassion. Then there is a possibility of creating a world totally different from this chaotic and brutal existence which we now call life.

Krishnamurti in Bombay 1961, Discussion

 

 

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī - Awake Awhile

 

 

Awake awhile.
It does not have to be
Forever,
Right now.

One step upon the Sky’s soft skirt
Would be enough.

Hafiz,
Awake awhile.
Just one True moment of Love
Will last for days.

Rest all your elaborate plans and tactics
For Knowing Him,
For they are all just frozen spring buds
Far, so far from Summer’s Divine Gold.

Awake, my dear.
Be kind to your sleeping heart.
Take it out into the vast fields of Light
And let it breathe.

Say,
“Love,
Give me back my wings.
Lift me,
Lift me nearer.”

Say to the sun and moon,
Say to our dear Friend,
“I will take You up now, Beloved,
On that wonderful Dance You promised!” 

 


 

 

 

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Jahan Malek Khatun - Tonight

 

 Come here a moment, sit with me, don't sleep tonight,
Consider well my heart’s unhappy plight, tonight;
And let your face’s presence lighten me, and give
The loveliness of moonlight to the night, tonight.
Be kind now to this stranger, and don’t imitate
life as it leaves me in its headlong flight, tonight.
Be sweet to me now as your eyes are sweet; don’t twist
away now like your curls, to left and right, tonight;
Don’t sweep me from you like the dust before your door;
Dowse all the flames of longing you ignite, tonight.
Why do you treat me with such cruelty now, my friend,
so that my tears obliterate my sight, tonight?
If, for a moment, I could see you in my dreams,
I’d know the sum of all this world’s delight, tonight.

 


 Wikipedia

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Joan Tollifson - No Mistakes

 


    There is nowhere at all which is devoid of the Way.
    — Huang Po


It has often been said that the root illusion is the subject/object divide—the thought-sense that we are separate from life, that we are an independent entity with free will and choice, that we are fundamentally incomplete or in some way deficient, that something bigger and better needs to happen, or that something that apparently is happening needs to stop happening, in order for us to finally be okay.

On the other side of this inside/outside illusion, in the so-called world that seems to be “out there,” apparently separate from us, all kinds of things appear to be wrong. From the illusory perspective of being a separate self in a solid and divided reality, we seem to be constantly confronted with apparent imperfection, horrific injustices, a sense of vulnerability, and the need to either do something or stop doing something.

But in our actual present moment experience, there is simply what is, as it is—and we can never actually get hold of how or what it is because it is ever-changing and unresolvable, and there is no place to stand outside of it. No inside/outside divide can actually be found. It appears to be there, but when we look for it, it can’t be found. There is no actual place where “inside” turns into “outside,” except conceptually.

Experientially, there is simply this one bottomless present moment—infinite, eternal, never the same way twice, always just this—ungraspable aliveness, seamless unicity, no-thing-ness appearing as this ever-changing magic show in which infinitely varied, ever-changing energies and sensations collapse and solidify into the seemingly coherent movie of waking life with all its identifiable characters, plotlines and seemingly solid objects and situations. And in the movie, with its billions of characters, it seems there must be billions of similar but never identical movies of waking life all playing simultaneously in some kind of holographic, fractal unfolding.

In our movie of waking life, as in a dream, all kinds of things appear to happen. Babies are born, people die, empires rise and fall. We seem to be a particular character navigating “our life.” We seem to make choices. There seems to be cause and effect, success and failure, good and evil.

We have various apparent problems and aspirations, so we undergo psychotherapy, take up yoga and meditation, attend satsangs, go into recovery programs, read books, and have all kinds of experiences—contracted experiences, expanded experiences, pleasant experiences and unpleasant ones. We try to control all of this, and sometimes our efforts seem to be working, but often they don’t seem to be working, and then we try harder—or, if we’ve heard that trying is the problem, we try not to try.

In the world that seems to be outside of us, all kinds of scary, unjust and upsetting things seem to be happening, so we organize political movements, march in the streets, run for office, fight wars, demonstrate for peace—whatever life moves each of us to do. Some of these efforts seem to bear fruit, while others seem to go nowhere. There are apparent advances and apparent setbacks. Society seems to improve in many ways, while at the same time, it seems to be going straight to hell in other ways. And no two of us seem to completely agree on which way is heaven and which is hell. We see an event one way, and we’re very sure that’s the truth, but then suddenly we get new information and see it in an entirely different way. We begin to suspect that all events are infinitely complex and unresolvable—that there is no single truth in the way we had imagined—but still, the way we see it at the moment feels so believable.

Our life story and the character we seem to be are all a kind of imagination. The past is gone, even a split second ago has vanished completely, and even the so-called present moment comes and goes so instantaneously that no-thing ever actually forms or persists in the ways it seems to. It’s always NOW, and yet we can’t locate this now in space or time. The whole movie—the characters and the storylines—are made of nothing more substantial than ever-changing, fleeting sensations, thoughts, memories, and mental images. None of it has any actual continuity or independent existence. Even the body is nothing solid or persisting, as we can discover if we explore it closely, nor can it be extracted from the entire universe that is supposedly “not the body.” Again, there is no actual inside or outside, no real boundaries, no substantial “things.”

If we watch as choices and decisions happen, we discover that they happen spontaneously, choicelessly—no thinker or chooser can be found “behind the curtain” (or inside our head) authoring our thoughts or making our decisions. They all happen by themselves. Even when there is long deliberation, each moment of that deliberation happens spontaneously by itself.

Although it appears otherwise, if we look closely, we discover that we don’t actually get to choose anything at all about our lives. We imagine that we can decide what to study in college, or what career path to follow, or whether or not we meditate or eat a healthy diet, or whether we engage in political activism or go on a spiritual search. But it all happens choicelessly. We don’t choose which people we’re attracted to, or which ones we fall in love with, or which sources of news and information seem trustworthy to us, or how we see contentious issues. It all happens by itself. We don’t know what our next thought or emotion will be.

If we are imagining ourselves as a separate self, this lack of control sounds terrible. What could be worse than being totally powerless in a dangerous world!? But actually, it is total freedom. Not the freedom to do what we want or to make the world be the way we want it to be, but the freedom to be exactly as we are in each moment, and for everything else to be exactly as it is in each moment—which is actually no way at all.

And the great revelation that may choicelessly dawn is that, ultimately, it doesn’t really matter what shape experience takes in the dream-like movie of waking life—whether there is what we call anger or compulsive behavior or a sense of being a separate self, or whether there is what we call equanimity, relaxation and a sense of undivided wholeness—whether the movie is spiritual or political or all about making money—whether there is what we call a nuclear war or climate change or peace on earth. None of it has the substantial existence or meaning that it seems to have when we label and define it. None of it can be pinned down or pulled apart from everything else. None of it is actually personal. We’re never really separate from everything else in the cosmos. We can’t ever really get it wrong. There is no boat to miss and no one to miss it. There are no mistakes, and there are no one-sided coins.

And in that realization, there is a huge sense of relief and relaxation and appreciation for the absolute wonder of everything, just as it is—including all the apparent horrors in the world and all our own apparent defects and imperfections. It all belongs, including all our (choiceless) efforts to cure and heal and fix what is apparently broken and dis-eased. There’s a Zen koan that says, “Medicine and sickness cure each other. The whole earth is medicine. What is the self?” What am I? What is this body, this mind, this awaring presence, this hearing-seeing-breathing-thinking-being? Does it have a shape, a size, a location, a place where it is not?

This aliveness, this undoubtable beingness, this awaring presence, this unfathomable reality can’t be grasped, and it can’t be avoided. It can’t be found because it can’t be lost. It shows up in infinitely changing forms, but the forms are as ephemeral as smoke or clouds. The apparent solidity and separation is illusory. From a self-identified perspective, when this view is applied to the seemingly very real dramas of everyday life, both personal and global, it can sound heartless and uncaring, but from the perspective of wholeness, it is the unconditional love (the open awareness) that is always allowing everything to be exactly as it is.

Our ideas about life are shifting sands endlessly being reshaped by the tides of whatever intelligence-energy is moving beneath the surfaces we see. This text is ultimately meaningless and purposeless—and that is actually its beauty and its liberating potential—although there is really nothing in need of liberation and no dividing line between what we might think of as “liberation” and what we might consider “un-liberated” (sinful or delusional). It’s that mystery again, the one appearing as two, the zero appearing as infinity, the lover and the beloved dissolving in love—not one, not two.

Attention moves by itself, choicelessly, from one apparent dimension of reality to another—in one moment, we seem to be a person in a very real situation, and in another moment, there is no center to experiencing and it is all dissolving into absolute no-thing-ness. Sometimes we are choicelessly worrying over a decision we must seemingly make, and in another moment, it is crystal clear that it is all unfolding by itself. Sometimes we are watching the news in horror, full of grief or rage or despair, and in another moment, it all seems to be energy in motion, like ocean waves crashing together. We sit down to meditate and sometimes our thoughts run wild, and other times there is vast emptiness. We judge one thing good and another bad, and then we judge ourselves for judging, and all of that happens by itself, choicelessly. And even more astonishingly, nothing is ever really happening—at least not in the way we think it is. After all, it’s ALL gone before it even arrives—how real is any of it?

This freedom to be just as we are, and for the world to be just as it is, doesn’t mean we like it all. It doesn’t mean we might not “decide” to see a therapist or go on a march for social justice. It doesn’t mean there won’t be discernment, urges, interests and aspirations, or that we won’t seemingly make choices and perform actions. All of that is how life moves. It’s like the ocean waving—one whole indivisible movement that is always changing shape while never departing from the Great Ocean of Here-Now.

It can be discovered that there is no actor apart from the action, no observer apart from the observed, no seer apart from the seeing, no doer apart from the doing. We’re only a dancer when we’re dancing, and when dancing, we are never apart from the dance. But without some distinction between this and that, the ten thousand things and the movie of waking life could not appear at all. We couldn’t function without the ability to distinguish this from that. And beyond the illusions created by the limits of our sensory organs and nervous systems, the words we use (subjects and objects, nouns and verbs) and the thought-stories built with those confuse us even more. We mistake the map for the territory.

But ultimately, the map is an aspect of the territory, as is our confusion and our search for clarity. Not one, not two. Even the apparent solidity and division and the intermittent thought-sense of being a separate “me” and all that follows from that, is never really a problem. It seems to be, in the movie, from the perspective of the character. And so, in the movie, we go on what seems to be a long journey of awakening and healing, making progress and having setbacks. But nothing is actually happening. None of it ever really exists or persists. None of it is personal because the person is a mirage, a character in a dream. It’s all only momentary appearances. And like a dream, when we wake up, it’s gone. It was never really happening. It was a real dream, but the content was unreal. And yet, this isn’t just “nothing” in some vacuous, nihilistic sense—there is an undeniable aliveness and presence.

Waking up from a dream can happen in any moment, and it can only ever happen now. But ultimately, it doesn’t really matter whether it happens or not. It only matters in the dream, to the dream character. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming or with enjoying movies—and we enjoy all kinds of movies—adventure stories, romances, comedies, tragedies, horror stories, war stories, love stories, family dramas, soap operas, thrillers. It’s all part of life, the dreaming and the waking up, the holographic layers of reality, the movies within movies—it’s all included.

I’ll close with a few lines from my friend Darryl Bailey, whose expression of nonduality is one of the clearest and cleanest I’ve encountered:

    People desperately want to describe existence and, historically, they speak of matter, energy, consciousness, spirit, oneness, and mystery. But descriptions are merely limited interpretations. All of them. They can never tell us what life actually is.

    – Darryl Bailey


So perhaps there will be a relaxing into not knowing, into simple open presence—enjoying the utter simplicity of what is—without needing to grasp it with words or concepts, without needing it to be different from how it is, without waiting for something bigger, better or more special to happen, without trying to have any particular experience—just simply relaxing into the unconditional love that welcomes it all and allows it all to dissolve completely. This welcoming and dissolving is the very nature of Here-Now.

Love and blessings to all…

 


 

Right Now, Just As It Is 

 

 

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Mirza Ghalib - The Beloved's single face

 

 

The world is no more than the Beloved’s single face,
In the desire of the One to know its own beauty, we exist.

Each place, each moment, sings its particular song of not-being and being.
Without reason, the clear glass equally mirrors wisdom and madness.

Those who claim knowledge are wrong; prayer just leads to trance,
Appearance and faith are mere lees in the Unknowing Wine.

Wherever the Footprint is found,
that handful of dust holds the oneness of worlds.

This earth, burnished by hearing the Name, is so certain of Love
That the sky bends unceasingly down, to greet its own light. 

 


 

 On the subject of mystic philosophy, Ghalib,
your words might have struck us as deeply profound ...
Hell, we might have pronounced you a saint,
if only we hadn't found
you drunk
as a skunk!

 

Translated by Michael R. Burch

 

 

 

 

Saturday, December 2, 2023

Nancy Neithercut - A sigh of love

 


The idea of 'happiness' or 'love'
was beginning to seem
like a dream
that would never ever come,
and yet my desire for love
pierced me deeply
and ripped me  
shredded me
and emptied my dreams
of love and magic and time
until there  was nothing left,
not even a skeleton’s dance

Awakening is not
a walk in the park.
I kept looking and looking
for what could  
never ever be found …
a better moment...
another moment...
all my dreams of  what life
or love should be like
started to crumble.
It just kept smacking me
in the face
… over and over and over again,
that this is it,
whatever it looked like,
I had no control over thoughts
feelings
sensations...
of life itself.

I realized that all perception
no matter what it looks or feels like
happens all by itself...
and that all  perception
and its inseparable recognition
arises equally and evenly
without  doing a thing...
simply 'out of the blue'
thoughts
sensations
feelings
arise
and spontaneously,
without any effort or non effort
there is a recognition of them,  
and it dawned
hitting me like a freight train,
that I had never been separate
from  what's going on.

In the end there was
not even nothing left.
Not even  emptiness...  
and there was not even
a me to be empty.  
And a sigh of love rushed in.
Caressed me
found me,
animating my
empty shadow
dancing
in the dark
in the wake
of loves demise…

 

 


https://nancyneithercut.substack.com/

 

 

St Therese of Lisieux - Joy

 


"I learned from experience that joy does not reside
in the things about us,
- but in the very depths of the soul,
That one can have it in the gloom of a dungeon,
- as well as in the palace of a king."

 

 Who is St Therese?

 

 

Monday, November 27, 2023

Kavi Jezzie Hockaday - Un-moor your boat

 



You have moored your boat
On the safe part of the river
And, for a time, it has been fine

Now there is a longing to know
What lies further down stream
A thirst for adventure
And a deep desire for the ocean

But you have been moored for a long time
And there is fear of the unknown
What if there are rapids
Or even a huge waterfall
What if you should capsize and drown
What huge discomfort this brings up

Maybe it is better to stay moored up in the safety
Even though it no longer brings any juice to life
And the longing, the thirst, the desire, remains
And seems to grow every day

Oh what a conundrum, a puzzle, a mystery…

Friend, cast off the ropes and throw them upon the shore
You won’t be needing them again
Un-moor your boat like the warrior you are
Deep in your heart
Set sail, face the river, surrender and surf
Meet what comes as it comes
Be done with your fearful imagination
Live in this day, here, now
You have more capacity than you know
But you cannot discover it
Until you un-moor and set sail.

 


 

HERE 

 

 

Saturday, November 18, 2023

Nancy Neithercut - Awakening, Reflections

 


Awakening is the deepest intimacy
as your own love has ravished you,
skinned you alive,
and ripped out your heart,
your love and your life,
until there is no one to have a life.  
Or love…

All that's left is the dance of one of two of none...
streaming moving and standing utterly still
without a ground or goal or place to be,
singing vibrantly
silently
a mad passionate dance
of you of me of we.
 
It is like love,
this beautiful homelessness.
This feeling of soaring
skinless as the wind.
This vibrant rushing
roaring
sublime perfection
breathing my heart song.

Life and love continue
to sail across a vast ocean of tears
as the sunset reflects its beautiful
beautiful oranges and reds
on my sky lined face...

Never born
never dying
Always born
always dying 

 



 Nancy Neithercut, from her book,

 "To Kiss What Cannot Be Kissed...: Love songs from the canyon"

 

substack 

 

 

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Henry Miller - A traveler on the road to nowhere

 


I have a theory that the moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. I have tried this experiment a thousand times and I have never been disappointed. The more I look at a thing, the more I see in it, and the more I see in it, the more I want to see. It is like peeling an onion. There is always another layer, and another, and another. And each layer is more beautiful than the last.
This is the way I look at the world. I don't see it as a collection of objects, but as a vast and mysterious organism. I see the beauty in the smallest things, and I find wonder in the most ordinary events. I am always looking for the hidden meaning, the secret message. I am always trying to understand the mystery of life.
I know that I will never understand everything, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I am content to live in the mystery, to be surrounded by the unknown. I am content to be a seeker, a pilgrim, a traveler on the road to nowhere. 

 


 

 wikipedia

 

 

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

J. Krishnamurti - Unadorned naked awareness

 


𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠.
𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠.
Thinking is a movement, a motion.
Being is the silence that precedes the motion.
You cannot see it, you cannot grasp it because you are it.
The unadorned naked awareness that is always there, rarely heeded,
is what you have always been, always will be.
Cannot not be.
You can't look for it because it is what is looking.
It is like space, you can't see it but everything is in it.
Everything is it.

 


 

Monday, November 6, 2023

Jackson Peterson - Beyond Non-Thought


 art Cameron Gray

 

 Beyond Non-Thought

A Primer on Non-Duality

Absolute Non-Duality, the Highest Teaching

I mentioned in my book that my research was guided by a wish to find the real common denominators amongst all the authentic spiritual traditions.   I felt those principles which were found to be commonly held, were probably indicative of something truly extraordinary and revealing about the nature of reality.

It’s only been most recently that my efforts bore real fruit.  I discovered that there exists a common thread of true non-duality viewed identically by Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Zen, Kashmiri Shaivism, Advaita Vedanta, Kabbalah and Sufism.
 
Previously I focused on the common teachings they all shared regarding our true identity to be an empty, cognitive Awareness, like Aware Space.  That’s all true, but it left the nature of the “external universe” to also be further researched, fully understood and satisfactorily resolved without leaving any major unexplained paradoxes.
 
All these mystical traditions have arrived at the exact same conclusion or view as per the reported experiences of their sages and most advanced practitioners.  

That view is:  the Absolute Nature is Itself appearing AS each sentient being, and AS all thoughts, states, identities, perceptions, objects and all phenomena;  illusory and real.  And that you are actually that Absolute Nature appearing as the conventional self felt as “me”.  The actual experiencer is identical to the experienced.

This was first experienced here while engaged in Sufi practices in 1977, regarding the Absolute manifesting AS myself:  the goal of Sufi practice, as your “self” is experienced to be non-existent because only Absolute Consciousness exists.

Later it occurred again during Kundalini activation but as regarding “external reality” being identical to and inseparable from this existing Consciousness.

During the last decade the illusory nature of there being an individual, independent self arose, as a sudden cessation of the selfing mechanism occurred several times, as Tony Parson’s clearly describes.

But the end of the road or path occurs only when this generic occurrence of universal non-duality occurs where subject and object are seen and known to be modalities of the Absolute Nature Itself.  The Absolute Consciousness is appearing AS the universe, as all thoughts, mental states, minds, identities, bodies, objects, experiences, actions and AS all beings, with no separation between the Absolute and all these manifestations and yourself.  Only thoughts create the illusion of separation, and thoughts are also the Absolute appearing AS exactly those same thoughts.  There is no “other”.

But keep in mind that the universe exists as a single Whole without local causes and effects, much like a movie projected on a movie screen exists as a single projection without separate interacting and independent parts, where active “cause and effect” has no reality.

In other words there are no individual agents, people, objects, energies or forces acting causatively locally, independently with volition and free-will.   

The characteristics of a wave are fully determined by the fluctuating dynamics of the entire ocean itself without any independent self-causation originating independently from the wave.
 
I will offer some key quotes from each tradition which exemplify this totally non-dual and all encompassing view:

Kabbalah:

“Some would argue that God is a divine spark inside things. Others would argue that God is a spirit outside things. God is not inside or outside. God is the very thing itself.”

“And when there is no thing, but only empty space? God is that as well.”

“Picture a bowl in your mind. Define the bowl. Is it just the clay that forms its sides? Or is it the empty space that fills with soup? Without the space, the bowl is not a bowl. Without the side, the bowl is not a bowl. So which is the bowl? The answer is both. To be a bowl, it must have both being and emptiness. It is the same with God.”

“For God to be God, for God to be All, God must manifest as both being and emptiness. In Hebrew, we call appearing existences yesh, and we call emptiness ayin. And that is what God is: yesh and ayin.”

“Appearing existences (yesh) is that manifestation of God that appears to us as separate entities—physical, spiritual, and psychological. Emptiness (ayin) is that manifestation of God that reveals all separation to be illusory: the universe is empty of separate beings and existences.”
Rabbi Rami Shapiro

Advaita:

https://youtu.be/23Pnz_D2904
https://youtu.be/qtP3feqUjUU

Shankara from his Atma Bodha:

63. “Brahman is not other than this, the universe. There exists nothing that is not Brahman. If any object other than Brahman appears to exist, it is unreal like the mirage”.

64. “All that is perceived, or heard, is Brahman and nothing else. Attaining the knowledge of the Reality, one sees the Universe as the non-dual Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss-Absolute.”

22. The luminosity of Atman consists in the manifestation of all objects.

64. Just as it is clay that appears under the name of a jar, or it is threads that appear under the name of a cloth, so it is Atman that appears under the name of the universe. This Atman is to be known by negating the “names”.

65. “Though Atman is Pure Consciousness and ever present everywhere, yet It is perceived by the eye-of-wisdom (Ajña, 3rd Eye chakra) alone: but one whose vision is obscured by ignorance he does not see It; as the blind do not see the resplendent Sun.”

From Dzogchen:

“In this there has never been a duality of Buddhas and sentient beings. This is called soaring through the sky with the perfect wings of the view.”

“This is the perfection of the perfect, the true heart-essence of enlightenment.  Everything is naturally the way that it is, so we have nothing to worry about. The uncontrived Nature  is one, and so it is that the apparent world is primordially a Buddha.”

“The apparent world, both external and internal, is total Buddhahood by its very nature. The way things truly are has been an uncontrived heart-essence from the beginning.”

“Everything is only this. There is nothing other than this.”

“The apparent world is the primordial Buddha.”

“Everything is perfect, so we are in a state of indivisible great bliss. Samantabhadra is totally pervasive and encompassing.”
Quotes from “The Tantra on the Soaring of the Great Garuda” translated by Chris Wilkinson

From the earliest discovered Dzogchen text, the Six Vajra Verses:

“Staying free from the trap of any attempt to say it's 'like this', or `like that', it becomes clear that all manifested forms are aspects of the infinite formless, and, indivisible from it, are self-perfected.”

“Seeing that everything is self-perfected from the very beginning, the disease of striving for any achievement comes to an end of its own accord, and just remaining in the natural state as it is, the presence of non-dual contemplation continuously, spontaneously arises."
(Translation by Namkhai Norbu)

Here are some quotes from a Dzogchen teaching by Lama Tenzin Namdak from his commentary on the “Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen”:

“The Natural State is always integrated with your consciousness. It has never been away from your consciousness, never, ever.”

“In the same way, whatever arises from Nature and appears as spontaneous visions or thoughts - thoughts are also visions; any kind of emotion or thoughts, good or bad, are called visions, everything is like waves or reflections in water.”

“No matter what appears in the water, it is all wet, and in the same way, whatever visions or thoughts, good or bad [arise from Nature], they are all forms of the Unspeakable State.”

“So here we can say that the Nature aspect is dharmakaya.”

“In the same way, whatever arises from one’s Self-Nature and appears as spontaneous visions or thoughts - thoughts are also visions; any kind of emotion or thoughts, good or bad, are called visions - everything is like waves or reflections in water. No matter what appears in the water, it is all wet, and in the same way, whatever visions or thoughts, good or bad [arise from Self-Nature], they are all forms of the Unspeakable State.”

“Nature (Consciousness) (rigpa) (awareness) (Buddha Nature) is 'taking the form' of happiness or suffering, all kinds of consciousnesses and perceptions, everything.”

“It is very, very important to know this. Whatever appears from this Nature, whatever thoughts come - it doesn't matter whether they are good or bad, sad, but everything appears from this Nature”.

“Nature is 'taking the form' of happiness or suffering, all kinds of consciousnesses and perceptions, everything.”

“That is real, not just made or created by visualization; there is no need to change anything, no need to think anything. There is no excuse; that is real Nature. You can follow this and trust it, it is real Nature.”

“Don't say you don't know Nature or you haven't seen it; it is always together with you - it is your Nature, the Nature of yourself, no separation.”

“At that time, it looks as though you are watching Nature or the thought, but if you look carefully, where is 'you'? Where is the watcher?”

“That is a mistake [if you think there is some duality]; you are integrated with Nature, together with your thought. There is no separation between you and the thought.”

“You think and feel as though you are separate, as though the thought is like an object, but that is a mistake. Don't follow this. At the same time, the thought and the 'watcher' are liberated back to Nature together; there is no separation into 'you' or 'thought' or 'Nature.' All together, they go back to the unspeakable state.”

“After this, there is no consciousness, no person, nothing exists separately, so who sees this State, this Nature? It sees itself.”

“That is special. It cannot be compared with any other Schools at all. People often try to compare this with the Madhyamaka view, but it is not possible to do so. This is special. Itself sees itself.”

“That is called Awareness, Self-Awareness. When we speak about Nature we say it is empty, but that is only in order to give it some name; this Emptiness cannot be compared with any other understanding of emptiness, not at all. This is very special.”

“Actually, it is not possible to give it a name or explain it - it is utterly beyond thought, beyond words. We only use these names temporarily in texts or Teachings, to try to lead students and make them understand, but the main thing is that when you look there, the unspeakable state is the Unspeakable State. It can see
itself.”

“It can be seen, but who sees it? It sees itself. What does it see? It sees itself. We call this Nature and Awareness.”

“Awareness (rigpa) is Nature, Nature is Awareness; there is no separation. Not at all.”

“We explain several aspects. But Nature itself is an indescribable State. Sometimes we say it is empty, pure and clear.”

“The Purity aspect is called kadag. The Clarity aspect is called rigpa. The aspect of Unification is called nyime, non-dual, inseparable.”

“This Nature is special in that it is perfected. What does this mean? It means that good things, bad things, everything appears spontaneously from this Nature.”

“Nature doesn't do anything special, it doesn't create anything. But this Nature has power, and so pure, impure, good, bad - anything can appear from it.”

“So we explain that this real Nature has Clarity, Unification and Perfection. We mainly explain [these aspects]. So here we can say that the Nature aspect is dharmakaya.”

“Nature is 'taking the form' of happiness or suffering, all kinds of consciousnesses and perceptions, everything.”

“At that time, people quite often have the thought or feeling; 'I am looking at the thought.' When you have this kind of sensation, immediately look back towards who is watching the thought. Just as you look at the thought, it disappears and there is an unspeakable state, so in the same way, look back to the 'owner' [of the thought] or the subject which is the watcher. “

“This will equally disappear into the Natural State at the same time. Both subject and object are equally liberated back to Nature. This is Nature.”

“Afterwards, there is no subject, no object, no separation, no differences at all, they are both equally the Unspeakable State. That is the Basic Nature.”

“Keep in this State for as long as you can. After a while a thought will arise spontaneously; you can see it clearly. This thought has come. At that time, you must neither reject it, nor follow it. Just leave it as a shining reflection in the mirror. You don't need to do anything, just leave it, and it will be liberated and disappear soon afterwards. It liberates into the Nature which is also the Base (Zhi) from which the thought appeared.”

From the Zen tradition:

“All beings are primarily Buddhas.
Like water and ice,
There is no ice apart from water;
There are no Buddhas apart from beings.
Not knowing how close the Truth is to them,
Beings seek for it afar--what a pity!"
Zen Master Hakuin Zenji

"Like empty space, the Buddha’s Dharma Body has no form, but this formless Dharma Body manifests itself within the phenomenal world as each and every phenomenal thing, just as the moon is reflected in water."
Okumura Roshi

Japanese Zen master Harada Roshi:

“All phenomena of the universe are the True Nature, which in Zen are known to be the Buddha Nature (Consciousness)”.

“We are living within buddha-nature. Our life itself is buddha-nature.” Harada Roshi
“Whatever we see or hear or feel, everything we experience is buddha-nature (Consciousness).” Harada Roshi

“I would like you to understand that greed, anger, and ignorance are also other names for buddha-nature.”  Harada Roshi

Zen master Okumura Roshi wrote:

“Because it includes everything, this absolute reality does not exclude our relative views and discriminating minds, including our deluded relative views. If it did not include our relative views, it would not be truly absolute. So we cannot be an observer of absolute reality because we ourselves are part of the total movement of that reality.”

“Subsequent Zen masters taught that our actions are nothing other than manifestations of tathata, or suchness (Buddha Nature) itself. The two famous sayings of Mazu and his students are:

“The mind is itself Buddha” (Sokushin zebutsu) and “Ordinary mind is the Way” (Heijo-shin ze-do). Seeing ultimate reality (li) within concrete phenomena ( ji) was the basis of their teachings. In other words, they taught that Buddha nature is not something hidden in living beings.”

“They said, rather, that all concrete phenomena and all beings are themselves manifestations of tathata, or ultimate reality (Consciousness).”

The “ten thousand things” are different names for the same Buddha Nature.

https://youtu.be/IJEgPrxFR4Y

Huang Po:

“It is pure Mind, which is the source of everything and which, whether appearing AS sentient beings or Buddhas, or AS the rivers and mountains of the world which has form, or as that which is formless, or penetrating the whole universe, is absolutely without distinctions, there being no such entities as selfness and otherness.”

https://youtu.be/zA8MNXdPXHs

From the Hongaku Tiendai Buddhist tradition:

https://youtu.be/1zXXWsD39hc

Chan master, Tsungmi wrote:

“The arising of mental activity, the movement of thought, snapping the fingers, or moving the eyes, all actions and activities are the functioning of the entire essence of the Buddha-nature.  Since there is no other kind of functioning, greed, anger, and folly, the performance of good and bad actions, and the experiencing of their pleasurable and painful consequences are all, in their entirety, Buddhanature.... If one examines the nature of its essence thoroughly, he will see that ultimately it (awareness) can neither be perceived nor realized just as the eye cannot see itself, etc. If one considers its responsive functioning, he will see that everything that he does is the functioning of the Buddha-nature  and that there is nothing else that can either realize it or be realized.... One should not rouse the mind either to cut off evil or to cultivate the Way. Since the Way itself is the Mind.  One cannot use the Mind to cultivate the Mind. Since evil is also the Mind expression, one cannot use the Mind to cut off the Mind. One who neither cuts off evil nor does good but freely accepts things as they come is called a liberated person. There is no dharma that can be clung to nor any Buddhahood that can be attained.... Simply allowing the mind to act spontaneously is cultivation.”

Zen master Dogen wrote:

“The Tao is originally perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent on practice and realization? The true vehicle is self-sufficient. What need is there for special effort? Indeed, the whole body is free from dust. Who could believe in a means to brush it clean? It is never apart from this very place; what is the use of traveling around to practice? And yet, if there is a hairsbreadth deviation, it is like the gap between heaven and earth. If the least like or dislike arises, the mind is lost in confusion. Suppose you are confident in your understanding and rich in enlightenment, gaining the wisdom that knows at a glance, attaining the Way and clarifying the mind, arousing an aspiration to reach for the heavens. You are playing in the entranceway, but you are still short of the vital path of emancipation.
Consider the Buddha: although he was wise at birth, the traces of his six years of upright sitting can yet be seen. As for Bodhidharma, although he had received the mind-seal, his nine years of facing a wall is celebrated still. If even the ancient sages were like this, how can we today dispense with wholehearted practice?
Therefore, put aside the intellectual practice of investigating words and chasing phrases, and learn to take the backward step that turns the light and shines it inward. Body and mind of themselves will drop away, and your original face will manifest. If you want to realize such, get to work on such right now.”

“The so-called dharma gate of the whole reality of Mind-Nature in Buddha-dharma includes the entire phenomenal world, without separating nature from characteristics or birth from death. Nothing, not even awakening or nirvana, is outside of Mind-Nature. All things and all phenomena are just One Mind; nothing is excluded or unrelated. It is taught that all dharma gates are equally One Mind, and there is no differentiation. This is the Buddhist understanding of Mind-Nature.”

Zen Master Chinul wrote in 12th century Korea:

"Internal and external are all the same function. That means when we are practicing, we take up all the phenomena of the physical universe, internal, external, mental or physical as well as motion and activity, and regard them all as the sublime activity of the True Mind.  As soon as any thought or mental state arises, it is then the appearance of this sublime function.  Since all things are this sublime functioning, where can the deluded mind stand? This is the method of extinguishing delusion by seeing that all things external and internal are the same function of the True Mind.”

Suzuki Roshi wrote:

“To do something, to live in each moment, means to be the temporal activity of Buddha. To sit in this way is to be Buddha himself, to be as the historical Buddha was. The same thing applies to everything we do. Everything is Buddha's activity. So whatever you do, or even if you keep from doing some- thing, Buddha is that activity. Because people have no such understanding of Buddha, they think what they do is the most important thing, without knowing who it is that is actually doing it. People think they are doing various things, but actually Buddha is doing everything.  Each one of us has his own name, but those names are the many names of one Buddha.  Each one of us has many activities, but those activities are all Buddha's activities.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APjXpUnHw20

 
The point being made is that the Absolute manifests AS “dependent origination”, where the principle of cause and effect is never violated or is absent.

Mahamudra:

Master Maitripa:

“It is the mind's own nature
that is Mahamudra [i.e., the Absolute State].
It is not something to be perfected or transformed.
Thus, to realize this, is to realize
that the whole world of appearance is Mahamudra.
This is the absolute all-inclusive Dharmakaya [i.e.,the Ultimate Embodiment of Buddhahood].”

“Clarifying  the Natural State”
by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal
(b.1511-1587)
Pointing Out Mahamudra:

“The meditator should now assume the correct posture in front of (the master, and be told the following): "Let your mind remain in its natural way. When thoughts have subsided, your mind is an intangible, aware emptiness. Be undistracted and look directly into the identity of this naked state! "At this moment, allow a feisty thought, such as delight, to take form.

The very moment it vividly occurs, look directly into its identity from within the state of aware emptiness. "Now, is this thought the intangible and naked state of aware emptiness? Or is it absolutely no different from the identity of innate mind-essence itself? Look!" Let the meditator look for a short while.

The meditator may say, "It is the aware emptiness. There seems to be no difference." If so, ask: "Is it an aware emptiness only AFTER the thought has dissolved? Or, is it an aware emptiness by driving away the thought by meditation?

Or, is the vividness of the thought itself the aware emptiness?"

“If the meditator says it is like one of the first two cases, he has not cleared up the former uncertainties and should therefore be set to resolve this for a few days. “

“On the other hand, if he personally experiences it to be like the latter case, he has seen the identity of thought and can therefore be given the following pointing-out instruction:

“When you look into a thought's identity, without having to dissolve the thought and without having to force it out by meditation, the vividness of the thought IS itself the indescribable and naked state of aware emptiness.”

“We call this seeing the natural face of innate thought or thought dawns AS dharmakaya (Buddha Nature).

"Previously, when you determined the thought's identity and when you investigated the calm and the moving mind, you found that there was nothing other than this intangible single mind that is a self-knowing, natural awareness. It is just like the analogy of water and waves. “

"This being so, is there any difference between calm and movement? "Is there any difference between thinking and not thinking? "Is it better to be serenely calm? Do you need to be elated about it? "Is it worse when a thought abruptly arises? Do you need to be unhappy about it?”

"Unless you perceive this hidden deception, you will suffer the meditation famine.  So, from now on, when a thought does not arise you need not deliberately make one arise so as to train in the state of its arising, and when the thought does arise you need not deliberately prevent it, so as to train in the state of its nonarising.  Thus, do not be biased toward calm or movement."

“The principle for this thought can be applied to all thoughts.

If it is preferable, bring in some quotations to instill certainty.

Third, the physical posture and so forth should be kept just as before. Then ask: "While in the composure of the natural state, allow a visual perception, such as that of a mountain or a house, to be vividly experienced.”

“When looking directly at the experience, is this perception itself an intangible aware emptiness? Or, is it the aware and empty nature of mind? Look for a while to see what the difference is between them.  Let the meditator look. He may say, "There is no difference. It is an intangible, aware emptiness."

“If so, then ask: "Is it an aware emptiness only AFTER the perceived image has disappeared? Or, is the image an aware emptiness by means of cultivating the aware emptiness? Or, IS the perceived image itself an aware emptiness?"
“If the answer comes that it is one of the first two cases, the meditator has not thoroughly investigated the above and should therefore once more be sent to meditate and resolve this. If he does experience that the vividly perceived visual image itself - unidentifiable in any way other than as a mere presence of unconfined perception - is an aware emptiness, the master should then give this pointing-out instruction:

“When you vividly perceive a mountain or a house, no matter how this perception appears, it does not need to disappear or be stopped. Rather, while this perception is experienced, it is itself intangible, empty awareness. This is called seeing the identity of perception.”

“Previously you cleared up uncertainties when you looked into the identity of a perception and resolved that perceptions ARE mind.”

“Accordingly, the perception is not outside and the mind is not inside. It is merely, and nothing other than, this empty and aware mind that appears AS a perception.”

“It is exactly like the example of a dream-object and the dreaming mind.”

“From the very moment a perception occurs, it IS a naturally freed and intangible perceiving emptiness.”

“This perceiving yet intangible and naked state of empty perception is called seeing the natural face of innate perception or perception dawning as dharmakaya."

“This being so, 'empty' isn't something better and 'perceiving' isn't something worse, and perceiving and being  empty are not separate entities. So, you can continue training in whatever is experienced. When perceiving, in order to deliberately train in perception, there is no need to arrest it. When empty, in order to deliberately train in emptiness, you do not need to produce it.”

“Whenever you recall the mindful presence of practice, all of appearance and existence is the Mahamudra of dharmakaya, without the need to adjust, accept or reject.”

“And so, from now on, continue the training without being biased toward perception or emptiness by repressing or encouraging either of them"

“Nevertheless, for a while allow various kinds of perceptions to take place. While perceiving it is essential to be undistracted from sustaining the unidentifiable essence."

“Thus, let the meditator train for several days. If it is preferred, bring in some quotations to instill certainty.”

“At some point, when mindfulness and your Mind are no longer seen to be different entities, everything turns into the nature of mindful presence and it is 'smooth sailing' from then on.”

Sufism:

From the great 12th century Sufi Balyani:

“Because of this, the Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) said, “He who knows himself, knows his Lord”. He also said, “I knew my Lord through my Lord”.

“What the Prophet meant by this, is that you are not you but you are He and there is no you; and it is not that He enters into you or comes out of you, or that you enter into Him or come out of Him.”

“Then God showed him what is other than Him as Himself, without the existence of what is other than Him. So he saw things as they are, that is, he saw them as the essence of God – may He be exalted! – without how or where.”

“The word ‘things’ may equally well be applied to the self or to other things, the existence of the self being similarly in the category of things. When one knows the things, one knows oneself and when one knows oneself, one knows the Lord: because what you think is other than God is not other than God but you do not know it. You see Him and you do not know that you see Him.”

“You do not see God as having ever created anything but as being “every day in a different configuration”, which sometimes reveals Him and sometimes conceals Him, without any condition: since “He is the First and the Last, the Apparent and the Hidden and He has Knowledge of everything”. He manifests Himself by His Oneness and hides Himself by His Singularity.”

https://youtu.be/nb3kBVkrWcw

Sufi Shah Nimatullahi:

“The seeker is the Sought!”

This is quantum physicist David Bohm’s vision of Wholeness:

“The ‘implicate order’ does not rule out God, nor does it say there is a God. But it would suggest that there is a creative intelligence underlying the Whole, which might have as one of the essentials that which was meant by the word 'God'."

“So it will be ultimately misleading and indeed wrong to suppose, for example, that each human being is an independent actuality who interacts with other human beings and with nature. Rather, all these are projections of a single totality."

“We see, then, that each moment of consciousness has a certain explicit content, which is a foreground, and an implicit content, which is a corresponding background.”

“So we do not say that mind and body causally affect each other, but rather that the movements of both are the outcome of related projections of a common higher-dimensional ground.”

********************************

The relational view of the universe in physics and how it relates to our own experience directly:

In our understanding of the relational nature of the universe, we view it as a universe without specific, separate objects. Instead, we see a relational universe, much like an ocean. This universe is a single, seemingly unbroken field of energy in flux, without independent parts.

In this relativistic model, there are no parts interacting because there are no parts to begin with. The vision resembles an ocean without divisions. This is a monistic, non-dual view of reality, analogous in many ways to how some interpret quantum field theory.

Suppose we come to recognize that the universe is this single field of existence. In that case, our own lives, minds, bodies, psychology, mental, and emotional states are all part of this undivided wholeness. Nothing is divided into a "me" on one side and "objects" or "others" on the other side, as if they exist separately from us.

Examining our direct experiences, we often feel that "I", the subject, am distinct from the sounds I hear, the colors I see, the forms I perceive, the flavors I taste, the odors I smell, and the sensations I feel. This division into subject-object dichotomies is how our brain processes experiences. However, we can challenge this. We can explore other ways to perceive phenomena we believe are separate from us.

Try this: Close your eyes, achieve calm attention, and notice a sound, like a bell ringing, or the colors that emerge when facing a light source. As you experience these, can you, during the experience, separate the awareness experiencing from the phenomenon being experienced?  If you're truly attentive, you might find that you can't.

There's no division between the I hearing a sound or the I seeing a color;  and that which is heard or seen, there's just the non-dual experience itself. This applies to every sensory or mental perception.

Our brain often creates a division almost immediately after any non-dual experience. It suggests there was a "hearer" and a separate sound heard or a "seer" and a distinct color seen. This takes away from the non-dual nature of the experience itself.

In Japanese Zen, or "zazen", sitting in a state of mental presence allows experiences to become less dualistic. Over time, the sense of a dualistic experience diminishes, leading to a non-dual, undivided experience. This non-dual state, often referred to in Eastern traditions as "Samadhi", is where the mind stops generating separations between the self and the experienced object.

Zen masters point to everything as being "yourself", not in a personalized sense, but everything as being a self-experience of  Buddha Nature or Consciousness.
 
This non-dual, experiential perspective aligns with and converges with how quantum physics, particularly Carlo Rovelli's “relational physics”, describes the universe.  It also resonates with the Emptiness teachings of Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti.

Rather than seeking to understand a postulated “external" reality, the notions of seeker and sought dissolve in Samadhi. The idea of an externally existing universe becomes a mere label, an afterthought, as does the subjective notion of an individual self or an independently existing object in some kind of disconnected external dimension.

Returning to the non-theoretical: Observe a sound, the colors, forms, flavors, odors, and sensations you perceive. Can you separate your experiencing awareness from the sensory input?

These examples show the undivided nature of experience. The division we perceive between the self and the external world is a mental construct.

In Zen's "shikantaza" or "just sitting", this dividing activity becomes less active. Experiences are perceived not as dual but as a whole. This non-dual state, before the mind begins to hypothesize a separate self, shows that our universe is a single ocean of experience that can't be divided. The divided nature of "me" as a subject confronting objects or others is merely a conceptual abstraction. The idea of an external universe, independent of oneself, disappears.
Balyani

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb3kBVkrWcw

 


 

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