NON-DUALITY
0) Reality must REALLY be REALIZED | Knowing = Being
Only in direct realization or mystical illumination and not through the intellect alone that the nature of Ultimate Reality can be known in the most definitive way.
1) Cannot Be Spoken, Visualized or Conceptualized
Tao that can be told is not the Tao. Mystery / Unknowing - It is a Thusness, Suchness, Isness that cannot be expressed in Words.
a. Nothing Outside of it, no position. Cannot be known conceptually, because there is no position to take outside of it to know it. It is Unknowing. You cannot point to, because you cannot point to everything, you can only really point to what it is not.
b. Nondual = Not 2, hard to visualize. Good choice, but still has opposite of nonduality.
c. Not 2 points to no opposites, Oneness has opposite manyness.
d. Best to use negatives as to not objectify or reify. Can say what it is not.
1b) Simplicity - It is unspeakable not because it is too mysterious or complex or too sublime, but rather because it is too simple, too obvious, and too close and too all-inclusive (its everything) to be caught in symbols or words. As the scriptures say, it is the One "before whom words recoil".
2) Neither Real Nor Unreal (Empty-Fullness = Shunya)- (Relative Side - Object) Cannot be made real or solid... QM.. All Possibilities in Potentia. This UR is Nothing & Everything, It IS and it ISN'T, its both Real and Unreal, its both form and emptiness, existence and non-existence, etc.
Shunya or Shunyata is perhaps the most important term in the Mahayana and Nondual Buddhist traditions. It comes from the root 'su' which means 'to swell' in to senses: hollow and empty AND also full, much like a pregnant women.
1) Hollow or Empty = Void, Vacuum, Nothing. This denies any fixed self nature to anything
2) Full = All possibilities, Everything. This implies a fullness or limitless possibility, for lack of any fixed characteristic allows the infinite diversity of impermanent phenomena.
(It is unfortunate that many people in the West think Shunya refers to the first sense.)
In Mahayana, Shunya means the true nature of the world (tathata) is empty of all description
1. Nirvikalpa (Perceiving w/o perception - nondual perception = prajna) vs Sabikalpa.
2. Non existence of any self subsisting object "behind" a percept.
All phenomenon are empty (Shunya) of marks of their own, without true reality, incomplete and uncreated!
The appearance that apparently happens is not an object therefore it is both real and unreal. Emptiness of Spirit. Whisp of Smoke, Insubstantial, Appearance gets thinner - Emptiness Arising. Not support - all appearances in creation are roots with no support.
Nothing = Everything ... To predicate something of nothing is to predicate it as everything and vice versa.
It is like the traveling of an empty soul to a Reality which is fullness, and which paradoxically encompasses all opposites such as Real and Unreal, Nothing and Everything, Being and Non-being, etc.
3) Radical Oneness (space) [OMNIPRESENCE/INFINITE] - (cannot be separated from, cannot be objectified, known or conceptualized). Beyond Space. 'What is' is hiding in the obviousness of itself (as everything). What the seeker longs for remains hidden by being everything. Again there is no position to take outside of Oneness to 'know' it, because that is all there is.
4) Whole/Fullness in Each Part (space), (Relative Side) and everything that arises is inherently empty (Nothing can be attained or added - Perfect Already). All Space
Complete and Full in Everything Arising. Not separate like I - AM presence pictures (HERE).
If everything is perfect already, what is there to seek and find? It is perfect because it is all there is (not our limited definitions of perfection).
Infinite EveryWhere = Infinite HERE (Fractal in Space)
5) Beginning less (time) - (Absolute Side - Object) Non-Origination [Cannot be entered, and Cannot be left]. Ajati (jati born) so Ajati is Unborn, Eternal, Not Produced. The illusion has no beginning but it apparently can end.
5b) **Cannot Be Attained in Time** - Ultimate reality is not something lacking or something to be found or attained, because it is never lost. You cannot be connected to what is not separate.
6) Immediate (time) - (relative side- Subject) -**Immediacy** It is just What's Happening, Just This, What Arises, Just What IS... It is Immediacy like the clapping of your hands or snapping or fingers. It's this and this and this and this... No distance or separation in space or time, nondual HERE and Now. Simple Immediacy of Being. ETERNITY = EveryWhen (NOW) (Fractal in Time)
7) One Taste Sameness (absolute side - Subject) - One Taste. One State. Because it all tastes the same. All there is is what is apparently happening. So while it is always Fresh and New and delightfully varied through Eternity on the Relative side, on the Absolute it is always One Taste vanilla sameness. So paradoxically it is always the same from the Absolute side. The newsness and freshness are only apparent from the relative. So One Taste is the best Vanilla you'll ever have!
8) Nothing Ever Happens [Only Appearances - Absolute Sameness - Objects (one taste is from the Subject Perspective and comes from this fact of nothing happening] - Mystery of Mysteries!
Nothing "Somethinging", This is the infinite appearing finite. The formless appearing as form.
This is not ‘becoming’, it’s unbelievably and beyond conception the same thing. So in that sense it’s not moving , there is nothing actuality happening. doesn’t actually move.
The appearance that apparently happens is not an object therefore it is both real and unreal.
'This' is not Permanent because it’s not happening , only seems to be.. Permanent would mean real time. This doesn’t actually move. Nothing is really happening , it’s only apparent.
Note: From the Self/Atman/Advaita perspective, the Self is permanent, everything else arising is NOT. No self doctrines claim impermanence because the deny the eternal Self.
9) Continuous Creation/ FRESH and NEW (relative side - Object) - Unconditional Freedom - No Cause and Effect, No Free Will and Choice. The oldest thought is completely new. UR is not some Vanilla sameness.
10) Snowflakes of Oneness [The Shining Relative] - (Relative Subjects) Not some amorphous Oneness Goo, Divine Mush or featureless Unity. More on this in section "Beyond Nonduality".
11) No Subject and Object, Hence No "Me" and No One [No Person or Separate Self] only the One or True Self. Ontology and Epistemology or gnoseological (BEING = KNOWING). Ultimate Reality and Rigpa/Prajna are not-two.
12) Because Ultimate Reality is unlimited, "It" can also appear as being limited.
Contracted Energy -> Here -> Separate Self -> Objects/Real Things. Ego is real and who I am.
Something not right -> Paths to Fulfillment success / enlightenment.
13) Nonduality of Man and God - (Absolute Side - Subject) Liberation always present and can be directly recognized. It is within all states of consciousness as simple awareness. Nondual Perception, Thinking and Action.
14) Beyond Nonduality [Manifestation] - Brining Nonduality Back Down to Physical. Purfication, Devotion, Samadhi. Relative side. Rainbow Buddha Body, BoddhiSattva, Ascension, Etc. Though nonduality can be realized at any stage of consciousness in the Absolute sense, on the relative side evolution apparently can continue to higher and higher levels of Manifestation leading to the fullness of Spirit.
15) Stories of Everpresent Enlightenment
Something Deeper Can hear this, Resonance - Contracted energy can melt back into wholeness!
Its a surrender of sorts to What is (though no one surrenders), or whatever that happens is ok. It is what it is. IT is!
Whatever happens, happens (Jo ho jaye). What is, is (Ja Ta). Ya Ta (Whatsoever Arises Is That)
Note: Object = Brahman / Subject = Atman, both ultimately one, but helps to take perspectives.
Here we are taking Emptiness primary as emptiness within form, not emptiness of the Self (no one or no self). It makes more sense to the author to consider the Self or I-I/Atman as ultimately real so early Buddhist ideas of "no self" or NeoAdvaita of Tony Parsons (and others who learned from him) of no one, doesn't resonate with me. HOWEVER, I deeply believe both perspectives (as well as others, but those are the main two), point to the same nondual reality though the former (Self / Atman) is more balanced, cohesive, and psychologically sound in the authors opinion.
Only in direct realization or mystical illumination and not through the intellect alone that the nature of Ultimate Reality can be known in the most definitive way.
1) Cannot Be Spoken, Visualized or Conceptualized
Tao that can be told is not the Tao. Mystery / Unknowing - It is a Thusness, Suchness, Isness that cannot be expressed in Words.
a. Nothing Outside of it, no position. Cannot be known conceptually, because there is no position to take outside of it to know it. It is Unknowing. You cannot point to, because you cannot point to everything, you can only really point to what it is not.
b. Nondual = Not 2, hard to visualize. Good choice, but still has opposite of nonduality.
c. Not 2 points to no opposites, Oneness has opposite manyness.
d. Best to use negatives as to not objectify or reify. Can say what it is not.
1b) Simplicity - It is unspeakable not because it is too mysterious or complex or too sublime, but rather because it is too simple, too obvious, and too close and too all-inclusive (its everything) to be caught in symbols or words. As the scriptures say, it is the One "before whom words recoil".
2) Neither Real Nor Unreal (Empty-Fullness = Shunya)- (Relative Side - Object) Cannot be made real or solid... QM.. All Possibilities in Potentia. This UR is Nothing & Everything, It IS and it ISN'T, its both Real and Unreal, its both form and emptiness, existence and non-existence, etc.
Shunya or Shunyata is perhaps the most important term in the Mahayana and Nondual Buddhist traditions. It comes from the root 'su' which means 'to swell' in to senses: hollow and empty AND also full, much like a pregnant women.
1) Hollow or Empty = Void, Vacuum, Nothing. This denies any fixed self nature to anything
2) Full = All possibilities, Everything. This implies a fullness or limitless possibility, for lack of any fixed characteristic allows the infinite diversity of impermanent phenomena.
(It is unfortunate that many people in the West think Shunya refers to the first sense.)
In Mahayana, Shunya means the true nature of the world (tathata) is empty of all description
1. Nirvikalpa (Perceiving w/o perception - nondual perception = prajna) vs Sabikalpa.
2. Non existence of any self subsisting object "behind" a percept.
All phenomenon are empty (Shunya) of marks of their own, without true reality, incomplete and uncreated!
The appearance that apparently happens is not an object therefore it is both real and unreal. Emptiness of Spirit. Whisp of Smoke, Insubstantial, Appearance gets thinner - Emptiness Arising. Not support - all appearances in creation are roots with no support.
Nothing = Everything ... To predicate something of nothing is to predicate it as everything and vice versa.
It is like the traveling of an empty soul to a Reality which is fullness, and which paradoxically encompasses all opposites such as Real and Unreal, Nothing and Everything, Being and Non-being, etc.
3) Radical Oneness (space) [OMNIPRESENCE/INFINITE] - (cannot be separated from, cannot be objectified, known or conceptualized). Beyond Space. 'What is' is hiding in the obviousness of itself (as everything). What the seeker longs for remains hidden by being everything. Again there is no position to take outside of Oneness to 'know' it, because that is all there is.
4) Whole/Fullness in Each Part (space), (Relative Side) and everything that arises is inherently empty (Nothing can be attained or added - Perfect Already). All Space
Complete and Full in Everything Arising. Not separate like I - AM presence pictures (HERE).
If everything is perfect already, what is there to seek and find? It is perfect because it is all there is (not our limited definitions of perfection).
Infinite EveryWhere = Infinite HERE (Fractal in Space)
5) Beginning less (time) - (Absolute Side - Object) Non-Origination [Cannot be entered, and Cannot be left]. Ajati (jati born) so Ajati is Unborn, Eternal, Not Produced. The illusion has no beginning but it apparently can end.
5b) **Cannot Be Attained in Time** - Ultimate reality is not something lacking or something to be found or attained, because it is never lost. You cannot be connected to what is not separate.
6) Immediate (time) - (relative side- Subject) -**Immediacy** It is just What's Happening, Just This, What Arises, Just What IS... It is Immediacy like the clapping of your hands or snapping or fingers. It's this and this and this and this... No distance or separation in space or time, nondual HERE and Now. Simple Immediacy of Being. ETERNITY = EveryWhen (NOW) (Fractal in Time)
7) One Taste Sameness (absolute side - Subject) - One Taste. One State. Because it all tastes the same. All there is is what is apparently happening. So while it is always Fresh and New and delightfully varied through Eternity on the Relative side, on the Absolute it is always One Taste vanilla sameness. So paradoxically it is always the same from the Absolute side. The newsness and freshness are only apparent from the relative. So One Taste is the best Vanilla you'll ever have!
8) Nothing Ever Happens [Only Appearances - Absolute Sameness - Objects (one taste is from the Subject Perspective and comes from this fact of nothing happening] - Mystery of Mysteries!
Nothing "Somethinging", This is the infinite appearing finite. The formless appearing as form.
This is not ‘becoming’, it’s unbelievably and beyond conception the same thing. So in that sense it’s not moving , there is nothing actuality happening. doesn’t actually move.
The appearance that apparently happens is not an object therefore it is both real and unreal.
'This' is not Permanent because it’s not happening , only seems to be.. Permanent would mean real time. This doesn’t actually move. Nothing is really happening , it’s only apparent.
Note: From the Self/Atman/Advaita perspective, the Self is permanent, everything else arising is NOT. No self doctrines claim impermanence because the deny the eternal Self.
9) Continuous Creation/ FRESH and NEW (relative side - Object) - Unconditional Freedom - No Cause and Effect, No Free Will and Choice. The oldest thought is completely new. UR is not some Vanilla sameness.
10) Snowflakes of Oneness [The Shining Relative] - (Relative Subjects) Not some amorphous Oneness Goo, Divine Mush or featureless Unity. More on this in section "Beyond Nonduality".
11) No Subject and Object, Hence No "Me" and No One [No Person or Separate Self] only the One or True Self. Ontology and Epistemology or gnoseological (BEING = KNOWING). Ultimate Reality and Rigpa/Prajna are not-two.
12) Because Ultimate Reality is unlimited, "It" can also appear as being limited.
Contracted Energy -> Here -> Separate Self -> Objects/Real Things. Ego is real and who I am.
Something not right -> Paths to Fulfillment success / enlightenment.
13) Nonduality of Man and God - (Absolute Side - Subject) Liberation always present and can be directly recognized. It is within all states of consciousness as simple awareness. Nondual Perception, Thinking and Action.
14) Beyond Nonduality [Manifestation] - Brining Nonduality Back Down to Physical. Purfication, Devotion, Samadhi. Relative side. Rainbow Buddha Body, BoddhiSattva, Ascension, Etc. Though nonduality can be realized at any stage of consciousness in the Absolute sense, on the relative side evolution apparently can continue to higher and higher levels of Manifestation leading to the fullness of Spirit.
15) Stories of Everpresent Enlightenment
Something Deeper Can hear this, Resonance - Contracted energy can melt back into wholeness!
Its a surrender of sorts to What is (though no one surrenders), or whatever that happens is ok. It is what it is. IT is!
Whatever happens, happens (Jo ho jaye). What is, is (Ja Ta). Ya Ta (Whatsoever Arises Is That)
Note: Object = Brahman / Subject = Atman, both ultimately one, but helps to take perspectives.
Here we are taking Emptiness primary as emptiness within form, not emptiness of the Self (no one or no self). It makes more sense to the author to consider the Self or I-I/Atman as ultimately real so early Buddhist ideas of "no self" or NeoAdvaita of Tony Parsons (and others who learned from him) of no one, doesn't resonate with me. HOWEVER, I deeply believe both perspectives (as well as others, but those are the main two), point to the same nondual reality though the former (Self / Atman) is more balanced, cohesive, and psychologically sound in the authors opinion.
The realization of the Great Nondual traditions of both East and West is uncompromising: There is Only God, Only THAT, Spirit, Brahman, Tao, Beingness, Aliveness, The Absolute, Unconditional Love, Absolute Freedom, Shunyata (The Great Void), etc. or aptly termed Ultimate Reality (UR) which is a mystery that cannot be known.
Ultimate reality is not some anthropomorphic figure or old man in the sky with a grey beard sitting on a throne.
It is simply the condition of all conditions, the nature of all natures. It is the Isness, Suchness or Thusness of everything that Arises. And you are ultimately one with that... Or that is to say, you and the ultimate ground are NOT - TWO (non-dual). All the good, and all the evil, both light and darkness, the very best and the very worst - each and all are radically perfection manifestations of Spirit exactly as they are. There is nothing but God in all directions, and there is nothing that is more or less Spirit than anything else.
We say it is Advaita or NonDual which both mean "Not 2" to express the fact that Ultimate Reality is inexpressible. Non-duality or 'not 2' cannot be defined (unlike oneness), because it is NOT a thing. It cannot be reified, worshipped, grasped, realized or attained. Or simply put, if you refer to reality as One, you limit it.
Ultimate reality is not some anthropomorphic figure or old man in the sky with a grey beard sitting on a throne.
It is simply the condition of all conditions, the nature of all natures. It is the Isness, Suchness or Thusness of everything that Arises. And you are ultimately one with that... Or that is to say, you and the ultimate ground are NOT - TWO (non-dual). All the good, and all the evil, both light and darkness, the very best and the very worst - each and all are radically perfection manifestations of Spirit exactly as they are. There is nothing but God in all directions, and there is nothing that is more or less Spirit than anything else.
We say it is Advaita or NonDual which both mean "Not 2" to express the fact that Ultimate Reality is inexpressible. Non-duality or 'not 2' cannot be defined (unlike oneness), because it is NOT a thing. It cannot be reified, worshipped, grasped, realized or attained. Or simply put, if you refer to reality as One, you limit it.
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/download-1_orig.jpg)
**A common metaphor is it is like the ocean and its waves.**
Waves are produced by the ocean, but the ocean and its waves are ultimately Not- two.
There is something they both share. There is a common thusness or suchness.
And that is wetness.
One wave might be larger than another wave, but it is not wetter than another wave.
All of the waves are equally wet. If you discover wetness at the wave you are on, you've discovered it everywhere! You have woken up, you have awakened.
You have become enlightened about the ever present wetness of the ocean and everything in it. You have simply discovered the thusness, the suchness, the isles of all reality.
Which means your own immediate awareness, right here and right now, is itself directly one with, its totally saturated with, this ultimate ground of all being which is non-dual. You do not have to seek this witness or practice to be wet or jump from one wave to another. Any place you are at, you're wet.
But as a common saying has it, "A fish doesn't know it's wet". Because it's constant in that wetness, so it never experiences anything but that.
To really become aware that it is wet, the fish has to have a genuine waking up to that.
It actually has to become enlightened about its ever present condition. Its always already thusness or wetness, the fact that it is drenched with this all encompassing ground of being.
Waves are produced by the ocean, but the ocean and its waves are ultimately Not- two.
There is something they both share. There is a common thusness or suchness.
And that is wetness.
One wave might be larger than another wave, but it is not wetter than another wave.
All of the waves are equally wet. If you discover wetness at the wave you are on, you've discovered it everywhere! You have woken up, you have awakened.
You have become enlightened about the ever present wetness of the ocean and everything in it. You have simply discovered the thusness, the suchness, the isles of all reality.
Which means your own immediate awareness, right here and right now, is itself directly one with, its totally saturated with, this ultimate ground of all being which is non-dual. You do not have to seek this witness or practice to be wet or jump from one wave to another. Any place you are at, you're wet.
But as a common saying has it, "A fish doesn't know it's wet". Because it's constant in that wetness, so it never experiences anything but that.
To really become aware that it is wet, the fish has to have a genuine waking up to that.
It actually has to become enlightened about its ever present condition. Its always already thusness or wetness, the fact that it is drenched with this all encompassing ground of being.
And the very fact that it is utterly all-inclusive, that means among other things, that it is not confined to any particular opposite.
You really cannot say it is good vs evil, or infinite vs finite or spiritual vs material.
Because it includes all of those, they are ALL equally wet.
** Most of our words and concepts have meaning only in terms of their opposite:
good vs evil, or infinite vs finite, spiritual vs material, pleasure vs pain, smart vs stupid, up vs down, left vs right and on and on.
But Reality itself has no opposites, it embraces all of them.
We can indeed experience it, we just cannot put into words or symbols very well.
It is radically unqualifiable. This manifest world is dualistic, again almost everything we know exists in pairs of opposites. If something exists, it will generally have an opposite. And so the waking up experience itself is said to be a waking up into a world that is free of being torn into conflicting opposites.
---
The second reason Non-duality is a great signifier is that "Not Two" refers to the notion that Ultimate reality is free and beyond all pairs of opposites. Oneness and opposite of Manyness, Unicity has as its opposite Multiplicity, so words like Oneness are clearly not ideal. Or any word with a clear opposite. For me, the word God resonates but in the since that there is nothing BUT God, which includes the person reading these words. So I guess, any word is fine that rings true to your heart as long as you do not objectify it into something that can be known or attained because as we'll see, it is ALREADY all there is! You are THAT already!
---
The Upanishads say that enlightenment is "being freed from the pairs", the pairs of opposites. The Christian Mystics call the Ultimate reality the coincidentia oppositorum.
The coincidence of opposites, the unity of opposites, the non-duality of opposites.
Another way of saying this is that all of the opposites are included in UR, all of them, true and false, good and evil, love and hate. All equally included.
Good waves, bad evils, short waves, tall waves, all equally wet.
The Ultimate Ground of All Being IS ALL BEING.
"I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." Isaiah 45:7 {KJE}
And when you have anything like that waking up or unity experience, you will directly feel the utter profound, all inclusive oneness.
Now what do we call that wetness? Similar to the conundrum of Science with light traveling in a vaccuum. It was known all waves need a medium to travel, like water (waves), air/Water/solid (sound), strings, etc. Light has no medium, as Mich/Morely showed. It travels in a vacuum, but the vacuum is not nothing, it has near infinite energy. This seems to be the best way to look at Ulimate Reality. It is nothing that is everything. It is not that everything comes out of nothing, but rather, everything is nothing and nothing is everything. Emptiness is form and form is emptiness.
Water metaphor can be taken further with states of ice, water and vapor (3 realms) but ultimately all are make of H2O (Turiya), which is ultimately made of nothing and energy/everything (Turiyatita).
You really cannot say it is good vs evil, or infinite vs finite or spiritual vs material.
Because it includes all of those, they are ALL equally wet.
** Most of our words and concepts have meaning only in terms of their opposite:
good vs evil, or infinite vs finite, spiritual vs material, pleasure vs pain, smart vs stupid, up vs down, left vs right and on and on.
But Reality itself has no opposites, it embraces all of them.
We can indeed experience it, we just cannot put into words or symbols very well.
It is radically unqualifiable. This manifest world is dualistic, again almost everything we know exists in pairs of opposites. If something exists, it will generally have an opposite. And so the waking up experience itself is said to be a waking up into a world that is free of being torn into conflicting opposites.
---
The second reason Non-duality is a great signifier is that "Not Two" refers to the notion that Ultimate reality is free and beyond all pairs of opposites. Oneness and opposite of Manyness, Unicity has as its opposite Multiplicity, so words like Oneness are clearly not ideal. Or any word with a clear opposite. For me, the word God resonates but in the since that there is nothing BUT God, which includes the person reading these words. So I guess, any word is fine that rings true to your heart as long as you do not objectify it into something that can be known or attained because as we'll see, it is ALREADY all there is! You are THAT already!
---
The Upanishads say that enlightenment is "being freed from the pairs", the pairs of opposites. The Christian Mystics call the Ultimate reality the coincidentia oppositorum.
The coincidence of opposites, the unity of opposites, the non-duality of opposites.
Another way of saying this is that all of the opposites are included in UR, all of them, true and false, good and evil, love and hate. All equally included.
Good waves, bad evils, short waves, tall waves, all equally wet.
The Ultimate Ground of All Being IS ALL BEING.
"I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." Isaiah 45:7 {KJE}
And when you have anything like that waking up or unity experience, you will directly feel the utter profound, all inclusive oneness.
Now what do we call that wetness? Similar to the conundrum of Science with light traveling in a vaccuum. It was known all waves need a medium to travel, like water (waves), air/Water/solid (sound), strings, etc. Light has no medium, as Mich/Morely showed. It travels in a vacuum, but the vacuum is not nothing, it has near infinite energy. This seems to be the best way to look at Ulimate Reality. It is nothing that is everything. It is not that everything comes out of nothing, but rather, everything is nothing and nothing is everything. Emptiness is form and form is emptiness.
Water metaphor can be taken further with states of ice, water and vapor (3 realms) but ultimately all are make of H2O (Turiya), which is ultimately made of nothing and energy/everything (Turiyatita).
1) Cannot Be Spoken or Known - The Knower is the Knowledge
Tao that can be told is not the Tao
Mystery / Unknowing - It is a Thusness, Suchness, Isness that cannot be expressed in Words but All religions seem to Point to this mystery.
Cannot be described, because it cannot be known or owned.
Cannot be known, because there is no position to take outside of it to know it. It is Unknowing.
You cannot point to, because you cannot point to everything, you can only really point to what it is not.
Appearances are only Apparent, best to qualify all positive statements with the word 'apparently' to accentuate the mystery that it cannot be known.
But paradoxically, knowing the philosophy of nonduality allows you to recognize it. How could you recognize the nondual reality if you didn't know it existed?
It's like meeting someone at an airport without knowing what that look like. If you see a recent picture of them and know what they look like beforehand, you be able to recognize and find them.
It never gets said , Though can be pointed to. If you understand Nonduality you don't understand it.
It is unspeakable not because it is too mysterious or complex or too sublime, but rather because it is too simple, too obvious, and too close and too all-inclusive (its everything) to be caught in symbols or words. As the scriptures say, it is the One "before whom words recoil".
--
We can only say what it isn't. It is better to Use Negatives to avoid minds tendency to objectify. The problem with using words like "Oneness" (and even God) is that it can be reified and objectified into something to attain (become one with everything). Or if objectified creates a duality like God and his Creation. The mind thinks it can grasp the idea of a Oneness or wholeness of something. The mind pictures a God like that on the Sistine Chapel ceiling or pictures of Christ. Buddhist similarly picture the Buddha, Hindus Krishna, etc.
But Non-duality is beyond the mind, beyond thoughts, concepts, words or pictures. So we need to choose our words carefully to point to this mystery. The best words are negatives and expressions that cannot be visualized. Try to visualize Not 2? Impossible, which is why it is a good choice.
Note: I'll use Oneness, God and other such terms throughout this book, but I do so with nonduality in mind, such that God or Oneness is not something other to what we are or what everything is.
--
So it is important to understand that Non-duality is not a thing because it is all there is. There is nothing outside of it, and there is no position that one could take to objectify and know it, so it is Unknowable. Simply put, Non-dualism refers to the mystery of oneness and no thing being everything.
Nonduality equates all pairs of opposites
Nonduality is the one appearing as two
Nonduality is nothing appearing as everything
Nonduality is the formless appearing as form
Nonduality is the absolute appearing as the relative
Nonduality is emptiness appearing as fullness
Nonduality is the uncaused appearing as the caused
Nonduality is unicity appearing as separation
Nonduality is subject appearing as obiect
Nonduality is Oneness appearing as multiplicity
Nonduality is the impersonal appearing as the personal
Nonduality is the unknown appearing as the known
Tao that can be told is not the Tao
Mystery / Unknowing - It is a Thusness, Suchness, Isness that cannot be expressed in Words but All religions seem to Point to this mystery.
Cannot be described, because it cannot be known or owned.
Cannot be known, because there is no position to take outside of it to know it. It is Unknowing.
You cannot point to, because you cannot point to everything, you can only really point to what it is not.
Appearances are only Apparent, best to qualify all positive statements with the word 'apparently' to accentuate the mystery that it cannot be known.
But paradoxically, knowing the philosophy of nonduality allows you to recognize it. How could you recognize the nondual reality if you didn't know it existed?
It's like meeting someone at an airport without knowing what that look like. If you see a recent picture of them and know what they look like beforehand, you be able to recognize and find them.
It never gets said , Though can be pointed to. If you understand Nonduality you don't understand it.
It is unspeakable not because it is too mysterious or complex or too sublime, but rather because it is too simple, too obvious, and too close and too all-inclusive (its everything) to be caught in symbols or words. As the scriptures say, it is the One "before whom words recoil".
--
We can only say what it isn't. It is better to Use Negatives to avoid minds tendency to objectify. The problem with using words like "Oneness" (and even God) is that it can be reified and objectified into something to attain (become one with everything). Or if objectified creates a duality like God and his Creation. The mind thinks it can grasp the idea of a Oneness or wholeness of something. The mind pictures a God like that on the Sistine Chapel ceiling or pictures of Christ. Buddhist similarly picture the Buddha, Hindus Krishna, etc.
But Non-duality is beyond the mind, beyond thoughts, concepts, words or pictures. So we need to choose our words carefully to point to this mystery. The best words are negatives and expressions that cannot be visualized. Try to visualize Not 2? Impossible, which is why it is a good choice.
Note: I'll use Oneness, God and other such terms throughout this book, but I do so with nonduality in mind, such that God or Oneness is not something other to what we are or what everything is.
--
So it is important to understand that Non-duality is not a thing because it is all there is. There is nothing outside of it, and there is no position that one could take to objectify and know it, so it is Unknowable. Simply put, Non-dualism refers to the mystery of oneness and no thing being everything.
Nonduality equates all pairs of opposites
Nonduality is the one appearing as two
Nonduality is nothing appearing as everything
Nonduality is the formless appearing as form
Nonduality is the absolute appearing as the relative
Nonduality is emptiness appearing as fullness
Nonduality is the uncaused appearing as the caused
Nonduality is unicity appearing as separation
Nonduality is subject appearing as obiect
Nonduality is Oneness appearing as multiplicity
Nonduality is the impersonal appearing as the personal
Nonduality is the unknown appearing as the known
2) Neither Real Nor Unreal - Cannot be made real or solid... QM.. All Possibilities in Potentia
This UR is Nothing & Everything, It IS and it ISN'T, its both Real and Unreal, its both form and emptiness, existence and non-existence, etc.
{Better to use negatives OR Nagarguna's 4 inexpressibles}
Neither Nothing nor Everything [nor both nor neither]
Neither Unreal and nor Real [nor both nor neither]
It neither Is nor isn't[nor both nor neither]
Neither Form nor Emptiness [nor both nor neither]
THIS (UR) is Nothing Being Everything, It IS and it ISN'T. (Not Becoming)
The natural reality, which is WHOLENESS, nothing BEING everything.
Empty Fullness - Emptiness of Appearances
Everything is already empty , nothing behind it , it’s not coming from anywhere.
The whole appearance gets thinner , it has less substance and depth to it.
Appearance unreal as a whisp of smoke
Like a film falling off a picture, so it appears clearer.
This UR is Nothing & Everything, It IS and it ISN'T, its both Real and Unreal, its both form and emptiness, existence and non-existence, etc.
{Better to use negatives OR Nagarguna's 4 inexpressibles}
Neither Nothing nor Everything [nor both nor neither]
Neither Unreal and nor Real [nor both nor neither]
It neither Is nor isn't[nor both nor neither]
Neither Form nor Emptiness [nor both nor neither]
THIS (UR) is Nothing Being Everything, It IS and it ISN'T. (Not Becoming)
The natural reality, which is WHOLENESS, nothing BEING everything.
Empty Fullness - Emptiness of Appearances
Everything is already empty , nothing behind it , it’s not coming from anywhere.
The whole appearance gets thinner , it has less substance and depth to it.
Appearance unreal as a whisp of smoke
Like a film falling off a picture, so it appears clearer.
3) One without a Second [OMNIPRESENCE/SPACE/INFINITE] - (cannot be separated from, cannot be objectified, known or conceptualized)
There is Only God, Only THAT, Spirit, Beingness, Aliveness, The Absolute, Godhead, Beloved, Wholeness, Unconditional Love, Absolute Freedom, Shunyata (The Great Void).
**All there is is This [Space - Infinite - Omnipresent]***
There is Only Spirit, Beingness, Aliveness, The Absolute, Godhead, Beloved, Wholeness, Unconditional Love, Absolute Freedom, Shunyata or aptly termed Ultimate Reality (UR) which is a mystery that cannot be known. What is' is hiding in the obviousness of itself (as everything). What the seeker longs for remains hidden by being everything.
If there is only Oneness how can 2 find 1?
There is Only God, Only THAT, Spirit, Beingness, Aliveness, The Absolute, Godhead, Beloved, Wholeness, Unconditional Love, Absolute Freedom, Shunyata (The Great Void).
**All there is is This [Space - Infinite - Omnipresent]***
There is Only Spirit, Beingness, Aliveness, The Absolute, Godhead, Beloved, Wholeness, Unconditional Love, Absolute Freedom, Shunyata or aptly termed Ultimate Reality (UR) which is a mystery that cannot be known. What is' is hiding in the obviousness of itself (as everything). What the seeker longs for remains hidden by being everything.
If there is only Oneness how can 2 find 1?
4) Whole/Fullness in Each Part, and everything that arises is inherently empty (Nothing can be attained or added - Perfect Already)
Complete and Full in Everything Arising
Infinite EveryWhere = Infinite HERE (Fractal in Space)
**Whole and Perfect Already**
Everything is in Everything
THIS is already all there is!
If everything is perfect already, what is there to seek and find.
This is perfect because there is nothing else. You could say unconditional perfection free of any judgements of what is good/perfect or bad/imperfect.
What is is the alpha and omega the beginning and the end
Positionless timeless everything which is all there is which is this
What is is all there is and it’s unknowable, complete and whole and that’s this, that’s all there is.
Perfection is unreachable because it is already.
It is absolutely inclusive , there are no edges to this.
The need that something needs to change is the denial that everything is already
Complete and Full in Everything Arising
Infinite EveryWhere = Infinite HERE (Fractal in Space)
**Whole and Perfect Already**
Everything is in Everything
THIS is already all there is!
If everything is perfect already, what is there to seek and find.
This is perfect because there is nothing else. You could say unconditional perfection free of any judgements of what is good/perfect or bad/imperfect.
What is is the alpha and omega the beginning and the end
Positionless timeless everything which is all there is which is this
What is is all there is and it’s unknowable, complete and whole and that’s this, that’s all there is.
Perfection is unreachable because it is already.
It is absolutely inclusive , there are no edges to this.
The need that something needs to change is the denial that everything is already
5) Beginning less - Non-Origination [Cannot be entered, and Cannot be left]
The illusion has no beginning but it apparently can end.
Ajati (jati born) so Ajati is Unborn, Eternal, Not Produced.
5b) **Cannot Be Attained** - Ultimate reality is not something lacking or something to be found or attained, because it is never lost.
You cannot be connected to what is not separate.
The individual is not the cause of its arising, so it has no power to end it.
ETERNITY = NOW (Fractal in Time)
The illusion has no beginning but it apparently can end.
Ajati (jati born) so Ajati is Unborn, Eternal, Not Produced.
5b) **Cannot Be Attained** - Ultimate reality is not something lacking or something to be found or attained, because it is never lost.
You cannot be connected to what is not separate.
The individual is not the cause of its arising, so it has no power to end it.
ETERNITY = NOW (Fractal in Time)
6) Immediate - Eternal Rolling Present Motionlessness in Motion. Just This, always Just This
**Immediacy** It is just What's Happening, Just This, What Arises, Just What IS... It is Immediacy like the clapping of your hands or snapping or fingers. It's this and this and this and this...
No distance or separation in space or time, nondual HERE and Now
Simple Immediacy of Being
**Immediacy** It is just What's Happening, Just This, What Arises, Just What IS... It is Immediacy like the clapping of your hands or snapping or fingers. It's this and this and this and this...
No distance or separation in space or time, nondual HERE and Now
Simple Immediacy of Being
7) Continuous Creation/ FRESH and NEW - Unconditional Freedom - No Cause and Effect, No Free Will and Choice. The oldest thought is completely new
8) One Taste Sameness - One Taste. One State. Because it all tastes the same. All there is is what is apparently happening. So while it is always Fresh and New and delightfully varied through Eternity on the Relative side, on the Absolute it is always One Taste vanilla sameness. But oh that Taste! Just This!
9) Nothing Ever Happens [Only Appearances] - Mystery of Mysteries
Nothing "Somethinging", ie Nothing handing, nothing chairing, nothing walling, nothing peopling, etc.
This is the infinite appearing finite. The formless appearing as form.
This is not ‘becoming’, it’s unbelievably and beyond conception the same thing.
So in that sense it’s not moving , there is nothing actuality happening.
The appearance that apparently happens is not an object therefore it is both real and unreal
This is not Permanent because it’s not happening , only seems to be.. Permanent would mean real time.
This doesn’t actually move. Nothing is really happening , it’s only apparent.
Who can step outside of everything to point or to know everything?
What position can you take ? That’s the dream of the individual that it can take a position
That position is actually everything so there’s no position.
Apparent separate self thinks it goes around with free will and choice to bring about certain events.
When it dies it never happened , there is no separate reality. Recognized it never happened.
Nothing "Somethinging", ie Nothing handing, nothing chairing, nothing walling, nothing peopling, etc.
This is the infinite appearing finite. The formless appearing as form.
This is not ‘becoming’, it’s unbelievably and beyond conception the same thing.
So in that sense it’s not moving , there is nothing actuality happening.
The appearance that apparently happens is not an object therefore it is both real and unreal
This is not Permanent because it’s not happening , only seems to be.. Permanent would mean real time.
This doesn’t actually move. Nothing is really happening , it’s only apparent.
Who can step outside of everything to point or to know everything?
What position can you take ? That’s the dream of the individual that it can take a position
That position is actually everything so there’s no position.
Apparent separate self thinks it goes around with free will and choice to bring about certain events.
When it dies it never happened , there is no separate reality. Recognized it never happened.
10) No Subject and Object, Hence No "Me" and No One [No Person or Separate Self] only the One or Self
Ontology and Epistemology or gnoseological (BEING = KNOWING
Ultimate Reality and Rigpa/Prajna are not-two.
Ontology and Epistemology or gnoseological (BEING = KNOWING
Ultimate Reality and Rigpa/Prajna are not-two.
11) Snowflakes of Oneness [The Shining Relative] - Not some amorphous Oneness Goo, Divine Mush or featureless Unity
12) Because Ultimate Reality is unlimited, "It" can also appear as being limited.
Contracted Energy -> Here -> I AM/Awareness -> Objects/Real Things.
Something not right -> Paths to Fulfillment success / enlightenment.
It's all wonderfully hopeless, because Nonduality is not a thing, b/c it is all there IS!
Contracted Energy -> Here -> I AM/Awareness -> Objects/Real Things.
Something not right -> Paths to Fulfillment success / enlightenment.
It's all wonderfully hopeless, because Nonduality is not a thing, b/c it is all there IS!
13) Nonduality of Man and God - Liberation always present and can be directly recognized. Nondual Perception, Thinking and Action. Absolute side.
14) Beyond Nonduality [Manifestation] - Brining Nonduality Back Down to Physical. Purfication, Devotion, Samadhi. Relative side. Rainbow Buddha Body, BoddhiSattva, Ascension, Etc.
15) Stories of Everpresent Enlightenment
Something Deeper Can hear this, Resonance - Contracted energy can melt back into wholeness!
Its a surrender of sorts to What is (though no one surrenders), or whatever that happens is ok. It is what it is. IT is!
Whatever happens, happens (Jo ho jaye). What is, is (Ja Ta). Ya Ta (Whatsoever Arises Is That)
Something Deeper Can hear this, Resonance - Contracted energy can melt back into wholeness!
Its a surrender of sorts to What is (though no one surrenders), or whatever that happens is ok. It is what it is. IT is!
Whatever happens, happens (Jo ho jaye). What is, is (Ja Ta). Ya Ta (Whatsoever Arises Is That)
I. The Non-Duality of Ultimate Reality
Core Principles
1. There is Only God, Only THAT, Spirit, Beingness, Aliveness, The Absolute, Godhead, Beloved, Wholeness, Unconditional Love, Absolute Freedom, Shunyata (The Great Void), etc.
or aptly termed Ultimate Reality (UR) which is a mystery that cannot be known.
2. This UR is Nothing & Everything, It IS and it ISN'T, its both Real and Unreal, its both form and emptiness, existence and non-existence, etc.
3. It is just What's Happening, Just This, What Arises, Just What IS... It is Immediacy like the clapping of your hands or snapping or fingers. One Taste. Because it all tastes the same. All there is is what is apparently happening.
4. Its a surrender of sorts to What is, or whatever that happens is ok. It is what it is. IT is!
Whatever happens, happens (Jo ho jaye). What is, is (Ja Ta).
5. It is a Thusness, Suchness, Isness that cannot be expressed in Words but we use words to Point to this mystery. It is the Extraordinary Ordinary.
We say it is Advaita or NonDual both which mean "Not 2" to express the fact that it is inexpressible.
6. Ultimate reality is not something lacking or something to be found or attained, because it is never lost. It is Wholeness, Fullness, Completeness
7. Terms like Unity or Oneness are not ideal because they can be objectified, reified, desired, grasped and ironically reinforce duality by implying something is lacking for the seeker to find (I want to become one with everything implies you are lacking and separate from oneness).
8. To be truly understood, Ultimate Reality must be realized. Prajna/Soul Intuition/Gnosis/Absolute Cognition. This is the eye of Spirit which is beyond the mind.
Core Principles
1. There is Only God, Only THAT, Spirit, Beingness, Aliveness, The Absolute, Godhead, Beloved, Wholeness, Unconditional Love, Absolute Freedom, Shunyata (The Great Void), etc.
or aptly termed Ultimate Reality (UR) which is a mystery that cannot be known.
2. This UR is Nothing & Everything, It IS and it ISN'T, its both Real and Unreal, its both form and emptiness, existence and non-existence, etc.
3. It is just What's Happening, Just This, What Arises, Just What IS... It is Immediacy like the clapping of your hands or snapping or fingers. One Taste. Because it all tastes the same. All there is is what is apparently happening.
4. Its a surrender of sorts to What is, or whatever that happens is ok. It is what it is. IT is!
Whatever happens, happens (Jo ho jaye). What is, is (Ja Ta).
5. It is a Thusness, Suchness, Isness that cannot be expressed in Words but we use words to Point to this mystery. It is the Extraordinary Ordinary.
We say it is Advaita or NonDual both which mean "Not 2" to express the fact that it is inexpressible.
6. Ultimate reality is not something lacking or something to be found or attained, because it is never lost. It is Wholeness, Fullness, Completeness
7. Terms like Unity or Oneness are not ideal because they can be objectified, reified, desired, grasped and ironically reinforce duality by implying something is lacking for the seeker to find (I want to become one with everything implies you are lacking and separate from oneness).
8. To be truly understood, Ultimate Reality must be realized. Prajna/Soul Intuition/Gnosis/Absolute Cognition. This is the eye of Spirit which is beyond the mind.
Paradoxical Nature of Ultimate Reality and the Limitations of **Language**
Seers and sages of all lands and of all religions have experienced this difficulty of putting into words that which is wordless. So in their attempt to express the 'inexpressible' they were forced to use language and words which seemed to them nearest to the truth.
Koans & Negative formulas Buddhism
Paradoxical sayings of the Upanishads
Symbolism and Archetypes in Christianity
But these are all simply POINTERS, what is needed is actual experience, prajna, intuitive insight, or namely an authentic non-dual realization where there is no longer an individual or separate self or ego.
The key insight is this highest truth cannot be learned at even the best university, you cannot simply memorize or conceptualize it in any way. It can in know way be objectified into a teaching of any kind. Teachers that have realized this truth CAN talk about it, but the words themselves are merely pointers. More powerful is the energy or resonance of the message from one truly realized. This highest truth must be realized for oneself to understand, there are no shortcuts.
Seers and sages of all lands and of all religions have experienced this difficulty of putting into words that which is wordless. So in their attempt to express the 'inexpressible' they were forced to use language and words which seemed to them nearest to the truth.
Koans & Negative formulas Buddhism
Paradoxical sayings of the Upanishads
Symbolism and Archetypes in Christianity
But these are all simply POINTERS, what is needed is actual experience, prajna, intuitive insight, or namely an authentic non-dual realization where there is no longer an individual or separate self or ego.
The key insight is this highest truth cannot be learned at even the best university, you cannot simply memorize or conceptualize it in any way. It can in know way be objectified into a teaching of any kind. Teachers that have realized this truth CAN talk about it, but the words themselves are merely pointers. More powerful is the energy or resonance of the message from one truly realized. This highest truth must be realized for oneself to understand, there are no shortcuts.
Until Nagarguna came along there was a strange duality in Buddhism (and Hinduism too). A duality that remains to this day in most Western religions save the mystics in each. But in Eastern religion, these inner realizations are part of the main doctrine. And as we'll see, modern quantum mechanics plays a similar role in science though from an unfortunate atheistic viewpoint (you can actually use a spiritual framework for all of science instead of a materialistic one and it turns out this spiritual framework fits MUCH BETTER with quantum mechanics as we'll see.
Nagarguna noticed a strange duality between Samsara and Nirvana (suffering in the world and the bliss of liberation). In hinduism this duality is known as Maya and Moksha, in Christianity you could say our life of sin and suffering here on earth and eternal heavenly bliss if we are good Christians. All major religions have this inherent duality.
For Nargarguna, there is no ontological difference between samsara and nirvana. The difference is epistemological only.
Reality looked at with the mind and concepts appears as samsara, while THE SAME reality free of mental concepts and acts of knowing is nirvana.
This is the reasons Yoga according to Patangali is Chitta Vritti Niroda. When the waves of mind, thoughts and concepts cease, Nirvana stands revealed. The mind is truly the slayer of the real as Madame Blavatsky once said.
So samsara and nirvana, maya and moksha, earthly hell and heaven are not-two or "nondual", they are two different aspects of the same ONE ultimate reality.
This was a major revolution in not only Buddhism but world philosophy in general. Plotinus in the West was the first to embrace such similar thoughts.
Quantum mechanics (and even chaos theory to a degree) clearly showed this nonduality in science.
Sadly these ultimate non-dual truths are not present in the vast majority of religions and sects. And a vast majority of humans on planet earth are study in a dualistic paradigm of one form or another.
The purpose of this book is the remedy this.
2 Truths doctrine
There are relative or conventional truth, and than there is absolute or ultimate truth. Relative truth can be defined, label and categorized and is the basis of almost all knowledge we have of this seemingly solid and real world. For example, the earth is a 4.5 billion year old six sextillion ton ball of solid and molten rock that spin on its axis once every 24 hours and orbits the sun as described by the heliocentric model once every 365 days is an example of a relative truth. Relative truths of science, engineering, law, history, etc keep our world in order and help us to enjoy our relative existence with many conveniences and safety. So it is important, it just cannot describe ultimate reality, a problem that many scientists and philosophers seem to miss.
But ultimate truth cannot be known conceptually, or categorized at all. Based on what are known as the "4 Inexpressibles", you cannot say the Ultimate Reality is being, nor not-Being, nor both nor neither. You cannot say it is Self (atman), nor no-self (anatman), nor both, nor neither. And so on for any category (like real & non-real, emptiness & form, nothing & everything, etc).
The reason you cannot conceptualize UR is that any concept you come up with only makes sense in terms of its opposite (liberated vs bound, infinite vs finite, pain vs pleasure, etc.). But UR has no opposite, and therefore cannot be categorized AT ALL!
The Challenge of teaching non-duality
While Nagarguna calls ultimate reality Shunyata (meaning void), he is quick to point out that that UR is neither void, nor not void, nor both, nor neither. But some word must be used to "point out this mystery". Instead of void you could call it God, Spirit, Consciousness, Beingness, Brahman, Tao, or even pizza. But when a true non-dual teacher tries to "point out" this UR truth with words, something must be chosen. Herein lies the source of much disagree... words. So how can this even work? Well a true Master of non-duality will have authentic experiences and energy that radiates from his body. Students that are receptive will "resonate" or "magnetize" to these deeper truths that lie beyond the mind. But the mind still needs to have a good foundation of understanding so as to not be in doubt from misunderstandings and contradictions. But words spoken with experience behind them have POWER, not so much in the word itself, but the energy behind it.
So what these absolute truth does mean is that Emptiness, Spirit, UR or whatever word you choose, is not separate from anything that is arising. Emptiness or void is a great choice because it is impossible to conceptualize emptiness. This is in alignment with the Buddhist approach of Neti Neti, (not this , not that). By negation we constantly remind ourselves of everything Shunyata isn't, and then all that remains is the realization of what is. And this ultimate reality is not separate from anything that is arising. It is the emptiness behind everything that is arising.
Looked at free from conceptualization or categorization, everything that is arising is emptiness, the suchness or thusness of everything looked at directly as it is, not as it is named, judged or categorized.
Looked at through concepts and categories, the universe exists as Samsara or Maya - built of radically separate and isolated things and events and grasping after those things and attachment to them (desire), or running from them (fear), causes suffering.
But looked at with prajna or pro-gnosis (non-conceptual awareness), the world of samsara is actually self liberated Nirvana. Prajna is nondual and unqualified knowledge or awareness which brings enlightenment or awakening.
Awakening to what? The radical freedom or infinite Liberation of pure Emptiness, though those terms are at best metaphors.
Samsara and Nirvana, Maya and Moksha have been united, and brought together into a single or Nondual reality.
Nagarguna noticed a strange duality between Samsara and Nirvana (suffering in the world and the bliss of liberation). In hinduism this duality is known as Maya and Moksha, in Christianity you could say our life of sin and suffering here on earth and eternal heavenly bliss if we are good Christians. All major religions have this inherent duality.
For Nargarguna, there is no ontological difference between samsara and nirvana. The difference is epistemological only.
Reality looked at with the mind and concepts appears as samsara, while THE SAME reality free of mental concepts and acts of knowing is nirvana.
This is the reasons Yoga according to Patangali is Chitta Vritti Niroda. When the waves of mind, thoughts and concepts cease, Nirvana stands revealed. The mind is truly the slayer of the real as Madame Blavatsky once said.
So samsara and nirvana, maya and moksha, earthly hell and heaven are not-two or "nondual", they are two different aspects of the same ONE ultimate reality.
This was a major revolution in not only Buddhism but world philosophy in general. Plotinus in the West was the first to embrace such similar thoughts.
Quantum mechanics (and even chaos theory to a degree) clearly showed this nonduality in science.
Sadly these ultimate non-dual truths are not present in the vast majority of religions and sects. And a vast majority of humans on planet earth are study in a dualistic paradigm of one form or another.
The purpose of this book is the remedy this.
2 Truths doctrine
There are relative or conventional truth, and than there is absolute or ultimate truth. Relative truth can be defined, label and categorized and is the basis of almost all knowledge we have of this seemingly solid and real world. For example, the earth is a 4.5 billion year old six sextillion ton ball of solid and molten rock that spin on its axis once every 24 hours and orbits the sun as described by the heliocentric model once every 365 days is an example of a relative truth. Relative truths of science, engineering, law, history, etc keep our world in order and help us to enjoy our relative existence with many conveniences and safety. So it is important, it just cannot describe ultimate reality, a problem that many scientists and philosophers seem to miss.
But ultimate truth cannot be known conceptually, or categorized at all. Based on what are known as the "4 Inexpressibles", you cannot say the Ultimate Reality is being, nor not-Being, nor both nor neither. You cannot say it is Self (atman), nor no-self (anatman), nor both, nor neither. And so on for any category (like real & non-real, emptiness & form, nothing & everything, etc).
The reason you cannot conceptualize UR is that any concept you come up with only makes sense in terms of its opposite (liberated vs bound, infinite vs finite, pain vs pleasure, etc.). But UR has no opposite, and therefore cannot be categorized AT ALL!
The Challenge of teaching non-duality
While Nagarguna calls ultimate reality Shunyata (meaning void), he is quick to point out that that UR is neither void, nor not void, nor both, nor neither. But some word must be used to "point out this mystery". Instead of void you could call it God, Spirit, Consciousness, Beingness, Brahman, Tao, or even pizza. But when a true non-dual teacher tries to "point out" this UR truth with words, something must be chosen. Herein lies the source of much disagree... words. So how can this even work? Well a true Master of non-duality will have authentic experiences and energy that radiates from his body. Students that are receptive will "resonate" or "magnetize" to these deeper truths that lie beyond the mind. But the mind still needs to have a good foundation of understanding so as to not be in doubt from misunderstandings and contradictions. But words spoken with experience behind them have POWER, not so much in the word itself, but the energy behind it.
So what these absolute truth does mean is that Emptiness, Spirit, UR or whatever word you choose, is not separate from anything that is arising. Emptiness or void is a great choice because it is impossible to conceptualize emptiness. This is in alignment with the Buddhist approach of Neti Neti, (not this , not that). By negation we constantly remind ourselves of everything Shunyata isn't, and then all that remains is the realization of what is. And this ultimate reality is not separate from anything that is arising. It is the emptiness behind everything that is arising.
Looked at free from conceptualization or categorization, everything that is arising is emptiness, the suchness or thusness of everything looked at directly as it is, not as it is named, judged or categorized.
Looked at through concepts and categories, the universe exists as Samsara or Maya - built of radically separate and isolated things and events and grasping after those things and attachment to them (desire), or running from them (fear), causes suffering.
But looked at with prajna or pro-gnosis (non-conceptual awareness), the world of samsara is actually self liberated Nirvana. Prajna is nondual and unqualified knowledge or awareness which brings enlightenment or awakening.
Awakening to what? The radical freedom or infinite Liberation of pure Emptiness, though those terms are at best metaphors.
Samsara and Nirvana, Maya and Moksha have been united, and brought together into a single or Nondual reality.
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/editor/2021-03-05-16-46-07.png?1614980822)
Analogy: Spirit or UR is the Wetness of the Ocean and its Waves!
Waves are produced by the ocean, but the ocean and its waves are ultimately Not- two.
There is something they both share. There is a common thusness or suchness.
And that is wetness.
One wave might be larger than another wave, but it is not wetter than another wave.
All of the waves are equally wet. If you discover wetness at the wave you are on, you've discovered it everywhere! You have woken up, you have awakened.
You have become enlightened about the ever present wetness of the ocean and everything in it. You have simply discovered the thusness, the suchness, the isles of all reality.
Which means your own immediate awareness, right here and right now, is itself directly one with, its totally saturated with, this ultimate ground of all being which is non-dual. You do not have to seek this witness or practice to be wet or jump from one wave to another. Any place you are at, you're wet.
But as a common saying has it, "A fish doesn't know it's wet". Because it's constant in that wetness, so it never experiences anything but that.
To really become aware that it is wet, the fish has to have a genuine waking up to that.
It actually has to become enlightened about its ever present condition. Its always already thusness or wetness, the fact that it is drenched with this all encompassing ground of being.
=====
The traditional analogy is the ocean and its waves. The wetness of the water is the Isness, Thusness or Suchness of UR/Spirit.
All waves are equally wet. One wave is not wetter than another, no matter how big it is. And therefore if I discover the wetness of one wave, any wave, I have discovered the wetness of ALL. When I recognize the Non-dual Isness of my own being, right here and right now, than I have discovered the ultimate truth of all other waves as well. Ultimate Reality is not a really big wave or Tsunami set apart from other little waves, but it is the wetness equally present in ALL waves, high or low, big or small, sacred or profane, Jesus and Hitler both equally.
Liberation is not about catching a really big wave, like a surfer in Australia or Hawaii, but simply NOTICING, the always already present wetness of whatever wave I am surfing, even the small waves here in Sarasota Florida which is symbolic of me. I am then released from the narrow Identification with this little wave called ME, because I am fundamentally one with all other waves - there is no wetness outside of me, because there is NO ME, only the ocean of wetness and ALL its waves. I am literally ONE with the entire Ocean and the BIG SURPRISE is that I ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!! Ultimate reality is the Wetness, Suchness, Emptiness, Beingness, and utter transparency of the Great Perfection that is Ultimate Reality.
At the same time, I do not know all the details of the other waves, their height, spam, weight, number, etc. These are RELATIVE TRUTHS I will have to discover wave by wave, endlessly. This is symbolic of the endless stages and states of spiritual evolution from body to mind to soul to spirit and beyond (and from waking, to subtle to causal states of awareness - and the near infinite variations and gradations of these states and stages - endless worlds, endless experiences, endless evolutionary unfolding, etc. But ultimate reality is neither a stage NOR a state, but the always already underlying ground or wetness of ALL states and ALL stages in the descending arcs of involution and evolution. And there are many practices that Aim to get you one the biggest wave, but they are missing the boat, or rather, that water on which is floats.
Materialists look for more money, bigger houses, nicer cars, travel the world, love and marriage, etc. Material pursuits are endless yet within all this seeking and persuing is the Beloved misting your face moment by moment with the wetness of all that is.
And then there are Spiritual seekers which is just a more subtle Seeking. Many spiritual seekers try many techniques, study with many gurus, seeking the next spiritual high. and also travel the world like the materialist but usually with a focus on some guru, community, or even cave. The always already mist of Spirit or UR is well, MISSED!
To constantly seek is to constantly MISS!
Waves are produced by the ocean, but the ocean and its waves are ultimately Not- two.
There is something they both share. There is a common thusness or suchness.
And that is wetness.
One wave might be larger than another wave, but it is not wetter than another wave.
All of the waves are equally wet. If you discover wetness at the wave you are on, you've discovered it everywhere! You have woken up, you have awakened.
You have become enlightened about the ever present wetness of the ocean and everything in it. You have simply discovered the thusness, the suchness, the isles of all reality.
Which means your own immediate awareness, right here and right now, is itself directly one with, its totally saturated with, this ultimate ground of all being which is non-dual. You do not have to seek this witness or practice to be wet or jump from one wave to another. Any place you are at, you're wet.
But as a common saying has it, "A fish doesn't know it's wet". Because it's constant in that wetness, so it never experiences anything but that.
To really become aware that it is wet, the fish has to have a genuine waking up to that.
It actually has to become enlightened about its ever present condition. Its always already thusness or wetness, the fact that it is drenched with this all encompassing ground of being.
=====
The traditional analogy is the ocean and its waves. The wetness of the water is the Isness, Thusness or Suchness of UR/Spirit.
All waves are equally wet. One wave is not wetter than another, no matter how big it is. And therefore if I discover the wetness of one wave, any wave, I have discovered the wetness of ALL. When I recognize the Non-dual Isness of my own being, right here and right now, than I have discovered the ultimate truth of all other waves as well. Ultimate Reality is not a really big wave or Tsunami set apart from other little waves, but it is the wetness equally present in ALL waves, high or low, big or small, sacred or profane, Jesus and Hitler both equally.
Liberation is not about catching a really big wave, like a surfer in Australia or Hawaii, but simply NOTICING, the always already present wetness of whatever wave I am surfing, even the small waves here in Sarasota Florida which is symbolic of me. I am then released from the narrow Identification with this little wave called ME, because I am fundamentally one with all other waves - there is no wetness outside of me, because there is NO ME, only the ocean of wetness and ALL its waves. I am literally ONE with the entire Ocean and the BIG SURPRISE is that I ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!! Ultimate reality is the Wetness, Suchness, Emptiness, Beingness, and utter transparency of the Great Perfection that is Ultimate Reality.
At the same time, I do not know all the details of the other waves, their height, spam, weight, number, etc. These are RELATIVE TRUTHS I will have to discover wave by wave, endlessly. This is symbolic of the endless stages and states of spiritual evolution from body to mind to soul to spirit and beyond (and from waking, to subtle to causal states of awareness - and the near infinite variations and gradations of these states and stages - endless worlds, endless experiences, endless evolutionary unfolding, etc. But ultimate reality is neither a stage NOR a state, but the always already underlying ground or wetness of ALL states and ALL stages in the descending arcs of involution and evolution. And there are many practices that Aim to get you one the biggest wave, but they are missing the boat, or rather, that water on which is floats.
Materialists look for more money, bigger houses, nicer cars, travel the world, love and marriage, etc. Material pursuits are endless yet within all this seeking and persuing is the Beloved misting your face moment by moment with the wetness of all that is.
And then there are Spiritual seekers which is just a more subtle Seeking. Many spiritual seekers try many techniques, study with many gurus, seeking the next spiritual high. and also travel the world like the materialist but usually with a focus on some guru, community, or even cave. The always already mist of Spirit or UR is well, MISSED!
To constantly seek is to constantly MISS!
I. The Non-Duality of Ultimate Reality **More Notes**
1. **All there is is This [Natural Reality]***
There is Only Spirit, Beingness, Aliveness, The Absolute, Godhead, Beloved, Wholeness, Unconditional Love, Absolute Freedom, Shunyata or aptly termed Ultimate Reality (UR) which is a mystery that cannot be known.
'What is' is hiding in the obviousness of itself (as everything). What the seeker longs for remains hidden by being everything. ‘This’ is an explosion of color , light and sound, along with thoughts and feelings.
2. **Everything being Nothing/Neither Real Nor Unreal**
{Better to use negatives OR nagarguna's 4 inexpressibles}
Neither Nothing nor Everything [nor both nor neither]
Neither Unreal and nor Real [nor both nor neither]
It neither Is nor isn't[nor both nor neither]
Neither Form nor Emptiness [nor both nor neither]
THIS (UR) is Nothing Being Everything, It IS and it ISN'T. (Not Becoming)
The natural reality, which is WHOLENESS, nothing BEING everything.
Empty Fullness
Everything is already empty , nothing behind it , it’s not coming from anywhere.
The whole appearance gets thinner , it has less substance and depth to it.
Appearance unreal as a whisp of smoke
Like a film falling off a picture, so it appears clearer.
3. **Immediacy** It is just What's Happening, Just This, What Arises, Just What IS... It is Immediacy like the clapping of your hands or snapping or fingers. It's this and this and this and this... Nearest of the Near, dearest of the dear.
No distance or separation in space or time, nondual HERE and Now
Simple Immediacy of Being
The observer is the observed
Just This
All there is is This
Just What's Happening
Just What Arises
It is THAT which you see before you
What Is (and isn't)
4. Mystery / Unknowing - It is a Thusness, Suchness, Isness that cannot be expressed in Words but All religions seem to Point to this mystery.
Cannot be described, because it cannot be known or owned.
Cannot be known, because there is no position to take outside of it to know it. It is Unknowing.
You cannot point to, because you cannot point to everything, you can only really point to what it is not.
Appearances are only Apparent, best to qualify all positive statements with the word 'apparently' to accentuate the mystery that it cannot be known.
5. **Not -2** We say it is Advaita or NonDual both which mean "Not 2" to express the fact that it is inexpressible. We can only say what it isn't.
Non-duality is not a thing because it is all there is.
Non-dualism - refers to the mystery of oneness and no thing being everything
To say non-duality is just another state is like saying the alphabet is just another letter. (or you could say its an alphabet with no letters, "lettering").
Not 2 points to also no opposites
THIS or WHAT IS ... IS:
the one appearing as two
nothing appearing as everything
the formless appearing as form
the absolute appearing as the relative
emptiness appearing as fullness
the uncaused appearing as the caused
unicity appearing as separation
subject appearing as obiect
oneness appearing as multiplicity
the impersonal appearing as the personal
the unknown appearing as the known
6. **Cannot Be Attained** - Ultimate reality is not something lacking or something to be found or attained, because it is never lost.
You cannot be connected to what is not separate.
The individual is not the cause of its arising, so it has no power to end it.
7. **Nothing is Happening***, Only appearances
Nothing "Somethinging", ie Nothing handing, nothing chairing, nothing walling, nothing peopling, etc.
This is the infinite appearing finite. The formless appearing as form.
This is not ‘becoming’, it’s unbelievably and beyond conception the same thing.
So in that sense it’s not moving , there is nothing actuality happening.
The appearance that apparently happens is not an object therefore it is both real and unreal
This is not Permanent because it’s not happening , only seems to be.. Permanent would mean real time
This doesn’t actually move. Nothing is really happening , it’s only apparent.
Who can step outside of everything to point or to know everything?
What position can you take ? That’s the dream of the individual that it can take a position
That position is actually everything so there’s no position.
Arising of a position that thinks it’s separate from everything.
Apparent separate self thinks it goes around with free will and choice to bring about certain events. When it dies it never happened , there is no separate reality. Recognized it never happened.
8. **Fresh and New**
The oldest thought is completely new
Continuous Creation
10. **Whole and Perfect Already**
Everything is in Everything
THIS is already all there is!
If everything is perfect already, what is there to seek and find.
If there is only Oneness how can 2 find 1?
This is perfect because there is nothing else. You could say unconditional perfection free of any judgements of what is good/perfect or bad/imperfect.
What is is the alpha and omega the beginning and the end
Positionless timeless everything which is all there is which is this
What is is all there is and it’s unknowable, complete and whole and that’s this, that’s all there is.
Perfection is unreachable because it is already.
It is absolutely inclusive , there are no edges to this.
The need that something needs to change is the denial that everything is already
It never gets said , Though can be pointed to.
11. **The Message**
The message is about the end of seeking for no one.
Comes out of nothing
Not a teaching, not teachers
More about permission than anything else. The Permission that it's ok that this can't be known!
If you think you’ve heard this before , that is not it , that’s not what’s being shared.
It’s always the Loudest thing in the room saying This is it , this is it , obviously , obviously !
This destroys everything , the kali of messages. more about loss than gain.
NOT A TEACHING - A Teacher helps you to find something that’s missing .. you can’t find perfection that is already. Rather Scales fall from eyes
Nonduality is not a thing , you can’t reach nonduality because that’s all there is already ..
We are not trying to get rid of anything , we are not trying to change anything , the message is just a response out of nothing
Its not about letting go, because there is nothing to hold onto.
Nonduality pointing to what is already not what could become (like something missing that can be found).
The message makes no claims : it only says This is what’s happening. That’s the end of it. Takes no position , there is just what’s happening
If there was a ‘way’ that would be separation. You can point , but you can’t say what it is/
What we long for is the loudest voice in the room , everything we feel hear , think is simply the beloved crying out to us to just let go and Be in what is
Unconditional Love is constantly speaking to you ('loudest voice in the room') ==> "What you are looking for Beloved has never left you, it is just What's Happening! This and This and This and This....
Not an answer for me , it’s the death of me
Not believing in Santa , but much more profound bc the story of your whole life , everything you think you know and own
'This' is too simple to 'get'
Message: 1) There is only what is and isn’t AND 2) the Individual is not already.
Simplicity: Small circle of ideas
1. **All there is is This [Natural Reality]***
There is Only Spirit, Beingness, Aliveness, The Absolute, Godhead, Beloved, Wholeness, Unconditional Love, Absolute Freedom, Shunyata or aptly termed Ultimate Reality (UR) which is a mystery that cannot be known.
'What is' is hiding in the obviousness of itself (as everything). What the seeker longs for remains hidden by being everything. ‘This’ is an explosion of color , light and sound, along with thoughts and feelings.
2. **Everything being Nothing/Neither Real Nor Unreal**
{Better to use negatives OR nagarguna's 4 inexpressibles}
Neither Nothing nor Everything [nor both nor neither]
Neither Unreal and nor Real [nor both nor neither]
It neither Is nor isn't[nor both nor neither]
Neither Form nor Emptiness [nor both nor neither]
THIS (UR) is Nothing Being Everything, It IS and it ISN'T. (Not Becoming)
The natural reality, which is WHOLENESS, nothing BEING everything.
Empty Fullness
Everything is already empty , nothing behind it , it’s not coming from anywhere.
The whole appearance gets thinner , it has less substance and depth to it.
Appearance unreal as a whisp of smoke
Like a film falling off a picture, so it appears clearer.
3. **Immediacy** It is just What's Happening, Just This, What Arises, Just What IS... It is Immediacy like the clapping of your hands or snapping or fingers. It's this and this and this and this... Nearest of the Near, dearest of the dear.
No distance or separation in space or time, nondual HERE and Now
Simple Immediacy of Being
The observer is the observed
Just This
All there is is This
Just What's Happening
Just What Arises
It is THAT which you see before you
What Is (and isn't)
4. Mystery / Unknowing - It is a Thusness, Suchness, Isness that cannot be expressed in Words but All religions seem to Point to this mystery.
Cannot be described, because it cannot be known or owned.
Cannot be known, because there is no position to take outside of it to know it. It is Unknowing.
You cannot point to, because you cannot point to everything, you can only really point to what it is not.
Appearances are only Apparent, best to qualify all positive statements with the word 'apparently' to accentuate the mystery that it cannot be known.
5. **Not -2** We say it is Advaita or NonDual both which mean "Not 2" to express the fact that it is inexpressible. We can only say what it isn't.
Non-duality is not a thing because it is all there is.
Non-dualism - refers to the mystery of oneness and no thing being everything
To say non-duality is just another state is like saying the alphabet is just another letter. (or you could say its an alphabet with no letters, "lettering").
Not 2 points to also no opposites
THIS or WHAT IS ... IS:
the one appearing as two
nothing appearing as everything
the formless appearing as form
the absolute appearing as the relative
emptiness appearing as fullness
the uncaused appearing as the caused
unicity appearing as separation
subject appearing as obiect
oneness appearing as multiplicity
the impersonal appearing as the personal
the unknown appearing as the known
6. **Cannot Be Attained** - Ultimate reality is not something lacking or something to be found or attained, because it is never lost.
You cannot be connected to what is not separate.
The individual is not the cause of its arising, so it has no power to end it.
7. **Nothing is Happening***, Only appearances
Nothing "Somethinging", ie Nothing handing, nothing chairing, nothing walling, nothing peopling, etc.
This is the infinite appearing finite. The formless appearing as form.
This is not ‘becoming’, it’s unbelievably and beyond conception the same thing.
So in that sense it’s not moving , there is nothing actuality happening.
The appearance that apparently happens is not an object therefore it is both real and unreal
This is not Permanent because it’s not happening , only seems to be.. Permanent would mean real time
This doesn’t actually move. Nothing is really happening , it’s only apparent.
Who can step outside of everything to point or to know everything?
What position can you take ? That’s the dream of the individual that it can take a position
That position is actually everything so there’s no position.
Arising of a position that thinks it’s separate from everything.
Apparent separate self thinks it goes around with free will and choice to bring about certain events. When it dies it never happened , there is no separate reality. Recognized it never happened.
8. **Fresh and New**
The oldest thought is completely new
Continuous Creation
10. **Whole and Perfect Already**
Everything is in Everything
THIS is already all there is!
If everything is perfect already, what is there to seek and find.
If there is only Oneness how can 2 find 1?
This is perfect because there is nothing else. You could say unconditional perfection free of any judgements of what is good/perfect or bad/imperfect.
What is is the alpha and omega the beginning and the end
Positionless timeless everything which is all there is which is this
What is is all there is and it’s unknowable, complete and whole and that’s this, that’s all there is.
Perfection is unreachable because it is already.
It is absolutely inclusive , there are no edges to this.
The need that something needs to change is the denial that everything is already
It never gets said , Though can be pointed to.
11. **The Message**
The message is about the end of seeking for no one.
Comes out of nothing
Not a teaching, not teachers
More about permission than anything else. The Permission that it's ok that this can't be known!
If you think you’ve heard this before , that is not it , that’s not what’s being shared.
It’s always the Loudest thing in the room saying This is it , this is it , obviously , obviously !
This destroys everything , the kali of messages. more about loss than gain.
NOT A TEACHING - A Teacher helps you to find something that’s missing .. you can’t find perfection that is already. Rather Scales fall from eyes
Nonduality is not a thing , you can’t reach nonduality because that’s all there is already ..
We are not trying to get rid of anything , we are not trying to change anything , the message is just a response out of nothing
Its not about letting go, because there is nothing to hold onto.
Nonduality pointing to what is already not what could become (like something missing that can be found).
The message makes no claims : it only says This is what’s happening. That’s the end of it. Takes no position , there is just what’s happening
If there was a ‘way’ that would be separation. You can point , but you can’t say what it is/
What we long for is the loudest voice in the room , everything we feel hear , think is simply the beloved crying out to us to just let go and Be in what is
Unconditional Love is constantly speaking to you ('loudest voice in the room') ==> "What you are looking for Beloved has never left you, it is just What's Happening! This and This and This and This....
Not an answer for me , it’s the death of me
Not believing in Santa , but much more profound bc the story of your whole life , everything you think you know and own
'This' is too simple to 'get'
Message: 1) There is only what is and isn’t AND 2) the Individual is not already.
Simplicity: Small circle of ideas