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One:
Essential Writings on Nonduality
Jerry Katz
 
I Am That
Nisargadatta Maharaj
 
Nonduality:
A Study in Comparative Philosophy
David Loy
 
Enlightenment for Beginners
discovering the dance of the Divine
Chuck Hillig
 
The Book on the Taboo
against knowing who you are
Alan Watts
 
The Enlightened Heart:
an anthology of sacred poetry
edited by Stephen Mitchell
advaita
awakening
meditation
nondual perspectives
no 'me'; no separation
seeing without shadows
the eyeless eye
the wonder of wonder
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what is this nonduality?
Nonduality is to be seen, lived, awakened to, and then, for whatever reason,
one may try to define it.
Jerry Katz puts it all together
Nonduality can’t be
defined in the same way you define … tungsten, for example. There’s no
single definition of nonduality that everyone would agree upon. Nor is a
definition of nonduality intended to replace full teachings such as
Advaita Vedanta or Buddhist traditions, or the teaching of any Guru.
Nonduality is to be seen, lived, awakened to, and then, for whatever
reason, one may try to define it.
Having awakened to
nonduality or the realization that there is only awareness*, the
elements of your definition may include:
- a statement that
nonduality means non-separation: “In the world of things as they are,
there is no self, no non self;”
- a confession from
pure knowing, or experience, of what nonduality is: “Nonduality is the
living heart of being;”
- a method for
experiencing nonduality: “Don't keep searching for the truth; just let
go of your opinions;”
- a statement that
the definition of nonduality rests in seeing or experiencing nonduality,
not merely reading words: “It is not simply having an occasional
experience of unity beyond all division, it is actually being undivided.
This is what nonduality truly means;”
- a metaphor: “as the
space in a jar delineates a part of main space: when the jar is broken,
the individual space becomes once more part of the main space;”
- a reference to an
authority: “Gaudapada … argues that there is no duality;”
- a disclaimer,
paradox: “Nonduality is ineffable. Any words that attempt to capture its
essence instead hide it from us.”
You’ll see several of
those points in this description of nonduality or advaita from
Encyclopedia Britannica:
Gaudapada … argues
that there is no duality; the mind, awake or dreaming, moves through
maya (“illusion”); and only nonduality (advaita) is the final truth.
This truth is concealed by the ignorance of illusion. There is no
becoming, either of a thing by itself or of a thing out of some other
thing. There is ultimately no individual self or soul (jiva), only the
atman (all-soul), in which individuals may be temporarily delineated
just as the space in a jar delineates a part of main space: when the jar
is broken, the individual space becomes once more part of the main
space.[1]
Almost all of the
elements are found in this experiential revelation of lity (which
literally means “not two”), composed by Seng T'san, the third Zen
Patriarch, in The Mind of Absolute Trust:
Don't keep searching
for the truth; just let go of your opinions.
For the mind in
harmony with the Tao, all selfishness disappears.
With not even a trace
of self-doubt, you can trust the universe completely.
All at once you are
free, with nothing left to hold on to.
All is empty,
brilliant, perfect in its own being.
In the world of
things as they are, there is no self, no non self.
If you want to
describe its essence, the best you can say is "Not-two."
In this "Not-two"
nothing is separate, and nothing in the world is excluded.
The enlightened of
all times and places have entered into this truth.
In it there is no
gain or loss; one instant is ten thousand years.
There is no here, no
there; infinity is right before your eyes.
The tiny is as large
as the vast when objective boundaries have vanished;
the vast is as small
as the tiny when you don't have external limits.
Being is an aspect of
non-being; non-being is no different from being.
Until you understand
this truth, you won't see anything clearly.[2]
Most definitions of
nonduality or
advaita are found in the words of teachers.
Francis Lucille:
Advaita is a Sanskrit
word that literally means "not two". Synonyms of Advaita are non-duality
(nonduality, non duality). Advaita is not a philosophy or a religion.
Non-duality is an experience in which there is no separation between
subject and object; a "me" and the rest of the universe; a "me" and God.
It is the experience of consciousness, our true nature, which reveals
itself as absolute happiness, love and beauty. Consciousness is defined
as that, whatever that is, which is aware of these very words right
here, right now.[3]
Nisargadatta Maharaj:
When you go beyond
awareness, there is a state of non-duality, in which there is no
cognition, only pure being. In the state of non-duality, all separation
ceases.[4]
Adyashanti:
To awaken to the
absolute view is profound and transformative, but to awaken from all
fixed points of view is the birth of true nonduality. … Enlightenment
means the end of all division. It is not simply having an occasional
experience of unity beyond all division, it is actually being undivided.
This is what nonduality truly means. It means there is just One Self,
without a difference or gap between the profound revelation of Oneness
and the way it is perceived and lived every moment of life. Nonduality
means that the inner revelation and the outer expression of the
personality are one and the same. So few seem to be interested in the
greater implication contained within profound spiritual experiences,
because it is the contemplation of these implications which quickly
brings to awareness the inner divisions existing within most seekers.[5]
James Traverse:
Nonduality is the
living understanding of one's true nature as that which is empty of
itself and full of the unfolding of being. Nonduality is a wave as the
living relationship of complementary extremes. Nonduality, like
Emptiness or Silence, is not a thing yet no thing can be without it.
Nonduality is the Numberless One. Nonduality is the living heart of
being. Nonduality is its own knowing as "Form is Seeing and Seeing is
Being" (Quote is from Atmananda Krishna Menon). Nonduality is the path
that is formed by walking it.[6]
Some define
nonduality at length. The following is part of a discussion by
philosopher James M. Corrigan:
Simple Answer:
Nonduality is the
state or condition of not being separate and distinct even if appearing
to be so. It is the condition which allows us to say that there is no
true separation between ourselves and anyone else or anything else in
the world, for instance. When we say things like “We are all one,” or
“God is in all things,” we are asserting that the presence we call
‘reality’ is a nonduality.
A “nondualism” is a
systematic description of nondual reality, or the tradition of spiritual
practices of nonduality.
More Complicated
Answer:
Nonduality is the
condition that one arrives at when all distinctions and relations
between ‘things’ are removed. Fundamentally, all such distinctions and
relations are the result of error on our part because it is we that
impose the idea of plurality on the whole. Nonduality is thus a simple
wholeness, rather than an “all in one” whole. It is very difficult to
clearly contemplate such a simple wholeness, because by thinking about
it and conceptualizing it, we have lost the simple wholeness that is the
real nonduality that we were trying to grasp, which is always already
our very nature – we are reality. Nonduality is the Infinite because we
can both indivisibly apprehend it and enumerate it inexhaustibly into
parts and relations between parts.
Nondualism according
to this understanding is an error because fundamentally anything that we
say or think about the Infinite removes this simple wholeness of reality
from our grasp.
The Ultimate Answer:
Nonduality is
ineffable. Any words that attempt to capture its essence instead hide it
from us.
Nondualism according
to this understanding must be an apophatic* performance that uses words
to lead us towards nonduality and then at the horizon of understanding
pulls these words away so that reality can stand in its pure simple
beauty. For example, in order to say that Nonduality is ineffable, we
first posit 'Nonduality', making ‘Nonduality’ a creature of reason and
thus positively identifying ‘Nonduality’ as some thing that can be
thought about, and then in the same breath we take away this assertion
by adding that this ‘what’ of which we speak is ineffable and thus
beyond the reach of reason. The point being made by this performance is
that Nonduality is not nothing, because then we could not even speak of
‘it’; but it is not something either, because if it were it could not be
Nonduality; yet it is all things and no thing itself. Thus the name
"Nonduality" is used to indicate a denial of multiplicity, yet the mind,
seeing this denial, may assume that it means 'One' as that is the
opposite of multiplicity in quantitative reasoning, and while reasoning
the mind is locked into certain forms of thought, among them the form of
contradictories. But the name "Nonduality," while it denies
multiplicity, also denies its contradiction and subsumes both. These
words are an apophatic performance. If you can ‘see’ their meaning, you
do not need any more definitions.[7]
Want more?
There are many more
definitions of nonduality, short and long, at
http://nonduality.com/whatis.htm
For an extensive,
in-depth comparative study, read Nonduality: A Study in Comparative
Philosophy, by David Loy
For a classic and
simply told explanation of nondual reality, read Chuck Hillig’s Enlightenment for Beginners.
The Book: On the
Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, by Alan Watts is a classic from the
Sixties. His use of the word nonduality may be the first in popular
spiritual literature in the West.
The book I edited,
One: Essential Writings on Nonduality, is filled it with diverse
writings from nondual traditions and nondual perspectives. There’s
something for everyone.
The word nonduality
One of my stumblings
into nonduality was upon the word itself. One day in the early 80s I was
sitting at the counter of a deli in Santa Monica and the guy beside me
was reading an oversized leather bound book. I casually asked him what
he was reading. He said, “The Upanishads.” I asked him what it was
about. He didn’t answer me at first. He looked away, up and down, like
he didn’t want to be bothered with me, but also as though he felt
obligated to say something. After a few seconds he looked straight into
my eyes and said the word as though it were a challenge:
“Non-du-al-i-ty.”
In that way the
unspoken power of the word was given to me. Here are 7 reasons why the
word nonduality is powerful:
1. The word
nonduality is fresh and untainted by loose-end connotations, such as the
words Zen, consciousness, or spirituality are.
2. The word
nonduality, for full understanding, demands its experience.
3. The word is a key
that opens search engines and allows you to encounter, engage, and
contribute to a multitude of teachings, conversations, and people.
4. The word
nonduality is a portal, revealing the nondual perspective of many fields
of knowledge: literature, psychology, cinema, education, art, physics,
neurosciences, ecology, philosophy, mathematics, architecture, dance,
music, martial arts, and more.
5. The word, like any
word when it is first heard and valued, is a magnet. Once a person hears
the word nonduality, it becomes a magnet drawing attention to other
appearances of the word. As well, the user of the word becomes a magnet
for others who are sensitive to the appearance of the word nonduality.
6. The word
nonduality is a “red pill.” Recall that in the movie The Matrix, Neo was
offered either a blue pill or a red pill. The blue pill would have
returned Neo back to his dream world whose unreality he sensed but did
not understand. The red pill would have awakened him to who he really
was, which would have begun his journey through life and to the source.
The word nonduality
could work as a red pill if you value its meaning enough to follow it as
deeply as you can. When Neo was being given his choice of pills, his
teacher and mentor Morpheus explained to him:
This is your last
chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the
story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to
believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you
how deep the rabbit hole goes…. Remember, all I’m offering is the truth,
nothing more….
7. The word is a
pointing to “the seemingly indefinable underlying nature of reality.”[8]
8. The word is a
category holding “the body of works created by those who are open to
experiencing life/reality beyond the limiting beliefs and definitions of
mind.”[9]
Conclusion
At one time the word
nonduality was essentially unknown to the public. The word belonged to
philosophers, scholars in comparative religion, Buddhists, and Hindus.
The last ten years have seen the coming together of world teachers and
the Internet, the wide dissemination of the teaching of nonduality in a
variety of forms, the waking up of many, and the entry of the word
nonduality into the spirituality mainstream.
A person at any level
of understanding should be able to find a definition or description of
nonduality that makes sense. However, I haven’t included the most
elementary definitions of nonduality, for example, as one young person
explained it to her not-so-spiritually-inclined parents, “Beyond good
and bad.”
The collection of
material on the definition of nonduality is still being generated,
identified, accumulated, and published. Right now the collection is
diverse, accessible, and open to new offerings and commentaries.
About the author
Jerry Katz has been
promoting nondual awareness since 1997. His main website is
http://nonduality.com
~
*You may prefer a
term other than awareness, such as God, consciousness, emptiness,
reality, Brahman, Self, the Absolute, or Truth.
**Apophasis - the
Greek designation for language that 'speaks away' or 'unsays' what it
first affirms.
[1] "Advaita."
Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 30 Dec. 2001.
http://www.britannica.com
[2] Mitchell, Stephen, ed. The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred
Poetry. New York: Harper and Row, 1989. Print.
[3] Lucille, Francis. A Primer on Advaita. Francis Lucille. Web. 19 Aug.
2009.
http://francislucille.com
[4]
Maharaj, Sri Nisargadatta. I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj. Trans. Maurice Frydman. Ed. Sudhakar S. Dikshit. Durham, NC:
Acorn, 1992. Print.
[5]
Adyashanti. Selling Water by the River. Adyashanti. Web. 19 Aug. 2009.
http://www.adyashanti.org
[6]
Personal email communication from James Traverse.
[7] Corrigan, James M. What is Nonduality? An Introduction to Awareness.
Web. 19 Aug. 2009.
http://anintroductiontoawareness.com
[8]
Personal email communication from Mandee Labelle.
[9] Ibid.
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