Do you see non-duality as the truth of the universe?

Question

Sunman: How so? ~ : )

DazMaz: And thanks that was quite an answer. ~ : )

Sunman: Thanks, I will have to rest on this for awhile. ~ : )

Mumof4: Hi. The koan meditation is not to confuse, I can see why you would think that. Take "what did your face look like before your parents were born". You take this with you in meditation and remember the question, and really want the answer, and I mean really. All other thoughts will vanish, even the koan itself, an intense wanting the answer, everything else is forgotten. It may take days, weeks, months, or years, but it will come if you want to know badly. Instead of confusing the mind it frees it from conditioning. There is another type called choice-less awareness, this is what I do. To empty the mind of conditioning to reveal what you are. It doesn't come from outside although it is everywhere and you are it, but so is everything else.~ : )

No thing can be in and of itself, being an individual is impossible, even God can not be in and of itself, without the emanating quality God would not be, or God could not preceve God. Buddha could not be Buddha without Buddha nature, however these are not two seperate things, there is a light source and the light shines. I am walking, without something to walk on there would be no walking, the grass I am walking on enlightens, everything is enlightenment, everything is Buddha nature, who knows everything is Buddha nature, Buddha! Who knows everything is a reflection of itself, God! This is what I mean by non-duality, there is no separation. This I see as the truth of the universe. I am sure there is agreement on this. When I post a question I don't go into this much detail so sometimes I can seem a little off.[ha, ha.] And I was tired last nite. ~ : )

Sunman: I see we are in total agreement, just said in different terms. It is easy to be stuck on words, this light that shines before the word knows. As I have said your answers always makes relaxing here in the shade more *brilliant*, have some tea? ~ : )

Answer 1

Anyone remember 'Flatland' ?

Trying to describe the non-relativistic 'Omniverse' from the very linear physical Universe is close to impossible. A realm with no 'Time' and no 'Space' ? But we know, here, already that 'time' is not what it seems, mathematics has given us a glimpse of 'negative' time, in other words we are close to breaking the spell of the 'continuum'. Quantum mechanics has given us the Higgs-Boson, without which what we call 'mass' cannot be, the 'God' particle, that brings all 'matter' into manifestation. Further it has been seen that Einstein's 'Law', the great ( bow down before it, like another great, flat, Earth ) C ! The unbreakable 'Speed of Light', is no more a whited sepulchre. A charged particle here, in this outer arm of the slightly dull galaxy we call the Milky Way, should it change it's charge ( positive to negative, or vice versa ) it's twin on the other side of our Universe, thirteen of fourteen billion light years away ( the actual distance is truly irrelevant ) will also change simultaneously !

The point ? That we are hide-bound by conventions that are being re-formed as we speak and write. Duality is the convention that everything in the relative has to have it's 'Doppelganger' or alter-ego, it's opposite in order to define itself relatively. In other words one needs 'hot' to know 'cold', 'here' to know 'there', 'up' to know 'down', and the great one 'Good' to know 'Bad'.

The point is that there are no such things, we literally created the 'separations' in order to 'see' ( experience ) the 'space' in between. Music would, apparently, be meaningless if there was no 'time' because all the notes would come out all together, a cacophony of noise, in a nanosecond !

I use an analogy of the modern cinema, the Imax Theatre. It is one giant screen composed of thousands of small screens or 'pixels'. All together they present a composite image which we can follow, but each mini-screen is only showing a small part. Now, imagine if every 'pixel' was showing a different image ? Impossible to follow them all at the same 'time', right ? But you know that your 'sub-conscious' is seeing all of the images, and that, under hypnosis, for example, you could be helped to remember them all, individually.

When we reach that level, the ability to see all the screens and follow them simultaneously, then we will have evolved beyond the need for 'Dualism', we will have expanded our perceptory capabilities to the level where we can separate everything ourselves, like a prism.

That is, for me, a great 'Truth', a 'Cosmic Truth' if you like.

Thanks for another great question, CD. :-)

Answer 2

What you describe in your additional comments is not non-duality, but rather duality. God/other, the subject walking/ the object walked on, Buddha the human/Buddha nature-God. The individual is dualistic by definition. It is the subject to an object.

Non-duality means 'not two', meaning there is just One 'thing' that Exists, and everything else is the illusion of dualistic perception. There is not God, and then a human. There is just God, and you are That, which is the answer to your question. The universe in not non-dual, it is the result of dualistic perception. Truth (God) is non-dual.

God most definitely can BE, and IS, in and of itself, without anything else, perceiving or not.

On the subject of koans, the purpose is not to find an answer. There is no answer and the one focusing on the question is not looking for an answer. (There is no answer to the sound of one hand clapping or what you looked like before you were born) The purpose is to offer mind something that it cannot grasp so that there is no grasping or thinking. To meditate on a question for which there is no answer is to suspend mind between thoughts. In a sense, it does confuse the mind by leaving it groundless.

Phil

Answer 3

It was, and will be again.For there to be Now, there has to be at least two things, the percieved, and the perciever. Even if these are just figments of God's imagination, well then the duality just exists in God's head. The essentially dual nature of the universe manifests itself everywhere, much like fractals. Look around, There is Male and Female, Bi-lateral symmetry in all vertebrates, and most other animals, or maybe this arose from the essentially dual nature of perception, and its effect on the percieved. Yes, ultimately, Perciever and Percieved are One, but they are also Dual, imaginary and Real, all at the same time, cosecutively, and sometimes even exclusively, depending on what pleases the Good Lord Vishnu.

Answer 4

The ego takes the parts it likes and ignores or minimizes the rest. The Law of Attraction is best understood in context of the greater picture. The situation is the human ego is just looking for ways to manipulate the universe to meet it's perceived needs and desires. Remaking the Law of Attraction in it's own image, the human ego compartmentalizes the universe and attempts to separate the Law of Attraction from the whole, discarding the parts and pieces it doesn't want to deal with. It is like taking a beautiful tapestry and focusing on one small area of it then pulling all of the threads of the colors you like trying to move them to your chosen spot. If successful the whole tapestry is changed and the beautiful pattern is disturbed. Now imagine you and the tapestry are connected to a greater intelligence that can regulate the pattern and direct your efforts by inspiring desires and choices. If you have managed to delude yourself into thinking you are separate from this greater intelligence then you will believe that you are manipulating the tapestry through the use of the Law of Attraction. This will make you feel powerful for a while. If you are aware of your connection to the greater intelligence you will not be all that interested in pulling all the pretty colors to you. Much greater wonders are your main focus. The popularization of the Law of Attraction is not a bad thing and can do no harm. It ends up just being another way people can express exactly where they are in awareness. Where we are is exactly where we need to be.

Answer 5

No. I can't understand how non-duality can be real.

The fact that we can have two different opinions on the matter seems to prove my point.

If everything were all in one compound (ie not dualistic), there would be no free will....

If non-duality is the truth of the universe, then inaction is the most fundamental of all truths. Nothing can act in any way, for if it does one thing, then there is the possibility that it could have done another.

This idea of non-duality, then, must be simply an exercise to clear your mind....

Here's a perspective from the Book of Mormon on the idea of duality/opposition (just for the sake of intellectual debate):

11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

(2 Nephi 2: 11)

Duality is a fundamental law of the universe. Zen is the process whereby we confuse ourselves so much that our minds refuse to function, thereby allowing for the emptying of the mind, and the entry of enlightenment from a spiritual source outside of ourselves. Did I get that right? :)

Cosmic: I think I begin to see the sense behind TPM.

Answer 6

I see it as one of the Truths. The other Truth is: the Non-duality is dual in nature.


-----in other words you will always be an Individual in unity with All That Is.
Separateness within the Unity.


-----individuality must always be retained.


-----we can still allow ourselves to be swept away in the 'oneness' and we can momentarily let ourselves forget that we are separate individuals, but individuality must not be crucified, and individuality is not an illusion.


-----“Your eyes and your eyelashes, being individual, express the individuality of All-That-Is. No snowflakes are alike. No person is alike. Through the manifestation of individuality does All-That-Is express its being. To be yourself you are, in your terms, what God is. And in your way, you become a conscious creator. You are co-creators whether you know it or not. You are creators whether you know it or not. You are created and you create whether you know it or not. You can learn to be conscious co-creators. You form your reality. You can do this consciously. Even when you choose to think in terms of a nebulous, beneficial, divine oneness in which you hope to hide your being, and lose it.” ~ ESP Class, January 22, 1974.

-----*sips tea*

Answer 7

There is only one "you" the natural one that was born so many years ago. The "second" you was created by society, your culture, parents, peers, etc.

Early on (about two) your "programming" began...the natural you, with it's potential spontaneity, etc. was squashed.

Dualism is present until there is the recogniton that our natural self is still there, only conditioned out of existence.

When we are capable of noticing our programmed thinking and actions...don't feed an arising thought with more thoughts (killing the "stories") we can be free...be "one" simple and natural.

Life goes on, as usual, but there is more contentment...more joy.

Answer 8

The only Universe that I SEE is the one that I SEE. So, I cannot SEE DUALITY, only the one that I SEE. My mind made sense of self, is the only separation or duality that I can Create, and it is only in my mind as thought. There is no reality in thought.

Answer 9

Always the food for thought.

"Out of Tao, One is born;
Out of One, Two;
Out of Two, Three;
Out of Three, the created universe.
The created universe carries the yin at its back
and the yang in front;
Through the union of the pervading principles it
reaches harmony."

Tao Te Ching, tr Lin Yutang

As for me, I'm still digesting this one!
.

Answer 10

Do you desire to understand one of the reasons typical Law of attractionproduct doesn't work for numerous people?Think it like a diet plan. If you wish to slim down and you strive to lose it