@fugazzi: I have studied other religions before, and have even
practiced their methods before. It is not due to blind faith that I
made the statement that Buddhism is unique. Buddhism is by far the
only religion that teachers dependent origination, anatta (no self)
and emptiness – without which there cannot be liberation. I speak
of this from my personal experience and progress of insight.
Because you do not understand the importance of right view, you
will not be able to appreciate the importance of Buddha’s
teachings. As I wrote before:
...Also, a lot of people think ‘The Right View is No View’ which
is true since all metaphysical views pertain to false views of
existence and non-existence, however the way they go about
resolving the problem is by ‘forgetting all concepts’. They think
that by suspending all beliefs, by forgetting all concepts and
sitting quietly in a state of pure awareness, somehow merely by
that, they can overcome false views. Let me offer something for you
think about: every day we go into a state of deep sleep where all
our beliefs, concepts, views, thoughts are temporarily suspended.
But when we wake up, what happens? We are as ignorant as ever. Our
framework of viewing self and reality is still the same. We still
experience the same problems, the same sufferings, the same
afflictions. This analogy should clearly show you that sustaining a
state of non-conceptuality or mastering a state of ‘forgetting the
self’ is not going to result in a fundamental change or
transformation or effortless seeing, unless true wisdom and insight
arises. I shall offer two more analogies which are related: a
person deluded as to see a rope as a snake, will live in fear,
trying to tame the snake, trying to get rid of the snake, escape
from the snake. Maybe he managed a way to distant himself from the
snake, yet the belief that the snake is still there is nevertheless
going to haunt him.
Even if he managed to master the state of forgetting the snake,
he is nonetheless in a state of delusion. He has not seen as it
truly is: the snake is simply a rope. In another analogy, the child
believes in the existence of santa claus and awaits eagerly for
arrival of his presents on Christmas day. One day the parents
decide that it’s time the child be told the truth about santa
claus. To do this, beating the hell out of the child is not going
to work. You simply need to tell the child that santa claus doesn’t
truly exist. In these analogies, I try to showcase how trying to
deal with the problem of false views through means of ‘forgetting
conceptuality, forgetting the self’ is as useless or deluded as
‘trying to forget the snake, trying to tame the snake, trying to
beat the hell out of the child’ when the simple, direct and only
true solution is only to realize that there is only a rope, and
that santa claus isn’t real. Only Awakening liberates us from a
bondage that is without basis.
Without the right contemplation and instilling of right view,
you can ‘sit quietly in pure awareness’ for an entire lifetime
without waking up. I cannot stress this point enough because this
is a very prevalent erroneous understanding – even someone at the
I AM level of realization will talk about
non-conceptuality, non-conceptual Presence-Awareness and think it
is final. Same goes for other stages. By overemphasizing on
non-conceptuality, they will miss the subtler aspects of insight,
they will fail to grasp right view, they will fail to tackle the
subtler imprints and mental framework of viewing dualistically and
inherently. They will not even see their framework of perceiving
self and things as false that is causing some subtle effort and
clinging (to a Self or to an actual ground here/now or to an actual
world), just like you will never see your dream as a dream until
well… you wake up.
As Zen writer and speaker Ted Biringer says, “Accurate
understanding is not authentic realization. At the same time,
authentic realization can hardly be expected to occur without
accurate understanding. And while an absence of “right
understanding” almost excludes the possibility of authentic
realization, the presence of “wrong understanding” excludes even
the slimmest hope of success. If we aspire to realize what Zen
practice-enlightenment truly is, then, as Dogen says, “We should
inquire into it, and we should experience it.” To follow his
guidance here we will need to understand his view of what “it” is
that needs to be inquired into, and who the “we” is that is to do
the inquiring.”
Non-conceptuality does not mean non-attachment. For example when
you realize the I AM, you cling to that pure
non-conceptual beingness and consciousness as your true identity.
You cling to that pure non-conceptual thought very tightly – you
wish to abide in that purest state of presence 24/7. This clinging
prevents us from experiencing Presence AS the Transience. This is a
form of clinging to something non-conceptual. So know that going
beyond concepts does not mean overcoming the view of inherency and
its resultant clinging clinging. Even in the substantial non-dual
phase, there is still clinging to a Source, a One Mind – even
though experience is non-dual and non-conceptual. But when inherent
view is dissolved, we see there is absolutely nothing we can cling
to, and this is the beginning of Right View and the Path to Nirvana
– the cessation of clinging and craving.
So as you can see, non-conceptual, even non-dual experience does
not liberate – so we have to use the intellect to understand right
view, and then investigate it in our experience. This is like a
fire that in the end burns up the candle it is burning on,
consuming itself in the process, leaving no trace even of itself.
In other words, conceptual understanding of right view, coupled
with investigative practice, results in true realization that
dissolves concepts leaving non-conceptual wisdom – but without that
process of investigating and trying to understand right view,
merely remaining in a state of non-conceptuality isn’t going to
help you get free. People who fear engaging in thought, trying to
understand the right view, challenging their views and
understanding of things, are unfortunately going to stick with
their own deluded framework of perceiving things.
Now having diverted our attention so much, let us return to the
subject at hand….
-
http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2011/12/...
If you neglect the importance of right view, you will remain
stuck in what Thusness calls “the disease of non-conceptuality” and
fail to realize the profound dharma that leads to true
liberation.
Lastly I like to put a link to the Buddha’s own words about the
uniqueness of his doctrine – because he says it so well in his own
words -
http://www.cambodianbuddhist.org/english/websit…
Cula-sihanada Sutta (MN 11)—The Shorter Discourse on the Lion’s
Roar {M i 63} [Ñanamoli Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans.]. The
Buddha declares that only through practicing in accord with the
Dhamma can Awakening be realized. His teaching is distinguished
from those of other religions and philosophies through its unique
rejection of all doctrines of self. [BB]
