Precisely so and well experienced!
Non-dual brings u out of the mental loop, directly experiencing
whatever touched, sensed, seen as IT. Before perception
intervenes, it is thoroughly experienced. Non-dual eliminates
the constant need of falling back to a source and see manifestation
as source.
However in a practical world, there is no way we can avoid dirtying
our hands and remain free from conceptualization; we have to face
'thinking'. It seems that whenever thinking steps in, the
'sense of self' surfaces and division is again experienced.
The ‘background’, the ‘ultimate source’ will arise and there is no
way of getting rid of this split for this is the nature of
dualism. Ever time we recall or think there will always be a
division; the background, the source will surface. And as
long as our fundamental way of analyzing and thinking rest on a
subject-object paradigm, there will always be a mismatched between
non-dual experience and the 'views' for a non-dualist.
Although non-dual insight eliminates the split between the observer
and observed experientially, it does not dissolve the deeply rooted
dualistic framework. We continue to analyze and think and
analyze using a subject/object dichotomy. Even tough there is
sufficient non-dual experiences, when attempting to orientate in
terms of ‘views’, a non-dualist can still be confused himself and
at times appears incoherent. This is the de-synchronization
between views and meditative experiences.
In Buddhism there is a complete system of thought to orientate
ourselves non-dually, that is, the viewless-view of
Emptiness. It is a raft but it is the antidote for the
conventional mind to orientate itself in a non-dual and non-local
context. It also led to the amazing insight that ‘duality’ is
really the result of seeing and taking things ‘inherently’ (You may
want to the take up the challenge of re-engaging in thoughts
penetrating this viewless view of Emptiness and thoroughly
understand how this affect us into seeing things
dualistically ).
At present, we experience our world through the lens of seeing
things as existing dualistically and inherently. We deeply
believe that entity possesses certain form of attributes.
Deep in us we believe that ‘redness’ belongs to the flower and
‘blueness’ belongs to the sky. We were trained to see things
not only dualistically but also objects consisting of attributes
and functions. But in truth, there is no such ‘redness’ that
belongs to the ‘flower’. There is no the ‘redness’ outside,
nor inside us. There is no properties 'inherently' attached
or attributed to any objects. The formation of the 'center' and the
tendency to grasp is not just the problem of seeing things
'dualistically' but also 'inherently'. When we see in this
way, all 'letting go' are mere illusions; For we are really
'holding' in our deep most consciousness and so the letting go' is
only superficial. When we see things inherently, whatever
state, whatever experience, no matter how profound, how blissful,
how vivid, how mystical, will be objectify into an object for
seeking; the tendency operates subtly. It is similar to how
the experience of the Source "I AM" is distorted and later non-dual
insight that sees the fundamental problem of the source.
Lastly, as stated in the Bahiya Sutta,
In seeing, (there is always) just the seen.
In hearing, (there is always) just sound.
The seen, sound are the non-dual luminous experience; but direct
experience of non-dual luminosity is not suffcient. Though
perfectly clear and vividly present as in non-dual experience, the
'seen' is radically different from the 'sound' -- this is its
emptiness nature. This viewless view must be fused into our
non-dual insight. When views are firmly established and
non-dual experience thoroughly authenticated, a practitioner will
see everything as Awareness without conflict in both views and
experiences. Not bounded within an inherent and dualistic
paradigm, he will not be confused. When the real cause and
the empty nature of our pristine awareness are understood, this
‘Emptiness’ view too must be discarded.
Happy CNY!
PS: editing using this new forum interface is truly a nightmare.
I think this article is very profound, talking on non-duality,
emptiness and self-liberation:
http://www.ktgrinpoche.org/guru_rinpoche.html
Listen to Guru Rinpoche's "Supplication
That All Thoughts Be Self-Liberated" Download
Tashi Delek! I hope that for you everything is filled with
auspiciousness, happiness, and excellence. To meet you all here
makes me very happy. Gyatrul Rinpoche is a great friend of mine and
I have heard a lot about his monastery here. Today, to actually
come and be able to see it, to see what a secluded and beautiful
place it is, makes me very happy.
I would like to explain to you a supplication that was composed by
Guru Rinpoche, a supplication that all thoughts be self-liberated.
Guru Rinpoche composed seven chapters of supplications for students
to recite to him, and this one comes from a chapter that he taught
to the monk whose name was Namkha'i Nyingpo.
Before listening to this teaching, please give rise to the supreme
motivation of bodhichitta. When we give rise to bodhichitta, it
means that for the benefit of all sentient beings, limitless in
number as the sky is vast in its extent, we aim to bring our love
and compassion to their ultimate perfection, and to bring our
wisdom realizing emptiness to its ultimate perfection. We know that
in order to do this we must listen to, reflect upon and meditate on
the teachings of the genuine Dharma with all the enthusiasm we can
muster in our hearts.
The first verse of the supplication1 is:
All these forms that appear to eyes that see,
All things on the outside and the inside,
The environment and its inhabitants
Appear, but let them rest where no self's found;
Perceiver and perceived when purified
Are the body of the deity, clear emptiness—
To the guru for whom desire frees itself,
To Orgyen Pema Jungnay I supplicate.
What appears to the eyes are forms, which are made up of shapes and
colors. Everything that is a shape and color is included in the
source of consciousness (Sanskrit: ayatana) that is called
form. The shapes and colors that appear to the eyes are found in
all of the aspects of the environment in which we live, as well as
in all of the sentient beings who inhabit this environment. What is
the true nature of the appearances of shapes and colors of the
environment and sentient beings? It is that they are dependently
arisen mere appearances, which do not exist in essence. The forms
that appear do not truly exist. In the abiding nature of reality,
their nature is emptiness. They appear while being empty; while
empty, they appear. They are appearance-emptiness like rainbows,
water-moons, and reflections. All of the objects that appear to the
eyes are appearance-emptiness undifferentiable.
As the protector Nagarjuna writes in his Fundamental Wisdom of
the Middle Way2:
Like a dream, like an illusion
Like a city of gandharvas,
That's how birth, and that's how living,
That's how dying are taught to be.
The meaning of this verse and the one from Guru Rinpoche's
supplication are exactly the same.
This is the actual way forms are. They are appearance-emptiness
undifferentiable, but sentient beings do not see this because they
think things truly exist, and their thoughts that cling to the true
existence of appearances obscure the appearance-emptiness that is
their true nature. That is why we practice the Dharma—to cleanse
ourselves of this clinging to appearances as truly existent so that
we can realize appearances' true nature is appearance-emptiness
undifferentiable.
It is like when you dream and you do not know that you are
dreaming. The appearances in the dream are appearance-emptiness,
but your thought that they truly exist prevents you from seeing
that. Even though the dream appearances are appearance-emptiness
and have no inherent nature, they seem to be real when you do not
know that you are dreaming. You think that they are real and you
have experiences that seem to confirm your belief that they are
real.
But however much you cling to the appearances in a dream, that does
not change what the appearances are from their own side. The
essential nature of these appearances is unchanging
appearance-emptiness. It never moves from being just that. When you
dream and you know you are dreaming, you are free of the thoughts
that fixate on the appearances as being truly existent. You are
free from that obscuration so you can experience the appearances
just as they are: as appearance-emptiness. That enables you to do
wonderful things like fly in the sky, move unobstructedly through
rock mountains, and travel to pure realms. All that is possible
when you recognize a dream for what it is, and in that way, not be
blocked by thinking that the appearances truly exist.
In our waking life, even though the environment and sentient beings
appear to us, the supplication says "let them rest where no self's
found." The environment and sentient beings appear, but let them
rest without clinging to them as truly existent. Let them rest in
their natural state of appearance-emptiness without fixating on
them as being real. When we let the appearances rest without
fixating on them as being real, all of the thoughts of there being
an actual object out there to perceive and an actual distinct
subject perceiving it just dissolve. The thoughts that take the
duality of perceived object and perceiving subject to be real
dissolve. They are purified.
When that happens, everything shines as luminous emptiness,
clarity-emptiness. At this point, you are ready to meditate on the
deity, because the deity's enlightened body is also
appearance-emptiness. It appears while it is empty; it is empty
while it appears—it is like a rainbow. When you meditate on the
deity, everything appears as the body of the
deity—appearance-emptiness.
When all of the appearances of the physical environment shine as
the appearance-emptiness immeasurable palace of the deity, and all
the sentient beings in the environment shine as the
appearance-emptiness enlightened bodies of the deities themselves,
then all desire is free in its own place. It is self-liberated.
Thoughts of desire do not come from anywhere and they do not go
anywhere. They do not arise, so they do not cease. Since they are
free from coming and going, and free from arising and ceasing,
thoughts of desire are self-liberated. For this reason the verse
says, "To the guru for whom desire frees itself, To Orgyen Pema
Jungnay, I supplicate."
The second verse of the supplication is:
All these sounds that appear for ears that hear,
Taken as agreeable or not,
Let them rest in the realm of sound and emptiness
Past all thought, beyond imagination;
Sounds are empty, unarisen and unceasing,
These are what make up the Victor's teaching—
To the teachings of the Victor, sound and emptiness,
To Orgyen Pema Jungnay I supplicate.
What appear to the ears are sounds. What is the nature of this
source of consciousness that is sound? In fact, the sounds we hear
are like sounds in a dream. Their basic nature is that they are
always appearance-emptiness—they appear while being empty, and
while being empty they appear.
The two main kinds of sounds we hear are those that we find
pleasing and those we do not. Both kinds of sounds, however, are
equally appearance-emptiness, sound-emptiness, just as the sounds
in a dream are sound-emptiness. If we know this and meditate on the
mandala of the deities, then all sounds manifest as the natural
sounds of the deity's mantra: sound and emptiness.
From among the eight worldly dharmas,3 four of them are
related to sound—sounds that are pleasing, sounds that are
displeasing, sounds of praise, and sounds of criticism. We need to
give up attachment to the eight worldly dharmas—the four that we
like and the four that we do not. To do that, we can see that we
need to realize that sounds are sound-emptiness. Then we will not
be attached to sounds that are pleasant and sounds of praise, and
we will not be averse to sounds of criticism and unpleasant
sounds.
In a dream, all sounds of praise and all sounds of criticism, all
sounds we like and all sounds we do not, are equally
sound-emptiness. They have no inherent nature at all. But when we
do not know that we are dreaming, we think these sounds truly
exist, and we have experiences of happiness and suffering based on
sounds of praise and blame, sounds that we like, and sounds that we
do not; all because we do not recognize sounds' basic nature is
sound-emptiness. Guru Rinpoche instructs: "Let them rest in the
realm of sound and emptiness/Past all thought, beyond imagination."
This is an instruction to rest free of clinging to sounds as being
truly existent, free of clinging to them as being real. In their
basic nature that is sound and emptiness, just let go and relax.
Settle into your own basic nature within the nature of sound that
is sound and emptiness.
Since the enlightened body of the Buddha is appearance-emptiness,
then the sound of the Buddha's speech is also emptiness. It is
sound-emptiness undifferentiable. When you know that all sound
lacks inherent nature in the same way, then all sound is like the
sound of the Buddha's teachings and all sound manifests as the
resonance-emptiness sound of the Buddha's speech. The last line of
the supplication reads, "To Orgyen Pema Jungnay I supplicate." Here
Orgyen Pema Jungnay represents the Buddha's speech that is the
sound-emptiness abiding reality of all the sound there is. To this
Orgyen Pema Jungnay, we supplicate.
At the beginning of this twenty-first century, everywhere we go
there are radios playing, tape recorders playing, the sound of
movies and televisions—the world is filled with sound. At this
time, then, it is quite important to know that all sounds have no
inherent nature. They are sound-emptiness. These days, moment by
moment, sounds can be carried across the globe and change so many
people's feelings all at once—from happiness to suffering, from
suffering to happiness. Just on the basis of hearing a few sounds,
millions of people's feelings can change. Also these days it is
easy to realize that sounds are sound-emptiness, because if you
pick up the phone in America at noon and you call somebody in
another country, then for some people it will be midnight, and for
some people in other countries it will be morning. So at what time
is this sound really being made? In this way, we can easily
recognize sound-emptiness. If somebody in America calls someone in
India and talks to them on the phone, in America it is noon, in
India it is midnight. A daytime mouth is talking to a nighttime
ear—at the same time! If sounds were truly existent, that would be
impossible. It would be a contradiction for sound made during the
day to be heard simultaneously at night. But it is not a
contradiction when we know that it is just sound-emptiness.
Thinking about things in this way, during these times it is much
easier to understand how sound is sound-emptiness.
Also, these days a famous person can give a speech that is
broadcast all over the world. The people who like that person will
hear that speech as something very pleasant and beautiful. The
people who do not like that person will find it repulsive to listen
to. The people who have no opinion do not have any reaction to that
sound one way or the other. If we ask, "What is that sound, really?
Is it good or bad?" again we see that the true nature of sound is
inexpressible. These days, sounds beam down from empty space. They
come from empty buildings and even empty cars. It is important for
us to be able to examine these sounds and their sources to see that
they are sound-emptiness, because most of the suffering we
experience comes from hearing sounds. We need to train in the
understanding of sound as it is taught in the Middle Way, which is
that in genuine reality, sounds are empty of any essence. In
apparent reality, they are dependently arisen mere
appearances.
As the glorious Chandrakirti wrote,
Things do not arise causelessly, nor from Ishvara,
Nor from self, nor other, nor both;
Therefore, it is clear that things arise
Perfectly in dependence upon their causes and
conditions.
Things do not arise from any of the four possible extremes: from
self, other, both or without cause, and there's no fifth
possibility. Therefore, things do not truly arise—they do not come
into existence; they do not actually happen. Then what is the
appearance of them happening? It is just like the appearance of
things happening in a dream; like the appearance of a moon shining
on a pool of water; and like the appearance of an illusion. It is
dependently arisen mere appearance. In this way, since sounds do
not exist in genuine reality, and since in relative reality they
are just dependently arisen mere appearances, all sounds are simply
sound-emptiness. When you recite mantras, then mantras are also
sound-emptiness.
We supplicate Guru Rinpoche at the end of the verse, because even
though we know that sounds are sound and emptiness, we are obscured
from realizing that directly by our thoughts that cling to sounds
as being truly existent. We supplicate for Guru Rinpoche's blessing
so that these thoughts that sounds truly exist may dissolve, and
when they dissolve, that we will recognize the true nature of sound
is sound-emptiness.
The third verse of the supplication is:
All these movements of mind towards its objects,
These thoughts that make five poisons and afflictions,
Leave thinking mind to rest without contrivances,
Do not review the past nor guess the future;
If you let such movement rest in its own place,
It liberates into the dharmakaya—
To the guru for whom awareness frees itself,
To Orgyen Pema Jungnay I supplicate.
For ordinary beings, mind is discursive. It moves. It moves towards
objects. It moves towards the three times. It is constantly
thinking about one thing or another. Mind is moved by thoughts of
the five poisons. When mind encounters an object it likes, it moves
towards that object with thoughts of attachment. When mind
encounters an object it does not like, it moves towards that object
with thoughts of aversion, thoughts of anger. When mind judges
something incorrectly, it moves towards that object with
bewilderment. When one's mind believes that one has qualities that
one does not have, it moves towards oneself with thoughts of
arrogance. When mind looks at somebody else and sees things that it
does not have, it moves towards that person with thoughts of
jealously. In this way, thoughts of the five poisons constantly
move the mind. "Leave thinking mind to rest without contrivances."
When thoughts of the five poisons are moving the mind, just let
mind rest without trying to fix anything, without trying to change
anything, without reviewing the past kleshas (disturbing
mental states) or wondering what happened to them; and without
anticipating what types of disturbing states of mind one might
experience in the future. Do not review the past, do not guess the
future. Just let mind relax as it is right now.
We do not need to try to prevent thoughts of desire from arising.
We do not need to try to stop thoughts of anger or jealously once
they have arisen. Do not try to prevent anything; do not try to
stop or change anything; just simply do not take any of those
movements of mind to be truly existent. That is the instruction
because we could not stop the thoughts of the five poisons from
arising, even if we wanted to! We could not do that, but we do not
have to. All we have to do is recognize that these thoughts lack
any essence.
How do we do this? Whatever thought arises, look straight at it
with your eye of wisdom and settle into its basic nature. When you
do that, all thoughts and all disturbing states of mind are
liberated within the dharmakaya. They are self-liberated. The whole
collection of thoughts is free just as it is. This is awareness,
and this awareness is awareness-emptiness. Since this
awareness-emptiness is pure in nature, whatever obscurations there
may be have no essence. Awareness itself is self-liberated. It is
free just as it is.
Then we supplicate the guru whose awareness is self-liberated. This
is Guru Rinpoche. For Guru Rinpoche, awareness frees itself. We
supplicate you Orgyen Pema Jungnay for your blessings so that we
may realize, as you do, the self-liberation of awareness.
The Lord of Yogis Milarepa sang in his vajra song of realization
called "The Three Nails"4:
To describe the nails of meditation, the three
All thoughts in being dharmakaya are free
Awareness is luminous, in its depths is bliss
And resting without contrivance is equipoise
All thoughts are dharmakaya in their nature. Thoughts are free all
by themselves, without having to do anything to them, stop them, or
change them in any way. They are naturally dharmakaya. What is
dharmakaya like? It is luminous. It is awareness. It is bliss. How
do we experience this dharmakaya in meditation? Rest without
contrivance. Rest without artifice. This is equipoise. This is the
experience of dharmakaya. The verses of Milarepa and Guru Rinpoche
have the same meaning.
What is awareness-emptiness like? Milarepa described it in the
following way in the song "The Ten Things it is
Like"5:
When you know the true nature of everything to be known
The wisdom that's aware of the true nature's like a cloud-free
sky
With these two lines, Milarepa tells us the emptiness aspect of
awareness is like the sky completely free of clouds. Then he
sings:
When the mud settles down and mind's river is crystal
clear
Self-arisen awareness is like a polished mirror's shine
Milarepa illustrates the luminous, bright, vivid aspect of
awareness with the example of a perfectly polished mirror's
sparkling shine. In this way, we see what emptiness is like, we see
what awareness is like, and then we can understand that the two are
undifferentiable.
The great pandit Shakya Chokden described the noble Asanga's
explanation of genuine reality as follows:
Clarity-emptiness, mere awareness, empty of the duality of
perceived and
perceiver is all phenomena's abiding
reality.
Knowing this and combining it with a limitless accumulation of
merit, the
spontaneously present three kayas will
manifest.
This is Asanga's tradition.
In this way, Asanga presents the true nature of reality of all
phenomena as nondual luminous emptiness, nondual
awareness-emptiness. The explanation that the true nature of
reality is emptiness beyond all concept of what it might be is the
presentation of the Middle Way Consequence School (Prasangika
Madhyamaka). The presentation of the true nature of reality as
awareness-emptiness, luminous clarity, is the presentation of the
Shentong Madhyamaka, the Empty of Other Middle Way School,
and also the presentation of the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions.
What does the term "empty of other" or shentong mean? This
is described in the text called the Gyu Lama, the
Treatise on Buddha Nature:
The element is empty of that which is separable from it, all
fleeting stains.
But it is not empty of that which is inseparable from it, its own
unsurpassable qualities.
"Empty of other" means that the buddha nature, the true nature of
mind, luminous clarity, awareness, is empty of that which is
different from it: stains and flaws. It is empty of those. But it
is not empty of the spontaneously present qualities, the naturally
present qualities of enlightenment. These unsurpassable qualities
are totally inseparable from the true nature of mind.
In short, this supplication is a supplication that we will manifest
our own basic nature. We supplicate the guru to bless us so that we
can manifest the awareness-emptiness that is the true nature of
mind. It is a supplication that all appearances will be
self-liberated as the enlightened body of the deity, all sounds
will be self-liberated as the enlightened speech of the deity, and
all thoughts will be self-liberated as essential reality
itself.
The last verse of the supplication sums it all up:
Grant your blessing that purifies appearance
Of objects perceived as being outside;
Grant your blessing that liberates perceiving mind,
The mental operation seeming inside;
Grant your blessing that between the two of these
Clear light will come to recognize its own face;
In your compassion, sugatas of all three times,
Please bless me that a mind like mine be freed.
Grant your blessings that all clinging to objects on the outside as
truly existent will be self-liberated. Grant your blessings that
all thoughts on the inside will be self-liberated. Grant your
blessings that in between, luminous clarity, Dzogchen, will
recognize its own face. In your compassion, realized buddhas of all
three times, grant your blessings that I and all sentient beings
may be freed from clinging to characteristics. Grant your blessings
that I and all sentient beings may be freed from the bondage of
samsara. Grant your blessings that I and all sentient beings may be
freed from the bondage of believing that duality truly exists.
Grant your blessing that all of our concepts of duality will be
self-liberated.
My departing prayer is that Gyatrul Rinpoche be healthy, that he
live a long life, and that his activity for the benefit of all
sentient beings flourish. And I pray that all of you, his students,
bring your activities of listening to, reflecting on and meditating
on the teachings of the genuine Dharma to their perfection and
that, through this, you are of great benefit to all of the
limitless number of sentient beings. And especially here at Tashi
Chöling may the teachings of the practice and explanation lineages
flourish and bring great benefit to all of the beings of this
land.
Translated by Ari Goldfield.
1 The Guru Rinpoche Prayer is translated by Jim
Scott.
2 Translated by Jim Scott and Ari Goldfield.
3 The eight worldly dharmas are what worldly beings
strive to attain or avoid. The four not explicitly mentioned in
this paragraph are happiness, pain, gain, and loss.
4 Translated by Jim Scott.
5 Translated by Jim Scott and Ari Goldfield.
