Non-duality

Enlightenment basics: what you need to know

~ Tom Das ~ 8 Comments

Buddha face close up.jpg

Some core teachings in concise form:

  1. Enlightenment is freedom from suffering
  2. Enlightenment is possible for you
  3. Enlightenment is in essence very simple
  4. Enlightenment does not necessarily require specific training methods, specific practices, specific beliefs or specific teachings. These may or may not be part of the seeker’s journey.
  5. Enlightenment is permanent.
  6. All experiences are transient – they come and they go
  7. Therefore, based on points 3 and 4, enlightenment is not an experience
  8. Enlightenment is already here
  9. Enlightenment appears not to be here due to a false understanding of the way things actually are
  10. Suffering is caused by a false belief or a wrong understanding of the ways things are
  11. The false belief that causes suffering is the belief in the existence of a doer-entity (that has authorship of thoughts and actions) and taking yourself to be that doer entity.
  12. There is no evidence for the existence of the doer.
  13. Enlightenment is simply seeing this belief in being a doer is false.
  14. Enlightenment is seeing that there is no evidence for the existence of the doer entity.
  15. Enlightenment is seeing there is no doer. The belief in the doer then naturally falls away. The belief in the doer is not replaced by another belief such as ‘I am not the doer’, ‘All is one’ or ‘I am pure consciousness’.
  16. Enlightenment is not a new experience/state of higher consciousness or awakening (as per point 7). The experience of being enlightened is the same as the experience of being unenlightened, except in enlightenment the false belief/wrong notion is no longer operating.
  17. Enlightenment is simply seeing things as they actually are
  18. Enlightenment is seeing through all false beliefs about our notion of self
  19. Enlightenment means not forming conclusions about ourselves for which there is no evidence
  20. Enlightenment is not believing ‘I am not the doer’ or ‘there is no doer’ or any other concept of self. These are just more beliefs or ideas.
  21. Enlightenment is seeing there is no evidence for the existence of the doer
  22. After removing all that is false, what remains is truth.
  23. Enlightenment is not the gaining of new ideas or new understandings. It is the falling away of wrong understanding/false beliefs about doership.

J. Krishnamurti: The beauty of listening

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

krishnamurti

‘The beauty of listening lies in being highly sensitive to everything about you: to the ugliness, to the dirt, to the squalor, to the poverty about you, and also to the dirt, to the disorder, to the poverty of one’s own being.
When you are aware of both, then there is no effort, that is, when there is an awareness which is without choice, then there is no effort.’
Jiddu Krishnamurti, The Collected Works, Vol. XV, page 61 ‘Choiceless Awareness’

Tom’s Comments:
Not trying to avoid the bad and ugly, not striving to reach the good and beautiful, the ego is no longer at play. We come into contact with things as they are, reality, the living truth. We are no longer afraid of what is, we are no longer trying to escape ourselves.

Then we can see that which already is, and always has been. How can this be put into words? Try it and see for yourself, then you too will be beyond the need for these pathetic words.

Turiya – the fourth state, or is it?

~ Tom Das ~ 6 Comments

om star.png

In my recent interview on Buddha at the Gas Pump, Rick asked me about Turiya, the 4th state of consciousness.

According to Vedanta, Turiya is that state of consciousness which lies beyond the 3 states of consciousness that we all ordinarily experience, namely the waking state, the dream state and the deep sleep state. In experiencing Turiya directly there is the possibility of liberation.

You can listen to our exchange on the video below. After the interview I decided to see what Ramana Maharshi had said about Turiya and was relieved to find that he agreed with me 🙂 😛 (at least on this occasion – he probably agrees with Rick on other occasions!)

Here is what Ramana had to say about Turiya:

From Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 353:

Questioner: What is turiya?

Ramana Maharshi: There are three states only, the waking, dream and sleep. Turiya is not a fourth one; it is what underlies these three. But people do not readily understand it. Therefore it is said that this is the fourth state and the only Reality. In fact it is not apart from anything, for it forms the substratum of all happenings; it is the only Truth; it is your very Being. The three states appear as fleeting phenomena on it and then sink into it alone. Therefore they are unreal.

This view is also the traditional view of Turiya in vendanta as expounded by Gaupada in his Mandukya Karika.

So does this mean that Rick’s view is wrong? I don’t think so. His view is also a useful view, but in a slightly different way. Thinking of Turiya as a 4th state distinct from the others can also be a beneficial teaching when used in the teachings of a skilled teacher with a genuine realisation. Rick’s notion of entering a (nirvikalpa) samadhi and this having a purifying effect on the waking state is also a valid way of approaching this realisation/freedom.

It’s important to note that these teachings are ways of describing our experience. They are concepts, and form conceptual ways of carving up our experience with the intended effect of leading the seeker to liberation. They are not intended to be based in physiology or  ‘science’ in my view.

The point of these specific teachings/concepts is to point out the awareness-consciousness that does not come and go, regardless of what is happening. Whether or not they are successful in achieving that end is the test of how good the teaching is, not how well it is based in human physiology or scientific observations. It is therefore impossible to say one teaching is better than the other – the teaching that works is the ‘best’ teaching for that situation (this is the notion of expedient means in Buddhism)

Eventually, when you realise that consciousness is the essence of you, and remain as that, unidentified as body or mind, the illusory sense of doership is eventually destroyed. With it, the dualistic notion of a consciousness that is in some way distinct, underlying and permanent is also destroyed. What you are left with is what is already here: this, nameless, beyond words (and inclusive of words).

For a more detailed discussion of Turiya please see here:

http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/teachers/turiya_peter.htm

Ramana Maharshi: the essence of realisation

~ Tom Das ~ 4 Comments

Ramana reclining.jpg

Killing the ego is the only thing to accomplish.

Realisation is already there. No attempt is needed to attain realisation. For it is nothing external, nothing new.

It is always and everywhere here and now too.

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
Talk 174

Tom’s comments:

Time after time, again and again, Ramana says the only thing needed to do is remove the ego. Reality does not need to be realised, for it is already and always being realised.

Remove the ego, and reality shines by itself, as it always has done.

What is the ego? The ego is the notion of doership.

How to remove the ego? See that the sense of doership is an illusion. It doesn’t exist. There is no doer, there never was a doer, it was all imagined!

 

Zen Master Huang Po: Studying the Way

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Huang Po Zen Teachings

Regarding this Zen Doctrine of ours, since it was first transmitted, it has never been taught that men should seek for learning or form concepts. ‘Studying the Way’ is just a figure of speech. It is a method of arousing people’s interest in the early stages of their development

In fact, the Way is not something which can be studied. Study leads to the retention of concepts and so the Way is entirely misunderstood. Moreover, the Way is not something specially existing; it is something called Mahayana Mind – Mind which is not to be found inside, outside, or in the middle. Truly it is not located anywhere.

‘Studying the Way’ is just a figure of speech…In fact, the Way is not something which can be studied.

The first step is to refrain from knowledge-based concepts. This implies that if you were to follow the empirical method to the utmost limit, on reaching that limit you would still be unable to locate Mind.

The way is spiritual Truth and was originally without name or title. It was only because people ignorantly sought for it empirically that the Buddhas appeared and taught them to eradicate this method of approach.

The first step is to refrain from knowledge-based concepts.

Fearing that no one would understand, they selected the name ‘Way.’ You must not allow this name to lead you into a mental concept of a road. So it is said, ‘When the fish is caught we pay no more attention to the trap.’

When body and mind achieve spontaneity, the Way is reached and Mind is understood.

A shramana [seeker, monk] is so called because he has penetrated to the original source of all things. The fruit of attaining the shramana stage is gained by putting an end to all anxiety; it does not come from book-learning.

Taken from The Zen Teaching of Huang Po (Chun Chou record no. 29)

Zen Master Huang Po: the true teaching

~ Tom Das ~ 1 Comment

Huang Po Zen Teachings.jpg

Q: Up to now, you have refuted everything which has been said. You have done nothing to point out the true Dharma [the true teaching, the true way] to us.

Huang Po: In the true Dharma there is no confusion, but you produce confusion by such questions. What sort of ‘true Dharma’ can you go seeking for?

Q: Since the confusion arises from my questions, what – will Your Reverence’s answer be?

Huang Po: Observe things as they are and don’t pay attention to other people. There are some people just like mad dogs barking at everything that moves, even barking when the wind stirs among the grass and leaves.’

Taken from The Zen Teaching of Huang Po (Chun Chou record no. 28)

Tom’s comments:

The questioner appears frustrated at not being able to obtain anything tangible from Huang Po. ‘What is the true teaching? What is The Way?’, he asks.

The master replies: you yourself create the confusion, the questions being evidence of this. Is there even a ‘true Dharma’ to be sought?

The answer? Just be with what is, see things as they are, don’t worry about the words and ideas of others caught up in their own illusions and fears.