(Last edit: 28th January 2009, update consists of an excerpt by Judith Blackstone)

(Also see the related post,
The Syncing of View, Path and Fruition)

Spiritual practices come in countless different forms, so what I am covering is limited and general. Also, I have written on the importance of Right View (near the bottom) that is required for the arising of Prajna wisdom, the insight into Emptiness (Stage 6 of Thusness's Six Stages of Experience). Much of the following post is based on what Thusness/PasserBy have said.

Self Inquiry


Some practices are very helpful in giving an initial glimpse of Presence. The I AMness can be experienced through practices where the object of concentration is the Self. One of such practices is self-inquiry. This is most widely practiced throughout Advaita Vedanta but also practiced in some some Zen/Ch'an (as Koan practice), Tibetan (Mahamudra and Dzogchen), Theravada (Thai Forest tradition) traditions of Buddhism. Through this practice the practitioner can experience the I AMness (see Stage 1 of Thusness's Six Stages of Experience, where Thusness experienced I AMness through the Self-Inquiry of "Before Birth, Who am I?"). It can be a question "Who am I" that leads one to the experience of the subject-object becoming one, i.e. attaining absorption. Till a point the practitioner simply experiences a pure sense of existence. This leads to a deep and ultimate conviction, that certainty beyond doubt of your very own existence -- "I AM". Though it is important to have certainty of our luminosity, this pure sense of existence as being ever-present and never lost, such mode of experiencing has no understanding of its non-dual luminous clarity and its nature as Anatta (Buddhist term for No-Self) and Sunyata (Buddhist term for Emptiness.)

Apart from recommending the practice Vipassana (insight meditation), Thusness sometimes (depending on conditions and the practitioners' inclinations) also recommend the practice of self-inquiry to practitioners (sometimes he would ask them to contemplate on questions such as, “Without using any languages, ‘I’, ‘me’ or any signs or symbols, how is ‘I’ experienced?”). However, this practice does not provide further insights into the non-dual and Empty nature of Presence.

Although having glimpses of this Presence is important, it cannot be misunderstood as the final aim. It cannot even be treated as any sort of arising insight that liberates us from suffering. It's nature tends to be misunderstood, and hence appears to the practitioner as a void/formless background witness, an Eternal Witness, or a Self/Atman. It's nature as No-Self and Emptiness (not 'Void', but as Dependent Origination) isn't realised.

(Related: Also see a good youtube video by Vishrant on the downside of self inquiry -- Satsang with Vishrant self inquiry. He too implied that Self-Inquiry can lead to the I AM experience (he calls it awareness turning on itself) but that realisation/experience of "awareness aware of itself is really only the beginning, it is not the end, it is only the first day in kindergarten". Yes, of course, because that is only Stage 1 of Thusness's Six Stages of Experience. He also talks of the downside of Self-Inquiry as potentially being misused into avoiding painful/unpleasant experiences by turning awareness upon itself and avoid/escape everything, and also on the 'technique' he prefer -- the 'surrendering to/allowing' whatever appearing, and thus dissolving the self.)

Dropping/Dissolving and Mindfulness/Naked Awareness/Bare Attention

The key point about the practice of mindful awareness (see Chapter 13: Mindfulness (Sati) of 'Mindfulness In Plain English' by Venerable Henepola Gunaratana, on the practice of Mindfulness and its relation to Vipassana/Insight Meditation) is there is no keeping of the mind on anything (including on the I AM as in the case of self inquiry) and by not resting on anything, it fuses into everything; therefore it cannot be concentrated; rather it is to relax into nothingness empty of self, empty of any artificial doing so that the natural luminosity can take its own course. There is no focusing, there is only allowing the mirror bright clarity to shine with its natural radiance. In essence there is no one there, only the phenomenon arising and ceasing according to conditions, telling their stories.

As Longchen/Simpo wrote, "No subject-object division is the true nature of existence. The method of realising this insight lies in the dissolving of the 'sense of self'. This often involves the continual and correct letting go of mental grasping." (The misconceptions surrounding Transcendental Non duality)

So, drop and dissolve away into vivid non-dual luminosity. Dissolve completely and arise as the scenery, sound, taste, smell, thoughts, touch sensations.

The ultimate purpose of dropping is to allow non-dual experience to arise.

There are certain types of people who advocate on the uselessness of practice (particularly the Neo-Advaitins), and that asking people to 'do practices' simply strengthens their sense of self. However, what is being spoken here is essentially not a 'doing'. It can more accurately be known as a 'non-doing'.

Nothing needs to be done here, as every single moment is it, and so there is no striving towards a 'better state' -- every state is equally pure, equally the expression of Buddha-Nature. This is It! Hence, as Longchen/Simpo wrote,

...However, there can be no progressing from a dualistic state into a non-dual state. Every single moment is it! There is no one state better than the rest! Every moment is as it is.

There is absolutely no need to do anything. Even if the efforting or anything arise, let it be! The effort arises automatically too... no-self there too!

By doing nothing, everything arises and passes away on its own accord.

Actually, there cannot be a 'doing nothing'... There can only be 'what is' at any single moment."

Thusness/PasserBy said,

"...it seems that lots of effort need to be put in -- which is really not the case. The entire practice turns out to an undoing process. It is a process of gradually understanding the workings of our nature that is from beginning liberated but clouded by this sense of ‘self’ that is always trying to preserve, protect and ever attached. The entire sense of self is a ‘doing’. Whatever we do, positive or negative, is still doing. Ultimately there is not-even a letting go or let be, as there is already continuous dissolving and arising and this ever dissolving and arising turns out to be self-liberating. Without this ‘self’ or ‘Self’, there is no ‘doing’, there is only spontaneous arising.

(source: Non-dual and karmic patterns)

As mentioned earlier, this is not a form of exercise in concentration or focused attention, but dropping and only Dharma spontaneously arising. (Also see
Six Stages of Dropping by Thusness)

Awareness or Buddha-Nature is not the same as focused attention or concentration. Awareness is effortlessly happening right now, whether you like it or not, and whether you are paying attention or not. When causes and conditions is, manifestation is, when manifestation is, Awareness is. Naturally, sounds are
effortlessly being heard, smells are effortlessly being smelled, even if the smell or sound is unpleasant and you try to avoid it, it's being awared. While paying attention to the breath, something still hears sounds. That is Buddha-Nature. It is the sum of all our parts, that which sees, hears, feels and tastes all at once as One Reality. Before you think that this awareness is a 'thing' -- a Mirror or a Witness, it's not separate -- it's just sound hearing, scenery seeing, it's not a something tangible (a Mirror or a Witness) yet is vividly manifesting.

So as Toni Packer said, "There is no need for awareness to turn anywhere. It's here! Everything is here in awareness! When there is a waking up from fantasy, there is no one who does it. Awareness and the sound of a plane are here with no one in the middle trying to "do" them or bring them together. They are here together! The only thing that keeps things (and people) apart is the "me"-circuit with its separative thinking. When that is quiet, divisions do not exist."

Joan Tollifson ("student" of Toni), "This open being is not something to be practiced methodically. Toni points out that it takes no effort to hear the sounds in the room; it's all here. There's no "me" (and no problem) until thought comes in and says: "Am I doing it right? Is this 'Awareness'? Am I enlightened?" Suddenly the spaciousness is gone—the mind is occupied with a story and the emotions it generates."

As John Welwood says: "This larger awareness is self-existing: it cannot be fabricated or manufactured because it is always present, whether we notice it or not."

To reiterate my previous statement that Awareness is not the result of an effort put in concentration or focused attention, is not constructed, is unborn, self-existing and ever-present, and becomes 'apparent' through letting go of fixation, Judith Blackstone nicely puts it:
"Nondual consciousness is not a state of attention. It is experienced without effort of any kind. It is the mind completely at rest. In fact, there is not even a sense that the mind is resting, for that is still an activity of sorts. Rather, one experiences a simple lucid openness in which the phenomena of the world appear, and through which experiences such as thoughts, emotions, and sensations move without obstruction.

There is also a sense that one's consciousness is pervading all of the content of one's experience. Rather than an encounter between one's own head and the objects outside of one's head, as experienced in intentional, dualistic consciousness states, nondual consciousness is experienced globally. It pervades and subsumes one's whole body and everything in one's environment at the same time. "Consciousness is encountered as something more like a field than a localized point, a field that transcends the body and yet somehow interacts with it" (Forman, in Gallagher & Shear, 1999, p. 373).

One of the main characteristics of nondual realization is that it is discovered, rather than created, as rigid subjective organizations are released. Constructivists may insist that nondual consicousness is itself a conceptual construct. Speaking both from my own experience as well as from traditional accounts, I can attest that nondual realization is a process of gradually letting go of one's grip on oneself and one's environment -- as if opening a clenched fist. It does require concentrated effort and time to achieve a certain degree of letting go. But the expanse of nondual consciousness, pervading oneself and one's environment as a unified whole, appears of its own accord as a result of this letting go, and continues to appear, without any effort on one's own part."

~ "The Empathic Ground" by Judith Blackstone (a book that Thusness thinks is very good and recommended me, contains many practical techniques and pointers to nondual awareness)


Also very helpful in the practice of mindful awareness is to contemplate (means, to experience in direct awareness) on certain pointers and instructions that the Buddha gave. For example, one can meditate based on the Bahiya Sutta (see
The Buddha on Non-Duality),

In seeing, there is only the seen,
In hearing, there is only sound
,
In sensing, there is only sensation
,
In thinking, there is only thought


By contemplating as such, insight into Anatta (No-Self) can arise.
What should be noted also is that whatever said is really “already is”. In seeing, there is always only the seen. In hearing there is always only the sound. Never was there a seer or hearer. All “already is”. Anatta is not just a non-dual experience, it must be regarded as a dharma seal, the ever-present nature of reality. That all along the dichotomy of a observer and observed duality is an illusion created by due to our deeply rooted inherent and dualistic tendency of seeing things.

From the comments section in
Thusness's Six Stages of Experience,

...If a practitioner were to feel that he has gone beyond the experiences from ‘I hear sound’ to a stage of ‘becoming sound’ or takes that ‘there is just mere sound’, then this experience is again distorted. For in actual case, there is and always is only sound when hearing; never was there a hearer to begin with. Nothing attained for it is always so...

....This is the seal of no-self and can be realized and experienced in all moments; not just a mere concept...

Next, in thinking, only thought: but what is thought? In your direct awareness you can notice that it is a kind of phenomena just like sound, sight, etc, but a different kind of phenomena. In Buddhism, there are 6 senses instead of the commonly accepted 5 senses within Science. Everything is the same, except that we include 'mind' in it. Thought is not seen with eyes, it is not heard with ears, yet the thought is undeniably present when it arises. Images are recalled, mental reasoning arises, relating, pondering, mental images and words appearing and then disappearing and then another appearing. But what is more important is that it is a 'knowing' or 'luminous' phenomenon. All along the transience rolls and knows; no watcher is real or needed. This thought, and another thought, and another thought, each thought is a complete and luminous manifestation of Buddha-Nature.


If we fail to see that each thought is a self-luminous/'knowing' manifestation, the tendency is to push, to relate to a 'center', a Self, a source, a background Knower/Witness, a void and limitless container. We think that Buddha Nature is not a thought, it is not the transience, it is the invisible Witness of thoughts, the void background wherein thoughts arise from and return to, itself unchanging. And that is a mistake. When we fail to see that there is no separation, we choose to stay as a Witness/Source, not realising All Appearances are the equally the Source/Witness, there is nothing to choose. So this 'practice' is really about 'choiceless awareness'.

See: Choiceless Awareness and Non-Fixation by Aaron

Choiceless awareness means to rest in whatever is present, understanding the conditioned nature of its arising and that whatever has arisen is an expression of the pure heart/mind, an expression of God. Seeing that, you cease to take a dual stance against that which has arisen, but let it point you back into the ground of your being, the divine core. Here equanimity is present, equanimity with arising, neither grasping or pushing away. For this "choiceless awareness" to be truly choiceless, everything that arises must be seen as divine play, divine expression. No exceptions. The difficulty is that you do make exceptions, taking stance against that which you judge as "other-than," the fear, anger, desire. Even this "other-than" judgment is not what fogs in your peace. Delusion grows from the belief that this arising thought is true and from the contractions that form about it.

When we know our nature as empty-luminosity, we'll see all as "ME". The "I AM" is not more "ME" than a passing thought, a passing sound, a moment of sensation when the feet touches the ground. There is no Self apart from phenomena arising and passing.


So one must feel the difference between "In thinking just thought" and the "Eternal Witness" -- the "Eternal Witness" is just a tendency to relate back and sink to a source and refuse to 'see' what is. Every arising of a thought carries with it deeply rooted imprints that 'blinds'.


Yet not only must the non-dual (no subject-object, no thinker/thought division) luminosity be experienced, it must also be experienced that each thought is unsupported, disjoint/discrete and complete yet... and hence there is no chaining of one thought to another. Same goes to sight, sound, taste, smell, touch sensations. Hence Bahiya Sutta is deeply profound.
Firewood becomes ash, and it does not become firewood again. Yet, do not suppose that the ash is future and the firewood past. You should understand that firewood abides in the phenomenal expression of firewood, which fully includes past and future and is independent of past and future. Ash abides in the phenomenal expression of ash, which fully includes future and past. Just as firewood does not become firewood again after it is ash, you do not return to birth after death.

This being so, it is an established way in buddha-dharma to deny that birth turns into death. Accordingly, birth is understood as no-birth. It is an unshakable teaching in Buddha's discourse that death does not turn into birth. Accordingly, death is understood as no-death.

Birth is an expression complete this moment. Death is an expression complete this moment. They are like winter and spring. You do not call winter the beginning of spring, nor summer the end of spring.

~ Zen Master Dogen Zenji


Also see
The Mystique of Enlightenment (Part Two) by U.G. Krishnamurti: http://www.well.com/user/jct/mystiq2.htm

Is there in you an entity which you call the 'I' or the 'mind' or the 'self'? Is there a co- ordinator who is co-ordinating what you are looking at with what you are listening to, what you are smelling with what you are tasting, and so on? Or is there anything which links together the various sensations originating from a single sense -- the flow of impulses from the eyes, for example? Actually, there is always a gap between any two sensations. The co-ordinator bridges that gap: he establishes himself as an illusion of continuity.

In the natural state there is no entity who is co-ordinating the messages from the different senses. Each sense is functioning independently in its own way. When there is a demand from outside which makes it necessary to co-ordinate one or two or all of the senses and come up with a response, still there is no co-ordinator, but there is a temporary state of co- ordination. There is no continuity; when the demand has been met, again there is only the unco-ordinated, disconnected, disjointed functioning of the senses. This is always the case. Once the continuity is blown apart -- not that it was ever there; but the illusory continuity -- it's finished once and for all.

..............

Your movement of thought interferes with the process of touch, just as it does with the other senses. Anything you touch is always translated as 'hard', 'soft', 'warm', 'cold', 'wet', 'dry', and so on.

You do not realize it, but it is your thinking that creates your own body. Without this thought process there is no body consciousness -- which is to say there is no body at all. My body exists for other people; it does not exist for me; there are only isolated points of contact, impulses of touch which are not tied together by thought. So the body is not different from the objects around it; it is a set of sensations like any others. Your body does not belong to you.

Perhaps I can give you the 'feel' of this. I sleep four hours at night, no matter what time I go to bed. Then I lie in bed until morning fully awake. I don't know what is lying there in the bed; I don't know whether I'm lying on my left side or my right side -- for hours and hours I lie like this. If there is any noise outside -- a bird or something -- it just echoes in me. I listen to the "flub-dub-flub-dub" of my heart and don't know what it is. There is no body between the two sheets -- the form of the body is not there. If the question is asked, "What is in there?" there is only an awareness of the points of contact, where the body is in contact with the bed and the sheets, and where it is in contact with itself, at the crossing of the legs, for example. There are only the sensations of touch from these points of contact, and the rest of the body is not there. There is some kind of heaviness, probably the gravitational pull, something very vague. There is nothing inside which links up these things. Even if the eyes are open and looking at the whole body, there are still only the points of contact, and they have no connection with what I am looking at. If I want to try to link up these points of contact into the shape of my own body, probably I will succeed, but by the time it is completed the body is back in the same situation of different points of contact. The linkage cannot stay. It is the same sort of thing when I'm sitting or standing. There is no body.

Can you tell me how mango juice tastes? I can't. You also cannot; but you try to relive the memory of mango juice now -- you create for yourself some kind of an experience of how it tastes -- which I cannot do. I must have mango juice on my tongue -- seeing or smelling it is not enough -- in order to be able to bring that past knowledge into operation and to say "Yes, this is what mango juice tastes like." This does not mean that personal preferences and 'tastes' change. In a market my hand automatically reaches out for the same items that I have liked all my life. But because I cannot conjure up a mental experience, there can be no craving for foods which are not there.

Smell plays a greater part in your daily life than does taste. The olfactory organs are constantly open to odors. But if you do not interfere with the sense of smell, what is there is only an irritation in the nose. It makes no difference whether you are smelling cow dung or an expensive French perfume -- you rub the nose and move on.

..............

You have a feeling that there is a 'cameraman' who is directing the eyes. But left to themselves -- when there is no 'cameraman' -- the eyes do not linger, but are moving all the time. They are drawn by the things outside. Movement attracts them, or brightness or a color which stands out from whatever is around it. There is no 'I' looking; mountains, flowers, trees, cows, all look at me. The consciousness is like a mirror, reflecting whatever is there outside. The depth, the distance, the color, everything is there, but there is nobody who is translating these things. Unless there is a demand for knowledge about what I am looking at, there is no separation, no distance from what is there. It may not actually be possible to count the hairs on the head of someone sitting across the room, but there is a kind of clarity which seems as if I could.


Furthermore Thusness have also said:

...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.

(More on Right View later)

Also one can contemplate on the pointing out instructions by Guru Padmasambhava wrote in Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness,


7.Now, when you are introduced (to your own intrinsic awareness), the method for entering into it involves three considerations:

Thoughts in the past are clear and empty and leave no traces behind.

Thoughts in the future are fresh and unconditioned by anything.

And in the present moment, when (your mind) remains in its own condition without constructing anything, awareness, at that moment, in itself is quite ordinary.

And when you look into yourself in this way nakedly (without any discursive thoughts),

Since there is only this pure observing, there will be found a lucid clarity without anyone being there who is the observer;

only a naked manifest awareness is present.

(This awareness) is empty and immaculately pure, not being created by anything whatsoever.

It is authentic and unadulterated, without any duality of clarity and emptiness.

It is not permanent and yet it is not created by anything.

However, it is not a mere nothingness or something annihilated because it is lucid and present.

It does not exist as a single entity because it is present and clear in terms of being many.

(On the other hand) it is not created as a multiplicity of things because it is inseparable and of a single flavor.

This inherent self-awareness does not derive from anything outside itself.

This is the real introduction to the actual condition of things.


Tejananda (a current Buddhist teacher) wrote:

(Excerpt from http://tejanandajohnwakeman.googlepages.com/pureawareness -- a good and recommended article on 'Pure Awareness', also see some comments by Thusness/Passerby on this article here: http://buddhism.sgforums.com/forums/1728/topics/331569)

Padmasambhava says ‘there is only this pure observing’ – in other words ‘in the seen there is just the seen, in the heard there is just the heard, in the sensed there is just the sensed, in the cognised there is just the cognised’. There is nothing added, nothing extra – just what is sensed by any of the six senses in this instant. No added concepts about it.

So he continues ‘there will be found a lucid clarity without anyone being there who is the observer’. There is a clear cognition of whatever is arising to the sense fields, but no sense of a ‘me’ who is ‘having’ this ‘experience’. In the seen there is just the seen’ – not the seen plus you seeing it! Only a naked manifest awareness is present. There is just awareness, ‘naked’ (devoid) of any ‘egoing’. That’s all there is.


Right View


Right View is indispensible in Buddhism, it is the 1st of the 8 fold path. And that view essentially, is Emptiness/Dependent Origination.

In Buddhism, the path (naked awareness of everything as it is) alone cannot lead to fruition (liberation), having right view (Emptiness) is necessary and crucial. That is, only through having the right view with the right practices (path) then fruition of liberation can arise.

Even after the arising of non-dual insight, there is a period of desync between what is experienced and the existing paradigm we used to orientate the world. It is a de-synchronization between views and meditative experience. That is, a practitioner will find great difficulties when trying to express the experience based on a subject/object dichotomy. It can be quite frustrating and the practitioner may get himself confused during the process.

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’.

In the practice of non-conceptuality, the firm establishment of right view is not a problem.
In the practice of thoughtlessness, thought is not a problem.
In the practice of selflessness, self is not a problem.

Experiences of our non-dual nature can still surface intermittently even when the tendency to see things dualistically is still strong. At times when the layer that divides is temporary suspended, non-dual is most vivid and clear and practitioners may wrongly conclude that ‘concepts’ are the problem because the presence of ‘concepts’ divides and prevent the non-dual experience. This seems logical and reasonable only to a mind that is deeply root in a subject/object dichotomy. Very quickly ‘non-conceptuality’ becomes an object of practice. The process of objectification is the result of the tendency in action perpetually repeating itself taking different forms like an endless loop. This can continue to the extent that a practitioner can even ‘fear’ to establish concepts without knowing it. On the other hand, the continuous enquiry can also lead an inquirer into a situation of utter confusion to the extent that he/she doubts even his/her own existence.

It is not uncommon to find practitioners totally giving up this attempt to synchronize "views" and experience and conclude that it is an absolute futile endeavor to do that. They prefer to rest fully in naked awareness.

By doing so, the practitioner will miss something valuable -- the insight of the importance of "non inherent existence".

In fact, dualistic view is merely a subset of seeing things 'inherently'. Further understanding will also reveal that the bad habit of 'searching' is the result of seeing things 'inherently'. Our inability to sustain a non-dual experience is also the result of it. The formation of a 'center' that we are so unwilling to give up is merely a natural phenomenon of our deeply held 'inherent' views.

Like a red flower that is so vivid, clear and right in front of an observer, the “redness” only appears to “belong” to the flower, it is in actuality not so. Vision of red does not arise in all animal species (dogs cannot perceive colours) nor is the “redness” an attribute of the mind... and in Buddhism we recognise that there are other realms' beings who can see something completely different. If given a “quantum eyesight” to look into the atomic structure, there is similarly no attribute “redness” anywhere found, only almost complete space/void with no perceivable shapes and forms. Whatever appearances are dependently arisen, and hence is empty of any inherent existence or fixed attributes, shapes, form, or “redness” -- merely luminous yet empty, mere Appearances without inherent/objective existence. What gives rise to the differences of colours and experiences in each of us? Dependent arising... hence empty of inherent existence. This is the nature of all phenomena. They are empty of any inherent objective existence in a 'really-out-there' kind of way.

As you've seen, there is no ‘The Flowerness’ seen by a dog, an insect or us, or beings from other realms (which really may have a completely different mode of perception). ‘'The Flowerness' is an illusion that does not stay even for a moment, merely an aggregate of causes and conditions. Analogous to the example of ‘flowerness’, there is no ‘selfness’ serving as a background witnessing either -- pristine awareness is not the witnessing background. Rather, the entire whole of the moment of manifestation is our pristine awareness; lucidly clear, yet empty of inherent existence. This is the way of ‘seeing’ the one as many, the observer and the observed are one and the same. This is also the meaning of formlessness and attributelessness of our nature. But this does not mean that awareness is void or nothing, it is full of forms, full of colours, as Emptiness is Form... just empty of 'inherent existence'. So Emptiness, in Buddhism, strictly means Dependent Arising.

There is something well written related to this topic:

http://www.nichirenscoffeehouse.net/dharmajim/DharmaView.html

...Apophaticism rests on the idea that ultimate nature is somewhere else, than the realm in which we live. Utterly removed from, and different from, the realm of experience, ultimacy can then only be accessed through a step by step process which disengages me from this realm in which I dwell. In other words, apophaticism and mysticism are dualistic, creating a division in existence, minimally between the conceptual and ultimacy, and in extreme cases between ultimacy and everything which I experience.

My understanding of the Dharma does not regard the realm in which I dwell as removed from the ultimate nature of Interdependent Transformation. Ultimacy does not exist somewhere else. It is not a matter of contacting some other domain in order to access ultimacy. Rather it is a matter of shifting our attention so that I can perceive and comprehend the actuality of things. From this perspective, my understanding of existence is misconstrued and my perception of things is askew. The purpose of Dharma study and practice is to correct these misunderstandings, both conceptually and perceptually, to overcome ignorance and the habits that give rise to this ignorance. When that is done, the ultimate nature of all existing things and existence itself, stands forth as the Interdependent Transformation nature which permeates all of existence, unlocated, ever present, never far.

I realize that this way of comprehending the Dharma sets me at odds with those traditions which regard the ultimate nature of existence, Buddha Nature, Nirvana, as something which can not be accessed through study and thinking. I can only say that at one time I agreed with this view, but that my undersanding has now moved to a view which encompasses thought, conceptuality, study, and thinking within the domain of ultimacy without ejecting anything else from that domain. To set thought aside, from the perspective of Interdependent Transformation, makes no more sense than asking someone to set aside hearing, or to set aside seeing. Just as all visual phenomena have the nature of Interdependent Transformation, just as all sonic phenomena have the nature of Interdependent Transformation, so also all thoughts, all concepts, also have the nature of Interdependent Transformation. For this reason rejecting thoughts and concepts means limiting the extent of the play of ultimate nature. But Buddha Nautre as Interdependent Transformation marks all existing things. Marking all existing things, this nature marks all thoughts. Marking all thoughts and concepts, thoughts and concepts, when comprehended in their totality, and as Interdependent Transformations, graciously display the true nature of all existing things. Words also have a luminously clear nature. Thoughts also sparkle with elemental transformative energy. Concepts also shimmer with the ever flowing and present energy of all things. Rejecting nothing, the words of the Dharma compassionately guide me to ultimate realization...


Because liberation is empty of the four extremes (existence, non-existence, both existence and non-existence, neither existence nor non-existence), it is difficult to see. It is better and safer to practice with the firm establishment of right view as taught by Buddha. When we practice, the path of practice should be non-conceptual whether in bare attention or surrendering or dropping. When we have certain direct and transcendental experience, the experience must be validated with the right view. If both views and practices coincide and liberation is experienced from moment to moment, the holding of ‘right view’ will naturally dissolve in its own accord as it is fully authenticated in real time from moment to moment.

When the view and experience are harmonized, the practitioner can progress further. He rests neither in concepts nor non-conceptuality.

Of course, having the right view without right practice will also not bear fruit and simply remains an intellectual view/understanding. Right view (1st of the 8 Fold Path), right practice (remaining 7 of the 8 Fold Path), then fruition.

(Also see http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2008/02/thusnesss-reply-to-longchen-at.html)

What Is The "Me"?

The following article was adapted from a talk by Toni Packer on Day 4 of the August 1997 retreat.

A somber day, isn't it? Dark, cloudy, cool, moist and windy. Amazing, this whole affair of "the weather!" We call it "weather," but what is it really? Wind. Rain. Clouds slowly parting. Not the words spoken about it, but just this darkening, blowing, pounding, wetting, and then lightening up, blue sky appearing amidst darkness, and sunshine sparkling on wet grasses and leaves. In a little while there'll be frost, snow and ice-covers. And then warming again, melting, oozing water everywhere. On an early spring day the dirt road sparkles with streams of wet silver. So — what is "weather" other than this incessant change of earthly conditions and all the human thoughts, feelings, and undertakings influenced by it? Like and dislike. Depression and elation. Creation and destruction. An ongoing, ever changing stream of happenings abiding nowhere. No entity "weather" to be found except in thinking and talking about it.

Now — is there such an entity as "me," "I," "myself?" Or is it just like the "weather" — an ongoing, ever changing stream of ideas, images, memories, projections, likes and dislikes, creations and destructions, which thought keeps calling "I," "me," "Toni," and thereby solidifying what is evanescent? What am I really, truly, and what do I think and believe I am? Are we interested in exploring this amazing affair of "myself" from moment to moment? Is this, maybe, the essence of retreat work? Exploring ourselves minutely beyond the peace and quiet that we are seeking and maybe finding. Coming upon clarity about this deep sense of separation which we call "me," and "other people," without any need to condemn or overcome.

Most human beings take it totally for granted that I am "me," and that "me" is this body, this mind, this knowledge and sense about myself which so obviously feels separate from other people. The language in which we talk to ourselves and to each other inevitably implies separate "me's," and "you's" all the time. All of us talk "I" and "you" talk, we think it, write it, read it, and dream it with rarely any pause. There is incessant reinforcement of the sense of "I," "me," separate from others. Isolated. Insulated. Not understood. How is one to come upon the truth if separation is taken so much for granted, feels so common sense?

The difficulty is not insurmountable. Wholeness, true being, is here all the time, like the sun behind the clouds. Daylight is here in spite of cloud cover.

What makes up the clouds?

Can we begin to realize that we live in conceptual, abstract ideas about ourselves? That we are rarely directly in touch with what actually is going on? Can we realize that thoughts about myself — I am good or bad, I'm liked or disliked — are nothing but thoughts — and that thoughts do not tell us the truth about what we really are? A thought is a thought, and it triggers instant physical reactions, pleasures and pains throughout the bodymind. Physical reactions generate further thoughts and feelings about myself — "I'm suffering," "I'm happy," "I'm no good." Feedback that implies that all this is me, that I have gotten hurt, or somehow feel good about myself, or that I need to defend myself, or get more approval and love from others. When we're protecting ourselves in our daily interrelationships we're not protecting ourselves from flying stones or bomb attacks. It's from words we're taking cover, from gestures, from colorations of voice and innuendo.

Just now words were spoken, ". . . we're protecting ourselves, . . . we're taking cover." In using our common language the implication is constantly created that there is someone real who is protecting and someone real that needs protection.

Is there someone real to be protected from words and gestures, or are we merely living in ideas and stories about me and you, all of it happening on the stage of the on-going audio/video drama of ourselves?

The utmost care and attention is needed to follow the internal drama fairly accurately, dispassionately, in order to express it as it is seen. What we mean by "being made to feel good" or "being hurt" is the internal enhancing of our ongoing me-story, or the puncturing and deflating of it. Enhancement or disturbance of the me-story is accompanied by pleasurable energies or painful feelings and emotions throughout the organism. Either warmth or chill can be felt at the drop of a word evoking memories, feelings, passions. Conscious or unconscious emotional recollection of what happened yesterday or a long ago surge through the body-mind, causing feelings of happiness or sadness, affection or humiliation.

Right now words are being spoken, and they can be followed literally, intellectually. If they are fairly clearly and logically put together they can make sense intellectually. Perhaps at first it's necessary to understand what is going on in us intellectually. But that's not the whole thing. The words that are spoken point to something that may be directly seen and felt, inwardly, as the talk proceeds. And as we go along from moment to moment, now and after the talk is over, (and after retreat) can we experience freshly, wakefully, directly, when hurt or flattery are taking place? What is happening? What is being hurt? And what keeps the hurt going? Can there be some awareness of defenses arising, fear and anger forming, or withdrawal taking place, all accompanied by some kind of storyline? Can the whole drama become increasingly transparent? And, in becoming increasingly transparent, can it be thoroughly questioned? What is it that is being protected? What is it that one thinks got hurt? Me? What is me?

It is amazing. A spark of awareness witnessing one spoken word arousing pleasure or pain all over. Can the connection become clear? The immediacy of it, and no I-entity there directing it, even though we say and believe we are doing all that. But we also say that we don't want to do that. Words and reaction proceed along well-oiled pathways and interconnections. A thought of loss comes up and the solar plexus tightens in pain. Fantasy of love-making occurs and an ocean of pleasure ensues. Who does it? Thought says, "I do!" To whom is it happening? Thought says, "To me of course!" But, where and what is this I, this me, aside from all the thoughts and feelings, the palpitating heart, painful and pleasurable energies circulating throughout the organism? Who could possibly be doing it all with such amazing speed and precision? Thinking about ourselves and triggering physiological reactions take time, but present awareness brings the whole drama to light instantly. Everything is happening on its own. No one is directing the show!

Right this moment wind is storming, branches are creaking and leaves quivering. It's all here in the listening — but whose listening is it? Mine? Yours? We say, "I'm listening" or, "I cannot listen as well as you do" and these words befuddle the mind with feelings and emotions learned long ago. You may be protesting that "my hearing isn't yours. Your body isn't mine." We have thought like that for eons and behave accordingly, but presently, can there be just the sound of swaying trees and rustling leaves and fresh air blowing through the window cooling the skin? It's not happening to anyone. It's simply present for all of us, isn't it?

Do I sound as though I'm trying to convince you of something? The passion arising in trying to communicate simply, clearly, may be misunderstood for a desire to influence people. That's not the case. There is just the description of what is happening here for all of us. Nothing to be sold or bought. Can we simply listen and test out on our own what is being offered for exploration from moment to moment?

What is the "me" that gets hurt or attracted, flattered, time and time again, the world over? In psychological terms we say that we are identified with ourselves. In spiritual language we say, that we are attached to ourselves. What is this "ourselves?" Is it feeling myself existing, knowing what I am, having lots of recollections about myself — all the ideas and pictures and feelings about myself strung together in a coherent story? And knowing this story very well — multitudes of memories, some added, some dropped, all inter-connected — what I am, how I look, what my abilities and disabilities are, my education, my family, my name, my likes and dislikes, opinions, beliefs, etc., etc. The identification with all of that, meaning, "This is what I am." And the attachment to it, meaning, "I can't let go of it."

Let's go beyond concepts and look directly into what we mean by them. If one says, "I'm identified with my family name," what does that mean? Let me give an example. As a growing child I was very much identified with my last name because it was my father's and he was famous — so I was told. I liked to tell others about my father's scientific achievements to garner respect and pleasurable feelings for myself by impressing friends. I felt admiration through other people's eyes which may not even have been there. It may have been projected. Perhaps some people even felt, "What a bore she is!" On the entrance door to our apartment there was a little polished brass sign with my father's name on it and his titles: Professor, Doctor Phil. The Phil impressed me particularly, because I thought it meant that my father was a philosopher, which he was not. I must have had the idea that a philosopher was a particularly imposing individual. So I told some of my friends about it and brought them to look at the little brass sign at the door. This is one meaning of identification — enhancing one's sense of self by incorporating the ideas about other individuals or groups, or one's possessions, achievements, transgressions — anything — and feeling that all of this is "me." Feeling important about oneself generates amazing, addictive energies.

To give another example from the past: I became very identified with my half-Jewish descent. Not openly in Germany, where I mostly tried to hide it rather than display it, but later on after the war ended, telling people of our family's fate, and finding welcome attention, instant sympathy, and nourishing interest in the story. One can become quite addicted to making the story of one's life impressive to others and to oneself, and feed on the energies aroused by that. So that's a bit of what identification and attachment are about. And when that is disturbed by someone not buying into it, contesting it or questioning it altogether, there is sudden insecurity, physical discomfort, anger, fear, hurt, whatever.

Becoming a member of the Zen Center and engaging in spiritual practice, I realized one day that I had not been talking about my background in a long while. And now, when somebody brings it up — sometimes an interviewer will ask me to talk about it — it feels like so much bother and effort. Why delve into old stuff? I want to talk about listening, the wind, and the birds. [Laughter] Are you listening too, interviewer? Or are you more interested in identities and stories?

At times people bring up the question about why I don't call myself a teacher when I'm so obviously engaged in teaching. Somebody actually brought it up this morning — the projections and mental as well as psychological associations aroused in waiting outside the meeting room and then entering nervously with a pounding heart. The images of teacher and student offering themselves automatically like clothes to put on and roles to play in these clothes. In giving talks and meeting with people the student-teacher imagery is not there — it belongs to a different level of existence. If images do come up they're in the way like clouds hiding the sun. Relating without images is the freshest, freest thing in the universe.

So, what am I and what are you — what are we with- out images clothing and hiding our true being? It's un-image-inable, isn't it? And yet there's the sound of wind blowing, trees shaking, crows cawing, woodwork creaking, breath flowing without need for any thoughts. Thoughts are grafted on top of what's actually going on right now, and in that grafted world we happen to spend most of our lives.

And yet, every once in a while, whether one does spiritual work or not, meditating or not, the real world shines wondrously through everything. What is it when words fall silent? When there is no knowing? When there is no listener and yet there is listening, awaring, without any separation?

A moment during a visit with my parents in Switzerland comes to mind. I had always had a difficult relationship with my mother. I was very afraid of her. She was a very passionate woman with lots of anger. But also love. Once during that visit I saw her standing in the dining room facing me. She was just standing there, and for no known reason or cause I suddenly saw her without the past. There was no image of her, and also no idea of what she saw in me. All that was gone. There was nothing left except pure love for this woman. Such beauty shone out of her. And our relationship changed, there was a new closeness. It just happened.

Someone said that seeing a shattered image caused grief. But the shattering of self-image need not cause suffering. Truly seeing that the "me" is nothing but a habitual mental construct is freeing beyond imagination.



Toni Packer began studing Zen in 1967 with Roshi Philip Kapleau at the Rochester Zen Center. In 1981, she founded the Springwater Center for Meditative Inquiry in Springwater, New York. From The Wonder of Presence and the Way of Meditative Inquiry, by Toni Packer.

Do not underestimate the impact of the constant chattering in a dualistic manner. If we continuously repeat “phenomenon arises in awareness” and not “as Awareness”, even though there never was a separation, consciousness will see as if there is a separation. Although it may seem to be a casual expression for communication sake, the impact is subtle. In time to come, the slow and subtle impact will make separation appear amazingly real. This is true even for those that have experienced non-duality; they are not spared from it.

(by Thusness/Passerby)
First is ‘someone’ is dropping…



Second is dropping appears as a mirror reflecting…



Third is there is only endless dropping without footing and mental reasoning…



Fourth is dropping as vivid wide opening…



Fifth is vivid wide opening as everything…



Sixth is only Dharma spontaneously manifesting…



(by Thusness/PasserBy)
Update (1/6/2014): I've just updated this text with the newer edition as found in his book "Reflection in a Mirror: The Nature of Appearance in Buddhist Philosophy"

by Charlie Singer

Author's Colophon: This small book was completed in Kingston, Pennsylvania on the new moon day of the first month of the Tibetan Iron Horse year (March 16, 1990). It was written for purposes of the author's own edification, with the wish that it might somehow be of benefit to other people who might read it in the future.

About The Author: Charlie Singer was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1952. he received a B.A. degree in General Arts and Sciences from Penn State University in 1973, and from 1976-1978 was a student in the Tibetan Studies Program at the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley, California. Since 1980, he has been studying Tibetan Buddhism at the Yeshe Nyingpo Center in New York City, the seat in North America of the late H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche, Supreme Hoead of the Nyingmapa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

Dedicated to:

The Late H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche, H.E. Shenpen Dawa Rinpoche, Ven. Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche, Ven. Ngor Thartse Khen Rinpoche, Ven. Khenpo Paiden Sherab Rinpoche, Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, to my late Father, Samuel Singer, and to my Mother, Paulette; and Jeanine N. and Tina F.

Foreword

The wisdom of prajnaparamita is acquired not instantly, but gradually. Sakya Pandita, Kunga Gyaltsen Pal Zangpo's trilogy of study, reflection, and meditation as the approach toward the realization of this profound wisdom is reflected in the author's intent in writing The No-Self Nature. The absolute wisdom is subject to the individual's own realization, and the text of this composition is one of the ways for those who seek the absolute wisdom of the prajnapramita. I rejoice in his sincere effort in interpreting the Wisdom. This certainly is in the tradition of the "wise ones."

As long as the ocean of the Tathagata's teachings remains on this earth, may this drop of Dharma contribution benefit others as well.

Lama Pema Wangdak
July 30th, 1994

In the history of ideas, there is perhaps no idea more unusual than the Buddhist concept of anatman, or "no-self". This idea of anatman, or "no-self", was taught by the historical Buddha, Buddha Shakyamuni, as being one of the "three marks of existence", along with duhkha, or dissatisfaction, and anitya, or impermanence. These "three marks of existence" are regarded in Buddhist thought as being the three fundamental conditions, which pervade the human condition. The three "marks of existence" of dissatisfcation, impermanence and "no-self" have been much written  about in the Buddhist literature now available in the English language, but the notion of anatman, or "no-self" can be especially difficult to penetrate and represents one of the most unusual, and yet important, ideas to arise in the history of ideas.

Common to all schools, or forms of Buddhism, is the idea of anatman or "no-self" nature of the individual or person (or actually of all beings endowed with consciousness). The Buddha was born into the Hindu religious culture and one of the fundamental tenets of the Hindu religion has always been that all beings are endowed with the nature of (having an) atman, or "soul" or actually a "self", which is ultimately identical with, or actually partakes of, the nature of Brahman, or the creator aspect of God, in Hindu tradition. The Buddha never explicitly affirmed or denied the existence of God, encouraging his disciples to study and practice his teachings until they themselves had attained the level of a perfectly enlightened being, or a Buddha, at which point they would have a direct understanding of this and other such metaphysical questions. However, the Buddha made it quite clear in one of his first teachings, that in regard to the notion that beings are endowed with an atman or permanent "self", that this notion is ultimately erroneous, and that, in fact, the condition of having "no-self" is an underlying "fact-of-life" or principle of existence.

This idea of there being "no-self" can be analyzed in different ways, but from one point of view, we might say that the idea of "no-self" means that when we investigate the nature of the individual or person, if we investigate what is involved carefully enough, we would find that ultimately, there isn't actually a "self", or the one we refer to as "I" or "me", as a truly-existing being who "inhabits" our body and mind, in a concrete, ongoing, and permanent way. In common sense thinking, and even in traditional philosophies and religious and scientific thinking, there is a sense in which people have always accepted the belief that there is, in fact, a "self" who inhabits our body and mind, who is the one we refer to as "I" or "me".

This attitude, or underlying presupposition or existence, can well be summed up by the statement of the French philosopher, Descartes, that "I think, therefore I am". From the point of view of Buddhist philosophy, however, this sort of statement partakes of the nature of delusion. We might assume that there is a "self" who "inhabits" our body and mind, and is "the one who does our thinking", but if we were to investigate this state of affairs, we would find, according to Buddhist philosophy, that this is, in fact, not the case. Our thoughts and thinking processes might seem as if there is an actual "I" who is entertaining or thinking our thoughts, saying and hearing the thoughts that arise in "our minds", but if we were to investigate what is actually involved, we might find that, in fact, this notion of an ongoing "self" or "I" is only an erroneous assumption. This idea of there being a "self" is so deep-seated, that it may seem completely unquestionable, and a "given" factor of experience and existence, but ultimately, according to Buddhist philosophy, the belief in a "self" as being "truly-existing" is a false view.

We might say that thoughts arise as if they "belong to" or are thought by an ongoing individual, or "self" or "I", but ultimately, there is a sense in which "there may not be anybody there!" What is involved might be said to be like a case of "the talk in our heads" pretending to be a "somebody who is having thoughts". Although the common sense belief may be that "I am the one who creates the thoughts", it may be, in fact, that our thinking our thoughts actually help to create the belief that there is a "self" or an "I" who truly exists as "the one who does our thinking!"

Although it is possible to "unravel" what is involved in regard to the nature of the "thinker" and the "thoughts" through practicing different kinds of Buddhist meditation, such as meditation in which we attend to the nature of our thoughts and how they arise in our mind, developing calmness, and direct insight into what is actually involved, it will not be the purpose of this book to discuss the subject of formal meditation, as this is a complicated subject, and because formal meditation is best learned from a qualified meditation teacher.

Instead, we will next focus on the notion of "no-self" as it relates to our sense-perceptions. It is said in Buddhist tradition that the sense of hearing is the easiest of our sense-perceptions by which we can come to an understanding of the nature of "no-self" and, in fact, it is said that the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the personification of the compassion of all the Buddhas (the reader is reminded that in Buddhist tradition, anyone who has attained the level of a completely enlightened being, or Buddha, is designated as being a Buddha, and so there have actually been many Buddhas) attained the enlightenment by following the advice of Manjushri, the personification of the wisdom of all the Buddhas, and attending to the true nature of the sensation of hearing or sound. If we consider the nature of an ongoing sound, such as a waterfall, or even any sounds, such as music, we can ask ourselves - which part of this sound, or audio presentation, is 'the actual sound', and which part is the 'self' or 'I' who is the one who is 'doing the hearing'? More specifically, where do we "cut-up" this audio sensation into the separate components of "the one who hears" and "that which is being heard"? It may be, as with our act of thinking, that we have wrongly assumed the idea of a solid, permanent "self" who acts as an agent or subject, interacting with our sense-perceptions, here being our perception of sound. That is, we regard our "selves" as being a separate subject, which interacts with sensations we regard as being truly-existing and separate from "us", in a way that the sensations is regarded as separate and independent objects.

As the reader may have noticed, it is very difficult to speak of the non-existent nature of a "self" without discussing the nature of our world of "things" and sensations. Although the idea of the ultimate non-existence of the "self" is a central idea in all forms of Buddhism, of the divisions of Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayâna Buddhism, in the latter two forms of Buddhism, along with the idea of the ultimate non-existence of the "self", there is also the idea that in addition to the non-existence of the "self", that what we regard as being the world of "things" and sensations, also partakes of the nature of "anatman" or "no-self".

As we have seen in the analysis of sound, such as a waterfall or of music, it is very difficult to separate the sensations into a separate subject who is having or experiencing the sensation, and a separate object, that is, the sound being heard. In the Buddhist literature of the Abhidharma, rather than accepting the common sense notion that there is a "self" who is a concrete, permanent, truly-existing agent which acts as the subject of our sensations, such as seeing and hearing, sensations were analyzed or "broken-down" into their apparent component parts. For example, rather than saying that "I see a thing", in the Abhidharma analysis, it would be stated that in the act of visual sensation, it is necessary to have three separate components: an agent of seeing, visual consciousness, and an object of sight.

Whether we analyze "things" and sensations as being sensed or perceived by a central "self" who perceives all the various sensations of the different senses, or analyze them according to the Abhidharma view, according to the view of the philosophical school of Madhyamaka, a Mahayana Buddhist school founded by the second-century philosopher, Nargarjuna, which was based upon the Prajñápáramitá Sutras of the Buddha, the "things" and sensations in our world also partake of the nature of "anatman" or "no-self", in the same way that persons or individuals partake of the "no-self" nature.

As we have said, the nature of the hearing sensation may be the easiest means by which to understand the relationship between a perceiving subject and the object of perception, or actually, to recognize that they are both equally non-existent, ultimately. Rather than being the case that a subject (or a specific variety of sense consciousness, according to the Abhidharma) interacts with and senses (or "grasps" as it is said in the Buddhist philosophical literature) an object of perception, it may be that sensations arise in a way that there is ultimately no subjective pole of experience interacting with a separate objective pole. Because sensations arise beyond the realm of an independent or separate subjective pole, and an independent or separate objective pole, and thus, without any interaction between a subjective and an objective pole or dimension, all our sensations, according to the view of Madhyamaka philosophy, partakes of the anatman or "no-self" nature. The technical term, used in the Madhyamika literature, is that all our sensations, visual, audial, and all others, are "shunya" or "empty", or that they partake of the nature of "shunyata" or "emptiness". In the interest of being fair to the Madhyamaka system, however, it must be pointed out that the philosophy of Madhyamaka is so adamant in not taking any position in regard to "the way things really are", that even the position that things and sensations partake of the nature of anatman, or "no-self", is not beyond critique. Yet there is a sense in which in the traditional parlance of the nature of anatman, or "no-self", as referring to the same truth of "things" and sensations as being "shunya" or "empty". What they are "empty of" is the status of being inherently or "truly- existing". We might say that although in perceptual situations we are faced with some kind of an epistemological-object, or an apparent object of knowledge or perception, "its" status as an ontological-object, or as a "truly existing object" is that it is "empty" of an ontological status, or of the status of having the nature of being an inherently and "truly existing" object.

This is true of the objects of all our sensations, but it is the visual sensation and the "object of sight" that we need to analyze in more detail because although all the senses taken together and our thinking work together to enforce or create the view of a separate "self" interacting with a world of "truly-existing things", in a sense it is our sense of sight, among all our senses, which is perhaps the most important sense used in analyzing or understanding our world, along with, of course, our thinking, which in Buddhist philosophy is regarded as being a separate type of consciousness.

We are confronted with all kinds of different "objects" or "things" in our world everyday. There are "objects" of all different sizes, shapes, and colors, in natural settings and in rooms which are in buildings, which are themselves a type of object, and also other beings such as animals and other human beings, which in a sense are another type of object with which we as an apparent subject or "self" can interact.

It may be possible to establish, through some kind of logic, the non-existence of a solid, permanent "self" who acts as the agent of our visual sensation. For example, we can try to posit the existence of such a "self" by referring to "the one who sees". But by further stating that "the one who sees, sees", it would be like establishing an agent with a double action, as we have already "accounted for" the act of seeing in the statement of "the one who sees". And as it is not possible to have an agent with a double action, the statement of "the one who sees, sees", would not be logically coherent. But the use of some kind of logic may not be very useful in trying to understand directly the non-existence of a "self" who acts as an agent in regard to the visual sensation (as well as the other sensations), as it is necessary to develop a more experiential understanding of what may actually be involved.

In regard to the so-called subjective-pole, or the "self" dimension in visual sensation, we might say that there is a deep seated tendency to believe that there is "someone inside us" looking out onto the world of "things" and appearances from a stable vantage point "in our head" and "behind our eyeballs". We believe that there is an ongoing-individual or "self" who "looks out" from the stable vantage point, such that there is a concrete and solid subject who looks out at all the various appearances or "things" or "objects" in our world. But this is regarded in Buddhist philosophy to be an erroneous presupposition, or a deluded view.

Through developing insight into what may actually be involved, we may find that this notion of "someone on the inside looking out" is in fact a mistaken belief, based upon the belief in a "truly existing self", and that in fact the visual sensation has nothing to do with a dimension of a "self" or even consciousness or mind "going out" to interact with or "grasp" an object of perception.

As for the objective pole of these "things" or "objects", although there appear to be very many types of "things" or "objects", there is a sense in which all of these "objects" are alike in being a mere appearance before us. Wherever we are, there is always some type of appearance before us, and people and the appearances before them always "arise together" in an inseparable manner.

In common-sense thinking, we regard the appearance before us as being truly-existing "things". That is, that they are things which really "exist" in a "really-out-there" kind of way. We regard them as solid "things" that are so real that we think that "they would look like that even if we were not looking at them". We regard the world as being like some sort of container for a collection of spread-out "things" that we can interact with "here and there", and that these things are "solid things" "out there" from which we are separated by space, and that there "things" have insides which are also "solid" and "real".

The Madhyamaka philosophy is a very unusual system of philosophy, in that, rather than taking any position in regard to what is actually the case with this world of "things", it takes the approach of refuting other positions that might be taken in analyzing "the world".

Still, it may be possible to "hint at" what may be involved in an accurate analysis of the nature of appearances, the so-called "world of things". As we have said, people (and other beings, of course) and the appearances before them, always "arise together" inseparably. The key to understanding the true nature of these appearances seems to be aware of the dimension in which the so-called form or appearance before us and the awareness of this form or appearance, are completely inseparable. It is as if the awareness of consciousness and the form-aspect are "completely intermingling at every point" and as if the consciousness and form aspects are completely and totally integrated to create an apparitional-like appearance. Although we might say that ultimately there is no interaction between a subjective pole of consciousness, or mind, and an objective pole of separately existing form, it may still be useful to point-to the way that "things" might really be, using terms like "awareness" and "form" being "completely integrated" "beyond duality".

Also, we might say that the "mind" or "consciousness" does not "go-out" to a so-called "object", but that it is as if the appearance before us has a "built in" dimension of awareness. It is not that the so-called "appearance before us" is doing the "knowing" rather than the person. But we might say that appearance bears a "knowing dimension" beyond the realm of a subject sensing an object. All appearances are, in fact, non-dual (advaya). That is, they are present in the manner of an apparition, having nothing to do with any kind of truly-existing (as a separate dimension) subjective pole, or "self" or "consciousness" interacting with an "actually-out-there" objective pole or "truly-existing-thing".

When we say that things are "apparitional" in nature, we mean that it is as if these appearances before us are ultimately present as if they were like a reflection in a mirror, rather than being present in a concrete, "really-out- there" kind of way. What we call "things" are really more like "apparitional-like appearances" which are present beyond the realm of a subject interacting with an independent, "truly-existing object", and which are, more specifically, actually like a "surface-like apparition". By "surface-like apparition", we mean that there is a sense in which all appearances are always on the surface, as if there is a sense in which they "have nothing inside them".

Consider, for example, a common object like a box of cereal. We are presented with what we might call "a patch of color form", a mere appearance arising within the realm of our awareness. This form is completely integrated with our awareness of "it", and is ultimately present as if it were like a reflection in a mirror.

Another dimension involves a sense in which we assume that the box is a solid object with an inside that has true objective existence. But we need to develop an understanding in which "all you see is all there is" in a completely integrated situation of "completeness". Of course, we can "reveal" further dimensions of an appearance by the act called "opening the box and pouring out the contents", but it is important to keep in mind that this will actually be a further or separate non-dual visual presentation "complete" in itself, and arising beyond a subjective pole and an object interacting, which we can connect in our mind to the appearance we call the "outside of the box". But it is very important to recognize that this principle of "connecting" visual presentations over time (which also partakes ultimately of the nature of being "empty" of inherent or true existence) is only applicable at the level of conventional common sense, and that the dimension of non-dual visual presentations arising in a manner of "completeness" is the ultimate manner in which appearances arise.

Likewise, we might assume that when looking at "the front of the box" that there is a "behind" or "underneath" part of the box that is presently not visible but which actually "exists" and "looks the way it does". But, as it is with "the inside of the box", so it is with the "behind" or "underneath" part. We can, as with the "inside", reveal the "behind" or presently "hidden" part of "the box", but the ultimate nature of the so-called "box" is the surface-like apparitional- like presentation which is present in the manner of a reflection in a mirror - a non-dual appearance beyond the realm of being a "truly-existing thing".

Let us now consider an example of the situation we might call "a person going over to their car parked across the street". From the common sense point of view, we are "over here", and we see the car which is "over there". We are the subject and the car is the object that we see, and we are separated by space. At a conventional level, we think that we can get closer to "it" by "walking towards it", until we "get there" and then "pull the door handle" and "get inside the car".

Ultimately, though, the appearance we call "our car" is completely inseparable from our awareness in a non-dual way, like a miraculously-appearing apparition. "We" are completely integrated with "the appearance before us" at the so-called "first sighting" and there is a sense in which we are never separated by "space" from "the appearance before us". And so in the situation called "walking over to the car", there is a sense in which we never actually "get closer to the car", because the appearance is completely integrated with our awareness at the so-called "first-sighting" and at so-called "subsequent-sightings" as "we get closer to the car".

Similarly, the concept of "open-space" as separating "us" from "the appearance before us" is ultimately also an illusion arising from not being aware of the sense in which "the appearance before us" is like a non-dual apparition, completely integrated in the realm of awareness. If there is no distance between our so-called "consciousness" and the so-called "object", there is no such thing as "invisible space" separating "us" and "the car". Also, in light of the appearance we call "our parked car" being completely integrated with non-dual awareness (keeping in mind all the different dimensions involved in the manner that has been discussed), there is a sense in which the car is not a solidly existing "thing" with an "inside" and "outside" belonging to an "it" that can be said to "truly exist" as "a thing with an inside and outside of its own".

There is also a sense in which, by not recognizing the dimension of the non-dual awareness, known as vidya in Sanskrit Buddhist terminology, which is aware of the "empty" "no-self" nature of "ourselves" and "things", that by thinking that "we" and "our car" are separately existing "things" or "objects" (the word "object" can be broken down etymologically to mean "thrown-against"), we actually create or enforce the illusion that we are a separate, truly-existing "thing", bound by skin, walking around and regarding the world as a collection of "things" with which to interact. By believing that we are "walking over to our car and getting inside this thing", it is as if we solidify or actually create the belief that we are a truly existing "thing" which exists as "just another thing" which is separated from the appearance before us.

Ultimately, the scientific notion of people (and other beings with consciousness, such as animals) as being organisms which interact with an environment which is separated from them, is an erroneous view, according to Buddhist philosophy. It is true that, in a sense, as people, we are an "embodiment of mind". But this mind is a completely open-ended continuum which is so open-ended, that in a sense, it is as if the mind has the ability to "take on the form" of "whatever happens to appear before it", that is, the appearances which we regard as being "truly existing things". Although from the ultimate point of view, this "mind" is as "empty" of true or inherent existence as is the "self" or "things", it may still be useful to talk about our being an "embodiment of a mind" which becomes "terminated" by appearances in a non-dual way, beyond the realm of a subject interacting with an object, in order to "point to" the way things may be ultimately.

Also, the idea of the environment of "the world of things" as being a realm separate from the "beings in the world", as if "the world of things" was "standing around" separately, "waiting to be interacted with", needs to be analyzed more carefully.

Consider, for example, the idea of famous landmarks such as the White House and the Kremlin. We might say that these are, in conventional thinking, regarded as actually "taking up space in a certain place" and having the status of "really being there and "standing around" looking like they look" and having the status of a "truly-existing thing in a truly-existing place". It may be possible to undermine this notion of "things" and "places" "waiting for us" in a separate manner. We might be able to end up with a more sophisticated understanding of how it is with these "people", "places", and "things" in a manner that goes beyond the realm of organisms interacting with a solid world of things that "stand around" as a separate environment.

From the point of view of what may actually be involved in the situation called "an American looking at the Kremlin" or "a Russian looking at the White House", if we understand this idea of ourselves as an "embodiment of mind" which becomes "terminated" by an appearance in a completely non-dual way, beyond the realm of a subject and object, it may be necessary to completely rethink our ideas of analyzing the world as being made up of separate "categories" or "people", "places," and "things", which would also have far-reaching ramifications in the socio-political and other realm. And if, in this light of our being an "embodiment of a mind" which becomes "terminated" by an appearance in a non-dual way beyond the realm of subject and object, we consider that, for example, in a subject such as the history of warfare or aggression, we are dealing with soldiers of different nations who, as embodiments of mind, whose minds, from a higher point of view, become "terminated" in a non-dual way by the appearances referred to at a common-sense conventional level, as "other soldiers who are the enemy," the implications are shocking, in a manner that goes beyond, and yet encompasses, the realm of moral considerations. In this example, rather than labeling this manifestation of our mind to be "our enemy", the natural "expression" of our non-dual awareness would be to have compassion for these illusory beings, and to act accordingly.

As for the active aspects of this non-dual awareness which is beyond the realm of subject and object, or vidya, this is termed jnana, and as opposed to vijnana, or ordinary dualistic consciousness, in which the subjective and objective poles are regarded as being actually inherently existing, with jnana, one is aware of the non-dual nature of people and appearances. If we use an example of "two people and their parked car", we might say that the person using vijnana regards the car as a truly existing thing that he or she can "walk over to and get inside of", while the person using jnana is aware of the non-dual dimension in which the "individual" and the "thing" are both "empty" of being actually-existing things which are interacting with each other. From the point of view of the person whose awareness is characterized by vijnana (which can be broken down etymologically to mean "knowing-apart"), there are three separate things involved in this example: that is, two people, plus one car.

From the point of view of the person whose awareness would be characterized by jnana, however, this is not the case. But what "actually is the case" may be beyond the realm of being expressed in the ordinary language of "people and things" as separate objects to be "added up", and of "two people interacting with the one same thing". Of course, the person using jnana is still aware of the sense in which things like cereal boxes and cars appear to exist at a conventional level, that is, the way that they seem to exist from the point of view of "other people using vijnana", but he/she is never separated from the non-dual awareness of vidya, and this is what is said to characterize the awareness of the Buddhas.

If we mistake the appearances before us as being "truly-existing", "actually-out there" types of "things" with true, inherent existence, we fall into deep error, according to Buddhist thought, setting up a fictitious realm of an individual separated from the world of appearances (so-called "things") in a deep-seated way. This is known as the realm of samsara, the world of "running around and around in circles", chasing after "things" we regard as "really existing" that we would like to have, while avoiding "the things that we don't like". But these emotions or "emotional filters" of attachment, or desire, and aversion or anger, as well as the other basic emotions of pride and jealousy, all arise from dualistic-ignorance or "not knowing how it really is with people and things". It is said that this realm of samsara and its "flip-side" of nirvana, exist nowhere else than in our mind: when our mind is pervaded by emotional and intellectual obscurations about "the way things are", we are caught up in samsara; but when this same mind is completely freed from these obscurations, we attain nirvana. So nirvana is not some other-worldly realm in which we would see different things than other people see, but our same world as seen differently; that is, pervaded by the non-dual awareness of vidya.

Also, our mind in union with the ultimate nature of appearances is actually the Dharmakaya, the so-called "Body of Truth" of a Buddha, which is one of the "three bodies of a Buddha". In addition, while the relative-Bodhicitta, the so-called "mind of enlightenment" may be considered to be compassion, as well as the aspiration to attain perfect enlightenment for the benefit of all ebings (along with doing whatever we can to help other beings), the ultimate-Bodhicitta consists of the wisdom of the awareness of "emptiness". So it is considered essential to conjoin compassion with wisdom in order to attain perfect enlightenment, the level of a Buddha.

Although we begin with the common sense view of "people" and things" as truly-existing separate entities interacting with each other, after we hear about, reflect upon, and meditate on the "empty" or no-self nature of people and things, (while also having accumulated a vast store of "merit" or "positive energy", through virtuous actions of our body, speech and mind), we may begin to engage in the process of "the turning over in the mind" by which we begin to "tune-into" the ultimate, "empty" nature of "people" and "appearances". Little by little, we can deepen our awareness of this dimension until it becomes more and more a part of our nature, and eventually, it may be possible to become a true embodiment of this non-dual awareness, or vidya.

When the Buddhist texts were first being translated in Tibet, the term vidya, or non-dual awareness, was translated into Tibetan as rig-pa. But rather than translating the negation of this non-dual awareness of vidya (avidya) as rig-med, which could indicate a complete negation of rig-pa, it was translated as ma-rig-pa, indicating a qualitative drop in the level of rig- pa, or non-dual awareness. So we can see that from one point of view, our awareness of the nature of "people" and "things" is not completely confused, but that it needs to be transformed so that it will be "in tune-with" "the way things really are".

Although in Hinduism, the different yogas are practiced in order to attain union with God, in Buddhism, we might say that "emptiness-yoga", that is, trying to attain union with the ultimate "empty" (apparitional) nature of people and appearances, is practiced. The teachings on the "empty" (apparitional) nature of "people" and appearances (so-called "things") are fundamental teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, which are also very important in the offshoot of the Mahayana, known as Vajrayâna or Tantric Buddhism. But even though the teachings on the "empty" or  no-self nature of "people" and "things" are fundamental teachings of the Mahayana, at the highest level of Vajrayâna, known as Dzogchen, or the "Great Perfection", it is in fact the continual contemplation of the non-dual awareness of vidya (rig-pa) which is said to constitute the main practice of this highest mystical system of Dzogchen.

In this highest Buddhist mystical system of Dzogchen, the practitioner is directly introduced to the non-dual awareness (vidya or rig-gpa) by their teacher, and takes the continual contemplation of the true Nature of Mind (and reality) as their central practice. Recognizing that all thoughts are, in fact, "empty" of belonging to a "self", all thoughts are continually "self-liberated", arising from and dissolving back into the continuum of the Dharmakaya, like waves arising and dissolving back into the ocean. At the same time, the practitioner continually contemplates the inseparable union of appearance and "emptiness."

It is regarded as being very important to cultivate the awareness of the non-dual nature of "people" and "things" in regard all manner of appearances, deepening our understanding of what this means until it becomes a part of our being at a very deep and completely integrated level. When we begin trying to understand the meaning of shunyata or the "empty" (apparitional) nature of appearances, it may seem as if it is easier to recognize this dimension of apparitionalness in regard to some "things" in a more readily comprehensible way than with other "things". But we should eventually try to understand this "empty" apparitional nature of things in regard to all appearances, although we may find it useful to "practice" using objects where we find this non-dual awareness more apparent.

Along with the idea that appearances are "shunya" (or partake of the nature of shunyata or "emptiness") or "empty of inherent existence", in the manner that has been discussed, in the Vajrayâna or Tantric teachings, it is said that there exists a dimension of luminosity; that is, that we are endowed with a knowing capacity, or an ability to see "things" with complete clarity, "as they are". Also, these appearances may be characterized as partaking of the nature of "non-dividedness"; that is, that they are completely "nondivided" in regard to the subject and object, or more precisely, "non-divided" beyond the realm of a supposed subject and object.

In regard to these three dimensions, it is said that "emptiness" manifests as the Dharmakaya body of a Buddha; "luminosity" as the Sambhogakaya; and the inseparable union of "emptiness" and "luminosity" manifests as the Nirmanakaya.

As a footnote to these three dimensions of appearance, we might consider the myth of Lucifer in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Lucifer means the "light-bearer", and if we examine this myth from the proper angle, we might find that this myth of the fall of Lucifer may actually refer to the "fall of man" from being in union with the ultimate, "empty", luminous dimension of non-dual awareness into the realm of individuals regarding these appearances as being truly-existing in a "real", "out-there" kind of way.

In Mahayana and Vajrayâna Buddhism, although the term tathagatagarbha can be taken in general usage to refer to the enlightened Buddha-nature inherent in all beings, existing as a potentiality that needs to be activated and actualized, in another sense it refers to the process by which Being itself is led back to attaining its true state. Since this level of attainment is beyond the level of a "self" who has attained this level of realization, there is a sense in which the realization or attainment belongs to Being itself, rather than to a "self" or "I".

Then it may be possible to understand such notions as that what is behind the nature of "people" and "appearances" is nothing more than the playful nature (lila) of Being itself. It seems that Being has the ability to "set- up" apparitional-like appearances, but it must be understood that these appearances are completely "empty" of true or inherent existence, in the manner that has been discussed. The nature of these appearances is the completely miraculous display or manifestation of Being, by which it "mirrors" or "looks at" itself, but as regards their status of being truly-existing "things", they are alike in never having come into actual existence, ultimately. Or as the famous Tibetan poet-lama Milarepa expressed it: "Things appear, but they don't really exist!"

If we were to attain this level of being a true embodiment or a "holder" of the non-dual awareness, or a vidyadhara, developing this awareness to ever-increasing levels until we embody this awareness to a level of total realization, while of course being able to act in a completely skillful and compassionate manner with these apparitional-like appearances of "beings" and "things", it is said that there is nothing further to attain or realize; nothing higher that we would need to aspire to.

As the famous Tibetan lama of the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Longchen Rabjam, has said: "Since everything is but an apparition, perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter!"

Nam kay tar tug ta yay sem chan nam

May all beings, whose number is as infinite as the sky,

Ma bed zhin du ku sum ngon gyur te

Realize the Three Bodies of the Buddha

Pa ma dro drug sem chan ma lu pa

May my parents who are all the sentient beings of the Six realms of rebirth without exception

Cham chig dod may sa la chin par shog

Come together in the Primordial Original State (which is enlightenment itself).

--a Tibetan prayer