This is true. Just gain knowledge on whatever you're drawn to. All roads lead to Rome. But in the end where is there to go? What is there to do? Nowhere and nothing. It's everything! ❤️. Very well thought out and written. I appreciate the sentiment, greatly.
Hi Matthew. I came upon this essay from a repost from Dan. Similar to Dan, I write and teach from a non-dual Tantric perspective. I enjoyed reading your article and appreciate so much about it. This line, "Nondual teachings are meant to point towards awakening, and are just a tool" especially hits the mark. From the lineage I studied and practice, the teachings are tools to get you through the day. And just maybe a few awakened moments that happen along the way will bring more meaning and luster to your life. Thanks for a great article.
This is where Patanjali would be very instructive to modern Advaita aspirants. His ladder approach of things that need to be accomplished (at least studiously practiced) was a way to ensure that the student was prepared to receive extraordinary teachings. Advaita practices and aphorisms used to be a closely guarded secret not just to feel special but as an actual protection for the student who isn't ready for them. If you hear a higher truth early on and then you sit down for 5 minutes reciting Who Am I like a mantra, with no powers of concentration developed through pratyahara or dharana in the earlier steps of Patanjali's system, then you might get exasperated when nothing happens so you dismiss Atma Vichara as pish posh. This may close a door to that practice/accomplishment in this life. A very big negative result. Whereas, had they prepared themselves in a traditional way, then like a ripe fruit they might accomplish in a seeming effortless manner. Like Sri Ramana Maharshi, laying on the floor as realization overtook him. Nowadays, everybody recites these powerful expressions like it's their supermarket shopping list. If these hadn't been bandied about for so long, there might've been a possibility of studying with a master, who, at the right moment whispered Tat Tvam Asi into the ear of the ready disciple and their eyes open into that reality. The Dzogchen tradition also has similar protections and years of practice must be done before a teacher will give these nondual teachings on recognizing the nature of mind. Up until the last 30 years or so, you couldn't find these pith instructions written down in English at least. Then, when the great Danish translator Erik Pema Kunzang was invited by his masters, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, to translate some of these texts...one had to get permission to buy them and only with the caveat of having received the pointing out nature of mind instructions by your guru. So, translated, but still protected. Not anymore of course. I know one practitioner who encountered these teachings without permission and the predictable thing unfortunately happened...he said, oh, I'm already Buddha, then I don't need to practice anymore! A common result in Lucknow, no? Papaji had a number of students (blecch, Andrew Cohen for example) who had an opening and then they set up shop as the Avatars of this age! Hahaha. Actually more like boo hoo hoo 😢 because these precious teachings are now more like weapons than liberating words. They harm more than they help. People turn into Rudra, the embodiment of egotism. How can you receive instructions when you're the one giving them! Lol. (Obviously the "you" in this diatribe is just "one" not you you. Lol. One, not two and one not you. 😂) ✌
I might be a person you would include in the category of “Western nondual teachers”—though I come to these teachings from a different starting point than mist. I think you’re spot on regarding the silliness of many of the arguments around nonduality. Thanks for this article.
This is true. Just gain knowledge on whatever you're drawn to. All roads lead to Rome. But in the end where is there to go? What is there to do? Nowhere and nothing. It's everything! ❤️. Very well thought out and written. I appreciate the sentiment, greatly.
I think you should read Linji.The Record of Linji.You will understand Zen better.
The gap between the thoughts.The rest are just a script.No self as Buddha taught.
The problem is that without experiential knowledge everything is just another script/ego.
Hi Matthew. I came upon this essay from a repost from Dan. Similar to Dan, I write and teach from a non-dual Tantric perspective. I enjoyed reading your article and appreciate so much about it. This line, "Nondual teachings are meant to point towards awakening, and are just a tool" especially hits the mark. From the lineage I studied and practice, the teachings are tools to get you through the day. And just maybe a few awakened moments that happen along the way will bring more meaning and luster to your life. Thanks for a great article.
This is where Patanjali would be very instructive to modern Advaita aspirants. His ladder approach of things that need to be accomplished (at least studiously practiced) was a way to ensure that the student was prepared to receive extraordinary teachings. Advaita practices and aphorisms used to be a closely guarded secret not just to feel special but as an actual protection for the student who isn't ready for them. If you hear a higher truth early on and then you sit down for 5 minutes reciting Who Am I like a mantra, with no powers of concentration developed through pratyahara or dharana in the earlier steps of Patanjali's system, then you might get exasperated when nothing happens so you dismiss Atma Vichara as pish posh. This may close a door to that practice/accomplishment in this life. A very big negative result. Whereas, had they prepared themselves in a traditional way, then like a ripe fruit they might accomplish in a seeming effortless manner. Like Sri Ramana Maharshi, laying on the floor as realization overtook him. Nowadays, everybody recites these powerful expressions like it's their supermarket shopping list. If these hadn't been bandied about for so long, there might've been a possibility of studying with a master, who, at the right moment whispered Tat Tvam Asi into the ear of the ready disciple and their eyes open into that reality. The Dzogchen tradition also has similar protections and years of practice must be done before a teacher will give these nondual teachings on recognizing the nature of mind. Up until the last 30 years or so, you couldn't find these pith instructions written down in English at least. Then, when the great Danish translator Erik Pema Kunzang was invited by his masters, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, to translate some of these texts...one had to get permission to buy them and only with the caveat of having received the pointing out nature of mind instructions by your guru. So, translated, but still protected. Not anymore of course. I know one practitioner who encountered these teachings without permission and the predictable thing unfortunately happened...he said, oh, I'm already Buddha, then I don't need to practice anymore! A common result in Lucknow, no? Papaji had a number of students (blecch, Andrew Cohen for example) who had an opening and then they set up shop as the Avatars of this age! Hahaha. Actually more like boo hoo hoo 😢 because these precious teachings are now more like weapons than liberating words. They harm more than they help. People turn into Rudra, the embodiment of egotism. How can you receive instructions when you're the one giving them! Lol. (Obviously the "you" in this diatribe is just "one" not you you. Lol. One, not two and one not you. 😂) ✌
I might be a person you would include in the category of “Western nondual teachers”—though I come to these teachings from a different starting point than mist. I think you’re spot on regarding the silliness of many of the arguments around nonduality. Thanks for this article.