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Nondualism

January 31, 2023

In spirituality, nondualism, also called nonduality [1][2] and nondual awareness,[3][4] is a fuzzy concept originating in Indian philosophy and religion for which many definitions can be found,[note 1] including: advaita, nondual awareness, the nonduality of seer and seen[5] or nondifference of subject and object;[6] advaya, the identity of conventional phenomena and ultimate reality, or the "nonduality of duality and nonduality"; and monism, the nonplurality of the world[6] and "the interconnection of all things."[7] It may also refer to a negation of dualistic thinking;[6] and to the mystical unity of God and man.[6]

The English term is derived from Sanskrit "advaita" (अद्वैत), "not-two"[1][8] or "one without a second,"[8] which refers to the identity of Atman and Brahman; and advaya,[6] also meaning "not two," but referring to the identity of conventional and ultimate reality.[9][web 1] While "advaita" is primarily related to the Hindu philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, and advaya to Buddism, nondualism refers to several, related strands of thought, and there is no single definition for the English word "nonduality". According to David Loy, it is best to speak of various "nondualities" or theories of nonduality.[10]

Nondual awareness, also called pure awareness or pure consciousness[11][12][13] and the "non-difference of subject and object,"[14] is self-luminous awareness or witness-consciousness,[3][4] a "primordial, natural awareness" which is described as the essence of being, 'centerless' and without dichotomies.[web 2] Indian ideas of nondual awareness developed as proto-Samkhya speculations in ascetic milieus in the 1st millennium BCE, with the notion of Purusha, the witness-conscious or 'pure consciousness'. In Indian traditions, the realisation of this primordial consciousness, witnessing but disengaged from the entanglements of the ordinary mind and samsara, is considered moksha, vimutti, or nirvana, release from suffering and samsara. This is accomplished by self-restraint and bodhi, discriminative discernment or "enlightenment".[15][web 3]

Regarding interconnectedness, or the "nonpluraility of the world",[14] the first millennium CE saw a movement towards postulating an underlying "basis of unity", both in the Buddhist Madhyamaka and Yogachara schools, and in Advaita Vedanta, collapsing phenomenal reality into a "single substrate or underlying principle".[16]

(Proto-)Samkya thoroughly influenced both Hindu-traditions such as Yoga, Advaita Vedanta, and Kashmir Shaivism, Veerashaivism, as well as Buddhism, which all emerged in close interaction.[17] All those traditions developed philosophical systems to describe the relation between this essence and mundane reality and its pains, and the means to escape from this entanglement and pain. Descriptions of nondual consciousness can be found in both Hinduism (Purusha, Turiya, sahaja) and Buddhism (luminous mind, Nirvana, emptiness, pariniṣpanna, nature of mind, rigpa).

In the Buddhist tradition, non-duality (advaya) is associated with the teachings of interdependence[2] and emptiness (śūnyatā) and the two truths doctrine, particularly the Madhyamaka teaching of the non-duality of absolute and relative truth;[18][19] and with the Yogachara notion of "mind/thought only" (citta-matra) or "representation-only" (vijñaptimātra).[20] These teachings, coupled with the doctrine of Buddha-nature have been influential concepts in the subsequent development of Mahayana Buddhism, not only in India, but also in East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism, most notably in Chán (Zen) and Vajrayana.

Advaita appears in different shades in various schools of Hinduism such as in Advaita Vedanta, Vishishtadvaita Vedanta (Vaishnavism), Suddhadvaita Vedanta (Vaishnavism), non-dual Shaivism and Shaktism.[21][22][23] In Advaita Vedanta, nonduality refers to nondual awareness, the nonduality of Atman and Brahman.[1][24][note 2] In a more general sense, it refers to monism, "the interconnectedness of everything which is dependent upon the nondual One, Transcendent Reality",[1] "the singular wholeness of existence that suggests that the personal self is an illusion".[8] Advaita also appears in the more realistic qualified non-dualism of the Vishistadvaita school, and the realistic monism of Kashmir Shaivism (in which the world is a real transformation of universal consciousness).

Nondual awareness can also be found in western traditions, such as Sufism (Wahdat al Wujud, Fanaa, and Haqiqah), as well as in Christian mysticism and Neoplatonism (henosis, mystical union). Western Neoplatonism is an essential element of both Christian contemplation, Islamic Dhikr, mysticism, Western esotericism and modern spirituality, especially Unitarianism, Transcendentalism, Universalism and Perennialism.

Etymology

"Dual" comes from Latin "duo," two, prefixed with "non-" meaning "not"; "non-dual" means "not-two." When referring to nondualism, Hinduism generally uses the Sanskrit term Advaita, while Buddhism uses Advaya (Tibetan: gNis-med, Chinese: pu-erh, Japanese: fu-ni).[25]

"Advaita" (अद्वैत) is from Sanskrit roots a, not; dvaita, dual. As Advaita, it means "not-two."[1][8] or "one without a second,"[8] and is usually translated as "nondualism", "nonduality" and "nondual". The term "nondualism" and the term "advaita" from which it originates are polyvalent terms.[note 3]

"Advaya" (अद्वय) is also a Sanskrit word that means "identity, unique, not two, without a second," and typically refers to the two truths doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism, especially Madhyamaka.

The English term "nondual" was informed by early translations of the Upanishads in Western languages other than English from 1775. These terms have entered the English language from literal English renderings of "advaita" subsequent to the first wave of English translations of the Upanishads. These translations commenced with the work of Müller (1823–1900), in the monumental Sacred Books of the East (1879). Max Müller rendered "advaita" as "Monism", as have many recent scholars.[31][32][33] However, some scholars state that "advaita" is not really monism.[34]

Definitions

See also: Monism, Mind-body dualism, Dualistic cosmology, and Pluralism (philosophy)

Nondualism is a fuzzy concept, for which many definitions can be found.[note 1] According to David Loy, since there are similar ideas and terms in a wide variety of spiritualities and religions, ancient and modern, no single definition for the English word "nonduality" can suffice, and perhaps it is best to speak of various "nondualities" or theories of nonduality.[10] Loy sees non-dualism as a common thread in Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Advaita Vedanta,[18][note 4] distinguishes "Five Flavors Of Nonduality":[web 1]

  1. Advaita, nondual awareness, the nondifference of subject and object, or nonduality between subject and object.[web 1] According to Loy, in the Upanishads "[i]t is most often expressed as the identity between Atman (the self) and Brahman."[24][note 5]
  2. Advaya, the identity of phenomena and the Absolute, the "nonduality of duality and nonduality",[web 1] or the nonduality of relative and ultimate truth as found in Madhyamaka Buddhism and the two truths doctrine.
  3. Monism, the nonplurality of the world. Although the phenomenal world appears as a plurality of "things", in reality they are "of a single cloth".[web 1]
  4. The negation of dualistic thinking in pairs of opposites. The Yin-Yang symbol of Taoism symbolises the transcendence of this dualistic way of thinking.[web 1]
  5. Mysticism, a mystical unity between God and Human.[web 1]

Brahmanical and non-Brahmanical ascetic traditions of the first millennium BCE developed in close interaction, utilizing proto-Samkhya enumerations (lists) analyzing experience in the context of meditative practices providing liberating insight into the nature of experience.[17] The first millennium CE saw a movement towards postulating an underlying "basis of unity," both in the Buddhist Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools, and in Advaita Vedanta, collapsing phenomenal reality into a "single substrate or underlying principle."[16]

Nondual awareness

Nondual awareness refers to "a primordial, natural awareness without subject or object".[web 2] According to Hanley, Nakamura and Garland, nondual awareness is central to contemplative wisdom traditions, "a state of consciousness that rests in the background of all conscious experiencing – a background field of awareness that is unified, immutable, and empty of mental content, yet retains a quality of cognizant bliss [...] This field of awareness is thought to be ever present, yet typically unrecognized, obscured by discursive thought, emotion, and perception."[3] According to Josipovic, "consciousness-as-such is a non-conceptual nondual awareness, whose essential property is non-representational reflexivity. This property makes consciousness-as-such phenomenologically, cognitively and neurobiologically a unique kind, different from and irreducible to any contents, functions and states."[4] It is the pure consciousness or witness-consciousness of the Purusha of Samkhya and the Atman of Advaita Vedanta, which is aware of prakriti, the entanglements of the muddled mind and cognitive apparatus.

Nonduality and interconnectedness (monism)

According to Espín and Nickoloff, referring to monism, "nondualism" is the thought in some Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist schools, which, generally speaking, "teaches that the multiplicity of the universe is reducible to one essential reality."[37] The idea of nondualism as monism is typically contrasted with dualism, with dualism defined as the view that the universe and the nature of existence consists of two realities, such as the God and the world, or as God and Devil, or as mind and matter, and so on.[38][39] In Advaita Vedanta, nonduality refers to monism, the nonduality of Atman and Brahman.[1]

In a more general sense, nonduality refers to "the interconnectedness of everything which is dependent upon the nondual One, Transcendent Reality,"[1] "the singular wholeness of existence that suggests that the personal self is an illusion."[8] In western Buddhism, "interconnectedness" is a reinterpretation of interdependence (pratītyasamutpāda), the notion that all existents come into being in dependence on other existents.[2] The Huayan school (Flower Garland) developed the doctrine of the mutual containment and interpenetration of all phenomena (dharmas) or "perfect interfusion."[40]

Appearance in various religious traditions

Different theories and concepts which can be linked to nonduality and nondual awareness are taught in a wide variety of religious traditions, including some western religions and philosophies. While their metaphysical systems differ, they may refer to a similar experience.[41] These include:

Samkhya and yoga

Main articles: Samkhya, Yoga, and Yoga philosophy

Samkhya is a dualistic āstika school of Indian philosophy,[58][59][60] regarding human experience as being constituted by two independent realities, puruṣa ('consciousness'); and prakṛti, cognition, mind and emotions. Samkhya is strongly related to the Yoga school of Hinduism, for which it forms the theoretical foundation, and it was influential on other schools of Indian philosophy.[61]

Philosophy

 
Purusha-Pakriti

Purusha, (puruṣa or Sanskrit: पुरुष) is a complex concept[62] whose meaning evolved in Vedic and Upanishadic times. Depending on source and historical timeline, it means the cosmic being or self, consciousness, and universal principle.[63][62][64] In early Vedas, Purusha was a cosmic being whose sacrifice by the gods created all life.[65] This was one of many creation myths discussed in the Vedas. In the Upanishads, the Purusha concept refers to abstract essence of the Self, Spirit and the Universal Principle that is eternal, indestructible, without form and is all pervasive.[65] In the Sankhya philosophy, purusha is the plural immobile male (spiritual) cosmic principle, pure consciousness. It is absolute, independent, free, imperceptible, unknowable through other agencies, above any experience by mind or senses and beyond any words or explanations. It remains pure, "nonattributive consciousness". Puruṣa is neither produced nor does it produce.[66] No appellations can qualify purusha, nor can it substantialized or objectified.[67] It "cannot be reduced, can't be 'settled'." Any designation of purusha comes from prakriti, and is a limitation.[68]

Unmanifest prakriti is infinite, inactive, and unconscious, and consists of an equilibrium of the three guṇas ('qualities, innate tendencies'),[69][70] namely sattva , rajas, and tamas. When prakṛti comes into contact with Purusha this equilibrium is disturbed, and Prakriti becomes manifest, evolving twenty-three tattvas,[71] namely intellect (buddhi, mahat), ego (ahamkara) mind (manas); the five sensory capacities; the five action capacities; and the five "subtle elements" or "modes of sensory content" (tanmatras), from which the five "gross elements" or "forms of perceptual objects" emerge,[69][72] giving rise to the manifestation of sensory experience and cognition.[73][74]

Jiva ('a living being') is that state in which purusha is bonded to prakriti.[75] Human experience is an interplay of purusha-prakriti, purusha being conscious of the various combinations of cognitive activities.[75] The end of the bondage of Purusha to prakriti is called liberation or kaivalya by the Samkhya school,[76] and can be attained by insight and self-restraint.[15][web 3]

Origins and development

While samkhya-like speculations can be found in the Rig Veda and some of the older Upanishads, Samkhya may have non-Vedic origins, and developed in ascetic milieus. Proto-samkhya ideas developed from the 8th/7th c. BCE onwards, as evidenced in the middle Upanishads, the Buddhacarita, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Moksadharma-section of the Mahabharata.[77] It was related to the early ascetic traditions and meditation, spiritual practices, and religious cosmology,[78] and methods of reasoning that result in liberating knowledge (vidya, jnana, viveka) that end the cycle of dukkha and rebirth.[79] allowing for "a great variety of philosophical formulations."[78] Pre-karika systematic Samkhya existed around the beginning of the first millennium CE.[80] The defining method of Samkhya was established with the Samkhyakarika (4th c. CE).

Upanishads

The Upanishads contain proto-Shamkhya speculations.[79] Yajnavalkya's exposition on the Self in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, and the dialogue between Uddalaka Aruni and his son Svetaketu in the Chandogya Upanishad represent a more developed notion of the essence of man (Atman) as "pure subjectivity - i.e., the knower who is himself unknowable, the seer who cannot be seen," and as "pure conscious," discovered by means of speculations, or enumerations.[81] Acdording lo Larson, "it seesm quite likely that both the monistic trends in Indian thought and the duslistic samkhya could have developed out of these ancient speculations."[82] According to Larson, the enumeration of tattvas in Samkhya is also found in Taittiriya Upanishad, Aitareya Upanishad and Yajnavalkya–Maitri dialogue in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.[83]

The Katha Upanishad in verses 3.10–13 and 6.7–11 describes a concept of puruṣa, and other concepts also found in later Samkhya.[84] The Katha Upanishad, dated to be from about the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, in verses 2.6.6 through 2.6.13 recommends a path to Self-knowledge akin to Samkhya, and calls this path Yoga.[85]

Only when Manas (mind) with thoughts and the five senses stand still,
and when Buddhi (intellect, power to reason) does not waver, that they call the highest path.
That is what one calls Yoga, the stillness of the senses, concentration of the mind,
It is not thoughtless heedless sluggishness, Yoga is creation and dissolution.

— Katha Upanishad, 2.6.10-11[86][87]

Buddhism

There are different Buddhist views which resonate with the concepts and experiences of primordial awareness and non-duality or "not two" (advaya). The Buddha does not use the term advaya in the earliest Buddhist texts, but it does appear in some of the Mahayana sutras, such as the Vimalakīrti.[88] The Buddha taught meditative inquiry (dhyana) and nondiscursive attention (samadhi), equivalents of which can be found in Upanishadic thought. He rejected the metaphysical doctrines of the Upanishads, particularly ideas which are often associated with Hindu nonduality, such as the doctrine that "this cosmos is the self" and "everything is a Oneness" (cf. SN 12.48 and MN 22).[89][90] Because of this, Buddhist views of nonduality are particularly different from Hindu conceptions, which tend towards idealistic monism.

Indian Buddhism

Nirvana, luminous mind, and Buddha-nature

Nirvana
See also: Transcendental Nirvana

In archaic Buddhism, Nirvana may have been a kind of transformed and transcendent consciousness or discernment (viññana) that has "stopped" (nirodhena).[91][92][93] According to Harvey this nirvanic consciousness is said to be "objectless", "infinite" (anantam), "unsupported" (appatiṭṭhita) and "non-manifestive" (anidassana) as well as "beyond time and spatial location".[91][92]

Stanislaw Schayer, a Polish scholar, argued in the 1930s that the Nikayas preserve elements of an archaic form of Buddhism which is close to Brahmanical beliefs,[94][95][96][97] and survived in the Mahayana tradition.[98][99] Schayer's view, possibly referring to texts where "'consciousness' (vinnana) seems to be the ultimate reality or substratum" as well as to luminous mind,[100] saw nirvana as an immortal, deathless sphere, a transmundane reality or state.[101][note 6] A similar view is also defended by C. Lindtner, who argues that in precanonical Buddhism nirvana is an actual existent.[94][note 7] The original and early Buddhist concepts of nirvana may have been similar to those found in competing Śramaṇa (strivers/ascetics) traditions such as Jainism and Upanishadic Vedism.[102] Similar ideas were proposed by Edward Conze[99] and M. Falk,[103] citing sources which speak of an eternal and "invisible infinite consciousness, which shines everywhere" as point to the view that nirvana is a kind of Absolute,[99] and arguing that the nirvanic element, as an "essence" or pure consciousness, is immanent within samsara,[103] an "abode" or "place" of prajña, which is gained by the enlightened.[104][103][note 8]

In the Theravada tradition, nibbāna is regarded as an uncompounded or unconditioned (asankhata) dhamma (phenomenon, event) which is "transmundane",[106][note 9] and which is beyond our normal dualistic conceptions.[108][note 10] In Theravada Abhidhamma texts like the Vibhanga, nibbana or the asankhata-dhatu (unconditioned element) is defined thus:

‘What is the unconditioned element (asankhata dhatu)? It is the cessation of passion, the cessation of hatred and the cessation of delusion.’

Luminous mind

Another influential concept in Indian Buddhism is the idea of luminous mind which became associated with Buddha-nature. In the Early Buddhist Texts there are various mentions of luminosity or radiance which refer to the development of the mind in meditation. In the Saṅgīti-sutta for example, it relates to the attainment of samadhi, where the perception of light (āloka sañña) leads to a mind endowed with luminescence (sappabhāsa).[109] According to Analayo, the Upakkilesa-sutta and its parallels mention that the presence of defilements "results in a loss of whatever inner light or luminescence (obhāsa) had been experienced during meditation".[109] The Pali Dhātuvibhaṅga-sutta uses the metaphor of refining gold to describe equanimity reached through meditation, which is said to be "pure, bright, soft, workable, and luminous".[25] The Pali Anguttara Nikaya (A.I.8-10) states:[110]

Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements. The well-instructed disciple of the noble ones discerns that as it actually is present, which is why I tell you that — for the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones — there is development of the mind.[111]

The term is given no direct doctrinal explanation in the Pali discourses, but later Buddhist schools explained it using various concepts developed by them.[112] The Theravada school identifies the "luminous mind" with the bhavanga, a concept first proposed in the Theravāda Abhidhamma.[113] The later schools of the Mahayana identify it with both the Mahayana concepts of bodhicitta and tathagatagarbha.[112] The notion is of central importance in the philosophy and practice of Dzogchen.[114]

Buddha-nature

Buddha nature or tathagata-garbha (literally "Buddha womb") is that which allows sentient beings to become Buddhas.[115] Various Mahayana texts such as the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras focus on this idea and over time it became a very influential doctrine in Indian Buddhism, as well in East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism. The Buddha nature teachings may be regarded as a form of nondualism. According to Sally B King, all beings are said to be or possess tathagata-garbha, which is nondual Thusness or Dharmakaya. This reality, states King, transcends the "duality of self and not-self", the "duality of form and emptiness" and the "two poles of being and non being".[116]

There various interpretations and views on Buddha-nature and the concept became very influential in India, China and Tibet, where it also became a source of much debate. In later Indian Yogācāra, a new sub-school developed which adopted the doctrine of tathagata-garbha into the Yogācāra system.[117] The influence of this hybrid school can be seen in texts like the Lankavatara Sutra and the Ratnagotravibhaga. This synthesis of Yogācāra tathagata-garbha became very influential in later Buddhist traditions, such as Indian Vajrayana, Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism.[118][117]

Advaya

According to Kameshwar Nath Mishra, one connotation of advaya in Indic Sanskrit Buddhist texts is that it refers to the middle way between two opposite extremes (such as eternalism and annihilationism), and thus it is "not two".[119]

 
The layman Vimalakīrti Debates Manjusri, Dunhuang Mogao Caves

One of these Sanskrit Mahayana sutras, the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra contains a chapter on the "Dharma gate of non-duality" (advaya dharma dvara pravesa) which is said to be entered once one understands how numerous pairs of opposite extremes are to be rejected as forms of grasping. These extremes which must be avoided in order to understand ultimate reality are described by various characters in the text, and include: Birth and extinction, 'I' and 'Mine', Perception and non-perception, defilement and purity, good and not-good, created and uncreated, worldly and unworldly, samsara and nirvana, enlightenment and ignorance, form and emptiness and so on.[120] The final character to attempt to describe ultimate reality is the bodhisattva Manjushri, who states:

It is in all beings wordless, speechless, shows no signs, is not possible of cognizance, and is above all questioning and answering.[121]

Vimalakīrti responds to this statement by maintaining completely silent, therefore expressing that the nature of ultimate reality is ineffable (anabhilāpyatva) and inconceivable (acintyatā), beyond verbal designation (prapañca) or thought constructs (vikalpa).[121] The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, a text associated with Yogācāra Buddhism, also uses the term "advaya" extensively.[122]

In the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy of Madhyamaka, the two truths or ways of understanding reality, are said to be advaya (not two). As explained by the Indian philosopher Nagarjuna, there is a non-dual relationship, that is, there is no absolute separation, between conventional and ultimate truth, as well as between samsara and nirvana.[123][9]

The concept of nonduality is also important in the other major Indian Mahayana tradition, the Yogacara school, where it is seen as the absence of duality between the perceiving subject (or "grasper") and the object (or "grasped"). It is also seen as an explanation of emptiness and as an explanation of the content of the awakened mind which sees through the illusion of subject-object duality. However, it is important to note that in this conception of non-dualism, there are still a multiplicity of individual mind streams (citta santana) and thus Yogacara does not teach an idealistic monism.[124]

These basic ideas have continued to influence Mahayana Buddhist doctrinal interpretations of Buddhist traditions such as Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Zen, Huayan and Tiantai as well as concepts such as Buddha-nature, luminous mind, Indra's net, rigpa and shentong.

Madhyamaka

Main articles: Madhyamika, Shunyata, and Two truths doctrine
 
Nagarjuna (right), Aryadeva (middle) and the Tenth Karmapa (left).

Madhyamaka, also known as Śūnyavāda (the emptiness teaching), refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of philosophy [125] founded by Nāgārjuna. In Madhyamaka, Advaya refers to the fact that the two truths are not separate or different.,[126] as well as the non-dual relationship of saṃsāra (the round of rebirth and suffering) and nirvāṇa (cessation of suffering, liberation).[21] According to Murti, in Madhyamaka, "Advaya" is an epistemological theory, unlike the metaphysical view of Hindu Advaita.[127] Madhyamaka advaya is closely related to the classical Buddhist understanding that all things are impermanent (anicca) and devoid of "self" (anatta) or "essenceless" (niḥsvabhāvavā),[128][129][130] and that this emptiness does not constitute an "absolute" reality in itself.[note 11].

In Madhyamaka, the two "truths" (satya) refer to conventional (saṃvṛti) and ultimate (paramārtha) truth.[131] The ultimate truth is "emptiness", or non-existence of inherently existing "things",[132] and the "emptiness of emptiness": emptiness does not in itself constitute an absolute reality. Conventionally, "things" exist, but ultimately, they are "empty" of any existence on their own, as described in Nagarjuna's magnum opus, the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (MMK):

The Buddha's teaching of the Dharma is based on two truths: a truth of worldly convention and an ultimate truth. Those who do not understand the distinction drawn between these two truths do not understand the Buddha's profound truth. Without a foundation in the conventional truth the significance of the ultimate cannot be taught. Without understanding the significance of the ultimate, liberation is not achieved.[note 12]

As Jay Garfield notes, for Nagarjuna, to understand the two truths as totally different from each other is to reify and confuse the purpose of this doctrine, since it would either destroy conventional realities such as the Buddha's teachings and the empirical reality of the world (making Madhyamaka a form of nihilism) or deny the dependent origination of phenomena (by positing eternal essences). Thus the non-dual doctrine of the middle way lies beyond these two extremes.[134]

"Emptiness" is a consequence of pratītyasamutpāda (dependent arising),[135] the teaching that no dharma ("thing", "phenomena") has an existence of its own, but always comes into existence in dependence on other dharmas. According to Madhyamaka all phenomena are empty of "substance" or "essence" (Sanskrit: svabhāva) because they are dependently co-arisen. Likewise it is because they are dependently co-arisen that they have no intrinsic, independent reality of their own. Madhyamaka also rejects the existence of absolute realities or beings such as Brahman or Self.[136] In the highest sense, "ultimate reality" is not an ontological Absolute reality that lies beneath an unreal world, nor is it the non-duality of a personal self (atman) and an absolute Self (cf. Purusha). Instead, it is the knowledge which is based on a deconstruction of such reifications and Conceptual proliferations.[137] It also means that there is no "transcendental ground," and that "ultimate reality" has no existence of its own, but is the negation of such a transcendental reality, and the impossibility of any statement on such an ultimately existing transcendental reality: it is no more than a fabrication of the mind.[web 4][note 13] Susan Kahn further explains:

Ultimate truth does not point to a transcendent reality, but to the transcendence of deception. It is critical to emphasize that the ultimate truth of emptiness is a negational truth. In looking for inherently existent phenomena it is revealed that it cannot be found. This absence is not findable because it is not an entity, just as a room without an elephant in it does not contain an elephantless substance. Even conventionally, elephantlessness does not exist. Ultimate truth or emptiness does not point to an essence or nature, however subtle, that everything is made of.[web 5]

However, according to Nagarjuna, even the very schema of ultimate and conventional, samsara and nirvana, is not a final reality, and he thus famously deconstructs even these teachings as being empty and not different from each other in the MMK where he writes:[57]

The limit (koti) of nirvāṇa is that of saṃsāra
The subtlest difference is not found between the two.

According to Nancy McCagney, what this refers to is that the two truths depend on each other; without emptiness, conventional reality cannot work, and vice versa. It does not mean that samsara and nirvana are the same, or that they are one single thing, as in Advaita Vedanta, but rather that they are both empty, open, without limits, and merely exist for the conventional purpose of teaching the Buddha Dharma.[57] Referring to this verse, Jay Garfield writes that:

to distinguish between samsara and nirvana would be to suppose that each had a nature and that they were different natures. But each is empty, and so there can be no inherent difference. Moreover, since nirvana is by definition the cessation of delusion and of grasping and, hence, of the reification of self and other and of confusing imputed phenomena for inherently real phenomena, it is by definition the recognition of the ultimate nature of things. But if, as Nagarjuna argued in Chapter XXIV, this is simply to see conventional things as empty, not to see some separate emptiness behind them, then nirvana must be ontologically grounded in the conventional. To be in samsara is to see things as they appear to deluded consciousness and to interact with them accordingly. To be in nirvana, then, is to see those things as they are – as merely empty, dependent, impermanent, and nonsubstantial, not to be somewhere else, seeing something else.[138]

It is important to note however that the actual Sanskrit term "advaya" does not appear in the MMK, and only appears in one single work by Nagarjuna, the Bodhicittavivarana.[139]

The later Madhyamikas, states Yuichi Kajiyama, developed the Advaya definition as a means to Nirvikalpa-Samadhi by suggesting that "things arise neither from their own selves nor from other things, and that when subject and object are unreal, the mind, being not different, cannot be true either; thereby one must abandon attachment to cognition of nonduality as well, and understand the lack of intrinsic nature of everything". Thus, the Buddhist nondualism or Advaya concept became a means to realizing absolute emptiness.[140]

Yogācāra tradition

Main article: Yogacara
See also: Svasaṃvedana
 
Asaṅga (fl. 4th century C.E.), a Mahayana scholar who wrote numerous works which discuss the Yogacara view and practice.

In the Mahayana tradition of Yogācāra (Skt; "yoga practice"), adyava (Tibetan: gnyis med) refers to overcoming the conceptual and perceptual dichotomies of cognizer and cognized, or subject and object.[21][141][142][143] The concept of adyava in Yogācāra is an epistemological stance on the nature of experience and knowledge, as well as a phenomenological exposition of yogic cognitive transformation. Early Buddhism schools such as Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika, that thrived through the early centuries of the common era, postulated a dualism (dvaya) between the mental activity of grasping (grāhaka, "cognition", "subjectivity") and that which is grasped (grāhya, "cognitum", intentional object).[144][140][144][145] Yogacara postulates that this dualistic relationship is a false illusion or superimposition (samaropa).[140]

Yogācāra also taught the doctrine which held that only mental cognitions really exist (vijñapti-mātra),[146][note 14] instead of the mind-body dualism of other Indian Buddhist schools.[140][144][146] This is another sense in which reality can be said to be non-dual, because it is "consciousness-only".[147] There are several interpretations of this main theory, which has been widely translated as representation-only, ideation-only, impressions-only and perception-only.[148][146][149][150] Some scholars see it as a kind of subjective or epistemic Idealism (similar to Kant's theory) while others argue that it is closer to a kind of phenomenology or representationalism. According to Mark Siderits the main idea of this doctrine is that we are only ever aware of mental images or impressions which manifest themselves as external objects, but "there is actually no such thing outside the mind."[151] For Alex Wayman, this doctrine means that "the mind has only a report or representation of what the sense organ had sensed."[149] Jay Garfield and Paul Williams both see the doctrine as a kind of Idealism in which only mentality exists.[152][153]

However, it is important to note that even the idealistic interpretation of Yogācāra is not an absolute monistic idealism like Advaita Vedanta or Hegelianism, since in Yogācāra, even consciousness "enjoys no transcendent status" and is just a conventional reality.[117] Indeed, according to Jonathan Gold, for Yogācāra, the ultimate truth is not consciousness, but an ineffable and inconceivable "thusness" or "thatness" (tathatā).[141] Also, Yogācāra affirms the existence of individual mindstreams, and thus Kochumuttom also calls it a realistic pluralism.[154]

The Yogācārins defined three basic modes by which we perceive our world. These are referred to in Yogācāra as the three natures (trisvabhāva) of experience. They are:[155][141]

  1. Parikalpita (literally, "fully conceptualized"): "imaginary nature", wherein things are incorrectly comprehended based on conceptual and linguistic construction, attachment and the subject object duality. It is thus equivalent to samsara.
  2. Paratantra (literally, "other dependent"): "dependent nature", by which the dependently originated nature of things, their causal relatedness or flow of conditionality. It is the basis which gets erroneously conceptualized,
  3. Pariniṣpanna (literally, "fully accomplished"): "absolute nature", through which one comprehends things as they are in themselves, that is, empty of subject-object and thus is a type of non-dual cognition. This experience of "thatness" (tathatā) is uninfluenced by any conceptualization at all.

To move from the duality of the Parikalpita to the non-dual consciousness of the Pariniṣpanna, Yogācāra teaches that there must be a transformation of consciousness, which is called the "revolution of the basis" (āśraya-parāvṛtti). According to Dan Lusthaus, this transformation which characterizes awakening is a "radical psycho-cognitive change" and a removal of false "interpretive projections" on reality (such as ideas of a self, external objects, etc.).[156]

The Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra, a Yogācāra text, also associates this transformation with the concept of non-abiding nirvana and the non-duality of samsara and nirvana. Regarding this state of Buddhahood, it states:

Its operation is nondual (advaya vrtti) because of its abiding neither in samsara nor in nirvana (samsaranirvana-apratisthitatvat), through its being both conditioned and unconditioned (samskrta-asamskrtatvena).[157]

This refers to the Yogācāra teaching that even though a Buddha has entered nirvana, they do no "abide" in some quiescent state separate from the world but continue to give rise to extensive activity on behalf of others.[157] This is also called the non-duality between the compounded (samskrta, referring to samsaric existence) and the uncompounded (asamskrta, referring to nirvana). It is also described as a "not turning back" from both samsara and nirvana.[158]

For the later thinker Dignaga, non-dual knowledge or advayajñāna is also a synonym for prajñaparamita (transcendent wisdom) which liberates one from samsara.[159]

Tantric Buddhism

Buddhist Tantra, also known as Vajrayana, Mantrayana or Esoteric Buddhism, drew upon all these previous Indian Buddhist ideas and nondual philosophies to develop innovative new traditions of Buddhist practice and new religious texts called the Buddhist tantras (from the 6th century onwards).[160] Tantric Buddhism was influential in China and is the main form of Buddhism in the Himalayan regions, especially Tibetan Buddhism.

 
Saṃvara with Vajravārāhī in Yab-Yum. These tantric Buddhist depictions of sexual union symbolize the non-dual union of compassion and emptiness.

The concept of advaya has various meanings in Buddhist Tantra. According to Tantric commentator Lilavajra, Buddhist Tantra's "utmost secret and aim" is Buddha nature. This is seen as a "non-dual, self-originated Wisdom (jnana), an effortless fount of good qualities."[161] In Buddhist Tantra, there is no strict separation between the sacred (nirvana) and the profane (samsara), and all beings are seen as containing an immanent seed of awakening or Buddhahood.[162] The Buddhist Tantras also teach that there is a non-dual relationship between emptiness and compassion (karuna), this unity is called bodhicitta.[163] They also teach a "nondual pristine wisdom of bliss and emptiness."[164] Advaya is also said to be the co-existence of Prajña (wisdom) and Upaya (skill in means).[165] These nondualities are also related to the idea of yuganaddha, or "union" in the Tantras. This is said to be the "indivisible merging of innate great bliss (the means) and clear light (emptiness)" as well as the merging of relative and ultimate truths and the knower and the known, during Tantric practice.[166]

Buddhist Tantras also promote certain practices which are antinomian, such as sexual rites or the consumption of disgusting or repulsive substances (the "five ambrosias", feces, urine, blood, semen, and marrow.). These are said to allow one to cultivate nondual perception of the pure and impure (and similar conceptual dualities) and thus it allows one to prove one's attainment of nondual gnosis (advaya jñana).[167]

Indian Buddhist Tantra also views humans as a microcosmos which mirrors the macrocosmos.[168] Its aim is to gain access to the awakened energy or consciousness of Buddhahood, which is nondual, through various practices.[168]

East-Asian Buddhism

Chinese

Main article: Buddhism in China
 
A 3D rendering of Indra's net, an illustration of the Huayan concept of interpenetration.

Chinese Buddhism was influenced by the philosophical strains of Indian Buddhist nondualism such as the Madhymaka doctrines of emptiness and the two truths as well as Yogacara and tathagata-garbha. For example, Chinese Madhyamaka philosophers like Jizang, discussed the nonduality of the two truths.[169] Chinese Yogacara also upheld the Indian Yogacara views on nondualism. One influential text in Chinese Buddhism which synthesizes Tathagata-garbha and Yogacara views is the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, which may be a Chinese composition.

In Chinese Buddhism, the polarity of absolute and relative realities is also expressed as "essence-function". This was a result of an ontological interpretation of the two truths as well as influences from native Taoist and Confucian metaphysics.[170] In this theory, the absolute is essence, the relative is function. They can't be seen as separate realities, but interpenetrate each other.[171] This interpretation of the two truths as two ontological realities would go on to influence later forms of East Asian metaphysics.

As Chinese Buddhism continued to develop in new innovative directions, it gave rise to new traditions like Huayen, Tiantai and Chan (Zen), which also upheld their own unique teachings on non-duality.[40]

The Tiantai school for example, taught a threefold truth, instead of the classic "two truths" of Indian Madhyamaka. Its "third truth" was seen as the nondual union of the two truths which transcends both.[172] Tiantai metaphysics is an immanent holism, which sees every phenomenon, moment or event as conditioned and manifested by the whole of reality. Every instant of experience is a reflection of every other, and hence, suffering and nirvana, good and bad, Buddhahood and evildoing, are all "inherently entailed" within each other.[172] Each moment of consciousness is simply the Absolute itself, infinitely immanent and self reflecting.

Another influential Chinese tradition, the Huayan school (Flower Garland) flourished in China during the Tang period. It is based on the Flower Garland Sutra (S. Avataṃsaka Sūtra, C. Huayan Jing). Huayan doctrines such as the Fourfold Dharmadhatu and the doctrine of the mutual containment and interpenetration of all phenomena (dharmas) or "perfect interfusion" (yuanrong, 圓融) are classic nondual doctrines.[40] This can be described as the idea that all phenomena "are representations of the wisdom of Buddha without exception" and that "they exist in a state of mutual dependence, interfusion and balance without any contradiction or conflict."[173] According to this theory, any phenomenon exists only as part of the total nexus of reality, its existence depends on the total network of all other things, which are all equally connected to each other and contained in each other.[173] The Huayan patriarchs used various metaphors to express this view, such as Indra's net.

Zen

Main articles: Zen, Buddha-nature, Kenshō, and Shikan-taza
See also: Bodhicitta, Karuṇā, and Ten Bulls

The Buddha-nature and Yogacara philosophies have had a strong influence on Chán and Zen. The teachings of Zen are expressed by a set of polarities: Buddha-nature – sunyata;[174][175] absolute-relative;[176] sudden and gradual enlightenment.[177]

The Lankavatara-sutra, a popular sutra in Zen, endorses the Buddha-nature and emphasizes purity of mind, which can be attained in gradations. The Diamond-sutra, another popular sutra, emphasizes sunyata, which "must be realized totally or not at all".[178] The Prajnaparamita Sutras emphasize the non-duality of form and emptiness: form is emptiness, emptiness is form, as the Heart Sutra says.[176] According to Chinul, Zen points not to mere emptiness, but to suchness or the dharmadhatu.[179]

The idea that the ultimate reality is present in the daily world of relative reality fitted into the Chinese culture which emphasized the mundane world and society. But this does not explain how the absolute is present in the relative world. This question is answered in such schemata as the Five Ranks of Tozan[180] and the Oxherding Pictures.

The continuous pondering of the break-through kōan (shokan[181]) or Hua Tou, "word head",[182] leads to kensho, an initial insight into "seeing the (Buddha-)nature".[183] According to Hori, a central theme of many koans is the "identity of opposites", and point to the original nonduality.[184][185] Victor Sogen Hori describes kensho, when attained through koan-study, as the absence of subject–object duality.[186] The aim of the so-called break-through koan is to see the "nonduality of subject and object", [184][185] in which "subject and object are no longer separate and distinct."[187]

Zen Buddhist training does not end with kenshō. Practice is to be continued to deepen the insight and to express it in daily life,[188][189][190][191] to fully manifest the nonduality of absolute and relative.[192][193] To deepen the initial insight of kensho, shikantaza and kōan-study are necessary. This trajectory of initial insight followed by a gradual deepening and ripening is expressed by Linji Yixuan in his Three Mysterious Gates, the Four Ways of Knowing of Hakuin,[194] the Five Ranks, and the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures[195] which detail the steps on the Path.

Korean

See also: Korean Buddhism and Essence-Function

The polarity of absolute and relative is also expressed as "essence-function". The absolute is essence, the relative is function. They can't be seen as separate realities, but interpenetrate each other. The distinction does not "exclude any other frameworks such as neng-so or 'subject-object' constructions", though the two "are completely different from each other in terms of their way of thinking".[171] In Korean Buddhism, essence-function is also expressed as "body" and "the body's functions".[196] A metaphor for essence-function is "a lamp and its light", a phrase from the Platform Sutra, where Essence is lamp and Function is light.[197]

Tibetan Buddhism

Main article: Vajrayana

Adyava: Gelugpa school Prasangika Madhyamaka

The Gelugpa school, following Tsongkhapa, adheres to the adyava Prasaṅgika Mādhyamaka view, which states that all phenomena are sunyata, empty of self-nature, and that this "emptiness" is itself only a qualification, not a concretely existing "absolute" reality.[198]

Shentong

Main article: Rangtong-Shentong

In Tibetan Buddhism, the essentialist position is represented by shentong, while the nominalist, or non-essentialist position, is represented by rangtong.

Shentong is a philosophical sub-school found in Tibetan Buddhism. Its adherents generally hold that the nature of mind (svasaṃvedana), the substratum of the mindstream, is "empty" (Wylie: stong) of "other" (Wylie: gzhan), i.e., empty of all qualities other than an inherently existing, ineffable nature. Shentong has often been incorrectly associated with the Cittamātra (Yogacara) position, but is in fact also Madhyamaka,[199] and is present primarily as the main philosophical theory of the Jonang school, although it is also taught by the Sakya[200] and Kagyu schools.[201][202] According to Shentongpa (proponents of shentong), the emptiness of ultimate reality should not be characterized in the same way as the emptiness of apparent phenomena because it is prabhāśvara-saṃtāna, or "luminous mindstream" endowed with limitless Buddha qualities.[203] It is empty of all that is false, not empty of the limitless Buddha qualities that are its innate nature.

The contrasting Prasaṅgika view that all phenomena are sunyata, empty of self-nature, and that this "emptiness" is not a concretely existing "absolute" reality, is labeled rangtong, "empty of self-nature."[198]

The shentong-view is related to the Ratnagotravibhāga sutra and the Yogacara-Madhyamaka synthesis of Śāntarakṣita. The truth of sunyata is acknowledged, but not considered to be the highest truth, which is the empty nature of mind. Insight into sunyata is preparatory for the recognition of the nature of mind.

Dzogchen

Main articles: Dzogchen and Rigpa

Dzogchen is concerned with the "natural state" and emphasizes direct experience. The state of nondual awareness is called rigpa.[citation needed] This primordial nature is clear light, unproduced and unchanging, free from all defilements. Through meditation, the Dzogchen practitioner experiences that thoughts have no substance. Mental phenomena arise and fall in the mind, but fundamentally they are empty. The practitioner then considers where the mind itself resides. Through careful examination one realizes that the mind is emptiness.[204]

Karma Lingpa (1326–1386) revealed "Self-Liberation through seeing with naked awareness" (rigpa ngo-sprod,[note 15]) which is attributed to Padmasambhava.[205][note 16] The text gives an introduction, or pointing-out instruction (ngo-spro), into rigpa, the state of presence and awareness.[205] In this text, Karma Lingpa writes the following regarding the unity of various terms for nonduality:

With respect to its having a name, the various names that are applied to it are inconceivable (in their numbers).
Some call it "the nature of the mind" or "mind itself."
Some Tirthikas call it by the name Atman or "the Self."
The Sravakas call it the doctrine of Anatman or "the absence of a self."
The Chittamatrins call it by the name Chitta or "the Mind."
Some call it the Prajnaparamita or "the Perfection of Wisdom."
Some call it the name Tathagata-garbha or "the embryo of Buddhahood."
Some call it by the name Mahamudra or "the Great Symbol."
Some call it by the name "the Unique Sphere."
Some call it by the name Dharmadhatu or "the dimension of Reality."
Some call it by the name Alaya or "the basis of everything."
And some simply call it by the name "ordinary awareness."[210][note 17]

Hinduism

Vedanta

Main article: Vedanta

Several schools of Vedanta are informed by Samkhya and teach a form of nondualism. The best-known is Advaita Vedanta, but other nondual Vedanta schools also have a significant influence and following, such as Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and Dvaitadvaita,[21] both of which are bhedabheda.

"Advaita" refers to the nonduality of Atman (individual self, awareness, the witness-cosnciousness) and Brahman (the single universal existence), as in Vedanta, Shaktism and Shaivism.[21] Although the term is best known from the Advaita Vedanta school of Adi Shankara, "advaita" is used in treatises by numerous medieval era Indian scholars, as well as modern schools and teachers.[note 18]

The Hindu concept of Advaita refers to the idea that all of the universe is one essential reality, and that all facets and aspects of the universe is ultimately an expression or appearance of that one reality.[21] According to Dasgupta and Mohanta, non-dualism developed in various strands of Indian thought, both Vedic and Buddhist, from the Upanishadic period onward.[211] The oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought may be found in the Chandogya Upanishad, which pre-dates the earliest Buddhism. Pre-sectarian Buddhism may also have been responding to the teachings of the Chandogya Upanishad, rejecting some of its Atman-Brahman related metaphysics.[212][note 19]

Advaita appears in different shades in various schools of Hinduism such as in Advaita Vedanta, Vishishtadvaita Vedanta (Vaishnavism), Suddhadvaita Vedanta (Vaishnavism), non-dual Shaivism and Shaktism.[21][22][23] In the Advaita Vedanta of Adi Shankara, advaita implies that all of reality is one with Brahman,[21] that the Atman (self) and Brahman (ultimate unchanging reality) are one.[215][216] The advaita ideas of some Hindu traditions contrasts with the schools that defend dualism or Dvaita, such as that of Madhvacharya who stated that the experienced reality and God are two (dual) and distinct.[217][218]

Advaita Vedanta

Main article: Advaita Vedanta
 
Swans are important figures in Advaita

The nonduality of the Advaita Vedanta is of the identity of Brahman and the Atman.[219] As in Samkhya, Atman is awareness, the witness-consciousness. Advaita has become a broad current in Indian culture and religions, influencing subsequent traditions like Kashmir Shaivism.

The oldest surviving manuscript on Advaita Vedanta is by Gauḍapāda (6th century CE),[20] who has traditionally been regarded as the teacher of Govinda bhagavatpāda and the grandteacher of Adi Shankara. Advaita is best known from the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Adi Shankara (788-820 CE), who states that Brahman, the single unified eternal truth, is pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss (Sat-cit-ananda).[220]

Advaita, states Murti, is the knowledge of Brahman and self-consciousness (Vijnana) without differences.[127] The goal of Vedanta is to know the "truly real" and thus become one with it.[221] According to Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the highest Reality,[222][223][224] The universe, according to Advaita philosophy, does not simply come from Brahman, it is Brahman. Brahman is the single binding unity behind the diversity in all that exists in the universe.[223] Brahman is also that which is the cause of all changes.[223][225][226] Brahman is the "creative principle which lies realized in the whole world".[227]

The nondualism of Advaita, relies on the Hindu concept of Ātman which is a Sanskrit word that means "essence"[web 8] or "real self" of the individual;[228][229] it is also appropriated as "soul".[228][230] Ātman is the first principle,[231] the true self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena, the essence of an individual. Atman is the Universal Principle, one eternal undifferentiated self-luminous consciousness, asserts Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism.[232][233]

Advaita Vedanta philosophy considers Atman as self-existent awareness, limitless, non-dual and same as Brahman.[234] Advaita school asserts that there is "soul, self" within each living entity which is fully identical with Brahman.[235][236] This identity holds that there is One Aawareness that connects and exists in all living beings, regardless of their shapes or forms, there is no distinction, no superior, no inferior, no separate devotee soul (Atman), no separate God soul (Brahman).[235] The Oneness unifies all beings, there is the divine in every being, and all existence is a single Reality, state the Advaita Vedantins.[237] The nondualism concept of Advaita Vedanta asserts that each soul is non-different from the infinite Brahman.[238]

Three levels of reality

Advaita Vedanta adopts sublation as the criterion to postulate three levels of ontological reality:[239][240]

  • Pāramārthika (paramartha, absolute), the Reality that is metaphysically true and ontologically accurate. It is the state of experiencing that "which is absolutely real and into which both other reality levels can be resolved". This experience can't be sublated (exceeded) by any other experience.[239][240]
  • Vyāvahārika (vyavahara), or samvriti-saya,[241] consisting of the empirical or pragmatic reality. It is ever-changing over time, thus empirically true at a given time and context but not metaphysically true. It is "our world of experience, the phenomenal world that we handle every day when we are awake". It is the level in which both jiva (living creatures or individual souls) and Iswara are true; here, the material world is also true.[240]
  • Prāthibhāsika (pratibhasika, apparent reality, unreality), "reality based on imagination alone". It is the level of experience in which the mind constructs its own reality. A well-known example is the perception of a rope in the dark as being a snake.[240]
Similarities and differences with Buddhism

Scholars state that Advaita Vedanta was influenced by Mahayana Buddhism, given the common terminology and methodology and some common doctrines.[242][243] Eliot Deutsch and Rohit Dalvi state:

In any event a close relationship between the Mahayana schools and Vedanta did exist, with the latter borrowing some of the dialectical techniques, if not the specific doctrines, of the former.[244]

Advaita Vedanta is related to Buddhist philosophy, which promotes ideas like the two truths doctrine and the doctrine that there is only consciousness (vijñapti-mātra). It is possible that the Advaita philosopher Gaudapada was influenced by Buddhist ideas.[20] Shankara harmonised Gaudapada's ideas with the Upanishadic texts, and developed a very influential school of orthodox Hinduism.[245][246]

The Buddhist term vijñapti-mātra is often used interchangeably with the term citta-mātra, but they have different meanings. The standard translation of both terms is "consciousness-only" or "mind-only." Advaita Vedanta has been called "idealistic monism" by scholars, but some disagree with this label.[247][154] Another concept found in both Madhyamaka Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta is Ajativada ("ajāta"), which Gaudapada adopted from Nagarjuna's philosophy.[248][249][note 20] Gaudapada "wove [both doctrines] into a philosophy of the Mandukaya Upanisad, which was further developed by Shankara.[251][note 21]

Michael Comans states there is a fundamental difference between Buddhist thought and that of Gaudapada, in that Buddhism has as its philosophical basis the doctrine of Dependent Origination according to which "everything is without an essential nature (nissvabhava), and everything is empty of essential nature (svabhava-sunya)", while Gaudapada does not rely on this principle at all. Gaudapada's Ajativada is an outcome of reasoning applied to an unchanging nondual reality according to which "there exists a Reality (sat) that is unborn (aja)" that has essential nature (svabhava), and this is the "eternal, fearless, undecaying Self (Atman) and Brahman".[253] Thus, Gaudapada differs from Buddhist scholars such as Nagarjuna, states Comans, by accepting the premises and relying on the fundamental teaching of the Upanishads.[253] Among other things, Vedanta school of Hinduism holds the premise, "Atman exists, as self evident truth", a concept it uses in its theory of nondualism. Buddhism, in contrast, holds the premise, "Atman does not exist (or, An-atman) as self evident".[254][255][256]

Mahadevan suggests that Gaudapada adopted Buddhist terminology and adapted its doctrines to his Vedantic goals, much like early Buddhism adopted Upanishadic terminology and adapted its doctrines to Buddhist goals; both used pre-existing concepts and ideas to convey new meanings.[257] Dasgupta and Mohanta note that Buddhism and Shankara's Advaita Vedanta are not opposing systems, but "different phases of development of the same non-dualistic metaphysics from the Upanishadic period to the time of Sankara."[211]

Vishishtadvaita Vedanta

 
Ramanuja, founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, taught 'qualified nondualism' doctrine.
See also: Bhedabheda

Vishishtadvaita Vedanta is another main school of Vedanta and teaches the nonduality of the qualified whole, in which Brahman alone exists, but is characterized by multiplicity. It can be described as "qualified monism," or "qualified non-dualism," or "attributive monism."

According to this school, the world is real, yet underlying all the differences is an all-embracing unity, of which all "things" are an "attribute." Ramanuja, the main proponent of Vishishtadvaita philosophy contends that the Prasthana Traya ("The three courses") – namely the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras – are to be interpreted in a way that shows this unity in diversity, for any other way would violate their consistency.

Vedanta Desika defines Vishishtadvaita using the statement: Asesha Chit-Achit Prakaaram Brahmaikameva Tatvam – "Brahman, as qualified by the sentient and insentient modes (or attributes), is the only reality."

Neo-Vedanta

Main articles: Neo-Vedanta, Swami Vivekananda, and Ramakrishna Mission

Neo-Vedanta, also called "neo-Hinduism"[258] is a modern interpretation of Hinduism which developed in response to western colonialism and orientalism, and aims to present Hinduism as a "homogenized ideal of Hinduism"[259] with Advaita Vedanta as its central doctrine.[260]

Neo-Vedanta, as represented by Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan, is indebted to Advaita vedanta, but also reflects Advaya-philosophy. A main influence on neo-Advaita was Ramakrishna, himself a bhakta and tantrika, and the guru of Vivekananda. According to Michael Taft, Ramakrishna reconciled the dualism of formlessness and form.[261] Ramakrishna regarded the Supreme Being to be both Personal and Impersonal, active and inactive:

When I think of the Supreme Being as inactive – neither creating nor preserving nor destroying – I call Him Brahman or Purusha, the Impersonal God. When I think of Him as active – creating, preserving and destroying – I call Him Sakti or Maya or Prakriti, the Personal God. But the distinction between them does not mean a difference. The Personal and Impersonal are the same thing, like milk and its whiteness, the diamond and its lustre, the snake and its wriggling motion. It is impossible to conceive of the one without the other. The Divine Mother and Brahman are one.[262]

Radhakrishnan acknowledged the reality and diversity of the world of experience, which he saw as grounded in and supported by the absolute or Brahman.[web 9][note 22] According to Anil Sooklal, Vivekananda's neo-Advaita "reconciles Dvaita or dualism and Advaita or non-dualism":[264]

The Neo-Vedanta is also Advaitic inasmuch as it holds that Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, is one without a second, ekamevadvitiyam. But as distinguished from the traditional Advaita of Sankara, it is a synthetic Vedanta which reconciles Dvaita or dualism and Advaita or non-dualism and also other theories of reality. In this sense it may also be called concrete monism in so far as it holds that Brahman is both qualified, saguna, and qualityless, nirguna.[264]

Radhakrishnan also reinterpreted Shankara's notion of maya. According to Radhakrishnan, maya is not a strict absolute idealism, but "a subjective misperception of the world as ultimately real."[web 9] According to Sarma, standing in the tradition of Nisargadatta Maharaj, Advaitavāda means "spiritual non-dualism or absolutism",[265] in which opposites are manifestations of the Absolute, which itself is immanent and transcendent:[266]

All opposites like being and non-being, life and death, good and evil, light and darkness, gods and men, soul and nature are viewed as manifestations of the Absolute which is immanent in the universe and yet transcends it.[266]

Kashmir Shaivism

Main articles: Shaivism and Kashmir Shaivism

Advaita is also a central concept in various schools of Shaivism, such as Kashmir Shaivism[21] and Shiva Advaita which is generally known as Veerashaivism.

Kashmir Shaivism is a school of Śaivism, described by Abhinavagupta[note 23] as "paradvaita", meaning "the supreme and absolute non-dualism".[web 10] It is categorized by various scholars as monistic[267] idealism (absolute idealism, theistic monism,[268] realistic idealism,[269] transcendental physicalism or concrete monism[269]).

Kashmir Saivism is based on a strong monistic interpretation of the Bhairava Tantras and its subcategory the Kaula Tantras, which were tantras written by the Kapalikas.[270] There was additionally a revelation of the Siva Sutras to Vasugupta.[270] Kashmir Saivism claimed to supersede the dualistic Shaiva Siddhanta.[271] Somananda, the first theologian of monistic Saivism, was the teacher of Utpaladeva, who was the grand-teacher of Abhinavagupta, who in turn was the teacher of Ksemaraja.[270][272]

The philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism can be seen in contrast to Shankara's Advaita.[273] Advaita Vedanta holds that Brahman is inactive (niṣkriya) and the phenomenal world is a false appearance (māyā) of Brahman, like snake seen in semi-darkness is a false appearance of Rope lying there. In Kashmir Shavisim, all things are a manifestation of the Universal Consciousness, Chit or Brahman.[274][275] Kashmir Shavisim sees the phenomenal world (Śakti) as real: it exists, and has its being in Consciousness (Chit).[276]

Kashmir Shaivism was influenced by, and took over doctrines from, several orthodox and heterodox Indian religious and philosophical traditions.[277] These include Vedanta, Samkhya, Patanjali Yoga and Nyayas, and various Buddhist schools, including Yogacara and Madhyamika,[277] but also Tantra and the Nath-tradition.[278]

Contemporary Indian traditions

Primal awareness is also part of other Indian traditions, which are less strongly, or not all, organised in monastic and institutional organisations. Although often called "Advaita Vedanta," these traditions have their origins in vernacular movements and "householder" traditions, and have close ties to the Nath, Nayanars and Sant Mat traditions.

Natha Sampradaya and Inchegeri Sampradaya

Main articles: Nath, Sahaja, and Inchegeri Sampradaya

The Natha Sampradaya, with Nath yogis such as Gorakhnath, introduced Sahaja, the concept of a spontaneous spirituality. Sahaja means "spontaneous, natural, simple, or easy".[web 11] According to Ken Wilber, this state reflects nonduality.[279]

The Nath-tradition has been influential in the west through the Inchagiri Sampradaya, a lineage of Hindu Navnath and Lingayat teachers from Maharashtra which is well known due to the popularity of Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Ramana Maharshi

 
Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) explained his insight using Shaiva Siddhanta, Advaita Vedanta and Yoga teachings.
Main article: Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi (30 December 1879 – 14 April 1950) is widely acknowledged as one of the outstanding Indian gurus of modern times.[280] Ramana's teachings are often interpreted as Advaita Vedanta, though Ramana Maharshi never "received diksha (initiation) from any recognised authority".[web 12] Ramana himself did not call his insights advaita:

D. Does Sri Bhagavan advocate advaita?
M. Dvaita and advaita are relative terms. They are based on the sense of duality. The Self is as it is. There is neither dvaita nor advaita. "I Am that I Am."[note 24] Simple Being is the Self.[282]

Neo-Advaita

Main article: Neo-Advaita

Neo-Advaita is a New Religious Movement based on a modern, western interpretation of Advaita Vedanta, especially the teachings of Ramana Maharshi.[283] According to Arthur Versluis, neo-Advaita is part of a larger religious current which he calls immediatism,[284][web 15] "the assertion of immediate spiritual illumination without much if any preparatory practice within a particular religious tradition."[web 15] Neo-Advaita is criticized for this immediatism and its lack of preparatory practices.[285][note 25][286][note 26] Although this state of consciousness may seem to appear spontaneous,[note 27] it usually follows prolonged preparation through ascetic or meditative/contemplative practice, which may include ethical injunctions. Notable neo-advaita teachers are H. W. L. Poonja[287][283] and his students Gangaji,[288] Andrew Cohen,[note 28], and Eckhart Tolle.[283]

According to a modern western spiritual teacher of nonduality, Jeff Foster, nonduality is:

the essential oneness (wholeness, completeness, unity) of life, a wholeness which exists here and now, prior to any apparent separation [...] despite the compelling appearance of separation and diversity there is only one universal essence, one reality. Oneness is all there is – and we are included.[290]

Other eastern religions

Sikhism

Many newer, contemporary Sikhs have suggested that human souls and the monotheistic God are two different realities (dualism),[291] distinguishing it from the monistic and various shades of nondualistic philosophies of other Indian religions.[292] However, Sikh scholars have attempted to explore nondualism exegesis of Sikh scriptures, such as during the neocolonial reformist movement by Bhai Vir Singh. According to Mandair, Singh interprets the Sikh scriptures as teaching nonduality.[293] The Sikh Scholar, Bhai Mani Singh, is quoted to saying that Sikhism has all the essence of Vedanta Philosophy. Historically, the Sikh symbol of Ik Oankaar has had a monistic meaning, and has been reduced to simply meaning, "There is but One God", which is incorrect.[294] Oler exegesis of Sikh scripture, such as the Faridkot Teeka, has always described SIkh Metaphysics as a non-dual, panentheistic universe.

Others maintain that Sikh theology suggests human souls and the monotheistic God are the same reality (non-dualism). Sikh scholars have even been exploring nondualism exegesis of Sikh scriptures, such as during the neocolonial reformist movement by Bhai Vir Singh. According to Arvind Mandair, Singh interprets the Sikh scriptures as teaching nonduality.[293]

Taoism

Main article: Taoism

Taoism's wu wei (Chinese wu, not; wei, doing) is a term with various translations[note 29] and interpretations designed to distinguish it from passivity. The concept of Yin and Yang, often mistakenly conceived of as a symbol of dualism, is actually meant to convey the notion that all apparent opposites are complementary parts of a non-dual whole.[295]

Western traditions

See also: Spirituality, New Age, Syncretism, Neo-Advaita, Western esotericism, Perennialism, and Syncretism

A modern strand of thought sees "nondual consciousness" as a universal psychological state, which is a common stratum and of the same essence in different spiritual traditions.[8] It is derived from Neo-Vedanta and neo-Advaita, but has historical roots in neo-Platonism, Western esotericism, and Perennialism. The idea of nondual consciousness as "the central essence"[296] is a universalistic and perennialist idea, which is part of a modern mutual exchange and synthesis of ideas between western spiritual and esoteric traditions and Asian religious revival and reform movements.[note 30]

Central elements in the western traditions are Neo-Platonism, which had a strong influence on Christian contemplation or mysticism, and its accompanying apophatic theology; and Western esotericism, which also incorporated Neo-Platonism and Gnostic elements including Hermeticism. Western traditions are, among others, the idea of a Perennial Philosophy, Swedenborgianism, Unitarianism, Orientalism, Transcendentalism, Theosophy, and New Age.[299]

Eastern movements are the Hindu reform movements such as Vivekananda's Neo-Vedanta and Aurobindo's Integral Yoga, the Vipassana movement, and Buddhist modernism.[note 31]

Roman world

Gnosticism

Main article: Gnosticism

Since its beginning, Gnosticism has been characterized by many dualisms and dualities, including the doctrine of a separate God and Manichaean (good/evil) dualism.[300] Ronald Miller interprets the Gospel of Thomas as a teaching of "nondualistic consciousness".[301]

Neoplatonism

Main articles: Neoplatonism and Henosis

The precepts of Neoplatonism of Plotinus (2nd century) assert nondualism.[302] Neoplatonism had a strong influence on Christian mysticism.

Some scholars suggest a possible link of more ancient Indian philosophies on Neoplatonism, while other scholars consider these claims as unjustified and extravagant with the counter hypothesis that nondualism developed independently in ancient India and Greece.[303] The nondualism of Advaita Vedanta and Neoplatonism have been compared by various scholars,[304] such as J. F. Staal,[305] Frederick Copleston,[306] Aldo Magris and Mario Piantelli,[307] Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,[308] Gwen Griffith-Dickson,[309] John Y. Fenton[310] and Dale Riepe.[311]

Medieval Abrahamic religions

Christian contemplation and mysticism

Main articles: Christian contemplation, Christian Mysticism, and Apophatic theology
 
The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, St John the Baptist, St Antony Abbot

In Christian mysticism, contemplative prayer and Apophatic theology are central elements. In contemplative prayer, the mind is focused by constant repetition a phrase or word. Saint John Cassian recommended use of the phrase "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me".[312][313] Another formula for repetition is the name of Jesus[314][315] or the Jesus Prayer, which has been called "the mantra of the Orthodox Church",[313] although the term "Jesus Prayer" is not found in the Fathers of the Church.[316] The author of The Cloud of Unknowing recommended use of a monosyllabic word, such as "God" or "Love".[317]

Apophatic theology is derived from Neo-Platonism via Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. In this approach, the notion of God is stripped from all positive qualifications, leaving a "darkness" or "unground", it had a strong influence on western mysticism. A notable example is Meister Eckhart, who also attracted attention from Zen-Buddhists like D.T. Suzuki in modern times, due to the similarities between Buddhist thought and Neo-Platonism.

The Cloud of Unknowing – an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century – advocates a mystic relationship with God. The text describes a spiritual union with God through the heart. The author of the text advocates centering prayer, a form of inner silence. According to the text, God can not be known through knowledge or from intellection. It is only by emptying the mind of all created images and thoughts that we can arrive to experience God. Continuing on this line of thought, God is completely unknowable by the mind. God is not known through the intellect but through intense contemplation, motivated by love, and stripped of all thought.[318]

Thomism, though not non-dual in the ordinary sense, considers the unity of God so absolute that even the duality of subject and predicate, to describe him, can be true only by analogy. In Thomist thought, even the Tetragrammaton is only an approximate name, since "I am" involves a predicate whose own essence is its subject.[319]

The former nun and contemplative Bernadette Roberts is considered a nondualist by Jerry Katz.[8]

Jewish Hasidism and Kabbalism

Main articles: Judaism, Hasidism, and Kabbalah

According to Jay Michaelson, nonduality begins to appear in the medieval Jewish textual tradition which peaked in Hasidism:[302]

Judaism has within it a strong and very ancient mystical tradition that is deeply nondualistic. "Ein Sof" or infinite nothingness is considered the ground face of all that is. God is considered beyond all proposition or preconception. The physical world is seen as emanating from the nothingness as the many faces "partsufim" of god that are all a part of the sacred nothingness.[320]

One of the most striking contributions of the Kabbalah, which became a central idea in Chasidic thought, was a highly innovative reading of the monotheistic idea. The belief in "one G-d" is no longer perceived as the mere rejection of other deities or intermediaries, but a denial of any existence outside of G-d.[note 32]

Neoplatonism in Islam

Main article: Platonism in Islamic Philosophy

Western esotericism

Main article: Western esotericism

Western esotericism (also called esotericism and esoterism) is a scholarly term for a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements which have developed within Western society. They are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian religion and from Enlightenment rationalism. The earliest traditions which later analysis would label as forms of Western esotericism emerged in the Eastern Mediterranean during Late Antiquity, where Hermetism, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism developed as schools of thought distinct from what became mainstream Christianity. In Renaissance Europe, interest in many of these older ideas increased, with various intellectuals seeking to combine "pagan" philosophies with the Kabbalah and with Christian philosophy, resulting in the emergence of esoteric movements like Christian theosophy.

Perennial philosophy

Main article: Perennial philosophy

The Perennial philosophy has its roots in the Renaissance interest in neo-Platonism and its idea of The One, from which all existence emanates. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) sought to integrate Hermeticism with Greek and Jewish-Christian thought,[321] discerning a Prisca theologia which could be found in all ages.[322] Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94) suggested that truth could be found in many, rather than just two, traditions. He proposed a harmony between the thought of Plato and Aristotle, and saw aspects of the Prisca theologia in Averroes, the Koran, the Cabala and other sources.[323] Agostino Steuco (1497–1548) coined the term philosophia perennis.[324]

Orientalism

Main article: Orientalism

The western world has been exposed to Indian religions since the late 18th century.[325] The first western translation of a Sanskrit text was made in 1785.[325] It marked a growing interest in Indian culture and languages.[326] The first translation of the dualism and nondualism discussing Upanishads appeared in two parts in 1801 and 1802[327] and influenced Arthur Schopenhauer, who called them "the consolation of my life".[328] Early translations also appeared in other European languages.[329]

Transcendentalism and Unitarian Universalism

Main article: Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism was an early 19th-century liberal Protestant movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the Eastern region of the United States. It was rooted in English and German Romanticism, the Biblical criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher, and the skepticism of Hume.[web 19]

The Transcendentalists emphasised an intuitive, experiential approach of religion.[web 20] Following Schleiermacher,[330] an individual's intuition of truth was taken as the criterion for truth.[web 20] In the late 18th and early 19th century, the first translations of Hindu texts appeared, which were read by the Transcendentalists and influenced their thinking.[web 20] The Transcendentalists also endorsed universalist and Unitarianist ideas, leading to Unitarian Universalism, the idea that there must be truth in other religions as well, since a loving God would redeem all living beings, not just Christians.[web 20][web 21]

Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both people and nature. Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual. They had faith that people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed.

The major figures in the movement were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Margaret Fuller and Amos Bronson Alcott.

Neo-Vedanta

Unitarian Universalism had a strong impact on Ram Mohan Roy and the Brahmo Samaj, and subsequently on Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda was one of the main representatives of Neo-Vedanta, a modern interpretation of Hinduism in line with western esoteric traditions, especially Transcendentalism, New Thought and Theosophy.[331] His reinterpretation was, and is, very successful, creating a new understanding and appreciation of Hinduism within and outside India,[331] and was the principal reason for the enthusiastic reception of yoga, transcendental meditation and other forms of Indian spiritual self-improvement in the West.[332]

Narendranath Datta (Swami Vivekananda) became a member of a Freemasonry lodge "at some point before 1884"[333] and of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in his twenties, a breakaway faction of the Brahmo Samaj led by Keshab Chandra Sen and Debendranath Tagore.[334] Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833), the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, had a strong sympathy for the Unitarians,[335] who were closely connected to the Transcendentalists, who in turn were interested in and influenced by Indian religions early on.[336] It was in this cultic[337] milieu that Narendra became acquainted with Western esotericism.[338] Debendranath Tagore brought this "neo-Hinduism" closer in line with western esotericism, a development which was furthered by Keshubchandra Sen,[339] who was also influenced by transcendentalism, which emphasised personal religious experience over mere reasoning and theology.[340] Sen's influence brought Vivekananda fully into contact with western esotericism, and it was also via Sen that he met Ramakrishna.[341]

Vivekananda's acquaintance with western esotericism made him very successful in western esoteric circles, beginning with his speech in 1893 at the Parliament of Religions. Vivekananda adapted traditional Hindu ideas and religiosity to suit the needs and understandings of his western audiences, who were especially attracted by and familiar with western esoteric traditions and movements like Transcendentalism and New thought.[342]

In 1897 he founded the Ramakrishna Mission, which was instrumental in the spread of Neo-Vedanta in the west, and attracted people like Alan Watts. Aldous Huxley, author of The Perennial Philosophy, was associated with another neo-Vedanta organisation, the Vedanta Society of Southern California, founded and headed by Swami Prabhavananda. Together with Gerald Heard, Christopher Isherwood, and other followers he was initiated by the Swami and was taught meditation and spiritual practices.[343]

Neo-Vedanta was well-received among Theosophists, Christian Science, and the New Thought movement;[344][345] Christian Science in turn influenced the self-study teaching A Course in Miracles.[346]

Theosophical Society

Main article: Theosophical Society

A major force in the mutual influence of eastern and western ideas and religiosity was the Theosophical Society.[347][348] It searched for ancient wisdom in the east, spreading eastern religious ideas in the west.[349] One of its salient features was the belief in "Masters of Wisdom",[350][note 33] "beings, human or once human, who have transcended the normal frontiers of knowledge, and who make their wisdom available to others".[350] The Theosophical Society also spread western ideas in the east, aiding a modernisation of eastern traditions, and contributing to a growing nationalism in the Asian colonies.[297][note 34]

New Age

Main article: New Age

The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational psychology, holistic health, parapsychology, consciousness research and quantum physics".[355] The New Age aims to create "a spirituality without borders or confining dogmas" that is inclusive and pluralistic.[356] It holds to "a holistic worldview",[357] emphasising that the Mind, Body and Spirit are interrelated[358] and that there is a form of monism and unity throughout the universe.[web 22] It attempts to create "a worldview that includes both science and spirituality"[359] and embraces a number of forms of mainstream science as well as other forms of science that are considered fringe.[citation needed]

Scholarly debates

Nondual consciousness and mystical experience

Main articles: Religious experience, Mystical experience, Altered states of consciousness, and Ego-death

Insight (prajna, kensho, satori, gnosis, theoria, illumination), especially enlightenment or the realization of the illusory nature of the autonomous "I" or self, is a key element in modern western nondual thought. It is the personal realization that ultimate reality is nondual, and is thought to be a validating means of knowledge of this nondual reality. This insight is interpreted as a psychological state, and labeled as religious or mystical experience.

Development

According to Hori, the notion of "religious experience" can be traced back to William James, who used the term "religious experience" in his book, The Varieties of Religious Experience.[360] The origins of the use of this term can be dated further back.[361]

In the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, several historical figures put forth very influential views that religion and its beliefs can be grounded in experience itself. While Kant held that moral experience justified religious beliefs, John Wesley in addition to stressing individual moral exertion thought that the religious experiences in the Methodist movement (paralleling the Romantic Movement) were foundational to religious commitment as a way of life.[362]

Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of "religious experience" to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), who argued that religion is based on a feeling of the infinite. The notion of "religious experience" was used by Schleiermacher and Albert Ritschl to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique, and defend the view that human (moral and religious) experience justifies religious beliefs.[361]

Such religious empiricism would be later seen as highly problematic and was – during the period in-between world wars – famously rejected by Karl Barth.[363] In the 20th century, religious as well as moral experience as justification for religious beliefs still holds sway. Some influential modern scholars holding this liberal theological view are Charles Raven and the Oxford physicist/theologian Charles Coulson.[364]

The notion of "religious experience" was adopted by many scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential.[365][note 35]

Criticism

The notion of "experience" has been criticised.[369][370][371] Robert Sharf points out that "experience" is a typical Western term, which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western influences.[369][note 36]

Insight is not the "experience" of some transcendental reality, but is a cognitive event, the (intuitive) understanding or "grasping" of some specific understanding of reality, as in kensho[373] or anubhava.[374]

"Pure experience" does not exist; all experience is mediated by intellectual and cognitive activity.[375][376] A pure consciousness without concepts, reached by "cleaning the doors of perception",[note 37] would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence.[377]

Nondual consciousness as common essence

Common essence

A main modern proponent of perennialism was Aldous Huxley, who was influenced by Vivekananda's Neo-Vedanta and Universalism.[343] This popular approach finds supports in the "common-core thesis". According to the "common-core thesis",[378] different descriptions can mask quite similar if not identical experiences:[379]

According to Elias Amidon there is an "indescribable, but definitely recognizable, reality that is the ground of all being."[380] According to Renard, these are based on an experience or intuition of "the Real".[381] According to Amidon, this reality is signified by "many names" from "spiritual traditions throughout the world":[380]

[N]ondual awareness, pure awareness, open awareness, presence-awareness, unconditioned mind, rigpa, primordial experience, This, the basic state, the sublime, buddhanature, original nature, spontaneous presence, the oneness of being, the ground of being, the Real, clarity, God-consciousness, divine light, the clear light, illumination, realization and enlightenment.[380]

According to Renard, nondualism as common essence prefers the term "nondualism", instead of monism, because this understanding is "nonconceptual", "not graspapable in an idea".[381][note 38] Even to call this "ground of reality", "One", or "Oneness" is attributing a characteristic to that ground of reality. The only thing that can be said is that it is "not two" or "non-dual":[web 24][382] According to Renard, Alan Watts has been one of the main contributors to the popularisation of the non-monistic understanding of "nondualism".[381][note 39]

Criticism

The "common-core thesis" is criticised by "diversity theorists" such as S.T Katz and W. Proudfoot.[379] They argue that

[N]o unmediated experience is possible, and that in the extreme, language is not simply used to interpret experience but in fact constitutes experience.[379]

The idea of a common essence has been questioned by Yandell, who discerns various "religious experiences" and their corresponding doctrinal settings, which differ in structure and phenomenological content, and in the "evidential value" they present.[384] Yandell discerns five sorts:[385]

  1. Numinous experiences – Monotheism (Jewish, Christian, Vedantic)[386]
  2. Nirvanic experiences – Buddhism,[387] "according to which one sees that the self is but a bundle of fleeting states"[388]
  3. Kevala experiences[389] – Jainism,[390] "according to which one sees the self as an indestructible subject of experience"[390]
  4. Moksha experiences[391] – Hinduism,[390] Brahman "either as a cosmic person, or, quite differently, as qualityless"[390]
  5. Nature mystical experience[389]

The specific teachings and practices of a specific tradition may determine what "experience" someone has, which means that this "experience" is not the proof of the teaching, but a result of the teaching.[392] The notion of what exactly constitutes "liberating insight" varies between the various traditions, and even within the traditions. Bronkhorst for example notices that the conception of what exactly "liberating insight" is in Buddhism was developed over time. Whereas originally it may not have been specified, later on the Four Truths served as such, to be superseded by pratityasamutpada, and still later, in the Hinayana schools, by the doctrine of the non-existence of a substantial self or person.[393] And Schmithausen notices that still other descriptions of this "liberating insight" exist in the Buddhist canon.[394]

Phenomenology

Nondual awareness, also called pure consciousness or awareness,[13] contentless consciousness,[12] consciousness-as-such,[4] and Minimal Phenomenal Experience,[13] is a topic of phenomenological research. As described in Samkhya-Yoga and other systems of meditation, and referred to as, for example, Turya and Atman,[11][12] pure awareness manifests in advanced states of meditation.[11][13] Pure consciousness is distinguished from the workings of the mind, and "consists in nothing but the being seen of what is seen."[11] Gamma & Metzinger (2021) present twelve factors in their phenomenological analysis of pure awareness experienced by meditators, including luminosity; emptiness and non-egoic self-awareness; and witness-consciousness.[13]

See also

Various

Metaphors for nondualisms

Notes

  1. ^ a b See Nonduality.com, FAQ and Nonduality.com, What is Nonduality, Nondualism, or Advaita? Over 100 definitions, descriptions, and discussions.
  2. ^ grasping mind
  3. ^ One of the earliest uses of the word Advaita is found in verse 4.3.32 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (~800 BCE), and in verses 7 and 12 of the Mandukya Upanishad (variously dated to have been composed between 500 BCE to 200 BCE).[26] The term appears in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.3.32, in the section with a discourse of the oneness of Atman (individual soul) and Brahman (universal consciousness), as follows:[27] "An ocean is that one seer, without any duality [Advaita]; this is the Brahma-world, O King. Thus did Yajnavalkya teach him. This is his highest goal, this is his highest success, this is his highest world, this is his highest bliss. All other creatures live on a small portion of that bliss.[28][29][30]
  4. ^ According to Loy, nondualism is primarily an Eastern way of understanding: "...[the seed of nonduality] however often sown, has never found fertile soil [in the West], because it has been too antithetical to those other vigorous sprouts that have grown into modern science and technology. In the Eastern tradition [...] we encounter a different situation. There the seeds of seer-seen nonduality not only sprouted but matured into a variety (some might say a jungle) of impressive philosophical species. By no means do all these [Eastern] systems assert the nonduality of subject and object, but it is significant that three which do – Buddhism, Vedanta and Taoism – have probably been the most influential.[35] According to Loy, referred by Pritscher:

    ...when you realize that the nature of your mind and the [U]niverse are nondual, you are enlightened.[36]
  5. ^ grasping mind
  6. ^ According to Alexander Wynne, Schayer "referred to passages in which "consciousness" (vinnana) seems to be the ultimate reality or substratum (e.g. A I.10) 14 as well as the Saddhatu Sutra, which is not found in any canonical source but is cited in other Buddhist texts — it states that the personality (pudgala) consists of the six elements (dhatu) of earth, water, fire, wind, space and consciousness; Schayer noted that it related to other ancient Indian ideas. Keith's argument is also based on the Saddhatu Sutra as well as "passages where we have explanations of Nirvana which echo the ideas of the Upanishads regarding the ultimate reality." He also refers to the doctrine of "a consciousness, originally pure, defiled by adventitious impurities."[100]
  7. ^ Lindtner: "... a place one can actually go to. It is called nirvanadhatu, has no border-signs (animitta), is localized somewhere beyond the other six dhatus (beginning with earth and ending with vijñana) but is closest to akasa and vijñana. One cannot visualize it, it is anidarsana, but it provides one with firm ground under one's feet, it is dhruva; once there one will not slip back, it is acyutapada. As opposed to this world, it is a pleasant place to be in, it is sukha, things work well.[94] Cited in Wynne (2007, p. 99).
  8. ^ See Digha Nikaya 15, Mahanidana Sutta, which describes a nine-fold chain of causation. Mind-and-body (nama-rupa) and consciousness (vijnana) do condition here each other (verse 2 & 3). In verse 21 and 22, it is stated that consciousness comes into the mother's womb, and finds a resting place in mind-and-body. [105]
  9. ^ According to Peter Harvey, the Theravada-tradition tends to minimize mystical tendencies, but there is also a tendency to stress the complete otherness of nirvana from samsara. The Pāli Canon provides good grounds for this minimalistic approach, bit it also contains material suggestive of a Vijnavada-type interpretation of nirvāṇa, namely as a radical transformation of consciousness.[107]
  10. ^ Walpola Rahula: "Nirvāṇa is beyond all terms of duality and relativity. It is therefore beyond our conceptions of good and evil, right and wrong, existence and non-existence. Even the word 'happiness' (sukha) which is used to describe Nirvāṇa has an entirely different sense here. Sāriputta once said: 'O friend, Nirvāṇa is happiness! Nirvāṇa is happiness!' Then Udāyi asked: 'But, friend Sāriputta, what happiness can it be if there is no sensation?' Sāriputta's reply was highly philosophical and beyond ordinary comprehension: "That there is no sensation itself is happiness'."[108]
  11. ^ See also essence and function and Absolute-relative on Chinese Chán
  12. ^ Nagarjuna, Mūlamadhyamakakārika 24:8-10. Jay L. Garfield, Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way[133]
  13. ^ See, for an influential example, Tsongkhapa, who states that "things" do exist conventionally, but ultimately everything is dependently arisen, and therefore void of inherent existence.[web 4]
  14. ^ "Representation-only"[146] or "mere representation."[web 6] Oxford reference: "Some later forms of Yogācāra lend themselves to an idealistic interpretation of this theory but such a view is absent from the works of the early Yogācārins such as Asaṇga and Vasubandhu."[web 6]
  15. ^ Full: rigpa ngo-sprod gcer-mthong rang-grol[205]
  16. ^ This text is part of a collection of teachings entitled "Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation through the Intention of the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones"[206] (zab-chos zhi khro dgongs pa rang grol, also known as kar-gling zhi-khro[207]), which includes the two texts of bar-do thos-grol, the so-called "Tibetan Book of the Dead".[208] The bar-do thos-grol was translated by Kazi Dawa Samdup (1868–1922), and edited and published by W.Y. Evans-Wenz. This translation became widely known and popular as "the Tibetan Book of the Dead", but contains many mistakes in translation and interpretation.[208][209]
  17. ^ See also Self Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness
  18. ^ This is reflected in the name "Advaita Vision," the website of advaita.org.uk, which propagates a broad and inclusive understanding of advaita.[web 7]
  19. ^ Edward Roer translates the early medieval era Brihadaranyakopnisad-bhasya as, "(...) Lokayatikas and Bauddhas who assert that the soul does not exist. There are four sects among the followers of Buddha: 1. Madhyamicas who maintain all is void; 2. Yogacharas, who assert except sensation and intelligence all else is void; 3. Sautranticas, who affirm actual existence of external objects no less than of internal sensations; 4. Vaibhashikas, who agree with later (Sautranticas) except that they contend for immediate apprehension of exterior objects through images or forms represented to the intellect."[213][214]
  20. ^ "A" means "not", or "non"; "jāti" means "creation" or "origination";[250] "vāda" means "doctrine"[250]
  21. ^ The influence of Mahayana Buddhism on other religions and philosophies was not limited to Advaita Vedanta. Kalupahana notes that the Visuddhimagga contains "some metaphysical speculations, such as those of the Sarvastivadins, the Sautrantikas, and even the Yogacarins".[252]
  22. ^ Neo-Vedanta seems to be closer to Bhedabheda-Vedanta than to Shankara's Advaita Vedanta, with the acknowledgement of the reality of the world. Nicholas F. Gier: "Ramakrsna, Svami Vivekananda, and Aurobindo (I also include M.K. Gandhi) have been labeled "neo-Vedantists," a philosophy that rejects the Advaitins' claim that the world is illusory. Aurobindo, in his The Life Divine, declares that he has moved from Sankara's "universal illusionism" to his own "universal realism" (2005: 432), defined as metaphysical realism in the European philosophical sense of the term."[263]
  23. ^ Abhinavgupta (between 10th – 11th century AD) who summarized the view points of all previous thinkers and presented the philosophy in a logical way along with his own thoughts in his treatise Tantraloka.[web 10]
  24. ^ A Christian reference. See [web 13] and [web 14] Ramana was taught at Christian schools.[281]
  25. ^ Marek: "Wobei der Begriff Neo-Advaita darauf hinweist, dass sich die traditionelle Advaita von dieser Strömung zunehmend distanziert, da sie die Bedeutung der übenden Vorbereitung nach wie vor als unumgänglich ansieht. (The term Neo-Advaita indicating that the traditional Advaita increasingly distances itself from this movement, as they regard preparational practicing still as inevitable)[285]
  26. ^ Alan Jacobs: "Many firm devotees of Sri Ramana Maharshi now rightly term this western phenomenon as 'Neo-Advaita'. The term is carefully selected because 'neo' means 'a new or revived form'. And this new form is not the Classical Advaita which we understand to have been taught by both of the Great Self Realised Sages, Adi Shankara and Ramana Maharshi. It can even be termed 'pseudo' because, by presenting the teaching in a highly attenuated form, it might be described as purporting to be Advaita, but not in effect actually being so, in the fullest sense of the word. In this watering down of the essential truths in a palatable style made acceptable and attractive to the contemporary western mind, their teaching is misleading."[286]
  27. ^ See Cosmic Consciousness, by Richard Bucke
  28. ^ Presently Cohen has distanced himself from Poonja, and calls his teachings "Evolutionary Enlightenment".[289] What Is Enlightenment, the magazine published by Choen's organisation, has been critical of neo-Advaita several times, as early as 2001. See.[web 16][web 17][web 18]
  29. ^ Inaction, non-action, nothing doing, without ado
  30. ^ See McMahan, "The making of Buddhist modernity"[297] and Richard E. King, "Orientalism and Religion"[298] for descriptions of this mutual exchange.
  31. ^ The awareness of historical precedents seems to be lacking in nonduality-adherents, just as the subjective perception of parallels between a wide variety of religious traditions lacks a rigorous philosophical or theoretical underpinning.
  32. ^ As Rabbi Moshe Cordovero explains: "Before anything was emanated, there was only the Infinite One (Ein Sof), which was all that existed. And even after He brought into being everything which exists, there is nothing but Him, and you cannot find anything that existed apart from Him, G-d forbid. For nothing existed devoid of G-d's power, for if there were, He would be limited and subject to duality, G-d forbid. Rather, G-d is everything that exists, but everything that exists is not G-d... Nothing is devoid of His G-dliness: everything is within it... There is nothing but it" (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Elimah Rabasi, p. 24d-25a; for sources in early Chasidism see: Rabbi Ya'akov Yosef of Polonne, Ben Poras Yosef (Piotrków 1884), pp. 140, 168; Keser Shem Tov (Brooklyn: Kehos 2004) pp. 237-8; Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, Pri Ha-Aretz, (Kopust 1884), p. 21.). See The Practical Tanya, Part One, The Book for Inbetweeners, Schneur Zalman of Liadi, adapted by Chaim Miller, Gutnick Library of Jewish Classics, p. 232-233
  33. ^ See also Ascended Master Teachings
  34. ^ The Theosophical Society had a major influence on Buddhist modernism[297] and Hindu reform movements,[348] and the spread of those modernised versions in the west.[297] The Theosophical Society and the Arya Samaj were united from 1878 to 1882, as the Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj.[351] Along with H. S. Olcott and Anagarika Dharmapala, Blavatsky was instrumental in the Western transmission and revival of Theravada Buddhism.[352][353][354]
  35. ^ James also gives descriptions of conversion experiences. The Christian model of dramatic conversions, based on the role-model of Paul's conversion, may also have served as a model for Western interpretations and expectations regarding "enlightenment", similar to Protestant influences on Theravada Buddhism, as described by Carrithers: "It rests upon the notion of the primacy of religious experiences, preferably spectacular ones, as the origin and legitimation of religious action. But this presupposition has a natural home, not in Buddhism, but in Christian and especially Protestant Christian movements which prescribe a radical conversion."[366] See Sekida for an example of this influence of William James and Christian conversion stories, mentioning Luther[367] and St. Paul.[368] See also McMahan for the influence of Christian thought on Buddhism.[297]
  36. ^ Robert Sharf: "[T]he role of experience in the history of Buddhism has been greatly exaggerated in contemporary scholarship. Both historical and ethnographic evidence suggests that the privileging of experience may well be traced to certain twentieth-century reform movements, notably those that urge a return to zazen or vipassana meditation, and these reforms were profoundly influenced by religious developments in the west [...] While some adepts may indeed experience "altered states" in the course of their training, critical analysis shows that such states do not constitute the reference point for the elaborate Buddhist discourse pertaining to the "path".[372]
  37. ^ William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thru' narrow chinks of his cavern."[web 23]
  38. ^ In Dutch: "Niet in een denkbeeld te vatten".[381]
  39. ^ According to Renard, Alan Watts has explained the difference between "non-dualism" and "monism" in The Supreme Identity, Faber and Faber 1950, pp. 69, 95; The Way of Zen, Pelican-edition 1976, pp. 59-60.[383]

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January 31, 2023
nondualism, spirituality, nondualism, also, called, nonduality, nondual, awareness, fuzzy, concept, originating, indian, philosophy, religion, which, many, definitions, found, note, including, advaita, nondual, awareness, nonduality, seer, seen, nondifference,. In spirituality nondualism also called nonduality 1 2 and nondual awareness 3 4 is a fuzzy concept originating in Indian philosophy and religion for which many definitions can be found note 1 including advaita nondual awareness the nonduality of seer and seen 5 or nondifference of subject and object 6 advaya the identity of conventional phenomena and ultimate reality or the nonduality of duality and nonduality and monism the nonplurality of the world 6 and the interconnection of all things 7 It may also refer to a negation of dualistic thinking 6 and to the mystical unity of God and man 6 The English term is derived from Sanskrit advaita अद व त not two 1 8 or one without a second 8 which refers to the identity of Atman and Brahman and advaya 6 also meaning not two but referring to the identity of conventional and ultimate reality 9 web 1 While advaita is primarily related to the Hindu philosophy of Advaita Vedanta and advaya to Buddism nondualism refers to several related strands of thought and there is no single definition for the English word nonduality According to David Loy it is best to speak of various nondualities or theories of nonduality 10 Nondual awareness also called pure awareness or pure consciousness 11 12 13 and the non difference of subject and object 14 is self luminous awareness or witness consciousness 3 4 a primordial natural awareness which is described as the essence of being centerless and without dichotomies web 2 Indian ideas of nondual awareness developed as proto Samkhya speculations in ascetic milieus in the 1st millennium BCE with the notion of Purusha the witness conscious or pure consciousness In Indian traditions the realisation of this primordial consciousness witnessing but disengaged from the entanglements of the ordinary mind and samsara is considered moksha vimutti or nirvana release from suffering and samsara This is accomplished by self restraint and bodhi discriminative discernment or enlightenment 15 web 3 Regarding interconnectedness or the nonpluraility of the world 14 the first millennium CE saw a movement towards postulating an underlying basis of unity both in the Buddhist Madhyamaka and Yogachara schools and in Advaita Vedanta collapsing phenomenal reality into a single substrate or underlying principle 16 Proto Samkya thoroughly influenced both Hindu traditions such as Yoga Advaita Vedanta and Kashmir Shaivism Veerashaivism as well as Buddhism which all emerged in close interaction 17 All those traditions developed philosophical systems to describe the relation between this essence and mundane reality and its pains and the means to escape from this entanglement and pain Descriptions of nondual consciousness can be found in both Hinduism Purusha Turiya sahaja and Buddhism luminous mind Nirvana emptiness pariniṣpanna nature of mind rigpa In the Buddhist tradition non duality advaya is associated with the teachings of interdependence 2 and emptiness sunyata and the two truths doctrine particularly the Madhyamaka teaching of the non duality of absolute and relative truth 18 19 and with the Yogachara notion of mind thought only citta matra or representation only vijnaptimatra 20 These teachings coupled with the doctrine of Buddha nature have been influential concepts in the subsequent development of Mahayana Buddhism not only in India but also in East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism most notably in Chan Zen and Vajrayana Advaita appears in different shades in various schools of Hinduism such as in Advaita Vedanta Vishishtadvaita Vedanta Vaishnavism Suddhadvaita Vedanta Vaishnavism non dual Shaivism and Shaktism 21 22 23 In Advaita Vedanta nonduality refers to nondual awareness the nonduality of Atman and Brahman 1 24 note 2 In a more general sense it refers to monism the interconnectedness of everything which is dependent upon the nondual One Transcendent Reality 1 the singular wholeness of existence that suggests that the personal self is an illusion 8 Advaita also appears in the more realistic qualified non dualism of the Vishistadvaita school and the realistic monism of Kashmir Shaivism in which the world is a real transformation of universal consciousness Nondual awareness can also be found in western traditions such as Sufism Wahdat al Wujud Fanaa and Haqiqah as well as in Christian mysticism and Neoplatonism henosis mystical union Western Neoplatonism is an essential element of both Christian contemplation Islamic Dhikr mysticism Western esotericism and modern spirituality especially Unitarianism Transcendentalism Universalism and Perennialism Contents 1 Etymology 2 Definitions 2 1 Nondual awareness 2 2 Nonduality and interconnectedness monism 2 3 Appearance in various religious traditions 3 Samkhya and yoga 3 1 Philosophy 3 2 Origins and development 3 3 Upanishads 4 Buddhism 4 1 Indian Buddhism 4 1 1 Nirvana luminous mind and Buddha nature 4 1 1 1 Nirvana 4 1 1 2 Luminous mind 4 1 1 3 Buddha nature 4 1 2 Advaya 4 1 3 Madhyamaka 4 1 4 Yogacara tradition 4 1 5 Tantric Buddhism 4 2 East Asian Buddhism 4 2 1 Chinese 4 2 2 Zen 4 2 3 Korean 4 3 Tibetan Buddhism 4 3 1 Adyava Gelugpa school Prasangika Madhyamaka 4 3 2 Shentong 4 3 3 Dzogchen 5 Hinduism 5 1 Vedanta 5 1 1 Advaita Vedanta 5 1 1 1 Three levels of reality 5 1 1 2 Similarities and differences with Buddhism 5 1 2 Vishishtadvaita Vedanta 5 1 3 Neo Vedanta 5 2 Kashmir Shaivism 5 3 Contemporary Indian traditions 5 3 1 Natha Sampradaya and Inchegeri Sampradaya 5 3 2 Ramana Maharshi 5 3 3 Neo Advaita 6 Other eastern religions 6 1 Sikhism 6 2 Taoism 7 Western traditions 7 1 Roman world 7 1 1 Gnosticism 7 1 2 Neoplatonism 7 2 Medieval Abrahamic religions 7 2 1 Christian contemplation and mysticism 7 2 2 Jewish Hasidism and Kabbalism 7 2 3 Neoplatonism in Islam 7 3 Western esotericism 7 3 1 Perennial philosophy 7 3 2 Orientalism 7 3 3 Transcendentalism and Unitarian Universalism 7 3 4 Neo Vedanta 7 3 5 Theosophical Society 7 3 6 New Age 8 Scholarly debates 8 1 Nondual consciousness and mystical experience 8 1 1 Development 8 1 2 Criticism 8 2 Nondual consciousness as common essence 8 2 1 Common essence 8 2 2 Criticism 8 3 Phenomenology 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 Sources 13 Further reading 14 External linksEtymology Edit Dual comes from Latin duo two prefixed with non meaning not non dual means not two When referring to nondualism Hinduism generally uses the Sanskrit term Advaita while Buddhism uses Advaya Tibetan gNis med Chinese pu erh Japanese fu ni 25 Advaita अद व त is from Sanskrit roots a not dvaita dual As Advaita it means not two 1 8 or one without a second 8 and is usually translated as nondualism nonduality and nondual The term nondualism and the term advaita from which it originates are polyvalent terms note 3 Advaya अद वय is also a Sanskrit word that means identity unique not two without a second and typically refers to the two truths doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism especially Madhyamaka The English term nondual was informed by early translations of the Upanishads in Western languages other than English from 1775 These terms have entered the English language from literal English renderings of advaita subsequent to the first wave of English translations of the Upanishads These translations commenced with the work of Muller 1823 1900 in the monumental Sacred Books of the East 1879 Max Muller rendered advaita as Monism as have many recent scholars 31 32 33 However some scholars state that advaita is not really monism 34 Definitions EditSee also Monism Mind body dualism Dualistic cosmology and Pluralism philosophy Nondualism is a fuzzy concept for which many definitions can be found note 1 According to David Loy since there are similar ideas and terms in a wide variety of spiritualities and religions ancient and modern no single definition for the English word nonduality can suffice and perhaps it is best to speak of various nondualities or theories of nonduality 10 Loy sees non dualism as a common thread in Taoism Mahayana Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta 18 note 4 distinguishes Five Flavors Of Nonduality web 1 Advaita nondual awareness the nondifference of subject and object or nonduality between subject and object web 1 According to Loy in the Upanishads i t is most often expressed as the identity between Atman the self and Brahman 24 note 5 Advaya the identity of phenomena and the Absolute the nonduality of duality and nonduality web 1 or the nonduality of relative and ultimate truth as found in Madhyamaka Buddhism and the two truths doctrine Monism the nonplurality of the world Although the phenomenal world appears as a plurality of things in reality they are of a single cloth web 1 The negation of dualistic thinking in pairs of opposites The Yin Yang symbol of Taoism symbolises the transcendence of this dualistic way of thinking web 1 Mysticism a mystical unity between God and Human web 1 Brahmanical and non Brahmanical ascetic traditions of the first millennium BCE developed in close interaction utilizing proto Samkhya enumerations lists analyzing experience in the context of meditative practices providing liberating insight into the nature of experience 17 The first millennium CE saw a movement towards postulating an underlying basis of unity both in the Buddhist Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools and in Advaita Vedanta collapsing phenomenal reality into a single substrate or underlying principle 16 Nondual awareness Edit Nondual awareness refers to a primordial natural awareness without subject or object web 2 According to Hanley Nakamura and Garland nondual awareness is central to contemplative wisdom traditions a state of consciousness that rests in the background of all conscious experiencing a background field of awareness that is unified immutable and empty of mental content yet retains a quality of cognizant bliss This field of awareness is thought to be ever present yet typically unrecognized obscured by discursive thought emotion and perception 3 According to Josipovic consciousness as such is a non conceptual nondual awareness whose essential property is non representational reflexivity This property makes consciousness as such phenomenologically cognitively and neurobiologically a unique kind different from and irreducible to any contents functions and states 4 It is the pure consciousness or witness consciousness of the Purusha of Samkhya and the Atman of Advaita Vedanta which is aware of prakriti the entanglements of the muddled mind and cognitive apparatus Nonduality and interconnectedness monism Edit According to Espin and Nickoloff referring to monism nondualism is the thought in some Hindu Buddhist and Taoist schools which generally speaking teaches that the multiplicity of the universe is reducible to one essential reality 37 The idea of nondualism as monism is typically contrasted with dualism with dualism defined as the view that the universe and the nature of existence consists of two realities such as the God and the world or as God and Devil or as mind and matter and so on 38 39 In Advaita Vedanta nonduality refers to monism the nonduality of Atman and Brahman 1 In a more general sense nonduality refers to the interconnectedness of everything which is dependent upon the nondual One Transcendent Reality 1 the singular wholeness of existence that suggests that the personal self is an illusion 8 In western Buddhism interconnectedness is a reinterpretation of interdependence pratityasamutpada the notion that all existents come into being in dependence on other existents 2 The Huayan school Flower Garland developed the doctrine of the mutual containment and interpenetration of all phenomena dharmas or perfect interfusion 40 Appearance in various religious traditions Edit Different theories and concepts which can be linked to nonduality and nondual awareness are taught in a wide variety of religious traditions including some western religions and philosophies While their metaphysical systems differ they may refer to a similar experience 41 These include Early Indian asceticism pre Buddhist and pre Hindu as documented in the Upanishads which contain proto Samkhya speculations and form the basis for Vedanta Buddhism Luminous mind Nirvana Shunyavada emptiness view or the Madhyamaka school 42 43 which holds that there is a non dual relationship that is there is no true separation between conventional truth and ultimate truth as well as between samsara and nirvana Vijnanavada consciousness view or the Yogacara school 42 44 which holds that there is no ultimate perceptual and conceptual division between a subject and its objects or a cognizer and that which is cognized It also argues against mind body dualism holding that there is only consciousness Tathagatagarbha thought 44 which holds that all beings have the potential to become Buddhas Vajrayana buddhism 45 including Tibetan Buddhist traditions of Dzogchen 46 3 and Mahamudra 47 3 East Asian Buddhist traditions like Zen 48 and Huayan particularly their concept of empty mind and interpenetration see also Indra s net Hinduism The Advaita Vedanta of Shankara 49 50 3 which teaches that the Atman is pure consciousness and that a single pure consciousness svayam prakasa is the only reality and that the world is unreal Maya Non dual forms of Hindu Tantra 51 including Kashmira Shaivism 52 51 and the goddess centered Shaktism Their view is similar to Advaita but they teach that the world is not unreal but it is the real manifestation of consciousness 53 Forms of Hindu Modernism which mainly teach Advaita and modern Indian saints like Ramana Maharshi and Swami Vivekananda Taoism 54 which teaches the idea of a single subtle universal force or cosmic creative power called Tao literally way Subud 55 Abrahamic traditions Christian mystics who promote a nondual experience such as Meister Eckhart and Julian of Norwich The focus of this Christian nondualism is on bringing the worshiper closer to God and realizing a oneness with the Divine 56 Sufism 54 3 Jewish Kabbalah 3 Western traditions Neo platonism 57 which teaches there is a single source of all reality The One Gnosticism 3 Western philosophers like Hegel Spinoza and Schopenhauer 57 They defended different forms of philosophical monism or Idealism Transcendentalism which was influenced by German Idealism and Indian religions Theosophy New ageSamkhya and yoga EditMain articles Samkhya Yoga and Yoga philosophy Samkhya is a dualistic astika school of Indian philosophy 58 59 60 regarding human experience as being constituted by two independent realities puruṣa consciousness and prakṛti cognition mind and emotions Samkhya is strongly related to the Yoga school of Hinduism for which it forms the theoretical foundation and it was influential on other schools of Indian philosophy 61 Philosophy Edit Purusha Pakriti Purusha puruṣa or Sanskrit प र ष is a complex concept 62 whose meaning evolved in Vedic and Upanishadic times Depending on source and historical timeline it means the cosmic being or self consciousness and universal principle 63 62 64 In early Vedas Purusha was a cosmic being whose sacrifice by the gods created all life 65 This was one of many creation myths discussed in the Vedas In the Upanishads the Purusha concept refers to abstract essence of the Self Spirit and the Universal Principle that is eternal indestructible without form and is all pervasive 65 In the Sankhya philosophy purusha is the plural immobile male spiritual cosmic principle pure consciousness It is absolute independent free imperceptible unknowable through other agencies above any experience by mind or senses and beyond any words or explanations It remains pure nonattributive consciousness Puruṣa is neither produced nor does it produce 66 No appellations can qualify purusha nor can it substantialized or objectified 67 It cannot be reduced can t be settled Any designation of purusha comes from prakriti and is a limitation 68 Unmanifest prakriti is infinite inactive and unconscious and consists of an equilibrium of the three guṇas qualities innate tendencies 69 70 namely sattva rajas and tamas When prakṛti comes into contact with Purusha this equilibrium is disturbed and Prakriti becomes manifest evolving twenty three tattvas 71 namely intellect buddhi mahat ego ahamkara mind manas the five sensory capacities the five action capacities and the five subtle elements or modes of sensory content tanmatras from which the five gross elements or forms of perceptual objects emerge 69 72 giving rise to the manifestation of sensory experience and cognition 73 74 Jiva a living being is that state in which purusha is bonded to prakriti 75 Human experience is an interplay of purusha prakriti purusha being conscious of the various combinations of cognitive activities 75 The end of the bondage of Purusha to prakriti is called liberation or kaivalya by the Samkhya school 76 and can be attained by insight and self restraint 15 web 3 Origins and development Edit While samkhya like speculations can be found in the Rig Veda and some of the older Upanishads Samkhya may have non Vedic origins and developed in ascetic milieus Proto samkhya ideas developed from the 8th 7th c BCE onwards as evidenced in the middle Upanishads the Buddhacarita the Bhagavad Gita and the Moksadharma section of the Mahabharata 77 It was related to the early ascetic traditions and meditation spiritual practices and religious cosmology 78 and methods of reasoning that result in liberating knowledge vidya jnana viveka that end the cycle of dukkha and rebirth 79 allowing for a great variety of philosophical formulations 78 Pre karika systematic Samkhya existed around the beginning of the first millennium CE 80 The defining method of Samkhya was established with the Samkhyakarika 4th c CE Upanishads Edit The Upanishads contain proto Shamkhya speculations 79 Yajnavalkya s exposition on the Self in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and the dialogue between Uddalaka Aruni and his son Svetaketu in the Chandogya Upanishad represent a more developed notion of the essence of man Atman as pure subjectivity i e the knower who is himself unknowable the seer who cannot be seen and as pure conscious discovered by means of speculations or enumerations 81 Acdording lo Larson it seesm quite likely that both the monistic trends in Indian thought and the duslistic samkhya could have developed out of these ancient speculations 82 According to Larson the enumeration of tattvas in Samkhya is also found in Taittiriya Upanishad Aitareya Upanishad and Yajnavalkya Maitri dialogue in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 83 The Katha Upanishad in verses 3 10 13 and 6 7 11 describes a concept of puruṣa and other concepts also found in later Samkhya 84 The Katha Upanishad dated to be from about the middle of the 1st millennium BCE in verses 2 6 6 through 2 6 13 recommends a path to Self knowledge akin to Samkhya and calls this path Yoga 85 Only when Manas mind with thoughts and the five senses stand still and when Buddhi intellect power to reason does not waver that they call the highest path That is what one calls Yoga the stillness of the senses concentration of the mind It is not thoughtless heedless sluggishness Yoga is creation and dissolution Katha Upanishad 2 6 10 11 86 87 Buddhism EditThere are different Buddhist views which resonate with the concepts and experiences of primordial awareness and non duality or not two advaya The Buddha does not use the term advaya in the earliest Buddhist texts but it does appear in some of the Mahayana sutras such as the Vimalakirti 88 The Buddha taught meditative inquiry dhyana and nondiscursive attention samadhi equivalents of which can be found in Upanishadic thought He rejected the metaphysical doctrines of the Upanishads particularly ideas which are often associated with Hindu nonduality such as the doctrine that this cosmos is the self and everything is a Oneness cf SN 12 48 and MN 22 89 90 Because of this Buddhist views of nonduality are particularly different from Hindu conceptions which tend towards idealistic monism Indian Buddhism Edit Nirvana luminous mind and Buddha nature Edit Nirvana Edit See also Transcendental Nirvana In archaic Buddhism Nirvana may have been a kind of transformed and transcendent consciousness or discernment vinnana that has stopped nirodhena 91 92 93 According to Harvey this nirvanic consciousness is said to be objectless infinite anantam unsupported appatiṭṭhita and non manifestive anidassana as well as beyond time and spatial location 91 92 Stanislaw Schayer a Polish scholar argued in the 1930s that the Nikayas preserve elements of an archaic form of Buddhism which is close to Brahmanical beliefs 94 95 96 97 and survived in the Mahayana tradition 98 99 Schayer s view possibly referring to texts where consciousness vinnana seems to be the ultimate reality or substratum as well as to luminous mind 100 saw nirvana as an immortal deathless sphere a transmundane reality or state 101 note 6 A similar view is also defended by C Lindtner who argues that in precanonical Buddhism nirvana is an actual existent 94 note 7 The original and early Buddhist concepts of nirvana may have been similar to those found in competing Sramaṇa strivers ascetics traditions such as Jainism and Upanishadic Vedism 102 Similar ideas were proposed by Edward Conze 99 and M Falk 103 citing sources which speak of an eternal and invisible infinite consciousness which shines everywhere as point to the view that nirvana is a kind of Absolute 99 and arguing that the nirvanic element as an essence or pure consciousness is immanent within samsara 103 an abode or place of prajna which is gained by the enlightened 104 103 note 8 In the Theravada tradition nibbana is regarded as an uncompounded or unconditioned asankhata dhamma phenomenon event which is transmundane 106 note 9 and which is beyond our normal dualistic conceptions 108 note 10 In Theravada Abhidhamma texts like the Vibhanga nibbana or the asankhata dhatu unconditioned element is defined thus What is the unconditioned element asankhata dhatu It is the cessation of passion the cessation of hatred and the cessation of delusion Luminous mind Edit Another influential concept in Indian Buddhism is the idea of luminous mind which became associated with Buddha nature In the Early Buddhist Texts there are various mentions of luminosity or radiance which refer to the development of the mind in meditation In the Saṅgiti sutta for example it relates to the attainment of samadhi where the perception of light aloka sanna leads to a mind endowed with luminescence sappabhasa 109 According to Analayo the Upakkilesa sutta and its parallels mention that the presence of defilements results in a loss of whatever inner light or luminescence obhasa had been experienced during meditation 109 The Pali Dhatuvibhaṅga sutta uses the metaphor of refining gold to describe equanimity reached through meditation which is said to be pure bright soft workable and luminous 25 The Pali Anguttara Nikaya A I 8 10 states 110 Luminous monks is the mind And it is freed from incoming defilements The well instructed disciple of the noble ones discerns that as it actually is present which is why I tell you that for the well instructed disciple of the noble ones there is development of the mind 111 The term is given no direct doctrinal explanation in the Pali discourses but later Buddhist schools explained it using various concepts developed by them 112 The Theravada school identifies the luminous mind with the bhavanga a concept first proposed in the Theravada Abhidhamma 113 The later schools of the Mahayana identify it with both the Mahayana concepts of bodhicitta and tathagatagarbha 112 The notion is of central importance in the philosophy and practice of Dzogchen 114 Buddha nature Edit Buddha nature or tathagata garbha literally Buddha womb is that which allows sentient beings to become Buddhas 115 Various Mahayana texts such as the Tathagatagarbha sutras focus on this idea and over time it became a very influential doctrine in Indian Buddhism as well in East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism The Buddha nature teachings may be regarded as a form of nondualism According to Sally B King all beings are said to be or possess tathagata garbha which is nondual Thusness or Dharmakaya This reality states King transcends the duality of self and not self the duality of form and emptiness and the two poles of being and non being 116 There various interpretations and views on Buddha nature and the concept became very influential in India China and Tibet where it also became a source of much debate In later Indian Yogacara a new sub school developed which adopted the doctrine of tathagata garbha into the Yogacara system 117 The influence of this hybrid school can be seen in texts like the Lankavatara Sutra and the Ratnagotravibhaga This synthesis of Yogacara tathagata garbha became very influential in later Buddhist traditions such as Indian Vajrayana Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism 118 117 Advaya Edit According to Kameshwar Nath Mishra one connotation of advaya in Indic Sanskrit Buddhist texts is that it refers to the middle way between two opposite extremes such as eternalism and annihilationism and thus it is not two 119 The layman Vimalakirti Debates Manjusri Dunhuang Mogao CavesOne of these Sanskrit Mahayana sutras the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra contains a chapter on the Dharma gate of non duality advaya dharma dvara pravesa which is said to be entered once one understands how numerous pairs of opposite extremes are to be rejected as forms of grasping These extremes which must be avoided in order to understand ultimate reality are described by various characters in the text and include Birth and extinction I and Mine Perception and non perception defilement and purity good and not good created and uncreated worldly and unworldly samsara and nirvana enlightenment and ignorance form and emptiness and so on 120 The final character to attempt to describe ultimate reality is the bodhisattva Manjushri who states It is in all beings wordless speechless shows no signs is not possible of cognizance and is above all questioning and answering 121 Vimalakirti responds to this statement by maintaining completely silent therefore expressing that the nature of ultimate reality is ineffable anabhilapyatva and inconceivable acintyata beyond verbal designation prapanca or thought constructs vikalpa 121 The Laṅkavatara Sutra a text associated with Yogacara Buddhism also uses the term advaya extensively 122 In the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy of Madhyamaka the two truths or ways of understanding reality are said to be advaya not two As explained by the Indian philosopher Nagarjuna there is a non dual relationship that is there is no absolute separation between conventional and ultimate truth as well as between samsara and nirvana 123 9 The concept of nonduality is also important in the other major Indian Mahayana tradition the Yogacara school where it is seen as the absence of duality between the perceiving subject or grasper and the object or grasped It is also seen as an explanation of emptiness and as an explanation of the content of the awakened mind which sees through the illusion of subject object duality However it is important to note that in this conception of non dualism there are still a multiplicity of individual mind streams citta santana and thus Yogacara does not teach an idealistic monism 124 These basic ideas have continued to influence Mahayana Buddhist doctrinal interpretations of Buddhist traditions such as Dzogchen Mahamudra Zen Huayan and Tiantai as well as concepts such as Buddha nature luminous mind Indra s net rigpa and shentong Madhyamaka Edit Main articles Madhyamika Shunyata and Two truths doctrine Nagarjuna right Aryadeva middle and the Tenth Karmapa left Madhyamaka also known as Sunyavada the emptiness teaching refers primarily to a Mahayana Buddhist school of philosophy 125 founded by Nagarjuna In Madhyamaka Advaya refers to the fact that the two truths are not separate or different 126 as well as the non dual relationship of saṃsara the round of rebirth and suffering and nirvaṇa cessation of suffering liberation 21 According to Murti in Madhyamaka Advaya is an epistemological theory unlike the metaphysical view of Hindu Advaita 127 Madhyamaka advaya is closely related to the classical Buddhist understanding that all things are impermanent anicca and devoid of self anatta or essenceless niḥsvabhavava 128 129 130 and that this emptiness does not constitute an absolute reality in itself note 11 In Madhyamaka the two truths satya refer to conventional saṃvṛti and ultimate paramartha truth 131 The ultimate truth is emptiness or non existence of inherently existing things 132 and the emptiness of emptiness emptiness does not in itself constitute an absolute reality Conventionally things exist but ultimately they are empty of any existence on their own as described in Nagarjuna s magnum opus the Mulamadhyamakakarika MMK The Buddha s teaching of the Dharma is based on two truths a truth of worldly convention and an ultimate truth Those who do not understand the distinction drawn between these two truths do not understand the Buddha s profound truth Without a foundation in the conventional truth the significance of the ultimate cannot be taught Without understanding the significance of the ultimate liberation is not achieved note 12 As Jay Garfield notes for Nagarjuna to understand the two truths as totally different from each other is to reify and confuse the purpose of this doctrine since it would either destroy conventional realities such as the Buddha s teachings and the empirical reality of the world making Madhyamaka a form of nihilism or deny the dependent origination of phenomena by positing eternal essences Thus the non dual doctrine of the middle way lies beyond these two extremes 134 Emptiness is a consequence of pratityasamutpada dependent arising 135 the teaching that no dharma thing phenomena has an existence of its own but always comes into existence in dependence on other dharmas According to Madhyamaka all phenomena are empty of substance or essence Sanskrit svabhava because they are dependently co arisen Likewise it is because they are dependently co arisen that they have no intrinsic independent reality of their own Madhyamaka also rejects the existence of absolute realities or beings such as Brahman or Self 136 In the highest sense ultimate reality is not an ontological Absolute reality that lies beneath an unreal world nor is it the non duality of a personal self atman and an absolute Self cf Purusha Instead it is the knowledge which is based on a deconstruction of such reifications and Conceptual proliferations 137 It also means that there is no transcendental ground and that ultimate reality has no existence of its own but is the negation of such a transcendental reality and the impossibility of any statement on such an ultimately existing transcendental reality it is no more than a fabrication of the mind web 4 note 13 Susan Kahn further explains Ultimate truth does not point to a transcendent reality but to the transcendence of deception It is critical to emphasize that the ultimate truth of emptiness is a negational truth In looking for inherently existent phenomena it is revealed that it cannot be found This absence is not findable because it is not an entity just as a room without an elephant in it does not contain an elephantless substance Even conventionally elephantlessness does not exist Ultimate truth or emptiness does not point to an essence or nature however subtle that everything is made of web 5 However according to Nagarjuna even the very schema of ultimate and conventional samsara and nirvana is not a final reality and he thus famously deconstructs even these teachings as being empty and not different from each other in the MMK where he writes 57 The limit koti of nirvaṇa is that of saṃsaraThe subtlest difference is not found between the two According to Nancy McCagney what this refers to is that the two truths depend on each other without emptiness conventional reality cannot work and vice versa It does not mean that samsara and nirvana are the same or that they are one single thing as in Advaita Vedanta but rather that they are both empty open without limits and merely exist for the conventional purpose of teaching the Buddha Dharma 57 Referring to this verse Jay Garfield writes that to distinguish between samsara and nirvana would be to suppose that each had a nature and that they were different natures But each is empty and so there can be no inherent difference Moreover since nirvana is by definition the cessation of delusion and of grasping and hence of the reification of self and other and of confusing imputed phenomena for inherently real phenomena it is by definition the recognition of the ultimate nature of things But if as Nagarjuna argued in Chapter XXIV this is simply to see conventional things as empty not to see some separate emptiness behind them then nirvana must be ontologically grounded in the conventional To be in samsara is to see things as they appear to deluded consciousness and to interact with them accordingly To be in nirvana then is to see those things as they are as merely empty dependent impermanent and nonsubstantial not to be somewhere else seeing something else 138 It is important to note however that the actual Sanskrit term advaya does not appear in the MMK and only appears in one single work by Nagarjuna the Bodhicittavivarana 139 The later Madhyamikas states Yuichi Kajiyama developed the Advaya definition as a means to Nirvikalpa Samadhi by suggesting that things arise neither from their own selves nor from other things and that when subject and object are unreal the mind being not different cannot be true either thereby one must abandon attachment to cognition of nonduality as well and understand the lack of intrinsic nature of everything Thus the Buddhist nondualism or Advaya concept became a means to realizing absolute emptiness 140 Yogacara tradition Edit Main article Yogacara See also Svasaṃvedana Asaṅga fl 4th century C E a Mahayana scholar who wrote numerous works which discuss the Yogacara view and practice In the Mahayana tradition of Yogacara Skt yoga practice adyava Tibetan gnyis med refers to overcoming the conceptual and perceptual dichotomies of cognizer and cognized or subject and object 21 141 142 143 The concept of adyava in Yogacara is an epistemological stance on the nature of experience and knowledge as well as a phenomenological exposition of yogic cognitive transformation Early Buddhism schools such as Sarvastivada and Sautrantika that thrived through the early centuries of the common era postulated a dualism dvaya between the mental activity of grasping grahaka cognition subjectivity and that which is grasped grahya cognitum intentional object 144 140 144 145 Yogacara postulates that this dualistic relationship is a false illusion or superimposition samaropa 140 Yogacara also taught the doctrine which held that only mental cognitions really exist vijnapti matra 146 note 14 instead of the mind body dualism of other Indian Buddhist schools 140 144 146 This is another sense in which reality can be said to be non dual because it is consciousness only 147 There are several interpretations of this main theory which has been widely translated as representation only ideation only impressions only and perception only 148 146 149 150 Some scholars see it as a kind of subjective or epistemic Idealism similar to Kant s theory while others argue that it is closer to a kind of phenomenology or representationalism According to Mark Siderits the main idea of this doctrine is that we are only ever aware of mental images or impressions which manifest themselves as external objects but there is actually no such thing outside the mind 151 For Alex Wayman this doctrine means that the mind has only a report or representation of what the sense organ had sensed 149 Jay Garfield and Paul Williams both see the doctrine as a kind of Idealism in which only mentality exists 152 153 However it is important to note that even the idealistic interpretation of Yogacara is not an absolute monistic idealism like Advaita Vedanta or Hegelianism since in Yogacara even consciousness enjoys no transcendent status and is just a conventional reality 117 Indeed according to Jonathan Gold for Yogacara the ultimate truth is not consciousness but an ineffable and inconceivable thusness or thatness tathata 141 Also Yogacara affirms the existence of individual mindstreams and thus Kochumuttom also calls it a realistic pluralism 154 The Yogacarins defined three basic modes by which we perceive our world These are referred to in Yogacara as the three natures trisvabhava of experience They are 155 141 Parikalpita literally fully conceptualized imaginary nature wherein things are incorrectly comprehended based on conceptual and linguistic construction attachment and the subject object duality It is thus equivalent to samsara Paratantra literally other dependent dependent nature by which the dependently originated nature of things their causal relatedness or flow of conditionality It is the basis which gets erroneously conceptualized Pariniṣpanna literally fully accomplished absolute nature through which one comprehends things as they are in themselves that is empty of subject object and thus is a type of non dual cognition This experience of thatness tathata is uninfluenced by any conceptualization at all To move from the duality of the Parikalpita to the non dual consciousness of the Pariniṣpanna Yogacara teaches that there must be a transformation of consciousness which is called the revolution of the basis asraya paravṛtti According to Dan Lusthaus this transformation which characterizes awakening is a radical psycho cognitive change and a removal of false interpretive projections on reality such as ideas of a self external objects etc 156 The Mahayanasutralamkara a Yogacara text also associates this transformation with the concept of non abiding nirvana and the non duality of samsara and nirvana Regarding this state of Buddhahood it states Its operation is nondual advaya vrtti because of its abiding neither in samsara nor in nirvana samsaranirvana apratisthitatvat through its being both conditioned and unconditioned samskrta asamskrtatvena 157 This refers to the Yogacara teaching that even though a Buddha has entered nirvana they do no abide in some quiescent state separate from the world but continue to give rise to extensive activity on behalf of others 157 This is also called the non duality between the compounded samskrta referring to samsaric existence and the uncompounded asamskrta referring to nirvana It is also described as a not turning back from both samsara and nirvana 158 For the later thinker Dignaga non dual knowledge or advayajnana is also a synonym for prajnaparamita transcendent wisdom which liberates one from samsara 159 Tantric Buddhism Edit Buddhist Tantra also known as Vajrayana Mantrayana or Esoteric Buddhism drew upon all these previous Indian Buddhist ideas and nondual philosophies to develop innovative new traditions of Buddhist practice and new religious texts called the Buddhist tantras from the 6th century onwards 160 Tantric Buddhism was influential in China and is the main form of Buddhism in the Himalayan regions especially Tibetan Buddhism Saṃvara with Vajravarahi in Yab Yum These tantric Buddhist depictions of sexual union symbolize the non dual union of compassion and emptiness The concept of advaya has various meanings in Buddhist Tantra According to Tantric commentator Lilavajra Buddhist Tantra s utmost secret and aim is Buddha nature This is seen as a non dual self originated Wisdom jnana an effortless fount of good qualities 161 In Buddhist Tantra there is no strict separation between the sacred nirvana and the profane samsara and all beings are seen as containing an immanent seed of awakening or Buddhahood 162 The Buddhist Tantras also teach that there is a non dual relationship between emptiness and compassion karuna this unity is called bodhicitta 163 They also teach a nondual pristine wisdom of bliss and emptiness 164 Advaya is also said to be the co existence of Prajna wisdom and Upaya skill in means 165 These nondualities are also related to the idea of yuganaddha or union in the Tantras This is said to be the indivisible merging of innate great bliss the means and clear light emptiness as well as the merging of relative and ultimate truths and the knower and the known during Tantric practice 166 Buddhist Tantras also promote certain practices which are antinomian such as sexual rites or the consumption of disgusting or repulsive substances the five ambrosias feces urine blood semen and marrow These are said to allow one to cultivate nondual perception of the pure and impure and similar conceptual dualities and thus it allows one to prove one s attainment of nondual gnosis advaya jnana 167 Indian Buddhist Tantra also views humans as a microcosmos which mirrors the macrocosmos 168 Its aim is to gain access to the awakened energy or consciousness of Buddhahood which is nondual through various practices 168 East Asian Buddhism Edit Chinese Edit Main article Buddhism in China A 3D rendering of Indra s net an illustration of the Huayan concept of interpenetration Chinese Buddhism was influenced by the philosophical strains of Indian Buddhist nondualism such as the Madhymaka doctrines of emptiness and the two truths as well as Yogacara and tathagata garbha For example Chinese Madhyamaka philosophers like Jizang discussed the nonduality of the two truths 169 Chinese Yogacara also upheld the Indian Yogacara views on nondualism One influential text in Chinese Buddhism which synthesizes Tathagata garbha and Yogacara views is the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana which may be a Chinese composition In Chinese Buddhism the polarity of absolute and relative realities is also expressed as essence function This was a result of an ontological interpretation of the two truths as well as influences from native Taoist and Confucian metaphysics 170 In this theory the absolute is essence the relative is function They can t be seen as separate realities but interpenetrate each other 171 This interpretation of the two truths as two ontological realities would go on to influence later forms of East Asian metaphysics As Chinese Buddhism continued to develop in new innovative directions it gave rise to new traditions like Huayen Tiantai and Chan Zen which also upheld their own unique teachings on non duality 40 The Tiantai school for example taught a threefold truth instead of the classic two truths of Indian Madhyamaka Its third truth was seen as the nondual union of the two truths which transcends both 172 Tiantai metaphysics is an immanent holism which sees every phenomenon moment or event as conditioned and manifested by the whole of reality Every instant of experience is a reflection of every other and hence suffering and nirvana good and bad Buddhahood and evildoing are all inherently entailed within each other 172 Each moment of consciousness is simply the Absolute itself infinitely immanent and self reflecting Another influential Chinese tradition the Huayan school Flower Garland flourished in China during the Tang period It is based on the Flower Garland Sutra S Avataṃsaka Sutra C Huayan Jing Huayan doctrines such as the Fourfold Dharmadhatu and the doctrine of the mutual containment and interpenetration of all phenomena dharmas or perfect interfusion yuanrong 圓融 are classic nondual doctrines 40 This can be described as the idea that all phenomena are representations of the wisdom of Buddha without exception and that they exist in a state of mutual dependence interfusion and balance without any contradiction or conflict 173 According to this theory any phenomenon exists only as part of the total nexus of reality its existence depends on the total network of all other things which are all equally connected to each other and contained in each other 173 The Huayan patriarchs used various metaphors to express this view such as Indra s net Zen Edit Main articles Zen Buddha nature Kenshō and Shikan taza See also Bodhicitta Karuṇa and Ten Bulls Dogen The Buddha nature and Yogacara philosophies have had a strong influence on Chan and Zen The teachings of Zen are expressed by a set of polarities Buddha nature sunyata 174 175 absolute relative 176 sudden and gradual enlightenment 177 The Lankavatara sutra a popular sutra in Zen endorses the Buddha nature and emphasizes purity of mind which can be attained in gradations The Diamond sutra another popular sutra emphasizes sunyata which must be realized totally or not at all 178 The Prajnaparamita Sutras emphasize the non duality of form and emptiness form is emptiness emptiness is form as the Heart Sutra says 176 According to Chinul Zen points not to mere emptiness but to suchness or the dharmadhatu 179 The idea that the ultimate reality is present in the daily world of relative reality fitted into the Chinese culture which emphasized the mundane world and society But this does not explain how the absolute is present in the relative world This question is answered in such schemata as the Five Ranks of Tozan 180 and the Oxherding Pictures The continuous pondering of the break through kōan shokan 181 or Hua Tou word head 182 leads to kensho an initial insight into seeing the Buddha nature 183 According to Hori a central theme of many koans is the identity of opposites and point to the original nonduality 184 185 Victor Sogen Hori describes kensho when attained through koan study as the absence of subject object duality 186 The aim of the so called break through koan is to see the nonduality of subject and object 184 185 in which subject and object are no longer separate and distinct 187 Zen Buddhist training does not end with kenshō Practice is to be continued to deepen the insight and to express it in daily life 188 189 190 191 to fully manifest the nonduality of absolute and relative 192 193 To deepen the initial insight of kensho shikantaza and kōan study are necessary This trajectory of initial insight followed by a gradual deepening and ripening is expressed by Linji Yixuan in his Three Mysterious Gates the Four Ways of Knowing of Hakuin 194 the Five Ranks and the Ten Ox Herding Pictures 195 which detail the steps on the Path Korean Edit See also Korean Buddhism and Essence Function The polarity of absolute and relative is also expressed as essence function The absolute is essence the relative is function They can t be seen as separate realities but interpenetrate each other The distinction does not exclude any other frameworks such as neng so or subject object constructions though the two are completely different from each other in terms of their way of thinking 171 In Korean Buddhism essence function is also expressed as body and the body s functions 196 A metaphor for essence function is a lamp and its light a phrase from the Platform Sutra where Essence is lamp and Function is light 197 Tibetan Buddhism Edit Main article Vajrayana Adyava Gelugpa school Prasangika Madhyamaka Edit The Gelugpa school following Tsongkhapa adheres to the adyava Prasaṅgika Madhyamaka view which states that all phenomena are sunyata empty of self nature and that this emptiness is itself only a qualification not a concretely existing absolute reality 198 Shentong Edit Main article Rangtong Shentong In Tibetan Buddhism the essentialist position is represented by shentong while the nominalist or non essentialist position is represented by rangtong Shentong is a philosophical sub school found in Tibetan Buddhism Its adherents generally hold that the nature of mind svasaṃvedana the substratum of the mindstream is empty Wylie stong of other Wylie gzhan i e empty of all qualities other than an inherently existing ineffable nature Shentong has often been incorrectly associated with the Cittamatra Yogacara position but is in fact also Madhyamaka 199 and is present primarily as the main philosophical theory of the Jonang school although it is also taught by the Sakya 200 and Kagyu schools 201 202 According to Shentongpa proponents of shentong the emptiness of ultimate reality should not be characterized in the same way as the emptiness of apparent phenomena because it is prabhasvara saṃtana or luminous mindstream endowed with limitless Buddha qualities 203 It is empty of all that is false not empty of the limitless Buddha qualities that are its innate nature The contrasting Prasaṅgika view that all phenomena are sunyata empty of self nature and that this emptiness is not a concretely existing absolute reality is labeled rangtong empty of self nature 198 The shentong view is related to the Ratnagotravibhaga sutra and the Yogacara Madhyamaka synthesis of Santarakṣita The truth of sunyata is acknowledged but not considered to be the highest truth which is the empty nature of mind Insight into sunyata is preparatory for the recognition of the nature of mind Dzogchen Edit Main articles Dzogchen and Rigpa Dzogchen is concerned with the natural state and emphasizes direct experience The state of nondual awareness is called rigpa citation needed This primordial nature is clear light unproduced and unchanging free from all defilements Through meditation the Dzogchen practitioner experiences that thoughts have no substance Mental phenomena arise and fall in the mind but fundamentally they are empty The practitioner then considers where the mind itself resides Through careful examination one realizes that the mind is emptiness 204 Karma Lingpa 1326 1386 revealed Self Liberation through seeing with naked awareness rigpa ngo sprod note 15 which is attributed to Padmasambhava 205 note 16 The text gives an introduction or pointing out instruction ngo spro into rigpa the state of presence and awareness 205 In this text Karma Lingpa writes the following regarding the unity of various terms for nonduality With respect to its having a name the various names that are applied to it are inconceivable in their numbers Some call it the nature of the mind or mind itself Some Tirthikas call it by the name Atman or the Self The Sravakas call it the doctrine of Anatman or the absence of a self The Chittamatrins call it by the name Chitta or the Mind Some call it the Prajnaparamita or the Perfection of Wisdom Some call it the name Tathagata garbha or the embryo of Buddhahood Some call it by the name Mahamudra or the Great Symbol Some call it by the name the Unique Sphere Some call it by the name Dharmadhatu or the dimension of Reality Some call it by the name Alaya or the basis of everything And some simply call it by the name ordinary awareness 210 note 17 Hinduism EditVedanta Edit Main article Vedanta Several schools of Vedanta are informed by Samkhya and teach a form of nondualism The best known is Advaita Vedanta but other nondual Vedanta schools also have a significant influence and following such as Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and Dvaitadvaita 21 both of which are bhedabheda Advaita refers to the nonduality of Atman individual self awareness the witness cosnciousness and Brahman the single universal existence as in Vedanta Shaktism and Shaivism 21 Although the term is best known from the Advaita Vedanta school of Adi Shankara advaita is used in treatises by numerous medieval era Indian scholars as well as modern schools and teachers note 18 The Hindu concept of Advaita refers to the idea that all of the universe is one essential reality and that all facets and aspects of the universe is ultimately an expression or appearance of that one reality 21 According to Dasgupta and Mohanta non dualism developed in various strands of Indian thought both Vedic and Buddhist from the Upanishadic period onward 211 The oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought may be found in the Chandogya Upanishad which pre dates the earliest Buddhism Pre sectarian Buddhism may also have been responding to the teachings of the Chandogya Upanishad rejecting some of its Atman Brahman related metaphysics 212 note 19 Advaita appears in different shades in various schools of Hinduism such as in Advaita Vedanta Vishishtadvaita Vedanta Vaishnavism Suddhadvaita Vedanta Vaishnavism non dual Shaivism and Shaktism 21 22 23 In the Advaita Vedanta of Adi Shankara advaita implies that all of reality is one with Brahman 21 that the Atman self and Brahman ultimate unchanging reality are one 215 216 The advaita ideas of some Hindu traditions contrasts with the schools that defend dualism or Dvaita such as that of Madhvacharya who stated that the experienced reality and God are two dual and distinct 217 218 Advaita Vedanta Edit Main article Advaita Vedanta Swans are important figures in Advaita The nonduality of the Advaita Vedanta is of the identity of Brahman and the Atman 219 As in Samkhya Atman is awareness the witness consciousness Advaita has become a broad current in Indian culture and religions influencing subsequent traditions like Kashmir Shaivism The oldest surviving manuscript on Advaita Vedanta is by Gauḍapada 6th century CE 20 who has traditionally been regarded as the teacher of Govinda bhagavatpada and the grandteacher of Adi Shankara Advaita is best known from the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Adi Shankara 788 820 CE who states that Brahman the single unified eternal truth is pure Being Consciousness and Bliss Sat cit ananda 220 Advaita states Murti is the knowledge of Brahman and self consciousness Vijnana without differences 127 The goal of Vedanta is to know the truly real and thus become one with it 221 According to Advaita Vedanta Brahman is the highest Reality 222 223 224 The universe according to Advaita philosophy does not simply come from Brahman it is Brahman Brahman is the single binding unity behind the diversity in all that exists in the universe 223 Brahman is also that which is the cause of all changes 223 225 226 Brahman is the creative principle which lies realized in the whole world 227 The nondualism of Advaita relies on the Hindu concept of Atman which is a Sanskrit word that means essence web 8 or real self of the individual 228 229 it is also appropriated as soul 228 230 Atman is the first principle 231 the true self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena the essence of an individual Atman is the Universal Principle one eternal undifferentiated self luminous consciousness asserts Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism 232 233 Advaita Vedanta philosophy considers Atman as self existent awareness limitless non dual and same as Brahman 234 Advaita school asserts that there is soul self within each living entity which is fully identical with Brahman 235 236 This identity holds that there is One Aawareness that connects and exists in all living beings regardless of their shapes or forms there is no distinction no superior no inferior no separate devotee soul Atman no separate God soul Brahman 235 The Oneness unifies all beings there is the divine in every being and all existence is a single Reality state the Advaita Vedantins 237 The nondualism concept of Advaita Vedanta asserts that each soul is non different from the infinite Brahman 238 Three levels of reality Edit Advaita Vedanta adopts sublation as the criterion to postulate three levels of ontological reality 239 240 Paramarthika paramartha absolute the Reality that is metaphysically true and ontologically accurate It is the state of experiencing that which is absolutely real and into which both other reality levels can be resolved This experience can t be sublated exceeded by any other experience 239 240 Vyavaharika vyavahara or samvriti saya 241 consisting of the empirical or pragmatic reality It is ever changing over time thus empirically true at a given time and context but not metaphysically true It is our world of experience the phenomenal world that we handle every day when we are awake It is the level in which both jiva living creatures or individual souls and Iswara are true here the material world is also true 240 Prathibhasika pratibhasika apparent reality unreality reality based on imagination alone It is the level of experience in which the mind constructs its own reality A well known example is the perception of a rope in the dark as being a snake 240 Similarities and differences with Buddhism Edit Scholars state that Advaita Vedanta was influenced by Mahayana Buddhism given the common terminology and methodology and some common doctrines 242 243 Eliot Deutsch and Rohit Dalvi state In any event a close relationship between the Mahayana schools and Vedanta did exist with the latter borrowing some of the dialectical techniques if not the specific doctrines of the former 244 Advaita Vedanta is related to Buddhist philosophy which promotes ideas like the two truths doctrine and the doctrine that there is only consciousness vijnapti matra It is possible that the Advaita philosopher Gaudapada was influenced by Buddhist ideas 20 Shankara harmonised Gaudapada s ideas with the Upanishadic texts and developed a very influential school of orthodox Hinduism 245 246 The Buddhist term vijnapti matra is often used interchangeably with the term citta matra but they have different meanings The standard translation of both terms is consciousness only or mind only Advaita Vedanta has been called idealistic monism by scholars but some disagree with this label 247 154 Another concept found in both Madhyamaka Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta is Ajativada ajata which Gaudapada adopted from Nagarjuna s philosophy 248 249 note 20 Gaudapada wove both doctrines into a philosophy of the Mandukaya Upanisad which was further developed by Shankara 251 note 21 Michael Comans states there is a fundamental difference between Buddhist thought and that of Gaudapada in that Buddhism has as its philosophical basis the doctrine of Dependent Origination according to which everything is without an essential nature nissvabhava and everything is empty of essential nature svabhava sunya while Gaudapada does not rely on this principle at all Gaudapada s Ajativada is an outcome of reasoning applied to an unchanging nondual reality according to which there exists a Reality sat that is unborn aja that has essential nature svabhava and this is the eternal fearless undecaying Self Atman and Brahman 253 Thus Gaudapada differs from Buddhist scholars such as Nagarjuna states Comans by accepting the premises and relying on the fundamental teaching of the Upanishads 253 Among other things Vedanta school of Hinduism holds the premise Atman exists as self evident truth a concept it uses in its theory of nondualism Buddhism in contrast holds the premise Atman does not exist or An atman as self evident 254 255 256 Mahadevan suggests that Gaudapada adopted Buddhist terminology and adapted its doctrines to his Vedantic goals much like early Buddhism adopted Upanishadic terminology and adapted its doctrines to Buddhist goals both used pre existing concepts and ideas to convey new meanings 257 Dasgupta and Mohanta note that Buddhism and Shankara s Advaita Vedanta are not opposing systems but different phases of development of the same non dualistic metaphysics from the Upanishadic period to the time of Sankara 211 Vishishtadvaita Vedanta Edit Ramanuja founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta taught qualified nondualism doctrine See also Bhedabheda Vishishtadvaita Vedanta is another main school of Vedanta and teaches the nonduality of the qualified whole in which Brahman alone exists but is characterized by multiplicity It can be described as qualified monism or qualified non dualism or attributive monism According to this school the world is real yet underlying all the differences is an all embracing unity of which all things are an attribute Ramanuja the main proponent of Vishishtadvaita philosophy contends that the Prasthana Traya The three courses namely the Upanishads the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras are to be interpreted in a way that shows this unity in diversity for any other way would violate their consistency Vedanta Desika defines Vishishtadvaita using the statement Asesha Chit Achit Prakaaram Brahmaikameva Tatvam Brahman as qualified by the sentient and insentient modes or attributes is the only reality Neo Vedanta Edit Main articles Neo Vedanta Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Mission Neo Vedanta also called neo Hinduism 258 is a modern interpretation of Hinduism which developed in response to western colonialism and orientalism and aims to present Hinduism as a homogenized ideal of Hinduism 259 with Advaita Vedanta as its central doctrine 260 Neo Vedanta as represented by Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan is indebted to Advaita vedanta but also reflects Advaya philosophy A main influence on neo Advaita was Ramakrishna himself a bhakta and tantrika and the guru of Vivekananda According to Michael Taft Ramakrishna reconciled the dualism of formlessness and form 261 Ramakrishna regarded the Supreme Being to be both Personal and Impersonal active and inactive When I think of the Supreme Being as inactive neither creating nor preserving nor destroying I call Him Brahman or Purusha the Impersonal God When I think of Him as active creating preserving and destroying I call Him Sakti or Maya or Prakriti the Personal God But the distinction between them does not mean a difference The Personal and Impersonal are the same thing like milk and its whiteness the diamond and its lustre the snake and its wriggling motion It is impossible to conceive of the one without the other The Divine Mother and Brahman are one 262 Radhakrishnan acknowledged the reality and diversity of the world of experience which he saw as grounded in and supported by the absolute or Brahman web 9 note 22 According to Anil Sooklal Vivekananda s neo Advaita reconciles Dvaita or dualism and Advaita or non dualism 264 The Neo Vedanta is also Advaitic inasmuch as it holds that Brahman the Ultimate Reality is one without a second ekamevadvitiyam But as distinguished from the traditional Advaita of Sankara it is a synthetic Vedanta which reconciles Dvaita or dualism and Advaita or non dualism and also other theories of reality In this sense it may also be called concrete monism in so far as it holds that Brahman is both qualified saguna and qualityless nirguna 264 Radhakrishnan also reinterpreted Shankara s notion of maya According to Radhakrishnan maya is not a strict absolute idealism but a subjective misperception of the world as ultimately real web 9 According to Sarma standing in the tradition of Nisargadatta Maharaj Advaitavada means spiritual non dualism or absolutism 265 in which opposites are manifestations of the Absolute which itself is immanent and transcendent 266 All opposites like being and non being life and death good and evil light and darkness gods and men soul and nature are viewed as manifestations of the Absolute which is immanent in the universe and yet transcends it 266 Kashmir Shaivism Edit Main articles Shaivism and Kashmir Shaivism Advaita is also a central concept in various schools of Shaivism such as Kashmir Shaivism 21 and Shiva Advaita which is generally known as Veerashaivism Kashmir Shaivism is a school of Saivism described by Abhinavagupta note 23 as paradvaita meaning the supreme and absolute non dualism web 10 It is categorized by various scholars as monistic 267 idealism absolute idealism theistic monism 268 realistic idealism 269 transcendental physicalism or concrete monism 269 Kashmir Saivism is based on a strong monistic interpretation of the Bhairava Tantras and its subcategory the Kaula Tantras which were tantras written by the Kapalikas 270 There was additionally a revelation of the Siva Sutras to Vasugupta 270 Kashmir Saivism claimed to supersede the dualistic Shaiva Siddhanta 271 Somananda the first theologian of monistic Saivism was the teacher of Utpaladeva who was the grand teacher of Abhinavagupta who in turn was the teacher of Ksemaraja 270 272 The philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism can be seen in contrast to Shankara s Advaita 273 Advaita Vedanta holds that Brahman is inactive niṣkriya and the phenomenal world is a false appearance maya of Brahman like snake seen in semi darkness is a false appearance of Rope lying there In Kashmir Shavisim all things are a manifestation of the Universal Consciousness Chit or Brahman 274 275 Kashmir Shavisim sees the phenomenal world Sakti as real it exists and has its being in Consciousness Chit 276 Kashmir Shaivism was influenced by and took over doctrines from several orthodox and heterodox Indian religious and philosophical traditions 277 These include Vedanta Samkhya Patanjali Yoga and Nyayas and various Buddhist schools including Yogacara and Madhyamika 277 but also Tantra and the Nath tradition 278 Contemporary Indian traditions Edit Primal awareness is also part of other Indian traditions which are less strongly or not all organised in monastic and institutional organisations Although often called Advaita Vedanta these traditions have their origins in vernacular movements and householder traditions and have close ties to the Nath Nayanars and Sant Mat traditions Natha Sampradaya and Inchegeri Sampradaya Edit Main articles Nath Sahaja and Inchegeri Sampradaya The Natha Sampradaya with Nath yogis such as Gorakhnath introduced Sahaja the concept of a spontaneous spirituality Sahaja means spontaneous natural simple or easy web 11 According to Ken Wilber this state reflects nonduality 279 The Nath tradition has been influential in the west through the Inchagiri Sampradaya a lineage of Hindu Navnath and Lingayat teachers from Maharashtra which is well known due to the popularity of Nisargadatta Maharaj Ramana Maharshi Edit Ramana Maharshi 1879 1950 explained his insight using Shaiva Siddhanta Advaita Vedanta and Yoga teachings Main article Ramana Maharshi Ramana Maharshi 30 December 1879 14 April 1950 is widely acknowledged as one of the outstanding Indian gurus of modern times 280 Ramana s teachings are often interpreted as Advaita Vedanta though Ramana Maharshi never received diksha initiation from any recognised authority web 12 Ramana himself did not call his insights advaita D Does Sri Bhagavan advocate advaita M Dvaita and advaita are relative terms They are based on the sense of duality The Self is as it is There is neither dvaita nor advaita I Am that I Am note 24 Simple Being is the Self 282 Neo Advaita Edit Main article Neo Advaita Neo Advaita is a New Religious Movement based on a modern western interpretation of Advaita Vedanta especially the teachings of Ramana Maharshi 283 According to Arthur Versluis neo Advaita is part of a larger religious current which he calls immediatism 284 web 15 the assertion of immediate spiritual illumination without much if any preparatory practice within a particular religious tradition web 15 Neo Advaita is criticized for this immediatism and its lack of preparatory practices 285 note 25 286 note 26 Although this state of consciousness may seem to appear spontaneous note 27 it usually follows prolonged preparation through ascetic or meditative contemplative practice which may include ethical injunctions Notable neo advaita teachers are H W L Poonja 287 283 and his students Gangaji 288 Andrew Cohen note 28 and Eckhart Tolle 283 According to a modern western spiritual teacher of nonduality Jeff Foster nonduality is the essential oneness wholeness completeness unity of life a wholeness which exists here and now prior to any apparent separation despite the compelling appearance of separation and diversity there is only one universal essence one reality Oneness is all there is and we are included 290 Other eastern religions EditSikhism Edit Many newer contemporary Sikhs have suggested that human souls and the monotheistic God are two different realities dualism 291 distinguishing it from the monistic and various shades of nondualistic philosophies of other Indian religions 292 However Sikh scholars have attempted to explore nondualism exegesis of Sikh scriptures such as during the neocolonial reformist movement by Bhai Vir Singh According to Mandair Singh interprets the Sikh scriptures as teaching nonduality 293 The Sikh Scholar Bhai Mani Singh is quoted to saying that Sikhism has all the essence of Vedanta Philosophy Historically the Sikh symbol of Ik Oankaar has had a monistic meaning and has been reduced to simply meaning There is but One God which is incorrect 294 Oler exegesis of Sikh scripture such as the Faridkot Teeka has always described SIkh Metaphysics as a non dual panentheistic universe Others maintain that Sikh theology suggests human souls and the monotheistic God are the same reality non dualism Sikh scholars have even been exploring nondualism exegesis of Sikh scriptures such as during the neocolonial reformist movement by Bhai Vir Singh According to Arvind Mandair Singh interprets the Sikh scriptures as teaching nonduality 293 Taoism Edit Main article Taoism Taijitu Taoism s wu wei Chinese wu not wei doing is a term with various translations note 29 and interpretations designed to distinguish it from passivity The concept of Yin and Yang often mistakenly conceived of as a symbol of dualism is actually meant to convey the notion that all apparent opposites are complementary parts of a non dual whole 295 Western traditions EditSee also Spirituality New Age Syncretism Neo Advaita Western esotericism Perennialism and Syncretism A modern strand of thought sees nondual consciousness as a universal psychological state which is a common stratum and of the same essence in different spiritual traditions 8 It is derived from Neo Vedanta and neo Advaita but has historical roots in neo Platonism Western esotericism and Perennialism The idea of nondual consciousness as the central essence 296 is a universalistic and perennialist idea which is part of a modern mutual exchange and synthesis of ideas between western spiritual and esoteric traditions and Asian religious revival and reform movements note 30 Central elements in the western traditions are Neo Platonism which had a strong influence on Christian contemplation or mysticism and its accompanying apophatic theology and Western esotericism which also incorporated Neo Platonism and Gnostic elements including Hermeticism Western traditions are among others the idea of a Perennial Philosophy Swedenborgianism Unitarianism Orientalism Transcendentalism Theosophy and New Age 299 Eastern movements are the Hindu reform movements such as Vivekananda s Neo Vedanta and Aurobindo s Integral Yoga the Vipassana movement and Buddhist modernism note 31 Roman world Edit Gnosticism Edit Main article Gnosticism Since its beginning Gnosticism has been characterized by many dualisms and dualities including the doctrine of a separate God and Manichaean good evil dualism 300 Ronald Miller interprets the Gospel of Thomas as a teaching of nondualistic consciousness 301 Neoplatonism Edit Main articles Neoplatonism and Henosis The precepts of Neoplatonism of Plotinus 2nd century assert nondualism 302 Neoplatonism had a strong influence on Christian mysticism Some scholars suggest a possible link of more ancient Indian philosophies on Neoplatonism while other scholars consider these claims as unjustified and extravagant with the counter hypothesis that nondualism developed independently in ancient India and Greece 303 The nondualism of Advaita Vedanta and Neoplatonism have been compared by various scholars 304 such as J F Staal 305 Frederick Copleston 306 Aldo Magris and Mario Piantelli 307 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 308 Gwen Griffith Dickson 309 John Y Fenton 310 and Dale Riepe 311 Medieval Abrahamic religions Edit Christian contemplation and mysticism Edit Main articles Christian contemplation Christian Mysticism and Apophatic theology The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine St John the Baptist St Antony Abbot In Christian mysticism contemplative prayer and Apophatic theology are central elements In contemplative prayer the mind is focused by constant repetition a phrase or word Saint John Cassian recommended use of the phrase O God make speed to save me O Lord make haste to help me 312 313 Another formula for repetition is the name of Jesus 314 315 or the Jesus Prayer which has been called the mantra of the Orthodox Church 313 although the term Jesus Prayer is not found in the Fathers of the Church 316 The author of The Cloud of Unknowing recommended use of a monosyllabic word such as God or Love 317 Apophatic theology is derived from Neo Platonism via Pseudo Dionysius the Areopagite In this approach the notion of God is stripped from all positive qualifications leaving a darkness or unground it had a strong influence on western mysticism A notable example is Meister Eckhart who also attracted attention from Zen Buddhists like D T Suzuki in modern times due to the similarities between Buddhist thought and Neo Platonism The Cloud of Unknowing an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century advocates a mystic relationship with God The text describes a spiritual union with God through the heart The author of the text advocates centering prayer a form of inner silence According to the text God can not be known through knowledge or from intellection It is only by emptying the mind of all created images and thoughts that we can arrive to experience God Continuing on this line of thought God is completely unknowable by the mind God is not known through the intellect but through intense contemplation motivated by love and stripped of all thought 318 Thomism though not non dual in the ordinary sense considers the unity of God so absolute that even the duality of subject and predicate to describe him can be true only by analogy In Thomist thought even the Tetragrammaton is only an approximate name since I am involves a predicate whose own essence is its subject 319 The former nun and contemplative Bernadette Roberts is considered a nondualist by Jerry Katz 8 Jewish Hasidism and Kabbalism Edit Main articles Judaism Hasidism and Kabbalah According to Jay Michaelson nonduality begins to appear in the medieval Jewish textual tradition which peaked in Hasidism 302 Judaism has within it a strong and very ancient mystical tradition that is deeply nondualistic Ein Sof or infinite nothingness is considered the ground face of all that is God is considered beyond all proposition or preconception The physical world is seen as emanating from the nothingness as the many faces partsufim of god that are all a part of the sacred nothingness 320 One of the most striking contributions of the Kabbalah which became a central idea in Chasidic thought was a highly innovative reading of the monotheistic idea The belief in one G d is no longer perceived as the mere rejection of other deities or intermediaries but a denial of any existence outside of G d note 32 Neoplatonism in Islam Edit Main article Platonism in Islamic Philosophy Western esotericism Edit Main article Western esotericism Western esotericism also called esotericism and esoterism is a scholarly term for a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements which have developed within Western society They are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo Christian religion and from Enlightenment rationalism The earliest traditions which later analysis would label as forms of Western esotericism emerged in the Eastern Mediterranean during Late Antiquity where Hermetism Gnosticism and Neoplatonism developed as schools of thought distinct from what became mainstream Christianity In Renaissance Europe interest in many of these older ideas increased with various intellectuals seeking to combine pagan philosophies with the Kabbalah and with Christian philosophy resulting in the emergence of esoteric movements like Christian theosophy Perennial philosophy Edit Main article Perennial philosophy The Perennial philosophy has its roots in the Renaissance interest in neo Platonism and its idea of The One from which all existence emanates Marsilio Ficino 1433 1499 sought to integrate Hermeticism with Greek and Jewish Christian thought 321 discerning a Prisca theologia which could be found in all ages 322 Giovanni Pico della Mirandola 1463 94 suggested that truth could be found in many rather than just two traditions He proposed a harmony between the thought of Plato and Aristotle and saw aspects of the Prisca theologia in Averroes the Koran the Cabala and other sources 323 Agostino Steuco 1497 1548 coined the term philosophia perennis 324 Orientalism Edit Main article Orientalism The western world has been exposed to Indian religions since the late 18th century 325 The first western translation of a Sanskrit text was made in 1785 325 It marked a growing interest in Indian culture and languages 326 The first translation of the dualism and nondualism discussing Upanishads appeared in two parts in 1801 and 1802 327 and influenced Arthur Schopenhauer who called them the consolation of my life 328 Early translations also appeared in other European languages 329 Transcendentalism and Unitarian Universalism Edit Main article Transcendentalism Transcendentalism was an early 19th century liberal Protestant movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the Eastern region of the United States It was rooted in English and German Romanticism the Biblical criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher and the skepticism of Hume web 19 The Transcendentalists emphasised an intuitive experiential approach of religion web 20 Following Schleiermacher 330 an individual s intuition of truth was taken as the criterion for truth web 20 In the late 18th and early 19th century the first translations of Hindu texts appeared which were read by the Transcendentalists and influenced their thinking web 20 The Transcendentalists also endorsed universalist and Unitarianist ideas leading to Unitarian Universalism the idea that there must be truth in other religions as well since a loving God would redeem all living beings not just Christians web 20 web 21 Among the transcendentalists core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both people and nature Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions particularly organized religion and political parties ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual They had faith that people are at their best when truly self reliant and independent It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed The major figures in the movement were Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau John Muir Margaret Fuller and Amos Bronson Alcott Neo Vedanta Edit Unitarian Universalism had a strong impact on Ram Mohan Roy and the Brahmo Samaj and subsequently on Swami Vivekananda Vivekananda was one of the main representatives of Neo Vedanta a modern interpretation of Hinduism in line with western esoteric traditions especially Transcendentalism New Thought and Theosophy 331 His reinterpretation was and is very successful creating a new understanding and appreciation of Hinduism within and outside India 331 and was the principal reason for the enthusiastic reception of yoga transcendental meditation and other forms of Indian spiritual self improvement in the West 332 Narendranath Datta Swami Vivekananda became a member of a Freemasonry lodge at some point before 1884 333 and of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in his twenties a breakaway faction of the Brahmo Samaj led by Keshab Chandra Sen and Debendranath Tagore 334 Ram Mohan Roy 1772 1833 the founder of the Brahmo Samaj had a strong sympathy for the Unitarians 335 who were closely connected to the Transcendentalists who in turn were interested in and influenced by Indian religions early on 336 It was in this cultic 337 milieu that Narendra became acquainted with Western esotericism 338 Debendranath Tagore brought this neo Hinduism closer in line with western esotericism a development which was furthered by Keshubchandra Sen 339 who was also influenced by transcendentalism which emphasised personal religious experience over mere reasoning and theology 340 Sen s influence brought Vivekananda fully into contact with western esotericism and it was also via Sen that he met Ramakrishna 341 Vivekananda s acquaintance with western esotericism made him very successful in western esoteric circles beginning with his speech in 1893 at the Parliament of Religions Vivekananda adapted traditional Hindu ideas and religiosity to suit the needs and understandings of his western audiences who were especially attracted by and familiar with western esoteric traditions and movements like Transcendentalism and New thought 342 In 1897 he founded the Ramakrishna Mission which was instrumental in the spread of Neo Vedanta in the west and attracted people like Alan Watts Aldous Huxley author of The Perennial Philosophy was associated with another neo Vedanta organisation the Vedanta Society of Southern California founded and headed by Swami Prabhavananda Together with Gerald Heard Christopher Isherwood and other followers he was initiated by the Swami and was taught meditation and spiritual practices 343 Neo Vedanta was well received among Theosophists Christian Science and the New Thought movement 344 345 Christian Science in turn influenced the self study teaching A Course in Miracles 346 Theosophical Society Edit Main article Theosophical Society A major force in the mutual influence of eastern and western ideas and religiosity was the Theosophical Society 347 348 It searched for ancient wisdom in the east spreading eastern religious ideas in the west 349 One of its salient features was the belief in Masters of Wisdom 350 note 33 beings human or once human who have transcended the normal frontiers of knowledge and who make their wisdom available to others 350 The Theosophical Society also spread western ideas in the east aiding a modernisation of eastern traditions and contributing to a growing nationalism in the Asian colonies 297 note 34 New Age Edit Main article New Age The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century Its central precepts have been described as drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and infusing them with influences from self help and motivational psychology holistic health parapsychology consciousness research and quantum physics 355 The New Age aims to create a spirituality without borders or confining dogmas that is inclusive and pluralistic 356 It holds to a holistic worldview 357 emphasising that the Mind Body and Spirit are interrelated 358 and that there is a form of monism and unity throughout the universe web 22 It attempts to create a worldview that includes both science and spirituality 359 and embraces a number of forms of mainstream science as well as other forms of science that are considered fringe citation needed Scholarly debates EditNondual consciousness and mystical experience Edit Main articles Religious experience Mystical experience Altered states of consciousness and Ego death Insight prajna kensho satori gnosis theoria illumination especially enlightenment or the realization of the illusory nature of the autonomous I or self is a key element in modern western nondual thought It is the personal realization that ultimate reality is nondual and is thought to be a validating means of knowledge of this nondual reality This insight is interpreted as a psychological state and labeled as religious or mystical experience Development Edit According to Hori the notion of religious experience can be traced back to William James who used the term religious experience in his book The Varieties of Religious Experience 360 The origins of the use of this term can be dated further back 361 In the 18th 19th and 20th centuries several historical figures put forth very influential views that religion and its beliefs can be grounded in experience itself While Kant held that moral experience justified religious beliefs John Wesley in addition to stressing individual moral exertion thought that the religious experiences in the Methodist movement paralleling the Romantic Movement were foundational to religious commitment as a way of life 362 Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of religious experience to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher 1768 1834 who argued that religion is based on a feeling of the infinite The notion of religious experience was used by Schleiermacher and Albert Ritschl to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique and defend the view that human moral and religious experience justifies religious beliefs 361 Such religious empiricism would be later seen as highly problematic and was during the period in between world wars famously rejected by Karl Barth 363 In the 20th century religious as well as moral experience as justification for religious beliefs still holds sway Some influential modern scholars holding this liberal theological view are Charles Raven and the Oxford physicist theologian Charles Coulson 364 The notion of religious experience was adopted by many scholars of religion of which William James was the most influential 365 note 35 Criticism Edit The notion of experience has been criticised 369 370 371 Robert Sharf points out that experience is a typical Western term which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western influences 369 note 36 Insight is not the experience of some transcendental reality but is a cognitive event the intuitive understanding or grasping of some specific understanding of reality as in kensho 373 or anubhava 374 Pure experience does not exist all experience is mediated by intellectual and cognitive activity 375 376 A pure consciousness without concepts reached by cleaning the doors of perception note 37 would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence 377 Nondual consciousness as common essence Edit Common essence Edit A main modern proponent of perennialism was Aldous Huxley who was influenced by Vivekananda s Neo Vedanta and Universalism 343 This popular approach finds supports in the common core thesis According to the common core thesis 378 different descriptions can mask quite similar if not identical experiences 379 According to Elias Amidon there is an indescribable but definitely recognizable reality that is the ground of all being 380 According to Renard these are based on an experience or intuition of the Real 381 According to Amidon this reality is signified by many names from spiritual traditions throughout the world 380 N ondual awareness pure awareness open awareness presence awareness unconditioned mind rigpa primordial experience This the basic state the sublime buddhanature original nature spontaneous presence the oneness of being the ground of being the Real clarity God consciousness divine light the clear light illumination realization and enlightenment 380 According to Renard nondualism as common essence prefers the term nondualism instead of monism because this understanding is nonconceptual not graspapable in an idea 381 note 38 Even to call this ground of reality One or Oneness is attributing a characteristic to that ground of reality The only thing that can be said is that it is not two or non dual web 24 382 According to Renard Alan Watts has been one of the main contributors to the popularisation of the non monistic understanding of nondualism 381 note 39 Criticism Edit The common core thesis is criticised by diversity theorists such as S T Katz and W Proudfoot 379 They argue that N o unmediated experience is possible and that in the extreme language is not simply used to interpret experience but in fact constitutes experience 379 The idea of a common essence has been questioned by Yandell who discerns various religious experiences and their corresponding doctrinal settings which differ in structure and phenomenological content and in the evidential value they present 384 Yandell discerns five sorts 385 Numinous experiences Monotheism Jewish Christian Vedantic 386 Nirvanic experiences Buddhism 387 according to which one sees that the self is but a bundle of fleeting states 388 Kevala experiences 389 Jainism 390 according to which one sees the self as an indestructible subject of experience 390 Moksha experiences 391 Hinduism 390 Brahman either as a cosmic person or quite differently as qualityless 390 Nature mystical experience 389 The specific teachings and practices of a specific tradition may determine what experience someone has which means that this experience is not the proof of the teaching but a result of the teaching 392 The notion of what exactly constitutes liberating insight varies between the various traditions and even within the traditions Bronkhorst for example notices that the conception of what exactly liberating insight is in Buddhism was developed over time Whereas originally it may not have been specified later on the Four Truths served as such to be superseded by pratityasamutpada and still later in the Hinayana schools by the doctrine of the non existence of a substantial self or person 393 And Schmithausen notices that still other descriptions of this liberating insight exist in the Buddhist canon 394 Phenomenology Edit Nondual awareness also called pure consciousness or awareness 13 contentless consciousness 12 consciousness as such 4 and Minimal Phenomenal Experience 13 is a topic of phenomenological research As described in Samkhya Yoga and other systems of meditation and referred to as for example Turya and Atman 11 12 pure awareness manifests in advanced states of meditation 11 13 Pure consciousness is distinguished from the workings of the mind and consists in nothing but the being seen of what is seen 11 Gamma amp Metzinger 2021 present twelve factors in their phenomenological analysis of pure awareness experienced by meditators including luminosity emptiness and non egoic self awareness and witness consciousness 13 See also EditVarious Abheda Acosmism belief that the world is illusory Anatta Belief that there is no self Cosmic Consciousness Emanationism Henosis Union with the absolute Deconstruction which may oppose binary pairs of opposed opposites Holism Kenosis Self emptying Maya illusion Cosmic illusion Monad philosophy Monism Neo Advaita Nihilism Nirguna Brahman Oceanic feeling Open individualism Panentheism Pantheism Belief that God and the world are identical Pluralism metaphysics Process Psychology Radical orthodoxy a postmodern theological school in Anglo Catholic circles that resists any neat dualism between the sacred and the secular Rigpa Shuddhadvaita Solipsism Sunyata Emptiness Turiya Yanantin Complementary dualism in Native South American culture Metaphors for nondualisms Jewel Net of Indra Avatamsaka Sutra Blind men and an elephant Eclipse Garden of Eden Hermaphrodite e g Ardhanarisvara Mirror and reflections as a metaphor for the continuum of the subject object in the mirror the mind and the interiority of perception and its illusion of projected exteriority Great Rite Sacred marriageNotes Edit a b See Nonduality com FAQ and Nonduality com What is Nonduality Nondualism or Advaita Over 100 definitions descriptions and discussions grasping mind One of the earliest uses of the word Advaita is found in verse 4 3 32 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 800 BCE and in verses 7 and 12 of the Mandukya Upanishad variously dated to have been composed between 500 BCE to 200 BCE 26 The term appears in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4 3 32 in the section with a discourse of the oneness of Atman individual soul and Brahman universal consciousness as follows 27 An ocean is that one seer without any duality Advaita this is the Brahma world O King Thus did Yajnavalkya teach him This is his highest goal this is his highest success this is his highest world this is his highest bliss All other creatures live on a small portion of that bliss 28 29 30 According to Loy nondualism is primarily an Eastern way of understanding the seed of nonduality however often sown has never found fertile soil in the West because it has been too antithetical to those other vigorous sprouts that have grown into modern science and technology In the Eastern tradition we encounter a different situation There the seeds of seer seen nonduality not only sprouted but matured into a variety some might say a jungle of impressive philosophical species By no means do all these Eastern systems assert the nonduality of subject and object but it is significant that three which do Buddhism Vedanta and Taoism have probably been the most influential 35 According to Loy referred by Pritscher when you realize that the nature of your mind and the U niverse are nondual you are enlightened 36 grasping mind According to Alexander Wynne Schayer referred to passages in which consciousness vinnana seems to be the ultimate reality or substratum e g A I 10 14 as well as the Saddhatu Sutra which is not found in any canonical source but is cited in other Buddhist texts it states that the personality pudgala consists of the six elements dhatu of earth water fire wind space and consciousness Schayer noted that it related to other ancient Indian ideas Keith s argument is also based on the Saddhatu Sutra as well as passages where we have explanations of Nirvana which echo the ideas of the Upanishads regarding the ultimate reality He also refers to the doctrine of a consciousness originally pure defiled by adventitious impurities 100 Lindtner a place one can actually go to It is called nirvanadhatu has no border signs animitta is localized somewhere beyond the other six dhatus beginning with earth and ending with vijnana but is closest to akasa and vijnana One cannot visualize it it is anidarsana but it provides one with firm ground under one s feet it is dhruva once there one will not slip back it is acyutapada As opposed to this world it is a pleasant place to be in it is sukha things work well 94 Cited in Wynne 2007 p 99 harvtxt error no target CITEREFWynne2007 help See Digha Nikaya 15 Mahanidana Sutta which describes a nine fold chain of causation Mind and body nama rupa and consciousness vijnana do condition here each other verse 2 amp 3 In verse 21 and 22 it is stated that consciousness comes into the mother s womb and finds a resting place in mind and body 105 According to Peter Harvey the Theravada tradition tends to minimize mystical tendencies but there is also a tendency to stress the complete otherness of nirvana from samsara The Pali Canon provides good grounds for this minimalistic approach bit it also contains material suggestive of a Vijnavada type interpretation of nirvaṇa namely as a radical transformation of consciousness 107 Walpola Rahula Nirvaṇa is beyond all terms of duality and relativity It is therefore beyond our conceptions of good and evil right and wrong existence and non existence Even the word happiness sukha which is used to describe Nirvaṇa has an entirely different sense here Sariputta once said O friend Nirvaṇa is happiness Nirvaṇa is happiness Then Udayi asked But friend Sariputta what happiness can it be if there is no sensation Sariputta s reply was highly philosophical and beyond ordinary comprehension That there is no sensation itself is happiness 108 See also essence and function and Absolute relative on Chinese Chan Nagarjuna Mulamadhyamakakarika 24 8 10 Jay L Garfield Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way 133 See for an influential example Tsongkhapa who states that things do exist conventionally but ultimately everything is dependently arisen and therefore void of inherent existence web 4 Representation only 146 or mere representation web 6 Oxford reference Some later forms of Yogacara lend themselves to an idealistic interpretation of this theory but such a view is absent from the works of the early Yogacarins such as Asaṇga and Vasubandhu web 6 Full rigpa ngo sprod gcer mthong rang grol 205 This text is part of a collection of teachings entitled Profound Dharma of Self Liberation through the Intention of the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones 206 zab chos zhi khro dgongs pa rang grol also known as kar gling zhi khro 207 which includes the two texts of bar do thos grol the so called Tibetan Book of the Dead 208 The bar do thos grol was translated by Kazi Dawa Samdup 1868 1922 and edited and published by W Y Evans Wenz This translation became widely known and popular as the Tibetan Book of the Dead but contains many mistakes in translation and interpretation 208 209 See also Self Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness This is reflected in the name Advaita Vision the website of advaita org uk which propagates a broad and inclusive understanding of advaita web 7 Edward Roer translates the early medieval era Brihadaranyakopnisad bhasya as Lokayatikas and Bauddhas who assert that the soul does not exist There are four sects among the followers of Buddha 1 Madhyamicas who maintain all is void 2 Yogacharas who assert except sensation and intelligence all else is void 3 Sautranticas who affirm actual existence of external objects no less than of internal sensations 4 Vaibhashikas who agree with later Sautranticas except that they contend for immediate apprehension of exterior objects through images or forms represented to the intellect 213 214 A means not or non jati means creation or origination 250 vada means doctrine 250 The influence of Mahayana Buddhism on other religions and philosophies was not limited to Advaita Vedanta Kalupahana notes that the Visuddhimagga contains some metaphysical speculations such as those of the Sarvastivadins the Sautrantikas and even the Yogacarins 252 Neo Vedanta seems to be closer to Bhedabheda Vedanta than to Shankara s Advaita Vedanta with the acknowledgement of the reality of the world Nicholas F Gier Ramakrsna Svami Vivekananda and Aurobindo I also include M K Gandhi have been labeled neo Vedantists a philosophy that rejects the Advaitins claim that the world is illusory Aurobindo in his The Life Divine declares that he has moved from Sankara s universal illusionism to his own universal realism 2005 432 defined as metaphysical realism in the European philosophical sense of the term 263 Abhinavgupta between 10th 11th century AD who summarized the view points of all previous thinkers and presented the philosophy in a logical way along with his own thoughts in his treatise Tantraloka web 10 A Christian reference See web 13 and web 14 Ramana was taught at Christian schools 281 Marek Wobei der Begriff Neo Advaita darauf hinweist dass sich die traditionelle Advaita von dieser Stromung zunehmend distanziert da sie die Bedeutung der ubenden Vorbereitung nach wie vor als unumganglich ansieht The term Neo Advaita indicating that the traditional Advaita increasingly distances itself from this movement as they regard preparational practicing still as inevitable 285 Alan Jacobs Many firm devotees of Sri Ramana Maharshi now rightly term this western phenomenon as Neo Advaita The term is carefully selected because neo means a new or revived form And this new form is not the Classical Advaita which we understand to have been taught by both of the Great Self Realised Sages Adi Shankara and Ramana Maharshi It can even be termed pseudo because by presenting the teaching in a highly attenuated form it might be described as purporting to be Advaita but not in effect actually being so in the fullest sense of the word In this watering down of the essential truths in a palatable style made acceptable and attractive to the contemporary western mind their teaching is misleading 286 See Cosmic Consciousness by Richard Bucke Presently Cohen has distanced himself from Poonja and calls his teachings Evolutionary Enlightenment 289 What Is Enlightenment the magazine published by Choen s organisation has been critical of neo Advaita several times as early as 2001 See web 16 web 17 web 18 Inaction non action nothing doing without ado See McMahan The making of Buddhist modernity 297 and Richard E King Orientalism and Religion 298 for descriptions of this mutual exchange The awareness of historical precedents seems to be lacking in nonduality adherents just as the subjective perception of parallels between a wide variety of religious traditions lacks a rigorous philosophical or theoretical underpinning As Rabbi Moshe Cordovero explains Before anything was emanated there was only the Infinite One Ein Sof which was all that existed And even after He brought into being everything which exists there is nothing but Him and you cannot find anything that existed apart from Him G d forbid For nothing existed devoid of G d s power for if there were He would be limited and subject to duality G d forbid Rather G d is everything that exists but everything that exists is not G d Nothing is devoid of His G dliness everything is within it There is nothing but it Rabbi Moshe Cordovero Elimah Rabasi p 24d 25a for sources in early Chasidism see Rabbi Ya akov Yosef of Polonne Ben Poras Yosef Piotrkow 1884 pp 140 168 Keser Shem Tov Brooklyn Kehos 2004 pp 237 8 Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk Pri Ha Aretz Kopust 1884 p 21 See The Practical Tanya Part One The Book for Inbetweeners Schneur Zalman of Liadi adapted by Chaim Miller Gutnick Library of Jewish Classics p 232 233 See also Ascended Master Teachings The Theosophical Society had a major influence on Buddhist modernism 297 and Hindu reform movements 348 and the spread of those modernised versions in the west 297 The Theosophical Society and the Arya Samaj were united from 1878 to 1882 as the Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj 351 Along with H S Olcott and Anagarika Dharmapala Blavatsky was instrumental in the Western transmission and revival of Theravada Buddhism 352 353 354 James also gives descriptions of conversion experiences The Christian model of dramatic conversions based on the role model of Paul s conversion may also have served as a model for Western interpretations and expectations regarding enlightenment similar to Protestant influences on Theravada Buddhism as described by Carrithers It rests upon the notion of the primacy of religious experiences preferably spectacular ones as the origin and legitimation of religious action But this presupposition has a natural home not in Buddhism but in Christian and especially Protestant Christian movements which prescribe a radical conversion 366 See Sekida for an example of this influence of William James and Christian conversion stories mentioning Luther 367 and St Paul 368 See also McMahan for the influence of Christian thought on Buddhism 297 Robert Sharf T he role of experience in the history of Buddhism has been greatly exaggerated in contemporary scholarship Both historical and ethnographic evidence suggests that the privileging of experience may well be traced to certain twentieth century reform movements notably those that urge a return to zazen or vipassana meditation and these reforms were profoundly influenced by religious developments in the west While some adepts may indeed experience altered states in the course of their training critical analysis shows that such states do not constitute the reference point for the elaborate Buddhist discourse pertaining to the path 372 William Blake If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is infinite For man has closed himself up till he sees all things thru narrow chinks of his cavern web 23 In Dutch Niet in een denkbeeld te vatten 381 According to Renard Alan Watts has explained the difference between non dualism and monism in The Supreme Identity Faber and Faber 1950 pp 69 95 The Way of Zen Pelican edition 1976 pp 59 60 383 References Edit a b c d e f g Grimes 1996 p 15 a b c Seager 2012 p 31 a b c d e f g h i Hanley Nakamura amp Garland 2018 a b c d Josipovic 2018 sfn error no target CITEREFJosipovic2018 help Loy 2012 p 9 a b c d e Loy 2012 p 17 Madigan 2010 a b c d e f g h Katz 2007 a b Nancy McCagney 1997 Nagarjuna and the Philosophy of Openness Rowman amp Littlefield pp 40 41 ISBN 978 0 8476 8627 8 a b Loy 2012 p 7 a b c d Fasching 2008 a b c Srinivasan 2020 a b c d e Gamma amp Metzinger 2021 a b Loy 1997 p 17 a b Yoga Vasistha 6 1 12 13 a b Samuel 2008 pp 217 218 sfn error no target CITEREFSamuel2008 help a b Samuel 2008 p 216 sfn error no target CITEREFSamuel2008 help a b Loy 1988 pp 9 11 Davis 2010 a b c Raju 1992 p 177 a b c d e f g h i Espin 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the Veda Volume 1 Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120814677 p 491 Sanskrit ससल ल एकस द रष ट अद व तस भवत एष ब रह मल क R W Perrett 2012 Indian Philosophy of Religion Springer Science p 124 ISBN 978 94 009 2458 1 S Menon 2011 Advaita Vedanta IEP Quote The essential philosophy of Advaita is an idealist monism and is considered to be presented first in the Upaniṣads and consolidated in the Brahma Sutra by this tradition James G Lochtefeld 2002 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism N Z The Rosen Publishing Group pp 645 646 ISBN 978 0 8239 3180 4 S Mark Heim 2001 The Depth of the Riches A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends Wm B Eerdmans Publishing p 227 ISBN 978 0 8028 4758 4 Loy 1988 p 3 Pritscher 2001 p 16 Espin amp Nickoloff 2007 p 963 Stephen C Barton 2006 The Cambridge Companion to the Gospels Cambridge University Press p 195 ISBN 978 1 107 49455 8 Paul F Knitter 2013 Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian Oneworld pp 7 8 ISBN 978 1 78074 248 9 a b c King 1991 p 162 Loy 1982 a b Sarma 1996 p xi Renard 2010 pp 91 92 a b Renard 2010 p 92 Renard 2010 p 93 Renard 2010 p 97 Renard 2010 p 98 Renard 2010 p 96 Sarma 1996 pp xi xii Renard 2010 p 88 a b Renard 2010 p 89 Sarma 1996 p xii Ksemaraja trans by Jaidev Singh Spanda Karikas The Divine Creative Pulsation Delhi Motilal Banarsidass p 119 a b Renard 2010 pp 98 99 Renard 2010 James Charlton Non dualism in Eckhart Julian of Norwich and Traherne A Theopoetic Reflection 2012 p 2 a b c d McCagney Nancy 1997 Nagarjuna and the Philosophy of Openness Rowman amp Littlefield 1997 pp 95 96 Knut Jacobsen Theory and Practice of Yoga Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120832329 pages 100 101 Samkhya American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Fifth Edition 2011 Quote Samkhya is a system of Hindu philosophy based on a dualism involving the ultimate principles of soul and matter Samkhya Webster s College Dictionary 2010 Random House ISBN 978 0375407413 Quote Samkhya is a system of Hindu philosophy stressing the reality and 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Meaning Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120805033 pages 36 47 Larson 2014 p 4 a b Larson 2014 p 5 a b Larson 2014 pp 4 5 Larson 2014 pp 9 11 Larson 1998 pp 88 89 Larson 1998 pp 89 Larson 1998 pp 88 90 Paul Deussen Sixty Upanishads of the Veda Volume 1 Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120814684 pages 273 288 289 298 299 Max Muller 1962 Katha Upanishad in The Upanishads Part II Dover Publications ISBN 978 0 486 20993 7 page 22 WD Whitney Translation of the Katha Upanishad Transactions of the American Philological Association Vol 21 pages 88 112 Paul Deussen Sixty Upanishads of the Veda Volume 1 Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120814684 pages 298 299 Watson Burton The Vimalakirti Sutra Columbia University Press 1997 p 104 Thanissaro Bhikkhu trans SN 12 48 PTS S ii 77 CDB i 584 Lokayatika Sutta The Cosmologist 1999 Thanissaro Bhikkhu trans MN 22 PTS M i 130 Alagaddupama Sutta The Water Snake Simile 2004 a b Harvey 1989 p page needed a b Harvey 1995b pp 200 208 sfn error no target CITEREFHarvey1995b help Johansson Rune The Psychology of Nirvana 1969 p 111 a b c Lindtner 1997 Lindtner 1999 Akizuki 1990 pp 25 27 Ray 1999 Reat 1998 p xi a b c Conze 1967 p 10 a b Wynne 2007 p 99 sfn error no target CITEREFWynne2007 help Ray 1999 pp 374 377 Lindtner 1997 pp 112 113 118 119 a b c Ray 1999 p 375 M Falk 1943 Nama rupa and Dharma rupa Walshe 1995 pp 223 226 Choong 1999 p 21 Harvey 1989 p 82 a b Rahula 2007 Kindle Locations 1105 1113 a b Analayo The Luminous Mind in Theravada and Dharmaguptaka Discourses Journal for the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 2017 13 10 51 Harvey page 94 The reference is at A I 8 10 Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu 1 a b Harvey page 99 Collins page 238 B Alan Wallace 2007 Contemplative Science Columbia University Press pp 94 96 Williams Paul Buddhist Thought Routledge 2000 p 160 King Sally 1991 Buddha Nature SUNY Press pp 99 106 111 a b c Lusthaus Dan What is and isn t Yogacara http www acmuller net yogacara articles intro html Brunnholzl Karl When the Clouds Part The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra Shambhala Publications 2015 p 118 Kameshwar Nath Mishra Advaya Non Dual in Buddhist Sanskrit Vol 13 No 2 Summer 1988 pp 3 11 9 pages Watson Burton The Vimalakirti Sutra Columbia University Press 1997 pp 104 106 a b Nagao Gadjin M Madhyamika and Yogacara A Study of Mahayana Philosophies SUNY Press 1991 p 40 McCagney Nancy Nagarjuna and the Philosophy of Openness Rowman amp Littlefield 1 January 1997 p 129 Leesa S Davis 2010 Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism Deconstructive Modes of Spiritual Inquiry A amp C Black pp 5 7 ISBN 978 0 8264 2068 8 Kochumuttom Thomas A 1999 A buddhist Doctrine of Experience A New Translation and Interpretation of the Works of Vasubandhu the Yogacarin Delhi Motilal Banarsidass p 1 Williams 2000 p 140 Garfield 1995 pp 296 298 303 a b Murti 2008 p 217 Robert E Buswell Jr Donald S Lopez Jr 2013 The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism Princeton University Press pp 42 43 581 ISBN 978 1 4008 4805 8 Richard Gombrich 2006 Theravada Buddhism Routledge p 47 ISBN 978 1 134 90352 8 Quote All phenomenal existence in Buddhism is said to have three interlocking characteristics impermanence suffering and lack of soul or essence Phra Payutto Grant Olson 1995 Buddhadhamma Natural Laws and Values for Life State University of New York Press pp 62 63 ISBN 978 0 7914 2631 9 Cheng 1981 Kalupahana 2006 p 1 Garfield 1995 pp 296 298 Garfield 1995 pp 303 304 Cabezon 2005 p 9387 Kalupahana 1994 Abruzzi McGandy et al Encyclopedia of Science and Religion Thomson Gale 2003 p 515 Garfield 1995 pp 331 332 McCagney Nancy 1997 Nagarjuna and the Philosophy of Openness Rowman amp Littlefield 1997 pp 128 a b c d Yuichi Kajiyama 1991 Minoru Kiyota and Elvin W Jones ed Mahayana Buddhist Meditation Theory and Practice Motilal Banarsidass pp 120 122 137 139 ISBN 978 81 208 0760 0 a b c Gold Jonathan C 27 April 2015 Vasubandhu In Zalta Edward N ed The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Summer 2018 ed Retrieved 5 September 2019 Dreyfus Georges B J Recognizing Reality Dharmakirti s Philosophy and Its Tibetan Interpretations SUNY Press p 438 Williams Paul editor Buddhism Yogacara the epistemological tradition and Tathagatagarbha Taylor amp Francis 2005 p 138 a b c King 1995 p 156 Paul Williams 2008 Mahayana Buddhism The Doctrinal Foundations Routledge pp 82 83 90 96 ISBN 978 1 134 25057 8 a b c d Kochumuttom 1999 p 5 Raymond E Robertson Zhongguo ren min da xue Guo xue yuan A Study of the Dharmadharmatavibhanga Vasubandhu s commentary and three critical editions of the root texts with a modern commentary from the perspective of the rNying ma tradition by Master Tam Shek wing Sino Tibetan Buddhist Studies Association in North America China Tibetology Publishing House 2008 p 218 Cameron Hall Bruce The Meaning of Vijnapti in Vasubandhu s Concept of Mind JIABS Vol 9 1986 Number 1 p 7 a b Wayman Alex A Defense of Yogacara Buddhism Philosophy East and West Vol 46 No 4 Oct 1996 pp 447 476 Siderits Mark Buddhism as philosophy 2017 p 146 Siderits Mark Buddhism as philosophy 2017 p 149 Garfield Jay L Vasubandhu s treatise on the three natures translated from the Tibetan edition with a commentary Asian Philosophy Volume 7 1997 Issue 2 pp 133 154 Williams 2008 p 94 a b Kochumuttom 1999 p 1 Siderits Mark Buddhism as philosophy 2017 pp 177 178 Lusthaus Dan Buddhist Phenomenology A Philosophical Investigation of Yogacara Buddhism and the Ch eng Wei shih Lun Routledge 2014 p 327 a b Makransky John J Buddhahood Embodied Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet SUNY Press 1997 p 92 Nagao Gadjin M Madhyamika and Yogacara A Study of Mahayana Philosophies SUNY Press 1991 p 28 Harris Ian Charles The Continuity of Madhyamaka and Yogacara in Indian Mahayana Buddhism BRILL 1991 p 52 Williams Wynne Tribe Buddhist Thought A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition pp 205 206 Wayman Alex Yoga of the Guhyasamajatantra The arcane lore of forty verses a Buddhist Tantra commentary 1977 p 56 Duckworth Douglas Tibetan Mahayana and Vajrayana in A companion to Buddhist philosophy p 100 Lalan Prasad Singh Buddhist Tantra A Philosophical Reflection and Religious Investigation Concept Publishing Company 2010 pp 40 41 Rinpoche Kirti Tsenshap Principles of Buddhist Tantra Simon and Schuster 2011 p 127 Lalan Prasad Singh Buddhist Tantra A Philosophical Reflection and Religious Investigation Concept Publishing Company 2010 p ix Jamgon Kongtrul The Treasury of Knowledge Book Five Buddhist Ethics Shambhala Publications 5 June 2003 p 345 Wedemeyer Christian K Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism History Semiology and Transgression in the Indian Traditions Columbia University Press 6 May 2014 p 145 a b White 2000 pp 8 9 Chang Qing Shih The Two Truths in Chinese Buddhism Motilal Banarsidass Publ 2004 p 153 Lai Whalen 2003 Buddhism in China A Historical Survey In Antonio S Cua ed Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy New York Routledge a b Park Sung bae 1983 Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment SUNY series in religious studies SUNY Press ISBN 0 87395 673 7 ISBN 978 0 87395 673 4 Source 2 accessed Friday 9 April 2010 p 147 a b Ziporyn Brook 19 November 2014 Tiantai Buddhism In Zalta Edward N ed The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Fall 2018 ed a b Hamar Imre Editor Reflecting Mirrors Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism ASIATISCHE FORSCHUNGEN 2007 p 189 Kasulis 2003 pp 26 29 McRae 2003 pp 138 142 a b Liang Chieh 1986 p 9 McRae 2003 pp 123 138 Kasulis 2003 pp 26 28 Buswell 1991 pp 240 241 Kasulis 2003 p 29 Hori amp 2005 B p 132 sfn error no target CITEREFHori2005 B help Ford 2006 p 38 sfn error no target CITEREFFord2006 help Hori 2000 p 287 a b Hori 2000 pp 289 290 a b Hori 2000 p 310 note 14 Hori 1994 pp 30 31 Hori 2000 pp 288 289 Sekida 1996 Kapleau 1989 Kraft 1997 p 91 Maezumi amp Glassman 2007 pp 54 140 Yen 1996 p 54 sfn error no target CITEREFYen1996 help Jiyu Kennett 2005 p 225 sfn error no target CITEREFJiyu Kennett2005 help Low 2006 Mumon 2004 Park Sung bae 2009 One Korean s approach to Buddhism the mom momjit paradigm SUNY series in Korean studies SUNY Press ISBN 0 7914 7697 9 ISBN 978 0 7914 7697 0 Source 3 accessed Saturday 8 May 2010 p 11 Lai Whalen 1979 Ch an Metaphors waves water mirror lamp Philosophy East amp West Vol 29 no 3 July 1979 pp 245 253 Source 4 accessed Saturday 8 May 2010 a b Stearns Cyrus 2010 The Buddha from Dolpo A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen Rev and enl ed Ithaca NY Snow Lion Publications ISBN 978 1 55939 343 0 Stearns p 72 Stearns p 61 Pema Tonyo Nyinje 12th Tai Situpa August 2005 Ground Path and Fruition Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Charitable Trust p 2005 ISBN 978 1 877294 35 8 Hookham S K 1991 The Buddha Within Tathagatagarbha Doctrine According to the Shentong Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga Albany NY State University of New York Press p 13 ISBN 978 0 7914 0358 7 Lama Shenpen Emptiness Teachings Buddhism Connect Archived 3 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine accessed March 2010 Powers John 1995 Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism Snow Lion Publications pp 334 342 a b c Norbu 1989 p x Fremantle 2001 p 20 sfn error no target CITEREFFremantle2001 help Norbu 1989 p ix a b Norbu 1989 p xii Reynolds 1989 pp 71 115 Karma Lingpa 1989 pp 13 14 a b Dasgupta amp Mohanta 1998 p 362 Gombrich 1990 pp 12 20 Edward Roer Translator to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad at pp 3 4Shankara s Introduction p 3 at Google Books Edward Roer Translator Shankara s Introduction p 3 at Google Books to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad at p 3 OCLC 19373677 Joseph Milne 1997 Advaita Vedanta and typologies of multiplicity and unity An interpretation of nondual knowledge International Journal of Hindu Studies Volume 1 Issue 1 pp 165 188 Comans Michael 2000 The Method of Early Advaita Vedanta A Study of Gauḍapada Saṅkara Suresvara and Padmapada Motilal Banarsidass 183 184 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Stoker Valerie 2011 Madhva 1238 1317 Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Retrieved 2 February 2016 Betty Stafford 2010 Dvaita Advaita and Visiṣṭadvaita Contrasting Views of Mokṣa Asian Philosophy An International Journal of the Philosophical Traditions of the East Volume 20 Issue 2 pp 215 224 Craig Edward general editor 1998 Routledge encyclopedia of philosophy Luther to Nifo Volume 6 Taylor amp Francis ISBN 0 415 07310 3 ISBN 978 0 415 07310 3 Source 5 accessed Thursday 22 April 2010 p 476 Raju 1992 p 178 Murti 2008 pp 217 218 Potter 2008 pp 6 7 a b c James Lochtefeld Brahman The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism Vol 1 A M Rosen Publishing ISBN 978 0 8239 3179 8 p 122 PT Raju 2006 Idealistic Thought of India Routledge ISBN 978 1 4067 3262 7 p 426 and Conclusion chapter part XII Jeffrey Brodd 2009 World Religions A Voyage of Discovery Saint Mary s Press ISBN 978 0 88489 997 6 pp 43 47 Mariasusai Dhavamony 2002 Hindu Christian Dialogue Theological Soundings and Perspectives Rodopi Press ISBN 978 9042015104 pp 43 44 Paul Deussen Sixty Upanishads of the Veda Volume 1 Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120814684 p 91 a b a Atman Oxford Dictionaries Oxford University Press 2012 Quote 1 real self of the individual 2 a person s soul b John Bowker 2000 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 280094 7 See entry for Atman c WJ Johnson 2009 A Dictionary of Hinduism Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 861025 0 See entry for Atman self R Dalal 2011 The Religions of India A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths Penguin ISBN 978 0 14 341517 6 p 38 a David Lorenzen 2004 The Hindu World Editors Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby Routledge ISBN 0 415 21527 7 pp 208 209 Quote Advaita and nirguni movements on the other hand stress an interior mysticism in which the devotee seeks to discover the identity of individual soul atman with the universal ground of being brahman or to find god within himself b Richard King 1995 Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism State University of New York Press ISBN 978 0 7914 2513 8 p 64 Quote Atman as the innermost essence or soul of man and Brahman as the innermost essence and support of the universe Thus we can see in the Upanishads a tendency towards a convergence of microcosm and macrocosm culminating in the equating of atman with Brahman c Chad Meister 2010 The Oxford Handbook of Religious Diversity Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 534013 6 p 63 Quote Even though Buddhism explicitly rejected the Hindu ideas of Atman soul and Brahman Hinduism treats Sakyamuni Buddha as one of the ten avatars of Vishnu Deussen Paul and Geden A S The Philosophy of the Upanishads Cosimo Classics 1 June 2010 P 86 ISBN 1 61640 240 7 S Timalsina 2014 Consciousness in Indian Philosophy The Advaita Doctrine of Awareness Only Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 76223 6 pp 3 23 Eliot Deutsch 1980 Advaita Vedanta A Philosophical Reconstruction University of Hawaii Press ISBN 978 0 8248 0271 4 pp 48 53 A Rambachan 2006 The Advaita Worldview God World and Humanity State University of New York Press ISBN 978 0 7914 6852 4 pp 47 99 103 a b Arvind Sharma 2007 Advaita Vedanta An Introduction Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120820272 pp 19 40 53 58 79 86 Edward Roer Translator Shankara s Introduction p 2 at Google Books to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad pp 2 4 Eliot Deutsch 1980 Advaita Vedanta A Philosophical Reconstruction University of Hawaii Press ISBN 978 0 8248 0271 4 pp 10 13 Potter 2008 pp 510 512 a b Puligandla 1997 p 232 a b c d Arvind Sharma 1995 The Philosophy of Religion and Advaita Vedanta Penn State University Press ISBN 978 0271028323 pp 176 178 with footnotes Renard 2010 p 131 John Grimes Review of Richard King s Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism Journal of the American Academy of Religion Vol 66 No 3 Autumn 1998 pp 684 686 S Mudgal Advaita of Sankara A Reappraisal Impact of Buddhism and Samkhya on Sankara s thought Delhi 1975 p 187 Eliot Deutsch 1980 Advaita Vedanta A Philosophical Reconstruction University of Hawaii Press ISBN 978 0824802714 pp 126 157 Isaeva 1992 p 240 sfn error no target CITEREFIsaeva1992 help Sharma 2000 p 64 JN Mohanty 1980 Understanding some Ontological Differences in Indian Philosophy Journal of Indian Philosophy Volume 8 Issue 3 p 205 Quote Nyaya Vaiseshika is realistic Advaita Vedanta is idealistic The former is pluralistic the latter monistic Renard 2010 p 157 Comans 2000 pp 35 36 a b Sarma 1996 p 127 Raju 1992 pp 177 178 Kalupahana 1994 p 206 a b Comans 2000 pp 88 93 Dae Sook Suh 1994 Korean Studies New Pacific Currents University of Hawaii Press ISBN 978 0824815981 pp 171 John C Plott et al 2000 Global History of Philosophy The Axial Age Volume 1 Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120801585 p 63 Quote The Buddhist schools reject any Atman concept As we have already observed this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism a KN Jayatilleke 2010 Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge ISBN 978 8120806191 pp 246 249 from note 385 onwards b Steven Collins 1994 Religion and Practical Reason Editors Frank Reynolds David Tracy State Univ of New York Press ISBN 978 0791422175 p 64 Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not self Pali anatta Sanskrit anatman the opposed doctrine of atman is central to Brahmanical thought Put very briefly this is the Buddhist doctrine that human beings have no soul no self no unchanging essence c Edward Roer Translator Shankara s Introduction p 2 at Google Books to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad pp 2 4 d Katie Javanaud 2013 Is The Buddhist No Self Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana Philosophy Now John Plott 2000 Global History of Philosophy The Patristic Sutra period 325 800 AD Volume 3 Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120805507 pp 285 288 King 2002 p 93 Yelle 2012 p 338 sfn error no target CITEREFYelle2012 help King 2002 p 135 Taft 2014 Sri Ramakrisha The Great Master by Swami Saradananda tr Swami Jagadananda 5th ed v 1 pp 558 561 Sri Ramakrishna Math Madras Gier 2013 sfn error no target CITEREFGier2013 help a b Sooklal 1993 p 33 Sarma 1996 p 1 a b Sarma 1996 pp 1 2 Kashmir Shaivism The Secret Supreme Swami Lakshman Jee pp 103 The Trika Saivism of Kashmir Moti Lal Pandit a b The Doctrine of Vibration An Analysis of Doctrines and Practices of Kashmir Shaivism Mark S G Dyczkowski pp 51 a b c Flood Gavin D 1996 An Introduction to Hinduism pp 164 167 Flood Gavin D 2006 The Tantric Body P 61 Flood Gavin D 2006 The Tantric Body p 66 Consciousness is Everything The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism Swami Shankarananda pp 56 59 Pratyabhijnahṛdayam Jaideva Singh Moltilal Banarsidass 2008 p 24 26 The Doctrine of Vibration An Analysis of Doctrines and Practices of Kashmir Shaivism By Mark S G Dyczkowski p 44 Ksemaraja trans by Jaidev Singh Spanda Karikas The Divine Creative Pulsation Delhi Motilal Banarsidass p 119 a b Muller Ortega 2010 p 25 Muller Ortega 2010 p 26 Ken Wilber 2000 One Taste Daily Reflections on Integral Spirituality Shambhala Publications pp 294 295 with footnotes 33 34 ISBN 978 0 8348 2270 2 Godman 1994 Ebert 2006 p 18 sfn error no target CITEREFEbert2006 help Venkataramiah 2000 pp 328 329 a b c Lucas 2011 Versluis 2014 a b Marek 2008 p 10 note 6 a b Jacobs 2004 p 82 Caplan 2009 pp 16 17 Lucas 2011 pp 102 105 Gleig 2011 p 10 sfn error no target CITEREFGleig2011 help What is Non Duality Nirmal Kumar 2006 Sikh Philosophy and Religion 11th Guru Nanak Memorial Lectures Sterling Publishers pp 89 92 ISBN 978 1 932705 68 3 Arvind pal Singh Mandair 2013 Religion and the Specter of the West Sikhism India Postcoloniality and the Politics of Translation Columbia University Press pp 76 430 432 ISBN 978 0 231 51980 9 a b Mandair Arvind 2005 The Politics of Nonduality Reassessing the Work of Transcendence in Modern Sikh Theology Journal of the American Academy of Religion 74 3 646 673 doi 10 1093 jaarel lfj002 S2CID 154558545 Damdami Taksaal Mool Mantar www damdamitaksal com Retrieved 23 January 2023 Paul A Erickson Liam D Murphy A 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the modern Indian mind Atlantic Publishers amp Distri Kochumuttom Thomas A 1999 A buddhist Doctrine of Experience A New Translation and Interpretation of the Works of Vasubandhu the Yogacarin Delhi Motilal Banarsidass Kraft Kenneth 1997 Eloquent Zen Daitō and Early Japanese Zen University of Hawaii Press Kyriakides Theodoros 2012 Nondualism is philosophy not ethnography A review of the 2011 GDAT debate HAU Journal of Ethnographic Theory 2 1 413 419 doi 10 14318 hau2 1 017 S2CID 144767986 Lai Whalen 2003 Buddhism in China A Historical Survey In Antonio S Cua ed Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy PDF New York Routledge ISBN 978 1 135 36748 0 archived from the original PDF on 12 November 2014 Larson Gerald James 1998 Classical Saṃkhya An Interpretation of Its History and Meaning London Motilal Banarasidass ISBN 81 208 0503 8 Larson G J 2014 Introduction to the Philosophy of Samkhya in Larson G J Bhattacharya R S eds The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume 4 Princeton University Press ISBN 978 0691604411 Lavoie Jeffrey D 2012 The Theosophical Society The History of a Spiritualist Movement Universal Publishers Lee Kwang Sae 2005 East and West Fusion of Horizons Homa amp Sekey Books ISBN 1 931907 26 9 Liang Chieh 1986 The Record of Tung shan William F Powell translator Kuroda Institute Lindtner Christian 1997 The Problem of Precanonical Buddhism Buddhist Studies Review 14 2 2 doi 10 1558 bsrv v14i2 14851 S2CID 247883744 Lindtner Christian 1999 From Brahmanism to Buddhism Asian Philosophy 9 1 5 37 doi 10 1080 09552369908575487 Low Albert 2006 Hakuin on Kensho The Four Ways of Knowing Boston amp London Shambhala Loy David March 1982 Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same International Philosophical Quarterly 22 1 doi 10 5840 ipq19822217 a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint date and year link Loy David 1988 Nonduality A Study in Comparative Philosophy New Haven Conn Yale University Press ISBN 1 57392 359 1 Loy David 1997 Nonduality A Study in Comparative Philosophy Humanity Books Books ISBN 1 57392 359 1 Loy David 2012 Nonduality A Study in Comparative Philosophy Prometheus Books Lucas Phillip Charles 2011 When a Movement Is Not a Movement Ramana Maharshi and Neo Advaita in North America Nova Religio The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 15 2 93 114 doi 10 1525 nr 2011 15 2 93 JSTOR 10 1525 nr 2011 15 2 93 Madigan Andreew 2010 Salinger s nascent Buddhism non dualism siddha and wu wei in Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut Brno Studies in English 36 1 155 164 Maezumi Hakuyu Taizan Glassman Bernie 2007 The Hazy Moon of Enlightenment Part of the On Zen Practice Series Wisdom Publications Mandair Arvind September 2006 The Politics of Nonduality Reassessing the Work of Transcendence in Modern Sikh Theology Journal of the American Academy of Religion 74 3 646 673 doi 10 1093 jaarel lfj002 S2CID 154558545 Mansukhani Gobind 1993 Introduction to Sikhism New Delhi Hemkunt Press ISBN 9788170101819 Marek David 2008 Dualitat Nondualitat Konzeptuelles und nichtkonzeptuelles Erkennen in Psychologie und buddhistischer Praxis PDF McMahan David L 2008 The Making of Buddhist Modernism Oxford University Press ISBN 9780195183276 McRae John 2003 Seeing Through Zen The University Press Group Ltd ISBN 9780520237988 Michaels Axel 2004 Hinduism Past and Present Princeton New Jersey Princeton University Press ISBN 0 691 08953 1 Michaelson Jay 2009 Everything Is God The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism Shambhala Michelis Elizabeth De 8 December 2005 A History of Modern Yoga Patanjali and Western Esotericism Continuum ISBN 978 0 8264 8772 8 Miller Timothy 1995 America s Alternative Religions SUNY Mohr Michel 2000 Emerging from Nonduality Koan Practice in the Rinzai Tradition since Hakuin In steven Heine amp Dale S Wright eds 2000 The Koan texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism Oxford Oxford University Press Mukerji Madhava Bithika 1983 Neo Vedanta and Modernity Ashutosh Prakashan Sansthan Muller Ortega Paul E 2010 Triadic Heart of Siva Kaula Tantricism of Abhinavagupta in the Non Dual Shaivism of Kashmir Suny press Mumon Yamada 2004 Lectures On The Ten Oxherding Pictures University of Hawaii Press Murti T R V 2008 The Central Philosophy of Buddhism A Study of the Madhyamika System Taylor amp Francis Group Nakamura Hajime 2004 A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy Part Two Delhi Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited Narasimha Swami 1993 Self Realisation The Life and Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi Sri Ramanasraman cite, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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