Hi AEN,

Just read your post this morning and an innocent joy arose spontaneously. Indeed, after bringing non-dual to the foreground, the next step is to let go of this subtle grasping of presence and penetrate deeply into the two fold Emptiness.

In many of your recent posts after the sudden realization of anatta from contemplating on Bahiya Sutta, you are still very much focused on the vivid non-dual presence. Now the everything feels ‘Me’ sort of sensation becomes a daily matter and the bliss of losing oneself completely into scenery, sound, taste is wonderful. This is different from everything collapsing into a “Single Oneness” sort of experience but a disperse out into the multiplicity of whatever arises. Everything feels closer than ‘me’ due to gaplessness. This is a natural but as you mentioned in your post,

...somehow, even though luminosity is no longer seen as a Self or observer, there is still a sense of solidity that luminosity/presence is constantly Here and Now. The tendency to sink back into substantialist non-dualism is still strong...

Indeed and very well said. ‘Now-ness, Here-ness’ are no different from ‘Self-ness’, let go of all these. There are several discussions in your forum recently that are related to the pointing out of the difference between the bliss that comes from non-dual Luminous Presence and 'self-liberating' aspect that comes from the insight of two fold Emptiness. You can re-read them, it may help. Also, it is time for you to put aside the Presence, this taste is already implicitly present, rather focus on having direct experiential insight of the following:

1. Unsupported

This experience is radically different from One Mind that is non-dual. It is not about stillness transparency and vividness of presence but a deep sense of freedom that comes from directly experiencing manifestation as being disjoint, spontaneous, free, unbounded and unsupported. Re-read the first stanza of anatta – an excerpt

1. The lack of doer-ship that links and co-ordinates experiences.
Without the 'I' that links, phenomena (thoughts, sound, feelings and so on and so forth) appear bubble-like, floating and manifesting freely, spontaneously and boundlessly. With the absence of the doer-ship also comes a deep sense of freedom and transparency. Ironical as it may sound but it's true experientially. We will not have the right understanding when we hold too tightly 'inherent' view. It is amazing how 'inherent' view prevents us from seeing freedom as no-doership, interdependence and interconnectedness, luminosity and non-dual presence.

2. Unfindability, Corelessness, Essencelessness and Ungraspability

Further penetrate into these unsupported freely manifesting phenomena and look into the core of whatever arises, not only there is nothing behind as a background, there is no inner core that can be found, nothing ‘inherently there’. If we truly see this unfindability, corelessness, essencelesnesss and ungraspability empty nature of the moment to moment of experience, something ‘magical’ will happen. Observe how the karmic tendency to ‘hold’ releases itself when the empty nature of ‘whatever arises’ comes into view.

3. Embrace the view of Dependent Origination

Do not get bounded by the ‘who-where-when’ construct and embrace the view of dependent origination fully; always only 缘起当生, 缘尽当了 (AEN's translation: arises upon the arising of conditions, ends upon the cessation of conditions). Practice diligently until there is the experience of unsupported continuous opening without inner core but do not rush into any experience. :-)

Happy Journey!

Update:

 

Gemini 2.5 Pro Translation:

 

撇开临在，深入二重空性 路人

AEN 你好，

今天早上刚读了你的帖子，一种纯真的喜悦油然而生。的确，在将不二（non-dual）带到前台之后，下一步就是放下对临在（presence）的这种微细执取，并深入二重空性（two fold Emptiness）。

在你通过思惟《巴希亚经》（Bahiya Sutta）而顿悟无我（anatta）之后的许多近期帖子中，你仍然非常关注生动的不二临在（vivid non-dual presence）。现在，“一切皆为‘我’”的感觉已成为日常之事，完全融入景色、声音、味道之中的极乐妙不可言。这不同于一切都坍缩为“单一整体”（Single Oneness）之类的体验，而是分散到一切生起的万法（multiplicity）之中。由于无间隙性（gaplessness），一切感觉比‘我’更近。这是自然的，但正如你在帖子中提到的， ……不知何故，即使明性（luminosity）不再被视为一个自我（Self）或观察者，仍然有一种坚固的感觉，觉得明性/临在（luminosity/presence）恒常地在此刻当下（Here and Now）。退回到实体论的不二主义（substantialist non-dualism）的倾向仍然很强……

的确，说得很好。‘当下性（Now-ness），此在性（Here-ness）’与‘自我性（Self-ness）’并无不同，放下所有这些。最近在你的论坛中有一些讨论，涉及到指出源自不二明亮临在（non-dual Luminous Presence）的极乐与源自二重空性（two fold Emptiness）洞见的‘自我解脱（self-liberating）’面向之间的区别。你可以重读它们，或许会有帮助。此外，现在是你撇开临在（Presence）的时候了，这种滋味已然隐含其中，不如专注于对以下内容获得直接的体验性洞见：

1. 无所依（Unsupported）

这种体验与不二的一心（One Mind）截然不同。它关乎的不是临在的寂静透明（stillness transparency）和生动性（vividness），而是来自于直接体验显现为互不相连（disjoint）、自发（spontaneous）、自由（free）、无界（unbounded）和无所依（unsupported）的一种深刻的自由感。重读无我（anatta）的第一节——摘录

1. 缺乏连接和协调经验的作者身份（doer-ship）。 没有了连接的‘我’，现象（念头、声音、感觉等等）如同泡沫般显现，自由、自发、无界地漂浮和显现。随着作者身份（doer-ship）的缺席，也带来了一种深刻的自由感和透明度。这听起来可能很讽刺，但从经验上来说是真实的。当我们过于执着‘固有’见（inherent view）时，我们将无法获得正确的理解。令人惊讶的是，‘固有’见（inherent view）如何阻止我们看到自由即无作者（no-doership）、相互依存（interdependence）和相互连接（interconnectedness）、明性（luminosity）和不二临在（non-dual presence）。
1. 不可寻性（Unfindability）、无核心性（Corelessness）、无本质性（Essencelessness）和不可执取性（Ungraspability）

进一步深入这些无所依、自由显现的现象，并探究一切生起现象的核心，不仅背后没有任何背景，也找不到任何内在核心，没有任何东西是‘固有存在（inherently there）’的。如果我们真正看到经验的刹那刹那所具有的这种不可寻性、无核心性、无本质性和不可执取性的空性本质，一些‘神奇’的事情将会发生。观察当‘一切生起’的空性本质进入视野时，‘执取’的业力习气（karmic tendency）如何自行释放。

3. 拥抱缘起（Dependent Origination）的观点

不要被‘谁-何处-何时’（who-where-when）的构架所束缚，并完全拥抱缘起（dependent origination）的观点；始终只有 缘起当生, 缘尽当了 (AEN的翻译：条件生起时则生起，条件止息时则结束 arises upon the arising of conditions, ends upon the cessation of conditions)。精进修持，直到体验到无所依（unsupported）、无内在核心（inner core）的持续开放，但不要急于求成任何体验。 :-)

旅途愉快！ 标签：无我（Anatta），缘起（Dependent Origination），空性（Emptiness），John Tan，不二（Non Dual），觉悟次第（Stages of Enlightenment） |