In 2007, Thusness wrote, "David Loy has a strong clarity in the meaning of non-dual, no-self.  He would be a good candidate to put it in philosophy terms and discussions. I think not many can, in terms of academia, though I prefer not to discuss too much about it. Non-dual is about the intuitive experience and the immediate quality free of all descriptions.   After the initial experience, we will still have the temptation to try make it clear to conventional thoughts but this will eventually prove futile.  It will come a time where one stops all sorts of arbitrary thoughts and discussion and just this experience, that is free of background and right directly into the crystal clear manifestation. Just the experience alone, but it is still a good book though in terms of academic.  I would think the understanding is better than ken wilber. :) ... file them up and try to get David Loy's book. It is difficult to get good and clear writer about non-duality and emptiness. Many explained wrongly. And those that truly experienced, do not want to talk about it, so treasure these articles. :) ...he is quite good from the stand point of an academician....and as a non dual experiencer..."


Thusness also commented in 2008:

(2:37 PM) Thusness:    david loy wrote pretty well about non-dual but missed it.  He under-estimated the teaching of Bahiya Sutta.
(2:38 PM) Thusness:    And remarked that it is not clear that buddha spoke of non-dual experiences.
(2:38 PM) Thusness:    That is a wrong concept.
(2:38 PM) Thusness:    in fact it is most clear that Bahiya Sutta taught the peak of non-dual experience.
(2:38 PM) Thusness:    That is the correct view.
(2:39 PM) Thusness:    But David Loy present a very good foundation for one to understand non-dual experience.
(2:39 PM) Thusness:    It is difficult to find such explanation in words.


Recently found out that David Loy is putting up his book Nonduality in PDF format for free reading.


http://www.davidloy.org/writing.html

Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy (New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1988). A softcover edition was published by Humanities Press in 1997. A German language edition was published as Nondualitat by Kruger Verlag in 1998. A Spanish language edition was published as No-dualidad by Kairos Press in 2000.
Focuses on the nonduality of subject and object in Buddhism, Vedanta, and Taoism, with reference to Western thinkers including Wittgenstein, Heidegger and William Blake. The main argument is that these three Asian systems may be understood as different attempts to describe the same experience. The categories of Buddhism (no self, impermanence, causality, eightfold path) and Advaita Vedanta (all-Self, time and causality as maya, no path) are “mirror images” of each other. Ultimately it becomes difficult to distinguish a formless Being (Brahman) from a formless nonbeing (shunyata). Buddhism seems to be a more phenomenological description of nonduality, Vedanta a more metaphysical account.
Note from author: I am pleased to announce that Wisdom Publications will be publishing a second edition of this book in 2019.

Excerpts

Thusness:

Whether it is expressed as “exist conventionally but ultimately empty” or “appear but are empty” is simply a matter of flavour.

What is important is the taste of seeing conventional things as empty till one’s entire body-mind is pervaded with emptiness - like space, free and unobstructed.
John Tan Geo, I think it is not just about putting mind to a rest as certain specific insights regarding the ultimate nature of mind and phenomena need to arise. Putting the reasoning mind to a standstill can have several outcomes:

1. A dull state of non-conc
eptuality.

2. A taste of Presence but not necessarily free from duality.

3. Perceiver seen as perceived. Subsuming all as Mind.

4. Both perceiver and perceived are liberated by realising they r empty; what appears is free from elaboration. Boundless and spontaneous, naturally perfected.

Seeing the emptiness and dependent arising of “this” and “that” relates to 4 imo.

(Wrote this after a clear insight arose)

No behind, presence as form is anatta
Presence-as-form is merely appearing, nothing there, that's emptiness (the nature of Presence)

...

Not only no who, but truly no it, no there, no here, no now, no when, no where, no arising, no ceasing, no abiding or place of abidance. Coming to rest in the nature of presence with no place to rest, whole field of spontaneous illusory display emerges as empty-clarity-bliss.

...


Soh Wei Yu I really like a statement by Jang-gya, “appearance negates existence”
Manage

· Reply · 22h
Stian Gudmundsen Høiland

Stian Gudmundsen Høiland Say some more about that Soh?

Manage

· Reply · 16h
Soh Wei Yu


Soh Wei Yu It starts with the very vivid "Presence" (or you can call it Awareness or Clarity) that is simply shining as the very vividness of forms, sounds, thoughts, whatever appears, as the subject/object or perceiver/perceived dichotomy has collapsed into a non-conceptual experience of the vividness of whatever manifests with zero sense of distance. There is no more standalone Presence or Awareness or Clarity in anatta. The illusion of a background Self/Mind has been penetrated. Even so, the very empty nature of 'foreground Presence' may not yet reveal itself initially.

Let's say you're looking at the floor, or a table, or whatever it is. It seems very solid and real, but then upon some investigation it's realised to be merely appearing without substance or essence, and that happens to be the very nature of Presence -- vividly appearing according to conditions but completely empty of anything 'there', empty of an 'it-ness' or 'floor-ness' or any sort of substance. Basically it's sort of like suddenly an apparent figure you've been looking at or talking to is suddenly realised to be literally a hologram. The very nature of Presence as merely appearing without substance basically negates the extreme of existence.

For me the nature of Presence reveals in a more experiential sort of examination rather than through analytical reasonings. Like what Thusness wrote in his article http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/.../on-anatta... "On Anatta (No-Self), Emptiness, Maha and Ordinariness, and Spontaneous Perfection",

"If we observe thought and ask where does thought arise, how does it arise, what is ‘thought’ like. 'Thought' will reveal its nature is empty -- vividly present yet completely un-locatable. It is very important not to infer, think or conceptualise but feel with our entire being this ‘ungraspability’ and 'unlocatability'. It seems to reside 'somewhere' but there is no way to locate it. It is just an impression of somewhere "there" but never "there". Similarly “here-ness” and “now-ness” are merely impressions formed by sensations, aggregates of causes and conditions, nothing inherently ‘there’; equally empty like ‘selfness’."
Manage

· Reply · 1m · Edited
Soh Wei Yu

Soh Wei Yu That said not everyone uses or likes the term "Presence". Tsongkhapa doesn't use that term. You can substitute that for other terms like "dharma" etc, it's just the empty and luminously clear nature of the display.

Foreground emptying has this taste where appearance negates existence.
Also see: Difference Between Thusness Stage 1 and 2 and other Stages

Differentiating I AM, One Mind, No Mind and Anatta

No Mind and Anatta, Focusing on Insight


Session Start: Saturday, March 14, 2009

(11:50 PM) AEN:    'Nevertheless it is a very key phase'
u mean very important key phase?
(11:51 PM) Thusness:    yeah
(11:52 PM) AEN:    icic..
btw wats the difference between stage 4 and 5 other than stabilizing non dual
(11:54 PM) Thusness:    u need to face the problem to know
it is not in words
(11:55 PM) Thusness:    because u have not experienced non-division
(11:55 PM) Thusness:    so u do not know what is non divison
(11:55 PM) Thusness:    what is no-doership and what is no agent in experience
(11:56 PM) Thusness:    and it is difficult to know what is that 'marks' that prevent the experience of spontaneity
(11:56 PM) AEN:    oic..
(11:58 PM) Thusness:    there is a difference seeing thinker/thoughts as one
(11:58 PM) Thusness:    and hearer/sound as one
then sound is awareness, no hearer
(11:58 PM) Thusness:    stage 4 is more like hearer/sound as one
(11:59 PM) Thusness:    that is why i said one thought, then another thought
just like u, u said u feel like an open space
(11:59 PM) Thusness:    then u hear sound
sound and awareness seem to be one
(11:59 PM) AEN:    oic..
(12:00 AM) Thusness:    indistinguishable but u cannot have that experience that there is only sound
only in logic u have but not in experience
(12:00 AM) Thusness:    until one day u mature that experience
(12:01 AM) AEN:    icic..
just now i saw a website from truthz's blog lists
i mean not truthz's blog but the blog link appeared in his
(12:02 AM) AEN:    http://buddhaspace.blogspot.com/
Correct Understanding - the first of the eight aspects of the Noble Eightfold Path - arises out of noticing the impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal nature of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile objects. When all these phenomena are realized to be not self, the mind will turn inwards, seeking out what it might cling to as ‘me’. But if it looks with absolute clarity it will find emptiness. Behind sensations, feelings, thoughts, and consciousness, there lies clear, endless space. I sometimes call it ‘Buddha Space’.
(12:05 AM) Thusness:    yeah
that is wrong view.
(12:05 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:06 AM) Thusness:    it is very difficult to see the truth of this until our insight matures
even at stage 4, it can be difficult but it is already the first steps towards anatta
(12:06 AM) AEN:    difficult to what
see anatta?
(12:06 AM) Thusness:    yeah
(12:06 AM) AEN:    oic
(12:07 AM) Thusness:    u must see the no agent
not only no division
(12:07 AM) Thusness:    like i told u there are 3 stages
(12:08 AM) Thusness:    later into just this non-dual luminosity
(12:09 AM) Thusness:    if u ask non-dualists, they will not realise that they are an arising thought
(12:09 AM) Thusness:    like what jeff foster said
(12:09 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:10 AM) Thusness:    they will feel damn ultimate
(12:10 AM) AEN:    ic..
like brahman
(12:11 AM) Thusness:    yes so they see self
not events, process phenomena
(12:12 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:12 AM) Thusness:    they see brahman, not sunyata
(12:12 AM) Thusness:    even the experiences are very similar
the insight has not matured into anatta
(12:13 AM) Thusness:    like shingon sort of practice, the experience can be said to be maha like
but it is not the maha sort of experience i am talking about
(12:13 AM) Thusness:    it is oneness sort of experience
but it is a stage
(12:14 AM) Thusness:    what i said is oneness is always there
(12:14 AM) Thusness:    when one realises that presence is always a manifestation and full embodiment of interconnectedness
(12:15 AM) Thusness:    no effort needs to be done to induce a maha experience


(12:23 AM) Thusness:    there are few conditions to experience maha as a ground
(12:23 AM) Thusness:    1. mature in non-dual experience
2. DO (dependent origination)
(12:24 AM) Thusness:    3.  experience and understand that 'interconnectedness' is the universe itself
then 'self' and even non dual becomes quite irrelevant
(12:25 AM) Thusness:    in fact now presence is not understand as non-dual to me.
(12:26 AM) Thusness:    but as DO
(12:26 AM) Thusness:    where non-dual is already included


.......

2008:


(11:46 PM) Thusness:    Does ken (Ken Wilber) talk about anatta
(11:46 PM) AEN:    no
(11:47 PM) Thusness:    Or Advaita sort of understanding
(11:47 PM) AEN:    advaita (Ken Wilber is at Thusness Stage 4)
(11:47 PM) Thusness:    Then y u kept asking me.
(11:47 PM) Thusness:    What is anatta?
(11:48 PM) AEN:    ya but wat i mean is nondual experience is not as in stage 2 type of passing experience, but as everpresent reality?
(11:48 PM) AEN:    anatta is no agent and dependent origination?
(11:48 PM) Thusness:    Didn't I tell u understanding non-dual experience as verb. (Soh: refer to my article The Wind is Blowing, Blowing is the Wind)
(11:48 PM) AEN:    icic
(11:49 PM) Thusness:    Not an entity that is independent and unchanging?
(11:49 PM) AEN:    but ken wilber say "You are that, and there is no you – just this entire luminous display spontaneously arising moment to moment. The separate self is nowhere to be found."
(11:50 PM) AEN:    *oic
(11:50 PM) Thusness:    Non-dual experience is there is clarity of no separation (As in Thusness Stage 4)
(11:51 PM) Thusness:    Stage 2 is there is merging
(11:51 PM) Thusness:    As if I dissolved and merge..
(11:51 PM) AEN:    icic..
(11:52 PM) Thusness:    There r two, dual
(11:52 PM) AEN:    oic..
(11:52 PM) Thusness:    Non-dual is there never was a separation
(11:52 PM) Thusness:    No split
(11:53 PM) AEN:    icic..
(11:53 PM) Thusness:    There is no separate I.
(11:53 PM) AEN:    oic..
(11:53 PM) Thusness:    But this awareness is still very much constant, permanent and unchanging
(11:54 PM) AEN:    icic..
(11:54 PM) Thusness:    Anatta goes further and understand exactly what is non-dual experience
(11:55 PM) Thusness:    This is a break-through in insight
(11:55 PM) AEN:    oic..
(11:55 PM) AEN:    its about discerning it as DO?
(11:55 PM) Thusness:    There is thinking, no thinker
(11:55 PM) AEN:    icic
(11:55 PM) Thusness:    Seen no seer
(11:56 PM) Thusness:    Sound no hearer
(11:56 PM) AEN:    oic
(11:56 PM) Thusness:    Understood becoming no being
(11:56 PM) AEN:    icic..
(11:57 PM) Thusness:    Understand that object@
(11:57 PM) AEN:    wat u mean
(11:59 PM) Thusness:    Object/subject is the result of compartmentizing 'verb'
(11:59 PM) Thusness:    Action
(11:59 PM) AEN:    icic..
(11:59 PM) Thusness:    Thinking becomes thinker and thoughts
(11:59 PM) Thusness:    That is anatta
(12:00 AM) Thusness:    It is the direct experience that there is no thinker, just thoughts
(12:01 AM) Thusness:    In seeing, always only the seen.
(12:01 AM) AEN:    is this wat u mean by nondual yet permanent (for ken wilber):

You are not the one who experiences liberation; you are the clearing, the opening, the emptiness, in which any experience comes and goes, like reflections on the mirror. And you are the mirror, the mirror mind, and not any experienced reflection. But you are not apart from the reflections, standing back and watching. You are everything that is arising moment to moment. You can swallow the whole cosmos in one gulp, it is so small, and you can taste the sky without moving an inch.
(12:01 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:03 AM) Thusness:    Yes what I called desync of view and non-dual experience
(12:04 AM) Thusness:    When insight arises, there is no desync
(12:04 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:05 AM) Thusness:    Non-dual experience is clearly understood because there never was one.
(12:05 AM) Thusness:    It is always only manifestation
(12:06 AM) AEN:    there never was what?
(12:06 AM) Thusness:    DO is the operation mechanism of the Transience
(12:06 AM) Thusness:    A self
(12:06 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:10 AM) Thusness:    It is very difficult to have such clarity
(12:11 AM) Thusness:    Only Buddha has it
(12:11 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:12 AM) Thusness:    Even buddhist practitioners have so much mis-conceptions
(12:12 AM) Thusness:    They can't see how consistent and precise the teaching is
(12:13 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:14 AM) AEN:    btw this is not yet nondual experience rite, more like I AM?:
(12:14 AM) AEN:    "the world moves forward as it is..... but instead of seeing the diversity as the ulitmate the One underneath it all is rested in..... Like the ocean reality or maya is simply the surface waves of moving consciousness.... shakti which manifests the underlying Ocean of Consciousness into a limited visible form..... But what is beneath and around and within that form is simply the same consciousness which comprises the Whole of the Ocean.... But in the calm of the depths you know the vastness instead of the limited......"
(12:16 AM) Thusness:    Yes
(12:16 AM) AEN:    icic
(12:17 AM) Thusness:    Under the influence of the 'bond' without knowing it
(12:17 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:17 AM) Thusness:    Stage 1 to 6 cannot be skipped
(12:17 AM) AEN:    wat do u mean
(12:18 AM) Thusness:    Best experienced that way.
(12:18 AM) AEN:    oic
(12:18 AM) Thusness:    A practitioner cannot skip stages
(12:18 AM) AEN:    but buddhist path skips some rite
(12:18 AM) AEN:    like dharma dan never go through 'i am'
(12:18 AM) Thusness:    Yes
(12:19 AM) Thusness:    the depth of clarity will not be there
(12:19 AM) Thusness:    Like grimnexus see 4 same as 5.
(12:20 AM) Thusness:    But a person that undergone knows clearly.
(12:21 AM) AEN:    oic
(12:21 AM) AEN:    ya he tot its the same
(12:21 AM) AEN:    btw grimnexus at stage 4 rite
(12:21 AM) Thusness:    Like ken and Ajahn amaro, seems the same but even Ajahn Amaro thought it is the same.
(12:21 AM) AEN:    long time nv see him online liao, he like never came online for many months
(12:21 AM) AEN:    oic
(12:21 AM) Thusness:    Why u worry so much abt others ppl stage?
(12:22 AM) AEN:    lol
(12:23 AM) Thusness:    Rather pray hard that u will not be misled and go through countless lives of rebirth again
(12:23 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:23 AM) Thusness:    What u must have is to correctly discern
(12:24 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:25 AM) Thusness:    If u want to hv clarity of the essence of the six phases, discern and understand correctly.
(12:25 AM) Thusness:    What if I m no more around?
(12:25 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:26 AM) Thusness:    If Ajahn Amaro cannot know the diff, much less is others
(12:26 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:26 AM) AEN:    dharma dan leh
(12:26 AM) Thusness:    Rather ask urself have u correctly understood then abt others
(12:27 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:27 AM) Thusness:    How I know?
(12:27 AM) AEN:    oic
(12:27 AM) Thusness:    U kept asking abt others, I worry more abt u.
(12:27 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:28 AM) Thusness:    If u know, u will be able to know r they there.
(12:28 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:29 AM) Thusness:    Like ken and Ajahn Amaro clearly have same experience but different understanding
(12:29 AM) Thusness:    David loy treat them the same too.
(12:29 AM) Thusness:    Not realizing the differences
(12:30 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:30 AM) Thusness:    So have the right understanding
(12:31 AM) Thusness:    One is abiding, the other is non-abiding
(12:32 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:32 AM) Thusness:    One is still efforting, the other is effortless
(12:32 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:33 AM) Thusness:    One is Brahman, the other is DO
(12:34 AM) Thusness:    One is mirror, the other is pure manifestation
(12:34 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:36 AM) Thusness:    'Self' is grasped unknowingly because it is independent, changeless
(12:36 AM) Thusness:    Therefore they can't treasure the Transience
(12:37 AM) Thusness:    They can't c conditions
(12:37 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:37 AM) Thusness:    The Transience and conditions are most sacred
(12:38 AM) Thusness:    How can Self c this?
(12:38 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:39 AM) Thusness:    But one must know the emptiness nature of Transience, unfindable and ungraspable
(12:39 AM) Thusness:    And rises when condition is
(12:40 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:40 AM) Thusness:    When we say attributes, we r referring to the empty nature of awareness
(12:41 AM) AEN:    wat u mean
(12:41 AM) Thusness:    But awareness is full of colors
(12:41 AM) AEN:    u mean attributelessness?
(12:41 AM) AEN:    icic
(12:41 AM) Thusness:    Like 'redness' of a flower
(12:42 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:42 AM) Thusness:    But to advaitins, it is absence
(12:42 AM) Thusness:    Nothing to do with awareness
(12:43 AM) AEN:    u mean they see awareness as formless?
(12:43 AM) Thusness:    yes
(12:43 AM) AEN:    icic
(12:44 AM) Thusness:    Means absence of attributes as colorless, formless
(12:44 AM) Thusness:    But what buddhism is referring is its emptiness nature
(12:45 AM) Thusness:    Not that there is a real formless entity
(12:45 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:45 AM) Thusness:    Awareness is appearances appearing when condition is
(12:46 AM) AEN:    icic..
(12:46 AM) Thusness:    awareness is not free of thoughts
(12:46 AM) Thusness:    To advaitins, it is.
(12:47 AM) Thusness:    To buddhist practitioner, thought is awareness
(12:48 AM) Thusness:    One thought arises
(12:48 AM) Thusness:    Next one
(12:48 AM) Thusness:    Like what Ajahn Amaro said
(12:48 AM) Thusness:    There is no worry abt no thought, no conceptuality
(12:49 AM) Thusness:    All will be experienced in their most vivid forms
(12:49 AM) Thusness:    I got to go now.
(12:49 AM) AEN:    oic..
(12:49 AM) AEN:    ok gd nite
(12:49 AM) Thusness:    Nite

....
 

15/4/13 12:53:28 AM: John Tan: Anatta is a realization that there isn't a consciousness besides sound, scenery...etc
15/4/13 12:56:15 AM: John Tan: U c through reification of that agent and get in touch with the base manifestation  where the label rely upon
15/4/13 12:57:02 AM: John Tan: So sound is the actual consciousness is referring to
15/4/13 12:57:36 AM: John Tan: There is no consciousness other than that

15/4/13 1:01:13 AM: John Tan: When they see through reification, then phenomena has a different meaning
15/4/13 1:02:04 AM: John Tan: Seeing everything as awareness is not one mind
15/4/13 1:02:52 AM: John Tan: Seeing everything as the same unchanging mind is the problem
15/4/13 1:04:09 AM: John Tan: When u c through reification, u realized "awareness" is just a label point to these manifestations
15/4/13 1:04:32 AM: John Tan: So there is nothing wrong saying that
15/4/13 1:05:24 AM: John Tan: Only when we treat awareness to b of true existence then we r deluded because there isn't any
15/4/13 1:11:14 AM: Soh Wei Yu: I see..
15/4/13 1:11:36 AM: John Tan: In hearing, there is only sound
15/4/13 1:11:57 AM: John Tan: Hearing implies the presence of sound

14/5/13 9:39:15 PM: John Tan: One mind is different
14/5/13 9:40:04 PM: John Tan: One mind as I told u is the witness is gone but subsume into an overarching Awareness
14/5/13 9:40:31 PM: Soh Wei Yu: Is there a distinct phase of one mind in your seven stages?
14/5/13 9:40:48 PM: John Tan: Phase 4
14/5/13 9:41:23 PM: Soh Wei Yu: But u said phase 4 u already realised anatta and experience no mind?
14/5/13 9:41:51 PM: Soh Wei Yu: So does that mean the insight already arise by tendency to sink back to one mind is still there
14/5/13 9:42:03 PM: Soh Wei Yu: But
14/5/13 9:42:17 PM: John Tan: All such gray area is put onto phase 4 insight when view isn't completely clear
14/5/13 9:42:44 PM: John Tan: There is no way to describe the grey scale
14/5/13 9:43:24 PM: John Tan: Even in anatta there r so many different degree of refinements
14/5/13 9:43:34 PM: Soh Wei Yu: I see
14/5/13 9:43:59 PM: John Tan: But it is not practical to talk abt all
14/5/13 9:44:44 PM: Soh Wei Yu: Oic.. U mean not describable
14/5/13 9:45:32 PM: John Tan: No...not that it is not describable but not practical to describe
14/5/13 9:46:48 PM: John Tan: Like AF is part of the deviation looking into purely physical flesh and blood of pure experience ... Some went into details some does not
14/5/13 9:47:51 PM: Soh Wei Yu: What do u mean by went into details
14/5/13 9:48:54 PM: John Tan: It is like I M, there r all those experiences u undergone but I do not say they r diff phases


14/4/13 7:35:01 PM: John Tan: When u say "weather", does weather exist?
14/4/13 7:35:20 PM: Soh Wei Yu: No
14/4/13 7:35:42 PM: Soh Wei Yu: It's a convention imputed on a seamless activity
14/4/13 7:35:54 PM: Soh Wei Yu: Existence and non existence don't apply
14/4/13 7:36:02 PM: John Tan: What is the basis where this label rely on
14/4/13 7:36:16 PM: Soh Wei Yu: Rain clouds wind etc
14/4/13 7:36:25 PM: John Tan: Don't talk prasanga
14/4/13 7:36:36 PM: John Tan: Directly see
14/4/13 7:38:11 PM: John Tan: Rain too is a label
14/4/13 7:39:10 PM: John Tan: But in direct experience, there is no issue but when probed, u realized how one is confused abt the reification from language
14/4/13 7:39:52 PM: John Tan: And from there life/death/creation/cessation arise
14/4/13 7:40:06 PM: John Tan: And whole lots of attachment
14/4/13 7:40:25 PM: John Tan: But it does not mean there is no basis...get it?
14/4/13 7:40:45 PM: Soh Wei Yu: The basis is just the experience right
14/4/13 7:41:15 PM: John Tan: Yes which is plain and simple
14/4/13 7:41:50 PM: John Tan: When we say the weather is windy
14/4/13 7:42:04 PM: John Tan: Feel the wind, the blowing...
14/4/13 7:43:04 PM: John Tan: But when we look at language and mistaken verb for nouns there r big issues
14/4/13 7:43:22 PM: John Tan: So before we talk abt this and that
14/4/13 7:43:40 PM: John Tan: Understand what consciousness is and awareness is
14/4/13 7:43:45 PM: John Tan: Get it?
14/4/13 7:44:40 PM: John Tan: When we say weather, feel the sunshine, the wind, the rain
14/4/13 7:44:58 PM: John Tan: U do not search for weather
14/4/13 7:45:04 PM: John Tan: Get it?
14/4/13 7:45:57 PM: John Tan: Similarly, when we say awareness, look into scenery, sound, tactile sensations, scents and thoughts
 
....

In early 2010, before I realised anatta:

(11:12 PM) Thusness: u r using stage 4 understanding to explain 6
(11:12 PM) AEN: oic
(11:13 PM) Thusness: i am not interested in views
only the insight that allows u to understand the right view
(11:14 PM) Thusness: that is in phase 4, 'non-dual' is the insight
in phase 5, that observer is gone
(11:15 PM) Thusness: there is not only no 'in' here or out 'there' not because it is non-dual, but because there is no such observer at all.
anatta
(11:15 PM) Thusness: that is the 'insight' that must arise
(11:15 PM) AEN: icic..
(11:15 PM) Thusness: just like what dharma dan said

(11:23 PM) Thusness: u do not deny subjective or object reality
(11:24 PM) Thusness: they are only provisional and conventional
(11:24 PM) AEN: oic..
(11:25 PM) Thusness: but when the dualistic and inherent hears the term 'non-dual', they either visualize the 2 becoming one or 'you have become me'...
(11:25 PM) Thusness: because this is how a mind that is trapped would think despite the experience
(11:26 PM) AEN: icic..
(11:27 PM) Thusness: for what that is beyond the four extremes cannot be expressed adequately using language
so what that is important is the insights
(11:27 PM) Thusness: and see how one expresses these insights
(11:27 PM) AEN: oic..
(11:28 PM) Thusness: like joan tollifson
it is the direct experience
there is no view about it
(11:28 PM) AEN: icic..
(11:30 PM) Thusness: means a practitioner will only experience hardness, softness, intentions, scenery, sound
no self
(11:30 PM) Thusness: action
directly
(11:31 PM) Thusness: but conventionally, u r still u, i am still me
(11:31 PM) Thusness: there is no such thing as u r me
get it?
(11:32 PM) Thusness: or there is an awareness that is sound
or all is just this awareness
there is no such concept
(11:32 PM) AEN: oic..
(11:33 PM) Thusness: there is sound, sight, thoughts
(11:33 PM) Thusness: and what u call awareness are just that
(11:34 PM) AEN: icic..
(11:34 PM) AEN: ya i talked about it in http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?showtopic=13153&st=120#
(11:35 PM) Thusness: yeah but ur mind is thinking some awareness
or all are just this awareness
(11:35 PM) AEN: oic
(11:36 PM) Thusness: this is a dualistic way of understanding
though experience is non-dual
that is phase 4
(11:36 PM) AEN: sorry i mean post #126
oic
(11:36 PM) Thusness: that is treating winter as spring and spring as autumn
(11:36 PM) Thusness: that is treating fire as becoming ashes
(11:36 PM) AEN: icic..
(11:37 PM) Thusness: get it?
although u said that sound is awareness, u r still treating it as that.
(11:37 PM) Thusness: as if winter becomes spring
or winter is spring
(11:38 PM) Thusness: get it?
(11:38 PM) AEN: oic..
(11:38 PM) Thusness: it is different
for example dharma dan said there is just sensations, thoughts...the aggregates. whether super awareness or awareness. it is different from saying sensation is awareness, thoughts is awareness as if awareness has become thoughts
 
 
 
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Update, 16/7/2021

Also relevant:
 
Session Start: Wednesday, 17 December, 2008

(9:49 PM) Thusness: Sense of self and sense of beingness is different
(9:51 PM) Thusness: Wisdom of our nature includes the ability to know the difference
(9:51 PM) AEN: oic..
(9:51 PM) Thusness: yes i read what he wrote.
(9:52 PM) AEN: longchen? ic..
(9:52 PM) Thusness: yes in the morning.
(9:53 PM) AEN: oic..
(9:54 PM) Thusness: the other article about great freedom is also not bad.
(9:54 PM) AEN: icic..
(9:57 PM) AEN: btw wats the difference between 'now' and spontaneous arising.. to remain in 'now' doesnt mean there's no sense of self isit? and there's still the sense of effort to achieve or sustain the state
(10:00 PM) Thusness: 'Now' is a concept for what they really want to convey is a direct experience of a sense of presence.
(10:00 PM) Thusness: spontaneous arising is different. It relates to 'effortlessness'.
(10:02 PM) Thusness: it relates to the direct experience of what liberation is.
(10:02 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:07 PM) AEN: u said travis post is still 'i am'... is cos he still cant differentiate sense of self and beingness?
(10:07 PM) Thusness: what they want to bring across to the readers is to tell them not to lost themselves in stories so that they missed the direct experience of 'Presence'.
(10:07 PM) Thusness: This is just the first step.
(10:08 PM) AEN: icic..
(10:09 PM) Thusness: Stressing the importance of 'Now' has no other purpose other than that.
(10:09 PM) Thusness: What longchen said is a more important truth.
(10:09 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:10 PM) AEN: but spontaneous manifestation can only occur after insight rite?
(10:10 PM) Thusness: not exactly
(10:10 PM) Thusness: it always occur
(10:11 PM) Thusness: it is just that it is not realised
(10:11 PM) AEN: icic..
(10:11 PM) Thusness: now when the article from 'Great Freedom' said, the space is Awareness and what that arise is also Awareness. How do u understand it?
(10:13 PM) AEN: thats non duality rite?
(10:14 PM) Thusness: To me it is non-dual but not buddhism sort of understanding.
(10:14 PM) Thusness: Therefore it does not the sort of insight I hope u can achieve.
(10:15 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:15 PM) AEN: wats the difference
(10:16 PM) Thusness: Yes what is the difference?
(10:16 PM) AEN: they still treat awareness as an unchanging background?
(10:16 PM) Thusness: not actually that for this case
(10:17 PM) Thusness: obviously they also treat whatever arise as Awareness.
(10:17 PM) Thusness: They problem is in the depth of clarity.
(10:18 PM) Thusness: There are several hurdles here.
(10:18 PM) Thusness: First is the experience of a pure sense of existence (Presence) from a state free from 'thoughts'
(10:19 PM) Thusness: an almost thoughtless state
(10:19 PM) Thusness: then there is also the experience of non-duality
(10:19 PM) AEN: icic..
(10:20 PM) Thusness: that is a state similar to what Ken Wilber experienced
(10:20 PM) Thusness: There is inability to break-through the 'bond' of dualism.
(10:22 PM) Thusness: The perpetual referencing back prevents the depth of 'seeing' despite the non-dual experience.
(10:22 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:22 PM) AEN: referencing back to a self or background?
(10:23 PM) Thusness: it is not that he wants the background, it is because the dualistic tendency
(10:24 PM) AEN: btw self inquiry can lead to a thoughtless state of presence rite? yesterday was practicing self inquiry until suddenly its like i have almost no thought already... just a sense of presence... then suddenly i enter into a v blissful state for i tink 1 or 2 minute
(10:24 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:24 PM) Thusness: yes
(10:26 PM) Thusness: this pure sense of existence cannot 'blind' us from seeing sight, sound, taste and other arising phenomenon as Presence
(10:26 PM) AEN: icic..
(10:27 PM) Thusness: once u let that blind u, u can't experience anatta completely
(10:27 PM) Thusness: the next natural development is to have the glimpse of what Ken Wilber experiences... u need vivid experience of that
(10:27 PM) AEN: i didnt remember experience sight or sound or taste... instead it feels like void... but theres presence
(10:28 PM) AEN: icic
(10:28 PM) Thusness: then confusion steps in whenever u try to make sense out of these 2 experiences
(10:28 PM) Thusness: the problem is with our dualistic mode of understanding things
(10:28 PM) Thusness: despite the experiences, we still cannot understand it correctly
(10:29 PM) Thusness: until we become clear of anatta then prajna insight arises
(10:30 PM) Thusness: Once we accept anatta and DO as the right understanding of these experiences, we began to experience clearer and less effort is needed
(10:31 PM) Thusness: Once we clearly see that the 5 aggregates are already non-dual, we no more preserve that 'state' of pure existence
(10:31 PM) Thusness: the 'effort' to sustain a particular state disappear
(10:32 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:32 PM) Thusness: yet that is not the exhaustive even insight arises
(10:32 PM) AEN: huh?
(10:33 PM) Thusness: like when we faced adverse situations, non-dual is gone as in the case of longchen.
(10:33 PM) Thusness: when in dream states also
(10:34 PM) AEN: oic.. ya longchen said he only experience non dual when he is near the end of the dream, and in the waking state
(10:34 PM) Thusness: not yet
(10:34 PM) AEN: oic wat u mean
(10:34 PM) AEN: he haven experience it in dream?
(10:37 PM) Thusness: not only that...
(10:38 PM) Thusness: i mean spontaneous manifestation is only correctly understood when we clearly see that there is no 'center', no 'self' from the anatta perspective
(10:38 PM) Thusness: that is, there is thoughts, no thinker
(10:38 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:39 PM) Thusness: means there is always only thoughts
(10:39 PM) Thusness: then we can begin to understand DO.
(10:39 PM) AEN: icic..
(10:39 PM) Thusness: always only Sound, no hearer
(10:40 PM) Thusness: understand spontaneous arising this way and understand DO from this experience.
(10:40 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:42 PM) Thusness: after absolute and effortless clarity of these experiences, when dealing with adverse situations, that non-dual experiences can still be gone.
(10:42 PM) Thusness: that is practice
(10:42 PM) AEN: icic..
(10:43 PM) Thusness: then we will begin to realise DO in a deeper aspect
(10:43 PM) Thusness: and the strength of the 'bond'
(10:43 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:44 PM) Thusness: but first the pure sense of existence
(10:44 PM) Thusness: then non-dual experience
(10:44 PM) AEN: icic..
(10:44 PM) AEN: btw earlier u said travis experience is still 'i am'.. isit bcos he cant distinguish beingness from sense of self?
(10:45 PM) Thusness: u must continue to practice letting go.
(10:45 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:46 PM) Thusness: to understand Travis experience, u must have the 'Oneness' experience
(10:47 PM) Thusness: stripping 'personality' from experiences
(10:47 PM) AEN: icic..
(10:48 PM) Thusness: that is, u non-dual need not arise, but that stripping of 'personality' from experiences must arise
(10:48 PM) Thusness: it is also an important experience.
(10:48 PM) Thusness: then with a lil extrapolation, u come out that sort of conclusion.
(10:49 PM) Thusness: because will 'personality' is being stripped off from every moment of experience, an 'inherent essence' is not
(10:50 PM) Thusness: that bond of 'inherent essence' causes Travis to extrapolate and lead him to that understanding.
(10:51 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:52 PM) Thusness: i mean 'because while' 'personality' is being stripped off from every moment of experience, the aspect of 'inherent essence' is not
(10:52 PM) AEN: icic..
(10:53 PM) AEN: btw he had nondual experience rite?
(10:53 PM) Thusness: yes
(10:53 PM) Thusness: just that the insight of anatta does not arise.
(10:53 PM) AEN: oic..
(10:53 PM) Thusness: what i want u to experience is anatta
(10:55 PM) AEN: icic..
(10:57 PM) Thusness: now when u hear 'sound', do u feel like the 'sound' out there?
(10:59 PM) AEN: ya
(11:00 PM) AEN: it's a bond to the body/mind rite? like a sense of being 'in here'
(11:01 PM) AEN: but if i just listen attentively it becomes less distinct i tink
(11:02 PM) Thusness is now Online
(11:13 PM) AEN: u saw my msg?
(11:16 PM) Thusness: Nope
(11:18 PM) AEN: oh i said
(11:18 PM) AEN: AEN says:
ya
AEN says:
it's a bond to the body/mind rite? like a sense of being 'in here'
AEN says:
but if i just listen attentively it becomes less distinct i tink
(11:21 PM) Thusness: seldom does it occur to us that it is due to our dualistic mode of perception as the main cause
(11:21 PM) AEN: as the main cause of?
(11:22 PM) Thusness: of making us feel so
(11:23 PM) Thusness: However there r other conditions that complicate our experience
(11:24 PM) AEN: oic..
(11:24 PM) AEN: what other conditions
(11:24 PM) Thusness: That is the 'body' and the 'external conditions'
(11:26 PM) AEN: icic..
(11:31 PM) Thusness: Now u have read, taught and the sutra to refer to, how is it that u still feel so?
(11:32 PM) Thusness: U have so much faith in Buddha, why is it that u r unable to directly feel the truth of anatta?
(11:32 PM) AEN: due to bond or the dualistic mode of perception?
(11:35 PM) Thusness: therefore know the subtlety and strength of this bond. It is much stronger then the sum of all ur faith and practices
(11:38 PM) AEN: oic..