Nondualism

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Advaita
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Teachers Advaita teachers Tradional Advaita Vedanta Dashanami Sampradaya Gaudapada Adi Shankara Vācaspati Miśra Padmapadacharya Amalananda Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham Modern Advaita Vedanta Vijnanabhiksu Swami Sivananda Swami Chinmayananda Swami Dayananda Shaivism/Tantra/Nath Ramana Maharshi Nisargadatta Maharaj Neo-Advaita Ramakrishna Swami Vivekananda H. W. L. Poonja Andrew Cohen Gangaji Mooji Other Osho Eckhart Tolle Robert Adams
Monasteries and Orders Classical Advaita Vedanta Shri Gaudapadacharya Math Sringeri Sharada Peetham Govardhana Pīṭhaṃ Dvāraka Pīṭhaṃ Jyotirmaṭha Pīṭhaṃ Modern Advaita Vedanta Divine Life Society Chinmaya Mission Arsha Vidya Gurukulam Neo-Vedanta Ramakrishna Mission
Scholarship Academic Richard De Smet Paul Deussen Eliot Deutsch Sengaku Mayeda Hajime Nakamura Anantanand Rambachan Arvind Sharma Non-academic David Godman
Categories Advaita‎ Advaita Vedanta‎ Vishishtadvaita Vedanta Advaita Shaivism‎ Kashmir Shaivism‎ Inchegeri Sampradaya‎ Nondualism Neo-Advaita teachers

Nondualism, also called non-duality, "points to the idea that the universe and all its multiplicity are ultimately expressions or appearances of one essential reality."^[1] It is a term and concept used to define various strands of religious and spiritual thought.^[2] It is found in a variety of Asian religious traditions^[3] and modern western spirituality, but with a variety of meanings and uses.^[3][2] The term may refer to:

• advaya, the nonduality of conventional and ultimate truth, or relative and Absolute reality:

• Buddhist Madhyamaka, which says there is no absolute, transcendent reality beyond our everyday reality;
• Chinese Mahayana, but also neo-Vedanta, which says that there is no absolute difference between the relative world and "absolute" reality;

• advaita, the non-difference of Ātman and Brahman or the Absolute; it is best known from Advaita Vedanta, but can also be found in Kashmir Shaivism, popular teachers like Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj, and in the Buddha-nature of the Buddhist tradition;
• "nondual consciousness", the non-duality of subject and object; this can be found in modern spirituality.

Its Asian origins are situated within both the Vedic and the Buddhist tradition and developed from the Upanishadic period onward.^[4] The oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought may be found in the Chandogya Upanishad, which pre-dates the earliest Buddhism, while the Buddhist tradition added the highly influential teachings of śūnyatā; the two truths doctrine, the nonduality of the absolute and the relative truth;^[5][6] and the Yogachara notion of "pure consciousness" or "representation-only" (vijñaptimātra).^[7]

The term has more commonly become associated with the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Adi Shankara, which took over the Buddhist notions of anutpada and pure consciousness^[7] but gave it an ontological interpretation, and provided an orthodox hermeneutical basis for heterodox Buddhist phenomology.^[8][9] Advaita Vedanta states that there is no difference between Brahman and Ātman,^[7] and that Brahman is ajativada, "unborn," a stance which is also reflected in other Indian traditions, such as Shiva Advaita and Kashmir Shaivism.

Vijñapti-mātra and the two truths doctrine, coupled with the concept of Buddha-nature, have also been influential concepts in the subsequent development of Mahayana Buddhism, not only in India, but also in China and Tibet, most notably the Chán (Zen) and Dzogchen traditions.

The western origins are situated within Western esotericism, especially Swedenborgianism, Unitarianism, Transcendentalism and the idea of religious experience as a valid means of knowledge of a transcendental reality. Universalism and Perennialism are another important strand of thought, as reflected in various strands of modern spirituality, New Age and Neo-Advaita, where the "primordial, natural awareness without subject or object"^{[web 1]} is seen as the essence of a variety of religious traditions.^[10]

Definitions

Dictionary definitions of "nondualism" are scarce.^{[web 2]} According to Espín and Nickoloff, "nondualism"

... points to the idea that the universe and all its multiplicity are ultimately expressions or appearances of one essential reality."^[1]

The main definitions are the nonduality of Atman and Brahman (Advaita), the nonduality of Absolute and relative (Advaya), and nondual consciousness.^{[note 1][note 2]}

Advaya and Advaita

A distinction can be made between advaya and advaita:^[11]

• Advaya refers to the nonduality of conventional and ultimate truth,^[12] or the relative (phenomenal) world and the Absolute;^[1]
• Advaita refers to the non-difference of Atman and Brahman,^[1] the related concepts of vijñapti-mātra and Buddha-nature in Buddhism; and to "nondual consciousness." It is not just the knowing of this as information but the actual perception of what appears as life as that - not two.

The distinction between advaya and advaita was made by Murti in his classic work "The Central Philosophy of Buddhism",^{[11][note 3]} while "nondual consciousness" is a western, inclusive understanding of various strands of eastern religiosity.

Definition 1: Advaya - nonduality of the two truths

Non-duality of conventional and ultimate truth

"Advaya" is a non-essentialist, epistemological approach,^[14] which questions what we can know about reality. It states that there is no absolute, transcendent reality beyond our everyday reality. It also denies the existence of inherently existing "things" or "essences": nothing has an inherent "essence." According to this definition or usage, nonduality refers to the nonduality between absolute and relative. It is the recognition that ultimately every"thing" is devoid of an everlasting and independent "essence", and that this emptiness does not constitute an "absolute" reality in itself.^{[note 4]}. It is a non-essentialist, or non-absolutist, position, denying any "transcendent" reality.

It is exemplified by Madhyamaka Buddhism, and its insight into the "emptiness", or non-existence, of inherently existing "things",^[15] and the "emptiness of emptiness": emptiness does not in itself contitute an absolute reality.^{[note 5]} It is the Middle Way between eternalism ("things" have an inherent essence) and annihilationism or nihilism (nothing exists).^{[note 6]}

Nonduality of Absolute and relative reality

In Chinese Buddhism the Two truths doctrine was reinterpreted as an ontological teaching, positing the nonduality of two ontological levels of reality, namely phenomenal or relative reality, and absolute reality. Based on their understanding of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra the Chinese supposed that the teaching of the Buddha-nature was, as stated by that sutra, the final Buddhist teaching, and that there is an essential truth above sunyata and the two truths of Madhyamaka.^[21]

Definition 2: Advaita - Identity of Atman and Brahman

"Advaita" is an essentialist, ontological approach,^[14] which states that there is transcendent absolute reality which constitutes our core identity, namely Brahman (Vedanta) or Vijñāna.^{[14][note 7]}

According to this definition or usage, nonduality refers to "Advaita", which means that there is no difference between Ātman and Brahman^[7] or Vijñāna, "pure consciousness."^{[14][note 7]} It is an essentialist position, which asserts the existence of an absolute reality that transcends everyday reality

Vedanta and other Hindu-traditions

Advaita is best known from the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Adi Shankara, who states that Brahman is pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss (Sat-cit-ananda).^[22] Only Brahman is real; the empirical world is unreal, appearance.^[23] Yet, Advaita Vedanta is closely related to Madhyamaka via Gaudapda, who took over the Buddhist doctrines that ultimate reality is pure consciousness (vijñapti-mātra)^[7] Shankara harmonised Gaudapada's ideas with the Upanishadic texts, and provided an orthodox hermeneutical basis for heterodox Buddhist phenomology.^[8][9] Advaita has become a broad current in Indian culture and religions, influencing subsequent traditions like Kashmir Shaivism.

Vijñapti-mātra and Buddha-nature in Buddhism

Vijñapti-mātra and the two truths doctrine, coupled with Buddha-nature, have also been influential concepts in the subsequent development of Mahayana Buddhism, not only in India, but also in China and Tibet, most notable in the Chán (Zen) and Dzogchen traditions.

Definition 3: Nondual consciousness

Nondualism as a modern spiritual movement is a Universalist or Perennialist, and essentialist approach, in western spirituality. It blends Asian religions and philosophies with the Perennial philosophy, attempting to transcend the fundamental differences between advaya and advaita. Various traditions are seen as grounded in a similar non-dual experience, which is expressed in different ways by different traditions.^{[24][note 8]} Nondual consciousness is

[A] primordial, natural awareness without subject or object",^{[web 1][5]}

The idea of a "nondual consciousness" has gained attraction and popularity in western spirituality and New Age-thinking. It is recognized in the Asian traditions, but also in western and Mediterranean religious traditions, and in western philosophy.^[10]

David Loy sees non-duality between subject and object as a common thread in Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Advaita Vedanta.^{[5][note 9]}

Origins

According to Dasgupta and Mohanta, note that non-dualism developed in various strands of Indian thought, both Vedic and Buddhist, from the Upanishadic period onward.^[4] The oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought may be found in the Chandogya Upanishad, which pre-dates the earliest Buddhism, establishing the identity of microcosm and macrocosm in the Vedic ritual offerings. Pre-sectarian Buddhism may also have been responding to the teachings of the Chandogya Upanishad, rejecting some of its metaphysics.^[42]

Advaya - nonduality of the two truths

Advaya is the non-duality of conventional and ultimate truth. It has its origins in Madhyamaka-thought, which is built on earlier Buddhist thought, and expressed in the two truths doctrine. This was further developed and re-interpreted in Chinese Buddhism, where the two truths doctrine came to refer to the nonduality of absolute and relative, re-incorporating essentialist notions.

Buddhism - levels of truth

Various schools of Buddhism discern levels of truth. This started in Indian Buddhism, where the Madhyamaka non-essentialist and epistemological approach asserted a strong influence. But there also was an essentialist approach, with the concept of Buddha-nature and the three bodies of the Buddha:

• The Two truths doctrine of the Madhyamaka
• The Three Natures of the Yogacara
• The Trikaya-formule, which was first systematized by the Yogacara school, consisting of
  • The Dharmakāya or Truth body which embodies the very principle of enlightenment and knows no limits or boundaries;
  • The Sambhogakāya or body of mutual enjoyment which is a body of bliss or clear light manifestation;
  • The Nirmāṇakāya or created body which manifests in time and space.^{[web 4]}

The idea of levels of truth was taken over in Chinese and Eas-Asian Buddhism, were it took an essentialist and ontological turn:

• The Four Dharmadhatu of Huayan Buddhism
• Absolute and relative in Zen
• Essence-Function, or Absolute-relative in Chinese and Korean Buddhism

Indian Buddhism

Madhyamaka - nonduality of conventional and ultimate truth

The distinction between the two truths (satyadvayavibhāga) was fully expressed by the Madhyamaka-school. Madhyamaka, also known as Śūnyavāda, refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of philosophy^[43] founded by Nāgārjuna.

In Madhyamaka, the two truths refer to conventional and ultimate truth.^[44] Conventionally, "things" exist, but ultimately, they are "empty" of any existence on their own, as described in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā:

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 10]}

"Emptiness" is a consequence of pratītyasamutpāda (dependent arising),^[46] the teaching that no dharma ("thing") 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 an absolute reality or Self.^[47] Ultimately, "absolute reality" is not an absolute, or the non-duality of a personal self and an absolute Self, but the deconstruction of such reifications.

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 transecendental 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 5]} 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 6]}

Tsongkhapa, a highly influential Tibetan Madhyamika, states that "things" do exist conventionally, but ultimately everything is dependently arisen, and therefor void of inherent existence.^{[web 5][note 11]} This means that conventionally things do exist, and that there is no use in denying that. But it also means that ultimately those things have no 'existence of their own', and that cognizing then as such results from cognitive operations, not from some unchangeable essence.^{[web 6]} Tsongkhapa:

Since objects do not exist through their own nature, they are established as existing through the force of convention.^{[web 6]}

Yogacara - Three natures

Yogācāra (Sanskrit; literally: "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga")^[49] is an influential school of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing phenomenology and (some argue) ontology^[50] through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It developed within Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism in about the 4th century CE.^[51]

The Yogācārins defined three basic modes by which we perceive our world. These are referred to in Yogācāra as the three natures of perception. They are:

1. Parikalpita (literally, "fully conceptualized"): "imaginary nature", wherein things are incorrectly comprehended based on conceptual construction, through attachment and erroneous discrimination.
2. Paratantra (literally, "other dependent"): "dependent nature", by which the correct understanding of the dependently originated nature of things is understood.
3. Pariniṣpanna (literally, "fully accomplished"): "absolute nature", through which one comprehends things as they are in themselves, uninfluenced by any conceptualization at all.

Also, regarding perception, the Yogācārins emphasized that our everyday understanding of the existence of external objects is problematic, since in order to perceive any object (and thus, for all practical purposes, for the object to "exist"), there must be a sensory organ as well as a correlative type of consciousness to allow the process of cognition to occur.

Trikaya

The Trikaya-formule, which was first systematized by the Yogacara school. The three bodies are:^{[web 4]}

• The Dharmakāya or Truth body which embodies the very principle of enlightenment and knows no limits or boundaries;
• The Sambhogakāya or body of mutual enjoyment which is a body of bliss or clear light manifestation;
• The Nirmāṇakāya or created body which manifests in time and space.

Chinese Buddhism - nonduality of absolute and relative reality

When Buddhism was introduced to China, in the 1st century CE, Buddhism was understood through comparisons of its teachings to Chinese terms and ways of thinking. Immortality and emptiness, central notions in Taoism, gave a frame of reference for the understanding of reincarnation and sunyata.^[21]

In the Chinese thinking of that time reincarnation was only possible if there was a soul or essence to reincarnate. Early Chinese Buddhism therefore assumed that this was also the teaching of the Buddha. In the 6th century CE it dawned that anatman and sunyata are central Buddhist teachings, which make the postulation of an eternal self problematic.^[21]

Another point of confusion was the Two truths doctrine of Madhyamaka, the relative truth and the absolute truth. Chinese thinking took this to refer to two ontological truths: reality exists of two levels, a relative level and an absolute level. But in Madhyamaka these are two epistemological truths: two different ways to look at reality. Based on their understanding of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra the Chinese supposed that the teaching of the Buddha-nature was, as stated by that sutra, the final Buddhist teaching, and that there is an essential truth above sunyata and the two truths.^[21]

Hua-yen Buddhism

The Huayan school or Flower Garland is a tradition of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy that flourished in China during the Tang period. It is based on the Sanskrit Flower Garland Sutra (S. Avataṃsaka Sūtra, C. Huayan Jing) and on a lengthy Chinese interpretation of it, the Huayan Lun. The name Flower Garland is meant to suggest the crowning glory of profound understanding. Huayan teaches the Four Dharmadhatu, four ways to view reality:

1. All dharmas are seen as particular separate events;
2. All events are an expression of the absolute;
3. Events and essence interpenetrate;
4. All events interpenetrate.^[52]

Absolute and relative in Zen

The teachings of Zen are expressed by a set of polarities: Buddha-nature - sunyata,^[53][54] absolute-relative,^[55] sudden and gradual enlightenment.^[56]

The Lankavatara-sutra, a popular sutra in Zen, endorses the Buddha-nature, emphasized 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".^[57] The Prajnaparamita Sutras emphasize the non-duality of form and emptiness: form is emptiness, emptiness is form, as the Heart Sutra says.^[55] According to Chinul, Zen points not to mere emptiness, but to suchness or the dharmadhatu.^[58]

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 tell how the absolute is present in the relative world. This question is answered in such schemata as the Five Ranks of Tozan^[59] and the Oxherding Pictures.

Essence-function in Korean Buddhism

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".^[60] In Korean Buddhism, essence-function is also expressed as "body" and "the body's functions."^[61] 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.^[62]

Tantra

Tantra is a religious tradition that originated in India the middle of the first millennium CE, and has been practiced by Buddhists, Hindus and Jains throughout south and southeast Asia.^[63] It views humans as a microcosmos which mirrors the macrocosmos.^[64] Its aim is to gain access to the energy or enlightened consciousness of the godhead or absolute, by embodying this energy or consciousness through rituals.^[64] It views the godhead as both transcendent and immanent, and views the world as real, and not as an illusion:^[65]

Rather than attempting to see through or transcend the world, the practitioner comes to recognize "that" (the world) as "I" (the supreme egoity of the godhead): in other words, s/he gains a "god's eye view" of the universe, and recognizes it to be nothing other than herself/himself. For East Asian Buddhist Tantra in particular, this means that the totality of the cosmos is a "realm of Dharma", sharing an underlying common principle.^[66]

Although Buddhism had merely become extinct in India at the time of Islamic rule, Tantrism was kept alive in the Hindu yogic traditions, such as the Nath, from which the Inchegeri Sampradaya of Nisargadatta Maharaj descends.^[67] Ramakrishna too was a tantric adherent, although his tantric background was overlaid and smoothed with an Advaita interpretation by his student Vivekananda.^[68]

Advaita Vedanta - Three levels of reality

Advaita took over from the Madhyamika the idea of levels of reality.^[69] Usually two levels are being mentioned,^[70] but Shankara uses sublation as the criterion to postulate an ontological hierarchy of three levels:^{[71][web 8]}

• Pāramārthika (paramartha, absolute), the absolute level, "which is absolutely real and into which both other reality levels can be resolved".^{[web 8]} This experience can't be sublated by any other experience.^[71]
• Vyāvahārika (vyavahara), or samvriti-saya^[70] (empirical or pragmatical), "our world of experience, the phenomenal world that we handle every day when we are awake".^{[web 8]} It is the level in which both jiva (living creatures or individual souls) and Iswara are true; here, the material world is also true.
• Prāthibhāsika (pratibhasika, apparent reality, unreality), "reality based on imagination alone".^{[web 8]} It is the level in which appearances are actually false, like the illusion of a snake over a rope, or a dream.

Advaita - identity of Atman and the Absolute

"Advaita" refers to knowledge of a differenceless entity, namely Vijñāna (Yogacara),^{[14][note 7]} Brahman (Vedanta),^[14] or Shiva (Shaivism).^[1] Although the Advaita Vedanta school of Adi Shankara is best known for the term "advaita," it is also propagated by other traditional and modern schools and teachers.^{[note 12]}

Etymology

"Advaita", Sanskrit a, not; dvaita, dual, is usually translated as "nondualism", "nonduality" and "nondual". The term "nondualism" and the term "advaita" from which it originates are polyvalent terms. The English word's origin is the Latin duo meaning "two" prefixed with "non-" meaning "not".

The first usage of the terms are yet to be attested. The English term "nondual" was also 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" under influence of the then prevailing discourse of English translations of the Classical Tradition of the Ancient Greeks, such as Thales (624 BCE–c.546 BCE) and Heraclitus (c.535 BCE–c.475 BCE).

Vedanta

Several schools of Vedanta 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 Shuddhadvaita,^[1] both of which are bhedabheda.

Advaita Vedanta

The nonduality of the Advaita Vedantins is of the identity of Brahman and the Atman.^[75]

The oldest exposition of Advaita Vedanta is written by Gauḍapāda (6th century CE),^[7] who has traditionally been regarded as the teacher of Govinda bhagavatpāda and the grandteacher of Shankara. Gaudapda took over the Buddhist doctrines that ultimate reality is pure consciousness (vijñapti-mātra)^{[7][note 13]} and "that the nature of the world is the four-cornered negation".^{[7][note 14]} Gaudapada "wove [both doctrines] into a philosophy of the Mandukaya Upanisad, which was further developed by Shankara.^{[79][note 15]}

Gaudapada also took over the Buddhist concept of "ajāta" from Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka philosophy,^[16][17] which uses the term "anutpāda".^{[81] [note 16]} "Ajātivāda", "the Doctrine of no-origination"^{[83][note 17]} or non-creation, is the fundamental philosophical doctrine of Gaudapada.^[83]

Adi Shankara (788 - 820), systematized the works of preceding philosophers,^[84] and provided an orthodox hermeneutical basis for heterodox Buddhist phenomology.^[8][9]

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."^[4]

Vishishtadvaita Vedanta

Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, is another main school of Vedanta, which 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

Neo-Vedanta, also called "neo-Hinduism"^[85] and "Hindu Universalism",^{[web 13]} 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"^[86] with Advaita Vedanta as its central doctrine.^[87]

Neo-Vedanta, as represented by Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan, is indebted to Advaita vedanta, but also reflects Advaya-philosophy. A main influence of neo-Advaita was Ramakrishna, himself a bhakta and tantrika, and the guru of Vivekananda. According to Michael Taft, Ramakrishna reconciled the dualism of formless and form.^[88] 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.^[89]

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 14][note 18]} According to Anil Sooklal, Vivekananda's neo-Advaita "reconciles Dvaita or dualism and Advaita or non-dualism":^[91]

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.^[91]

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 14]} According to Sarma, standing in the tradition of Nisargadatta Maharaj, Advaitavāda means "spiritual non-dualism or absolutism",^[92] in which opposites are manifestations of the Absolute, which itself is immanent and transcendent:^[93]

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.^[93]

Kashmir Shaivism

Advaita is also a central concept in various schools of Shaivism, such as Kashmir Shaivism and ^[1] and Shiva Advaita.

Kashmir Shaivism is a school of Śaivism, described by Abhinavagupta^{[note 19]} as "paradvaita", meaning "the supreme and absolute non-dualism".^{[web 15]} It is categorized by various scholars as monistic^[94] idealism (absolute idealism, theistic monism,^[95] realistic idealism,^[96] transcendental physicalism or concrete monism.^[96])

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.^[97] There was additionally a revelation of the Siva Sutras to Vasugupta.^[97] Kashmir Saivism claimed to supersede the dualistic Shaiva Siddhanta.^[98] 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.^[97][99]

The philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism can be seen in contrast to Shankara's Advaita.^[100] Advaita Vedanta holds that Brahman is inactive (niṣkriya) and the phenomenal world is an illusion (māyā). In Kashmir Shavisim, all things are a manifestation of the Universal Consciousness, Chit or Brahman.^[101][102] Kashmir Shavisim sees the phenomenal world (Śakti) as real: it exists, and has its being in Consciousness (Chit).^[103]

Kashmir Shaivism was influenced by, and took over doctrines from, several orthodox and heterodox Indian religious and philosophical traditions.^[104] These include Vedanta, Samkhya, Patanjali Yoga and Nyayas, and various Buddhist schools, including Yogacara and Madhyamika,^[104] but also Tantra and the Nath-tradition.^[105]

Contemporary vernacular Advaita

Advaita 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.

Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi (30 December 1879 – 14 April 1950) is widely acknowledged as one of the outstanding Indian gurus of modern times.^[106] Ramana's teachings are often interpreted as Advaita Vedanta, though Ramana Maharshi never "received diksha (initiation) from any recognised authority".^{[web 16]} 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 20]} Simple Being is the Self.^[108]

Natha Sampradaya 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 19]}

The Inchegeri Sampradaya of Siddharameshwar Maharaj and Nisargadatta Maharaj belongs to the Nath-tradition. Siddharameshwar Maharaj calls turiya the "Great-Causal Body",^[109] and counts it as the fourth body. He describes his method of self-enquiry, in which the three bodies are recognized as "empty" of an essence or the sense of "I am".^{[110][note 21]} This knowledge resides in the fourth body or turiya,^[111] and cannot be described.^{[110][note 22]} It is Turiya, the state before Ignorance and Knowledge.^[109]

Vijñapti-mātra and Buddha-nature in Buddhism

Vijñapti-mātra and the two truths doctrine, as understood in Chinese Buddhism, are closely linked to Buddha-nature. Those teachings have had a profound influence on Mahayana Buddhism, not only in India, but also in China and Tibet, most notably the Chán (Zen) and Dzogchen traditions. They may be related to an archaic form of Buddhism which is close to Brahmanical beliefs, elements of which are preserved in the Nikayas,^{[113][114][115][116]} and survived in the Mahayana tradition.^[117][118] Contrary to popular opinion, the Theravada and Mahayana traditions may be "divergent, but equally reliable records of a pre-canonical Buddhism which is now lost forever."^[117] The Mahayana tradition may have preserved a very old, "pre-Canonical" tradition, which was largely, but not completely, left out of the Theravada-canon.^[118]

Yogacara - Vijñapti-mātra

Vijñapti-mātra, "consciousness-only" or "representation-only" is one of the main features of Yogācāra philosophy. It 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." Several modern researchers object this translation, and the accompanying label of "absolute idealism" or "idealistic monism".^[76] A better translation for vijñapti-mātra is representation-only.^[77]

According to Kochumuttom, Yogacara is a realistic pluralism. It does not deny the existence of individual beings, but denies the following:^[76]

1. That the absolute mode of reality is consciousness/mind/ideas,
2. That the individual beings are transformations or evolutes of an absolute consciousness/mind/idea,
3. That the individual beings are but illusory appearances of a monistic reality.^[119]

Vijñapti-mātra then means "mere representation of consciousness":

[T]he phrase vijñaptimātratā-vāda means a theory which says that the world as it appears to the unenlightened ones is mere representation of consciousness. Therefore, any attempt to interpret vijñaptimātratā-vāda as idealism would be a gross misunderstanding of it.^[77]

The term vijñapti-mātra replaced the "more metaphysical"^[120] term citta-mātra used in the Lankavatara Sutra.^[121] The Lankavatara Sutra "appears to be one of the earliest attempts to provide a philosophical justification for the Absolutism that emerged in Mahayana in relation to the concept of Buddha".^[122] It uses the term citta-mātra, which means properly "thought-only". By using this term it develops an ontology, in contrast to the epistemology of the term vijñapti-mātra. The Lankavatara Sutra equates citta and the absolute. According to Kochumuttom, this not the way Yogacara uses the term vijñapti:^[123]

[T]he absolute state is defined simply as emptiness, namely the emptiness of subject-object distinction. Once thus defined as emptiness (sunyata), it receives a number of synonyms, none of which betray idealism.^[124]

Buddha-nature

The Buddhist teachings on the Buddha-nature may be regarded as a form of nondualism.^[125] Buddha-nature is the essential element that allows sentient beings to become Buddhas.^[126] The term, Buddha nature, is a translation of the Sanskrit coinage, 'Buddha-dhātu', which seems first to have appeared in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra,^[127] where it refers to 'a sacred nature that is the basis for [beings'] becoming buddhas.'^[128] The term seems to have been used most frequently to translate the Sanskrit "Tathāgatagarbha". The Sanskrit term "tathāgatagarbha" may be parsed into tathāgata ("the one thus gone", referring to the Buddha) and garbha ("womb").^{[note 23]} The tathagatagarbha, when freed from avidya ("ignorance"), is the dharmakaya, the Absolute.

Zen

The Buddha-nature and Yogacara philosophies have had a strong influence on Chán and Zen. The continuous pondering of the break-through kōan (shokan^[129]) or Hua Tou, "word head",^[130] leads to kensho, an initial insight into "seeing the (Buddha-)nature.^[131]

According to Hori, a central theme of many koans is the 'identity of opposites', and point to the original nonduality.^[132][133] Victor Sogen Hori describes kensho, when attained through koan-study, as the absence of subject-object duality.^[134] The aim of the socalled break-through koan is to see the "nonduality of subject and object", ^[132][133] in which "subject and object are no longer separate and distinct."^[135]

Zen Buddhist training does not end with kenshō. Practice is to be continued to deepen the insight and to express it in daily life,^{[136][137][138][139]} to fully manifest the nonduality of absolute and relative.^[140][141] 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,^[142] the Five Ranks, and the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures^[143] which detail the steps on the Path.

Tibetan Buddhism

Shentong and rangtong

In Tibetan Buddhism, the essentialist position is represented by shentong, while the nonimalist, 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, 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,^[144] and is present primarily as the main philosophical theory of the Jonang school, although it is also taught by the Sakya^[145] and Kagyu schools.^[146][147] 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.^[148] It is empty of all that is false, not empty of the limitless Buddha qualities that are its innate nature.

The contrasting rangtong view, of the followers of Prasaṅgika Mādhyamaka, is that all phenomena are sunyata, empty of self-nature, and that this "emptiness" is itself only a qualification, not a concrete existing "absolute" reality.^[149] This position is associated with the Madhyamaka school, which dominates both Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism.

Dzogchen

Dzogchen is concerned with the "natural state", and emphasizing direct experience. The state of nondual awareness, is called rigpa. 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.^[150]

Karma Lingpa (1326–1386) revealed "Self-Liberation through seeing with naked awareness" (rigpa ngo-sprod,^{[note 24]}) which is attributed to Padmasambhava.^{[152][note 25]} The text gives an introduction, or pointing-out instruction (ngo-spro), into rigpa, the state of presence and awareness.^[152] 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."^{[157][note 26]}

Nondual consciousness

A popular western understanding of "nondualism" is "nondual consciousness", the experience of "a primordial, natural awareness without subject or object"^{[web 20]} called turiya and sahaja in Hinduism, and luminous mind, Buddha-nature and rigpa (among other terms) in Buddhism. It is used interchangeably with Neo-Advaita. All terms refer to the Absolute, and its usage is different from adyava, the non-dualism of conventional and ultimate truth.

Nonduality as common essence

This nondual consciousness is seen as a common stratum to different religions. Several definitions or meanings are combined in this approach, which makes it possible to recognize various traditions as having the same essence.^[24] According to Renard, many forms of religion are based on an experiential or intuitive understanding of "the Real"^[158] Though the notion of nondualism as common essence is a modern notion, some of the included traditions themselves also refer to levels of truth which transcend even non-dualism. In Kashmir Shaivism, the term "paradvaita" is being used, meaning "the supreme and absolute non-dualism".^{[web 21]} And Gaudapada, the grandteacher of Shankara, states that, from the absolute standpoint, not even "non-dual" exists.^[159]

Nondualism and monism

Nondualism as common essence prefers the term "nondualism", instead of monism, because this understanding is "nonconceptual", "not graspapable in an idea".^{[158][note 27]} 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 22][160]} According to Renard, Alan Watts has been one of the main contributors to the popularisation of the non-monistic understanding of "nondualism".^{[158][note 28]}

Nondualism and "religious experience"

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.^[162] The origins of the use of this term can be dated further back.^[163]

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.^[164]

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.^[163]

Such religious empiricism would be later seen as highly problematic and was — during the period in-between world wars — famously rejected by Karl Barth.^[165] 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.^[166]

The notion of "religious experience" was adopted by many scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential.^{[167][note 29]}

Development of the modern understanding of "nondualism"

The idea of nonduality as "the central essence"^[172] 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]} Western predecessors are, among others, Swedenborgianism, Unitarianism, Orientalism, Transcendentalism, Theosophy, the idea of a Perennial Philosophy, New Age,^[173] and Wilber's synthesis of western psychology and Asian spirituality.

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]}

Orientalism

The western world has been exposed to Indian religious since the late 18th century.^[174] In 1785 appeared the first western translation of a Sanskrit-text.^[174] It marked the growing interest in the Indian culture and languages.^[175] The first translation of Upanishads appeared in two parts in 1801 and 1802,^[175] which influenced Arthur Schopenhauer, who called them "the consolation of my life".^{[176][note 32]} Early translations also appeared in other European languages.^[177]

Transcendentalism and Unitarian Universalism

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 23]}

The Transcendentalists emphasised an intuitive, experiential approach of religion.^{[web 24]} Following Schleiermacher,^[178] an individual's intuition of truth was taken as the criterium for truth.^{[web 24]} In the late 18th and early 19th century, the first translations of Hindu texts appeared, which were also read by the Transcendentalists, and influenced their thinking.^{[web 24]} They 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 24][web 25]}

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.

Theosophical Society

A major force in the mutual influence of eastern and western ideas and religiosity was the Theosophical Society.^[179][180] It searched for ancient wisdom in the east, spreading eastern religious ideas in the west.^[181] One of its salient features was the belief in "Masters of Wisdom"^{[182][note 33]}, "beings, human or once human, who have transcended the normal frontiers of knowledge, and who make their wisdom available to others".^[182] 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.^{[171][note 34]}

Perennial philosophy

The Perennial Philosophy sees nondualism as the essence of all religions. Its main proponent was Aldous Huxley, who was influenced by Vivekanda's Neo-Vedanta and Universalism.^[187]

According to the Perennial Philosophy, there is an ultimate reality underlying the various religions. This ultimate reality can be called "Spirit" (Sri Aurobindo), "Brahman" (Shankara), "God", "Shunyata" (Emptiness), "The One" (Plotinus), "The Self" (Ramana Maharshi), "The Dao" (Lao Zi), "The Absolute" (Schelling) or simply "The Nondual" (F. H. Bradley). Ram Dass calls it the "third plane" — any phrase will be insufficient, he maintains, so any phrase will do.

This popular approach finds supports in the "common core-thesis". According to the "common core-thesis",^[188] different descriptions can mask quite similar if not identical experiences:^[189] The "common-core thesis" is criticised by "diversity theorists" such as S.T Katz and W. Proudfoot.^[189] 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.^[189]

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".^[190] The term New Age refers to the coming astrological Age of Aquarius.^{[web 26]}

The New Age aims to create "a spirituality without borders or confining dogmas" that is inclusive and pluralistic.^[191] It holds to "a holistic worldview",^[192] emphasising that the Mind, Body and Spirit are interrelated^[193] and that there is a form of monism and unity throughout the universe.^{[web 27]} It attempts to create "a worldview that includes both science and spirituality"^[194] and embraces a number of forms of mainstream science as well as other forms of science that are considered fringe.

Neo-Advaita

Neo-Advaita is a New Religious Movement based on a modern, western interpretation of Advaita Vedanta, especially the teachings of Ramana Maharshi.^[195] Neo-Advaita is being criticized^{[196][note 35][198][note 36][note 37]} for discarding the traditional prerequisites of knowledge of the scriptures^[200] and "renunciation as necessary preparation for the path of jnana-yoga".^[200][201] Notable neo-advaita teachers are H. W. L. Poonja,^[202][195] his students Gangaji^[203] Andrew Cohen^{[note 38]}, and Eckhart Tolle.^[195]

Modern Madhyamaka

An alternative to the Perennialist and essentialist (neo-)Advaita understanding of nondualism is offered by some Madhyamaka-inspired writers.^{[web 33][web 34][web 35]} The classical Madhyamaka-teachings are complemented with western (post-modern) philosophy,^{[web 36]} critical sociology,^{[web 37]} and social constructionism.^{[web 38]} These approaches stress that there is no transcendental reality beyond this phenomenal world,^{[web 39]} and in some cases even explicitly distinguish themselves from (neo-)Advaita approaches.^{[web 40]}

Perceived similarities

Apart from Hinduism and Buddhism, nondualist notions may also be discerned in other religious traditions.

Eastern religions

Sikhism

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion which holds the view of non-dualism. A principal cause of suffering in Sikhism is the ego (haumai or ahankar in Punjabi), the delusion of identifying oneself as an individual separate from the surroundings. From the ego arises the desires, pride, emotional attachments, anger, lust, etc., thus putting humans on the path of destruction. According to Sikhism, the true nature of all humans is the same as God, and everything that originates with God. The goal of a Sikh is to conquer the ego and realize one's true nature or self, which is the same as God's. The gurmukh has realized nondial knowledge.^[205]

Taoism

Taoism's wu wei (Chinese wu, not; wei, doing) is a term with various translations^{[note 39]} 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.^[206]

Subud

Subud is a spiritual movement that began in Java, Indonesia in the 1920s as a movement founded by Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo.^{[note 40]} Java has been a melting pot of religions and cultures, which has created a broad range of religious belief. Muhammad Subuh claimed that Subud is not a new teaching or religion but only that the latihan kejiwaan itself is the kind of proof that humanity is looking for. The name "Subud" is an acronym that stands for three Javanese words, Susila Budhi Dharma, which are derived from the Sanskrit terms suzila, bodhi and dharma.^{[207][note 41]} The basis of Subud is a spiritual exercise commonly referred to as the latihan kejiwaan, the guidance from "the Power of God" or "the Great Life Force". The latihan is a vivid encounter which is fresh, alive and personal. It evolves and deepens over time.

Middle-eastern religions

Jewish traditions and Hasidism

According to Jay Michaelson, nonduality begins to appear in the medieval Jewish textual tradition which peaked in Hasidism.^[209] According to Michaelson:

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.^[210]

Christianity

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. According to the text 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.^[211]

Christian Science has been described as nondual. In a glossary of terms written by the founder, Mary Baker Eddy, matter is defined as illusion, and when defining 'I, or Ego' as the divine in relationship with individual identity, she writes "There is but one I, or Us, but one divine Principle, or Mind, governing all existence" – continuing – ". . .whatever reflects not this one Mind, is false and erroneous, even the belief that life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and material."^[212]

According to the teachings of The Infinite Way, God is a non-dual experience. Joel Goldsmith wrote that thought and ideas in the mind take people away from the realization of God. To experience God, he recommended meditation and for the subject to tune into the present moment so duality of the subject disappears.

The former nun and contemplative Bernadette Roberts is considered a nondualist by Jerry Katz.^[24]

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.^[213]

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. Ronald Miller interprets the Gospel of Thomas as a teaching of "nondualistic consciousness".^[214]

Islam

Sufism and Irfan (Arabic تصوف taṣawwuf) are the mystical traditions of Islam. There are a number of different Sufi orders that follow the teachings of particular spiritual masters, but the bond that unites all Sufis is the concept of ego annihilation through various spiritual exercises and a persistent, ever-increasing longing for union with the divine.^[215] Reza Aslan has written:

Like most mystics, Sufis strive to eliminate the dichotomy between subject and object in their worship. The goal is to create an inseparable union between the individual and the Divine.^[216]

The central doctrine of Sufism, sometimes called Wahdat-ul-Wujood or Wahdat al-Wujud or Unity of Being, is the Sufi understanding of Tawhid (the oneness of God; absolute monotheism).^[217] Put very simply, for Sufis, Tawhid implies that all phenomena are manifestations of a single reality, or Wujud (being), which is indeed al-Haq (Truth, God). The essence of Being/Truth/God is devoid of every form and quality, and hence unmanifest, yet it is inseparable from every form and phenomenon, either material or spiritual. It is often understood to imply that every phenomenon is an aspect of Truth and at the same time attribution of existence to it is false. The chief aim of all Sufis then is to let go of all notions of duality (and therefore of the individual self also), and realize the divine unity which is considered to be the truth.

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, (1207–1273), one of the most famous Sufi masters and poets, has written that what humans perceive as duality is in fact a veil, masking the reality of the Oneness of existence:

All desires, preferences, affections, and loves people have for all sorts of things [are veils] [...] When one passes beyond this world and sees that Sovereign (God) without these 'veils,' then one will realize that all those things were 'veils' and 'coverings' and that what they were seeking was in reality that One.^[218]

Western philosophy

Neo-platonism

Scholar Jay Michaelson identifies the origins of non-dualism proper founded in the Neoplatonism of Plotinus within Ancient Greece,^[209] and employs the ambiguous binary construction of "the West".^{[note 42]}

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Ananda Coomaraswamy used the writing of Plotinus in their own texts as a superlative elaboration upon Indian monism, specifically Upanishadic and Advaita Vedantic thought. Ananda Coomaraswamy has compared Plotinus' teachings to the Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta (advaita meaning "not two" or "non-dual"),^[219] Advaita Vedanta and Neoplatonism have been compared by J. F. Staal,^[220] Frederick Copleston,^[221] Aldo Magris and Mario Piantelli,^[222] Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,^[223] Gwen Griffith-Dickson,^[224] and John Y. Fenton.^[225]

The joint influence of Advaitin and Neoplatonic ideas on Ralph Waldo Emerson is considered by Dale Riepe.^[226]

Process philosophy

Process philosophy, and especially Alfred North Whitehead's blend, has sought to develop a worldview that avoids ontological dualism but still provides a distinction between body, mind and soul.^[227]

Criticism

Spiritual experience

The notion of "experience" has been criticised.^{[228][229][230]} Robert Sharf points out that "experience" is a typical Western term, which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western influences.^{[228][note 43]}

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^[232] or anubhava.^[233]

"Pure experience" does not exist; all experience is mediated by intellectual and cognitive activity.^[234][235] A pure consciousness without concepts, reached by "cleaning the doors of perception",^{[note 44]} would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence.^[236]

Common essence

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.^[237] Yandell discerns five sorts:^[238]

1. Numinous experiences - Monotheism (Jewish, Christian, Vedantic)^[239]
2. Nirvanic experiences - Buddhism,^[240] "according to which one sees that the self is but a bundle of fleeting states"^[241]
3. Kevala experiences^[242] - Jainism,^[243] "according to which one sees the self as an undestructible subject of experience"^[243]
4. Moksha experiences^[244] - Hinduism,^[243] Brahman "either as a cosmic person, or, quite differently, as qualityless"^[243]
5. Nature mystical experience^[242]

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.^[245] 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 throughout 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.^[246] And Schmithausen notices that still other descriptions of this "liberating insight" exist in the Buddhist canon.^[247]

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Published sources

Web-sources

Further reading

General

• Katz, Jerry (2007), One: Essential Writings on Nonduality, Sentient Publications 
• Loy, David (1988), Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy, New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, ISBN 1-57392-359-1 
• Renard, Philip (2010), Non-Dualisme. De directe bevrijdingsweg, Cothen: Uitgeverij Juwelenschip 
• Taft, Michael (2014), Nondualism: A Brief History of a Timeless Concept, Cephalopod Rex 

Orientalism

• King, Richard (2002), Orientalism and Religion: Post-Colonial Theory, India and "The Mystic East", Routledge 

Buddhism

• Kalupahana, David J. (1994), A history of Buddhist philosophy, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited 
• Newland, Guy (2008), Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path, Ithaca 

Advaita Vedanta

• Sarma, Chandradhar (1996), The Advaita Tradition in Indian Philosophy, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 

External links

Madhyamaka

• Susan Kahn, The Two Truths of Buddhism and The Emptiness of Emptiness
• Patrick Jennings, Tsongkhapa: In Praise of Relativity; The Essence of Eloquence
• Emptiness, Buddhist and Beyond

Rangtong-shentong

• Nigel Wellings (2009), Is there anything there? – the Tibetan Rangtong Shentong debate
• Acharya Mahayogi Sridhar Rana Rinpoche, Vedanta vis-a-vis Shentong

Advaita Vedanta

• Advaita Vedanta at DMOZ
• David Loy, Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?

Comparison

• Alexander Berzin Archives, Nonduality in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta
• David Paul Boaz, Unbounded Wholeness: Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta in a Postmodern World
• Eric T. Reynolds, On the relationship of Advaita Vedānta and Mādhyamika Buddhism

Nondual Consciousness

Resources

• nonduality.com
• Non-duality Magazine
• Undivided. The Online Journal of Nonduality and Psychology
• Online Seminar on NonDuality
• Sarlo's Guru Rating Service: list of nondual teachers
• advaita.org.uk, Western Teachers and Writers
• Swami Jnaneshvara, Faces of Nondualism

Criticism

• After Non Duality
• Jed McKenna, Non-Dualist Fundamentalism
• Gregory Desilet, Derrida and Nonduality

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