October 2011 – Real Dharma

Soon after his enlightenment, the Buddha described his discovery of no-self like this:

Seeking but not finding the house builder, I traveled through the round of countless births. Oh painful is birth ever and again! House builder, you have now been seen. You shall not build the house again. Your rafters have been broken down; your ridge pole is demolished too. My mind has now attained the unformed nibbana and reached the end of every kind of craving. ~ Dhammapada, 153-154

In the following talk, I suggest that this demolishing of the “ridge pole” of the illusion of self may occur as a natural falling away when one discovers and rests in one’s true nature as consciousness, rather than as a result of an unnatural assault on the notion of self, using concepts or artificial practices. This is a healing process of going through the fundamental sense of being a conscious being–rather than trying to destroy it.

To listen to the talk, given at the Real Dharma group on October 18, 2011, use the flash driver below

If you are unable to use the flash player, listen or download here.

The path of nondual awakening is the discovery of innate present awareness as your own true nature and the ground of all. In that awareness there is unconditional fulfillment, compassion and peace.

My approach to nondual awakening presents the essence of the great nondual traditions of Buddhism (particularly the Prajnaparamita, Mahamudra and Dzogchen fruition approaches) and Advaita Vedanta, streamlined and stripped as far as possible of cultural and archaic metaphysical artifacts. This approach is simple and direct, and suitable for modern, especially modern Western, seekers of liberation.

One of the primary methods used in Advaita Vedanta to directly see one’s true nature is the Seer/Seen discrimination. Similar methods are used in Buddhist direct transmission schools. In this method, one begins from the obvious proposition that awareness, “the Seer”, the one who sees, is not the seen. So, what can be seen as an object cannot be the Seer itself. For example, you would obviously not say that my car, my house, or my clothes are “me.” Then one goes through all the objectifiable aspects of what most people usually assume is the self–starting with the body, and progressing through the sense organs, thoughts, feelings, and finally even the “I” thought–seeing that, as they are all objects of awareness, they can not be the Seer, the one who is aware. This contemplation, when done seriously, can lead to the direct knowing of object-less awareness, awareness itself, the formless yet awake true nature.

To listen to a talk on the path of nondual awakening, and the Seer/Seen discrimination, given at the Real Dharma group on October 4, 2011, use the flash driver below