Nondualism

Nondualism, also called nondualityTemplate:Sfn and sometimes monism,Template:Sfn is a polyvalent termTemplate:Refn originating in Indian philosophy and religion,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn where it is used in various, related contemplative philosophiesTemplate:Sfn which aim to negate dualistic thinkingTemplate:Sfn or conceptual proliferation (prapanca)Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref name="Abrussi"/>Template:Refn and thereby realize nondual awareness, 'that which is beyond discursive thinking',Template:Refn a state of consciousness described in contemplative traditions as a background field of unified, immutable awareness that exists prior to conceptual thought.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The English term "nonduality" is derived from the Sanskrit Hindu term "advaita" (अद्वैत), "not-two"Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn or "one without a second,"Template:Sfn meaning that only Brahman, 'the one', is ultimately real while 'the world', or the multiplicity of thought-constructs, 'the second', is not fully real;Template:Sfn and from the Buddhist term advaya,Template:Sfn which is also literally translated as "not two" and has various applications, including the Madhyamaka negation of thinking in opposites such as ordinary, conventional truth versus ultimate truth, and in Yogachara the deconstruction of the "apprehension of sensory objects as separate from the perceiving consciousness."Template:SfnTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfn

A perennialist view posits that nondual awareness, despite fundamental differences in the explanatory frameworks, is a common essence in various religious traditions.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn According to this view, nondual awareness is not only paradigmatic for Hindu advaita-traditions including Advaita Vedanta and Kashmir Shaivism,Template:Refn and Buddhist advaya-traditions including Yogachara, Madhyamaka, Zen and Dzogchen,Template:Refn but can also be found in Taoist philosophy, and in Western philosophy, Christian mysticism, and Sufism.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Nondualism is also used to refer to the satsang movement, also called neo-advaita,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn for which nonduality is a central tenet, emphasizing sudden awakening or insight.Template:Sfn The term may also refer to monismTemplate:Sfn and nonplurality,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn the idea of a unitive essence behind the multiplicity of distinct entities.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Related definitions include interconnectednessTemplate:Refn interdependence,Template:Refn and holism or 'wholism',Template:Refn the idea that "all the things "in" the world are not really distinct from each other but together constitute some integral whole."Template:Sfn Further definitions are the rejection of thinking in binary opposites such as the mind–body dualism,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn while "nondualism" is also used as a synonym for mysticism,Template:SfnTemplate:Refn mystical experience, and spirituality.Template:Sfn Template:TOC limit

Etymology

"Nondualism" and "nonduality" are the translation of the Sanskrit terms advaita and advaya (Tibetan: gNis-med, Chinese: pu-erh, Japanese: fu-ni).Template:Sfn

"Advaita" (अद्वैत) is from Sanskrit roots a, "not"; dvaita, customarily translated as "dual."Template:Sfn As Advaita, it is usually translated as "not-two"Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn or "one without a second",Template:Sfn and most commonly as "nondualism", "nonduality" or "nondual," invoking the notion of a dichotomy. Fabian Volker, following Paul Hacker explains that dvaita does not mean "duality," but "the state in which a second is present," the second here being synonymous with prapanca, "conceptual proliferation," and with jagat, "the world." Advaita thus means that only Brahman, 'the one', is ultimately real, while the phenomenal world, or the conceptual multiplicity, 'the second', is not fully real.Template:Sfn The term thus does not emphasize two instances, but the notion that the second instance is not fully real, and advaita is better translated as "that which has no second beside it" instead of "nonduality," denying multiplicity and the proliferation of concepts "that tend to obscure the true state of affairs."Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

"Advaya" (अद्वय) is also a Sanskrit word that means "identity, unique, not two, without a second", and typically refers to sunyata ('emptiness') and the two truths doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism, especially Madhyamaka, and the negation of the conceptual duality between observer and observed in Yogacara. The term prapanca, conceptual proliferation and the creation of a multi-faceted world, is also used in these discourses.Template:Refn Hookham renders nisprapanca as "nonconceptual," explaining: Template:Blockquote

"Dual" comes from Latin "duo", two, prefixed with "non-" meaning "not"; "non-dual" means "not-two". The English term "nondual" was informed by early translations of the Upanishads in Western languages other than English from 1775. These terms have entered the English language from literal English renderings of "advaita" subsequent to the first wave of English translations of the Upanishads. These translations commenced with the work of Müller (1823–1900), in the monumental Sacred Books of the East (1879). He rendered "advaita" as "Monism", as have many recent scholars.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>S Menon (2011), Advaita Vedanta, IEP, Quote: "The essential philosophy of Advaita is an idealist monism, and is considered to be presented first in the Upaniṣads and consolidated in the Brahma Sūtra by this tradition."</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, some scholars state that "advaita" is not really monism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Alan Watts monism often leads to conceptualizing reality as a single entity, whereas nondualism points beyond conceptual frameworks entirely.Template:Sfn

Definitions

Flavors of nonduality

Nonduality is a fuzzy concept, for which many definitions can be found.Template:Refn Gibbons notes that "Terms such as "awakening" and "enlightenment" and "nonduality" undoubtedly mean different things to different people," and states that "[i]n the widest sense these kinds of experiences fall under what is typically called in the west "mystical" experience." Gibson further notes that "the term "nondual" has in many circles become virtually synonymous with "spirituality" itself."Template:Sfn

T. R. V. Murti

T. R. V. Murti gives the distinction between advaita and Madhyamikya advaya as follows: Template:Blockquote

Murti's distinction has been described as a distinction between ontology versus epistemology, and has been referred to by other authors.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

David Loy

According to David Loy, since there are similar ideas and terms in a wide variety of spiritualities and religions, ancient and modern, no single definition for the English word "nonduality" can suffice, and perhaps it is best to speak of various "nondualities" or theories of nonduality.Template:Sfn Loy sees non-dualism as a common thread in Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Advaita Vedanta,Template:SfnTemplate:Refn and distinguishes "Five Flavors Of Nonduality":Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

1. The nondifference of subject and object, where the observer and the observed are ultimately inseparable.Template:Sfn This idea is central to Buddhist Zen, Advaita Vedanta, and Taoism, which describe reality as a unified field of experience beyond conceptual thought.Template:Sfn
2. The nonplurality of the world – Although we experience the world dualistically, "as a collection of discrete objects [...] the world itself is nonplural, because all the things "in" the world are not really distinct but from each other but together constitute some integral whole."Template:Sfn According to Loy, "[t]he negation of dualistic thinking leads to the negation of this [dualistically] way of experiencing the world."Template:Sfn According to Loy, this is expressed in notions like Brahman, One Mind, Tao, and Dharmakaya,Template:Sfn moving away from nonduality in the world to another kind of nonduality.Template:RefnTemplate:Refn
3. The negation of dualistic thinking – Some nondual traditions reject binary oppositions such as self/other, good/evil, or existence/non-existence. The yin-yang symbol of Taoism reflects this transcendence of opposites.Template:Sfn
4. The identity of phenomena and the absolute – Nonduality in Madhyamaka Buddhism and the two truths doctrine asserts that phenomena (relative truth) and emptiness (ultimate truth) are inseparable.Template:Sfn This differs from monistic nonduality, as it denies a singular, unchanging essence.Template:Sfn
5. Mysticism and divine unity – Some mystical traditions describe a direct experience of unity between the individual and the divine, such as Sufism's fana (self-annihilation), Christian mystical union, and Kabbalistic Ein Sof.Template:SfnTemplate:RefnTemplate:Refn

Henning & Henning elaborate on Loy's subject-object nonduality, noting that humans are able to "mental self-awareness and subjectivity," which creates a "[d]ualistic mental experience—in which the mental “subject” is separated from the “objects” in the subject's environment," which is "a precondition for our ability to think abstractly, perceive time, construct narratives, invent tools, and use symbols." In "absolute nonduality," this "subject-object/perceiver-perceived relationship breaks down."Template:Sfn

Like, Michael Taft, as quoted by Chris Grosso, explains that nondualism points to the working of the brain, which creates mental representations out of its sensory input, realizing that "you are simply the awareness of those sensory signals and are none of the content."Template:Sfn

Loy sees the nondifference of subject and object as the "core doctrine" of nonduality,Template:Sfn quoting Yasutani roshi as giving an example of this nonduality: Template:Blockquote

He also refers to pariniṣpanna-svabhāva,Template:Sfn a Yogachara-term meaning "fully accomplished," "just pure seeing [...] devoid of all concepts,"<ref>Siderits, Mark, Buddhism as philosophy, 2017</ref> "experience without subject-object duality."Template:Sfn Further references from Loy are to Giuseppe Tucci, who states that the awakening of shes rab (prajna) is the final objective in Tibetan Buddhism, transcending the subject-object dichotomy.Template:Sfn Another reference is to D. T. Suzuki as stating that satori is "the realization of nonduality, and to the story of Hui Neng, "which presents "the Zen concept of "no mind" (Ch. wu-shin, Jap. mushin), which asserts, in effect, the nonduality of subject and object."Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Gibson also states that "the apparent disappearance of a separate, individual self" is an important aspect of nonduality.Template:Sfn

Loy, writing in the early 1980s, takes a perennialist stance, suggesting that the nondifference of subject and object stem from a shared experience of reality.Template:Sfn Since the late 1970s this common core thesis has been challenged,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn notably by Steven Katz, arguing that arguing that religious experiences is shaped by the frameworks being used, and takes different forms in different traditions.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The perennial position is "largely dismissed by scholars"Template:Sfn but "has lost none of its popularity."Template:Sfn

Fabian Volker

Fabian Volker criticises Loy's analysis as being explicitly anti-transcendent and limiting the immanent aspect, stating that Loy "fails to provide a systematic typology of nonduality and nondual experiences," and that "his program does not hold up in terms of the historicity of religion or the phenomenology of religion."Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Volker further notes that adequate typologies of nonduality are lacking because of a lack of interest of "students of nonduality" in the "extensive research on mysticism." According to Volker, the two are not distinct fields of research, but are "two complementary and inextricably interwoven approaches to the same complex field."Template:Sfn

Referring to Murti's distinction between advaita (ontology) and advaya (phenomenology),Template:Sfn and Richard H. Jones' typology presentrd in Philosophy of Mysticism (2016).Template:Sfn Fabian Volker distinguishes three types of nonduality:

• Asymmetric-vertical nonduality, which postulates a transcendent but immanent reality, which forms the ground or essence of the manifold phenomenal world.Template:Sfn This is experienced in introvertive mysticism.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Volker further divides this in three subtypes:Template:Sfn
  • Nontheistic-personal experiences of this transcendental-immanent reality (Advaita Vedanta)Template:Sfn
  • Theistic-personal experiences of this transcendental-immanent reality (Ramanuja)
  • Death-like trance
• Symmetric-horizontal nonduality, or mystical mindfulness, which rejects the existence of an unchanging ultimate reality, but negates the distinction between observer and observed.Template:Sfn This is akin to extroverted mystical experienceTemplate:Sfn
• Existential nonduality: post-awakening experience of the phenomenal world

For Volker, nonduality lies in nisprapanca/aprapanca ('nonceptualization', "(that which is) beyond discursive thinking"Template:Refn) the annihilation of prapanca (conceptualisation, creating multiplicity by multiplying concepts and subsequent creation of attachment) through insight or meditation:Template:Sfn Template:Blockquote

Other views

Regarding the nonplurality of the world, Kazuaki Tanahashi suggests that "what is commonly called nonduality actually means nonplurality and should instead be called "singularity.""Template:Sfn

Nondualism had also popularly been defined as interconnectednessTemplate:Refn and interdepence,Template:Refn and also seems to be synonymous with holism or 'wholism' in modern spirituality,Template:Refn akin to Loy's immanent "nonpluarility of the world," the idea that "the world itself is nonplural, because all the things "in" the world are not really ditinct from each other."Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Hartelius notes that "interconnectedness is not the nondual teaching of Advaita Vedanta, and the precise definition of nonduality within this tradition deserves to be maintained distinct from the very different notion and experience of interconnectedness."Template:Sfn

Philip Renard notes that nondual awareness is rooted in direct experience or intuition of "the Real", and argues that nondualism differs from monism.Template:Sfn Unlike monism, which may conceptualize reality as a unified whole, nondualism is understood as fundamentally "nonconceptual" and "not graspable in an idea".Template:Sfn Alan Watts is credited with popularizing this distinction between nondualism and monism, particularly in The Supreme Identity (1950) and The Way of Zen (1957).Template:Sfn He explained that monism often leads to conceptualizing reality as a single entity, whereas nondualism points beyond conceptual frameworks entirely.Template:Sfn

Judith Blackstone defines nonduality as "a fundamental unconstructed dimension of our being or consciousness," as found in Dzogchen, Kashmir Shaivism, and Advaita Vedanta,Template:Sfn and differentiates between "conceptual recognition of nondual states" and "an embodied realization of nonduality in which the body is fully recognized as this nondual luminosity."Template:Sfn Yet, Glenn Hartelius criticises her definition, stating that "it is clearly not a state that is nondual in a way that is congruent with the teachings of lineage-based Advaita Vedanta."Template:Sfn

"Nondualism" is also used as a synonym for neo-Advaita or satsang-movement.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Nondual awareness

"Nondual awareness," also called "consciousness-as-such,"Template:Sfn "pure consciousness," "pure awareness," "open awareness,"Template:Sfn "contentless consciousness,"Template:Sfn "Pure Consciousness Event,"Template:SfnTemplate:Refn and "Minimal Phenomenal Experience,"Template:Sfn refers to a state of consciousness described in contemplative traditions as a background field of unified, immutable awareness that exists prior to conceptual thought.Template:Sfn According to Michael Taft, as quoted by Chris Grosso, "[n]ondual awareness is an experience. Nondualism is a philosophy that talks about that experience and its meaning."Template:Sfn

Nondual awareness is described in various ways across different traditions:

• Samkhya philosophy and Yoga: Purusha, the eternal witness-consciousness that observes the fluctuations of Prakriti (the material world).Template:Sfn
• Vedic Brahmanism / Pre-sectarian Buddhism: Moksha / Mukti, Nirvana.
• Mahayana Buddhism: nature of mind; amalavijñāna, pariniṣpanna; shunyata (emptiness);Template:Sfn Buddha-nature,Template:Sfn hongaku ("original enlightenment"),Template:Sfn ordinary mind, no-mind;Template:SfnTemplate:Refn prabhāsa ("clear light"),Template:Sfn rigpa.
• Advaita Vedanta: Atman-Brahman,Template:Sfn turiya, Chaitanya, and self-luminous (svayam prakāśa) awareness or Witness-consciousness.Template:Sfn
• Indian and Tibetan Tantra: sahajaTemplate:Sfn

Nondual traditions

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

• Ancient speculations on Vedic hymns, according to Larson, gave rise to both the monistic (non-dual) and the Samkhya (dual) tradition,Template:Sfn which possibly developed within ascetic milieus.Template:Sfn These proto-Samkhya and non-Samkhya speculations are evidenced in the earliest Upanishads and form the basis of Vedanta.Template:Sfn
• Buddhism:
  • "Shūnyavāda (emptiness view) of the Mādhyamaka school",Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn which holds that there is a non-dual relationship (that is, there is no true separation) between conventional truth and ultimate truth, as well as between samsara and nirvana.
  • "Vijnānavāda (consciousness view) of the Yogācāra school",Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn which holds that there is no ultimate perceptual and conceptual division between a subject and its objects, or a cognizer and that which is cognized. It also argues against mind-body dualism, holding that there is only consciousness. In other words, consciousness is the fundamental and only reality.
  • Tathagatagarbha-thought,Template:Sfn which holds that all beings have the inborn potential to become Buddhas.
  • Vajrayana-buddhism,Template:Sfn including Tibetan Buddhist traditions of DzogchenTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and Mahamudra.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
  • East Asian Mahāyāna Buddhist traditions like Pure Land and Zen.Template:Sfn
• Hinduism:
  • The Advaita Vedanta of ShankaraTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn which teaches that the Atman is pure consciousness, and that a single pure consciousness, svayam prakāśa, is the only reality, and that the world is unreal (Maya).Template:Citation needed
  • Non-dual forms of Hindu TantraTemplate:Sfn including Kashmira ShaivismTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and the goddess centered Shaktism. Their view is similar to Advaita, but they teach that the world is not unreal, but it is the real manifestation of consciousness.<ref>Ksemaraja, trans. by Jaidev Singh, Spanda Karikas: The Divine Creative Pulsation, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p.119</ref>
• Taoism,Template:Sfn which teaches the idea of a single subtle universal force or cosmic creative power called Tao (literally "way").
• Western traditions:
  • Greek philosophy:
    • Pyrrhonism;<ref name=Conze/><ref name="cite LotEP|chapter=Pyrrho">Template:Cite LotEP</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Adrian Kuzminski, Pyrrhonism: How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism 2008</ref> see Christopher I. Beckwith<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Pyrrho">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Jayatilleke">Template:Cite book</ref>
    • Neoplatonism (PlotinusTemplate:Sfn)
  • Hermeticism
  • Western philosophers like Hegel, SpinozaTemplate:Sfn and Schopenhauer.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfn They defended different forms of philosophical monism or Idealism.
• Abrahamic traditions:
  • SufismTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
  • Jewish KabbalahTemplate:Sfn
  • Christian mystics who promote a "nondual experience", such as Meister Eckhart and Julian of Norwich. The focus of this Christian nondualism is on bringing the worshiper closer to God and realizing a "oneness" with the Divine.<ref>James Charlton, Non-dualism in Eckhart, Julian of Norwich and Traherne,: A Theopoetic Reflection, 2012, p. 2.</ref>

Scientific perspectives

Recent neuroscientific and phenomenological studies have examined nondual awareness as a distinct cognitive and experiential state. Josipovic describes it as a non-representational mode of consciousness, distinct from other mental states.Template:Sfn Gamma & Metzinger (2021) propose that nondual awareness can be mapped phenomenologically, identifying factors such as luminosity, absence of egoic boundaries, and self-reflexivity.Template:Sfn

However, scholars such as Robert Sharf argue that scientific studies risk reifying nonduality as a purely neurocognitive phenomenon, stripping it of its cultural and soteriological contexts.Template:Sfn

Origins

Template:Quote box According to Dasgupta and Mohanta, non-dualism developed in various strands of Indian thought, both Vedic and Buddhist, from the Upanishadic period onward.Template:Sfn

Oldest traces

According to Cohen, the earliest traces are found in several hymns of the Vedas, such as the Nasadīya ("Non-Being") hymn of the ṚgvedaTemplate:Refn

According to Gombrich, the oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought may be found in the Chandogya Upanishad (8th to 6th century BCE), which pre-dates the earliest Buddhism. Pre-sectarian Buddhism may also have been responding to the teachings of the Chandogya Upanishad, rejecting some of its Atman-Brahman related metaphysics.Template:Sfn However, Schayer and Lindtner notes that even the Nikayas (300 BCE)<ref name="Stephen Phillips 2009">Stephen Phillips (2009), Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy, Columbia University Press; Template:ISBN.</ref>Template:Refn preserve elements of an archaic form of Buddhism that is close to Brahmanical beliefs,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfnand which later developed in the Mahayana tradition.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Lindtner argues that in precanonical Buddhism, nirvana is considered an actual existent.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

One of the earliest uses of the word Advaita is found in verse 4.3.32 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (8th–5th century BCE)<ref>Fujii, M. 1997, "On the Formation and Transmission of the Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa", Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts: New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas, ed. M. Witzel, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora, 2], Cambridge, 89–102</ref><ref name="Stephen Phillips 2009"/><ref name=olivelle98>Olivelle, Patrick (1998), Upaniṣads, Oxford University Press, Template:ISBN</ref>Template:RefnTemplate:Refn, and in verses 7 and 12 of the Mandukya Upanishad (variously dated to have been composed between 500 BCE to 200 BCE).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The term appears in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.3.32, in the section with a discourse of the oneness of Atman (individual soul) and Brahman (universal consciousness), as follows: Template:Blockquote

Proto-samkhya

Indian ideas of nondual awareness also developed as proto-Samkhya speculations in ascetic milieus in the 1st millennium BCE, with the notion of Purusha, the witness-conscious or 'pure consciousness'. While samkhya-like speculations can be found in the Rig Veda and some of the older Upanishads, Samkhya may have non-Vedic origins, and developed in ascetic milieus. Proto-samkhya ideas developed from the 8th/7th c. BCE onwards, as evidenced in the middle Upanishads, the Buddhacarita, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Moksadharma-section of the Mahabharata.Template:Sfn It was related to the early ascetic traditions and meditation, spiritual practices, and religious cosmology,Template:Sfn and methods of reasoning that result in liberating knowledge (vidya, jnana, viveka) that end the cycle of dukkha and rebirth.Template:Sfn allowing for "a great variety of philosophical formulations".Template:Sfn Brahmanical and non-Brahmanical (Buddhism, Jainism) ascetic traditions of the first millennium BCE developed in close interaction, utilizing proto-Samkhya enumerations (lists) analyzing experience in the context of meditative practices providing liberating insight into the nature of experience.Template:Sfn Pre-karika systematic Samkhya existed around the beginning of the first millennium CE.Template:Sfn The defining method of Samkhya was established with the Samkhyakarika (4th c. CE).

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

The Katha Upanishad in verses 3.10–13 and 6.7–11 describes a concept of puruṣa, and other concepts also found in later Samkhya.<ref name=pauldeussen>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, pages 273, 288–289, 298–299</ref> The Katha Upanishad, dated to be from about the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, in verses 2.6.6 through 2.6.13 recommends a path to Self-knowledge akin to Samkhya, and calls this path Yoga.<ref>Max Muller (1962), Katha Upanishad, in The Upanishads – Part II, Dover Publications, Template:ISBN, page 22</ref>

Development toward monism

The first millennium CE saw a movement towards postulating an underlying "basis of unity," both in the Buddhist Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools, and in Advaita Vedanta, collapsing phenomenal reality into a "single substrate or underlying principle."Template:Sfn Sengaku Mayeda also states that Indian thought since the Rig Veda tended toward monism, as shown in the development of Mahayana Buddhism in the first centuries CE toward monism, reflecting "the weakening of Buddhism as a social force and the revival of Brahmanism and Hinduism and the consequent brahmanization or "vedantinization" of Buddhism."<ref name="Mayeda"/> Several Upanishads, including the Īśā, imply a quest for an undifferentiated oneness as the ultimate objective of human spiritual pursuit. According to the Īśā Upanishad, this goal transcends both the processes of becoming (saṃbhūti) and non-becoming (asaṃbhūti).<ref name="Cohen-2017" /> The Isha Upanishad (second half of the first millennium BCE) employs a series of paradoxes to describe the supreme entity. The divine being is depicted as immovable, yet swifter than the human mind, surpassing even the fastest runners. It exists both far and near, within and outside. The term "eka" is used to convey that this entity transcends all dichotomies, encompassing wisdom and ignorance, existence and non-existence, and creation and destruction. It emphasizes that not only is the divine entity beyond dualities, but human seekers of immortality must also transcend their dualistic perception of the world.<ref name="Cohen-2017">Template:Cite book</ref>

Hinduism

Adi Shankara, the most prominent exponent of Advaita Vedānta tradition. "I am other than name, form and action. My nature is ever free! I am Self, the supreme unconditioned Brahman. I am pure Awareness, always non-dual." Adi Shankara, Upadesasahasri 11.7Template:Sfn

Advaita argues that all of the universe is one essential reality, and that all facets and aspects of the universe is ultimately an expression or appearance of that one reality.Template:Sfn It regards Atman-Brahman, Shiva or Shakti as the single universal existence beyond the plurality of the world, recognized as pure awareness or the witness-consciousness, as in Vedanta, Shaktism and Shaivism.Template:Sfn Although the term is best known from the Advaita Vedanta school of Adi Shankara, advaita appears in different shades in various schools of Hinduism such as in Advaita Vedanta, Vishishtadvaita Vedanta (Vaishnavism), Suddhadvaita Vedanta (Vaishnavism), non-dual Shaivism and Shaktism, as well as modern schools and teachers. Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref>[a] Template:Cite book;
[b] Jean Filliozat (1991), Religion, Philosophy, Yoga: A Selection of Articles, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, pp. 68–69;
[c] Richard Davis (2014), Ritual in an Oscillating Universe: Worshipping Siva in Medieval India, Princeton University Press, Template:ISBN, p. 167 note 21, Quote (p. 13): "Some agamas argue a monist metaphysics, while others are decidedly dualist."</ref> The advaita ideas of some Hindu traditions contrasts with the schools that defend dualism or Dvaita, such as that of Madhvacharya who stated that the experienced reality and God are two (dual) and distinct.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Betty Stafford (2010), Dvaita, Advaita, and Viśiṣṭādvaita. "Contrasting Views of Mokṣa, Asian Philosophy". An International Journal of the Philosophical Traditions of the East, Volume 20, Issue 2, pp. 215–224</ref>

Vedanta

The goal of Vedanta is to know the "truly real" and thus negate false identifications.Template:Sfn Several schools of Vedanta are informed by Samkhya, the earliest Indian school of dualism, but teach a form of nondualism. The best-known is Advaita Vedanta, but other nondual Vedanta schools also have a significant influence and following, such as Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and Dvaitadvaita,Template:Sfn both of which are bhedabheda.Template:Clarify Proto-Vedanta, as reflected in the Brahma Sutras, was majorly bhedabheda, viewing the jivatman and Brahman as both identical and different.<ref name="Mayeda">Template:Cite book</ref>

Advaita Vedanta

The Poetic Form of an Alternate Version of the Mahavakyas

Strict nondual/monistic (advaita-'not two'-non-difference) ideas were developed and defended in the nascent Advaita Vedanta tradition, which reacted against Samkhya and Mimansa and moved closer to Mahayana thought, especially that of Nagarjuna,<ref name="Mayeda"/> while Shankara reinterpreted these Mahayana influences giving them a Vedantic base and flavor using principal Upanishads, Bhagvad gita, and the Brahma sutras.<ref>N.V. Isaeva (1993), Shankara and Indian Philosophy, SUNY Press</ref>

In the Advaita Vedanta of Adi Shankara, only Atman-Brahman is ultimately real; the individual jivAtman is ultimately non-different from Atman-Brahman, pure awareness, the witness-consciousness.Template:Sfn<ref>Joseph Milne (1997), "Advaita Vedanta and typologies of multiplicity and unity: An interpretation of nondual knowledge", International Journal of Hindu Studies, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp. 165–188</ref>Template:Sfn<ref>Craig, Edward (general editor) (1998). Routledge encyclopedia of philosophy: Luther to Nifo, Volume 6. Taylor & Francis. Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN. Source: [1] (accessed: Thursday 22 April 2010), p.476</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the highest Reality.Template:Sfn<ref name="Lochtefeld-2002">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>PT Raju (2006), Idealistic Thought of India, Routledge, Template:ISBN, p. 426 and Conclusion chapter part XII</ref>

The Mahāvākyas, as documented in the Upanishads, explain the unity of Brahman and Atman and form the basis of the Advaita Vedanta tradition.Template:Sfn<ref>MAHAVAKYAS, Ayam Atma Brahma: Self is Absolute Entity, www.classicyoga.co.in (ইংরেজি ভাষায়)</ref>

Similarities and differences with Buddhism

Scholars state that Advaita Vedanta was influenced by Mahayana Buddhism, given the common terminology and methodology and some common doctrines.<ref>John Grimes, Review of Richard King's Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism, Journal of the American Academy of Religion Vol. 66, No. 3 (Autumn, 1998), pp. 684–686</ref><ref>S. Mudgal, Advaita of Sankara, A Reappraisal, Impact of Buddhism and Samkhya on Sankara's thought, Delhi 1975, p.187"</ref>Template:Sfn Eliot Deutsch and Rohit Dalvi state: Template:Blockquote

Mahadevan suggests that Gaudapada adopted Buddhist terminology and adapted its doctrines to his Vedantic goals, much like early Buddhism adopted Upanishadic terminology and adapted its doctrines to Buddhist goals; both used pre-existing concepts and ideas to convey new meanings.<ref>John Plott (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Patristic-Sutra period (325 – 800 AD), Volume 3, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, pp. 285–288</ref> Michael Comans states there is a fundamental difference between Buddhist thought and that of Gaudapada, who accepts the premises and relies on the fundamental teaching of the Upanishads.Template:Sfn Shankara harmonised Gaudapada's ideas with the Upanishadic texts.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn 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".Template:Sfn

Vishishtadvaita Vedanta

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

According to this school, the world is real, yet underlying all the differences is an all-embracing unity, of which all "things" are an "attribute". Ramanuja, the main proponent of Vishishtadvaita philosophy contends that the Prasthanatrayi ("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"Template:Sfn 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"Template:Sfn with Advaita Vedanta as its central doctrine.Template:Sfn

It's development was influenced by Unitarian Universalism and western esoteric traditions, especially Transcendentalism, New Thought and Theosophy.Template:Sfn

Neo-Vedanta, as represented by Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan, is indebted to Advaita vedanta, but also reflects Advaya-philosophy. A main influence on neo-Advaita was Ramakrishna, himself a bhakta and tantrika, and the guru of Vivekananda. According to Michael Taft, Ramakrishna reconciled the dualism of formlessness and form.Template:Sfn Ramakrishna regarded the supreme being to be both personal and impersonal, active and inactive, though he felt that "the distinction between them does not mean a difference", as they "are the same thing, like milk and its whiteness".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Radhakrishnan acknowledged the reality and diversity of the world of experience, which he saw as grounded in and supported by the absolute or Brahman.<ref name="IEP">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>Template:Refn According to Anil Sooklal, Vivekananda's neo-Advaita "reconciles Dvaita or dualism and Advaita or non-dualism":Template:Sfn

According to Michael Hawley, 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".<ref name="IEP"/> It should be noted, though, that Shankara took a realistic stance, and his explanations are "remote from any connotation of illusion." It was the 13th century scholar Prakasatman, founder of the influential Vivarana school, who introduced the notion that the world is illusory.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to Hacker, maya is not a prominent theme for Shankara, in contrast to the later Advaita tradition, and "the word maya has for [Shankara] hardly any terminological weight."Template:Sfn

According to Sarma, standing in the tradition of Nisargadatta Maharaj, Advaitavāda means "spiritual non-dualism or absolutism",Template:Sfn in which opposites are manifestations of the Absolute, which itself is immanent and transcendent:Template:Sfn Template:Blockquote

Neo-Vedanta was well-received among Theosophists, Christian Science, and the New Thought movement;Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Christian Science in turn influenced the self-study teaching A Course in Miracles.Template:Sfn

Kashmir Shaivism

Advaita is also a central concept in various schools of Shaivism, such as Kashmir ShaivismTemplate:Sfn and Shiva Advaita which is generally known as Veerashaivism.

Kashmir Shaivism is a school of Śaivism, described by AbhinavaguptaTemplate:Refn as "paradvaita", meaning "the supreme and absolute non-dualism".<ref name="Raina-2002">Template:Cite web</ref> It is categorized by various scholars as monistic<ref>Kashmir Shaivism: The Secret Supreme, Swami Lakshman Jee, pp. 103</ref> idealism (absolute idealism, theistic monism,<ref>The Trika Śaivism of Kashmir, Moti Lal Pandit</ref> realistic idealism,<ref name="Dyczkowski-1987">Template:Cite book</ref> transcendental physicalism or concrete monism<ref name="Dyczkowski-1987"/>).Template:Inconsistent

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.<ref name="Flood-1996">Template:Cite bookTemplate:Full citation needed</ref> There was additionally a revelation of the Siva Sutras to Vasugupta.<ref name="Flood-1996"/> Kashmir Saivism claimed to supersede the dualistic Shaiva Siddhanta.Template:Sfn 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.<ref name="Flood-1996"/>Template:Sfn

The philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism can be seen in contrast to Shankara's Advaita.Template:Sfn Advaita Vedanta holds that Brahman is inactive (niṣkriya) and the phenomenal world is a false appearance (māyā) of Brahman, like snake seen in semi-darkness is a false appearance of Rope lying there. In Kashmir Shavisim, all things are a manifestation of the Universal Consciousness, Chit or Brahman.<ref>Pratyãbhijñahṛdayam, Jaideva Singh, Moltilal Banarsidass, 2008 p.24-26</ref><ref>The Doctrine of Vibration: An Analysis of Doctrines and Practices of Kashmir Shaivism, By Mark S. G. Dyczkowski, p.44</ref> Kashmir Shavisim sees the phenomenal world (Śakti) as real: it exists, and has its being in Consciousness (Chit).<ref>Ksemaraja, trans. by Jaidev Singh, Spanda Karikas: The Divine Creative Pulsation, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p. 119</ref>

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

Contemporary Indian traditions

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

Natha Sampradaya

The Natha Sampradaya, with Nath yogis such as Gorakhnath, introduced Sahaja, the concept of a spontaneous spirituality. According to Ken Wilber, this state reflects nonduality.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Neo-Advaita

Neo-Advaita is a new religious movement based on a modern Western interpretation of Advaita Vedanta, especially the teachings of Ramana Maharshi.Template:Sfn It is a form of nondualism which emphasizes direct insight,Template:Sfn and grew strongly in popularity since the 2000s.Template:Sfn According to Arthur Versluis, neo-Advaita is part of a larger religious current which he calls immediatism.Template:Sfn Neo-Advaita has been criticized for this immediatism and lack of philosophical groundedness, and its lack of preparatory practices.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn Notable neo-advaita teachers are H. W. L. PoonjaTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and his students Gangaji,Template:Sfn Andrew Cohen,Template:Refn and Eckhart Tolle.Template:Sfn

Buddhism

File:Full moon with clouds (19791001528).jpg

The moon and its light hidden by the clouds is a metaphor for the luminous mind of Buddha-nature, which is always shining but can be hidden or covered over by the afflictions.Template:SfnpTemplate:Refn

Over time, Buddhism began shifting toward a more unified view of reality, moving away from the earlier pluralistic outlook of schools of Hīnayāna Buddhism, particularly the Sarvāstivāda. Concepts such as tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature) and ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness) were introduced into Buddhism, signaling not only a philosophical transformation but also a weakening of Buddhism's social influence. This period saw a growing absorption of Brahmanical ideas, often described as the "Brahmanization" of Buddhism. An example of this is found in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, where tathāgatagarbha is at times equated with ālaya-vijñāna, and its description bears a striking resemblance to the Vedāntic concept of Brahman. Terms like Brahman, Viṣṇu, and Īśvara are even used as synonyms for tathāgata, with the highest Brahman being presented as the ultimate reality.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

There are different Buddhist views which resonate with the concepts and experiences of primordial awareness and non-duality or "not two" (advaya). The Buddha does not use the term advaya in the earliest Buddhist texts, but it does appear in some of the Mahayana sutras, such as the Vimalakīrti.<ref>Watson, Burton, The Vimalakirti Sutra, Columbia University Press, 1997, p. 104.</ref> The Buddha taught meditative inquiry (dhyana) and nondiscursive attention (samadhi).

Indian Buddhism

Nirvana

In archaic Buddhism, Nirvana may have been a kind of transformed and transcendent consciousness or discernment (viññana) that has "stopped" (nirodhena).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref>Johansson, Rune, The Psychology of Nirvana, 1969, p. 111.</ref> According to Harvey this nirvanic consciousness is said to be "objectless", "infinite" (anantam), "unsupported" (appatiṭṭhita) and "non-manifestive" (anidassana) as well as "beyond time and spatial location".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Stanislaw Schayer, a Polish scholar, argued in the 1930s that the Nikayas preserve elements of an archaic form of Buddhism which is close to Brahmanical beliefs,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and survived in the Mahayana tradition.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Schayer's view, possibly referring to texts where "'consciousness' (vinnana) seems to be the ultimate reality or substratum" as well as to luminous mind,Template:Sfn saw nirvana as an immortal, deathless sphere, a transmundane reality or state.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn A similar view is also defended by C. Lindtner, who argues that in precanonical Buddhism nirvana is an actual existent.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn The original and early Buddhist concepts of nirvana may have been similar to those found in competing Śramaṇa (strivers/ascetics) traditions such as Jainism and Upanishadic Vedism.Template:Sfn Similar ideas were proposed by Edward ConzeTemplate:Sfn and M. Falk,Template:Sfn citing sources which speak of an eternal and "invisible infinite consciousness, which shines everywhere" as point to the view that nirvana is a kind of Absolute,Template:Sfn and arguing that the nirvanic element, as an "essence" or pure consciousness, is immanent within samsara,Template:Sfn an "abode" or "place" of prajña, which is gained by the enlightened.<ref>M. Falk (1943), Nama-rupa and Dharma-rupa</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

In the Theravada tradition, nibbāna is regarded as an uncompounded or unconditioned (asankhata) dhamma (phenomenon, event) which is "transmundane",Template:SfnTemplate:Refn and which is beyond our normal dualistic conceptions.Template:Refn

Luminous mind

Another influential concept in Indian Buddhism is the idea of luminous mind which became associated with Buddha-nature. In the Early Buddhist Texts there are various mentions of luminosity or radiance which refer to the development of the mind in meditation. In the Saṅgīti-sutta for example, it relates to the attainment of samadhi, where the perception of light (āloka sañña) leads to a mind endowed with luminescence (sappabhāsa).<ref name="Anālayo-2017">Template:Cite journal</ref> According to Analayo, the Upakkilesa-sutta and its parallels mention that the presence of defilements "results in a loss of whatever inner light or luminescence (obhāsa) had been experienced during meditation".<ref name="Anālayo-2017" /> The Pali Dhātuvibhaṅga-sutta uses the metaphor of refining gold to describe equanimity reached through meditation, which is said to be "pure, bright, soft, workable, and luminous".Template:Sfn The Pali Anguttara Nikaya (A.I.8–10) states:<ref>Harvey, page 94. The reference is at A I, 8–10.</ref> Template:Blockquote

The term is given no direct doctrinal explanation in the Pali discourses, but later Buddhist schools explained it using various concepts developed by them.<ref name="Harvey, page 99">Harvey, page 99.</ref> The Theravada school identifies the "luminous mind" with the bhavanga, a concept first proposed in the Theravāda Abhidhamma.<ref>Collins, page 238.</ref> The later schools of the Mahayana identify it with both the Mahayana concepts of bodhicitta and tathagatagarbha.<ref name="Harvey, page 99"/> The notion is of central importance in the philosophy and practice of Dzogchen.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Buddha-nature

Buddha nature or tathagata-garbha (literally "Buddha womb") is that which allows sentient beings to become Buddhas.Template:Sfn Various Mahayana texts such as the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras focus on this idea and over time it became a very influential doctrine in Indian Buddhism, as well in East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism. The Buddha nature teachings may be regarded as a form of nondualism. According to Sally B King, all beings are said to be or possess tathagata-garbha, which is nondual Thusness or Dharmakaya. This reality, states King, transcends the "duality of self and not-self", the "duality of form and emptiness" and the "two poles of being and non being".<ref>King, Sally (1991), Buddha Nature, SUNY Press, pp. 99, 106, 111.</ref>

There various interpretations and views on Buddha-nature and the concept became very influential in India, China and Tibet, where it also became a source of much debate. In later Indian Yogācāra, a new sub-school developed which adopted the doctrine of tathagata-garbha into the Yogācāra system.<ref name="Lusthaus-2018" /> The influence of this hybrid school can be seen in texts like the Lankavatara Sutra and the Ratnagotravibhaga. This synthesis of Yogācāra tathagata-garbha became very influential in later Buddhist traditions, such as Indian Vajrayana, Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism.<ref>Brunnhölzl, Karl, When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra, Shambhala Publications, 2015, p. 118.</ref><ref name="Lusthaus-2018" />

Advaya

File:Vimalakirti Debates Manjusri Dunhuang Mogao Caves Detail.jpeg

The layman Vimalakīrti debates Manjusri, Dunhuang Mogao Caves

According to Kameshwar Nath Mishra, one connotation of advaya in Sanskrit Buddhist literature is that it refers to the middle way between two opposite extremes (such as eternalism and annihilationism), and thus it is "not two".<ref>Kameshwar Nath Mishra, Advaya (= Non-Dual) in Buddhist Sanskrit, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Summer 1988), pp. 3–11 (9 pages).</ref>

One of the Sanskrit Mahayana sutras, the Vimalakirti Sutra contains a chapter on the "Dharma gate of non-duality" (advaya dharma dvara pravesa) which is said to be entered once a person understands how numerous pairs of opposite extremes are to be rejected as forms of grasping. These extremes which must be avoided in order to understand ultimate reality are described by various characters in the text, and include: birth and extinction, 'I' and 'mine', perception and non-perception, defilement and purity, good and not-good, created and uncreated, worldly and unworldly, samsara and nirvana, enlightenment and ignorance, form and emptiness and so on.<ref>Watson, Burton, The Vimalakirti Sutra, Columbia University Press, 1997, pp. 104–106.</ref> The final character to attempt to describe ultimate reality is the bodhisattva Manjushri, who states:

It is in all beings wordless, speechless, shows no signs, is not possible of cognizance, and is above all questioning and answering.<ref name="Nagao-1991">Template:Cite bookTemplate:ISBN?</ref>

Vimalakīrti responds to this statement by maintaining completely silent, therefore expressing that the nature of ultimate reality is ineffable (anabhilāpyatva) and inconceivable (acintyatā), beyond verbal designation (prapañca) or thought constructs (vikalpa).<ref name="Nagao-1991" /> The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, a text associated with Yogācāra Buddhism, also uses the term "advaya" extensively.<ref>McCagney, Nancy, Nāgārjuna and the Philosophy of Openness, Rowman & Littlefield, 1 January 1997, p. 129.</ref>

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

The concept of nonduality is also important in the other major Indian Mahayana tradition, the Yogacara school, where it is seen as the absence of duality between the perceiving subject (or "grasper") and the object (or "grasped"). It is also seen as an explanation of emptiness and as an explanation of the content of the awakened mind which sees through the illusion of subject-object duality. However, in this conception of non-dualism, there are still a multiplicity of individual mind streams (citta santana) and thus Yogacara does not teach an idealistic monism.<ref>Kochumuttom, Thomas A. (1999), A buddhist Doctrine of Experience. A New Translation and Interpretation of the Works of Vasubandhu the Yogacarin, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p. 1.</ref>

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

Madhyamaka

File:Nagarjuna and Aryadeva as Two Great Indian Buddhist Scholastics - Google Art Project.jpg

Nagarjuna (right), Aryadeva (middle) and the Tenth Karmapa (left)

Madhyamaka, also known as Śūnyavāda (the emptiness teaching), refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of philosophyTemplate:Sfn founded by Nāgārjuna. In Madhyamaka, Advaya refers to the fact that the two truths are not separate or different.,Template:Sfn as well as the non-dual relationship of saṃsāra (the round of rebirth and suffering) and nirvāṇa (cessation of suffering, liberation).Template:Sfn According to Murti, in Madhyamaka, Advaya is an epistemological theory, unlike the metaphysical view of Hindu Advaita.Template:Sfn Madhyamaka advaya is closely related to the classical Buddhist understanding that all things are impermanent (anicca) and devoid of self (anatta) or essenceless (niḥsvabhāva),Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book, Quote: "All phenomenal existence [in Buddhism] is said to have three interlocking characteristics: impermanence, suffering and lack of soul or essence."</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and that this emptiness does not constitute an absolute reality in itself.Template:Refn

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

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

Emptiness is a consequence of pratītyasamutpāda (dependent arising),Template:Sfn the teaching that no dharma ("thing", "phenomena") has an existence of its own, but always comes into existence in dependence on other dharmas. According to Madhyamaka all dharma phenomena are empty of substance or essence (Template:Langx) because they are dependently co-arisen. Likewise it is because they are dependently co-arisen that they have no intrinsic, independent reality of their own. Madhyamaka also rejects the existence of absolute realities or beings such as Brahman or Self.Template:Sfn In the highest sense, "ultimate reality" is not an ontological Absolute reality that lies beneath an unreal world, nor is it the non-duality of a personal self (atman) and an absolute Self (cf. Purusha). Instead, it is the knowledge which is based on a deconstruction of such reifications and Conceptual proliferations.<ref name="Abrussi">Abruzzi; McGandy et al., Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, Thomson-Gale, 2003, p. 515.</ref> It also means that there is no "transcendental ground", and that "ultimate reality" has no existence of its own, but is the negation of such a transcendental reality, and the impossibility of any statement on such an ultimately existing transcendental reality: it is no more than a fabrication of the mind.<ref name="PatrickJennings" />Template:Refn However, according to Nagarjuna, even the very schema of ultimate and conventional, samsara and nirvana, is not a final reality, and he thus famously deconstructs even these teachings as being empty and not different from each other in the MMK where he writes:Template:Sfnp

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

Yuichi Kajiyama states that the later Madhyamikas developed the Advaya definition as a means to Nirvikalpa-Samadhi by suggesting that "things arise neither from their own selves nor from other things, and that when subject and object are unreal, the mind, being not different, cannot be true either; thereby one must abandon attachment to cognition of nonduality as well, and understand the lack of intrinsic nature of everything".<ref name="Kajiyama-1991" /> Thus, the Buddhist nondualism or Advaya concept became a means to realizing absolute emptiness.<ref name="Kajiyama-1991" />

Yogācāra tradition

File:Muchaku Hokuendo Kofukuji 2.jpg

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

In the Mahayana tradition of Yogācāra (Skt; "yoga practice"), adyava (Tibetan: gnyis med) refers to overcoming the conceptual and perceptual dichotomies of cognizer and cognized, or subject and object.Template:Sfn<ref name="Gold-2015">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Dreyfus, Georges B. J. Recognizing Reality: Dharmakirti's Philosophy and Its Tibetan Interpretations, SUNY Press, p. 438.</ref><ref>Williams, Paul (editor), Buddhism: Yogācāra, the epistemological tradition and Tathāgatagarbha, Taylor & Francis, 2005, p. 138.</ref> The concept of adyava in Yogācāra is an epistemological stance on the nature of experience and knowledge, as well as a phenomenological exposition of yogic cognitive transformation. Early Buddhism schools such as Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika, that thrived through the early centuries of the common era, postulated a dualism (dvaya) between the mental activity of grasping (grāhaka, "cognition", "subjectivity") and that which is grasped (grāhya, "cognitum", intentional object).Template:Sfn<ref name="Kajiyama-1991">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Yogacara postulates that this dualistic relationship is a false illusion or superimposition (samaropa).<ref name="Kajiyama-1991" />

Yogācāra also taught the doctrine which held that only mental cognitions really exist (vijñapti-mātra),Template:SfnTemplate:Refn instead of the mind-body dualism of other Indian Buddhist schools.<ref name="Kajiyama-1991" />Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This is another sense in which reality can be said to be non-dual, because it is "consciousness-only".<ref>Raymond E. Robertson, Zhongguo ren min da xue. Guo xue yuan, A Study of the Dharmadharmatavibhanga: Vasubandhu's commentary and three critical editions of the root texts, with a modern commentary from the perspective of the rNying ma tradition by Master Tam Shek-wing. Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Studies Association in North America, China Tibetology Publishing House, 2008, p. 218.</ref> There are several interpretations of this main theory, which has been widely translated as representation-only, ideation-only, impressions-only and perception-only.<ref>Cameron Hall, Bruce, The Meaning of Vijnapti in Vasubandhu's Concept of Mind, JIABS Vol 9, 1986, Number 1, p. 7.</ref>Template:Sfn<ref name="Wayman-1996">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Siderits, Mark, Buddhism as philosophy, 2017, p. 146.</ref> Some scholars see it as a kind of subjective or epistemic Idealism (similar to Kant's theory) while others argue that it is closer to a kind of phenomenology or representationalism. According to Mark Siderits the main idea of this doctrine is that we are only ever aware of mental images or impressions which manifest themselves as external objects, but "there is actually no such thing outside the mind."<ref>Siderits, Mark, Buddhism as philosophy, 2017, p. 149.</ref> For Alex Wayman, this doctrine means that "the mind has only a report or representation of what the sense organ had sensed."<ref name="Wayman-1996"/> Jay Garfield and Paul Williams both see the doctrine as a kind of Idealism in which only mentality exists.<ref>Garfield, Jay L. Vasubandhu's treatise on the three natures translated from the Tibetan edition with a commentary, Asian Philosophy, Volume 7, 1997, Issue 2, pp. 133–154.</ref>Template:Sfn

However, even the idealistic interpretation of Yogācāra is not an absolute monistic idealism like Advaita Vedanta or Hegelianism, since in Yogācāra, even consciousness "enjoys no transcendent status" and is just a conventional reality.<ref name="Lusthaus-2018">Template:Cite web</ref> Indeed, according to Jonathan Gold, for Yogācāra, the ultimate truth is not consciousness, but an ineffable and inconceivable "thusness" or "thatness" (tathatā).<ref name="Gold-2015" /> Also, Yogācāra affirms the existence of individual mindstreams, and thus Kochumuttom also calls it a realistic pluralism.Template:Sfn

The Yogācārins defined three basic modes by which we perceive our world. These are referred to in Yogācāra as the three natures (trisvabhāva) of experience. They are:<ref>Siderits, Mark, Buddhism as philosophy, 2017, pp. 177–178.</ref><ref name="Gold-2015"/>

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

To move from the duality of the Parikalpita to the non-dual consciousness of the Pariniṣpanna, Yogācāra teaches that there must be a transformation of consciousness, which is called the "revolution of the basis" (parāvṛtty-āśraya). According to Dan Lusthaus, this transformation which characterizes awakening is a "radical psycho-cognitive change" and a removal of false "interpretive projections" on reality (such as ideas of a self, external objects, etc.).<ref>Lusthaus, Dan, Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogacara Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun, Routledge, 2014, p. 327.</ref>

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

Its operation is nondual (advaya vrtti) because of its abiding neither in samsara nor in nirvana (samsaranirvana-apratisthitatvat), through its being both conditioned and unconditioned (samskrta-asamskrtatvena).<ref name="Makransky-1997">Template:Cite bookTemplate:ISBN?</ref>

This refers to the Yogācāra teaching that even though a Buddha has entered nirvana, they do no "abide" in some quiescent state separate from the world but continue to give rise to extensive activity on behalf of others.<ref name="Makransky-1997" /> This is also called the non-duality between the compounded (samskrta, referring to samsaric existence) and the uncompounded (asamskrta, referring to nirvana). It is also described as a "not turning back" from both samsara and nirvana.<ref>Nagao, Gadjin M. Madhyamika and Yogacara: A Study of Mahayana Philosophies, SUNY Press, 1991, p. 28.</ref>

For the later thinker Dignaga, non-dual knowledge or advayajñāna is also a synonym for prajñaparamita (transcendent wisdom) which liberates one from samsara.<ref>Harris, Ian Charles, The Continuity of Madhyamaka and Yogācāra in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism, BRILL, 1991, p. 52.</ref>

Tantric Buddhism

Buddhist Tantra, also known as Vajrayana, Mantrayana or Esoteric Buddhism, drew upon all these previous Indian Buddhist ideas and nondual philosophies to develop innovative new traditions of Buddhist practice and new religious texts called the Buddhist tantras (from the 6th century onwards).<ref>Williams, Wynne, Tribe; Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition, pp. 205–206.</ref> Tantric Buddhism was influential in China and is the main form of Buddhism in the Himalayan regions, especially Tibetan Buddhism.

File:Chakrasamvara Vajravarahi.jpg

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

The concept of advaya has various meanings in Buddhist Tantra. According to Tantric commentator Lilavajra, Buddhist Tantra's "utmost secret and aim" is Buddha nature. This is seen as a "non-dual, self-originated Wisdom (jnana), an effortless fount of good qualities".<ref>Wayman, Alex; Yoga of the Guhyasamajatantra: The arcane lore of forty verses : a Buddhist Tantra commentary, 1977, p. 56.</ref> In Buddhist Tantra, there is no strict separation between the sacred (nirvana) and the profane (samsara), and all beings are seen as containing an immanent seed of awakening or Buddhahood.<ref>Duckworth, Douglas; Tibetan Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna in "A companion to Buddhist philosophy", p. 100.</ref> The Buddhist Tantras also teach that there is a non-dual relationship between emptiness and compassion (karuna), this unity is called bodhicitta.<ref>Lalan Prasad Singh, Buddhist Tantra: A Philosophical Reflection and Religious Investigation, Concept Publishing Company, 2010, pp. 40–41.</ref> They also teach a "nondual pristine wisdom of bliss and emptiness".<ref>Rinpoche Kirti Tsenshap, Principles of Buddhist Tantra, Simon and Schuster, 2011, p. 127.</ref> Advaya is also said to be the co-existence of Prajña (wisdom) and Upaya (skill in means).<ref>Lalan Prasad Singh, Buddhist Tantra: A Philosophical Reflection and Religious Investigation, Concept Publishing Company, 2010, p. ix.</ref> These nondualities are also related to the idea of yuganaddha, or "union" in the Tantras. This is said to be the "indivisible merging of innate great bliss (the means) and clear light (emptiness)" as well as the merging of relative and ultimate truths and the knower and the known, during Tantric practice.<ref>Jamgon Kongtrul, The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Five: Buddhist Ethics, Shambhala Publications, 5 June 2003, p. 345.</ref>

Buddhist Tantras also promote certain practices which are antinomian, such as sexual rites or the consumption of disgusting or repulsive substances (the "five ambrosias", feces, urine, blood, semen, and marrow.). These are said to allow one to cultivate nondual perception of the pure and impure (and similar conceptual dualities) and thus it allows one to prove one's attainment of nondual gnosis (advaya jñana).<ref>Wedemeyer, Christian K. Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, Semiology, and Transgression in the Indian Traditions, Columbia University Press, 6 May 2014, p. 145.</ref>

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

East-Asian Buddhism

Chinese

File:Indrasnet.jpg

A 3D rendering of Indra's net, an illustration of the Huayan concept of interpenetration

Chinese Buddhism was influenced by the philosophical strains of Indian Buddhist nondualism such as the Madhymaka doctrines of emptiness and the two truths as well as Yogacara and tathagata-garbha. For example, Chinese Madhyamaka philosophers like Jizang, discussed the nonduality of the two truths.<ref>Chang-Qing Shih, The Two Truths in Chinese Buddhism Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 2004, p. 153.</ref> Chinese Yogacara also upheld the Indian Yogacara views on nondualism. One influential text in Chinese Buddhism which synthesizes Tathagata-garbha and Yogacara views is the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, which may be a Chinese composition.

In Chinese Buddhism, the polarity of absolute and relative realities is also expressed as "essence-function". This was a result of an ontological interpretation of the two truths as well as influences from native Taoist and Confucian metaphysics.Template:Sfn In this theory, the absolute is essence, the relative is function. They can't be seen as separate realities, but interpenetrate each other.<ref name="Park-1983">Template:Cite book</ref> This interpretation of the two truths as two ontological realities would go on to influence later forms of East Asian metaphysics.

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

The Tiantai school for example, taught a threefold truth, instead of the classic "two truths" of Indian Madhyamaka. Its "third truth" was seen as the nondual union of the two truths which transcends both.<ref name="Ziporyn-2014">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Tiantai metaphysics is an immanent holism, which sees every phenomenon, moment or event as conditioned and manifested by the whole of reality. Every instant of experience is a reflection of every other, and hence, suffering and nirvana, good and bad, Buddhahood and evildoing, are all "inherently entailed" within each other.<ref name="Ziporyn-2014" /> Each moment of consciousness is simply the Absolute itself, infinitely immanent and self reflecting.

Two doctrines of the Huayan school (Flower Garland), which flourished in China during the Tang period, are considered nondual by some scholars. King writes that the Fourfold Dharmadhatu and the doctrine of the mutual containment and interpenetration of all phenomena (dharmas) or "perfect interfusion" (yuanrong, 圓融) are classic nondual doctrines.Template:Sfn This can be described as the idea that all phenomena "are representations of the wisdom of Buddha without exception" and that "they exist in a state of mutual dependence, interfusion and balance without any contradiction or conflict."<ref name="Hamar-2007">Template:Cite book</ref> According to this theory, any phenomenon exists only as part of the total nexus of reality, its existence depends on the total network of all other things, which are all equally connected to each other and contained in each other.<ref name="Hamar-2007"/> Another Huayan metaphor used to express this view, called Indra's net, is also considered nondual by some.Template:Citation needed

Zen

File:BodhidharmaYoshitoshi1887.jpg

Bodhidharma directly pointing to one's mind: "A special transmission outside the scriptures
Not founded upon words and letters;
By pointing directly to [one's] mind
It lets one see into [one's own true] nature and [thus] attain Buddhahood."Template:Sfn

The Buddha-nature and Yogacara philosophies have had a strong influence on Chán and Zen. The teachings of Zen are expressed by a set of polarities: Buddha-nature – sunyata;Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn absolute-relative;Template:Sfn sudden and gradual enlightenment.Template:Sfn

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

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

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

Zen Buddhist training does not end with kenshō. Practice is to be continued to deepen the insight and to express it in daily life,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn to fully manifest the nonduality of absolute and relative.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn 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,Template:Sfn the Five Ranks, and the Ten Ox-Herding PicturesTemplate:Sfn which detail the steps on the Path.

Korean

Template:See also 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".<ref name="Park-1983"/> In Korean Buddhism, essence-function is also expressed as "body" and "the body's functions".<ref>Park, Sung-bae (2009). One Korean's approach to Buddhism: the mom/momjit paradigm. SUNY series in Korean studies: SUNY Press. Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN. Source: [2] (accessed: Saturday 8 May 2010), p. 11</ref> 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.<ref>Lai, Whalen (1979). "Ch'an Metaphors: waves, water, mirror, lamp". Philosophy East & West; Vol. 29, no.3, July, 1979, pp. 245–253. Source: [3] (accessed: Saturday 8 May 2010)</ref>

Pure Land

In Jōdo Shinshū, a Japanese branch of Pure Land Buddhism, the writings of the branch's founder, Shinran, hold that ultimate and conventional reality exist together. Nonduality "points beyond all conceptual categories," but the ultimate does not manifest through the disappearance of conventional reality, but by experiencing conventional reality in a different way.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Tibetan Buddhism

Prasangika Madhyamaka

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

Shentong

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

Shentong is a philosophical sub-school found in Tibetan Buddhism. Its adherents generally hold that the nature of mind (svasaṃvedana), the substratum of the mindstream, is "empty" (Template:Bo) of "other" (Template:Bo), 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,Template:Sfn and is present primarily as the main philosophical theory of the Jonang school, although it is also taught by the SakyaTemplate:Sfn and Kagyu schools.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn 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.<ref>Lama Shenpen, Emptiness Teachings. Buddhism Connect Template:Webarchive (accessed March, 2010)</ref> It is empty of all that is false, not empty of the limitless Buddha qualities that are its innate nature.

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

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

Dzogchen

Template:Main Dzogchen is concerned with the "natural state" and emphasizes direct experience. The state of nondual awareness is called rigpa.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

File:Ekajati.jpg

Ekajati is one of the main protectors of the Dzogchen teachings.

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

Garab Dorje's three statements

File:Garab Dorje.gif

Garab Dorje or Prehebajra, a Dzogchen master

Garab Dorje (c. 665) epitomized the Dzogchen teaching in three principles, known as "Striking the Vital Point in Three Statements" (Tsik Sum Né Dek), said to be his last words. These three statements are believed to convey the heart of his teachings and serve as a concise and profound encapsulation of Dzogchen's view, its practice of contemplation, and the role of conduct. They give in short the development a student has to undergo:Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Garab Dorje's three statements were integrated into the Nyingthig traditions, the most popular of which in the Longchen Nyingthig by Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798).Template:Sfnp The statements are:Template:Sfnp

1. Introducing directly the face of rigpa itself (ngo rang tok tu tré). Dudjom Rinpoche states this refers to: "Introducing directly the face of the naked mind as the rigpa itself, the innate primordial wisdom."
2. Deciding upon one thing and one thing only (tak chik tok tu ché). Dudjom states: "Because all phenomena, whatever manifests, whether saṃsāra or nirvāṇa, are none other than the rigpa's own play, there is complete and direct decision that there is nothing other than the abiding of the continual flow of rigpa."
3. Confidence directly in the liberation of rising thoughts (deng drol tok tu cha). Dudjom comments: "In the recognition of namtok [arising thoughts], whatever arises, whether gross or subtle, there is direct confidence in the simultaneity of the arising and dissolution in the expanse of dharmakāya, which is the unity of rigpa and śūnyatā."

Other eastern religions

Sikhism

Many newer, contemporary Sikhs have suggested that human souls and the monotheistic God are two different realities (dualism),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> distinguishing it from the monistic and various shades of nondualistic philosophies of other Indian religions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, some Sikh scholars have attempted to explore nondualism exegesis of Sikh scriptures,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> such as during the neocolonial reformist movement by Bhai Vir Singh. According to Mandair, Singh interprets the Sikh scriptures as teaching nonduality.Template:Sfn Sikh scholar Bhai Mani Singh is quoted as saying that Sikhism has all the essence of Vedanta philosophy. Historically, the Sikh symbol of Ik Oankaar has had a monistic meaning, and has been reduced to simply meaning, "There is but One God", which is incorrect.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Older exegesis of Sikh scripture, such as the Faridkot Teeka, has always described Sikh metaphysics as a non-dual, panentheistic universe.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Taoism

File:Yin yang.svg

Taijitu

According to Paul A. Erickson, 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.<ref>Paul A. Erickson, Liam D. Murphy. A History of Anthropological Theory. 2013. p. 486</ref>

Taoism's wu wei (Chinese wu, not; wei, doing) is a term with various translationsTemplate:Refn and interpretations designed to distinguish it from passivity. Commonly understood as "effortless action", wu wei encourages individuals to flow with the natural rhythms of existence, moving beyond dualistic perspectives and embracing a harmonious unity with the universe. This holistic approach to life, characterized by spontaneous and unforced action, emphasizes interconnectedness and oneness, and integrates effortless action in both physical deeds and mental states.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Neo-Confucianism

Neo-Confucianism is primarily a social and ethical philosophy that uses metaphysical ideas, some borrowed from Taoism, as its framework. Concepts like li (principle) and qi (energy) reflect certain monistic tendencies. However, unlike the dominant Buddhists of their time, the Neo-Confucians believed that reality existed and could be understood by humankind.

Western traditions

A modern strand of thought sees "nondual consciousness" as a universal psychological state, which is a common stratum and of the same essence in different spiritual traditions.Template:Sfn It is derived from Neo-Vedanta and neo-Advaita, but has historical roots in neo-Platonism, Western esotericism, and Perennialism. The idea of nondual consciousness as "the central essence"Template:Sfn 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.Template:Refn

Central elements in the western traditions are Neo-Platonism, which had a strong influence on Christian contemplation or mysticism, and its accompanying apophatic theology.Template:Sfn

Western philosophy

Greek philosophy

Parmenides of Elea was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of the 5th century BCE. He presented two views of reality. The first, the way of Aletheia (truth), describes how all reality is one: change is impossible, and existence is timeless and uniform. The second, the way of Doxa (opinion), refers to the world of appearances, where sensory perception leads to false and deceptive conceptions. Parmenides depicted his philosophy as a divine truth and rejected the evidence of the senses, believing that truth could only be attained through reason. However, he still considered both divine and mortal understandings worth learning, as mortal insights can carry meaning. His concept of eternal Being was one without reference to time; since change cannot occur within Being, there are no intervals by which time can be measured.

A number of similarities have been noted between the Pyrrhonist works of Sextus Empiricius and that of Nagarjuna, the Madhyamaka Buddhist philosopher from the 2nd or 3rd century CE.<ref name=Conze>Conze, Edward. Buddhist Philosophy and Its European Parallels. Philosophy East and West 13, p.9-23, no.1, January 1963. University press of Hawaii.</ref> Diogenes Laërtius' biography of Pyrrho reports that Pyrrho traveled with Alexander the Great's army to India and incorporated what he learned from the Gymnosophists and the Magi that he met in his travels into his philosophical system.<ref name="cite LotEP|chapter=Pyrrho"/> Pyrrho would have spent about 18 months in Taxila as part of Alexander the Great's court during Alexander's conquest of the east.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Christopher I. Beckwith<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> draws comparisons between the Buddhist three marks of existence and the concepts outlined in the "Aristocles Passage".<ref name="Pyrrho"/> Ajñana, which upheld radical skepticism, may have been a more powerful influence on Pyrrho than Buddhism. The Buddhists referred to Ajñana's adherents as Amarāvikkhepikas or "eel-wrigglers", due to their refusal to commit to a single doctrine.<ref name="Jayatilleke"/> Scholars including Barua, Jayatilleke, and Flintoff, contend that Pyrrho was influenced by, or at the very least agreed with, Indian skepticism rather than Buddhism or Jainism, based on the fact that he valued ataraxia, which can be translated as "freedom from worry".

The Stoics provided a unified account of the world, constructed from ideals of logic, monistic physics, and naturalistic ethics. These three ideals constitute virtue, which is necessary for 'living a well-reasoned life', seeing as they are all parts of a logos, or philosophical discourse, which includes the mind's rational dialogue with itself.

Neopythagoreanism was an attempt to re-introduce a mystical religious element into Hellenistic philosophy in place of what had come to be regarded as an arid formalism. The founders of the school sought to invest their doctrines with the halo of tradition by ascribing them to Pythagoras and Plato. They went back to the later period of Plato's thought, the period when Plato endeavoured to combine his theory of forms with Pythagorean number theory, and identified the good with the monad (which would give rise to the Neoplatonic concept of "the One"), the source of the duality of the infinite and the measured with the resultant scale of realities from the one down to the objects of the material world.

Neoplatonism also contains nondual elements. Plotinus taught that there is a supreme, totally transcendent "One", containing no division, multiplicity, nor distinction; likewise, it is beyond all categories of being and non-being. The concept of "being" is derived by us from the objects of human experience and is an attribute of such objects, but the infinite, transcendent One is beyond all such objects and, therefore, is beyond the concepts which we can derive from them. The One "cannot be any existing thing" and cannot be merely the sum of all such things (compare the Stoic doctrine of disbelief in non-material existence) but "is prior to all existents".

Modern philosophy

Western philosophers like Hegel, Spinoza and Schopenhauer defended different forms of philosophical monism or Idealism.Template:Sfnp

Baruch Spinoza's formulation of pantheism in the 17th century constitutes a seminal European manifestation of nondualism. His philosophical work, especially expounded in Ethics posits a radical idea that fuses divinity with the material world, suggesting that God and the universe are not separate entities but different facets of a single underlying substance. In his worldview, the finite and the infinite are harmoniously interwoven, challenging René Descartes' dualistic perspective.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

One of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical insights also resonates with nondualism. Nietzsche wrote that "We cease to think when we refuse to do so under the constraint of language."Template:Efn This idea is explored in his book On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense. His scrutiny of conventional thought and language urges a departure from linguistic boundaries.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This perspective aligns with the nondual notion of transcending dualistic concepts and engaging with reality in a more immediate, intuitive manner.

Western esotericism

Theosophy is a religious movement founded by Helena Blavatsky, which holds a monist position that there exists a single divine Absolute and articulates an emanationist cosmology in which the universe is perceived as outward reflections from this Absolute. The purpose of human life is spiritual emancipation and the human soul undergoes reincarnation upon bodily death according to a process of karma. Drawing primarily from Advaita Vedanta, some strands of Mahayana Buddhism, and Neoplatonism, Theosophy identifies India as the center of a universal ancient wisdom-religion.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some of its concepts were later distorted and racialized in the development of Ariosophy, a nationalist esoteric ideology, which misappropriated Theosophical ideas and contributed to the ideological background of Nazism.

Ariosophy has been described as gnostic, pantheist, and deist, but at its core is the mystical union of God, man, and nature. It teaches that God dwells within the individual human spirit as an inner source of magical power, but is also immanent within nature through the primal laws that govern the cycles of growth, decay, and renewal. It explicitly rejects a Mind-body dualism of spirit versus matter, or of God over or against nature. Humanity is therefore one with the universe, which entails an obligation to live in accordance with nature.

Other modern theories with non-dual elements include Quantum mysticism, which links spirituality to quantum mechanics and posits that consciousness causes collapse, and Integral theory by Ken Wilber, a metatheory unifying Western models and Eastern meditative traditions.

Hermeticism

In Hermetic view, God is both the all (Greek: to pan) and the creator of the all: all created things pre-exist in God and God is the nature of the cosmos (being both the substance from which it proceeds and the governing principle which orders it), yet the things themselves and the cosmos were all created by God. Thus, God ('the All') creates itself, and is both transcendent (as the creator of the cosmos) and immanent (as the created cosmos). These ideas are also closely related to the cosmo-theological views of the Stoics.

Medieval Abrahamic religions

Christian contemplation and mysticism

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The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, St John the Baptist, St Antony Abbot

In Christian mysticism, contemplative prayer and apophatic theology are central elements. In contemplative prayer, the mind is focused by constant repetition a phrase or word. Saint John Cassian recommended use of the phrase "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me".<ref>John Cassian, Conferences, 10, chapters 10–11</ref><ref name="Freeman-2005">Template:Cite web</ref> Another formula for repetition is the name of Jesus<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>James W. Skehan, Place Me with Your Son (Georgetown University Press 1991 Template:ISBN), p. 89</ref> or the Jesus Prayer, which has been called "the mantra of the Orthodox Church",<ref name="Freeman-2005"/> although the term "Jesus Prayer" is not found in the Fathers of the Church.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The author of The Cloud of Unknowing recommended use of a monosyllabic word, such as "God" or "Love".<ref>The Cloud of Unknowing (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature 2005 Template:ISBN), p. 18</ref>

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

The Cloud of Unknowing – an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century – advocates a mystic relationship with God. The text describes a spiritual union with God through the heart. The author of the text advocates centering prayer, a form of inner silence. According to the text, God can not be known through knowledge or from intellection. It is only by emptying the mind of all created images and thoughts that we can arrive to experience God. Continuing on this line of thought, God is completely unknowable by the mind. God is not known through the intellect but through intense contemplation, motivated by love, and stripped of all thought.<ref>Paul de Jaegher Christian Mystics of the Middle Ages: An Anthology of Writings, translated by Donald Attwater 2004, p. 86</ref>

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.<ref>Koren, Henry J (1955). An Introduction to the Science of Metaphysics. B. Herder Book Co. Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref>

The former nun and contemplative Bernadette Roberts is considered a nondualist by Jerry Katz.Template:Sfn

Hypostatic-union is an incomplete form of non-duality applied to a tertiary entity, neglecting the subjective self.

Jewish Hasidism and Kabbalism

According to Jay Michaelson, nonduality begins to appear in the medieval Jewish textual tradition which peaked in Hasidism:Template:Sfn Template:Blockquote

One of the most striking contributions of the Kabbalah, which became a central idea in Chasidic thought, was a highly innovative reading of the monotheistic idea. The belief in one God is no longer perceived as the mere rejection of other deities or intermediaries, but a denial of any existence outside of God.Template:Refn

Academic views

Orientalism

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

Common-core thesis

Perennialism

The common-core thesis suggests that different mystical traditions may describe similar, if not identical, experiences, despite using different conceptual frameworks and terminologies.Template:Sfn Proponents of Perennialism, such as Aldous Huxley, argue that a universal mystical core underlies all religious traditions. Huxley, influenced by Vivekananda's Neo-Vedanta and Universalism, promoted this idea in his book The Perennial Philosophy.Template:Sfn However, scholarly critiques of this thesis argue that religious experiences are often culturally and doctrinally mediated, rather than pointing to a single, universal experience.Template:Sfn

Elias Amidon describes this common essence as an "indescribable but definitely recognizable reality"Template:Sfn that serves as the ground of all being. He suggests that various spiritual traditions refer to this reality by different names, including:Template:Sfn

Critiques of the common-core thesis

Critics of the common-core thesis, often referred to as diversity theorists, argue that mystical experiences are not universal but instead culturally and doctrinally shaped. Scholars such as S. T. Katz and Wayne Proudfoot assert that all religious experiences are mediated by language, tradition, and conceptual frameworks rather than reflecting an unconditioned, universal mystical reality.Template:Sfn Katz, in particular, writes 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."Template:Sfn This position challenges the idea that nondual awareness is a common mystical essence, arguing instead that what one experiences in religious practice is shaped by their specific cultural and doctrinal background.

Philosopher Keith Yandell further critiques the common-core thesis by distinguishing five distinct categories of religious experiences, each tied to a specific doctrinal framework:Template:Sfn

• Numinous experiences – Found in monotheistic traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Vedantic Hinduism.
• Nirvanic experiences – Found in Buddhism, where one perceives the self as a bundle of fleeting states rather than a fixed entity.
• Kevala experiences – Found in Jainism, where the self is understood as an indestructible subject of experience.
• Moksha experiences – Found in Hinduism, with Brahman conceptualized either as a cosmic person or as an impersonal, qualityless absolute.
• Nature mystical experiences – Found in traditions emphasizing union with nature rather than a transcendental or metaphysical realization.

This classification suggests that religious experiences vary significantly across traditions, contradicting the claim that all mystical experiences point to the same nondual essence.

Further criticism comes from Richard King and Robert Sharf, who argue that what one experiences in meditation or mystical practice is largely shaped by pre-existing doctrinal expectations.Template:Sfn In this view, mystical experiences are not independent proofs of a given tradition's truth but are instead a result of the teachings and practices within that tradition.Template:Sfn

For example, Bronkhorst traces the historical development of "liberating insight" in Buddhism, demonstrating that the concept evolved significantly over time. Early Buddhist texts did not provide a clear definition of what constituted enlightenment. Later, the Four Noble Truths became the dominant framework for understanding liberation. Over time, this emphasis shifted again; in some Hinayana schools, liberation was increasingly understood through the doctrine of no-self (anatta) as a fundamental realization. Schmithausen further observes that Buddhist scriptures contain multiple interpretations of enlightenment, suggesting that even within a single tradition, the nature of ultimate realization was not fixed but subject to doctrinal development and reinterpretation.Template:Sfn

These variations challenge the idea that nondual awareness is a universal and timeless mystical experience, instead suggesting that different traditions construct different understandings of what constitutes ultimate reality.

Phenomenology

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

See also

• One taste
• The Void

Sources

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Further reading

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External links

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• Explanatory website about nondualism