Monday, February 27, 2012

Nonduality: references for research, and a definition

Work on what is being said about nonduality is needed. It's obvious that this is the buzzword, the keyword, the clinchword, in current spiritual teachings.
Advaita, undivided, etc follow. Anyone teaching this word should be held accountable, because failure to use it properly creates an obstacle to seeker's experience of true realization. Those who fail to point seekers to true nonduality are therefore failing an opportunity to remove delusions.
http://nonduality.com/lrn.htm: Jerry Katz claims he to have defined it beyond the current "nonduality bandwagon" in his 2010 writing. He started nonduality.com in 1997.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGuh-mrodvI James Traverse interviews Katz about nonduality. Between the two, the subject is delivered as a sterile, emotionless void of awareness.
Kudos to Katz for this excerpt, yet it is subtext for what is still deeper in the Lankavarta:
What is meant by nonduality, Mahatmi?
It means that light and shade, long and short, black and white, can only be experienced in relation to each other; light is not independent of shade, nor black of white. There are no opposites, only relationships. --from The Lankavatara Sutra
Btw - A rare video of Ramana Maharshi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weXKuURMgMs&feature=related said to be a teacher of nonduality. Need to research this claim. No master's teaching is beyond scrutiny. This U-tube link accompanies an endless list of nonduality video teachings.
A sample profile from one the many teachers and "facilitators" of nonduality:
www.nondualtraining.com Peter Fenner is a leader in the adaption and transmission of Asian nondual wisdom worldwide. He is a pioneer in the development of nondual therapy and creator of the 9 month Radiant Mind Course® and the Natural Awakening: Advanced Nondual Training. He was a celibate monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for 9 years and has a Ph.D. in the philosophical psychology of Mahayana Buddhism. Note: I saw peter with his artner Panny, at a Dzogchen workshop in Berkeley around 1998. Nonduality wasn't a buzzword then. "There is no problem" was the theme. I was the jerk who said "there is a problem! We all want to awaken, but we aren't!"
http://undividedjournal.com/ John Prendergast's online publication, listed again here.
http://theopenway.org/I described my encounter with Cory Bright at his open Way" meeting.
Ditto messaging about nonduality for many teacher's websites, including Gangaji, Dorothy Hunt, etc.
More to come. Estimating 40-60 hours of research and queries at satsangs to clarify the definitions of duality. I'm now favoring this definition:
Nondual awareness comes about after resolving the dualities of the mind-illusion, and then resolving the final duality of empty awareness and heart fullness.


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