#anatma

Here is a series of Whatsapp conversations on this thread: Do you agree with this below message. If yes, why? If not, why not? —-start—-I came up with this in response to someone in another group… People are caught up with busy-ness. Most of it meaningless. If we find something to do that we’re excited about, that’s great! There is no real meaning or purpose to life. Everything is temporary.…

It has been said that words bind the boundless. One way in which that is true: Many traditions point to the same truth and have practices that lead to the direct experience of it. Words spring from the context of particular orientations and traditions and are flavored by those perspectives. But, strip away the trappings and the horse underneath is the same. 

As Buddhism and Hinduism continued to be practiced over hundreds of years, the description of the actual experience of stages of the path and ultimate direct perceptions of truth became almost indistinguishable.

In my limited personal experience, I can relate to the experience of unity over the years. But, when I started having the experience of "no-self", it was quite different from an expanding sense of unity. With unity, everything seemed to still be in terms of the self, "I am all that I see, hear, touch." When I began to experience the absence of self, things were no longer in terms of this "I". Also, this subtle sense of duality that remained linking "I am" with "all that I perceive" dropped off. It shifted from being "I" centered to not having a center, from seeing the world in terms of the self to all things equally participating in ubiquitous awareness, all things acting and reacting in perfect accord with all other things. Life just flows. And when I am not directly currently experiencing this, there is an indelible sense of it that never completely leaves, a fragrance of unity that can never be forgotten. 

On the other hand, when someone steps on my toe I still want them to get off. I can still be self-serving at times - sometimes surprisingly so. But, there is no dichotomy or paradox in that. I still have the desire of "self-"preservation, i.e., I prefer to continue living rather than walking in front of a bus. But, if I look for a separate self, none can be found. 

Yet, there is a remainder or residue of ignorance. There is always more to unfold. The depth is unfathomable and as such, no end to the limits of experience. We are not omniscient, all knowing, concurrently experiencing all things simultaneously. We are still in these bodies and perceive through these senses, which tend to give a sense of localization and hence a sense of separateness, "I hear the sound coming from over there." Yet, what is more prominent than this sense of localization that separates or differentiates is that there is no "out there." All things appear and disappear in awareness itself. Nothing is outside of awareness. Because of this, there is no sense of separation but also no tangible sense of self. It's not that there is no sense of self what-so-ever as it is that it is no longer prominent and no longer calling the shots. The awareness shifts from what is good for me to what is good for the planet. It shifts from my suffering to the human condition we are all in. It shifts from seeing someone like Trump as inherently greedy and self-serving to seeing the light within him and how it is obstructed by his misperceptions revolving around his strongly solidified sense of self and self-importance, for example. 

Sunyawad, The Philosophy of Emptiness – Osho

These techniques are concerned with emptiness – they are the most delicate, the most subtle. Even to conceive of emptiness seems impossible. Buddha used all these four techniques for his disciples and bhikkus, and because of these four techniques he was totally misunderstood. Buddhism got completely uprooted from Indian soil just because of these four techniques.

Buddha said that there is no…

Every moment of experience is contingent on a vast complex of myriad conditions. Nothing exists in and of itself as 'this' or 'that,' 'self' or 'other.' Everything is what it is only in relation to what it is not. To recognize this emptiness is not to negate things but to glimpse what enables anything to happen at all.

- Stephen Batchelor, "Nagarjuna’s Verses from the Center"

#Shunyata #Anatta

Anātman, अनात्मन्, the illusion of self pervades all existence. The volition or consciousness I take on as myself is also the will of Cosmic Karma acting as a blazing, extended arm, beaming out of the field of emptiness. All formations continue in this way, come from and eventually lead to the true source, Shunyata. The Will of any phenomenon expresses itself joyfully,  as soon as conditions are set. Music is one such phenomenon  Therefore, the will of Music is me, becomes me, there is no separation.

Apollo flows through the veins of my spiritual and physical self manifesting as the expression of sound. He permits my aggregate to be the vehicle which, upon insight, allows this volition to be pure and wills a direction within this polar existence towards a place of light, until the user is finally catapulted to emancipation.