Advayavada Study Plan - week 13

Friends,

In Advayavada Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is interpreted dynamically as an ongoing and autonomous, non-prescriptive, investigative and creative process of progressive insight reflecting in human terms overall existence advancing over time.

Adherence to the familiar Five Precepts and a well-considered understanding of the Four Signs of Being and the Four Noble Truths suffice to start off on the Path at any time. Nirvana means, in Advayavada Buddhism, the total extinction of existential suffering (duhkha, dukkha) by becoming one with the universal process of change and progress.

The Noble Eightfold Path in Advayavada Buddhism is fully personalized: it is firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world, and trusting our own intentions, feelings and conscience.

The Path we follow is (1) that of our very best (samyak, samma) comprehension or insight followed by (2) our very best resolution or determination, (3) our very best enunciation or definition of our intention, (4) our very best disposition or attitude, (5) our very best implementation or realization, (6) our very best effort or commitment, (7) our very best observation, reflection or evaluation and self-correction, and (8) our very best meditation or concentration towards an increasingly real experience of samadhi, which brings us to (1) a yet better comprehension or insight, and so forth.

By following the Noble Eightfold Path in this way you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; old mistakes are left behind; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life at once gathers new impetus.

Last week's ASP subject is the Seventh Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) observation or evaluation and self-correction of our efforts in carrying out our plan or intention.

This week's ASP subject is therefore the Eighth Step on the Noble Eighfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) meditation or concentration towards an increasingly real experience of samadhi.

samadhi = total concentration (of the mind, cf. enstasy); non-dualistic state of consciousness in which the experiencing subject becomes one with the experienced object; total absortion in the object of meditation; transcendence of the relationship between mind and object; merging of subject and object; to contemplate the world without any perception of objects; suspension of judgement; satori; bodhi; rigpa; realization of the sameness of the part and the whole, of the identity of form and emptiness, of samsara and nirvana, of the immediate and the ultimate; mystic oneness; perfect attunement with wondrous overall existence; oceanic feeling; wonder, awe, rapture; essential purity; deep love and compassion; awareness of our common ground.

The purpose of the ASP is that we study (and debate in the group, family circle and/or with good friends) the meaning and implications of the recurring weekly subject, particularly in the context of whatever we ourselves are presently doing or are concerned with, or about, such as our health, relationships, work, study, and our place and responsibilities in the family, group, sangha, society at large, etc.

Tip: Write down this week's subject ("meditate towards samadhi!") in your pocket diary.

John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>

The World according to Guo Xiang (Livia Kohn)

Unlike the Zhuangzi [the Chuang Tzu], Guo Xiang's [Kuo Hsiang's] commentary does not leave much doubt about his ideas. He has strong convictions about the way the universe works and how people function therein, and presents them in a well-organized, thoroughly thought-out soteriology, which represents an important development of Chinese mystical worldview. For Guo Xiang, everything exists the way it is and because it is. There is no principle or agency at the origin of life. He says in his commentary:

"What existed before there were beings? If I say yin and yang were first, then that means yin and yang are beings, too. What, then, was before them? I may say nature was first. But nature is only the natural way of beings. I may say perfect Tao was first. But perfect Tao is perfect nonbeing. Since it is nonbeing, how can it be before anything else? So, what existed before there were beings? There must always be another being without end. Thus I understand that beings are what they are by nature; they are not caused by anything else."

There is ultimately no cause to make things what they are. "Thus", Guo Xiang says, "the principle of self-transformation becomes clear". The universe exists by itself and of itself; it is existence just as it is. Nothing can be added to or substracted from it; it is entirely sufficient upon itself.

The universe, though spontaneous, is not without structure. It is structured first because it is in continuous motion and changes without interruption. Second, it is structured by principle (li), a cosmic power that makes everything be what it is. "Each individual has principle as much as each and every affair has what is appropiate to it". This principle is inescapable just as the characteristic of change is in everything that is. Principle determines the particular way of being of the entire cosmos as much as of each individual being and affair.

Principle is intimately linked to share or lot (fen). That is to say, it corresponds closely with the fact that any concrete existence is only possible through obtaining some share in the Tao, in the universal flux of existence. This share or part that every being has in the Tao determines his, her, or its position in the cosmos, while principle is responsible for the particular way in which this position is filled.

Organized according to the cosmic laws of principle and share, human society is basically an organic whole. The political structure is a natural body. Since it is an integral part of nature, there can be only one perfect society. This society is hierarchical, closely knit, and well ordered - similar to the ideal of Great Peace, held equally by Confucians and Taoists in the end of the Han [in the early 2nd century]. The ideal ruler in this system is the direct executive of the cosmos. "The ruler's virtue is like heaven's being naturally high", Guo Xiang states categorically. The ruler governs the world through perfect non-action [wu wei]. As Guo Xiang describes it:

"When the king does not make himself useful in the various offices, the various officials will manage their own affairs. Those with clear vision will see; those with sharp ears will listen; the wise will plan; and the strong will provide protection. Why take any action? Only mysterious silence, that is all!"

Non-action is thus defined as action in true harmony and accordance with things. People realize themselves by doing exactly what they are best suited for and nothing else. Despite these rigorous limitations of people's activities, Guo Xiang's system is not deterministic. Rather, society and human life are for him the arena in which people live up to their given abilities and opportunities. The world and the Tao are there for human beings to realize themselves for what they really are.

(From Early Chinese Mysticism, by Livia Kohn, Princeton 1992)

Zhuangzi according to Fukunaga (Livia Kohn)

Integrating the multifaceted descriptions of Zhuangzi's [Chuang Tzu's] worldview into an organized whole, the Japanese scholar Fukunaga Mitsuji has proposed an interpretation that, though influenced to a certain extent by Guo Xiang's [Kuo Hsiang's] later commentary, seems to capture the essentials as they were understood and perpetuated by the Chinese themselves. According to Fukunaga, Zhuangzi begins with the conviction that human beings do not feel at home in the world - an understanding shared by many of his contemporaries.

But Zhuangzi does not look for causes in the social and political framework of the times. Rather, he claims that people are unhappy in the world because of their rationally determined minds. To him, the world is perfect as it is - nothing one could do or say would make it better. It is a reality to be accepted as such. To change being in order to influence consciousness would have sounded absurd to Zhuangzi. Althougn he agrees that the problem of existence lies in the discrepancy between being and consciousness, he insists that the change must take place in the mind alone.

According to Fukunaga, the first step Zhuangzi advocates to transform the mind is to understand properly what consciousness is and how it causes problems in people's lives. He claims that human beings are strangers to the world because they set up abstract categories and intellectual divisions to deal with life. They thereby destroy life's purity and simplicity. Zhuangzi agrees with the Daeode jing [Tao Te Ching] in acknowledging that the reality of being is nothing but an ongoing process of change. But people place a distance between themselves and their experiences by giving names to things. They perceive them as good or bad, desirable or undesirable.

Human self-consciousness - and again Zhuangzi concurs with other ancient Chinse philosophers - is most immediately expressed in language, in 'names'. But he does not advocate a 'rectification of names', as Confucius did, nor does he support the effort to make the conscious network more coherent and improve its accordance with reality. Rather, Zhuangzi contends that all names, all self-consciousness, have to become part of inner spontaneity. The silence of immediate experience has to be restored. Human estrangement for Zhuangzi comes when people set up mental categories and emotional values in dealing with things. Then they begin to love life and hate death; they increasingly shift between extremes, emotionally and intellectually, instead of taking things for what they are. Good and bad, joy and anger, right and wrong, liking one and disliking another - these attitudes represent the fundamental error of human existence in the world.

Zhuangzi's solution to the predicament is to "make all things equal", as the title of the second chapter suggests. The first step in this direction is the realization of one's erroneous behavior in the past. One must first understand that passing judgment and having feelings about things are harmful to oneself. One must realize that there is no neeed ever to feel separate from the inherent perfection of all. In fact, one always participates in the Tao, the absolute, the One. The absolute is the now; it is right here to be participated in absolutely.

(From Early Chinese Mysticism, by Livia Kohn, Princeton 1992)

Advayavada Study Plan - week 12

Friends,

In Advayavada Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is interpreted dynamically as an ongoing and autonomous, non-prescriptive, investigative and creative process of progressive insight reflecting in human terms overall existence advancing over time.

Adherence to the familiar Five Precepts and a well-considered understanding of the Four Signs of Being and the Four Noble Truths suffice to start off on the Path at any time. Nirvana means, in Advayavada Buddhism, the total extinction of existential suffering (duhkha, dukkha) by becoming one with the universal process of change and progress.

The Noble Eightfold Path in Advayavada Buddhism is fully personalized: it is firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world, and trusting our own intentions, feelings and conscience.

The Path we follow is (1) that of our very best (samyak, samma) comprehension or insight followed by (2) our very best resolution or determination, (3) our very best enunciation or definition of our intention, (4) our very best disposition or attitude, (5) our very best implementation or realization, (6) our very best effort or commitment, (7) our very best observation, reflection or evaluation and self-correction, and (8) our very best meditation or concentration towards an increasingly real experience of samadhi, which brings us to a even yet better comprehension or insight, and so forth.

By following the Noble Eightfold Path in this way you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; old mistakes are left behind; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life at once gathers new impetus.

Last week's ASP subject was the Sixth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) effort or commitment in carrying out our plan or intention.

This week's ASP subject is therefore the Seventh Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) observation or evaluation and self-correction of our efforts in carrying out our plan or intention.

The purpose of the ASP is that we study (and debate in the group, family circle and/or with good friends) the meaning and implications of the recurring weekly subject, particularly in the context of whatever we ourselves are presently doing or are concerned with, or about, such as our health, relationships, work, study, and our place and responsibilities in the family, group, sangha, society at large, etc.

Tip: Write down this week's subject ("check what I'm doing!") in your pocket diary.

John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>

Advayavada Study Plan - week 11

Friends,

In Advayavada Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is interpreted dynamically as an ongoing and autonomous, non-prescriptive, investigative and creative process of progressive insight reflecting in human terms overall existence advancing over time.

Adherence to the familiar Five Precepts and a well-considered understanding of the Four Signs of Being and the Four Noble Truths suffice to start off on the Path at any time. Nirvana means, in Advayavada Buddhism, the total extinction of existential suffering (duhkha, dukkha) as a result of our complete reconciliation with reality advancing over time.

The Noble Eightfold Path in Advayavada Buddhism is fully personalized: it is firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world, and trusting our own intentions, feelings and conscience.

The Path we follow is (1) that of our very best (samyak, samma) comprehension or insight followed by (2) our very best resolution or determination, (3) our very best enunciation or definition of our intention, (4) our very best disposition or attitude, (5) our very best implementation or realization, (6) our very best effort or commitment, (7) our very best observation, reflection or evaluation and self-correction, and (8) our very best meditation or concentration towards an increasingly real experience of samadhi, which brings us to a even yet better comprehension or insight, and so forth.

By following the Noble Eightfold Path in this way you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; old mistakes are left behind; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life at once gathers new impetus.

Last week's ASP subject was the Fifth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) implementation or realization of our intention.

This week's ASP subject is therefore the Sixth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) effort or commitment in carrying out our plan or intention.

The purpose of the ASP is that we study (and debate in the group, family circle and/or with good friends) the meaning and implications of the weekly subject, particularly in the context of whatever we ourselves are presently doing or are concerned with, or about, such as our health, relationships, work, study, and our place and responsibilities in the family, group, sangha, society at large, etc.

Tip: Write down this week's subject ("do my very best!") in your pocket diary.

John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>

Advayavada Study Plan - week 10

Friends,

In Advayavada Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is interpreted dynamically as an ongoing and autonomous, non-prescriptive, investigative and creative process of progressive insight reflecting in human terms overall existence advancing over time.

Adherence to the familiar Five Precepts and a well-considered understanding of the Four Signs of Being and the Four Noble Truths suffice to start off on the Path at any time. Nirvana means, in Advayavada Buddhism, the total extinction of existential suffering (duhkha, dukkha) as a result of our complete reconciliation with reality advancing over time.

The Noble Eightfold Path in Advayavada Buddhism is fully personalized: it is firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world, and trusting our own intentions, feelings and conscience.

The Path we follow is (1) that of our very best (samyak, samma) comprehension or insight followed by (2) our very best resolution or determination, (3) our very best enunciation or definition of our intention, (4) our very best disposition or attitude, (5) our very best implementation or realization, (6) our very best effort or commitment, (7) our very best observation, reflection or evaluation and self-correction, and (8) our very best meditation or concentration towards an increasingly real experience of samadhi, which brings us to a even yet better comprehension or insight, and so forth.

By following the Noble Eightfold Path in this way you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; old mistakes are left behind; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life at once gathers new impetus.

Last week's ASP subject was the Fourth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: to muster our very best (samyak, samma) disposition, frame of mind or attitude to carry out our intention to the very best of our ability.

This week's ASP subject is therefore the Fifth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) implementation or realization of our intention.

The purpose of the ASP is that we study (and debate in the group, family circle and/or with good friends) the meaning and implications of the weekly subject, particularly in the context of whatever we ourselves are presently doing or are concerned with, or about, such as our health, relationships, work, study, and our place and responsibilities in the family, group, sangha, society at large, etc.

Tip: Write down this week's subject ("start carrying out plan!") in your pocket diary.

John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>