Non-duality Realized all the time?
Hi Jinxed, formal meditation is a temporary expedient.
Initially, its purpose is to create the habit of total, then subtle observation of the mind at all times. There is a reason for that, but it is provisional, and I don't do that. Formal meditation is not "good", unless it is serving that purpose. Since the "high" produced by this kind of "artificial meditation" wears off anyway and is essentially ineffective, for the most part, in dealing face to face with ordinary situations to any great extent, it is best to do whatever is necessary to hit the ground running, so to speak, in terms of seeing reality as is cold turkey.
Unity of absolute and relative is the working definition of reality. Nondual nature is your nature. Consequently, Nirvana and Karmic evolution are not only equal, they are identical. This is the basis of the saying "sameness within difference", though there are several aspects in terms of dealing with the conceptual device relative to various teachings within buddhism.
Arriving at nonduality in terms of everyday ordinary affairs is essential to buddhist practice. Actually, it is the working definition of enlightening being. Enlightening being is the
function of awareness. Awareness is your nature. Awareness, your own mind right now, is not created. Seeing reality is activating the mind without dwelling on anything. The only reason this is possible is because your own mind right now is unborn. Mind is one, undifferentiated, selfless, void of identity. It's you. People aren't just already enlightened— they're enlightened mind incarnate.
Real 24/7 meditation practice is seeing through phenomena without denying their characteristics. Taoist alchemy calls this refining the medicines. Buddhism calls this using the sickness to cure the disease. It's not about meditation, after all. You can take all the provisional entry-level teachings and use them as applications of the real in the midst of the false in broad daylight unbeknownst to anyone.
It's about using the world to refine the self; using conditions to arrive at essential nature. This cannot be accomplished by quiet sitting alone.
That's because, reality is already Mind— your mind, right now. Perhaps you are not ready to hear this, but this is the
nondual section, after all.
Reality is relative to your mind. As long as your mind is habituated to the view of its separate nature, you will not see essence in everyday affairs. After a long process of self-refinement carried out correctly and effectively in everyday ordiary situations, the self-reifying mental habits that perpetuate the illusion of the separate self-identity as ultimately existent will die off, bit by bit and that much of your primordial potential will be activted as the selfless function of awareness. Using this is selfless adaption, activating the subtle operation of spiritual transformations in the midst of worldly situations.
Nonduality realized all the time is seeing the physical, psychological, psychic, emotional, causal matrix of karmic evolution (Creation) as void of self— because that's what it is (no different than you). Going along with this, just as it is, knowing it is utter illusion— how could you possibly bring yourself to act on behalf of situations arising from this insane chaos, good, bad or indifferent?
Acceptance of conditions is "going along— not denying characteristics". Not acting on conditions is "seeing through phenomena". The sense of nonattachment to outcomes aids in adapting to the inevitable where unavoidable— the ups and downs look just like reality: "perfection is easy for those with no preferences".
Soon enough, you may come to the working strategy that this malestrom of karmic momentum is just your perception of it. Otherwise, it just doesn't make ANY sense (to leave it up to the world, and fortunately, you don't have to). YOU take total responsibility for your sensory perception and mental postures. It doesn't require doing— just meeting of conditions for what they are— illusion. If you can come to the temporary working realization that phenomena is what reality
looks like without having the slightest shred of belief it its ultimate nature, then it might be possible to endeavor to work at adapting to conditions as they present themselves out of a sense of inevitability without clinging to good or bad outcomes. Selflessness is nonattachment to outcomes. There is no moral implication in terms of selflessness— it's impersonal. That's mind.
This is actually an entry to the buddha's teaching of
Suchness and carrying out the activation and partaking of the Great Vehicle. This is reality, in fact. Right in front of your nose is this nondual reality 24/7. As such, it is so whether you are aware of it or not. In terms of the point of meditation in the first place, and the fact of reality, it is Mind alone.
The lesser vehicle of personal liberation is a temporary expedient as well …why is this? It's another lie to trick you into the path, that's all.
That
Suchness is reality is nominally due to the fact that it is neither absolute nor conditional. Both Nirvana and Creation are the same illusion. One is your mind before creation and the other is after. Clinging to one or the other is delusion. Neither absolute stillness nor karmic momentum is the essence of reality unified, present and naturally so, without ever entering creation. This is your nature already.
Even those who experience sudden enlightenment must learn to realize this truth by APPLYING it in the midst of situations seamlessly.
You can begin to see this if you can dismiss your dependent relationships to circumstantial interpretations. Reality doesn't look any different than delusion when your relationships to circumstances are not dependent on outcomes, good or bad.
Unified with reality all the time is just this awareness of the essential underlying nature of circumstantial process as your own potential.
When you act based on karmic dependence, you change enlightening potential into karmic debt.
Ouch!