I mentioned earlier that I will write something about dull nondual experience and realising the Presence or the Heart.
There is something tremendously alive, intelligent, a quality of pure
Presence and that is nothing inert but intensely luminous (not in the
sutric definition of purity and emptiness) but in the sense that the
intensity of our cognizant mind evokes the sense of powerful radiance
and illumination but without any separation between an illuminator and
the illuminated, with absolutely no agent/perceiver/doer involved. It
can evoke the sense of a radiance that is so intense that it completely
outshines all visual darkness of night and brightness of the sun. This
Presence is mystically alive, wondrous and magnificent, “more real than
real”, and the complete opposite of an inert or merely some dull state
of non conceptuality and absorption.
This outshining of
Presence-Awareness is not about some hidden invisible background
existing behind manifestation (which will be perceived this way at the I
AM stage) but is vividly manifest or “Presencing” (Presencing is a
better word than Presence as it is not a static background or entity and
none other than the dynamic stuff of transience) as the very “realness”
or “vividness” of any appearance/display, color, sound, scent, touch,
taste, thought, as if everything comes alive and there is something very
wonderful and beautiful about it. The brilliant light of
Presence-Awareness is none other than the body-mind-universe which when
deconstructed and freed from self/Self/physicality is experienced as
spheres of vivid light, colors, sounds, and sensations.
This luminosity is also not merely a heightened state of clarity as I explained:
http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/…/luminosity-vs-clar…
“Someone asked me about luminosity. I said it is not simply a state of
heightened clarity or mindfulness, but like touching the very heart of
your being, your reality, your very essence without a shadow of doubt.
It is a radiant, shining core of Presence-Awareness, or Existence
itself. It is the More Real than Real. It can be from a question of "Who
am I?" followed by a sudden realization. And then with further insights
you touch the very life, the very heart, of everything. Everything
comes alive. First as the innermost 'You', then later when the
centerpoint is dropped (seen through -- there is no 'The Center') every
'point' is equally so, every point is A 'center', in every encounter,
form, sound and activity.”
There is a wide variety of methods to
bring oneself to an abrupt stoppage of concepts and a face to face
encounter of Pure Presence. All sorts of ways actually, some are safer
and some are a bit more risky. For example Thusness, I, Ramana Maharshi,
Ch'an Master Hsu Yun and many others have awakened through self-enquiry
and we are exponents of the method of self-enquiry. Sim Pern Chong
awakened to the I AM through breath meditation. Some get awakened
through a mere pointing out by a teacher. Some awakened through yogic,
tantric, kundalini paths. Ram Dass, David Carse and others have had
their initial realization of the Heart-essence through the use of
psychedelic drugs like magic mushrooms, ayahuasca, 5-MEO-DMT, LSD, and
so on. (I am not advocating the use of drugs here, just stating that
some people have used them with such results) There are many other
methods and koans I did not mention.
And yet, many have awakened
through a simple shout by a Zen Master or a Dzogchen Master. A sudden
unexpected KATZ! or a PHAT! of a Zen and Dzogchen master brings one into
the immediate thoughtless face-to-face encounter of the luminous
heart-essence. At that moment, you just shift out from all that nonsense
and garbage in your head into just that instance of being blanked out
into Presence. It is not an inert trance but an alert, alive and yet
thoughtless state of Presence. Try it!
But whatever method one
uses to introduce that initial glimpse and taste of Presence, it is
always through the deepening of insight into non-dual anatta that brings
that taste to effortless uncontrivance and full-blown maturity in all
encounters and manifestations.
So when one has access to a state of nondual, one should ask whether it is dull and inert or suffused with a powerful sense of Presence. After anatta this Presence is no longer seen as a background but vividly shining forth as the manifold dynamic and seamlessly interconnected display, and the play of dharma and dependent origination is something which is alive, not just inert and mechanistic as someone wrote. All the qualities of I AM - infinite like space, powerful Presence, Luminosity, Clarity, Vitality and Intelligence are effortlessly experienced without contrivance, and furthermore no longer seen as something hidden behind but fully manifested from moment to moment activity and the sense of cosmic Impersonality which was once experienced as being lived through a reified cosmic intelligence is now experienced as the total exertion where a single activity is the exertion of the Whole - an activity that is seamlessly connected and coordinated with the entire Whole, a spontaneous exertion of the Whole of seamless dependencies. In other words all the taste of Presence similar to the I AM, including all the four aspects of I AM and the experience of anatta as requisites are fully present in the experience of Maha suchness, which is an experience of greatness beyond measure, where even a single breath feels cosmic and limitless.
"The purpose of anatta is to have full blown
experience of the heart -- boundlessly, completely, non-dually and
non-locally. Re-read what I wrote to Jax.
In every situations, in
all conditions, in all events. It is to eliminate unnecessary
contrivity so that our essence can be expressed without obscuration.
Jax wants to point to the heart but is unable to express in a non-dual
way... for in duality, the essence cannot be realized. All dualistic
interpretation are mind made. You know the smile of Mahākāśyapa? Can you
touch the heart of that smile even 2500 yrs later?
One must lose
all mind and body by feeling with entire mind and body this essence
which is 心 (Mind). Yet 心 (Mind) too is 不可得 (ungraspable/unobtainable)..
The purpose is not to deny 心 (Mind) but rather not to place any
limitations or duality so that 心 (Mind) can fully manifest.
Therefore without understanding 缘 (conditions),is to limit 心 (Mind).
without understanding 缘 (conditions),is to place limitation in its
manifestations. You must fully experience 心 (Mind) by realizing 无心
(No-Mind) and fully embrace the wisdom of 不可得
(ungraspable/unobtainable)." - John Tan/Thusness, 2014