Comparison of Oneness, Nonduality and Insight
This is not a complete comparison, and the talk rambles round and round, but this monk clearly had experiences in all paths and after 20 years dedicated himself solely to Gotama Buddha's teachings. Even at that point, he continued to research what each different path really was.
Much of the muddlement is due to the technological age of easy access to information, reliable sources or not, and thus having exposure to many techniques all at once, perhaps not deliberately but cultural exposure imparts impressions nonetheless.
One gap in the reminiscence is that of personalist Dvaita schools of practice and philosophy. He didn't seem to have experience with that but he does talk about the ultimate of Mahayanists.
In the end, after listening carefully, the overall content left an impression on me. I could see how easy it is to mix up practices and doctrice and not even know you're doing it. With that, one probably needs to deliberately confine ones self to a single practice at certain times, to reach the final goal. However, in any spiritual practice, experiences might come that fall outside of the path one practices. There was a time when I was on retreat at a Theravada Buddhist Monastery and I had an experience in which the knower merged with the object as I did mindfulness of breathing (at the nosetip). When I told my Teacher about it, he simply said, "Well, you don't need to do that again." In other words, don't give any attention to that experience.
What was most meaningful was Ashin Ottama's summary opinion that all these different paths yield a different type of liberation. So I considered, what is it that one really wants? Be honest and then practice the path which yields that!
Here is the video:
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Great post, Marcia!
I learnt something from your writing as always.
Several independent systems are both conflicting and complimenting at same time.
All are correct in a way from their perspective and with respect to their respective destination of liberation!
I personally look around all the systems and great saints to learn from them and just move on to next step. I learnt a lot from davita, advaita and Buddhist school and teachings.
Yes, at times I scratch my head in the conflicting philosophies but the techniques are potent and valid to tackle the specific problems I come across.
Like your writing which is brimming of particular sect of Buddha energy which itself has given insight and new techniques to me to overcome a lot in my rare problems in my spiritual journey.
Your words and austerities are itself a carrier of Buddho energy!
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Thanks for sharing the video.
A very interesting presentation of advaita and Buddhism.
He had different realizations under advaita umbrella of philosophies. Very interesting to hear good first hand description of how he and world was always fine kind of realization. It sounded more like Zen too.
The speaker has a good command on Buddhism dhama and I learnt a part where he paid close attention to why mind likes to jump and only pick on interesting things and discard non-interesting things, what is the differentiator between interesting and interesting to mind?
That's an interesting analysis and deep insight into mind, a form of Buddhi yoga.
Always good to hear from practitioner's experience than from a bookworm or intellectual who vomits or keep quoting and parroting scriptures all time without any first hand realizations or deep understanding.
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That's a great summary, Ani. I thought you might be interested when I posted this. I listened to the video half-heartedly twice and gave it my full attention the 3rd time because I knew there was something there for me.
As can be the case, after posting the video and writing something about it, I had a meaningful experience that seems related to the video. When I share knowledge that I find personally meaningful, I usually get a lift in my practice soon after.
After listening to Ashin Ottama's talk for the 3rd time, in next day or two I posted it to this Forum. Probably same day or next day, I was in a zoom meditation with the Buddhist monastery in Las Vegas. In that meditation I entered the neutral zone of consciousness which is not really tranquil but it is empty of thoughts while an underlying energy operates. So its sort of empty and sort of equanimous but there is a vibrational energy that obstructs real peacefulness. I was pleased to remain in that for almost an hour.
After the meditation I was home alone and doing various household chores. The empty zone consciousness lingered as I did some straightening up. I walked through the sliding doors from outside and stood by the kitchen table, putting something down or reaching for something when there was a radical shift of consciousness. How can words be sufficicent? It was like melting. It was a beautiful awareness. There was not a frame of reference from which to describe it. Simultaneously there was a knowing (not thinking but something that went beyond conception). The knowing imparted this: If you stop judging, you will see things as they really are.
That was it. For an instant, I shifted out of convention and was beyond conception. It reminded me of what Ashin Ottama said around the 39.15 mark in the video regarding inner openings. I reflected on the experience for a day and then texted Ajahn Chaiya at the Buddhist monastery to share what had happened. He replied almost immediately, so I'm assuming it has significance in this practice tradition. His instruction, which is typically very brief, was:
Strive to be mindful as much as possible.With metta forever....
In Buddhist practice mindfulness is a mental factor (and a factor of enlightment) which is required from the time of starting practice and extending all the way up to attainment of nibanna. Only from mindfulness can wisdom arise and from wisdom arises supramundane consciousness.
This is the path that I follow. The technique is very simple but develoing continuity is challenging.
May everyone attain their spiritual goal.
