Dualism

This message on dualism is a follow-up addition to the previous Beyond duality from Dec. 25, 2020.

ॐ मणिपद्मे हूँ Auṃ maṇi padme hūṃ — blues

Quote on dualism

“From ancient times we have been struggling with dualism, which can be described as the recognition of our reality at the same time as we long for perfection. Dualism is the split between reality and our ideals. We always face both. There are always two paths in front of you, and when you take one the other disappears. Then again two paths appear. …

But if you settle on an answer, and feel that is the end of your questioning, that is not so good. You find you have to let go of your vigorous effort to maintain purity, because with purity, dry simplicity comes, where there is almost no life. You become a closed system, all blocked off. In that closed system, when noise or a chaotic situation comes, you try to block it off. In other words, a cushion can be very soft at first, but it gets harder and harder and harder. Maybe you need a better cushion! Instead, you remember your bodhisattva nature, and over and over again you plunge into the suffering world without hesitation.

When you look into the dialectic, ‘yes or no’ and go beyond it, ‘right and wrong’ and go beyond them, that is how to solve the dilemma of two truths. …

It is not something you understand. It’s indescribable. If you explain it, it becomes something which you don’t know yet, and yet when you are experiencing [being here now], that understanding is here with you.”

— Embracing Mind, The Zen talks of Kobun Chino Otogawa, p. 18-19

Bodhisattva

An enlightened being who has put off entering the pure spiritual worlds in order to help others attain enlightenment.