Theos-Talk Archives (January 1998 Message tt00118)

Hope some of differing reflections on recent discussion may suit
someone's taste.

   All this universe, being other than the SELF, is unreal; for,
   the SELF alone is all inclusive, constitutes the ultimate goal
   and is self-established and self-dependent.
   There is neither absoluteness nor non-absoluteness, neither
   non-entity nor entity; for It is absolutely non-dual in Its nature.

                                      Sankaracharya

   We feel we are nothing...for all is Thou and in Thee;
   We feel we are something...that also has come from Thee;
   We are nothing, O Thou...but Thou help us to be.

                                      Tennyson

   To say "it is" is to grasp for permanence.
   To say "it is not" is to adopt the view of nihilism.
   Therefore a wise person
   Does not say "exists" or "does not exist."
   "Whatever exists through its essence
   Cannot be nonexistent" is eternalism.
   "It existed before but doesn't now"
   Entails the error of nihilism.

                                      Buddha's Discourse to Katyayana

   What language expresses is nonexistent.
   The sphere of thought is nonexistent.
   Unarisen and unceased, like nirvana
   Is the nature of things.
   Everything is real and is not real,
   Both real and not real,
   Neither real nor not real.
   This is Lord Buddha's teaching.

                                      Nagarjuna

   The absolute and infinite is composed of the conditioned and finite.
   Causes are conditioned in their modes of existence and attributes,
   and as individual aggregates - unconditioned and eternal in their
   sum or as a collective aggregation.

                                      K.H.