ED, I think Steve raises a really important point about self-power and other-power. Although I'm much more amenable to other-power than I was (ultimately, they're one - see the dice koan), I still approach my practice from self-power. As such, I find that the masters mostly work from negation until you find yourself left with.. well, what?
Mike ________________________________ From: ED <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Fri, 4 March, 2011 23:57:26 Subject: [Zen] Re: What is the equivalent of 'pure awareness' in Zen? Mike, Yes, of course. I get it. Once the witness has been dropped, duality has been dropped, and one can potentially experience kensho, yes? What are the practices recommended by Sri Ramana Maharshi and other Jain, Hindu and Buddhist Masters to help drop the witness, and go non-dual? --ED --- In [email protected], mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote: > ED, I believe he is talking about going beyond the witness of 'I am', where the witnessing itself has been dropped. This, btw, would be the same witness as in mindfulness practice. Mike Hi Steve, I asked the question, because the comparable Ramana Maharshi (or his translator?) used the term: "The Self is pure awareness." http://www.sageramana.org/ I thought it might have meant a non-dual awareness, that is, an awareness without a sense of subject/object or of I/Me/Mine. --ED --- In [email protected], "SteveW" <eugnostos2000@...> wrote: > > Hi ED. In my opinion, to speak of awareness can be misleading if we do not include the objects of awareness, including "mental" objects (Although all phenomena are mental!)such as thoughts and feelings. Awareness without objects of awareness would not be aware of being aware. Hence it would seem to not exist. We imagine that we are body/minds that are sometimes aware and sometimes not. IMO, we are Awareness that is sometimes aware of being a particular body/mind and sometimes not. So you see that Awareness and the objects of awareness are Not-Two. As Seng T'san noted, "The object is object for the subject, and the subject is subject for the object. Know that the relativity of both rest upon one emptiness." IMO. Steve > Mike and All, > > What is the equivalent of 'pure awareness' in Zen? > > --ED
