A Commentary Literature on ‘Faith in Mind’

Chapter 8: Perceiving Oness

Only stagnating in duality
How can you recognize Oneness ?
If you fail to penetrate Oneness,
Both places lose their function

Commentary by Paramartha

If one can not abandon and dwells in the notion of duality, discrimination or distinction, one can not perceive Oneness or Unity of things or phenomena which is the true nature of the empirical world. Oneness or unity is the totality or wholeness of a system. The human personality is a system. The world is also a system. The Saṅgha order is also a system. The whole world is one gigantic system containing many subsystems. Totality view is a system view which operates under the regulation of the Law of Dependent Co-arising.

When one perceives duality, one perceives that the subject and object are two separate entities. The practitioner is the subject and attainment is the object. When this notion of duality arises, attainment of self-enlightenment is impossible as the notion of duality involves the notion of Iness or Mineness. Non-self or Emptiness means that there is no I and Mine. Self-enlightenment is only attained when one perceives the Emptiness of self in one’s human personality or in one’s five aggregates. The Buddha-mind and the practitioner are dependently co-arisen. They are one and not two. When one meditates, one should abandon the thought of ‘I’m meditating’. If the thought of ‘I’ m meditating’ arises while one meditates, self-enlightenment is not possible.