The Universality of World’s Religions: Unity or Non-duality (2a/2)

Wong Weng Hon

Buddhistly put, perennial wisdom is perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā). In the Heart Sūtra, a Bodhisattva (Wisdom Being) intuitively discerns the Emptiness (‘Sūnyatā) of the five aggregates . The five aggregates are form  and feelings, perceptions, volitions and consciousness. Only form is a physical phenomenon and the remaining four aggregates are mental phenomena. The physical phenomenon integrates with the mental phenomenon forming a dynamic process becoming. The human personality is constituted from the unity of five aggregates and nothing else. Therefore, the human personality is Empty of inherent existence or any permanent self-nature (niḥsvabhāva).

When it is expounded that the Bodhisattva perceives Emptiness, it connotes the Buddhist Gnostic perceives Process Reality of dynamic process becoming empty of separate discrete entities. Succinctly put, the Bodhisattva perceives the incessant flow of Unity of Existence or Non-duality. A Bodhisattva is spiritually synonymous with Sufi concept of the Perfect Man (al Insān al Kāmil). The Theravāda Buddhists designate the liberated Buddhist saint  as an ‘Arahant’. In Hindusim, the liberated saint is called the Brahman. Generally, a man perfected is called a saint. A saint is perfected in wisdom and virtue.

Of course , I do not expect that  religion will make everyone of us to be a saint. However, it is our responsibilities or duties to utilize religion to rectify ourselves so that we shall be able to harmonize our relationships with others. We should develop and cultivate ourselves so that we are able to protect ourselves. Protecting ourselves, we protect others.  Most importantly, the glaring human moral  fallibilities or vulnerabilities  are ironed out from our flawed personalities. Religion helps us view the world rightly, think rightly and act rightly.  How and what we act affect ourselves and others. It is our responsibilities and duties to respect the fundamental human rights of others. The heedfulness to treat others well is the true exercise of love of lovingkindness and compassion recommended by religion. Being nice to others is protecting others. We protect others through the exercise of patience, harmlessness, lovingkindness and sympathy.

It is through love that the Lord is truly worshipped. Actions are more important than words.  It is through Selflessness or Egolessness (Anattā) that love ensues. Loving others is true Love of the Lord. In Buddhism, Love is boundless lovingkindness, boundless compassion, boundless appreciative joy, and  boundless equanimity anointed with generosity, charity, gentle speech, benevolence, and equal participation. They are integrated with the moral restraints of the Five Precepts (Pancasīlas) and Ten Wholesome Course of Actions (Dasasī̄las).

The knowledge of Buddha or wisdom of insight into Truth helps the Buddhists preserve their Buddhist ethics of great altruistic compassion. In Christianity,  love is leading the life of righteousness including deference, love, patience, humility, peace, joy, goodness, justice, mercy, charity  etc. The knowledge of God helps the Christians  preserve their Christian ethics of love and righteousness.  

Illusion and Reality

Unity, Non-duality or Process Reality mirrors the ultimate Reality that the world has no autonomous  or independent existence or reality. It is merely the product of false imagination of the unreal. Ibn ‘Arabī expounds the illusory world thus :

If the Truth (Non-duality) is what I have just pointed  out to you,
the world is an illusion having no real existence  in itself. And this
is the meaning of imagination. (Fuṣūṣ al Ḥikam, trans. by Husaini, pp.187-8).

The aforequoted exposition of Ibn ‘Arabī is consonant with the exposition of Great Discourses of the Perfection of Wisdom (Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtras) of Mahāyāna tradition.

 Nāgārjuna is a highly celebrated  exponent of these Mahāyāna Sūtras. The Sūtras reveal that the world is illusory and unreal like a dream, magic, mirage, echo, child of barren woman or the hairs of a tortoise. The Diamond Sūtra, an abridgement of the  aforementioned Sūtras reminds us that  the world is only  illusory and unreal from the ultimate perspective. However, the Diamond Sūtra advises that having deconstructed or negated the multiplicity, one must simultaneously reconstruct or reaffirm the multiplicity so that a Middle View of the bpiolar Truth  of the empirical world is preserved.  From the conventional reality, the knowledge of conventional truth has its pragmatic value  for human intercommunication, social intercourse and business transactions.

 Secular concepts or knowledge, such as science, technology, engineering, accounting, agriculture, commerce, management , accounting , medicine, music and so forth belong to the domain of conventional truth or reality. Though they are illusive in the ultimate sense, they are certainly very pragmatic and useful to human civilization.  ‘Sākyamuni Buddha, other Tathāgatas and the lineage of Prophets awaken us from the  slumber of  ignorance  so that we ought to utilize the conventional truth or knowledge without attachment or aversion. In other words, their utilities should not be directed and empowered by self-centric ego. The self-centric ego is the false self. The cosmic self of Buddha-mind or God-mind is the True Self.

 Therefore, Diamond Sūtra emphatically reiterates that the phenomenal world (dharma) is the phenomenal world,  is not the phenomenal world and it is still the phenomenal world. It is technically expressed as : It is dharma, not dharma and still dharma. The Chan patriarchs  depicts the three-fold Truth of one mind in three contemplations thus : The mountain is a mountain; the mountain is not a mountain; the mountain is still a mountain.

Dharma refers to illusory and unreal phenomenon or actual entity but falsely imagined. This is philosophically depicted by the Chan patriarchs as the  Three-fold Truth of one mind in three contemplations: the three contemplations are illusion, Emptiness and Middle View. This Three-fold Truth is synonymous with the central theme of Heart Sūtra which is also the abridgement of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtras. Its central theme is thus :  Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form. This is parallel to Monotheistic philosophy that the multiplicity is in the Unity and the Unity is in the multiplicity. The multiplicity is All and the Unity is the One.  

Interestingly, I discover too that Sufi Rumi also expounds the three-fold Truth of one mind in three contemplations. Though it is dissimilarly paraphrased, their substance or quintessence is esoterically and theosophically identical. Sufi Rumi expounds the three-Fold Truth thus: Journey  to God, Journey in God and Journey with God. The Journey to God is seeing the multiplicity in the Unity. The journey in God is seeing Unity in the Multiplicity. The third journey with God is seeing both the multiplicity in the Unity and the Unity in the multiplicity. It is a source of great spiritual exuberance to discover that Sufism and Mahāyāna Buddhism are seeing to eye to eye in terms of the Middle View of the bipolar Truth of Complementary Reciprocity.  The complementary reciprocity pertains to the interpenetration between the phenomenon and the Principle.

 Knowledge of Buddha or God is, in truth, the perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) of annihilating  the self-centric ego or individualism  in the universal or cosmic Self. The cosmic Self is Brahman, Tao, Buddha or God. Cosmic Self is living in the  Unity or Non-duality with the Buddha-mind or Holy Spirit of God.

Phenomena and Principle