True Nature

Apparent Paradoxes

The dictionary defines a "paradox" as

" A statement that may be true but seems to say two opposing things."

The roots of the word - para - meaning "contrary to" and doxa which means "opinion" which itself comes from the word dokein which means "to seem".

The key in this is to "a seeming contradiction".

Did The Buddha find his own Teaching paradoxical? Or did he see that there is no contradiction at all? Of course!

Did Ramana Maharshi find his Teaching paradoxical? Did Ramana see that there was no contradiction at all - and that aspects of his teaching were not opposing one another? Certainly he did!

Is it a situation where the Guru does not see an apparent paradox, but those who listen to his words may do ?

Ramana Maharshi

Q: What are the obstacles which hinder realization of the Self?
A: They are habits of mind [vasanas].
Q: How to overcome the mental habits [vasanas]?
A: By realising the Self.
Q: This is a vicious circle.
A: It is the ego which raises such difficulties, creating obstacles and then suffering from the perplexity of apparent paradoxes.

Find out who makes the enquiries and the Self will be found.

Ramana Maharshi

Q: If ‘I’ also is an illusion, who then casts off the illusion?

A: The ‘I’ casts off the illusion of ‘I’ and yet remains as ‘I’. Such is the paradox of Self- realization.

The realized do not see any contradiction in it.

A classic so-called paradox is "Fullness = Emptyness" and "Emptyness = Fullness". Is there really a paradox or is it only the dualistic mind seeing an apparent paradox?

Early travelers from the "West" encountering Buddhism heard of this "emptyness" and "no self" and thought that Buddhism was a nihilistic teaching. (Nihilism means, in this context, "a doctrine that nothing exists, is knowable, or can be communicated". )

But there is in fact no paradox in "Emptyness = Fullness" and in "no Self" - there is no contradiction at all. The duality is in the mind. Step out of the mind and there is not anything that is even remotely a contradiction.

For a person with a very strongly defended belief in the "me" - would it be possible for them to see what "emptyness" or "no self" actually is - beyond a concept?

To the "me", emptyness is that LAST thing that it would want - as it means the end to itself. To the "me", "emptyness" and "no self" is a great threat.

The actuality is there is no separate self at all. We are temporary expressions of the One Life, to use Eckhart Tolle's phraseology.

Eckhart himself does not see paradoxes - and describes them in these terms "It seems almost paradoxical" and "What I am trying to convey here may sound paradoxical or even contradictory".

Wei Wu Wei describes apparent paradoxes for the "split mind" (meaning the dualistic mind) but that there is no paradox for "whole mind" (WWW follows the Buddhist tradition of using the term "mind" or "whole mind" for Consciousness).

There may very well be apparent paradoxes integral in the dream of "me". The "me" is entirely based in the dualistic mind. Apparent paradoxes and contradictions would abound in the mind based on opposites.

There can be apparent paradoxes when spiritual teachers talk at times from inside the dream (me and my story, you and your story) and at other times outside the dream of "me" (meaning actually teaching non duality).

The common denominators of all this is the dualistic mind in general and the "me" in particular.

End the apparent paradoxes - see through the dream of "me" once and for all!

See through the "me", realise that your nature is eternal, universal and not personal.

See that and the suffering ends, the seeking ends, the paradoxes dissolve and the questions just evaporate as they are seen through and require no answer.

You are a temporary expression of the One Life - not a separate person at all.

Life Lives Us.

There is nothing threatening about that - it has always been this way.

It is only that we believed that the image we have of ourselves in the mind was actually our nature - merely a case of mistaken identity - which is easily cleared up.

We are Lived.

Aliveness is what it is all about - and Aliveness is Not Personal.

There is only One Aliveness, One Life.

You are That and I am That!

Written by Mike Graham, 12 September 2009, last editied 28 Sept 2009