One vs. Not Two

If you enter directly at a single stroke, then the sense of ordinary and holy ends, the substance of being is revealed, real and eternal; noumenon and phenomena are not separate. This is the Buddha of thusness as such. - Guishan

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You have always been one with the Buddha, so do not pretend you can ATTAIN to this oneness by various practices. - Huangbo

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If you go forward, you will go astray from the essence. If you go back, you oppose the principle. If you neither go forward nor back, you are a dead man breathing. Tell me now, what will you do? - Wumen

In non-dual circles, folks often talk about "one-ness." It's understandable. But, when I sit with "one-ness," it feels a certain way. If I swap "one-ness" for "not-two-ness" it feels very different.

"One-ness" feels, to me, a bit like a nest or a cocoon. Like swimming in the warm water of the Mediterranean. "Not-two-ness" feels more like floating in space. Nothing to hold on to (thanks, Wumen!).

A monk asked, "I am a stupid person: floating, sinking, floating, sinking. How can I be released [from this world of suffering]?"

Joshu just kept sitting silently.

The monk said, "Master, am I not sitting here, appealing to you?"

Joshu said, "Where on earth is it that you are floating and sinking?"

Where, indeed!

What's your experience like? What do you think?

Submitted July 11, 2022 at 09:31PM by FingersTyping https://ift.tt/T5Af3Cq