"Realization"

[Xangsamhua]

Having for the moment given up trying to make any sense of the doctrine of anatta/no-self, I've been looking at Advaita Vedanta and, more recently, the Bhagavad Gita.

The latter talks about "realization"/vijnana as the attainment of moksha or nirvana: "going beyond the conditioning of maya - time, space and causality", "complete extinction of self-will and separateness; realization of the unity of all life", "total integration or unity [with Brahman, "the supreme reality underlying all life, the divine ground of existence, the impersonal Godhead"].

(Quotes are from Eknath Easwaran's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita.)

While reference to a Godhead and a divine ground of existence may be unpalatable to Buddhists, the idea of the fundamental non-duality of existence, and of nirvana/nibbana as beyond conditioning (hence "unconditioned") and constituting extinction of self-will, struck me as rather similar to the way in which Buddhists speak of these things. It's indicative of the close relationship between the Brahmanism of the Upanishads and the Buddhadhamma, despite their parting of the ways.

I was also thinking of Rocky's concerns over the use of the term "enlightenment" as not quite right for "awakening" or "being awake", terms used by the Buddha. "Realization" indicates a state of awareness or becoming aware of something that has always been present, but not realized. If we think of nirvana/nibbana as not so much a state to which we aspire and train for, but something that is in fact within us and all around us, but just not present to our awareness, that to me seems a bit clearer.

If we think of nirvana/nibbana, however, as the outcome of a process, thereby attained as the result of action and effect (karma and vipaka), someone like me can't help but think of it as a future state, like heaven, that we reach by clearing the rubbish out of our minds and doing the right thing.

When I sit on my cushion in the evening, I think it is helpful if I try to be aware that nirvana/moksha is within me and all around, even though I have to go beyond perception to realize it, and thereby be united with it.

I think, in fact, the Zen masters I read and listened to were trying to tell me that, but I just didn't get it.