Month: August 2023
-
The Huatou As Torsion
A huatou, Chan master Xuyun (1839-1959), observes consists of the spoken word or words (hua) and of “the head or source” (tou). That is, a huatou–such as Wu or “Who?”–is a supreme, supremely charged, talismanic-like pointer, one that points immediately the source beyond words. Poetically put, the huatou’s immediate aim is to place one right…
-
Atmananda On The Witness Teaching
Atmananda’s Essay “The Witness” I begin by quoting a very dense paragraph from Atmananda, one that opens his very short essay simply entitled “Witness”: No object can exist without getting recorded in knowledge. Sense-objects (sound, form, touch, taste, and smell), bodily activities, activities of the senses (seeing, hearing, etc.), and of the mind (thinking and…
-
The Primacy Of Subject-Oriented TypesOf Meditation Over Object-Oriented Types Of Meditation
1. Begin by distinguishing between “object-oriented types of meditation” (OOM) and “subject-oriented types of meditation” (SOO). 2. OOM include–for instance–following the breath, reciting a mantra, counting to a certain number, and so on. 3. OOM can be beneficial inasmuch as they can help to cultivate concentration. 4. However, at some point, OOM must give way…
-
What Is I Am?
Question: What is I Am? I Am is at the doorstep of God. It is not the Self Alone. It could be said to be luminous, intimate, yet mysterious Presence. Is I Amness the end of sadhana? No, I Amness is the beginning–the true start–that is almost but not quite the end. If you stop…
-
‘Why Is My True Identity “Hidden”?’
Question: If we all come from Consciousness, why don’t we experience it all the time? Why do we get trapped into thinking we are the body and the mind? Why is my true identity “hidden”? Consciousness is like Jim Carrey. Suppose that he’s astonishingly interested in knowing what it would be like to “see through…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 