Radical Transcendentalism and the Introduction of Advaitayana Buddhism
Da Free John (Adi Da Samraj) - 1982

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Table of Contents

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XI

Gautama's Problem

Gautama defined conditional or "born" existence in the terms of a problem, and he described the Way of Transcendental Realization in the terms of a solution to the originally presumed "problem" of born existence. He declared that conditional existence in any form (or as any individuated being) is (1) necessarily temporary (or always changing), (2) only the product and expression of conditional causes (rather than of some Divine Cause or of some immortal internal and personal essence), and (3) inherently, always, and ultimately disturbed, frustrated, confounded, bewildered, deluded, and summarized as suffering.

On the basis of this analytical summary of the status of conditional existence as a problem, Gautama built his program for release. Once he was able to define conditional existence in the terms of a problem with specific features, he could indicate the process and the state of release as a logical solution that followed inevitably once the specific original problem was accepted as a factual description of the status of born existence. In fact, Gautama's intention to motivate his hearers (and himself) toward the state of release was the principle that caused him to consider and describe conditional existence in the terms of a problem and the Way in the terms of a solution to that problem.

For Gautama, the matter of ultimate importance was the Samadhi or unconditional Realization of the Transcendental (or Nirvanic) Condition. And it is the Realization of That that is the common Truth of all Great Adepts. What distinguishes such Adepts from one another are (1) the characteristic limitations of the first six stages of life that may yet affect their thought and communication, and (2) motives and tendencies in their Teaching to Argue the Way toward Realization rather than simply express ultimate Realization Itself. Therefore, what distinguishes Gautama from other Buddhist and Advaitist Adepts is his sixth stage "realist" orientation toward descriptions of existence and his intention to Argue for Realization on the basis of a description of existence that implies release as the only appropriate or rational goal of human endeavor.

I have already criticized the content of Gautama's "realism." In this brief essay I simply want to indicate that Gautama's motive for considering the Way of Transcendental Realization in the terms of "realism" was simply his commitment to motivate people toward Realization via a rational consideration (or a logic of inevitability). "Realism" was Gautama's tool of motivation. Above all, he wanted to motivate people toward release, and the logic of "realism" seemed to him to be the most direct means.

The language of "realism" did not provide Gautama with the means to describe Realization or the Transcendental Condition Itself. Therefore, his commitment to "realism" (and to the role of motivator or cause of the Way toward release) made it necessary for him to be silent when asked to describe the Transcendental Condition. There is no doubt that he had Realized that Condition and that he wanted all beings to Realize that Condition. But his language of Argument was not equipped or intended to describe the very Condition that was the ultimate import of his life and Teaching. This is the surest indicator that Gautama's "realism" and Gautama's "problem" are simply devices of mind developed for the sake of motivating beings toward release via the logical force of certain basic mental propositions.

Gautama is reported to have been reluctant to Teach after his Realization. He felt that the matter of Realization was too subtle or profound to be grasped by people generally. His reluctance was primarily based on his feeling that most people are not (and could not easily be) motivated toward ultimate Realization. He was eventually persuaded to Teach, based on an altruistic commitment to at least those few who would be ripe for "hearing" the Truth. But, clearly, Gautama's principle concern was directed toward the inability of people to be changed in their minds to a sufficient degree to be moved toward Transcendental Realization rather than mechanical ego-fulfillment. And Gautama's Argument of the Way may thus be seen as a creative result of his will to motivate as many people as possible toward Realization.

The "realist" Argument must, therefore, be seen not simply as a patently or exclusively true conception of conditional existence but as a kind of method or device—a kind of yogic means, which may be called "Buddhi Yoga," 1 or the exercise of the discriminative and intuitive faculty of mind in order to understand the process of conditional existence and, on that basis, Awaken to the Transcendental Condition. Such Buddhi Yoga is a sixth stage yoga that focuses on the exercise of the processes of the abstract or discriminative mind in relation to all the internal and extended aspects of the body-mind. In this manner, it stands in contrast with the lower functional yogas (of the types that characterize the first five stages of life), which exploit the comparatively grosser mechanisms of sensory mind, emotion, nervous system, body, and so forth for the sake of mystical states of contemplative absorption.

This Buddhi Yoga also stands in contrast with the sixth stage yoga of traditional Advaitism, which is the "idealist" yoga, usually called "Jnana Yoga." The method of such Jnana Yoga is, like that of Buddhi Yoga, to exercise the faculty of discriminative and intuitive mind, or what is traditionally called "vijnanamayakosha," the "intellectual sheath," which is the fourth most subtle of five functional layers that are observed to compose the human individual. (The three preceding layers are the gross body, then the functional energies that move the gross body, followed by the lower or sensory mind. And even subtler than the "sheath" or faculty of discriminative and intuitive mind is the core of individual existence, the "anandamaya-kosha" or sheath of individuated bliss, which corresponds to the "immortal" or transmigrating soul, or the "atman," the essence of individuality.) The exercise of Jnana Yoga is directed first to the analytical differentiation of the "knowing" consciousness from the grosser faculties or structures of self (represented by the three lower or grosser sheaths). And this is followed by the ultimate exercise, which is the inversion of the mind upon its even subtler root (anandamaya-kosha, the innermost sheath or blissful and essential core of self). This ultimate exercise of inversion upon the atman is done until the individuated character of the self-essence is transcended in Transcendental Awakening.

Buddhi Yoga specifically avoids the "idealistic" gesture of the inversion of mind (or attention) upon anandamaya-kosha in order to develop a state of absorptive identification with the atman. Instead, it rigorously maintains the position of vijnanamaya-kosha (the fourth most subtle) itself, and thus works to observe, understand, and directly transcend the inner atman (the fifth or most subtle sheath of the conditional self) as well as the three lower sheaths. Jnana Yoga also eventually transcends the limits of the anandamaya-kosha or atman, but it does so only after submitting vijnanamaya-kosha to anandamaya-kosha and thus entering attention into a process of absorptive internal contemplation.

It is simply this specific difference in technique of approach to Realization that distinguishes Buddhi Yoga (or the yoga of "realism") from Jnana Yoga (or the yoga of "idealism"). But both of these sixth stage techniques ultimately pass beyond themselves to Transcendental Awakening (to the Condition of self and not-self), or the seventh stage of life. Therefore, neither the philosophies (of "realism" as opposed to "idealism") nor the techniques (of Buddhi Yoga as opposed to Jnana Yoga) of the sixth stage schools should be regarded as ultimately or exclusively true. Each simply represents a different but characteristically sixth stage approach to the same Transcendental (or seventh stage) Realization. And as sixth stage philosophies and methods of approach to Transcendental Realization, both the "realist" and the "idealist" yogas contain inherent limitations.

The most basic limiting convention of Advaitist "idealism" is its orientation toward inversion upon the individuated self-essence (or internal atman). It is that very self-essence and that very tendency toward self-absorptive inversion that must be transcended before the seventh stage Awakening can occur in the Advaitist Way. And the process whereby absorption in the independent self-essence is transcended is enacted via vijnanamaya-kosha, the understanding that characterizes the free "buddhi," or the intelligence of free attention. Therefore, even the Advaitic sage must admit the ultimate superiority of the faculty of vijnanamaya-kosha over the three lower sheaths as well as the innermost sheath—although all of the sheaths or functions of self (including vijnanamaya-kosha) are ultimately transcended in radical intuition of the Transcendental Identity or Condition of conditional existence.

In contrast to the Advaitist Way, the most basic limiting convention of Buddhist "realism" is its orientation toward concentration of attention on the totality of phenomenal existence as a problem (or a merely conditional process). It is that very problem and the very tendency toward fixation of attention in the conventional or merely phenomenal condition (rather than the Transcendental Condition of all conditions) that must be transcended before the seventh stage Awakening can occur in the original Buddhist Way. The Buddhi Yoga exercised in the "realist" tradition rightly avoids the illusions and merely temporary or conditional attainments associated with contemplative absorption in the various parts of the self or in the play of the not-self. But that very faculty which is engaged merely to observe (rather than become absorbed in) the phenomenal conditions of existence must ultimately and radically transcend itself via intuition of the Transcendental or Real (rather than conventional) Condition of mind, or attention, or all that is self and not-self.

Both Buddhism and Advaitism Realize and proclaim an ultimate Truth or Real Condition that transcends the world, the body-mind-self, the conventional ideas about God (or the Transcendental Reality), and the sixth stage conventions of "realism" and "idealism." I Teach a Way that is founded from the beginning in that Truth and Condition that is Realized in the seventh stage of life by all Great Adepts. The Advaitayana Buddhism that I Teach is not founded on the conventions of "realism" or "idealism" but on the Transcendental Truth or Condition of conditions. I Argue in modes of consideration that express that Realization and that specifically avoid any appeal to the sixth stage conventions of "realistic" and "idealistic" views of existence. I simply call attention to the direct understanding of whatever is presently arising. Since I call simply for such understanding (or discriminative insight), rather than for the absorptive inversion of mind or attention in any part of self or not-self, the practice of the Way of the Heart may rightly be viewed as a form of Buddhi Yoga (rather than Jnana Yoga). However, I do not call attention merely to notice that the arising conditions of self and not-self are merely phenomenal and thus problematic (or demanding to be escaped or eliminated). I do not call for understanding in the conventional mode of "realism." Rather, I call for direct observation of all modes of self (or all five "sheaths"), in the terms of all of its relational states of association, in combination with whatever is conventionally presumed to be not-self (rather than in the terms of its exclusive or essential interior, separate from all relations). And I call for the observation that all the modes of the self/not-self process (including the very conceptions of "realism" and "idealism") are forms of self-contraction, or the gesture of differentiation, separation, limitation, and individuation. Whenever this self-contraction is directly and presently observed and understood as a process, there is a simultaneous intuition, a feeling beyond, in which the Condition within which and from which the self-contraction is arising stands out as the Obvious. And, in likeness to the spirit of Jnana Yoga (and in contrast to the spirit of the Buddhi Yoga of conventional "realism"), the radical intuition that is the heart of the Way of the Heart is fully equipped to make positive reference to That which is Realized. It transcends the body-mind-self, or all of the conditional modes of attention. It is not merely an inner essence or consciousness. It is not merely the negation of phenomenal states. It is Radiant Transcendental Being. It is the Transcendental Self or Identity of the apparently individuated consciousness (not in the sense that the self-contraction or ego in itself is Transcendental, Divine, Nirvanic, or Free, but in the sense that the self-contraction can be obsetved to be a direct contraction from or within the Condition of Radiant Transcendental Being, and in this manner the conditional and also internal self is inherently transcended in the Transcendental or Divine Self, wherein all other selves and the world are also arising). The Consciousness that is Realized when self-consciousness is re-cognized (or known again exactly in the form in which it happens) and thus transcended is Transcendental Consciousness, or Consciousness prior to differentiation, separation, individuation, or limitation. It is the Radiant Love-Bliss of which all apparent conditions (or all that is self and not-self) are merely apparent, transparent, unnecessary, and nonbinding modifications. And when this Realization is most profound (so that there is native Identification with Radiant Transcendental Being rather than with the phenomenal self or the independent and individuated noumenal self), the Way is simply to Abide as That, recognizing and inherently transcending all conditions in That, so that self and not-self are Transfigured, Transformed, and ultimately Outshined in That Radiant Divine Being.

We may say, then, that the direct intuition of the Radiant Transcendental Being is my "method" or Way. And the Ways of "realism" and "idealism" (as opposed to my Way of radical Transcendentalism) are relatively indirect methods for Realizing the same Radiant Transcendental Being. The Advaitist's "atman" (or the philosophy and technique of ultimate inversion, which is the sixth stage development of the animistic tradition of Emanationism) is the "idealist's" method. And Gautama's "problem" (or the description of conditional existence based on his "realism") is Gautama's method. We may rightly say that the Arguments for the Way that are developed in all traditional or conventional schools (of "realism" or "idealism" or whatever) are in fact forms of method rather than simple or patently or exclusively true descriptions of what is. (Therefore, the differences among the various traditional schools of the first six stages of life are nothing but differences in method. The differences are not absolute—such that only one school can represent the true description of what is. Rather, all the schools point toward the seventh stage Realization, and in the seventh stage of life all the schools are ultimately resolved and unified in the Only and One Truth.)

According to Gutama, conditional existence is suffering—necessarily and inherently. This view may be useful to motivate the mind toward release, but it is not patently, factually, inherently, necessarily, or exclusively true. From the point of view of Transcendental Realization, conditional existence is not merely conditional existence (nor is it, in itself, a condition of present or potential happiness, and thus a condition to be embraced for its own sake). Rather, conditional existence is, in Truth, an inherently transparent or merely apparent, unnecessary, and non-binding modification of the Real Condition (or Radiant Transcendental Being). Because of this, even philosophers in the Buddhist tradition other than Gautama were moved to consider conditional existence in terms that are not at all framed in the "realist" mode. And it is because of their convergence in the singularity of Realization in the seventh stage of life that both "realistic" and "idealistic" modes of consideration of the Way toward Realization are independent but equally adequate (or inadequate, or conventional) designs for consideration in the stages of approach toward Realization.

Just so, since it is the case that only the ultimate Truth is the Truth—or only the Realization that characterizes the seventh stage of life is the Realization of Truth—I have been moved to consider the Way strictly in terms of the direct observation and understanding of moment to moment existence and in the terms of Realization Itself, or the ultimate Reality or Truth of the seventh stage of life. The Ways of the "realist" schools and the Ways of the "idealist" schools represent Arguments for Realization that are based either on the conceptions of the sixth stage of life exclusively or on the conceptions of the sixth stage of life plus those of the stages of life earlier than the sixth. The Way of Radical Understanding or Divine Ignorance—or the Radical Transcendentalism of Advaitayana Buddhism—is a consideration of the Way based on conceptions that reflect the disposition of the seventh stage of life. Therefore, in my most fundamental Argumentation of the Way, I do not make use of the argumentative devices (or the problem/solution logic) of "realism," nor do I appeal to the metaphysical arguments and conventional belief systems of traditional "idealism." I simply call attention to the always present context of awareness, so that its precise features may be observed.

If this is done, the unnecessary activity of contraction is found to be obvious (even in the form of any kind of mental conception—whether "realistic," "idealistic," or whatever). And if the self-contraction is obvious (and seen to be a secondary and unnecessary feature of awareness), then every form and moment (and concept) of such contraction can be so observed, understood, and transcended. And when every form of contraction that is superimposed on every present moment is thus observed, understood, and transcended, the Radiant Transcendental Condition of Being stands free as the Obvious (Its Status self-evident prior to all categories, conceptions, and persuasions of mind). Such is the unique process of the Way of the Heart. And when the Real Condition (rather than the conditional and independent self) is most profoundly Realized, then the Way is simply and tacitly and always presently to recognize all conditions of apparent self and not-self in That (rather than embracing or avoiding or escaping any conditions whatsoever), until all noticing of conditional states is Outshined in Radiant Transcendental Divine Love-Bliss.

In my Teaching Work I have, like all other Adepts before me, encountered and suffered the absence of interest and intelligence (or free attention) as well as the absence of motivation (or free energy) in those who have come to me. Such is the perennial limitation of un-Enlightened egoity. My basic "method" for dealing with all of that does not involve resort to "realistic" and "idealistic" arguments. My fundamental "method" is simply to persist in (1) directing the attention of everyone to the radical process of understanding, and (2) making the setting of Good Company, "Satsang," or self-transcending Transcendental Communion with the Spiritual Master and the Radiant Divine or Transcendental Being, into the one and constant context of existence (rather than any other presumption based on the conventions of the merely egoic mind).

Footnote

1.The term buddhi-yoga appears for the first time in the Bhagavad Gita (X 10 and XVIII. 57), though it is used there in the context of an "emanationist" philosophy. The buddhi is the mental faculty of discernment.