Among the great sayings (mahavakyas) of the Upanishads—central to the teaching of Advaita Vedanta—we have this one from the Chandogya Upanishad, spoken in a second-person voice, something a teacher might say to a student as a pointing-out instruction: Tat tvam asi. The English translation of this saying is That thou art or Thou art That. And its basic assertion is that Thou—i.e. Atman, your …
Practice Notes
Practice Notes: Things That Come Together
Pork Chops & Applesauce One of my favorite meal combos, as a young child, was pork chops and applesauce. I loved to arrange a dollop of the applesauce on top of a piece of pork chop—then put them together into my mouth: yum! These two things—pork chops and applesauce—seemed always to come together. Though they had different names (“pork chop” and “applesauce”) corresponding to their …
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Practice Notes: The Truth Of The Matter
At The Wake I arrived early to the wake, embraced my friend in a long sweet hug, then walked down the center isle toward the casket which held the body of her husband, also a friend of mine, who had recently succumbed after a five-year-long tussle, struggle, dance with cancer. As the abstract outline of the form came into sharper relief, allowing me to see clearly some of the features that for …
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Practice Notes: Answers To Questions I Didn’t Know I Had
God Winking: A Beautiful Thing One of the beautiful things about satsang -- gathering with friends, posing questions to a teacher -- is how the questions asked and the answers offered tend to serve all who are present. Very often a question that I've formulated and felt a desire to ask, will be posed by someone else, as though a "collective mind" of sorts were operating. It's a friendly …
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Practice Notes: Cynicism
Well, we’re coming up now on the two-week anniversary of the infamous internationally livestreamed Ford-Kavanaugh showdown, compliments of the Senate Judiciary Committee. While I had no prior intention of viewing these proceedings, I somehow found myself tuning in at the very beginning of Ms. Ford’s testimony—and ended up watching the entire thing. Oh My Goodness And what a remarkable contrast …
Practice Notes: Appetite, Irritation, Ratios
Mood I very much appreciate philosophy--and often find myself with an appetite for such texts, via eastern and western authors alike. But every now and again I'll shift into a mood in which pretty much all I can bear to read are the Ashtavakra and Avadhuta Gitas: the most direct pointing to nondual reality. In such a mood, even Longchenpa--whom I adore--feels a bit too flowery. My appetite is for …
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