

Ancient Teachings on Nonabiding

Udana

There is that sphere of being where there is no earth,

no water, no fire, nor wind; no experience of infinity

of space, of infinity of consciousness, of no-thingness,

or even of neither-perception-nor-non-perception; here

there is neither this world nor another world, neither

moon nor sun; this sphere of being I call neither a coming

nor a going nor a staying still, neither a dying nor

a reappearance; it has no basis, no evolution, and no

support: it is the end of dukkha. (ud. 8.1)

Rigpa

Tathagata

In the seen, there is only the seen,

in the heard, there is only the heard,

in the sensed, there is only the sensed,

in the cognized, there is only the cognized.

Thus you should see that

indeed there is no thing here;

this, Bahiya, is how you should train yourself.

Since, Bahiya, there is for you

in the seen, only the seen,

in the heard, only the heard,

in the sensed, only the sensed,

in the cognized, only the cognized,

and you see that there is no thing here,

you will therefore see that

indeed there is no thing there.

As you see that there is no thing there,

you will see that

you are therefore located neither in the world of this,

nor in the world of that,

nor in any place

betwixt the two.

This alone is the end of suffering.” (ud. 1.10)

“Where” Does Not Apply

there

thing

Shurangama Sutra

Related: The Breakthrough (The following is written by Ajahn Amaro on the teachings of Non-Duality, Anatta and Emptiness by Buddha, as well as being a great description of Stages 5 & 6 of Thusness/PasserBy's Seven Stages of Enlightenment This principle of nonabiding is also contained within the ancientTheravada teachings. It wasn’t just Ajahn Chah’s personal insightor the legacy of some stray Nyingmapa lama who wanderedover the mountains and fetched up in northeast Thailand 100years ago. Right in the Pali Canon, the Buddha points directlyto this. In the(the collection of “Inspired Utterances”of the Buddha), he says:, nondual awareness, is the direct knowing of this. It’sthe quality of mind that knows, while abiding nowhere.Another teaching from the same collection recounts the storyof a wanderer named Bahiya. He stopped the Buddha on thestreet in Savatthi and said, “Venerable Sir, you are the SamanaGotama. Your Dharma is famous throughout the land. Pleaseteach me that I may understand the truth.”The Buddha replied, “We’re on our almsround, Bahiya. This isnot the right time.”“Life is uncertain, Venerable Sir. We never know when we aregoing to die; please teach me the Dharma.”This dialogue repeats itself three times. Three times over, theBuddha says the same thing, and Bahiya responds in the sameway. Finally, the Buddha says, “When ais pressedthree times, he has to answer. Listen carefully, Bahiya, andattend to what I say:Upon hearing these words, Bahiya was immediately enlightened.Moments later he was killed by a runaway cow. So he wasright: life is uncertain. Later Bahiya was awarded the title of“The Disciple Who Understood the Teaching Most Quickly.”What does it mean to say, “There is no thing”? It is talkingabout the realm of the object; it implies that we recognize that“the seen is merely the seen.” That’s it. There are forms, shapes,colors, and so forth, but there is nothere. There is no realsubstance, no solidity, and no self-existent reality. All there is,is the quality of experience itself. No more, no less. There is justseeing, hearing, feeling, sensing, cognizing. And the mind namingit all is also just another experience: “the space of theDharma hall,” “Ajahn Amaro’s voice,” “here is the thought,‘Am I understanding this?’ Now another thought, ‘Am I notunderstanding this?’”There is what is seen, heard, tasted, and so on, but there is nothing-ness, no solid, independent entity that this experiencerefers to.As this insight matures, not only do we realize that there isno thing “out there,” but we also realize there is no solid thing“in here,” no independent and fixed entity that is the experiencer.This is talking about the realm of the subject.The practice of nonabiding is a process of emptying out theobjective and subjective domains, truly seeing that both theobject and subject are intrinsically empty. If we can see that boththe subjective and objective are empty, if there’s no real “inhere” or “out there,” where could the feeling of I-ness and menessand my-ness locate itself? As the Buddha said to Bahiya,“You will not be able to find your self either in the world of this[subject] or in the world of that [object] or anywhere betweenthe two.”There is a similar and much lengthier exchange between theBuddha and Ânanda in the, which is a textmuch referred to in the Ch’an school of the Chinese tradition.For pages and pages the Buddha asks Ânanda, in multifariousways, if he can define exactly where his mind is. No matter howhard he tries, Ânanda cannot establish it precisely. Eventuallyhe is forced to the conclusion that “I cannot find my mind anywhere.”But the Buddha says, “Your mind does exist, though,doesn’t it?”Ânanda is finally drawn to the conclusion that “where” doesnot apply.Aha!This is the point that these teachings on nonabiding are tryingto draw us to. The whole concept and construct of where-ness,the act of conceiving ourselves as this individual entity livingat this spot in space and time, is a presumption. And it’s only byfrustrating our habitual judgments in this way that we’re forcedinto loosening our grip.This view of things pulls the plug, takes the props away, and,above all, shakes up our standard frames of reference. This isexactly what Ajahn Chah did with people when he asked, “If youcan’t go forward and you can’t go back and you can’t stand still,where can you go?” He was pointing to the place of nonabiding:the timeless, selfless quality that is independent of location.Interestingly enough, some current scientific research hasalso reached a comparable conclusion about the fundamentalnature of matter. In the world of quantum physics, scientistsnow use such terms as “the well of being” or “the sea of potential”to refer to the primordial level of physical reality fromwhich all particles and energies crystallize and into which theysubsequently dissolve. The principle of non-locality in this realmmeans that the “place where something happens” cannot trulybe defined, and that a single event can have exactly simultaneouseffects in (apparently) widely separated places. Particles canaccurately be described as being smeared out over the entirety oftime and space.Terms like “single place” and “separate places” are seen toapply only as convenient fictions at certain levels of scale; at thelevel of the ultimate field, the sea of quantum foam, “place” hasno real meaning. When you get down into the fine, subatomicrealm, where-ness simply does not apply. There is no there there.Whether this principle is called nonabiding or non-locality, it’sboth interesting and noteworthy that the same principle appliesin both the physical and mental realms. For the intellectuals andrationalists among us, this parallel is probably very comforting.I first started to investigate this type of contemplation when Iwas on a long retreat in our monastery and doing a lot of solitarypractice. It suddenly occurred to me that even though I mighthave let go of the feeling of self—the feeling of this and thatand so on—whatever the experience of reality was, it was still“here.” There was still here-ness. For several weeks I contemplatedthe question, “Where is here?” Not using the question toget a verbal answer, more just to illuminate and aid the abandonmentof the clinging that was present.Recognizing this kind of conditioning is half the job—recognizing that, as soon as there is a here-ness, there is a subtlepresence of a there-ness. Similarly, establishing a “this,” bringsup a “that.” As soon as we define “inside,” up pops “outside.”It’s crucial to acknowledge such subtle feelings of grasping; ithappens so fast and at so many different layers and levels.This simple act of apprehending the experience is shining thelight of wisdom onto what the heart is grasping. Once the defilementsare in the spotlight, they get a little nervous and uncomfortable.clinging is the focus of our awareness, it can’t function properly.In short, clinging can’t cling if there is too much wisdom around.Clinging operates best when we are not looking. Whenclinging is the focus of our awareness, it can’t function properly.In short, clinging can’t cling if there is too much wisdom around.