The Problem for Teachers of Advaita is How to Say Something About Nothing.
With Advaita, there is no dogma to learn or believe. The task for teachers of Advaita is to find ways to point as directly as possible at “that which has no name”.
Although nameless, many names or attributes have been given to “it” such as: God – Void – Emptiness – Consciousness as-it-is – Consciousness without an object – Pure Subject – Clear and open, Cloudless Sky (Dogzen) – Clarity – Capacity (Douglas Harding) – I Am – I Am That I Am – Tao – Awareness – Awareness of Awareness – Awakeness – Mindfulness – Bare Attention --No-Mind – Unborn – the No-Thing – Changeless, Infinite and Undivided (John Dobson) – the Unseen Seer – and many many more.
None of these names or attributes is “It”. They are just pointers to direct the attention of the seeker to look for what they are pointing to. This No-Thing is what mystics “see” when they are meditating. It is “That” in which all things appear and yet, when looked for, all that is “seen” or “experienced” is Nothing/Void/Empty/Clear and Open Space. THAT ART THOU.
Any teaching beyond this No-Thing [such as Karma, Reincarnation, angels, demons, etc.] are but ideas which come and go.
The mind (which is just an idea/thought indicating the presence of ideas/thoughts) hates the void, but the Void is the only thing that is real/Constant/Changeless. Everything else comes and goes, appears and disappears. The Void is “there” before, during and after everything else comes and goes. THAT ART THOU.
So simple, yet so easy to overlook or miss (i.e., “sin” as in “missing the mark”).
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is realizing that I am not my story. This realization leads naturally to curiosity about who I truly am. The more closely I look, the more deeply I inquire, the more transparent I become. At some point, while relaxing, grace may enter and the inquiry is stilled. The last thought, the last cloud to clear, is "Ah..."
And then of course there is water to be chopped and wood to be carried.
