https://reversevector.com/ Sun, 03 May 2026 12:50:23 +0000 MyBB https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=9 Sat, 14 Feb 2026 01:04:28 +0000 admin]]> https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=9
— Horace, "Epistles"]]>
— Horace, "Epistles"]]> https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=8 Sat, 15 Nov 2025 05:56:32 +0000 admin]]> https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=8
Nisargadatta Maharaj's teaching is largely apophatic in nature, using statements that describe the ultimate reality (Brahman or the Self) by what it is not, rather than what it is. His apophatic examples focus on transcending the conceptual self to realize the true, formless Self.

    "You are not the body or the mind": This is a central apophatic teaching. Nisargadatta repeatedly asks seekers to abandon the identification with the physical body and the stream of thoughts, memories, and emotions that constitute the "personal 'me'". By negating what you are not, you approach the realization of what you are.

    "The 'I am' has great potency... your destiny is not death but the disappearance of 'I am'": He differentiates the feeling of "I am" (consciousness) from the ultimate, formless Absolute. The goal is not to preserve the "I am" but to go beyond it to its source, which is prior to all concepts, including "being" itself. This disappearance of the personal "I am" points to a reality that cannot be conceptualized.

    Describing the Self as "untouched," "unmoved," and "unaffected": He uses negative adjectives to describe the true Self/awareness because it is beyond all dualities and attributes that arise within consciousness. It is not a "thing" with qualities, but the light in which all things appear.

    "Awareness by Itself is motionless and timeless, here and now": When contrasting awareness with consciousness (which has objects and movement), he describes awareness using terms that deny change or location. It is beyond time and space, qualities that apply only to the phenomenal world.

    Focus on the "prior" state: He often directs the seeker to inquire into their state before the sense of "I am" arose or before conception, a state which is inherently devoid of any positive description because it precedes all form and knowledge.
Nisargadatta's method is to systematically dismantle all ideas and beliefs about the self and reality, thereby leading the seeker into a direct, non-conceptual experience of the Absolute. The apophatic way is the path of negation, where the failure of language and concepts points to a truth that is beyond all description. As he noted, "It is always the false that makes you suffer...
Abandon the false and you are free".

Illustrative videos:

Living Without the Personal 'Me' – Nisargadatta Maharaj    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AAJhRS17Sc

How To Practice Living Without The Personal "I" - Nisargadatta Maharaj    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xINtMz4G2Hs]]>
Nisargadatta Maharaj's teaching is largely apophatic in nature, using statements that describe the ultimate reality (Brahman or the Self) by what it is not, rather than what it is. His apophatic examples focus on transcending the conceptual self to realize the true, formless Self.

    "You are not the body or the mind": This is a central apophatic teaching. Nisargadatta repeatedly asks seekers to abandon the identification with the physical body and the stream of thoughts, memories, and emotions that constitute the "personal 'me'". By negating what you are not, you approach the realization of what you are.

    "The 'I am' has great potency... your destiny is not death but the disappearance of 'I am'": He differentiates the feeling of "I am" (consciousness) from the ultimate, formless Absolute. The goal is not to preserve the "I am" but to go beyond it to its source, which is prior to all concepts, including "being" itself. This disappearance of the personal "I am" points to a reality that cannot be conceptualized.

    Describing the Self as "untouched," "unmoved," and "unaffected": He uses negative adjectives to describe the true Self/awareness because it is beyond all dualities and attributes that arise within consciousness. It is not a "thing" with qualities, but the light in which all things appear.

    "Awareness by Itself is motionless and timeless, here and now": When contrasting awareness with consciousness (which has objects and movement), he describes awareness using terms that deny change or location. It is beyond time and space, qualities that apply only to the phenomenal world.

    Focus on the "prior" state: He often directs the seeker to inquire into their state before the sense of "I am" arose or before conception, a state which is inherently devoid of any positive description because it precedes all form and knowledge.
Nisargadatta's method is to systematically dismantle all ideas and beliefs about the self and reality, thereby leading the seeker into a direct, non-conceptual experience of the Absolute. The apophatic way is the path of negation, where the failure of language and concepts points to a truth that is beyond all description. As he noted, "It is always the false that makes you suffer...
Abandon the false and you are free".

Illustrative videos:

Living Without the Personal 'Me' – Nisargadatta Maharaj    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AAJhRS17Sc

How To Practice Living Without The Personal "I" - Nisargadatta Maharaj    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xINtMz4G2Hs]]> https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=7 Sat, 15 Nov 2025 05:43:29 +0000 admin]]> https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=7
-- Psycho-Pictography

"Q: So going home means to deliberately depart from everything wrong within ourselves.
A: Exactly. So do it. First you will catch a faint glimpse of your restful residence, and then you will be one with it."

-- Treasury of Positive Answers, # 196]]>
-- Psycho-Pictography

"Q: So going home means to deliberately depart from everything wrong within ourselves.
A: Exactly. So do it. First you will catch a faint glimpse of your restful residence, and then you will be one with it."

-- Treasury of Positive Answers, # 196]]> https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=6 Sat, 15 Nov 2025 02:54:05 +0000 admin]]> https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=6
=> This is AI-generated (sorry, pathetic) and needs work.

Iconoclastic Statements: Chan masters frequently used shocking or paradoxical language to break students' conceptual attachments, even dismissing revered scriptures. The famous master Linji (founder of one of the main lineages) urged his students to become "true persons of no rank" who refrain from taking any fixed position and improvise as needed in any situation. Another master suggested that if you see "the Buddha" on the road, you should kill him, a radical statement designed to reject the idea of a fixed, conceptual Buddha that can be encountered externally.

Encounter Dialogues (Gong'an/Koan): These records of interactions between masters and students are full of apophatic examples. The intention is often to push the student past analytical thought and into direct, non-conceptual experience. In one iconic encounter, Mazu's teacher Nanyue Huairang demonstrates that one cannot "make" a Buddha by purposeful action (like polishing a tile to make a mirror), thereby negating the conceptual goal of "becoming a Buddha" in a conventional sense.

The Concept of Emptiness (Sunyata): Drawing from Mahayana roots, Chan philosophy views all phenomena as "empty" of inherent, independent existence. This emptiness is not a void of "nothingness" but the ungraspable, concrete network of mutually interdependent entities. Describing reality in terms of what it is not (not permanent, not a distinct self, etc.) is a fundamentally apophatic approach.

"Ordinary, Everyday Mind is Buddha": Master Mazu's famous proclamation identifies ultimate reality not as something transcendent or separate, but within the immediate, spontaneous flow of daily life. This statement negates the idea of a special or elevated "Buddha" to be attained, pointing instead to the inherent nature of the present moment experienced with a detached, non-judgmental mind.

"Not knowing is most intimate": This saying from a Chan master highlights the value of letting go of intellectual or conceptual "knowing" in favor of an immediate, intuitive awareness of the present moment. It is an embrace of a "dark consciousness" beyond the differentiated, conceptual mind.]]>
=> This is AI-generated (sorry, pathetic) and needs work.

Iconoclastic Statements: Chan masters frequently used shocking or paradoxical language to break students' conceptual attachments, even dismissing revered scriptures. The famous master Linji (founder of one of the main lineages) urged his students to become "true persons of no rank" who refrain from taking any fixed position and improvise as needed in any situation. Another master suggested that if you see "the Buddha" on the road, you should kill him, a radical statement designed to reject the idea of a fixed, conceptual Buddha that can be encountered externally.

Encounter Dialogues (Gong'an/Koan): These records of interactions between masters and students are full of apophatic examples. The intention is often to push the student past analytical thought and into direct, non-conceptual experience. In one iconic encounter, Mazu's teacher Nanyue Huairang demonstrates that one cannot "make" a Buddha by purposeful action (like polishing a tile to make a mirror), thereby negating the conceptual goal of "becoming a Buddha" in a conventional sense.

The Concept of Emptiness (Sunyata): Drawing from Mahayana roots, Chan philosophy views all phenomena as "empty" of inherent, independent existence. This emptiness is not a void of "nothingness" but the ungraspable, concrete network of mutually interdependent entities. Describing reality in terms of what it is not (not permanent, not a distinct self, etc.) is a fundamentally apophatic approach.

"Ordinary, Everyday Mind is Buddha": Master Mazu's famous proclamation identifies ultimate reality not as something transcendent or separate, but within the immediate, spontaneous flow of daily life. This statement negates the idea of a special or elevated "Buddha" to be attained, pointing instead to the inherent nature of the present moment experienced with a detached, non-judgmental mind.

"Not knowing is most intimate": This saying from a Chan master highlights the value of letting go of intellectual or conceptual "knowing" in favor of an immediate, intuitive awareness of the present moment. It is an embrace of a "dark consciousness" beyond the differentiated, conceptual mind.]]> https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=5 Tue, 04 Nov 2025 05:58:17 +0000 admin]]> https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cloud_of_Unknowing

The Cloud of Unknowing draws on the mystical tradition of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Christian Neoplatonism, which focuses on the via negativa road to discovering God as a pure entity, beyond any capacity of mental conception and so without any definitive image or form. This tradition has reputedly inspired generations of mystics, from John Scotus Eriugena, Nicholas of Cusa, and John of the Cross. Prior to this, the theme of a passing cloud of ignorance (as opposed to the heavenly and eternal truth of God beyond the cloud) had appeared briefly in the Confessions of Saint Augustine (XIII, XV, 17–18) written around 398 AD.

The full text is here: https://selfdefinition.org/christian/clo...ntents.htm

Youtube: The Cloud of Unknowing: a Medieval Guide for Meditators
School of Philosophy and Economic Science, Scotland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBKi0mwY48w]]> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cloud_of_Unknowing

The Cloud of Unknowing draws on the mystical tradition of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Christian Neoplatonism, which focuses on the via negativa road to discovering God as a pure entity, beyond any capacity of mental conception and so without any definitive image or form. This tradition has reputedly inspired generations of mystics, from John Scotus Eriugena, Nicholas of Cusa, and John of the Cross. Prior to this, the theme of a passing cloud of ignorance (as opposed to the heavenly and eternal truth of God beyond the cloud) had appeared briefly in the Confessions of Saint Augustine (XIII, XV, 17–18) written around 398 AD.

The full text is here: https://selfdefinition.org/christian/clo...ntents.htm

Youtube: The Cloud of Unknowing: a Medieval Guide for Meditators
School of Philosophy and Economic Science, Scotland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBKi0mwY48w]]> https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=3 Tue, 04 Nov 2025 05:40:54 +0000 admin]]> https://reversevector.com/showthread.php?tid=3
Love itself is the actual form of God.

If by saying, "I do not love this, I do not love that"
you reject all things,
that which remains is the real form of the Self.
That is pure bliss.
Call it pure bliss, God, Self, or what you will.
That is devotion, that is realization and that is everything.
If you thus reject everything, what remains is the Self alone.
That is real love.

https://selfdefinition.org/awareness/cho...quotes.htm]]>
Love itself is the actual form of God.

If by saying, "I do not love this, I do not love that"
you reject all things,
that which remains is the real form of the Self.
That is pure bliss.
Call it pure bliss, God, Self, or what you will.
That is devotion, that is realization and that is everything.
If you thus reject everything, what remains is the Self alone.
That is real love.

https://selfdefinition.org/awareness/cho...quotes.htm]]>