Dear friends,
The purpose of Advayavada Buddhism is to become a true part of the whole.
In Advayavada Buddhism, the Path is understood as an ongoing and fully autonomous, non-prescriptive, investigative and creative process of progressive insight, reflecting in human terms wondrous overall existence becoming over time in its manifest direction. When followed conscientiously, it becomes nothing less than the main karmic factor in one’s share in the universal interdependent origination process (madhyamaka-pratityasamutpada). It is composed stepwise of (1) our very best (samma in Pali and samyak in Sanskrit) comprehension or insight, followed by (2) our very best resolution or determination, (3) our very best enunciation or definition (of our intention), (4) our very best disposition or attitude, (5) our very best implementation or realization, (6) our very best effort or commitment, (7) our very best observation, reflection or evaluation and self-correction, and (8) our very best meditation or concentration towards an increasingly real experience of oneness with the universe, which brings us to (1) a yet better comprehension or insight, and so forth.
The Advayavada Study Plan (ASP) is repeated four times a year. In weeks 27 to 31 we treated the preliminary subjects, in week 32 we honestly reviewed and took stock of our personal situation (first step), in week 33 we took an appropriate and timely decision to adjust our course (second step), in week 34 we put our decision and purpose in writing (third step), in week 35 we further developed our very best attitude (fourth step), in week 36 we implemented our improved modus operandi (fifth step), in week 37 we concentrated on mustering our very best effort and commitment (sixth step), in week 38 we made our best possible evaluation of our efforts to date (seventh step), and, to conclude the current third quarter, in week 39 we shall continue to develop and deepen our very best meditation towards the realization of samadhi*.
This task is based on the eighth step on the Noble Eightfold Path: samma-samadhi (in Pali) or samyak-samadhi (in Sanskrit); in Advayavada Buddhism’s usage: our very best meditation or concentration towards samadhi; in Dutch: onze beste bezinning (de achtste stap op het edele achtvoudige pad).
*Samadhi (Pali and Sanskrit): total or perfect concentration (of the mind, cf. enstasy); non-dualistic state of consciousness in which the experiencing subject becomes one with the experienced object; total absorption in the object of meditation; transcendence of the relationship between mind and object; merging of subject and object; to contemplate the world without any perception of objects; suspension of judgement; turiyatita; satori; bodhi; rigpa; realization of the sameness of the part and the whole, of the identity of form and emptiness, of samsara and nirvana, of the immediate and the ultimate; mystic oneness; perfect dynamic attunement with wondrous overall existence; oceanic feeling; wonder, awe, rapture; essential purity; deep love and compassion; awareness of our common ground and the innocence of sex.
This is the last weekly reminder for the time being – a survey of the study plan is available on a.o. Facebook at Advayavada Study Plan – ASP.
Kind regards,
John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
advayavada.org/#plan