Teachers of Non-Duality
Fall 1992 Vol. 9 #1
Fall 1992 Vol. 9 #1
Introduction
What, if anything, do spiritual traditions like Advaita Vedanta and Dzogchen, that emphasize the inherent nature of enlightenment, have to say to insight meditators? Andy Cooper provides context.
Features
Lama Surya Das shares deep insight into the Tibetan practice of Dzogchen, likening it to Achaan Chah’s teachings on the intrinsic purity of the mind.
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche discusses subtle differences between Dzogchen, vipassana, and other “levels of practice that use ordinary mind as the method.”
Joan Tollifson offers an intimate, poetic account of a two-year, post-Zen retreat at Springwater Center in rural New York.
Scoop Nisker tries to conduct “a decent, respectable interview” while having his ego deconstructed by Advaita Vedanta master Papa-ji.
Reflections from Vipassana Teachers
By Howard Cohn, Sharon Salzberg, Christopher Titmuss, Sharda (Henrietta) Rogel, Sylvia Boorstein, James Baraz, Anna Douglas, Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield
We invited a number of vipassana teachers to write about their explorations into Advaita Vedanta and /or Dzogchen.
Kedarnath practiced vipassana before turning to Dzogchen. He views these two practices as opposing visions of reality that address very different problems.
Barbara Gates, struggling with this issue’s theme, fears discussion of the Absolute might lead to a sense that it doesn’t matter how we live our lives . . . and explores how teachings of non-duality “relate to the dilemma I-as-gardener face with the snails.”
Poems & Not Poems
Reviews
We’ve Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy—And the World’s Getting Worse, by James Hillman and Michael Ventura
Reviewed By Judith Stronach
(242 pp., HarperSanFrancisco)
The Dharma & the Drama
Wes Nisker dances us through the cosmic twist and shout, the subatomic shuffle, the tango of intangibles, the two-step of non-duality, putting trends in spiritual practice into perspective.