The word/idea "oneness" points to that which simultaneously sees and is seen, but the path does not stop with the realization of oneness. It keeps going deeper and deeper and never really ends. This is why the tenth ox-herding picture of Zen represents a state of being that is as unfathomable as reality itself. Here are those stages roughly explicated:
1. Searching for the ox. A person is trapped in a dualistic perspective, but suspects that something more unifying is possible. This person begins reading and thinking about existential issues in an effort to understand what's going on. Perhaps someone wants to find God, doesn't know how to do that, and starts searching for a pathway.
2. Finding footprints of the ox. The person begins reading about non-duality and non-dual traditions, and starts meditating, contemplating, or ATA in an effort to wake up. The person has no direct experience of her true nature, but intuits that direct experience is possible.
3. Catching a glimpse of the ox. The person has some sort of kensho experience or direct insight into her true nature. This might be a huge cosmic-consciousness experience, a brief non-ordinary shift in perception, or several subtle and transient insights. Whether the experiences are shallow or deep the person now has no doubt that the world is not what it was earlier thought to be. This is the point where one confirms that a dualistic perspective is flawed and illusory. If the breakthrough shatters one's attachment to the concepts of time, space, and thingness, one is said to have "passed through the gateless gate." Clarity remains limited, but the person now knows that oneness underlies all appearances of separateness.
4. Catching the ox. The person now has considerable insight, but the mind still periodically runs amok, jerking her this way and that. She still resists the reality of "what is," is bothered by lots of new questions arising from past insights, and struggles with passions and desires. She wants to behave in ways that she thinks are spiritual, but often finds herself acting just the opposite with pettiness or mean-spiritedness.
5. Taming the ox. The person sees through more illusions, gains greater understanding, sees the path clearly, and the mind begins to settle down.
6. Riding the ox home. The mind is no longer disturbed by outer or innner events, and life becomes relatively peaceful. The world is accepted as it is, and resistance to the truth ceases.
7. Ox lost, person remaining. Past cosmic-consiousness experiences and big realizations or insights have all been left behind. Fantasies and reflections are gone and events are allowed to happen as they will. No matter what happens, the moment the person becomes concerned or conscious of it, it starts to become a burden and is released. There is now non-abidance in the mind and no fixed view remains for more than a short while.
8. No ox, no person. The illusion of selfhood has totally evaporated, and nothing is clung to. The world is fundamentally empty. All spiritual questioning has ended, and one abides in equanimity and contentment.
9. Returning to the source. All onion skins have been peeled off, and the old habitual way of consciousness has fallen off. Karma no longer attaches, and the person no longer makes any effort to control thinking or anything else. One has become so deeply immersed in the flow of life (surrendered to the flow) that unity and intellectual not-knowingness pervades every aspect of life.
10. Entering the marketplace with helping hands. The person's primary interest is now helping others, and she lives in a state of mental transparency. She cares nothing about herself, and exhibits deep humility. She gains nothing from any transaction, and nothing clings to her. She has no agenda and makes no effort of any kind. The inside and outside have become a seamless whole which no longer merits any kind of reflection. She lives in a world or pure isness where nothing is happening.
In these final three stages there is no identification with anything, even awareness, and this is probably what Scoma was pointing to. At these points along the path there is no "spiritual" thinking. "God," "existence," "awareness," "duality," "oneness," etc. have all been left behind. At this point, if someone asks a sage, "What is the truth?" the sage may hand that person an apple. If someone asks, "How can I find the truth?" the sage may say, "Look around; it is not hidden," or ""Look within," or "Stop and be still," or the sage may smile and simply remain silent.
1. Searching for the ox. A person is trapped in a dualistic perspective, but suspects that something more unifying is possible. This person begins reading and thinking about existential issues in an effort to understand what's going on. Perhaps someone wants to find God, doesn't know how to do that, and starts searching for a pathway.
2. Finding footprints of the ox. The person begins reading about non-duality and non-dual traditions, and starts meditating, contemplating, or ATA in an effort to wake up. The person has no direct experience of her true nature, but intuits that direct experience is possible.
3. Catching a glimpse of the ox. The person has some sort of kensho experience or direct insight into her true nature. This might be a huge cosmic-consciousness experience, a brief non-ordinary shift in perception, or several subtle and transient insights. Whether the experiences are shallow or deep the person now has no doubt that the world is not what it was earlier thought to be. This is the point where one confirms that a dualistic perspective is flawed and illusory. If the breakthrough shatters one's attachment to the concepts of time, space, and thingness, one is said to have "passed through the gateless gate." Clarity remains limited, but the person now knows that oneness underlies all appearances of separateness.
4. Catching the ox. The person now has considerable insight, but the mind still periodically runs amok, jerking her this way and that. She still resists the reality of "what is," is bothered by lots of new questions arising from past insights, and struggles with passions and desires. She wants to behave in ways that she thinks are spiritual, but often finds herself acting just the opposite with pettiness or mean-spiritedness.
5. Taming the ox. The person sees through more illusions, gains greater understanding, sees the path clearly, and the mind begins to settle down.
6. Riding the ox home. The mind is no longer disturbed by outer or innner events, and life becomes relatively peaceful. The world is accepted as it is, and resistance to the truth ceases.
7. Ox lost, person remaining. Past cosmic-consiousness experiences and big realizations or insights have all been left behind. Fantasies and reflections are gone and events are allowed to happen as they will. No matter what happens, the moment the person becomes concerned or conscious of it, it starts to become a burden and is released. There is now non-abidance in the mind and no fixed view remains for more than a short while.
8. No ox, no person. The illusion of selfhood has totally evaporated, and nothing is clung to. The world is fundamentally empty. All spiritual questioning has ended, and one abides in equanimity and contentment.
9. Returning to the source. All onion skins have been peeled off, and the old habitual way of consciousness has fallen off. Karma no longer attaches, and the person no longer makes any effort to control thinking or anything else. One has become so deeply immersed in the flow of life (surrendered to the flow) that unity and intellectual not-knowingness pervades every aspect of life.
10. Entering the marketplace with helping hands. The person's primary interest is now helping others, and she lives in a state of mental transparency. She cares nothing about herself, and exhibits deep humility. She gains nothing from any transaction, and nothing clings to her. She has no agenda and makes no effort of any kind. The inside and outside have become a seamless whole which no longer merits any kind of reflection. She lives in a world or pure isness where nothing is happening.
In these final three stages there is no identification with anything, even awareness, and this is probably what Scoma was pointing to. At these points along the path there is no "spiritual" thinking. "God," "existence," "awareness," "duality," "oneness," etc. have all been left behind. At this point, if someone asks a sage, "What is the truth?" the sage may hand that person an apple. If someone asks, "How can I find the truth?" the sage may say, "Look around; it is not hidden," or ""Look within," or "Stop and be still," or the sage may smile and simply remain silent.
