About Nothing Special

Last week we touched on the importance of transcending reason as we begin to encounter aspects of human knowing and experience that lie beyond the limits of rationality. When we enter into this trans-rational “realm”, still using reason when appropriate, we find a much wider range of options opening to us in our use of language. In this contemplation we introduce a small sampling of this range – different ways of dancing with language – in order to see some of the possibilities we have for expressing the inexpressible.· The psychotropic songs and poems of the great siddhas of the eighth to twelfth centuries are some of the most exquisite dances with language imaginable. Keith Dowman has rendered several translations of these early Dzogchen writings that simply sing – especially his works on Longchenpa. In these, he translates into lyrical prose and verse using crisp, clear English that stretches our language to its current limits.

· Then there is the dancing in the paradoxes of language that is so central to the Radiant Mind teaching. This is done in many ways, all of which entail using articulate contradictions in one way or another. One example is to state something unequivocally and then state its opposite equally unequivocally, often in the very next sentence. This is done with full confidence, knowing that such contradiction is the only way to describe the truth of what is. As Peter puts it, “When our thoughts are born at the point where the conceptual touches the nonconceptual, we are compelled to use paradox, negation, and absurdity.” (Radiant Mind, p. 195)

· A third way of dancing with language is to enter into the rigorous steps of using logical precision with the greatest possible accuracy and clarity of language – all with the purpose of going beyond it. Rupert Spira’s teaching, for instance, is often appreciated for the kind of exploration in which our reasoning and logical minds are used to guide us into realizing what lies beyond the mind. This approach can very effective in working with people who are still subject to their rationality and it is, of course, is the very essence of Jnana yog

· Another way is the playful dance of using words or phrases with capital letters, quotation marks or italics to indicate that they are not to be taken in the ordinary rational sense. Here too, Peter gives us some examples, this time with the use of quotation marks, in his re-working of some verses by the third Zen patriarch Sosan Zenji: Trying to grasp “it” with your mind will lead you further astray. No matter when or where someone awakens to the truth, “this” is the reality that they experience.

· Finally, we can dance lightly with everyday language in ordinary usage, not taking words too seriously, but rather seeing them as empty pointers. We do this in the full knowledge that what we say may not be rationally meaningful; and this is perfectly fine, for the purpose of language here is not to communicate meaning (which is always a construction), but to spark a recognition or realization. Here are two examples from Advaita Vedanta of using the common pronoun it as a pointer to That which lies beyond any kind of thing or entity:

“Call it (Brahman) by any name, God, Self, the Heart or the Seat of Consciousness, it is all the same." (Ramana Maharshi)

“The Luminous Brahman dwells in the cave of the heart and is known to move there. It is the great support of all….” (Mundaka Upanishad) -