If and when duality (the mode in which phenomena appear as different from each other and occupying the states of presence or absence) is found to be erroneous, there is the tendency or urge to move towards a “higher” mode in which phenomena are seen in some sense as actually identical to one another and... Continue Reading →
Beyond the Impasse of Self-Emptiness and Other-Emptiness in Tibetan Madhyamaka
Some thoughts on the dichotomy of self-empty (rang stong) and other-empty (gzhan stong): The basis of the dichotomy comes about from considering the role and scope of negation in the apprehension of emptiness. The dialectic of emptiness that runs through the various tenet systems (from Vaibhashika to Sautantrika to Cittamatra to Madhyamaka) progressively refines the negandum or... Continue Reading →
Middling without a Middle
Avoiding extremes, we abide in the middle. Extreme views arise out of a basic ignorance of the nature of reality, and ground themselves on a basis that is assumed to be, or argued to be, the true nature of the reality with which they are concerned. Extreme views give rise to extreme behaviors, which are... Continue Reading →
Verses on Xenotechne & Theopoiesis
Xenotechne:Alien techniques of abstraction.Theopoiesis:Divine art of communion. Devoid of the act of abstracting individualsout of the concrete continuum,There would be no congregation to communeIn the first instance.Devoid of the need for real communionBetween congregated individuals,There would be no reason for abstractionIn the last instance.Though functionally distinct, Xenotechne and TheopoiesisAre basically inseparableIn their being different aspectsOf the... Continue Reading →
On Madhyamaka non-foundationalism
In contemporary Buddhist Studies (which refers to the mostly Western, semi-global academic study of Buddhism, and not the indigenous systems of actually existing Buddhadharma) the Madhyamaka is often rendered as a form of philosophical anti-foundationalism, which is opposed to totalizing, metaphysical forms of thought based on self-sufficient first principles or self-grounding foundations which pretend to,... Continue Reading →
Buddhahood at the Terminus of a Thanatropic Humanity
Consummate Buddhahood is like an alien intelligence from the future assembling itself entirely from the past and present afflictions of sentient beings, transforming this afflictive basis into remedial elements more conducive to the eventual and inexorable realization of this perfected body of wisdom and bliss. Cosmically speaking, humanity becomes known as being, and as having... Continue Reading →
Sex and Gender Prapañca, or, the Conceptual Proliferation of Sex and Gender Identities
I think the issue with this tendency in some progressive circles to affirm the proliferation of multitudes of new genders and sexual identities is that: people on the one hand want to liberate themselves from being constrained by limited and oppressive concepts, but attempt to solve the issue in a way that keeps the basic... Continue Reading →
Sleeplessness and Wakefulness under 24/7 Capitalism
I don't think I've ever not been somewhat of a night owl in terms of my sleep schedule. For a long time I've been taught to internalize these habits as something inherently wrong with me (lazy, irresponsible, disorganized), or I attribute it to some condition (I was majorly depressed throughout my teenage years, making it... Continue Reading →
On the Limits of Panpsychism and Eliminative Materialism
I used to flirt around with the view of "Panpsychism," the general idea that everything that exists has some degree of consciousness in it, which entails that mind is ubiquitous throughout the universe. There are many different versions of Panpsychism, all which in their own way try to explain the relationship between the physical constitution... Continue Reading →
Being, Free of Freedom
At the absolute limits of conceptualization, freedom and bondage coincide as mutually grounding aspects of one another, with the implication being that there is no ultimately real difference between the mundane freedom to express the state of my personal being and the fulfillment of a sacred bondage to the process of cosmic becoming. A mode... Continue Reading →
