有即是無 Existence is instantly nonexistence
無即是有 Nonexistence is instantly existence
若不如此 If you are not experiencing this
必不相守 Do not hold on to yourself
一即一切 The One in all
一切即一 All in the One
但能如是 If you only realize this
何慮不畢 You need not worry about attaining your goal
信心不二 The believing mind is undivided
不二信心 Undivided is the believing mind
言語道斷 Words go no further
非去來今 No going or coming now
My soul rejoices in all the joy and all the blessedness in which God Himself rejoices in His divine nature, whether God would or no: for there, there is nothing but one, and where one is, there is all, and where all is, there is one.
– Meister Eckhart (Walshe, Vol. II, Sermon Seventy)
All things are too small to hold me
I am so vast
In the Infinite I reach for the Uncreated
I have touched it: it undoes me
Wider than wide, everything else is too narrow
You know this well you who are also there
– Hadewijch
One who knows himself as nondual, he knows both the Buddha and the Dharma. And why? He is a being which encompasses all things; for all things are certainly one’s own self-nature. (Conze, 2002)
God becomes and unbecomes.
– Meister Eckhart (Walshe Vol. II, Sermon Fifty Six, p. 80)
D. T. Suzuki: (1935)
When the Yogin has all of these mental disturbances well under control, his mind acquires a state of tranquillity in which his consciousness retains its identity through his waking and sleeping hours. The modern psychologist would say that he is no more troubled with ideas which are buried, deeply repressed, in his unconsciousness; in other words he has no dreams. His mental life is thoroughly calm and clear like the blue sky where there are no threatening clouds. The world with its expansion of earth, its towering mountains, its surging waves, its meandering rivers, and with its infinitely variegated colours and forms is serenely reflected in the mind-mirror of the Yogin. The mirror accepts them all yet there are no traces or stains left in it—just one Essence, bright and illuminating. The source of birth and death is plainly revealed here. The Yogin knows where he is; he is emancipated.
Ralph Waldo Emerson:
And now at last the highest truth on this subject remains unsaid; probably cannot be said; for all that we say is the far-off remembering of the intuition. That thought, by what I can now nearest approach to say it, is this. When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any known or accustomed way; you shall not discern the footprints of any other; you shall not see the face of man; you shall not hear any name—the way, the thought, the good, shall be wholly strange and new. It shall exclude example and experience. You take the way from man, not to man. All persons that ever existed are its forgotten ministers. Fear and hope are alike beneath it. There is somewhat low even in hope. In the hour of vision, there is nothing that can be called gratitude, nor properly joy. The soul raised over passion beholds identity and eternal causation, perceives the self-existence of Truth and Right, and calms itself with knowing that all things go well. Vast spaces of nature, the Atlantic Ocean, the South Sea— long intervals of time, years, centuries— are of no account. This which I think and feel underlay every former state of life and circumstances, as it does underlie my present, and what is called life, and what is called death. (“Self-Reliance”)
Shen-hui:
Those who see into No-thought have their senses cleansed of defilements. Those who see into No-thought are moving towards Buddha-wisdom. Those who see into No-thought are known to be with the Dharma. Those who see into No-thought are furnished at once with merits as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Those who see into No-thought are able to create all kinds of things. Those who see into No-thought embrace all things within themselves.
A person who has a most decided realization remains immovable, like a diamond, and having seen into No-thought remains in perfect quietude—even if being cut to pieces by a forest of swords in the midst of battle. Even if greeted by Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, not a thought of happiness is stirred in the mind. Even if beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges are destroyed all at once, not a thought of grief is stirred in the mind. For this strong-willed being has attained Emptiness and Sameness. (Suzuki, 1971, p. 39)
Meister Eckhart: “Sermon Fifty-Six”
When I subsisted in the ground, in the bottom, in the river and fount of Godhead, no one asked me where I was going or what I was doing: there was no one to ask me. When I flowed forth, all creatures said ‘God’. If anyone asked me,’ Brother Eckhart, when did you leave your home?’, then I was in there. That is [why] all creatures speak of God. And why do they not speak of the Godhead? Everything that is in the Godhead is one, and of that there is nothing to be said. God works, the Godhead does no work: there is nothing to for it to do; there is no activity in it. It never glimpsed any work. God and Godhead are distinguished by working and not-working. When I return to God, if I do not remain there, my breakthrough will be far nobler than my emanation. I alone bring all creatures out of their reason into my reason, so that they are one with me. When I enter the ground, the bottom, the river and fount of the Godhead, no one will ask me whence I came or where I have been. No one missed me, for there God is undone. (Walshe, p. 81)
The Treatise on Resurrection (The Nag Hammadi Scriptures)
What am I telling you?
All at once the living die.
How do they live in illusion?
The rich become poor,
kings are overthrown,
everything changes.
The world is illusion.
Let me not speak so negatively.
The resurrection is different.
It is real,
it stands firm.
It is revelation of what is,
a transformation of things,
a transition into newness.
Incorruptibility flows over corroption,
light flows over darkness, swallowing it,
Fullness fills in what is lacking.
These are symbols and images of resurrection.
This brings goodness.
Tai-Hui:
The time will come when your mind will suddenly come to a stop like an old rat who finds itself cornered. Then there will be a plunging into the unknown with the cry, “Ah, this!” When this cry is uttered you have discovered yourself. You find at the same time that all the teachings of the ancient worthies expounded in the Buddhist Tripitaka, the Taoist scriptures and the Confucian classics are no more than commentaries upon your own sudden cry, “Ah, this!” (Suzuki, 1953, p. 102)
Words go no further . . .
Conze, Edward (2002). Perfect Wisdom: The Short Prajnaparamita Texts. Leicester, UK: Buddhist Publishing Group (“Perfect Insight” scripture, The Questions of Suvikrantavikramin).
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self-Reliance. (https://emersoncentral.com/texts/)
Meyer, Marvin (2007). The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The International Edition. New York: Harper Collins.
Suzuki, D. T. (1935). Manual of Zen Buddhism.
Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro (1953). Essays in Zen Buddhism (Second Series). London: Rider and Company.
Suzuki, D. T. (1971). Essays in Zen Buddhism (Third Series). New York: Samuel Weiser.
M. O’C. Walshe (1987). Meister Eckhart: Sermons and Treatises Volume II. UK: Element Books Limited.