Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Buddhist
Reflecting on Nonduality and Zen and the Shape of a Spiritual Life Today

Reflecting on Nonduality and Zen and the Shape of a Spiritual Life Today

Last updated on: March 1, 2023 at 8:37 am by James Ford

0 Comments

Reflecting on Nonduality and Zen and the Shape of a Spiritual Life Today 2023-03-01T08:37:36-08:00 James Ford

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Nonduality by David Loy

Reflecting on Nonduality and Zen and the Shape of a Spiritual Life Today

James Ishmael Ford

A couple of years ago David Loy’s monumental study Nonduality was released in a second edition. That book was very important to me in the first edition, and new edition invited me to a second look.

As I noted that was a couple of years ago. I reflected on it then. And, by accident yesterday I stumbled on those comments and thought with a bit of polishing it might be worth reposting.

And. Well. Here you go…

Like most people who wander into a spiritual path, it is something mysterious, a falling together of causes and conditions. We experience it as some sort of accident. And from a human perspective, often it is. Considering how so much is the luck of the draw, I feel so fortunate to have found Zen.

For me it was as a practice. I learned to meditate. I entered a monastery. I practiced. Like my hair was on fire.

It wasn’t until I’d been practicing for some years that I realized the intellectual component really is important, as well. In proper balance practice and study complement each other, correct each other, and, if we’re just a little lucky invite us ever deeper.

With that I consider David Loy one of my principal teachers. He is a trustworthy guide for all of us seeking a heartful wisdom in this world of hurt and longing. And his book Nonduality is one of the reasons why.

The heart of the authentic path as I understand it turns on that word “nondual.” Of course, like most important words nonduality has a multitude of definitions. I find “Nondual” points to a place where our ordinary experience of a divided world is challenged by an assertion of some grand reconciliation. All nondual teachings are based in an experience, where actually even a word like “experience” is challenged. It is something like a black hole, where we just can’t see it straight on. But, there’s so much around it that we can discern what we need to.

I’ve found David Loy uniquely placed to do explore what that word nonduality means for spiritual seekers. On the one hand he is an academic. Actually the origins of the book trace back to his doctoral dissertation. And if I have any criticism of the book is that the traces of that original thesis survive in less lyrical language than we find in his more recent writings. But, he is also a Zen teacher, a dharma successor to the renowned Japanese lay master of the koan way Koun Yamada. So, he brings a near unique set of skills and experiences to the conversation.

As sort of a bottom line I believe anyone who wishes to understand what Zen is about should read this book. I believe anyone who wishes to understand the thread that runs through all mystical traditions should read this book.

Loy sets the stage by citing Plotinus’s Sixth Ennead, “There were not two; beholder was one with beheld; it was not a vision compassed but a unity apprehended.” His assertion is that this nonduality is a thread running through religion and philosophy seeing in the West, seen in the writings of Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Meister Eckhart, Jakob Boehme, William Blake, Baruch Spinoza, Georg Hegel, Fredrich Nietzsche, and Alfred Whitehead. To simply begin a list.

But it is in the East that the promise of nondual wisdom is most deeply plumbed, especially within Vedantic Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism. And this study is rooted in comparing nondual wisdom within those traditions, and while he doesn’t explicitly say so, comparing it to his own experiences on the Zen path. While most studies of the various traditions emphasize their numerous differences, Loy, while sympathetic to the necessity of seeing those differences, in this study was more interested in their similarities.

One thing I particularly appreciate about this book is that while it is “theoretical,” it never forgets the primacy of the nondual encounter itself. And as Loy explores the words we have to approach it, he is always inviting us into our own intimate encounter.

Loy points out how while the experience of nonduality cannot be expressed accurately from the dualistic perspective, the dualistic experience can be expressed from the nondual perspective. Here his long walk into the mysteries of the Zen way prove particularly useful.

In this study he sought the commonalities, a “core doctrine” that informs all these different traditions that advocate a nondual reality. And he found something. Riffing off the Buddhist Philosopher Asanga, Loy suggests the nondual is predicated upon three things. “First, there is the direct intuition of reality (nonduality) by those who have awakened to it; second, the report that Buddhas (or other enlightened people) give of their experience in speech or writing; and third, the experience (of nonduality) that occurs in deep meditative samadhi, when ‘the concentrated see things as they really are.’”

Loy’s book has two broad sections. The first explores Buddhism, Vedanta, and Daoism, and attempts to extract that “core doctrine.” As I said, I believe he succeeds. Or, succeeds as well as anyone can with this elusive thing that is our beginning and end, that is neither exactly a thing, nor precisely not. Loy speaks of the sense of nonduality that emerges from this examination a “nonduality of duality and nonduality.” Which I find the universal solvent.

At the heart of all this is his “core doctrine.” Loy identifies three characteristics shared by Vedanta, Buddhism, and Daoism in their approach to nonduality.”(T)hinking that does not employ dualistic concepts, the nonplurality of phenomena ‘in’ the world, and the nondifference of subject and object.” These observations include a call to free ourselves from the constraints of dualistic thinking, and, critically, the promise that we can.

He does not explore the possible mechanisms that allow this. Which is fine, that’s someone else’s project. But he does explore what it looks like as it emerges within the mystical traditions of the East, coupled with enough references to Western insights to be useful for those who would apply it to the Abrahamic religions.

Loy’s core doctrine challenges any sense that there is an escape from the world to some realm somewhere else. With that it rejects assertions we need to turn from the world in our spiritual quest. And third it doesn’t reject dualistic thinking, such as reasoning, but rather transforms it. These three things, while they close some possible doors, it opens ones that I think are the most fruitful.

Actually, my breath was taken away as I read his description. He spoke what my heart has seen as a this-worldly spirituality, one that does not deny the evidences of our senses, but corrects the errors of our causal cognitive dualism. For me his pointing is near the heart of the Zen experience, the fruit of that path of first encountering the nondual in its most gross sense as the obliteration of our sense of separation. But, and this is critical, not resting there.

From that encounter the journey gets dangerous. Because the closer our words approach accurately describing the fundamental matter, the easier it becomes for us to think they are the last word. And with that what was so alive quickly become dead words. But, if we take them as dynamic and pointing, a very good inference of the black hole that swallows all words, then things happen. And, Loy never lets it rest. He is nimble, and creative, and curious.

So, in the second part. Here he takes that “core doctrine” he has discerned, and reexamines the source traditions and their differences. This is in some ways where the rubber hits the road. By attempting to examine the major nondual traditions through this “higher’ perspective he provides a critique of each of these traditions that no doubt invite pushback from partisans of individual schools. And, I think those who stand more exclusively within those traditions in those very pushbacks also help any of us who see this as more than an intellectual exercise, but rather the very substance of our hearts, push us ever deeper.

I’ve long been interested in whether there is a “naturalistic perennialism” that is some current at the heart of the religious impulse that is common to our humanity. If there is such a thing, I believe it is going to be found within the mystical traditions of the world’s faiths. And, in Nonduality, I believe David Loy successfully sorts wheat and chaff and describes the truth at the heart of the different traditions.

What is particularly interesting for me in his book is how it provides a theoretical structure for a contemporary, perhaps even a modernist Zen Buddhism. In his quest for the universal underpinning of the core teaching of the mystical traditions, Loy ends up offering what I find to be a foundational document for our new world Zen. That is a Zen respectful of the received tradition, but also a Zen critically examined in the light of the many ways that nondual insight is encountered.

Actually, I think people who stand in other traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam can equally profit from David Loy’s Nonduality, offering pointers on how to critically engage their own mystical traditions through the lends of his core doctrine.

He explores what that might look like at greater depth in later books, particularly A New Buddhist Path. But the questions to address are pretty much all laid out here. Whatever its value for other traditions, David Loy’s Nonduality is a foundational study for Zen in the West. It helps us to understand what lays behind our practices of Zen meditation, both shikantaza, the way of practice/enlightenment, and koan introspection, the use of stories to open our hearts into the intimacy of our lives. If we want to see what we are about there isn’t much better way of doing it than here.

Previous Post

February 27, 2023

A Zen Meditation on Christian Communion

Next Post

March 2, 2023 The Prophet Mani and Christianity's Problem with Dualism

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Allowing anger to contaminate one's hard disk can be detrimental to one's holistic well being. ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

Hot Anger: Meeting Anger in Zen ..."

"I love this koan. every which way you turn it bites you, Thirty years on ..."

Mark Strathern

Nanquan Cuts the Cat: A Jesuit ..."

"As a substitute for religion, Zen is probably better than taking drugs. However, it can ..."

Theodore Brandley

The Selling of Zen at the ..."

"Craving and aversion are detrimental to one's peace and happiness. Easter is a wake up ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

Easter: A Zen Buddhist Appreciation

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Christmas Carol Abolitionist African-American Ahmadiyya Alan Watts Aldous Huxley Allen Ginsberg Amedkar Jayanti American politics American Zen Anaheim Zen Sangha Anglican Annie Besant April Fool Armageddon Art and Religion artificial intellegence Atheist Awakening B R Ambedkar Barlaam & Josaphat Beatnik Between Bhagavad Gita Bible biography birthday bodhisattva Bodhisattva Precepts Book burning Book of Common Prayer Book of Mormon Brahmo Samaj Buddha Buddhism Buddhist Buddhist Lord's Prayer Butterflies Calendars cartoons cat ChatGPT Chicken Tortilla Soup choices Christian atheism Christian mysticism Christian origins Christian Science Christian Zen Christianity Christianity and Buddhism christmas Christmas Truce Christopher Isherwood Church of Later Day Saints Cinco de Mayo circus covenant critical thinking culture D. T. Suzuki Dalit Buddhism Daniel Defoe Desert Fathers and Mothers dharma talk Dogen Donald Trump Dongshan's Five Ranks Dorothy Day dream Duty Easter ecology Edwin Arnold emptiness Empty Moon Zen Network Episcopal Church Eternal Now Ethics evolution existentialism Faith fantasy Fathers Day film film review fire Five Ranks Folk music food Form and emptiness Four Seals Francis of Assisi Francis Xavier Free thinker friendship George MacDonald Gerald Heard Glenn Taylor Webb God Good Friday Gospel of Gospel of Mark Gospel of Thomas grace Graduate Theological Unioin Graduate Theological Union Guanyin H R Blyth Hakuin Ekaku Hanamatsuri Hanukkah Harada Yasutani Zen Heart Sutra Henry David Thoreau Hermann Hesse Hinduism History and Religion history of religion Holy Spirit home Hospitality Icon Ides of March Isaac Newton Islam Islamic mysticism Jack Kerouac James Luther Adams Jiddu Krishnamurti Joan of Arc Johannes Gutenberg John Donne joke Judaism justice karma kensho King James Bible koan Koun Yamada Kyoto School Lewis Carrol Liberal Christianity Liberal Religion Life Plan Community Liminal literature Literature and Religion Liturgy Lord's Prayer Love Mahatma Gandhi Mahayana Martin Luther King Jr Mary Baker Eddy Mary Magdelene Mary Oliver Mayflower Compact Meditation memories memory metaphor money money and religioin Mormons Mother's Day movie review mysticism mythic Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church New Thought Nichiren Buddhism Nonduality not knowing Omar Khayyam Pacific School of Religion pagan Palm Sunday Passover peace Pentecost perennialism Phantastes Philip Kapleau philosophy Pilgrimage poetry Poetry and Religion politics Prayer Precepts Printing Press prophecy prophetic spirituality psychology Pure Land Queer religion queering religion Quietism Ram Mohan Roy rebirth recipe Relationships and religion religion religion and history Religious syncretism Resistance Retirement Retreat review Rissho Kosei Kai Ritual Robert Aitken Roshi Robert Ingersoll Rohatsu Romani religion Rosie the Riveter saints samadhi SanboZen Sangha Satyagraha science science and reigion science and religion science fiction seminary sermon Sesshin Sex and Religion Shinran Sikh Sikh tradition silence Social Justice Socially Engaged Buddhism Society and religion Soto Zen soul spiritual community spiritual practice Spirituality Sufism Suicide superstition Taoism Television Teresa of Avila Thanksgiving theological schools Theosophy Thomas Merton Time Transcendentalism Transcendentalist Trinitarian Trinity Uncategorized unitarian Unitarian Christianity Unitarian Universalist Universalism Vajrayana Vedanta Walking war Willa Cather William Ellery Channing wisdom women and religion women in religion World Teacher Writing zazen Zen Zen Center Zen inspired retriement zen meditation Zen Precepts Zen women

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to Romans, how does faith come?

Select your answer to see how you score.

From the Holy Spirit By reading Scripture By hearing the word Through prayer