title: Nondualism

text: In a more general sense, nonduality refers to "the interconnectedness of everything which is dependent upon the nondual One, Transcendent Reality," "the singular wholeness of existence that suggests that the personal self is an illusion." In western Buddhism, "interconnectedness" is a reinterpretation of interdependence ("pratītyasamutpāda"), the notion that all existents come into being in dependence on other existents. The Huayan school (Flower Garland) developed the doctrine of the mutual containment and interpenetration of all phenomena ("dharmas") or "perfect interfusion."


title: Nondualism

text: Different theories and concepts which can be linked to nonduality and nondual awareness are taught in a wide variety of religious traditions, including some western religions and philosophies. While their metaphysical systems differ, they may refer to a similar experience. These include:


title: Nondualism

text: Samkhya is a dualistic "āstika" school of Indian philosophy, regarding human experience as being constituted by two independent realities, "puruṣa" ('consciousness'); and "prakṛti", cognition, mind and emotions. Samkhya is strongly related to the Yoga school of Hinduism, for which it forms the theoretical foundation, and it was influential on other schools of Indian philosophy.


title: Nondualism

text: "Purusha", ("" or ) is a complex concept whose meaning evolved in Vedic and Upanishadic times. Depending on source and historical timeline, it means the cosmic being or self, consciousness, and universal principle. In early Vedas, "Purusha" was a cosmic being whose sacrifice by the gods created all life. This was one of many creation myths discussed in the Vedas. In the Upanishads, the "Purusha" concept refers to abstract essence of the Self, Spirit and the Universal Principle that is eternal, indestructible, without form and is all pervasive. In the Sankhya philosophy, purusha is the plural immobile male (spiritual) cosmic principle, pure consciousness. It is absolute, independent, free, imperceptible, unknowable through other agencies, above any experience by mind or senses and beyond any words or explanations. It remains pure, "nonattributive consciousness". Puruṣa is neither produced nor does it produce. No appellations can qualify purusha, nor can it substantialized or objectified. It "cannot be reduced, can't be 'settled'." Any designation of purusha comes from prakriti, and is a limitation.


title: Nondualism

text: Unmanifest prakriti is infinite, inactive, and unconscious, and consists of an equilibrium of the three "guṇas" ('qualities, innate tendencies'), namely "sattva" , "rajas", and "tamas". When prakṛti comes into contact with Purusha this equilibrium is disturbed, and Prakriti becomes manifest, evolving twenty-three "tattvas", namely intellect (buddhi, mahat), ego (ahamkara) mind (manas); the five sensory capacities; the five action capacities; and the five "subtle elements" or "modes of sensory content" ("tanmatras"), from which the five "gross elements" or "forms of perceptual objects" emerge, giving rise to the manifestation of sensory experience and cognition.


title: Nondualism

text: "Jiva" ('a living being') is that state in which "purusha" is bonded to "prakriti". Human experience is an interplay of "purusha-prakriti", purusha being conscious of the various combinations of cognitive activities. The end of the bondage of Purusha to prakriti is called liberation or "kaivalya" by the Samkhya school, and can be attained by insight and self-restraint.


title: Nondualism

text: While samkhya-like speculations can be found in the Rig Veda and some of the older Upanishads, Samkhya may have non-Vedic origins, and developed in ascetic milieus. Proto-samkhya ideas developed from the 8th/7th c. BCE onwards, as evidenced in the middle Upanishads, the Buddhacarita, the Bhagavad Gita, and the "Moksadharma"-section of the Mahabharata. It was related to the early ascetic traditions and meditation, spiritual practices, and religious cosmology, and methods of reasoning that result in liberating knowledge ("vidya", "jnana", "viveka") that end the cycle of "dukkha" and rebirth. allowing for "a great variety of philosophical formulations." Pre-"karika" systematic Samkhya existed around the beginning of the first millennium CE. The defining method of Samkhya was established with the Samkhyakarika (4th c. CE).


title: Nondualism

text: The Upanishads contain proto-Shamkhya speculations. Yajnavalkya's exposition on the Self in the "Brihadaranyaka Upanishad", and the dialogue between Uddalaka Aruni and his son Svetaketu in the "Chandogya Upanishad" represent a more developed notion of the essence of man ("Atman") as "pure subjectivity - i.e., the knower who is himself unknowable, the seer who cannot be seen," and as "pure conscious," discovered by means of speculations, or enumerations. Acdording lo Larson, "it seesm quite likely that both the monistic trends in Indian thought and the duslistic samkhya could have developed out of these ancient speculations." According to Larson, the enumeration of tattvas in Samkhya is also found in Taittiriya Upanishad, Aitareya Upanishad and Yajnavalkya–Maitri dialogue in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.


title: Nondualism

text: The Katha Upanishad in verses 3.10–13 and 6.7–11 describes a concept of puruṣa, and other concepts also found in later Samkhya. The Katha Upanishad, dated to be from about the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, in verses 2.6.6 through 2.6.13 recommends a path to Self-knowledge akin to Samkhya, and calls this path "Yoga".


title: Nondualism

text: There are different Buddhist views which resonate with the concepts and experiences of primordial awareness and non-duality or "not two" ("advaya"). The Buddha does not use the term "advaya" in the earliest Buddhist texts, but it does appear in some of the Mahayana sutras, such as the "Vimalakīrti". The Buddha taught meditative inquiry ("dhyana") and nondiscursive attention ("samadhi"), equivalents of which can be found in Upanishadic thought, he rejected the metaphysical doctrines of the Upanishads, particularly ideas which are often associated with Hindu nonduality, such as the doctrine that "this cosmos is the self" and "everything is a Oneness" (cf. SN 12.48 and MN 22). Because of this, Buddhist views of nonduality are particularly different from Hindu conceptions, which tend towards idealistic monism.


title: Nondualism

text: In archaic Buddhism, "Nirvana" may have been a kind of transformed and transcendent consciousness or discernment ("viññana") that has "stopped" ("nirodhena"). According to Harvey this nirvanic consciousness is said to be "objectless", "infinite" ("anantam"), "unsupported" ("appatiṭṭhita") and "non-manifestive" ("anidassana") as well as "beyond time and spatial location".


title: Nondualism

text: Stanislaw Schayer, a Polish scholar, argued in the 1930s that the Nikayas preserve elements of an archaic form of Buddhism which is close to Brahmanical beliefs, and survived in the Mahayana tradition. Schayer's view, possibly referring to texts where "'consciousness' ("vinnana") seems to be the ultimate reality or substratum" as well as to luminous mind, saw nirvana as an immortal, deathless sphere, a transmundane reality or state. A similar view is also defended by C. Lindtner, who argues that in precanonical Buddhism nirvana is an actual existent. The original and early Buddhist concepts of nirvana may have been similar to those found in competing Śramaṇa (strivers/ascetics) traditions such as Jainism and Upanishadic Vedism. Similar ideas were proposed by Edward Conze and M. Falk, citing sources which speak of an eternal and "invisible infinite consciousness, which shines everywhere" as point to the view that nirvana is a kind of Absolute, and arguing that the nirvanic element, as an "essence" or pure consciousness, is immanent within samsara, an "abode" or "place" of prajña, which is gained by the enlightened.


title: Nondualism

text: In the Theravada tradition, "nibbāna" is regarded as an uncompounded or unconditioned ("asankhata") dhamma (phenomenon, event) which is "transmundane", and which is beyond our normal dualistic conceptions. In Theravada Abhidhamma texts like the "Vibhanga," "nibbana" or the "asankhata-dhatu" (unconditioned element) is defined thus:


title: Nondualism

text: Another influential concept in Indian Buddhism is the idea of luminous mind which became associated with Buddha-nature. In the Early Buddhist Texts there are various mentions of luminosity or radiance which refer to the development of the mind in meditation. In the "Saṅgīti-sutta" for example, it relates to the attainment of samadhi, where the perception of light ("āloka sañña") leads to a mind endowed with luminescence ("sappabhāsa"). According to Analayo, the "Upakkilesa-sutta" and its parallels mention that the presence of defilements "results in a loss of whatever inner light or luminescence (obhāsa) had been experienced during meditation". The Pali "Dhātuvibhaṅga-sutta" uses the metaphor of refining gold to describe equanimity reached through meditation, which is said to be "pure, bright, soft, workable, and luminous". The Pali Anguttara Nikaya (A.I.8-10) states:


title: Nondualism

text: The term is given no direct doctrinal explanation in the Pali discourses, but later Buddhist schools explained it using various concepts developed by them. The Theravada school identifies the "luminous mind" with the "bhavanga", a concept first proposed in the Theravāda Abhidhamma. The later schools of the Mahayana identify it with both the Mahayana concepts of "bodhicitta" and "tathagatagarbha". The notion is of central importance in the philosophy and practice of Dzogchen.


title: Nondualism

text: Buddha nature or "tathagata-garbha" (literally "Buddha womb") is that which allows sentient beings to become Buddhas. Various Mahayana texts such as the "Tathāgatagarbha sūtras" focus on this idea and over time it became a very influential doctrine in Indian Buddhism, as well in East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism. The Buddha nature teachings may be regarded as a form of nondualism. According to Sally B King, all beings are said to be or possess "tathagata-garbha", which is nondual Thusness or Dharmakaya. This reality, states King, transcends the "duality of self and not-self", the "duality of form and emptiness" and the "two poles of being and non being".


title: Nondualism

text: There various interpretations and views on Buddha-nature and the concept became very influential in India, China and Tibet, where it also became a source of much debate. In later Indian Yogācāra, a new sub-school developed which adopted the doctrine of "tathagata-garbha" into the Yogācāra system. The influence of this hybrid school can be seen in texts like the "Lankavatara Sutra" and the "Ratnagotravibhaga". This synthesis of Yogācāra tathagata-garbha became very influential in later Buddhist traditions, such as Indian Vajrayana, Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism.


title: Nondualism

text: According to Kameshwar Nath Mishra, one connotation of "advaya" in Indic Sanskrit Buddhist texts is that it refers to the middle way between two opposite extremes (such as eternalism and annihilationism), and thus it is "not two".


title: Nondualism

text: One of these Sanskrit Mahayana sutras, the "Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra" contains a chapter on the "Dharma gate of non-duality" ("advaya dharma dvara pravesa") which is said to be entered once one understands how numerous pairs of opposite extremes are to be rejected as forms of grasping. These extremes which must be avoided in order to understand ultimate reality are described by various characters in the text, and include: Birth and extinction, 'I' and 'Mine', Perception and non-perception, defilement and purity, good and not-good, created and uncreated, worldly and unworldly, samsara and nirvana, enlightenment and ignorance, form and emptiness and so on. The final character to attempt to describe ultimate reality is the bodhisattva Manjushri, who states:It is in all beings wordless, speechless, shows no signs, is not possible of cognizance, and is above all questioning and answering. Vimalakīrti responds to this statement by maintaining completely silent, therefore expressing that the nature of ultimate reality is ineffable ("anabhilāpyatva") and inconceivable ("acintyatā"), beyond verbal designation ("prapañca") or thought constructs ("vikalpa"). The "Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra", a text associated with Yogācāra Buddhism, also uses the term ""advaya"" extensively.


title: Nondualism

text: In the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy of Madhyamaka, the two truths or ways of understanding reality, are said to be "advaya" (not two). As explained by the Indian philosopher Nagarjuna, there is a non-dual relationship, that is, there is no absolute separation, between conventional and ultimate truth, as well as between samsara and nirvana.


title: Nondualism

text: The concept of nonduality is also important in the other major Indian Mahayana tradition, the Yogacara school, where it is seen as the absence of duality between the perceiving subject (or "grasper") and the object (or "grasped"). It is also seen as an explanation of emptiness and as an explanation of the content of the awakened mind which sees through the illusion of subject-object duality. However, it is important to note that in this conception of non-dualism, there are still a multiplicity of individual mind streams ("citta santana") and thus Yogacara does not teach an idealistic monism.


title: Nondualism

text: These basic ideas have continued to influence Mahayana Buddhist doctrinal interpretations of Buddhist traditions such as Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Zen, Huayan and Tiantai as well as concepts such as Buddha-nature, luminous mind, Indra's net, rigpa and shentong.


title: Nondualism

text: Madhyamaka, also known as "Śūnyavāda" (the emptiness teaching), refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of philosophy founded by Nāgārjuna. In Madhyamaka, "Advaya" refers to the fact that the two truths are not separate or different., as well as the non-dual relationship of s"aṃsāra" (the round of rebirth and suffering) and "nirvāṇa" (cessation of suffering, liberation). According to Murti, in Madhyamaka, "Advaya" is an epistemological theory, unlike the metaphysical view of Hindu Advaita. Madhyamaka advaya is closely related to the classical Buddhist understanding that all things are impermanent ("anicca") and devoid of "self" ("anatta") or "essenceless" ("niḥsvabhāvavā"), and that this emptiness does not constitute an "absolute" reality in itself..


title: Nondualism

text: In Madhyamaka, the two "truths" ("satya") refer to conventional ("saṃvṛti") and ultimate ("paramārtha") truth. The ultimate truth is "emptiness", or non-existence of inherently existing "things", and the "emptiness of emptiness": emptiness does not in itself constitute an absolute reality. Conventionally, "things" exist, but ultimately, they are "empty" of any existence on their own, as described in Nagarjuna's magnum opus, the "Mūlamadhyamakakārikā" (MMK):


title: Nondualism

text: As Jay Garfield notes, for Nagarjuna, to understand the two truths as totally different from each other is to reify and confuse the purpose of this doctrine, since it would either destroy conventional realities such as the Buddha's teachings and the empirical reality of the world (making Madhyamaka a form of nihilism) or deny the dependent origination of phenomena (by positing eternal essences). Thus the non-dual doctrine of the middle way lies beyond these two extremes.


title: Nondualism

text: "Emptiness" is a consequence of "pratītyasamutpāda" (dependent arising), the teaching that no "dharma" ("thing", "phenomena") has an existence of its own, but always comes into existence in dependence on other "dharmas". According to Madhyamaka all phenomena are empty of "substance" or "essence" () because they are dependently co-arisen. Likewise it is because they are dependently co-arisen that they have no intrinsic, independent reality of their own. Madhyamaka also rejects the existence of absolute realities or beings such as Brahman or Self. In the highest sense, "ultimate reality" is not an ontological Absolute reality that lies beneath an unreal world, nor is it the non-duality of a personal self ("atman") and an absolute Self (cf. Purusha). Instead, it is the knowledge which is based on a deconstruction of such reifications and Conceptual proliferations. It also means that there is no "transcendental ground," and that "ultimate reality" has no existence of its own, but is the negation of such a transcendental reality, and the impossibility of any statement on such an ultimately existing transcendental reality: it is no more than a fabrication of the mind. Susan Kahn further explains:


title: Nondualism

text: However, according to Nagarjuna, even the very schema of ultimate and conventional, samsara and nirvana, is not a final reality, and he thus famously deconstructs even these teachings as being empty and not different from each other in the MMK where he writes:


title: Nondualism

text: According to Nancy McCagney, what this refers to is that the two truths depend on each other; without emptiness, conventional reality cannot work, and vice versa. It does not mean that samsara and nirvana are the same, or that they are one single thing, as in Advaita Vedanta, but rather that they are both empty, open, without limits, and merely exist for the conventional purpose of teaching the Buddha Dharma. Referring to this verse, Jay Garfield writes that:to distinguish between samsara and nirvana would be to suppose that each had a nature and that they were different natures. But each is empty, and so there can be no inherent difference. Moreover, since nirvana is by definition the cessation of delusion and of grasping and, hence, of the reification of self and other and of confusing imputed phenomena for inherently real phenomena, it is by definition the recognition of the ultimate nature of things. But if, as Nagarjuna argued in Chapter XXIV, this is simply to see conventional things as empty, not to see some separate emptiness behind them, then nirvana must be ontologically grounded in the conventional. To be in samsara is to see things as they appear to deluded consciousness and to interact with them accordingly. To be in nirvana, then, is to see those things as they are – as merely empty, dependent, impermanent, and nonsubstantial, not to be somewhere else, seeing something else.


title: Nondualism

text: It is important to note however that the actual Sanskrit term "advaya" does not appear in the MMK, and only appears in one single work by Nagarjuna, the "Bodhicittavivarana".


title: Nondualism

text: The later Madhyamikas, states Yuichi Kajiyama, developed the "Advaya" definition as a means to "Nirvikalpa-Samadhi" by suggesting that "things arise neither from their own selves nor from other things, and that when subject and object are unreal, the mind, being not different, cannot be true either; thereby one must abandon attachment to cognition of nonduality as well, and understand the lack of intrinsic nature of everything". Thus, the Buddhist nondualism or Advaya concept became a means to realizing absolute emptiness.


title: Nondualism

text: In the Mahayana tradition of Yogācāra (Skt; "yoga practice"), "adyava" (Tibetan: "gnyis med") refers to overcoming the conceptual and perceptual dichotomies of cognizer and cognized, or subject and object. The concept of "adyava" in Yogācāra is an epistemological stance on the nature of experience and knowledge, as well as a phenomenological exposition of yogic cognitive transformation. Early Buddhism schools such as Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika, that thrived through the early centuries of the common era, postulated a dualism ("dvaya)" between the mental activity of grasping ("grāhaka", "cognition", "subjectivity") and that which is grasped ("grāhya", "cognitum", intentional object). Yogacara postulates that this dualistic relationship is a false illusion or superimposition ("samaropa").


title: Nondualism

text: Yogācāra also taught the doctrine which held that only mental cognitions really exist ("vijñapti-mātra"), instead of the mind-body dualism of other Indian Buddhist schools. This is another sense in which reality can be said to be non-dual, because it is "consciousness-only". There are several interpretations of this main theory, which has been widely translated as "representation-only, ideation-only, impressions-only" and "perception-only." Some scholars see it as a kind of subjective or epistemic Idealism (similar to Kant's theory) while others argue that it is closer to a kind of phenomenology or representationalism. According to Mark Siderits the main idea of this doctrine is that we are only ever aware of mental images or impressions which manifest themselves as external objects, but "there is actually no such thing outside the mind." For Alex Wayman, this doctrine means that "the mind has only a report or representation of what the sense organ had sensed." Jay Garfield and Paul Williams both see the doctrine as a kind of Idealism in which only mentality exists.


title: Nondualism

text: However, it is important to note that even the idealistic interpretation of Yogācāra is not an absolute monistic idealism like Advaita Vedanta or Hegelianism, since in Yogācāra, even consciousness "enjoys no transcendent status" and is just a conventional reality. Indeed, according to Jonathan Gold, for Yogācāra, the ultimate truth is not consciousness, but an ineffable and inconceivable "thusness" or "thatness" ("tathatā"). Also, Yogācāra affirms the existence of individual mindstreams, and thus Kochumuttom also calls it a "realistic pluralism".


title: Nondualism

text: The Yogācārins defined three basic modes by which we perceive our world. These are referred to in Yogācāra as the three natures ("trisvabhāva") of experience. They are:


title: Nondualism

text: To move from the duality of the "Parikalpita" to the non-dual consciousness of the "Pariniṣpanna," Yogācāra teaches that there must be a transformation of consciousness, which is called the "revolution of the basis" ("āśraya-parāvṛtti)." According to Dan Lusthaus, this transformation which characterizes awakening is a "radical psycho-cognitive change" and a removal of false "interpretive projections" on reality (such as ideas of a self, external objects, etc.).


title: Nondualism

text: The "Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra," a Yogācāra text, also associates this transformation with the concept of non-abiding nirvana and the non-duality of samsara and nirvana. Regarding this state of Buddhahood, it states: Its operation is nondual ("advaya vrtti") because of its abiding neither in samsara nor in nirvana ("samsaranirvana-apratisthitatvat"), through its being both conditioned and unconditioned ("samskrta-asamskrtatvena").This refers to the Yogācāra teaching that even though a Buddha has entered nirvana, they do no "abide" in some quiescent state separate from the world but continue to give rise to extensive activity on behalf of others. This is also called the non-duality between the compounded ("samskrta", referring to samsaric existence) and the uncompounded ("asamskrta", referring to nirvana). It is also described as a "not turning back" from both samsara and nirvana.


title: Nondualism

text: For the later thinker Dignaga, non-dual knowledge or "advayajñāna" is also a synonym for "prajñaparamita" (transcendent wisdom) which liberates one from samsara.


title: Nondualism

text: Buddhist Tantra, also known as Vajrayana, Mantrayana or Esoteric Buddhism, drew upon all these previous Indian Buddhist ideas and nondual philosophies to develop innovative new traditions of Buddhist practice and new religious texts called the Buddhist tantras (from the 6th century onwards). Tantric Buddhism was influential in China and is the main form of Buddhism in the Himalayan regions, especially Tibetan Buddhism.


title: Nondualism

text: The concept of "advaya" has various meanings in Buddhist Tantra. According to Tantric commentator Lilavajra, Buddhist Tantra's "utmost secret and aim" is Buddha nature. This is seen as a "non-dual, self-originated Wisdom (jnana), an effortless fount of good qualities." In Buddhist Tantra, there is no strict separation between the sacred (nirvana) and the profane (samsara), and all beings are seen as containing an immanent seed of awakening or Buddhahood. The Buddhist Tantras also teach that there is a non-dual relationship between emptiness and compassion ("karuna"), this unity is called bodhicitta. They also teach a "nondual pristine wisdom of bliss and emptiness." Advaya is also said to be the co-existence of Prajña (wisdom) and Upaya (skill in means). These nondualities are also related to the idea of "yuganaddha", or "union" in the Tantras. This is said to be the "indivisible merging of innate great bliss (the means) and clear light (emptiness)" as well as the merging of relative and ultimate truths and the knower and the known, during Tantric practice.


title: Nondualism

text: Buddhist Tantras also promote certain practices which are antinomian, such as sexual rites or the consumption of disgusting or repulsive substances (the "five ambrosias", feces, urine, blood, semen, and marrow.). These are said to allow one to cultivate nondual perception of the pure and impure (and similar conceptual dualities) and thus it allows one to prove one's attainment of nondual gnosis ("advaya jñana").


title: Nondualism

text: Indian Buddhist Tantra also views humans as a microcosmos which mirrors the macrocosmos. Its aim is to gain access to the awakened energy or consciousness of Buddhahood, which is nondual, through various practices.


title: Nondualism

text: Chinese Buddhism was influenced by the philosophical strains of Indian Buddhist nondualism such as the Madhymaka doctrines of emptiness and the two truths as well as Yogacara and "tathagata-garbha". For example, Chinese Madhyamaka philosophers like Jizang, discussed the nonduality of the two truths. Chinese Yogacara also upheld the Indian Yogacara views on nondualism. One influential text in Chinese Buddhism which synthesizes "Tathagata-garbha" and Yogacara views is the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, which may be a Chinese composition.


title: Nondualism

text: In Chinese Buddhism, the polarity of absolute and relative realities is also expressed as "essence-function". This was a result of an ontological interpretation of the two truths as well as influences from native Taoist and Confucian metaphysics. In this theory, the absolute is essence, the relative is function. They can't be seen as separate realities, but interpenetrate each other. This interpretation of the two truths as two ontological realities would go on to influence later forms of East Asian metaphysics.


title: Nondualism

text: As Chinese Buddhism continued to develop in new innovative directions, it gave rise to new traditions like Huayen, Tiantai and Chan (Zen), which also upheld their own unique teachings on non-duality.


title: Nondualism

text: The Tiantai school for example, taught a threefold truth, instead of the classic "two truths" of Indian Madhyamaka. Its "third truth" was seen as the nondual union of the two truths which transcends both. Tiantai metaphysics is an immanent holism, which sees every phenomenon, moment or event as conditioned and manifested by the whole of reality. Every instant of experience is a reflection of every other, and hence, suffering and nirvana, good and bad, Buddhahood and evildoing, are all "inherently entailed" within each other. Each moment of consciousness is simply the Absolute itself, infinitely immanent and self reflecting.


title: Nondualism

text: Another influential Chinese tradition, the Huayan school (Flower Garland) flourished in China during the Tang period. It is based on the Flower Garland Sutra (S. "Avataṃsaka Sūtra", C. "Huayan Jing"). Huayan doctrines such as the Fourfold Dharmadhatu and the doctrine of the mutual containment and interpenetration of all phenomena ("dharmas") or "perfect interfusion" ("yuanrong", 圓融) are classic nondual doctrines. This can be described as the idea that all phenomena "are representations of the wisdom of Buddha without exception" and that "they exist in a state of mutual dependence, interfusion and balance without any contradiction or conflict." According to this theory, any phenomenon exists only as part of the total nexus of reality, its existence depends on the total network of all other things, which are all equally connected to each other and contained in each other. The Huayan patriarchs used various metaphors to express this view, such as Indra's net.


title: Nondualism

text: The Buddha-nature and Yogacara philosophies have had a strong influence on Chán and Zen. The teachings of Zen are expressed by a set of polarities: Buddha-nature – sunyata; absolute-relative; sudden and gradual enlightenment.


title: Nondualism

text: The Lankavatara-sutra, a popular sutra in Zen, endorses the Buddha-nature and emphasizes purity of mind, which can be attained in gradations. The Diamond-sutra, another popular sutra, emphasizes sunyata, which "must be realized totally or not at all". The Prajnaparamita Sutras emphasize the non-duality of form and emptiness: form is emptiness, emptiness is form, as the Heart Sutra says. According to Chinul, Zen points not to mere emptiness, but to "suchness" or the dharmadhatu.


title: Nondualism

text: The idea that the ultimate reality is present in the daily world of relative reality fitted into the Chinese culture which emphasized the mundane world and society. But this does not explain how the absolute is present in the relative world. This question is answered in such schemata as the Five Ranks of Tozan and the Oxherding Pictures.


title: Nondualism

text: The continuous pondering of the break-through kōan ("shokan") or Hua Tou, "word head", leads to kensho, an initial insight into "seeing the (Buddha-)nature". According to Hori, a central theme of many koans is the "identity of opposites", and point to the original nonduality. Victor Sogen Hori describes kensho, when attained through koan-study, as the absence of subject–object duality. The aim of the so-called break-through koan is to see the "nonduality of subject and object", in which "subject and object are no longer separate and distinct."


title: Nondualism

text: Zen Buddhist training does not end with kenshō. Practice is to be continued to deepen the insight and to express it in daily life, to fully manifest the nonduality of absolute and relative. To deepen the initial insight of kensho, shikantaza and kōan-study are necessary. This trajectory of initial insight followed by a gradual deepening and ripening is expressed by Linji Yixuan in his Three Mysterious Gates, the Four Ways of Knowing of Hakuin, the Five Ranks, and the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures which detail the steps on the Path.


title: Nondualism

text: The polarity of absolute and relative is also expressed as "essence-function". The absolute is essence, the relative is function. They can't be seen as separate realities, but interpenetrate each other. The distinction does not "exclude any other frameworks such as "neng-so" or 'subject-object' constructions", though the two "are completely different from each other in terms of their way of thinking". In Korean Buddhism, essence-function is also expressed as "body" and "the body's functions". A metaphor for essence-function is "a lamp and its light", a phrase from the "Platform Sutra", where Essence is lamp and Function is light.


title: Nondualism

text: The Gelugpa school, following Tsongkhapa, adheres to the adyava Prasaṅgika Mādhyamaka view, which states that all phenomena are sunyata, empty of self-nature, and that this "emptiness" is itself only a qualification, not a concretely existing "absolute" reality.


title: Nondualism

text: In Tibetan Buddhism, the essentialist position is represented by "shentong", while the nominalist, or non-essentialist position, is represented by "rangtong".


title: Nondualism

text: Shentong is a philosophical sub-school found in Tibetan Buddhism. Its adherents generally hold that the nature of mind ("svasaṃvedana"), the substratum of the mindstream, is "empty" () of "other" (), i.e., empty of all qualities other than an inherently existing, ineffable nature. Shentong has often been incorrectly associated with the Cittamātra (Yogacara) position, but is in fact also Madhyamaka, and is present primarily as the main philosophical theory of the Jonang school, although it is also taught by the Sakya and Kagyu schools. According to Shentongpa (proponents of shentong), the emptiness of ultimate reality should not be characterized in the same way as the emptiness of apparent phenomena because it is "prabhāśvara-saṃtāna", or "luminous mindstream" endowed with limitless Buddha qualities. It is empty of all that is false, not empty of the limitless Buddha qualities that are its innate nature.


title: Nondualism

text: The contrasting Prasaṅgika view that all phenomena are sunyata, empty of self-nature, and that this "emptiness" is not a concretely existing "absolute" reality, is labeled rangtong, "empty of self-nature."


title: Nondualism

text: The shentong-view is related to the Ratnagotravibhāga sutra and the Yogacara-Madhyamaka synthesis of Śāntarakṣita. The truth of sunyata is acknowledged, but not considered to be the highest truth, which is the empty nature of mind. Insight into sunyata is preparatory for the recognition of the nature of mind.


title: Nondualism

text: Dzogchen is concerned with the "natural state" and emphasizes direct experience. The state of nondual awareness is called "rigpa". This primordial nature is clear light, unproduced and unchanging, free from all defilements. Through meditation, the Dzogchen practitioner experiences that thoughts have no substance. Mental phenomena arise and fall in the mind, but fundamentally they are empty. The practitioner then considers where the mind itself resides. Through careful examination one realizes that the mind is emptiness.


title: Nondualism

text: Karma Lingpa (1326–1386) revealed "Self-Liberation through seeing with naked awareness" ("rigpa ngo-sprod",) which is attributed to Padmasambhava. The text gives an introduction, or pointing-out instruction ("ngo-spro"), into rigpa, the state of presence and awareness. In this text, Karma Lingpa writes the following regarding the unity of various terms for nonduality:


title: Nondualism

text: Several schools of Vedanta are informed by Samkhya and teach a form of nondualism. The best-known is Advaita Vedanta, but other nondual Vedanta schools also have a significant influence and following, such as Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and Dvaitadvaita, both of which are bhedabheda.


title: Nondualism

text: "Advaita" refers to the nonduality of Atman (individual self, awareness, the witness-cosnciousness) and Brahman (the single universal existence), as in Vedanta, Shaktism and Shaivism. Although the term is best known from the Advaita Vedanta school of Adi Shankara, "advaita" is used in treatises by numerous medieval era Indian scholars, as well as modern schools and teachers.


title: Nondualism

text: The Hindu concept of "Advaita" refers to the idea that all of the universe is one essential reality, and that all facets and aspects of the universe is ultimately an expression or appearance of that one reality. According to Dasgupta and Mohanta, non-dualism developed in various strands of Indian thought, both Vedic and Buddhist, from the Upanishadic period onward. The oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought may be found in the Chandogya Upanishad, which pre-dates the earliest Buddhism. Pre-sectarian Buddhism may also have been responding to the teachings of the Chandogya Upanishad, rejecting some of its Atman-Brahman related metaphysics.


title: Nondualism

text: Advaita appears in different shades in various schools of Hinduism such as in Advaita Vedanta, Vishishtadvaita Vedanta (Vaishnavism), Suddhadvaita Vedanta (Vaishnavism), non-dual Shaivism and Shaktism. In the Advaita Vedanta of Adi Shankara, advaita implies that all of reality is one with Brahman, that the Atman (self) and Brahman (ultimate unchanging reality) are one. The advaita ideas of some Hindu traditions contrasts with the schools that defend dualism or Dvaita, such as that of Madhvacharya who stated that the experienced reality and God are two (dual) and distinct.


title: Nondualism

text: The nonduality of the Advaita Vedanta is of the identity of Brahman and the Atman. As in Samkhya, Atman is awareness, the witness-consciousness. Advaita has become a broad current in Indian culture and religions, influencing subsequent traditions like Kashmir Shaivism.


title: Nondualism

text: The oldest surviving manuscript on Advaita Vedanta is by Gauḍapāda (6th century CE), who has traditionally been regarded as the teacher of Govinda bhagavatpāda and the grandteacher of Adi Shankara. Advaita is best known from the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Adi Shankara (788-820 CE), who states that Brahman, the single unified eternal truth, is pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss ("Sat-cit-ananda").


title: Nondualism

text: Advaita, states Murti, is the knowledge of Brahman and self-consciousness (Vijnana) without differences. The goal of Vedanta is to know the "truly real" and thus become one with it. According to Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the highest Reality, The universe, according to Advaita philosophy, does not simply come from Brahman, it "is" Brahman. Brahman is the single binding unity behind the diversity in all that exists in the universe. Brahman is also that which is the cause of all changes. Brahman is the "creative principle which lies realized in the whole world".


title: Nondualism

text: The nondualism of Advaita, relies on the Hindu concept of Ātman which is a Sanskrit word that means "essence" or "real self" of the individual; it is also appropriated as "soul". Ātman is the first principle, the "true" self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena, the essence of an individual. Atman is the Universal Principle, one eternal undifferentiated self-luminous consciousness, asserts Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism.


title: Nondualism

text: Advaita Vedanta philosophy considers Atman as self-existent awareness, limitless, non-dual and same as Brahman. Advaita school asserts that there is "soul, self" within each living entity which is fully identical with Brahman. This identity holds that there is One Aawareness that connects and exists in all living beings, regardless of their shapes or forms, there is no distinction, no superior, no inferior, no separate devotee soul (Atman), no separate God soul (Brahman). The Oneness unifies all beings, there is the divine in every being, and all existence is a single Reality, state the Advaita Vedantins. The nondualism concept of Advaita Vedanta asserts that each soul is non-different from the infinite Brahman.


title: Nondualism

text: Scholars state that Advaita Vedanta was influenced by Mahayana Buddhism, given the common terminology and methodology and some common doctrines. Eliot Deutsch and Rohit Dalvi state:


title: Nondualism

text: Advaita Vedanta is related to Buddhist philosophy, which promotes ideas like the two truths doctrine and the doctrine that there is only consciousness ("vijñapti-mātra"). It is possible that the Advaita philosopher Gaudapada was influenced by Buddhist ideas. Shankara harmonised Gaudapada's ideas with the Upanishadic texts, and developed a very influential school of orthodox Hinduism.


title: Nondualism

text: The Buddhist term "vijñapti-mātra" is often used interchangeably with the term "citta-mātra", but they have different meanings. The standard translation of both terms is "consciousness-only" or "mind-only." Advaita Vedanta has been called "idealistic monism" by scholars, but some disagree with this label. Another concept found in both Madhyamaka Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta is Ajativada ("ajāta"), which Gaudapada adopted from Nagarjuna's philosophy. Gaudapada "wove [both doctrines] into a philosophy of the "Mandukaya Upanisad", which was further developed by Shankara.


title: Nondualism

text: Michael Comans states there is a fundamental difference between Buddhist thought and that of Gaudapada, in that Buddhism has as its philosophical basis the doctrine of Dependent Origination according to which "everything is without an essential nature ("nissvabhava"), and everything is empty of essential nature ("svabhava-sunya")", while Gaudapada does not rely on this principle at all. Gaudapada's "Ajativada" is an outcome of reasoning applied to an unchanging nondual reality according to which "there exists a Reality ("sat") that is unborn ("aja")" that has essential nature ("svabhava"), and this is the "eternal, fearless, undecaying Self (Atman) and Brahman". Thus, Gaudapada differs from Buddhist scholars such as Nagarjuna, states Comans, by accepting the premises and relying on the fundamental teaching of the Upanishads. Among other things, Vedanta school of Hinduism holds the premise, "Atman exists, as self evident truth", a concept it uses in its theory of nondualism. Buddhism, in contrast, holds the premise, "Atman does not exist (or, An-atman) as self evident".


title: Nondualism

text: Mahadevan suggests that Gaudapada adopted Buddhist terminology and adapted its doctrines to his Vedantic goals, much like early Buddhism adopted Upanishadic terminology and adapted its doctrines to Buddhist goals; both used pre-existing concepts and ideas to convey new meanings. Dasgupta and Mohanta note that Buddhism and Shankara's Advaita Vedanta are not opposing systems, but "different phases of development of the same non-dualistic metaphysics from the Upanishadic period to the time of Sankara."


title: Nondualism

text: Vishishtadvaita Vedanta is another main school of Vedanta and teaches the nonduality of the qualified whole, in which Brahman alone exists, but is characterized by multiplicity. It can be described as "qualified monism," or "qualified non-dualism," or "attributive monism."


title: Nondualism

text: According to this school, the world is real, yet underlying all the differences is an all-embracing unity, of which all "things" are an "attribute." Ramanuja, the main proponent of Vishishtadvaita philosophy contends that the Prasthana Traya ("The three courses") – namely the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras – are to be interpreted in a way that shows this unity in diversity, for any other way would violate their consistency.


title: Nondualism

text: Vedanta Desika defines "Vishishtadvaita" using the statement: "Asesha Chit-Achit Prakaaram Brahmaikameva Tatvam" – "Brahman, as qualified by the sentient and insentient modes (or attributes), is the only reality."


title: Nondualism

text: Advaita is also a central concept in various schools of Shaivism, such as Kashmir Shaivism and Shiva Advaita which is generally known as Veerashaivism.


title: Nondualism

text: Kashmir Shaivism is a school of Śaivism, described by Abhinavagupta as "paradvaita", meaning "the supreme and absolute non-dualism". It is categorized by various scholars as monistic idealism (absolute idealism, theistic monism, realistic idealism, transcendental physicalism or concrete monism).


title: Nondualism

text: Kashmir Saivism is based on a strong monistic interpretation of the "Bhairava Tantras" and its subcategory the "Kaula Tantras", which were tantras written by the Kapalikas. There was additionally a revelation of the "Siva Sutras" to Vasugupta. Kashmir Saivism claimed to supersede the dualistic Shaiva Siddhanta. Somananda, the first theologian of monistic Saivism, was the teacher of Utpaladeva, who was the grand-teacher of Abhinavagupta, who in turn was the teacher of Ksemaraja.


title: Nondualism

text: The philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism can be seen in contrast to Shankara's Advaita. Advaita Vedanta holds that Brahman is inactive ("niṣkriya") and the phenomenal world is a false appearance ("māyā") of Brahman, like snake seen in semi-darkness is a false appearance of Rope lying there. In Kashmir Shavisim, all things are a manifestation of the Universal Consciousness, "Chit" or "Brahman". Kashmir Shavisim sees the phenomenal world ("Śakti") as real: it exists, and has its being in Consciousness ("Chit").


title: Nondualism

text: Kashmir Shaivism was influenced by, and took over doctrines from, several orthodox and heterodox Indian religious and philosophical traditions. These include Vedanta, Samkhya, Patanjali Yoga and Nyayas, and various Buddhist schools, including Yogacara and Madhyamika, but also Tantra and the Nath-tradition.


title: Nondualism

text: The Natha Sampradaya, with Nath yogis such as Gorakhnath, introduced Sahaja, the concept of a spontaneous spirituality. Sahaja means "spontaneous, natural, simple, or easy". According to Ken Wilber, this state reflects nonduality.


title: Nondualism

text: Neo-Vedanta, also called "neo-Hinduism" is a modern interpretation of Hinduism which developed in response to western colonialism and orientalism, and aims to present Hinduism as a "homogenized ideal of Hinduism" with Advaita Vedanta as its central doctrine.


title: Nondualism

text: Neo-Vedanta, as represented by Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan, is indebted to Advaita vedanta, but also reflects Advaya-philosophy. A main influence on neo-Advaita was Ramakrishna, himself a bhakta and tantrika, and the guru of Vivekananda. According to Michael Taft, Ramakrishna reconciled the dualism of formlessness and form. Ramakrishna regarded the Supreme Being to be both Personal and Impersonal, active and inactive:


title: Nondualism

text: Radhakrishnan acknowledged the reality and diversity of the world of experience, which he saw as grounded in and supported by the absolute or Brahman. According to Anil Sooklal, Vivekananda's neo-Advaita "reconciles Dvaita or dualism and Advaita or non-dualism":


title: Nondualism

text: Radhakrishnan also reinterpreted Shankara's notion of "maya". According to Radhakrishnan, maya is not a strict absolute idealism, but "a subjective misperception of the world as ultimately real." According to Sarma, standing in the tradition of Nisargadatta Maharaj, Advaitavāda means "spiritual non-dualism or absolutism", in which opposites are "manifestations" of the Absolute, which itself is immanent and transcendent:


title: Nondualism

text: Primal awareness is also part of other Indian traditions, which are less strongly, or not all, organised in monastic and institutional organisations. Although often called "Advaita Vedanta," these traditions have their origins in vernacular movements and "householder" traditions, and have close ties to the Nath, Nayanars and Sant Mat traditions.


title: Nondualism

text: Ramana Maharshi (30 December 1879 – 14 April 1950) is widely acknowledged as one of the outstanding Indian gurus of modern times. Ramana's teachings are often interpreted as Advaita Vedanta, though Ramana Maharshi never "received diksha (initiation) from any recognised authority". Ramana himself did not call his insights advaita:


title: Nondualism

text: "Neo-Advaita" is a New Religious Movement based on a modern, western interpretation of Advaita Vedanta, especially the teachings of Ramana Maharshi. According to Arthur Versluis, neo-Advaita is part of a larger religious current which he calls immediatism, "the assertion of immediate spiritual illumination without much if any preparatory practice within a particular religious tradition." Neo-Advaita is criticized for this immediatism and its lack of preparatory practices. Although this state of consciousness may seem to appear spontaneous, it usually follows prolonged preparation through ascetic or meditative/contemplative practice, which may include ethical injunctions. Notable neo-advaita teachers are H. W. L. Poonja and his students Gangaji, Andrew Cohen, and Eckhart Tolle.


title: Nondualism

text: According to a modern western spiritual teacher of nonduality, Jeff Foster, nonduality is: the essential oneness (wholeness, completeness, unity) of life, a wholeness which exists here and now, prior to any apparent separation [...] despite the compelling appearance of separation and diversity there is only one universal essence, one reality. Oneness is all there is – and we are included.


title: Nondualism

text: Sikh theology suggests human souls and the monotheistic God are two different realities (dualism), distinguishing it from the monistic and various shades of nondualistic philosophies of other Indian religions. However, Sikh scholars have attempted to explore nondualism exegesis of Sikh scriptures, such as during the neocolonial reformist movement by Bhai Vir Singh of the Singh Sabha. According to Mandair, Singh interprets the Sikh scriptures as teaching nonduality.


title: Nondualism

text: Others maintain that Sikh theology suggests human souls and the monotheistic God are the same reality (non-dualism). Sikh scholars have even been exploring nondualism exegesis of Sikh scriptures, such as during the neocolonial reformist movement by Bhai Vir Singh of the Singh Sabha. According to Arvind Mandair, Singh interprets the Sikh scriptures as teaching nonduality.


title: Nondualism

text: Taoism's "wu wei" (Chinese "wu", not; "wei", doing) is a term with various translations and interpretations designed to distinguish it from passivity. The concept of Yin and Yang, often mistakenly conceived of as a symbol of dualism, is actually meant to convey the notion that all apparent opposites are complementary parts of a non-dual whole.


title: Nondualism

text: A modern strand of thought sees "nondual consciousness" as a universal psychological state, which is a common stratum and of the same essence in different spiritual traditions. It is derived from Neo-Vedanta and neo-Advaita, but has historical roots in neo-Platonism, Western esotericism, and Perennialism. The idea of nondual consciousness as "the central essence" is a universalistic and perennialist idea, which is part of a modern mutual exchange and synthesis of ideas between western spiritual and esoteric traditions and Asian religious revival and reform movements.


title: Nondualism

text: Central elements in the western traditions are Neo-Platonism, which had a strong influence on Christian contemplation or mysticism, and its accompanying apophatic theology; and Western esotericism, which also incorporated Neo-Platonism and Gnostic elements including Hermeticism. Western traditions are, among others, the idea of a Perennial Philosophy, Swedenborgianism, Unitarianism, Orientalism, Transcendentalism, Theosophy, and New Age.


title: Nondualism

text: Eastern movements are the Hindu reform movements such as Vivekananda's Neo-Vedanta and Aurobindo's Integral Yoga, the Vipassana movement, and Buddhist modernism.


title: Nondualism

text: Since its beginning, Gnosticism has been characterized by many dualisms and dualities, including the doctrine of a separate God and Manichaean (good/evil) dualism. Ronald Miller interprets the Gospel of Thomas as a teaching of "nondualistic consciousness".


title: Nondualism

text: The precepts of Neoplatonism of Plotinus (2nd century) assert nondualism. Neoplatonism had a strong influence on Christian mysticism.


title: Nondualism

text: Some scholars suggest a possible link of more ancient Indian philosophies on Neoplatonism, while other scholars consider these claims as unjustified and extravagant with the counter hypothesis that nondualism developed independently in ancient India and Greece. The nondualism of Advaita Vedanta and Neoplatonism have been compared by various scholars, such as J. F. Staal, Frederick Copleston, Aldo Magris and Mario Piantelli, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Gwen Griffith-Dickson, John Y. Fenton and Dale Riepe.


title: Nondualism

text: In Christian mysticism, contemplative prayer and Apophatic theology are central elements. In contemplative prayer, the mind is focused by constant repetition a phrase or word. Saint John Cassian recommended use of the phrase "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me". Another formula for repetition is the name of Jesus or the Jesus Prayer, which has been called "the mantra of the Orthodox Church", although the term "Jesus Prayer" is not found in the Fathers of the Church. The author of "The Cloud of Unknowing" recommended use of a monosyllabic word, such as "God" or "Love".


title: Nondualism

text: Apophatic theology is derived from Neo-Platonism via Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. In this approach, the notion of God is stripped from all positive qualifications, leaving a "darkness" or "unground", it had a strong influence on western mysticism. A notable example is Meister Eckhart, who also attracted attention from Zen-Buddhists like D.T. Suzuki in modern times, due to the similarities between Buddhist thought and Neo-Platonism.


title: Nondualism

text: The Cloud of Unknowing – an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century – advocates a mystic relationship with God. The text describes a spiritual union with God through the heart. The author of the text advocates centering prayer, a form of inner silence. According to the text, God can not be known through knowledge or from intellection. It is only by emptying the mind of all created images and thoughts that we can arrive to experience God. Continuing on this line of thought, God is completely unknowable by the mind. God is not known through the intellect but through intense contemplation, motivated by love, and stripped of all thought.


title: Nondualism

text: Thomism, though not non-dual in the ordinary sense, considers the unity of God so absolute that even the duality of subject and predicate, to describe him, can be true only by analogy. In Thomist thought, even the Tetragrammaton is only an approximate name, since "I am" involves a predicate whose own essence is its subject.


title: Nondualism

text: According to Jay Michaelson, nonduality begins to appear in the medieval Jewish textual tradition which peaked in Hasidism:


title: Nondualism

text: One of the most striking contributions of the Kabbalah, which became a central idea in Chasidic thought, was a highly innovative reading of the monotheistic idea. The belief in "one G-d" is no longer perceived as the mere rejection of other deities or intermediaries, but a denial of any existence outside of G-d.


title: Nondualism

text: Western esotericism (also called esotericism and esoterism) is a scholarly term for a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements which have developed within Western society. They are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian religion and from Enlightenment rationalism. The earliest traditions which later analysis would label as forms of Western esotericism emerged in the Eastern Mediterranean during Late Antiquity, where Hermetism, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism developed as schools of thought distinct from what became mainstream Christianity. In Renaissance Europe, interest in many of these older ideas increased, with various intellectuals seeking to combine "pagan" philosophies with the Kabbalah and with Christian philosophy, resulting in the emergence of esoteric movements like Christian theosophy.


title: Nondualism

text: The Perennial philosophy has its roots in the Renaissance interest in neo-Platonism and its idea of The One, from which all existence emanates. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) sought to integrate "Hermeticism" with Greek and Jewish-Christian thought, discerning a Prisca theologia which could be found in all ages. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94) suggested that truth could be found in many, rather than just two, traditions. He proposed a harmony between the thought of Plato and Aristotle, and saw aspects of the "Prisca theologia" in Averroes, the Koran, the Cabala and other sources. Agostino Steuco (1497–1548) coined the term "philosophia perennis".


title: Nondualism

text: The western world has been exposed to Indian religions since the late 18th century. The first western translation of a Sanskrit text was made in 1785. It marked a growing interest in Indian culture and languages. The first translation of the dualism and nondualism discussing Upanishads appeared in two parts in 1801 and 1802 and influenced Arthur Schopenhauer, who called them "the consolation of my life". Early translations also appeared in other European languages.


title: Nondualism

text: Transcendentalism was an early 19th-century liberal Protestant movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the Eastern region of the United States. It was rooted in English and German Romanticism, the Biblical criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher, and the skepticism of Hume.


title: Nondualism

text: The Transcendentalists emphasised an intuitive, experiential approach of religion. Following Schleiermacher, an individual's intuition of truth was taken as the criterion for truth. In the late 18th and early 19th century, the first translations of Hindu texts appeared, which were read by the Transcendentalists and influenced their thinking. The Transcendentalists also endorsed universalist and Unitarianist ideas, leading to Unitarian Universalism, the idea that there must be truth in other religions as well, since a loving God would redeem all living beings, not just Christians.


title: Nondualism

text: Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both people and nature. Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual. They had faith that people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed.


title: Nondualism

text: The major figures in the movement were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Margaret Fuller and Amos Bronson Alcott.


title: Nondualism

text: Unitarian Universalism had a strong impact on Ram Mohan Roy and the Brahmo Samaj, and subsequently on Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda was one of the main representatives of Neo-Vedanta, a modern interpretation of Hinduism in line with western esoteric traditions, especially Transcendentalism, New Thought and Theosophy. His reinterpretation was, and is, very successful, creating a new understanding and appreciation of Hinduism within and outside India, and was the principal reason for the enthusiastic reception of yoga, transcendental meditation and other forms of Indian spiritual self-improvement in the West.


title: Nondualism

text: Narendranath Datta (Swami Vivekananda) became a member of a Freemasonry lodge "at some point before 1884" and of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in his twenties, a breakaway faction of the Brahmo Samaj led by Keshab Chandra Sen and Debendranath Tagore. Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833), the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, had a strong sympathy for the Unitarians, who were closely connected to the Transcendentalists, who in turn were interested in and influenced by Indian religions early on. It was in this cultic milieu that Narendra became acquainted with Western esotericism. Debendranath Tagore brought this "neo-Hinduism" closer in line with western esotericism, a development which was furthered by Keshubchandra Sen, who was also influenced by transcendentalism, which emphasised personal religious experience over mere reasoning and theology. Sen's influence brought Vivekananda fully into contact with western esotericism, and it was also via Sen that he met Ramakrishna.


title: Nondualism

text: Vivekananda's acquaintance with western esotericism made him very successful in western esoteric circles, beginning with his speech in 1893 at the Parliament of Religions. Vivekananda adapted traditional Hindu ideas and religiosity to suit the needs and understandings of his western audiences, who were especially attracted by and familiar with western esoteric traditions and movements like Transcendentalism and New thought.


title: Nondualism

text: In 1897 he founded the Ramakrishna Mission, which was instrumental in the spread of Neo-Vedanta in the west, and attracted people like Alan Watts. Aldous Huxley, author of "The Perennial Philosophy", was associated with another neo-Vedanta organisation, the Vedanta Society of Southern California, founded and headed by Swami Prabhavananda. Together with Gerald Heard, Christopher Isherwood, and other followers he was initiated by the Swami and was taught meditation and spiritual practices.


title: Nondualism

text: Neo-Vedanta was well-received among Theosophists, Christian Science, and the New Thought movement; Christian Science in turn influenced the self-study teaching A Course in Miracles.


title: Nondualism

text: A major force in the mutual influence of eastern and western ideas and religiosity was the Theosophical Society. It searched for ancient wisdom in the east, spreading eastern religious ideas in the west. One of its salient features was the belief in "Masters of Wisdom", "beings, human or once human, who have transcended the normal frontiers of knowledge, and who make their wisdom available to others". The Theosophical Society also spread western ideas in the east, aiding a modernisation of eastern traditions, and contributing to a growing nationalism in the Asian colonies.


title: Nondualism

text: The "New Age movement" is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational psychology, holistic health, parapsychology, consciousness research and quantum physics".


title: Nondualism

text: The New Age aims to create "a spirituality without borders or confining dogmas" that is inclusive and pluralistic. It holds to "a holistic worldview", emphasising that the Mind, Body and Spirit are interrelated and that there is a form of monism and unity throughout the universe. It attempts to create "a worldview that includes both science and spirituality" and embraces a number of forms of mainstream science as well as other forms of science that are considered fringe.


title: Nondualism

text: Insight ("prajna", "kensho", "satori", "gnosis", "theoria", "illumination"), especially "enlightenment" or the realization of the illusory nature of the autonomous "I" or self, is a key element in modern western nondual thought. It is the personal realization that ultimate reality is nondual, and is thought to be a validating means of knowledge of this nondual reality. This insight is interpreted as a psychological state, and labeled as religious or mystical experience.


title: Nondualism

text: According to Hori, the notion of "religious experience" can be traced back to William James, who used the term "religious experience" in his book, "The Varieties of Religious Experience". The origins of the use of this term can be dated further back.


title: Nondualism

text: In the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, several historical figures put forth very influential views that religion and its beliefs can be grounded in experience itself. While Kant held that moral experience justified religious beliefs, John Wesley in addition to stressing individual moral exertion thought that the religious experiences in the Methodist movement (paralleling the Romantic Movement) were foundational to religious commitment as a way of life.


title: Nondualism

text: Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of "religious experience" to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), who argued that religion is based on a feeling of the infinite. The notion of "religious experience" was used by Schleiermacher and Albert Ritschl to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique, and defend the view that human (moral and religious) experience justifies religious beliefs.


title: Nondualism

text: Such religious empiricism would be later seen as highly problematic and was – during the period in-between world wars – famously rejected by Karl Barth. In the 20th century, religious as well as moral experience as justification for religious beliefs still holds sway. Some influential modern scholars holding this liberal theological view are Charles Raven and the Oxford physicist/theologian Charles Coulson.


title: Nondualism

text: The notion of "religious experience" was adopted by many scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential.


title: Nondualism

text: The notion of "experience" has been criticised. Robert Sharf points out that "experience" is a typical Western term, which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western influences.


title: Nondualism

text: Insight is not the "experience" of some transcendental reality, but is a cognitive event, the (intuitive) understanding or "grasping" of some specific understanding of reality, as in kensho or anubhava.


title: Nondualism

text: "Pure experience" does not exist; all experience is mediated by intellectual and cognitive activity. A pure consciousness without concepts, reached by "cleaning the doors of perception", would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence.


title: Nondualism

text: A main modern proponent of perennialism was Aldous Huxley, who was influenced by Vivekananda's Neo-Vedanta and Universalism. This popular approach finds supports in the "common-core thesis". According to the "common-core thesis", different descriptions can mask quite similar if not identical experiences:


title: Nondualism

text: According to Elias Amidon there is an "indescribable, but definitely recognizable, reality that is the ground of all being." According to Renard, these are based on an experience or intuition of "the Real". According to Amidon, this reality is signified by "many names" from "spiritual traditions throughout the world":


title: Nondualism

text: According to Renard, nondualism as common essence prefers the term "nondualism", instead of monism, because this understanding is "nonconceptual", "not graspapable in an idea". Even to call this "ground of reality", "One", or "Oneness" is attributing a characteristic to that ground of reality. The only thing that can be said is that it is "not two" or "non-dual": According to Renard, Alan Watts has been one of the main contributors to the popularisation of the non-monistic understanding of "nondualism".


title: Nondualism

text: The "common-core thesis" is criticised by "diversity theorists" such as S.T Katz and W. Proudfoot. They argue that


title: Nondualism

text: The idea of a common essence has been questioned by Yandell, who discerns various "religious experiences" and their corresponding doctrinal settings, which differ in structure and phenomenological content, and in the "evidential value" they present. Yandell discerns five sorts:


title: Nondualism

text: The specific teachings and practices of a specific tradition may determine what "experience" someone has, which means that this "experience" is not the "proof" of the teaching, but a "result" of the teaching. The notion of what exactly constitutes "liberating insight" varies between the various traditions, and even within the traditions. Bronkhorst for example notices that the conception of what exactly "liberating insight" is in Buddhism was developed over time. Whereas originally it may not have been specified, later on the Four Truths served as such, to be superseded by "pratityasamutpada", and still later, in the Hinayana schools, by the doctrine of the non-existence of a substantial self or person. And Schmithausen notices that still other descriptions of this "liberating insight" exist in the Buddhist canon.


title: Nondualism

text: Nondual awareness, also called pure consciousness or awareness, contentless consciousness, consciousness-as-such, and Minimal Phenomenal Experience, is a topic of phenomenological research. As described in Samkhya-Yoga and other systems of meditation, and referred to as, for example, Turya and Atman, pure awareness manifests in advanced states of meditation. Pure consciousness is distinguished from the workings of the mind, and "consists in nothing but the being seen of what is seen." Gamma & Metzinger (2021) present twelve factors in their phenomenological analysis of pure awareness experienced by meditators, including luminosity; emptiness and non-egoic self-awareness; and witness-consciousness.


title: Lysistrata

text: Lysistrata ( or ; Attic Greek: , "Lysistrátē", "Army Disbander") is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city states by denying all the men of the land any sex, which was the only thing they truly and deeply desired. Lysistrata persuades the women of the warring cities to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace—a strategy, however, that inflames the battle between the sexes.


title: Lysistrata

text: The play is notable for being an early exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society. Additionally, its dramatic structure represents a shift from the conventions of Old Comedy, a trend typical of the author's career. It was produced in the same year as the "Thesmophoriazusae", another play with a focus on gender-based issues, just two years after Athens' catastrophic defeat in the Sicilian Expedition.


title: Lysistrata

text: These lines, spoken by the Athenian Lysistrata and her friend Calonice at the beginning of the play, set the scene for the action that follows. Women, as represented by Calonice, are sly hedonists in need of firm guidance and direction. Lysistrata, however, is an extraordinary woman with a large sense of individual and social responsibility. She has convened a meeting of women from various Greek city-states that are at war with each other. (There is no explanation of how she manages this, but the satirical nature of the play makes this unimportant.) Soon after she confides in her friend her concerns for the female sex, the women begin arriving.


title: Lysistrata

text: With support from the Spartan Lampito, Lysistrata persuades the other women to withhold sexual privileges from their menfolk as a means of forcing them to conclude the Peloponnesian War. The women are very reluctant, but the deal is sealed with a solemn oath around a wine bowl, Lysistrata choosing the words and Calonice repeating them on behalf of the other women. It is a long and detailed oath, in which the women abjure all their sexual pleasures, including the "lioness on the cheese-grater".


title: Lysistrata

text: Soon after the oath is finished, a cry of triumph is heard from the nearby Acropolis—the old women of Athens have seized control of it at Lysistrata's instigation, since it holds the state treasury, without which the men cannot long continue to fund their war. Lampito goes off to spread the word of revolt, and the other women retreat behind the barred gates of the Acropolis to await the men's response.


title: Lysistrata

text: A Chorus of Old Men arrives, intent on burning down the gate of the Acropolis if the women do not open up. Encumbered with heavy timbers, inconvenienced with smoke and burdened with old age, they are still making preparations to assault the gate when a Chorus of Old Women arrives, bearing pitchers of water. The Old Women complain about the difficulty they had getting the water, but they are ready for a fight in defence of their younger comrades. Threats are exchanged, water beats fire, and the Old Men are discomfited with a soaking.


title: Lysistrata

text: The magistrate then arrives with some Scythian Archers (the Athenian version of police constables). He reflects on the hysterical nature of women, their devotion to wine, promiscuous sex, and exotic cults (such as to Sabazius and Adonis), but above all he blames men for poor supervision of their womenfolk. He has come for silver from the state treasury to buy oars for the fleet and he instructs his Scythians to begin levering open the gate. However, they are quickly overwhelmed by groups of unruly women with such unruly names as (seed-market-porridge-vegetable-sellers) and (garlic-innkeeping-bread-sellers).


title: Lysistrata

text: Lysistrata restores order and she allows the magistrate to question her. She explains the frustrations that women feel at a time of war when the men make stupid decisions that affect everyone, and further complains that their wives' opinions are not listened to. She drapes her headdress over him, gives him a basket of wool and tells him that war will be a woman's business from now on. She then explains the pity she feels for young, childless women, ageing at home while the men are away on endless campaigns. When the magistrate points out that men also age, she reminds him that men can marry at any age whereas a woman has only a short time before she is considered too old. She then dresses the magistrate like a corpse for laying out, with a wreath and a fillet, and advises him that he's dead. Outraged at these indignities, he storms off to report the incident to his colleagues, while Lysistrata returns to the Acropolis.


title: Lysistrata

text: The debate or "agon" is continued between the Chorus of Old Men and the Chorus of Old Women until Lysistrata returns to the stage with some news—her comrades are desperate for sex and they are beginning to desert on the silliest pretexts (for example, one woman says she has to go home to air her fabrics by spreading them on the bed). After rallying her comrades and restoring their discipline, Lysistrata again returns to the Acropolis to continue waiting for the men's surrender.


title: Lysistrata

text: A man suddenly appears, desperate for sex. It is Kinesias, the husband of Myrrhine. Lysistrata instructs her to torture him. Myrrhine informs Kinesias that she will have sex with him but only if he promises to end the war. He promptly agrees to these terms and the young couple prepares for sex on the spot. Myrrhine fetches a bed, then a mattress, then a pillow, then a blanket, then a flask of oil, exasperating her husband with delays until finally disappointing him completely by locking herself in the Acropolis again. The Chorus of Old Men commiserates with the young man in a plaintive song.


title: Lysistrata

text: A Spartan herald then appears with a large burden (an erection) scarcely hidden inside his tunic and he requests to see the ruling council to arrange peace talks. The magistrate, now also sporting a prodigious burden, laughs at the herald's embarrassing situation but agrees that peace talks should begin.


title: Lysistrata

text: They go off to fetch the delegates. While they are gone, the Old Women make overtures to the Old Men. The Old Men are content to be comforted and fussed over by the Old Women; thereupon the two Choruses merge, singing and dancing in unison. Peace talks commence and Lysistrata introduces the Spartan and Athenian delegates to a gorgeous young woman called Reconciliation. The delegates cannot take their eyes off the young woman; meanwhile, Lysistrata scolds both sides for past errors of judgment. The delegates briefly squabble over the peace terms, but with Reconciliation before them and the burden of sexual deprivation still heavy upon them, they quickly overcome their differences and retire to the Acropolis for celebrations. The war is ended.


title: Lysistrata

text: Another choral song follows. After a bit of humorous dialogue between tipsy dinner guests, the celebrants all return to the stage for a final round of songs, the men and women dancing together. All sing a merry song in praise of Athene, goddess of wisdom and chastity, whose citadel provided a refuge for the women during the events of the comedy, and whose implied blessing has brought about a happy ending to the play.


title: Lysistrata

text: Old Comedy was a highly topical genre and the playwright expected his audience to be familiar with local identities and issues. The following list of identities mentioned in the play gives some indication of the difficulty faced by any producer trying to stage "Lysistrata" for modern audiences.


title: Lysistrata

text: Pellene was also the name of a Peloponnesian town resisting Spartan pressure to contribute to naval operations against Athens at this time. It was mentioned earlier in the "Birds".


title: Lysistrata

text: Modern adaptations of "Lysistrata" are often feminist and/or pacifist in their aim (see Influence and legacy below). The original play was neither feminist nor unreservedly pacifist. Even when they seemed to demonstrate empathy with the female condition, dramatic poets in classical Athens still reinforced sexual stereotyping of women as irrational creatures in need of protection from themselves and from others.


title: Lysistrata

text: In fact the play might not even be a plea for an end to the war so much as an imaginative vision of an honorable end to the war at a time when no such ending was possible. According to Sarah Ruden, "Lysistrata" (Hackett Classics, 2003), the play "nowhere suggests that warfare in itself is intolerable, let alone immoral" (87).


title: Lysistrata

text: "Lysistrata" belongs to the middle period of Aristophanes' career when he was beginning to diverge significantly from the conventions of Old Comedy. Such variations from convention include:


title: Atelier (video game series)

text: The series has been primarily released in Japan, though recent titles have been localized for other markets. The franchise centers around the concept of an atelier specialising in alchemy; the gameplay involves finding, collecting, and combining items in recipes to create better items, which allows the player to advance further in the game. A manga adaptation by Yoshihiko Ochi has also been published. As of December 2020, the series has sold more than 5 million copies.


title: Atelier (video game series)

text: Alchemy is the distinguishing theme of the "Atelier" series. Players control the game's character, roaming the game world to collect objects to use in alchemy recipes to create new objects, including cooking ingredients, recovery items, tools, weapons, armor, and accessories. Synthesized objects are commonly required in order to create more powerful or potent objects through alchemy. Many of the games feature a method of transferring properties of one item from the recipe to the synthesized item. Recipes also often allow the substitution of items, which can either lend better properties to the final synthesized item, or can lead to the character thinking of a completely new recipe.


title: Atelier (video game series)

text: The games generally feature a turn-based combat system, in which the items made through alchemy come into play, either to boost the character's abilities, or for offensive, defensive, or support items.


title: Atelier (video game series)

text: The games' stories are typically light-hearted and humorous, often deriving conflict from a source other than an antagonist and the player ends up with a large group of characters to explore the world with. In most games of the series, the player has a limited in-game time to accomplish one or more main objectives and actions like gathering items, traveling or synthesizing spend a portion of that time. Failure to accomplish the game's main tasks in time may cause the game to end abruptly or lead to a bad end, though these time limits tend to be rather lenient. The first entry in the "Mysterious" "Atelier" series "" does away with the time limit system, but the second entry "" has a time limit for completing the game's first story objective, after which players can play at their leisure.


title: Atelier (video game series)

text: There have been 24 main games in the "Atelier" franchise which are subdivided into seven sub-series. There are three games in the Salburg series, two games in Gramnad series, three games in the Iris series, two games in the Mana-Khemia series, four games in the Arland series, three games in the Dusk series, four games in the Mysterious series, and three games in the Secret series.


title: Atelier (video game series)

text: by Yoshihiko Ochi is a five volume manga adaptation first published in Japan by Enterbrain, published in German by Egmont, published in French by Ki-oon, and four of the volumes were published in English by Tokyopop. The series was later re-edited and re-released in two "tankōbon" volumes on July 25, 2007. The manga later received a sequel titled , as of February 2018 Enterbrain released eight "tankōbon" volumes. In 2005 Enterbrain also released a one-shot manga titled .


title: Atelier (video game series)

text: "Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky" was adapted into a manga series by Chako Abeno. It features some arrangements to the story in order to let supporting characters play a bigger role. As of January 2015 two "tankōbon" volumes was released. It has also been adapted into a 12-episode television anime series, produced by Studio Gokumi and directed by Yoshiaki Iwasaki, aired on Tokyo MX between April 10, 2014 and 26 June 2014.


title: Atelier (video game series)

text: A manga adaptation of "Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout", written and illustrated by Riichu started serialization in "Shūkan Famitsū" on September 17, 2020.


title: Plausible deniability

text: Plausible deniability is the ability of people, typically senior officials in a formal or informal chain of command, to deny knowledge of or responsibility for any damnable actions committed by members of their organizational hierarchy. They may do so because of a lack or absence of evidence that can confirm their participation, even if they were personally involved in or at least willfully ignorant of the actions. If illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become public, high-ranking officials may deny any awareness of such acts to insulate themselves and shift the blame onto the agents who carried out the acts, as they are confident that their doubters will be unable to prove otherwise. The lack of evidence to the contrary ostensibly makes the denial plausible (credible), but sometimes, it makes any accusations only unactionable.


title: Plausible deniability

text: The term typically implies forethought, such as intentionally setting up the conditions for the plausible avoidance of responsibility for one's future actions or knowledge. In some organizations, legal doctrines such as command responsibility exist to hold major parties responsible for the actions of subordinates who are involved in heinous acts and nullify any legal protection that their denial of involvement would carry.


title: Plausible deniability

text: In politics and espionage, deniability refers to the ability of a powerful player or intelligence agency to pass the buck and to avoid blowback by secretly arranging for an action to be taken on its behalf by a third party that is ostensibly unconnected with the major player. In political campaigns, plausible deniability enables candidates to stay clean and denounce third-party advertisements that use unethical approaches or potentially libelous innuendo.


title: Plausible deniability

text: Although plausible deniability has existed throughout history, the term was coined by the CIA in the early 1960s to describe the withholding of information from senior officials to protect them from repercussions if illegal or unpopular activities became public knowledge.


title: Plausible deniability

text: Arguably, the key concept of plausible deniability is plausibility. It is relatively easy for a government official to issue a blanket denial of an action, and it is possible to destroy or cover up evidence after the fact, that might be sufficient to avoid a criminal prosecution, for instance. However, the public might well disbelieve the denial, particularly if there is strong circumstantial evidence or if the action is believed to be so unlikely that the only logical explanation is that the denial is false.


title: Plausible deniability

text: The concept is even more important in espionage. Intelligence may come from many sources, including human sources. The exposure of information to which only a few people are privileged may directly implicate some of the people in the disclosure. An example is if an official is traveling secretly, and only one aide knows the specific travel plans. If that official is assassinated during his travels, and the circumstances of the assassination strongly suggest that the assassin had foreknowledge of the official's travel plans, the probable conclusion is that his aide has betrayed the official. There may be no direct evidence linking the aide to the assassin, but collaboration can be inferred from the facts alone, thus making the aide's denial implausible.


title: Plausible deniability

text: The term's roots go back to US President Harry Truman's National Security Council Paper 10/2 of June 18, 1948, which defined "covert operations" as "all activities (except as noted herein) which are conducted or sponsored by this Government against hostile foreign states or groups or in support of friendly foreign states or groups but which are so planned and executed that any US Government responsibility for them is not evident to unauthorized persons and that if uncovered the US Government can plausibly disclaim any responsibility for them." During the Eisenhower administration, NSC 10/2 was incorporated into the more-specific NSC 5412/2 "Covert Operations." NSC 5412 was declassified in 1977 and is located at the National Archives. The expression "plausibly deniable" was first used publicly by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Allen Dulles. The idea, on the other hand, is considerably older. For example, in the 19th century, Charles Babbage described the importance of having "a few simply honest men" on a committee who could be temporarily removed from the deliberations when "a peculiarly delicate question arises" so that one of them could "declare truly, if necessary, that he never was present at any meeting at which even a questionable course had been proposed."


title: Plausible deniability

text: A U.S. Senate committee, the Church Committee, in 1974–1975 conducted an investigation of the intelligence agencies. In the course of the investigation, it was revealed that the CIA, going back to the Kennedy administration, had plotted the assassination of a number of foreign leaders, including Cuba's Fidel Castro, but the president himself, who clearly supported such actions, was not to be directly involved so that he could deny knowledge of it. That was given the term "plausible denial."


title: Plausible deniability

text: Plausible denial involves the creation of power structures and chains of command loose and informal enough to be denied if necessary. The idea was that the CIA and later other bodies could be given controversial instructions by powerful figures, including the president himself, but that the existence and true source of those instructions could be denied if necessary if, for example, an operation went disastrously wrong and it was necessary for the administration to disclaim responsibility.


title: Plausible deniability

text: The Hughes–Ryan Act of 1974 sought to put an end to plausible denial by requiring a presidential finding for each operation to be important to national security, and the Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980 required for Congress to be notified of all covert operations. Both laws, however, are full of enough vague terms and escape hatches to allow the executive branch to thwart their authors' intentions, as was shown by the Iran–Contra affair. Indeed, the members of Congress are in a dilemma since when they are informed, they are in no position to stop the action, unless they leak its existence and thereby foreclose the option of covertness.


title: Plausible deniability

text: In his testimony to the congressional committee studying the Iran–Contra affair, Vice Admiral John Poindexter stated: "I made a deliberate decision not to ask the President, so that I could insulate him from the decision and provide some future deniability for the President if it ever leaked out."


title: Plausible deniability

text: In the 1980s, the Soviet KGB ran OPERATION INFEKTION (also called "OPERATION DENVER"), which utilised the East German Stasi and Soviet-affiliated press to spread the idea that HIV/AIDS was an engineered bioweapon. The Stasi acquired plausible deniability on the operation by covertly supporting biologist Jakob Segal, whose stories were picked up by international press, including "numerous bourgeois newspapers" such as the "Sunday Express". Publications in third-party countries were then cited as the originators of the claims. Meanwhile, Soviet intelligence obtained plausible deniability by utilising the German Stasi in the disinformation operation.


title: Plausible deniability

text: In 2014, "Little green men" — troops without insignia carrying modern Russian military equipment, emerged at the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which "The Moscow Times" described as a tactic of plausible deniability.


title: Plausible deniability

text: The "Wagner Group" a Russian private military company has been described as an attempt at plausible deniability for Kremlin-backed interventions in Ukraine, Syria, and in various interventions in Africa.


title: Plausible deniability

text: Another example of plausible deniability is someone who actively avoids gaining certain knowledge of facts because it benefits that person not to know.


title: Plausible deniability

text: As an example, a lawyer may suspect that facts exist that would hurt his case but decide not to investigate the issue because if he has actual knowledge, the rules of ethics might require him to reveal the facts to the opposing side.


title: Plausible deniability

text: In computer networks, plausible deniability often refers to a situation in which people can deny transmitting a file, even when it is proven to come from their computer.


title: Plausible deniability

text: That is sometimes done by setting the computer to relay certain types of broadcasts automatically in such a way that the original transmitter of a file is indistinguishable from those who are merely relaying it. In that way, those who first transmitted the file can claim that their computer had merely relayed it from elsewhere. This principle is used in the opentracker bittorrent implementation by including random IP addresses in peer lists.


title: Plausible deniability

text: In encrypted messaging protocols, such as bitmessage, every user on the network keeps a copy of every message, but is only able to decrypt their own and that can only be done by trying to decrypt every single message. Using this approach it is impossible to determine who sent a message to whom without being able to decrypt it. As everyone receives everything and the outcome of the decryption process is kept private.


title: Plausible deniability

text: In any case, that claim cannot be disproven without a complete decrypted log of all network connections.


title: Plausible deniability

text: The Freenet file sharing network is another application of the idea by obfuscating data sources and flows to protect operators and users of the network by preventing them and, by extension, observers such as censors from knowing where data comes from and where it is stored.


title: Plausible deniability

text: In cryptography, deniable encryption may be used to describe steganographic techniques in which the very existence of an encrypted file or message is deniable in the sense that an adversary cannot prove that an encrypted message exists. In that case, the system is said to be "fully undetectable".


title: Plausible deniability

text: Some systems take this further, such as MaruTukku, FreeOTFE and (to a much lesser extent) TrueCrypt and VeraCrypt, which nest encrypted data. The owner of the encrypted data may reveal one or more keys to decrypt certain information from it, and then deny that more keys exist, a statement which cannot be disproven without knowledge of all encryption keys involved. The existence of "hidden" data within the overtly encrypted data is then "deniable" in the sense that it cannot be proven to exist.


title: Plausible deniability

text: The Underhanded C Contest is an annual programming contest involving the creation of carefully crafted defects, which have to be both very hard to find and plausibly deniable as mistakes once found.


title: Joy Taylor

text: Joy Allison Taylor (born January 17, 1987) is an American media personality and television host for Fox Sports 1. She is currently the co-host of Speak with LeSean McCoy and Emmanuel Acho. Taylor was the news update anchor on Fox Sports 1's "The Herd with Colin Cowherd", and the host of "The Joy Taylor Show" Saturdays on Fox Sports Radio.


title: Joy Taylor

text: Taylor previously served as the moderator for Fox Sports 1's studio show "" with commentators Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe.


title: Joy Taylor

text: Taylor attended Barry University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast communications in 2009. Taylor was the host of radio show "The Noise" and serving as the manager for her alma mater's radio station WBRY 1640 AM while finishing her degree.


title: Joy Taylor

text: Taylor previously worked three years at 790 AM The Ticket in Miami, where she began as the executive producer, then eventually became the co-host for the station's top-rated morning-drive sports radio show, "Zaslow and Joy Show". Taylor also served as the host of "Fantasy Football Today" and "Thursday Night Live" on CBSSports.com. Taylor joined FOX Sports in March 2016, playing pinch-hitter in several different FS1 roles, including filling in for Kristine Leahy on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd". On August 15, 2016, it was announced by Fox Sports that Taylor would be the moderator for Fox Sports 1's upcoming sports debate show "" with commentators Skip Bayless and former NFL tight end and former CBS sports analyst Shannon Sharpe. She also hosts "The Hang" on Facebook Live and her Podcast “Maybe I’m Crazy.” In 2018, Fox announced that starting June 18, Taylor would be moving from "Undisputed" to "The Herd with Colin Cowherd", also airing on FS1 along with Fox Sports Radio.


title: Joy Taylor

text: On September 9, 2021, it was announced that Taylor would be the host of her own Saturday program, "The Joy Taylor Show" on Fox Sports Radio.


title: Joy Taylor

text: Taylor's brother is former NFL defensive end Jason Taylor, who played 15 seasons in the National Football League and was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.


title: Joy Taylor

text: Joy Taylor revealed that she had been a victim of domestic abuse during an episode of Undisputed in 2017. In September 2018, it was announced that Taylor was engaged to former NBA point guard and head coach Earl Watson but the couple split in November 2019.


title: T. D. Jakes

text: Thomas Dexter Jakes (born June 9, 1957), known as T. D. Jakes, is an American bishop, author and filmmaker. He is the bishop of The Potter's House, a non-denominational American megachurch. Jakes's church services and Evangelistic sermons are broadcast on "The Potter's Touch".


title: T. D. Jakes

text: Thomas Dexter Jakes was born on June 9, 1957, in South Charleston, West Virginia, and grew up in Vandalia, West Virginia.


title: T. D. Jakes

text: Although Jakes was converted and ordained within Oneness Pentecostalism, he revealed in an interview with Mark Driscoll in 2012 that he affirms the Trinity, although Jakes did not affirm the eternality of the individual persons of the Trinity, which is denied by Oneness churches.


title: T. D. Jakes

text: Jakes is an advocate of sexual abstinence and has made appearances advocating it on "Good Morning America" and "Dr. Phil".


title: T. D. Jakes

text: In 2015, Jakes stated that his views on homosexuality and LGBT rights are evolving. However, Jakes stated that his words were misinterpreted and that while he does not support same-sex marriage, he "respect[s] the rights that this country affords those that disagree".


title: T. D. Jakes

text: In 1982, at age 25, Jakes became the pastor of Greater Emanuel Temple of Faith, a storefront church in Smithers, West Virginia, with ten members. In 1988, he joined the denomination "Higher Ground Always Abounding Assemblies" founded by Bishop Sherman Watkins. In 1990, Jakes moved to South Charleston, West Virginia, and his congregation grew again, to 300 members. In 1993 he moved to Cross Lanes, West Virginia.


title: T. D. Jakes

text: In 1995, he founded "TDJ Enterprises" which publishes his books and produces his films. From 1995 to 1996, Jakes hosted "Get Ready," a weekly radio and television show with national distribution through syndication. In 1996, Jakes, founded The Potter's House in Dallas, Texas, a non-denominational church. Located on a 34-acre hilltop campus, the Potter's House features a 5,000-seat auditorium, as well as offices for employees and staff.


title: T. D. Jakes

text: In 2005, Jakes accompanied President George W. Bush on his visit to the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. On January 20, 2009, Jakes led the early morning prayer service for President Barack Obama at St. John's Church in Washington, D.C., according to NBC News.


title: T. D. Jakes

text: In 2009, Jakes partnered with Dr. Phil McGraw, Jay McGraw, and CBS Television Distribution to launch a syndicated, secular talk show; however, due to economic issues within the syndicated television market, the program never premiered.


title: T. D. Jakes

text: In July 2015, Tegna, Inc. and Debmar-Mercury announced that a new secular talk show hosted by Jakes called "T. D. Jakes" would air a test run on Tegna stations in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, and Minneapolis from August 17 to September 11, 2015. On May 10, 2016, Tegna announced that it would begin airing Jakes's show September 12 in over 50 markets across the country. On March 15, 2017, Tegna announced that "T. D. Jakes" was cancelled due to poor ratings and low clearances.


title: T. D. Jakes

text: PBS Religion and "Ethics Newsweekly" have named Jakes among America's "Top 10 Religious Leaders." "Time" magazine featured Jakes on the cover of its September 17, 2001, issue with the


title: T. D. Jakes

text: In 2003, Jakes' album "A Wing and a Prayer" won the "Best Gospel or Chorus Album" at the 46th Grammy Awards. He has also received Grammy and Dove Award nominations for the gospel album "Live at The Potter's House". In 2004, he received the NAACP's President's Award. Jakes was selected in Oprah's "SuperSoul100" list of visionaries and influential leaders in 2016.