Question: In nonduality, how does an awakened person deal with the desire to grow, to develop, to advance in life if there is nothing better than the other, no good-bad, up-down, success-failure. How can one choose and act if all is one?
Response:
Nonduality also means there cannot be a duality between the relative dualistic way of apprehending and dealing with reality and the nondualistic one of non-differentiation. A true nonduality basically short circuits itself so to speak.
In Tiantai and Nichiren Buddhism we talk about “relative subtlety” (相待妙) which is a truth that transcends other truths and shows that their perspectives are limited. So - the view that nonduality transcends dualistic subject-object, self-other, approaches and leaves them behind is a relative subtlety.
But then there is an “absolute subtlety” (絕待妙) that subsumes everything else, so that there are no more comparisons on any level. From this perspective even the relative subtlety and all that it was to have transcended are all actually the absolute subtlety.
Now I am sure there are all kinds of logical problems with this, but aside from the rhetoric what do these ideas point to practically? For me, the relative subtlety is a prompt - reminding me not to get too entangled (whether in an clingy or aversive way) to any particular phenomena but to always be mindful that ultimately all provisional phenomena are empty of self-nature and are impermanent, in a state of inter-being (as Thich Nhat Hanh puts it) with all else, and are interpretable in many different ways beyond the particular limited view you may have at any given moment. Having an insight into the empty and therefore non-dual nature of phenomena helps maintain a liberated freedom to deal with everything with equanimity (and compassion insofar as non-duality means there is no room for alienation). However, with only that perspective one may sink into a mistaken detachment that is no longer engaged. Absolute subtlety is a reminder that there is no non-duality with all the seemingly dualistic phenomena that are actually non-dual. Non-dual liberated wisdom and compassionate engagement are only meaningful when expressed in and through the perspective of relative subtlety.
For those in the know about Tiantai and Nichiren Buddhism: Yes, this is just another way of talking about the integral unity of the threefold truth of emptiness, provisional existence, and the middle way.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei