Non-dualist Unity In The Face of Dualistic Division

I love this quote from the 13th-century Buddhist sage Nichiren Daishonin, a teacher of a non-dualistic form of Buddhism.

"An individual at odds with himself will not achieve anything because his heart is not dedicated to a single purpose.” [Nichiren Daishonin Gosho p. 1389)

What is our intention when taking action? If we are acting from our courageous, loving, and understanding life-affirming “heart,” then our mind and body will, over time, naturally fall in line, and our lives will flow effortlessly and in unity. To be at odds with ourselves means we are reacting from fear and lack, identifying with the mind and body and forgetting the heart in an attempt to regain the unity we have lost or never experienced. Here, the heart refers to the place that is the container of the mind and body, the undefinable, indivisible, ever-present, never-changing, Aware Being that is our true nature. The single purpose spoken about here is the activity inspired by our natural life-affirming enthusiasm, arising spontaneously from our true nature. As we come from this place, we find that the faculties of our mind and body operate optimally and constructively. Rationality becomes “grey” and subtle, step by step and not globalised. Imagination becomes clear and connected to positive, calm emotions in the body; memory becomes resourceful.

This principle can be extended to groups, organizations, and society too. Unity on a group level comes from this same experience of truth, and disunity comes from the belief of being separate and operating in the minds of the group. This disunity occurs as we lose ourselves in experiences and identify with seeing ourselves as a separate personal instigator and controller in the world. Even the vision of parts of our body, our voice, the sensations of the body, and the process of thinking itself can lead us, unless we know otherwise, to conclude that we are a separate person and act from this place. However, over time, we realize all these things are just arisings within the awareness we are and always are, and we don’t get lost in them but see them as expressions of us, and fear and lack dissipate. We find that the awareness we really are is never affected by these appearances, and we can instantly return to our natural state of peace once we have a path back to it. Then, we don’t have to follow our thoughts that are galloping toward dualistic disunity individually and socially, and we can maintain the peaceful unity of naturally being one.

Love

Freyja