Does God Exist ? Or is it Dependent Origination ?
Abstract: In this post we will look at the creation in terms of our inner world. How a meditator would see this creation without falling into any belief system? Meditator starts his journey based around a certain belief, a fixed practice at the beginning. With progression, his life starts to unshackle from certain identities, labels, pre-conditioned concepts and therefore freedom from any false identities, even from his own practice and meditative experience. At some point he starts to live by his own truth which is the reflection of his inner world.
Note: The idea of dependent origination can be used in different contexts to explain different concepts. In this article we relate dependent origination to the creation of the universe.
A meditator is an explorer, who looks inwardly. Out of his genuine interest, or through his own suffering, he starts to understand the world through him. Through his own mind. There are many spiritual practices in the world one can undertake and all of them can be extended to a deeper meditative realization. In a nutshell, meditation takes you from the gross mind to a subtler experience. Mind to no mind, matter to anti-matter, darkness to light. So it does not matter which method you follow, as long as we share the same human mind-body system, we have to go through the same meditative absorptions (Samadhis, Energies). One such experiential insight is given below.
Fig 1. Certain insights, Samadhis meditators usually encounter (In this order shown).
At lower energy levels, mind does exist. The mental activities continue despite the higher frequency in the meditative state. Our mental awareness notices the thoughts, stories or atleast the absorption we maintain. There we still remain with names and forms of our mind. When the meditative absorptions get even deeper, our awareness slowly releases the grip of mind, and enters into the clear-light state (For me this happened after 3rd eye awakening). There is a specific meditative technique from Buddhist tradition that brings you to this experience. It is known as "Animmitha" meditation (not Animmitha samadhi), where we first bring our mental awareness to a higher energy state (A Jhana state through 3rd eye opening). Then with the stability in that, we remain in an "Objectless" concentration. This releases the grip of our mind slowly and bring the first (child) clear light to the meditator.
As said before, this is the starting point of our journey. It is then followed by higher level samadhis including advanced clear light stages. The point here is to not to be fascinated by these samadhis, becoming powerful or an extraordinary individual. It is totally the opposite, you even lose yourself. The old self and its habitual patterns. The most important thing you will realize from these insights is how the existence works, how our interaction with people and everything unfolds in a specific way due to cause and effect. This understanding brings us less suffering and more freedom, however the Bodhisattva's story is different and is an exceptional case.
When the meditation was progressing, I started to question my own experience;
1. Why these energies work in this manner, in this order, from the gross to the subtle ?
2. How the surrender to the universe, your own practice, spirituality or god make you progressed in this way ?
Deep awareness during meditation can find answers to these questions. There is a strong link between one meditative state to the other. When you're moving from one state to the other through your mind awareness, it is felt as "an elevator", which automatically elevates you to the next higher level (won't happen overnight though). In other words if we are vulnerable enough, the next higher level is ready to uplift us from where we are. The reason seems to be an equilibrium in that energy system which is maintained by the links between the energy states. The closest analogy we may find in science is the movement of electrons through their energy shells.
Fig 2. An electron moves through different energy shells (read it here).
The nucleus is our gross mind. From there, with meditative energy we move into successive higher states. Once we experience these successive steps, it becomes apparent that one level cannot survive without the other and it is same in both directions. One cannot ever skip any of the lower states to tap into the higher states. Moving from one to the other brings changes to our energy system, aura and our perception. This equilibrium defines the connection between our human mind and its link to the physical body. Note that when electrons excite, it has no impact (to the best of my knowledge) on the nucleus. However when our mind develops through samadhis, it certainly brings a shift into our mind at non-meditative state which is no longer gross.
Then the question comes, if the mind disappears from 1st clear light state onwards, how we can move to higher states in meditation ? Yes, you cannot forcefully traverse through the no-mind region. It's beyond our control. No effort can take you there either, but the life/surrender or your regular spiritual practice with the guru may let you progress to the upper levels. The dissipation of the karmic energy is also necessary for this. Another viewpoint is that, when we truly surrender, these higher states (universe) naturally want to us to be awakened. Therefore even without the involvement of our mind, we are uplifted. However the surrender will take you through life changing situations.
How do I see it ?
I have my own interpretation to this equilibrium which I'll present here in more dramatic way. Each energy (or consciousness) level wants to know what its lower (preceding) and higher (succeeding) possibility through us. Not by us. But through us ! We simply sit in meditation while our mind is progressing through "no mind" states, without our involvement. We prepare the garden, soil by fertilizing and watering daily and as a result, seed turns into a plant, and then a flower springs out of it. Each energy level has this "knowing" quality which I want to refer as the awareness of that particular energy. This awareness maintains the equilibrium; therefore the binding between our gross mind and the physical body. Effort is necessary to come to a certain meditative level, afterwards surrender is !
Fig 3. The link between energy states and the awareness that maintains the equilibrium of the system.
The Original Topic, is it God or Dependent Origination ?
End of the day it comes down to your "view point". How do you want to see this enlightening and evolutionary process ? One may point to a certain higher energy state here (i.e. Gold or higher clear light states) and call it god, or creator. One may recognize this entire evolutionary process as the work of creator, owing to the less involvement of our mind at higher meditative states. One may discern the bliss, ecstasy at higher energy states to be divine while the gross states to be human. Another person would see the entire picture as a continuing link between energies and therefore their dependent nature to each other. The existence goes on this dependent manner while our initial effort should be to realize this dependent nature.
When one enlightened master saw the system in more theological manner, he pointed at the "fundamental energy source" and referred to it as God. The other saw it in more scientific manner and presented it in atheistic form. Their observations, teachings later turned into different religions while they both immersed in the same absolute no-mind states.
Inner World vs Outer World ?
When the inner absorption goes beyond a certain energy level (fundamental energy), what we refer to as inner person (subtle bodies) cannot contain in the physical body and leave it. Then the meditator comes to know that, what he used to see as his physical body is merely a gross manifestation of all the subtle energies. These energies are just available here and now, even helping to manifest other physical realities in this world around us (despite the fact that we are unable to see it in our own eyes, however our late master Jayasuriya did).
What do we see? Let's examine the dependent origination in more conceptual level. In closed-eyes meditation, we traversed through the meditative absorptions. This brings certain subtlety, understanding or shift to our normal consciousness. Normal consciousness is our mind in day to day life. Then we see the reflections of our own mind in the outside world. Earlier we witnessed only the subjective reality in a relative manner. Now with the cleansing process through meditation, we see things more clearly, as a result of dependent factors.
i.e. A famous Mexican restaurant in the city serves the finest meals and best deals. Suppose a celebrity visits the place and ordered a one. On that very day, something went wrong in the kitchen, the guy ended up dissatisfied and made a negative review. This could be the downfall of the business, due to the significant dependent arising factors. If the review was from a person like you and me, no one would pay attention to it. Things do not go wrong in the kitchen everyday either. Still it is the best Mexican restaurant in the town to some.
i.e. Nearly a decade ago, in Sri Lanka we had an ethnic conflict. It was not only a heat between two ethnicities, but also a political turmoil. On the surface, it looked like propagating extremist religious ideas or something of that sort. However the ground level reason was ridiculous! Two guys from different ethnicities were checking out a girl. Well, things didn't go very well between the two and it turned into a fight, dragging other people, even relatives into it. The situation naturally developed into an ethnic fight, which brought people from adjacent cities too. This is what happens when things aren't under control in our part of the world. It was an opportune moment to the politicians to market themselves and their ideologies.
If the situation was properly analyzed, "just after its arising" there is no sense of ethnic fight or notion of politics to be found in it ! The whole thing could have been stopped where it all started. But many depending factors fueled the initial case, turning it to be a disaster. The ground level truth is a joke !!!
We cannot really generalize anything in this world, based on personal opinions and relative experiences. However the world works in the opposite way. Without dependent arising, nothing in this world can survive or sustain. Therefore the conflicts, turmoils, wars etc. On the other hand, the ethnic fight example can be related to our personal life. If we are aware of the problems that arise within us, then we can be mindful of the fuels that can worsen the problem. The insight of dependent arising is therefore applicable to our lives in many ways.
Can't we see all this without meditation ?
Of course we can ! The above is not a difficult thing to grasp, even to a gross mind. To a person without any meditative experience. The understanding does not embody in the person though. The embodiment of the truth or realization comes with the the dropping of certain layers in our mind. Or even by dropping our bodies. Penetrating through these layers is therefore necessary for the embodiment.
When we bring clarity into our conscious mind, there is less influence from preconceptions, identities and labels to our ideas. The other two layers are usually related to releasing tendencies, habits etc.
What does surrender mean ?
Surrender does not mean you become a slave to an idea or a religious belief. The interest to walk on a spiritual path should be out of the individual's free will. It can be out of his genuine interest of seeing what is beyond or finding inner peace. The surrender means devoting yourself to a purpose. Mao Zedong surrendered himself to the idea of revolution, he envisioned for a great future. So that he lost his individual purpose. Similarly we have to make an effort to find ourselves. This very effort is surrender. This is devotion. The only difference between a mundane and spiritual venture is that the latter needs less involvement of our mind at some point. Spirituality does not make slaves. It breaks the shackles of the individual who is tied up to all mind created stuffs. This does not mean they go against social norms (usually the repressived are the ones who break and bend the rules), the inner light or the embodiment of the truth make them naturally disciplined.
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