HOPING , WISHING, DESIRE

   The nondualistic approach used in Vedantic texts is a positive (via positiva) one. Vedanta says that liberation is attained through Self-knowledge.  If we could find our real Self (Atman) we would be liberated and free from our false self.  Vedanta also uses a negating approach (via negativa), “neti, neti”, meaning “you are not this, not that”. The approach most often used in Buddhist texts is through via negativa; there is no self at all.   A “self” infers that there is something or someone separate and completely independent of all else. Buddhism emphatically teaches the emptiness of each object phenomenon as well as each person.  There is no independent being or becoming anywhere; all and each is connected and interdependently existing; there is no self-arisen or permanent separate entity anywhere. In the nondualistic teachings of both Vedanta and Buddhism the dissolution of the ego-notion is primary and culminates in liberation (moksha) and enlightenment (bodhi).  When the separative desire for personal attainment is finally absent, the ego is absent, so not hoping for, wishing for, desiring for, planning for is the final hurdle, the final obstruction overcome, the transcending of the hindrance that prevented the clear knowing of what things really are and what we really already are. When the hopes, wishes, and desires are absent then the ego-notion is not present and we can know the difference between mind and pure consciousness, the difference between dualistic perception and nondualistic apperception.  At their higher levels of teaching, Vedanta, Buddhism, and also Kashmir Shaivism are teaching vehicles approaching Advaitic apperception.  There are also several modern writers on Advaita who have developed an abundance of helpful insights into Advaita, and it is a growing movement, capable of giving a practical and profound experience of Real Truth, something still rare in our world.