From one perspective it is impossible to produce an insight into
emptiness, or point to primordial awareness, through any procedure or form of
practice, since empty-awareness is an acausal reality. As an acausal, unconstructed, mode of being it
is unproduced and arises without any preconditions.
From another perspective empty-awareness can be revealed through the
pointing out events we find in Dzogchen and Mahamudra, the deconstructive
contemplations of the Madhyamaka and the koans in Zen Buddhism.
The question of whether there is anything, or nothing, we can do to
realize Totality, has been a source of debate within nondual, Prajnaparamita
sourced traditions of Mahayana Buddhism for millennia. We also find versions of
this debate in most mystical traditions.
In this presentation we will dance with this dilemma by demonstrating how
contentless awareness is revealed through self-deconstructing contemplative dialogues. We will remove the frames of reference through
which the recognition of This—the nature of mind, itself—is distorted through concepts,
ideas and practices. This will naturally include dissolving the very notion of
distortion itself.
Dr. Peter Fenner
Dr
Peter Fenner (peterfenner.com) has a multifaceted
practice as a writer, spiritual coach, and innovator in deep Buddhist
philosophy. He has a Ph.D. in the philosophical psychology of the Madhyamaka
school of Buddhism. He has taught Asian philosophy inside and outside of
academia for over 50 years. Peter bases his experiential work on the nondual
Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita) tradition of Mahayana Buddhism.
Peter is known for his capacity
to reveal our emotional and intellectual fixations, and for the dynamic and
engaging way he deconstructions the obstacles to pure awareness. He is known for the precision of his work and
for the way he dismantles the dualistic mind in real-time, such that there is
no time-lag between dialog and realization.
Peter's
skill lies in his capacity to embed “pointing out events” in free-form dialog.
“Free-form,” in this context, means that Peter moves seamlessly between a
penetrating dialog with participants and experiences of a deep, still and
natural silence that reveals the unperturbed nature of unified awareness.
Peter's
books include Natural Awakening: An Advanced Guide in Sharing Nondual
Awareness (Sumeru, 2015), Radiant Mind: Awakening Unconditioned Awareness (Sounds True, 2007), The Ontology of the Middle
Way (Kluwer,
1990), The Edge of Certainty: Paradoxes on the Buddhist Path (Nicolas-Hays,
2002), Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy (Co-editor, Omega Books, 2010).
