Of course, there are ways in which we ARE all one, all the same, all connected, and that is almost certainly what most people mean most of the time when saying, "We are all one." To say we are separate is obvious. You're over there, I'm over here, and we are in no way connected whatsoever -- except that we're breathing the same air, exchanging the same ions, sharing the same environment, eating the same sustenance, digesting it in the same way, culturally validating one another by contrast and comparison, using nearly identical bodies in roughly the same ways, appearing as twins or clones of one another to anyone standing at a sufficient distance, and so on and so forth.
Is it useful to tell Jews harming Palestinians, "We are all One"? Yes, for if they knew the similarities, they would not harm themselves (by trying to harm the other). Is it useful to tell scientists look at a single blob under a microscope, "It is all one"? No because under a microscope one is looking for distinctions and differences to compartmentalize and categorize. Can we see similarities? Yes. Can we see differences? Yes. What are we looking at? Could the Buddha? Yes. What was he looking at?
So except for all of those ways in which we are all one, and too many more to mention, we are not all one. We're in the same boat, searching for the same things, going about it in similar ways, thinking each other's thoughts, having each other's ideas, feeling each other's feelings (like suffering, joy, empathy), mirroring one another, and so on. So the question is, Is there any value in seeing ourselves as separate? (There certainly is value in seeing ourselves as One, as part of the same whole, as interconnected and interdependent).
Of course, it's useful to see the distinctions and rather than relying on this Hindu saying "We are all One," it's useful to see the Path the Buddha taught to awakening here and now in this very life. Waking up to what? Waking up to the true nature of reality. It is not what we expect, and it may just take a shock like this to push us out of our comfort zone to investigate and penetrate for ourselves what is ultimately true.
- There are two truths, the conventional (the way we speak using everyday terms) and the ultimate (the technical details which often up-end the conventional ways of viewing things).
The Buddha never taught: We are all One
This video explores the misattributed idea of universal Oneness (a more Hindu idea of nonduality or advaita) in Buddhism. Drawing from the Buddha’s Teachings, the Dhamma, let's discuss why the concept of Oneness is considered an extreme view and how it contradicts the path to awakening.
With references to key suttas (discourses), we reveal why seeing all things as separate — not One — is essential for clear knowledge and bringing about the end of suffering.
Discover the true wisdom behind the Buddha’s Teachings and why they go beyond simplistic notions of Oneness.
#Buddhism #BuddhaTeachings #Oneness #Awakening #Nonduality #Individuality #Dhamma #truth
COMMENTS
- (@russellmason5095) Thank you so much for producing this video. It helped me to reconsider some points of ignorance about Oneness and Gautama Buddha's original teaching. Good luck on your path! Thank you for your efforts to bring an end to suffering.
- (@IamMae72) This channel explains things in such a precise and clear way.
- (@annieyip2176) (edited) Not easy to understand Dependent Origination [Dependent Co-Arising] correctly but I applaud your attempt to discern Oneness from interconnectedness
- (@SwissWalker) thank you
- (@WisdomLife9) What a great and useful video! Thanks. I will follow your channel for more interesting videos, stories!
- (@avinashjagdeo) This perspective is so much centered on the physical, which is a very narrow band of existence that some are passing through. If we are experiencing eating, then that is to know eating and to know being eaten. There is no evidence that all things at all levels have to eat or that we will always have to operate that particular way. There appears to be constant transformation which can include merging and diverging of consciousness. The word 'oneness' is just a concession of a finite mind to talk about a something that is beyond conceptualization. It could just as easily be called the 'all' or the 'totality' or 'infinite being'.
- (@priyadarshanachandrasena2062) 🙏🙏🙏🌼🌼🌼
- (@collinsharrelson6887) (edited) I do have a feeling we’re all one in the sense that we share in our conscious awareness with all other conscious beings. I mean just think about it. We’re all experiencing a base level conscious awareness so in an intrinsic way we are related. Furthermore, we all suffer the same fate (i.e., Old Age, Sickness, and Death), which means we all share in the same suffering and are all deserving of one another’s compassion because of that fact.
- (@noself-onlykarma) (edited) When you realize the Absolute Truth the Buddha was pointing to, you see why he used the word "Middle Way" vs. "Advaita" (non-duality). Too many people conceptualize, analyze, and interpret the Buddha's teachings intellectually. The teaching of Anatta/Anatman [the impersonal nature of all things] is meant to dissolve any types of identification since there's no inherent independent entity/identity (self). The entirety of everything depends on the entirety itself, so everything is interdependent. However, if you "identify" the entirety as "one" then you've fallen into relative conceptualization. How can you have "one" when there's no "two"? That's why we use the word "is-ness" or "thus-ness" to describe the reality. The Absolute Reality is already Here and Now. We just have to realize it through directly seeing that all that can be claimed is the witness itself (only awareness functioning). [There is n]othing to claim as subject therefore, no object. Then you see there's nothing we can [identify with or] be identified with. Even Buddha-Nature is a conceptual description, just a word to the many who only think in a linear way and see everything as existing independently. The reason we can't find our "mind" is because it is not a "thing," not even a subject. It's wrong to say it exists; it is wrong to say it doesn't exist. Neither both nor "one" is correct since they're all conceptual. Start with moral/ethical discipline and compassion for all sentient beings. Then discipline your mind to be focused (still/concentrated) so you can rest the thinking-mind. Then the wisdom (absolute reality) that has always been radiating is (infinite) Here and (eternal) Now.
- (@tanned06) Perhaps contrary to the early teachings preserved in the Pali canon suttas and Chinese Āgamas, the later development of Buddhist philosophy in Mahayana and Vajrayana [being so heavily influenced by Vedantic Hinduism] does recognize an ontological/metaphysical conception of allness/oneness as in realization of the pure consciousness/awareness or the hidden away Tathagathagarbha or the potent Buddha Nature/dhatu or the cleansed Alayaviñāna that's said to form the source of ultimate and peaceful ground of all [being and/or] 'beings.'
- (@thekaizer666) (edited) thank you for this. thanks for confirming all of these which i had contemplated, even before discovering Theravada. thank you. PS: In Mahayana/ Vajrayana, one of the central concepts is that of "we are all one," such that a wave is part of the ocean. And it just felt so very...full of friction. Like many, I started off with Mahayana/Vajrayana but steadily got disillusioned with so many of their doctrines. :(
- (@kib3571) When view is no view, only then you can see what everything is happening. 😅
- (@duanpienaar9755) We are one consciousness not one karmic body. The Buddha taught that the consciousness that realizes Buddha Nature is one.
- (@ElmerTan-ut4qn) The Buddha told us that people's relationship in the world is only for a very short period of time. A person dies. Each has its own path. And the majority of people are dragged away by their karmas. Even if they ever meet again, they would not be able to recognize each other. Once reborn in the Six Realms, the soul [??] will take on a new form. For example, we are now human, but the next life we may be in the lower three realms as animals, ghosts, or suffering beings in hell[s]. Those who cultivate kindness and compassion, they will have a beautiful appearance in their next life as a human. Those who are full of ignorance, they will have the appearance of an animal that is worse than human. Those who are full of greed, hatred, and delusion, their appearance will be like a ghost, which is worse than the animals. The Six Realms is the cycle of vengeance and revenge. Nobody can help you. [Many can help, not that they will. The Buddha helped countless beings.] Each has to bear its own karma [but not alone but rather in the company of others]. This is the true reality of life in the Six Realms of reincarnation [rebirth]. Why is one reborn again and again in the Six Realms? It is because we love this world too much and create a strong clinging. If we have no clinging for this world, we won't be reborn again into this world. If one chooses Western Pure Land for one's next life, then we have to chant Amitabha Buddha, that is, if one really wants to migrate there. No one can bring you to the Land of Ultimate Bliss except Amitabha Buddha himself [but remember nobody can help you, oh, except Amitabha Buddha and your family and friends and strangers who are kind, and bodhisattvas, and people and devas from long ago past connections with you in the Six Realms, but other than those, no one can help you because you are all alone and by yourself]. 🙏🙏🙏 Amitabha Buddha
- (@saddha1) Excellent analysis!
- (@Lifeisbrutal.) If there is interconnectedness, there is no oneness in a literal sense More
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