Voice of Zen Buddhism Alan Watts wrong?

(Buddha's Wisdom) Was Alan Watts wrong about Buddhism? The truth behind the "Voice of Zen"

• When Buddhism met Taoism: The hidden birth of Zen

Alan Watts: Zen means jhana (absorption, dhyana) - Zen (Tao) of effortlessness, soft power

Becoming interested in Zen: Alan Watts - Alan Watts: wu wei, with the Way (Taoist)

How can I effortlessly go with the flow?

Wu wei (無為, 无为, wúwéi) is a concept from ancient pre-Buddhist Chinese philosophy that literally means "not-acting" or "non-doing," variously interpreted and translated as "noninterference," "action-lessness," "inaction," or "effortless action" [1, 2].

In Taoism, it denotes the nature of Tao, meaning that while Tao (the Way, Path, or flow of nature, acting in accordance with the natural course of things), is the source of all existence and the manifestation of all phenomena, its intrinsic formless essence is that it acts or moves in a silent, invisible, ineffable, often-unnoticed manner that may even seem motionless and effortless [3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

It's all a matter of seeing the Suchness!

Accordingly, Taoists (and subsequently Zen Buddhist practitioners) aspire to live their lives in alignment with such a harmonious state of free flowing and unforced activity. In a political context, it also refers to an ideal form or principle of spontaneous and non-aggressive form of governing [8]. More

Zen Reconsidered: It's all "Suchness"

(Alan Watts) Zen Reconsidered: Suchness (full lecture by Alan Watts on Buddhism)

• 50 years without Alan Watts: A timeless echo in today’s culture (The Brussels Times, 2023)

What is "suchness"?

What is Suchness? All is Suchness.

Tathātā (Sanskrit तथाता, Pali tathatā) is a Buddhist term variously translated as "Suchness," "Thusness," "True Thusness," or "True Suchness," referring to the Ultimate Reality, the intrinsic and essential nature of all existence, free of dualistic thinking, conceptualization, subject–object distinctions [1].

It is formless, uncreated, eternal, perfect, unchanging, indestructible, and is the true nature of all phenomena. It represents the genuine reality of existence, which transcends physical forms, physical senses, and intellectual comprehension, indicating a profound insight into the nature of things as they truly are [2, 3, 4].

Tathātā has a large number of synonyms found in different Buddhist schools, traditions, and scriptures, such as:

• Emptiness (śūnyatā 空),
• Reality Realm (bhūta-koṭi 實際、實相),
• True Suchness (bhūta-tathatā 真如),
• Dharma Nature (Dharmatā 法爾、法然、法性),
• Dharma Realm (Dharma-dhātu 法界),
• Dharma Body (Dharma-kāya 法身),
• Nirvana (Nirvāṇa 涅槃),
• Vajra (金剛),
• Actionlessness (無爲),
• Dharma Intrinsic Nature (Dharma-svabhāva 法自性、法自然),
• Buddha-nature (Buddhatā, Buddha-svabhāva 佛性),
• Tathagata-Treasure (Tathāgata-garbha 如來藏),
• The True Reality of all phenomena (sarva-dharma-tathatā 諸法實相), and so on [3, 5, 6].

Although it is a significant concept in Mahayana Buddhism, it is also used in the Theravada tradition [7, 8]. More

The Life of Zen with Alan Watts - “Do what you like doing [rather than for money]”

Alan Watts on Buddhism and the word "Buddha" - Alan Watts, Who is the Buddha?

What to do? Go with the flow

Queens of the Stone Age "Go With the Flow" (live on Leno in 2003)

• Queens of the Stone Age – "Go with the Flow" lyrics

Zen: Trust the Universe (Alan Watts)

Trust the Universe: Alan Watts on finding Zen

(T&H - Inspiration & Motivation) Alan Watts Videos by T&H Motivation & Inspiration.  “The difficulty of describing Zen principles for Western ears is that people in a hurry cannot feel,” Alan Watts noted. “No one is more dangerously insane than one who is sane all the time: he is like a steel bridge without flexibility, and the order of his life is rigid and brittle.”

Sunday morning (KPFK): Alan Watts | Ways of Liberation | (full)

This is an inspirational and profound speech from the late Eastern philosopher and British Californian Buddhist/Taoist. Original audio sourced from: “Eastern Wisdom: Eastern and Western Zen." Video produced and edited by T&H Inspiration.

• Pacifica Los Angeles online archives (KPFK 90.7 FM)

ABOUT: T&H Inspiration is on a mission to share inspiring wisdom. The goal is to have viewers pause, think, and reflect. Many videos revolve around the extraordinary teachings of Alan Watts that are produced with permission from the Alan Watts Electronic University. T&H also films and releases original interviews with iconic people who have experienced successes, while also persevering through life's highs and lows. T&H looks forward to sharing more of these perspectives and insights. The hope with these videos is to push thinking.

►Follow the Alan Watts Organization: Speech courtesy of alanwatts.org. Instagram: alanwattsorg, Facebook: alanwattsauthor, YouTube: alanwattsorg. Speech licensed from mindsetdrm.com. Ways to stay connected with T&H to stay motivated: ▶Subscribe for new motivational videos: bit.ly/thyoutubesubscribe. ▶ SHOP motivational canvases and apparel: bit.ly/motiversityshop. ▶Become a member of loyal community: bit.ly/thmembers.  ► Follow T&H: Instagram: bit.ly/tragedyinstagram, Facebook: bit.ly/tragedyhopefacebook, Podcast: bit.ly/wisdomdailypodcast. Mindset App: bit.ly/THonMindsetApp.

• T&H - Inspiration & Motivation, July 1, 2024; Diane (Mrs. Roy of Hollywood) Tuckman, RN (Something's Happening, kpfk.org), "Ways of Liberation," March 23, 2025; Seth Auberon, CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Contentment Sutra (SN 16.1)

150 inspiring quotes on the quality of contentment for spiritual progress (quote.cc)

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Long Discourses of the Buddha

"Contentment"? What the Avici is that? Imagine a disposition of mind, a mood, of everything being fulfilled, everything being fine, having enough... The Laws of Attraction and Vibration and One would be so proud we made it. Here we are, at peace. There is a useful opposing force we sometimes cultivate called "a sense of urgency" or samvega. Most of us being lazy, it's probably better to develop enthusiasm and a spiritual quickening. But, actually, too much striving does not help and is counterproductive. It ruins a practice: efforting, manly (virility or viriya) energy, straining. There's a place for it. But it's better to follow the Buddha's "gradual or progressive instruction" (anupubbikathā) to peace: calm (the result of virtue), wakeful stillness (cultivated as the absorptions), and fourfold mindfulness for insight the is the Middle Way that avoids extremes and is the direct path to enlightenment and nirvana.

In this spirit, here is British translator of Wisdom Publications' The Long Discourses of the Buddha (Digha Nikaya) Maurice Walshe:

SUTRA: "Contentment"

"Meditators, Kassapa [1] here is content with any old patchwork robe. He praises contentment with any robe, and he commits no offense of rule or etiquette [2] on account of his wardrobe.

"If he has no robe, he worries not; if he has, he enjoys the use of it without clinging or foolish attachment, committing no offense, aware of the danger [of developing attachment and clinging] he wisely avoids it [3].

"Kassapa is content with whatever food offerings he gets... whatever lodgings... whatever medicinal requisites... he enjoys the use of these without clinging or foolish attachment, committing no offense, aware of the danger, he wisely avoids it.

"Therefore, meditators, train yourselves in this way: We will be content with whatever robe... food offerings... lodgings... medicines... that we might get... We will enjoy the use of them without clinging or foolish attachment, committing no offense, aware of the danger, we will wisely avoid it.

"Meditators, I exhort you all using Kassapa as the example, or someone like Kassapa. Exhorted in this way, practice to gain the goal" [4].

NOTES

1. Maha (Great) Kassapa, one of the Buddha's chief disciples who later became the leader of the Monastic Sangha, who convened the First Buddhist Council, organized the Dhamma into a religion after the Buddha's final nirvana, and who was declared by the Buddha as the foremost in the practice of the sane ascetic practices.
2. Unlike, for example, the Buddha's half-brother, the princely monk Nanda (SN 21.8).
3. Nissara napañño: literally, "wise as to liberation."
4. Tathatta: the state of "thusness" or "suchness," nirvana (nibbana). With a different suffix there is the almost equivalent term tathata, found mainly in Mahayana texts, but also occurring in The Path of Purification (VM XVII, 6), etc., where it means "the state of being really so."

• Maurice O'Connell Walshe (trans.), Santuttham Sutta: "Discourse on Contentment" (SN 16.1 PTS: S ii 194 CDB i 662), with Pali title based on the PTS (Feer) edition; edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Transcending "The World" (sutra)

John Ireland (trans.), Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly, §112. "The World" {Iti 4.13; Iti 121}

Thus have I heard. This was said by the Bhagava (Blessed One), said by the Arahant (the fully enlightened):

"Meditators, the world [saṃsāra] has been fully understood by the Tathagata [the Buddha referring to himself, the Wayfarer, the Well Come One/Well Gone One]; the Tathagata is released from the world.

"The origin of the world has been fully understood by the Tathagata; the origin of the world has been abandoned by the Tathagata.

"The cessation of the world has been fully understood by the Tathagata; the cessation of the world has been realized by the Tathagata.

"The way [course of conduct] leading to the cessation of the world has been fully understood by the Tathagata; the way leading to the cessation of the world has been developed by the Tathagata.

"Meditators, in the world with its angels, devils, and gods [devas, maras, and brahmas], with its wandering ascetics and temple priests (Brahmins), among [this generation of] humankind with its princes and people, whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought, and reflected upon by the mind — that is fully understood by the Tathagata: therefore, he is called 'the Tathagata.'

"Meditators, from the night when the Tathagata awakened to unsurpassed supreme enlightenment until the night when he passes into the nirvana-element without remainder [aka "the unconditioned element"] whatever he speaks, utters, and explains — all that is just so and not otherwise: therefore, he is called 'the Tathagata.'

"As the Tathagata says, so he does; as the Tathagata does, so he says: therefore [due to this integrity], he is called 'the Tathagata.'

"In the world with its angels, devils, and gods, with its wandering ascetics and temple priests, among humankind with its princes and people, the Tathagata is the conqueror, unvanquished, all-seer, wielding power: therefore, he is called 'the Tathagata'."

By knowledge of the world,

The entire world as it truly is,

He is released from all the world;

In all the world, he clings to nothing.

The all-conquering heroic sage,

Freed from every bond he is;

He has reached a perfect peace,

Nirvana, which is free from fear.

Rid of taints, he is enlightened,

Trouble-free, with doubt destroyed,

Reached the final end of karma,

Released by the destruction of clinging.

The Enlightened One, the Sage,

A lion he is, unsurpassed;

For in the world together with its devas

He set the supreme-wheel in motion.

Thus those shining ones and human beings,

Gone for guidance to the Buddha,

On meeting him pay him respect,

The Great One free from diffidence.

Tamed, among the tamed he is the best;

Calmed, among the calmed he is the seer;

Freed, among the freed he is the foremost;

Crossed, among the crossed he is the chief.

Thus do they pay him due respect,

The Great One free from diffidence:

"In the world together with its devas

There is no person to equal you."

This, too, is the meaning of what was said by the Buddha, thus I heard.

That time the Buddha said he kills people

Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Thanissaro (original translation), Kesi Sutta: "To Kesi the Horse Trainer" (AN 4.111 PTS: A ii 111) from accesstoinsight.org

Agustin Geraldo illustration (caveira, desenhos, transcendência. pinterest.com.mx)

.

The Buddha sits on a skull (ปลอดค่าลิขสิทธิ์)

[Thus have I heard.] One day Kesi the Horse Trainer went to the Blessed One (the Buddha), bowed, and sat respectfully to one side. Sitting there, the Blessed One said to him:

"Kesi, trained man that you are, trainer of horses to be tamed, tell me, how do you train a horse to be tamed?"

"Venerable sir, I train a horse to be tamed with gentleness, or [sometimes] with harshness, or with a skillful mix of both gentleness and harshness."

"But, Kesi, what if a horsed to be tamed submits neither to mild training nor to harsh training nor to a skillful mix of both mild and harsh training, what do you do?"

I will kill you, you untamable demon-horse!

"Venerable sir, if a horse to be tamed neither submits to mild training nor to harsh training nor to a skillful mix of both mild and harsh training then I kill it. And, sir, why is that? [I kill it thinking,] 'Do not let this be a disgrace to my lineage of teachers.' But, venerable sir, the Blessed One is the unexcelled trainer of [gods and men, that is, devas and human beings] those to be tamed. How do you train a person to be tamed?"

Prince Sid had a famous white pony, Kanthaka

"Kesi, I train a person to be tamed with gentleness, or [sometimes] with harshness, or with a skillful mix of both gentleness and harshness.

"In training with gentleness [I teach],

• 'Such is skillful bodily conduct [karma]. Such is the result of skillful bodily conduct.
• Such is skillful verbal conduct. Such is the result of skillful verbal conduct.
• Such is skillful mental conduct. Such is the result of skillful mental conduct.
• Such are the shining ones (devas). Such are human beings.'

"In training with harshness [I teach],

• 'Such is unskillful bodily conduct. Such is the result of unskillful bodily conduct.
• Such is unskillful verbal conduct. Such is the result of unskillful verbal conduct.
• Such is unskillful mental conduct. Such is the result of unskillful mental conduct.
• Such is [rebirth in] hell(s).
• Such is [rebirth in] the realm of animals.
• Such is [rebirth in] the realm of hungry ghosts.'

"In using a skillful mix of both gentleness and harshness [I teach],

• 'Such is skillful bodily conduct. Such is the result of skillful bodily conduct.
• Such is unskillful bodily conduct. Such is the result of unskillful bodily conduct.
• Such is skillful verbal conduct. Such is the result of skillful verbal conduct.
• Such is unskillful verbal conduct. Such is the result of unskillful verbal conduct.
• Such is skillful mental conduct. Such is the result of skillful mental conduct.
• Such is unskillful mental conduct. Such is the result of unskillful mental conduct.
• Such is [rebirth among] devas.
• Such is [rebirth among] humans.
• Such is [rebirth among] hellions.
• Such is [rebirth among] animals.
• Such is [rebirth among] hungry ghosts.'"

"But, venerable sir, what if a person to be tamed submits neither to mild training nor to harsh training nor to a skillful mix of mild and harsh training, what do you do?"

"Kesi, if a person to be tamed submits neither to mild training nor to harsh training nor to a skillful mix of both mild and harsh training then I kill the person."

"But, venerable sir, it is improper for the Blessed One to take life! Yet the Blessed One just said, 'I kill the person'!"

Venerable sir, teach and guide us to awaken. - This is skillful, this is not. Go practice Dhamma.

.

"Kesi, it is true that it is improper for a Tathagata [Wayfarer, the Buddha referring to himself] to take life. But if a person to be tamed submits neither to mild training nor to harsh training nor to a skillful mix of both mild and harsh training then the Tathagata regards that person as being neither worth speaking to nor admonishing.

• [NOTE: The Buddha never killed nor called for anyone to be literally killed. He did, however, lay down a "higher punishment" (brahma = "supreme" + danda = "rod," a figurative brahmastra). What is it? It is being shunned and ignored by the Sangha (the community of monks and nuns). This is not excommunication because it is not final, only a last resort to try to bring someone to his or her senses and correct a pernicious "wrong view" that person may be holding and acting on. See the case of Channa, the Buddha's charioteer who took care of his horse, Kanthaka. He later became a monk but was very proud of his affiliation with the Buddha as Prince Siddhartha. Indeed, this penalty had the intended effect: Ven. Channa came to his senses and, far from being "killed" was cured of his pride. See Channa Sutta.]

Buddha in the Ocean of Blood (Tatiana Basova)

"In addition, that person's noble friends (kalyana-mittas) in the pure life regard that person as being neither worth speaking to nor admonishing.

"Kesi, this is what it means to be 'utterly destroyed in this Doctrine and Discipline' [the Buddha's Teaching and Training] -- when the Tathagata regards one as being neither worth speaking to nor admonishing, and one's noble friends in the pure life regard one as being neither worth speaking to nor admonishing."

"Indeed, venerable sir, one is utterly destroyed [killed] if the Tathagata regards that person as being neither worth speaking to nor admonishing — and even one's noble friends in the pure life regard that person as being neither worth speaking to nor admonishing!

"Magnificent, venerable sir, magnificent! It is just as if one were to set upright what had been overturned, as if to reveal what had been hidden, as if to show the way to one who were lost, as if to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms!

Kesi (Hinduism) is a demon in shape of a horse

"In the same way has the Blessed One — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for guidance, to the Dhamma, and to the [noble] Sangha [community of enlightened persons]. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for guidance from this day forward for life."

• Kesi Sutta: "To Kesi the Horse Trainer" (accesstoinsight.org)
• Buddhism rejects death penalty/capital punishment

SUCHNESS with Alan Watts (video)

(The Middle Way) Jan. 27, 2016. "Every day is a good day. On condition that...they come one after another...and yet, there's only this one... You don't link them.⁣ ⁣ Things just do what they do. The flower goes poof, and people go this way, go that way, and so on... ⁣ ⁣ And…that’s what's happening.⁣

"It has no meaning, it has no destination, it has no value… It's just like that.⁣ And when you see that, you see...it's a great relief. That's all it is. But then, when you are firmly established in Suchness…in that it's just this moment... You can begin again, to play with the connections.⁣ Only, you've seen through them. But now you see that they don't haunt you.

"Because you know…that there isn't any continuous you...running on from moment to moment...who originated at some time in the past and will die at some time in the future.⁣ All that's disappeared.⁣⁣ So you can have enormous fun...⁣ Anticipating the future...⁣ Remembering the past... And playing, all kinds of continuities.⁣

"To the naive person: mountains are mountains, waters are waters.⁣⁣ To the intermediate student: mountains are no longer mountains, waters are no longer waters.⁣ But for the fully perfected student: mountains are again mountains...and waters are again waters.⁣" - AlanWatts⁣.org

• Alan Watts every Sunday morning and Thursday night, online archives (Los Angeles, KPFK 90.7 FM)

The Truth About Zen: Alan Watts (audio)

Points of Controversy: “Thusness”

Shwe Zan Aung and Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids (trans.), Tathatākathā, Points of Controversy 19.5, Of “Thusness”; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Controverted point: That the fundamental characteristics of all things (sabba-dhamma) are unconditioned.

Theravādin: (PTS cs 19.5.1) Do you then identify those fundamental characteristics or “thusness” ["suchness," tathatā] with nirvana, the Shelter…the Goal, the Past-Deceased, the Ambrosial? Or are there two “unconditioneds”? You deny both alternatives, but you must assent to one or the other.

If to the latter, I ask, Are there two kinds of Shelters and so on? And is there a boundary or…interstice between them? (PTS cs 19.5.2) Again, assuming a materiality (rūpatā) of matter or body, is not materiality unconditioned?

You assent. Then I raise the same difficulties as before. (PTS cs 19.5.3) I raise them, too, if you admit a “hedonality” of feeling, a “perceivability” of perception, a saṅkhāratā or co-efficiency of mental coefficients, a consciousness of being conscious.

If all these be unconditioned, are there then six categories of “unconditioneds”? (Uttarāpathaka: PTS cs 19.5.4) But if I am wrong, is the “thusness” of all things the Five Aggregates [clung to as self] taken together?

Theravādin: Yes.

Uttarāpathaka: Then that “thusness” of all things is unconditioned. Source

British rockers Kula Shaker: "Tattva" (music)

Kula Shaker (Sony Music); Seth Auberon, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Om the primordial sound

LYRICS: "Tattva" (by Kula Shaker) Tattva, achintya bheda abheda tattva/ Like the flower and the scent of summer/ Like the sun and the shine/ Well the truth may come in strange disguises/ Send a message to your mind/ (Chorus)/ At the moment that you wake from sleeping/ And you know it's all a dream/ Well the truth may come in strange disguises/ Never knowing what it means/ (Chorus)/ For you shall be tomorrow/ Like you have been today/ If this was never ending/ What more can you say?

Govinda as Krishna (Wikipedia)

MEANING: “Tattva” depicts a deep and mystical understanding of a central Vedantic Hindu concept called tattva in Sanskrit, which can be translated as “thatness” [or “suchness”]. This track was first released in the UK on January 1, 1996 as “Tattva (Lucky 13 Mix)” then reissued on June 24th as a re-recording on Kula Shaker's album K with a different sleeve and track listing. It reached #4 on the UK Singles Chart and #10 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the USA. Pink Floyd’s riffs from “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” were sampled on the track but not credited (Genius).

(Kula Shaker) A quarter century ago, this was the official video for "Tattva," taken from the debut album K by British rock group Kula Shaker under the heavy influence of Mother India. They returned in 2016 with a new album and a European tour (kulashaker.co.uk). Music videos by Kula Shaker performing (C) 1996 Sony Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd.

The Zen of Farting (Alan Watts)

Alan Watts (alanwatts.org); Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

The title is far better than the book, a bad joke gone too far. Better to hear Alan Watts:

Ajahn Chah: knowing the nature of things

Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org) via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

What is the suchness he awakened to?

When we realize dhamma [nature, suchness, what is just as it is], wherever we sit, we know the Dhamma [the Dharma, the Buddha’s Teaching]; wherever we are, we hear the Buddha’s Teaching.

When we understand Dhamma, the Buddha is within our mind [heart], the Dhamma is within our mind, and the practice-leading-to-wisdom is within our mind.

Having the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the [Enlightened-] Saṅgha within our mind means that whether our actions are, good or bad, we know clearly for ourselves their true nature.

Thai Forest  Kammathana

That is how the Buddha [Tathagatha] discarded worldly opinions, praise and blame, compliments and criticism. When people praised or criticized him, he just accepted it for what it was [tathātā, thusness, just that].

These two things [praise and blame] are simply worldly conditions, so he wasn’t shaken by them. Why not? Because he knew dukkha [disappointment, suffering, distress, ill, unsatisfactoriness]:

He knew that if he believed in that praise or blame, they would cause him to be disappointed, to stress, to suffer.

"Suchness" in Theravada? (Kalaka Sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly based on Ven. Thanissaro (watmetta.org) translation of the Kalaka Sutra: "At Kalaka's Park" (AN 4.24); Wikipedia edit

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Saketa at Kalaka's park, where he addressed the monastics: "Meditators!"

"Venerable sir!" they responded.

The Blessed One then said, "Meditators, whatever in the world — with its devas, maras, brahmas, its human-generations with their wandering ascetics and Brahmins, royalty and commoners — is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect, that I know.

"Whatever in the world — with its devas, maras, and brahmas, its human-generations with their wandering ascetics and Brahmins, their royalty and commoners — is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect, that I directly know.

"That has been realized by the Tathagata ["One Arrived at Suchness"], but in the Tathagata [1] it has not been [not become] established [2].

"If I were to say, 'I do not know whatever in the world... is seen, heard, sensed, cognized... pondered by the intellect,' that would be a falsehood in me.

"If I were to say, 'I both know and do not know whatever in the world... is seen, heard, sensed, cognized... pondered by the intellect,' that would be just the same.

"If I were to say, 'I neither know nor do not know whatever in the world... is seen, heard, sensed, cognized... pondered by the intellect,' that would be a fault in me.

The Truth is not arrived at by mere reasoning.

"Thus, meditators, the Tathagata, when seeing what [there] is to be seen, does not construe [imagine] a seen. He does not construe an unseen. He does not construe [an object] to-be-seen. He does not construe a seer.

"When hearing...

"When sensing...

In the seen let there be only the seen, Bahiya.

"When cognizing what is [there] to be cognized, he does not construe a cognized. He does not construe an uncognized. He does not construe [an object] to-be-cognized. He does not construe a cognizer.

"Thus, meditators, the Tathagata — being the same with regard to all phenomena that can be seen, heard, sensed, or cognized — is 'such' [3]. And I tell you, there is no other 'such[ness]' higher or more sublime.

"Whatever is seen or heard or otherwise-sensed

and fastened onto as true by others,

One Who is Such — among the fettered —

would not further claim to be true or untrue.

"Having seen well in advance that arrow

where generations are fastened and hung

— 'I know, I see, that is just how it is!' —

there is nothing of the Tathagata fettered."

NOTES

1. Reading tathagate with the Thai edition.
2. That is, the Tathagata has not taken a stance on it.
3. "Such": thus; just so; as it is; like that; tathātā.

"Such"?

Tathātā (Sanskrit तथाता, Pali तथता or tathatā, Tibetan དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་, Chinese 真如) is variously translated as "thusness" or "suchness." It is a central Mahayana Buddhist concept [Notes 1, 2], having a particular significance in Chan (Zen) Buddhism. The synonym dharmatā is also often used.

Suchness.

While in the world the historical Buddha referred to himself as the "Tathāgata," which can mean either "One Who Has Thus Come" [more commonly in Mahayana writings rendered the "Thus Come One"] or "One Who Has Thus Gone" (Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 296), the "Welcome One" ("Well Arrived") or "Well Gone One" and may perhaps more correctly be interpreted as "One Who Has Arrived at Suchness" [who understands, "This is the way things are and not otherwise" or "Thus are things by their own inherent nature"]. [Mahayana seems to confound the Buddhist "suchness" with the old Hindu concept tattva].  More

1. Arthur Goldwag (2014). 'Isms & 'Ologies: All the Movements, Ideologies and Doctrines That Have Shaped Our World (p. 206). Most of its doctrines agree with Theravada Buddhism, but Mahayana does contain a transcendent element: tathata, or suchness; the truth that governs the universe.
2. Jay Stevenson (2000). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eastern Philosophy (p. 144).

• See also MN 2, MN 58, MN 63, MN 72, AN 10.93, AN 10.94, AN 10.95, AN 10.96, Ud 1.10, Ud 8.1