[Mike Todd]

Thanks, Don, I found that really interesting.

I’ve long marvelled at the prospect that Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta each has something truly insightful to say about who we are, in terms of, respectively, the self as an aspect of “that which is experienced” (Buddhism’s no-self) and the self as “that which experiences” (AV’s Self). I see tantalising parallels between these two ways of understanding who we are and the Soul and Divine Consciousness Sri Aurobindo intuited.

I believe Sri Aurobindo also intuited what he called the supermind, a level of reality between what Zen and other approaches have called Absolute and Relative levels of reality, or between unmanifested Brahman and the manifested world amenable to our senses. My own nascent metaphysic posits an intermediate level of reality, between unconditioned foundational consciousness and differentiated phenomenal reality, that I have elsewhere called noumenal reality. Donald Hoffman, drawing on the work of Nima Arkani-Hamed and others, has discussed the amplituhedron as a contender for this intermediate level of reality within a metaphysic of foundational consciousness.

The amplituhedron is a mathematical construct, a spatially and temporally – quantitative time, that is – unbounded “jewel”, as it has been called, with, purportedly, an infinite number of dimensions. Mindful of Sri Aurobindo”s supermind, I feel a strong sense of yugen thinking of the amplituhedron as a “supreme gem” which is about to be retrieved from the mud:

“The true nature of any state of mind is free of flaws
And unaffected by the mire of existence and nirvana.
Even so, if a supreme gem is placed in a swamp,
Its radiance will not be clear.

The analogy presented here is of a jewel that has somehow fallen into a swamp. The jewel itself has excellent color and shape and is completely pure in being a jewel. It does not degenerate at all while mired in the swamp; it remains exactly what it was. On the other hand, it can’t be used. The jewel’s qualities are not apparent because it is concealed. If the jewel is removed from the swamp and the mud is cleaned away, the jewel will be a perfect jewel and can be used appropriately.”

https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Articles/Mind_Is_Empty_and_Lucid,_Its_Nature_Is_Great_Bliss

The verse is from A Song for the King by the Buddhist poet Saraha, c. 800CE.

buddhanature.tsadra.org

Mind Is Empty and Lucid, Its Nature Is Great Bliss - Buddha-Nature

Mind Is Empty and Lucid, Its Nature Is Great Bliss - Buddha-Nature