SHIN JIN MEI | 信心銘- DAY NINE

"And when oneness is not thoroughly understood,
In two ways loss is sustained:
The denying of reality is the asserting of it,
And the asserting of emptiness is the denying of it."

Oneness, emptiness, mu: we have a number of ways of conceptualizing the absolute. Of course, any way we attempt to describe it naturally misses the mark. People often try to stress the absolute as a 'right' concept - and dualism as 'wrong'. This is not the nature of oneness. When we haven't understood the interconnectedness of all things experientially - and we try to apprehend it with the mind - in two ways loss is sustained:

By staking a claim and saying 'this is reality', we deny reality. Reality cannot be referenced conceptually. It is like putting some water in a test-tube and using it to experience the ocean.

Likewise, asserting emptiness misses the mark. Any conceptual description stands outside of it and therefore diminishes it - thereby denying it.