Thus I Heard

At the start of nearly all the Mahayana Buddhist sutras appears the phrase, “Thus I heard” (evaṁ mayā śrutam in Sanskrit). This is not simply referring to the phenomena of hearing — what we might call “listening.” “Thus I heard” is the voice of empty still beingness, “this” or (any number of other names) narrating its own beingness. The teaching isn’t what is said. The teaching is what disappears the “you” — when it is truly heard. It is the collapse of separation into the oneness of understanding.

In Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra, compiled thousands of years ago, the Buddha declares:

“The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, teach the Dharma according to what is appropriate, using expedient means… although their words may differ, their purpose is the same — to lead beings to the truth.”

This is an open admission that he sometimes taught provisional truths — using stories, parables, and teachings not as facts, but as skillful entry points. At other times, he taught direct truth, stating that all earlier teachings were partial, strategic, and contextual.

The non-dual message appears in many forms and voices. It can arise in radically uncompromising ways, or gently compassionate ones. It can be presented as a path or pathless and ironically, these styles often become the subject of dispute. But what matters, however it is communicated, is what is heard. And what is truly heard is a cosmic event of the collapse of separation into the always present oneness of what is.

What is heard is not a matter of physical hearing, which is simply phenomenal, but of the collapse of separation. So the radical message may be listened to but not heard. The subtle progressive method may be listened to but not heard. Anything in between may be listened to but not heard. Or, all of them may be listened to, heard, and understood.

What “works” (if that word even applies) is not the content, but the non-personal collapse of separation, revealing what has always been present outside of time and space. Even this “collapse,” though it may appear to be an event in time, is ultimately seen to be just another appearance of what is, like brushing teeth in a dream: seemingly real, but without substance.

In absolute terms, what is was always, and the illusion of separation was simply another apparent wave recognised by the mind in the ocean of what is that is the heart of all phenomena.

With love,

Freyja