Eastern Traditions: What is World? What is Reality? | Episode 2401 | Closer To Truth
▶ Get early access to episodes of Season 24 on our website: shorturl.at/jtUZ6
How do Buddhism, Chinese traditions, Hinduism, and Shintoism address causality, consciousness, energies, God, ultimate reality? What is non- dualism? How is the world interconnected? How are metaphysics and morality related?
Featuring interviews with Venerable Dr. Yifa, Jay Garfield, Yujin Nagasawa, Swami Sarvapriyananda, Swami Medhananda, Franklin Perkins, and Helen De Cruz.
Explore all of our videos on Eastern Traditions: shorturl.at/agM69
Closer To Truth host Robert Lawrence Kuhn takes viewers on an intriguing global journey into cutting-edge labs, magnificent libraries, hidden gardens, and revered sanctuaries in order to discover state-of-the-art ideas and make them real and relevant.
Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
At last! Closer To Truth explores Eastern Traditions!
yes, but not impressed. the buddha's teaching say that we live in a simulation. I'd like to see a discussion with a Abhidhamma expert.
@@himanshunagpal4122 it doesn't say we live in a simulation...which school of Buddhism says that? Abhidharma originated with the Sarvasti Vada school basically it is a taxonomy of all dharmas (here meaning fundamental phenomenon) that are the constituents of experience. They thought they were eternal existing in their own nature (svabhava) throughout the three times of past, present and future, hence the name sarvasti meaning all exists. Later Vasubandu, the consciousness only founder, took the Abhidharma and modified it to suit his philosophical view of idealism, but neither is a simulation theory, unless you mean a mental simulation
@@DavidKolbSantosh samsara = simulation
I believe the scriptures of all the major religions could be seen as saying Earth is a simulation imagined from heaven. It seems the word photosynthesis gives a clue as to how the bridge is traveled from imagination to it's appearance. Ganglion would be another such word that indicates it's a part of the process in it's etymology. I was just thinking about the meaning of photosynthesis but there are many words, maybe most process words, that indicate the connection between the unseen cause of all things and the seen effect. I'll list a few, Ribosomes phospholipids, fontanelle, cytoplasm, diastolic, sinus rhythm, diaphragm, sinuses, cerebral spinal fluid, Pineal, genes, chromosomes, biology. The etymology of the syllables of these words tells a story about what the things these words symbolize do. Other "coincidental" word relations can be found outside of biology like the radi of a wheel are called spokes. 🙏⚕️🙏
I see!
At last, i was waiting for this interview with Swami Sarvapriyananda. As somebody in the below comments mentioned, he nailed it with the simple explanation.
I've been following and listening to him for the last 6 months or so. I agree, he's great! I want to see the full interview
Jay Garfield explains Mahayana Buddhism so well. Great guest to have on the show.
I'd like to see more of that convo
11:14 Many thanks to Closer to Truth. Swami Sarvapriyananda has explained the Advaita Vedanta philosophy extremely well, but still I think the Closer to Truth team should give more time (it may be a separate interview) to understand the Non-dual philosophy. Swami Sarvapriyananda's best teachings on this philosophy are already available on the Vedanta Society of New York KZhead channel, but that channel is a little bit religious in nature. I believe that Closer to Truth may be the best place to find out about this philosophy of Non-Dual Pure Consciousness from the point of view of scientific rationalism. Advaita Vedanta (especially Three States of Mind and Shri Gaudapadacharya's Ajata Advaita) must meet scientific rationalism. I hope Closer to Truth will arrange a seperate interview between the two great intellects of modern times, Robert Lawrence Kuhn and Swami Sarvapriyananda. Because Advaita Vedanta is more Closer to Truth than science and religion.
Full interview with Swami Sarvapriyananda please !
Please dig deeper in to Eastern philosophies!
Long overdue and much appreciated! RLK, I have enjoyed all aspects of Closer to Truth for many, many years. But as an American who lives full-time in India, on the banks of Ganga Maa (The Ganges) high up in the Himalayas, who spends all day, every day, seeking only truth, I am truly pleased that you have decided to explore the eastern traditions. I genuinely believe that it will bring you, well, you say it best...
Sounds like an incredible lifestyle my friend. All the best and much love.
With you, Dr. Kuhn, leading this effort the new series will be excellent. Thank you for this.
I would like to see Robert do a one hour special on what he has concluded about religion, consciousness and the nature of reality, after having listened to so many viewpoints.
11:19 could have stopped right after this interview Robert. His explanation absolutely nails it!
FINALLY! Thank you! The western bias was palpable and sometimes too much. Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism have such rich answers to so many of the questions you explore
That opening monologue. That's why I love this channel
So exciting to see eastern religion given full focus on closer to Truth
Closer than ever. Hope to see more on Buddhism and Daoism.
Not in the modern Chinese tarnished way 😂😂😂
Given how much possibilities there exist in the natural world, it's good that this Channel is moving closer to truth by also trying to understand the eastern religions, philosophies and thinking. This is the least this channel should do given how much we don't know which is equivalent to everything. Reality is clearly not just the western view
".. if you soak your intellect in chitta - consciousness unsullied by memory - it can grow razor-sharp, turn into a miraculous tool of bliss and liberation, and deliver you effortlessly to the ultimate."
Wonderful project theme for you to explore. Looking forward to these installations of Closer to Truth. Thank you.
Like many here I've been waiting and hoping this show would consider the Eastern traditions that have been exploring these matters THOUSANDS of years. As a humble student of things spiritual the last fifty years ALL my questions have been answered by the Hindu tradition Advaita Vedanta and Buddhist tradition Dzogchen. Watch a few videos from Samaneri Jayasara on Nisargadatta's teaching and questions simply dissolve. A famous quote of his says "The mind creates the abyss. The heart crosses it." That's enough for me.
Thank you Robert 💛
I see that you have interviewed Swami Sarvapriyananda
Please interview Swami Sarvapriyananda, holder of the chair of the Vedanta Society of NewYork. A very erudite swami
For people who care what is actually truth. The only truth that we can be sure about is our consciousness, and what we call objective reality, comes to us through consciousness. So it can be either independent from it or generated by it. Objective reality is just a useful model, we, as conscious beings, are living in the mental space not in objective reality. The things that are imaginary can be just as real to as, as things in what we call objective reality. That's why we care about events and characters in movies even if we know they are not real.
The search widens. But at least it is getting 'Closer to Truth'. Now it can begin focusing ie narrowing. ❤
Nice upload.
Great. My two favorites are Zen and Tao.
Excellent! I hope their are going to be more episodes like this. 🖖
There absolutely are. You can watch the first three episodes now with a free Closer To Truth membership: closertotruth.com/playlist/season-24/ 💫
Finally!!
Good episode 👌👍
Jay Garfield is superb
Whatever is seen or known or experienced or imagined is made of Consciousness which sees, knows, experiences and imagines. Consciousness alone exists.
What about rocks?
@@jroy959Rocks are part of consciousness
I love your show and watched it with utmost attention, and I have come to the conclusion that you wanted to know about the Supreme power who created us and everything in this universe. The answers to all your questions are there, but you may or may not accept the presence of divine power.
Brahman's description "limitless existence, cosmic consciousness, God" sounds very similar to the subtitle of "Closer to Earth" ("Cosmos, Consciousness, God/Meaning") I wonder if the guest knew this prior to the interview thus ret-conned his definition to match the show
Thank you..!!!
Hey there! Branching out, are you? Great. When you're done there, I'd like to see you investigate alchemy. I've heard Isaac Newton did a good bit of writing on the subject.
World is everything we can understand at base levels.
Great video!
Reality is what you and the collective society have experienced and agree on.
Silly and self refuting relativism.
In essence? Or that's how we know what reality is?
Samuel Johnson and James Boswell: ..After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, "I refute it thus."
Can you make a video about the purpose of storytelling, because I love the idea of it.
At last Indian Traditions are featured in Closer to truth
Please interview Rupert Spira
16:29 Great question! This issue - of the attributes/nature/svarūpa of the Brahman, personal or impersonal etc - have been vigorously debated in Indian traditions. Advaita will talk about "personal aspects" of the Impersonal Brahman, transformations etc - vyākr̥ta/expressed as something seemingly different from itself. On another note, bit unfair to summarily club "Eastern Traditions." Just Buddhism and Advaita can be deep topics on existential questions worth their weight in gold. People like Garfield, Sarvapriyananda, Medhananda are very capable practioners and expositors. I remember seeing the full length talk with Jay Garfield earlier...
If truth is the focus, it would be interesting that "Closer to Truth" addresses the Four Noble Truths which are central teachings in Buddhism. These truths are to be found looking inward not outward. In Buddhism, the goal is the liberation not the exploration of the reality like in science or philosophy. Therefore the focus is on the understanding of the nature of suffering, its causes, and the path towards liberation. The teaching about impermanence is to remind us that as everything changes, attachment to any temporary state or object is a source of suffering (the First Noble Truth). Dependent Origination shows how suffering arises from a series of interconnected causes and conditions, primarily ignorance (avidyā) of the nature of reality leads to desire and attachment (the Second Noble Truth). Cessation (Nirodha) of suffering can be achieved through breaking the chain of dependencies, particularly by removing ignorance and thus stopping the arising of attachment and desire (the Third Noble Truth). The Eightfold Path addresses the cycle of dependent origination by fostering right understanding and mindfulness, which help in perceiving the true nature of phenomena as impermanent and interdependent, thus leading to the cessation of attachments and ultimately suffering (the Fourth Noble Truth).
This is really a video towards the truth or closer to it.
I am hopeful Robert will find a real Abhidhamma expert and discuss the Buddha's teaching
4:54 causality implies a beginning from a different and higher state of existence as opposed to an unconditional existence of our reality 🤔
🙏🏼
Do an episode on psychedelics and the Bhavacakra or Samsara. For example, smoking salvia induces a psychedelic state of becoming one with the wheel of life and death (reincarnation). The same wheels found within Ezekiel's vision of god on his chariot. And obviously the DMT family needs to be discussed as well.
The question should be put consciousness is able to easily traverse any reality wherever there's a birth it's a new beginning
I don’t think Lawrence represented the idea of Advaita correctly with his conclusion in the conversation at about 18 minutes where he says that if only consciousness exists, there is no God. I think he is missing the point that consciousness is God. God is consciousness. Then the personal god becomes the way we interpret what God is to us because we have qualities and form.
I also noticed his conclusion was off
Zun Zsu..the art of war.. ''war should be avoided with diplomacy. If it cannot be avoided, it should be fought strategically and psychologically to minimize damage and the wasting of resources. Warfare should only be a last resort and heading into battle is already admitting a kind of defeat.''
World is reality. reality is the world.
Words that don't mean anything
@@stringX90 Also meaningless is - reality is integrated in world and world is integrated in reality.
🧐Kudos to the multiple isims born and raised in Catholicism, agnostic in me always seeking knowledge segment interesting 👍
Born into Christian lite family, turned agnostic, went full atheist, now turned around to be generic Eastern spiritual, mostly following Taoism and Adveta Vedanta ---- your time will come!
I’m Robert Lawrence khuan
What if hidding the "why is there anything at all" helps life grow to unlimited potentials. The same way how our limited lives helps many use their time wisely and bring great things to the world.
Eastern truth are the closes to quantum physics, with ethics added, to behave in human created society and all its non existence nonsense like money, position, gdp, laws in order to avoid suffering.
Upanishads blew my mind.
Any best translations to read for a beginner, you'd suggest?
Buddhism’s practicality is from Hindu Philosophy. Dharma is the core of Hindu thought and is prescribed as the foremost purushartha( goal) , for a human being during his lifetime.
World - word of light or sunlight. Under the light, you have the ability to access your endurance and self-control parts which helps the patient (body) being access the internal members by sending and receiving both strength and breath (spirit). Walk (earth) your steps. Mer (Light) Ka(Spirit) Bah(Body) There is one thing you cant find and it holds the endurance of the body.......
The kids at my school say I can't really be a horse but my teacher says I can.
I wont keep beating around the bush........your legs represent the endurance and everything above it called the body is represented by self-control. Both Endurance and Self-control form one good word called Patience. Psalms 46:10 of the English Standard Version says Be Patient and know that I am God. In essence, movement is paramount. Movement is also known as Vibration and resonance. Movement allows you to knead your internal members you own. Without movement, there is no breath and strength in that entity which helps you internal systems to function optimally.
Reality/Life = That which is/That I am Tao = Way or nature of Life The Rhythm of Life is movement and a rest. The optimum (Heaven)is always found somewhere between the extremes of too much and too little (Hell). Pleasantness is the Rose found at the Heart of the Optimum. Just so. Narrow is the way and straight the path, and few there are that find it. One who knows when to stop is forever safe: Inner/Outer More/Less Better/Worse Yes/No
Eastern tradition centers around the physical and the metaphysical. Physical can be explained but metaphysical can only be felt, like consciousness. Eastern tradition tends to focus on everything emanating from nothing, indicating God or divine design. In the east there is no atheism, here it means God is undefined.
Look inside yourself.
...Sir, I so appreciate your, knowledge & accumulated experiences. I find the Eastern religions to be much to wordy attempting to share & describe, as well as categories or sections. I find Christianity so much simpler to explain. I am sorry I heard you say you had never had a personal experience of your own. Please just as you & I might speak, I pray the HOLY SPIRIT reveal an interaction with you, respectfully, Chuck...captivus brevis...you tube...Blessings...
Alan Watts
Facts, Alan beautifully blends it all together to show you how being spiritually awaken you can see each and every philosophy for what it is and how they interrelate.
Hope to see more on Daoism. It's much deeper than it comes across here.
این هم مشکلی بود از مشکلها که خدا رو شکر زیر سایه شما حل شد 🙏💖💖🙏💚💚💜💜❤️🤍❤️
Someone haven't included the scepticism for the greatest religion on the world - science 😂
Dualism = the extremes of the same spectrum.
Could we knows God's capability if the only places we know is heaven.???
Dao ke Dao Feichang Dao!
Recently i ordered a book by Bart Marshall, The perrenial Way, it includes 6 prominent and seminal works and translation is great, all in a single volume, too, for a very kind price. Such works as dhammapada, astavakra, tao te ching...
The West has remained materialistic. It suffers from materialism. It has all the benefits of materialism: great technology, beautiful houses, better medical facilities, longer life, more beautiful bodies, more healthy bodies. It has all the benefits of materialism - it is rich, affluent - but it suffers because it has lost its soul, the inner world is empty, hollow. The West has all that is needed on the outside, but in managing the outside it has leaned too much towards materialism and forgotten its own inner world. The master is lost, the soul is lost; the kingdom is there but the king is dead. Hence the Western anguish, hence the Western search for the king, hence the inquiry into meditation, because meditation is the only way to seek and search for the inner king. Where has he gone? Where is the inner light? The East has remained spiritual. It has all the beauties of spirituality: calmness, quietness, relaxedness, loving, compassion. It has a certain quality - a flavor of the inner - but the body is sick and there is great poverty and starvation all around, and the outer world is ugly. It has suffered much too. And both are tense, because unless you are whole you will be tense. Osho , from the book.. 'The secret of secrets vol 2'.
Well, in a nutshell: Buddhism, or at least the Mahayana strand, amounts to unusual atheistic metaphysics. Hinduism amounts to some kind of radical pantheistic monism. Shintoism is usual polytheism. Confucianism is closer to modern western thinking and ethics, while Daoism is some kind of mystical nature-worship.
Sure, if you don't mind distorting everything with oversimplifications.
@@firstaidsack It was a brief summary which draws both from the video and a long-time study of those religions/philosophies, but no distortion to be found. If you think so, go ahead and identify which part is a distortion and why…
@@anteodedi8937 Mahayana Buddhism is not atheistic. There are many different variants of Hinduism, which include polytheism, theism, and monism. And it's not radical on any of these positions. Confucianism has nothing to do with modern Western individualistic thinking, much less with our ethics. Daoism does not include worshipping nature, or anything for that matter. You should prolong your "long-time study" of those religions/philosophies before you begin writing degrading "in-a-nutshell"s.
@@firstaidsack Hahahah! You are simply saying I am wrong without backing that up. Only one exception. You tried to expand on Hinduism, but you are profoundly wrong. Hindu polytheism is just a form of Henotheism where different gods are only manifestations of one and the same god. And what you are calling Hindu theism is panentheism which is unstable and collapses into pantheistic monism, i.e., god is all there is and everything is god. Regarding Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, you just negated what I said without any explanation.
@@anteodedi8937 Hinduism is not a unified religion/philosophy. It has many streams and varieties. And that's not what Henotheism means. Besides, throwing out labels doesn't say much, in most cases they just obscure the complex realities of what the people actually believe. Eastern Religions are not doctrinal like Christianity, yet Christianity is taken as the model for the way we talk about different religions. So we start saying things like "Religion X is Polytheism" when in reality it's much more complex. At best those labels can describe certain aspects of the religions and philosophies. I won't be able to explain to you every Religion and Philosophy here in the comment section. Not that a short explanation could help. You have the internet at your disposal. I've given you hints like "individualistic" with regard to Confucianism. Or that Daoism doesn't worship anything.
Take away awareness and what would we know about anything!
Yup. At least in buddhism, no god needed to explain reality & truth...
For what matters the most to most of us, which is the meaning of life, there's also a 'simple' of the answer: it comes from personal experience and the hope in its validity after death.
Not a helpful comment you this discussion
There's no such religion as "Hinduism" but a collective term coined by the British in 1830 for various different religions & cults.
Hinduism is not a group of different religions, it is one religion but having different schools of philosophies, to be precise 6 scools. The concept of Dharma being one of the most fundamental tenets, Hinduism is actually called as Sanathana Dharma down the ages.
Advaita is for you science guys and unfortunately no schools remain in India of its nature because it's so hard and only meant for smartest minds likes of you.
Eh?? No schools remain?? No Sringeri Math, RKM, Chinmaya Mission, Arsha Vidya?!
Mahayana buddhism is the most popular form of buddhism just like rice is the most common food- cuz it's cheap!
Heh. I eat rice because I have nothing else to eat.
Rice is getting expensive
##. Why not study deep deep Islam ?! ### ... You'll find all answers .
All I know is of all these religions, Confucianism never resonated with me (and this German idealist Ramakrishna monk seems to be conflicting in cognitive dissonance)
He explained as best he could given the dearth of scope for a long explanation. But then you are bslieving / not believing in stuff that is not in your current experience. That's never the point. Experience it or miss this only opportunity "in a loong loong time"
@@__dRC also the option is some people don't make sense. Like German idealists ;-)
A lot of theory. Not a lot of practice. Science has theories but it also has telescopes, microscopes, and other practical "means". What are the "means" of these religions or philosophies? Certainly not just ceremonies and moral injunctions and habits. What are the telescopes 🔭 that they can show to outsiders? Are there none?
The means are all within yourself, if you can find them
@@stringX90 You miss the point. Religion is not like philosophy, religion has saints and martyrs, philosophy is all talk.
"Eastern Traditions" We are all receptients of the free blessings that we benefit and enjoy that we know we DID NOT create.... and having a spiritual belief without faith in a loving GOD is NOT a religion.. ..so, if you have no loving God to thank to, what makes you any different than an "ingrate free-loader" - a trait common to sociopath or psychopath ? ..there is NONE.. ..having a loving God to thank to, because you do not want to leave a room for SOMEONE who could get hurt just in case HE exists, is just being a true decent moral human being.. ..this is why choosing to be an ATHEIST is IMMORAL at the start...
Being an atheist is not immoral, and believing in God does not a moral person make. As it says in the Bible, the Pharisees believed in God and Jesus didn't have nice things to say about them.
@@realitycheck1231 free-loading without guilt or shame is a trait common to sociopath or psychopath...
@@evaadam3635 Nobody on here is a sociopath or a psychopath, which are extremes of "human" behavior. Psychopaths judge others as wrong (guilty). Guilt seen either within or without is the cause of the separation. It's tough to let go of judging others or ourselves as wrong or guilty. We all have difficulty with it. ACIM If you did not feel guilty you could not attack, for condemnation is the root of attack. ²It is the judgment of one mind by another as unworthy of love and deserving of punishment. ³But herein lies the split. ⁴For the mind that judges perceives itself as separate from the mind being judged, believing that by punishing another, it will escape punishment. ⁵All this is but the delusional attempt of the mind to deny itself, and escape the penalty of denial. ⁶It is not an attempt to relinquish denial, but to hold on to it. ⁷For it is guilt that has obscured the Father to you, and it is guilt that has driven you insane. The acceptance of guilt into the mind of God’s Son was the beginning of the separation, as the acceptance of the Atonement is its end. ²The world you see is the delusional system of those made mad by guilt. ³Look carefully at this world, and you will realize that this is so. ⁴For this world is the symbol of punishment, and all the laws that seem to govern it are the laws of death. ⁵Children are born into it through pain and in pain. ⁶Their growth is attended by suffering, and they learn of sorrow and separation and death. ⁷Their minds seem to be trapped in their brain, and its powers to decline if their bodies are hurt. ⁸They seem to love, yet they desert and are deserted. ⁹They appear to lose what they love, perhaps the most insane belief of all. ¹⁰And their bodies wither and gasp and are laid in the ground, and are no more. ¹¹Not one of them but has thought that God is cruel. If this were the real world, God _would_ be cruel. ²For no Father could subject His children to this as the price of salvation and _be_ loving. ³_Love does not kill to save._ ⁴If it did, attack would be salvation, and this is the ego’s interpretation, not God’s. ⁵Only the world of guilt could demand this, for only the guilty could conceive of it. ⁶Adam’s “sin” could have touched no one, had he not believed it was the Father Who drove him out of Paradise. ⁷For in that belief the knowledge of the Father was lost, since only those who do not understand Him could believe it. This world _is_ a picture of the crucifixion of God’s Son. ²And until you realize that God’s Son cannot be crucified, this is the world you will see. ³Yet you will not realize this until you accept the eternal fact that God’s Son is not guilty. ⁴He deserves only love because he has given only love. ⁵He cannot be condemned because he has never condemned. ⁶The Atonement is the final lesson he need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation.
@@evaadam3635 Nobody on here is a free-loading sociopath or psychopath.
The term "brahman" in Hinduism actually refers to "conscious personality," a transcendental person-like entity which, unlike matter, is impartite and un-dichotomizable ( _advaita_ ); and (in consequences of this), absolutely *non-evolutive* in character. It's a completely different ontological category, distinct from and superior to matter. The individual conscious selves are all "brahman" but that doesn't mean that they are God. God is the _supreme_ entity, the supremely conscious personality ( _parama brahman_ ), beyond both the individual souls and matter. As God is "brahman" and absolutely non-evolutive in character, therefore there can be no question of the universe or the individual souls _emanating_ from God. Indeed such emanation and transformation is confined to the realm of particles and partite material substances. Nor can God be identified, in the literal sense, with his creation. That, without doubt, would be horrific misinterpretation!
What are you responding to with this message
@@stringX90 nobody in particular. I thought of simply recording my own thoughts on the topic.
This video is years old. The host does not even look like that anymore. Closer to Truth should really be truthful and say that the videos they post for the most part are old old old--not current.
Not a big deal, get over it
Hindu monks are copying style of Buddhist monks. 😂
Hindu monks came first if you have no ideo
Yeah wow, way to show your ignorance AND arrogance
Of course it’s copy because Buddha is teacher of all.
hindusim or buddhism......one word ....study of consciousness.......Consciousness is the ultimate reality.....If you want to know about orgin of god.....Go to eastern philosophy
Could we knows God's capability if the only places we know is heaven.???