dudette wrote: ↑Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:22 am
None of the introductionS to theravada buddhism mention anything about "experiencing non-duality".
However, Some buddhists say that they meditate in order to experience non-duality, and it is an important part of buddhism and path to enlightenment.
How important is experiencing non-duality in theravada buddhism? Is it a necessity in theravada and path to enlightenment?
IMO duality and/or non-duality are concepts on the conceptual level of existence, and neither are end-goals of Theravada. In practice however, there is duality in samsara, and that duality is integral to the practice of the Eightfold Path (cf "Contemplation of Dualities, Sn 3.12) in order to reach Awakening/Nibbana (- not non-duality). "Non-duality" is still a form of attachment to the conceptual level of existence.
It's like watching figures of people on a television screen (made of individual LED lights); duality exists on that level, because the LED lights can be on or off (the conceptual level), people appear separate from other people, etc. Instead of contemplating the screen or its individual lights, we can observe that the screen and its conceptual contents can be viewed in terms of its fundamental quantum particles (akin to the Buddha who points out that we should focus our attention away from the conceptual level to the phenomenological level). When our attention is redirected towards that quantum level, the duality nor non-duality of those LED lights on the conceptual level becomes no longer relevant to the discussion.