Q:Thank you for your website. It is a precious treasure.

I am a Transmission Acarya in Japanese Shingon Buddhism, I have studied and taught siddham for over 25 years. My Wife (also a Shingon Priest) and I have Temples and teach in Fresno, California and Nara, Japan.

In our tradition each vibration is separate and distinct although each letter is a thousand gates. Each letter has multiple levels of understanding as we move towards awakening. We have taught the role of advaya (JP: Funi -not two) and have spent several hundred hours in jñana (from the Buddhist Perspective). Our group is small with about 60 regular attendees at our seminars, This size gives us the depth of vibration to reach states that are beyond an individuals experience.

I have been a member of the advaitin group for many years but I was inactive. When it moved to the new site I began to receive the numerous treasures that were hidden within the messages and texts. I now look at each word from the perspective of siddham. This allows me to open to a larger perspective. Some of the discussions have led me to experience the advaita realm rather than the advaya realm. I especially benefitted from the effect of understanding the advaita explanation of the the burnout of the causal body after extended periods in the realm of jñana. The advaita explanation matched perfectly with not only my experience but the experience of many of my students.

I am very interested in any additional information on the level of the effects of jñana (including jñani/jñanī/jñanaṃ/jñanaḥ).

In our tradition it is very important to have the correct glyph and a Japanese Shingon Priest uses the siddham that was used during the 4-6 Century and came to Japan in the eight century. When I have the proper siddham spelling of a word I can experience it directly. Unfortunately in reading the list I find that many diacritical marks or converted or left off. The focus seems to be on the understanding of the words of the Swami.

As an example in todays advaitin list there is a discussion of Drk Drysam. When I use this vibration it is very different from the vibration of dṛg-dṛśyaṃ. Not having the correct spelling means that I can not get to the vibration level. In siddham each combination of letters is expressed as a single glyph ie, si ddham is two letters. is means the truth source and ddham infinite dharma realm limited.

This systems allows me to experience very directly in meditation the difference between advaita (a dvai ta) and advaya (a dva ya). I have spent several hours looking at the differences in advaita/ advaitā/  advaiti/  advaitī/  advaitaḥ/  advaitaṃ and  advaitṛ. Each one leads our consciousness to a different experience of being ness.

I am still exploring the other ending vowels. (u ū o ō ai au e)

We are taught that when an experience is read it is an illusion until it is expressed through our vijñana. Do you have any advice for a serious student of vakya to understand the jñana level and beyond of advaita? I humbly realize I am in avidya (without teaching) and am asking for some hints to point me in the correct direction from the perspective of advaita, to understand the higher levels.

I am in gratitude for any hints that you provide that I can pursue.

A: Thanks for the email and I am pleased to hear you have been finding the site of value.

I know very little about Buddhism and nothing at all about your branch so cannot comment on that.

Your message displays some fundamental misunderstandings about Advaita and I think you would find it very useful to gain an overview of the traditional teaching before worrying too much about details. For this, you could read the book serialized at the site (beginning https://www.advaita-vision.org/vedanta-the-solution-part-1/) or the second edition of my ‘Book of One’ (http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/thebook/thebook.htm).

Your concern about ‘vibrations’ and correct spelling of words is not relevant to Advaita. There is an Indian philosophy, earlier than Advaita, that does concern itself with that; they were called Grammarians but their beliefs were refuted by Shankara and no longer survive today.

In Advaita, enlightenment is gained only from knowledge; experience is not relevant. j~nAna is the word most commonly used for knowledge. Such terms are simply Romanized representations of the Sanskrit. The word j~nAna is frequently written jnana or often gyana. The Romanized version with diacriticals is jñāna. All these different representations are for the same word, which is actually ज्ञान . So in order to get the correct spelling and pronunciation, you have to go to the Devanagari and for that you would have to learn some basic Sanskrit – i.e. recognition of letter forms, how to read a dictionary etc. My book at http://www.advaita.org.uk/extracts/sankrit.html is all about this.

Your talk about ‘realms’ etc. is quite alien to Advaita. There is only the non-dual reality. Everything that we seem to experience is only mistaken name and form of that reality. Enlightenment is simply realizing this already-existent truth. Any understanding other than that is the result of ignorance. E.g. every ‘realm’ of experience is that same non-dual reality, and thinking that there is difference is an error.

Hope this is helpful, and not too dispiriting!