Buddhist Origins For The Radiant Mind Course

Although the Radiant Mind Course stands outside of Buddhism, its origins draws on various middle path Buddhist traditions. This section is primarily for readers who have an interest in the historical origins of the ideas and methods in the Radiant Mind course. The framework we have created in the Radiant Mind Course is a contemporary and modern synthesis of ideas and methods that have originated in India, China and Tibet over the last 2500 years. For the most part we have drawn on Buddhist traditions though many of the ideas can also be found in Taoist philosophy. We view the Course as one more step in a lineage of practical wisdom that has been cultivated, refined and transmitted in India and Asia for well over 3000 years.

After constructing the Course we recognized that its structure essentially follows a time honored method for describing the human condition that was first formulated by the Buddha. This method is called the four facts or principles of spiritual elevation (arya-satya).

It is a sequence of explanation that is used in all traditions of Buddhism to describe the human predicament and suggest solutions to our problems. In traditional accounts the four facts are:

1. There is suffering.
2. Suffering has a cause.
3. Because it has a cause a cessation of suffering is possible.
4. There is a method for stopping suffering. The method is described in many different ways in Buddhism but ultimately it involves cultivating the middle path that avoids the extremes of accepting or rejecting what we experience.

Our modern interpretation of the spiritual endeavor can be viewed as a reformulation of these four facts. This reformulation allows us to integrate the most powerful and effective methods that have been developed in Buddhism into one simple and coherent system. In our interpretation they are:

1. Living can be stressful.
2. Stress is caused by conflicting beliefs.
3. Conflicting beliefs can be harmonized—resulting in presence.
4. The method is natural release.

This reformulation incorporates and integrates the most important features of Basic Buddhism (the Nikaya tradition), the Middle Path (Madhyamika) and the Complete Fulfilment (Dzogchen). Thus, in the Radiant Course we have brought theoretical and practical continuity to three of the most significant and quintessential traditions in Buddhism. By discovering the interface and compatibility between these three traditions we have been able to develop a system of personal and social development that is enhanced by the combined effectiveness of three already highly effective methodologies.

In particular, we have been able to join the structural power of the Middle Path (Madhyamika) with the ease, acceptance and organic flavor of the Complete Fulfillment perspective. In this process of adaptation we have emphasized the affective as opposed to the logical aspects of the Middle Path. In the traditional Middle Path the reciprocal deconstruction of opposite beliefs is driven by an analytical logic that is used in both dialectical and contemplative settings. The practical program we have developed is based on the recognition and balancing of "emotional paradoxes".

For those who are interested to further track the connections between the Buddhist traditions and our interpretation we will point out some of the more important correspondences.

1. Stress and tension is the equivalent for duhkha, which has traditionally been translated as suffering or unsatisfactoriness.

2. The term presence is our translation of vidya (Tib. rig pa). This is a term used in the Complete Fulfillment (Dzogchen) tradition to refer to a state of pure and unsullied awareness in which we are present to whatever is.

3. The critical concept and role of "beliefs" corresponds to a number of related Buddhist terms such as drshti = viewpoint or opinion, paksha = position, pratijna = thesis.

4. The idea that beliefs shape our experience of the world is contained in the Middle Path notion that the world exists through the force of linguistic designation (prajnapti-sat).

5. The observation that stress is caused by conflicting beliefs is a neglected aspect of the Middle Path philosophy that was first developed in the 2nd century in India by Nagarjuna. In general Buddhist scholars have not yet seen how this idea makes complete sense of the Middle Path paradoxes (prasanga) that deconstruct logically opposed positions. A full explanation of this methodology can be found in Peter Fenner, The Ontology of the Middle Way, Dordrecht, Holland: Kluwer Publications, 1990. A comprehensive model of the cognitive changes that occur when using the Middle Path method can be found in Peter Fenner, Reasoning into Reality, Boston, Mass.: Wisdom Publications, 1993.

6. The observation that beliefs form in pairs of logical opposites is found in Buddhism and Taoism. This idea is formally captured in the apoha theory of meaning developed by Buddhist philosophers in the 5th century which states that things are defined by what they are not. The actual process whereby beliefs emerge and disconnect into logical opposites is beautifully described in Buddhism by the term vikalpa which literally means "bifurcating conceptuality".

7. The distinction between "surface" and "deep" beliefs corresponds to the distinction between parikalpita and sahaja that is found in the Middle Path and other Buddhist philosophies.

8. Finally, the method of natural release is modeled on the Complete Fulfillment (Dzogchen) concept of rang grol. Rang grol literally means "intrinsic freedom" or "self-liberated." Intrinsic freedom refers to the fact that the nature of mind (sems nyid), or what is our real being (chos nyid), is innately free, in the sense that it is unconstrained and uncontaminated by our circumstances and conditions. When we connect with the source of our being we are intrinsically free because we feel spacious and liberated no matter what our external circumstances or internal condition may be.
The term rang grol also refers to the capacity for constricting emotions and limiting beliefs to be liberated or freed from within themselves once they are experienced without resistance, just as they are. In other words, the real nature of our emotions and thoughts is to be free, spacious and unconstrained. We use the term natural release to refer to the self-liberating capacity of thoughts and emotions and also to a gently effective method, used in the practical program, for harmonizing and thereby liberating conflicting beliefs and emotions.

If you are interested in the Radiant Mind Course a Free Video Interview is available of Peter Fenner being asked about the Course, what the unconditioned mind is and how people can tell if they are experiencing nondual awareness.