Not thinking of things in a dualistic fashion means seeing them as existing in relationships, not as existing independently. This means not seeing things in terms of subject and object, “perceiver” and “perceived” (Tib. dzin yul; Skt. grahaya and grahayaka).

When we see things dualistically, we think that there is a perceiver here, as a subject, and a perceived object out there, something that is external to the perceiver, something that is “other.” According to Buddhism, the perceiver and the perceived are dependent phenomena, as is everything else.

So if everything is a dependent phenomenon, everything is empty of inherent existence. This is what emptiness means. From that, we are able to eschew our fixation on things as having some kind of self-sufficient existence. This, in itself, according to Buddhism, can free or liberate us from the distorted ways of thinking we entangle ourselves in.

Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche

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