by Tang Huyen

In June 2006, Tang Huyen posted to talk.religion.buddhism in reply to norbu_tragri, who had relayed his Tibetan teacher's suggestion: take a hard look at everything — Tibetan, Indic, Theravādin — and ask whether any of it is true. What if there is no liberation? What if there is no way out? Tang Huyen interrupted his Usenet lurking to reply.

There may well be privileged states, like
awakening in its various degrees and guises,
Nirvāṇa, in full or in part, temporary or
permanent, spiritual experiences of the garden
variety of any intensity and depth, etc.

But to experience any of them, one or several,
and then to get attached to them, is ipso facto
to turn them into non-Buddhist experiences, into
experiences of the devil (Māra-dhātu, mó-jiè,
makyō) rather than Buddhist experiences
(Buddha-dhātu).

Whether one experiences any of them or not,
one is always free to treat everything (including
any and all such experiences) in a light and
light-hearted manner, in detachment and
equanimity, with irony and levity. This manner
of treating everything trumps all matter of
experience, be such experience valid directly by
its content, say, as awakening or Nirvāṇa, in full.

If, say, awakening or Nirvāṇa, in full, occurs to
one, one treats it in a light and light-hearted
manner, in detachment and equanimity, with
irony and levity. If, say, delusion or Saṃsāra, in
full, occurs to one, one treats it in a light and
light-hearted manner, in detachment and
equanimity, with irony and levity (by the way,
this is an excellent manner to deal with
delusion and Saṃsāra, regardless of specifics).

Does it then matter whether Saṃsāra and
Nirvāṇa exist? Does it matter whether rebirth or
its absence is factually real and true?

What if there is no way out? What if you are
just stuck with the same-old stuff you have
experienced all your life, and that's just it — what
are you going to do to optimise your well-being
and minimise your suffering?

One way is to deal with the same old content
of experience in a light and light-hearted manner,
in detachment and equanimity, with irony and
levity. Such a manner — a mere attitude, eh? —
profoundly changes the content of experience.
The Kingdom of Nature becomes the Kingdom
of Grace, in situ, and for free. There is no
requirement, like teacher, method, or fee. One
doesn't need to bow and scrape to anybody, living
or a dead earthen idol. It's all for free.

Colophon

Posted to talk.religion.buddhism on June 18, 2006 — Tang Huyen interrupted his Usenet lurking to reply. The interlocutor is norbu_tragri, relaying his Tibetan teacher's suggestion to drop hopes of liberation and just be. Author: Tang Huyen. Message-ID: <[email protected]>.

The post is a concise statement of what may be Tang Huyen's most distinctive teaching: the primacy of manner over matter, which he formulates here as a direct answer to the "no way out" scenario. It does not matter whether Nirvāṇa is real, whether rebirth is true, whether liberation is achievable — what is always available is the manner of treating experience. "The Kingdom of Nature becomes the Kingdom of Grace, in situ, and for free." The condition is absolute: even awakening in full must be treated the same way as delusion in full. There is no content, however elevated, that is exempt from this attitude. Follow-up post to this gem: "Bad Faith" (<[email protected]>).

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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