Right according to whom?

Spiritual teacher, Teal Swan, recently posted an interesting musing on her Instagram. She said, “Most of our lives we strive to do what is ‘right.’ The question to ask yourself is .. ‘right’ according to whom?”

The religious world is full of notions of duality — right versus wrong, pure versus impure, good versus evil, etc. Indian philosophy, on the other hand, has a branch called Advaita Vedanta, which teaches non-duality. Mahayana Buddhism too has a nondual aspect. Some of Mahayana’s key teachings are “Samsara is Nirvana” and “Kleshas are Bodhi.” A well-known Theravada scholar-monk criticized the non-dual approach to spiritual practice as not distinguishing between purity and defilement. But there is no evidence whatsoever that Mahayana people are morally or ethically irresponsible, especially when compared to Theravada people. Many Hindus also take the non-dual approach to their practice. There is no evidence that Hindus are morally or ethically deficient either. I consider the monk’s argument as a straw man argument.

The monk is concerned about the practitioners of nonduality not distinguishing between purity and defilement. Again, there is no evidence whatsoever that the practitioners of nonduality are more “impure” than the Theravada practitioners. In addition, we should be mindful of the trap of moralism. Buddhism arose from the Sramana Movement. One distinguishing…