Advaita ends at the recognition of pure being – the seventh fetter.
In the ten fetters model, the journey continues: What is the subtle experience of “I am”?
Discover the difference between Advaita and the ten fetters and explore a practical exercise for investigating the eighth fetter.
On the path to awakening, very subtle discoveries can arise. Especially for those coming from the Advaita tradition, a fine impression often remains: Everything is clearly seen – there is no self in perceptions, thoughts, or feelings – and yet a deep, immediate sense of being, of awareness, remains.
This experience is not perceived as a personal self but as something that is always present: a silent awareness of being itself, belonging to no one and controlled by no one. It feels like the deepest essence of what is – alive and present.
At this point, it is worth looking even closer.
Awareness – or Simply Experience?
What is perceived as “awareness” here is actually nothing other than direct experience itself: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, and thinking.
All of it happens effortlessly. No one is doing the seeing or thinking. It simply occurs.
What seems like a stable center – this silent, aware presence – is ultimately part of experience.
It happens without an entity or a possessor behind it.
Advaita and the Seventh Fetter
In the Advaita tradition, recognizing pure being – formless awareness – is seen as the final goal.
Thus, Advaita corresponds largely to the stage up to the seventh fetter in the model of the ten fetters described in early Buddhist teachings.
At this point, the Advaita path ends:
The recognition of formless presence is seen as the conclusion, not as a transitional step.
The sense of “I am” is regarded as the ultimate truth and is not further questioned.
In the ten fetters model, however, the inquiry continues:
- Even the experience of being is seen as another assumption (eighth fetter).
- The subtle remnants of search and not-knowing are dissolved (ninth and tenth fetters).
These are simply different approaches and concepts – neither right nor wrong, but different ways of describing the journey.
Moving Toward the Eighth Fetter
When pure being is experienced as final, a natural sense of peace may arise.
In the ten fetters model, the investigation continues exactly here:
Is even this quiet sense of being truly independent?
Or is being itself simply another happening within experience?
The eighth fetter – the subtle sense of “I am” – is not tackled intellectually, but through direct experience.
Exercise: Investigating the Sense of Being
Here is a practical exercise, adapted from the “8th Fetter Guide” by Simply The Seen:
Exercise
- Sit quietly and allow your thoughts and mental images to settle.
- Silently drop in the word “I…” a few times.
Observe: Does anything respond? Is there a sense of “someone” answering, like in a classroom roll call? Does it respond immediately, or is there a slight delay? - Repeat the same with the word “Me…”.
Is the feeling the same or different compared to “I”? - Then silently drop in “I am…”.
Does this seem like a true statement? Does it point to certain sensations in the body or just feel generally present? - Finally, silently drop in “I exist…”.
Is the experience the same as with “I am”? Or is there a difference?
Which statement feels more resonant or obvious? - As you explore each term, notice:
- What perceives or knows what happens?
- Does it feel like something you possess, or something you are?
- Pay particular attention to:
- Does “I” or “me” seem to point to something “in here,” as opposed to “out there”?
- Could it be located anywhere else?
Stay with this inquiry until you have a clear sense of what it is like to notice and experience the arising and fading of the sense of “I” or “me” – and which term resonates most.
Final Invitation
The aim is not to replace one concept with another or to achieve anything.
It is to see ever more clearly what is already here: pure happening – without center, without identity.
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