A report on Absolute (philosophy), Nondualism and Madhyamaka

In spirituality, nondualism, also called nonduality and interconnectedness; and nondual awareness, is a fuzzy concept for which many definitions can be found, including: a rejection of dualistic thinking originating in Indian philosophy; the nondifference of subject and object; the common identity of metaphysical phenomena and the Absolute; the "nonduality of duality and nonduality"; the unity of God and man; or simply monism, the nonplurality of the world, or double-aspect theory.

Yet, the early Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna, states Paul Williams, does not present "emptiness" as some kind of Absolute, rather it is "the very absence (a pure non-existence) of inherent existence" in Mādhyamaka school of the Buddhist philosophy.

In the Buddhist tradition, non-duality (advaya) is associated with the teachings of interdependence and emptiness (śūnyatā) and the two truths doctrine, particularly the Madhyamaka teaching of the non-duality of absolute and relative truth; and with the Yogachara notion of "mind/thought only" (citta-matra) or "representation-only" (vijñaptimātra).

The term has also been adopted by Aldous Huxley in his perennial philosophy to interpret various religious traditions, including Indian religions, and influenced other strands of nondualistic and New Age thought.

According to Paul Williams, Nāgārjuna associates emptiness with the ultimate truth but his conception of emptiness is not some kind of Absolute, but rather it is the very absence of true existence with regards to the conventional reality of things and events in the world.

Madhyamaka forms an alternative to the perennialist and essentialist understanding of nondualism and modern spiritual metaphysics (influenced by idealistic monism views like Neo-Advaita).