Dear Muni,
to advance you need to turn back."
Zen talks about begginers mind as most important. if you want to enter non dual awareness you need to first of all see the original self very clearly. unless you have seen original self you might not know when you have gone beyond self. original self is like a large egg. it is separate from everything else. it is nirvana. when you crack this egg you spill out its contents. it has become non dual awareness, without self.
non dual awareness is beyond nirvana, beyond enlightenment. sometimes you have to go back in order to go forward. it is only when you have tasted original self that you will know when it is gone. original self Is nothing special. it is the self you started the journey with.
if you see no self you have probably already entered non dual awareness, this is because where there is no self/subject, there is no object. non duality. at least I think that's the way it is.
I was icchantika, I had no mind nor body nor Buddha nature within and yet I was still aware of self. the universe was myself. by taking a deep breath and focusing on the universe I was able to eliminate universal self. it was burnt away. when this happened my original self appeared with a return of personal mind. the presence of self was very strong. When you told me that I must get rid of separation. it was as easy as cracking an egg, just by intention I was able to crack the egg and flow out. now there is non dual awareness.
lost in fabrications, they are the shadow covering the light.
it is natural to fabricate words and to grasp certain words, but when we see we are grasping and labelling we don't take these words so seriously.
dual - non dual. moral - immoral. only words only judgements. just play.
I would say that anyone who wants to enter non dual awareness should first become aware of self and the feeling of self, where it is in the body. then they can crack the egg.
before i started out self was a knowing, a field of experience a self within (this is it), even before the beginners experience, then when I started out self seemed like a small point within my heart, when I eliminated that I entered into nothingness and was nearly annihilated. I had to create a new self in order to emerge from underlying grey nothingness. I became icchantika when I had eliminated my Buddha nature, but even then there was still a sense or feeling of self. it was only when I was able to breathe away the universal self that I became the original self of Zen. then entering non dual awareness was the easiest thing in the world.
so... in order to advance you need to go back. take some deep breaths and return to original self. then next follows non dual awareness.
you don't have to take any of this seriously Muni. I am not qualified to talk about these things. I have no official certificate of enlightenment. I am an ignoramus and I probably don't know what I am talking about.
return to you'r ordinary self, then crack it open and enter the non dual state of awareness. that's how I would do it. no fuss. really become aware of a feeling of self before losing it.
dual - non dual. awareness. only words. only judgements. nonetheless they point towards an experience.
best wishes, Tom x