Khang Nguyễn is a painter and scholar of philosophy and religion. His paintings are rooted in various philosophical ideas and approaches that seek to provide insights into certain undisclosed dimensions of being, knowing and time that underlie subjective faculties. In essence, his paintings are diagrams that investigate and express the nature of primordial awareness, such as nonduality (advaita, अद्वैत), unbounded nonlocality (ka dag chen po, ཀ་དག་ཆེན་པོ), trans-conceptuality (nirvikalpa, निर्विकल्प), luminous intelligence (prakāśa, प्रकाश), fullness (pūrṇaṃ, पूर्ण), vibration (spanda, स्पन्द), self-reflection (vimarśa, विमर्श), and self-recognition (pratyabhijñā, प्रत्यभिज्ञा).
Nonduality in this sense refers to the universal light of consciousness (prakasha-vimarsha, प्रकाश विमर्श) that is not differentiated into the ontic-epistemic mode of subject and object perception. In this form of nonduality, awareness is illuminating itself rather than its contents, a state known as reflexivity. Furthermore, the distinction between knower and known, as well as between ontology and epistemology, is absent in this state of self-illumination as it must embody and be indistinguishable from what it knows. Its innermost nature is what reflexive awareness is aware of, not another entity or content. This implies that nondual awareness is neither solipsistic nor localized, meaning it is not isolated within the confines of subjective consciousness. Moreover, reflexive awareness is trans-conceptual and trans-subjective, meaning it is a fundamental onto-epistemological mode of awareness that exceeds conceptual understanding, logical progression, sensory perception and emotive states. Lastly, the light (prakasha) of universal consciousness and its capacity of self-reflection (vimarsha) are not separate polarities but form two aspects of one field. That is to say the nature of this light is self-illumination. The power of self-reflection sparks and is always sparking the primordial light to pulsate (spanda) and sound forth as the Supreme Word (para-vak), ceaselessly overflowing into and as manifestation. That manifestation is the totality of beings, which is an expression but not fully exhaustive of the luminous, vibrational and sonorous power of self-reflection.
Nguyễn translates and compresses nondual religio-philosophical ideas into his own visual language, which explores various ways to delineate the nature of dualistic perception and nondual awareness. In his aesthetic approach, it is possible to rise above the limitations of the subjective domain—namely, subject/object duality, conceptuality, temporality, and emotive states—by means of aesthetic contemplation. His diagrammatic paintings serve two central purposes: to give insights into the nature of dualistic perception, temporality, and nonconceptual, nondual awareness; and to impart meditation approaches, specifically the shaktopaya and shambhavopaya, for the realization of nondual awareness. Contemplating the visual representations in the diagrams can disclose the fundamental onto-epistemological state of non-discursive, nondual, self-illuminating awareness as one’s innermost Being.
Nonduality in this sense refers to the universal light of consciousness (prakasha-vimarsha, प्रकाश विमर्श) that is not differentiated into the ontic-epistemic mode of subject and object perception. In this form of nonduality, awareness is illuminating itself rather than its contents, a state known as reflexivity. Furthermore, the distinction between knower and known, as well as between ontology and epistemology, is absent in this state of self-illumination as it must embody and be indistinguishable from what it knows. Its innermost nature is what reflexive awareness is aware of, not another entity or content. This implies that nondual awareness is neither solipsistic nor localized, meaning it is not isolated within the confines of subjective consciousness. Moreover, reflexive awareness is trans-conceptual and trans-subjective, meaning it is a fundamental onto-epistemological mode of awareness that exceeds conceptual understanding, logical progression, sensory perception and emotive states. Lastly, the light (prakasha) of universal consciousness and its capacity of self-reflection (vimarsha) are not separate polarities but form two aspects of one field. That is to say the nature of this light is self-illumination. The power of self-reflection sparks and is always sparking the primordial light to pulsate (spanda) and sound forth as the Supreme Word (para-vak), ceaselessly overflowing into and as manifestation. That manifestation is the totality of beings, which is an expression but not fully exhaustive of the luminous, vibrational and sonorous power of self-reflection.
Nguyễn translates and compresses nondual religio-philosophical ideas into his own visual language, which explores various ways to delineate the nature of dualistic perception and nondual awareness. In his aesthetic approach, it is possible to rise above the limitations of the subjective domain—namely, subject/object duality, conceptuality, temporality, and emotive states—by means of aesthetic contemplation. His diagrammatic paintings serve two central purposes: to give insights into the nature of dualistic perception, temporality, and nonconceptual, nondual awareness; and to impart meditation approaches, specifically the shaktopaya and shambhavopaya, for the realization of nondual awareness. Contemplating the visual representations in the diagrams can disclose the fundamental onto-epistemological state of non-discursive, nondual, self-illuminating awareness as one’s innermost Being.