Translated in
Aldous Huxley's novel,
Island, as
"thou art That"; the
heart of the
philosophy held by the
Mahayana Buddhists of Pala.
"
Tat tvam asi," he repeated. "It looks like a
proposition in
metaphysics; but what it actually refers to is
psychological experience, and the
operations by means of which the experience can be lived through are described by our
philosophers, so that anyone who's
willing to perform the
necessary operations can test the
validity of
Tat tvam asi for himself. The operations are called
yoga, or
dhyana, or
Zen -- or, in certain circumstances,
maithuna."
-- Island, by Aldous Huxley