On page 146 it discusses pluralism and that there is a plurality of real things - things cannot be reduced to either a duality or a oneness.

I have been reading a book by a Vietnamese buddhist that talks about non-duality and non-elements. Take for example a blank piece of paper. If you look at the piece of paper, it resembles a white cloud in the sky. Without the cloud, there would be no water. Without water there would be no tree. Without a tree there would be no paper. The paper is dependent on the cloud for existence. The cloud is a non-paper element and yet without the cloud, the paper would not exist.

Does this not account for the distinction between what is reality (the paper) and the appearance (all the non-paper elements)?

Food for thought I guess. Perhaps I am finally starting to grasp this whole concept!