

Pathways

to

Enlightenment

Pathways

to

Enlightenment

A Journey of Discovery and

Radical Transformation

### Cecil Messer

Pathways to Enlightenment

A Journey of Discovery and Radical Transformation

Copyright 2020 Cecil Messer

All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy and use material in this book in the manner consistence with its intended purpose of spiritual awakening and with the provision that the source is credited. Email: cecilmesser7@gmail.com

Publisher's Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Messer, Cecil, author.

Title: Pathways to enlightenment , a journey of discovery and radical transformation / Cecil Messer.

Description: Includes bibliographical references. | Asheville, NC: TwoCrows Publishing, 2020.

Identifiers: LCCN: 2020905732 | ISBN: 978-1-7346126-3-9 (Hardcover) | 978-1-7346126-0-8 (pbk.) | 978-1-7346126-1-5 (KDP eBook) | 978-1-7346126-2-2 (Smashwords eBook)

Subjects: LCSH Spirituality. | Spiritual life. | Enlightenment (Buddhism) | Meditation. | Self-actualization (Psychology) | Happiness. | Mind and body. | BISAC BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Meditation. | RELIGION / Buddhism (PHILOSOPHY). | SELF-HELP / Spiritual.

Classification: LCC BQ5612 .M485 2020 | DDC 294.3/444--dc23

TwoCrows Publishing

Asheville, NC, USA

### Dedication

To each precious teacher, human or otherwise,

who appeared in the guise of friend or enemy

and briefly touched my heart.

Illustrations

Sharing Beauty

The Jewel Within

The Empty Receptacle

Sitting Meditation

Open Hand/Open Heart

Communion

Stillness Reflecting

Dawn Breaking

Insight Awakening

Alcyone

The Valley

Radiant Spaciousness

Samsara

Crossing to the Other Shore

### Contents

Dedication

Illustrations

Prelude

PART ONE: THE GROUND

Chapter One – Introduction

Our Current Predicament

The Journey of Awakening

Five Axioms

Approaching Meditation Practice

Meditation Session One

Chapter Two \- Preparing the Garden of Meditation

Guidelines From Perennial Sages

Mental Afflictions

Basic Qualities

Four Immeasurables

Meditation Session Two

Chapter Three - Meditation and Love

Coda

Meditation Session Three

PART TWO: THE APPROACH

Chapter Four - Meditative Serenity

Mental Training

Meditation Session Four

Chapter Five - Meditative Insight

Four Noble Truths

Four Reminders

Insight Practice

Meditation Session Five

Chapter Six \- Union of Serenity and Insight

Meditation Session Six

PART THREE: INTEGRATION

Chapter Seven - The Seer Who Walks Alone

Experience of Beauty

Meditation Session Seven

Chapter Eight - Search for the Self

Cloud Formations

The Nominal Self

The Self and Dying

Meditation Session Eight

Chapter Nine - Origin of the Self

Origin of Me

Composition of Self

The Self and Spaciousness

Meditation Session Nine

Chapter Ten - Interdependence

The First Reality

The Second Reality

The Third Reality

Interdependent Origination

The Fourth Reality

Meditation Session Ten

Chapter Eleven – Recapitulation

Primordial Heritage

The Overview

Avoiding Extremes

Problem of Distraction

Session Protocol

Time Constraints

Post Meditation

Facing the Poison

Conclusion

Song of Realization

Meditation Session Eleven

Epilogue

Appendix - Meditation Practice Fundamentals

Glossary

Credits and Consults

About the Author

## Sharing Beauty

## Prelude

_Sitting in the shade of an umbrella tree_

— _dying (as are you),_

Oblivious to the resonance of death's distant drumming,

The immense sky, profound and unfathomable,

Deepened its spectral transition in blue

from azure to indigo.

Its spaciousness accommodated the sun's radiance,

Who displayed fingerlike shadows

across the mountain ridges.

Softly compliant, enjoying the surface texture of every

untouched peak and valley,

They felt unrestrained

And caressed the warm earth.

The wind too moved freely

As it affectionately combed and waved

undulating fields of grain

And frolicked amidst the hedgerows.

Occasionally a few small clouds passed over,

Forming a complementary panorama of

Light and shadow on the distant mountains.

As the sun was still bright, the ground beneath the trees

captured ever-changing shadows of leaves

Dancing with the breeze.

The portent of nature's imminently coming

Period of stillness,

Began to reveal itself.

(Strangely, amidst the magic of this phantasmagoria,

subtle residues of anxiety tingled the solar plexus)

Perhaps a harbinger of the potential beauty in the

Unfolding stillness of heart and mind.

In the background, children sounded their delight

and displeasure;

And in their peculiarly parallel society

Birds too voiced their joys and sorrows.

Along with the sporadic noise of distant trucks, the

Occasional alarm of a ground squirrel

warned his kin of an imagined danger.

As one, all elements formed a coherent and rhythmically

changing spectrum of light and sound.

Joy permeated the entire mandala;

Nothing was out of place;

Distractions were not of this time.

Radiant Darkness approached and hovered over her brood

Gently drawing a blanket—enveloping all in love.

Visual patterns faded and sounds returned to their source.

Stillness settled naturally—without coercion,

Compelled not by withdrawal through fear or weariness

but from the spontaneous movement of

Order and grace.

Once again, wholeness rested in the benediction of

Absolute luminosity,

The appearance of a new universe assured with

The coming of the morning light.

### PART ONE

### THE GROUND

### Chapter One

Introduction

Know O' Seeker, there _is_ a way out of the morass of chaos, the swamp of confusion that enslaves sentient beings in suffering and despair. Like dislocated aliens or the homeless in an insane world, we too are vulnerable to spiraling into darkness. Fortunately, there is a pathway that winds uphill to the vast plains of luminous clarity and liberation from our current existential status. It is a path of return to our primordial _source_ of being—our _Eden_ , our natural home. Treading this path is _a_ j _ourney of discovery and radical transformation_. It is a life-altering project for the dissatisfied and the disenchanted—ripe ones who have reached many dead-ends in their search for meaning. It is a deep inquiry connecting with the very heart of being wherein we may experience metamorphosis through meditation and compassion. To support this life-altering journey, a kind of GPS guide for the disoriented emigrant is provided as a means to develop a generative spiritual practice—a process that renews the mind and deconstructs the obstacles to wellbeing.

Taking the first step forward with intention will awaken our innate warrior spirit. There is no need to cut trails through the wilderness of uncertain knowledge nor invent dubious philosophies or new-age religions. Fortunately, sages graced with robes of many colors have charted paths and marked them with friendly signposts for our journey.

_Pathways to Enlightenment_ is structured as a metaphysical journey that opens the gate to a spectrum of meditation approaches to enlightenment. Each chapter propels a transformative movement from _outer_ to _inner_. Avenues of skillful means are systematically explored to illuminate our mental afflictions and initiate a process of holistic healing—liberation from suffering. Our inquiry initially focuses on prerequisite qualities distilled from core teachings of sages. Subsequently, it goes deeper into perennial ways of viewing the reality of our existential predicament.

The _Prelude_ sets the ambiance for connecting with the journey and embodies the essence of the book's intent. From this gate of departure, an overview of plans and preparations for our journey lays out a map of the territory to be explored and presents a framework for meditation practice. Each chapter concludes with a brief meditation practice session designed to assimilate its theme as well as to habituate us to a state of calm abiding. These sessions prepare the soil of the mind to receive the seeds of transformation and help us connect with a renewing spiritual experience.

The meditation practice schema is structured to encourage the reader/practitioner to effortlessly relax into a profoundly subtle and interiorly oriented state. Progressing in nuanced stages, each session produces a measure of wholeness—a feeling of coherence and ease. Thus begins the process of coming into relationship with the fruits of meditation: altruism, radiant love, luminous clarity, and peace.

Our Current Predicament

What precisely is our current life predicament? Are we ever consistently happy or are our experiences of happiness mostly brief and transitory? Are not the causes of the experiences of suffering, mental as well as physical, ever presently lurking in the background of our lives, ready to manifest sharply on occasion? Do we sometimes feel like an alien in a foreign and inhospitable land? Is this existential situation beyond our control? Is it possible to liberate ourselves by looking deeply into the nature and causes of suffering?

Imagine a time when you were a child reclining on the grass in a woodland meadow gazing at the sky, viewing in wonderment the ever-changing cloud formations. Bring to mind a scene of sitting on a river bank or ocean beach watching the wave patterns constantly dying and renewing themselves in their ebb and flow. Recall witnessing the unexpected vicissitudes of life as well as the despair of death.

Reflecting on these experiences, we can conclude that impermanence and change impact all situations, relationships, and phenomena. How does this understanding relate to our existential situation, our stream of life experiences? Our general reaction to most types of impermanence is usually somewhat painful. Change is not often welcome. On the flip side: seeds sprout; things grow and yield harvest; life refreshes itself and continues. Is it possible to develop a new relationship with the suffering associated with change?

We may know that individual freedom is a myth since thoughts, emotions, and actions tend to be driven by deeply ingrained personal habit patterns. Present circumstances and our relationship with others are created and governed by this conditioning. Take note of how confusion, desires, hopes, and fears mark the manner in which we relate and respond to life situations. Attempting to escape the dark cell of boredom, we may get caught up in compulsive consumerism or the addictive pursuit of pleasure and obsessive forms of entertainment. When compelled to wear appropriate attire—fine linens to the temple, suit and tie to the office, punk rags to school, resentments may fester and influence our behavior. The imposition of restrictive controls and regulations by parents or the prevailing government may lead to rebellion and violence.

Latent spiritual ideals and aspirations may become repressed and compromised within a system of organized religious beliefs or rituals. There is the danger that one may sell oneself short and allow ideals to lapse into a state of superficial satisfaction.

A young woman wished to become a nun and serve God; but having witnessed priestly improprieties and other hypocrisies, she felt betrayed and her faith was devastated. So, she became a corporate administrator and a Sunday church-goer.

A young man aspired to either go to India and become an ascetic or to join the Peace Corp and give service to the misfortunate; instead, he got sidetracked by the desire for money and the pleasures of the good life. So, he became a tax lawyer with a fine home in the suburbs.

Nevertheless, the innate desire for a deeper meaning of life does not go away. One may settle for membership in a popular organized church or temple. Or one may be drawn towards a variety of "spiritual" pursuits and join an exotic religious sect or a fashionable cult movement. If these turn out to be disappointing or unsatisfactory, the search for meaning may degenerate into a rejection of all spiritual matters and result in becoming a secular materialist. Loss of this original aspiration may lead to a generalized apathy towards the well-being of others. This attitude accommodates blind and deluded participation in destructive societal norms such as the failing stewardship of the planet, violent conflicts, apartheid, genocide, and a variety of perverted racial and class distinctions.

The dominant cause of our imprisonment stems from ego's self-cherishing and the associated thought and behavior habit patterns that harm the wellbeing of ourselves and others. Its root is grasping, clinging, and becoming entangled with illusory objects and phenomena, thinking them to be real. Is it possible to escape this self-generated dungeon of anxiety and unhappiness and find a path to real freedom?

We generally don't view our self or others through fresh eyes; we see through the cataracts of memory with its accumulated hurts and pleasures. Consequently, our perception is distorted and resultant thoughts and actions are largely predetermined and often mistaken. We may think that people who look and talk like us deserve happiness and a favorable afterlife while those who go to different churches are destined for misery and the super inferno pit. When left unexamined, viewpoints and relationships are passively allowed to solidify and constrict into tightly held opinions. Consequently, we get caught up in and identify with our mindsets. Thus begins our march into the enclave of delusion—the trap of suffering and sorrow.

I once saw a stranger on television who looked exactly like a grown-up version of my worst childhood enemy; so I immediately classified him as a mean bully, only to learn that he had just risked his life to rescue a puppy from certain death. Memories are not only recorded from present-life personal experiences but have been absorbed and accumulated from the collective patterns of society as a whole since our beginning. Because of the dominant affliction of not seeing things as they are, we universally experience isolation, tribalism, division, violence, sickness, war, and famine.

It is evident that few people sustain real happiness or experience enduring contentment throughout their lifetime. If asked to consider whether or not you are happy, your answer probably depends on what is occurring at that moment in time. For most of us happiness consists of moments of pleasurable activities such as eating chocolate, watching a football game, lounging on the beach, or conversing with loved ones. Unfortunately, all of these micro-pleasures are temporary and may turn at any moment. We may gain weight from over-indulgence, our team may lose the game, we may get sunburned, or we may become caught up in the drama of a fight.

Hedonic pleasure is also relative and temporary. For those living in continuous poverty and squalor, simply having brief moments of relief from hunger and oppression is a meaningful happiness—like a fountain of cool water to parched lips. Those who have been overly steeped in ordinary pleasures tend to pursue more extreme forms of gratification such as excessive indulgence in alcohol, drugs, and sexual misconduct. Satisfaction of these cravings usually results in the misery of addiction.

Suffering is operative regardless of whether we reside in the seeming paradise of the powerful, rich, and beautiful or are relegated to the despair of the downtrodden, poor, and ugly. Although one group may have more moments of little pleasures, neither is necessarily happier than the other; each experiences differing modes of unhappiness. Ironically, the perpetual stress of the privileged is the mirror image of the distress of the underprivileged. We whose social status falls between these extremes cannot escape the characteristic afflictions of daily life either. Even during periods of outer calm, we may feel disturbing periods of dread, loneliness, and a subtle but continuous underlayment of anxiety and insecurity.

We are attached to loved ones but separation occurs; we cling to possessions and pleasures but losses occur. Energy and time are squandered by worrying and protecting the status quo, inevitably to no avail. Few escape the ever-present wake of chronic dissatisfaction in their stream of being. Most of us will experience the pain of sickness, decline, and old age; all will meet death. Moments of joy or freedom from strife appear rarely and fade away all too swiftly like last night's dream. Samsara, the perpetual carousel of life, dizzily spins out of control with its cyclic ups and downs. In short: samsara simply sucks. This is the apparent existential situation created and shared by beings on this planet.

In searching for the causes of a more sustainable happiness, let us carefully observe our feelings while involved in an act of spontaneous unselfishness. Notice how you feel when helping a lost child find its mother or nurturing a wounded bird? This experience of happiness, unlike the aforesaid, is clearly of a higher order. Its genuineness is a clue to the origin of the nature of real joy.

However, that selfless glow is not sustainable because of our latent tendency to desire recognition and satisfaction. So, is there wellbeing beyond pleasure and warm feelings that is independent of time and conditions? If yes, how is it attained and to whom does the right of happiness belong? Pertinent aspects of these questions are considered in Chapter Nine under the topic "The Self and Spaciousness".

Nevertheless, sages assert that the scenario of suffering is neither our fundamental natural condition nor our preordained destiny; facing it is our ultimate challenge—life's manifest task. On the surface, Nietzsche's view on suffering seems evidentially correct: _To live is to suffer; to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering._ However, we wish to go beyond mere survival by examining the nature of suffering, its causes, and its cessation. Moving from the darkness of ego's confusion to the clarity of knowing the true nature of oneself, a luminous quality arises that enables us to benefit self and others. This path of return to our primordial home engages skillful means for looking into the roots of suffering. This is our _genesis trek_ , a journey by way of meditation that culminates in a natural radical awakening.

Others have taken this journey. Long ago in the northern part of India, a prince was born to the queen and king of the country. The king received an omen that this child was special and destined to become a teacher or holy man. Naturally, the father wanted his son to continue the royal lineage and follow him as king. So he devised a cage of material and psychological protection around the boy. Confining him to a great palace—surrounded by vast gardens and lakes—with attendants catering to all his wants, the plan seemed to be working. The king was quite happy when his son married a beautiful princess and had a wonderful child. Nevertheless, a kind of restlessness grew in the mind of the prince, so early one morning he had his most trusted attendant saddle his horse. He surreptitiously left the confines of the palace to explore the outside world and proceeded towards a nearby village. Almost immediately, on both sides of the road, he encountered squalid little huts, each with several inhabitants. Many of the people appeared sick and miserable. A crippled old woman approached him and asked for food. He gave her what he had and continued his exploration. On the side of the road, in a ditch, he came upon a dead person covered with flies and vermin. Overwhelmed by these experiences of poverty, sickness, old age, and death, compassion arose in his heart. He resolved to find a way to end the suffering of all beings; and he did. He began his own journey of awakening and became a Buddha, an enlightened one. Sharing insights from his awakening, we too may become liberated.

## The Jewel Within

### The Journey of Awakening

The opening line of the "Introduction" could well have been: "Know O' Wanderer, you are a homeless orphan—origin and identity unknown. Although you have a name, you are not that name." Both openings serve to initiate the arduous journey of return from the foster home of not knowing our true identity to our original home of enlightened altruism.

The essence of being, _spirit_ , is intrinsic to all living beings. Though obscured or concealed by the mantle of ignorance, there is a secret precious jewel within our heart. Sentient beings, from the smallest microbe to the largest mammal, desire happiness and want to be free from suffering. Acknowledgment of this simple observation forms the basis for sharing our common burden of dissatisfactoriness.

Fortunate for us, the human genus has the mental capacity to look into the causes of unhappiness and the altruistic will to realize enduring happiness for all. To start afresh on the path of meditation—the avenue of awakening, we must be willing to cultivate an open mind and remove the obstacles to wellbeing. Many stylized religions and philosophies are heavily encrusted with detrimental baggage, like barnacles on the hull of an old ship. Nevertheless, we need not discard the core values of religion nor the veracities of philosophy.

Within the collective karma of the human race, relatively few are fortunate enough to be born into the following circumstances: possessing a reasonably sound mind and body; in a moderately hospitable environment relatively free of war and strife; with adequate food, clothing, shelter, and leisure; and with access to educational nourishment and spiritual teachings. Amongst these, rare are those who truly see their predicament and the essential need of a journey of awakening. Opportunity awaits for the auspicious ripe ones who wish to wake up and "put out the fire".

Once in a magic land of timeless time, the child of five or six years—pure of heart in that age of innocence— visited his grandmother one summer. A favorite pastime was to explore the surrounding woods and stroll along the creek bank, frequently stopping to gather wild flowers for Grandma. She always exhibited delight and surprise when presented with a colorful bouquet. From her core of being, joyfulness and grace came as blessings whose fragrance permeated their relationship. After a period of time, the child began to perceive their deep connection. An inner flower blossomed with the realization that: because humans mutually experience the suffering of the stream of life and share the joys and sorrows of relationship, all interconnections are as profound as if all beings have been our grandmother—or most precious loved one— many, many times.

Five Axioms

The attainment of happiness for all beings becomes our noble mandate and motive for action. From this compassionate perspective of interconnectivity, wise ones have created accessible guidelines for our liberation and left trail markers for recognizing and acquiring the treasures needed for our trek. To initiate the journey, five axioms are given for consideration throughout our exploration. These will help us transition from a haphazard seeking mode to a guided engagement mode.

1. The primary cause of our existential situation is like a case of mistaken identity—seeing our reflection but not recognizing who we are, not knowing our real genesis. We don't know because our mind is too busy—too noisy—too disturbed to fathom our innermost state of being. Imprisonment is accepted and endured in a self-imposed matrix of confusion. Our deluded self-image is maintained through the conditioning of habituated ego-cherishing.

2. Our innate core status as spirit coupled with the inherent benevolence of the universe underlies the possibility of liberation from the misery of self-delusion. Out of the darkness of ignorance, there is a path of return to clarity and luminosity—a journey of awakening through meditation that continues life after life.

3. A personal and intimate relationship with meditation is the key feature of that path. It provides the way back to our natural primordial condition—a state of sanctity, freedom, and wholeness.

4. Diligence in our meditation practice facilitates the process of awakening. To know who I am and how things really are, a totally different kind of intelligence—free of conditioning must naturally arise. The seed of this new intelligence is conceived and nurtured in the womb of meditation.

5. All things—all phenomena—including the self are nothing other than a set of dependent relationships to which we have attached a name or a label. They are illusory and have no intrinsic independent existence. This assertion will be examined in Chapters Eight, "Search for the Self", and Ten, "Interdependence". All objects, including our body, are 99.9999999% empty space, nevertheless we perceive them as solid and substantial.

When embarking on the spiritual search, we may be sub-consciously drawn towards a symbol of that which is beyond reach. The silhouette of a mist obscured mountain top, framed in the dawn of a rising sun, beckons with hidden promise. It holds in trust a secret and sacred jewel of meaning. Our inquiry into meditation is analogous to approaching a forbidding mountain range, whose way is shrouded in mystery. The journey is to find natural ways of cutting through the obstacles—to break out of our chrysalis of self-obfuscation and to metamorphose into a state of clarity. A caterpillar is instinctively compelled to find a quiet place to begin its process of pupal envelopment. But it is only after it loses itself in the cocoon that the glorious butterfly can emerge.

The mirror of meditation will be applied to peer into some perennial questions:

1. "Who am I?"

2. "What to do?"

3. "What is the nature of my relationship as the meditator to meditation?"

4. "How does meditation relate to my study, practice, concentration, thinking, visualization, listening, reflection, contemplation, and attention?"

These activities are within the realm of thought and time; yet,

5. "Is not meditation beyond thought and time?"

6. "Is a 'system of meditation' a trick of the conditioned mind, another conundrum?"

7. "Is there a way of preparing the field of my mind and heart that will enable the right receptivity for meditation?"

To approach these questions, we will examine perennial wisdom gleaned from representative wise ones whose teachings affirm that there is such a way. We must first host a proper reception for these sources by maintaining an open mind—the essential condition for hearing and communing with truth. A subsequent review of words and concepts will enhance our understanding at the level of intellect. Reflecting on this understanding deepens it in the continuum of heart and mind. Finally, through the practice of meditation, the teachings are integrated into a transcendental realization. The grace of meditation then becomes our ground of being as well as our mode of appearance in the cosmos. Just as in death we die alone; in the end the way of meditation is traveled alone.

"Meditation," as defined by _The New Oxford American Dictionary_ , is "a written or spoken discourse expressing considered thoughts on a subject." Its definition of "meditate" is "think deeply or focus one's mind for a period of time, in silence or with the aid of chanting, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation." It defines "contemplation" as "the action of looking thoughtfully at something for a long time"; or as "religious meditation"; or in a religious context as "a form of prayer or meditation in which a person seeks to pass beyond mental images and concepts to a direct experience of the divine." Although the latter phrase is somewhat relevant, none of these definitions sufficiently illuminates the path beyond the process of thinking. Meditation points to a rare state of consciousness and has been given many names such as: "samadhi," "trance," "rapture," and "enlightenment."

For the present, let us suspend our eagerness for closure and leave the word "meditation" to rest undefined. A preemptive definition might relieve some tension but obstruct the process of inquiry. Meditation, so delicate and ephemeral, is like a hummingbird: when sought, it eludes grasping and flies away. Therefore, we will approach it tentatively, yet with confidence, allowing it to manifest through patient watching and waiting.

Similar to the production of a masterpiece of music or painting, successful meditation practice depends on unfolding innate qualifications of clarity, love, and basic goodness. Masterpieces are distinguished by their transcendent qualities beyond the applications of acquired skills. This unfoldment of pertinent qualifications will be nurtured throughout our journey.

Practical guidelines will be offered although, as an art, meditation cannot be taught; nevertheless, its practice can be learned. Diligently engaging in meditation practice gradually exposes the deeper meaning of meditation. From the power of Beethoven's passionate love and practice of music, his inner listening flowered into the creation of a sonata. Similarly, our meditation practice can yield the sacred fruit of clarity and luminosity.

The art of meditation practice is the most important vocation in the world. Just as the breath is fundamental to the sustenance of our body, meditation is vital to the nourishment of our spirit. Meditation practice is both the sword that pierces the veil of conceptual delusion and a way of loosening attachment to ego driven concepts. It vanishes the clouds of poisonous emotions and blesses us with the direct perception of reality.

A Western way of approaching the spectrum of meditation is by studying and reflecting on the views of philosophy, theosophy, esotericism, and the major monotheistic religions. Communion with representative saints and sages may continue Eastward through the teachings of the iconoclastic Krishnamurti and into the light of the Buddha's dharma teachings on the true nature of reality. Nevertheless, as the Enlightened One advocated, none of these teachings should be considered to be the final word.

Words themselves are mere symbols or pointers that easily transform into useless concepts and platitudes unless we have personally discovered the truth within. Let us be open-minded and tentative while carefully examining the teachings. Even after a measure of confidence and faith in the teachings and the teacher has been established, one must still hold these concepts lightly until certainty arises. Verification of this certainty is affirmed by the way we live.

Transcending the complicity of ego cherishing and concepts clinging, the truth that is born of meditation is inherently genuine. Our journey culminates with immersion into the authenticity of our own insights—the true baptism that transforms mind and heart.

Sages have pointed out that meditation is a transcendental yet natural quality of being fully awake in pristine awareness. It is beyond the limitations of conditioned conceptual mind—wherein the world is recognized as it is in its primordial purity. Perhaps we have come close to the experience of meditation in one of those rare moments of calm abiding when our mind rested quietly. Attention was totally present and the self was asleep in the background. Meditation may have taken the form of an insight beyond thought or an ecstatic feeling of joyousness beyond pleasure—like unexpectedly coming upon the vista of a rainbow that momentarily graces us with its presence and then dissolves back into the open sky. Its beauty lingers as a fleeting afterglow of gratitude, tantalizing and immune to being grasped.

As a guide to understanding some aspects of this journey, let us examine a hypothetical dream experience. After a restful night's sleep during which dreaming occurred, try to follow the mental processes associated with your dreaming. Immediately on waking, before the regular activities of your mind set in, you may feel vivid emotions such as delight or fear. They are the surreal offspring of the remembrance of the dream. But quickly intruding on the reverie, you may see that the events, people, and other objects in the dream were not substantive—simply illusions. The thoughts and emotions, palpable and intense, were based on mirage-like appearances in your mind. Gradually, images and feelings subside and depart, leaving only a few dream memory remnants. Analogous to recognizing the actual nature of our dreams, the flame of meditative awakening exposes and purifies hidden delusions and mental habit patterns of our mind. This profound experience of consciousness relates to the ordinary waking state just as the ordinary waking state relates to dreaming.

Our journey of awakening is purposed to reduce those karmic residues of consciousness that impede the process of radical transformation. Understanding and insight are not built on accumulated knowledge or conceptual foundations but on the direct perception of reality. Set aside the comfort of preconceived notions and start the process of inquiry from the stance of not-knowing; like an empty vase—receptive, without expectations.

## The Empty Receptacle

If we come upon a truth, we may marvel at its beauty and profundity; but unless we engage with it and live with it, it is merely cosmetic window dressing. The brightest star in a clear dark sky does not shine directly on our path; however, if we focus on the star we do get a sense of direction. Throughout history, special teachers have left maps and guidance applicable to our journey. Tradition records that during a span of forty years, the Buddha gave eighty-four thousand dharma teachings in recognition of the diversity of human minds. So be confident that during this journey, we will encounter requisite teachings suitable for each and every temperament. Our approach to meditation will be both passionate and tentative. Communion with the sources will be respectful; however, no traditions are immune to the light of inquiry. Let us step gingerly into the waters of the meditation practice river and have confidence that meditation itself lies across the stream—beyond the other shore.

### Sitting Meditation

Approaching Meditation Practice

If our mind was as calm and clear as a still forest pool, there would be no need to "practice" meditation. Unfortunately, most of our minds are like a "monkey-mind," conditioned to be hyper-occupied by chasing thoughts of the past or bouncing off plans for the future. Various disturbing emotions arise continuously, often leading to confusion and anxiety. Hence, there is the need to train our mind to bring it to a stable state of calmness and clarity. Begin the practice sessions by simply relaxing the mind into a quiet mode and placing the body into a comfortable position with a reasonably straight back. As experience is gained, gradually incorporate some of the features of the instructions given in the Appendix "Meditation Practice Fundamentals". Especially important are "setting the stage" and "sealing the practice".

To initiate mental training, many traditions consider observing the natural breathing process to be both an excellent object for concentration as well as a method to recollect ourselves in times of distraction or distress. To perceive this cyclic process, one needs to be acutely aware of its associated sensations. Some favor feeling the diaphragm rising and falling. Some are more attuned to the cool sensation of the breath over the lips, to the feeling of a gentle breeze through the nose, or to the sound like wind in trees. Select a method and observe the process of breathing by focusing on its tactile sensations. Another aspect of the breathing process is its rhythmic movement. This may be experienced by allowing the tactile sensations to softly fade into the background while subtly attending to the natural rhythm. If your attention wanders off, gently return to observing the breath's movement.

The practice sessions are progressive and sequentially designed to be repeated until one feels ready to proceed to the next. Consistent regular practice at a convenient time and place establishes a natural rhythm and easily becomes habit. Don't prolong a session until fatigue and discouragement come into play. Ambitiously extending the sitting time is counterproductive. Allowing aching sit-bones to escalate into distraction violates common sense. In this context, one purpose of the practice is for body and mind to learn to be at ease with each other.

### Meditation Session One

Sit up straight and relax your body and mind. Set the stage and attend to any unruly physical discomforts. Begin observing the whole breathing process as the breath moves gently through the nose and slightly opened mouth.

After tuning in to the process, count the breathing cycles. Normal breathing consists of breathing in and out but for this practice, three stages of breathing are to be observed: inhaling, pausing the breath near the navel, and exhaling. Let the breathing become rhythmic and natural; don't try to control it. Count each movement: "in — pause — out" as one cycle.

Initially, what generally happens is that one will count a few cycles and forget to pause the breath. If so, just start over. Also, your attention may have strayed to thinking about something. When this occurs, relax, release, and come back to observing the breath. Be persistent, even if it takes several sessions to keep on track. After succeeding in counting ten or so complete cycles without straying, a significant milestone has been reached. The purpose of this counting practice was not to train the mind to count but rather to highlight the normal tendencies of the mind to flit and flutter.

If you are not accustomed to "seeing" thoughts and emotions arise, try an experiment when you go for a walk. Taking a timer and a counter with you, set the timer for 10 minutes and click the counter each time a thought or emotion comes up. Don't count bare perceptions themselves such as simply seeing or hearing trees or birds. Do count thoughts, concepts, labels, likes, dislikes, indifferences, associated memories, and any other mental activities that occur. Don't become involved or entangled with them; simply marvel at their variety and abundance.

Returning to the main practice, move on to the next stage by giving full awareness to the normal breathing process without the mental activity of counting. When thoughts or emotions arise, don't chase after them as if they were precious pearls about to fall in the gutter; just allow the thoughts to disappear into oblivion like bubbles floating to the top of a beverage. When you notice the arrival of the unwelcome intruders, don't repress them or chastise yourself; politely say good-bye to the uninvited guests and return to the practice of observing the movement of your breath. Stay with this for a short while. After a few sessions, notice how the background volume has softened.

In the early stages of practice, our mind seems to be chattering like a covey of excited birds. We may feel that the door of the unconscious has been left open. Actually, the proliferation of thoughts and emotions was present all along; we just weren't aware of the cacophony. Close by sealing the practice.

Chapter Two

## Preparing the Garden of Meditation

Meditation is like the subtle, fleeting fragrance of a newly opened flower bud. It cannot be touched or seen directly but may be uniquely sensed and thereby becomes integral with our consciousness. The practice of meditation has prerequisites analogous to those required for growing flowers from seeds in a garden. The virgin field of the mind is to be readied for a profound conception to occur in this garden. The weeds of self-centeredness are to be rooted out. Seeds of noble aspirations of loving-kindness are to be sown. Plants nurtured in the garden of meditation are precious and perennial for as given in Genesis 1:11 they are as:

. . . fruit trees bearing fruit

That carries its own seed.

### Guidelines From Perennial Sages

Virtuous qualities are a universal hallmark of the spiritual quest. Cultivation of these profound traits is essential to fully connect with the process of meditation. Sages and religious traditions advocate special requirements for approaching the Divine.

Through Moses came the Ten Commandments giving rules of conduct. From Psalms 46:10:

Be still and know that I am God.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaimed:

Blessed are the pure in heart

For they shall see God.

To surrender to the Divine Will, the Prophet Muhammad categorically advocated

the Great inner jihad.

His preeminent teaching was oriented towards an internal, individual, and spiritual struggle for self-improvement and personal moral purification.

From his insight into Sufism, the esoteric dimension of Islam, the representative poet and mystic, Rumi, says:

Whether you love the One or another human being,

If you love enough, in the end you will come into the

Presence of Love itself.

Helena the Theosophist urges aspirants to climb the golden stairs of:

A Clean life, an Open mind, and a Pure heart,

And to attain to the temple of Divine wisdom.

She affirms the existence of an _Ancient Wisdom_ that informs the esoteric basis for the world's major religions.

The Chinese sage **Lao Tzu** says to those who wish to follow the Tao:

Like a lake without winds,

One must have a heart that is calm and quiet,

With great depth beneath it.

The Tao that can be expressed is not the Eternal Tao.

Nevertheless, something there is, formless yet complete.

In the beginning it existed. Its name is not known,

But it is called Tao.

It is the Mystery of Mysteries.

From a Confucian sage, Mencius:

Try your best to treat others as you would wish

To be treated yourself,

And you will find that this

Is the shortest way to goodness.

From a Jain prayer:

Friendship to all living forms,

Delight in the qualities of the virtuous ones,

Unlimited compassion for all suffering beings,

Equanimity towards all who wish me harm,

May my soul have these dispositions now and forever.

From the Sikh sacred scriptures (Adi Granth):

The One God pervades all:

And seeing Him,

I am wholly in bloom.

The Shinto approaches the _Divine_ heart of truth

Through sincerity,

A pure heart,

And uprightness.

The Hindu sage Patanjali gave spiritual guidelines to attain the _Meditative_ state of mind that include:

Abstaining from harmful behavior and

cultivating generosity and devotion.

The dharma teachings of Gautama Buddha, the Enlightened One, are summarized in his _Noble Eightfold Path_ and

lead to the wisdom of compassion and

liberation from suffering for all beings.

These imperatives universally embody the truth that negative qualities cause suffering and a virtuous mind generates happiness. They are essential to our inquiry and furnish the requisite seeds to be sown in the garden of meditation. Plants harvested here will generate a cornucopia of benefits for our self and others. Let us take to heart Jesus's "Parable of the Sower" and give great care in preparing this garden. Early in this process, having recognized and grown weary of our life drama and its binding entanglements, a warrior-like fearlessness and determination to proceed will begin to sprout within our mind stream.

### Mental Afflictions

Obstructing our journey are six major poisons that afflict our mind: Delusion, Attachment, Anger, Greed, Jealousy, and Envy. These mental adversities are the immediate causes of our miseries.

1. Delusion or ignorance is not seeing phenomena and self as they really are. This produces results that masquerade under many attractive guises; rarely do they appear as ugly or malodorous weeds. Witness our gullibility when faced with the pervasive contagion of charismatic politicians' disingenuous utterings (outright lies) or the news media's propensity for sensationalism, misinformation, and exaggeration. Proliferations of delusion include the entertainment media's pandering to our baser fantasies and the advertisement industry's clever solicitations that fool us into responding with unrestrained consumerism. Looming over these rather mundane delusions is our sense of separateness from others—the great delusion of self to be addressed in Chapter Nine "Origin of the Self".

A conditioned self-image may be a case of mistaken identity. Do we absolutely know who we really are? Are we a thief at heart? If we were poor and hungry, would we steal food for our self and family? Are we capable of killing? If we saw a loved one being brutally murdered, would we want to kill the killer? Are we a liar? If we were a politician running for office, would we cheat to achieve our goal ostensibly for the greater good of our country? If we were born in fortunate circumstances and have never known poverty, conflict, and temptation, is it certain that we are free of selfishness, greed, racism, violence, and immorality? In the absence of discriminating wisdom, we inevitably sink into the oblivion of ignorance which allows noxious latent seeds to sprout and take root within consciousness.

2. Attachment or entanglement reveals itself in many ways such as being caught up in excessive desire for attractive things and fondness for possessions including my spouse, my opinions, and my self. Resistance to examining cherished beliefs thinly cloaks our attachment to ego. We hold definite religious beliefs and don't want to be shown any errors in our holy book. We are so attached to outcomes that we become extremely upset if things don't go our way. If our candidate loses the election, we and our country will suffer greatly. We are really quite reluctant to change our mind about liking or disliking practically anything because we are so comfortable with our delusions.

3. Anger or hatred are extremely destructive forces in our relationships with others. Their effects range from estrangement to violence and outright war. When we believe we are simply annoyed, impatient, or resentful, we may be denying repressed or latent anger.

4. The grossest form of greed is simply accumulating more than we need and being reluctant to share our bounty with others. A subtle form of greed disguises itself under the mantle of seeking praise or gratitude for apparent generous deeds. The rich person donates a huge fortune to a charitable foundation but also wants his or her name emblazoned in big letters in a prominent setting. They are likely to want a tax deduction as well.

5. Jealousy combines delusion, anger, and attachment in a way that leads to unfounded suspicion and feelings of extreme anxiety, fear of loss, or rage. Conditional love for another engenders the drama of jealousy. Real love is unconditional and only wants happiness for the other.

6. Envy combines the same three poisons as jealousy with a greater proportion of attachment. We desire the superior qualities or possessions of another and are discontent at our lack thereof. Envy's persona shows itself when there is no feeling of empathetic joy for the good fortune of another.

These weeds and their seed pods are to be culled and burnt prior to our final harvest; otherwise, their spawn will continue as sources of our misery. We may have realized that a life involved in the constant pursuit of pleasure or power is hollow and devoid of meaning, always in the penumbra of dissatisfaction. No matter what successes are enjoyed, failures loom. We never feel secure or completely fulfilled. In a relational context, personal interactions with others are often marked with anxiety; the ebb and flow of kind deeds, words, and thoughts may become contrived and joyless. An indifference to the suffering of those outside our immediate sphere of attention may lead to hardening of the arteries of compassion. Awareness of these observations informs and supports our motivation for undertaking this journey.

### Open Hand/Open Heart

Basic Qualities

Two and a half millennia ago, the Buddha taught the _great perfections_ (Skt., _paramitas_ ), which uniquely encompass the basic qualities necessary for leading the spiritual life. When perfected, these qualities become the transcendental virtues of full enlightenment. These perfections relate to crossing the "river of suffering" to the "other shore of peace and awakening." The qualities are traditionally formulated as a set of six modes of behavior characterizing those who wish to follow a spiritual path to benefit others. They are: Generosity, Discipline, Patience, Enthusiasm, Meditative Concentration, and Wisdom.

1. Generosity is the quality of being kind and open-hearted. There are three kinds of generosity: the most obvious is the direct sharing of our material wealth with those in need. Wise ones say that the seeds of generosity are inherently present within each of us. Witness a young child's joyful natural behavior while sharing a bag of candy with playmates and even strangers. Because generosity is innate, these seeds can be nurtured and sprouted by training. It is a good practice to personally present a gift to the recipient in contrast to mailing a check to a charitable institution .Another proactive practice is to develop the habit of seeking out and directly placing food or money into the hands of a homeless person. You may wonder if this gesture will foster laziness or enable them to get drugs. Obsessing on this thought may cause you to discount the value of mundane charitable actions. If so, then know, "O' Pilgrim," that you have strayed from the path and may become lost in the morass of greed.

A second kind of generosity is giving protection from fear. Mothers naturally give this to their babies as do fathers to their family. First class governments protect their citizens through health care, disability assistance, and old age security.

Third, and the greatest generosity, is to share dharma or spiritual teachings to the extent we are capable. Leading by example, most of us can teach a child about kindness and forgiveness. If we know more than another about something, is it not our duty to share what we have learned?

2. Discipline includes actions supporting right ethics and moral conduct. This also has three aspects. First is to do no harm. Similar to the ethic embodied in the Hippocratic Oath (as pledged by some medical students: a vow to not injure a patient with their treatment), we resolve to never hurt any sentient being, whether human, animal, or the planet's Gaia.

A second aspect is to perform virtuous actions that benefit others. This accumulates karmic merit in our life's savings account.

Third is to take care of our self by cultivating virtue and practicing the dharma teachings on meditation. This action builds the kind of self-esteem that induces happiness and well-being in those around us while elevating the self-worth of ourselves and others.

3. Patience elegantly and skillfully attenuates anger and forestalls its arising. It subdues ill-will and malevolent situations which, ironically, we may have created. Jesus taught: "Love your enemy and judge not others." However, be patient with this injunction because many of us humans have professed this for over two thousand years and still haven't caught on.

Developing patience enables us to avoid lashing out at another whereas repressing anger would merely postpone or escalate it. Patience brings a calming effect that allows time and space for the fangs of malice to withdraw like ocean waves subsiding on the beach. Cultivating an attitude of forbearance towards others and our problematic dramas goes to the root of the issue.

4. Enthusiasm refers to a joyful and diligent attentiveness—always mindful of the actions of body, speech, and mind. This mindfulness protects the body from injury caused by ingesting harmful drugs or unhealthy foods, from hazardous occupations, or from neglecting the body's need for nurture and sleep. Speech becomes pleasant and non-injurious. The mind becomes calm and non-obsessive. We begin to take delight in wholesome actions.

Enthusiastic diligence entails constantly practicing the dharma without procrastination or laziness.

5, Meditative Concentration here refers to the quality of being calm, clear, and collected. Being aware of the action of speech, we tend to not utter hurtful words, gossip, or slander; We will refrain from propagating wrong ideas. Thus we avoid the germs of the contagious "foot in mouth" disease. This awareness leads us to speak kindly to and of others. By following the right spiritual path and practicing the mindfulness discussed in Chapter Four, "Meditative Serenity", we attain a mind of calm abiding—a still forest pool capable of reflecting perfectly.

6. Wisdom sees into the destructive actions of thoughts and emotions such as holding wrong views, being overly attached to desirable objects, and clinging to hatred of another. When perfected, it exhibits transcendental awareness and vast compassion. On the basis of stabilizing the mind in a state of calm abiding joined with the practice of insight meditation discussed in Chapter Five, "Meditative Insight", we may see into the nature of mind itself and begin to see things as they really are. On attaining full realization we can truly benefit others as well as our self.

These six modes of action begin to bloom as a display of character as our meditation practice progresses.

### Four Immeasurables

Accomplishment of the six basic qualities will cause four sublime innate characteristic virtues to emerge. Traditionally known as the Four Immeasurables, these are the manifest marks of an enlightened being: Loving Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity.

1. Loving-Kindness is the extension of unlimited, universal good will to all beings without discrimination, including the wish that all beings be happy and obtain the causes and conditions of happiness.

2. Boundless Compassion is the wish that all beings be free from suffering and the causes and conditions of suffering.

3. Unbridled Empathetic Joy is delighting in the success, welfare, and happiness of all beings.

4. Universal Equanimity is the sense of even-mindedness and impartiality toward all beings— friends and enemies alike— in all the vicissitudes of life.

The quality of generosity is particularly relevant to accomplishing our journey, for it prevents the constant stumbling and tripping over ego. Meditation masters advocate purification in the fountain of a generous heart as the preeminent qualification to begin right meditation practice. This action lightens our burden of ego-cherishing. Implied in axiom 2 in Chapter One, "Introduction", which asserts our innate core status as _spirit_ , is that generosity, like all real virtue, lies latent in the heart of everyone. Virtue doesn't come from nothing. If there was no seed present, the four ghosts in the Charles Dickens novel _A Christmas Carol_ could never have transformed the cold-hearted miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, into a kind and generous philanthropist. Fortunately, generosity can be nurtured, unfolded, and manifested since it is inherent to our nature.

What should we do with the obvious fact that sometimes we are not generous? Fabricated virtues are deceptive—disguised forms of greed and self-aggrandizement. They merely induce complacency and self-satisfaction. For example, what if we feel quite proud of our great humility? Simply seeing into our basic motives can lead to right actions. The ambition to acquire virtue as a pious possession prevents us from cultivating generosity for the benefit of others.

Practicing little deeds of generosity generates a magical basis for transformation. This practice is not so much a type of conditioning but rather a process of deconstructing old habit patterns and making space for innate virtue to flourish. Although these deeds may seem fabricated, with practice they become integral and genuine. To germinate the seeds of generosity, start by giving away small possessions. With no sense of pride or superiority, no embarrassment, directly gift a stranger-in-need. Be grateful for your good fortune that makes this action possible. Gradually, there will be no sense of reservation even when giving away your most prized possession.

One who realizes the futility of possessiveness and whose generosity arises out of a pure wish to help others is on the path to enlightenment and is called a _bodhisattva_. The perfection of generosity arises when the narcissistic notion of your self is abandoned—the ultimate sacrifice to spirit.

Imagine that the treasure we seek, the jewel of enlightenment, is hidden at the top of a distant mountain. To find the jewel, we must connect with the space of meditation. We begin this treasure hunt in unexplored territory with obscure maps, undeveloped skills, and insufficient supplies. Without the right view and preparation, the seeker will become lost and the treasure will not be found. Generosity, fearlessness, and other essential qualities will lighten our backpacks. Otherwise, mundane qualities will become encumbrances and our search will be diverted into the wanderings of samsara.

To begin this journey, it is sufficient to simply appreciate the beauty of the idea that meditation is coupled with a virtuous life. As we continue along the path, motives will be allowed to gestate. Gradually, requisite qualities will unfold and ripen into the certainty of aspiration. Only then may we step gingerly into the edge of the baptismal waters. Know O' Seeker, commitment to full immersion is necessary to cross the river of endeavor to the other shore of enlightenment.

### Meditation Session Two

Set the stage and settle into position. Attend to your breathing until mind and body become quiet and relaxed. In the first session, we used our breath as the object of meditation practice. There are other physical and mental objects worthy of attention. Consider objects such as a candle flame, a sonata, a flower's fragrance, the wind in your face, a baby's eyes, or a sunset. Mental objects might include a scriptural verse, a poem, a virtue, an abstract idea, or a personal religious image. Select a single meditation practice object that interests you and after observing it, hold it in your mind. For a verbal object, first memorize its lines.

Bring a selected meditation object into this session. Examine all aspects of the object until you resonate with it. From this position of resonance, let go the examining process. Hold it very carefully, very sensitively, as if it were a fragile butterfly, until the boundary between your hands and its wings—the subject/object dichotomy—disappears. Allow yourself to rest in that suspension. Seal the practice.

## Communion

### Chapter Three

Meditation and Love

Is there an intimate relationship between meditation and love or devotion? The word "devotion" mean to consecrate or make sacred and often refers to religious worship of a deity. It may also encompass love and loyalty for a spiritual teacher and their teachings. Devotion opens one's heart to receive blessings from the teacher and the teachings.

The word "love" has many usages, some of which veil deeper meanings. It ranges from emotional attachment and affection for a person or object to an all-encompassing feeling of union with the _Divine_. This latter sense conveys an attitude of attunement that is universally beneficent. Ineffable love is approached through surrender of one's self to _that_. Then only may the power of devotion manifest as communion with the _source_. This communion is an aspect of meditation.

Witness the example of Brother Lawrence and his experience of devotion. He was an uneducated footman prior to becoming a lay brother among the barefoot Christian Carmelites. His conversion was the result of his relation to a "dry and leafless tree standing gaunt against the snow." He contemplated deeply the new life promised by the coming spring. From that moment on, he blossomed forth in communion with God endeavoring "to walk as in His presence."

Excerpts from a letter to his priest convey a sense of abiding devotion while he was engaged in mundane duties and formal periods of prayer or contemplation. Brother Lawrence exposes his heart thusly:

And I make it my business

Only to persevere in His holy presence,

Wherein I keep myself by a simple attention,

and a general fond regard to God,

Which I may call an actual presence of God; or, better, an habitual, silent, and secret conversation with God, which causes me Joys and Raptures Inwardly and outwardly.

Then with ingenuous humility:

I consider myself as the most wretched of men

Who has committed all sorts of crimes

against his King.

Touched with a sensible regret,

I confess to Him all my wickedness,

and ask His forgiveness.

I abandon myself in His hands that He may

do what He wishes with me.

My King, full of mercy and goodness,

Very far from chastising me,

Embraces me with love.

Thus am I from time to time in

His holy presence.

And the internal sensation when he applies himself to prayer:

I feel all my spirit and all my soul lift itself up

without any care or effort of mine.

It continues as it were suspended and firmly fixed

in God,

In its center and place of rest.

Finally, the soul's desire:

I cannot bear that this should be called

delusion,

Because the soul which thus enjoys God

Desires nothing but Him.

If this be delusion in me, It belongs to God to remedy it.

This example from the Christian tradition perfectly illustrates the power of devotion to open one's heart to the presence within.

St. Teresa of Avila, a contemplative Christian nun, explores various kinds of raptures in her _The Interior Castle_. She speaks of an interior rebirth that "through her devotion and His grace, all her errors are forgiven." In referring to the divine favors granted to the soul in a state of suspension or meditation, she writes: "There are truths about the greatness of God that are so firmly planted in the garden of the soul that even if she didn't have faith dictating who He is and compelling her to believe that He is God, the soul would adore Him as God from that moment forward."

St. John of the Cross in his _Dark Night of the Soul_ speaks of a meditation that brings an inner peace. "This peace—so delicate and subtle —does its work in stillness and solitude. God no longer communicates himself through the senses. He does not make himself known through the analytical mind, which synthesizes and divides ideas. Instead, he begins to come through pure spirit, through simple contemplation, untainted by discursive thought." Referring to the infused contemplation God bestows on the soul, he says: "Contemplation is nothing other than a secret, peaceful, loving inflow of God. If given room, it will fire the soul in the spirit of love."

From the tradition of Islam, Sufis emphasize a devotional approach to God, the very essence of Love and Light. The Sufi Saint and poet, Rumi, embraces the highest form of this love as the path to God. He expresses this mystical devotion in verse:

O my soul, I searched from end to end:  
I saw in thee naught save the Beloved;  
Call me not infidel, O my soul, if I say that thou thyself art He.  
Ye who search of God, of God, pursue.  
Ye need not search for God is you, is you!  
Why seek ye something that was missing ne'er?  
Save you, none is, but you are—where, oh, where?

The Muslim Saint and Sufi mystic of the eighth century, Rabia Al Basra, embodied this passionate devotion and love of God. She most famously declared, "I want to pour water into Hell and set fire to Paradise so that these two veils disappear and nobody worships God out of fear of Hell or hope for Paradise, but only for the sake of eternal beauty."

The Hindu scholar of the third century BCE, Patanjali, considered devotion to be one of the necessary preliminary practices leading to meditative integration. It involves self-sacrifice and helps to unite our conditioned consciousness with pure awareness. Paraphrased from the _Bhagavad-Gita_ :

When the yogi's attention is fixed on the Beloved,

Free from hope or fear or desire,

Then is one said to be harmonized.

As a lamp sheltered from the wind does not flicker,

Just so is the yogi of subdued mind

Absorbed in devotion to the Beloved.

In his book _Self-Realization through Love_ , the eminent theosophist Dr. I. K. Taimni notes two stages on the Hindu path of devotion. The first stage involves constant effort and self-discipline to prepare and purify oneself for the expression of devotion. The second stage is reached when the aspirant has the experience in which the "Love of God" wells up from within naturally, constantly, and effortlessly. This is the direct awareness of reality—the highest state of love of God wherein the devotee "sees nothing but God, hears nothing but God and thinks of nothing else except God."

The paramitas taught by the Buddha are grounded in love and compassion. The practice of generosity graces the endeavor of meditation with love and gratitude. The attainment of wisdom—the fruit of meditation—provides the insight to truly benefit self and others. If trace elements of unconditional love and compassion for the suffering of all beings are not present in the soil of our heart, then our practice will be barren and its potential harvest will wither and dry up.

The connection between devotion and meditation is the epiphany of love. From ancient times, sages have taught that the paths of devotion and meditation ultimately merge. The first step of our practice sessions, "setting the stage," purports to generate a special ambience to facilitate this merger. Empathizing with the inner state of these mystics enables us to receive their blessings and empowers us to practice meditation. Devotion renders gratitude palpable so that we may feel open, receptive, joyous, and selfless. These four: openness, receptivity, joyfulness, and forgetting the self are invitations to enter the sanctuary of our innermost being.

The following Coda, composed of traditional Buddhist elements, is a particular form of prayer or contemplation that expresses the wish that all sentient beings be happy and free from suffering. You may use it as a closing for your meditation sessions.

### Coda

_May all beings, with each of whom I am_

profoundly connected,

Be happy and obtain the causes and

conditions of happiness.

May all beings, each of whom is a reflection

of my most precious loved one,

Be free from suffering and the causes and

conditions of suffering.

May all beings be filled with unbridled

empathetic joy and

May all beings relate to friends and enemies

alike with equanimity and impartiality.

May I attain a measure of enlightenment

so that I may point others to the

Great happiness—the awakened mind of

compassion.

May I receive the blessings of this meditation

practice so that

Love and compassion, joy and equanimity,

devotion and faith, and the power to help

May grow and flourish in my heart, naturally,

And that I may be free from

delusion and doubt.

### Meditation Session Three

Set the stage and settle into position. Attend to your breathing until mind and body become quiet and relaxed. Bring to mind an object towards which you may feel devotion or gratitude. Focus on the representation of this object, be it a religious icon, a teaching, a concept, a person, or a meaningful experience. If you choose a profound statement, memorize it and voice the sentence audibly or silently. Understand the words and concepts intellectually and then focus on this understanding until it is deeply heartfelt. If there is a spontaneous response, such as a prayer or feeling of gratitude, allow it to express itself.

Return to feeling the words resound in your heart. After a suitable interval, drop the object itself and connect with the feeling of devotion associated with the object. Allow the feeling to unfold without any adjusting or tampering. Gently lose yourself in the nurturance of the process. Seal the practice.

# PART TWO

# THE APPROACH

## Stillness Reflecting

Chapter Four

### Meditative Serenity

In the fifth century BCE, at dawn in Bodhgaya as the third watch was ending, a man named Siddhartha Gautama attained full enlightenment. His first words upon awakening as a Buddha were heard thusly:

The nectar-like truth is revealed,

Profound, serene, unfabricated,

Luminous, timeless, self-secret,

Non-conceptual, unconditioned.

While dwelling on Vulture Peak Mountain, the Buddha taught the primary qualities that awaken one to true enlightenment: the impartial attitude towards all beings; the altruistic frame of mind; the attitude of non-aggression; and the open mind that is receptive and holds no prejudice. The facts of our existential situation are that most of us are not awake nor are our minds naturally quiet. To attain meditative serenity, the mind must be radically tamed by undertaking diligent training.

By closely observing the operation of the mind, you will notice thoughts and emotions flitting to and fro like birds trapped in a room with closed windows. If you practiced the breath counting exercise in "Meditation Session One", initially you probably encountered difficulty in counting ten complete cycles without interruption. The mind is simply not accustomed to remaining attentive and still. Try the following experiment to illustrate the profusion of thoughts and feelings that arise in your mind. Sit with pen, paper, and clock; set timer for ten minutes and note each mental occurrence as they occur. Alternatively, go on a ten minute walk with a recorder in hand and register each passing thought and feeling. You may be astounded at the plethora of mental events.

The predominant habit pattern of our mind is to chatter constantly except when caught in the net of momentary attraction or aversion. Even in relatively quiet environmental circumstances, if our mind gets lost in thought it remains quite noisy. Forms of noise range from the gross—explosive anger or fear, to the subtle—background discursiveness or inattention. Within this range of cacophony are desire, attachment, ambition, anxiety, worry, status speculation, hubris, close-mindedness, and ignorance. Meditation is seeing into this disorder. To approach this meditative state, the mind must be quiet and reflective, like a limpid pool of mountain water devoid of muddy suspensions and without a single ripple on its surface.

This state of calm abiding forms the basis for the perfect reflection of reality. It is attained through steady and moderate practice. Obsessively trying to force a noisy mind to become quiet is counterproductive and only yields bitter fruit. Once upon a time, there was a young mother who desperately wanted to do a meditation practice based on instructions she found in a "spiritual" book. In addition to her home-making duties, she would diligently sit every morning with furrowed brow, determined to sit for thirty minutes, while concentrating on various objects or religious verses. One day, after a few months of this practice, she was in the kitchen anxiously preparing dinner, and her five-year-old daughter was sitting nearby playing. Seemingly out of the blue, the little girl looked up and asked, "Mommy, why is it that the more you meditate, the meaner you get?"

This story of a relatively intense concentration practice illustrates a mild form of a commonly seen side-effect. More severe is a kind of tenseness that escalates into bouts of anger. Another common experience is an onslaught of repressed memories that become quite distressful. If not overwhelming, they may be dealt with by deliberately returning to the object of concentration. However, if the feelings are too strong, it is good to consult with an experienced meditation teacher or psychotherapist. There is no danger associated with those meditation practices that apply a common sense approach and employ mindfulness as a guardian. Ambition and anxiety about attaining the goal of a peaceful mind are also counterproductive. After all, we have lived in the fog of noisy mental habits for a very long time—perhaps many lifetimes. Instead, relax into awareness and allow the situation to unfold naturally.

The words "serenity" and "tranquility" sometimes have quite different connotations. Tranquility, comparatively speaking, may be an induced dull state of mind, whereas serenity is an alert and undisturbed state of mind. Tranquility, as a mood of laxity, can be brought on by the use of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, or the euphoria of success. Meditative serenity is neither a trance nor a mood; neither is it being spaced-out or dulled down. Serenity practice is like the preparation of a tea service: the cup must first be clean and empty, and then paired to a fine saucer with napkin and spoon. It must be receptive but not too eager, anticipative yet unexcited—entirely ready for service. The serving ensemble is like the meditation practice; the experience of the tea is the meditation.

The right motivation to practice is the altruistic aspiration for liberation from delusion, both for one's self and all other living beings. The heart of the Buddha's teaching (i.e., _buddhadharma_ ) and the result of his insight is the _dharma_ _of bodhicitta._ In this context, the Sanskrit word "dharma" means both truth and duty. The Sanskrit word " _bodhicitta"_ refers to the awakened mind of compassion. Thus, the dharma of bodhicitta refers to seeing the truth of the necessity of altruism in a world where all beings and actions are interconnected.

Serenity (Skt., _shamatha_ ) and insight (Skt., _vipashyana_ ) correlate with the fifth and sixth paramitas of the Buddha's teaching: Meditative Concentration and Wisdom (see Chapter Two, "Preparing the Garden of Meditation"). Serenity arises as the result of continuous focusing on an object of meditation so that the mind stabilizes naturally. Shamatha practice is a dualistic fixation on an object by a subject and is not contingent upon understanding the object's reality nor its status. Our state of meditative concentration becomes shamatha when our body and mind come to rest in blissful pliancy. The full attainment of shamatha is characterized by the integrated feeling of well being, clarity, and non-thought.

One evening, in the little meadow of periwinkles beyond the fence surrounding my house, the blessed cat, with mindfulness and stealth, crept closer and closer to a poorly disguised gopher hole. He sat very still, all senses alert, concentrating with intense interest on the hole's entrance, or rather exit, from his perspective. Several distractions occurred but none were successful in diverting his attention. Obviously, he fully intended to draw that life within the hole into union with his life. Though he remained in a state of unruffled concentration, serenity was not present; nor was insight.

This tale is not to illustrate the meditation practice of a cat, but to highlight the notion that concentration is a necessary step towards serenity but is not sufficient to attain it. The cat may capture the gopher, but he will not empathize with the gopher's desire for life. For this insight to take root, motivation beyond mere attraction must govern the choice of object for meditation practice. The shamatha practice for meditative serenity forms the basis for the experience of compassion to arise through vipashyana practice.

Meditation practice benefits from consideration of the preconditions embodied in the first four paramitas: generosity, ethics, patience, and joyful attentiveness. Being mindful of accomplishing these preconditions, we may select an appropriate object for practice according to our personality. For example, if our behavior is dominated by hatred, meditate on love. If discursiveness is dominant, focus on the breath. To understand the illusory nature of the self, reflect on the aggregates, the constituent elements of body and mind. (These will be detailed under "Composition of Self" in Chapter Nine). To deal with the causes of suffering, look at the mental afflictions. Nondiscursive objects are for shamatha practice. Discursive objects involve analytical thinking and are for vipashyana practice.

Take care in selecting the meditation practice object. Once there was a simple monk who wished to become a shamatha practitioner. After receiving some instructions from the teacher, he sat down in the temple, chose a cow as his meditation object, and began to diligently meditate on it. After many practice sessions, he went outside into a lush meadow, got down on all fours, and began eating the grass. Upon seeing all this, the teacher asked the monk why he was eating as a cow eats. With grass and weeds dangling from his mouth, the monk raised his head and replied: "Moo-ooo." Perhaps the cow-monk hadn't understood the purpose of meditation practice and became attached to the wrong meditative object.

### Mental Training

The movement towards enlightenment is enhanced by gaining knowledge of reality through the study and reflection on the teachings of sages. We should use our best judgment to determine which sources to rely on. We may wish to use scriptures or teachings of our own religious or philosophical persuasion for guidance. However, be on guard, for the literature of religion and philosophy has no dearth of false prophets. The Buddha spoke out against blind belief including taking his own words as ultimate truth. Through careful selection and a tentative trust in those holy ones who seem to have authentic knowledge, we may fan the embers of our latent capacity for discriminating awareness.

When the Buddha began his teaching on meditation, he emphasized the application of mindfulness in one's daily activities. He formalized this practice in his famous discourse on mental training, _the Presence of Mindfulness,_ in which he described four categories of mental cultivation. These four forms of meditation practices take as their objects the body, the feelings, the mind, and the mental formations.

1. The first category of mental training is in connection with the body. One quietly sits and observes the breathing process, body postures, body constituents, and physical sensations. This practice can be done in any situation by giving constant attention to our physical and verbal activities. An example of this is the practice of "walking meditation," wherein we carefully monitor the motions of our body parts while walking in a slow and deliberate manner. These practices entail being attentive and simply living in the present moment with full mindfulness.

2. The second category of mental cultivation regards our feelings. The practice is to be aware of whether our feelings are pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent. When a feeling presents itself, examine its nature, how it arises and disappears in our mind, where it comes from and where it goes, and whether or not we feel attached to it.

3. The third category of training is the meditation practice dealing with the mind itself. Observe and be aware of the condition or state of the mind both while it is at rest and in movement. Be aware of whether the mind is with or without the afflictions of anger or resentment, excessive desire or attachment, and ignorance or stupidity. Know whether it is distracted or not, attentive or not, and free or not.

4. The fourth category of mental cultivation is the meditation practice of using our mental formations as objects. Mental formations are born from one's psychological conditioning and take the form of unconscious habit patterns. These mental objects are to be observed, analyzed, pondered, and reflected upon. They include five principal obstacles to enlightenment including: obsessive pursuit of pleasure, malice or illwill, laxity, anxiety, and uncertainty or distrust. They also include beneficial factors in support of the way to enlightenment such as: mindfulness, interest in sacred doctrines, energy, joy, relaxation, concentration, and equanimity. Traditionally, fifty two mental objects were delineated by the Buddha.

Many prominent Western meditation teachers employ the foregoing mindfulness techniques in their practices referred to as "vipassana" meditation. Their approach follows early Buddhist traditions based on the Pali canon and are exemplified by the Mahasi Sayadaw's "noting" and "sweeping" system. The emphasis of vipassana is primarily associated with the seventh aspect, _right mindfulness,_ of the Buddha's _Noble Eightfold Path_. (See Chapter Five, "Four Noble Truths"). It focuses on moment to moment concentrations on bodily sensations and feelings and in the context of this book is akin to a shamatha-in-motion practice. The purpose of vipassana is to attain insight into the three marks of existence: impermanence, suffering, and non-self.

Vipashyana herein, on the other hand, and as taught in the later Himalayan Buddhist traditions, is primarily associated with the first aspect, _right view_ , and the eighth aspect, _right meditation,_ of the Buddha's _Noble Eightfold Path._ It takes the very nature of mind itself as its object.

Which practice is better: vipassana or vipashyana? Wrong question. Both are subject to interpretation and individual suitability and are not mutually exclusive. They certainly point in the same direction and lead towards the same end. So, one should begin with the approach that seems to call to them at this moment in time.

In the training for attaining serenity, we may notice that mental states or levels of attention develop in discernible stages: initially focusing on an object, gradually eliminating distractions, and subsequently pacifying the mind until we dwell in equanimity. These mental states arise through having cultivated virtue and the practice of mindfulness, diligence, and enthusiasm until a state of calm abiding is experienced. As a consequence, our attention becomes alive—ever-present, spontaneous, effortless, and natural.

### Meditation Session Four

Set the stage and settle into position. Attend to the breathing until mind and body have become quiet and relaxed. In consonance with the serenity practice advice, examine personal predispositions and habit patterns and determine the right meditative object. Shamatha practice is more beneficial when using an object that is both meaningful and concise. When choosing a pithy sentence or paragraph, try to condense it to a single word or concept and allow it to arise in the mind. For example, if you select the following passage from Rumi, you may choose to represent it by the word "love."

Whether you love the One or another human being,

If you love enough, in the end you will come into the

Presence of Love itself,

Stabilize your mind on _love_ as the object with no accompanying analysis. Focus on _love_ , not as a group of letters, but more like a feeling—a warmth, an ambiance. Merge yourself with the object so that there is no subject/object dichotomy in operation. This is not to identify yourself with the object but to lose yourself in relation to it. Let go of any sense of effort, relax in the union, and rest in calm abiding. Seal the practice.

## Dawn Breaking

Chapter Five

### Meditative Insight

The contemporary Tibetan Buddhist meditation master, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, makes the point that: "One of our main tasks as human beings is to seek and to discover what is real and true. We must use intelligence as our main tool and sound reason as the verifier. That is all we have at this point. However, as we go about deepening our understanding, we still carry one problem with us: this mind that reasons so intelligently is still basically confused. Therefore, every 'insight' is saturated by confusion.... It is not unmistaken wisdom, and it is not authentic until complete enlightenment."

Shakyamuni Buddha, the sage of the Shakya clan, followed the ancient yogic practice of serenity meditation and attained the highest sublime states of samadhi. However, he perceived that course of action—though necessary—to be insufficient for full enlightenment. Although he experienced relative peace for himself, it did not bring happiness and freedom from suffering to other beings. Seeing the need for something more, he initiated the practice of vipashyana or insight meditation _._ The essence of insight meditation practice is using attention and observation to transform mindfulness into full awareness of reality. Meditative insight unfolds as Wisdom, the sixth paramita of the Buddha's transcendental great perfections teachings. Wisdom manifests as compassion and the capacity to alleviate the suffering of others.

The insight we are inquiring into is related to but not the same as intuition. The word "intuition" is defined in _the New Oxford American Dictionary_ as "the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. [Intuition is] a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning." Intuition may arise from various sources; for example, as a product of subconscious conditioning factors, paranoid thinking, and perhaps even paranormal perceptions. Witness the situation when an unresolved issue or a particularly vexing problem is carried into your cycle of sleeping and dreaming. If the solution magically appears upon awakening, the process of resolution may be attributed to the action of the subliminal continuity of thought and is called intuition. Insight, on the other hand, is based on a fully conscious examination and analysis of phenomena in order to see the true nature of things. Helena the Theosophist teaches that insight arises from practicing ". . . a clean life, an open mind, and a pure heart."

Intuition, as well as ordinary thinking, is conditioned by our total collective past—individual and cultural. A mind conditioned by fear and anger results in confusion and conflict. A free and open mind brings peace and insight. The yield from meditative insight resonates with the radical teaching of Jesus to _Resist not evil_ and the Taoist teaching of _wu wei_ , the effortless spontaneous alignment with right action. The ultimate goal of vipashyana practice is to come upon the essence of truth, to attain the view that sees the real nature of phenomena. As we shall see in Chapter Six, "Union of Serenity and Insight", insight conjoined with serenity breaks down our entrenched illusions and leads to direct experience of reality.

The purpose of practicing shamatha is to prepare a reception for our mind to receive insight into its very nature. The purpose of practicing vipashyana is to fulfill this promise. To distinguish the difference between those practices consider a bubble matrix illustrative model. Visualize a network of soap bubbles, each one connected to each of the others through filaments of light. Shamatha practice focuses on one bubble at a time and examines it completely—shape, color, location, etc. Vipashyana practice looks at the complete matrix and sees each individual bubble in relationship with all other bubbles. This approach leads to the understanding of the network as a whole. To reiterate: meditative serenity is one-pointed attention on an object of meditation, while meditative insight is the wisdom that discerns its meaning.

### Four Noble Truths

Subsequent to his enlightenment, the Buddha journeyed to the Deer Park in Benares, India, where he chanced upon his former comrades—his ascetic fellow seekers. They were now ripe and receptive with "ears to hear," so he began "turning the wheel of dharma" by giving them a set of basic teachings that mirrored his insight into the nature of suffering. Known as the _Four Noble Truths_ , they comprise teachings on the truth of suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path of liberation from suffering.

1. Truth of suffering - Suffering is our primary existential condition. All sentient beings universally experience the burden of this affliction. Generally, there are three kinds of suffering. First, the "suffering of suffering" is obvious because it refers to the tangible pains associated with sickness and injury, hunger and thirst, fear, depression, and anxiety. Relatively fortunate, the animals and other creatures mostly seem to experience this first type of suffering.

The second kind is the "suffering of change," which includes feelings of decline, disappointment, and boredom. It includes the experience that all pleasant feelings are temporary and often become precursors to misery or loss. For example, love for another—joyful at first—waxes and wanes. Jealousy may displace love if the other's affections turn to someone else. The object of our love may grow mean or ugly, so our love may turn into indifference or hatred. In any case, love becomes grief when the loved one dies. In his poem "Keramos", Henry Wadsworth Longfellow speaks of this impermanence.

Turn, turn my wheel!

All things must change to something new,

to something strange.

Nothing that is can pause or stay;

The moon will wax, the moon will wane,

The mist and cloud will turn to rain,

The rain to mist and cloud again,

Tomorrow be to-day.

The third kind of suffering is the anxiety of uncertainty: sensing a hidden danger; a feeling that all is not well; something is not quite right—incomplete—unfinished. Ever-present, it manifests as a fundamental discontent, an indeterminate feeling that there is more to life than eating and defecating, working and taking pleasure, or sleeping like a corpse.

Because there is me, the separate self, there is mine. If my mother is sad, I feel sad. If my child is bullied at school, I feel her pain. Even if I am not aware of specifics, I know that all my loved ones eventually experience suffering. If my car is scratched, I suffer disappointment. If my wealth disappears, I experience the suffering of loss. In any event, I know that all my things are constantly deteriorating. Collectively, these adverse occurrences to my possessions generate a pervasive feeling of helplessness that is always present. This suffering is usually felt indirectly and may not be experienced at all if the objects belong to someone else. I don't feel heart broken if the Wall Street lender loses money or if a stranger gets caught in traffic. Nevertheless, there remains an underlying awareness of the immense sadness and suffering in the world. Consciously bringing this awareness into the light may quicken the gestation of our dormant seeds of compassion.

This third type of suffering is not a tangible experience of misery or unhappiness but rather a subtle sense of being conditioned or limited, like a prisoner in a low security "white collar" jail. We may feel inauthentic or lost, like a fish when transferred from its ocean home to a small tank. Perhaps we sense the double-pronged existential angst of uncertainty and inevitability: the indeterminate outcome of our self-becoming process in tandem with our subconscious certainty and fear of the fact of dying.

2. Origin of suffering - The Buddha taught that all suffering stems from the root causes introduced in Chapter Two, "Preparing the Garden of Meditation". These are the three afflictions of excessive desire, hatred, and ignorance—also called the three poisons of attachment, aggression, and delusion. These causes manifest as all-pervasive suffering in the dungeon of our defiled mental states. Suffering is perpetuated through the actions of karma throughout this life and through the seeds of karma in succeeding lives. These root causes stem from a more basic cause—ego cherishing or self-centeredness. Arising from mistaken self identity and lack of awareness of the illusory nature of phenomena, samsara, the cycle of suffering, continues. The momentary bliss of _egonorance_ , the ignorance of holding the notion of being a separate self entity, is merely a temporary and illusory happiness. This concept will be discussed in Chapter Nine, "Origen of the Self".

3. Cessation of suffering - Although suffering knows no boundaries, it can be ended; there is a way out of chaos; that is the purpose of our journey of awakening and radical transformation.

4. Path of liberation - The basic dharma teachings of the Enlightened One lead to the liberation from suffering for those who strive to be free. Thus he taught _the Noble Eightfold_ _Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness,_ and _Right Meditation._ During our present journey, we will find that the Buddha "turned the wheel of dharma" a second time and generated a subsequent set of teachings that emphasize the wisdom of compassion. Real happiness for all beings comes when selfishness has been transformed into altruism.

### Four Reminders

The Buddha taught a particular set of considerations or thoughts to turn the mind to aid us on this path. The _Four Reminders_ , sometimes called the _Four Mind Changings_ , are observable facts regarding everyone's present status of being. They include the preciousness of this human life, the verity of impermanence and death, the actions of karma, and the defects of samsara. Although we may understand these important facts intellectually, they may not be sufficiently ingrained in our consciousness to affect our way of living. Reflecting on these ideas can change the way we view the world.

1. The preciousness of this human life: Recognizing the preciousness of this human life causes us to realize and appreciate our relatively fortunate situation of being able to follow our chosen path. This realization may encourage a deeper inquiry into the meaning of this particular life. Ponder the infinite possibilities. What are the numerical odds of being born in a human body versus a pig or a fish or even a microbe? On receiving a human body, what are the odds of being born in a hospitable country free of war and famine? How about a friendly neighborhood; a nurturing family; a healthy body and mind; freedom from poverty; opportunity for education; and the leisure to pursue spiritual matters? So – O' Pilgrim, are you not among the fortunate?

2. Impermanence and death: Recognizing the truth of impermanence, the precariousness of favorable situations, the fragility of loving relationships, and the certainty that death is one breath away may spur us to undertake meaningful actions without procrastination. Living things decay and return to dust; mountains erode and become deserts; even diamonds may be crushed into dust. Our faith in government operations at all levels declines. The climate is rapidly changing and becoming harsher and more unpredictable. Wages that once increased every year now lose value. The car needs repair and a treasured jacket is threadbare. Mundane tasks such as washing dishes, grooming hair, and cleaning waste must be endlessly repeated and are never finished. Enthusiasm for a favorite pastime grows dull and old joys fade like spent flowers. Our former soul mate now loves another. Aging is relentless.

3. Action of karma - From the Bible, _Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap_. Karma is the universal law of cause and effect; for every effect, there must have been a cause. Karma is like gravity; its action is certain, unfathomable, and impersonal regardless of which planet you stand on. If you put your hand in the fire, you will get burned. If you slip and fall on the ice, you can break a bone. If you get bitten by a mosquito, you may or may not get malaria. These are relatively simple and straightforward examples of karma in action.

However, unlike gravity, the manifestations of karma are not generally predictable. Nor is it preordained fate although it sometimes seems to be a reward or punishment for specific deeds. The actions of karma are extremely subtle and complex because the relationship between cause and effect depends on a multitude of unknown conditions. One of the most pertinent conditions—the motivation of the doer—is especially difficult to ascertain.

The concepts of karma and reincarnation form a beautiful synthesis for understanding why bad things happen to good people. Causes set in motion by us in this or a previous life will surely play out. Because we do not remember our past lives plus the fact that we personally change every moment, the way in which karma and the seeds of karma manifest appears as a mystery. Recognizing the inevitable consequences of karma naturally causes us to be more mindful of the actions of our body, speech, and mind. We may feel prompted to _do unto others as you would have them do unto you_.

If you do not believe karma and reincarnation are facts but do believe in God or Allah, then the idea of justice and fair play becomes a logical conundrum. If you think that some of the suffering in this world is unjust or immoral, five logical explanations are offered to deal with the enigma:

A.) God exists, is good and all-powerful, but for reasons beyond our comprehension, chooses to allow suffering.

B.) God exists but is not good and is all-powerful.

C.) God exists and is good but is not all-powerful; He simply cannot prevent injustice.

D.) God exists but is not good and is not all-powerful.

E.) God does not exist.

...Your choice.

4. Defects of samsara - Reflecting on the fourth reminder—the pervasiveness of suffering, the perpetual dissatisfaction with or incompleteness of life, leads to a relaxation of everyday anxieties and worries; attachment to hopes and fears begins to disentangle. Thus may our mind and heart open to new directions for spiritual growth.

Insight Practice

The Northern or Himalayan Buddhist tradition is based on the "second turning of the wheel of dharma". It includes and goes beyond the Buddha's initial teachings on mindfulness and liberation. The practice of insight meditation, vipashyana, in this tradition is concerned with gaining insight into the ultimate non-dual nature of reality—the union of cognizance and emptiness (shunyata) _._ In the end stages of vipashyana, the subtle presence of a meditator is absent, yet the nature of mind is experienced. To reiterate, there is an initial level or stage of meditative insight that looks at phenomena including ideas or concepts, and a subsequent stage actively concerned with the nature of that which is looking—mind itself.

The Dalai Lama points out a subtle distinction in the objects of meditation. Concepts such as love, emptiness, or selflessness may be selected as objects for shamatha practice. For example, assume that the idea of love is selected as the object. One reflects on its meaning and then one apprehends it. In sharp contrast, one may focus on love's absolute aspect from the perspective of vipashyana practice. This meditation on love wouldn't mean taking love as an object, but rather "seeking to transform our whole state of mind into that state of love or compassion."

As described in Chapter Six, "Union of Serenity and Insight", shamatha is blended with vipashyana to reflect on the nature of the body, its parts, its constituent elements, and their ultimate dissolution. These reflections are prerequisites for approaching the reality of non-duality in which there is no subject/object dichotomy.

### Meditation Session Five

Set the stage and settle into position. Attend to the breathing until mind and body become quiet and relaxed. As in the previous sitting session for serenity meditation practice, select a meditative object such as a profound idea with the goal of increasing your conceptual understanding of it. Concentrate one-pointedly on the meditation object and begin to examine and analyze its meaning in detail. After thoroughly reflecting in this manner, drop your focus on the discursive understanding of the object. Allow a more intuitional relationship to unfold; then briefly rest in the ambience of the process. Seal the practice.

Insight Awakening

Chapter Six

### Union of Serenity and Insight

When approaching meditation practice, it is necessary to have both a purposeful aim and right effort. The aim is simply to awaken from our dream-like world to reality. The method is to connect the practices of shamatha and vipashyana meditation. The Dalai Lama says that if one doesn't explore the analytic faculty of the mind through the practice of vipashyana and merely remains absorbed in the serenity of shamatha—simply resting in the bliss of nonconceptuality—then intelligence becomes dull and the wisdom to discriminate between right and wrong is impaired.

It is insufficient to cultivate either serenity or insight alone to travel the path to enlightenment. Tradition gives the example of using an oil lamp to view a picture in the middle of the night. If the lamp is both bright and undisturbed by the wind, the details of the picture will be very clear and sharp. Otherwise, if the lamp is dim, or is bright but flickering in the wind, the image details will be dull. Similarly, to clearly understand the profound meaning, we need the brightness of the vipashyana that discerns the meaning of reality, as well as the stability and unwavering attention of shamatha. The Dalai Lama teaches that possessing an intellectual understanding of reality is not sufficient to fully understand the reality of things because one will be "disturbed by the winds of uncontrollably fluctuating discursive thought."

Serenity meditation or calm abiding is necessary to establish the basis for authentic insight to arise. Shamatha practice alone does not result in enlightenment. Shamatha practice begins with a meditator and an object of meditation. Ironically, it is this dualistic fixation that obscures pristine awareness; hence the need for the union of shamatha and vipashyana. In the end stages of meditation practice, the meditation object becomes awareness itself and the meditator/object dichotomy dissolves into non-meditation.

Serenity temporarily helps suppress manifest afflictions such as anger, greed, and ignorance; however, it is the illumination of insight conjoined with serenity that eradicates their seeds. Pliancy of body and mind comes about as the result of an integrative process that occurs spontaneously with the union of serenity and insight. Subsequent to the analytical meditation of vipashyana, one practices the serenity meditation of shamatha to sustain and stabilize the insight. Weaving the warp and weft of shamatha and vipashyana into the fabric of wholeness is the necessary action for attaining enlightenment. When this union has been attained, compassion naturally arises, and with it the capacity for relieving the suffering of self and others.

To skillfully traverse this path requires more than mere sentimental or wishful thinking. The contemporary Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh says that we should not think that the meditations of love and compassion consist in only imagining that "they are like a pure white cloud which slowly forms and gradually spreads out to envelop the whole world—then they will have no effect; they are only a cloud of the imagination. A true cloud can produce rain. If love and compassion are real, they will be evident in our daily life, in the way we talk with people and the way we act in the world."

Signs begin to arise during our journey that indicate the proximity of an ever present dangerous obstacle—the abyss of self-cherishing. This abyss has the power to draw us deeper into samsara—the whirlpool of cyclic existence. Therein it can swallow our spiritual aspirations and intentions. Preparatory for this stage of our journey, a kind of prenuptial agreement has guided us in using meditation objects which help purify general obscurations and remove impediments. To confront this most formidable obstacle of self-cherishing, shamatha and vipashyana must come together to initiate the engagement process of reorienting us to the view of self-less-ness as the principal meditation object. The abyss is there and must be crossed to continue the journey up the mountain path of meditative inquiry. The time for the wedding ceremony of serenity and insight draws near. The view of selflessness will be examined in Chapter Nine, "Origen of the Self" _._

Meditative serenity has the characteristics of: nondiscursiveness, unwavering attention on a single object, clarity that is free from laxity and excitement, and the benefit of joyfulness. The mark of serenity is that attention stays where it is placed without distraction. One of the greatest marks of insight is to know the reality of selflessness. The great Indian sage Asanga says: "Because the path of serenity is unencumbered by striving, insight is pure, clean, comes after serenity, and is fully suffused with delight. Therefore, your serenity and insight combine and are balanced; this is called the path of the union of serenity and insight."

Meditation Session Six

Set the stage and settle into position. While allowing a subtle awareness of the breathing process to continue in a background mode, be aware of tactile sensations such as itching skin or joint pains and the presence of fragrances and tastes. If too distracting, attend to them by wiggling the sit-bones, scratching the itch, or relaxing tensions.

Notice that thoughts and emotions occasionally arise. No need to become enamored with their content nor get entangled with them. Just let them go their own way. Reflect on the process of thoughts arising and disappearing. Allow this inquiry to fade into the afterglow and rest attentively in that. Seal the practice.

# PART THREE

# INTEGRATION

## Alcyone

[Annie Besant & C.W. Leadbeater, The Lives of Alcyone, v2, Life XLVI, (Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1924)]

Chapter Seven

## The Seer Who Walks Alone

As a representative bodhisattva, one with an awakened mind of compassion, the philosopher/teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti displayed a compassionate mind with a seminal view of the matrix of meditation. From childhood, he was marked by the singular absence of a dominating operative self-image. His teachings, seemingly repetitive, yet always new, arise from depths comparatively free of psychological conditioning. His approach to meditation appears to be in sharp contrast to some of the traditions we have come across thus far. But, like counterpoint in music, which interplays different melodies in such a manner as to weave a harmonic whole, uniqueness has its role.

Also called Krishnaji, his entire work reflects a passion for meditation and is primarily concerned with communing with those having the capacity to relate therewith. After his long daily walks through the local countryside, Krishnaji would often record the observation that not a single thought came to his mind during the walk. Obviously, perceptions occurred as evidenced by his vivid descriptions; but there was no involvement, no entanglement with thought. Perhaps thoughts or emotions arose but could find no place to dwell; they were naturally freed, like wisps of clouds on a sunny sky. Walking, watching, and listening were integral with thought-free awareness.

The original beauty of his teachings is easily corrupted both through interpretation or ready acceptance. During the immediate experience of listening to Krishnaji speak or even while reading passages from his transcripts, one sometimes feels a certain resonance with _truth_. Afterwards, when trying to recollect the experience, facts may be ascertained but truth is not found in the residue of memory. If we are "lucky," unobstructed awareness may sharpen our inquiry and foster a direct connection with the truths unveiled. In a state of meditative serenity, Krishnaji wrote the following vignette in his _Journal_.

In the silence of deep night and in the quiet still morning when the sun is touching the hills, there is a great mystery. It is there in all living things. If you sit quietly under a tree, you would feel the ancient earth with its incomprehensible mystery. On a still night when the stars are clear and close, you would be aware of expanding space and the mysterious order of all things, of the immeasurable and of nothing, of the movement of the dark hills and the hoot of an owl. In that utter silence of the mind this mystery expands without time and space . . . This is love. With this the whole mystery of the universe is open.

Krishnaji approaches the problematic issue of _seeing the fact of_ _what is_ when he speaks of a kind of observation that perceives without judging, without desiring to become larger. He refers to this condition as _choiceless awareness_ —seeing the whole, the _what is_. That clarity of seeing is inherent to freedom from conditioning and sacred to meditation. Looking at life from a particular viewpoint prevents one from totally seeing. The truth of something seen only intellectually is at best partial, for thought, which is inevitably limited and conditioned, has colored that observation. When illuminated with the light of open inquiry and reflected back onto a quiet and receptive mind, we come upon a characteristic wholeness inherent to meditation. The following passage from his _Journal_ allows a view of that wholeness.

At night there would be extraordinary silence, rich and penetrating. The cultivated meditation is a sacrilege to beauty, and every leaf and branch spoke of the joy of beauty and the tall dark cypress was silent with it; the gnarled old pepper tree flowed with it. You cannot, may not, invite joy; if you do it becomes pleasure. Pleasure is the movement of thought and thought may not, can in no way, cultivate joy, and if it pursues that which has been joyous, then it's only a remembrance, a dead thing. Beauty is never time-binding; it is wholly free of time and so of culture. It is there when the self is not. The total inward non-action is the positive attention of beauty. In the quiet stillness of the mind that which is everlasting beauty comes, uninvited, unsought, without the noise of recognition.

Perhaps the "cultivated meditation" is like leaves on a tree as winter approaches; it too must die and dissolve back into the ground to nurture the renewal of pristine awareness. During our climb on this mountain of inquiry, we have not yet given the meaning of meditation in a declarative sense. Perhaps one cannot really know what meditation is, but one may know what it is not. From his _Notebook_ , Krishnaji addresses the question this way: "Meditation is not a search; it's not a seeking, a probing, an exploration. It is an explosion and discovery. It's not the taming of the brain to conform nor is it a self-introspective analysis; it is certainly not the training in concentration which includes, chooses and denies. It's something that comes naturally, when all positive and negative assertions and accomplishments have been understood and drop away easily. It is the total emptiness of the brain. It's the emptiness that is essential not what's in the emptiness; there is seeing only from emptiness; all virtue, not social morality and respectability, springs from it. It's out of this emptiness love comes, otherwise it's not love. Foundation of righteousness is in this emptiness. It's the end and beginning of all things."

In his last journal, _Krishnamurti to Himself_ , he rotates the jewel of meditation to reveal another facet: "In meditation there must be no measurement . . . Meditation is a movement without any motive, without words and the activity of thought. It must be something that is not deliberately set about. Only then is meditation a movement in the infinite, measureless to man, without a goal, without an end and without a beginning . . . And in meditation which is without measurement, there is the very action of that which is most noble, most sacred and holy."

On a more leeward tack, in _Freedom from the Known_ , he again turns the jewel and further describes what he sees on the next facet: "Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life—perhaps _the_ greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody: that is the beauty of it. It has no technique and therefore no authority. When you learn about yourself, watch yourself, watch the way you walk, how you eat, what you say, the gossip, the hate, the jealousy—if you are aware of all that in yourself, without any choice, that is part of meditation. So meditation can take place when you are sitting in a bus or walking in the woods full of light and shadows, or listening to the singing of birds or looking at the face of your wife or child."

## The Valley

### Experience of Beauty

Occasionally, we have the good fortune of coming upon a phenomenon of breathtaking beauty. An experience arises that is full of splendor and bliss, defying description. However, the fidelity of its memory soon degrades and we realize the memory is not the thing.

A panoramic view of the immense valley suddenly

revealed itself.

Across the glowing green fields, the glorious sunset

spread its wings over the mountaintops.

At the instant of perception,

just before the formation of conceptions

Bliss enveloped the whole earth!

Prior to the onset of mundane pleasure,

Intense joy and an ineffable sense of timelessness

and sheer beauty arose.

In that initial contact, there was no subject looking

and no object looked at;

There was only pure awareness, naked—unadulterated.

Beauty was complete and alone!

Time itself was not.

Assertively, without apology, the response of pleasure

and its acquisitive tendencies

suddenly engulfed my experience and intruded upon the

pure perception.

The fullness of the original beauty went into hiding,

never again to expose itself.

What happened to the beauty?

Conditioned habit patterns sprang into action with

guileful abruptness.

My mind sought to reify the extraordinary experience,

to enlarge itself.

I named, measured, captured, possessed, and struggled

to sustain the experience.

Thought, in pursuit of becoming, once again consumed

the moment, thus increasing its storehouse of

Self-referential experience.

The desire for security and continuity correlates

with the response of grasping,

Which leads to self-embalming—preserving that which is

already dead.

Can the pristine be seen through the veil of conditioning?

Can the mind come upon beauty without destroying it?

Helena the Theosophist's "Voice of the Silence", asks:

Is the mind the great slayer of the real?

In the interval between the first contact of perception and the initiation of the thought process, love and beauty flourish. Similarly, where there is no selfishness, no motive, no desire for special experience, meditation freely sheds the accoutrements of conditioning and fully blossoms. From Mabel Collins' _Light on the Path_ :

In the deep silence the mysterious event will occur which will prove that the way has been found. Call it by what name you will, it is a voice that speaks where there is none to speak. It is a messenger that comes, a messenger without form or substance; or it is the flower of the soul that has opened. It cannot be described by any metaphor.

When the personal ego is operative, meditation will not enter the sanctuary of the heart. Seeing the truth of this leads to the unfolding of the mystical power of love. Before one can experience this ineffable love, the _giant weed_ _of self_ must be burned in the flame of meditation. Again from _Light on the Path_ :

Grow as the flower grows, unconsciously, but eagerly anxious to open its soul to the air. So must you press forward to open your soul to the Eternal. But it must be the Eternal that draws forth your strength and beauty

— _not desire of growth for in the one case you develop in the luxuriance of purity; In the other you harden by the forcible passion for personal stature._

Referring to meditation in _Freedom from the Known_ , Krishnaji comments: "One asks oneself then whether it is possible to come upon this thing without inviting, without waiting, without seeking or exploring—just for it to happen like a cool breeze that comes in when you leave the window open. You cannot invite the wind but you must leave the window open."

In conversation with a young student about meditation, recorded in _Krishnamurti on Education_ , Krishnaji says: "Sit very quietly and be still not only physically, not only in your body, but also in your mind. Be very still and then in that stillness, attend. Attend to the sounds outside this building, the cock crowing, the birds, somebody coughing, somebody leaving; listen first to the things outside you, then listen to what is going on in your mind. And you will then see, if you listen very very attentively, in that silence, that the outside sound and the inside sound are the same".

Meditation Session Seven

This session is to integrate the meditation practice into our daily life and so will not be a formal "sitting" practice. Nevertheless, set the stage and allow the mind and body to become as quiet and relaxed as circumstances permit. Deliberately bring awareness to the specific current situation. For example, while walking down the street, be aware of thoughts and emotions arising and dissolving. Notice the quality of attention while changing a diaper, doing dishes, greeting a neighbor, or watching your spouse comb her hair. When driving a car, examine the fear or anger that arises when another driver "cuts you off" or rudely blows a horn. What is the nature of the impatience felt during traffic delays or the guilt when you fail to "let someone in"? Give special attention to psychological responses to interactions with others. In summary, the practice is to simply be mindfully aware of thoughts and feelings as they occur. Don't try to judge, control, repress, manipulate, obsess, understand, or become attached to them. If fortunate, meditation may arise in the gap between thoughts or emotions. Seal the practice at appropriate breaks.

Chapter Eight

## Search for the Self

### Cloud Formations

_On an ordinary sunny day, while lying in the company of the other flowers and creatures of the meadow, the child watched the clouds form their fantasy shapes and figures in the open sky above. The vastness of the bright space invited wonderment and the question arose in his mind: Who am I?_

This generated a deluge of thoughts which culminated in his pondering the meaning of death. Being familiar with the fact that people and animals die, does it follow that I die when my body dies?

So began a childhood quest to understand the relationship between the "I" and the body. To approach this problem in a rigorous scientific manner, he employed a thought experiment using his unbound imagination. He mentally removed his body parts one by one, starting with his toes and finishing with the top of his head. Each part was checked to see if any part of his self was hidden in it. As each part was eliminated, the residue was systematically examined to see if a sense of "I" was there. After hypothetically removing all body parts in this manner, he happily concluded that "I" was indeed still present—in fact, quite near. He began to think: _I am not really my body._ His sense of self seemed to exist as a nebulous center in the space encompassing the general locale of his head and heart. Through this line of inquiry, he began to see that identification with his body was a mistaken view and that _body_ is merely a concept, a name assigned to a collection of body parts. After his experience of dissociation from the body, no overt fear of death or loss was felt since a feeling of "I" always seemed to remain. An intimation of immortality lingered; yes, completely losing oneself was simply unimaginable. Although from the force of habit, he still tended to identify with his body; these particular bonds of illusion were forever weakened. The first step towards liberation had occurred.

Beyond leading to the recognition of not being a body, the "removing parts" analysis changed the very basis for belief in the existence of "I" from _my_ body to _the_ mind _._ A new primary factor of self-identification began to focus on the mind with its thoughts and feelings. After all, where there are thoughts and feelings, there must be a thinker and feeler; thus the child became an unwitting fellow traveler with Descartes and his baggage: "I think, therefore, I am." The conclusion of this phase of analysis seems to be that: _I am a mind and I have a body._

However, a new conundrum arose when the child noticed the habitual tendency to make reference to _my_ mind: _my mind went blank; my mind is confused; I am out of my mind, etc_. This conundrum may also be conflicted with thoughts about a soul: _I hope my soul will be saved from hell; my soul will rest in the hereafter, etc._ In this context, the terms "mind" and "soul" are essentially synonymous. In either case, there seems to be a different entity, a possessive self, separate from the mind or the soul. What is the nature of this entity who conceptualizes "mine"? Does it constitute the real self?

Unlike the body (including the brain and the nervous system), the mind is intangible. Nevertheless, the mind is made up of parts such as thoughts, perceptions, feelings, emotions, memories, and a variety of processed sense faculty imprints. Unfortunately, the "removing parts" analysis used to determine that the "I" was not the body is not so readily adaptable to the question: _Am I the mind?_ Although I definitely experience and relate to these mental parts, they are clearly not me.

A different analytical approach will be applied to examine this issue; it will endeavor to look into the nature of the mind itself. The mind apprehends the body but cannot directly perceive itself. It can only think about or produce concepts depicting the mind. It can only infer its own existence. What is the referent for the mind?

Western science tends to hold a dualistic belief of the mind/body complex. Neuroscientists view the brain as the mind and believe consciousness to be an epiphenomena of the brain's neurochemical activity. Psychologists study mental processes and behaviors. Neither groups are concerned with the nature of consciousness and the mind.

Although it obviously functions, the mind itself appears to be an intangible accumulation of memories, thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Am I merely a reservoir of conditioned mental parts? By looking into each of these mental elements and systematically eliminating them as comprising the "I," the child reasonably concluded that identification with the mind was also a mistaken view. Although the imprint of the perennial habit of "I" was still present, it had faded a bit; the next step towards liberation had irreversibly occurred.

The Nominal Self

Returning to the status of the child's understanding: from merciful ignorance, the thought lingered that _because thinking was present, surely I really existed_. That reasoned conception camouflaged itself behind a mask of self-assurance and a comfortable feeling of security. That feeling would have been short-lived if the child looked under the bed into the face of the ghostly omen, the death mask of the beloved "I"—the perennial semantic fiction.

Try the following personal heuristic experiment. Sit in a quiet place and ask the question: _Who am I?_ The initial set of answers might go: _I am Mary; I am a person who wishes to be rich; I am the parent of my children; I am afraid of losing my loved one; I am the owner of that thing; I am jealous; I love flowers; I was a beauty queen; I will become president someday, ad infinitum._ All these responses relate to a self-image derived from past memories or future projections. They also indicate that the sense of self, _me_ in contradistinction to _you_ or _it_ , is reinforced by identifying with our own desires, fears, and possessions. After all, it is logical to think that where there are possessions there must be a possessor.

Repeat the experiment with an additional factor: Imagine a sudden case of amnesia wherein all psychological and individual memories are erased. The only thought remaining is the present question: _Who am I?_ You might think: _I'm sitting on a chair in a quiet room; I see furniture and an open window; I smell roses; my back aches; my eyelid itches; and I don't know who I am._ These thoughts don't derive from a previous self-image but are the direct immediate perception associated with experiencing these sensory stimuli; there is still a bodily referent and a sense of possession. Thought has created an "I" that owns its response to stimuli: my place, my visions, my pain, and my anxiety. Thus the process of building a self-image began by identifying with the thoughts or feelings arising within.

Add a new constraint for yet another experiment: Imagine being in an isolation chamber with no external sensory inputs and a completely anesthetized body. This setup is more sophisticated and radical than the child's initial thought experiment of eliminating body parts. Again, assume that memories are wiped completely clean except for the initial question: _Who am I?_ Under these conditions would I know _who_ I am? I can't know _where_ I am or _what_ I am doing because there are no sensory inputs. There is no dreaming because there is no past to remember and no future to ponder, for the future is based on projections from the past. Would thoughts arise under these conditions? Internally, I may long for a reference point—a visceral centeredness—a living presence. At this stage, perhaps there remains only a pure unconditioned awareness with no subject/object relationship.

The purpose of this foregoing process—the search for the self was to find a logical basis for existence of a real self. Other than our nominal self, we have not been able to find a separate independent self. We have determined that the self is a name we assign to a collection of mental and physical parts; its existence is merely imputed. Seeing the truth in this, we still act as if we are separate selves; however, we may notice that our relationships have mellowed, attachments and entanglements have relaxed, and the walls of demarcation with others have begun to crumble. Perhaps there will be less violence.

The Self and Dying

Having heard that when people die their souls continue on to heaven or hell or took rebirth in a new body, The child wondered: Am I a soul that possesses a mind and a body? Is this apparent conception of me—the soul, also delusional and impermanent like the body and mind—hence, no real existence? The discrimination of insight necessary to resolve these imponderables had not yet matured in his mind; nor had they been gifted to him.

If the child had carried the inquiry further, some subtle aspects of the self-nature may have revealed themselves: the innate desire for self-continuity; the instinctive self reflexivity in relationship with others; the constant striving of becoming more; and the undercurrent of existential angst from the fear of dying. Obviously the body dies and returns to dust. But does the soul or the self die? Suggested by research into near-death experiences, many secularists tend to think that some part of us may not totally vanish into the great ethereal dustbin. It is often heard that you only live once; but it may be more accurate that you only live once _at a time_.

Most religious traditions believe in some sort of afterlife. The monotheistic religions assert that when a person dies, his or her soul withdraws from the physical body and moves to another realm: perhaps a blissful heaven of everlasting communion with _God_ or a fiery hell of eternal damnation supervised by the _Devil_. Some add a purgatory or an in-between.

The more esoteric forms of the monotheistic religions such as the Gnostic Christians, the Kabalistic Jews, and the Muslim Sufis hold a belief in reincarnation: that shortly after death, the mind or mental body transmigrates to a new physical body. The Buddhists, the Hindus, and other indigenous peoples hold similar views but explicitly add the role of karma to this conception. Governed by one's personal karma accumulated from this and previous lives, the cyclic process of rebirth continues until the attainment of liberation or enlightenment.

Every moment of our life there seems to be a continuity wherein the self of the past meets the present, modifies or conditions itself, and projects itself into the future. Through habit we reify this continuity as a referent "I" even though this "I" of today is in fact different from the "I" of yesterday. When using the flame of a candle to light a second candle, the flame of the second to light a third, etc., it is not said that the flame of the first candle is the same as the flame of the third candle; nevertheless, they are dependently connected. Similar to the candle flame, when you die, the same you is not reborn. There may not be an immutable self; yet there is an apparent continuity.

Considering that living is the ongoing process of propagating the self through experience and memory, then dying may be defined as the ending of the self's identification with and attachment to "me" and "mine." As a mental exercise, reflect on what it means for an ordinary attachment to die. Once upon a time, I was heavily addicted to cigarette smoking. Each New Year, I would resolve to quit smoking and I did, temporarily. However, after a week or so, I began to take one cigarette after dinner as a reward for exercising my will power. The situation soon escalated back to a pack a day. This cycle was repeated for several years.

One auspicious evening while holding and rocking my baby girl to sleep, I happened to be smoking. She began to cough and I suddenly experienced an epiphany of revulsion to the act of smoking. My desire to smoke spontaneously and totally disappeared. The previous smoking self died there and then. A new self—free of the addictive attachment—took its place. This new self hardly relates to the old self. The obsession of craving along with its anxiety have vanished. Only the memory of a gray wisp of memory, an inauthentic artifact, remains. This whole process of dying was beyond time.

What are the features of death when there are no attachments? Is it possible to die to all psychological afflictions? When one instinctively nurtures the wounded bird, when one gives unconditional kindness to another, when one does a truly unselfish act, the self is in abeyance. For that moment, the self-center is not and there is joy. Every moment we die to the self we experience a new birth. Each time an old viewpoint or habit effortlessly drops because of the gift of insight _,_ there is a mental renewal or rebirth. The cells of the physical body are constantly renewed, so the body as a whole changes accordingly. Understanding these things, there is no fear. What then is the basis for the fear of dying?

As sleep comes close while you are still lucid, you may observe that its onset is a kind of dying. There is no unfinished work, no unfulfilled expectations; all is complete; all is right and that is the beauty of death. In the deep sleep beyond dreaming, the sense of self is dormant in a state of suspended gestation. The mantle of the fear of death has dissolved like a blanket of frost in the rays of the sun.

Meditation Session Eight

Set the stage and settle into position. Attend to the breathing until mind and body have become quiet and relaxed. Become vividly aware of the sounds of the wind in the trees, birds singing, rain pattering on the roof, car traffic, children playing, and all other outer sounds within your compass. Also be aware of the inner sounds of the breath, throbbing of the pulse, and the subtle frequencies of the nervous system itself. Allow these sounds to blend into a symphony of silence. Rest in that ambience. Seal the practice.

Chapter Nine

## Origin of the Self

Once upon a time, while working in the garden, a rather simple person received a sudden flashback to a moment of beginning. The strange feeling came not as a dream or conscious recall but a magical tuning-in to the indelible records of human memory. The first moment of becoming self-conscious was remembered; although this particular life entity already existed, there were no referent personal pronouns for its past existence. Using the vernacular of Helena the Theosophist, this day-dreamt story unfolds.

### Origin of Me

_In a beginning—but_

In the middle of the third prototype phase,

On the fourth globe of this fourth round of the

amalgamated cosmic dust of humanity,

The seed conception of "I" hovered somewhere above.

It had not yet found a fertile field for taking root.

While walking down the road to mythical Damascus,

The higher angels, with dubious benevolence, descended

upon the innocent beast.

Suddenly there was me—myself in solitary movement.

Spontaneously and magically, possessions came into being:

my hands, my feet, my body, my food, and my ax.

Having accumulated little experience beyond mere

survival instincts and

With only a functional sense of division from others,

Primordial innocence nevertheless tenuously remained.

However, as intelligence evolved, innate virtue

began to dissipate.

Soon there was my wife, my family, my tribe, my

country, and inevitably – my enemy.

New wombs pregnant with beings afflicted with the

delusion of self-separateness began to appear.

Fated to be immersed in the murk of attachment and

aversion, three kinds of sufferings arose.

Other beings began to participate in the collateral

collusion to propagate this new entity,

the Self.

This gestation environment supported and nourished the

root of suffering—the belief in a real self—

Me—in contradistinction to you.

This ontogeny, the biblical original sin, occurred long ago.

But wait up! Just this morning, I was walking down an

unusually quiet road to Damascus

When suddenly, with a burst of light, there was no

I walking; there was only walking!

This anachronistic experience was short lived and I soon

found myself back in the world of duality.

Had I traversed a magic bridge or

Had I only briefly glimpsed the other shore in a moment

of luck or grace?

Must I, by my own self-conscious efforts, breach the wall

of selfishness and reenter the immaculate womb?

Was this an epiphany with demand for commitment?

### Composition of Self

The Swiss author Hermann Hesse in his _Treatise on the Steppenwolf_ says: "Man is an onion made up of a hundred integuments, a texture made up of many threads. The ancient Asiatics knew this well enough, and in the Buddhist Yoga an exact technique was devised for unmasking the illusion of the personality. The human merry-go-round sees many changes: The illusion that cost India the efforts of thousands of years to unmask is the same illusion that the West has labored just as hard to maintain and strengthen."

Ken Wilber, the Western integrative thinker, addresses the separate-self in his visionary book _The Eye of Spirit_ by observing that the realizations of the nondual traditions are uncompromising: there is only Spirit; there is only God; and there is only emptiness or spaciousness in all its radiant wonder. He points out that the separate-self is ". . . at bottom, simply a sensation of seeking. When you feel yourself right now, you will basically feel a tiny interior tension or contraction—a sensation of grasping, desiring, wishing, wanting, avoiding, resisting—it is a sensation of effort."

The Buddha taught that all sentient beings are composed of five aggregates or sets of elements that comprehensively constitute the being's body-mind complex _._ These are generalized categories, loosely structured yet exhaustively inclusive of the totality of elements comprising a living being. The first group is material and the other four are mental. The Buddha illustrated this concept by pouring five heaps of rice on the ground, intermingling with each other at their edges, to show that the distinct elements of body and mind are intimately interconnected. The five aggregates are generally given as: form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness.

1. The aggregate of form refers to the materiality of things. It includes our physical body; the six sense organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, tactile receptors, and brain; and their corresponding six subjective sense registrations or impressions: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking.

2. The aggregate of feeling comprises all of our physical, emotional, and mental responses to sensations. Predominately pain or pleasure, feelings are categorized under three types: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral, depending on one's predilections.

3. The aggregate of perception relates to the abstractions of qualities. Examples include: the color blue, a triangle, a circular shape, the taste of honey, the odor of roses, and stillness.

4. The aggregate of mental formations is the collective volitional activity of ideation and image or concept making. Examples include: compassion, love, hate, anger, attention, will, determination, confidence, concentration, ideals, moods, wisdom, ignorance, conceit, concept of self, attachment, and aversion. This aggregate is the unique generator of the actions of karma, the summation of causes and effects that accompany our life stream.

5. The aggregate of consciousness refers to the awareness of things—phenomena both physical and subtle. The Buddhist science of mind delineates eight types of consciousnesses. The first five refer to the familiar senses of sight, sound, odor, taste, and touch.

The sixth or mental consciousness comprises the mind and its involvement with actions of thoughts and emotions. It functions as the process of thinking that directly uses information gleaned through the first five senses. This mentation is primarily conditioned by the seventh and eighth consciousnesses.

The seventh consciousness is the source of the feeling of a separate self, which is the primary cause of our unhappiness. This self-cherishing function overlays and permeates the entire spectrum of consciousness. It is called the afflictive consciousness because it is the root of the poisonous emotions of anger, hatred, jealousy, and envy.

The eighth consciousness, often referred to as the storehouse consciousness, contains all of our past memories as well as subconscious motives. It is also characterized as the collective unconsciousness because it is shared by others. It absorbs and is conditioned by common elements in its environment. Hence the importance of regarding our surroundings of people, place, and things with care. All our thoughts, actions, habit patterns, and experiences leave residues of karmic impressions that are stored as seeds. These latent seeds will germinate, sprout, and ripen when stimulated by future perceptions, thoughts, and experiences that resonate with the original imprints. They are the harbingers and embodiment of karma and its fruition.

The operation of the aggregates is illustrated in the analysis of the hypothetical experience one may have during a sitting meditation practice: After watching the breathing for a while, my sit-bone begins to ache. Thought demands a shift in position on the cushion to alleviate my pain. So I move a little, make adjustments and resume observing my breathing, thoughts, feelings, and sounds. After a period of dynamic quietude, an image of the "Immaculate One" arises in front of me. It transforms into a brilliant golden light, which enters the crown of my head and settles in my heart center. An indescribable bliss permeates my being. Love radiates from my heart. My inner and outer worlds respond to the blessing.

The breath, sit-bone, chair, deity, light, crown, heart center, and world make up the aggregate of form. The pain and bliss comprise the aggregate of feeling. The recognition of the objects, physical and mental, is the aggregate of perception. The volition to move, the attachment to the image, the glory of the experience, and the intention to share the love make up the aggregate of mental formations. The awareness of breathing, pain, thought arising, body moving, quietness, image arising, image transforming, bliss arising, and love radiating is the aggregate of consciousness. Note that there is some overlapping of the aggregates.

This meditation practice took place completely in the realm of the aggregates. All of these aggregates were conditioned by the sense of being a separate self entity. Where in this description of a meditation process is there a _self_? Where in the list of the five aggregates is a _self_ found? Starting with an examination of the form aggregate, when I look at you from the front, I recognize your face or your eyes. If I look at you from the back, I may still recognize you because of your hair style. But clearly, you are not your face, eyes, or hair. Those are merely the bases from which I identify you. On continuing the examination of you and I, the conclusion reached is that you are a bag of not-you(s) and I am a sack of not-I(s). So, is there a single, independent, and permanently existing entity present, or is _self_ simply the name given to a set of elements as a whole?

The Self and Spaciousness

In the context of seeking reality, the renowned fourteenth century Buddhist philosopher Tsong-kha-pa summarizes a way of becoming free of bondage to the illusion of self:

The reality you seek to attain—the embodiment of truth—is total extinction of conceptions of both the self and that which belongs to the self. First, having contemplated in dismay the faults and disadvantages of cyclic existence, develop a wish to be done with it. Then research its roots, considering what might be the root cause of cyclic existence. You will thereby become certain from the depths of your heart that the reifying view of the perishing aggregates—or ignorance—acts as the root of cyclic existence.

There are two approaches to destroying that root: the intellectual and the experiential. The first tries to completely understand the analysis that refutes the normal conception of self. The experiential approach is the meditation practice that looks deeply into the nature of the _self_. Based on logic and reasoning, the Buddha taught the view of emptiness or spaciousness (Skt., _shunyata)._ This analysis unerringly points out the fact that the self only exists dependently; it has no independent intrinsic existence—its existence is merely imputed. Self is the name we give to the body/mind complex with all of its endlessly changing parts. That which we call the self is precisely the collection of the five aggregates. By carefully looking at each of the aggregates, it is seen that none contains nor constitutes an inherent _self_ because each one is constantly changing and is dependent on a variety of causes and conditions. According to Walpola Rahula's interpretation of the Buddha's words:

When the aggregates arise, decay and die, O monk,

Every moment you are born, decay and die.

Also, there is no inherent _self_ outside of the aggregates because by definition and observation, the aggregates are all-inclusive. Since each of the aggregates has no inherent self-nature then the collective aggregates are said to be empty of self. Although appearance and function are experientially evident, the self has no intrinsic self-nature. Again, self is simply a convenient label to apply to these aggregates operating together. Moreover, this fictional label is an illusory reification we use to propagate a form of collusion between my-self and your-self. Thus the existence of _you and I_ as separate entities abiding in _egonorance_ is dubiously verified to our mutual satisfaction. This agreement ensures the authenticity of possessive pronouns. Dividing phenomena into me and mine, let the mischief begin.

From the union of shamatha and vipashyana—calm abiding and insight, examination of selflessness enables the direct apprehension of the essence of no-self. Thereby, the root of confusion that clings to and reifies an illusory self is cut. We then recognize the ignorance that causes sorrow and inevitably traps the pilgrim on the carousel of samsara and engenders the conditions of birth, life, death, and rebirth. This understanding consecrates the sacred union and allows us to dwell in the dynamic serenity that sees into the emptiness of self. Thus liberation from suffering is accomplished and the peace of nirvana is experienced.

## Radiant Spaciousness

[Courtesy NASA: Hubble Star (V838 Mon)]

Meditation Session Nine

Set the stage and settle into position. Attend to the breathing until mind and body have become quiet and relaxed. Be aware of thoughts and emotions arising. Try to identify the self in this process. If a separate independent self cannot be found in this bag of blood and bones or body of light, then where is the entity that is searching? Don't hurry to arrive at a conceptual conclusion; rather, notice a loosening of the attachment to the _searcher_. Leave your attention on identifying the self. If no self is found, rest in that awareness and let things be as they are. Seal the practice.

Chapter Ten

### Interdependence

In the "first turning of the wheel of dharma" the Buddha taught the pervasiveness of suffering and the way to end suffering. This first teaching cycle culminated with the concept of egoless-ness—the absence of a real self entity or personal self as discussed in Chapter Nine, "Origen of the Self". After a suitable period of gestation, the Buddha attended to a flock of relatively mature spiritual seekers at Vulture Peak Mountain near Rajagriha, India, and gave the "second turning of the wheel of dharma." This audience consisted of those who had committed themselves to a life of altruism and dharma practice for the benefit of other sentient beings and were therefore ripe for the next stage. This cycle of teachings further expounded the view of emptiness or shunyata, and included four core teachings referred to as the "Four Seals". These are not mystical revelations but stamps of authenticity—ordinary facts subject to verification by penetrating examination. These realities are summarized as:

1. All compounded things are impermanent.

2. All emotions and attachments become suffering sooner or later.

3. All phenomena are illusory and have no inherent existence.

4. Nirvana is peace beyond concepts.

### The First Reality

All things and phenomena are impermanent. The Buddha included the word "compounded" to emphasize the implication of the third seal that all things are merely assembled parts and do not exist independently Whether as a farmer watching the seasons change, a mother seeing her toddler grow, an adolescent experiencing mood swings, a scientist observing the uncertain behavior of subatomic particles, or an innocent resident becoming a hurricane victim, we are constantly reminded of the truth of the first seal—the fact of impermanence.

Even as we recognize this fact, Dzongsar Khyentse says that we are still ". . . caught up in compounding and fabricating reality with hopes of achieving long-lasting happiness. Wishing for 'happily ever after' is nothing more than a desire for permanence in disguise. We intend to establish ourselves and our world, but we forget that the corrosion begins as soon as creation begins. What we aim for is not decay, but what we do leads directly to decay." He points out that by being aware of assembled phenomena, we become aware of the interdependence of all things. Interdependence refers to the state of profound connectedness between all phenomena. Our very existence depends on the sun and this planet's hospitality. The food we eat comes from the efforts of others. The oxygen we breathe comes from trees and plants; in return, we give back our carbon dioxide. All our stuff: cell phones , movies, cars, clothing, etc. is provided by the skill and labor of others. Recognition of the role of interdependence in sustaining our happiness allows us to appreciate the truth of impermanence. "Such awareness prevents us from getting caught up in all kinds of personal, political, and relationship dramas." Seeing this, we are less likely to be enslaved by our assumptions and hardened beliefs.

### The Second Reality

This second reality was discussed in the Chapter Five subheading, "Four Noble Truths", under the topic of the _suffering of change_. There we found that in addition to the obviously painful emotions such as envy and anger, even the attachment of love could become suffering through jealousy or grief. All emotions are born from the root of the misunderstanding of our real identity and are midwifed by selfishness. The origin of all our emotions is fundamentally flawed; yet we give credence to illusory feelings as if they really existed. Emotions arise when particular causes and conditions come together. For example, if someone criticizes me, my feelings are hurt. If someone flatters me, I feel exuberant. If someone steals my lover, I become enraged. Dzongsar says, "The moment we accept those emotions, the moment we buy into them, we have lost awareness and sanity. To eliminate suffering, you must generate awareness and tend to your emotions."

### The Third Reality

The third reality is based on the Buddha's observation that all phenomena, all things known through the senses, are in the same sinking boat as the illusory self; they too have no intrinsic existence. Let us look into the existence of things or phenomena with the same type of analysis used in Chapter Eight, "Search for the Self". There the notion of a separate self was refuted. Consider a table: We recognize a table as a special group of table parts put together in a particular way so that they function as a table. But wherein is the table other than the name we give it? Is the table in the parts or outside the parts? It cannot be in one of the parts or in the group of parts, for the parts themselves are comprised of more parts. Obviously, the table is not outside the parts. Perhaps the table is in the atoms forming it. If so, is it the top or bottom or one of the sides of an atom? And so the argument goes, ad infinitum.

It seems that, through mutual agreement, the table is merely imputed to exist in dependence on its parts and configuration. In reality, the table has no inherent existence and is empty of an independent table-nature. Nevertheless, the fact that the table, like the self, appears and functions is undeniable; it is not a void—a nothingness. The higher truth holds that all phenomena lack intrinsic existence; everything is _shunyata or_ _empti-ness_. Realization of the fact that the entire cosmos is merely an appearance gives us the freedom to avoid getting caught up in meaningless dramas. We no longer need to vest power in the illusion of duality.

Although useful, intellectual analysis only yields a partial understanding of the real situation. Because of well-established and long ingrained habit patterns of thoughts and memories, the analytical approach will not readily lead to full liberation from the bonds of self-centeredness. The essential truth of shunyata or spaciousness is beyond conception and description and is only realized through right meditation. In his _Eye of Spirit_ , Ken Wilber writes: "In nondual meditation or contemplation, the agitation of the separate-self sense profoundly relaxes, and the self uncoils in the vast expanse of all space. At that point, it becomes obvious that you are not 'in here' looking at the world 'out there,' because that duality has simply collapsed into pure Presence and spontaneous luminosity." Signs of this deeper understanding occur when confusion, aggression, attachment, and the substratum of narcissism begin to dissipate and lose dominance over one's life. The nineteenth century Irish philosopher Wei Wu Wei points out, "All our actions are essentially to benefit our self—and yet there isn't a self."

Through seeing into the truth of emptiness, the fear of death withers at the root, for that which dies was never real in the first place.

Like a blind man who has once seen a flash of light,

one will never forget the experience of non-duality.

Nurture this glimpse of reality into flowering and

one's joyful aspiration is fulfilled.

Compassion for all beings, wisdom in all things, and

genuine humility mark the fully enlightened.

From the viewpoint of ultimate truth, there is no independently existent self. From the viewpoint of relative truth, a center of consciousness or ego, appears and functions. In fact, we originally produced it ourselves and even now continue to maintain it. So don't disparage this self; relate to it as if it were a character in a movie or play. Make friends with it, for it serves as a convenient referent. However, be aware that the habit of ego-identification or self-reification is the ultimate addiction and source of suffering.

Western psychology teaches that each human being experiences a process of self-development and that this sense of self begins to appear in early childhood. They believe this process is primarily determined by genetics and environment.

The major monotheistic religions own the concept of "original sin." Stemming from the disobedience of our first ancestors, the Creator endows all humans at birth with this great existential burden.

In the Buddha's view of reincarnation, each person is born with a unique residue of unfinished good and bad karma accumulated from previous lives. This inheritance includes the habit of ego-identification. Perhaps it is this burden that resonates with the notion of "original sin."

Interdependent Origination

The Buddha taught a linked set of causes and conditions that illustrate our existential situation:

From our beginning, there is ignorance.

From this ignorance of who we really are,

mental errors and habit patterns developed.

From these mental formations, rebirth-consciousness arose.

From self-consciousness feeling separate from others,

we took name and form.

Sense organs arose and contact occurred.

Sensations manifested as attraction or repulsion.

Desire and craving preceded grasping and clinging.

From this chain, we became that which we appear to be.

Thus, the cycle of birth, old age, and death repeats.

For this earthbound pilgrim, the cycle continues ad infinitum,

until realization dawns.

Samsara

Like an alcoholic or drug addict, it is not sufficient to superficially acknowledge the fact of one's addiction; steps must be taken to alleviate the causes and conditions associated with the problem. Taking this ego to be real is the erroneous view that causes the operation of a recursive pattern of consciousness. This pattern identifies with and seeks to sustain the continuity of an illusory self-center. Where there is a self-center, there is me and mine. Where there is me and mine, there is attachment and aversion, greed and anger. From these afflictions, perpetual conflict and suffering arise. Recognition of these facts attenuates the habit of selfishness and causes one to become kinder and gentler, softer around the edges—like a ripened fruit. Realization occurs with the deconstruction of _the delusion of ego_ and forms the basis for a transpersonal psychology of being and way of living that alleviates the suffering of self and others. Thus, _original sin_ is not set in concrete; there is a way out of bondage.

To profoundly see into this patterning is the fruit of the union of serenity and insight meditation. The revered twentieth century Tibetan Buddhist teacher and meditation master Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche pointed out in _Vajra Speech_ : "The extraordinary shamatha resting in the stillness free from conceptual thinking should be combined with the extraordinary vipashyana, which is recognizing the nature of that stillness." In that way, shamatha and vipashyana—serenity and insight—are unified. This is the indivisibility of awareness and emptiness.

### The Fourth Reality

Nirvana literally means to extinguish or blow out. It is both the extinguishing of the fires that cause suffering and liberation from the prison of samsara. These fires are the poisons of attachment, aversion, and ignorance. When the fires are extinguished, pure consciousness remains untouched by the ashes of suffering. Dzongsar points out that the Buddha's path does not ultimately lead to a mere personal happiness. It is a road to freedom from suffering—from delusion and confusion for all sentient beings. He says "Thus nirvana is neither happiness nor unhappiness—it goes beyond such dualistic concepts. Nirvana is peace."

There is a peace that passes understanding; it abides in the hearts of those who have gone to the "other shore"—to those who abide in timelessness. If nirvana is truly beyond concepts, then can one truly speak of it? Let us simply allow the question to gestate.

Meditation Session Ten

Set the stage and settle into position. Attend to the breathing until mind and body have become quiet and relaxed. Look into the nature of that serenity and calm abiding. Who is resting? Who is asking? Let go of seeking answers and let things be as they are. Seal the practice.

Chapter Eleven

### Recapitulation

We began this journey of inquiry from a mode of being dominated by the fictitious semantic element "I". We saw our imprisonment in a cocoon of delusion. During this journey, we experienced the exposure of a precious jewel—the potential for radical transformation back into our original nature of primordial purity. However, as Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche points out: "Unless we can recognize and sustain the continuity of original wakefulness, deluded experience will not end." According to the Apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, Jesus said to his disciples: "Why ask about the end? For in the place in yourselves where you find the beginning, you will also find the end."

Our journey of awakening is a movement from the darkness of chaos, anxiety, and confusion to the bright space of clarity, joy, and luminosity. This path culminates in liberation and all-encompassing compassion. Liberation is the unfettered freedom from conditioning and suffering. Compassion is beyond sympathy and sorrow; it is a boundless radiant open-heartedness towards all beings.

Primordial Heritage

Timelessly—before a beginning,

Mind was pristine, unconditioned, and receptive.

Things appeared but their concepts didn't form.

Perceptions were direct and intuitive—gracefully

unnamed.

Mind abided in its own luminous clarity.

In our journey of return, back to genesis,

The blessing of empowerment enables us to see

into our primordial source.

The way of meditation resolves the mind in its natural

state—innate compassion and lucidity.

Having ventured into the depths of samsara,

Having danced and twirled in illusion's ballroom for

countless ages,

The prodigal returns home and receives its birthright—

the beatitude of awakening.

The Overview

We have now reached another plateau near the top of the mountain we intended to reach. Looking back down the trail, the entire vista of every stopover is visible; from this point, we may reflect on the meditation places sojourned and validate our experience and conclusions. We may also bring to mind that which needs further illumination.

In the clarity of unveiled perception, vast spaciousness comprises the universe and its inhabitants. Along the path, verdant hills and lush valleys are marked by meditation gardens where the seeds of enlightenment are nurtured. Blossoms of little kindnesses are evidence of their sprouting. Judgmental thoughts are suspended in mindfulness like an old woman watching children play.

To know precisely our position on this path, we may carefully observe our actions, thoughts, and feelings. With respect to others, sages urge us to look into the mirror of those relationships. With noble intent to liberate other sibling-like beings from suffering, there is no choice but to spontaneously continue the journey of awakening with joy and perseverance.

### Continuing the Journey

The summit of our original goal still lies ahead; prior explorations and practices form a base station of empowerment for living a life of sanity and genuine meaning. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche says: "The awakened state of a Buddha is one of perceiving clearly, distinctly and completely the nature of things and all that exists. It is a wisdom that knows things as they are without confusion, without distortion. This is why we ordinary human beings cannot avoid seeking support in the words and teachings of a Buddha."

Although the continuing path must be traveled alone, at this point it is crucial to find an authentic teacher. The right teacher can point out the appropriate way for each individual. Unexpected opportunities for contact with qualified teachers will now begin to seemingly perchance arise. We must carefully examine the teacher for qualities of kindness and compassion, detachment from worldly aims, utter selflessness, and a measure of realization. We should also decide if there is the potential for a feeling of trust and devotion towards the teacher. It is devotion that opens our heart to receive the blessings of the dharma. To validate this examination, we may take this inquiry into our meditation practice.

The mystic poet and Indian saint Kabir makes lucid the subtleties of treading this path without wise advice (adapted from Robert Bly's translation):

Friend, please tell me what I can do about this world I

hold to, and keep spinning out!

I gave up sewn clothes, and wore a robe, but I noticed one

day the cloth was well woven.

So I bought some burlap, but I still throw it elegantly

over my left shoulder.

I pulled back my sexual longings, and now I discover

that I'm angry a lot.

I gave up rage, and now I notice that I am greedy all

day.

I worked hard at dissolving the greed, and now I am

proud of myself.

When the mind wants to break its link with the world it

still holds on to one thing.

Kabir says: Listen my friend, there are very few that find

the path!

To engage with the action that enables liberation, we must have the faith and confidence to embody the truths we encounter. In his _Flight of the Eagle_ , Krishnaji says that one must lay the foundation of righteous behavior; otherwise, meditation is really a form of self-hypnosis. That foundation is built on the solid rock of the transcendental virtues previously discussed. Unless one's daily life is free from afflictions such as "the distortion of personal fear, anxiety, greed and so on, meditation has very little meaning."

In the _Voice of the Silence_ , Helena the Theosophist records:

To reach Nirvana one must reach self-knowledge, and

Self-knowledge is of loving deeds the child.

The precious teacher of ninth century Tibet, Padmasambhava, the Lotus Born, was asked by the Lady Tsogyal: "How to practice the six paramitas?" He replied:

When you do not harbor any stinginess or prejudice

whatsoever in your mind,

That is the paramita of generosity.

When you can skillfully relinquish your disturbing

emotions,

That is the paramita of discipline.

When you are totally free from anger and resentment,

That is the paramita of patience.

When you are neither lazy nor indolent,

That is the paramita of diligence.

When you are free from distraction and attachment to

the taste of meditation,

That is the paramita of concentration.

When you are utterly free from constructed concepts,

That is the paramita of discriminating knowledge.

After many years of asceticism, discipline, and self-mortification, a somewhat religious man, in conversation with Krishnaji, spoke of the wonderful visions, powers, and experiences he had enjoyed as a result of his meditation practice; they filled him with satisfaction, gratification, self-confidence, and a proud sense of self-mastery. But as he listened to and watched himself, he began to question the meaning of the whole process. In his _Commentaries on Living_ , Krishnaji responded to his implicit query: "After all, what is essential is self-knowledge, which brings about a still mind. A still mind is not the product of will, of discipline, of the various practices to subjugate desire. All these practices and disciplines only strengthen the self, and virtue is then another rock on which the self can build a house of importance and respectability. The mind must be empty of the known for the unknowable to be. Without understanding the ways of the self, virtue begins to clothe itself in importance."

On seeing the truth in this response, the man further asked how to get free of these self-constructed prison walls. Krishnaji replied: "The very awareness that they must go is enough. Any action to break them down sets in motion the desire to achieve, to gain, and so brings into being the conflict of the opposites, the experiencer and the experience, the seeker and the sought. To see the false as the false is in itself enough, for that very perception frees the mind from the false."

Avoiding Extremes

Meditation sessions will be more productive if we lighten up our attitude and engage the meditation practice with joy. Let us not take our self too seriously. There once was a man who took a rather extreme approach to meditation practice. He deemed it necessary to sit with "knitted brow" upon a leopard skin in a full lotus position. So he sat for hours every day for three years enduring the misery of aching knees and joints until he became accustomed to the pain. After more years of sitting practice, he exhibited a superficial virtuousness spawned not from spontaneous goodness but from habit patterns set by extreme discipline. Manifesting a rigorously controlled mind, he became humorless and pious under the cover of disguised narcissism; his ill-conceived degenerative meditation practice had yielded bitter fruit. In addition, he could barely walk.

Problem of Distraction

Preoccupation with distractions in connection with meditation practice gives life to obstacles. Bodily discomforts, external annoyances, and the internal mental disarray of thoughts and feelings readily become opportunities to experience attentiveness and detachment. When we notice that our attention has drifted away and another thought has replaced the meditation object, recognize the intruder and usher it out the door. It's okay to allow it to loiter harmlessly in the vestibule. The main point of mindfulness is to be aware of disturbing thoughts and our response to them. Simply don't chase after them or become attached to their content.

The registration of distracting conditions is the beginning of freedom from them and a fundamental sign of success in the practice. As our awareness deepens, we will experience the true nature of the mind in distraction—that thoughts are merely the spontaneous response or manifestation of _awareness_ itself.

Session Protocol

Connect with the significance of the manner of opening and closing a practice session. Recall that the purpose of "setting the stage" is to prepare an auspicious environment for the _benevolent forces of nature to participate_. It is akin to properly engaging a zipper prior to zipping up our garment. "Sealing the practice" multiplies the effect of the practice by preserving the ambience developed in the session and allowing the newly unfolded attitude to continue its operation into daily activities. Closing the session in this manner also shares the benefit with others.

Time Constraints

The matter of time in relation to meditation sessions can become problematic. The concept of time takes many forms. There are the clock times of beginning and ending, the duration of each session, the frequency of sessions, and the factor of our natural circadian rhythm. However, conceptual or psychological time—which is thought—has no relation to meditation itself. Nevertheless, time must be accommodated to schedule mundane obligations around the meditation practice session; the clock need not be the master nor an obstacle. Sages advise: short sessions, many repetitions. End the session or take a break when you notice that the freshness and clarity of your awareness begins to wane.

Post Meditation

What to do after the meditation practice session? If there is no continuity from the session to our mode of being in everyday life, then the practice has been barren. While out walking, watching tv, reading, riding as a passenger in a vehicle, and especially when about to fall asleep, you may pause for a moment and gather your faculties. Without changing your posture or mind set, without recalling your meditation practice protocols, just be mindful of your whole body breathing process. After a short period or until sleep captures you, expand your awareness to everything around you and within you. Simply let be. Perhaps the best meditation is non-meditation.

Allowing the eyes to remain open and without movement (except for natural blinking) during the practice session is a useful and symbolic support to facilitate this continuity. Ultimately, there will be no line of demarcation between the formal session and the post-meditation activity. Our conduct will be freshened by the clarity, mindfulness, and equanimity of the meditation session.

Facing the Poison

Sustaining this basis, we may approach the chronic problem of dealing with the demons of afflictive thoughts and poisonous emotions. Using meditation practice as remedy is not purposed to eliminate thoughts and emotions but to dull the fangs of their destructiveness.

The effects of the affliction of ignorance or stupidity are too numerous and wide ranging to fathom practically. The feeling of anger may range from a slight irritation or annoyance to a raging inferno. Fear ranges from a slight tingling in the solar plexus to gut wrenching panic or terror. Ordinary desire is a natural attraction, whereas excessive desire is an overwhelming obsession. Jealousy and envy also have their extremes.

As a candidate strategy for confronting the experience of poisonous mental attacks, bring the following steps to mind. For example, one way to approach a full blown storm of anxiety is to:

1. Notice the anxiety or fear as it first arises in your mind. Is it an emotion of fear or dread? Is there a corresponding sensation in your body? Is a particular thought associated with it? Without analyzing its cause, simply focus on the feeling's presence.

2. To fully recognize and identify the feeling, it must be stripped of all its masks—all associated thoughts such as guilt, blame, or origin. Do not judge it or place blame on yourself or another; acknowledge the feeling as yours alone. Carefully and precisely name it. Where is it? Pinpoint its location whether within the body or outside. Let go of these thoughts too and remove the feeling's last garment—its name.

3. The naked feeling itself is now revealed and its movement can be observed. Embrace it with care and compassion. Allow an experience of clarity to unfold and sense the presence of a tremendous energy, the fire of penetrating awareness. By directly facing the bare feeling itself, a metamorphosis of spacious luminosity may occur.

### Conclusion

This book's meditation practice schema of eleven sessions is designed to encourage the practitioner to effortlessly relax into a profoundly subtle and interiorly oriented state. Progressing in nuanced stages, each session generates wholeness— coherent and peaceful. This approach establishes the foundation for the process of coming into relationship with the fruits of meditation—radiant love and luminous clarity. Repeat each session type until inclined to move forward; if there is a sense of affinity with a particular stage, abide with it. Gradually the self—the subject—will ease itself into the background without trauma. The movement of meditation begins with awareness of the content of consciousness, continues with looking at the processes of thought and feeling, sees the nature of mind and thought, and ends with losing oneself in the purity of primordial awareness.

Meditative experience comes through the openness and alert receptivity of undistracted cognizance. The alternation of shamatha practice and vipashyana practice culminating in their union gives rise to compassion. The highest meditation practice is looking into the nature of mind—simply seeing it as it is. Realization of emptiness is the direct manifestation of that nature. It is crucial to obtain essential instructions directly from a qualified teacher prior to approaching the samadhi of suchness or nonconceptual wakefulness. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche provides the following advice:

Don't veil your natural face within the grip of a

meditator and his object.

Now is the time for direct experience!

The sign of experience is your nature turning gentle.

Faith and devotion spring forth spontaneously.

Love and compassion naturally well up.

The ocean of understanding and experience overflows.

### Song of Realization

In the year of the Water Dog (1742), the Seventh Dalai Lama composed a joyful song of meditative realization (Glenn Mullin's translation revisited):

An image of the sun enthroned in the heavens,

Radiating countless beams of light:

May one shower bright rays of love upon all living beings.

O, How excellent!

An image of a kingly eagle gliding high in space:

May one's mind soar without grasping in the space of

truth itself, clear and void.

O, How excellent!

An image of fresh, white clouds, bright, pure and drifting

freely:

May one perfect clarity and blissful absorption in the

glorious mystic mandala.

O, How excellent!

An image of a mighty wind blowing gracefully through

the sky:

May one sustain an energy flow beneficial to others, the

best of spiritual practices, completely uncontrived.

O, How excellent!

An image of the vast sky everywhere free of obstruction:

May this song on emptiness, meditation, and action

without hindrance benefit the world.

O, How excellent!

Meditation Session Eleven

Set the stage and allow the mind and body to become quiet and relaxed. This concluding meditative exercise takes place in the empty projection of a center-less, boundary-less sphere. Bring to mind a luminous apparition of a sphere and enter into it. Therein are no directions. You will not move to the center for there is no you and no center. Let the peripheral wall fade into emptiness for there are no limits in meditation.

Descriptive terms such as vast, ineffable, intensely wakeful, blissful, and infinite compassion are totally inadequate to convey the meditation experience. Nevertheless, the nectar of meditation will flavor all worldly actions. Nonattachment, compassion, clarity, and love will accompany all relationships. Allow awareness to open into that immense, thunderous, pregnant silence of spaciousness. Let go completely and rest alertly in the non-meditation of pure be-ness—nonconceptual naked awareness! Seal the practice.

Epilogue

In order to see the world as it is, Ludwig Wittgenstein's final advice for transcending his own philosophical propositions informs the entirety of Chapter Seven of his _Tractatus_ with the apologetic:

What we cannot speak about,

We must pass over in silence.

Matters too subtle for discourse—such as emptiness and the fourth seal, n _irvana,—a_ re best approached vis-à-vis immersion in the pristine meditation of luminous wakefulness. That which we have understood, hold with care and tentativeness. That which we have seen as false, simply let go. That which we have not yet understood, let gestate in quiet reverence. Lastly, know that the outer signs of success in meditation practice are the display of a little more kindness and a little less selfishness. Service is possible only when the vessel is empty. The inner signs are the welling up of love, faith, compassion, and an unbound intelligence. All other signs are suspect.

Immense gratitude is expressed for the essential guidance of many lucent ones, the pioneers who previously traveled this path and left signposts. Gleaning from their pure harvest, hopefully, nothing of my own has contaminated the process. It is acknowledged that the substance of this pretentious treatise: the ideas, the concepts, the viewpoints, the styles, as well as their inspirations were uninhibitedly drawn from many named and unnamed sources. In the end, there is no method for attaining enlightenment, yet in the beginning there must be effort, without which the end cannot be approached. The purpose of this journey along the paths of meditation is to bridge the gap between our current status as existentially disconnected beings and the other shore of liberation. It is up to the sojourner to cross over. May all beings be happy and free from suffering. May joy and peace abide within your heart. "Ah!"

## Crossing to the Other Shore

Appendix

### Meditation Practice Fundamentals

These instructions are intended to provide guidance for the meditation practice itself. In order to feel relaxed and at ease with no induced tensions in your mind or body, it is crucial to initiate the meditation practice session by providing the most favorable conditions.

1. Select a convenient time based on your personal circumstances and find a suitable location relatively free of distractions that allow you to sit in privacy.

2. Assume an upright sitting posture. If this is difficult, it is fine to lie on your back. Be aware the supine position may induce drowsiness. Release all your bodily tensions.

3. Use a firm cushion for support when sitting on the floor in a simple upright cross-legged position. The pelvis should be tilted slightly forward with the knees touching the floor. Alternatively, you may sit upright on a chair with uncrossed legs and feet flat on the floor; it may be useful to place books under the rear chair legs to obtain a slight tilt.

4. Rest the cupped hands, traditionally right over left with thumb tips touching, in the lap or alternatively, place your hands, palms down, on the knees.

5. In either case position your elbows slightly away from the body like a vulture airing under its wings.

6. Tilt your chin down a little and slightly open your mouth letting the tip of the tongue touch or float freely near the palate to mitigate swallowing.

7. Your eyes should be partially open, without movement, looking into the empty space "an arrow's length" in front of you. Allow the eyelids to blink naturally as if you were gazing on a sleeping baby. Rather than focusing on a central point, put your attention in a wide angle or panoramic mode of viewing. If you are fortunate enough to be sitting on a mountaintop on a clear day, look into the vast blue sky. If you become too distracted by visual objects, close your eyes.

8. Imagine a cord attached to the crown of your head, suspending your spinal column, then settle into a relaxed, natural alignment.

9. Begin a session by slowly cycling a few deep breaths through the nose and slightly opened mouth. Inhale the freshness of joyful relaxation; exhale the stale poisons of anger, attachment, and delusion.

10. A religious person may voice an opening prayer expressing thanksgiving and faith. A secular person may reflect on their good fortune in having the opportunity and capacity to practice. This step creates a special ambience and invites the benevolent forces of nature to participate.

Collectively, these actions generate comfort and ease; they also fine-tune the alignment of specialized inner channels to facilitate the flow of subtle body energies. This set of actions comprises the meaning of the injunction "set the stage" for the practice.

To "seal the practice," it is beneficial for you to close each session with an expression of generosity and gratitude. Project the wish that others may also benefit from your practice. Elevate the energy all around you by sharing harmonious feelings experienced at this time. A religious person may feel that a healing prayer will be readily heard at this point and wish to share the benediction in that manner. This closing action multiplies the effect of the practice for yourself and others.

### Glossary

**bodhicitta** (Sanskrit.) - Awakened mind of compassion; the aspiration to attain enlightenment in order to benefit all sentient beings.

**bodhisattva** (Skt.) \- Someone who has developed bodhicitta: the pure wish to help others.

**dharma** (Skt.) - The Buddha's teachings. Sometimes "dharma" can mean phenomena or mental objects, as well as attributes or qualities. Prior to the Buddha's time, it tended to mean duty or law.

**esoteric** – Refers to the inner or core concepts of various religious denominations that are held to be their deeper truths. Buddhism has its Vajrayana or tantric tradition; Islam has its Sufi tradition; Christianity relates to the Gnostic and Jewish Essene traditions; Judaism has the Kabbalist and Hasidic traditions. There are also other philosophical esoteric traditions such as the Esoteric School of Theosophy, the Pythagorean School, Co-masonry, and Neoplatonism.

**Five Aggregates** \- Form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness

**Four Immeasurables** \- Loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity

**Four Noble Truths** \- 1) the truth of suffering: all delusion-driven life is suffering; 2) the truth of origin: the cause of that suffering is misunderstanding reality; 3) the truth of cessation: there is a way out of suffering; and 4) the truth of the path: a right way of living based on spiritual education in morality, meditation, and wisdom.

**Four Realities** \- core Buddhist teachings often referred to as the "Four Seals". These are ordinary facts subject to verification by penetrating examination. Summarized as: 1) all compounded things are impermanent; 2) all emotions and attachments are painful; 3) all phenomena are illusory with no real existence; and 4) nirvana is peace beyond concepts.

**Four Reminders** (Aka Four Mind Changings by Buddhist practitioners) - Observable facts regarding everyone's present status of being. They include the preciousness of this human life, impermanence and death, the action of karma, and the defects of samsara.

**karma** (Skt.) - The universal law of cause and effect. It is not preordained fate: as the Bible says _whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap_. The actions of karma are extremely subtle and complex because the relationship between cause and effect depends on a multitude of unknown conditions—primarily the motivation of the doer.

**meditation** \- Seeing one's intrinsic nature—how things really are

**paramita** (Skt.) - Refers to having crossed the "river of suffering" to the "other shore of peace and awakening." The six paramitas are generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom.

**reincarnation** \- A Buddhist doctrine that all sentient beings die and are reborn in new bodies life after life until they liberate themselves from ignorance and attain enlightenment. The theory of reincarnation linked with the concept of karma forms a beautiful synthesis for understanding why bad things happen to good people. Causes set in motion by us in this or a previous life will surely play out.

**samadhi** (Skt.) - A state of undistracted concentration or meditative absorption. In some contexts it means stability in the awakened state

**samsara** (Skt.) - Our ordinary reality, an endless cycle of frustration and suffering generated as the result of karma. It refers to a vicious circle of birth and death and rebirth, characterized by suffering, impermanence, and ignorance. The state of ordinary sentient beings fettered by ignorance and dualistic perception, karma, and disturbing emotions.

**Seal the Practice - C** lose each meditation practice session with an expression of generosity and gratitude. Project the wish that others may also benefit from your practice.

**Set the Stage** \- Initiate the meditation practice session by providing the most favorable conditions in order to feel relaxed and at ease with no induced tensions in your mind or body.

**Shakyamuni** \- honorific of the historical Buddha; sage of the Shakya clan

**shamatha** \- Serenity meditation practice concerned with mindfulness and calming the mind in order to rest free from the disturbance of thoughts and feelings

**Siddhartha Gautama** \- personal and family name of the prince who became the Buddha

**shunyata** (Skt.) - the union of cognizance and emptiness

**theosophy** \- From the Greek, _theosophia,_ or _divine wisdom_. It is an integration of religion, science, philosophy, and esotericism based on the _ageless wisdom_ traditions. Truths revealed in these traditions are said to originally spring from the roots of spirit and form the core of all religions. Theosophy is not a religion but a referent to _religion_ itself.

**vipashyana** (Skt.) - insight meditation practice concerned with gaining insight into the ultimate non-dual nature of reality. The Northern or Himalayan Buddhist tradition includes and goes beyond the Buddha's initial teachings on mindfulness.

**vipassana** (Pali) - the Buddha's initial teachings on mindfulness. Also known as insight meditation practice, popular Western meditation teachers emphasize mindfulness techniques involving the body and feelings in their vipassana meditation practice.

**wu wei** (Taoism) - the effortless spontaneous alignment with right action.

**yoga** (Skt.) - union or to yoke. In this context, yoga is that action necessary to unite consciousness with spirit, to marry pure awareness with the primordial natural condition of existence.

## Credits and Consults

Annie Besant, _T_ _he Path of Discipleship_ (Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1980, c1910). Excerpt reprinted with permission from the publisher. www.adyarbooks.com

Bhagavad-Gita (Discourse VI, v. 18, 19).

H. P. Blavatsky, _Voice of the Silence_ , verse 198 (Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1968). Excerpt reprinted with permission from the publisher. www.adyarbooks.com

H. P. Blavatsky, _T_ _he Secret Doctrine,_ vol. 1. Ed. Boris de Zirkoff (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993). Excerpt reprinted with permission from the publisher. www.adyarbooks.com

Robert Bly, _T_ _he_ _Kabir Book_ (Boston: The Seventies Press, Beacon Press, 1977).

Mabel Collins, _Light on the Path_ (Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1968). Excerpt reprinted with permission from the publisher. www.adyarbooks.com

Thich Nhat Hanh, Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1990).

Chip Hartranft, _T_ _he Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali_ (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2003).

Hermann Hesse, _Steppenwolf_ (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1929).

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Fr. Thomas Keating, _T_ _he_ _Classical Practice of Lectio Divina_ (http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org, 2008).

Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, _What Makes You Not a Buddhist_ (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2008).

Jiddu Krishnamurti, _Commentaries on Living,_ _Second Series_ (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958). Excerpt reprinted with permission from Krishnamurti Foundation of America. www.kfa.org

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Jiddu Krishnamurti, _Freedom from the Known_ (New York: Harper & Row, 1969). Excerpt reprinted with permission from Krishnamurti Foundation of America. www.kfa.org

Jiddu Krishnamurti, _Krishnamurti's Journal_ (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1982). Excerpt reprinted with permission from Krishnamurti Foundation of America. www.kfa.org

Jiddu Krishnamurti, _Krishnamurti's Notebook_ (New York: Harper & Row, 1976). Excerpt reprinted with permission from Krishnamurti Foundation of America. www.kfa.org

Jiddu Krishnamurti, _Krishnamurti on Education_ (India: Krishnamurti Foundation India, 1974). Excerpt reprinted with permission from Krishnamurti Foundation of America. www.kfa.org

Jiddu Krishnamurti, _Krishnamurti to Himself_ (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987). Excerpt reprinted with permission from Krishnamurti Foundation of America. www.kfa.org

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Dalai Lama, _Dzogchen, The Heart Essence of the Great Perfection_ (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2000). Excerpt reprinted with permission from the publisher. www.snowlionpub.com

Brother Lawrence, _T_ _he Practice of the Presence of God_ (Fleming H. Revell Company, MCMLVIII).

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## About the Author

Cecil Messer, an ardent inquirer into the core values of spiritual traditions, has presented classes at the Krotona School of Theosophy, Ojai, CA on meditation and spiritual teachings from Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, Taoism, Theosophy, and other sources. He is a matriculant of the Esoteric School of Theosophy, Ojai, CA and conducted a yearlong online seminar _Exploring the Heart of Meditation_. He has published related articles in national and international periodicals. Born in Alabama, he is a retiree of the NASA Space Program Science and Engineering Team. He currently resides in the mountains of North Carolina where he purports to be a dharma practitioner.

