There were two very important articles published in Tranquillity’s Secret this month which I want to make sure that you’ve seen. As always, the article titles below are clickable links to the articles themselves on Medium.
The first is the introduction to the Practices section of Tranquillity’s Secret, which is titled: “A Universal Direct Path to Enlightenment,” because it lays out the direct path to Enlightenment, found in every tradition, which is accomplished by the use of various techniques structured by a specific set of discrete “movements” of attentional focalization, which is like the focus and depth-of-field operations of a camera, combined with varying levels of cognitive functioning, from intense concentrated cognition to total relaxation and absolute stillness of mind. This article illustrates this path via a representative sample of quotes from Mahayana, Vajrayana, and Ch’an Buddhism, Early Medieval Neo-Platonism, and Late Medieval Christian Mysticism. The practices that will be presented soon in Tranquillity’s Secret, which all make use of inner spontaneous sound, are:
- “Tranquillity Meditation,”
- “Spontaneous Sound of the Four Elements” practice,
- “Breakthrough Sound” practice, and,
- “Yoga of Heroic Progress.”
The second article is titled: “Is the Surangama Sutra Authentic?” and its purpose is to directly address the controversy about the Surangama Sutra. This sutra contains one of the clearest and deepest presentations of what a true meditation practice involves, regardless of source. It has been one of the most important sutras in Ch’an and Zen Buddhism, and has been for over a thousand years, but is almost unknown to students in other traditions because this controversy has undermined the validity of this sutra in the minds of many teachers and their students. The article briefly describes the history of this controversy, while showing the groundlessness of the received opinions, originating in the 8th century, that are propagated by scholars today without any effort to validate their truth. In short, they are nothing but hearsay.
I hope that you will find both these articles of immense value in your own efforts.
StillJustJames