This reading is a synthesis of the teachings found in the text, The Secret of the Golden Flower, translated by Thomas Clearly. According to Cleary, this text is is a lay manual of Buddhist and Taoist methods for clarifying the mind. A distillation of the inner psycho
active elements in ancient spiritual classics, it describes a natural way to mental freedom practiced in China for many centuries. The golden flower symbolizes the quintessence of the paths of Buddhism and Taoism. Gold stands for light, the light of the mind itself; the flower represents the blossoming, or opening up, of the light of the mind. Thus the expression is emblematic of the basic awakening of the real self and its hidden potential.


The Secret of the Golden Flower ~ A Synthesis ~ Inner Alchemy

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Selected teachings of Ma's taken from various sources. 

Anandamayi Ma ( 30 April 1896 – 27 August 1982) was a Bengali Saint, described by Sivananda Saraswati (of the Divine Life Society) as "the most perfect flower the Indian soil has produced." Precognition, faith healing and miracles were attributed to her by her followers. Paramahansa Yogananda translates the Sanskrit epithet Anandamayi - as "Joy-permeated" in English. This name was given to her by her devotees in the 1920s to describe her perpetual state of divine joy.

Music: Swami Madhuram - 'Coming Home' - With thanks to Swami for his gift of beautiful music. Please find more of his music here:
https://timeforpeace.bandcamp.com/



Anandamayi Ma ~ On Rebirth

A reading of the Anapanasati Sutta: Mindfulness of Breathing - MN 118 
This reading is an amalgam of translations by Bhante Sujato, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Thanisarro Bhikkhu - compiled and edited by Ayya Jitindriya.

The Ānāpānasati Sutta (Pāli), "Breath-Mindfulness Discourse," Majjhima Nikaya 118, is a discourse that details the Buddha's instruction on using awareness of the breath (anapana) as an initial focus for meditation. 

The sutta includes sixteen steps of practice, and groups them into four tetrads, associating them with the four satipatthanas (placings of mindfulness). According to American scholar monk, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, this sutta contains the most detailed meditation instructions in the Pali Canon. The method of practising Ānāpānasati , as explained in the Ānāpānasati -sutta of the Majjhima Nikàya, is complete in itself. One can understand and practise this more easily than methods found in other suttas.



The Practice to Liberation ~ Anapanasati ~ Teachings of the Buddha

Dṛg-Dṛṣya-Viveka : An Inquiry Into The Nature of The ‘Seer’ and The ‘Seen’, Discrimination between the Real and the Unreal
Attributed to Adi Śankarācarya and Bāratī Tīrtha - Translation by Richard Miller, PhD

The Dṛg-Dṛśya-Viveka contains 46 slokas/verses performing an inquiry into the distinction between the "seer" (Dṛg) and the "seen" (Dṛśya), an overview of samadhi, centering on savikalpa and nirvikalpa, and the reality of Universal Non-Dual Consciousness. Although also attributed to Adi Shankara, the text is most commonly attributed to Bharatī Tīrtha (c. 1350). It is also known as Vakya Suddha, which is attributed to Adi Shankara.

Music: Wasteland - Generative Modular Longform Ambient - State Azure
https://stateazure.bandcamp.com/

Maok - Across Mountains
https://maokmusic.bandcamp.com/



The Way of Self-Inquiry ~ Drg Drsya Viveka ~ Advaita Vedanta

These excerpts for meditation/contemplation have been taken from Madame Guyon's text, 'A Short and Easy Method of Prayer'. Published by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (Commonly known as Madame Guyon - 13 April 1648 – 9 June 1717) is Christianity’s best-known and most influential woman in church history. She was a celebrated French Mystic, and one of the greatest Christian leaders of all time.

She was accused of advocating Quietism, which was considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church. Madame Guyon was imprisoned from 1695 to 1703 after publishing the book A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer. The foundation of her Quietism was laid in her study of St. Francis de Sales, Madame de Chantal, and Thomas a Kempis. At age 16, she married Jacques Guyon, a wealthy man of weak health, 22 years her senior. Her public career as an evangelist of Quietism began soon after her widowhood.



Madam Guyon ~ The Prayer of the Heart ~ A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Reading of the famous seventh-century Zen classic  Xin Ming, or "Song of Mind" - this poem is a masterpiece of expressing the inexpressible.


The Secret of the Golden Flower ~ A Synthesis ~ Inner Alchemy

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