Sound of a flute
can you hear it
when present
or also absent
sound arising
and ceasing
do you hear
dependent on
sound coming
to be or ending
always hearing
independent of
a sound or silence
disengaged free from
perception and objects
from the same source
beyond separation
illusions, outflows
choosing one faculty
perception like hearing
with all attention focused
inward to what’s original
in and with all faculties
break through and enter
the current of realization
radiating spiritual freedom.
— inspired by The Śūraṅgama Sūtra,
Choosing One Faculty in Order to Liberate All Six
and The Example of the Bell’s Sound
“Wondrous suchness of reality” — holy awe
Practice awakening as in sound and silence
“To transform your … awareness into … purity … pull out the root of death and rebirth and rely on that pure and perfect nature that neither comes into being nor ceases to be. Use the purity of your true nature to make disappear the distinction between your original state of enlightenment and the illusory state of what comes into being and ceases to be. The original enlightened understanding, which neither comes into being nor ceases to be, must be the basis of your practice. Then you will attain the awakening that will be the result of your practice.”
“Choose one faculty [eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, cognitive] as a gateway to deep practice. If you take that path until you have left behind all distortion within that one faculty, then all other faculties will be purified as well.”
“Be/become patient with the state of mind in which no mental objects arise.”
— The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, A New Translation, Buddhist Text Translation Society, pp. 173, 179, and 229/232
Subtle layers of perception like sounds of a flute
