Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Lorin Roche––The Radiance Sutras
Lorin Roche--the Radiance Sutras (full version on Amazon and also on his website at www.lorinroche.com/ )
from Wikipedia
'The Vigyan Bhairav Tantra (Sanskrit: विज्ञान भैरव तन्त्र, Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra) is a key text of the Trika school of Kashmir Shaivism. Cast as a discourse between the god Shiva and his consort Devi or Shakti, it briefly presents 112 meditation methods or centering techniques (dharanas). These include several variants of breath awareness, concentration on various centers in the body, non-dual awareness, chanting, imagination and visualization and contemplation through each of the senses. A prerequisite to success in any of the 112 practices is a clear understanding of which method is most suitable to the practitioner. . .
The text is a chapter from the Rudrayamala Tantra, a Bhairava Agama. Devi, the goddess, asks Siva to reveal the essence of the way to realization of the highest reality. In his answer Siva describes 112 ways to enter into the universal and transcendental state of consciousness. References to it appear throughout the literature of Kashmir Shaivism, indicating that it was considered to be an important text in the monistic school of Kashmir Shaiva philosophy. . .
Bhairava means "terrifying" and it is an adjective applied to Shiva in his fearful aspect. Yet in Kashmir Shaivism, the three letters of this name are taken in a different manner. Bha means bharana, maintenance; ra means ravana, withdrawal and va means vamana, creation of the universe. . .
Tantra is also the name for a treatise or article.
An agama is a sacred text, a portion of a tantra.
"Lorin Roche's rendition of the Vijnana Bhairava is truly radiant, filled with insight and poetry, and illumined by the power of his practice." – Sally Kempton
“Like feeling and reading Shakti in print. I read a little bit each day, then close my eyes and do the exercise, or ponder the thought. I let the warm sweet loving words and imagery wash and heal my many layers of self.” - Lilias Folan
There there have been many translations of this ancient text, but Lorin Roche's version carries a special power. It is perhaps the most poetic, the most appealing in terms of the shakti it contains and conveys. The entire text is reprinted on his website. Here is a sample:
One day The Goddess sang to her lover Bhairava,
Beloved and radiant Lord of the space before birth,
Revealer of essence,
Slayer of the ignorance that binds us,
You, who in play have created this universe
and permeated all forms in it with never-ending truth.
I have been wondering . . .
I have been listening to the songs of creation,
I have heard the sacred sutras being sung,
and yet still I am curious.
What is this delight-filled universe
into which we find ourselves born?
What is this mysterious awareness shimmering
everywhere within it?
What are these instinctive energies
that undulate through our bodies,
moving us into action?
And this “matter” out of which our forms are made -
What are these dancing particles of condensed radiance,
Are they an illusionist's projection?
What is this power we call Life,
appearing as the play of flesh and breath?
How may I know this mystery and enter it more deeply?
Beloved, my attention is ensnared by a myriad of forms,
the innumerable individual entities everywhere.
Lead me into the wholeness beyond all these parts.
You, who hold the mysteries in your hand -
of will, knowledge and action,
Reveal to me the path of illumined knowing.
Lead me into joyous union
with the life of the universe.
Teach me that I may know it fully,
realize it deeply,
and breathe in the truth of it.
1.
The One Who is Intimate to All Beings said,
Beloved, your questions require the answers that come
through direct living experience.
The way of experience begins with a breath
such as the breath you are breathing now.
Awakening into the luminous reality
may dawn in the momentary throb
between any two breaths.
The breath flows in and just before it turns
to flow out,
there is a flash of pure joy -
life is renewed.
Awaken into that.
As the breath is released and flows out,
there is a pulse as it turns to flow in.
In that turn, you are empty.
Enter that emptiness as the source of all life.
2.
Radiant one,
The life essence carries on its play
through the pulsing rhythm
of outward and inward movement.
This is the ceaseless throb, the rhythm of life -
terrifying in its eternity, exquisite in its constancy.
The inhalation, the return movement of breath,
sustains life.
The outgoing breath
purifies life.
We breathe out the old air, the old thoughts, the old feelings.
