If we go through the scriptures of various religions, we find clear references to the basic common factor, the Divine Light and Sound Current, as the only means for creation and maintenance of the universe and the regeneration of mankind.

According to the Hindu theological books, the whole creation was made through Naad. They also refer to it as "Akash Bani" (voice coming down from the Heavens). We have references to it in the Vedas, the most ancient scriptures in the world. In the Naad Bind Upanishad, for instance, the subject is dealt with in a very lucid manner. The Hath Yog Pradipaka also speaks of this Sound Principle.

He has taken the support of the Word (melodious tune).
                                                          CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD

Let yogi sit on Sidh Asan and while practicing the Vaisnavi Mudra, should
  hear the sound through his right ear.
By communion with the Word, he will become deaf to the external sounds,
  and will attain the Turya Pad or a state of equipoise within a fortnight.
First the murmuring sounds resembling those of the waves of the ocean,
  the fall of rain and the running rivulets and the Bheri will be heard
  intermingled with the sounds of bell and conch, etc.
                                                       NAAD BIND UPANISHAD

Though He is beyond speech and mind, yet one can experience and realize Him
  by going beyond speech and mind.
                          BRAHM UPANISHAD

He is the Immutable, the Supreme and the Self- luminous,
And knowing Him one transcends death; there is no other way to freedom . . .
He is to be realized in the cave that shines.
                                       KAIVALYA UPANISHAD

Meditation on Nad or the Sound Principle is the royal road to salvation.
                                                                                        HANSA NAAD UPANISHAD

Tejabind Upanishad conceives the Supreme Atman dwelling in the heart of man, as the most subtle center of effulgence, revealed only to yogins by super-sensuous meditation.

    Now about the effulgent point: It has its excellent meditation, super-mundane, seated in the heart (attainable by) the Anava, Shakta and Shambhava (methods); the meditation is gross, subtle, as well as that which is transcendental.

    It is the most difficult but the only process of Supreme Realization: Even to the wise and the thoughtful this meditation is difficult to perform, and difficult to attain, difficult to cognize, and difficult to abide in and difficult to cross.

The seeker must therefore be one determined to make that which is inaccessible
  accessible, and one whose sole aim is to serve the Guru and His Cause only
  - the worship of the Supreme Spirit.
                          TEJABIND UPANISHAD

Like the butter hidden in milk, the Pure Consciousness resides in every being. That ought to be constantly  churned out by the churning rod of the mind.
                                                                                     AMRITBIND UPANISHAD

    Gosain Tulsi Das Ji, the famous author of the Hindi Ramayana, speaks of it as follows:
 

The nails of the Master's feet are more lustrous than the shining crest jewel.
  A concentration on them opens the inner vision and one becomes all knowing.

Extracts from "The Path of Sudden Attainment" by Hui Hai (a scripture of Mahayana Buddhism) translated by John Blofeld:

Nature of Perception: The faculty of perception is continuous, so perception takes place whether objects are present or not. Thus we know it is the objects themselves that come and go and not the faculty of perception. It is the same with all the senses.

Nature of Hearing: It is not the question of whether there is sound or not. Because the faculty of hearing is continuous, so hearing takes place whether there is sound or not. It is the real nature of the "Self" as knower, that perceives and hears independently of the objects and sounds respectively and apart from the sense organs.

Method of Enlightenment by sudden apprehension: Its purpose is to reach a state where thought is absent. Its scope lies in not allowing yourself to be moved by any form of allurement. Its nature is stillness and its activating agent is wisdom.

      Wisdom - Four kinds:

(i) The five kinds of perception produce the "Wisdom  of self-perception or self perfection." It consists in being able to use all the forces of perception with out being thereby caused to believe in the plurality of form.

(ii) Apprehension produces the "Wisdom of profound discernment or observation." It consists in being able to enter into the sphere of all forms of perception and to be proficient in making distinctions between them without allowing disorderly thoughts to arise and thus achieving freedom from illusion.

(iii) Discrimination produces "Universal Wisdom."  It consists in being able to regard every single atom without feeling love and hatred and implies the voidness of distinction.

(iv)  Next comes the basis of all perception which produces the "Perfect All-reflecting Buddha Wisdom."  It is Absolute Void and Stillness, Perfect and Unwavering Brilliance.

. . . Thereupon, the Blessed Lord revealed to the assembled highest Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas and great Arhats free from all intoxicants, this most sacred teaching. He said:

Honored Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas and great Arhats!   You have now been under my instruction for a long time and have attained to perfect emancipation. As an introduction to what I am about to say, I want to enquire of each of you as to how you attained Samadhi. When you began to realize in the early stages of your  devotion and practice the falseness of the eighteen  spheres of mentation in contact with objects by the  sense organs,*  which one of the spheres first became  thoroughly enlightened, by means of which you  attained to Samadhi?"

(*The eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects by the sense organs
  are as follows, in the case of sight.
   (a) Organ of sight.
   (b) Object of sight.
   (c) Consciousness of sight, which results from the contact of the
       organ of sight with the object.
   Hence a, b and c in regard to all the six senses (Cognition-Sight-Hearing-
   Smell-Taste and Touch) add up to 18.)

Blessed Lord! In previous Kalpas when Buddha Kandrasuryapradipa was living, I served him faithfully  and listened to his teaching and practiced it faithfully. After he passed into Nirvana, I continued to make offerings to his sacred relics and kept his image freshly gilded, so that his teaching, like a lamp, continued to illumine my life by its brightness. By my faithful reverence for his relics and his image, my mind was illumined by a purple-golden brightness that reflected itself in all my following lives and became a permanent purple-golden brightness with my body.

Then Sariputra rose from his seat and bowing down before the Lord Buddha, said:

Blessed Lord! Since many Kalpas, as many as the sands of the Ganges, my mind has continued its purity and because of it, there have been many pure rebirths. As soon as my eyes perceived the differences in the ever-flowing process of changes, both in the world and in the Way of Emancipation, my mind immediately understood them and, because of it, I acquired the attainment of perfect freedom. When I was on the road one day, I met the brother Kasyapa who kindly explained the principle of the Lord's teaching that everything rose from  causes and conditions  and, therefore, was empty and transitory, and I realized the infinitude of Pure Mind Essence. From that time, I followed my Lord and my perception of mental sight became transcendental and perfectly enlightened, so that I instantly acquired an attainment of great fearlessness and confidence. Because of it I attained to the degree of Arhat and became, in fact, the first Prince of my Lord Buddha, begotten by the Lord's true words and nourished and transformed by his intrinsic Dharma. In reply to my Lord's enquiry as to our first experience of attainment, I would answer that my  first thorough accommodation of the eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects through the sense-organs, was by reason of the transcendent brightness within my own mind whose shining beams illuminated my intelligence and reached as far as my insight could penetrate. . . .

 I became a Prince of my Lord's Dharma many long Kalpas ago, and all of the innumerable Tathagatas of the ten quarters of the Universe, taught their disciples, who had the qualifications for becoming Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas, to practice the devotion of Samantabhadra's unceasing compassion for all sentient beings for his name's sake. The transcendental and intrinsic hearing of my Essential Mind became very pure and transparent, so that I could use it to discriminate the understanding and ideas of all sentient beings. Should there be any sentient beings in whatever quarter of the Universe -  past, present or future - to develop the devotion of Samantabhadra unceasing compassion within his mind, I would become aware of its vibrations through the transcendental sensitiveness of my hearing and I would thereupon ride to them on the mysterious elephant of six tusks, in a hundred thousand different manifestations of my likeness, at the same time, to attend upon them each in his own place. Whatever might be his hindrances, however deep or  serious, able to appreciate my presence or not, I would be near him to lay my hand upon his head, to give him encouragement and support, peacefulness and comfort, so that he might accomplish his supreme attainment. As my Lord has enquired of us as to our first attainment of accommodating our eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with sense-objects through our sense organs, I would say that in my case it was through the intrinsic hearing of my Essential Mind and its spontaneous understanding and response.

Blessed Lord! For an infinity of Kalpas I have had great freedom in preaching the Dharmas of emptiness and suffering and because of it have realized my own Essence of Mind. In the course of my preaching, I have  interpreted  profoundly  and wonderfully  the many Dharma Doors, with great confidence and with no feeling of fear, everywhere, and before great assemblies. Because of my eloquence, my Lord has encouraged me to  make use of it in propagating the Dharma by means of  the wheel of my voice. Since these ancient days, since  the Lord has been among us, I have offered my services  in turning the Dharma wheel, and have lately attained to the degree of Arhat by means of the development of my hearing, by reason of which I am conscious of the Transcendental Sound of the Dharma reverberating like the roar of a lion. Consequently, my Lord has honored me by regarding me as the greatest preacher of his Mysterious Dharma.
    As my Lord has enquired of us which was our earliest accommodation of the eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects through sense organs, I would answer that my first thorough accommodation of mentation was the subjugation of my internal attachment and enemies and the extermination  of all intoxicants by means of the Intrinsic Sound of the Mysterious Dharma.

Blessed Lord! When I was begging on the road, I  met the three Kasyapa brothers who taught me the Lord Tathagata's profound principle of causes and conditions. I was greatly influenced by the teaching and very soon acquired and realized particularly clear intelligence. My Lord was so kind as to bestow on me the true robe for my true body, my beard and head were shaved and I became a follower of my Lord. Since then my transcendental powers have become wonderfully developed, I have made visits to all the ten quarters of the Universe, without hindrance by space, passing instantly from one Buddha-land to another without being conscious of how it was done. I thus attained the degree of Arhat and was accounted by all and by my Lord Tathagata as being highest among the disciples in perfect enlightenment, great purity of mind, spontaneity and fearlessness in manifestation of transcendental powers.
    As my Lord has inquired of us which was our most perfect accommodation of the eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects through the sense organs, I would answer that my first perfect accommodation of the eighteen spheres of mentation was my mind becoming abstracted in tranquil reflection that mysteriously developed its enlightening brightness, as if my mind that had been a muddy stream had suddenly become clear and transparent like a crystal ball.

      Blessed Lord! My Lord Tathagata and I had already  acquired a transcendental body of infinitude at the time, long ago during the advent of the Buddha Camatha-prabasha. At that time, I had in possession four precious pearls having the transcendental  penetrating power of the Element of Fire, by reason of which everything was luminously clear to my intuitive  insight, even to the farthermost Buddha-lands of the most remote Universe. In the light of these magic pearls everything became as empty and transparent as Pure Space. Moreover, within my mind, there manifested a great mirror that was marvelously self illuminating that radiated ten kinds of wonderful, glorious, far-reaching rays as the infinitude of all-embracing space. In this marvelous mirror were reflected all the royal continents of the Blessed, and like the mingling of different-colored lights, merged with my body into pure brightness and clarity of infinite space, there being no hindrance to their entrance or passing. By this magical power, I was able to enter into all the Buddha-lands and engage in all their Buddha-services of adoration with great ease and perfect accommodation. This transcendental power was due to my deep intuitive insight into the source of the Four Great Elements, by reason of which I was able to see that they were nothing but the appearing and disappearing of false imaginations,  which were intrinsically as empty as pure space and with no more differentiation as pure space. And I realized that all the innumerable Buddha-lands within and without the mind were of the same inconceivable purity. From this intuitive insight I consequently acquired the Samadhi of perseverance of non-rebirth.

      As my Lord has enquired of us which was our most thorough accommodation of the eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects through the sense organs, I would answer that in my case it was through my perfect intuitive insight into the infinity of open space as illumined by the Element of Fire, and by that power I attained to the highest Samadhi and the transcendental power of Samapatti.

    Blessed Lord! I recall that many, many Kalpas ago  there appeared in the world a Buddha called Amitayus, teaching all Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas the intuitive and essential nature of the wonderful Essence of Mind, and urging them to concentrate their minds on the essential sameness of Samsara World, and all sentient beings in it, that they were all alike manifestations of the Element of Wind (or Ether) and its rhythmic-vibrations revealing and manifesting all else. In my practice of Dhyana, I concentrated on this and reflected on how the great world was upheld in space, on how the great world was kept in perpetual motion, on how my body was kept in motion, moving and standing, on the rhythmic vibration of its life established and maintained by breathing, upon the movement of the mind, thoughts rising and passing. I reflected upon these various things and marvelled at their great sameness without any difference save in the rate of vibration. I realized that the nature of these vibrations had neither any source for their coming nor destination for their going, and that all sentient beings, as numerous as the infinitesimal  particles of dust in the vast spaces, were each in his  own way topsy-turvy balanced vibrations, and that each and every one was obsessed with the illusion that he was a unique creation. All sentient beings, in all the three thousand Great Chillicosms are obsessed with this hallucination. They  are like innumerable mosquitos shut up in a vessel and buzzing about in wildest confusion. Sometimes, they are roused to madness and pandemonium by the narrow limits of their confinement. After meeting my Lord Buddha, I attained to a state of intuitive realization and non-rebirth perseverance, whereupon my mind became enlightened and I was able to view the Buddha-land of Immovability in the Eastern Heavens, which is the Pure Land of Buddha Amitayus. I was acknowledged as a Prince of the Lord's Dharma and vowed to serve all Buddhas everywhere, and because of my enlightenment and great vow my body and mind became perfectly rhythmic and alive and sparkling, mingling with all other vibrations without hindrance to its perfect freedom.

    As my Lord has enquired of us as to which was our first thoroughly perfect accommodation of the eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects through the sense-organs, I will say that in my case it was through my intuitive insight into the nature of the Element of Ether, and how by its balanced and rhythmic vibrations everything was embraced in perfect  purity in the Enlightening Mind, and how concentrating my mind upon it I attained Samadhi and in that Samadhi I realized the perfect oneness of all the Buddhas in the purity of the Wonderful Mind Essence, that is the Bliss-body of Buddhahood . . .

     Blessed Lord! I recall that many, many Kalpas ago there was a Buddha appeared in this world called Chandra-suryapradipa-prabasha whom I followed as his disciple. At the time I was inclined to the worldly life and liked to associate with the nobility. The Lord Buddha, noticing it, instructed me to practice meditation, concentrating my mind on its consciousness. I followed his instructions and attained Samadhi. Since then I have served numberless other Buddhas using this same method, and by it have now discarded all desire for worldly pleasures. By the time Buddha Dipankara appeared in the world, gradually I had attained to the supreme, wonderful, perfect Samadhi or Transcendental Consciousness. By this highest Samadhi I was conscious of infinite  space, and realized that all of the Tathagata-lands whether pure or impure, existent or non-existent were nothing but the manifestation of my own mind. My Lord! because of my perfect realization that all  such skillful devices of the Tathagatas were nothing but evolvements of my own mental consciousness, the essential nature of my consciousness flowed out in innumerable manifestations of Tathagatas, and I came to be selected as the next Coming Buddha, after my Lord Shakyamuni Buddha . . .

 
      As my Lord has enquired of us as to our first  perfect accommodation of the eighteen spheres of  mentation in contact with objects through the sense organs, I answer that my first perfect accommodation of the eighteen spheres of mentation was by my perfect realization that all the ten quarters of the Universes were nothing but activities of my own consciousness.  It was by that that my consciousness became perfectly enlightened and that the limits of my mind dissolved until it embraced all Reality forsaking all prejudices of conditional and unconditional assertions and denials, I acquired perfect non-birth perseverance . . .

    Then Maha-sthama-prapta, Prince of the Lord's Dharma, rose from his seat and bowed down to the feet of the Lord Buddha, together with the fifty-two members of his Brotherhood of Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas, and said:

      Blessed Lord! I recall that in a past Kalpa long ago, as many Kalpas ago as there are grains of sand in the river Ganges, there appeared in this world a Buddha, called Amitabha-prabhasa Buddha, whose Buddha-land was in the Eastern Heavens. In that Kalpa there were twelve Tathagatas following each other in close succession, the last one being called Buddha-Chandra-surya-gomin, who taught me to practice  meditation upon the name of Amitabha, saying: Namo Amitabha-Buddhaya. The value of this practice lay in this: so long as one practices his own method and other practices a different method, they balance of each other and meeting, it is just the same as not meeting.  Whereas, if two persons practice the same method, their mindfulness would become deeper and deeper, and they would remember each other and develop affinities for each other life after life. It is the same with those who practice concentration  on the name of Amitabha - they develop within their minds  Amitabha's spirit of compassion toward all sentient life. Moreover, whoever recites the name of Amitabha Buddha, whether in the present time or in the future time, will  surely see the Buddha Amitabha and never become separated from him. By reason of that association, just as one associating with a maker of perfumes became permeated with the same perfumes, so he will become perfumed by Amitabha's compassion, and will become enlightened without any other expedient means.

    Blessed Lord! My devotion to reciting the name of Amitabha had no other purpose than to return to my original nature of purity and by it I attained to the state of non-rebirth perseverance. Now in this life, I have vowed to teach my disciples to concentrate their minds by means of reciting the name of Amitabha (Namo-Amitabha-Buddhaya) and also I teach them to wish to be born in his Land of Purity and to make that their only Refuge.

      As my Lord has asked us which is our first perfect accommodation of the eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects through sense organs, I answer that my first perfect accommodation of the eighteen spheres of mentation was that I recognized no separation or differences among my six senses, but merged them into  one  transcendental  sense  from which arises the purity of Transcendental Wisdom, by reason of which I attained highest Samadhi and the graces of Samapatti.

      Blessed Lord! I recall that ages ago, as numerous as the sands of the river Ganges, that there was present in the world a Buddha, called Avalokiteshvara, by whose instruction I was encouraged to begin seeking enlightenment. I was taught to begin practicing by concentrating my mind on the true nature of Transcendental Hearing, and by that practice I attained Samadhi.  As soon as I had advanced to the stage of Entering the Stream, I determined to discard all thoughts discriminating as to where I was or had been. Later I discarded the conception of advancing altogether, and the thought of either activity or quietness in this connection did not again arise in my mind.  Continuing my practice, I gradually advanced until all discrimination of the hearing nature of my   self-hood and of the Intrinsic Transcendental Hearing was discarded. As there ceased to be any grasping in my mind for the attainment of Intrinsic Hearing, the conception of enlightenment and enlightened nature were all absent from my mind. When this state of perfect Emptiness of Mind was attained,  all arbitrary conceptions of attaining to Emptiness of Mind and of enlightened nature, were discarded. As soon as all arbitrary conceptions of rising and  disappearing of thoughts were completely discarded, the state of Nirvana was clearly realized. Then all of a sudden, my mind became transcendental to both celestial and terrestrial world, and there was nothing in all the ten quarters but empty space, and in that  state I acquired two wonderful transcendencies. The first was a "Transcendental Consciousness" that my mind was in perfect conformity with the Essential, Mysterious Enlightening Mind, of all the Buddhas in all the ten quarters, and also it was in like perfect  conformity with the Great Heart of Compassion of all the Buddhas. The second transcendency was that my mind was in perfect conformity with the minds of all sentient beings of the six Realms and felt with them the same earnestness and longing for deliverance.

      Blessed Lord! because of my adoration for that Buddha, Avalokiteshvara, he taught me how to attain the Diamond Samadhi by the single method of concentrating my mind upon Transcendental Hearing.  And, moreover, he helped me to attain the same compassionate capacity that all the Tathagatas had, by reason of which I attained the thirty-two kinds of transformations that are instantaneously available in response to the prayer for deliverance from any part of the world at any time.

       These transformations have all been attained and exercised with perfect freedom and spontaneity in the mysterious Diamond Samadhi which I attained by concentrating my mind in the practice of Dhyana on the nature of Transcendental Hearing.

      Blessed Lord! I have also, because of the mysterious powers that accompany the Diamond Samadhi, and because of my being in perfect conformity and with the same earnestness and longing for deliverance with all sentient beings, in the Six Realms of all the ten quarters of all the universes, past, present and future, been able to bestow upon all sentient beings the same Fourteen kinds of Fearlessness, which animate my own mind . . .

      As my attainment to the original nature of perfect  accommodations is wonderfully developed from the hearing organ to include all the sense-organs and discriminating mind, my body and mind profoundly and mysteriously embrace all the phenomenal world, so that if any disciple should recite my name, his blessing and merit would be like and equal to that of any Prince of the Lord's Dharma, whether he uses the same name or some other name. Blessed Lord! The reason why their merit is like and equal for one to recite my name, and for another to recite some other name, is because of my practice of Dhyana by which I acquired the True and Perfect accommodation.

      Blessed Lord! this is what is meant by the Fourteen kinds of Fearlessness of Powers of Deliverance which bring blessing to all sentient beings. But in addition to the acquirement of perfect accommodation by means of my attainment of Supreme Enlightenment, I have also acquired another Four kinds of inconceivable, wonderful Transcendencies of Spontaneity.

      The First is as it is, because when I first attained to my Transcendental Hearing, my mind became abstracted into its essential nature, and all the natural powers of hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching and understanding attained to a state of pure, glorious, enlightenment of perfect mutuality and accommodation in one perfect unity of Awareness. Because of this, I have acquired this great Transcendental Freedom, so that when I give deliverance to sentient beings, I can transform  myself into wonderful appearances . . .

       Sometimes I appear in a form of kindness, or in a form of justice, or in a state of concentration, or in a state of intelligence. But in all I do it for the sake of deliverance and protecting of sentient beings so that they might acquire a like Great Freedom.

      The Second inconceivable, wonderful Transcendency of Spontaneity is as it is because of my emancipation of hearing and thinking from the contaminations of the six sense-objects. It is as if sound were passing through walls without any hindrance. Thus I can skillfully transform into different kinds of appearances and recite different Dharanis, and can transform these appearances and recitation of Dharanis, to give the Transcendental Power of Fearlessness to sentient beings. Thus in all the countries of the ten quarters, I am known as the Giver of Transcendental Power of Fearlessness.

      The Third inconceivable, wonderful Transcendency of Spontaneity is as it is, because of my practice upon the pure, original Essence of perfect accommodation, so that wherever I go, I lead sentient beings to willingness to sacrifice their lives and valuable possessions in order to pray for my compassion and mercy.

      The Fourth inconceivable, wonderful  Transcendency  of Spontaneity is as it is, because of my acquirement of the Buddha's Intrinsic Mind and because of my attainment of the supremacy so that I can give all different kinds of offerings to all of the Tathagatas of all the ten quarters of the universes.

      As my Lord has enquired of us as to what was our first perfect accommodation, of the eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects through the sense-organs, I answer that my first perfect accommodation was, when I attained to the state of perfectly accommodating reflection of Samadhi by means of my Intrinsic Hearing and Transcendental Mental Freedom from objective contaminations, so that my mind became abstracted and absorbed into the Divine Stream, and thus acquired the Diamond Samadhi and  attained Enlightenment.

      Blessed Lord! in those far off days, my Lord, the Buddha Avalokiteshvara, praised me for my skillful acquirement of the all-accommodating Door of Dharma,  and in one of his great Assemblies, he announced that I, too, should be called Avalokiteshvara, "The hearer and answerer of Prayer," the Bodhisattva of Tenderest Compassion.  As such, my Transcendental Hearing reaches to the ten quarters of all the universes, and the name of Avalokiteshvara prevails over all the extremes of human suffering and danger.

    Thereupon, the blessed Lord, sitting upon his throne in the midst of the Tathagatas and highest  Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas from all the Buddha-lands, manifested his Transcendent Glory surpassing them  all. From his hands and feet and body radiated supernal beams of light that rested upon the crowns of each Tathagata, Bodhisattva-Mahasattva, and Prince of the Dharma; in all the ten quarters of the universes, went forth rays of glorious brightness that converged upon the crown of the Lord Buddha and upon the crowns of all the Tathagatas, Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas and Arhats present in the assembly. At the same time all the trees of the Jeta Park, and all the waves lapping on the shores of its lakes, were singing with the music of the Dharma, and all the intersecting rays of brightness were like a net of splendor set with jewels and over-reaching them all. Such a marvelous sight had never been imagined and held them all in silence and awe. Unwittingly, they passed into the blissful peace of the Diamond Samadhi and upon them all, there fell like a gentle rain, the soft petals of many different colored lotus blossoms - blue  and  crimson, yellow and white - all blending together and being reflected into the open space of heaven in all the tints of the spectrum. Moreover, all the differentiations of mountains and seas and rivers and forests of the Saha World blended into one another and faded away leaving only the flower - adorned unity of the Primal Cosmos, not dead and inert but alive with rhythmic life and light, vibrant with transcendental sound of songs and rhymes, melodiously rising and falling and merging  and then fading away into silence.

    Manjusri! you have now heard that these Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas of greatest and highest attainments have testified regarding the expedient means that were involved, and the results seen in spiritual graces and powers of Samapatti, that followed in their devout lives and practices. Each one stated that the beginning was seen in the perfect accommodation of some one mental sphere in contact with its sense object, and from that followed the perfect accommodation of all the spheres of  mentation and the attainment of Samadhi, Samapatti and the perfect awareness of their Intuitive and Essential Mind. So we see that their devout practices, in spite of their variations, all eventuated in the same good result irrespective of their attainments and the times involved.

    I want Ananda to fully understand and realize these different attainments of Enlightenment and note which of them is adapted to him. And I wish also, that after my Nirvana, as future disciples of this world wish to attain highest Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi, that from these experiences they may know which door of expedient means appears to each most easily  entered.

    The keeping of the Precepts is a necessary part of the practice of Dhyana, but the novice cannot depend upon them alone to bring him to the nature of perfect accommodation . . .

    Blessed Lord! Since my Lord has descended from the Deva Realms to this Saha World, he has helped us most by his wonderful Enlightening Teaching. At first we receive this Teaching through our sense of hearing, but when we are fully able to realize it, it becomes ours through a Transcendental and Intuitive Hearing. This makes the awakening and perfecting of a  transcendental faculty of hearing of very great importance to every novice. As the wish to attain Samadhi deepens in the mind of any disciple, he can  most surely attain it by means of his Transcendental Organ of Hearing.

    For many a Kalpa - as numerous as the particles of sand in the river Ganges - Avalokiteshvara Buddha, the hearer and answerer of prayer, has visited all the Buddha-lands of the ten quarters of the universe and has acquired Transcendental Powers of Boundless Freedom and Fearlessness and has vowed to emancipate all sentient beings from their bondage and suffering. How sweetly mysterious is the Transcendental Sound of Avalokiteshvara! It is the pure Brahman Sound. It is the subdued murmur of the seatide setting inward. Its mysterious Sound brings liberation and peace to all  sentient beings who in their distress are calling for aid; it brings a sense of permanency to those who are truly seeking the attainment of Nirvana's Peace . . .

    While I am addressing My Lord Tathagata, he is hearing at the same time, the Transcendental Sound of Avalokiteshvara. It is just as though, while we are in the quiet selection of our Dhyana practice, there  should come to our ears the sound of the beating of drums. If our minds, hearing the sound, are undisturbed and tranquil, this is the nature of perfect accommodation.

    The body develops feeling by coming in contact  with something, and the sight of eyes is hindered by the opaqueness of objects, and similarly with the sense of smell and of taste, but it is different with the discriminating mind. Thoughts are arising and mingling and passing. At the same time it is conscious of sounds in the next room and sounds that have come from far away. The other senses are not so refined as the sense of hearing: the nature of hearing is the true reality of Passability.

    The essence of sound is felt in both motion and silence, it passes from existent to non-existent. When there is no sound, it is said that there is no hearing, but that does not mean that hearing has lost its preparedness. Indeed, when there is no sound, hearing is most alert, and when there is sound the hearing nature is least developed. If any disciple can be freed from these two illusions of appearing and disappearing, that is, from death and rebirth, he has attained the true reality of Permanency.

    Even in dreams when all thinking has become quiescent, the hearing nature is still alert. It is like a  mirror of enlightenment that is transcendental of the thinking mind because it is beyond the consciousness sphere of both body and mind. In this Saha world, the Doctrine of Intrinsic, Transcendental Sound, may be spread abroad, but sentient beings as a class remain ignorant and indifferent to their own Intrinsic Hearing. They respond only to phenomenal sounds and are disturbed by both musical and discordant sounds.

    Nothwithstanding Ananda's wonderful memory, he was not able to avoid falling into evil ways. He has been adrift on a merciless sea. But if he will only turn his mind away from the drifting current of thoughts, he may soon recover the sober wiseness of Essential Mind. Ananda! Listen to me! I have ever relied upon the teaching of the Lord Buddha to bring me to the Indescribable Dharma Sound of the Diamond Samadhi. Ananda! You have sought the secret lore from all the Buddha-lands without first attaining emancipation from the desires and intoxications of your own contaminations and attachments, with the result that you have stored in your memory a vast accumulation of worldly knowledge and built up a tower of faults and mistakes.

    You have learned the Teachings by listening to the words of the Lord Buddha and then committing them to memory. Why do you not learn from your own self by listening to Sound of the Intrinsic Dharma within your mind and then practicing reflection upon it? The perception of Transcendental Hearing is not developed by any natural process under the control of your own volition. Sometimes when you are reflecting upon your Transcendental Hearing a chance sound suddenly claims your attention and your mind sets it apart and discriminates it and is disturbed thereby.As soon as you can ignore the phenomenal sound, the notion of Transcendental Sound ceases and you will realize your Intrinsic Hearing.

    As soon as this one sense perception of hearing is returned to its originality and you clearly understand its falsity, then the mind instantly understands the falsity of all sense perceptions and is at once emancipated from the bondage of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking, for they are all alike illusive and delusive visions of unreality and all the three great realms of existence are seen to be what they truly are, imaginary blossoms in the air.

    As soon as the deceiving perception of hearing is emancipated, then all objective phenomena disappears and your Intuitive Mind-Essence becomes perfectly pure. As soon as you have attained to this Supreme Purity of Mind-Essence, its Intrinsic Brightness will shine out spontaneously and in all directions and, as soon as you are sitting in tranquil Dhyana, the mind will be in perfect conformity with Pure Space.

    Ananda! As soon as you return to the phenomenal world, it will seem like a vision in a dream. And your experience with the maiden Pchiti will seem like a dream, and your own body will lose its solidity and permanency. It will seem as though every human being, male and female, was simply a manifestation by some skillful magician of a manikin all of whose activities were under his control. Or each human being will seem like an automatic machine that once started goes on by itself, but as soon as the automatic machine loses its motive power, all its activities not only cease, but their very existence disappears.

    So it is with the six sense organs, which are fundamentally dependent upon one unifying and enlightening spirit, but which by ignorance have become divided into six semi-independent compositions and conformities. Should one organ become emancipated and return to its originality, so closely are they united in their fundamental originality, that all the organs would cease their activities also. And all worldly impurities will be purified by a single thought and you will attain to the wonderful purity of perfect Enlightenment. Should there remain some minute contamination of ignorance, you should practice the more earnestly until you attain to perfect Enlightenment, that is, to the Enlightenment of a Tathagata.

    All the Brothers in this Great Assembly, and you too, Annnda, should reverse your outward perception of hearing and listen inwardly for the perfectly unified and intrinsic sound of your own Mind-Essence, for as soon as you have attained perfect accommodation, you will have attained to Supreme Enlightenment.

    This is the only way to Nirvana, and it has been followed by all the Tathagatas of the past. Moreover, it is for all the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas of the present and for all in the future if they are to hope for perfect Enlightenment. Not only did Avalokiteshvara attain perfect Enlightenment in long ages past by this Golden Way,  but in the present, I also am one of them.

    My Lord enquired of us as to which expedient means each one of us had employed to follow this   Noble Path to Nirvana. I bear testimony that the means employed by Avalokiteshvara is the most expedient means for all, since all other means must be supported and guided by the Lord Buddha's  Transcendental Powers.  Though one forsake all his worldly engagements, yet he cannot always be practicing  by these various means; they are especial means suitable for junior and senior disciples, but for  laymen, this common method of concentrating the mind on the sense of hearing, turning it inward by this Door of Dharma to hear the Transcendental Sound of this Essential Mind, is most feasible and wise.

    O Blessed Lord! I am bowing down before my Lord Tathagata's Intrinsic Womb, which is immaculate and ineffable in its perfect freedom from all contaminations and taints, and am praying my Lord to extend his boundless compassion for the sake of all future disciples,  so that I may continue to teach Ananda and all sentient beings of the present kalpa, to have faith in this wonderful Door of Dharma to the Intrinsic Hearing of his own Mind-Essence, so surely to be attained by this most expedient means. If any disciple should take this Intuitive Means for concentrating his mind in Dhyana Practice on this organ of Transcendental Hearing, all other sense organs would soon come into perfect harmony with it and thus by this single means of Intrinsic Hearing, he would attain  perfect accommodation of his True and Essential Mind.

    Then Ananda and all the great assembly were purified in body and mind. They acquired a profound understanding and a clear insight into the nature of the Lord Buddha's Enlightenment and experience of Highest Samadhi. They had confidence like a man who was about to set forth on a most important business to a far off country, because they knew the route to go and return.  All the disciples in this great assembly realized their own Essence of Mind and proposed henceforth to live   remote from all worldly entanglements and taints, and to live continuously in the pure brightness of the Eye of Dharma.

Extracts from "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" (Bardo Thodol), edited by Dr. W. Y. Evans-Wentz (London, 1957):

    O nobly-born, when thy body and mind were separating, thou must have experienced a glimpse of the Pure Truth, subtle, sparkling, bright, dazzling, glorious, and radiantly awesome, in appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in springtime in one continuous stream of vibrations. Be not daunted thereby, nor terrified, nor awed. That is the radiance of thine own true nature. Recognize it.

    From the midst of that radiance, the natural sound of Reality, reverberating like a thousand thunders simultaneously sounding, will come. That is the natural sound of thine own real self. Be not daunted thereby, nor terrified, nor awed.

    O nobly-born, five-colored radiances . . . vibrating and dazzling like colored threads, flashing, radiant, and transparent, glorious and awe-inspiring, will . . . strike against thy heart, so bright that the eye cannot bear to look upon them.
   . . . Be not afraid of that brilliant radiance of five colors, nor terrified; but know that Wisdom to be   thine own.
    Within those radiances, the natural sound of the Truth will reverberate like a thousand thunders. The sound will come with a rolling reverberation .  . Fear not. Flee not. Be not terrified. Know them (i.e., these sounds) to be (of) .  . thine own inner light.

    . . . From this time I discontinued my old routine of meditation; this was from 1908 to 1914. When the European War broke out, I began to doubt Western theory and my own power to save the world with Buddhist teaching. I felt it was a sheer waste of time, if I did any more of what I had done.  So I went to "Po-To" island, where I secluded myself in a monastery to develop further spiritual advancement.

    After two or three months of seclusion, one night when I was meditating, my mind became calmer, I heard the sound of a bell from a neighboring temple. It seems that my chain of thoughts was broken by that sound and I sank into a state of something like a trance, without knowing anything until early next dawn, when I heard the sound of the matin bell and I regained my sense of knowing. At first, I only felt that a light melted into me. There was no distinction of self and other things and of what was inside and what was outside.

    After this experience, I continued my life of reading sutras, writing books and meditating, for about one year, and after that one year, I chiefly engaged myself in studying the books of the Vijnana School. I especially paid attention to the Records on Wei Shi (Vijnana). Here I once more experienced another trance-like state. I was reading for several times repeatedly a certain paragraph of the said Records, explaining that both conditional things and the Truth are devoid of the substance of Self.  I entered the trance-like meditation. This time it was different from the former two; I perceived in it that all things which exist on conditions had their deep and subtle order, minutely arranged without the slightest confusion.

    This kind of comprehension I can produce now whenever I desire.

    The third experience showed me the truth of cause and effect, which appear to be so on account of our consciousness. It is true, the law of cause and effect has its natural way without disorder.

    After each of these three experiences, there was some change physically and mentally, and I also happened to have some presage of divyachaksus (clarvoyance), divya-srota (clairaudience) and parachitta-jnana (thought reading).

    If the six supernatural powers are possible, then the theory of Karma and Rebirth, which is based on the demonstration of clairvoyance and purvanivasan Usmritijnana (knowledge of all former existences of self and others) is also believable.