Lao Tzu ~ The Highest Teachings ~Taoism

Abhinavagupta ~ 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐉𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐦𝐮𝐤𝐭𝐢) “Fifteen Verses of Wisdom” (Bodhapañcadaśikā)

Wherever you find yourself  

Stay  

Go neither towards the outside or the inside

Let the infinite variations of becoming be  cast aside by the glowing of Consciousness alone

Absolute Consciousness is manifest here in  every circumstance of daily life because it is everywhere full and perfect

Consciousness is said to be the cause of all things because it is everywhere emergent as each manifest entity

Straight away remove yourself from the field of spiritual progression  stay away from contemplation and skillful  discourse do not do research or meditate on the divinities and stop concentrating and reciting textbooks

Tell me, what is the absolute nature of reality which allows no room for doubt? Listen carefully  

Stop holding on to this or that  

Inhabit your true absolute nature and peacefully enjoy the essence of what it is to be alive

The ultimate Consciousness is always present everywhere  

It is beyond space and time with no before or after  

It is undeniable and obvious  

So what can be said about it?

Drama is like a dream  

It is not real but it is really felt

Nothing perceived is independent of perception  

and perception differs not from the perceiver  

Therefore the universe is nothing but the... perceiver

The existence or non-existence of phenomena within the domain of the empirical cannot be established unless they rest within consciousness  

In fact phenomena which rest within Consciousness are apparent and the fact of their appearing is itself  their Oneness with consciousness because Consciousness is nothing but the fact  of appearing

The group of subjects, the various means of knowledge, the multiple kinds of knowledge and the objects of knowledge — all this is consciousness alone

The Supreme goddess is the absolute freedom of consciousness which assumes all these forms  

Both characteristics Unity and diversity are found in that which does not fall to the level of an object but which because it is consciousness is the supremely real light  

It has only one characteristic namely Consciousness which is the perfect medium of reflection  

This is what experience tells us

The Truth is therefore this:  

the Supreme Lord manifests freely all the varied play of the emissions and absorptions in the sky of his own nature

The light is a supreme reality  

It encompasses all the categories from Earth to Paramshiva  

While the unfolding of the reflective awareness of the heart — of "I" Consciousness — within it distinguishes between them

The extremely pure conscious reality transcends all talk of succession and its absence...

Immersing themselves in the Supreme reality clearly aware that Consciousness is all things the Yogi's Consciousness vibrates — this vibration  

is the Great pervasion

The Yogi should abide firmly fixed in their  

own nature by the power of the exertion of their expanding  consciousness — thus they are established on the plane of bliss relishing the objects of sense that spontaneously  appear before them  

Perfected yogis are ever steadfast in this  

the Supreme mudra  

the perfect and unobstructed expansion of  

the awakened

This Bliss is not like the intoxication of  

wine or that of riches nor similar to Union with the Beloved  

The manifestation of the light of consciousness  

is not like the ray of light from a lamp, sun, or Moon  

When one frees oneself from accumulated Multiplicity  

the state of bliss is like that of putting down a burden  

The manifestation of the light is like the  

acquiring of a lost treasure  

The domain of universal non-duality  

Other achievements are in vain if one has  

missed the Supreme reality  

But once one has attained this reality  

there is nothing left one could desire

There is a Radiance that Remains undimmed  

through all moments of light and darkness  

The one Within   the end of all light and all Darkness...

That one is the highest divinity

The innate essence of all beings and states  

For all that comes into being is nothing but  

the expression of its Sovereign power  

The Goddess never wants to be separate from  

the one who holds her  

They are eternally one being as  

Inseparable was fire and its heat

This absolute consciousness which accomplishes  

what seems impossible has autonomous sovereign, awake, awareness   as its nature

It is said that the defining feature of insentience  

is a limited power of Illumination  

So Awareness is distinct from insentience  

by the fact that it is unlimited

The cycles of creation and dissolution are  

innate to awareness existing as subdivisions of its innate power  

of freedom as expressions of its true nature  

For within these cycles, there exists an infinite  

variety of painful and pleasurable worlds  

Higher, lower and parallel to this one  

The state of being ignorant of all this is itself a construct of that freedom  

The cyclical flux of this autonomous being is indeed terrifying to those who are unconscious  

Recognition of the nature of reality is divine liberation

That state of fullness experienced by the awakened ones is taught to be Living Liberation  

These two states — bondage and liberation — both derive from the nature of the highest divinity  

they are indivisible  

one implies the other  

For there can, in Reality, be no division  

within the Highest Divinity