Sans Sound: Bardo 3, Dhammasota

One of the most moving stories in the Bible is found in the Book of 1 Kings. It revolves around the time when Elijah the prophet was feeling down and out. He begged that the Lord’s strength would come and help him to regain his religious fervor. Naturally, he imagined that this would be manifested to him in some strong and extroverted fashion—some earth-shattering portrayal on the part of God. Yet what was revealed to him was something totally unexpected. First there came along a strong wind—like a tornado bearing down on him; but God was not in the wind. Next there came a terrifying earthquake and Elijah was rattled in his bones; but God was not in the earthquake. Then he was suddenly engulfed in a vast ring of scorching-fire; but God was not in the fire. Lastly there came upon him a gentle and soothing breeze; inwardly he sensed the deathless voice of God himself comforting his weariness. This lovely pericope describes what is considered, through many Spiritual-Contemplative disciplines, as experiencing the Absolute Godhead AS IT IS—devoid of any overbearing anthropocentric or naturally (within nature herself) based attributes that feebly attempt to describe and/or define this completely Transcendent Exposure. This is truly reflective of the Parato ghosa, or the great and magnificent deathless sound not seen nor heard through conventional apparati, but truly experienced as emanating from the Very Sacred Heart of Suchness Itself.

Just as the Ariyan Mind elects to forego the limitations of cognitive sight for the greater inner and imageless self-realization of seeing Reality AS IT IS (Yathabhutum), so does it develop the supracognitive ability to hear through ears that see the Dharmadhatu: Dhammasota. Gautama Buddha stressed, even in the early Pali Canon, that the Noble Path to liberation via the ten-fold layers of self-realization became heightened through this Dhammasota—that the actual path of awakening was won by hearing the Buddhadharma as expressed through the deathless sound (Parato ghosa) of the Tathagatas themselves. This is truly learning to hear through eyes that see the imageless, dimensionless, Deathless and Luminous Realm of the Dharmakaya. In the context of Bardo Three and Deep Samadhis, this takes on a most highly significant recognition indeed. As the Mahabodhisattva enters into this Deep Samadhi-Dhammasota Stage, it’s an Actualized (pre-cognitive) Mystical Process of entering into the sanctum-sanctorum of the Unborn Mind—Mahaśūnyā. This is akin to penetrating into the primordial vibration (samanyaspanda) of the Absolute. It’s a mystical intercourse that is likened to what was shared earlier, with the Black Dragon Teresa of Avila (which incidentally and synchronistically is her Feast Day today) experiencing as Elijah did, “no-thing to see, no-thing to hear, no-thing to perceive, no-thing to grasp or cling to…just Total and Unequivocal Relinquishment.” This is truly Right Reliance in the ways of Deathlessness as expressed through the inner-Dharma-Ear that instills the Parato ghosa of deathlessness within the Dharmasota Chakra. This actualizes and awakens the seat of self-expression of the Dharmata Buddha—the surrendering of the skandhic-personal-will to the Unborn Will—wherein Deathless Suchness renders void all former afflictions and attachments and associations as the gentle-breeze of the Unborn now quietens the vicissitudes of all transient phenomena.