1. Disciples upon the Path of Discipleship are strongly influenced by Mercury and Saturn – one bringing illumination and the other offering opportunity.
2. At the various initiations, the influence of the planets affects the candidate in a totally different manner than earlier. Cyclically the energies from the constellations pour through the planetary centers.
   1. At the first initiation, the disciple has to contend with the crystallizing and destroying forces of Vulcan and Pluto. The influence of Vulcan reaches to the very depths of his nature, whilst Pluto drags to the surface and destroys all that hinders in these lower regions.
   2. At the second initiation, the candidate comes under the influence of three planets – Neptune, Venus and Jupiter. The three centers – solar plexus, heart and throat – are actively involved.
   3. At the third initiation, the Moon (veiling a hidden planet) and Mars bring about a fearful conflict, but at the end the man is released from personality control.
   4. At the fourth initiation, Mercury and Saturn again bring about great changes and unique revelation, but their effect is very different to the earlier experience.
   5. At the fifth and final initiation, Uranus and Jupiter appear and produce a “beneficent organization” of the totality of energies found in the initiate’s equipment. When this reorganization is complete, the initiate can then “escape from off the wheel and then can truly live.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the terminology, here’s what I think. The fifth initiation produces the buddhist arhat and is known as the revelation in esoteric terminology or the ressurection, the fourth is the crucifixion or renunciation, the third is transfiguration when thought is transcended, the second is the baptism or stream enterer in buddhism when desire is overcome, and the first is recognition of the inner Christ or one’s buddha nature when the physical appetite is brought under control. The problem is that these often become a source for spiritual pride and ambition. And if they’re that throw them away. I did. But from time to time they’re an interesting review of the work ahead.

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However our Zen forefathers basically said that to discover ones own true nature one must stop seeking, even seeking after enlightenment. If you correlate that with the idea that we find what we look for, then seeking and seeing are inextricably linked. And that leads to the idea in the Voice of the Silence that we must be deaf and blind to all external phenomena.

In The Labors of Hercules the story of Scorpio concludes when Hercules lifts the Hydra into the light of die and consequently all of its heads to die, but one. A. A. Bailey suggested that the immortal head was sexuality, if I remember rightly. Maybe I don’t. But perhaps this immortal head was seeking. There is no doubt though that sexuality drives a whole lot of seeking of its own. And the sociobiologists would argue that sexual competition drives the need for status, for wealth, etc. I tend to agree.

Yet seeking is very much in the mind. And I think being mindful of this is a very useful tool to aid ones practice. I would suggest that letting go of seeking enables one to be receptive to one’s true nature.

And then there’s the thought of meditation stages:- counting the breath, focusing on the single breath, and I guess focusing on nothing. If I’m to understand the practise of silent illumination properly, this last one is that. Patanjali describes I find focusing on nothing requires a level of concentration that the others I guess are indeed a preparation for. Perhaps this is why people like Gil Fronsdal and Bhante Henepola Gunaratana describe Zen as the most difficult practise.

Huatou practise (wato in Japanese, but more commonly and less correctly known as koan practise does indeed seem much easier. Personally, I like to do that as well. As I wrote in an earlier post, my question is “what is emptiness?”. And these to practises seem to dovetail quite well, but I practise focusing on nothing first. One of the reasons is that while huatou is meant to cut thinking off at the root, the mind occasionally finds things to grip on to. Another reason is that it seems to deepen the sense of emptiness observed in silent illumination practise. Patanjali refers to meditation with seed in Book I, 46 of his Yoga Sutras. And meditation without seed in Book 3, 8.

I think I’ve talked about the first two rules of magic before. The Tibetan as I recall it anyway observed that the personality and soul need to be meditating in alignment. Technical discussions aside, I think the practise of silent illumination is in one aspect the personality actively listening for what Blavatsky calls The Voice of the Silence. And this I think the practise of silent illumination does more readily.

And then both practises are the same. By the way, I think Sheng Yen’s book on this topic The Method of No-Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination is a good one; a good addition to your meditation library.

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I find starting my day with four or five questions very motivating. I guess they’re about states. What states do I want to be in every day. Gratitude and clarity are two of them. So what in my life already makes me feel that way. This is a lead in to a round of visualisations.

Essentially what I’m trying to do here is maintain emotional health, while I move towards liberation. There are also some powerful insights that help. One is that every experience arises within the mind. So why not choose those experiences that are going to work for us, while we liberate ourselves from experience.

Equally we develop our physical energy. We drink water, exercise and eat well, which gives us the energy and flexibility we need to sit comfortably and to have focus and enthusiasm through our days.

I think this is the modern middle way. We have, or rather are living in, a monkey living in the modern world. We need to look after it while we seek enlightenment.

Counting the breath, meditation on an object are all techniques that build up the concentration, but that same concentration can come out of an intense inquiry into the nature of oneself.

And so it seems to me that Soto Zen and Rinzai Zen are essentially the same. Sitting on one’s mat in still awareness is the same as enquiring “Who am I?” I think it’s no co-incidence that Hui Neng, in my opinion the founder of Zen, asked his first student “What was your original nature before you were born?” You have to sit quietly for an answer don’t you.

It’s the same as the Christian injunction to “Be still and know that I am God.” And Dolano’s advice that you must love meditation is basically saying that you must love being still.

Christ pointed to the kingdom of heaven being within. Isn’t that such a major hint. Buddha pointed to the fullness of the seeming void. And more recently Ramana and Krishnamurti both pointed to the inquiry into one’s own nature.

And then to carry this stillness, call it spaciousness if you will beyond meditation and into one’s outer life. It strikes me that’s what mindfulness is.

Some teachers point to the idea that the practise of mindfulness in meditation leads to mindfulness in one’s life. If mindfulness and stillness are the same then we’re saying even in action be still.

And that carries the conversation back to that teaching in the Bhagavad Gita

He who can see inaction in action, and action in inaction is the wisest among men. He is a saint, even though he still acts.

1. The Solar Angel collects himself, scatters not his force but, in meditation deep, communicates with his reflection.
2. When the shadow hath responded, in meditation deep the work proceedeth. The lower light is thrown upward; the greater light illuminates the three, and the work of the four proceedeth.

The first rule is very insightful. What it claims is that it is the indwelling Soul – the greater light – that is meditating upon the personality – the reflection or shadow. It is suggestive that there are times when the Self is occupied with this meditation.

In the second rule we discover that the personality must meet the Soul with equal concentration. But in reality it is the Soul that is meditating, which is why I suppose Buddha could remark that all human beings were already enlightened.

The three being illuminated here is the personality by the soul. The soul it must be remembered is non-dualistic. In the world of the Soul there is no separation .

For a long time, aeons indeed, the personality has been active and the soul passive. Here in dhyana the personality is quietened to become receptive to the now active soul. The personality awakens to that which was always awake.

May you awaken and be free.