E. Vast Face-Centered Approach to Ascending the Tree
Some aspirants by nature do not have any attraction for the active, personal
Small Face. They do not seek the consciousness of Small Face as a goal,
or even as an intermediate stage up the Tree. Such aspirants focus directly
on Vast Face and seek to establish a connection in their consciousness to
the negatively existent substratum in the roots of the Tree. Holding on
to the banner of Neti, Neti-“NOT (Lo) This, NOT (Lo)
This,” they renounce all Name and Form and all experiences in the waking,
dreaming, and dreamless sleep states as illusory. The exceptional strength
of concentration and force of will that are requisite to engage in Vast
Face practices make them suitable for only a small percentage of aspirants.
Such practices are also generally more appropriate for monks who have literally
renounced the world and live away from the din and temptations of modern
civilization. In the primary mystical literature of all traditions, the
allusions and teachings regarding Vast Face are especially obscure and characteristically
paradoxical.
Vast Face Meditation Practices
Some souls, possessed of extraordinary strength of mind and personal resolve,
are not attracted to meditation on God-with-Name-and Form, but rather are
naturally inclined to meditate on Vast Face—God-without-Name-and-Form.
In other traditions, Vast Face meditation is practiced among the Shaivites
and Advaita Vedantins in India, the Theravada, Tendai, Shingon, Tibetan,
Ch’an, and Zen Buddhists, and the Wu Wei (Non-Action) Taoists. The
Shaivites envision the pure consciousness of Vast Face as Shiva,
and the energy of that consciousness as His consort the Goddess Kali.
The Vedantic philosophy of advaita (non-duality) regards all Name
and Form as illusory, and that Brahman (i.e. the Ayn) alone
exists. Theravada, Hinayana, Tendai, Shingon, Tibetan, Ch’an, and Zen
Buddhists perform variations of Vast Face meditation practices taught by
Gautama Buddha (regarded as the eighth incarnation of Vishnu by Hindus)
and other bodhisattvas (souls who reach enlightenment but remain
incarnate to teach and help others awaken). The Buddha practiced jnana
yoga (lit. union through direct perception of the Ayn) and taught
ashtanga yoga (lit. eight-limbed yoga of concentration and discrimination).
He sat under the Bodhi Tree, renouncing all experiences on all planes of
existence. Seeing that all the koshas (Sanskrit. shells of embodied
existence) were empty, he perceived the ultimate Truth of Pure Being in
nirvana. The Vast Face Taoists follow “quietist practices”
that lead them to Stillness in the Tao. The principal mood, or bhava,
of Vast Face Yoga is called the “shanti bhava” (peaceful
mood).
Vast Face meditation practices include letting the mind rest in its natural
state, following the breath, using specialized Vast Face mantra and visualizations,
and contemplating paradox e.g. Zen koans. Verbal practices include chanting
and contemplating non-dual centered scriptural texts such as the Upanishads
of the Hindu Rishis, the Buddhist Prajna Paramita, and the
qabalistic Sifra Detzniyutha. The “Neti, Neti”
(“NOT this, NOT this”) process of discriminating Self-inquiry
is used to discern the Real by negating the Unreal. The yogic instructions
of Sri Ramana Maharshi quoted in the book The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana
Maharshi, for instance, emphasized a process of inquiry as to the real
nature of “Who am I?”:
“Who am I? The gross body that is composed of the seven humors (dhatus),
I am not. The five cognitive senses that apprehend their respective objects
i.e. sound, touch, color, taste, odor, I am not. The five cognitive organs
i.e. speech, locomotion, touch, excretion, and procreation, with their respective
functions, I am not. The five vital airs (prana, etc.), I am not.
Even the mind that thinks, I am not. The neiscience too, which is endowed
only with the residual impressions of objects, and in which there are no
objects and no functions, I am not. After negating all the above as ‘Neti
Neti,’ that Awareness which alone remains—that ‘I am.’
The nature of that Awareness is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (Satchitananda).”
AndThese are all traditions that espouse doctrines of non-duality.,
“Like silver is in mother of pearl, the world, the individual Soul,
and God are appearances in the True Self. These three appear at the same
time and disappear at the same time.”
In the Zohar (Book of Splendor), Shir HaShirim
(Song of Songs attributed to King Solomon), and elsewhere,
the Hebrew Small Face is described as “raven-haired” and “black-bearded.”
Vast Face conversely is frequently referred to as the “white-haired,
white-bearded, hoary Ancient of Days.” For example:
“White are His garments, and His appearance is the likeness of a Face
vast and terrible."
(Idra Rabba 39)
“...the Head of Days, His Head white and pure as wool. And His raiment
indescribable.”
(Book of Enoch 71:10)
In the Mahanirvana Tantra (Woodroffe translation), we find
Shiva described as:
“He who is white as camphor and the jasmine flower, the Omnipresent
One.”
In Sir John Woodroffe’s book The Garland of Letters, we find
the translated inscription:
“She [Small Face as Divine Mother] stands upon the white, corpse-like
Shiva. He is white because He is the illuminating, transcendental
aspect of Consciousness. He is inert because He is the changeless aspect
of the Supreme, and She the apparently changing aspect of the same. In truth,
She and He are One and the same, being twin aspects of the One...”
)
In the Torah, there are a variety of images alluding to the
station of Vast Face, such as “Darkness AL (lit. upon) the Face
of the Deep” (Torah B'reshith 1:2). We also find a prominent
image of the Ancient of Days in the Revelation of John, described as having “fiery eyes
and a two-edged sword coming from His mouth.” Then, there is the reference
to “darkness upon thick darkness” in the “Light Surah”The translations of the "Light" and "Night of Power" Surahs
are those of the editor. Relative to the darkness verse, the
reader is encouraged to compare its allusions to those found
in the first chapter of Torah B’reshith 1.2: "Now the Earth
was unformed and void, and darkness upon the Face of the
Deep."
of the Qur’an.
“Or like darkness in a vast ocean [Vast Face],
Covered with waves upon waves,
Over them clouds, darkness upon thick darkness [i.e. Face to Face].
And whoever Allah gives NOT- Light has NOT-Light in all.”
The “Night of Power” Surah in the Qur’an also
alludes to the direct experience of Vast Face consciousness:
“In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate,
Truly, We have sent This [Vast Face Name] in the Night of Power [Vast Face
samadhi].
And What [Vast Face Name] is the Night of Power.
The Night of Power is better than a thousand nights;
The angels and the Spirit descent in It by the will of their Lord.
It is peace for all until the rise of dawn.”
The prize of the yoga of knowledge/realization of the Ayn is called
“nirvikalpa samadhi” (lit. union with God-without-qualities)
in Sanskrit. Nirvikalpa samadhi is the complete extinction of individuated
consciousness in union with the Mysterious Unknown. Swami VivekanandaSwami Vivekananda is the monastic name of Narendranath
Datta. As Sri Ramakrishna’s ambassador, he traveled to the
World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, where
he electrified the audience with his address., a
great disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, wrote the following “Hymn of Samadhi:”
“LO! The Sun is NOT, nor the comely Moon, all Light extinct;
In the great Void of space floats shadow-like the image universe.
In the Void of Mind-involute there floats the fleeting universe,
Rises and floats, sinks again ceaseless, in the current ‘I.’
Slowly, slowly, the shadow multitude enters the primal womb,
And flows ceaseless the only current. ‘I AM, I AM.’
LO! ‘Tis stopped, even the current flows no more, Void merged into
Void - beyond speech and mind;
Whose heart understands, he knows the Truth.”
When the connection is opened via nirvikalpa samadhi to the substratum
of the Ayn, everything disappears, including the idea of the substratum.
You discover that none of this ever existed, none of this ever happened.
It’s like waking up from a dream. When you wake up from a dream, where
does the dream you were having go? All the programming is completely shattered
by this realization, always. You can only continue by leaving a copy of
your program in Small Face BEFORE you access the negatively existent substratum.
You continue as this program. The old self is totally gone, like a salt
doll dissolved in the ocean. To even conceive of this is very difficult.
Hence, most people who have an interest in spiritual awakening are more
comfortable at focusing their yogic effort on changing their consciousness,
and thereby their universe, into a unitive Small Face totality archetype.
Indeed, only a small percentage of spiritual aspirants have the mental constitution
and strength to pursue Vast Face consciousness, without first establishing
their consciousness in a Small Face totality archetype. Through a process
of discrimination, Small Face devotees can get to Vast Face consciousness
by renouncing their Small Face Chosen Ideal. In practice, most find that
they are unable to renounce that One who has become most dear to their hearts,
and who is seen as literally filling their entire universe.
