The Garden

Description

A Guide for the Seeker on a Quest for True Self.  Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet meets Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. The great path has no gates, Thousands of roads enter it. When one passes through this gateless gate He walks freely between heaven and earth. --Wumen Huikai (1183-1260) From the Upanishads sacred writings, Hinduism philosophy and spirituality, the poetry of Zen and Taoism to ancient Celtic Mysticism, The Garden portrays a universal and timeless spiritual message, I Am That I Am.  There is no book in this world which is as thrilling and illuminating as the Upanishads. They contain the direct spiritual experiences or revelations of seers, or sages. They are the products of the highest wisdom, supreme divine knowledge. Hence they stir the hearts of people and inspire them.--Swami Sivananda The Garden is a sacred book on enlightenment, a guide for the 'seeker', the one who is ready to discover the deepest secret of life. The wisdom it contains points to the greatest mystery that has always surrounded us yet always alluded us. This secret lies nearer to us than does anything else.A journey of self discovery and initiation, the story contains deep insights that point toward the one true realisation, that the power of life is us. By becoming more alert, more aware, more awake, the reader may discover the answer to the mystery of all mysteries: Who am I? This profound and illuminating book is based upon certain deep truths of human experience. One may be ready to see the Truth this book contains, while another may only see a dreamland of fantasy.Fools will laugh but the wise shall understand. --Rinzai Zen The Garden gently guides the reader into the imaginative realm of consciousness to help actualize the highest teaching, the seeing into one's being. This fantastically visionary story, much like the Zen Koans, deals with states of mind rather than words. Huikai says: "Unless this is understood, the point of the classic will be missed. The whole intent was to help the pupil break the shell of his limited mind and attain a second eternal birth, satori, enlightenment." What the book achieves is something very refreshing and very original. It offers no teaching yet points towards an answer to life that is rarely perceived. "Life is the answer", Clark says. "The answer to all our seeking remains hidden all the time while we are looking for it." Told in four parts: The First Awakening, The Sleeping, The Dreaming and The Reawakening, The Garden mirrors the Mandukya Upanishad: Three States and One Reality [an exposition of the principle of Aum as consisting of three elements: a, u, m, which may be used to experience the soul itself. It contains twelve verses that delineate four levels of consciousness: waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and a fourth mystical state of being one with the soul. It is said that this Upanishad alone is enough to lead one to spiritual liberation]. The condensed narrative of this spiritual love story is so designed that each reader will want to think about the words over and again, through a sustained process of inner reflection. It is a meditation on the "Unborn Mind" -- the birthless, deathless, timeless, spaceless, boundless awareness that is our real identity. [Bankei Yotaku] Winner of the Premier's Book AwardsThe Gateless Gate: peliguin.com