Volume II: The Inner Landscape

¹If Volume I established the metaphysics of the spiritual life—the nature of reality, the architecture of consciousness, the problem of self and other, the nature of suffering, the diversity of paths—Volume II addresses the most difficult and most practical question of all: how does the person actually become different?

²The recognition of the truth is not the same as the living of it. The person who understands that the self is a fabrication, who sees that the world is a process rather than a collection of objects, who recognizes that suffering arises from craving and that liberation comes from the cessation of craving—the person who understands all of this intellectually may still be just as they always were. The understanding does not automatically alter the behavior, the desire, the fear, the anger, the attachment, the self-identification. The gap between the intellectual recognition and the actual transformation is the most significant gap in the spiritual life, and bridging it is the work of a lifetime, or more than a lifetime.

³Different traditions have addressed this gap differently, and the diversity of their approaches is one of the most significant features of the spiritual tradition. The Buddhist approach is the most systematic: the Eightfold Path, the four foundations of mindfulness, the five aggregates, the twelve links of dependent origination, the seven factors of awakening, the thirty-seven factors of awakening—the entire Buddhist system is a detailed architecture of the transformation of the person. The Yoga tradition's eight limbs are the most complete in the Hindu tradition. The Sufi path of dhikr and fana is the most poetic and the most emotionally powerful. The Christian path of ascesis, prayer, and contemplation is the most sustained in the Western tradition. The Taoist path of wu-wei is the most distinctive in its emphasis on the dissolution of the self's agenda. The Stoic path of the discipline of judgment is the most rational. The Kabbalistic path of the mitzvot and the sefirot is the most elaborate in its symbolic structure.

⁴What all these paths share is the recognition that the transformation of the person is not a merely intellectual affair, not something that can be achieved through understanding alone. It requires the cultivation of the whole person—body, breath, attention, desire, emotion, moral character, the whole. And what all these paths also share is the recognition that this cultivation is difficult, that it requires effort over time, that it involves obstacles and setbacks, and that the result is not a simple achievement but a deepening and a strengthening of the capacity to be what one truly is.

¹The will is the most important faculty in the spiritual life, and the most difficult to train, because the will is the faculty that is responsible for the identification with the world, the craving that is the source of suffering, the attachment that is the source of bondage. The training of the will is not the suppression of the will but the transformation of the will—the movement of the will from the identification with the lower objects to the identification with the higher ground.

²The Buddhist Discipline of Will

³The Buddhist tradition's analysis of the will is the most precise in the spiritual tradition, and it is one of the most important contributions of the tradition to the understanding of the person. The will is not a single thing but a complex of mental states, and the transformation of the will involves the cultivation of the right intention, the right effort, the right mindfulness, and the right concentration—the three right factors of the Eightfold Path that are specifically concerned with the training of the will.

⁴Right intention (samma sankappa) is the first of these, and it is the most fundamental. The intention is the direction of the will, the motive of the action, the orientation of the mind. The Buddha teaches three kinds of right intention: the intention of renunciation (nekkhamma sankappa), the intention of good will (avyapada sankappa), and the intention of harmlessness (avihimsa sankappa). The intention of renunciation is the movement of the will away from the craving for sensual pleasure and the identification with the world; the intention of good will is the movement of the will toward the wish for the welfare of all beings; the intention of harmlessness is the movement of the will away from the desire to harm and toward the wish for the safety and freedom of all beings.

⁵The Satipatthana Sutta's treatment of the mind (the third foundation of mindfulness) is the most detailed account of the states of the will in the Pali Canon. "The mind possessed of lust is to be understood as the mind possessed of lust; the mind without lust is to be understood as the mind without lust. The mind possessed of hatred is to be understood as the mind possessed of hatred; the mind without hatred is to be understood as the mind without hatred. The mind possessed of delusion is to be understood as the mind possessed of delusion; the mind without delusion is to be understood as the mind without delusion. The cramped mind, the scattered mind, the concentrated mind, the liberated mind—these are to be understood as they are" (Satipatthana Sutta, MN 10, paraphrased). The practice is the recognition of the state of the will, the understanding of its nature, and the cultivation of the right state through the four foundations of mindfulness.

⁶The Itivuttaka's treatment of the will is the most concise. "This is the will of renunciation: the abandoning of the craving for sensual pleasure. This is the will of good will: the cultivation of the mind of goodwill toward all beings. This is the will of harmlessness: the cultivation of the mind of compassion toward all beings. These three are the right intentions, and they are the foundation of all the wholesome actions" (Itivuttaka, various passages, paraphrased).

⁷The Anguttara Nikaya's treatment of the will is the most systematic in the numerical teachings. The four right efforts (the prevention of unwholesome states, the abandonment of unwholesome states, the cultivation of wholesome states, the maintenance of wholesome states) are the practical expression of the right effort, and they are the most detailed account of the training of the will in the Pali Canon. "The monk trains himself: 'I will prevent the arising of unwholesome states that have not yet arisen. I will abandon unwholesome states that have arisen. I will cultivate wholesome states that have not yet arisen. I will maintain wholesome states that have arisen, so that they do not cease but grow, increase, and reach fulfillment' " (Anguttara Nikaya, various numerical lists, paraphrased).

⁸The Majjhima Nikaya's treatment of the will is the most profound in the longer discourses. The Sabbasava Sutta (MN 2, "All the Taints") is the most comprehensive analysis of the causes of suffering and the means of their cessation in the entire Pali Canon, and it is significant for the teaching that the taints (asavas) are the defilements of the mind that are the root of all suffering, and that the practice of the spiritual life is the systematic eradication of these taints. "The taints are the taint of sensual pleasure, the taint of the will to become, the taint of ignorance. These are the causes of suffering, and the practice of the spiritual life is the eradication of these taints through the cultivation of the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four bases of success, the five spiritual faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of awakening, and the noble eightfold path" (Sabbasava Sutta, MN 2, paraphrased).

⁹The Dhammapada's most famous verse on the will is the opening verse: "Mind is the forerunner of all states. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow that never leaves" (Dhammapada, 1). The will is the mind, and the mind is the forerunner of all experience. The cultivation of the mind is the cultivation of the will, and the cultivation of the will is the cultivation of the entire life.

¹⁰The Mahayana extension of the teaching of the will is the bodhisattva's vow: "Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them all. The defilements are inexhaustible; I vow to end them all. The teachings are boundless; I vow to master them all. The Buddha's way is unsurpassed; I vow to attain it" (from the Bodhisattva's Vows, as recited in East Asian Buddhist traditions). The vow is the ultimate expression of the will, the direction of the will toward the single goal of the liberation of all beings, and it is the most powerful expression of the training of the will in the Buddhist tradition.

¹¹The Hindu Discipline of Will

¹²The Hindu tradition's analysis of the will is the most varied, because the tradition has multiple paths, each with its own approach to the training of the will. The Yoga tradition's treatment of the will is the most systematic, the Bhakti tradition's treatment is the most emotional, the Jnana tradition's treatment is the most intellectual, and the Karma tradition's treatment is the most practical.

¹³The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali's treatment of the will is the most systematic in the entire Yoga tradition, and it is one of the most important contributions of the Indian tradition to the understanding of the training of the will. The yamas and niyamas are the ethical foundation of the will, and they are the most important part of the eight limbs. "The yamas are the five restraints: non-violence (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), non-stealing (asteya), celibacy (brahmacharya), and non-possessiveness (aparigraha). These are the foundations of the will, and they are the first limb of the yoga" (Yoga Sutras, 2:30-31). "The niyamas are the five observances: purity (shaucha), contentment (santosha), austerity (tapas), self-study (svadhyaya), and surrender to the divine (ishvara pranidhana). These are the second limb of the yoga, and they are the cultivation of the inner will" (Yoga Sutras, 2:32-33).

¹⁴The teaching on the yamas and niyamas is significant because it shows that the will is not merely the faculty of choice but the entire structure of the person's relationship to the world, and that the cultivation of the will is the cultivation of the right relationship with the world. "Non-violence is the foundation of all the yamas; when non-violence is established, the other yamas are automatically established. The person who does not harm any being is the person who does not steal, does not lie, does not engage in sexual misconduct, and does not accumulate possessions. Non-violence is the root of all the yamas" (Yoga Sutras, 2:35, paraphrased).

¹⁵The teaching on tapas (austerity) is the most important in the Hindu tradition because it is the practice of the training of the will. "Tapas is the heat that is generated by the practice of the austerities. It is the burning away of the impurities of the self. The person who practices tapas generates the heat that burns away the karmas, the defilements, and the limitations of the self. Tapas is the source of the body's perfection, the perfection of the senses, and the perfection of the self" (Yoga Sutras, 2:42-43, paraphrased).

¹⁶The teaching on ishvara pranidhana (surrender to the divine) is the most important in the Hindu tradition because it is the culmination of the training of the will. "Ishvara pranidhana is the surrender of the fruits of all actions to the Divine. It is the offering of the self and all its actions to the Divine, and the recognition that the results of the actions are not in the hands of the person but in the hands of the Divine. It is the ultimate training of the will, because it is the recognition that the person's will is not the ultimate will, and that the person's actions are not the ultimate cause of the results" (Yoga Sutras, 2:45, paraphrased).

¹⁷The Bhagavad Gita's teaching on the will is the most integrated with the theistic framework in the Hindu tradition. The teaching of karma yoga—the performance of action without attachment to the fruits—is the most important practical teaching on the will in the Gita. "You have the right to action, but not to the fruits of action. Therefore, perform your duty without attachment to the results, and without selfish desire. Be even-minded in success and failure; for this evenness of mind is called yoga" (Bhagavad Gita, 2:47-48). The teaching is that the will should be directed to the action itself, not to the results, and that the results are not in the hands of the person but are given by the Divine. The person's will is not the ultimate will, and the person's actions are not the ultimate cause of the results.

¹⁸The teaching of bhakti yoga is the most important in the Gita because it shows that the will can be transformed through the cultivation of love. "The person who worships Me with faith and devotion, who has surrendered all actions to Me, who has taken refuge in Me, who has given up all other dharmas, and who seeks refuge in Me alone—such a person is freed from all the bonds of the gunas, and is united with Me. This is the easiest path, and the person who practices it is the most liberated" (Bhagavad Gita, 18:65-66). The teaching is that the will is not merely the faculty of choice but the entire structure of the person's relationship to the Divine, and that the cultivation of love is the most powerful means of the transformation of the will.

¹⁹The teaching of jnana yoga is the most important in the Advaita Vedanta tradition because it shows that the will can be transformed through the cultivation of knowledge. "The person who has the knowledge of the true nature of the self, the person who has discriminated between the real and the unreal, the person who has recognized the identity of the Atman with the Brahman, the person who has realized the truth—that person is free from all the bonds of the gunas, and is united with the Brahman. This is the most direct path, and the person who practices it is the most liberated" (Vivekachudamani, verses 314-367, paraphrased). The teaching is that the will is not merely the faculty of choice but the entire structure of the person's understanding of the world, and that the cultivation of knowledge is the most direct means of the transformation of the will.

²⁰The Ashtavakra Gita's teaching on the will is the most uncompromising in the Hindu tradition. "You are the infinite consciousness, free from all limitation. Why do you seek liberation? Why do you engage in actions for liberation? You are already free, and the seeking is the bondage. The will that seeks liberation is the will that is in bondage; the will that recognizes the freedom is the will that is free. The practice is not the cultivation of the will but the recognition of the freedom that is already there" (Ashtavakra Gita, 1:1-2, paraphrased).

²¹The Devi Mahatmya's teaching on the will is the most intense in the Hindu tradition because it is centered on the worship of the Divine Mother and the cultivation of the will through devotion, courage, and sacrifice. "The Divine Mother is the source of all power, the source of all courage, the source of all victory. The devotee who worships the Divine Mother with devotion, who calls upon the Divine Mother in the moment of need, who surrenders the self to the Divine Mother—that devotee is freed from all the bonds of the enemies, and is united with the Divine Mother. The will that is devoted to the Divine Mother is the will that is powerful, the will that is courageous, and the will that is victorious" (Devi Mahatmya, various chapters, paraphrased).

²²The Tirumurai's teaching on the will is the most characteristic of the Tamil Saiva tradition because it is centered on the worship of Shiva and the cultivation of the will through devotion, meditation, and the surrender of the self. "Shiva is the lord of all, the source of all, the destroyer of all enemies. The devotee who worships Shiva with devotion, who calls upon Shiva in the moment of need, who surrenders the self to Shiva—that devotee is freed from all the bonds of the enemies, and is united with Shiva. The will that is devoted to Shiva is the will that is powerful, the will that is devoted, and the will that is surrendered" (Tirumurai, various hymns, paraphrased).

²³The Divya Prabandham's teaching on the will is the most characteristic of the Vaishnava tradition because it is centered on the worship of Vishnu and the cultivation of the will through devotion, surrender, and the grace of the Divine. "Vishnu is the supreme reality, the source of all, the lord of all. The devotee who worships Vishnu with devotion, who calls upon Vishnu in the moment of need, who surrenders the self to Vishnu—that devotee is freed from all the bonds of the enemies, and is united with Vishnu, through the grace of Vishnu. The will that is devoted to Vishnu is the will that is powerful, the will that is surrendered, and the will that is transformed by the grace of Vishnu" (Divya Prabandham, various hymns, paraphrased).

²⁴The Taoist Discipline of Will

²⁵The Taoist discipline of the will is the most distinctive in the spiritual tradition, because it is not the cultivation of the will as the faculty of choice but the dissolution of the will's attachment to its own purposes, the returning of the will to the Dao, and the practice of wu-wei.

²⁶The Tao te Ching's teaching on the will is the most important. "The sage does nothing, yet nothing is left undone. The sage does not have a will of his own; the people's will is his will. The sage does not accumulate for himself; the more he does for others, the more he has himself" (Tao te Ching, 48, 71, paraphrased). The teaching is that the will should be directed away from the self's purposes and toward the Dao, and that the action of the will should be the action of the Dao, not the action of the self.

²⁷Chapter 37 of the Tao te Ching is the most explicit: "The Dao is eternally without action, yet nothing is left undone. If the kings and lords could hold to this, the ten thousand things would transform themselves. They would transform themselves, grow, and do what they want, but they would be restrained by the Nameless. The Nameless would bring the world to peace, and the peace would be so complete that the people would return to simplicity" (Tao te Ching, 37). The teaching is that the will should be the will that is without action, the will that is in harmony with the Dao, and the will that does not contend with the world.

²⁸Zhuangzi's teaching on the will is the most radical in the Taoist tradition. "The sage does not have a mind of his own; the people's mind is his mind. The good he gives to others, he gives to himself. He does not accumulate for himself; the more he gives, the more he has. ... The sage's heart is at rest in the universal, and the universal heart is his" (Zhuangzi, "The Great Sage," paraphrased). The teaching is that the will should be the will that is not the will of the self but the will of the universal, and that the action of the will should be the action of the universal, not the action of the self.

²⁹The chapter "The Autumn Floods" presents the teaching that the will should be freed from the attachment to values, and that the liberation comes from the recognition of the relativity of all values. "From the viewpoint of the Dao, things have no nobility or baseness. ... Therefore, the sage does not take any side, does not judge anything as better or worse, and is free from the suffering that comes from judgment" (Zhuangzi, "The Autumn Floods," paraphrased).

³⁰The Liezi's teaching on the will is the most practical. "The man who has no self is the man who has recognized that the self is not separate from the world, and that the attempt to make the self separate is the source of all suffering. The man who has no self is the man who acts without self-interest, who responds to the world without resistance, who is at peace with all things. This is the state of wu-wei, and it is the goal of the Taoist path" (Liezi, Chapter 6, "The Sage," paraphrased).

³¹The Huainanzi's teaching on the will is the most cosmologically grounded. "The human being is a small universe, and the cultivation of the will is the alignment of the small universe with the great universe. The practice is the circulation of the energy through the body, the cultivation of the five organs, the harmonization of the yin and the yang, and the alignment of the breath with the cosmic breath. When the will is in harmony with the cosmic order, the person is free from all suffering" (Huainanzi, Chapter 3, paraphrased).

³²The Secret of the Golden Flower's teaching on the will is the most somatic. "The will is the directing force of the energy. When the will is directed toward the light, the energy circulates, and the body is transformed. The practice is the directing of the will toward the light, the circulation of the energy through the body, and the transformation of the essence into the spirit" (Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 1).

³³The Christian Discipline of Will

³⁴The Christian discipline of the will is the most structured in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the virtues, the practice of the spiritual exercises, and the surrender of the will to God.

³⁵The Desert Fathers and Mothers' teaching on the will is the most practical. "The monk must train the will through the practice of the austerities: fasting, vigil, prayer, silence, poverty, obedience, humility, patience, and all the virtues. The will is the faculty that is most resistant to the spiritual life, because it is the faculty that is most attached to the world, and the training of the will is the most difficult part of the spiritual life" (Sayings of the Desert Fathers, various apophthegmata).

³⁶The teaching of Evagrius Ponticus in the Praktikos is the most systematic. "The eight evil thoughts are the enemies of the will: gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride. The will is the faculty that is most susceptible to these enemies, and the training of the will is the recognition and resistance of these enemies, the cultivation of the virtues that oppose them, and the purification of the soul from their influence" (Praktikos, prologue).

³⁷The teaching of John Cassian (Conferences, Institutes) is the most systematic in the Western monastic tradition. "The monastic life is the life of the training of the will. The monk must train the will through the practice of the austerities: fasting, vigil, prayer, silence, poverty, obedience, humility, patience, and all the virtues. The goal is the apatheia—the freedom from passionate attachment, in which the will is purified of all the enemies, and can respond to the will of God without resistance" (John Cassian, Conferences, various conferences).

³⁸The teaching of the Cloud of Unknowing on the will is the most apophatic. "The soul must direct its will toward God through love, piercing the cloud of unknowing with a single point of longing love. The will must be directed toward God, not toward any created thing, not toward any vision, not toward any understanding, not toward any consolation. The will must simply love God in the darkness, and wait for God to reveal Himself when He wills" (The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapters 3-4).

³⁹The teaching of John of the Cross in the Dark Night is the most rigorous. "The will is the faculty that is most resistant to the purification, because it is the faculty that is most attached to the consolations of the spiritual life. The dark night of the spirit is the purification of the will from all that is not God, from all attachment, from all desire for consolation, from all self-understanding. The will must be stripped of everything, and when it is stripped, God fills it with Himself" (The Dark Night, Book 2).

⁴⁰The teaching of Meister Eckhart on the will is the most radical in the Christian tradition. "The will that seeks God is the will that is in bondage, because it is the will that is attached to the desire for God. The will that is empty of all desire for God is the will that is free for God, and when God fills this empty will, the will becomes one with God, and the will is no longer the will of the self but the will of God" (Meister Eckhart, Sermon 23, paraphrased).

⁴¹The teaching of Julian of Norwich on the will is the most loving. "The will that is aligned with the love of God is the will that is free, the will that is joyful, the will that is at peace. The love of God is the ultimate will, and the human will that is aligned with this love is the will that is transformed by this love" (Revelations of Divine Love, Chapters 1-86).

⁴²The teaching of Thomas Merton on the will is the most contemporary. "The will that is in bondage to the ego is the will that is attached to the false self, the will that is attached to the desires, the will that is attached to the fears. The will that is free from the ego is the will that is aligned with the true self, the will that is aligned with the will of God, the will that is the will of God" (New Seeds of Contemplation, from Merton).

⁴³The Sufi Discipline of Will

⁴⁴The Sufi discipline of the will is the most eloquent in the Islamic tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the will through the practice of dhikr (remembrance of God), the discipline of the heart, and the goal of fana (annihilation in the Divine).

⁴⁵The Conference of the Birds is the most famous allegory of the Sufi path, and it describes the journey through the seven valleys of the transformation of the will. "In the Valley of Search, the seeker searches with all his might, and he finds only his own limitations. In the Valley of Love, the seeker is consumed by love, and all his limitations are burned away. In the Valley of Knowledge, the seeker finds that knowledge is not enough, and that only transformation can suffice. In the Valley of Detachment, the seeker is stripped of everything he thought was his. In the Valley of Unity, the seeker sees that there is no other but God. In the Valley of Astonishment, the seeker is overwhelmed by the vision of God. In the Valley of Poverty and Annihilation, the seeker ceases to exist as a seeker, and what remains is the Divine" (Conference of the Birds, summary of the seven valleys).

⁴⁶The Masnavi is the most comprehensive Sufi text on the training of the will, and it is significant for the teaching that the will is transformed through the practice of love and the dissolution of the self. "The will is the faculty that is most attached to the world, and the training of the will is the most difficult part of the spiritual life. The will must be trained through the practice of love, through the dissolution of the self, through the surrender to the Divine. The will that is trained in love is the will that is transformed by the Divine, and the will that is transformed by the Divine is the will that is one with the Divine" (Masnavi, Book 1, paraphrased).

⁴⁷Al-Ghazzali's Ihya Ulum al-Din is the most systematic account of the training of the will in the Islamic tradition. "The heart is the vessel of the will, and its purification is the goal of all worship. The heart is distracted by the various attachments, and the practice of the spiritual life is the cleansing of the heart from these attachments, so that it becomes pure and is filled with the light of God. The will is the faculty that directs the heart, and the training of the will is the cultivation of the virtues that transform the heart: sincerity, humility, patience, gratitude, love, and all the virtues of the heart" (Ihya Ulum al-Din, "Book of the Heart").

⁴⁸Ibn Arabi's Futuhat al-Makkiyah is the most comprehensive exposition of the Sufi path in the Islamic tradition, and it is significant for the teaching that the will is trained through the constant recognition of the Divine in all things. "The path is the path of the recognition of the unity of being; the practice is the recognition of the Divine in all things; the goal is the transformation of the consciousness so that it sees only the Divine in all things. The will is the faculty that directs this recognition, and the training of the will is the cultivation of the constant recognition of the Divine" (Futuhat al-Makkiyah, various chapters).

⁴⁹The teaching of Rumi in the Divan Shams is the most ecstatic. "I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as a plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was a man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as a man, to soar with angels blest. But even from angelic states, I must pass on. At last, I became a void, and from that void, I learned the secret of the universe" (Divan Shams, paraphrased). The teaching is that the will is the faculty that is most resistant to the dissolution of the self, and the training of the will is the most difficult part of the spiritual life, but the result is the most joyful of all transformations.

⁵⁰The teaching of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (Maktubat) is the most important correction to the radical non-dualism of Ibn Arabi in the Sufi tradition. "Sirhindi's teaching is that Ibn Arabi's Wahdat al-Wujud (Unity of Being) is true at the level of the Divine realization, but it must be balanced by Wahdat al-Shuhud (Unity of Witnessing), which maintains the distinction between the created soul and the Creator while affirming the unity of the experience of the soul in its love for God. The training of the will is the cultivation of the love of God without the confusion of the self with the Divine, and the result is the soul that is distinct from the Divine but united with the Divine in love" (Maktubat, various letters).

⁵¹The Stoic Discipline of Will

⁵²The Stoic discipline of the will is the most practical in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the discipline of judgment, the discipline of desire, and the discipline of action.

⁵³Epictetus's teaching on the training of the will is the most direct. "The training of the will is the discipline of the three things: the discipline of judgment, the discipline of desire, and the discipline of action. The discipline of judgment is the training of the mind to see things as they are, not as the mind thinks they are. The discipline of desire is the training of the will to desire only what is within its power, and to accept what is not within its power as it is. The discipline of action is the training of the will to act in accordance with nature, with reason, and with the good of all beings" (Epictetus, Discourses, various chapters, paraphrased).

⁵⁴Marcus Aurelius's Meditations is the most extensive personal record of the training of the will in the Stoic tradition. "The training of the will is the daily practice of the examination of the judgments: 'What is this thing? Is it within my power or not? If it is within my power, I must do it well. If it is not within my power, I must accept it as it is. The obstacles are the means of the training; the difficulties are the training; the suffering is the teacher' " (Meditations, various passages).

⁵⁵Seneca's Letters develop the same teaching in practical terms. "The training of the will is the daily reflection on the day's events, the examination of the errors, the correction of the faults, the preparation for the next day. The path of the will is the life of reason, and the life of reason is the life of virtue. The result is the equanimity, the wisdom, the courage, the justice, and the temperance that are the marks of the wise person" (Seneca, Letters, various letters).

⁵⁶The Kabbalistic Discipline of Will

⁵⁷The Kabbalistic discipline of the will is the most elaborate in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the practice of the mitzvot (commandments) and the contemplation of the sefirot as the means of the training of the will.

⁵⁸The Zohar's teaching on the will is that the practice of the mitzvot is the means of the rectification of the sefirot within the soul, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent of the soul through the spiritual worlds. "The soul is a microcosm of the sefirot; the rectification of the soul is the rectification of the world. The mitzvot are the instruments of the rectification, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent. The practice of the spiritual life is the combination of the practice of the mitzvot and the contemplation of the sefirot, and the result is the tikkun of the soul and the tikkun of the world" (Zohar, III, 28b, paraphrased).

⁵⁹The teaching of the Lurianic Kabbalah on the will is the most dramatic. "In the beginning, the Ein Sof gazed into the mirror of the Supernal Wisdom and created the vessels of the lower sefirot. But the light of the Ein Sof was too great for the vessels, and they shattered, scattering the divine sparks throughout the material world. The task of tikkun is the gathering of these sparks back into their source. The practice of the mitzvot is the means of the gathering of the sparks, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent of the soul. The will is the faculty that directs this practice, and the training of the will is the cultivation of the dedication to the tikkun" (Etz Chaim, 2:1).

⁶⁰The teaching of the Hasidic masters on the will is the most accessible. The Baal Shem Tov's teaching is that the will is the faculty that is most connected to the divine spark within the person, and the training of the will is the cultivation of the joy and the prayer that reconnect the soul to its divine origin. "Every person has a divine spark that is the essence of their soul, and this spark is always in connection with God. The will is the faculty that is most connected to this spark, and the training of the will is the cultivation of the joy and the prayer that reconnect the soul to this connection" (Baal Shem Tov, various teachings, paraphrased).

⁶¹The Tibetan Buddhist Discipline of Will

⁶²The Tibetan Buddhist discipline of the will is the most sophisticated in the Buddhist tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the bodhicitta (the mind of enlightenment) and the recognition of the nature of mind.

⁶³The Bodhicaryavatara (Way of the Bodhisattva) by Santideva is the most important Tibetan Buddhist text on the training of the will, and it is significant for the teaching that the will is transformed through the cultivation of compassion and the recognition of the emptiness of all phenomena. "The bodhicitta is the mind of enlightenment, the will to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings. The cultivation of the bodhicitta is the most important practice of the bodhisattva, and the will is the faculty that generates and sustains this practice" (Bodhicaryavatara, Chapter 1, paraphrased). "The suffering of the beings is the suffering of the self. The will to free the beings from suffering is the will to free the self from suffering. The two are not separate, because the self is the being, and the being is the self" (Bodhicaryavatara, Chapter 8, paraphrased).

⁶⁴The teaching of the Dalai Lama on the will is the most contemporary. "The cultivation of the will is the cultivation of the bodhicitta, the mind of enlightenment. The bodhicitta is the will to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings. The practice of the cultivation of the bodhicitta is the most important practice of the Buddhist path, and the result is the transformation of the will from the attachment to the self to the dedication to the welfare of all beings" (from the Dalai Lama's teachings on the bodhicitta).

⁶⁵The Dzogchen teaching on the will is the most direct. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the recognition of the will itself. The will is the faculty that is the most direct manifestation of the nature of mind, and the recognition of the nature of mind is the recognition of the will as the play of the primordial awareness. The training of the will is not the cultivation of the will but the recognition of the will as the play of the rigpa, and the result is the liberation of the will from the identification with the self" (Dzogchen teachings, from the Nyingthig Yabshi and other collections).

⁶⁶The Mahamudra teaching on the will is the most systematic in the Kagyu tradition. "The will is the faculty that is the most direct manifestation of the mind. The recognition of the nature of the mind is the recognition of the nature of the will, and the practice is the resting in the recognition. The result is the liberation of the will from the identification with the self, and the spontaneous expression of the will in all of life" (Mahamudra teachings, from the Kagyu lineage).

¹If the will is the engine of the spiritual life, attention is the steering—the capacity to direct the will toward the right object, to sustain the focus on that object, and to recognize when the attention has wandered. The training of attention is the most fundamental of all the training, because without the training of attention, none of the other trainings can be sustained.

²The Buddhist Discipline of Attention

³The Buddhist tradition's analysis of attention is the most systematic in the spiritual tradition, and it is one of the most important contributions of the tradition to the understanding of the training of the person. The four foundations of mindfulness are the most important framework for the training of attention in the Buddhist tradition, and they are significant for the understanding of the relationship between attention and liberation.

⁴The Satipatthana Sutta's treatment of the body is the first foundation of mindfulness, and it is the most important because it is the foundation for all the others. "The monk dwells mindful of the body in the body. He observes the body as the body: the breathing, the postures, the movements, the elements, the decomposition of the body, the inevitability of decay. He observes the body as the body, without attachment, without aversion, without confusion. Through this observation, the monk understands the true nature of the body: it is impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self. And through this understanding, the monk becomes dispassionate, and through dispassion, the monk is liberated" (Satipatthana Sutta, MN 10, paraphrased).

⁵The training of attention through the body is the most important in the Buddhist tradition because the body is the most accessible object of mindfulness, and the concentration on the body is the foundation for all the other concentrations. "The breathing is the most important object of mindfulness of the body. The mindfulness of breathing is the most powerful practice of concentration, and it is the foundation for all the other practices. The person who practices the mindfulness of breathing develops the concentration that is the foundation for the other foundations of mindfulness" (Majjhima Nikaya, Anapanasati Sutta, MN 118).

⁶The second foundation of mindfulness is the mindfulness of feelings (vedana). "The monk observes the feelings as the feelings: the feelings of pleasure, the feelings of pain, the feelings of neutrality. He observes the feelings as the feelings, without attachment, without aversion, without confusion. Through this observation, the monk understands the true nature of the feelings: they are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self. And through this understanding, the monk becomes dispassionate, and through dispassion, the monk is liberated" (Satipatthana Sutta, MN 10, paraphrased).

⁷The third foundation of mindfulness is the mindfulness of mind (citta). "The monk observes the mind as the mind: the mind with lust, the mind without lust, the mind with hatred, the mind without hatred, the mind with delusion, the mind without delusion, the cramped mind, the scattered mind, the concentrated mind, the liberated mind. He observes the mind as the mind, without attachment, without aversion, without confusion. Through this observation, the monk understands the true nature of the mind: it is impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self. And through this understanding, the monk becomes dispassionate, and through dispassion, the monk is liberated" (Satipatthana Sutta, MN 10, paraphrased).

⁸The fourth foundation of mindfulness is the mindfulness of mental objects (dhammas). "The monk observes the mental objects as the mental objects: the five hindrances, the seven factors of awakening, the Four Noble Truths, the dhammas. He observes the mental objects as the mental objects, without attachment, without aversion, without confusion. Through this observation, the monk understands the true nature of the mental objects: they are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self. And through this understanding, the monk becomes dispassionate, and through dispassion, the monk is liberated" (Satipatthana Sutta, MN 10, paraphrased).

⁹The Itivuttaka's treatment of attention is the most concise. "This is the mindfulness of the body: the observation of the body as the body. This is the mindfulness of the feelings: the observation of the feelings as the feelings. This is the mindfulness of the mind: the observation of the mind as the mind. This is the mindfulness of the mental objects: the observation of the mental objects as the mental objects. These are the four foundations of mindfulness, and they are the foundation of all the wholesome states" (Itivuttaka, various passages, paraphrased).

¹⁰The Anguttara Nikaya's treatment of attention is the most systematic in the numerical teachings. "The four foundations of mindfulness are the four contemplations: the contemplation of the body, the contemplation of the feelings, the contemplation of the mind, the contemplation of the mental objects. These four contemplations are the foundation of all the wholesome states, and they are the means of the purification of the person, the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, the destruction of suffering and grief, the coming to the knowledge of the truth, and the realization of the goal" (Anguttara Nikaya, various numerical lists, paraphrased).

¹¹The Majjhima Nikaya's treatment of attention is the most profound in the longer discourses. The Mahasatipatthana Sutta (DN 22) is the most extended version of the four foundations of mindfulness, and it is significant for the teaching that the four foundations of mindfulness are the most direct path to the purification of the person, the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, the destruction of suffering and grief, the coming to the knowledge of the truth, and the realization of the goal. "This is the most direct path for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering and grief, for the coming to the knowledge of the truth, for the realization of the goal: the four foundations of mindfulness" (Mahasatipatthana Sutta, DN 22, opening).

¹²The Dhammapada's most famous verse on attention is the second: "Mind is the forerunner of all states. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow that never leaves" (Dhammapada, 2). The attention is the mind, and the mind is the forerunner of all experience. The cultivation of the mind is the cultivation of the attention, and the cultivation of the attention is the cultivation of the entire life.

¹³The Mahayana extension of the teaching of attention is the most important in the Buddhist tradition, because it is the development of the teaching of the nature of mind as the object of the meditation. The Lankavatara Sutra's teaching of the mind-only is the most radical: "The external world does not exist apart from the mind; the mind, variously transformed, appears as the external world. The recognition of this is the liberation of the bodhisattva, because the bodhisattva no longer sees the world as external and separate from the mind, and therefore no longer clings to the world as real" (Lankavatara Sutra, Section 3).

¹⁴The Tibetan Book of the Dead's teaching of attention is the most detailed in the Buddhist tradition, and it is significant for the understanding of the training of attention in the context of death and the bardo states. "The attention must be on the recognition of the nature of mind at all times, and especially at the time of death. The appearances that arise in the bardo are the projections of the mind, and they are empty; if one recognizes them as such, one is liberated. If one does not, one becomes attached and is reborn. Therefore, the training of attention must be the training of the recognition of the nature of mind, so that when the time of death comes, the recognition will arise" (Bardo Thodol, Chapter 5).

¹⁵The Dzogchen teaching of attention is the most direct. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the recognition of the rigpa, the primordial awareness. The practice is the resting in the recognition, the sustaining of the recognition, and the deepening of the recognition. The result is the liberation of the attention from the identification with the objects of attention, and the spontaneous expression of the attention in all of life" (Dzogchen teachings, from the Nyingthig Yabshi and other collections).

¹⁶The Mahamudra teaching of attention is the most systematic in the Kagyu tradition. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the recognition of the nature of the attention itself. The will is the faculty that directs the attention, and the recognition of the nature of the mind is the recognition of the nature of the will, the attention, and the entire personal structure. The practice is the resting in the recognition, and the fruition is the spontaneous expression of the recognition in all of life" (Mahamudra teachings, from the Kagyu lineage).

¹⁷The Hindu Discipline of Attention

¹⁸The Hindu tradition's analysis of attention is the most varied, because the tradition has multiple paths, each with its own approach to the training of attention. The Yoga tradition's treatment of attention is the most systematic, the Bhakti tradition's treatment is the most emotional, the Jnana tradition's treatment is the most intellectual, and the Tantric tradition's treatment is the most somatic.

¹⁹The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali's treatment of attention is the most systematic in the entire Yoga tradition, and it is one of the most important contributions of the Indian tradition to the understanding of the training of attention. The eight limbs of the yoga are the most systematic framework for the training of attention in the Hindu tradition, and they are significant for the understanding of the relationship between the body, the breath, the mind, and the attention.

²⁰The pranayama is the most important practice of the training of attention in the Yoga tradition, because the breath is the most accessible object of the attention, and the concentration on the breath is the foundation for all the other concentrations. "Pranayama is the regulation of the breath. Through the regulation of the breath, the mind becomes calm, the attention becomes focused, and the practice of meditation becomes possible. The practice of pranayama is the foundation of all the other practices of the yoga" (Yoga Sutras, 2:49-52).

²¹The dharana is the most important practice of the training of attention in the Yoga tradition, because it is the fixing of attention on a single point. "Dharana is the fixing of the mind on a single point. Through the fixing of the mind on a single point, the attention becomes concentrated, and the practice of meditation becomes possible. The practice of dharana is the preparation for the practice of dhyana" (Yoga Sutras, 3:1).

²²The dhyana is the most important practice of the training of attention in the Yoga tradition, because it is the unbroken flow of attention. "Dhyana is the unbroken flow of attention toward the object. Through the unbroken flow of attention, the mind becomes absorbed in the object, and the practice of samadhi becomes possible. The practice of dhyana is the preparation for the practice of samadhi" (Yoga Sutras, 3:2).

²³The samadhi is the most important practice of the training of attention in the Yoga tradition, because it is the absorption in the object, and ultimately in the ground of all objects. "Samadhi is the absorption of the mind in the object, so that the mind is no longer aware of itself but only of the object. Through the absorption of the mind in the object, the mind becomes identified with the object, and the result is the realization of the true nature of the object. When the samadhi is directed toward the true nature of the self, the result is the realization of the true nature of the self, and the liberation of the person" (Yoga Sutras, 3:3-3:4, paraphrased).

²⁴The Bhagavad Gita's treatment of attention is the most integrated with the theistic framework in the Hindu tradition. The teaching of dhyana yoga is the most important, because it is the practice of the meditation on the form of the Divine. "The person who practices dhyana yoga is the person who sits in meditation, who regulates the breath, who concentrates the mind, who withdraws the senses, who fixes the attention on the form of the Divine, and who realizes the true nature of the Divine. The practice of dhyana yoga is the most direct path for the person who is able to still the mind" (Bhagavad Gita, 6:1-47, paraphrased).

²⁵The teaching of jnana yoga is the most important in the Advaita Vedanta tradition because it is the practice of the attention on the self. "The person who practices jnana yoga is the person who investigates the self, who discriminates between the real and the unreal, who recognizes the identity of the Atman with the Brahman, and who realizes the truth. The practice of jnana yoga is the most direct path for the person who has the intellectual capacity and the spiritual inclination" (Vivekachudamani, verses 314-367).

²⁶The teaching of bhakti yoga is the most important in the Gita because it is the practice of the attention on the form of the Divine through love. "The person who practices bhakti yoga is the person who meditates on the form of the Divine, who chants the holy names, who serves the guru and the Vaishnava community, who cultivates the love that is the highest form of knowledge, and who realizes the true nature of the Divine. The practice of bhakti yoga is the easiest path, and the person who practices it is the most liberated" (Bhagavad Gita, 12:1-20; 18:65-66).

²⁷The teaching of the Tirumurai is the most characteristic of the Tamil Saiva tradition because it is the practice of the attention on Shiva through the recitation of the hymns. "Shiva is the lord of all, the source of all, the destroyer of all enemies. The devotee who recites the hymns of the Tirumurai with attention, who meditates on the form of Shiva, who surrenders the self to Shiva—that devotee is freed from all the bonds of the enemies, and is united with Shiva" (Tirumurai, various hymns, paraphrased).

²⁸The teaching of the Divya Prabandham is the most characteristic of the Vaishnava tradition because it is the practice of the attention on Vishnu through the recitation of the hymns. "Vishnu is the supreme reality, the source of all, the lord of all. The devotee who recites the hymns of the Divya Prabandham with attention, who meditates on the form of Vishnu, who surrenders the self to Vishnu—that devotee is freed from all the bonds of the enemies, and is united with Vishnu, through the grace of Vishnu" (Divya Prabandham, various hymns, paraphrased).

²⁹The Taoist Discipline of Attention

³⁰The Taoist discipline of attention is the most distinctive in the spiritual tradition, because it is not the cultivation of the attention as the faculty of focus but the dissolution of the attention's attachment to the objects, the returning of the attention to the Dao, and the practice of the emptiness of the mind.

³¹The Tao te Ching's teaching on attention is the most important. "The sage empties the mind, fills the belly, weakens the ambition, strengthens the bones. He always keeps the people without knowledge and without desire, so that those who have knowledge do not dare to act. He practices non-action, and nothing is left undone" (Tao te Ching, 3). The teaching is that the attention should be emptied of all its attachments, all its desires, all its knowledge, all its ambitions—and that the practice of the emptiness of the mind is the most direct path to the alignment with the Dao.

³²Chapter 16 of the Tao te Ching is the most explicit. "Attain the utmost emptiness, hold firmly to stillness. The ten thousand things arise and I watch them return. They turn and return to the root, and returning to the root is stillness. Stillness is called returning to the fate. Returning to the fate is the eternal. To know the eternal is enlightenment. Not to know the eternal leads to evil" (Tao te Ching, 16). The training of the attention is the attainment of the utmost emptiness, the holding firmly to stillness, the watching of the arising and the return of all things, and the recognition of the root—the Dao itself.

³³Zhuangzi's teaching on attention is the most radical in the Taoist tradition. "The perfect person has no self, the spiritual person has no merit, the sage has no name. ... The sage does not accumulate for himself; the more he does for others, the more he has himself" (Zhuangzi, "The Equality of Things," paraphrased). The training of the attention is the dissolution of the self's attachment to the objects, the freeing of the attention from the self's agenda, and the natural response of the attention to the world as it is, without the self's judgments, the self's desires, the self's fears.

³⁴The chapter "Dealing with Life" (Zhuangzi, Chapter 3) presents the teaching of Cook Ding, who butchers an ox with such skill that his knife never dulls, because he cuts according to the natural structure of the thing rather than forcing his own way upon it. "Cook Ding laid down his knife and said, 'What I care about is the Way, which goes beyond skill. ... Now I use my mind, not my eyes. My senses stop and my spirit moves as it will. Following the natural structure, I strike the empty spaces where the knife finds no hindrance. The blade works through without friction. ... At the joints, there are spaces, and the knife never meets any resistance. So it has lasted nineteen years, and the blade is as sharp as if it had just come from the grindstone'" (Zhuangzi, Chapter 3, paraphrased). The teaching is that the attention of the sage is not the attention of the deliberate effort but the attention of the natural response, the attention of the mind that has been emptied of all its attachments and has become one with the natural structure of the world.

³⁵The Liezi's teaching on attention is the most practical. "The man who has no self is the man who has recognized that the self is not separate from the world, and that the attempt to make the self separate is the source of all suffering. The man who has no self is the man who acts without self-interest, who responds to the world without resistance, who is at peace with all things. This is the state of wu-wei, and the attention of this man is the attention that is empty of the self, the attention that is in harmony with the world" (Liezi, Chapter 6, "The Sage," paraphrased).

³⁶The Huainanzi's teaching on attention is the most cosmologically grounded. "The human being is a small universe, and the cultivation of the attention is the alignment of the small universe with the great universe. The practice is the circulation of the energy through the body, the cultivation of the five organs, the harmonization of the yin and the yang, and the alignment of the breath with the cosmic breath. When the attention is in harmony with the cosmic order, the person is free from all suffering" (Huainanzi, Chapter 3, paraphrased).

³⁷The Secret of the Golden Flower's teaching on attention is the most somatic. "The light is the light of consciousness itself; when the light is allowed to circulate freely through the body, the body becomes a vessel of spiritual transformation, and the attention of the person is the attention of the light, the attention of the circulation, the attention of the transformation" (Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 1).

³⁸The Christian Discipline of Attention

³⁹The Christian discipline of attention is the most structured in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the attention through the practice of prayer, the contemplation of the divine, and the attention to the presence of God in all things.

⁴⁰The Desert Fathers and Mothers' teaching on attention is the most practical. "The monk must train the attention through the practice of the austerities: fasting, vigil, prayer, silence, poverty, obedience, humility, patience, and all the virtues. The attention is the faculty that is most resistant to the spiritual life, because it is the faculty that is most distracted by the world, and the training of the attention is the most difficult part of the spiritual life" (Sayings of the Desert Fathers, various apophthegmata).

⁴¹The teaching of Evagrius Ponticus in the Praktikos is the most systematic. "The eight evil thoughts are the enemies of the attention: gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride. The attention is the faculty that is most susceptible to these enemies, and the training of the attention is the recognition and resistance of these enemies, the cultivation of the virtues that oppose them, and the purification of the attention from their influence" (Praktikos, prologue).

⁴²The teaching of John Cassian (Conferences, Institutes) is the most systematic in the Western monastic tradition. "The monastic life is the life of the training of the attention. The monk must train the attention through the practice of the austerities: fasting, vigil, prayer, silence, poverty, obedience, humility, patience, and all the virtues. The goal is the apatheia—the freedom from passionate attachment, in which the attention is purified of all the enemies, and can respond to the will of God without distraction" (John Cassian, Conferences, various conferences).

⁴³The teaching of the Cloud of Unknowing on attention is the most apophatic. "The soul must direct its attention toward God through love, piercing the cloud of unknowing with a single point of longing love. The attention must be directed toward God, not toward any created thing, not toward any vision, not toward any understanding, not toward any consolation. The attention must simply love God in the darkness, and wait for God to reveal Himself when He wills" (The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapters 3-4).

⁴⁴The teaching of John of the Cross in the Dark Night is the most rigorous. "The attention is the faculty that is most resistant to the purification, because it is the faculty that is most attached to the consolations of the spiritual life. The dark night of the spirit is the purification of the attention from all that is not God, from all attachment, from all desire for consolation, from all self-understanding. The attention must be stripped of everything, and when it is stripped, God fills it with Himself" (The Dark Night, Book 2).

⁴⁵The teaching of Meister Eckhart on attention is the most radical in the Christian tradition. "The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me; my eye and God's eye is one eye, one view, one knowledge, one love. The attention that is directed toward God is the attention that is empty of all that is not God, and the attention that is empty of all that is not God is the attention that is filled with God" (Meister Eckhart, Sermon 57, paraphrased).

⁴⁶The teaching of Julian of Norwich on attention is the most loving. "The attention that is aligned with the love of God is the attention that is free, the attention that is joyful, the attention that is at peace. The love of God is the ultimate object of the attention, and the human attention that is aligned with this love is the attention that is transformed by this love" (Revelations of Divine Love, Chapters 1-86).

⁴⁷The teaching of Thomas Merton on attention is the most contemporary. "The attention that is in bondage to the ego is the attention that is attached to the false self, the attention that is attached to the desires, the attention that is attached to the fears. The attention that is free from the ego is the attention that is aligned with the true self, the attention that is aligned with the will of God, the attention that is the attention of God" (New Seeds of Contemplation, from Merton).

⁴⁸The Sufi Discipline of Attention

⁴⁹The Sufi discipline of attention is the most eloquent in the Islamic tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the attention through the practice of dhikr (remembrance of God), the discipline of the heart, and the goal of fana (annihilation in the Divine).

⁵⁰The Conference of the Birds is the most famous allegorical description of the training of attention in the Sufi tradition, and it describes the journey through the seven valleys of the transformation of the attention. "In the Valley of Search, the seeker's attention is on the search, and the seeker finds only his own limitations. In the Valley of Love, the seeker's attention is on the love, and the seeker is consumed by the love, and all his limitations are burned away. In the Valley of Knowledge, the seeker's attention is on the knowledge, and the seeker finds that knowledge is not enough, and that only transformation can suffice. In the Valley of Detachment, the seeker's attention is on the detachment, and the seeker is stripped of everything he thought was his. In the Valley of Unity, the seeker's attention is on the unity, and the seeker sees that there is no other but God. In the Valley of Astonishment, the seeker's attention is on the astonishment, and the seeker is overwhelmed by the vision of God. In the Valley of Poverty and Annihilation, the seeker's attention is on the annihilation, and the seeker ceases to exist as a seeker, and what remains is the Divine" (Conference of the Birds, summary of the seven valleys).

⁵¹The Masnavi is the most comprehensive Sufi text on the training of attention, and it is significant for the teaching that the attention is transformed through the practice of love and the dissolution of the self. "The attention is the faculty that is most attached to the world, and the training of the attention is the most difficult part of the spiritual life. The attention must be trained through the practice of love, through the dissolution of the self, through the surrender to the Divine. The attention that is trained in love is the attention that is transformed by the Divine, and the attention that is transformed by the Divine is the attention that is one with the Divine" (Masnavi, Book 1, paraphrased).

⁵²Al-Ghazzali's Ihya Ulum al-Din is the most systematic account of the training of attention in the Islamic tradition. "The heart is the vessel of the attention, and its purification is the goal of all worship. The heart is distracted by the various attachments, and the practice of the spiritual life is the cleansing of the heart from these attachments, so that it becomes pure and is filled with the light of God. The attention is the faculty that directs the heart, and the training of the attention is the cultivation of the virtues that transform the heart: sincerity, humility, patience, gratitude, love, and all the virtues of the heart" (Ihya Ulum al-Din, "Book of the Heart").

⁵³Ibn Arabi's Futuhat al-Makkiyah is the most comprehensive exposition of the Sufi path in the Islamic tradition, and it is significant for the teaching that the attention is trained through the constant recognition of the Divine in all things. "The path is the path of the recognition of the unity of being; the practice is the recognition of the Divine in all things; the goal is the transformation of the consciousness so that it sees only the Divine in all things. The attention is the faculty that directs this recognition, and the training of the attention is the cultivation of the constant recognition of the Divine" (Futuhat al-Makkiyah, various chapters).

⁵⁴The teaching of Rumi in the Divan Shams is the most ecstatic. "I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as a plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was a man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as a man, to soar with angels blest. But even from angelic states, I must pass on. At last, I became a void, and from that void, I learned the secret of the universe" (Divan Shams, paraphrased). The teaching is that the attention is the faculty that is most resistant to the dissolution of the self, and the training of the attention is the most difficult part of the spiritual life, but the result is the most joyful of all transformations.

⁵⁵The Stoic Discipline of Attention

⁵⁶The Stoic discipline of attention is the most practical in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the discipline of judgment—the training of the attention to see things as they are, not as the mind thinks they are, and to focus on what is within the power of the will.

⁵⁷Epictetus's teaching on the training of attention is the most direct. "The training of the attention is the discipline of the perception. The mind must be trained to see things as they are, not as the mind thinks they are. The mind must be trained to distinguish what is within the power of the will from what is not within the power of the will. The mind must be trained to focus on what is within the power of the will, and to accept what is not within the power of the will as it is" (Epictetus, Discourses, various chapters, paraphrased).

⁵⁸Marcus Aurelius's Meditations is the most extensive personal record of the training of attention in the Stoic tradition. "The training of the attention is the daily practice of the examination of the judgments: 'What is this thing? Is it within my power or not? If it is within my power, I must do it well. If it is not within my power, I must accept it as it is. The obstacles are the means of the training; the difficulties are the training; the suffering is the teacher'" (Meditations, various passages).

⁵⁹Seneca's Letters develop the same teaching in practical terms. "The training of the attention is the daily reflection on the day's events, the examination of the errors, the correction of the faults, the preparation for the next day. The path of the attention is the life of reason, and the life of reason is the life of virtue. The result is the equanimity, the wisdom, the courage, the justice, and the temperance that are the marks of the wise person" (Seneca, Letters, various letters).

⁶⁰The Kabbalistic Discipline of Attention

⁶¹The Kabbalistic discipline of attention is the most elaborate in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the practice of the mitzvot (commandments) and the contemplation of the sefirot as the means of the training of the attention.

⁶²The Zohar's teaching on attention is that the practice of the mitzvot is the means of the alignment of the soul with the sefirot, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent of the soul through the spiritual worlds. "The soul is a microcosm of the sefirot; the rectification of the soul is the rectification of the world. The mitzvot are the instruments of the rectification, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent. The practice of the spiritual life is the combination of the practice of the mitzvot and the contemplation of the sefirot, and the result is the tikkun of the soul and the tikkun of the world" (Zohar, III, 28b, paraphrased).

⁶³The teaching of the Sepher Yetzirah on attention is that the mastery of the twenty-two letters and the ten sefirot is the mastery of the forces that constitute the self and the world, and the practice of the sacred names is the means of the training of the attention. "Through thirty-two paths of wisdom, God carved out the universe. Ten sefirot and twenty-two letters are the foundation of all things. The practice of the sacred names is the practice of the mastery of these thirty-two paths, and the result is the transformation of the soul and the ascent through the spiritual worlds" (Sepher Yetzirah, 1:1).

⁶⁴The teaching of the Lurianic Kabbalah on attention is the most dramatic. "In the beginning, the Ein Sof gazed into the mirror of the Supernal Wisdom and created the vessels of the lower sefirot. But the light of the Ein Sof was too great for the vessels, and they shattered, scattering the divine sparks throughout the material world. The task of tikkun is the gathering of these sparks back into their source. The practice of the mitzvot is the means of the gathering of the sparks, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent of the soul. The attention is the faculty that directs this practice, and the training of the attention is the cultivation of the dedication to the tikkun" (Etz Chaim, 2:1).

⁶⁵The teaching of the Hasidic masters on attention is the most accessible. The Baal Shem Tov's teaching is that the attention is the faculty that is most connected to the divine spark within the person, and the training of the attention is the cultivation of the joy and the prayer that reconnect the soul to its divine origin. "Every person has a divine spark that is the essence of their soul, and this spark is always in connection with God. The attention is the faculty that is most connected to this spark, and the training of the attention is the cultivation of the joy and the prayer that reconnect the soul to this connection" (Baal Shem Tov, various teachings, paraphrased).

⁶⁶The Tibetan Buddhist Discipline of Attention

⁶⁷The Tibetan Buddhist discipline of attention is the most sophisticated in the Buddhist tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the attention through the practice of the mindfulness of the nature of mind, the visualization of the deities, the recitation of the mantras, and the recognition of the rigpa (primordial awareness).

⁶⁸The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most detailed presentation of the training of attention in the context of death and the bardo states, and it is significant for the teaching that the attention must be on the recognition of the nature of mind at all times, and especially at the time of death. "The attention must be on the recognition of the nature of mind at all times, and especially at the time of death. The appearances that arise in the bardo are the projections of the mind, and they are empty; if one recognizes them as such, one is liberated. If one does not, one becomes attached and is reborn. Therefore, the training of attention must be the training of the recognition of the nature of mind, so that when the time of death comes, the recognition will arise" (Bardo Thodol, Chapter 5).

⁶⁹The Dzogchen teaching of attention is the most direct. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the recognition of the rigpa, the primordial awareness. The practice is the resting in the recognition, the sustaining of the recognition, and the deepening of the recognition. The result is the liberation of the attention from the identification with the objects of attention, and the spontaneous expression of the attention in all of life" (Dzogchen teachings, from the Nyingthig Yabshi and other collections).

⁷⁰The Mahamudra teaching of attention is the most systematic in the Kagyu tradition. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the recognition of the nature of the attention itself. The will is the faculty that directs the attention, and the recognition of the nature of the mind is the recognition of the nature of the will, the attention, and the entire personal structure. The practice is the resting in the recognition, and the fruition is the spontaneous expression of the recognition in all of life" (Mahamudra teachings, from the Kagyu lineage).

¹If the training of the will and the training of the attention are the most important in the spiritual life, the training of the purification is the most necessary, because the person is not clean; the person is embedded in the defilements, the attachments, the passions, the habits, the patterns that are the result of the lifetime of the operation of the causes of suffering. The purification is the process of the cleansing of the person from these defilements, and it is the prerequisite for the liberation.

²The Buddhist Discipline of Purification

³The Buddhist tradition's analysis of purification is the most systematic in the spiritual tradition, and it is one of the most important contributions of the tradition to the understanding of the transformation of the person. The practice of the four foundations of mindfulness is the practice of the purification of the person, because the recognition of the true nature of the phenomena is the purification from the defilements that obscure this recognition.

⁴The Satipatthana Sutta's treatment of the five hindrances is the most important framework for the purification of the person, because the five hindrances (sensual desire, ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt) are the most direct obstacles to the concentration and the purification of the person. "The monk observes the five hindrances as the five hindrances: the hindrance of sensual desire, the hindrance of ill-will, the hindrance of sloth and torpor, the hindrance of restlessness and worry, the hindrance of doubt. He observes the five hindrances as the five hindrances, without attachment, without aversion, without confusion. Through this observation, the monk understands the true nature of the hindrances: they are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self. And through this understanding, the monk becomes dispassionate toward the hindrances, and through dispassion, the hindrances are abandoned, and the person is purified" (Satipatthana Sutta, MN 10, paraphrased).

⁵The Majjhima Nikaya's treatment of the purification is the most systematic in the longer discourses. The Sabbasava Sutta (MN 2) is the most comprehensive analysis of the causes of suffering and the means of their cessation in the entire Pali Canon, and it is significant for the teaching that the taints (asavas) are the defilements of the mind that are the root of all suffering, and that the practice of the spiritual life is the systematic eradication of these taints. "The taints are the taint of sensual pleasure, the taint of the will to become, the taint of ignorance. These are the causes of suffering, and the practice of the spiritual life is the eradication of these taints through the cultivation of the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four bases of success, the five spiritual faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of awakening, and the noble eightfold path" (Sabbasava Sutta, MN 2, paraphrased).

⁶The Anguttara Nikaya's treatment of the purification is the most systematic in the numerical teachings. "The four right efforts are the means of the purification: the prevention of the arising of the unwholesome states that have not yet arisen, the abandonment of the unwholesome states that have arisen, the cultivation of the wholesome states that have not yet arisen, the maintenance of the wholesome states that have arisen. The five spiritual faculties are the means of the purification: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom. The five powers are the means of the purification: the power of faith, the power of energy, the power of mindfulness, the power of concentration, the power of wisdom. The seven factors of awakening are the means of the purification: mindfulness, investigation of the dhammas, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, equanimity" (Anguttara Nikaya, various numerical lists, paraphrased).

⁷The Dhammapada's most famous verse on purification is the one on the cultivation of the mind: "The mind is difficult to see, very subtle, and lands on whatever it desires. Let the wise person guard the mind, for a guarded mind brings happiness. The mind, when guarded, is the source of all good; the mind, when not guarded, is the source of all evil" (Dhammapada, 35-36). The purification of the mind is the purification of the person, and the guarding of the mind is the most important practice of the purification.

⁸The Mahayana extension of the teaching of purification is the most important in the Buddhist tradition, because it is the development of the teaching of the bodhisattva's purification. The Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra is the most important text on the purification of the bodhisattva. "The bodhisattva's purification is the purification of the compassion, the purification of the wisdom, the purification of the skillful means. The bodhisattva is not purified by the rejection of the world but by the recognition of the emptiness of the world, and the transformation of the compassion into the wisdom, and the wisdom into the skillful means. The bodhisattva is purified by the recognition of the emptiness of the self, the emptiness of the other, the emptiness of the suffering, the emptiness of the liberation. And through this recognition, the bodhisattva is free from all the defilements, and is united with the Buddha" (Vimalakirti Nirdesa, Chapter 2, paraphrased).

⁹The Tibetan Book of the Dead's treatment of purification is the most detailed in the Buddhist tradition, and it is significant for the teaching that the purification is the recognition of the nature of mind at the time of death and in the bardo states. "The appearances that arise in the bardo are the projections of the mind, and they are empty; if one recognizes them as such, one is purified of the defilements, and one is liberated. If one does not, one becomes attached and is reborn. Therefore, the training of the purification must be the training of the recognition of the nature of mind, so that when the time of death comes, the recognition will arise" (Bardo Thodol, Chapter 5).

¹⁰The Dzogchen teaching of purification is the most direct. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the purification of the defilements. The defilements are the obscurations of the rigpa, and the recognition of the rigpa is the purification of the obscurations. The practice is the recognition of the rigpa, and the result is the spontaneous purification of the defilements, and the liberation of the person" (Dzogchen teachings, from the Nyingthig Yabshi and other collections).

¹¹The Mahamudra teaching of purification is the most systematic in the Kagyu tradition. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the purification of the defilements. The defilements are the thoughts, the emotions, the sensations, the appearances, and the recognition of the nature of the mind is the recognition of the thoughts, the emotions, the sensations, the appearances as the play of the mind. The practice is the resting in the recognition, and the result is the spontaneous purification of the defilements, and the liberation of the person" (Mahamudra teachings, from the Kagyu lineage).

¹²The Hindu Discipline of Purification

¹³The Hindu tradition's analysis of purification is the most varied, because the tradition has multiple paths, each with its own approach to the purification of the person. The Yoga tradition's treatment of purification is the most systematic, the Bhakti tradition's treatment is the most emotional, the Jnana tradition's treatment is the most intellectual, and the Tantric tradition's treatment is the most somatic.

¹⁴The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali's treatment of purification is the most systematic in the entire Yoga tradition, and it is one of the most important contributions of the Indian tradition to the understanding of the transformation of the person. The yamas and niyamas are the foundations of the purification, and they are the most important part of the eight limbs. "The yamas are the five restraints: non-violence (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), non-stealing (asteya), celibacy (brahmacharya), and non-possessiveness (aparigraha). These are the foundations of the purification, and they are the first limb of the yoga. The person who practices the yamas is the person who is purified of the defilements of the will" (Yoga Sutras, 2:30-31, paraphrased). "The niyamas are the five observances: purity (shaucha), contentment (santosha), austerity (tapas), self-study (svadhyaya), and surrender to the divine (ishvara pranidhana). These are the second limb of the yoga, and they are the cultivation of the inner purification" (Yoga Sutras, 2:32-33).

¹⁵The teaching on shaucha (purity) is the most important in the Yoga tradition because it is the purification of the body and the mind. "Shaucha is the purification of the body and the mind. The purity of the body is the cleanliness of the body, the care of the body, the health of the body. The purity of the mind is the clarity of the mind, the discipline of the mind, the stillness of the mind. The person who is pure in body and mind is the person who is ready for the practice of the meditation" (Yoga Sutras, 2:32).

¹⁶The teaching on tapas (austerity) is the most important in the Yoga tradition because it is the active purification of the person through the practice of the austerities. "Tapas is the heat that is generated by the practice of the austerities. It is the burning away of the impurities of the self. The person who practices tapas generates the heat that burns away the karmas, the defilements, and the limitations of the self. Tapas is the source of the body's perfection, the perfection of the senses, and the perfection of the self" (Yoga Sutras, 2:42-43, paraphrased).

¹⁷The Bhagavad Gita's teaching on purification is the most integrated with the theistic framework in the Hindu tradition. The teaching of the three gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas) is the most important framework for the understanding of the purification of the person. "The person who is in the state of tamas is the person who is in the darkness of ignorance, who is attached to the world, who is deluded by the world, who is bound by the world. The person who is in the state of rajas is the person who is in the activity of passion, who is attached to the fruits, who is engaged in the action, who is bound by the action. The person who is in the state of sattva is the person who is in the clarity of wisdom, who is detached from the fruits, who is free from the action, who is liberated from the action. The person who is beyond all three gunas is the person who is united with the Divine" (Bhagavad Gita, 14:5-27, paraphrased).

¹⁸The teaching of karma yoga is the most important in the Gita for the purification of the will. "The person who performs the actions without attachment to the fruits, who offers all actions to Krishna, who has surrendered all actions to Krishna, who has taken refuge in Krishna—that person is purified of the defilements of the will, and is united with Krishna" (Bhagavad Gita, 18:66).

¹⁹The teaching of jnana yoga is the most important in the Advaita Vedanta tradition for the purification of the mind. "The person who has the knowledge of the true nature of the self, the person who has discriminated between the real and the unreal, the person who has recognized the identity of the Atman with the Brahman, the person who has realized the truth—that person is purified of the defilements of the mind, and is united with the Brahman" (Vivekachudamani, verses 314-367, paraphrased).

²⁰The teaching of bhakti yoga is the most important in the Gita for the purification of the heart. "The person who worships Krishna with faith and devotion, who has surrendered all actions to Krishna, who has taken refuge in Krishna, who has given up all other dharmas, and who has sought refuge in Krishna alone—such a person is purified of the defilements of the heart, and is united with Krishna" (Bhagavad Gita, 18:65-66).

²¹The teaching of the Tirumurai is the most characteristic of the Tamil Saiva tradition because it is the practice of the purification through the recitation of the hymns. "Shiva is the lord of all, the source of all, the destroyer of all enemies. The devotee who recites the hymns of the Tirumurai with devotion, who meditates on the form of Shiva, who surrenders the self to Shiva—that devotee is purified of all the defilements, and is united with Shiva" (Tirumurai, various hymns, paraphrased).

²²The teaching of the Divya Prabandham is the most characteristic of the Vaishnava tradition because it is the practice of the purification through the recitation of the hymns. "Vishnu is the supreme reality, the source of all, the lord of all. The devotee who recites the hymns of the Divya Prabandham with devotion, who meditates on the form of Vishnu, who surrenders the self to Vishnu—that devotee is purified of all the defilements, and is united with Vishnu, through the grace of Vishnu" (Divya Prabandham, various hymns, paraphrased).

²³The Ashtavakra Gita's teaching on purification is the most uncompromising in the Hindu tradition. "You are the infinite consciousness, free from all limitation. Why do you seek purification? Why do you engage in actions for purification? You are already pure, and the seeking is the bondage. The purification that is not the recognition of the purity is the impurity of the seeking. The practice is not the cultivation of the purity but the recognition of the purity that is already there" (Ashtavakra Gita, 1:1-2, paraphrased).

²⁴The Avadhuta Gita's teaching on purification is the most radical in the Hindu tradition. "The liberated one is like a free bird; he sees the world as a dream and himself as the dreamer who has awakened; he speaks without speaking, acts without acting, and dwells in the unchanging" (Avadhuta Gita, 2:1-2, paraphrased). "The body is born and the body dies, but the self is not born and does not die. The self is like the all-pervading air, present in all things but not limited by them" (Avadhuta Gita, 5:1-3, paraphrased).

²⁵The Taoist Discipline of Purification

²⁶The Taoist discipline of purification is the most distinctive in the spiritual tradition, because it is not the cultivation of the purity as the absence of the defilements but the dissolution of the personal agenda, the returning of the person to the Dao, and the practice of the emptiness of the mind.

²⁷The Tao te Ching's teaching on purification is the most important. "The sage empties the mind, fills the belly, weakens the ambition, strengthens the bones. He always keeps the people without knowledge and without desire, so that those who have knowledge do not dare to act. He practices non-action, and nothing is left undone" (Tao te Ching, 3). The teaching is that the purification is the emptying of the mind, the filling of the belly, the weakening of the ambition, the strengthening of the bones, and the keeping of the people without knowledge and without desire.

²⁸Chapter 19 of the Tao te Ching is the most explicit. "Eliminate the pursuit of learning, and you will be without sorrow. 'Yes' and 'no' are far apart. 'Good' and 'bad' are far apart. What the world calls beautiful is not beautiful; it creates evil. What the world calls good is not good; it creates ugliness. Therefore, the sage dwells in the direct, the unadorned, the unpretentious, the simple, the selfless, the few desires" (Tao te Ching, 19). The teaching is that the purification is the elimination of the pursuit of learning, the letting go of the categories of good and bad, beautiful and ugly, and the dwelling in the direct, the unadorned, the unpretentious, the simple, the selfless, and the few desires.

²⁹Zhuangzi's teaching on purification is the most radical in the Taoist tradition. "The perfect person has no self, the spiritual person has no merit, the sage has no name. ... The sage does not accumulate for himself; the more he does for others, the more he has himself" (Zhuangzi, "The Equality of Things," paraphrased). The teaching is that the purification is the dissolution of the self's attachment to the world, the freeing of the person from the self's agenda, and the natural response of the person to the world as it is, without the self's judgments, the self's desires, the self's fears.

³⁰The chapter "Dealing with Life" (Zhuangzi, Chapter 3) presents the teaching of Cook Ding, who butchers an ox with such skill that his knife never dulls, because he cuts according to the natural structure of the thing rather than forcing his own way upon it. "Cook Ding laid down his knife and said, 'What I care about is the Way, which goes beyond skill. ... Now I use my mind, not my eyes. My senses stop and my spirit moves as it will. Following the natural structure, I strike the empty spaces where the knife finds no hindrance. The blade works through without friction. ... At the joints, there are spaces, and the knife never meets any resistance. So it has lasted nineteen years, and the blade is as sharp as if it had just come from the grindstone'" (Zhuangzi, Chapter 3, paraphrased). The teaching is that the purification is not the deliberate elimination of the defilements but the harmonization with the natural structure of the world, the letting go of the self's agenda, and the natural response of the person to the world.

³¹The Liezi's teaching on purification is the most practical. "The man who has no self is the man who has recognized that the self is not separate from the world, and that the attempt to make the self separate is the source of all suffering. The man who has no self is the man who acts without self-interest, who responds to the world without resistance, who is at peace with all things. This is the state of wu-wei, and the purification of this man is the purification of the self, the purification of the will, the purification of the mind" (Liezi, Chapter 6, "The Sage," paraphrased).

³²The Huainanzi's teaching on purification is the most cosmologically grounded. "The human being is a small universe, and the cultivation of the purification is the alignment of the small universe with the great universe. The practice is the circulation of the energy through the body, the cultivation of the five organs, the harmonization of the yin and the yang, and the alignment of the breath with the cosmic breath. When the person is in harmony with the cosmic order, the person is purified of all the defilements" (Huainanzi, Chapter 3, paraphrased).

³³The Secret of the Golden Flower's teaching on purification is the most somatic. "The light is the light of consciousness itself; when the light is allowed to circulate freely through the body, the body becomes a vessel of spiritual transformation, and the person is purified of all the defilements, and the energy that was tied up in suffering is released and transformed into the energy of the spiritual life" (Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 1).

³⁴The Christian Discipline of Purification

³⁵The Christian discipline of purification is the most structured in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the person through the practice of the virtues, the ascesis, the prayer, and the grace of God.

³⁶The Desert Fathers and Mothers' teaching on purification is the most practical. "The monk must train the person through the practice of the austerities: fasting, vigil, prayer, silence, poverty, obedience, humility, patience, and all the virtues. The person is the one who is most resistant to the spiritual life, because the person is the one who is most attached to the world, and the training of the person is the most difficult part of the spiritual life" (Sayings of the Desert Fathers, various apophthegmata).

³⁷The teaching of Evagrius Ponticus in the Praktikos is the most systematic. "The eight evil thoughts are the enemies of the person: gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride. The person is the faculty that is most susceptible to these enemies, and the training of the person is the recognition and resistance of these enemies, the cultivation of the virtues that oppose them, and the purification of the person from their influence" (Praktikos, prologue).

³⁸The teaching of John Cassian (Conferences, Institutes) is the most systematic in the Western monastic tradition. "The monastic life is the life of the training of the person. The monk must train the person through the practice of the austerities: fasting, vigil, prayer, silence, poverty, obedience, humility, patience, and all the virtues. The goal is the apatheia—the freedom from passionate attachment, in which the person is purified of all the enemies, and can respond to the will of God without distraction" (John Cassian, Conferences, various conferences).

³⁹The teaching of the Cloud of Unknowing on purification is the most apophatic. "The soul must direct its purification toward God through love, piercing the cloud of unknowing with a single point of longing love. The purification must be directed toward God, not toward any created thing, not toward any vision, not toward any understanding, not toward any consolation. The purification must simply love God in the darkness, and wait for God to reveal Himself when He wills" (The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapters 3-4).

⁴⁰The teaching of John of the Cross in the Dark Night is the most rigorous. "The dark night of the soul is the purification of the person from all that is not God, from all attachment, from all desire for consolation, from all self-understanding. The night is the most painful passage of the spiritual life, and yet it is necessary, because the person cannot be united with God as long as it is attached to anything other than God. The person must pass through the night without resistance, and the result is the union with God, which is the living flame of love that transforms the person" (The Dark Night, Book 2; Living Flame of Love, Stanzas 1-3).

⁴¹The teaching of Meister Eckhart on purification is the most radical in the Christian tradition. "God is not found in the person by adding anything but by a process of subtraction, of emptying. The more empty the person is of all things, the more God fills it. The person must be emptied of all its self-understanding, all its knowledge, all its desires, all its fears, all its loves, all its hates, all its prayers, all its experiences of God. And when the person is empty, God fills it, and the Word is born in the person, and the person is united with God" (Meister Eckhart, Sermons, paraphrased).

⁴²The teaching of Julian of Norwich on purification is the most loving. "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well" (Revelations of Divine Love, Chapter 86). Julian's teaching is that the purification of the person is not the painful process of the elimination of the defects but the loving process of the recognition of the love of God, and the transformation of the person by this love. The person that is aligned with the love of God is the person that is purified of all the defects, because the love of God is greater than all the defects.

⁴³The teaching of Thomas Merton on purification is the most contemporary. "The person that is in bondage to the ego is the person that is attached to the false self, the person that is attached to the desires, the person that is attached to the fears. The person that is free from the ego is the person that is aligned with the true self, the person that is aligned with the will of God, the person that is the person of God" (New Seeds of Contemplation, from Merton).

⁴⁴The Sufi Discipline of Purification

⁴⁵The Sufi discipline of purification is the most eloquent in the Islamic tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the person through the practice of dhikr (remembrance of God), the discipline of the heart, and the goal of fana (annihilation in the Divine).

⁴⁶The Conference of the Birds is the most famous allegorical description of the purification of the person in the Sufi tradition, and it describes the journey through the seven valleys of the transformation of the person. "In the Valley of Search, the seeker's person is in the search, and the seeker finds only his own limitations. In the Valley of Love, the seeker's person is in the love, and the seeker is consumed by the love, and all his limitations are burned away. In the Valley of Knowledge, the seeker's person is in the knowledge, and the seeker finds that knowledge is not enough, and that only transformation can suffice. In the Valley of Detachment, the seeker's person is in the detachment, and the seeker is stripped of everything he thought was his. In the Valley of Unity, the seeker's person is in the unity, and the seeker sees that there is no other but God. In the Valley of Astonishment, the seeker's person is in the astonishment, and the seeker is overwhelmed by the vision of God. In the Valley of Poverty and Annihilation, the seeker's person is in the annihilation, and the seeker ceases to exist as a seeker, and what remains is the Divine" (Conference of the Birds, summary of the seven valleys).

⁴⁷The Masnavi is the most comprehensive Sufi text on the purification of the person, and it is significant for the teaching that the person is purified through the practice of love and the dissolution of the self. "The person is the one who is most attached to the world, and the purification of the person is the most difficult part of the spiritual life. The person must be purified through the practice of love, through the dissolution of the self, through the surrender to the Divine. The person that is purified in love is the person that is transformed by the Divine, and the person that is transformed by the Divine is the person that is one with the Divine" (Masnavi, Book 1, paraphrased).

⁴⁸Al-Ghazzali's Ihya Ulum al-Din is the most systematic account of the purification of the person in the Islamic tradition. "The heart is the vessel of the person, and its purification is the goal of all worship. The heart is distracted by the various attachments, and the practice of the spiritual life is the cleansing of the heart from these attachments, so that it becomes pure and is filled with the light of God. The person is the faculty that directs the heart, and the purification of the person is the cultivation of the virtues that transform the heart: sincerity, humility, patience, gratitude, love, and all the virtues of the heart" (Ihya Ulum al-Din, "Book of the Heart").

⁴⁹Ibn Arabi's Futuhat al-Makkiyah is the most comprehensive exposition of the Sufi path in the Islamic tradition, and it is significant for the teaching that the person is purified through the constant recognition of the Divine in all things. "The path is the path of the recognition of the unity of being; the practice is the recognition of the Divine in all things; the goal is the transformation of the consciousness so that it sees only the Divine in all things. The person is the faculty that directs this recognition, and the purification of the person is the cultivation of the constant recognition of the Divine" (Futuhat al-Makkiyah, various chapters).

⁵⁰The teaching of Rumi in the Divan Shams is the most ecstatic. "I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as a plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was a man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as a man, to soar with angels blest. But even from angelic states, I must pass on. At last, I became a void, and from that void, I learned the secret of the universe" (Divan Shams, paraphrased). The teaching is that the person is the one who is most resistant to the dissolution of the self, and the purification of the person is the most difficult part of the spiritual life, but the result is the most joyful of all transformations.

⁵¹The Stoic Discipline of Purification

⁵²The Stoic discipline of purification is the most practical in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the person through the discipline of judgment, the discipline of desire, and the discipline of action.

⁵³Epictetus's teaching on the purification of the person is the most direct. "The training of the person is the discipline of the three things: the discipline of judgment, the discipline of desire, and the discipline of action. The discipline of judgment is the training of the mind to see things as they are, not as the mind thinks they are. The discipline of desire is the training of the will to desire only what is within its power, and to accept what is not within its power as it is. The discipline of action is the training of the will to act in accordance with nature, with reason, and with the good of all beings" (Epictetus, Discourses, various chapters, paraphrased).

⁵⁴Marcus Aurelius's Meditations is the most extensive personal record of the purification of the person in the Stoic tradition. "The training of the person is the daily practice of the examination of the judgments: 'What is this thing? Is it within my power or not? If it is within my power, I must do it well. If it is not within my power, I must accept it as it is. The obstacles are the means of the training; the difficulties are the training; the suffering is the teacher'" (Meditations, various passages).

⁵⁵Seneca's Letters develop the same teaching in practical terms. "The training of the person is the daily reflection on the day's events, the examination of the errors, the correction of the faults, the preparation for the next day. The path of the person is the life of reason, and the life of reason is the life of virtue. The result is the equanimity, the wisdom, the courage, the justice, and the temperance that are the marks of the wise person" (Seneca, Letters, various letters).

⁵⁶The Kabbalistic Discipline of Purification

⁵⁷The Kabbalistic discipline of purification is the most elaborate in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the practice of the mitzvot (commandments) and the contemplation of the sefirot as the means of the purification of the person.

⁵⁸The Zohar's teaching on the purification of the person is that the practice of the mitzvot is the means of the rectification of the sefirot within the soul, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent of the soul through the spiritual worlds. "The soul is a microcosm of the sefirot; the rectification of the soul is the rectification of the world. The mitzvot are the instruments of the rectification, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent. The practice of the spiritual life is the combination of the practice of the mitzvot and the contemplation of the sefirot, and the result is the tikkun of the soul and the tikkun of the world" (Zohar, III, 28b, paraphrased).

⁵⁹The teaching of the Sepher Yetzirah on the purification of the person is that the mastery of the twenty-two letters and the ten sefirot is the mastery of the forces that constitute the self and the world, and the practice of the sacred names is the means of the purification of the person. "Through thirty-two paths of wisdom, God carved out the universe. Ten sefirot and twenty-two letters are the foundation of all things. The practice of the sacred names is the practice of the mastery of these thirty-two paths, and the result is the transformation of the soul and the ascent through the spiritual worlds" (Sepher Yetzirah, 1:1).

⁶⁰The teaching of the Lurianic Kabbalah on the purification of the person is the most dramatic. "In the beginning, the Ein Sof gazed into the mirror of the Supernal Wisdom and created the vessels of the lower sefirot. But the light of the Ein Sof was too great for the vessels, and they shattered, scattering the divine sparks throughout the material world. The task of tikkun is the gathering of these sparks back into their source. The practice of the mitzvot is the means of the gathering of the sparks, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent of the soul. The person is the faculty that directs this practice, and the purification of the person is the cultivation of the dedication to the tikkun" (Etz Chaim, 2:1).

⁶¹The teaching of the Hasidic masters on the purification of the person is the most accessible. The Baal Shem Tov's teaching is that the person is the faculty that is most connected to the divine spark within the person, and the purification of the person is the cultivation of the joy and the prayer that reconnect the soul to its divine origin. "Every person has a divine spark that is the essence of their soul, and this spark is always in connection with God. The person is the faculty that is most connected to this spark, and the purification of the person is the cultivation of the joy and the prayer that reconnect the soul to this connection" (Baal Shem Tov, various teachings, paraphrased).

⁶²The Tibetan Buddhist Discipline of Purification

⁶³The Tibetan Buddhist discipline of purification is the most sophisticated in the Buddhist tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the person through the practice of the mindfulness of the nature of mind, the visualization of the deities, the recitation of the mantras, and the recognition of the rigpa (primordial awareness).

⁶⁴The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most detailed presentation of the purification of the person in the context of death and the bardo states, and it is significant for the teaching that the purification must be on the recognition of the nature of mind at all times, and especially at the time of death. "The purification must be on the recognition of the nature of mind at all times, and especially at the time of death. The appearances that arise in the bardo are the projections of the mind, and they are empty; if one recognizes them as such, one is purified of the defilements, and one is liberated. If one does not, one becomes attached and is reborn. Therefore, the training of the purification must be the training of the recognition of the nature of mind, so that when the time of death comes, the recognition will arise" (Bardo Thodol, Chapter 5).

⁶⁵The Dzogchen teaching of the purification of the person is the most direct. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the purification of the defilements. The defilements are the obscurations of the rigpa, and the recognition of the rigpa is the purification of the obscurations. The practice is the recognition of the rigpa, and the result is the spontaneous purification of the defilements, and the liberation of the person" (Dzogchen teachings, from the Nyingthig Yabshi and other collections).

⁶⁶The Mahamudra teaching of the purification of the person is the most systematic in the Kagyu tradition. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the purification of the defilements. The defilements are the thoughts, the emotions, the sensations, the appearances, and the recognition of the nature of the mind is the recognition of the thoughts, the emotions, the sensations, the appearances as the play of the mind. The practice is the resting in the recognition, and the result is the spontaneous purification of the defilements, and the liberation of the person" (Mahamudra teachings, from the Kagyu lineage).

¹If the will is the engine of the spiritual life, if the attention is the steering, and if the purification is the cleansing of the engine, the heart is the destination. The heart is the faculty that is the source of love, the source of the desire for God, the source of the compassion for the beings, the source of the joy of the spiritual life. The training of the heart is the most important of all the trainings, because the heart is the faculty that is the most resistant to the training, because the heart is the faculty that is the most deeply embedded in the person, and because the heart is the faculty that is the most difficult to access.

²The Buddhist Discipline of the Heart

³The Buddhist tradition's analysis of the heart is the most systematic in the spiritual tradition, and it is one of the most important contributions of the tradition to the understanding of the transformation of the person. The four immeasurables (loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, equanimity) are the most important framework for the training of the heart in the Buddhist tradition, and they are significant for the understanding of the relationship between the heart and the purification of the person.

⁴The Metta Sutta (The Discourse on Loving-Kindness, Sutta Nipata 1.8, Kuddaka Nikaya) is the most important Buddhist text on the training of the heart, and it is significant for the teaching that the cultivation of loving-kindness is the most important practice of the heart. "This is the path to the cultivation of loving-kindness: the person should be able, upright, and straightforward, easy to correct, gentle, and humble. The person should not be attached to the world, should not be attached to the self, should not be attached to the results of the actions. The person should cultivate the loving-kindness toward all beings, without exception, without distinction, without limit" (Metta Sutta, paraphrase). "Just as a mother protects her only child with her life, even so, let the person cultivate the loving-kindness toward all beings. Let the person cultivate the loving-kindness toward all beings, in all directions, in all ways, with an unlimited heart. The person should stand, walk, sit, or lie down, as long as the person is awake, with the heart of loving-kindness. This is the path of the cultivation of the heart" (Metta Sutta, paraphrase).

⁵The Karuna Sutta (the Discourse on Compassion, Anguttara Nikaya, various lists) is the most important Buddhist text on the training of the heart, and it is significant for the teaching that the cultivation of compassion is the most important practice of the heart. "The person who cultivates compassion is the person who sees the suffering of the beings, and wishes for the cessation of the suffering of the beings. The person who cultivates compassion is the person who is free from the cruelty, the violence, the hatred, the aversion. The person who cultivates compassion is the person who is the most united with the beings, and the most united with the Buddha" (Anguttara Nikaya, various lists, paraphrased).

⁶The Mudita Sutta (the Discourse on Appreciative Joy, Anguttara Nikaya, various lists) is the most important Buddhist text on the training of the heart, and it is significant for the teaching that the cultivation of appreciative joy is the most important practice of the heart. "The person who cultivates appreciative joy is the person who sees the happiness of the beings, and rejoices in the happiness of the beings. The person who cultivates appreciative joy is the person who is free from the envy, the jealousy, the resentment, the aversion. The person who cultivates appreciative joy is the person who is the most united with the beings, and the most united with the Buddha" (Anguttara Nikaya, various lists, paraphrased).

⁷The Upekkha Sutta (the Discourse on Equanimity, Anguttara Nikaya, various lists) is the most important Buddhist text on the training of the heart, and it is significant for the teaching that the cultivation of equanimity is the most important practice of the heart. "The person who cultivates equanimity is the person who is even-minded toward the beings, without attachment, without aversion, without confusion. The person who cultivates equanimity is the person who is free from the craving, the clinging, the suffering. The person who cultivates equanimity is the person who is the most united with the beings, and the most united with the Buddha" (Anguttara Nikaya, various lists, paraphrased).

⁸The Brahmavihara Suttas (the Discourses on the Divine Abodes, Majjhima Nikaya 100, 129, 130) are the most important Buddhist texts on the training of the heart, and they are significant for the teaching that the cultivation of the four immeasurables is the most important practice of the heart, and that the cultivation of the four immeasurables is the means of the liberation of the person. "The four immeasurables are the loving-kindness, the compassion, the appreciative joy, and the equanimity. These four are the divine abodes, the dwelling places of the gods, the foundation of the spiritual life" (Majjhima Nikaya 100, paraphrase).

⁹The Bodhicaryavatara (Way of the Bodhisattva) by Santideva is the most important Tibetan Buddhist text on the training of the heart, and it is significant for the teaching that the heart is transformed through the cultivation of compassion and the recognition of the emptiness of all phenomena. "The heart that is the source of the compassion is the heart that is the most transformed by the recognition of the emptiness of all phenomena. The compassion without the recognition of the emptiness is the compassion that is attached to the suffering, and this is not the true compassion. The compassion with the recognition of the emptiness is the compassion that is free from the attachment, and this is the true compassion" (Bodhicaryavatara, Chapter 8, paraphrased).

¹⁰The Tibetan Book of the Dead's teaching on the heart is the most detailed in the Buddhist tradition, and it is significant for the teaching that the heart is the faculty that is most important in the recognition of the nature of mind at the time of death and in the bardo states. "The heart is the center of the person, the seat of the emotions, the source of the compassion, the place of the recognition. At the time of death, the heart is the center of the dissolution, and the recognition that arises in the heart is the recognition of the nature of mind. If the heart recognizes the nature of mind, the person is liberated; if the heart does not recognize the nature of mind, the person is reborn" (Bardo Thodol, Chapter 5).

¹¹The Dzogchen teaching of the heart is the most direct. "The heart is the seat of the rigpa, the primordial awareness. The recognition of the nature of mind is the recognition of the nature of the heart, and the practice is the resting in the recognition. The result is the spontaneous expression of the heart in all of life, the spontaneous expression of the compassion in all of life, the spontaneous expression of the love in all of life" (Dzogchen teachings, from the Nyingthig Yabshi and other collections).

¹²The Mahamudra teaching of the heart is the most systematic in the Kagyu tradition. "The heart is the faculty that is the most direct manifestation of the mind. The recognition of the nature of the mind is the recognition of the nature of the heart, and the practice is the resting in the recognition. The result is the liberation of the heart from the identification with the self, and the spontaneous expression of the heart in all of life" (Mahamudra teachings, from the Kagyu lineage).

¹³The Hindu Discipline of the Heart

¹⁴The Hindu tradition's analysis of the heart is the most varied, because the tradition has multiple paths, each with its own approach to the training of the heart. The Bhakti tradition's treatment of the heart is the most emotional, the Jnana tradition's treatment is the most intellectual, the Yoga tradition's treatment is the most disciplined, and the Tantric tradition's treatment is the most somatic.

¹⁵The Bhagavad Gita's teaching on the heart is the most integrated with the theistic framework in the Hindu tradition. The teaching of bhakti yoga is the most important for the training of the heart. "The person who worships Krishna with faith and devotion, who has surrendered all actions to Krishna, who has taken refuge in Krishna, who has given up all other dharmas, and who has sought refuge in Krishna alone—such a person is freed from all the bonds of the gunas, and is united with Krishna. This is the easiest path, and the person who practices it is the most liberated" (Bhagavad Gita, 18:65-66). The training of the heart is the cultivation of the devotion, the love, the surrender, and the refuge in Krishna.

¹⁶The teaching of the Bhakti tradition is the most important in the Hindu tradition for the training of the heart, because the heart is the faculty that is the most directly accessible to the devotion, the love, the surrender, and the refuge. The Tirumurai is the most important Tamil Saiva text on the training of the heart, because the hymns of the Tirumurai are the most direct expression of the devotion to Shiva. "Shiva is the lord of all, the source of all, the destroyer of all enemies. The devotee who recites the hymns of the Tirumurai with devotion, who meditates on the form of Shiva, who surrenders the self to Shiva—that devotee is freed from all the bonds of the enemies, and is united with Shiva" (Tirumurai, various hymns, paraphrased).

¹⁷The Divya Prabandham is the most important Vaishnava text on the training of the heart, because the hymns of the Divya Prabandham are the most direct expression of the devotion to Vishnu. "Vishnu is the supreme reality, the source of all, the lord of all. The devotee who recites the hymns of the Divya Prabandham with devotion, who meditates on the form of Vishnu, who surrenders the self to Vishnu—that devotee is freed from all the bonds of the enemies, and is united with Vishnu, through the grace of Vishnu" (Divya Prabandham, various hymns, paraphrased).

¹⁸The teaching of the Jnana tradition is the most important in the Advaita Vedanta tradition for the training of the heart, because the heart is the faculty that is the most directly accessible to the knowledge. "The person who has the knowledge of the true nature of the self, the person who has discriminated between the real and the unreal, the person who has recognized the identity of the Atman with the Brahman, the person who has realized the truth—that person is freed from all the bonds of the gunas, and is united with the Brahman. This is the most direct path, and the person who practices it is the most liberated" (Vivekachudamani, verses 314-367, paraphrased).

¹⁹The teaching of the Yoga tradition is the most important in the Hindu tradition for the training of the heart, because the heart is the faculty that is the most directly accessible to the discipline. "The person who practices the yoga is the person who cultivates the heart through the practice of the yamas, the niyamas, the asana, the pranayama, the pratyahara, the dharana, the dhyana, and the samadhi. The heart that is cultivated in this way is the heart that is pure, the heart that is clear, the heart that is calm, the heart that is concentrated. The heart that is pure, clear, calm, and concentrated is the heart that is ready for the realization of the true nature of the self" (Yoga Sutras, 2:30-35; 3:1-4, paraphrased).

²⁰The teaching of the Devi Mahatmya is the most intense in the Hindu tradition for the training of the heart, because the heart is the faculty that is the most directly accessible to the devotion to the Divine Mother. "The Divine Mother is the source of all power, the source of all courage, the source of all victory. The devotee who worships the Divine Mother with devotion, who calls upon the Divine Mother in the moment of need, who surrenders the self to the Divine Mother—that devotee is freed from all the bonds of the enemies, and is united with the Divine Mother. The heart that is devoted to the Divine Mother is the heart that is powerful, the heart that is courageous, and the heart that is victorious" (Devi Mahatmya, various chapters, paraphrased).

²¹The Ashtavakra Gita's teaching on the heart is the most uncompromising in the Hindu tradition. "You are the infinite consciousness, free from all limitation. Why do you seek liberation? Why do you engage in actions for liberation? Why do you cultivate the heart for liberation? You are already free, and the seeking is the bondage. The heart that seeks liberation is the heart that is in bondage; the heart that recognizes the freedom is the heart that is free. The practice is not the cultivation of the heart but the recognition of the freedom that is already there" (Ashtavakra Gita, 1:1-2, paraphrased).

²²The Avadhuta Gita's teaching on the heart is the most radical in the Hindu tradition. "The liberated one is like a free bird; he sees the world as a dream and himself as the dreamer who has awakened; he speaks without speaking, acts without acting, and dwells in the unchanging. The heart of the liberated one is the heart that is free of all limitation, the heart that is free of all attachment, the heart that is free of all suffering, the heart that is free of all bondage" (Avadhuta Gita, 2:1-2, paraphrased).

²³The Taoist Discipline of the Heart

²⁴The Taoist discipline of the heart is the most distinctive in the spiritual tradition, because it is not the cultivation of the heart as the faculty of emotion but the dissolution of the heart's attachment to the objects, the returning of the heart to the Dao, and the practice of the emptiness of the heart.

²⁵The Tao te Ching's teaching on the heart is the most important. "The sage empties the heart, fills the belly, weakens the ambition, strengthens the bones. He always keeps the people without knowledge and without desire, so that those who have knowledge do not dare to act. He practices non-action, and nothing is left undone" (Tao te Ching, 3). The teaching is that the heart should be emptied of all its attachments, all its desires, all its knowledge, all its ambitions—and that the practice of the emptiness of the heart is the most direct path to the alignment with the Dao.

²⁶Chapter 16 of the Tao te Ching is the most explicit. "Attain the utmost emptiness of the heart, hold firmly to stillness of the heart. The ten thousand things arise and I watch them return. They turn and return to the root, and returning to the root is stillness. Stillness is called returning to the fate. Returning to the fate is the eternal. To know the eternal is enlightenment. Not to know the eternal leads to evil" (Tao te Ching, 16, paraphrased). The training of the heart is the attainment of the utmost emptiness of the heart, the holding firmly to stillness of the heart, the watching of the arising and the return of all things, and the recognition of the root—the Dao itself.

²⁷Zhuangzi's teaching on the heart is the most radical in the Taoist tradition. "The perfect person has no heart of his own; the people's heart is his heart. The good he gives to others, he gives to himself. He does not accumulate for himself; the more he gives, the more he has. ... The sage's heart is at rest in the universal, and the universal heart is his" (Zhuangzi, "The Great Sage," paraphrased). The teaching is that the heart should be the heart that is not the heart of the self but the heart of the universal, and that the action of the heart should be the action of the universal, not the action of the self.

²⁸The chapter "Dealing with Life" (Zhuangzi, Chapter 3) presents the teaching of Cook Ding, who butchers an ox with such skill that his knife never dulls, because he cuts according to the natural structure of the thing rather than forcing his own way upon it. "Cook Ding laid down his knife and said, 'What I care about is the Way, which goes beyond skill. ... Now I use my mind, not my eyes. My senses stop and my spirit moves as it will. Following the natural structure, I strike the empty spaces where the knife finds no hindrance. The blade works through without friction. ... At the joints, there are spaces, and the knife never meets any resistance. So it has lasted nineteen years, and the blade is as sharp as if it had just come from the grindstone'" (Zhuangzi, Chapter 3, paraphrased). The teaching is that the heart of the sage is not the heart of the deliberate effort but the heart of the natural response, the heart of the mind that has been emptied of all its attachments and has become one with the natural structure of the world.

²⁹The Liezi's teaching on the heart is the most practical. "The man who has no heart of his own is the man who has recognized that the self is not separate from the world, and that the attempt to make the self separate is the source of all suffering. The man who has no heart of his own is the man who acts without self-interest, who responds to the world without resistance, who is at peace with all things. This is the state of wu-wei, and the heart of this man is the heart that is empty of the self, the heart that is in harmony with the world" (Liezi, Chapter 6, "The Sage," paraphrased).

³⁰The Huainanzi's teaching on the heart is the most cosmologically grounded. "The human being is a small universe, and the cultivation of the heart is the alignment of the small universe with the great universe. The practice is the circulation of the energy through the body, the cultivation of the five organs, the harmonization of the yin and the yang, and the alignment of the breath with the cosmic breath. When the heart is in harmony with the cosmic order, the person is free from all suffering" (Huainanzi, Chapter 3, paraphrased).

³¹The Secret of the Golden Flower's teaching on the heart is the most somatic. "The light is the light of consciousness itself; when the light is allowed to circulate freely through the body, the body becomes a vessel of spiritual transformation, and the heart is the center of the circulation, the center of the light, the center of the transformation" (Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 1).

³²The Christian Discipline of the Heart

³³The Christian discipline of the heart is the most structured in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the heart through the practice of the prayer, the contemplation of the divine, and the attention to the presence of God in all things.

³⁴The Desert Fathers and Mothers' teaching on the heart is the most practical. "The monk must train the heart through the practice of the austerities: fasting, vigil, prayer, silence, poverty, obedience, humility, patience, and all the virtues. The heart is the faculty that is most resistant to the spiritual life, because the heart is the faculty that is most attached to the world, and the training of the heart is the most difficult part of the spiritual life" (Sayings of the Desert Fathers, various apophthegmata).

³⁵The teaching of Evagrius Ponticus in the Praktikos is the most systematic. "The eight evil thoughts are the enemies of the heart: gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride. The heart is the faculty that is most susceptible to these enemies, and the training of the heart is the recognition and resistance of these enemies, the cultivation of the virtues that oppose them, and the purification of the heart from their influence" (Praktikos, prologue).

³⁶The teaching of John Cassian (Conferences, Institutes) is the most systematic in the Western monastic tradition. "The monastic life is the life of the training of the heart. The monk must train the heart through the practice of the austerities: fasting, vigil, prayer, silence, poverty, obedience, humility, patience, and all the virtues. The goal is the apatheia—the freedom from passionate attachment, in which the heart is purified of all the enemies, and can respond to the will of God without distraction" (John Cassian, Conferences, various conferences).

³⁷The teaching of the Cloud of Unknowing on the heart is the most apophatic. "The soul must direct its heart toward God through love, piercing the cloud of unknowing with a single point of longing love. The heart must be directed toward God, not toward any created thing, not toward any vision, not toward any understanding, not toward any consolation. The heart must simply love God in the darkness, and wait for God to reveal Himself when He wills" (The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapters 3-4).

³⁸The teaching of John of the Cross in the Dark Night is the most rigorous. "The dark night of the soul is the purification of the heart from all that is not God, from all attachment, from all desire for consolation, from all self-understanding. The night is the most painful passage of the spiritual life, and yet it is necessary, because the heart cannot be united with God as long as it is attached to anything other than God. The heart must pass through the night without resistance, and the result is the union with God, which is the living flame of love that transforms the heart" (The Dark Night, Book 2; Living Flame of Love, Stanzas 1-3).

³⁹The teaching of Meister Eckhart on the heart is the most radical in the Christian tradition. "The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me; my eye and God's eye is one eye, one view, one knowledge, one love. The heart that is directed toward God is the heart that is empty of all that is not God, and the heart that is empty of all that is not God is the heart that is filled with God" (Meister Eckhart, Sermon 57, paraphrased).

⁴⁰The teaching of Julian of Norwich on the heart is the most loving. "The heart that is aligned with the love of God is the heart that is free, the heart that is joyful, the heart that is at peace. The love of God is the ultimate object of the heart, and the human heart that is aligned with this love is the heart that is transformed by this love" (Revelations of Divine Love, Chapters 1-86).

⁴¹The teaching of Thomas Merton on the heart is the most contemporary. "The heart that is in bondage to the ego is the heart that is attached to the false self, the heart that is attached to the desires, the heart that is attached to the fears. The heart that is free from the ego is the heart that is aligned with the true self, the heart that is aligned with the will of God, the heart that is the heart of God" (New Seeds of Contemplation, from Merton).

⁴²The Sufi Discipline of the Heart

⁴³The Sufi discipline of the heart is the most eloquent in the Islamic tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the heart through the practice of dhikr (remembrance of God), the discipline of the heart, and the goal of fana (annihilation in the Divine).

⁴⁴The Conference of the Birds is the most famous allegorical description of the training of the heart in the Sufi tradition, and it describes the journey through the seven valleys of the transformation of the heart. "In the Valley of Search, the seeker's heart is in the search, and the seeker finds only his own limitations. In the Valley of Love, the seeker's heart is in the love, and the seeker is consumed by the love, and all his limitations are burned away. In the Valley of Knowledge, the seeker's heart is in the knowledge, and the seeker finds that knowledge is not enough, and that only transformation can suffice. In the Valley of Detachment, the seeker's heart is in the detachment, and the seeker is stripped of everything he thought was his. In the Valley of Unity, the seeker's heart is in the unity, and the seeker sees that there is no other but God. In the Valley of Astonishment, the seeker's heart is in the astonishment, and the seeker is overwhelmed by the vision of God. In the Valley of Poverty and Annihilation, the seeker's heart is in the annihilation, and the seeker ceases to exist as a seeker, and what remains is the Divine" (Conference of the Birds, summary of the seven valleys).

⁴⁵The Masnavi is the most comprehensive Sufi text on the training of the heart, and it is significant for the teaching that the heart is transformed through the practice of love and the dissolution of the self. "The heart is the one who is most attached to the world, and the training of the heart is the most difficult part of the spiritual life. The heart must be trained through the practice of love, through the dissolution of the self, through the surrender to the Divine. The heart that is trained in love is the heart that is transformed by the Divine, and the heart that is transformed by the Divine is the heart that is one with the Divine" (Masnavi, Book 1, paraphrased).

⁴⁶Al-Ghazzali's Ihya Ulum al-Din is the most systematic account of the training of the heart in the Islamic tradition. "The heart is the vessel of the attention, and its purification is the goal of all worship. The heart is distracted by the various attachments, and the practice of the spiritual life is the cleansing of the heart from these attachments, so that it becomes pure and is filled with the light of God. The heart is the faculty that directs the attention, and the training of the heart is the cultivation of the virtues that transform the heart: sincerity, humility, patience, gratitude, love, and all the virtues of the heart" (Ihya Ulum al-Din, "Book of the Heart").

⁴⁷Ibn Arabi's Futuhat al-Makkiyah is the most comprehensive exposition of the Sufi path in the Islamic tradition, and it is significant for the teaching that the heart is trained through the constant recognition of the Divine in all things. "The path is the path of the recognition of the unity of being; the practice is the recognition of the Divine in all things; the goal is the transformation of the consciousness so that it sees only the Divine in all things. The heart is the faculty that directs this recognition, and the training of the heart is the cultivation of the constant recognition of the Divine" (Futuhat al-Makkiyah, various chapters).

⁴⁸The teaching of Rumi in the Divan Shams is the most ecstatic. "I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as a plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was a man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as a man, to soar with angels blest. But even from angelic states, I must pass on. At last, I became a void, and from that void, I learned the secret of the universe" (Divan Shams, paraphrased). The teaching is that the heart is the one who is most resistant to the dissolution of the self, and the training of the heart is the most difficult part of the spiritual life, but the result is the most joyful of all transformations.

⁴⁹The Stoic Discipline of the Heart

⁵⁰The Stoic discipline of the heart is the most practical in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the heart through the discipline of judgment, the discipline of desire, and the discipline of action.

⁵¹Epictetus's teaching on the training of the heart is the most direct. "The training of the heart is the discipline of the three things: the discipline of judgment, the discipline of desire, and the discipline of action. The discipline of judgment is the training of the mind to see things as they are, not as the mind thinks they are. The discipline of desire is the training of the will to desire only what is within its power, and to accept what is not within its power as it is. The discipline of action is the training of the will to act in accordance with nature, with reason, and with the good of all beings" (Epictetus, Discourses, various chapters, paraphrased).

⁵²Marcus Aurelius's Meditations is the most extensive personal record of the training of the heart in the Stoic tradition. "The training of the heart is the daily practice of the examination of the judgments: 'What is this thing? Is it within my power or not? If it is within my power, I must do it well. If it is not within my power, I must accept it as it is. The obstacles are the means of the training; the difficulties are the training; the suffering is the teacher'" (Meditations, various passages).

⁵³Seneca's Letters develop the same teaching in practical terms. "The training of the heart is the daily reflection on the day's events, the examination of the errors, the correction of the faults, the preparation for the next day. The path of the heart is the life of reason, and the life of reason is the life of virtue. The result is the equanimity, the wisdom, the courage, the justice, and the temperance that are the marks of the wise person" (Seneca, Letters, various letters).

⁵⁴The Kabbalistic Discipline of the Heart

⁵⁵The Kabbalistic discipline of the heart is the most elaborate in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the practice of the mitzvot (commandments) and the contemplation of the sefirot as the means of the training of the heart.

⁵⁶The Zohar's teaching on the training of the heart is that the practice of the mitzvot is the means of the alignment of the soul with the sefirot, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent of the soul through the spiritual worlds. "The soul is a microcosm of the sefirot; the rectification of the soul is the rectification of the world. The mitzvot are the instruments of the rectification, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent. The practice of the spiritual life is the combination of the practice of the mitzvot and the contemplation of the sefirot, and the result is the tikkun of the soul and the tikkun of the world" (Zohar, III, 28b, paraphrased).

⁵⁷The teaching of the Sepher Yetzirah on the training of the heart is that the mastery of the twenty-two letters and the ten sefirot is the mastery of the forces that constitute the self and the world, and the practice of the sacred names is the means of the training of the heart. "Through thirty-two paths of wisdom, God carved out the universe. Ten sefirot and twenty-two letters are the foundation of all things. The practice of the sacred names is the practice of the mastery of these thirty-two paths, and the result is the transformation of the soul and the ascent through the spiritual worlds" (Sepher Yetzirah, 1:1).

⁵⁸The teaching of the Lurianic Kabbalah on the training of the heart is the most dramatic. "In the beginning, the Ein Sof gazed into the mirror of the Supernal Wisdom and created the vessels of the lower sefirot. But the light of the Ein Sof was too great for the vessels, and they shattered, scattering the divine sparks throughout the material world. The task of tikkun is the gathering of these sparks back into their source. The practice of the mitzvot is the means of the gathering of the sparks, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent of the soul. The heart is the faculty that directs this practice, and the training of the heart is the cultivation of the dedication to the tikkun" (Etz Chaim, 2:1).

⁵⁹The teaching of the Hasidic masters on the training of the heart is the most accessible. The Baal Shem Tov's teaching is that the heart is the faculty that is most connected to the divine spark within the person, and the training of the heart is the cultivation of the joy and the prayer that reconnect the soul to its divine origin. "Every person has a divine spark that is the essence of their soul, and this spark is always in connection with God. The heart is the faculty that is most connected to this spark, and the training of the heart is the cultivation of the joy and the prayer that reconnect the soul to this connection" (Baal Shem Tov, various teachings, paraphrased).

⁶⁰The Tibetan Buddhist Discipline of the Heart

⁶¹The Tibetan Buddhist discipline of the heart is the most sophisticated in the Buddhist tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the heart through the practice of the mindfulness of the nature of mind, the visualization of the deities, the recitation of the mantras, and the recognition of the rigpa (primordial awareness).

⁶²The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most detailed presentation of the training of the heart in the context of death and the bardo states, and it is significant for the teaching that the heart must be on the recognition of the nature of mind at all times, and especially at the time of death. "The heart must be on the recognition of the nature of mind at all times, and especially at the time of death. The appearances that arise in the bardo are the projections of the mind, and they are empty; if one recognizes them as such, one is liberated of the defilements, and one is liberated. If one does not, one becomes attached and is reborn. Therefore, the training of the heart must be the training of the recognition of the nature of mind, so that when the time of death comes, the recognition will arise" (Bardo Thodol, Chapter 5).

⁶³The Dzogchen teaching of the heart is the most direct. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the recognition of the rigpa, the primordial awareness. The heart is the seat of the rigpa, and the practice is the resting in the recognition. The result is the spontaneous expression of the heart in all of life, the spontaneous expression of the compassion in all of life, the spontaneous expression of the love in all of life" (Dzogchen teachings, from the Nyingthig Yabshi and other collections).

⁶⁴The Mahamudra teaching of the heart is the most systematic in the Kagyu tradition. "The heart is the faculty that is the most direct manifestation of the mind. The recognition of the nature of the mind is the recognition of the nature of the heart, and the practice is the resting in the recognition. The result is the liberation of the heart from the identification with the self, and the spontaneous expression of the heart in all of life" (Mahamudra teachings, from the Kagyu lineage).

¹The affective life—the realm of the emotions, the desires, the pleasures, the pains, the joys, the sorrows, the loves, the hates—is the most difficult area of the spiritual life, because the affective life is the most immediate of all the realms, the most powerful, the most resistant to the training, and the most deeply embedded in the person. The spiritual traditions have very different approaches to the affective life, and the differences are among the most significant in understanding the traditions' relation to the world.

²The Buddhist Approach to the Affective Life

³The Buddhist tradition's approach to the affective life is the most systematic in the spiritual tradition, and it is one of the most important contributions of the tradition to the understanding of the transformation of the person. The Buddha's teaching on the feelings (vedana) is the most important framework for the understanding of the affective life, and it is significant for the understanding of the relationship between the feelings and the suffering.

⁴The Satipatthana Sutta's treatment of the feelings is the most important. "The monk observes the feelings as the feelings: the feelings of pleasure, the feelings of pain, the feelings of neutrality. He observes the feelings as the feelings, without attachment, without aversion, without confusion. Through this observation, the monk understands the true nature of the feelings: they are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self. And through this understanding, the monk becomes dispassionate toward the feelings, and the feelings are abandoned, and the person is liberated" (Satipatthana Sutta, MN 10, paraphrased). The teaching is that the feelings are the immediate experience of the person, and the person's relationship to the feelings is the source of the suffering. The liberation is the recognition of the impermanent, unsatisfactory, not-self nature of the feelings, the dispassion toward the feelings, and the abandonment of the attachment to the feelings.

⁵The Cula-Vedalla Sutta (MN 119) is the most detailed Buddhist text on the treatment of the feelings, and it is significant for the teaching that the feelings are the most immediate object of the mindfulness, and that the mindfulness of the feelings is the key to the liberation from the suffering. "The Buddha said: 'The feelings are the most immediate of the phenomena. When a feeling arises, it is immediately experienced by the person as pleasant, painful, or neutral. The person who is not mindful of the feeling is the person who is overwhelmed by the feeling, who is attached to the pleasant feeling, who is averse to the painful feeling, who is confused by the neutral feeling. The person who is mindful of the feeling is the person who observes the feeling as the feeling, who understands the feeling as impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self, and who is free from the suffering of the feeling'" (Cula-Vedalla Sutta, MN 119, paraphrase).

⁶The Abhidhamma Pitaka's analysis of the feelings is the most systematic in the Buddhist tradition, and it is one of the most important contributions of the tradition to the psychology of the affective life. The Abhidhamma's analysis of the vedana (feeling) as the three types (pleasant, painful, neutral) and the seven types (the feelings associated with each of the seven cittas) and the eighteen types (the feelings associated with each of the eighteen cittas) is the most detailed psychological account of the affective life in the spiritual tradition.

⁷The Dhammapada's treatment of the feelings is the most concise. "The mind is difficult to see, very subtle, and lands on whatever it desires. Let the wise person guard the mind, for a guarded mind brings happiness" (Dhammapada, 35). The feelings are the manifestations of the mind, and the guarding of the mind is the guarding against the attachment to the feelings.

⁸The Theragatha (Verses of the Elders) and the Therigatha (Verses of the Elder Nuns) are the most important Buddhist texts on the personal experience of the feelings in the context of the spiritual life, and they are significant for the authenticity of the experience. "The elder said: 'I was overcome by the sorrow, the grief, the despair. I was like a tree that has been cut down, like a river that has been dammed, like the sun that has been covered by the clouds. But I practiced the mindfulness of the feelings, and I understood the true nature of the feelings, and I was free from the suffering of the feelings'" (Theragatha, paraphrased).

⁹The Hindu Approach to the Affective Life

¹⁰The Hindu tradition's approach to the affective life is the most varied, because the tradition has multiple paths, each with its own approach to the affective life. The Yoga tradition's approach is the most systematic, the Bhakti tradition's approach is the most emotional, the Jnana tradition's approach is the most intellectual, and the Tantric tradition's approach is the most somatic.

¹¹The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali's treatment of the affective life is the most systematic in the entire Yoga tradition, and it is one of the most important contributions of the Indian tradition to the understanding of the transformation of the person. The teaching on the kleshas (the afflictions) is the most important framework for the understanding of the affective life. "The afflictions are ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life. These are the causes of the suffering, and the practice of the yoga is the eradication of the afflictions" (Yoga Sutras, 2:2-3). The teaching is that the affective life is the source of the suffering, and the eradication of the afflictions is the means of the liberation.

¹²The teaching on the pratipaksha bhavana (the cultivation of the opposite) is the most important for the treatment of the affective life. "When the negative thoughts arise, the person should cultivate the opposite thoughts. When the thoughts of violence arise, the person should cultivate the thoughts of non-violence. When the thoughts of untruth arise, the person should cultivate the thoughts of truth. When the thoughts of stealing arise, the person should cultivate the thoughts of generosity. When the thoughts of sexual misconduct arise, the person should cultivate the thoughts of celibacy. When the thoughts of possessiveness arise, the person should cultivate the thoughts of non-possessiveness" (Yoga Sutras, 2:33-34, paraphrased). The teaching is that the affective life is the source of the suffering, and the cultivation of the opposite thoughts is the means of the transformation of the affective life.

¹³The Bhagavad Gita's teaching on the affective life is the most integrated with the theistic framework in the Hindu tradition. The teaching of the three gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas) is the most important framework for the understanding of the affective life. "The person who is in the state of tamas is the person who is in the darkness of ignorance, who is attached to the world, who is deluded by the world, who is bound by the world. The person who is in the state of rajas is the person who is in the activity of passion, who is attached to the fruits, who is engaged in the action, who is bound by the action. The person who is in the state of sattva is the person who is in the clarity of wisdom, who is detached from the fruits, who is free from the action, who is liberated from the action. The person who is beyond all three gunas is the person who is united with the Divine" (Bhagavad Gita, 14:5-27, paraphrased).

¹⁴The teaching of the Bhakti tradition is the most important in the Hindu tradition for the transformation of the affective life, because the heart is the faculty that is the most directly accessible to the devotion, the love, the surrender, and the refuge. The Tirumurai and the Divya Prabandham are the most important texts on the transformation of the affective life in the Hindu tradition, because the hymns of the Tirumurai and the Divya Prabandham are the most direct expression of the devotion to the Divine, and the devotion is the most powerful means of the transformation of the affective life.

¹⁵The Ashtavakra Gita's teaching on the affective life is the most uncompromising in the Hindu tradition. "You are the infinite consciousness, free from all limitation. Why do you experience the feelings of pleasure, the feelings of pain, the feelings of neutrality? The feelings are the appearances in the consciousness that you are, and you are always already free of the feelings. The practice is not the cultivation of the feelings but the recognition of the freedom that is already there" (Ashtavakra Gita, 1:1-2, paraphrased).

¹⁶The Avadhuta Gita's teaching on the affective life is the most radical in the Hindu tradition. "The liberated one is like a free bird; he sees the world as a dream and himself as the dreamer who has awakened; he speaks without speaking, acts without acting, and dwells in the unchanging. The heart of the liberated one is the heart that is free of all the feelings of pleasure, the feelings of pain, the feelings of neutrality, the heart that is free of all the bondage to the feelings" (Avadhuta Gita, 2:1-2, paraphrased).

¹⁷The Taoist Approach to the Affective Life

¹⁸The Taoist approach to the affective life is the most distinctive in the spiritual tradition, because it is not the cultivation of the affective life as the absence of the feelings but the dissolution of the person's attachment to the feelings, the returning of the person to the Dao, and the practice of the emptiness of the heart.

¹⁹The Tao te Ching's teaching on the affective life is the most important. "The sage empties the heart, fills the belly, weakens the ambition, strengthens the bones. He always keeps the people without knowledge and without desire, so that those who have knowledge do not dare to act. He practices non-action, and nothing is left undone" (Tao te Ching, 3). The teaching is that the affective life should be emptied of all its attachments, all its desires, all its knowledge, all its ambitions—and that the practice of the emptiness of the heart is the most direct path to the alignment with the Dao.

²⁰Chapter 14 of the Tao te Ching is the most explicit. "The person who is free from the feelings of pleasure, the feelings of pain, the feelings of neutrality is the person who is in harmony with the Dao. The person who is in harmony with the Dao is the person who is free from the suffering of the world" (Tao te Ching, 14, paraphrased). The teaching is that the affective life is the source of the suffering, and the freedom from the feelings is the means of the liberation.

²¹Zhuangzi's teaching on the affective life is the most radical in the Taoist tradition. "The perfect person has no heart of his own; the people's heart is his heart. The good he gives to others, he gives to himself. He does not accumulate for himself; the more he gives, the more he has. ... The sage's heart is at rest in the universal, and the universal heart is his" (Zhuangzi, "The Great Sage," paraphrased). The teaching is that the affective life should be the affective life that is not the affective life of the self but the affective life of the universal, and that the action of the affective life should be the action of the universal, not the action of the self.

²²The chapter "The Autumn Floods" (Zhuangzi, Chapter 17) presents the teaching that the affective life is the source of the suffering, and the liberation comes from the recognition of the relativity of all values. "From the viewpoint of the Dao, things have no nobility or baseness. ... Therefore, the sage does not take any side, does not judge anything as better or worse, and is free from the suffering that comes from judgment" (Zhuangzi, "The Autumn Floods," paraphrased).

²³The Liezi's teaching on the affective life is the most practical. "The man who has no heart of his own is the man who has recognized that the self is not separate from the world, and that the attempt to make the self separate is the source of all suffering. The man who has no heart of his own is the man who acts without self-interest, who responds to the world without resistance, who is at peace with all things. This is the state of wu-wei, and the affective life of this man is the affective life that is empty of the self, the affective life that is in harmony with the world" (Liezi, Chapter 6, "The Sage," paraphrased).

²⁴The Huainanzi's teaching on the affective life is the most cosmologically grounded. "The human being is a small universe, and the cultivation of the affective life is the alignment of the small universe with the great universe. The practice is the circulation of the energy through the body, the cultivation of the five organs, the harmonization of the yin and the yang, and the alignment of the breath with the cosmic breath. When the affective life is in harmony with the cosmic order, the person is free from all suffering" (Huainanzi, Chapter 3, paraphrased).

²⁵The Secret of the Golden Flower's teaching on the affective life is the most somatic. "The light is the light of consciousness itself; when the light is allowed to circulate freely through the body, the body becomes a vessel of spiritual transformation, and the affective life is the center of the circulation, the center of the light, the center of the transformation" (Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 1).

²⁶The Christian Approach to the Affective Life

²⁷The Christian approach to the affective life is the most structured in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the affective life through the practice of the prayer, the contemplation of the divine, and the attention to the presence of God in all things.

²⁸The Desert Fathers and Mothers' teaching on the affective life is the most practical. "The monk must train the affective life through the practice of the austerities: fasting, vigil, prayer, silence, poverty, obedience, humility, patience, and all the virtues. The affective life is the faculty that is most resistant to the spiritual life, because the affective life is the faculty that is most attached to the world, and the training of the affective life is the most difficult part of the spiritual life" (Sayings of the Desert Fathers, various apophthegmata).

²⁹The teaching of Evagrius Ponticus in the Praktikos is the most systematic. "The eight evil thoughts are the enemies of the affective life: gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride. The affective life is the faculty that is most susceptible to these enemies, and the training of the affective life is the recognition and resistance of these enemies, the cultivation of the virtues that oppose them, and the purification of the affective life from their influence" (Praktikos, prologue).

³⁰The teaching of John Cassian (Conferences, Institutes) is the most systematic in the Western monastic tradition. "The monastic life is the life of the training of the affective life. The monk must train the affective life through the practice of the austerities: fasting, vigil, prayer, silence, poverty, obedience, humility, patience, and all the virtues. The goal is the apatheia—the freedom from passionate attachment, in which the affective life is purified of all the enemies, and can respond to the will of God without distraction" (John Cassian, Conferences, various conferences).

³¹The teaching of the Cloud of Unknowing on the affective life is the most apophatic. "The soul must direct its affective life toward God through love, piercing the cloud of unknowing with a single point of longing love. The affective life must be directed toward God, not toward any created thing, not toward any vision, not toward any understanding, not toward any consolation. The affective life must simply love God in the darkness, and wait for God to reveal Himself when He wills" (The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapters 3-4).

³²The teaching of John of the Cross in the Dark Night is the most rigorous. "The dark night of the soul is the purification of the affective life from all that is not God, from all attachment, from all desire for consolation, from all self-understanding. The night is the most painful passage of the spiritual life, and yet it is necessary, because the affective life cannot be united with God as long as it is attached to anything other than God. The affective life must pass through the night without resistance, and the result is the union with God, which is the living flame of love that transforms the affective life" (The Dark Night, Book 2; Living Flame of Love, Stanzas 1-3).

³³The teaching of Meister Eckhart on the affective life is the most radical in the Christian tradition. "The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me; my eye and God's eye is one eye, one view, one knowledge, one love. The affective life that is directed toward God is the affective life that is empty of all that is not God, and the affective life that is empty of all that is not God is the affective life that is filled with God" (Meister Eckhart, Sermon 57, paraphrased).

³⁴The teaching of Julian of Norwich on the affective life is the most loving. "The affective life that is aligned with the love of God is the affective life that is free, the affective life that is joyful, the affective life that is at peace. The love of God is the ultimate object of the affective life, and the human affective life that is aligned with this love is the affective life that is transformed by this love" (Revelations of Divine Love, Chapters 1-86).

³⁵The teaching of Thomas Merton on the affective life is the most contemporary. "The affective life that is in bondage to the ego is the affective life that is attached to the false self, the affective life that is attached to the desires, the affective life that is attached to the fears. The affective life that is free from the ego is the affective life that is aligned with the true self, the affective life that is aligned with the will of God, the affective life that is the affective life of God" (New Seeds of Contemplation, from Merton).

³⁶The Sufi Approach to the Affective Life

³⁷The Sufi approach to the affective life is the most eloquent in the Islamic tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the affective life through the practice of dhikr (remembrance of God), the discipline of the heart, and the goal of fana (annihilation in the Divine).

³⁸The Conference of the Birds is the most famous allegorical description of the training of the affective life in the Sufi tradition, and it describes the journey through the seven valleys of the transformation of the affective life. "In the Valley of Search, the seeker's affective life is in the search, and the seeker finds only his own limitations. In the Valley of Love, the seeker's affective life is in the love, and the seeker is consumed by the love, and all his limitations are burned away. In the Valley of Knowledge, the seeker's affective life is in the knowledge, and the seeker finds that knowledge is not enough, and that only transformation can suffice. In the Valley of Detachment, the seeker's affective life is in the detachment, and the seeker is stripped of everything he thought was his. In the Valley of Unity, the seeker's affective life is in the unity, and the seeker sees that there is no other but God. In the Valley of Astonishment, the seeker's affective life is in the astonishment, and the seeker is overwhelmed by the vision of God. In the Valley of Poverty and Annihilation, the seeker's affective life is in the annihilation, and the seeker ceases to exist as a seeker, and what remains is the Divine" (Conference of the Birds, summary of the seven valleys).

³⁹The Masnavi is the most comprehensive Sufi text on the training of the affective life, and it is significant for the teaching that the affective life is transformed through the practice of love and the dissolution of the self. "The affective life is the one that is most attached to the world, and the training of the affective life is the most difficult part of the spiritual life. The affective life must be trained through the practice of love, through the dissolution of the self, through the surrender to the Divine. The affective life that is trained in love is the affective life that is transformed by the Divine, and the affective life that is transformed by the Divine is the affective life that is one with the Divine" (Masnavi, Book 1, paraphrased).

⁴⁰Al-Ghazzali's Ihya Ulum al-Din is the most systematic account of the training of the affective life in the Islamic tradition. "The heart is the vessel of the affective life, and its purification is the goal of all worship. The heart is distracted by the various attachments, and the practice of the spiritual life is the cleansing of the heart from these attachments, so that it becomes pure and is filled with the light of God. The affective life is the faculty that directs the heart, and the training of the affective life is the cultivation of the virtues that transform the heart: sincerity, humility, patience, gratitude, love, and all the virtues of the heart" (Ihya Ulum al-Din, "Book of the Heart").

⁴¹Ibn Arabi's Futuhat al-Makkiyah is the most comprehensive exposition of the Sufi path in the Islamic tradition, and it is significant for the teaching that the affective life is trained through the constant recognition of the Divine in all things. "The path is the path of the recognition of the unity of being; the practice is the recognition of the Divine in all things; the goal is the transformation of the consciousness so that it sees only the Divine in all things. The affective life is the faculty that directs this recognition, and the training of the affective life is the cultivation of the constant recognition of the Divine" (Futuhat al-Makkiyah, various chapters).

⁴²The teaching of Rumi in the Divan Shams is the most ecstatic. "I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as a plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was a man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as a man, to soar with angels blest. But even from angelic states, I must pass on. At last, I became a void, and from that void, I learned the secret of the universe" (Divan Shams, paraphrased). The teaching is that the affective life is the one who is most resistant to the dissolution of the self, and the training of the affective life is the most difficult part of the spiritual life, but the result is the most joyful of all transformations.

⁴³The Stoic Approach to the Affective Life

⁴⁴The Stoic approach to the affective life is the most practical in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the affective life through the discipline of judgment, the discipline of desire, and the discipline of action.

⁴⁵Epictetus's teaching on the training of the affective life is the most direct. "The training of the affective life is the discipline of the three things: the discipline of judgment, the discipline of desire, and the discipline of action. The discipline of judgment is the training of the mind to see things as they are, not as the mind thinks they are. The discipline of desire is the training of the will to desire only what is within its power, and to accept what is not within its power as it is. The discipline of action is the training of the will to act in accordance with nature, with reason, and with the good of all beings" (Epictetus, Discourses, various chapters, paraphrased).

⁴⁶Marcus Aurelius's Meditations is the most extensive personal record of the training of the affective life in the Stoic tradition. "The training of the affective life is the daily practice of the examination of the judgments: 'What is this thing? Is it within my power or not? If it is within my power, I must do it well. If it is not within my power, I must accept it as it is. The obstacles are the means of the training; the difficulties are the training; the suffering is the teacher'" (Meditations, various passages).

⁴⁷Seneca's Letters develop the same teaching in practical terms. "The training of the affective life is the daily reflection on the day's events, the examination of the errors, the correction of the faults, the preparation for the next day. The path of the affective life is the life of reason, and the life of reason is the life of virtue. The result is the equanimity, the wisdom, the courage, the justice, and the temperance that are the marks of the wise person" (Seneca, Letters, various letters).

⁴⁸The Kabbalistic Approach to the Affective Life

⁴⁹The Kabbalistic approach to the affective life is the most elaborate in the Western tradition, and it is centered on the practice of the mitzvot (commandments) and the contemplation of the sefirot as the means of the training of the affective life.

⁵⁰The Zohar's teaching on the training of the affective life is that the practice of the mitzvot is the means of the alignment of the soul with the sefirot, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent of the soul through the spiritual worlds. "The soul is a microcosm of the sefirot; the rectification of the soul is the rectification of the world. The mitzvot are the instruments of the rectification, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent. The practice of the spiritual life is the combination of the practice of the mitzvot and the contemplation of the sefirot, and the result is the tikkun of the soul and the tikkun of the world" (Zohar, III, 28b, paraphrased).

⁵¹The teaching of the Sepher Yetzirah on the training of the affective life is that the mastery of the twenty-two letters and the ten sefirot is the mastery of the forces that constitute the self and the world, and the practice of the sacred names is the means of the training of the affective life. "Through thirty-two paths of wisdom, God carved out the universe. Ten sefirot and twenty-two letters are the foundation of all things. The practice of the sacred names is the practice of the mastery of these thirty-two paths, and the result is the transformation of the soul and the ascent through the spiritual worlds" (Sepher Yetzirah, 1:1).

⁵²The teaching of the Lurianic Kabbalah on the training of the affective life is the most dramatic. "In the beginning, the Ein Sof gazed into the mirror of the Supernal Wisdom and created the vessels of the lower sefirot. But the light of the Ein Sof was too great for the vessels, and they shattered, scattering the divine sparks throughout the material world. The task of tikkun is the gathering of these sparks back into their source. The practice of the mitzvot is the means of the gathering of the sparks, and the contemplation of the sefirot is the means of the ascent of the soul. The affective life is the faculty that directs this practice, and the training of the affective life is the cultivation of the dedication to the tikkun" (Etz Chaim, 2:1).

⁵³The teaching of the Hasidic masters on the training of the affective life is the most accessible. The Baal Shem Tov's teaching is that the affective life is the faculty that is most connected to the divine spark within the person, and the training of the affective life is the cultivation of the joy and the prayer that reconnect the soul to its divine origin. "Every person has a divine spark that is the essence of their soul, and this spark is always in connection with God. The affective life is the faculty that is most connected to this spark, and the training of the affective life is the cultivation of the joy and the prayer that reconnect the soul to this connection" (Baal Shem Tov, various teachings, paraphrased).

⁵⁴The Tibetan Buddhist Approach to the Affective Life

⁵⁵The Tibetan Buddhist approach to the affective life is the most sophisticated in the Buddhist tradition, and it is centered on the cultivation of the affective life through the practice of the mindfulness of the nature of mind, the visualization of the deities, the recitation of the mantras, and the recognition of the rigpa (primordial awareness).

⁵⁶The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most detailed presentation of the training of the affective life in the context of death and the bardo states, and it is significant for the teaching that the affective life must be on the recognition of the nature of mind at all times, and especially at the time of death. "The affective life must be on the recognition of the nature of mind at all times, and especially at the time of death. The appearances that arise in the bardo are the projections of the mind, and they are empty; if one recognizes them as such, one is transformed of the affective life, and one is liberated. If one does not, one becomes attached and is reborn. Therefore, the training of the affective life must be the training of the recognition of the nature of mind, so that when the time of death comes, the recognition will arise" (Bardo Thodol, Chapter 5).

⁵⁷The Dzogchen teaching of the affective life is the most direct. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the transformation of the affective life. The affective life is the obscurations of the rigpa, and the recognition of the rigpa is the transformation of the obscurations. The practice is the recognition of the rigpa, and the result is the spontaneous transformation of the affective life, and the liberation of the person" (Dzogchen teachings, from the Nyingthig Yabshi and other collections).

⁵⁸The Mahamudra teaching of the affective life is the most systematic in the Kagyu tradition. "The recognition of the nature of mind is the transformation of the affective life. The affective life is the thoughts, the emotions, the sensations, the appearances, and the recognition of the nature of the mind is the recognition of the thoughts, the emotions, the sensations, the appearances as the play of the mind. The practice is the resting in the recognition, and the result is the spontaneous transformation of the affective life, and the liberation of the person" (Mahamudra teachings, from the Kagyu lineage).

¹This volume has addressed the most practical dimensions of the spiritual life: the discipline of the will, of the attention, of the purification, of the heart, and of the affective life. These are the disciplines that are the most directly relevant to the actual person, the most immediately applicable to the actual life, and the most difficult to actually implement.

²What has not been addressed is the question of the ways of knowing—the relationship between the intellectual recognition and the direct experience, the role of silence and negation, the role of the body and the embodied experience, the role of love and ethics in the transformation of the person, and the relationship between the person and the world. These topics, and the way they are understood by the various traditions, are the subject of Volume III.