The Recognition Sutras: Illuminating a 1,000-Year-Old Spiritual Masterpiece Kindle Edition

The first time I heard the first Sutra read to me I knew that I was hearing a deep truth. "Awareness free and independent is the cause of the performance (at that time the translation was accomplishment) of everything." It was by happenstance that I decided to take this online course with a guy I had just met in a yoga course I was taking, but obviously the universe was working in my direction.As the title says there was a feeling of recognition for me. It articulated something that I had experienced several times but could not put into words. It was amazing to me that this was a thousand-year-old text. I think of Ksemaraja as my Guru. (For me it is somehow easier to have someone who is long gone because I don't have to worry about finding out some big scandal, I don't need to be sidetracked.)I have been studying with Christopher (Hareesh) for eight or nine years. Although I have studied some other things with him, is this this text that keeps me coming back. When I first studied it was probably a 50-page notebook that mainly consisted of the sutras and Ks own wise commentary from a millennia ago!What a blessing to now have a 500-page book so beautifully put together, in a paper book in a permanent and easily accessible format...and Kindle.... From the many classes he has taught with some of our best discussions and points of view articulated so completely (to be read again by me at my own pace). He had to explained to us in response to one of my questions that the translation wasn't complete until it was brought into modern day vernacular and life experiences.I was lucky enough to study with Hareesh as he was unfolding his contemplations and expanding his commentary on the Sutras. In a couple Immersions I did with him, I got to see him asking us as students which words and concepts would best explain what he was trying to get across.All of the sessions were recorded. I listened to most of them at least twice. I'm a bit slow I guess, I needed to go over it and over it too have a deep understanding of what was being said. Or maybe I just like being bathed in the wisdom. They are deeply moving for me, and reading it as a slow process because I really want to take in the words and the feeling and the meaning.The book is a gift because those expansions of the original teachings are now put down in a graceful and articulate manner, a lot of the same material that was taught to me before in an oral tradition.. It is evident to me that this book was transforming for him. It is unique in that he is both a scholar and a practitioner , which makes the book have a different feeling, clarity and passion. The introductory part is very moving. There are some great passages on how to implement the teachings mainly coming out of the later Sutras.1000 years ago!And it's lovely, direct prose.This will be a book that I read over and over, I've been feeling that I can let go of most other spiritual books that I've accumulated over the years. There's so much in this 1-500 page book. With even nice plates of the original Sanskrit text.for those like that kind of thing. (My preference is to have someone who's been studying Sanskrit and these texts since he was very young do the language learning and translation for me has Christopher has dedicated his life.)One of the beauties of this book is that you can just read a Sutra and contemplate it and go deeper and deeper into the understanding of the nature of the universe.. Or you can take the path of reading the deceptively simple and carefully chosen words slowly.A clearly contemplated choice of translation can allow me to slip into a deep and altered state. That's personally what I want In a book like this.Most of the favorite books I have a psychological or spiritual manner touch me touch me both in my heart and my intellect. This certainly does that for me. Or maybe as it is taught in the sutras it is a co-creation that evokes the deep understanding and engagement.I strongly recommend this for all serious spiritual Seekers. I think it will be of great interest to people in the yoga and Buddhist (especially Dzochen) World and perhaps Mystic or shamanic traditions, rounding out the other sacred texts that are more commonly taught. As you will see when you read the book, we are very blessed that this text wasn't lost in antiquity.Do yourself a favor, buy it and either breeze through it as one person I know did or go through it slowly to get the experience of immersing yourself in it. Or a little of both

I discovered this work as I began a transformative physical, mental, and spiritual practice of yoga with a gifted teacher. I wanted to understand more about the philosophy that underlies yoga, but I am also a scholar and professor, so I’m always inclined to dig deeper into things. I wanted more than the platitudes and simplicities that one finds in new age spirituality, and what I discovered in Wallis’s work is a truly powerful and serious examination of non dual Tantra that I had not known about at all, and which my usually skeptical self found to be truly remarkable and transformative.Wallis is a self-described scholar-practioner, and I was deeply impressed with the scholarly depth of his translations and interpretations of the Recognition Sutras and their applicability to the problems of modern life and the quandaries of self-identity that are especially poignant at present . A work like this looks quite off putting at first glance : a thousand year old text and tradition, written in Sanskrit, distant across time and space, with complex conceptual terminology.What Wallis has done is bring this text and tradition to modern readers in an outstanding translation and a crystal clear, gripping writing style that I found irresistible. Whatever challenges one initially faces from the seemingly esoteric nature of the text and tradition melt away with Wallis’s magnificent presentation, analysis, and most importantly, his ability to present to us the exceptional relevance of this philosophy for transformative self and soul work.You would be hard pressed to read this and not find yourself awakened in so many unexpected and powerful ways.

A Translucent Gem of Supreme Wisdom In the Midst of A Dark AgeThe Recognition Sutras elaborated and translated by Christopher D Wallis and originally written by the Tantric mystic saint Rajanaka Kṣemarāja (क्षेमराज) (late 10th to early 11th century) is a thorough and at times breathtaking endeavor at pointing out the essential nature of all reality, which is pure & full awareness.It sounds so simple and yet as both Christopher and Ksemaraja expound, we perpetually contract this open radiant essence in favor for the content of its own projection. At times a bit esoteric and cryptic, at others straightforward; The Recognition Sutras offers many different angles of perspective into the luminous essence which shines indefinitely, awaiting its re-cognition to melt our burdensome shackles into bliss. The resurfacing of this text in the modern era is truly a miraculous blessing -- bestowing the opportunity to surrender this life of mediocrity and agony to the eternal flame of our own joyful play.At times Christopher expounds his perspective to academic proportions, and at others gets a bit poetic allowing his own mystical revelation to make itself evident, garnering the experience for both the scholar and lay practitioner. Although I can't say I agree entirely with some of Christopher's conclusions, I realize the genius behind these Sutras is to be both profoundly simple, and invite rigorous philosophical inquiry. In fact, many of the Sutras completely stupefied me, causing hours of contemplation and cognitive grappling, which of course was most likely the original intention. It is evident Christopher was extra careful in his translation not to take for granted the readers knowledge of Sanskrit terms and/or yogic ideas. With that said, to really fully grasp many of the concepts completely, one should probably read the authors other work, 'Tantra Illuminated' to gain a thorough understanding & context.Overall, I give this work 5 stars. A truly stellar translation and commentary on a spiritual masterpiece. The only criticisms I can muster are the occasional academic digression into the nuances of the translation and perhaps the nature of the work itself, which is to reiterate it's main point in a cyclical fashion -- perhaps to give the seeker of truth the necessary affirmation that the succulent nectar of Goddess Awareness awaits and is imminent right now.