I'm feeling like It'sRaining is closer to it. I don't think it is a listening ringing in the ear (which is sometimes a byproduct of ear concentration)... or even all sounds for that matter. When I learned this in Taiwan with Hsin Tao's school, we did shamatha until we had some concentration, then switched to sounds for a few mins, then switched to the sound of no sound. (emptiness for the ear)ItsRaining wrote: ↑Tue Jul 21, 2020 1:50 pm
Sorry but that’s not what Guanyin’s method entails, Nada Yoga is a Hindu practice I assume someone is confusing the two. That wiki article is simply incorrect. If you read Avaloketishvara’s instruction it doesn’t involve listening to some humming. It just states “Upon listening to sound as it enters the object is extinguished” there Is nothing about some specific sound.
That translation inserts several words not present in the original text such as “sound of the mind essence”. Neither sound nor mind essence is there is Chinese, instead it’s just Self Nature which is emptiness and emptiness has no sound, listening is used as a metaphor hear for Prajna.
Although, the ch'an teachers I learned from did often mention the mind coming back to its origin point. AJP mentioned "turning inward of the ear organ." I've always wondered about the meaning of this... I could be wrong, but from what I've gathered it's about the 6 senses not "outward seeking" 攀緣 (a term difficult to translate) and instead "shutting off the sense doors." One ch'an teacher I met said an old ch'an practice was to be as if blind and deaf... (until enlightenment).
When I was at Dharma Drum, Master Sheng Yen often classified practicing emptiness in terms of Silent Illumination... a sitting and non-doing, not focusing on any object in particular but remaining aware. In my understanding, Master Sheng Yen would see Guanyin's method 耳根圓通 "full penetration of the ear" as a Silent Illumination practice, entered through the dharma door of the ear. Listening to the sound of emptiness. For Master Sheng Yen, my impression was that all ch'an practices and practices of emptiness culminate in Sillent Illumination (chinese parallel of shikantaza, and its source).
In case anyone can read chinese, there is a book Master Sheng Yen wrote (but hasn't been translated yet) called 《觀音妙智:觀世音菩薩耳根圓通法門講要》. You can find it in this database of all of Master Sheng Yen's works. The third option from the bottom 第九輯 外文書 is a list of many of his books in English. (Although in my opinion the best ones are absent from the list. Illuminating Silence, and The Method of No Method... both taken from retreats he gave on Silent Illumination. Translated by the late John Crook, his best translator.)
http://ddc.shengyen.org/