How To Be Invincible

Achieving Heroic Progress Through an Ancient Meditation Practice

Atonement” by Autumn Skye (with permission)

The thing about heroes is that they are relentless in their focused efforts to achieve their goal — something which is bigger and more important than themselves. That’s the part we hear about. As to how they do it, well, usually they just seem superhuman in some undefinable way. But what if they are not? What if they have chanced upon, or been taught, a secret way of making themselves impervious to all the hinderances that normally keep us from achieving our goals, of being heroes in our own lives?

A very long time ago, there was a man named Avalokitasvara in India who became the avatar for the manifestation of heroic progress, for individuals who wanted to be like him. Over time, his name was changed, his identity morphed into both male and female versions as it spread through parts of the world, and his practice technique fell away into obscurity, even though he described it in great detail, including both what he did in the practice, as well as what benefits came to him — and to anyone else who followed his example — at each step. And although the title of this article might make it seem like the effect I am going to talk about is something that will take a big investment of time and energy over many years, it’s actually a side-effect of the very earliest, and relatively easiest, steps in his practice.

This practice description that I am referring to, exists in a Buddhist “sutra” (a record of a talk the Buddha had with his cousin, Ananda, and some other friends) called the “Surangama Sutra,” which, in addition to many useful discussions about meditation and what “mind” means, as well as the meditation technique used by Avalokitasvara, it also has a rather prolonged discussion about why his practice should be used by everyone who finds themselves in difficult times, like those we are facing today.

And the name “Surangama” means ‘Heroic Progress.”

There is even a prophecy that exists in which the Buddha asserts that all of us in the world today — actually during 2026 thru 2032 (yes, specific dates)–should learn this practice and use it to remain impervious to the difficulties we are going to experience due to a pandemic(!), increasing volcanic activity(!), widespread…