The Sevenfold Path
Seven essays on the maps of the inner ascent that the traditions draw in seven stages: Teresa’s mansions, ʿAṭṭār’s valleys, the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha’s stages of knowledge, Buddhaghosa’s purifications, the Buddha’s factors of awakening, Augustine’s levels of the soul, and what the maps share.
Teresa of Ávila’s Interior Castle: the soul as a castle with God at its centre.
ʿAṭṭār’s Conference of the Birds: thirty birds, and a king who is a mirror.
The Yoga Vāsiṣṭha: from the wish for the good to the state beyond waking and sleep.
Buddhaghosa’s Path of Purification: seven chariots, each only as far as the next.
The Seven Factors of Awakening
The Buddha’s seven qualities of a mind ready to wake.
The Seven Levels of the Soul
Augustine’s ascent from life itself to contemplation.
Why Seven?
The maps compared: one path, or several?