112 doorways into stillness.

The Vigyan Bhairava Tantra is a short Sanskrit text from the Kashmir Shaiva tradition of India, more than a thousand years old. It is written as a conversation: the goddess Devi asks the god Shiva, in his form as Bhairava, what the nature of reality is, and how to know it.

Shiva does not answer with philosophy. Instead he offers 112 brief techniques, called dharanas, each one a different doorway into stillness. Some use the breath, some sound or sight, some ordinary moments such as eating, falling asleep or meeting a friend. The text suggests that any one of them, practiced wholeheartedly, can be enough.

In the 20th century the text became widely known in the West, especially through Osho's long commentary on it, The Book of Secrets. The text itself is ancient and belongs to no one. Here each technique is retold in plain words with a simple way to practice it today.