Hi Mike
You keep missing the point, I am not saying to disregard the suttas and not study them. The mode of always verifying anything only by written quotes is an out of date mode, this doesn't mean that the suttas are rejected or any of the ancient texts. Most of the real understanding is in-between the words, not limited to the words., and may come as suprise that its foreign to the dharma traditions to study them in this way.
The thing that is tripping most literal people is that the Third eye is somehow only belonging to Hindu traditions, thats like saying we only have water in English speaking countries and other countries have a foreign version and cant really be considered as water, even if it looks similar, if it doesnt say water on the bottle when abroad its probably not the same thing, for me that is bordering on insanity or certainly a closed and crystallized form of reasoning, I will refrain from using the word intellect.
Doesn't matter who I am, post should be read in more trans personal ways, this is the way dhamma is communicated. After Gotama was enlightened he did not refer to himself or his teachings as coming from siddharta prince of Sakhya. Thinking like this is again falling for materialistic mode of ego based individual knowledge source, another outdated mode. Suttas are transcendental knowledge spoken and recorded by awakened beings, why do people always want to reduce them to fit into tiny cavities of limited vessels.
i posted Ajahn Chahs video not because of the heading but for the teaching he gave, he was a living breathing sutta, carrying the message of Gotama, who carried the same message of all Buddhas, we just help reflect that same essence, by refining and perfecting the dhamma, its always a living tradition.
The Truth Is Always the Same
Many well read people would comment that Luang Pu's teachings were very similar to those of Zen or the Platform Sutra. I asked him about this many times, and finally he replied in an trans-personal way.
" All the Truths of the Dharma are already present in the world. When the Buddha Awakened to those Truths, he brought them out to teach to the beings of the world. Now, because those beings had different propensities - coarse or refined - he had to use up a lot of words: 84,0000 sections of dharma in all. When wise people try to select the words best suited to explain the Truth to those who aim at the Truth, they have to use the methods of the Truth that, on reflection, are the most corrected and complete, without worrying about the words or getting fixated on the letters of the texts in the least way at all."
Gifts He Left Behind
The Dharma Legacy of Phra Ajaan Dune Atulo