The Road of the Heart

"Some of the God-fire in your heart must have rubbed off on your letter I received last evening. I read it to Baba and the look on His face was very deep. His message for you is that you are very fortunate to experience this Love and that you should, "Plunge in, unafraid."

It immediately brought to my mind something Baba told us one evening just before the accident and made us repeat it a few times. It is the lines of an Urdu couplet by a mystic poet: "Understand well this Love is no joke; it is an Ocean of Fire in which you have to plunge deep and drown yourself."

The road of the mind is narrow, and for a dnyani (seeker) it is a long journey. The road of the heart, however, has no limits and it's the most direct to God. For the dnyani there are a thousand questions to all of which the bhakti (lover) has one answer — and it is all-sufficient and satisfying."

-- Mani Irani

Thus Man Becomes God

One can find volumes and volumes of prose and poetry about love, but there are very, very few persons who have found love and experienced it. No amount of reading, listening and learning can ever tell you what love is. Regardless of how much I explain love to you, you will understand it less and less if you think you can grasp it through the intellect or imagination.

Hafiz describes the bare truth about love when he says:

Janab-e ishqra dargah basi bala tar-azaq'l ast: Kasi in astan busad kay jan der astin darad.

The majesty of love lies far beyond the reach of intellect;
only one who has his life up his sleeve dares kiss the threshold of love.

The difference between love and intellect is something like that between night and day; they exist in relation to one another and yet as two different things. Love is real intelligence capable of realizing truth; intellect is best suited to know all about duality, which is born of ignorance and is entirely ignorance. When the sun rises, night is transformed into day. Just so, when love manifests, not-knowing (ignorance) is turned into conscious-knowing (knowledge).

In spite of the difference between a keenly intelligent person and a very unintelligent person, each is equally capable of experiencing love. The quality which determines one's capacity for love is not one's wit or wisdom, but one's readiness to lay down life itself for the beloved, and yet remain alive. One must, so to speak, slough off body, energy, mind and all else, and become dust under the feet of the beloved. This dust of a lover who cannot remain alive without God — just as an ordinary man cannot live without breath — is then transformed into the beloved. Thus man becomes God.

-- Meher Baba

So be it. Svaha!

External Conformity and Spiritual Emancipation

The Two Levels of Christian Life:

1. External Conformity: "[The] stage of external conformity to religious injunctions or traditions is known as the pursuit of Shariat or Karma-Kanda. It covers actions like the offering of daily prayers, visiting of holy places, performance of duties prescribed by scriptures and observance of well established rules of the ethical codes generally accepted by the moral consciousness of the times. The stage of external conformity is useful in its own way as a spiritual discipline; but it is by no means free from evil effects, for it not only tends to make a man dry, rigid and mechanical, but it often nourishes some kind of subtle egotism....

Even at the stage of Shariat or Karma-Kanda allegiance to religions is not infrequently a source of inspiration for many selfless and noble acts for, while these dogmas or creeds are blindly accepted, they are often held with a fervour and enthusiasm which supply a dynamic element to the ideology which has been accepted by the person for the moment. Dogmas and creeds, as compared with barren views and doctrines, have the distinct advantage of being embraced not only by the intellect but also by the heart. They cover and affect a wider part of personality than purely theoretical opinions.

Dogmas and creeds generally, however, are as much a source of evil as of good, because in them the guiding vision is clouded owing to degeneration or suspension of critical thinking. If allegiance to creeds and dogmas has sometimes done good to the individual or to the community to which he belongs, it has more often done harm. Though the mind and heart are involved in allegiance to dogmas and creeds, both function in such case under the serious handicap of suspension of thought. Hence dogmas and creeds do not contribute to unmixed good."

2. Spiritual Emancipation: "The soul often spends several lives in gathering the lessons of external conformity; but there always comes a time when it tires of external conformity and becomes more interested in the realities of the inner life. When the worldly man takes to this higher kind of search he might be said to have become an aspirant. Like the insect which passes on through metamorphosis to the next stage of existence, the soul transcends the phase of external conformity (i.e., Shariat or Karma-Kanda) and enters upon the path of spiritual emancipation (i.e., Tarikat or Moksha-Marga). In this higher phase the soul is no longer satisfied by external conformity with certain rules, but wants to acquire those qualifications which would make its inner life spiritually beautiful....

The rise from Shariat or Karma-Kanda to Tarikat or Moksha-Marga is not to be interpreted therefore as being merely a departure from external conformity. It is not a change from conventionality to idiosyncrasy, from the usual to the unusual, but it is a change from a life of thoughtless acceptance of established traditions, to a mode of being which is based upon thoughtful appreciation of the difference between the important and the unimportant. It is a change from a state of implicit ignorance to a state of critical thoughtfulness. At the stage of mere external conformity the spiritual ignorance of man is often so complete that he does not even realise that he is ignorant. But when the person is being awakened and enters the Path he begins by realising the need for true light. In the initial stages the effort to attain this light takes the form of intellectual discrimination between the lasting and the transitory, the true and the false, the real and the unreal, the important and the unimportant....

When a person gives up uncritically accepted dogmas and creeds in favour of views and doctrines to which he has devoted thought, there is a certain amount of advance insofar as his mind has now begun to think and critically examine its beliefs. Very often, however, the newly held beliefs are seen to lack the fervour and enthusiasm which characterised allegiance to dogmas and creeds. If these newly held beliefs lack motive power, they belong only to the superficial aspect of life and they hang loosely upon the person like an overcoat. The mind has been emancipated from the domination of uncultured emotion, but this is often achieved by sacrificing the co-operation of the heart. If the results of critical thought are to be spiritually fruitful, they must again invade and recapture the heart so as to enlist its co-operative functioning.

In other words, the ideas which have been accepted after critical examination must again be released into active life if they are to yield their full benefit. In the process of practical life they often undergo a healthy transformation and become more soundly interwoven with the very fabric of life.

The transition from external conformity (i.e., Shariat or Karma-Kanda) to the life of inner realities (i.e., Tarikat or Moksha-Marga) involves two steps: (i) freeing the mind from the inertia of uncritical acceptance based upon blind imitation and stirring it to critical thinking, and (ii) bringing the results of critical and discriminative thinking into practical life. In order to be spiritually fruitful, thinking must be not only critical but creative. Critical and creative thinking leads to spiritual preparation by cultivating those qualities which contribute towards the perfection and balancing of the mind and the heart and the release of unfettered divine life."

The Nature of Mind

Mind is Nature.

The cultivation of mind is the cultivation of nature.

Nature is Mind.

The love of nature is the love of mind.

Mind and Nature: two sides of the same reality.

Psychology is Cosmology.

Buddha: The purification of mind is the purification of nature.

Christ: The creation of nature is the creation of the mind.

Buddha: To unbound mind is to unbound nature.

Christ: To save nature is to save the mind.

Buddha: To act with wisdom and compassion is to act intelligently with the mind and gently with nature.

Christ: To love God and others is to love the mind and nature.

Mind is Nature. Nature is Mind.

Psychology is Cosmology.

Only a Little While

"My husband, Jeff, and I (Arlene) had heard of Baba from different people in 1975 before we met each other. I was very fascinated when I first heard about Him and purchased God Speaks: The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose by Meher Baba.

In 1980 my husband and I started talking about Baba and contacted Kitty Davy at the Meher Center in Myrtle Beach to order some books. When the box of books came, The Perfect Master, a biography of Meher Baba, was at the top of the box, face up. As soon as Jeff got the box opened for me, I saw Baba's picture on the cover and experienced His beautiful love. Remembering was so sweet, I cried and cried. After a while I could talk and said to Jeff, "I remember, I remember."

I called my twin sister Eileen and told her I had something to show her. She came over right away and when I handed her the book she too said, "I remember knowing Him." Now a flood of thoughts came pouring in. The memory of the summer of 1937; little seven year old twin sisters standing in their play house; the first visit from their beautiful play companion.

As Eileen recalls, "Our friend was sitting across the room in His white robe and sandals, looking radiant and happy. Our little hearts jumped with joy. And we said, 'You will play with us now, you will play with us now.' He nodded His head, smiled happily and put His arms out to welcome us. We ran to Him, to receive His warm embrace. It felt like we were melting into Him.

"Such wonderful visits we remember, like the time we put our mother's big hats on His head. And with each hat we put on, He would make a funny face.

"We remember how much He loved to look in our play purses and always seemed surprised at what He found. How we laughed together. Our most cherished remembrance was serving tea."

Reminiscing about the days we had tea with Baba is always special, Baba sitting and looking so sweet with saucer and tea cup in His beautiful hands. A feeling of something very special seemed to come over us. As we lifted our cups to our lips, Baba's eyes seemed to water and shine with a flow that made our little hearts seem to know He was saying, "I love you, my little ones."

On one visit, Baba put His hands out, palms up, and we knew to put our hands in His. He closed His hands over ours and held our hands in His as He drew us over to Himself. We stood looking into His beautiful face for a long time it seems, enjoying every minute.

He showed us a mischievous side of Himself. We would play a game of slipping our fingers into His. He would pretend He couldn't catch them. Then, just as we thought we were winning, He would close His fingers and catch us every time. How that made us laugh with excitement.

We played hide and seek with Baba. We would put scarves over our heads and He would pull them off, one by one. The expression of joy that would come over His face as he found us hiding under the last one — words cannot describe His beautiful face.

Eileen remembers with delight, "We enjoyed playing that we were actresses on stage. We asked our mother if she would help us fix up a stage setting. She drew a rope across our summer kitchen (that's a small room off the main kitchen). That is where Baba always appeared to us. She hung old drapes over the rope and we took many an extra curtain call there for our playmate, Baba.

"When we came into the summer kitchen one summer morning to play actresses, we saw Baba sitting on the stage. He looked very natural sitting there. As we performed our tap dance and singing and a little play, He would clap and clap. He made us feel so happy and uninhibited. He always made us feel we were pleasing Him. He never spoke but we never noticed or were affected by His silence. His love was so full and everything we did was so pleasing to Him that we only wanted to do more and more. We were never embarrassed even though we were very shy.

"There was one thing He would never let us do and that was touch His feet. He insisted on obedience but he was so loving with it. We never questioned Him, never thought of doing so.

"The last time he appeared to us, He was standing and He said, 'You have seen me for a little while and in a little while I will come again and you will know me. Now I must go and you will not remember these times.' Then his body split into two — two of Him. He went away very quickly into both of us at the same time. Right into us and from that moment until 43 years later, when my sister opened the box and saw Baba's picture on The Perfect Master, she hadn't remembered that He had appeared to us. Neither had I until my sister called me over to her house and I saw His picture and suddenly recalled that He had been with us so long ago. But in Baba's time, it was only a little while."

55 Maxims

55 Maxims for Christian Living
by Fr. Thomas Hopko

1. Be always with Christ.
2. Pray as you can, not as you want.
3. Have a keepable rule of prayer that you do by discipline.
4. Say the Lord’s Prayer several times a day.
5. Have a short prayer that you constantly repeat when your mind is not occupied with other things.
6. Make some prostrations when you pray.
7. Eat good foods in moderation.
8. Keep the Church’s fasting rules.
9. Spend some time in silence every day.
10. Do acts of mercy in secret.
11. Go to liturgical services regularly
12. Go to confession and communion regularly.
13. Do not engage intrusive thoughts and feelings. Cut them off at the start.
14. Reveal all your thoughts and feelings regularly to a trusted person.
15. Read the scriptures regularly.
16. Read good books a little at a time.
17. Cultivate communion with the saints.
18. Be an ordinary person.
19. Be polite with everyone.
20. Maintain cleanliness and order in your home.
21. Have a healthy, wholesome hobby.
22. Exercise regularly.
23. Live a day, and a part of a day, at a time.
24. Be totally honest, first of all, with yourself.
25. Be faithful in little things.
26. Do your work, and then forget it.
27. Do the most difficult and painful things first.
28. Face reality.
29. Be grateful in all things.
30. Be cheerfull.
31. Be simple, hidden, quiet and small.
32. Never bring attention to yourself.
33. Listen when people talk to you.
34. Be awake and be attentive.
35. Think and talk about things no more than necessary.
36. When we speak, speak simply, clearly, firmly and directly.
37. Flee imagination, analysis, figuring things out.
38. Flee carnal, sexual things at their first appearance.
39. Don’t complain, mumble, murmur or whine.
40. Don’t compare yourself with anyone.
41. Don’t seek or expect praise or pity from anyone.
42. We don’t judge anyone for anything.
43. Don’t try to convince anyone of anything.
44. Don’t defend or justify yourself.
45. Be defined and bound by God alone.
46. Accept criticism gratefully but test it critically.
47. Give advice to others only when asked or obligated to do so.
48. Do nothing for anyone that they can and should do for themselves.
49. Have a daily schedule of activities, avoiding whim and caprice.
50. Be merciful with yourself and with others.
51. Have no expectations except to be fiercely tempted to your last breath.
52. Focus exclusively on God and light, not on sin and darkness.
53. Endure the trial of yourself and your own faults and sins peacefully, serenely, because you know that God’s mercy is greater than your wretchedness.
54. When we fall, get up immediately and start over.
55. Get help when you need it, without fear and without shame.

Desi Bible to Have Verses from Vedas, Upanishads

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pictures of a turbaned Joseph and sari-clad Mary with baby Jesus in an "Indianised" version of the Bible is set to create waves across the country. In a unique experiment, the Catholic Church is coming out with a version of the Bible with verses from ancient Indian texts like the Upanishads and Vedas to explain the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

This is an unprecedented attempt to encourage a contextual reading and understanding of the Bible, says the church spokesman, Paul Thelakat.

"The Biblical text remains the same but verses from Vedas and Upanishads have been used to interpret Christian teachings," says Thelakat. As far as Catholics are concerned, they have to live and interpret their Christian faith and scriptures within the given culture, he adds.

Thiruvananthapuram Archbishop Sosa Pakiam, in his preface to the Bible, says a unique feature of the new Bible is that it has many references to the spiritual message and Biblical values found in the scriptures of other great Indian religions.

Hang Ten

Surfers read the Bible littorally.
-- Anonymous

Understanding the Guru

"An Indian will listen to his guru, nod his head, and go home and, even if he's a deeply religious person, ignore fifty per cent of what the guru has told him, because his own sense of the world tells him to do that," an Indian man who is well versed in Yogic culture said to me recently. But Westerners who jump heart first into a cloistered Indian subculture do not always find it easy to distinguish what is spiritual from what is Indian-or merely the whim of the guru."

Keep the Faith

Even if YOU don't know what faith you are, Belief-O-Matic™ knows. Answer 20 questions about your concept of God, the afterlife, human nature, and more, and Belief-O-Matic™ will tell you what religion (if any) you practice...or ought to consider practicing.

Warning: Belief-O-Matic™ assumes no legal liability for the ultimate fate of your soul.

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

1.	Hinduism (100%)
2.	Mahayana Buddhism (98%)
3.	Neo-Pagan (98%)
4.	Jainism (94%)
5.	Sikhism (93%)
6.	New Age (79%)
7.	Bahá'í Faith (78%)
8.	Unitarian Universalism (75%)
9.	Orthodox Judaism (74%)
10.	Liberal Quakers (73%)
11.	Reform Judaism (69%)
12.	Theravada Buddhism (63%)
13.	Islam (62%)
14.	New Thought (49%)
15.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (48%)
16.	Orthodox Quaker (48%)
17.	Taoism (46%)
18.	Scientology (44%)
19.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (38%)
20.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (36%)
21.	Secular Humanism (35%)
22.	Seventh Day Adventist (35%)
23.	Eastern Orthodox (29%)
24.	Roman Catholic (29%)
25.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (27%)
26.	Jehovah's Witness (27%)
27.	Nontheist (21%)

Come and See

No religion is perfect. All religions make mistakes. (True, in the great-scheme-of-things, all is perfect and there are no mistakes; but I'm talking about a more pedestrian sort of imperfection and mistakenness.) For many people, there is no one religion that they totally agree with 100% in all matters of doctrine and practice.

Some members of a religion would say that, if you don't agree 100% in all matters of doctrine and practice, then you shouldn't be a member of the religion in question. Balderdash! Poppycock! They're flimflamming, bamboozling, hoodwinking with such statements. From an Abrahamic perspective, God may not have created this world imperfect, but He certainly has allowed it to continue in such a state of being, and to search for perfection in religion (which is certainly composed of imperfect beings and ideas) is about as smart as to search for perfection in a human being.

The purpose of religion is spiritual transmission, not perfection in either doctrine or practice. Start from the baseline that all religions are imperfect and mistaken, to one degree or another. For some, such a realization might lead them to dispense with religion altogether. For others, it might lead them to remain in the religion to which they currently belong. For some others, it opens up a different sort of possibility: the question becomes, which religion exhibits spiritually potency, doctrinal differences and institutional failings notwithstanding?

There are two ways to approach the spiritual life. One way is the way of submission: one simply accepts whatever a particular religious tradition teaches as being true and good. The way of submission is a venerable path, but it's not the only choice. Unfortunately, the way of submission has dominated much of Christian history.

The second way is the way of "come and see", scientific-tantra, noetic experimentation, or spiritual empiricism: one tests the doctrines and practices within one's own body-mind, adopting what proves true and good, and putting to the side what does not. The way of scientific-tantra has not dominated Christian history and practice, but it does exist.

At the Level

At the level of doctrine, the religions are very different,

because ideas and words are very different.

At the level of the experience and embodiment of the heart, the religions are the same,

because there is no religion there.

Truly, there is no need to convert from one religion to another.

When you know

that Christ is the "I am" of Advaita...

that Allah is the Power of Nirvana...

then you can praise Siva during Mass,

and take refuge in the Buddha in the Mosque.

Noble Truths for House-Holders

1. First noble truth: the truth of compassion (or "karuna") and wisdom (or "prajna"). Compassion and wisdom make life on earth enjoyable.

2. Second noble truth: the origin of compassion and wisdom exists in the realization that all beings seek and deserve compassion and wisdom, as relief from the frustrations and sufferings of life.

3. Third noble truth: family life is an excellent environment in which to practice compassion and wisdom. Spouse and children are living Buddhas, ready to teach us what we need to know and what we need to open our hearts to.

4. Fourth noble truth: compassion and wisdom are cultivated via the noble eightfold path.

Exactly How

Exactly how Buddhism and Christianity are compatible will be increasingly revealed over the coming centuries. No need to attempt, right now, a "forced" syncretism. The organic process is the best process. Still, one can understand the Christian term "God" in Buddhist ways. "God" would, then, not refer to one particular Buddhist idea; "God" would possess a range of potential meanings, depending upon the context. Possible Buddhist terms for "God":

1. The Buddha
2. The Dharma
3. The Sangha
4. Nirvana
5. Tathagata-Garbha
6. Buddha-Nature
7. Nirmanakaya
8. Sambhogakaya
9. Dharmakaya
10. Dzogchen

What it takes to be a Buddha

In the beginning is the heart.

The heart manifests nature.

Nature is the primal manifestation of the heart.

The heart radiates nirvana.

Nirvana is the primal radiation of the heart.

Nature and nirvana suffer from separation.

Nature and nirvana give birth to the person.

Nature and nirvana exist within the person.

Nature and nirvana exist in separation within the person.

The person suffers from the separation of nature and nirvana.

The person lacks wholeness. The person lacks health.

The person starts to evolve within nature.

Evolution is love.

Evolution is the love of nature expressed by the person.

Evolution is the integration of the person.

Evolution is the integration of nature and nirvana, as the person.

The destiny of the person is to heal the separation of nature and nirvana,

and thus to heal the person.

The destiny of the person is to love nature.

(The love of nature attracts nirvana.

Nature and nirvana in union is the culmination of evolution.)

Love of nature is necessary for the wholeness of the person.

Love of nature is necessary for the healing of the person.

To heal is to make whole.

To make whole is to save.

That which saves is a savior.

Love of nature makes whole.

Love of nature heals.

Love of nature saves.

Love of nature is a healer.

Love of nature is the healer.

Love of nature is a savior.

Love of nature is the savior.

Love of nature heals the person.

A healed person is a buddha.

The union of nature and nirvana exists within and as a buddha.

A buddha is a consummate lover of nature.

No love of nature? No buddha.

No buddha? No love of nature.

Zwei Bedeutungen (Two Meanings)

"Christ" has two meanings. The first meaning refers to one who is "anointed with oil". "Oil" here refers to the "amrita" or "soma" that is produced by the brain during the processes of spiritual transformation. Thus, one who has spiritually transformed, is a "Christ". The second meaning of "Christ" points to the action of spiritual activity itself, also called "sadhana" or "yoga". When symbolizing yoga, "Christ" may be spelled "christ".

"He who is endowed with wisdom, frees himself in this very life, both from worrying about his 'bad' deeds and glorying in his 'good' deeds. Therefore, one should devote oneself to christ. Indeed, christ is skill in action."
-- Inspired by Bhagavad Gita II:50

Moses and Brahmamuhurta

Awakening during brahmamuhurta is considered the best time for arising from slumber, from a natural and spiritual perspective. During these early morning hours, roughly from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., the environmental potency makes spiritual practice immensely powerful. In the Judaic scriptures, Moses built an altar to God in those early morning hours, demonstrating the numinous force of the early morning:

Exodus 24:3-5: When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do." Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.

He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD.

The Buddhist God

It's actually quite simple. There is "God" in Buddhism, if one only look at the etymology:

O.E. god "supreme being, deity," from P.Gmc. *guthan (cf. Du. god, Ger. Gott, O.N. guð, Goth. guþ), from PIE *ghut- "that which is invoked" (cf. Skt. huta- "invoked," an epithet of Indra), from root *gheu(e)- "to call, invoke."

"God", then, is that which is invoked. Whether "God" is omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent, is irrelevant. In Buddhism, the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha are all invoked, in one way or another. So, the Triple Gem is the God, as understood within Buddhism.

Four Turnings of the Wheel of Christian Dharma

The Four Turnings of the Wheel of Christian Dharma:

1. Matter/energy as the foundation of reality. Christian materialism/naturalism, represented by Thomas Altizer's Christian atheism and (possibly) Bishop Shelby Spong. (Corresponds to Jivanta.)

2. Matter/energy in a dualistic relationship to the Transcendent. Christian dualist Transcendentalism, represented by the Arians and Jehovah's Witnesses. (Corresponds to the Beloved.)

3. The Transcendent embodied within, and expressed as, a matter/energy individual. Christian Trinitarianism, represented by Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism. (Corresponds to the Buddha.)

4. Where neither matter/energy alone, nor matter/energy:Transcendent dualism, nor Transcendent-within-matter/energy-embodiment apply: Christian Non-Dualism. (Corresponds to the Heart.)

Each turning gives distinctive interpretations of Christian doctrine. For instance, let's take the doctrine of "original sin". Christian materialism would see original sin as symbolic of the evolutionarily adaptive traits (e.g., excessive violence) that are no longer desirable within contemporary human communities. Christian dualists and Christian Trinitarians would see original sin in a similar way, as the original couple's disobedience of God's laws. Christian Non-Dualism would see original sin as the moment-to-moment conscious or unconscious movement into lust, anger, and fear. Christian Non-Dualism would then interpret the Christian Trinitarian doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary as indicative of the necessity to be re-born into love, energy, and wisdom, before the Virgin Birth of the "Christ" (or Christ-within-oneself) can take place.

Astronomical Buddhism

The Sun: The Buddha
The Moon: The Sangha
Mars: Vinaya/Renunciation
Mercury: Sutta
Jupiter: Sila/Virtue
Venus: Tantra
Saturn: The Dhamma
Rahu: Bodhisattva
Ketu: Dharmakaya

Roar of the Tigress

"I am sure you’ve noticed by now that I’ve been talking about Zen as a religion, and yet some of you may have heard that all of Buddhism, and especially Zen, is atheistic. It is not. You’ve heard this due to the fact that the Christian missionaries who brought back the Scriptures from the Far East either did not know of, or deliberately steered clear of, one particular Scripture spoken by the Buddha. In the Udana Scripture He says very clearly, “O monks, there is an Unborn, Undying, Unchanging, Uncreated.” This is what He found in meditation and which gave Him His enlightenment. In other words, He found That Which Is. What the Christians call “God” and Mohammedans call “Allah”, the Buddhists call variably: That Which Is, the Lord of the House, the Cosmic Buddha, the Eternal, Amida Buddha, the Immaculacy of Emptiness, Vairocana Buddha, the Unborn, etc....

Now, if you would study Soto Zen, or for that matter any form of Buddhism, you need three things. You need perfect faith in That Which Is, the Eternal. You need to know, to have the faith in and the willingness to go hunting for, that which will tell you about the Eternal. And you need to know that when you can’t get the answers, there are people whom you can trust to help you. In other words, when you yell, “Help! I’m stuck”, there are people who are willing and able to help. These three things are what we in Buddhism call the Three Refuges: “I take refuge in the Buddha; I take refuge in the Dharma; I take refuge in the Sangha.” These three things are absolutely essential: perfect faith, the willingness to study, and to trust someone who says, “Well, let’s talk; maybe I can help; maybe we can help each other; maybe I have a bunch of experience which I am willing to put at your disposal and see if it’s any use.” Those are the three things you’ll need if you are to study Soto Zen or any other form of Buddhism.

All the rest are beliefs which you have to prove true for yourself. The Buddha said very clearly, “Do not believe anything because I tell you. Only believe it when you have made it true for yourself.” Therefore, enlightenment is the making true for oneself of the reality of the existence, and the experience of the existence, of the Unborn. Again, remember that the word “enlightenment” has got muddled as a result of not understanding the importance of the Udana Scripture. When that scripture was first translated, incidentally, a number of people tried to pull it down saying, “Oh, it couldn’t possibly be that the Buddha had found the Eternal!” You read a bit more, and if you do, you discover that this is the only interpretation that makes sense in Buddhism. He definitely did, and it makes it into a real religion and not just a way of life.

Faith, study, and trust: if you think of the word “refuge”, what does it actually mean? To take refuge in something that you can neither see nor grasp nor feel, you have to have faith in it. When you start, perhaps you believe it, but you have to go on beyond belief: belief does not go nearly far enough. So often in religion people get stuck with belief. They think that is enough: it’s not. It has to go on to the certainty of faith, which is an absolute certainty but one which leads not to absolute belief and the hard-fisted type of certainty; it leads to perfect faith, which can allow everybody else to have their beliefs and not interfere with them, and know that when those people find perfect faith, whatever they happen to call the Eternal will be all right."

The Discipline of the Laity

The laity are free to disagree publicly with particular Christian doctrines. That is the freedom of the laity. The "free" lay-person, however, is also called to take the next step: to enter into the discipline of the laity. To disagree, or reject, a particular doctrine is simply the first step. The next step is to transform, to re-interpret, a particular doctrine, without merely rejecting a doctrine, so that that doctrine achieves wider and greater levels of description.

Christian doctrine, as understood in terms of its public formulations, is heavily exoteric. To be exoteric does not mean to be false. To be exoteric means to function on primarily physical, emotional, intellectual, and religious levels. The exoteric meaning of doctrine has a purpose for existing, since humans are physical, emotional, intellectual, and religious beings. One may find the exoteric meaning limiting, and non-expressive of reality, but that finding does not negate the exoteric purpose. In one's encounter with exotericism, one has at least two options: merely reject the exoteric teaching as false; or enter into a transformative, bathic, and holistic understanding of the exoteric, in terms of the esoteric.

The esoteric functions on primarily spiritual, transcendental, and divine levels. Humans are not simply physical, emotional, intellectual, and religious. They are also spiritual, transcendental, and divine (cf. theosis). The esoteric, though, is not the dominant aspect of the cultural, social, political, and economic realms of Christendom, since those realms are themselves based on physicality, emotion, the intellect, and religion. To expect Christian doctrine, expressed publicly, to communicate the esoteric functions of Christianity, is to confuse the levels on which public doctrine operates. The esoteric function operates outside, underneath, and beyond public Christianity, while at the same time not rejecting public Christianity. That which is "outer" always needs that which is "inner". The universe always needs the Heart. The esoteric function is the driving engine, the energy-transforming mitochondrion, the nuclear fusion at the Heart of the Sun/Son.

The Freedom of the Laity

In the Christian traditions, the clergy and the laity together constitute the Church. The clergy act as symbols of the unity of Christian doctrine. The laity, though, function in a slightly different manner. Whereas the clergy must publicly adhere to Christian doctrine (because the function of the clergy is to shepherd the laity), the laity themselves are not bound to such public adherence. Whereas the clergy are "professional" Christians (such that, if they do not publicly adhere, their clerical status may be revoked), the laity are "personal" Christians (such that, if they do not publicly adhere, their ability to participate in various Church activities may be revoked, but their status as Christians can never be taken away). Indeed, the "personal" Christian need not publicly adhere to any non-central doctrine or idea that his well-informed conscience rejects. The cost of being such a "personal" Christian may, of course, be too high for many to bear -- a "cross", if you will, too soon on the horizon.

That leads to the very appropriate question of whether it makes sense to enter into a Christian community as a "personal" Christian who rejects certain doctrines of that Christian community. I think this question confuses the issue. The purpose of entering into any community is not to be confirmed into a particular ideology. The purpose of entering into any community is to participate in that community, regardless of the ideological differences one or more people may have. Community is not simply ideas, but physicality, emotional-connections, mental engagement, and spiritual transmission. Last, but not least, community is about forgiveness, acceptance, and understanding -- beginning with oneself, and radiating outwards. To look for community initially as outside of oneself, is to miss the glory of community.

When it comes to Christian communities, the purpose of entering into any one Christian community, is to participate in the life of Christ, however truncated or abridged the clergy have defined one's participation. The life of Christ can be lived in many different ways: Vedic, Buddhic, Judaic, Islamic, Scientific, just to name a few. The life of Christ can also be corrupted in many different ways. No Christian community is free from corruption; and to let corruption (or dukkha) of any kind prevent one from participating in a Christian community, is to allow corruption (or dukkha) the final word, when the final word is Christ (or the Deathless, Amatam).

Ineffabilis Deus Mater

Pius IX, after consulting all the bishops of the world, issued Ineffabilis Deus on December 8, 1854, declaring the immaculate conception a doctrine revealed by God:

"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful." [See here for background; see also Timothy G. McCarthy. The Catholic Tradition: The Church in the Twentieth Century. 2nd Edition. Chicago: Loyola Press, 1998, 373.]

The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a profound doctrine. Within it are hidden the foundations and implications of Christian Avataric Non-Dualism.

Christian dogma has no limit. That is, the literal meanings of the dogmas do not exhaust the dogma's meanings. The literal meanings of the dogmas do not exclude additional implications, implications easily dismissed or rejected when only the literal meaning is considered. The dogmas are experimental hypotheses, working definitions, if you will, whose practicality and reality must be tested in the laboratory of one's own body-mind. In fact, to paraphrase the Buddha Shakyamuni, the final origin and end of Christian dogma cannot be seen. Dogma arises, shines, and subsides within the very Heart. The final origin and end of Christian dogma can only be known from, in, and as the very Heart.

The Genetic Code of Bio-Spirituality

The four heterocyclic bases found in deoxyribonucleic acid correspond to the four-fold structure of bio-spirituality.

The bicyclic bases adenine and guanine correspond, respectively, to the Heart and the Buddha. The two-ringed structure of the purines reflect, respectively, the Heart's non-localization as neither immanent nor transcendent; and the Buddha's embodiment of both immanence and transcendence.

The monocyclic bases thymine and cytosine correspond, respectively, to Jivanta and the Beloved. The one-ringed structure of the pyrimidines reflect, respectively, the Jivanta as totally immanent; and the Beloved as totally transcendent.

Allah is the Heart

Allah is the Non-Dual Tantric Union of Samsara and Nirvana.

Allah is the Heart of All.

La Illaha Ill'Allah.

There is nothing but Allah.

All this is Allah.

Preceded by the Heart

[Inspired by Dhammapada 1-2]

Phenomena are preceded by the Heart,
ruled by the Heart,
made of the Heart.
If you speak or act with a corrupted Heart,
then suffering follows you --
as the wheel of the cart follows
the track of the ox that pulls it.

Phenomena are preceded by the Heart,
ruled by the Heart,
made of the Heart.
If you speak or act with a calm, bright Heart,
then happiness follows you --
like a shadow,
that never leaves.

The Path to Purity

[Inspired by Dhammapada 277-279]

When you see with discernment,
"All phenomena are in constant motion" --
you grow disenchanted with not acting in the world.
This is the path to purity.

When you see with discernment,
"All phenomena are broken-hearted" --
you grow disenchanted with avoiding relationship.
This is the path to purity.

When you see with discernment,
"All phenomena are self-less" --
you grow disenchanted with selfish thought, feeling, and action.
This is the path to purity.

A Great Power

"Silence is a great power in our unseen warfare and a sure hope of gaining victory. Silence is much beloved of him, who does not rely on himself but trusts in God alone. It is the guardian of holy prayer and a miraculous helper in the practice of virtues; it is also a sign of spiritual wisdom. St. Isaac says: 'guarding your tongue [and ears] not only makes your mind rise to God, but also gives great hidden power to perform visible actions, done by the body. If silence is practised with knowledge, it also brings enlightenment in hidden doing' (ch. 31 in Russian edition). In another place he praises it thus: 'If you pile up on one side of the scales all the works demanded by ascetic life, and on the other side -- silence, you will find that the latter outweighs the former. Many good counsels have been given us, but if a man embraces silence, to follow them will become superfluous' (ch. 41). In yet another place he calls silence 'the mystery of the life to come; whereas words are the instruments of this world' (ch. 42). St. Barsanuphius places it above preaching the word of God, saying: 'If you are just on the very point of preaching, know that silence is more worthy of wonder and glory.' Thus, although one man 'holdeth his tongue because he hath not to answer', another 'keepeth silence, knowing his time' (Ecclesiasticus xx.6), yet another for some other reasons, 'for the sake of human glory, or out of zeal for this virtue of silence, or because he secretly communes with God in his heart and does not want the attention of this mind to be distracted from it' (St. Isaac, ch. 76). It can be said in general that a man, who keepeth silence, is found wise and of good sense (Ecclesiasticus xx.5).

I shall indicate to you the most direct and simple method to acquire the habit of silence: undertake this practice, and the practice itself will teach you how to do it, and help you. To keep up your zeal in this work, reflect as often as you can on the pernicious results of indiscriminate babbling [and listening] and on the salutary results of wise silence. When you come to taste the good fruit of silence, you will no longer need lessons about it."

Lorenzo Scupoli, Unseen Warfare. Edited by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain and revised by Theophan the Recluse. Translated by E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer. Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1987. Chapter 25, 146-147.

The Four Turnings

The history of religions is the history of the four turnings of the Wheel of Truth. Each religion has elements of all four turnings, but each religion usually emphasizes one turning or another.

First Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of Jivanta: The Encounter with Truth

Second Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of the Buddha: The Incarnation of Truth

Third Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of the Beloved: The Liberation into Truth

Fourth Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of the Heart: The Tantric-Eucharistic Union of Incarnation-Liberation

[Inspired by the Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma.]

Fides et Ratio: Some Meditations

The Eucharist is the practice (symbolic and actual) of the Tantric Union of Awareness (Wine) and Matter/Energy (Bread), of Spirit and Matter, of Compassion and Wisdom, of Nirvana and Samsara, of the Everything and the Nothing.

God alone IS. God is the Everything and the Nothing. To say that God created the world ex nihilo, or "out of nothing", is to say that Everything-God created the world out of Nothing-God. The Nothing, being also God, means that the world is also God.

There is only one life: the birth into the world-separate-from-God (or "original sin") and the final liberation-salvation into God-not-different-from-the-world. But this one life has many "going-to-sleeps" (temporary deaths) and "waking-ups" (temporary births). Reincarnation is true, but it's not the final truth. Heaven-and-Hell is true, but it's not the final truth.

A Hindu experiences Infinite Love and calls it "Krishna". A Christian experiences Infinite Love and calls it "Christ". Krishna is Christ, if both are understood correctly. No, let me rephrase that: Krishna is Christ, even if both are understood incorrectly.

The doctrine of papal infallibility states that, under very restricted circumstances and conditions, the Pope, when speaking most authoritatively, cannot define doctrine errantly. Whether this is true or not, is not important. If it is true, there is no way to empirically prove it thusly. In terms of shoring up faith among certain portions of the Christian population, the doctrine may be useful and unobjectionable. The doctrine need only be duly noted, by those who find it superfluous. Indeed, some things are better left alone, until the mystic-eye opens.

Through the mystic-eye, the doctrine of papal infallibility manifests a deeper significance, a significance understood in terms of non-dualism, Advaita Christanta, and intimations of Guru-Bhakti Yoga.

The energetic practice of compassion and wisdom is the foundation. One can then be Methodist, Reform, Ismaili, Vaishnava, or Gelukpa. Communal membership need not matter. Of course, in that case, one must be prepared to enjoy the heretic's reward. Whether such reward is worth it or not, depends upon a host of conditions. But some of us are born a hairesis of one, and could not care less: we don't reject; we transform. Leave politics to the politicians. Leave patriotism to the patriots.

Christ speaks through all scriptures, saints, sages, and siddhas. Translation is the lost art.

Secret Dharma

The secret to Buddhism is the secret of bhakti.

Vedanta Vallabha

Stephen Schaffer, better known as Shyamdas, was launched into his spiritual quest at age 17 through contact with Neemkaroli Baba. Now 33, Shyamdas is an avid practitioner of the Vaishnava Vallabhacharya lineage (Pushti Marg, or the Path of Grace), having studied for 7 years with various Vaishnava pundits in the Vrindavan area of India. He is a translator of Hindi, Braja Vasa and Sanskrit and Vice President of the International Pushti Margiya Vaishnava Parishad. An art dealer by profession, Shyamdas resides with his wife in Vermont. He lectures on various aspects of Hinduism and publishes his English translations of Vallab sampradaya scriptures into English. Shyamdas shared the following insights with Hinduism Today in Hawaii on March 14, 1986.

Hinduism Today: Please tell us how you became involved so deeply in the Vallabhacharya sampradaya.

Shyamdas: I went to India, got going there originally by a teacher, Neemkaroli Baba, who was the guru of Ram Dass and he resided in Vrindavan as well as in the Himalayas. So I went to Vrindavan to meet him and remained in the Vrindavan area, a 168-mile area which encompasses all the areas that are sacred to Lord Krishna. I eventually took initiation in Vallab sampradaya about a year or two afterward and lived on the Goverdan hill, which was the hill which Lord Krishna upheld to ward off Indra's rains for 7 days. There I studied with various bhaktas and acharyas on Vaisnav Vedanta. I specialize in 16th century Vrajbhasha poetry which are the poems of Surdas, who is very well known. He is perhaps the Shakespeare of Hindi literature, like Jayadev is the Shakespeare of the Sanskrit devotional literature. Surdas and Tulsidas. Surdas is considered the sun of bhakti devotion, and Tulsidas, who wrote on Rama, would be considered the moon. So I studied the poems of Surdas and I translated his life story and many of his poems, and those of a number of other poets.

I also studied Vedanta, Shuddha Advaita Vedanta of Vallabhacharya, which could be translated as "realistic monism." Vaishnavism has a number of schools, four main schools: Nimbarka, Madhva, Ramanuja (often known as Sri Sampradaya) and Vallab sampradaya. Vallab sampradaya's realistic monism is different from Shankara's interpretation of monism and parallels closely Kashmiri Shaivism and perhaps other forms of Saivism as well in that it is a real advaita philosophy that does not incorporate Shankaracharya's theories of maya, the world being false. The world Is true. But what could be false about the world is the way we see it But the world itself is true and is the manifestation of the Supreme Godhead...Vallab sampradaya believes that everything is Krishna and nothing but Krishna.

Q: Who is your guru?

A: My teacher is His Holiness Goswami Prathameshji, who heads the first seat of Vallab sampradaya. Vallab sampradaya has seven seats. He is very active in Hindu activities. He does a lot of preaching. Hindu Vishwa Parishad invites him to many of the functions.

Vallab sampradaya does not have a monk lineage per se. It's a primarily householder lineage. None of the teachers in Vallab sampradaya are sannyasins. They are all grihastha. They are all householder. That is the way the lineage was set up, unlike the other Vaishnav sampradayas. Some of them are more oriented toward sannyas. The ISKCON lineage is more sannyas oriented.

Q: Do the goswamis wear orange?

A: No, no. White. It is an extremely Vedic sampradaya. Householders are traditionally initiating gurus, too. That is something that is according to Vedic teachings, that sannyasis initiate sannyasis, and householders traditionally initiate householders. The acharyas in Vallab sampradaya observe homa and other Vedic rites as well. Of course bhakti is the main emphasis...Vallab sampradaya has a following of perhaps 30 million people. It is one of the largest Vaishnav sampradayas in India. It is not well known in the West. Its followers are all through Gujarat...And in London you have thousands of Vallab sampradaya Vaishnavas.

Vallab sampradaya is also not well known in the West. There has not been much written in English on it. And what has been written by other people who were not initiated nor studied with the lineage is often incorrect. And that is what I have been trying poetic aspect and some which have to do with its Vedantic side.

Vallab sampradaya is centered in the lilakirtan which means singing the exploits or the divine pastimes of Sri Krishna in a more classical Indian raga system. And Vallab sampradaya is very oriented towards seva, the worship of the swarupa or deity. In Vaishnavism there is no lineage that has such sublime worship - I would not call it temple worship because the worship is supposed to be a private home worship, although there are temples. It is taught in Vallab sampradaya that you should always worship Krishna. One of the ways is offering food and ornamentation, music and bhajan.

Q: Could you elaborate on your perception of Sri Adi Shankara's impact on Hinduism especially in the West.

A: Let me first say I think Shankara was a genius. I don't think there is any teacher, from Saivism to Vaishnvism, who has written as beautiful Sanskrit as Shankaracharya. He was a fantastic writer and a great teacher of what he was teaching. But if you want to view Shankara in the spirit of Vedic teachings, I think there is a problem. Number one, he is called "Buddha in disguise" by many of the earlier teachers, and this is correct. At the time Shankaracharya appeared in India, India was fairly Buddhist, and Shankaracharya could not teach a true Vedic school, because Vedic school teaches of an atma or a soul, and Buddhism does not have an atma concept, per se, and they don't accept the soul existing within the body. Shankaracharya could not bring the theistic aspect of the Vedas directly back to the people because they were too influenced by the teachings of Buddha. So what he did was bring in a teaching which was cloaked in Vedic terminology and mirrored Buddhist teachings. He brought in the pantheon of all the Hindu devas, but his teachings were essentially Buddhist to a large part. When Shankaracharya writes about Buddhism, he is unable to criticize it directly because it parallels his own thinking too much. So he just says the whole school is too ridiculous to even comment on.

Shankaracharya's theory of maya is not supported in the Upanishads. It's not supported in the Brahma Sutras and it's not supported in the Vedas - as the world being false, that this world is an illusion, a dream with no substance and in some way separate from God. This is not a Vedantic thought. Even Western scholars who are impartial who have studied the Brahma Sutras and have studied the teachings of Shankara and, let's say one of the Vaishnav teachers, Ramanuja or Madhva - they would have to side with Ramanuja as being more true to the spirit of the Brahma Sutras.

Q: Why do you think Shankara's teachings have been so popular in the West?

A: I think perhaps because many of the Western practitioners who go into Eastern studies have had it with Western theology. They are either disenchanted with the heaven/hell duality of Christianity and with the personal Godhead as being a father image that strikes terror in the hearts of those who sin against him. They are afraid of a god image, so they move toward something that is far away from it, which is Shankara. Shankara does give respect to all the different deities, to Krishna to Ram to Shiva. But to him, in the final analysis they are mayic. They are illusion, and you must leave all of them and merge into the Ultimate Formless, which for him is the final state. This, I think has appealed to many Westerners because they didn't want any sort of Godhead or God in between them and their final liberation of Ultimate White or Nothingness.

And I think it's because of a lack of study of the true Vedic teachings which do point to a personal theistic deity, if you are going through Saivite or Vaishnavite traditions. And the teachers who have come from India have been predominantly influenced by the Shankaracharya teachings,...because Shankara had such a strong influence on the Indian teachings. He swept India. He was only 36 years old when he left, but he had left such an impression on the Indian mind that even today in India if you say the word Vedanta, people think that you are speaking about Shankara. They say, "Oh, he is a Vedanti," which in certain circles means that he is a follower of Shankara, which is not correct. Vedanta means Vedanta: that which is the end [or final conclusion] of the Veda or knowledge.

This confusion which Shankara put into the world of this world being false means that Shankara's teachings must also be false. So there are certain contradictions. He says the world is false, and he is Jagadguru, meaning guru of the world. This means he is guru of the false world. There are many many problems when we look into the actual teachings of Shankaracharya (If it is an illusion, where did the illusion come from?), if you want to get into the subtleties of where Shankara faltered. And this has always been a great spirit of the Vaishnavas and the Shankaracharyas to have debates, which I think is good, because if you want to have a debate about something it should to do. I've published five or six books on the different aspects of Vallab sampradaya, some historical, some having to do with its be a debate about the Ultimate Reality as opposed to just squabbling about commonplace matters.

Q: Do you agree with the idea that Shankara overlaid his mayavadin philosophy onto the prevailing theistic religion?

A: Yes. Today if in fact you visit some of the Shankaracharya tents when you visit the Kumba Mela, you'll see that the Shankaracharya lineages have Rama and Krishna lila, the play in which children between 10 and 15 enact the pastimes of Krishna. Shankaracharya has these. They ultimately have to go back into the whole Hindu trip of Krishna and Rama and Shiva and all the different pastimes to try to attract followers into their fold to ultimately tell them that it's all false. It's wild and that's what most Westerners follow.

But then again, I think that the concept of Sanatana Dharma is so great that it allows for these things to occur...I may have said something about Shankaracharya, how I don't personally agree with his interpretation, but I respect Shankaracharya...Contradictions can exist within truth, and no one has a turnkey formula. That is one of the most important concepts of Vedantic thought, that the person who says he knows, doesn't know. And the person who says he doesn't know knows. Hinduism is perhaps the only religion in the world that has allowed an incarnation to establish a religion which is anti-Vedic in its actual teachings. What other religion would accept a teacher who taught against their own school? It is a mind-boggling religion if you try to look at it and say this is Hinduism. Hinduism is so broad that to study any particular school of Hinduism would take at least one lifetime and probably several. And to try to make broad, sweeping statements about Hinduism being this or that-Hinduism has the most theistic attitudes of any religion in the world, and it has attitudes that are almost atheistic in terms of the very abstract forms of yoga that don't give importance to the Godhead and just give importance to deep contemplation and samadhi. It's got everything in between. It's got tantra. It's got devotion. It's got Goddess worship. It's got sacrifice. It's got a complete code of law. It's a complete religious system that did not separate art, music, science, philosophy, medicine, from its actual main scriptures. So hence you have all the different branches of the Vedas. It was not essentially a religion. It was a dharma.

Open and Shut Book

The Christian adventure

Has just begun

Its divine evolution

Into greater diversity and

Greater experiential and

Conceptual complexity.

The essential Christian doctrines and dogmas are true

But they are not by any means complete:

Evolution produced the finned fish, but

The fish did not finish evolution.

Compared to what is taught in the churches

What is not-taught is a million-fold.

Man must mature before such

Truths would be revealed.

Now is the time for some things, but not every thing.

"And he took him, and withdrew,
and spoke three sayings to him.
When Thomas came back to his friends
they asked him, 'What did Jesus say to you?'
Thomas said to them,

'If I tell you
one of the sayings
he spoke to me,
you will pick up rocks
and stone me,
and fire
will come
from the rocks
and devour
you.'"

Astronomical Christianity

The Sun: God the Son
The Moon: God the Holy Spirit
Mars: Prayer
Mercury: Scripture
Jupiter: the Eucharist
Venus: Mary, the Mother of the Church
Saturn: God the Father

The Brightening of the World

Dwelling at Savatthi. There the Blessed One addressed the friends: "I will teach you the origination of the world and the brightening of the world. Listen and pay close attention. I will speak."

"As you say, Bhagavan," the friends responded to the Blessed One.

The Blessed One said: "And what is the origination of the world? Dependent on the eye and material form there arises eye-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

Dependent on the ear and sounds there arises ear-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

Dependent on the nose and aromas there arises nose-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

Dependent on the tongue and flavors there arises tongue-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

Dependent on the body and tactile sensations there arises body-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

Dependent on the intellect and mental qualities there arises intellect-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

And what is the brightening of the world? Dependent on the eye and forms there arises eye-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world.

Dependent on the ear and sounds there arises ear-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world.

Dependent on the nose and aromas there arises nose-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world.

Dependent on the tongue and flavors there arises tongue-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world.

Dependent on the body and tactile sensations there arises body-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world.

Dependent on the intellect and mental qualities there arises intellect-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world."

[Inspired by the Loka Sutta]

Casting Off the Burden

At Savatthi. "Friends, I will teach you the burden, the carrier of the burden, the taking up of the burden, and the casting off of the burden. Listen and pay close attention. I will speak."

"As you say, Bhagavan," the friends responded.

The Blessed One said, "And which is the burden? 'The five types of clinging,' it should be said. Which five types? Clinging to form, clinging to feeling, clinging to perception, clinging to conceptions, clinging to sense-awareness. This, monks, is called the burden.

"And which is the carrier of the burden? 'The person,' it should be said. This venerable one with such a name, such a clan-name. This is called the carrier of the burden.

"And which is the taking up of the burden? The fear that makes for further limitations — accompanied by worry and anxiety, avoiding now this and now that — i.e., fearing sensual pleasure, fearing limitation, fearing ungroundedness. This is called the taking up of the burden.

"And which is the casting off of the burden? The remainderless fading and cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, and letting go of that very fear. This is called the casting off of the burden."

That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that, the One Well-gone, the Teacher, said further:

A burden indeed

are the five types of clinging,

and the carrier of the burden

is the person.

Taking up the burden in the world

is unsatisfactory.

Casting off the burden

is bliss.

Having cast off the heavy burden

and not taking on another,

pulling up fear,

along with its root,

one is free from hunger,

totally unbound.

[Inspired by the Bhara Sutta]

With What

[A deity:]

With what
is the world tied down?

With the subduing of what
is it freed?

With the abandoning of what
are all bonds cut through?

[The Buddha:]

With fear
the world is tied down.

With the subduing of fear
the world is freed.

With the abandoning of fear
all bonds are cut through.

[Inspired by the Iccha Sutta]

A Holy Pascha Meditation

A Pascha Creed:


We believe in one God,
the Father, the Beloved,
the Lover, the Heart
of all that is,
the not-yet-visible,
the presently visible,
the no-longer-visible, and
and the neverly visible.

We believe
in the Prophet of Peace,
the Buddha of Beni Israel,
the Avatar of Adonai,
Jesus Christ,
the Son of God,
eternally, continually, and never-endingly
begotten of the Heart of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
very God from very God,
begotten, not made,
of one Heart with the Father.

Through Christ all things were made.

For us and for our salvation-liberation
he came down from realm of the Father:
by the power of the Jivantic Spirit,
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
Who is a Mystery herself,
and was made incarnate and immanent.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into Infinite Transcendence
and is seated at the right hand of the Father,
infinitely deep in the Heart,
as the Tantric Non-Dual Union of Awareness and Matter,
warning "As you sow, so shall you reap", and
spreading the Good News
of the inherent Beauty,
native Enjoyment, and
simple Luminous Brightness of Existence Itself.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the non-living,
but his liberating work will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Jivantic Spirit,
the Lord of Life,
who proceeds from the Heart of the Father,
the Giver of matter-energy, spirit, and mind,
who guides with compassion the evolutionary process.
With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Scientists, Saints, Sages, and Siddhas.

We believe in one divinely universal
and apostolic-lineage Community.
We acknowledge one rebirth
in the waters of purification,
one initiatory baptism,
for the forgiveness of lust, anger, and delusion,
and for the birth of compassion, energy, and wisdom.

We look for the Resurrection of the dead,
the Enlightenment of the Whole Body,
the Communion with the Father,
and the Embodiment as the Heart.
Svaha!
Amen.

[Inspired by the Nicene Creed.]