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.]

Defeating the Army of Death

This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Buddha, the Arahant, so I have heard.

"These three divine sounds sound forth among the deities on appropriate occasions. Which three? When a disciple of the noble ones, shaving off his hair and beard, clothing himself in the ochre robe, makes up his mind to go forth from the home life into homelessness, on that occasion the divine sound sounds forth among the deities: 'This disciple of the noble ones has made up his mind to do battle with Death.' This is the first divine sound that sounds forth among the deities on appropriate occasions.

"When a disciple of the noble ones lives devoted to developing the seven sets of qualities that are wings to Awakening, on that occasion the divine sound sounds forth among the deities: 'This disciple of the noble ones is doing battle with Death.' This is the second divine sound that sounds forth among the deities on appropriate occasions.

"When a disciple of the noble ones, through the ending of the taints of lust, fear, and ignorance, dwells in the awareness-release and discernment-release that are free from the taints of lust, fear, and ignorance, having known and made them manifest for himself right in the present life, on that occasion the divine sound sounds forth among the deities: 'This disciple of the noble ones has won the battle. Having been in the front lines of the battle, he now dwells victorious.' This is the third divine sound that sounds forth among the deities on appropriate occasions.

"These are the three divine sounds that sound forth among the deities on appropriate occasions."

Seeing he's won the battle —
the disciple of the Rightly Self-awakened One —
even the deities pay homage to this great one,
thoroughly mature.
"Homage to you, O thoroughbred man —
you who have won the hard victory,
defeating the army of Death,
unhindered in emancipation."
Thus they pay homage, the deities,
to one who has reached the heart's goal,
for they see in him
no means that would bring him under Death's sway.

[Inspired by Iti. 82]

A Good Friday Meditation

The One Original Non-Dual Matter


The Original Non-Dual Awareness is Infinite and Eternal.

Being everything it accommodates within itself the Original Non-Dual Matter.

Matter is the Body of Awareness.

Awareness, being Infinite and Eternal, its Body must also be infinite and eternal.

At times the Body appears to be small and at times to stretch into huge shapes.

But even when it seems to have disappeared, it is still within Awareness latently.

Out of the Matter contained within Awareness is projected infinite and eternal Materiality—the Creation, or Finite Everything.

The Original Non-Dual Awareness is One, Infinite and Eternal.

The Original Non-Dual Matter, being in the Non-Dual Awareness is also one, infinite and eternal.

But the Finite Everything that is projected from the Non-Dual Matter comprising innumerable masses or all things in Creation, is innately and unendingly dual.

Within these masses are innumerable temporary masses such as, What is the matter with you? Matter.

What did you eat? Matter.

What is in your hand? Matter.

What do you see? Matter.

And so there is no end to the action and reaction of the experience of Materiality by the innumerable masses of Finite Everything which are projected from the One Original Non-Dual Matter which is infinite.

The Original Non-Dual Awareness is Infinite and Eternal; in it is the Original Non-Dual Matter.

Innumerable masses manifest out of the One Original Non-Dual Matter.

And from these masses is a continuous flow of temporary masses.

And so there are masses and the new-masses of masses within the One Original Non-Dual Matter.

When you compare these masses with the One Original Non-Dual Matter they are indeed matter.

Matter is in Awareness; Awareness would not be a complete whole without Matter.

The Matter that is in Awareness gives birth to matter that seems everything.

Because Matter is, everything seems to be.

All activity everywhere in creation is but a play of Awareness and Matter.

When there is a complete cessation of this activity Matter prevails.

When this Matter is attained you have Awareness.

Relatively, therefore, Matter is Awareness, whereas that which we call Awareness is Matter.

[Inspired by Chp 51, "The One Original Real Nothing", The Everything and the Nothing. The translation-glossary is below.

Awareness is Everything.
Matter (matter/energy, subtle matter, and thought) is Nothing.
Materiality is Nothingness.
Matter is the Body (material, spiritual, and mental body) of God
The Body of God is the Shadow of God.
The finite is the false.
Form is zero.
Imagination is changeableness.
That which is destructible is the dream.
Duality is Illusion.
Non-Duality is Reality.
What is new is what is naught.]

(Good Friday)

The Pali Anointed

An exercise in Sonic Theology, using Pali, the language of the Pali Buddhist canon.

Jhaana: meditative absorption
Eka-biijii: taking birth only once more
Sacca: truth
Upekkhaa: equanimity
Saddhaa: faith

Caaga: liberality
Hadaya: heart
Ruupa: visual manifestation
Iddhi: power
Siila: virtue
Tathaagata: the 'thus-gone' one

Setting Forth the Wheel of the Fearless

Setting Forth the Wheel of the Fearless

Thus I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Benares in the Deer Park at Isipatana, which means “the Resort of Seers”. There he addressed the five monks.

"Monks, these two extremes ought not to be cultivated by one gone forth from fear. What are the two? There is devotion to indulgence of pleasure in the objects of sensual desire, which is inferior, low, vulgar, ignoble, and leads to no good; and there is devotion to self-torment, which is painful, ignoble and leads to no good.

"The middle way discovered by a Perfect One avoids both these extremes; it gives vision, it gives knowledge, and it leads to peace, to direct acquaintance, to discovery, to nibbana. And what is that middle way? It is simply the noble eightfold path, that is to say, full view, full intention; full speech, full action, full livelihood; full effort, full mindfulness, full concentration. That is the middle way discovered by a Perfect One, which gives vision, which gives knowledge, and which leads to peace, to direct acquaintance, to discovery, to nibbana.

"Enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this: Birth is enjoyment, aging is enjoyment, sickness is enjoyment, death is enjoyment, sorrow and joy, lamentation and praise, pain and pleasure, grief and levity, and despair and hope are enjoyment; association with the loathed and the loved is enjoyment, dissociation from the loved and the loathed is enjoyment, to get and not to get what one wants is enjoyment — in short, enjoyment is the five categories of conditional existence.

"The origin of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this: It is the compassion that produces renewal of life accompanied by energy and wisdom, and enjoying this and that; in other words, compassion for beings in the material world, the spiritual world, and the transcendental world.

"The fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this: It is steady increase and brightening, rising up, growth, activity and engagement, of that very same compassion.

"The way leading to fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this: It is simply the noble eightfold path, that is to say, full view, full intention; full speech, full action, full livelihood; full effort, full mindfulness, full concentration.

"'Enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This enjoyment, as a noble truth, can be diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This enjoyment, as a noble truth, has been diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before.

"'The origin of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This origin of enjoyment, as a noble truth, can be diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This origin of enjoyment, as a noble truth, has been diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before.

'The fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, can be verified.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, has been verified.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before.

"'The way leading to fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This way leading to the fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, can be developed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This way leading to the fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, has been developed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before.

"As long as my knowing and seeing how things are, was not quite purified in these twelve aspects, in these three phases of each of the four noble truths, I did not claim in the world with its deities, its demons, and high divinities, in this generation with its monks, ministers, and priests, with its potentates and ambitious men, to have discovered the full awakening that is supreme. But as soon as my knowing and seeing how things are, was quite purified in these twelve aspects, in these three phases of each of the four noble truths, then I claimed in the world with its deities, its demons, and high divinities, in this generation with its monks, ministers, and priests, its potentates and ambitious men, to have discovered the full awakening that is supreme. Knowing and seeing arose in me thus: 'My heart's deliverance is unassailable. This is the last birth. Now there is no renewal of fear.'"

That is what the Blessed One said. The five monks were glad, and they approved his words.

Now during this utterance, there arose in the venerable monk Kondañña the spotless, immaculate vision of the True Idea: "Whatever arises from the Heart of reality, exists as the Heart of reality, and returns to the Heart of reality. Whatever arises from beauty, exists as beauty, and returns to beauty."

When the Wheel of the Fearless had thus been set rolling by the Blessed One the deities of the Earth raised the cry: "At Benares, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, the matchless Wheel of the Fearless has been set rolling by the Blessed One, not to be stopped by monk or divine or deity or death-angel or high divinity or anyone in the world."

On hearing the Earth-deities' cry, all the deities in turn in the six paradises of the material and spiritual worlds took up the cry till it reached beyond, into the realm of High Divinity in the sphere of the transcendental worlds. And so indeed in that hour, at that moment, the cry soared up to the World of High Divinity, and this ten-thousandfold world-element shook and rocked and quaked, and a great measureless radiance surpassing the very nature of the gods was displayed throughout the cosmos.

Then the Blessed One uttered the exclamation: "Kondañña knows! Kondañña knows!" and that is how that venerable one acquired the name, Añña-Kondañña: "Kondañña who knows".

[Inspired by SN 56.11]

The Luminous Sermon

The Luminous Sermon

Thus I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Gaya, at Gayasisa, together with a thousand monks. There he addressed the monks.

"Monks, all is luminous. And what is the all that is luminous?

"The eye is luminous, forms are luminous, eye-consciousness is luminous, eye-contact is luminous, also whatever is seen as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of compassion, with the blazing of energy, with the blazing of wisdom. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"The ear is luminous, sounds are luminous, ear-consciousness is luminous, ear-contact is luminous, also whatever is heard as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with ear-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of compassion, with the blazing of energy, with the blazing of wisdom. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"The nose is luminous, odors are luminous, nose-consciousness is luminous, nose-contact is luminous, also whatever is smelled as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with ear-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of compassion, with the blazing of energy, with the blazing of wisdom. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"The tongue is luminous, flavors are luminous, tongue-consciousness is luminous, tongue-contact is luminous, also whatever is tasted as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with tongue-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of compassion, with the blazing of energy, with the blazing of wisdom. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"The body is luminous, tangibles are luminous, body-consciousness is luminous, body-contact is luminous, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with body-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of compassion, with the blazing of energy, with the blazing of wisdom. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"The mind is luminous, ideas are luminous, mind-consciousness is luminous, mind-contact is luminous, also whatever is conceptualized as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of lust, with the blazing of hate, with the blazing of delusion. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"Monks, when a noble follower who has heard the truth sees thus, he engages the eye, engages forms, engages eye-consciousness, engages eye-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"He engages the ear, engages sounds, engages ear-consciousness, engages ear-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with ear-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"He engages the nose, engages odors, engages nose-consciousness, engages nose-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with nose-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"He engages the tongue, engages flavors, engages tongue-consciousness, engages tongue-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with tongue-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"He engages the body, engages tangibles, engages body-consciousness, engages body-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with body-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"He engages the mind, engages ideas, engages mind-consciousness, engages mind-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"When he engages, insight-passion increases. With the culmination of insight-passion, he descends to infinity. When descended, there is knowledge of the Heart. He understands: 'Fear is exhausted, the holy life has begun, what can be done will be done, of this, this is just the beginning.'"

That is what the Blessed One said. The monks were glad, and they approved his words.

Now during his utterance, the hearts of those thousand monks awakened, descending to infinity, fearing no more.

[Inspired by SN 35.28]

Enneagram and the Planets

Each Enneagram-personality can be linked to a particular non-virtue or sin (i.e., "passion"):

1: Anger
2: Pride
3: Deceit
4: Envy
5: Avarice
6: Fear
7: Gluttony
8: Lust
9: Sloth

Notice that "deceit" and "fear" are not part of the "seven deadly sins" of Christian tradition.

Since each planet is also linked to a particular sin, one can link each Enneagram-personality with a planet:

1: Anger: Mars
2: Pride: Sun
3: Deceit: Rahu (North Node)
4: Envy: Moon
5: Avarice/Greed: Jupiter
6: Fear: Ketu (South Node)
7: Gluttony: Mercury
8: Lust: Venus
9: Sloth: Saturn

Notice #5 and #7: previous planet-sin linkages on this site linked Mercury with (intellectual) greed and Jupiter with (material) gluttony, but one could also make a good case -- based on Jyotish sources -- that Mercury is in fact more materially minded than Jupiter is, so that Mercury should be linked with material gluttony and Jupiter with a (more spiritually oriented) intellectual greed.

IPI

La Ilaha

Allah is the Power of Nirvana

A Holy Saturday Meditation

FIRM FAITH IN CHRIST

Eruch Jessawala

How blessed you are to love and adore Christ! Do so with all the strength of your heart and soul without reservations and confusion. Let not the demon of dual concept of Baba and Christ ever stand in the way of your one-pointed devotion to Christ. Let there be no conflict in your heart howsoever your mind may want to create it. Let not your mental concept of Baba stand in the way of your wholehearted devotion to Christ. The instant your love for Christ is accepted by Him, know that you are accepted by Baba. Avatar Meher Baba and Jesus Christ are but forms and names of the same Ancient One.

At the height of your love for Him, the Grace of Christ will appease your thirst for intellectual certainty and bestow upon you the conviction you seek. Continue to love Christ all the more with the warmth of your heart. True, simple and unadulterated love for Him will make Him touch your heart and awaken it to recognise his present Advent. Force not your mind to do so, but allow your heart to work it out by His Grace. Meanwhile, pay heed to His ancient warning of which you are aware — "run not after false prophets, babas, and masters."

I salute your deep love for and firm faith in Christ. May your love for Him lead you to Him. He is compassionate. He is love.

JAI BABA!

LETTERS FROM THE MANDALI, Vol. II, p. 15, ed. Jim Mistry
1983 © Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust

A Good Friday Meditation

FOLLOW CHRIST'S TEACHINGS

From a newspaper interview
London, December 1934

Q. What hinders me from being a better husband and father?

A. [Meher Baba] You must try as far as possible to live a life that Christ lived. Not by theory and by intellectual understanding only should one try to follow Christianity, but by a feeling that must be lived: Love!

Q. How can I do that?

A. To develop love, you have to do it practically — that is, you have to experience it in everyday life. You must lessen your desires and make others happy by thinking less of your own happiness. This can be done. By desire I mean selfish desires. If you are walking along the road and you find a man stricken with poverty and lying helpless, you will pityingly look at him and go on. If, further on you find your own brother in the same condition, you will at once give him all possible aid. This is generally the case. You will find your mentality lacks that development of love which true Christianity needs. It is all very practical and very simple — only people make it complicated.

Q. Are you ready to give your love to those who, on the basis of the New Testament conception, think you to be wrong in regard to your Christ Consciousness, but who are open to the influence of your love?

A. If you love Jesus, and if you can follow Christ's teachings and live his life, that is more than enough. You don't need to follow me, for by following Jesus with all love, you will indirectly follow me. That is what I know.

THE AWAKENER, Vol. XIV, No. 1, p. 34
Kitty Davy, "Baba's First World Tour, 1932"
Copyright 1971 Universal Spiritual League of America, Inc.

The Two Great Problems

The two great problems facing any attempted holistic understanding of Christianity and Buddhism center on (1) birth; and (2) death.

Christianity argues that the soul is uniquely created at conception, whereas Buddhism posits that the stream of consciousness within a person is a continuation from pre-birth times.

Christianity argues that bodies and souls will be re-united after the Final Judgement, and humans will spend eternity in resurrected bodies; whereas Buddhism posits that eternity is realized in nirvana.

Both the Christian and the Buddhist position are viable, and they stress different aspects of the very same reality.

For the Christian, the "soul" is considered to be the innermost aspect of a human, and the creation of a new body at conception means that the "soul" is also created, because a new human is created. The stream of consciousness in Buddhism is the rapid appearance-existence-disappearance process of mental states. This stream of consciousness appears at conception associated with the newly conceived human -- thus, one can speak of the stream of consciousness as being "created" (by causes and conditions) at conception. Speaking thusly would not negate the reality that the stream of consciousness is karmically related to earlier parts of the stream.

As an analogy, consider a flame on candle A to be the stream of consciousness of a particular person. The flame of candle A is used to light candle B, and the candle A flame is extinguished. The flame of candle B is karmically related (literally "related by action") to the flame of candle A, and yet the flame of candle B is a new "creation" as well: the flame of candle B is both the same and yet not the same, as the flame of candle A. The flame of candle B is the new soul, newly created; and yet the flame of candle B can also be seen as the continuation of the "stream of flame" that was part of candle A.

Regarding death, the Christian vision is that you die, and then after time spent in the realm of the dead, you are resurrected bodily, and spend eternity in the body. In the Buddhist vision, you die, then you spend however long it takes in different bodies, until finally nirvana is realized, which frees you from being limited to any one body. But look closely: to be free from being limited to any one body, is to be free to be associated with all bodies. In Buddhism, the realization of nirvana means that the realizer now realizes no-difference from any body; the realizer realizes non-difference from "this one", and "that one", and "those over there". So, eternity is indeed spent "in the body", once nirvana is realized, but this "body" is not one, but infinite. Buddhism envisions an "unbounded resurrection body". In other words, ultimately, the universe, the cosmos, as a whole is one great body, and realization of nirvana also means the realization of no-difference in relation to the great universe-body. So the Christian idea of the resurrection of the body, signifies the larger process of one's bodily resurrection as the universe-body.

Thus, hidden within Christianity, is Buddhism; and hidden within Buddhism, is Christianity.

A Buddha is Born! Svaha!
The Lord is Come! Maranatha!
Jai Baba!

Adi-Buddha

The Heart and the Beloved genesised the Jivanta, the infinite atmas.

The first atma to realize the Heart and the Beloved is the Adi-Buddha, the Primal Buddha.

The Adi-Buddha is the Adi-Guru, the Primal Guru.

The source of all religions is the Adi-Buddha.

The source of Dharma is the Adi-Buddha.

All dharmas, all religions, come from Dharma, and all dharmas, all religions, come from the Adi-Buddha.

Buddha Dharma is the Adi-Dharma, the Primal Dharma.

The Buddha Siddhartha Gautama spoke primarily about the truth of dukkha, the truth of dissatisfaction. But the truth of dukkha is not the Primal Dharma.

The Primal Dharma is Nameless, Wordless.

The Primal Dharma birthed the truth of dukkha, but the Primal Dharma also birthed the truth of rasa, the truth of infinitely deep enjoyment. The truth of rasa was also spoken by Siddhartha Gautama, but secretly. The time was not yet right for the revelation of rasa.

Only recently has the Rasa Sutra been revealed:

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Savatthi, in the Jeta Wood, at Anathapindika's monastery. There the Buddha addressed the monks, "Friends!"

"Blessed One," the monks replied.

"Now this, friends, is the Noble Truth of Rasa: Rasa is the recognition of all that arises, exists, and disappears, as the very Heart of Reality. When one lives in the Truth of Rasa, birth is Rasa, maturity is Rasa, death is Rasa; contentment and discontentment, praise and blame, wholeness and partiality, the wanted and the unwanted, and a sense of adventure and a sense of fear, are Rasa; association with the beloved and with the unloved is Rasa; in short, all conditioned processes are Rasa.

And this, friends, is the Noble Truth of the Origination of Rasa: Rasa originates in the acts of compassion, energy, wisdom, and persistence that make for richer life, acts accompanied by passion and delight, acts not discouraged by pain and suffering. In short, living compassionately, acting energetically, cultivating wisdom, and integrating body and mind originate Rasa.

And this, friends, is the Noble Truth of the Fulfillment of Rasa: Rasa is fulfilled in the indubitable increase and brightening, rising up, expansion, cultivation and engagement of those very acts of compassion, energy, wisdom, and persistence.

And this, friends, is the Noble Truth of the Way of Practice leading to the Fulfillment of Rasa: Rasa is made Full by means of precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: Full View, Full Intention, Full Speech and Full Listening, Full Action, Full Livelihood, Full Effort, Full Mindfulness, and Full Concentration.

And what is Full View? Knowledge with regard to enjoyment, knowledge with regard to the origination of enjoyment, knowledge with regard to the fulfillment of enjoyment, knowledge with regard to the way of practice leading to the fulfillment of enjoyment: This is called Full View.

And what is Full Intention? Being resolved on clarity and simplicity, on compassion and sympathy, on devotion and persistence: This is called Full Intention.

And what is Full Speech and Full Listening? Speaking and listening truth, speaking and listening praise, speaking and listening gently, and speaking and listening with a purpose: This is called Full Speech and Full Listening.

And what is Full Action? Protecting life, giving time and energy to those in need, and being devoted to one’s spouse: This is called Full Action.

And what is Full Livelihood? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, having abandoned lust and fear, does what he or she truly loves to do: This is called Full Livelihood.

And what is Full Effort?

There is the case where a person generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen.

He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the abandonment of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen.

He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen.

He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, and culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen: This is called Full Effort.

And what is Full Mindfulness?

There is the case where a person remains focused on Heart-Feeling in and of itself — ardent, aware, and mindful — putting away lust and fear with reference to the world.

He remains focused on Awareness in and of itself — ardent, aware, and mindful — putting away lust and fear with reference to the world.

He remains focused on Breathing in and of itself — ardent, aware, and mindful — putting away lust and fear with reference to the world.

He remains focused on the Well-Being of All Beings in and of itself — ardent, aware, and mindful — putting away lust and fear with reference to the world. This is called Full Mindfulness.

And what is Full Concentration?

There is the case where a person, quite engaged in compassion and wisdom, engaged in skillful qualities, enters and remains in the first concentration: rapture and pleasure born from engagement in compassion and wisdom.

With the power of directed thought and discrimination added to compassion and wisdom, he enters and remains in the second concentration: rapture and pleasure born of directed thought and discrimination, unification of awareness engaged in directed thought and discrimination.

With the culmination of the power of rapture and pleasure, he enters and remains in the third concentration: pleasurable abiding born of the culmination of rapture and pleasure. The Noble Ones declare, 'With equanimity and mindfulness, he has a pleasurable abiding.' He remains in pleasurable abiding, is mindful and alert, and senses pleasure with the body.

With the culmination of the power of pleasurable abiding, he enters and remains in the fourth concentration: neither pleasure nor pain, the culmination of equanimity and mindfulness. This is called Full Concentration.”

That is what the Buddha said. Gratified, the monks delighted in the Buddha's words.