Full Frontal Samadhi

Howl by Allen Ginsberg

2011-09-14T14:51:00.000-05:00

Howl

For Carl Solomon

I

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,

angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,

who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz,

who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated,

who passed through universities with radiant eyes hallucinating Arkansas and Blake-light tragedy among the scholars of war,

who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull,

who cowered in unshaven rooms in underwear, burning their money in wastebaskets and listening to the Terror through the wall,

who got busted in their pubic beards returning through Laredo with a belt of marijuana for New York,

who ate fire in paint hotels or drank turpentine in Paradise Alley, death, or purgatoried their torsos night after night

with dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares, alcohol and cock and endless balls,

incomparable blind streets of shuddering cloud and lightning in the mind leaping towards poles of Canada & Paterson, illuminating all the motionless world of Time between,

Peyote solidities of halls, backyard green tree cemetery dawns, wine drunkenness over the rooftops, storefront boroughs of teahead joyride neon blinking traffic light, sun and moon and tree vibrations in the roaring winter dusks of Brooklyn, ashcan rantings and kind king light of mind,

who chained themselves to subways for the endless ride from Battery to holy Bronx on benzedrine until the noise of wheels and children brought them down shuddering mouth-wracked and battered bleak of brain all drained of brilliance in the drear light of Zoo,

who sank all night in submarine light of Bickford's floated out and sat through the stale beer afternoon in desolate Fugazzi's, listening to the crack of doom on the hydrogen jukebox,

who talked continuously seventy hours from park to pad to bar to Bellevue to museum to the Brooklyn Bridge,

a lost batallion of platonic conversationalists jumping down the stoops off fire escapes off windowsills off Empire State out of the moon

yacketayakking screaming vomiting whispering facts and memories and anecdotes and eyeball kicks and shocks of hospitals and jails and wars,

whole intellects disgorged in total recall for seven days and nights with brilliant eyes, meat for the Synagogue cast on the pavement,

who vanished into nowhere Zen New Jersey leaving a trail of ambiguous picture postcards of Atlantic City Hall,

suffering Eastern sweats and Tangerian bone-grindings and migraines of China under junk-withdrawal in Newark's bleak furnished room,

who wandered around and around at midnight in the railway yard wondering where to go, and went, leaving no broken hearts,

who lit cigarettes in boxcars boxcars boxcars racketing through snow toward lonesome farms in grandfather night,

who studied Plotinus Poe St John of the Cross telepathy and bop kabbalah because the universe instinctively vibrated at their feet in Kansas,

who loned it through the streets of Idaho seeking visionary indian angels who were visionary indian angels,

who thought they were only mad when Baltimore gleamed in supernatural ecstasy,

who jumped in limousines with the Chinaman of Oklahoma on the impulse of winter midnight streetlight smalltown rain,

who lounged hungry and lonesome through Houston seeking jazz or sex or soup, and followed the brilliant Spaniard to converse about America and Eternity, a hopeless task, and so took ship to Africa,

who disappeared into the volcanoes of Mexico leaving nothing behind but the shadow of dungarees and the larva and ash of poetry scattered in fireplace Chicago,

who reappeared on the West Coast investigating the FBI in beards and shorts with big pacifist eyes sexy in their dark skin passing out incomprehensible leaflets,

who burned cigarette holes in their arms protesting the narcotic tobacco haze of Capitalism, who distributed Supercommunist pamphlets in Union Square weeping and undressing while the sirens of Los Alamos wailed them down, and wailed down Wall, and the Staten Island ferry also wailed,

who broke down crying in white gymnasiums naked and trembling before the machinery of other skeletons,

who bit detectives in the neck and shrieked with delight in policecars for committing no crime but their own wild cooking pederasty and intoxication,

who howled on their knees in the subway and were dragged off the roof waving genitals and manuscripts,

who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy,

who blew and were blown by those human seraphim, the sailors, caresses of Atlantic and Caribbean love,

who balled in the morning in the evenings in rosegardens and the grass of public parks and cemeteries scattering their semen freely to whomever come who may,

who hiccuped endlessly trying to giggle but wound up with a sob behind a partition in a Turkish Bath when the blond & naked angel came to pierce them with a sword,

who lost their loveboys to the three old shrews of fate the one eyed shrew of the heterosexual dollar the one eyed shrew that winks out of the womb and the one eyed shrew that does nothing but sit on her ass and snip the intellectual golden threads of the craftsman's loom,

who copulated ecstatic and insatiate and fell off the bed, and continued along the floor and down the hall and ended fainting on the wall with a vision of ultimate cunt and come eluding the last gyzym of consciousness,

who sweetened the snatches of a million girls trembling in the sunset, and were red eyed in the morning but were prepared to sweeten the snatch of the sunrise, flashing buttocks under barns and naked in the lake,

who went out whoring through Colorado in myriad stolen night-cars, N.C., secret hero of these poems, cocksman and Adonis of Denver—joy to the memory of his innumerable lays of girls in empty lots & diner backyards, moviehouses' rickety rows, on mountaintops in caves or with gaunt waitresses in familiar roadside lonely petticoat upliftings & especially secret gas-station solipsisms of johns, & hometown alleys too,

who faded out in vast sordid movies, were shifted in dreams, woke on a sudden Manhattan, and picked themselves up out of basements hungover with heartless Tokay and horrors of Third Avenue iron dreams & stumbled to unemployment offices,

who walked all night with their shoes full of blood on the snowbank docks waiting for a door in the East River to open full of steamheat and opium,

who created great suicidal dramas on the appartment cliff-banks of the Hudson under the wartime blue floodlight of the moon & their heads shall be crowned with laurel in oblivion,

who ate the lamb stew of the imagination or digested the crab at the muddy bottom of the rivers of the Bowery,

who wept at the romance of the streets with their pushcarts full of onions and bad music,

who sat in boxes breathing in the darkness under the bridge, and rose up to build harpsichords in their lofts, who coughed on the sixth floor of Harlem crowned with flame under the tubercular sky surrounded by orange crates of theology,

who scribbled all night rocking and rolling over lofty incantations which in the yellow morning were stanzas of gibberish,

who cooked rotten animals lung heart feet tail borsht & tortillas dreaming of the pure vegetable kingdom,

who plunged themselves under meat trucks looking for an egg,

who threw their watches off the roof to cast their ballot for an Eternity outside of Time, & alarm clocks fell on their heads every day for the next decade,

who cut their wrists three times successively unsuccessfully, gave up and were forced to open antique stores where they thought they were growing old and cried,

who were burned alive in their innocent flannel suits on Madison Avenue amid blasts of leaden verse & the tanked-up clatter of the iron regiments of fashion & the nitroglycerine shrieks of the fairies of advertising & the mustard gas of sinister intelligent editors, or were run down by the drunken taxicabs of Absolute Reality,

who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alleyways & firetrucks, not even one free beer,

who sang out of their windows in despair, fell out of the subway window, jumped in the filthy Passaic, leaped on negroes, cried all over the street, danced on broken wineglasses barefoot smashed phonograph records of nostalgic European 1930s German jazz finished the whiskey and threw up groaning into the bloody toilet, moans in their ears and the blast of colossal steamwhistles,

who barreled down the highways of the past journeying to each other's hotrod-Golgotha jail-solitude watch Birmingham jazz incarnation,

who drove crosscountry seventytwo hours to find out if I had a vision or you had a vision or he had a vision to find out Eternity,

who journeyed to Denver, who died in Denver, who came back to Denver & waited in vain, who watched over Denver & brooded & loned in Denver and finally went away to find out the Time, & now Denver is lonesome for her heroes,

who fell on their knees in hopeless cathedrals praying for each other's salvation and light and breasts, until the soul illuminated its hair for a second,

who crashed through their minds in jail waiting for impossible criminals with golden heads and the charm of reality in their hearts who sang sweet blues to Alcatraz,

who retired to Mexico to cultivate a habit, or Rocky Mount to tender Buddha or Tangiers to boys or Southern Pacific to the black locomotive or Harvard to Narcissus to Woodlawn to the daisychain or grave,

who demanded sanity trials accusing the radio of hypnotism & were left with their insanity & their hands & a hung jury,

who threw potato salad at CCNY lecturerson Dadaism and subsequently presented themselves on the granite steps of the madhouse with the shaven heads and harlequin speech of suicide, demanding instantaneous lobotomy,

and who were given instead the concrete void of insulin Metrazol electricity hydrotherapy psychotherapy occupational therapy pingpong & amnesia,

who in humorless protest overturned only one symbolic pingpong table, resting briefly in catatonia,

returning years later truly bald except for a wig of blood, and tears and fingers, to the visible madman doom of the wards of the madtowns of the East,

Pilgrim State's Rockland's and Greystone's foetid halls, bickering with the echoes of the soul, rocking and rolling in the midnight solitude-bench dolmen-realms of love, dream of life a nightmare, bodies turned to stone as heavy as the moon,

with mother finally *****, and the last fantastic book flung out of the tenement window, and the last door closed at 4 A.M. and the last telephone slammed at the wall in reply and the last furnished room emptied down to the last piece of mental furniture, a yellow paper rose twisted on a wire hanger on the closet, and even that imaginary, nothing but a hopeful little bit of hallucination—

ah, Carl, while you are not safe I am not safe, and now you're really in the total animal soup of time—

and who therefore ran through the icy streets obsessed with a sudden flash of the alchemy of the use of the ellipse the catalog the meter & the vibrating plane,

who dreamt and made incarnate gaps in Time & Space through images juxtaposed, and trapped the archangel of the soulbetween 2 visual images and joined the elemental verbs and set the noun and dash of consciousness together jumping with sensation of Pater Omnipotens Aeterna Deus

to recreate the syntax and measure of poor human prose and stand before you speechless and intelligent and shaking with shame, rejected yet confessing out the soul to conform to the rhythm of thought in his naked and endless head,

the madman bum and angel beat in Time, unknown, yet putting down here what might be left to say in time come after death,

and rose incarnate in the ghostly clothes of jazz in the goldhorn shadow of the band and blew the suffering of America's naked mind for love into an eli eli lamma lamma sabacthani saxophone cry that shivered the cities down to the last radio

with the absolute heart of the poem butchered out of their own bodies good to eat a thousand years.

II

What sphinx of cement and aluminium bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?

Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!

Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!

Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgement! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!

Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb!

Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovas! Moloch whose factories dream and choke in the fog! Moloch whose smokestacks and antennae crown the cities!

Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius! Moloch whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen! Moloch whose name is the Mind!

Moloch in whom I sit lonely! Moloch in whom I dream angels! Crazy in Moloch! Cocksucker in Moloch! Lacklove and manless in Moloch!

Moloch who entered my soul early! Moloch in whom I am a consciousness without a body! Moloch who frightened me out of my natural ecstasy! Moloch whom I abandon! Wake up in Moloch! Light streaming out of the sky!

Moloch! Moloch! Robot apartments! invisable suburbs! skeleton treasuries! blind capitals! demonic industries! spectral nations! invincible madhouses! granite cocks! monstrous bombs!

They broke their backs lifting Moloch to Heaven! Pavements, trees, radios, tons! lifting the city to Heaven which exists and is everywhere about us!

Visions! omens! hallucinations! miracles! ecstacies! gone down the American river!

Dreams! adorations! illuminations! religions! the whole boatload of sensitive bullshit!

Breakthroughs! over the river! flips and crucifixions! gone down the flood! Highs! Epiphanies! Despairs! Ten years' animal screams and suicides! Minds! New loves! Mad generation! down on the rocks of Time!

Real holy laughter in the river! They saw it all! the wild eyes! the holy yells! They bade farewell! They jumped off the roof! to solitude! waving! carrying flowers! Down to the river! into the street!

III

Carl Solomon! I'm with you in Rockland

         where you're madder than I am

I'm with you in Rockland

         where you must feel strange

I'm with you in Rockland

         where you imitate the shade of my mother

I'm with you in Rockland

         where you've murdered your twelve secretaries

I'm with you in Rockland

         where you laugh at this invisible humour

I'm with you in Rockland

         where we are great writers on the same dreadful typewriter

I'm with you in Rockland

         where your condition has become serious and is reported on the radio

I'm with you in Rockland

         where the faculties of the skull no longer admit the worms of the senses

I'm with you in Rockland

         where you drink the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica

I'm with you in Rockland

         where you pun on the bodies of your nurses the harpies of the Bronx

I'm with you in Rockland

         where you scream in a straightjacket that you're losing the game of actual pingpong of the abyss

I'm with you in Rockland

         where you bang on the catatonic piano the soul is innocent and immortal it should never die ungodly in an armed madhouse

I'm with you in Rockland

         where fifty more shocks will never return your soul to its body again from its pilgrimage to a cross in the void

I'm with you in Rockland

         where you accuse your doctors of insanity and plot the Hebrew socialist revolution against the fascist national Golgotha

I'm with you in Rockland

         where you will split the heavens of Long Island and resurrect your living human Jesus from the superhuman tomb

I'm with you in Rockland

         where there are twentyfive thousand mad comrades all together singing the final stanzas of the Internationale

I'm with you in Rockland

         where we hug and kiss the United States under our bedsheets the United States that coughs all night and won't let us sleep

I'm with you in Rockland

         where we wake up electrified out of the coma by our own souls' airplanes roaring over the roof they've come to drop angelic bombs the hospital illuminates itself imaginary walls collapse O skinny legions run outside O starry-spangled shock of mercy the eternal war is here O victory forget your underwear we're free

I'm with you in Rockland
         in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-journey on the highway across America in tears to the door of my cottage in the Western night

-Allen Ginsberg

Psychedelics and Religious Experience

2011-09-14T14:18:00.000-05:00

Psychedelics and Religious Experience

Alan Watts

Vol 56 (No. 1) Jan 1968; 74-85

California Law Review

The experiences resulting from the use of psychedelic drugs are often described in religious terms. They are therefore of interest to those like myself who, in the tradition of William James, (1) are concerned with the psychology of religion. For more than thirty years I have been studying the causes, the consequences, and the conditions of those peculiar states of consciousness in which the individual discovers himself to be one continuous process with God, with the Universe, with the Ground of Being, or whatever name he may use by cultural conditioning or personal preference for the ultimate and eternal reality. We have no satisfactory and definitive name for experiences of this kind. The terms "religious experience," "mystical experience," and "cosmic consciousness" are all too vague and comprehensive to denote that specific mode of consciousness which, to those who have known it, is as real and overwhelming as falling in love. This article describes such states of consciousness induced by psychedelic drugs, although they are virtually indistinguishable from genuine mystical experience. The article then discusses objections to the use of psychedelic drugs that arise mainly from the opposition between mystical values and the traditional religious and secular values of Western society.

The Psychedelic Experience

The idea of mystical experiences resulting from drug use is not readily accepted in Western societies. Western culture has, historically, a particular fascination with the value and virtue of man as an individual, self-determining, responsible ego, controlling himself and his world by the power of conscious effort and will. Nothing, then, could be more repugnant to this cultural tradition than the notion of spiritual or psychological growth through the use of drugs. A "drugged" person is by definition dimmed in consciousness, fogged in judgment, and deprived of will. But not all psychotropic (consciousness-changing) chemicals are narcotic and soporific, as are alcohol, opiates, and barbiturates. The effects of what are now called psychedelic (mind-manifesting) chemicals differ from those of alcohol as laughter differs from rage, or delight from depression. There is really no analogy between being "high" on LSD and "drunk" on bourbon. True, no one in either state should drive a car, but neither should one drive while reading a book, playing a violin, or making love. Certain creative activities and states of mind demand a concentration and devotion that are simply incompatible with piloting a death-dealing engine along a highway.

I myself have experimented with five of the principal psychedelics: LSD-25, mescaline, psilocybin, dimethyl-tryptamine (DMT), and cannabis. I have done so, as William James tried nitrous oxide, to see if they could help me in identifying what might be called the "essential" or quot;active" ingredients of the mystical experience. For almost all the classical literature on mysticism is vague, not only in describing the experience, but also in showing rational connections between the experience itself and the various traditional methods recommended to induce it-fasting, concentration, breathing exercises, prayers, incantations, and dances. A traditional master of Zen or Yoga, when asked why such-and-such practices lead or predispose one to the mystical experience, always responds, "This is the way my teacher gave it to me. This is the way I found out. If you're seriously interested, try it for yourself." This answer hardly satisfies an impertinent, scientifically minded, and intellectually curious Westerner. It reminds him of archaic medical prescriptions compounding five salamanders, powdered gallows rope, three boiled bats, a scruple of phosphorus, three pinches of henbane, and a dollop of dragon dung dropped when the moon was in Pisces. Maybe it worked, but what was the essential ingredient?

It struck me, therefore, that if any of the psychedelic chemicals would in fact predispose my consciousness to the mystical experience, I could use them as instruments for studying and describing that experience as one uses a microscope for bacteriology, even though the microscope is an "artificial" and "unnatural" contrivance which might be said to quot;distort" the vision of the naked eye. However, when I was first invited to test the mystical qualities of LSD-25 by Dr. Keith Ditman of the Neuropsychiatric Clinic at UCLA Medical School, I was unwilling to believe that any mere chemical could induce a genuine mystical experience. At most, it might bring about a state of spiritual insight analogous to swimming with water wings. Indeed, my first experiment with LSD-25 was not mystical. It was an intensely interesting aesthetic and intellectual experience that challenged my powers of analysis and careful description to the utmost.

Some months later, in 1959, I tried LSD-25 again with Drs. Sterling Bunnell and Michael Agron, who were then associated with the Langley-Porter Clinic, in San Francisco. In the course of two experiments I was amazed and somewhat embarrassed to find myself going through states of consciousness that corresponded precisely with every description of major mystical experiences that I had ever read. (2) Furthermore, they exceeded both in depth and in a peculiar quality of unexpectedness the three "natural and spontaneous" experiences of this kind that had happened to me in previous years.

Through subsequent experimentation with LSD-25 and the other chemicals named above (with the exception of DMT, which I find amusing but relatively uninteresting), I found I could move with ease into the state of "cosmic consciousness," and in due course became less and less dependent on the chemicals themselves for "tuning in" to this particular wave length of experience. Of the five psychedelics tried, I found that LSD-25 and cannabis suited my purposes best. Of these two, the latter---cannabis---which I had to use abroad in countries where it is not outlawed, proved to be the better. It does not induce bizarre alterations of sensory perception, and medical studies indicate that it may not, save in great excess, have the dangerous side effects of LSD.

For the purposes of this study, in describing my experiences with psychedelic drugs I avoid the occasional and incidental bizarre alterations of sense perception that psychedelic chemicals may induce. I am concerned, rather, with the fundamental alterations of the normal, socially induced consciousness of one's own existence and relation to the external world. I am trying to delineate the basic principles of psychedelic awareness. But I must add that I can speak only for myself. The quality of these experiences depends considerably upon one's prior orientation and attitude to life, although the now voluminous descriptive literature of these experiences accords quite remarkably with my own.

Almost invariably, my experiments with psychedelics have had four dominant characteristics. I shall try to explain them -in the expectation that the reader will say, at least of the second and third, "Why, that's obvious! No one needs a drug to see that." Quite so, but every insight has degrees of intensity. There can be obvious-1 and obvious-2---and the latter comes on with shattering clarity, manifesting its implications in every sphere and dimension of our existence.

The first characteristic is a slowing down of time, a concentration in the present. One's normally compulsive concern for the future decreases, and one becomes aware of the enormous importance and interest of what is happening at the moment. Other people, going about their business on the streets, seem to be slightly crazy, failing to realize that the whole point of life is to be fully aware of it as it happens. One therefore relaxes, almost luxuriously, into studying the colors in a glass of water, or in listening to the now highly articulate vibration of every note played on an oboe or sung by a voice.

From the pragmatic standpoint of our culture, such an attitude is very bad for business. It might lead to improvidence, lack of foresight, diminished sales of insurance policies, and abandoned savings accounts. Yet this is just the corrective that our culture needs. No one is more fatuously impractical than the "successful" executive who spends his whole life absorbed in frantic paper work with the objective of retiring in comfort at sixty-five, when it will all be too late. Only those who have cultivated the art of living completely in the present have any use for making plans for the future, for when the plans mature they will be able to enjoy the results. "Tomorrow never comes." I have never yet heard a preacher urging his congregation to practice that section of the Sermon on the Mount which begins, "Be not anxious for the morrow...." The truth is that people who live for the future are, as we say of the insane, "not quite all there"--- or here: by over-eagerness they are perpetually missing the point. Foresight is bought at the price of anxiety, and when overused it destroys all its own advantages.

The second characteristic I will call awareness of polarity. This is the vivid realization that states, things, and events that we ordinarily call opposite are interdependent, like back and front, or the poles of a magnet. By polar awareness one sees that things which are explicitly different are implicitly one: self and other, subject and object, left and right, male and female-and then, a little more surprisingly, solid and space, figure and background, pulse and interval, saints and sinners, police and criminals, in-groups and out-groups. Each is definable only in terms of the other, and they go together transactionally, like buying and selling, for there is no sale without a purchase, and no purchase without a sale. As this awareness becomes increasingly intense, you feel that you yourself are polarized with the external universe in such a way that you imply each other. Your push is its pull, and its push is your pull---as when you move the steering wheel of a car. Are you pushing it or pulling it?

At first, this is a very odd sensation, not unlike hearing your own voice played back to you on an electronic system immediately after you have spoken. You become confused, and wait for it to go on! Similarly, you feel that you are something being done by the universe, yet that the universe is equally something being done by you-which is true, at least in the neurological sense that the peculiar structure of our brains translates the sun into light, and air vibrations into sound. Our normal sensation of relationship to the outside world is that sometimes I push it, and sometimes it pushes me. But if the two are actually one, where does action begin and responsibility rest? If the universe is doing me, how can I be sure that, two seconds hence, I will still remember the English language? If I am doing it, how can I be sure that, two seconds hence, my brain will know how to turn the sun into light? From such unfamiliar sensations as these, the psychedelic experience can generate confusion, paranoia, and terror-even though the individual is feeling his relationship to the world exactly as it would be described by a biologist, ecologist, or physicist, for he is feeling himself as the unified field of organism and environment.

The third characteristic, arising from the second, is awareness of relativity. I see that I am a link in an infinite hierarchy of processes and beings, ranging from molecules through bacteria and insects to human beings, and, maybe, to angels and gods-a hierarchy in which every level is in effect the same situation. For example, the poor man worries about money while the rich man worries about his health: the worry is the same, but the difference is in its substance or dimension. I realize that fruit flies must think of themselves as people, because, like ourselves, they find themselves in the middle of their own world-with immeasurably greater things above and smaller things below. To us, they all look alike and seem to have no personality-as do the Chinese when we have not lived among them. Yet fruit flies must see just as many subtle distinctions among themselves as we among ourselves.

From this it is but a short step to the realization that all forms of life and being are simply variations on a single theme: we are all in fact one being doing the same thing in as many different ways as possible. As the French proverb goes, plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose (the more it varies, the more it is one). I see, further, that feeling threatened by the inevitability of death is really the same experience as feeling alive, and that as all beings are feeling this everywhere, they are all just as much "I" as myself. Yet the "I" feeling, to be felt at all, must always be a sensation relative to the "other"-to something beyond its control and experience . To be at all, it must begin and end. But the intellectual jump that mystical and psychedelic experiences make here is in enabling you to see that all these myriad I-centers are yourself---not, indeed, your personal and superficially conscious ego, but what Hindus call the paramatman, the Self of all selves. (3) As the retina enables us to see countless pulses of energy as a single light, so the mystical experience shows us innumerable individuals as a single Self.

The fourth characteristic is awareness of eternal energy, often in the form of intense white light, which seems to be both the current in your nerves and that mysterious e which equals mc2. This may sound like megalomania or delusion of grandeur-but one sees quite clearly that all existence is a single energy, and that this energy is one's own being. Of course there is death as well as life, because energy is a pulsation, and just as waves must have both crests and troughs, the experience of existing must go on and off. Basically, therefore, there is simply nothing to worry about, because you yourself are the eternal energy of the universe playing hide- and-seek (off-and-on) with itself. At root, you are the Godhead, for God is all that there is. Quoting Isaiah just a little out of context: "I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light and create the darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things." (4) This is the sense of the fundamental tenet of Hinduism, Tat tram asi---"THAT (i.e., "that subtle Being of which this whole universe is composed") art thou." (5) A classical case of this experience, from the West, is in Tennyson's Memoirs:

A kind of waking trance I have frequently had, quite up from boyhood, when I have been all alone. This has generally come upon me thro' repeating my own name two or three times to myself silently, till all at once, as it were out of the intensity of the consciousness of individuality, the individuality itself seemed to dissolve and fade away into boundless being, and this not a confused state, but the clearest of the clearest, the surest of the surest, the weirdest of the weirdest, utterly beyond words, where death was an almost laughable impossibility, the loss of personality (if so it were) seeming no extinction but the only true life. (6)

Obviously, these characteristics of the psychedelic experience, as I have known it, are aspects of a single state of consciousness--for I have been describing the same thing from different angles. The descriptions attempt to convey the reality of the experience, but in doing so they also suggest some of the inconsistencies between such experience and the current values of society.

Opposition to Psychedelic Drugs

Resistance to allowing use of psychedelic drugs originates in both religious and secular values. The difficulty in describing psychedelic experiences in traditional religious terms suggests one ground of opposition. The Westerner must borrow such words as samadhi or moksha from the Hindus, or satori or kensho from the Japanese, to describe the experience of oneness with the universe. We have no appropriate word because our own Jewish and Christian theologies will not accept the idea that man's inmost self can be identical with the Godhead, even though Christians may insist that this was true in the unique instance of Jesus Christ. Jews and Christians think of God in political and monarchical terms, as the supreme governor of the universe, the ultimate boss. Obviously, it is both socially unacceptable and logically preposterous for a particular individual to claim that he, in person, is the omnipotent and omniscient ruler of the world-to be accorded suitable recognition and honor.

Such an imperial and kingly concept of the ultimate reality, however, is neither necessary nor universal. The Hindus and the Chinese have no difficulty in conceiving of an identity of the self and the Godhead. For most Asians, other than Muslims, the Godhead moves and manifests the world in much the same way that a centipede manipulates a hundred legs-spontaneously, without deliberation or calculation. In other words, they conceive the universe by analogy with an organism as distinct from a mechanism. They do not see it as an artifact or construct under the conscious direction of some supreme technician, engineer, or architect.

If, however, in the context of Christian or Jewish tradition, an individual declares himself to be one with God, he must be dubbed blasphemous (subversive) or insane. Such a mystical experience is a clear threat to traditional religious concepts. The Judaeo-Christian tradition has a monarchical image of God, and monarchs, who rule by force, fear nothing more than insubordination. The Church has therefore always been highly suspicious of mystics, because they seem to be insubordinate and to claim equality or, worse, identity with God. For this reason, John Scotus Erigena and Meister Eckhart were condemned as heretics. This was also why the Quakers faced opposition for their doctrine of the Inward Light, and for their refusal to remove hats in church and in court. A few occasional mystics may be all right so long as they watch their language, like St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, who maintained, shall we say, a metaphysical distance of respect between themselves and their heavenly King. Nothing, however, could be more alarming to the ecclesiastical hierarchy than a popular outbreak of mysticism, for this might well amount to setting up a democracy in the kingdom of heaven-and such alarm would be shared equally by Catholics, Jews, and fundamentalist Protestants.

The monarchical image of God, with its implicit distaste for religious insubordination, has a more pervasive impact than many Christians might admit. The thrones of kings have walls immediately behind them, and all who present themselves at court must prostrate themselves or kneel, because this is an awkward position from which to make a sudden attack. It has perhaps never occurred to Christians that when they design a church on the model of a royal court (basilica) and prescribe church ritual, they are implying that God, like a human monarch, is afraid. This is also implied by flattery in prayers:

O Lord our heavenly Father, high and mighty, King of kings, Lord of lords, the only Ruler of princes, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth: most heartily we beseech thee with thy favor to behold....(7)

The Western man who claims consciousness of oneness with God or the universe thus clashes with his society's concept of religion. In most Asian cultures, however, such a man will be congratulated as having penetrated the true secret of life. He has arrived, by chance or by some such discipline as Yoga or Zen meditation, at a state of consciousness in which he experiences directly and vividly what our own scientists know to be true in theory. For the ecologist, the biologist, and the physicist know (but seldom feel) that every organism constitutes a single field of behavior, or process, with its environment. There is no way of separating what any given organism is doing from what its environment is doing, for which reason ecologists speak not of organisms in environments but of organism-environments. Thus the words "I" and "self" should properly mean what the whole universe is doing at this particular "here-and-now" called John Doe.

The kingly concept of God makes identity of self and God, or self and universe, inconceivable in Western religious terms. The difference between Eastern and Western concepts of man and his universe, however, extends beyond strictly religious concepts. The Western scientist may rationally perceive the idea of organism-environment, but he does not ordinarily feel this to be true. By cultural and social conditioning, he has been hypnotized into experiencing himself as an ego- as an isolated center of consciousness and will inside a bag of skin, confronting an external and alien world. We say, "I came into this world." But we did nothing of the kind. We came out of it in just the same way that fruit comes out of trees. Our galaxy, our cosmos, "peoples" in the same way that an apple tree "apples."

Such a vision of the universe clashes with the idea of a monarchical God, with the concept of the separate ego, and even with the secular, atheist/agnostic mentality, which derives its common sense from the mythology of nineteenth-century scientist According to this view, the universe is a mindless mechanism and man a sort of accidental microorganism infesting a minute globular rock that revolves about an unimportant star on the outer fringe of one of the minor galaxies. This "put-down" theory of man is extremely common among such quasi scientists as sociologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, most of whom are still thinking of the world in terms of Newtonian mechanics, and have never really caught up with the ideas of Einstein and Bohr, Oppenheimer and Schrodinger. Thus to the ordinary institutional-type psychiatrist, any patient who gives the least hint of mystical or religious experience is automatically diagnosed as deranged. From the standpoint of the mechanistic religion, he is a heretic and is given electroshock therapy as an up-to-date form of thumbscrew and rack. And, incidentally, it is just this kind of quasi scientist who, as consultant to government and law-enforcement agencies, dictates official policies on the use of psychedelic chemicals.

Inability to accept the mystic experience is more than an intellectual handicap. Lack of awareness of the basic unity of organism and environment is a serious and dangerous hallucination. For in a civilization equipped with immense technological power, the sense of alienation between man and nature leads to the use of technology in a hostile spirit---to the "conquest" of nature instead of intelligent co-operation with nature. The result is that we are eroding and destroying our environment, spreading Los Angelization instead of civilization. This is the major threat overhanging Western, technological culture, and no amount of reasoning or doom-preaching seems to help. We simply do not respond to the prophetic and moralizing techniques of conversion upon which Jews and Christians have always relied. But people have an obscure sense of what is good for them-call it "unconscious self-healing," "survival instinct," "positive growth potential," or what you will. Among the educated young there is therefore a startling and unprecedented interest in the transformation of human consciousness. All over the Western world publishers are selling millions of books dealing with Yoga, Vedanta, Zen Buddhism, and the chemical mysticism of psychedelic drugs, and I have come to believe that the whole "hip" subculture, however misguided in some of its manifestations, is the earnest and responsible effort of young people to correct the self-destroying course of industrial civilization.

The content of the mystical experience is thus inconsistent with both the religious and secular concepts of traditional Western thought. Moreover, mystical experiences often result in attitudes that threaten the authority not only of established churches, but also of secular society. Unafraid of death and deficient in worldly ambition, those who have undergone mystical experiences are impervious to threats and promises. Moreover, their sense of the relativity of good and evil arouses the suspicion that they lack both conscience and respect for law. Use of psychedelics in the United States by a literate bourgeoisie means that an important segment of the population is indifferent to society's traditional rewards and sanctions.

In theory, the existence within our secular society of a group that does not accept conventional values is consistent with our political vision. But one of the great problems of the United States, legally and politically, is that we have never quite had the courage of our convictions. The Republic is founded on the marvelously sane principle that a human community can exist and prosper only on a basis of mutual trust. Metaphysically, the American Revolution was a rejection of the dogma of Original Sin, which is the notion that because you cannot trust yourself or other people, there must be some Superior Authority to keep us all in order. The dogma was rejected because, if it is true that we cannot trust ourselves and others, it follows that we cannot trust the Superior Authority which we ourselves conceive and obey, and that the very idea of our own untrustworthiness is unreliable!

Citizens of the United States believe, or are supposed to believe, that a republic is the best form of government. Yet vast confusion arises from trying to be republican in politics and monarchist in religion. How can a republic be the best form of government if the universe, heaven, and hell are a monarchy? (8) Thus, despite the theory of government by consent, based upon mutual trust, the peoples of the United States retain, from the authoritarian backgrounds of their religions or national origins, an utterly naive faith in law as some sort of supernatural and paternalistic power. "There ought to be a law against it!" Our law-enforcement officers are therefore confused, hindered, and bewildered-not to mention corrupted-by being asked to enforce sumptuary laws, often of ecclesiastical origin, that vast numbers of people have no intention of obeying and that, in any case, are immensely difficult or simply impossible to enforce-for example, the barring of anything so undetectable as LSD-25 from international and interstate commerce.

Finally, there are two specific objections to use of psychedelic drugs. First, use of these drugs may be dangerous. However, every worth-while exploration is dangerous-climbing mountains, testing aircraft, rocketing into outer space, skin diving, or collecting botanical specimens in jungles. But if you value knowledge and the actual delight of exploration more than mere duration of uneventful life, you are willing to take the risks. It is not really healthy for monks to practice fasting, and it was hardly hygienic for Jesus to get himself crucified, but these are risks taken in the course of spiritual adventures. Today the adventurous young are taking risks in exploring the psyche, testing their mettle at the task just as, in times past, they have tested it---more violently---in hunting, dueling, hot-rod racing, and playing football. What they need is not prohibitions and policemen, but the most intelligent encouragement and advice that can be found.

Second, drug use may be criticized as an escape from reality. However, this criticism assumes unjustly that the mystical experiences themselves are escapist or unreal. LSD, in particular, is by no means a soft and cushy escape from reality. It can very easily be an experience in which you have to test your soul against all the devils in hell. For me, it has been at times an experience in which I was at once completely lost in the corridors of the mind and yet relating that very lostness to the exact order of logic and language, simultaneously very mad and very sane. But beyond these occasional lost and insane episodes, there are the experiences of the world as a system of total harmony and glory, and the discipline of relating these to the order of logic and language must somehow explain how what William Blake called that "energy which is eternal delight" can consist with the misery and suffering of everyday life. (9)

The undoubted mystical and religious intent of most users of the psychedelics, even if some of these substances should be proved injurious to physical health, requires that their free and responsible use be exempt from legal restraint in any republic that maintains a constitutional separation of church and state. (10) To the extent that mystical experience conforms with the tradition of genuine religious involvement, and to the extent that psychedelics induce that experience, users are entitled to some constitutional protection. Also, to the extent that research in the psychology of religion can utilize such drugs, students of the human mind must be free to use them. Under present laws, I, as an experienced student of the psychology of religion, can no longer pursue research in the field. This is a barbarous restriction of spiritual and intellectual freedom, suggesting that the legal system of the United States is, after all, in tacit alliance with the monarchical theory of the universe, and will, therefore, prohibit and persecute religious ideas and practices based on an organic and unitary vision of the universe. (11)

(1) See W. James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). (back)

(2) An excellent anthology of such experiences is R. Johnson Watcher on the Hills (1959). (back)

(3) Thus Hinduism regards the universe not as an artifact, but as an immense drama in which the One Actor (the paramatman or brakman) plays all the parts, which are his (or "its") masks or personae. The sensation of being only this one particular self, John Doe, is due to the Actor's total absorption in playing this and every other part. For fuller exposition, see S. Radhakrishnan, The Hindu View of Life (1927); H. Zimmer, Philosophies of India (1951), pp. 355-463. A popular version is in A. Watts, The Book---On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966). (back)

(4) Isaiah 45: 6, 7. (back)

(5) Chandogya Upanishad 6.15.3. (back)

(6) Alfred Lord Tennyson, A Memoir by His Son (1898), 320. (back)

(7) A Prayer for the King's Majesty, Order for Morning Prayer, Book of Common Prayer (Church of England, 1904). (back)

(8) Thus, until quite recently, belief in a Supreme Being was a legal test of valid conscientious objection to military service. The implication was that the individual objector found himself bound to obey a higher echelon of command than the President and Congress. The analogy is military and monarchical, and therefore objectors who, as Buddhists or naturalists, held an organic theory of the universe often had difficulty in obtaining recognition. (back)

(9) This is discussed at length in A. Watts, The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness (1962). (back)

(10) "Responsible" in the sense that such substances be taken by or administered to consenting adults only. The user of cannabis, in particular, is apt to have peculiar difficulties in establishing his "undoubted mystical and religious intent" in court. Having committed so loathsome and serious a felony, his chances of clemency are better if he assumes a repentant demeanor, which is quite inconsistent with the sincere belief that his use of cannabis was religious. On the other hand, if he insists unrepentantly that he looks upon such use as a religious sacrament, many judges will declare that they "dislike his attitude," finding it truculent and lacking in appreciation of the gravity of the crime, and the sentence will be that much harsher. The accused is therefore put in a "double-bind" situation, in which he is "damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't." Furthermore, religious integrity-as in conscientious objection-is generally tested and established by membership in some church or religious organization with a substantial following. But the felonious status of cannabis is such that grave suspicion would be cast upon all individuals forming such an organization, and the test cannot therefore be fulfilled. It is generally forgotten that our guarantees of religious freedom were designed to protect precisely those who were not members of established denominations, but rather such (then) screwball and subversive individuals as Quakers, Shakers, Levellers, and Anabaptists. There is little question that those who use cannabis or other psychedelics with religious intent are now members of a persecuted religion which appears to the rest of society as a grave menace to "mental health," as distinct from the old-fashioned "immortal soul." But it's the same old story. (back)

(11) Amerindians belonging to the Native American Church who employ the psychedelic peyote cactus in their rituals, are firmly opposed to any government control of this plant, even if they should be guaranteed the right to its use. They feel that peyote is a natural gift of God to mankind, and especially to natives of the land where it grows, and that no government has a right to interfere with its use The same argument might be made on behalf of cannabis, or the mushroom Psilocybe mexicana Heim. All these things are natural plants, not processed or synthesized drugs, and by what authority can individuals be prevented from eating theme There is no law against eating or growing the mushroom Amanita pantherina, even though it is fatally poisonous and only experts can distinguish it from a common edible mushroom. This case can be made even from the standpoint of believers in the monarchical universe of Judaism and Christianity, for it is a basic principle of both religions, derived from Genesis, that all natural substances created by God are inherently good, and that evil can arise only in their misuse. Thus laws against mere possession, or even cultivation, of these plants are in basic conflict with biblical principles. Criminal conviction of those who employ these plants should be based on proven misuse. "And God said 'Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed- to you it shall be for meat.... And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Genesis 1:29, 31.

In Memory of Dame Elizabeth Taylor

2011-03-25T07:07:00.000-05:00

There are actresses, stars, and icons...then there was Dame Elizabeth Taylor.

HUNG

ORGYEN YUL GYI NUB JANG TSAM

In the north-west of the land of Orgyen,

PEMA KESAR DONGPO LA

In the heart of a lotus flower,

YATSEN CHOK GI NGÖ DRUP NYÉ

Endowed with the most marvellous attainments,

PEMA JUNG NÉ SHYÉ SU DRAK

You are renowned as the Lotus-born,

KHOR DU KHANDRO MANGPÖ KOR

Surrounded by many hosts of dakinis.

KHYÉ KYI JÉ SU DAK DRUP KYI

Following in your footsteps

CHIN GYI LAP CHIR SHEK SU SOL

I pray to you: come and bless me with your grace!

GURU PEMA SIDDHI HUM

OM AH HUM

Namu daishi henjo kongo

Why are we still in Afghanistan?

2011-01-23T20:05:00.000-06:00

http://mondediplo.com/openpage/why-are-we-still-in-afghanistan

Things

2010-11-20T06:54:00.000-06:00

Americans should stop the TSA’s pat down of our rights

2010-11-20T06:39:00.000-06:00

The report of an encounter between the Transportation Security Administration and a man named John Tyner inside the San Diego Airport went viral last week.

Tyner refused to comply with the TSA’s new “enhanced” pat down, decided instead to leave the airport, and was threatened by a TSA agent with a $10,000 civil suit for refusing to endure the security screening.

During the ordeal, the TSA agent tasked with manhandling Tyner reportedly stated that by purchasing his ticket, Tyner had given up “a lot of his rights.” Perhaps this is a recent development; I don’t recall seeing any fine print about voluntarily surrendering my constitutional rights when I last purchased an airline ticket....

Full article here: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/50704991-82/rights-tsa-tyner-boyack.html.csp

Jimi Hendrix - Burning Of The Midnight Lamp

2010-11-16T04:13:00.000-06:00

Right Here And Now -Alan Watts & Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

2010-10-20T07:04:00.000-05:00

Willing To Die

2010-10-19T10:20:00.001-05:00

What is Mandala?

2010-10-19T09:10:00.000-05:00

Video Portal AGE OF MMORPG

NOTE: I simply like the film. However, it is in Japanese & untranslated, so I haven't a clue what it is being said. So, you've been warned. lol

Gregorian Chant & Buddhist Shómyó

2010-10-19T08:21:00.000-05:00

NOTE: My thanks to Hokai for originally posting this on his YT page.

On conforming to society

2010-10-19T08:09:00.001-05:00

Don't Be Alert

2010-10-19T06:58:00.000-05:00

Zen's Appeal to the West

2010-10-18T08:02:00.000-05:00

Kamakura Accounts of Myoe Shonin as Popular Religious Hero

2010-09-28T01:11:00.001-05:00

Myoe Shonin (Koben, 1173-1232) lived at the beginning of an age
of religious renewal and innovation. Honen (1133-1212), for
example, was advocating the "Single-practice calling upon the
name of Amida Buddha" (senju nenbutsu), the founding of the
Jodo sect being traditionally placed in 1175; Eisai (1141-1215)
returned from China in 1191 to propagate the meditation practices
of Rinzai Zen. And on the secular front there were also renewals
and innovations, with the Minamoto clan's establishment of a
center of political power in Kamakura which would share the
direction of the nation's social, religious and cultural life with the
court in Kyoto.
The belief was widespread, although not universally accepted,
that the world was well into the period of the Decline of the Law
(mappa), the last of the three phases of Shakyamuni's teaching,
which meant that people would be increasingly incapable of practicing
or even of comprehending the original discipline and that
human institutions would deteriorate. New methods appropriate
to the times were required, and Honen, Eisai and Myoe were
merely three of the earliest to attempt to meet the challenge of
determining what these methods were to be. These three were
succeeded by a flood of reformers, notably Dogen (1200-1253),
Nichiren (1222-1282), and Shinran, who was born the same year
as Myoe but outlived him by three decades.

Article continued here: http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications/jjrs/pdf/154.pdf

Eulogizing Kūya as More than a Nembutsu Practitioner: A Study and Translation of the Kūyarui

2010-09-28T00:42:00.001-05:00

Kūya is widely known as a tenth-century Buddhist holy man who was the first
to spread the nenbutsu practice among common lay people. The document
that scholars regard as the most credible for understanding who Kūya was is
the Kūyarui, which is a eulogy for Kūya written in Sino-Japanese (kanbun) in
the 970s by the author of the Sanbōe, Minamoto Tamenori. This article first
elucidates the origins and influence of the text. Then it approaches the text as a
piece of Buddhist biographical literature and examines its depiction of Kūya. It
is argued that Kūya is depicted in the Kūyarui not primarily as a nenbutsu practitioner
but as a selfless holy man who rejects any status in the world, yet serves
it by promoting Buddhism in a variety of ways and by striving to relieve the
suffering of others. Finally, a translation of the complete Kūyarui is provided.

FULL ARTICLE: http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications/jjrs/pdf/769.pdf

Animating Objects: Tsukumogami ki and the Medieval Illustration of Shingon Truth

2010-09-28T00:15:00.000-05:00

Tsukumogami are animate household objects. An otogizōshi (“companion tale”)
titled Tsukumogami ki (“Record of tool specters”; Muromachi period) explains
that after a service life of nearly one hundred years, utsuwamono or kibutsu
(containers, tools, and instruments) receive souls. While many references are
made to this work as a major source for the definition of tsukumogami, insufficient
attention has been paid to the actual text of Tsukumogami ki. The work
is entertaining, and I believe that the principal motivation of the author(s) in
writing it was to spread the doctrines of Shingon Esoteric Buddhism to a variety
of audiences, ranging from the educated to the relatively unsophisticated,
by capitalizing upon pre-existing spiritual beliefs in tsukumogami. In this
article I examine Tsukumogami ki and the popular practices and beliefs that
are reflected in its text and illustrations. A complete translation of the work is
included as an online supplement to this issue of the JJRS, at www.nanzan-u .ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/jjrs/jjrsMain.htm.

Read full article here: http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications/jjrs/pdf/819.pdf

The Phenomenon of Invoking Fudō for Pure Land Rebirth

2010-09-27T11:04:00.000-05:00

Invoking the esoteric Buddhist deity Fudō for rebirth is a lesser known aspect
in the development of Pure Land worship. Fudō was invoked by reciting
his incantation as a deathbed practice to attain proper mindfulness at death
allowing rebirth into the Pure Land, particularly Miroku’s Heaven, from the
late Heian into the Kamakura period. The association of Fudō and Miroku’s
Heaven extends back to the Tendai monk Sōō (ninth century), and invoking
Fudō for rebirth was practiced by such notables as Emperor Shirakawa and
the Kegon monk Myōe. Fudō was incorporated into Miroku Raigō paintings
from the end of the twelfth century into the fourteenth century, probably as a
last recourse by the traditional schools of Buddhism to the rising popularity of
Amida worship and easy access to Amida’s Pure Land through the nenbutsu.

Full paper:
http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications/jjrs/pdf/749.pdf

A Thought From Alan Watts

2010-09-05T22:41:00.001-05:00

"The order of the world is very different from the order we create with the rules of our syntax and grammar. The order of the world is extraordinarily complex, while the order of words is relatively simple, and to use the order of words to try to explain life is really as clumsy an operation as trying to drink water with a fork. Our confusion of the order of logic and of words with the order of nature is what makes everything seem so problematic to us." ~ Alan Watts

Tuvan Throat Singing

2010-08-21T13:50:00.000-05:00

Hannya Shingyo (Heart sutra)

2010-08-21T13:36:00.000-05:00

Medicine Buddha Mantra

2010-08-21T13:29:00.000-05:00

Shingon Chant

2010-08-21T13:25:00.000-05:00

The Quintessence of Esoteric Buddhism by Tri Eu Phuoc

2010-08-20T09:47:00.000-05:00

The Quintessence of Secret (Esoteric) Buddhism-matgiao@yahoo.com

Note: I have not read this yet, so I do not guarantee its authenticity. Let the reader beware. :)

Sacred Koyasan

2010-08-20T09:39:00.000-05:00

Sacred Ko Yasan ¯

Read This or Die

2010-08-12T03:00:00.000-05:00

Tea Muthaf*cka! Do you drink it? ~ The Chinese Tea Ceremony

Sufi Invocation

2010-08-08T02:21:00.000-05:00

Invocation

We invoke the One
whose body is the cosmos,

which we share in our bodies;
and whose mind is the software

behind the existential appearance of reality,
and in which mind we participate in our thinking;
and whose presence is continually lying in wait in our being,
and yet who outstrips any concept that we can possibly construct,
and we invoke all those beings

who have attained a level of realization that inspires us

and helps us to validate our being

and fulfill the purpose of our life.

- Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Tony Judt, Chronicler of History, Is Dead at 62

2010-08-08T00:58:00.000-05:00

Tony Judt, the author of “Postwar,” a monumental history of Europe after World War II, and a public intellectual known for his sharply polemical essays on American foreign policy, the state of Israel and the future of Europe, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 62.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/books/08judt.html

One Person, One Vote, One Catch

2010-08-04T15:58:00.000-05:00

It Keeps Getting Better

2010-08-04T14:48:00.000-05:00

Lose your ego, find your compassion

2010-08-04T02:28:00.000-05:00

The Sky Turns Into a Big Blue Pancake

2010-08-04T00:16:00.000-05:00

Outer Space

2010-08-03T12:05:00.000-05:00

"Outer Space" from Ace Frehley's "Anomaly." An outstanding album. :)

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" data-original-id="BLOGGER_object_0" id="BLOGGER_object_0" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: rgb(178, 178, 178); height: 385px; width: 480px; clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; float: left; margin-right: 1em;"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Integral Philosophy DVD 1: Foundations of Integral Philosophy

2010-08-03T09:37:00.000-05:00

Hamamatsu - Gojusan Tsugi Meisho Zue

2010-08-03T09:31:00.000-05:00

Hiroshige Ando 1797-1858 - Hamamatsu - Gojusan Tsugi Meisho Zue (Upright Tokaido)

Samurai with Sword by Kunisada Utagawa

2010-08-03T09:24:00.000-05:00

Samurai with Sword

Kunisada Utagawa 1786-1865

(Click image for larger picture)

The Esoteric Meaning Of ‘Amida’ (Amida Hishaku)

2010-08-03T08:30:00.000-05:00

By Kakuban

An annotated translation with introduction
by Hisao Inagaki (Zuio)

Introduction

Kakuban, popularly known as Mitsugon Sonja (Venerable Mystic Glorification), was born in Fujitsu-no-sho, Hizen Province (near the present Kagoshima City), on the 17th of the 6th month, 1095. His father Isa-no-Heiji Kanemoto was a high officer in charge of a manor belonging to the Ninnaji temple, and his mother came from the Tachibana family. Born as the third of four sons, he was called Yachitose-maro.
According to the Genko-shakusho, one day when Kakuban was eight years old, a messenger of the provincial governor came to see his father to press him for payment of taxes. The messenger’s attitude was rude, and the boy’s father was hiding behind the screen. The boy was shocked and asked the monk who was staying at his house, “Who was that messenger?” and “Who is the highest authority in Japan?” After learning that the emperor was the highest person, he further asked the monk if there was someone superior to the emperor. The monk replied that the Buddha was the supreme authority. This incident prompted him to decide to become a Buddhist; whereupon he himself burned incense as an offering to the Buddha.
His father died when Kakuban was ten, and in 1107, at the age of 13, he went to Kyoto and became a disciple of Kanjo, the founder of the Joju-in Hall and a well-known esoteric adept. In the following year, he went to Nara to study the Kusha and Hosso teachings under Keigyo at the Kofukuji. In 1110 he returned to the Joju-in and received the ordination of a novice from Kanjo and was given the name Shogaku-bo Kakuban – “Enlightened VAM” (VAM is the mystic syllable of Maha Vairocana in the Vajra-realm Mandala). After the ordination, Kanjo sent him to Nara again – this time to the Todaiji to learn the Sanron and Kegon Teachings. While studying in Nara, Kakuban had a dream in which a Shinto god urged him to go up to Mt. Koya. So he once again returned to the Ninnaji and began the preparatory practice for becoming an acarya.
In 1114, at the age of 20 Kakuban received the full ordination of a monk at the Todaiji, Nara, and then went up Mt. Koya, where he was greeted by a Nembutsu sage, Shoren of the Ojo-in. Being a devout aspirant to Amida’s Pure Land, Shoren undoubtedly had a great influence on Kakuban. Kakuban learned many ritual practices under Meijaku, who was also known as an aspirant to the Pure Land through the Shingon Nembutsu. Under Meijaku’s guidance, Kakuban particularly practiced the ritual called “Kokuzo gumonjiho,” dedicated to Kokuzo (Akashagarbha) Bodhisattva. During his stay on Mt. Koya, until he was 27 of age, he also received the Dharma-transmission abhiseka (Denbo kanjo) as many as eight times.
In 1121 Kakuban received from Kanjo of the Ninnaji the abhiseka of the two Mandela’s, the Realm of Matrix-store and the Realm of Vajra. Later he tried again and again to master the Kokuzo gumonjiho ritual, until at the ninth attempt in 1123 he attained the transcendent state, and thus spiritual awakening dawned in his mind.
In 1125 Kakuban is said to have written the Koyoshu, 3 fascicles, explaining the way of birth in Amida’s Land, and sent it to his mother. In the following year, he wished to build a hall on Mt. Koya to revive the lecture meeting of transmission of the Dharma, called “Denbo-e”, which was originated by Kukai for the promotion of studies in esoteric Buddhism. Coincidentally, a large estate in Wakayama was donated to him, so he invoked Shinto gods and built there a shrine to guard the Denbo-in, which was to be built on Mt. Koya. Later the Negoroji was built on this site. In 1130 Kakuban received the patronage of the Ex-emperor Toba and his sanction to build the Denbo-in on Mt. Koya. Since that temple proved to be too small, in 1131 he built the Daidenbo-in temple (Great Denbo-in). Thus he succeeded in establishing a center for the study and practice of Shingon.
Kakuban’s next effort was to rehabilitate the Shingon rituals. At that time, there were two traditions of rituals in the Tomitsu (the esoteric Buddhism of Shingon as opposed to that of Tendai): the Ono and Hirosawa schools, each divided into sub-schools. Besides those, on Mt. Koya another school, called “Chuin,” was founded by Meizan (1021-1106). Kakuban sought to unify them all by establishing the Denbo-in school.
In 1134, an imperial decree was issued to designate the Daidenbo-in and the Mitsugon-in, the latter constructed as Kakuban’s residence, as temples for offering up prayers for the emperor, and Kakuban was nominated as the first zasu of the Daidenbo-in. Monks of the Kongobuji, the head temple of Mt. Koya, became angry and tried to expel Kakuban, but an Ex-emperor’s decree ruled that those monks be punished. Later that year, Kakuban was additionally appointed zasu of the Kongobuji. Until that time, the zasu of the Toji temple in Kyoto had also been the zasu of the Kongobuji, and so Mt. Koya had been effectively under the jurisdiction of Toji. Worried about further incurring the wrath of those monks who had already sought his expulsion, Kakuban finally resigned as zasu of both temples and retired to the Mitsugon-in.
Nevertheless, the antipathy of the Kongobuji monks against Kakuban was aggravated. They even took to arms and attempted to kill him. Kakuban, however, remained in the Mitsugon-in and began a discipline of silence for a thousand days. In 1139, the armed monks destroyed the Denbo-in and its sub-temples, numbering more than eighty. Kakuban fled to Negoro in Wakayama, never to return to Mt. Koya again. He spent the rest of his life there teaching students and writing books. In 1143 when he was 49 years of age, he became ill, and later that year he passed away while sitting in the lotus posture, making the appropriate mudra, and facing towards Mahavairocana’s Pure Land. He was given the posthumous title Kogyo Daishi (the Master who Revived the Teaching) by Emperor Higashiyama in 1690.
Reconciliation and conflict ensued between the Kongobuji and the Negoroji, lasting for more than a hundred years. The great master Raiyu (1226-1304) finally moved the Daidenbo-in and the Mitsugon-in to Negoro in 1288, and declared the independence of the new school, called Shingi Shingon.
Kakuban’s life-work can be summarized under the following four headings:
(1) Reviving the denbo-e lecture-meetings to promote the study of the Shingon teachings;
(2) Founding the Denbo-in school to unify various traditions of Shingon ritualism;
(3) Independence of the Kongobuji from the jurisdiction of the Toji;
(4) Founding a new school of thought and practice uniting Shingon esotericism and the Nembutsu, called ‘Shingon Nembutsu’ or ‘Himitsu Nembutsu.’
Kakuban’s literary works, amounting to more than 150, show the depth and scope of his scholarship grounded in his dedication to and his mystic experience of Shingon esotericism. Above all, he made a great contribution to the transmission of Kukai’s teachings by elaborating his theories of “attaining Buddhahood with one’s present body” (sokushin jobutsu), “the Dharmakaya’s exposition of the Dharma” (hosshin seppo), “the ten spiritual stages” (jujushin), and so on. Based on his practice and personal experience, Kakuban also wrote a number of manuals of ritual performance, especially on the rite for increasing memory, dedicated to Akashagarbha (Kokuzo gumonjiho), contemplation of the Sanskrit syllable “A” (ajikan), and contemplation of the moon-disc (gachirinkan). His devotion to the rite for Akashagarbha is worthy of our special notice, for through the successful performance of this practice, he is said to have attained a spiritual awakening similar to the realization of Buddhahood with one’s present body.
Kakuban is generally credited with having started the tradition of the esoteric Nembutsu, but there were some predecessors. From the middle of the Heian period, especially after Genshin (942-1017) published his famous Ojoyoshu, Amida worship became very popular on Mt. Hiei and elsewhere. In Shingon, too, the contemplative and oral practice of the Nembutsu became popular. Saisen (1025°1115) of the Ninnaji wrote some works on Pure Land Buddhism. Jitsuhan (1089-1144) of Konponjodo-in, Nakagawa, Nara, who founded the Nakagawa ritual school of Shingon, practiced the Nembutsu of the Pure Land School in his later years and recommended it to his followers; he wrote among other works the Jodo-ojoron.
From about the end of the 10th century, kanjin-hijiri, who urged devotees to make donations for building temples and for other purposes, began to settle on Mt. Koya. A little later, Nembutsu practitioners, called hijiri-gata or koya-hijiri (Koya sages) began to appear. They were originally joji (also shoji; one who performs miscellaneous duties at a temple while remaining a layman and sometimes married). Those hijiri who held the Pure Land faith and were devoted to the Nembutsu, were also in charge of the crematorium and mortuary chapel. A number of groups of hijiri lived on Mt. Koya from the middle of the 11th century. They practiced both Shingon esotericism and the Nembutsu, and their influence on the spiritual life of the general public was great.
Kakuban’s theory of esoteric Nembutsu appears in the following works:
(1) Gorin kuji hishaku (The Esoteric Meanings of the Five Elements and the Nine Syllables; Kogyo Daishi senjutsushu (henceforth abbreviated to KDS.) Vol. 1, 149-152);
(2) Ichigo taiyo himitsushaku (The Esoteric Exposition of the Most Important Matter in Life; KDS. Vol. 1, 157-176);
(3) Amida hishaku (The Esoteric Meaning of ‘Amida’; KDS. Vol. 149-152).
It is believed that the Gorin kuji hishaku was written during the last few years of the author’s life. This work is also called Tongo ojo hikan (The Esoteric Contemplation for Quick Attainment of Birth in the Pure Land). The five elements are: earth (indicated by ‘A’), water (‘VA’), fire (‘RA’), wind (‘HA’), and space (‘KHA’); they symbolize the five Buddhas, five wisdoms, and so forth. The nine syllables of the Amida mantra are: M, A, MR, TA, TE, JE, HA, RA, and HUM (Om amrita teje hara hum). Kakuban explains that the five elements and the nine syllables are essentially the same and that through contemplation of them, one can attain birth in the Pure Land. In this work, Kakuban asserts that the practitioners of the Shingon Nembutsu attains birth in the highest grade of the highest class (cf. note 11) like Nargarjuna, who had already in this life attained the Stage of Joy. As for the specific cause of birth in the Pure Land, he says (KDS. Vol. I, 212): “The three refuges and the five precepts are the karmic cause for birth in the Pure Land. The six contemplations, four Dhyana, ten good actions, meditation on void-ness, and so forth, can also be the causes of birth there.”
The Ichigo taiyo himitsushaku teaches nine specific points to remember for Pure Land aspirants. These nine include “repenting of one’s karmic transgressions” (5), “contemplation of the Pure Land” (7), and “decisive assurance of birth” (8). Kakuban emphatically states: “Amida is the manifestation of Maha Vairocana’s wisdom; Maha Vairocana is the essential nature of Amida.” (KDS. 1, 172) He thus clarifies the essential identity of Amida and Maha Vairocana and that of Amida’s Land of Utmost Bliss (Gokuraku) and Maha Vairocana’s Land of Mystic Glorification (Mitsugon). The eighth instruction is “the most important matter to be taken care of, “as the author notes under that heading (KDS. I, 172). Here he elaborates on the terminal care to be taken of a dying person in order to safeguard his attainment of birth in the Pure Land: Five Dharma friends should be in the room of the dying person and see that the deathbed rite is properly performed. The rite consists mainly of repeating the Nembutsu. They should recite the Nembutsu in time with the breath of that person for one to seven days, until he dies. The five friends should also envision that as they pronounce “NA MO A MI TA BUH”, these syllables enter the mouth of the dying person as he inhales, and that those syllables turn into the sun, which shines forth from his six sense-organs and breaks the darkness of his karmic transgressions. This contemplation enables him to attain the sun-meditation, as taught in the Contemplation Sutra (Kanmuryojukyo) and thus gain birth in the Pure Land.
The Amida-hishaku is a short work covering only one page in the Taisho Tripitaka edition, but it presents the essential teaching of the esoteric Nembutsu. Kakuban first explains that Amida is the manifestation of the wisdom of the Dharmakaya Maha Vairocana and corresponds to the wisdom of wonderful discernment (myokanzatchi; pratyaveksana-jnana). When one realizes the ultimate One Mind, which contains all the Buddhas, divinities, their wisdoms, and other realms of beings, one attains unity with Amida. Next, the author explains thirteen different names of Amida related to his manifestations of Light, each as one of the functions of the Dharmakaya’s wisdom of discernment. Lastly, he presents the esoteric meanings of AMITA.
The presentation in this work is reminiscent of a short sutra translated by Amoghavajra, entitled Kuhon ojo Amida sanmaji shu-daranikyo (The Sutra Presenting the Dharani of the Amida Samadhi which Ensures Birth in the Nine Ranks of Enlightenment)(TT. 19, 79b-80a). This sutra first states that the Land of the Buddha of Infinite Life is manifest in the samádhi of pure consciousness glorified with the nine ranks of enlightenment, which he then explains. Contrary to our expectation, those nine ranks are not the same as the nine grades presented in the Contemplation Sutra but are the nine stages of enlightenment (see note 11). They seem to indicate nine different virtues contained in the Pure Consciousness of True Suchness. Within this consciousness appear twelve Mahamandala figures originating from the Great Round Mirror-Wisdom. The twelve figures are the twelve Buddhas, who, according to the Larger Sutra (Muryojukyo), are different names of Amida and the same as the last twelve of the thirteen names given in the Amida-hishaku.
The sutra continues to explain that one who contemplates those Buddhas and praises their names can escape from samsára and reside in True Suchness. It further states that one who wishes to enter this Samádhi and purify his mind and body should concentrate on the following mantra:
OM A MR TA TE JE HA RA HUM.
By holding fast to this mantra, which is popularly known as the Amida shoju (the Small Amida Mantra), one can dwell in the realization of the principle of ultimate reality. The sutra ends with the usual praise of the merit of copying and reciting it and the benefit of its leading the practicer to the Pure Land.
Kakuban must have read this sutra and used its essentials in the Amida-hishaku. He re-interprets it as the nine consciousnesses adorned with nine grades or ranks of enlightenment, which are contained in the One Mind. One noticeable divergence from the sutra is Kakuban’s use of A MI TA. Instead of following the more usual esoteric formula of the nine syllables of the Amida mantra, he teaches that one who recites AMITA (or AMIDA) can extinguish his grave karmic offenses and attain boundless wisdom and merit. He then gives esoteric meanings of A MI TA.
In summing up the above observations, we can see that Kakuban uses three kinds of Amida mantra in the three texts above:
(1) 9 syllable-mantra, i.e., OM (or M) A MR TA TE JE HA RA HUM., in the Gorin kuji hishaku;
(2) 6 syllable-mantra, i.e., NA MO A MI TA BUH, in the Ichigo taiyo himitsushaku;
(3) 3 syllable-mantra, i.e., A MI TA., in the Amida-hishaku.
A comparative study of these three texts reveals that the Amida-hishaku is an ontological and metaphysical exposition of the Shingon Nembutsu and that the Gorin kuji hishaku is the most elaborate exposition of the authentic esoteric Amida mantra along the lines of Pure Land thought. Of the three texts, the Ichigo taiyo himitsushaku shows the closest affinity to the popular Nembutsu formula of the Pure Land school.
Throughout these works the central Shingon idea of ‘sokushin jobutsu’ is evident, and the Pure Land concept of ‘ojo’ is interpreted from this viewpoint. We also note that in the Gorin kuji hishaku Kakuban warns the practicer of the 9 syllable-mantra not to despise the 6 syllable-name or the 3 syllable-mantra (KDS. I, 219). Hence we know that there is no basic difference between the three mantras. For Kakuban, Amida and other Buddhas are manifestations of Maha Vairocana, and the Pure Lands of Amida and other Buddhas are his transformed Lands (KDS. I, 177).
The Esoteric Meaning Of ‘Amida’
Amida Hishaku
By Kakuban

General discussion

Amida Buddha is the embodiment of the wisdom of discerning and recognizing the Dharmakaya in one’s own nature and is also the common ground from which all sentient beings attain enlightenment.
If you contemplate and perceive the One Mind,1) you will also recognize the reality of all dharmas; if you know the reality of all dharmas, you will also know the mental activities of all sentient beings. Thus the One Mind contains in itself all aspects of the twofold truth2) without distinction. Every form and mind of beings in the nine realms3) equally possesses the Five Wisdoms4) in full array. It follows then that the sages in the Four Mandala5) originally reside in one’s body, which is a temporary conglomeration of the five aggregates,6) and continue to do so everlastingly. The Holy Ones who are responsive to the practicer in his Three Mystic Acts7) eternally and pervasively dwell in his delusory mind of nine consciousnesses.8)
Since the One Mind is identical with all dharmas, the realm of Buddhas and that of sentient beings are at once non-dual and dual. Since all dharmas are identical with the One Mind, the realm of Buddhas and that of sentient beings are at once dual and non-dual. Further, one’s mind and the Buddha are, from the beginning, one. Do not attempt to make this mind become a Buddha. When delusion subsides, wisdom appears and then you become a Buddha with the present body.9)
When it is taught (in other sects) that there is a Buddha beyond one’s self and a pure land beyond this defiled land, it is for the purpose of guiding ordinary ignorant persons of deep attachment and benefiting sentient beings who have committed the gravest offenses. Expositions of the Dharma accommodated to the capacities of people present shallow and simplified teachings while keeping the principle of truth hidden. The exposition of truth by the Dharmakaya Buddha10) opens up the true wisdom and destroys attachments.
If you clearly recognize the deep fountainhead of the One Mind, the Mind-Lotus of the nine ranks11) will bloom in the Pure Mind with nine consciousnesses12); if you attain enlightenment through the Three Mystic Acts, you will perceive the forms of the Five Buddhas13) manifested in your body through the five sense-organs.14) Who still aspires to the glorious land of treasures15) in the beyond? Who still wishes to see the exquisite forms there?
The difference between delusion and enlightenment rests with your mind, and so, there is no Buddha apart from your three modes of action.16) Since the true and the delusory are one, you can perceive the Land of Utmost Bliss15) in the five states of samsaric existence.17) The moment you understand this truth, this very mind of yours is called ‘Avalokiteshvara,’ for you clearly know the principle of universal presence of the One Mind in all conditioned and unconditioned dharmas.17) If you acquire the thorough knowledge of this mind, you are called ‘Amida Tathágata,’ for you truly recognize the One Mind, which is your innate virtue, free from all discriminations and attachments.
The above is the outline.

Explanation of the Name
Next, I will explain the name. In India it was called ‘Amita’; in China it was translated as ‘wu-liang-shou,’ ‘wu-liang-kuang,‘ and so forth. There are in all thirteen translations, which are used only in the exoteric teachings. According to the esoteric interpretation, all names are, without exception, mystic names of the Tathágata (Maha Vairocana). Nevertheless, I will explain the true meanings of these thirteen names.18)
(1) Muryoju (Infinite Life): The Dharmakaya Tathágata dwells in the Dharma-realm Palace19) without arising or perishing; for this reason, Maha Vairocana Tathágata is also called “48b” ‘the Buddha of Infinite Life.’
(2) Muryoko (Infinite Light): The light of the Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wisdom of wonderful discernment and observation20) illumines innumerable sentient beings and countless worlds, benefiting them continually forever; hence, Maha Vairocana Tathágata is also called ‘the Buddha of Infinite Light.’
(3) Muhenko (Boundless Light): The Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wisdom of wonderful discernment and observation is limitless and without bounds; hence, Maha Vairocana Tathágata is also called ‘the Buddha of Boundless Light.’
(4) Mugeko (Unhindered Light): The Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wisdom of wonderful discernment and observation realizes, all at the same time, the absence of obstruction among conditioned and unconditioned dharmas, absolute and relative truth, aspects and essence of reality, mental functions of all sentient beings, down to grass, trees, mountains and rivers; hence, Maha Vairocana Tathágata is also called ‘the Buddha of Unhindered Light.’
(5) Mutaiko (Incomparable Light): The Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wisdom of wonderful discernment and observation cannot be explained in relative terms, because from the beginning delusion does not exist. The true enlightenment which cannot be explained in relative terms transcends the wisdom of distinguishing the true and the false; hence, Maha Vairocana Tathágata is also called ‘the Buddha of Incomparable Light.’
(6) The Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wisdom of wonderful discernment and observation brilliantly illumines the darkness of ignorance in the consciousness of sentient beings and burns the defilements of their blind passions like a blazing fire; hence, Maha Vairocana Tathágata is also called ‘the Buddha of the Light of the Flaming King.’
(7) The light of the Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wonderful wisdom destroys the darkness of ignorance of sentient beings, reveals the Palace of Enlightenment in the Mind,21) and enables one to attain, for the first time, the bliss of original non-production;22) hence, Maha Vairocana Tathágata is also called ‘the Buddha of the Light of Joy.’
(8) The light of the Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wonderful wisdom clearly discerns the real significance of the absolute and relative truth and illumines conditioned and unconditioned dharmas; hence, Maha Vairocana Tathágata is also called ‘the Buddha of the Light of Wisdom.’
(9) The Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wisdom of wonderful discernment allows him to dwell in the enjoyment of his own Dharma everlastingly without change and cessation; hence, Maha Vairocana Tathágata is also called ‘the Buddha of Unceasing Light.’
(10) The Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wisdom of wonderful discernment is inconceivable even to the Bodhisattvas of Equal Enlightenment23) and of the Tenth Stage; hence, he is also called ‘the Buddha of Inconceivable Light.’
(11) The Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wisdom of wonderful discernment is beyond the reach of the wisdom of ordinary beings and that of wise men and sages and cannot be adequately praised by them; hence, he is also called ‘the Buddha of the Light Beyond Praise.’
(12) The Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wisdom of wonderful discernment is originally not defiled by the objects of the six sense-perceptions;24) hence, he is also called ‘the Buddha of the Light of Purity.’
(13) The light of the Dharmakaya Tathágata’s wonderful wisdom is originally forever present and illumines everywhere at all times, day and night, regardless of time and space; because it excels the sun and the moon of this world, he is also called ‘the Buddha of the Light Outshining the Sun and the Moon.’
Thus the names of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the three periods throughout the ten quarters are different names of the great Dharmakaya. Again, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the three periods throughout the ten directions are manifestations of the discerning wisdoms of Maha Vairocana Tathágata. Further, words and utterances of all sentient beings are, without exception, his mystic names. Those who are deluded about this are called sentient beings; that which realizes it is called the Buddha’s wisdom. For this reason, one who pronounces the three syllables, A, MI, and DA, will have his grave karmic offenses from the beginning-less past extinguished; one who is mindful of one Buddha, Amida, will accomplish endless merits and wisdom. Just as a single gem in Indra’s net at once reflects images of innumerable gems, the single Buddha, Amida, instantly endows him with boundless intrinsic merits.

Explanation of the Sanskrit Syllables
Next, I will explain the significance of the Sanskrit syllables.
(1) A signifies the principle of non-differentiation and original non-production25) of One Mind; MI26) signifies the principle of non-differentiation, ego-less-ness, and universal self of One Mind; TA27) signifies the principle of such-ness and tranquility of all dharmas pervaded by One Mind.
(2) A also signifies the Buddha family28), because it symbolizes the oneness of the principle of reality and the transcendental wisdom, and represents the essential nature of the Dharma-realm pervaded by One Mind. MI signifies the Lotus family,29) because the ultimate reality revealed by the wisdom of wonderful discernment and observation, i.e., the void-ness of sentient beings and dharmas, is, like a lotus-flower, originally undefiled by objects of the six sense-perceptions. TA signifies the Vajra family,30) because the wonderful wisdom of the Tathágata is in itself indestructible and destroys all the delusions, as enemies.
(3) A also31) signifies the principle of void-ness; the essential nature of One Mind is, from the beginning, free from delusory appearances. MI signifies the principle of temporariness; all dharmas pervaded by the undifferentiated One Mind are temporary existences like illusions. TA signifies the principle of the middle; all dharmas pervaded by the undifferentiated One Mind are free from the two extreme views31) and so, cannot be conceived as having fixed forms.
(4) A also signifies the principle of existence; the essential nature of the One Mind is originally existent, un-produced, and without extinction. MI signifies the principle of void-ness; all dharmas pervaded by the One Mind are in themselves ungraspable. TA signifies the principle of non-void-ness; all dharmas pervaded by the One Mind have, from their origin, been always possessed of the merits of the Dharmakaya.
(5) A also signifies cause; the realms of Buddhas and those of sentient beings are caused respectively by realization of the One Mind and by ignorance of it. MI signifies practice; by destroying self-attachment and attachment to dharmas, one realizes void-ness of self and dharmas, thereby attaining Buddhahood. TA signifies Buddha; undifferentiated One Mind expresses the principle of reality of such-ness and the transcendental wisdom, which are among the qualities of Buddhahood.
The above analysis is the explanation of the Sanskrit syllables. These syllables have no fixed forms in their mutual relations, just as (images reflected in) the gems attached to Indra’s net cannot be taken up or discarded, for the undifferentiated One Mind is ungraspable. The above gives the meanings (of the syllables). There is no syllable apart from its meaning; no meaning apart from the syllable. It is a delusory view of discrimination to accept one and discard the other, or vice versa.
To hate this Saha world and seek birth in the Land of Utmost Bliss, or to dislike this defiled body and revere the Buddha-body, is termed ignorance and also delusion. Even in the world of defilement, during the period of decline, if one continues to meditate on the undifferentiated Dharma-realm, how can one not attain the Buddhist Way?
1. The One Mind is the all-inclusive absolute mind, from which all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and sages appear and to which all dharmas and sentient beings return. It is the same as the Buddha-nature. The merits and virtues contained in One Mind are symbolically represented as Maha Vairocana.
2. The twofold truth or reality is: absolute reality or paramartha-satya) and conventional or relative reality (samvritti-satya).
3. The nine realms are: hell, the realms of hungry spirits, animals, asuras, humans, devas, shravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas, that is all realms other than that of the Buddha, the tenth.
4. The five wisdoms are: (1) the wisdom of realizing the essence of the Dharma-realm (dharmadhatu-svabhava-jnana), (2) the great round mirror-wisdom (adarsha-jnana), (3) the wisdom of non-distinction (samata-jnana), (4) the wisdom of wonderful discernment (pratyaveksana-jnana), and (5) wisdom of manifesting transformed bodies (krityanusthana-jnana).
5. The four kinds of mandala are: (1) great mandala (mahamandala); a Buddha or Bodhisattva or a painting of his figure; (2) mandala of sacred attributes (samaya-mandala); symbols held in the hands of a divinity such as an ensign, sword, wheel, jewel, or lotus flower; also a painting of such an object; (3) mandala of sacred letters (dharma-mandala); seed-syllables, words, and the meanings of all sutras; and (4) mandala of iconic figures (karma-mandala); sculptures showing the posture and gestures of a divinity.
6. The five aggregates (panca-skandhah) are: (1) matter or form (rupa); (2) perception (vedana); (3) conception (samjna); (4) volition (samskara); and (5) consciousness (vijnana).
7. The three mystic acts are: (1) bodily mystic act (forming the manual sign (mudra) of a specific divinity; (2) verbal mystic act (reciting the mantra of a specific divinity; and (3) mental mystic act (meditating on a specific divinity).
8. The nine consciousnesses are: (1) visual consciousness, (2) auditory consciousness, (3) olfactory consciousness, (4) gustatory consciousness, (5) tactile consciousness, (6) mental consciousness, (7) ego-consciousness (manas), (8) alaya-consciousness, and (9) amala-consciousness. The theory of nine consciousnesses is attributed to the Shoron (She-lun) school, which flourished in China for about a hundred years from the latter half of the 6th century. In the present context, however, the 9th consciousness, which is usually considered undefiled, is treated from our viewpoint as being obscured by delusion.
9. Cf. H. Inagaki, “Kukai’s Sokushin-jobutsu-gi,” Asia Major, Vol. 17 Part 2, 1972; reprint published by Ryukoku Translation Center, 1975, under the title, “Kukai’s Principle of Attaining Buddhahood with the Present Body.”
10. Refers to Maha Vairocana.
11. ‘The nine ranks’ as used in the Contemplation Sutra (Kanmuryojukyo) refer to the nine grades of aspirants who attain nine different levels of birth in Amida’s Pure Land. Here the term seems to refer to the following nine ranks mentioned in the Kuhon ojo Amida sanmaji shu-daranikyo (TT. 19, 79c; hereafter, abbreviated to Daranikyo): (1) the upper grade of the upper class, shinjikiji (stage of true form), (2) the middle grade of the upper class, mukuji (stage of non-defilement), (3) the lower grade of the upper class, rikuji (stage of separation from defilement); (4) the upper grade of the middle class, zengakuji (stage of excellent enlightenment); (5) the middle grade of the middle class, myorikiji (stage of intellectual power); (6) the lower grade of the middle class, muroji (stage of absence of impurities); (7) the upper grade of the lower class, shinkakuji (stage of enlightenment of truth); (8) the middle grade of the lower class, gengakuji (stage of enlightenment of wisdom); and (9) the lower grade of the lower class, rakumonji (stage of the gate of happiness). In this sutra these nine ranks represent the nine pure consciousnesses of True Suchness. In the Gorin kuji hishaku (KDS. I, 212) Kakuban seems to use the term kuhon in the same sense as in the Contemplation Sutra (Kanmuryojukyo), but his usage of this term in the Shingonshu sokushin jobutsugisho (KDS. I, 32) is still different from that of the Contemplation Sutra.
12. The Pure Mind with nine consciousnesses refers to the purified states of the nine consciousnesses mentioned above; Kakuban’s phraseology is reminiscent of (Samádhi of Pure Consciousness with nine ranks) mentioned in the Daranikyo (TT. 19, 79c).
13. For the five Buddhas, see H. Inagaki, Dictionary of Japanese Buddhist Terms, 3rd edition, 1988, under gobutsu.
14. The five sense-organs are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and the tactile body.
15. Refers to Amida’s Pure Land.
16. Bodily act, speech, and thought.
17. The five states of samsaric existence are: hell and the realms of hungry spirits, animals, humans, and devas.
18. Of the 13 names, the first is the name of Amida Buddha specifically used in the Larger Sutra (Muryojukyo). The next 12 names are his appellations describing different functions and characteristics of his light; cf. TT. 12. 270a-b. The Daranikyo also mentions those twelve appellations related to his light, stating that they represent twelve Mahamandalas (i.e., figures of Buddhas and sages) which are reflected in the great-mirror wisdom.
19. The Dharmadhatu Palace of Maha Vairocana in the Realm of the Matrix-store Mandala is located in the Maheshvara Heaven (Daijizaiten); its full name is Kodai kongo hokaigu (the Great Palace of the Diamond-like Dharma-realm).
20. Myokanzatchi corresponds to the sixth consciousness and is represented by Amida. Here it is interpreted as belonging to Maha Vairocana.
21. ‘Palace’ is a symbolic expression of Enlightenment realized in the ultimate nature of one’s mind.
22. ‘Original non-production’, Skt. anutpattika-dharma-ksanti, is the insight of realizing the void-ness of all dharmas.
23. ‘Equal Enlightenment’ is the highest stage of a bodhisattva, which corresponds to the 51st stage of the 52-stage career.
24. ‘The objects of the six sense-perceptions’ are form, sound, odor, taste, tangible objects, and objects of the mind.
25. The Sanskrit syllable ‘A’ is here construed as ‘ady-anutpada‘ (original non-production).
26. ‘MI’ seems to be construed here as ‘mahatman‘ (great self).
27. ‘TA’ represents ‘tathata’ (true such-ness).
28. The three families, Buddha, Lotus, and Vajra, are the three divisions of Buddhas and divinities in the Mahavairocana Sutra. The lotus symbolizes the ultimate principle (ri) contained in the pure Bodhi-mind and free from defilement by blind passions; the indestructible wisdom (chi) of realizing the ultimate principle is compared to the Vajra; the two perfect virtues of Enlightenment belong to the Buddha family. Three syllables used for them are respectively A, SA, and VA.
29. The Lotus family is also known as Kannon-bu (Avalokiteshvara family) and Ho-bu (Dharma family). In the Realm of the Matrix-store Mandala, the 36 sages, headed by Avalokiteshvara, belong to this family.
30. The Vajra family corresponds to Kongoshu-in (Vajrapani section) of the Realm of the Matrix-store Mandala, which contains 33 sages, headed by Kongosatta (Vajrasattva).
31. The theory that A, MI, and TA represent the triple truth of the void, the temporary, and the middle was propounded by Genshin (942-1017) of Mt. Hiei; cf. Kanjin ryakuyosho (Eshin Sozu zenshu, I, 277). Kakuban also says in the Gorin kuji hishaku (KDS. I, 212): “The practicer of the Single Path of the Unconditioned (i.e., one who follows the Tendai teaching) contemplates the void, the temporary, and the middle through the contemplation of A, MI, and TA.”

Ken Wilber - I Am Big Mind

2010-08-02T19:15:00.000-05:00

Bjork - Possibly Maybe

2010-08-02T18:52:00.001-05:00

Dream Mala

2010-08-02T16:28:00.000-05:00

Brahmajāla Sutta: The All-embracing Net of Views

2010-08-02T00:49:00.000-05:00

NOTE: The following Sutta is from the Access to Insight website. (http://www.accesstoinsight.org) They are an incredible Buddhist resource that I would recommend to all. I had nothing to do with the Sutta other than cutting & pasting it here. I do find it interesting though that so many of the incorrect views expressed are still held today 2500 years later. So much for that whole progress thing I guess. lol

DN 1

PTS: D i 1

Brahmajāla Sutta: The All-embracing Net of Views

translated from the Pali by

Bhikkhu Bodhi

I. Talk on Wanderers (Paribbājakakathā)

1. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Exalted One was travelling along the highway between Rājagaha and Nālandā together with a great company of bhikkhus, with about five hundred bhikkhus. At the same time the wanderer Suppiya was also travelling along the highway between Rājagaha and Nālandā together with his pupil, the youth Brahmadatta. Along the way, the wanderer Suppiya spoke in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. But his pupil, the youth Brahmadatta, spoke in many ways in praise of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. Thus these two, teacher and pupil, followed closely behind the Exalted One and the company of bhikkhus, making assertions in direct contradiction to each other.
2. Then the Exalted One together with the company of bhikkhus entered the royal resthouse in the Ambalaṭṭhika garden in order to pass the night. The wanderer Suppiya together with his pupil, the youth Brahmadatta, also entered the royal resthouse in the Ambalaṭṭhika garden in order to pass the night. There, too, the wanderer Suppiya spoke in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, while his pupil Brahmadatta spoke in many ways in their praise. Thus these two, teacher and pupil, dwelt together making assertions in direct contradiction to each other.
3. When dawn broke a number of bhikkhus, after rising, assembled in the pavilion. As they sat together, the following conversation sprang up among them: "It is wonderful and marvellous, friends, how the Exalted One, he who knows and sees, the Worthy One, the perfectly enlightened Buddha, has so thoroughly penetrated the diversity in the dispositions of beings. For this wanderer Suppiya spoke in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, while his own pupil, the youth Brahmadatta, spoke in many ways in their praise. These two, teacher and pupil, followed closely behind the Exalted One and the company of bhikkhus, making assertions in direct contradiction to each other."
4. Then the Exalted One, realizing the turn their discussion had taken, entered the pavilion, sat down on the prepared seat, and addressed the bhikkhus: "What kind of discussion were you holding just now, bhikkhus? What was the subject of your conversation?"
The bhikkhus replied: "When dawn had broken, Lord, after rising we assembled in the pavilion. As we sat here, the following conversation sprang up among us: 'It is wonderful and marvellous friends, how the Exalted One, he who knows and sees, the Worthy One, the perfectly enlightened Buddha, has so thoroughly penetrated the diversity in the dispositions of beings. For this wanderer Suppiya spoke in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, while his own pupil, the youth Brahmadatta, spoke in many ways in their praise. These two, teacher and pupil, followed closely behind the Exalted One and the company of bhikkhus, making assertions in direct contradiction to each other.' This, Lord, was the conversation we were having when the Exalted One arrived."
5. "If, bhikkhus, others speak in dispraise of me, or in dispraise of the Dhamma, or in dispraise of the Sangha, you should not give way to resentment, displeasure, or animosity against them in your heart. For if you were to become angry or upset in such a situation, you would only be creating an obstacle for yourselves. If you were to become angry or upset when others speak in dispraise of us, would you be able to recognize whether their statements are rightly or wrongly spoken?"
"Certainly not, Lord."
"If, bhikkhus, others speak in dispraise of me, or in dispraise of the Dhamma, or in dispraise of the Sangha, you should unravel what is false and point it out as false, saying: 'For such and such a reason this is false, this is untrue, there is no such thing in us, this is not found among us.'
6. "And if, bhikkhus, others speak in praise of me, or in praise of the Dhamma, or in praise of the Sangha, you should not give way to jubilation, joy, and exultation in your heart. For if you were to become jubilant, joyful, and exultant in such a situation, you would only be creating an obstacle for yourselves. If others speak in praise of me, or in praise of the Dhamma, or in praise of the Sangha, you should acknowledge what is fact as fact, saying: 'For such and such a reason this is a fact, this is true, there is such a thing in us, this is found among us.'

II. The Analysis of Virtue

1. The Short Section on Virtue (Cūḷasīla)

7. "It is, bhikkhus, only to trifling and insignificant matters, to the minor details of mere moral virtue, that a worldling would refer when speaking in praise of the Tathāgata. And what are those trifling and insignificant matters, those minor details of mere moral virtue, to which he would refer?
8. "'Having abandoned the destruction of life, the recluse Gotama abstains from the destruction of life. He has laid aside the rod and the sword, and dwells conscientious, full of kindness, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings.' It is in this way, bhikkhus, that the worldling would speak when speaking in praise of the Tathāgata.
"Or he might say: 'Having abandoned taking what is not given, the recluse Gotama abstains from taking what is not given. Accepting and expecting only what is given, he dwells in honesty and rectitude of heart.'
"Or he might say: 'Having abandoned unchaste living, the recluse Gotama lives the life of chastity. He dwells remote (from women), and abstains from the vulgar practice of sexual intercourse.'
9. "Or he might say: 'Having abandoned false speech, the recluse Gotama abstains from falsehood. He speaks only the truth, he lives devoted to truth; trustworthy and reliable, he does not deceive anyone in the world.'
"Or he might say: 'Having abandoned slander, the recluse Gotama abstains from slander. He does not repeat elsewhere what he has heard here in order to divide others from the people here, nor does he repeat here what he has heard elsewhere in order to divide these from the people there. Thus he is a reconciler of those who are divided and a promoter of friendships. Rejoicing, delighting, and exulting in concord, he speaks only words that are conducive to concord.'
"Or he might say: 'Having abandoned harsh speech, the recluse Gotama abstains from harsh speech. He speaks only such words as are gentle, pleasing to the ear, endearing, going to the heart, urbane, amiable, and agreeable to many people.'
"Or he might say: 'Having abandoned idle chatter, the recluse Gotama abstains from idle chatter. He speaks at the right time, speaks what is factual, speaks on the good, on the Dhamma and the Discipline. His words are worth treasuring: they are timely, backed by reason, definite and connected with the good.'
10. "Or he might say: 'The recluse Gotama abstains from damaging seed and plant life. He eats only in one part of the day, refraining from food at night and from eating at improper times. He abstains from dancing, singing, instrumental music, and witnessing unsuitable shows. He abstains from wearing garlands, embellishing himself with scents, and beautifying himself with unguents. He abstains from accepting gold and silver. He abstains from accepting uncooked grain, raw meat, women and girls, male and female slaves, goats and sheep, fowl and swine, elephants, cattle, horses and mares. He abstains from accepting fields and lands. He abstains from running messages and errands. He abstains from buying and selling, and from dealing with false weights, false metals, and false measures. He abstains from the crooked ways of bribery, deception, and fraud. He abstains from mutilating, executing, imprisoning, robbery, plunder, and violence.'
"It is in this way, bhikkhus, that the worldling would speak when speaking in praise of the Tathāgata.

2. The Intermediate Section on Virtue (Majjhimasīla)

11. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some honorable recluses and brahmins, while living on food offered by the faithful, continuously cause damage to seed and plant life — to plants propagated from roots, stems, joints, buddings, and seeds — the recluse Gotama abstains from damaging seed and plant life.'
12. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some honorable recluses and brahmins, while living on food offered by the faithful, enjoy the use of stored up goods such as stored up food, drinks, garments, vehicles, bedding, scents, and comestibles — the recluse Gotama abstains from the use of stored up goods'
13. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some honorable recluses and brahmins, while living on food offered by the faithful, attend unsuitable shows, such as: shows featuring dancing, singing, or instrumental music; theatrical performances; narrations of legends; music played by hand-clapping, cymbals, and drums; picture houses; acrobatic performances; combats of elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, goats, rams, cocks and quails; stick-fights, boxing and wrestling, sham-fights, roll-calls, battle-arrays, and regimental reviews — the recluse Gotama abstains from attending such unsuitable shows.'
14. "Or he might say: "Whereas some honorable recluses and brahmins, while living on food offered by the faithful, indulge in the following games that are a basis for negligence:[1] aṭṭhapada (a game played on an eight-row chess-board); dasapada (a game played on a ten-row chess-board); ākāsa (a game of the same type played by imagining a board in the air); parihārapatha ("hopscotch," a diagram is drawn on the ground and one has to jump in the allowable spaces avoiding the lines); santika ("spellicans," assembling the pieces in a pile, removing and returning them without disturbing the pile); khalika (dice games); ghaṭika (hitting a short stick with a long stick); salākahattha (a game played by dipping the hand in paint or dye, striking the ground or a wall, and requiring the participants to show the figure of an elephant, a horse etc.); akkha (ball games); paṅgacīra (blowing through toy pipes made of leaves); vaṅkaka (ploughing with miniature ploughs); mokkhacika (turning somersaults); ciṅgulika (playing with paper windmills); pattāḷaka (playing with toy measures); rathaka (playing with toy chariots); dhanuka (playing with toy bows); akkharika (guessing at letters written in the air or on one's back); manesika (guessing others' thoughts); yathāvajja (games involving mimicry of deformities) — the recluse Gotama abstains from such games and recreations.'
15. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on food offered by the faithful, enjoy the use of high and luxurious beds and seats, such as: spacious couches; thrones with animal figures carved on the supports; long-haired coverlets; multi-colored patchwork coverlets; white woollen coverlets; woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers; quilts stuffed with cotton; woollen coverlets embroidered with animal figures; woollen coverlets with hair on both sides or on one side; bedspreads embroidered with gems; silk coverlets; dance-hall carpets; elephant, horse or chariot rugs; rugs of antelope-skins; choice spreads made of kadali-deer hides; spreads with red awnings overhead; couches with red cushions for the head and feet — the recluse Gotama abstains from the use of such high and luxurious beds and seats.'
16. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, enjoy the use of such devices for embellishing and beautifying themselves as the following: rubbing scented powders into the body, massaging with oils, bathing in perfumed water, kneading the limbs, mirrors, ointments, garlands, scents, unguents, face-powders, make-up, bracelets, head-bands, decorated walking sticks, ornamented medicine-tubes, rapiers, sunshades, embroidered sandals, turbans, diadems, yaktail whisks, and long-fringed white robes — the recluse Gotama abstains from the use of such devices for embellishment and beautification.'
17. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, engage in frivolous chatter, such as: talk about kings, thieves, and ministers of state; talk about armies, dangers and wars; talk about food, drink, garments, and lodgings; talk about garlands and scents; talk about relatives, vehicles, villages, towns, cities, and countries; talk about women and talk about heroes; street talk and talk by the well; talk about those departed in days gone by; rambling chit-chat; speculations about the world and about the sea; talk about gain and loss — the recluse Gotama abstains from such frivolous chatter.'[2]
18. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, engage in wrangling argumentation, (saying to one another): "You don't understand this doctrine and discipline. I am the one who understands this doctrine and discipline." — "How can you understand this doctrine and discipline?" — "You're practising the wrong way. I'm practising the right way." — "I'm being consistent. You're inconsistent." — "What should have been said first you said last, what should have been said last you said first." — "What you took so long to think out has been confuted." — "Your doctrine has been refuted. You're defeated. Go, try to save your doctrine, or disentangle yourself now if you can" — the recluse Gotama abstains from such wrangling argumentation.'
19. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, engage in running messages and errands for kings, ministers of state, khattiyas, brahmins, householders, or youths, (who command them): "Go here, go there, take this, bring that from there" — the recluse Gotama abstains from running such messages and errands.'
20. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, engage in scheming, talking, hinting, belittling others, and pursuing gain with gain — the recluse Gotama abstains from such kinds of scheming and talking.'[3]
"It is in this way, bhikkhus, that a worldling would speak when speaking in praise of the Tathāgata.

3. The Long Section on Virtue (Mahāsīla)

21. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as:[4] prophesying long life, prosperity etc., or the reverse, from the marks on a person's limbs, hands, feet etc; divining by means of omens and signs; making auguries on the basis of thunderbolts and celestial portents; interpreting ominous dreams; telling fortunes from marks on the body; making auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice; offering fire oblations; offering oblations from a ladle; offering oblations of husks, rice powder, rice grains, ghee, and oil to the gods; offering oblations from the mouth; offering blood-sacrifices to the gods; making predictions based on the fingertips; determining whether the site for a proposed house or garden is propitious or not; making predictions for officers of state; the knowledge of charms to lay demons in a cemetery; the knowledge of charms to cure one possessed by ghosts; the knowledge of charms to be pronounced by one living in an earthen house; the snake craft (for curing snake bites and charming snakes); the poison craft (for neutralizing or making poison); the scorpion craft and rat craft (for curing scorpion stings and rat bites, respectively); the bird craft and crow craft (for understanding the cries of birds and crows); foretelling the number of years that a man has to live; the knowledge of charms to give protection from arrows; reciting charms to understand the language of animals — the recluse Gotama abstains from such wrong means of livelihood, from such debased arts.'
22. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as interpreting the significance of the color, shape, and other features of the following items to determine whether they portend fortune or misfortune for their owners: gems, garments, staffs, swords, spears, arrows, bows, other weapons, women, men, boys, girls, slaves, slave-women, elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, cows, goats, rams, fowl, quails, lizards, rabbits, tortoises, and other animals — the recluse Gotama abstains from such wrong means of livelihood, from such debased arts.'
23. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as making predictions to the effect that:
the king will march forth; the king will not march forth; our king will attack and the enemy king will retreat; the enemy king will attack and our king will retreat; our king will triumph and the enemy king will be defeated; the enemy king will triumph and our king will be defeated; thus there will be victory for one and defeat for the other — the recluse Gotama abstains from such wrong means of livelihood, from such debased arts.'
24. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as predicting: there will be an eclipse of the moon, an eclipse of the sun, an eclipse of a constellation; the sun and the moon will go on their proper courses; there will be an aberration of the sun and moon; the constellations will go on their proper courses; there will be an aberration of a constellation; there will be a fall of meteors; there will be a skyblaze; there will be an earthquake; there will be an earth-roar; there will be a rising and setting, a darkening and brightening, of the moon, sun, and constellations; such will be the result of the moon's eclipse, such the result of the sun's eclipse, (and so on down to) such will be the result of the rising and setting, darkening and brightening of the moon, sun, and constellations — the recluse Gotama abstains from such wrong means of livelihood, from such debased arts.'
25. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as predicting: there will be abundant rain; there will be a drought; there will be a good harvest; there will be a famine; there will be security; there will be danger; there will be sickness; there will be health; or they earn their living by accounting, computation, calculation, the composing of poetry, and speculations about the world — the recluse Gotama abstains from such wrong means of livelihood, from such debased arts.'
26. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as: arranging auspicious dates for marriages, both those in which the bride is brought in (from another family) and those in which she is sent out (to another family); arranging auspicious dates for betrothals and divorces; arranging auspicious dates for the accumulation or expenditure of money; reciting charms to make people lucky or unlucky; rejuvenating the fetuses of abortive women; reciting spells to bind a man's tongue, to paralyze his jaws, to make him lose control over his hands, to make him lose control over his jaw, or to bring on deafness; obtaining oracular answers to questions by means of a mirror, a girl, or a god; worshipping the sun; worshipping Mahābrahmā; bringing forth flames from the mouth; invoking the goddess of luck — the recluse Gotama abstains from such wrong means of livelihood, from such debased arts.'
27. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as: promising gifts to deities in return for favors; fulfilling such promises; demonology; reciting spells after entering an earthen house; inducing virility and impotence; preparing and consecrating sites for a house; giving ceremonial mouthwashes and ceremonial bathing; offering sacrificial fires; administering emetics, purgatives, expectorants and phlegmagogues; administering medicine through the ear and through the nose; administering ointments and counter-ointments; practising fine surgery on the eyes and ears; practising general surgery on the body; practising as a children's doctor; the application of medicinal roots; the binding on of medicinal herbs — the recluse Gotama abstains from such wrong means of livelihood, from such debased arts.'
"These, bhikkhus, are those trifling and insignificant matters, those minor details of mere moral virtue, that a worldling would refer to when speaking in praise of the Tathāgata.

III. Speculations about the Past (Pubbantakappika)

28. "There are, bhikkhus, other dhammas, deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, peaceful and sublime, beyond the sphere of reasoning, subtle, comprehensible only to the wise, which the Tathāgata, having realized for himself with direct knowledge, propounds to others; and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak. And what are these dhammas?
29. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who are speculators about the past, who hold settled views about the past, and who on eighteen grounds assert various conceptual theorems referring to the past. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins frame their speculations?

1. Eternalism (Sassatavāda): Views 1–4

30. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who are eternalists, and who on four grounds proclaim the self and the world to be eternal. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins proclaim their views?
31. "In the first case, bhikkhus, some recluse or a brahmin, by means of ardor, endeavor, application, diligence, and right reflection, attains to such a degree of mental concentration that with his mind thus concentrated, [purified, clarified, unblemished, devoid of corruptions],[5]he recollects his numerous past lives: that is, (he recollects) one birth, two, three, four, or five births; ten, twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty births; a hundred, a thousand, or a hundred thousand births; many hundreds of births, many thousands of births, many hundreds of thousands of births. (He recalls:) 'Then I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my span of life. Passing away thence, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my span of life. Passing away thence, I re-arose here.' Thus he recollects his numerous past lives in their modes and their details.
"He speaks thus: 'The self and the world are eternal, barren, steadfast as a mountain peak, standing firm like a pillar. And though these beings roam and wander (through the round of existence), pass away and re-arise, yet the self and the world remain the same just like eternity itself. What is the reason? Because I, by means of ardor, endeavor, application, diligence, and right reflection, attain to such a degree of mental concentration that with my mind thus concentrated, I recollect my numerous past lives in their modes and their details. For this reason I know this: the self and the world are eternal, barren, steadfast as a mountain peak, standing firm like a pillar. And though these beings roam and wander (through the round of existence), pass away and re-arise, yet the self and the world remain the same just like eternity itself.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the first case.
32. "In the second case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins eternalists, who proclaim the self and the world to be eternal?
"Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or brahmin, by means of ardor, endeavor, application, diligence, and right reflection, attains to such a degree of mental concentration that with his mind thus concentrated he recollects his numerous past lives: that is, (he recollects his past lives throughout) one aeon of world-contraction and expansion, throughout two, three, four, five, or ten aeons of world-contraction and expansion.[6] (He recalls:) 'Then I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my span of life. Passing away thence, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my span of life. Passing away thence, I re-arose here.' Thus he recollects his numerous past lives in their modes and their details.
"He speaks thus: 'The self and the world are eternal, barren, steadfast as a mountain peak, standing firm like a pillar. And though these beings roam and wander (through the round of existence), pass away and re-arise, yet the self and the world remain the same just like eternity itself. What is the reason? "
(The remainder is exactly the same as §31 except for the extent of time recollected.)
"This, bhikkhus, is the second reason.
33. "In the third case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins eternalists, who proclaim the self and the world to be eternal?
"Herein, bhikkhus, some recluse or brahmin, by means of ardor, endeavor, application, diligence, and right reflection, attains to such a degree of mental concentration that with his mind thus concentrated he recollects his numerous past lives: that is, (he recollects his past lives throughout) ten aeons of world-contraction and expansion, throughout twenty, thirty, or forty aeons of world-contraction and expansion... (As above)... Thus he recollects his numerous past lives in their modes and their details.
"He speaks thus: 'The self and the world are eternal, barren, steadfast as a mountain peak, standing firm like a pillar. And though these beings roam and wander (through the round of existence), pass away and re-arise, yet the self and the world remain the same just like eternity itself. What is the reason?
(As in §31 except for the extent of time.) "This, bhikkhus, is the third case.
34. "In the fourth case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins eternalists, who proclaim the self and the world to be eternal?
"Herein, bhikkhus, some recluse or brahmin is a rationalist, an investigator. He declares his view — hammered out by reason, deduced from his investigations, following his own flight of thought — thus: "The self and the world are eternal, barren, steadfast as a mountain peak, standing firm like a pillar. And though these beings roam and wander (through the round of existence), pass away and re-arise, yet the self and the world remain the same just like eternity itself.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the fourth case.
35. "It is on these four grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins who are eternalists proclaim the self and the world to be eternal. Whatever recluses and brahmins there may be who proclaim the self and the world to be eternal, all of them do so on these four grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
36. "This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands. And he understands: 'These standpoints, thus assumed and thus misapprehended, lead to such a future destination, to such a state in the world beyond.' He understands as well what transcends this, yet even that understanding he does not misapprehend. And because he is free from misapprehension, he has realized within himself the state of perfect peace. Having understood as they really are the origin and the passing away of feelings, their satisfaction, their unsatisfactoriness, and the escape from them, the Tathāgata, bhikkhus, is emancipated through non-clinging.
37. "These are those dhammas, bhikkhus, that are deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, peaceful and sublime, beyond the sphere of reasoning, subtle, comprehensible only to the wise, which the Tathāgata, having realized for himself with direct knowledge, propounds to others; and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.

2. Partial-Eternalism (Ekaccasassatavāda): Views 5–8

38. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who are eternalists in regard to some things and non-eternalists in regard to other things, and who on four grounds proclaim the self and the world to be partly eternal and partly non-eternal. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins proclaim their views?
39. "There comes a time, bhikkhus, when after the lapse of a long period this world contracts (disintegrates). While the world is contracting, beings for the most part are reborn in the Ābhassara Brahma-world.[7] There they dwell, mind-made, feeding on rapture, self-luminous, moving through the air, abiding in glory. And they continue thus for a long, long period of time.
40. "But sooner or later, bhikkhus, after the lapse of a long period, there comes a time when this world begins to expand once again. While the world is expanding, an empty palace of Brahmā appears. Then a certain being, due to the exhaustion of his life-span or the exhaustion of his merit, passes away from the Ābhassara plane and re-arises in the empty palace of Brahmā. There he dwells, mind made, feeding on rapture, self-luminous, moving through the air, abiding in glory. And he continues thus for a long, long period of time.
41. "Then, as a result of dwelling there all alone for so long a time, there arises in him dissatisfaction and agitation, (and he yearns): 'Oh, that other beings might come to this place!' Just at that moment, due to the exhaustion of their life-span or the exhaustion of their merit, certain other beings pass away from the Ābhassara plane and re-arise in the palace of Brahmā, in companionship with him. There they dwell, mind-made, feeding on rapture, self-luminous, moving through the air, abiding in glory. And they continue thus for a long, long period of time.
42. "Thereupon the being who re-arose there first thinks to himself: 'I am Brahmā, the Great Brahmā, the Vanquisher, the Unvanquished, the Universal Seer, the Wielder of Power, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Supreme Being, the Ordainer, the Almighty, the Father of all that are and are to be. And these beings have been created by me. What is the reason? Because first I made the wish: "Oh, that other beings might come to this place!" And after I made this resolution, now these beings have come.'
"And the beings who re-arose there after him also think: 'This must be Brahmā, the Great Brahmā, the Vanquisher, the Unvanquished, the Universal Seer, the Wielder of Power, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Supreme Being, the Ordainer, the Almighty, the Father of all that are and are to be. And we have been created by him. What is the reason? Because we see that he was here first, and we appeared here after him.'
43. "Herein, bhikkhus, the being who re-arose there first possesses longer life, greater beauty, and greater authority than the beings who re-arose there after him.
44. "Now, bhikkhus, this comes to pass, that a certain being, after passing away from that plane, takes rebirth in this world. Having come to this world, he goes forth from home to homelessness. When he has gone forth, by means of ardor, endeavor, application, diligence, and right reflection, he attains to such a degree of mental concentration that with his mind thus concentrated he recollects his immediately preceding life, but none previous to that. He speaks thus: 'We were created by him, by Brahmā, the Great Brahmā, the Vanquisher, the Unvanquished, the Universal Seer, the Wielder of Power, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Supreme Being, the Ordainer, the Almighty, the Father of all that are and are to be. He is permanent, stable, eternal, not subject to change, and he will remain the same just like eternity itself. But we, who have been created by him and have come to this world, are impermanent, unstable, short-lived, doomed to perish.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the first case.
45. "In the second case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins eternalists in regard to some things and non-eternalists in regard to other things, proclaiming the self and the world to be partly eternal and partly non-eternal?
"There are, bhikkhus, certain gods called 'corrupted by play.'
These gods spend an excessive time indulging in the delights of laughter and play. As a consequence they become forgetful and, when they become forgetful, they pass away from that plane.
46. "Now, bhikkhus, this comes to pass, that a certain being, after passing away from that plane, takes rebirth in this world. Having come to this world, he goes forth from home to homelessness. When he has gone forth, by means of ardor, endeavor, application, diligence, and right reflection, he attains to such a degree of mental concentration that with his mind thus concentrated he recollects his immediately preceding life, but none previous to that. He speaks thus: 'Those honorable gods who are not corrupted by play do not spend an excessive time indulging in the delights of laughter and play. As a consequence they do not become forgetful, and because they do not become forgetful they do not pass away from that plane. Those gods are permanent, stable, eternal, not subject to change, and they will remain the same just like eternity itself. But we were gods corrupted by play. We spent an excessive time indulging in the delights of laughter and play, and as a consequence we became forgetful. When we became forgetful we passed away from that plane. Coming to this world, now we are impermanent, unstable, short-lived, doomed to perish.'
"This bhikkhus, is the second case.
47. "In the third case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins eternalists in regard to some things and non-eternalists in regard to other things, proclaiming the self and the world to be partly eternal and partly non-eternal?
"There are, bhikkhus, certain gods called 'corrupted by mind.' These gods contemplate one another with excessive envy. As a consequence their minds becomes corrupted by anger towards one another. When their minds are corrupted by anger, their bodies and minds become exhausted and consequently, they pass away from that plane.
48. "Now, bhikkhus, this comes to pass, that a certain being, after passing away from that plane, takes rebirth in this world. Having come to this world, he goes forth from home to homelessness. When he has gone forth, by means of ardor, endeavor, application, diligence, and right reflection, he attains to such a degree of mental concentration that with his mind thus concentrated he recollects his immediately preceding life, but none previous to that. He speaks thus: 'Those honorable gods who are not corrupted by mind do not contemplate each other with excessive envy. As a result, their minds do not become corrupted by anger towards one another, their bodies and minds do not become exhausted, and they do not pass away from that plane. Those gods are permanent, stable, not subject to change, and they will remain the same just like eternity itself. But we were gods corrupted by mind. We contemplated each other with excessive envy and as a result our minds became corrupted by anger towards one another. When our minds were corrupted by anger, our bodies and minds became exhausted and consequently, we passed away from that plane. Coming to this world, now we are impermanent, unstable, short-lived, doomed to perish.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the third case.
49. "In the fourth case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins eternalists in regard to some things and non-eternalists in regard to other things, proclaiming the self and the world to be partly eternal and partly non-eternal?
"Herein, bhikkhus, recluse or a certain brahmin is a rationalist, an investigator. He declares his view — hammered out by reason, deduced from his investigations, following his own flight of thought — thus: 'That which is called "the eye," "the ear," "the nose," "the tongue," and "the body" — that self is impermanent, unstable, non-eternal, subject to change. But that which is called "mind" (citta) or "mentality" (mano) or "consciousness" (viññāṇa) — that self is permanent, stable, eternal, not subject to change, and it will remain the same just like eternity itself.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the fourth case.
50. "It is on these four grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins who are partial-eternalists proclaim the self and the world to be partly eternal and partly non-eternal. Whatever recluses and brahmins there may be who proclaim the self and the world to be partly eternal and partly non-eternal, all of them do so on these four grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
51. "This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands. And he understands: 'These standpoints, thus assumed and thus misapprehended, lead to such a future destination, to such a state in the world beyond.' He understands as well what transcends this, yet even that understanding he does not misapprehend. And because he is free from misapprehension, he has realized within himself the state of perfect peace. Having understood as they really are the origin and the passing away of feelings, their satisfaction, their unsatisfactoriness, and the escape from them, the Tathāgata, bhikkhus, is emancipated through non-clinging.
52. "These are those dhammas, bhikkhus, that are deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, peaceful and sublime, beyond the sphere of reasoning, subtle, comprehensible only to the wise, which the Tathāgata, having realized for himself with direct knowledge, propounds to others; and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.

3. Doctrines of the Finitude and Infinity of the World (Antānantavāda): Views 9–12

53. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who are extensionists,[8] and who on four grounds proclaim the world to be finite or infinite. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins proclaim their views?
54. "In the first case, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin, by means of ardor, endeavor, application, diligence, and right reflection, attains to such a degree of mental concentration that with his mind thus concentrated he abides perceiving the world as finite. He speaks thus: 'The world is finite and bounded. What is the reason? Because I attain to such concentration of mind that I abide perceiving the world as finite. For that reason I know this: the world is finite and bounded.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the first case.
55. "In the second case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins extensionists, proclaiming the world to be finite or infinite?
"Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin, by means of ardor, endeavor, application, diligence, and right reflection, attains to such a degree of mental concentration that with his mind thus concentrated he abides perceiving the world as infinite. He speaks thus: 'The world is infinite and boundless. Those recluses and brahmins who declare the world to be finite and bounded speak falsely. The world is infinite and boundless. What is the reason? Because I attain to such concentration of mind that I abide perceiving the world as infinite. For this reason I know this: the world is infinite and boundless.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the second case.
56. "In the third case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins extensionists, proclaiming the world to be finite or infinite?
"Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin, by means of ardor, endeavor, application, diligence, and right reflection, attains to such a degree of mental concentration that with his mind thus concentrated he abides perceiving the world as finite in the upward and downward directions, but as infinite across. He speaks thus: 'The world is both finite and infinite. Those recluses and brahmins who declare the world to be finite and bounded speak falsely; and those recluses and brahmins who declare the world to be infinite and boundless also speak falsely. The world is both finite and infinite. For what reason? Because I attain to such concentration of mind that I abide perceiving the world as finite in the upward and downward directions, but as infinite across. For this reason I know this: the world is both finite and infinite.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the third case.
57. "In the fourth case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins extensionists, proclaiming the world to be finite or infinite?
"Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin is a rationalist, an investigator. He declares his view — hammered out by reason, deduced from his investigations, following his own flight of thought — thus: 'The world is neither finite nor infinite. Those recluses and brahmins who declare the world to be finite and bounded, those who declare it to be infinite and boundless, and those who declare it to be both finite and infinite — all these speak falsely. The world is neither finite nor infinite.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the fourth case.
58. "It is on these four grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins, who are extensionists proclaim the world to be finite of infinite. Whatever recluses or brahmins there may be who proclaim the world to be finite or infinite, all of them do so on these four grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
59–60. "This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands... (repeat §§ 51–52 in full)... and it is concerning these that those who would praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.

4. Doctrines of Endless Equivocation (Amarāvikkhepavāda): Views 13–16

61. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who are endless equivocators.[9] When questioned about this or that point, on four grounds they resort to evasive statements and to endless equivocation. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins do so?
62. "Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin does not understand as it really is what is wholesome and what is unwholesome. He thinks: 'I do not understand as it really is what is wholesome and what is unwholesome. If, without understanding, I were to declare something to be wholesome or unwholesome, my declaration might be false. If my declaration should be false, that would distress me, and that distress would be an obstacle for me.' Therefore, out of fear and loathing of making a false statement, he does not declare anything to be wholesome or unwholesome. But when he is questioned about this or that point, he resorts to evasive statements and to endless equivocation: "I do not take it thus, nor do I take it in that way, nor do I take it in some other way. I do not say that it is not, nor do I say that it is neither this nor that.' "This, bhikkhus, is the first case.
63. "In the second case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins endless equivocators, resorting to evasive statements and to endless equivocation?
"Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin does not understand as it really is what is wholesome and what is unwholesome. He thinks: 'I do not understand as it really is what is wholesome and what is unwholesome. If, without understanding, I were to declare something to be wholesome or unwholesome, desire and lust or hatred and aversion might arise in me. Should desire and lust or hated and aversion arise in me, that would be clinging on my part. Such clinging would distress me, and that distress would be an obstacle for me.' Therefore, out of fear and loathing of clinging, he does not declare anything to be wholesome or unwholesome. But when questioned about this or that point he resorts to evasive statements and to endless equivocation: 'I do not take it thus, nor do I take it in that way, nor do I take it in some other way. I do not say that it is not, nor do I say that it is neither this nor that.' "This, bhikkhus, is the second case.
64. "In the third case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins endless equivocators, resorting to evasive statements and to endless equivocation?
"Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin does not understand as it really is what is wholesome and what is unwholesome. He thinks: 'I do not understand as it really is what is wholesome and what is unwholesome. Now, there are recluses and brahmins who are wise, clever, experienced in controversy, who wander about demolishing the views of others with their wisdom. If, without understanding, I were to declare something to be wholesome or unwholesome, they might cross-examine me about my views, press me for reasons and refute my statements. If they should do so, I might not be able to reply. If I could not reply, that would distress me, and that distress would be an obstacle for me.' Therefore, out of fear and loathing of being cross-examined, he does not declare anything to be wholesome or unwholesome. But, when questioned about this or that point, he resorts to evasive statements and to endless equivocation: 'I do not take it thus, nor do I take it in that way, nor do I take it in some other way. I do not say that it is not, nor do I say that it is neither this nor that.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the third case.
65. "In the fourth case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins endless equivocators, resorting to evasive statements and to endless equivocation?
"Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin is dull and stupid. Due to his dullness and stupidity, when he is questioned about this or that point, he resorts to evasive statements and to endless equivocation: 'If you ask me whether there is a world beyond — if I thought there is another world, I would declare that there is. But I do not take it thus, nor do I take it in that way, nor do I take it in some other way. I do not say that it is not, nor do I say that is neither this nor that.'
"Similarly, when asked any of the following questions, he resorts to the same evasive statements and to endless equivocation:

A.	2. Is there no world beyond? 3. Is it that there both is and is not a world beyond? 4. Is it that there neither is nor is not a world beyond?
B.	1. Are there beings spontaneously reborn? 2. Are there no beings spontaneously reborn? 3. Is it that there both are and are not beings spontaneously reborn? 4. Is it that there neither are nor are not beings spontaneously reborn?
C.	1. Is there fruit and result of good and bad action? 2. Is there no fruit and result of good and bad action? 3. Is it that there both is and is not fruit and result of good and bad action? 4. Is it that there neither is nor is not fruit and result of good and bad action?
D.	1.Does the Tathāgata exist after death? 2.Does the Tathāgata not exist after death? 3.Does the Tathāgata both exist and not exist after death? 4.Does the Tathāgata neither exist nor not exist after death?

"This bhikkhus, is the fourth case.
66. "It is on these four grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins who are endless equivocators resort to evasive statements and to endless equivocation when questioned about this or that point. Whatever recluses or brahmins there may be who resort to evasive statements and to endless equivocation, all of them do so on these four grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
"This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands... and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.

5. Doctrines of Fortuitous Origination (Adhiccasamuppannavāda): Views 17–18

67. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins, who are fortuitous originationists, and who on two grounds proclaim the self and the world to originate fortuitously. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins proclaim their views?
68. "There are, bhikkhus, certain gods called 'non-percipient beings.' When perception arises in them, those gods pass away from that plane. Now, bhikkhus, this comes to pass, that a certain being, after passing away from that plane, takes rebirth in this world. Having come to this world, he goes forth from home to homelessness. When he has gone forth, by means of ardor, endeavor, application, diligence, and right reflection, he attains to such a degree of mental concentration that with his mind thus concentrated he recollects the arising of perception, but nothing previous to that. He speaks thus: 'The self and the world originate fortuitously. What is the reason? Because previously I did not exist, but now I am. Not having been, I sprang into being.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the first case.
69. "In the second case, owing to what, with reference to what, are some honorable recluses and brahmins fortuitous originationists, proclaiming the self and the world to originate fortuitously?
"Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin is a rationalist, an investigator. He declares his view — hammered out by reason, deduced from his investigations, following his own flight of thought — thus: 'The self and the world originate fortuitously.'
"This, bhikkhus, is the second case.
70. "It is on these two grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins who are fortuitous originationists proclaim the self and the world to originate fortuitously. Whatever recluses or brahmins there may be who proclaim the self and the world to originate fortuitously, all of them do so on these two grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
"This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands... and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.
71. "It is on these eighteen grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins who are speculators about the past and hold settled views about the past assert various conceptual theorems referring to the past. Whatever recluses or brahmins are speculators about the past, hold settled views about the past, and assert various conceptual theorems referring to the past, all of them do so on these eighteen grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
72. "This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands. And he understands: 'These standpoints, thus assumed and thus misapprehended, lead to such a future destination, to such in the world beyond.' He understands as well what transcends this, yet even that understanding he does not misapprehend. And because he is free from misapprehension, he has realized within himself the state of perfect peace. Having understood as they really are the origin and the passing away of feelings, their satisfaction, their unsatisfactoriness, and the escape from them, the Tathāgata, bhikkhus, is emancipated through non-clinging.
73. "These are those dhammas, bhikkhus, that are deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, peaceful and sublime, beyond the sphere of reasoning, subtle, comprehensible only to the wise, which the Tathāgata, having realized for himself with direct knowledge, propounds to others; and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.

IV. Speculations about the Future (Aparantakappika)

74. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who are speculators about the future, who hold settled views about the future, and who on forty-four grounds assert various conceptual theorems referring to the future. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins frame their speculations?

1. Doctrines of Percipient Immortality (Saññīvāda): Views 19–34

75. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of percipient immortality[10] and who on sixteen grounds proclaim the self to survive percipient after death. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins proclaim their views?
76. "They proclaim: 'The self is immutable after death, percipient, and:

A.	1. material 2. immaterial 3. both material and immaterial 4. neither material nor immaterial
B.	1. finite 2. infinite 3. both finite and infinite 4. neither finite nor infinite
C.	1. of uniform perception 2. of diversified perception 3. of limited perception 4. of boundless perception
D.	1. exclusively happy 2. exclusively miserable 3. both happy and miserable 4. neither happy nor miserable.'

77. "It is on these sixteen grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of percipient immortality proclaim the self to survive percipient after death. Whatever recluses or brahmins maintain a doctrine of percipient immortality, all of them do so on these sixteen grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
"This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understand... and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.

2. Doctrines of Non-percipient Immortality (Asaññīvāda): Views 35–42

78. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of non-percipient immortality, and who on eight grounds proclaim the self to survive non-percipient after death. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins proclaim their views?
79. "They proclaim: 'The self is immutable after death, non-percipient, and:

A.	1. material 2. immaterial 3. both material and immaterial 4. neither material nor immaterial
B.	1. finite 2. infinite 3. both finite and infinite 4. neither finite nor infinite.'

80. "It is on these eight grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of non-percipient immortality proclaim the self to survive non-percipient after death. Whatever recluses or brahmins maintain a doctrine of non -percipient immortality, all of them do so on these eight grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
"This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands... and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.

3. Doctrines of Neither Percipient Nor Non-Percipient Immortality (N'evasaññī-nāsaññīvāda): Views 43–50

81. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of neither percipient nor non-percipient immortality and who on eight grounds proclaim the self to survive neither percipient nor non-percipient after death. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins proclaim their views?
82. "They proclaim: 'The self is immutable after death, neither percipient nor non-percipient, and:

A.	1. material 2. immaterial 3. both material and immaterial 4. neither material nor immaterial
B.	1. finite 2. infinite 3. both finite and infinite 4. neither finite nor infinite.'

83. "It is on these eight grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of neither percipient nor non-percipient immortality proclaim the self to survive neither percipient nor non-percipient after death. Whatever recluses or brahmins maintain a doctrine of neither percipient nor non-percipient immortality, all of them do so on these eight grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
"This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands... and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.

4. Annihilationism (Ucchedavāda): Views 51–57

84. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who are annihilationists and who on seven grounds proclaim the annihilation, destruction, and extermination of an existent being. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins proclaim their views?
85. "Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin asserts the following doctrine and view: 'The self, good sir, has material form; it is composed of the four primary elements and originates from father and mother. Since this self, good sir, is annihilated and destroyed with the breakup of the body and does not exist after death, at this point the self is completely annihilated.' In this way some proclaim the annihilation, destruction, and extermination of an existent being.
86. "To him another says: 'There is, good sir, such a self as you assert. That I do not deny. But it is not at that point that the self is completely annihilated. For there is, good sir, another self — divine, having material form, pertaining to the sense sphere, feeding on edible nutriment. That you neither know nor see, but I know it and see it. Since this self, good sir, is annihilated and destroyed with the breakup of the body and does not exist after death, at this point the self is completely annihilated.' In this way others proclaim the annihilation, destruction, and extermination of an existent being.
87. "To him another says: 'There is, good sir, such a self as you assert. That I do not deny. But it is not at that point that the self is completely annihilated. For there is, good sir, another self — divine, having material form, mind-made, complete in all its limbs and organs, not destitute of any faculties. That you neither know nor see, but I know it and see it. Since this self, good sir, is annihilated and destroyed with the breakup of the body and does not exist after death, at this point the self is completely annihilated.' In this way others proclaim the annihilation, destruction, and extermination of an existent being.
88. "To him another says: 'There is, good sir, such a self as you assert. That I do not deny. But it is not at that point that the self is completely annihilated. For there is, good sir, another self belonging to the base of infinite space, (reached by) the complete surmounting of perceptions of material form, by the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, by non-attention to perceptions of diversity, (by contemplating) "Space is infinite." That you neither know nor see, but I know it and see it. Since this self, good sir, is annihilated and destroyed with the breakup of the body and does not exist after death, at this point the self is completely annihilated.' In this way others proclaim the annihilation, destruction, and extermination of an existent being.
89. "To him another says: 'There is, good sir, such a self as you assert. That I do not deny. But it is not at that point that the self is completely annihilated. For there is, good sir, another self belonging to the base of infinite consciousness, (reached by) completely surmounting the base of infinite space (by contemplating): "Consciousness is infinite." That you neither know nor see. But I know it and see it. Since this self, good sir, is annihilated and destroyed with the breakup of the body and does not exist after death — at this point the self is completely annihilated.' In this way some proclaim the annihilation, destruction, and extermination of an existent being.
90. "To him another says: 'There is, good sir, such a self as you assert. That I do not deny. But it is not at that point that the self is completely annihilated. For there is, good sir, another self belonging to the base of nothingness, (reached by) completely surmounting the base of infinite consciousness (by contemplating): "There is nothing." That you neither know nor see. But I know it and see it. Since this self, good sir, is annihilated and destroyed with the breakup of the body and does not exist after death — at this point the self is completely annihilated.' In this way some proclaim the annihilation, destruction, and extermination of an existent being.
91. "To him another says: 'There is, good sir, such a self as you assert. That I do not deny. But it is not at that point that the self is completely annihilated. For there is, good sir, another self belonging to the base of neither perception nor non-perception, (reached by) completely surmounting the base of nothingness (by contemplating): "This is the peaceful, this is the sublime." That you neither know nor see. But I know it and see it. Since this self, good sir, is annihilated and destroyed with the breakup of the body and does not exist after death — at this point the self is completely annihilated.' In this way some proclaim the annihilation, destruction, and extermination of an existent being.
92. "It is on these seven grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins who are annihilationists proclaim the annihilation, destruction, and extermination of an existent being. Whatever recluses or brahmins proclaim the annihilation, destruction, and extermination of an existent being, all of them do so on these seven grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
"This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands... and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.

5. Doctrines of Nibbāna Here and Now (Diṭṭhadhammanibbānavāda): Views 58–62

93. "There are, bhikkhus, some recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of Nibbāna here and now and who, on five grounds, proclaim Nibbāna here and now for an existent being. And owing to what, with reference to what, do these honorable recluses and brahmins proclaim their views?
94. "Herein, bhikkhus, a certain recluse or a brahmin asserts the following doctrine or view: 'When this self, good sir, furnished and supplied with the five strands of sense pleasures, revels in them — at this point the self attains supreme Nibbāna here and now.' In this way some proclaim supreme Nibbāna here and now for an existent being.
95. "To him another says: 'There is, good sir, such a self as you assert. That I do not deny. But it is not at that point that the self attains supreme Nibbāna here and now. What is the reason? Because, good sir, sense pleasures are impermanent, suffering, subject to change, and through their change and transformation there arise sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. But when the self, quite secluded from sense pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, enters and abides in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by initial and sustained thought and contains the rapture and happiness born of seclusion — at this point, good sir, the self attains supreme Nibbāna here and now.' In this way others proclaim supreme Nibbāna here and now for an existent being.
96. "To him another says: 'There is, good sir, such a self as you assert. That I do not deny. But it is not at that point that the self attains supreme Nibbāna here and now. What is the reason? Because that jhāna contains initial and sustained thought; therefore it is declared to be gross. But when, with the subsiding of initial and sustained thought, the self enters and abides in the second jhāna, which is accompanied by internal confidence and unification of mind, is free from initial and sustained thought, and contains the rapture and happiness born of concentration — at this point, good sir, the self attains supreme Nibbāna here and now.' In this way others proclaim supreme Nibbāna here and now for an existent being.
97. "To him another says: 'There is, good sir, such a self as you assert. That I do not deny. But it is not at that point that the self attains supreme Nibbāna here and now. What is the reason? It is declared to be gross because of the mental exhilaration connected with rapture that exists there. But when, with the fading away of rapture, one abides in equanimity, mindful and clearly comprehending, and still experiencing happiness with the body, enters and abides in the third jhāna, so that the ariyans announce: "He abides happily, in equanimity and mindfulness" — at this point, good sir, the self attains supreme Nibbāna here and now.' In this way some proclaim supreme Nibbāna here and now for an existent being.
98. "To him another says: 'There is, good sir, such a self as you assert. That I do not deny. But it is not at that point that the self attains supreme Nibbāna here and now. What is the reason? It is declared to be gross because a mental concern, 'Happiness,' exists there. But when, with the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the disappearance of previous joy and grief, one enters and abides in the fourth jhāna, which is without pleasure and pain and contains purification of mindfulness through equanimity — at this point, good sir, the self attains supreme Nibbāna here and now.' In this way some proclaim supreme Nibbāna here and now for an existent being.
"This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands... and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.
99. "It is on these five grounds, bhikkhus, that these recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of Nibbāna here and now proclaim supreme Nibbāna here and now for an existent being. Whatever recluses or brahmins proclaim supreme Nibbāna here and now for an existent being, all of them do so on these five grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
"This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands... and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.
100. "It is on these forty-four grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins who are speculators about the future and hold settled views about the future assert various conceptual theorems referring to the future. Whatever recluses or brahmins, bhikkhus, are speculators about the future, hold settled views about the future, and assert various conceptual theorems referring to the future, all of them do so on these forty-four grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
"This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands... and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.
101. "It is on these sixty-two grounds, bhikkhus, that those recluses and brahmins who are speculators about the past, speculators about the future, and speculators about the past and the future together, who hold settled views about the past and the future, assert various conceptual theorems referring to the past and the future.
102. "Whatever recluses or brahmins, bhikkhus, are speculators about the past or speculators about the future or speculators about the past and the future together, hold settled views about the past and the future, and assert various conceptual theorems referring to the past and the future, all of them do so on these sixty-two grounds or on a certain one of them. Outside of these there is none.
103. "This, bhikkhus, the Tathāgata understands. And he understands: 'These standpoints, thus assumed and thus misapprehended, lead to such a future destination, to such a state in the world beyond.' He understands as well what transcends this, yet even that understanding he does not misapprehend. And because he is free from misapprehension, he has realized within himself the state of perfect peace. Having understood as they really are the origin and the passing away of feelings, their satisfaction, their unsatisfactoriness, and the escape from them, the Tathāgata, bhikkhus, is emancipated through non-clinging.
104. "These are those dhammas, bhikkhus, that are deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, peaceful and sublime, beyond the sphere of reasoning, subtle, comprehensible only to the wise, which the Tathāgata, having realized for himself with direct knowledge, propounds to others; and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.

V. The Round of Conditions and Emancipation from the Round

1. Agitation and Vacillation (Paritassitavipphandita)

105. Therein, bhikkhus, when those recluses and brahmins who are eternalists proclaim on four grounds the self and the world to be eternal — that is only the feeling of those who do not know and do not see; that is only the agitation and vacillation of those who are immersed in craving.
106. "When those recluses and brahmins who are eternalists in regard to some things and non-eternalists in regard to other things proclaim on four grounds the self and the world to be partly eternal and partly non-eternal — that too is only the feeling of those who do not know and do not see; that is only the agitation and vacillation of those who are immersed in craving.
107. "When those recluses and brahmins who are extensionists proclaim on four grounds the world to be finite or infinite —
108. "When those recluses and brahmins who are endless equivocators on four grounds resort to evasive statements and endless equivocation when questioned on this or that point —
109. "When those recluses and brahmins who are fortuitous originationists proclaim on two grounds the self and the world to originate fortuitously —
110. "When those recluses and brahmins who are speculators about the past and hold settled views about the past assert on eighteen grounds various conceptual theorems referring to the past —
111. "When those recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of percipient immortality proclaim on sixteen grounds the self to survive percipient after death —
112. "When those recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of non-percipient immortality proclaim on eight grounds the self to survive non-percipient after death —
113. "When those recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of neither percipient nor non-percipient immortality proclaim on eight grounds the self to survive neither percipient nor non-percipient after death —
114. "When those recluses and brahmins who are annihilationists proclaim on seven grounds the annihilation, destruction, and extermination of an existent being —
115. "When those recluses and brahmins who maintain a doctrine of Nibbāna here and now proclaim on five grounds supreme Nibbāna here and now for an existent being —
116. "When those recluses and brahmins who are speculators about the future and hold settled views about the future assert on forty-four grounds various conceptual theorems referring to the future —
117. "When those recluses and brahmins who are speculators about the past, speculators about the future, speculators about the past and the future together, who hold settled views about the past and the future, assert on sixty-two grounds various conceptual theorems referring to the past and the future — that too is only the feeling of those who do not know and do not see; that is only the agitation and vacillation of those who are immersed in craving.

2. Conditioned by Contact (Phassapaccayavāra)

118 (131). "Therein, bhikkhus, when those recluses who are eternalists proclaim on four grounds the self and the world to be eternal — that is conditioned by contact. That they can experience that feeling without contact — such a case is impossible.[11]
119 (132). "When those recluses and brahmins who are eternalists in regard to some things and non-eternalists in regard to other things proclaim on four grounds the self and the world to be partly eternal and partly non-eternal — that too is conditioned by contact. That they can experience that feeling without contact — such a case is impossible.
120–129 (133–142). "When those recluses and brahmins who are extensionists proclaim their views; when those who are fortuitous originationists proclaim their views; when those who are speculators about the past and hold settled views about the past assert on eighteen grounds various conceptual theorems referring to the past; when those who maintain a doctrine of percipient immortality, non-percipient immortality, or neither percipient nor non-percipient immortality proclaim their views; when those who are annihilationists proclaim their views; when those who maintain a doctrine of Nibbāna here and now proclaim their views; when those who are speculators about the future and hold settled views about the future assert on forty-four grounds various conceptual theorems referring to the future — that too is conditioned by contact. That they can experience that feeling without contact — such a case is impossible.
130 (143). "When those recluses and brahmins who are speculators about the past, speculators about the future, speculators about the past and the future together, who hold settled views about the past and the future, assert on sixty-two grounds various conceptual theorems referring to the past and the future — that too is conditioned by contact. That they can experience that feeling without contact — such a case is impossible.

Notes

1.: The explanations of these games are drawn from the commentary.
2.: Tiracchānakathā, often rendered "animal talk"; however, the commentary explains it as "talk which, because it does not lead to emancipation, runs horizontal to the (upward leading) paths to heaven and liberation" (aniyyānikathā saggamokkhamaggānaṃ tiracchānabhūtā kathā). An animal, tiracchānagata, is called so because it moves horizontally with the earth, in contrast to man, who walks erect. But talk that moves horizontally is pointless or frivolous talk, not animal talk. Besides, animals cannot speak.
3.: Improper ways of gaining material support from donors, discussed in detail in Vism 1.61–82.
4.: The explanation of these arts, usually indicated by a single obscure word in the text, is drawn from the commentary.
5.: Words in square brackets appear in the Burmese, but not in the Roman or the Sinhalese editions of the Sutta.
6.: Samvaṭṭa-vivaṭṭa. These are the two primary divisions of the great aeon (mahākappa). The samvaṭṭakappa is the period between the full evolution of a world system and its complete dissolution, the vivaṭṭakappa the period between dissolution and full evolution. The PED definitions should be reversed; see Vism 13.28–30. Since each period contains a phase of incipient development and a phase of stabilization, the two are further divided to yield four asaṅkheyyakappas, "incalculable aeons," in a great aeon. See A 4:166.
7.: The "world of streaming radiance," the sixth of the fifteen planes in the fine-material world (rūpaloka), the lowest order to be exempt from the onset of world destruction. The Brahma-world mentioned later is destroyed by the conflagration but reappears at an early stage.
8.: Antānantikā, lit. "finitizers and infinitizers." The word "extensionists" is borrowed from Rhys-Davids.
9.: Or "eel-wriggling," as rendered by Rhys-Davids. For the commentarial justification for this rendering, see below.
10.: This might have been translated "doctrines of conscious survival" to accord with common idiom, but I have used a more literal rendering to maintain consistency with the commentarial explanation.
11.: In order to avoid excessive repetition, the following section of the Pāli has been combined with the present section by deleting its repetition of each view and adding its novel feature, the declaration that the experience of feeling without contact is impossible, to the end of each statement in the present section.

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How to cite this document (one suggested style): "Brahmajāla Sutta: The All-embracing Net of Views" (DN 1), translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Access to Insight, August 1, 2010, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.01.0.bodh.html.

Quran Burning? FYI: This is not the way of Jesus.

2010-08-01T22:14:00.000-05:00

Jesus has disavowed any connection with this so called "Church."

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/07/29/florida.burn.quran.day/index.html?iref=NS1#fbid=Wohy5mAzWC9

The Hua-yen school

2010-07-31T19:22:00.000-05:00

The Hua-yen school derived its name from the title of the Chinese translation of Avatamsaka-sutra. Avatamsaka literally means “Flower Garland”. (Fig.1 Hua-Yen Temple)

The first complete translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra in Chinese was done by Buddhabhadra(359-429) between 418-421. This translation is in sixty fascicles and has thirty-four chapters. It is also referred to as “Sixty Hua-yen” or “Old sutra”.

A latter translation of the Sutra under the same title was completed by Siksananda(652-710) in Tang dynasty. This translation is in eighty fascicles and has thirty-nine chapters. It is also referred to as “Eighty Hua-yen” or “New sutra”.

The third translation of the Sutra was done by Prajna not too long after the second translation. The origin of this Sanskrit source was from different part of India and the content was similar to the last forty fascicles of the Avatamsaka-sutra therefore it is called “Forty Hua-yen” or “Last Hua-yen”.

The first two translations are quite similar, the second being perhaps more literal and somewhat longer because it contains new material not found in the earlier version. And the last one is a re-translation of the second part of the sutra with minor regional differences.

As one of the longest texts in the Buddhist canon, the Avatamsaka is one of the most comprehensive compendiums of the Buddhist teaching. It was held in the highest esteem by the followers ever since its presence in Chinese Buddhist society.

The main subject of this sutra is the description of the Buddha’s enlightenment. It provides a detail guide for practitioners to pursuit the Bodhisattva’s Path, from the awakening of Bodhicitta to the accomplishment of perfect Buddhahood. The Bodhisattva Path is presented in four sets of ten stages, culminating with the two levels of enlightenment, the final goal of Mahayana Buddhism.

The school was officially founded by Fa-tsang (or Shan-shiang 643-712) based on his scholarly contribution to the Hua-yen theory. His religious work attracted a lot of attention and eventually produced significant influence on the emperor. With strong political support from the emperor, Fa-tsand was able to create a new school system that outspread quickly during the time. Even this school was started from Fa-tsand, its earliest theory and structure go back to the masters Tu-shun(or Fa-shun, 557-640) and Chih-yen (602-668), who are considered the first two patriarchs of the Hua-yen school. Tu-shun’s “Five levels of teaching” and “Ten profound gates” formed the root of the school system. And he was regarded by his successors as an incarnation of Manjushri.

Further important representatives were Cheng-kuan (or Ching-liang 738-839), under whom the school gained great influence. Cheng-kuan was the master of several emperors. With his special relationship to the political leaders, Cheng-kuan earned the title “the Hua-yen Bodhisattva” and was regarded as the fourth patriarch. The fifth patriarch of the school was Tsung-mi (780-841), who initiated the concept of merging Zen and Hua-yen in one school. After the death of Tsung-mi, Hua-yen declined during the general suppression of Buddhism in China.

The Hua-yen school distinguishes itself from the other Chinese Buddhist schools in an important viewpoint. The practice in this school concentrates on the relationship between phenomena and not on that between phenomena and the absolute. This notion is called the “universal causality of the Dharma-dhatu (universal principle),” i.e., everything in the universe arises out of itself and the principles of all activities (phenomena) are essentially one, and that unity is essentially plural. Since all things participate in a unity and this unity divides into the many, therefore the manifold is unified in this one. Based on the theory, there are an infinite number of Buddhas and Buddha realms in the universe and they all share the same true Buddha body and live with the same principle in the similar Buddha realm, they are just like individual waves of the same sea and these waves cannot exist independently. Because the equality of all things and the dependence of all things upon one another are so essential in this school, this teaching is known as the “teaching of totality”.

From this point of view everything in the world, whether animate or inanimate, is an expression of the highest principle (Dharma-dhatu) and is thus one with Buddhamind. This view is explained in the division of the universe into four realms and in the thesis of the six characteristics of things. They are in either a state of “true suchness” (tathata): (I). The static aspect of which is the realm of “principle” (“li”). (II). The dynamic aspect of which is the realm of phenomena (“Shih”). These two realms are so interwoven and dependent on each other that the entire universe arises as an interdependent conditioning. The four realms of the universe are as follows:

The realm of phenomena: The Small teaching and Begin teaching define this realm as the world of Dharma.
The realm of the principle (absolute): The Begin and Sudden teachings define this realm as the world of Dharma.
The realm in which phenomena and principle mutually interpenetrate: The End teaching defines this realm as the world of Dharma. It touches the basis of Middle Way and provides the integrated system for the phenomena and principle realms.
The realm in which all phenomena exist in perfect harmony: This is the teaching of totality. Based on the theory, the Round teaching is able to resolve the different viewpoints from results of different phenomenal experiences.

To explain these many-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many relationships of phenomena, Hua-yen’s teaching defines that the dharma possesses the six characteristics:

- Universality: The view of corresponding object as a whole.
- Specificity: The parts of the object only fulfill the specific function and are distinct from each other.
- Similarity: All the parts consist in the fact that they are part of the object.
- Distinctness: All the parts express the distinct functions in the object.
- Composition: The characteristic of integration that all parts together make up the object.
- Decomposition: Every part takes its own particular place and the object can be completed only if each part show the nature of their differentiation.

Like the Tien-tai school, Hua-yen undertakes a division of the Buddha’s teaching into different categories. Unlike Tien-tai’s intention of integrating different Indian Buddhism theories, Hua-yen’s focus was more on synthesizing different viewpoints of Chinese schools during early Tang Dynasty. This school classified Buddhist scriptures and doctrines on five levels. With its own teaching as the highest and most complete teaching of all. These five levels are:

Small teaching: The Hinayana teaching. It is considered the “small vehicle” teaching because it only focuses on individual liberation and it appears in the Agamas period.
Begin teaching: The beginning teachings of the Mahayana, which sees all dharmas are emptiness because they arise in a conditioned fashion. And because it denies all beings possess Buddha-nature (with the potential of being an enlightenment one) therefore it is considered an elementary (or begin) teaching. As advocated by the Fa-hsiang and San-lun schools.
End teaching: The end teaching of the Mahayana. On this level all things are considered to arise with causality by emptiness nature, and their individual independent existence is admitted. As presented by the Tien-tai school.
Sudden teaching: Unlike the previous two teachings that require gradual practice, enlightenment can be attained suddenly through special techniques taught in the teaching. This is the stage of Zen.
Complete (Round) teaching: The ultimate and complete teaching of the Buddha’s teaching, the teaching of the Hua-yen school. Where all beings and activities (phenomena) exist in perfect harmony.

No-self or Not-self?

2010-07-31T19:18:00.000-05:00

One of the first stumbling blocks that Westerners often encounter when they learn about Buddhism is the teaching on anatta, often translated as no-self. This teaching is a stumbling block for two reasons. First, the idea of there being no self doesn’t fit well with other Buddhist teachings, such as the doctrine of kamma and rebirth: If there’s no self, what experiences the results of kamma and takes rebirth? Second, it doesn’t fit well with our own Judeo-Christian background, which assumes the existence of an eternal soul or self as a basic presupposition: If there’s no self, what’s the purpose of a spiritual life? Many books try to answer these questions, but if you look at the Pali Canon — the earliest extant record of the Buddha’s teachings — you won’t find them addressed at all. In fact, the one place where the Buddha was asked point-blank whether or not there was a self, he refused to answer. When later asked why, he said that to hold either that there is a self or that there is no self is to fall into extreme forms of wrong view that make the path of Buddhist practice impossible. Thus the question should be put aside. To understand what his silence on this question says about the meaning of anatta, we first have to look at his teachings on how questions should be asked and answered, and how to interpret his answers.
The Buddha divided all questions into four classes: those that deserve a categorical (straight yes or no) answer; those that deserve an analytical answer, defining and qualifying the terms of the question; those that deserve a counter-question, putting the ball back in the questioner’s court; and those that deserve to be put aside. The last class of question consists of those that don’t lead to the end of suffering and stress. The first duty of a teacher, when asked a question, is to figure out which class the question belongs to, and then to respond in the appropriate way. You don’t, for example, say yes or no to a question that should be put aside. If you are the person asking the question and you get an answer, you should then determine how far the answer should be interpreted. The Buddha said that there are two types of people who misrepresent him: those who draw inferences from statements that shouldn’t have inferences drawn from them, and those who don’t draw inferences from those that should.
These are the basic ground rules for interpreting the Buddha’s teachings, but if we look at the way most writers treat the anatta doctrine, we find these ground rules ignored. Some writers try to qualify the no-self interpretation by saying that the Buddha denied the existence of an eternal self or a separate self, but this is to give an analytical answer to a question that the Buddha showed should be put aside. Others try to draw inferences from the few statements in the discourse that seem to imply that there is no self, but it seems safe to assume that if one forces those statements to give an answer to a question that should be put aside, one is drawing inferences where they shouldn’t be drawn.
So, instead of answering “no” to the question of whether or not there is a self — interconnected or separate, eternal or not — the Buddha felt that the question was misguided to begin with. Why? No matter how you define the line between “self” and “other,” the notion of self involves an element of self-identification and clinging, and thus suffering and stress. This holds as much for an interconnected self, which recognizes no “other,” as it does for a separate self. If one identifies with all of nature, one is pained by every felled tree. It also holds for an entirely “other” universe, in which the sense of alienation and futility would become so debilitating as to make the quest for happiness — one’s own or that of others — impossible. For these reasons, the Buddha advised paying no attention to such questions as “Do I exist?” or “Don’t I exist?” for however you answer them, they lead to suffering and stress.
To avoid the suffering implicit in questions of “self” and “other,” he offered an alternative way of dividing up experience: the four Noble Truths of stress, its cause, its cessation, and the path to its cessation. Rather than viewing these truths as pertaining to self or other, he said, one should recognize them simply for what they are, in and of themselves, as they are directly experienced, and then perform the duty appropriate to each. Stress should be comprehended, its cause abandoned, its cessation realized, and the path to its cessation developed. These duties form the context in which the anatta doctrine is best understood. If you develop the path of virtue, concentration, and discernment to a state of calm well-being and use that calm state to look at experience in terms of the Noble Truths, the questions that occur to the mind are not “Is there a self? What is my self?” but rather “Am I suffering stress because I’m holding onto this particular phenomenon? Is it really me, myself, or mine? If it’s stressful but not really me or mine, why hold on?” These last questions merit straightforward answers, as they then help you to comprehend stress and to chip away at the attachment and clinging — the residual sense of self-identification — that cause it, until ultimately all traces of self-identification are gone and all that’s left is limitless freedom.
In this sense, the anatta teaching is not a doctrine of no-self, but a not-self strategy for shedding suffering by letting go of its cause, leading to the highest, undying happiness. At that point, questions of self, no-self, and not-self fall aside. Once there’s the experience of such total freedom, where would there be any concern about what’s experiencing it, or whether or not it’s a self?

Source: Copyright © 1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The author gives permission to re-format and redistribute his work for use on computers and computer networks, provided that you charge no fees for its distribution or use. Otherwise, all rights reserved.

Tibetan Butter Tea Recipe

2010-07-31T18:35:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:

• Water • Plain black tea (in bags or loose) • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 2 tablespoons butter • 1/2 cup milk or 1 teaspoon milk powder

Materials:

One churn, blender, or large drink container with a tight lid.

The Old Way of Preparing Butter Tea

In Tibet, the process of making Tibetan butter tea takes a long time and is pretty complicated. People use a special black tea that comes from an area called Pemagul in Tibet. The tea comes in bricks of different shapes, and we crumble off some tea and boil it for many hours. We save the liquid from the boiling and then whenever we want to make tea, we add some of that liquid, called chaku, to our boiling water. For the butter and milk, Tibetans used to, and still do, use yak butter and yak milk.

Preparing the Tea

Lucky for us, it is much easier to make 'po cha' outside of Tibet. You can use any kind of milk you want, though I think the full fat milk is the best, and sometimes I use Half and Half, which is half cream and half milk. Most Tibetan people who live outside of Tibet use Lipton tea, or some kind of plain black tea.

This po cha recipe is for four people, more or less.

• First boil five to six cups of water, then turn down the fire.

• Put two bags of tea or one heaping tablespoon of loose tea in the water and boil again for a couple of minutes.

• Take out the tea bags or if you use loose tea, strain the tea leaves.

• Pour your tea, one quarter of a teaspoon of salt, two tablespoons of butter, and a half cup of milk or a teaspoon of milk powder into a chandong, which is a kind of churn. Since churns are kind of rare outside of Tibet, you can do what some Tibetans do, which is to use any big container with a lid, so you can shake the tea, or you can just use a blender, which works very well.

• Churn, blend or shake the mixture for two or three minutes. In Tibet, we think the po cha tastes better if you churn it longer.

Enjoy!

Courtesy of Yowangdu.com

We Are All Connected

2010-07-31T15:57:00.000-05:00

Dhammapada

2010-07-31T15:44:00.000-05:00

The Dhammapada (Pāli; Prakrit: Dhamapada;^[1] Sanskrit Dharmapada) is a versified Buddhist scripture traditionally ascribed to the Buddha himself. It is one of the best-known texts from the Theravada canon.^[2] The title, Dhammapada, is a compound term composed of dhamma and pada, each word having a number of denotations and connotations. Generally, dhamma can refer to the Buddha's "doctrine" or an "eternal truth" or "righteousness" or all "phenomena";^[3] and, at its root, pada means "foot" and thus by extension, especially in this context, means either "path" or "verse" (cf. "prosodic foot") or both.^[4] English translations of this text's title have used various combinations of these and related words.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhammapada

Download:

Dhammapada.pdf

Seven Line Prayer To Guru Rinpoche

2010-07-31T12:50:00.000-05:00

Mahamangala Sutta

2010-07-31T07:32:00.000-05:00

Mahamangala Sutta
[Discourse of Supreme Happiness]

Pali	English
Bahu deva manussa ca Mangalani acintayum Akankha-mana sotthanam Bruhi mangala muttamam	Many deities and humans, yearning after good, have pondered on Blessings. Pray, tell me the Supreme Blessings.
Asevana ca balanam Panditanan ca sevana Puja ca puja-niyanam Etam mangala muttamam	Not to follow or associate with the foolish, to associate with the wise, and honor those who are worthy of honor. This is the Supreme Blessing.
Patirupa-desa vaso ca Pubbe ca kata-punnata Atta samma panidhi ca Etam mangala muttamam	To reside in a suitable locality, to have done meritorious actions in the past, and to have set oneself on the right course This is the Supreme Blessing.
Bahu saccanca sippanca Vinayo ca susikkhito Subhasita ca ya vaca Etam mangala muttamam	Vast-learning, perfect handicraft, a highly trained discipline and pleasant speech. This is the Supreme Blessing.
Mata pitu upatthanam Putta darassa sangaho Anakula ca kammanta Etam mangala muttamam	The support of mother and father, the cherishing of spouse and children and peaceful occupations. This is the Supreme Blessings.
Danam ca dhamma-cariya ca Natakananca sangaho Anavajjani kammani Etam mangala muttamam	Liberality, righteous conduct, the helping of relatives and blameless action. This is the Supreme Blessing.
Arati virati papa Majja-pana ca sannamo Appa-mado ca dhammesu Etam mangala muttamam	To cease and abstain from evil, forbearance with respect to intoxicants and steadfastness in virtue. This is the Supreme Blessing.
Garavo ca Sovacassata, Samana nanca dassanam Kalena dhamma sakaccha Etam mangala muttamam	Patience, obedience, sight of the holy ones and religious discussions at due season. This is the Supreme Blessing.
Tapo ca brahma cariyaca Ariya sacana dassanam Nibbana sacchi kiriyaca Etam mangal muttamam	Self-control, pure life, perception of the Noble Truths and the realization of Nibbana. This is the Supreme Blessing.
Putthassa loka dhammehi Cittam yassa na kampati Asokam virajam khemam Etam mangala muttamam	He whose mind does not flutter, by contact with worldly contingencies, sorrowless, stainless and secure. This is the Supreme Blessing.
Eta-disani katvana Sabbattha maparajita Sabbattha sotthim gacchanti Tam tesam mangala-muttamamti	To them, fulfilling matters such as these, everywhere invincible, in every way moving happily. These are the Supreme Blessings.

Maka Hannya Haramita Shingyo

2010-07-29T20:23:00.000-05:00

Maka Hannya Haramita Shingyo
Kan ji zai bo za tsu
Gyo jin han ya ha ra mi ta
Ji sho ken go on kai ku
Do i sai ku
Yaku sha ri shi
Shiki fu i ku
Ku fu i shiki
Shiki soku ze ku
Ku soku ze shiki
Ju so gyo shiki
Yaku bu nyo ze
Sha ri shi
Ze sho ho ku so
Fu sho fu metsu
Fu ku fu jo
Fu zo fu gen
Ze ko ku chu
Mu shiki mu ju so gyo shiki
Mu gen ni bi ze shin i
Mu shiki sho ko mi soku ho
Mu gen kai nai shi mu i shiki kai
Mu mu myo yaku mu mu myo jin
Nai shi mu ro shi yaku mu ro shi jin
Mu ku shu metsu do mu chi yaku mu toku i
Mu sho toku ko bo dai sa ta e
Han ya ha ra mi ta ko
Shin mu ke ge mu ke ge ko
Mu u ku fu on ri i sai ten do mu so ku gyo ne
Han san ze sho butso e
Han ya ha ra mi ta ko
Toku a noku ta ra san myaku san bo dai
Ko chi han ya ha ra mi ta
Ze dai jin shu ze dai myo shu
Ze mu jo shu ze mu to do shu
No jo i sai ku shin jitsu fu ko
Ko setsu han ya ha ra mi ta shu
Soku setsu shu watsu
Gya tei gya tei
Ha ra gya tei
Hara so gya tei
Bo ji so wa ka
Hannya Shingyo

__________________

Heart Sutra — ( The Heart of the Perfection of Great Wisdom Sutra)
AvalokitesvaraBodhisattva doing deep Prajna Paramita
Perceived the emptiness of all five conditions,
And was freed of pain.
O Sariputra, formis no other than emptiness,
Emptiness no other than form,
Form is precisely emptiness,
Emptiness precisely form.
Sensation, perception, reaction and consciousness are also like this.
O Sariputra , all things are expressions of emptiness,
Not born, not destroyed, not stained, not pure,
Neither waxing nor waning.
Thus emptiness is not form;
Not sensation nor perception,
Reaction nor consciousness;
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;
No color, sound, smell, taste, touch, thing;
No realm of sight, no realm of consciousness;
No ignorance, no end to ignorance;
No old age and death; no cessation of old age and death
No suffering, no cause or end to suffering,
No path, no wisdom and no gain.
No gain – thus Bodhisattvas live this Prajna Paramita
With no hindrance of mind –
No hindrance therefore no fear.
Far beyond all such delusion, Nirvana is already here.
All past, present and future Buddhas live this Prajna Paramita
And attain supreme, perfect enlightenment.
Therefore know that Prajna Paramita Is the holy mantra, the luminous mantra,
The supreme mantra, the incomparable mantra
By which all suffering is cleared.
This is no other than truth.
Therefore set forth this Prajna Paramita mantra,
Set forth this mantra and proclaim:
Gate, Gate, Paragate Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha
Prajnaparamita Sutra.

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On conforming to society

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Zen's Appeal to the West

Kamakura Accounts of Myoe Shonin as Popular Religious Hero

Eulogizing Kūya as More than a Nembutsu Practitioner: A Study and Translation of the Kūyarui

Animating Objects: Tsukumogami ki and the Medieval Illustration of Shingon Truth

The Phenomenon of Invoking Fudō for Pure Land Rebirth

A Thought From Alan Watts

Tuvan Throat Singing

Hannya Shingyo (Heart sutra)

Medicine Buddha Mantra

Shingon Chant

The Quintessence of Esoteric Buddhism by Tri Eu Phuoc

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Hiroshige Ando 1797-1858 - Hamamatsu - Gojusan Tsugi Meisho Zue (Upright Tokaido)

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Samurai with Sword

Kunisada Utagawa 1786-1865

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The Esoteric Meaning Of ‘Amida’ (Amida Hishaku)

By Kakuban

An annotated translation with introductionby Hisao Inagaki (Zuio)

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Bjork - Possibly Maybe

Dream Mala

Brahmajāla Sutta: The All-embracing Net of Views

I. Talk on Wanderers (Paribbājakakathā)

II. The Analysis of Virtue

1. The Short Section on Virtue (Cūḷasīla)

2. The Intermediate Section on Virtue (Majjhimasīla)

3. The Long Section on Virtue (Mahāsīla)

III. Speculations about the Past (Pubbantakappika)

1. Eternalism (Sassatavāda): Views 1–4

2. Partial-Eternalism (Ekaccasassatavāda): Views 5–8

3. Doctrines of the Finitude and Infinity of the World (Antānantavāda): Views 9–12

4. Doctrines of Endless Equivocation (Amarāvikkhepavāda): Views 13–16

5. Doctrines of Fortuitous Origination (Adhiccasamuppannavāda): Views 17–18

IV. Speculations about the Future (Aparantakappika)

1. Doctrines of Percipient Immortality (Saññīvāda): Views 19–34

2. Doctrines of Non-percipient Immortality (Asaññīvāda): Views 35–42

3. Doctrines of Neither Percipient Nor Non-Percipient Immortality (N'evasaññī-nāsaññīvāda): Views 43–50

4. Annihilationism (Ucchedavāda): Views 51–57

5. Doctrines of Nibbāna Here and Now (Diṭṭhadhammanibbānavāda): Views 58–62

V. The Round of Conditions and Emancipation from the Round

1. Agitation and Vacillation (Paritassitavipphandita)

2. Conditioned by Contact (Phassapaccayavāra)

Notes

Quran Burning? FYI: This is not the way of Jesus.

The Hua-yen school

No-self or Not-self?

Tibetan Butter Tea Recipe

We Are All Connected

Dhammapada

An annotated translation with introduction
by Hisao Inagaki (Zuio)