Air China

Air China (HKEx: 0753) (LSE: AIRC) (Chinese: 中国国际航空公司, Pinyin: Zhōngguó Guójì Hángkōng Gōngsī, literally "Chinese International Aviation Company", abbreviated 国航) is the People's Republic of China's state owned and largest commercial airline (not to be confused with China Airlines, which is the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s state airline) and is based in Beijing. It is the flag carrier and the only airline to fly the PRC national flag on its entire fleet. Its logo is a phoenix in the form of th ...

Including:

• Air China - History
• Air China - Incidents and Accidents
• Air China - Destinations
• Air China - Fleet
• Air China - Former Fleet

Read more here: » Air China: Encyclopedia - Air China

Air China was established and started operations on 1 July 1988. Formerly the Beijing-based international carrier division of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), it was renamed in 1988, when the government decided to split the operating divisions of CAAC into separate airlines, each with its own name. Further deregulation of the aviation business took place in 1994, enabling foreign investment in airports and facilitating the import of aircraft built outside mainland China. By 1996 the country had 108 airports with scheduled airli ...

See also:

Air China, Air China - History, Air China - Incidents and Accidents, Air China - Destinations, Air China - Fleet, Air China - Former Fleet

Read more here: » Air China: Encyclopedia II - Air China - History

cupping (cupping method, cupping therapy; called the horn method in ancient China): Variable method akin to moxabustion.

The practitioner may use a cup made of glass, metal, or wood (notably bamboo) and burn alcohol, alcohol-soaked cotton wool, herbs, paper, or a taper therein. Before or after the burning is complete, the practitioner applies the cup upside-down to a relatively flat body surface and leaves it in this position for five to ten minutes. Results include erythema (reddening of the skin due to capillary expansion), edema (excessive fluid accumulation in tissue spaces), and ecchymoses (purple discoloration of the skin due to rupture of blood vessels).

The above description relates to fire cupping (the fire cupping method), which has several forms. Other forms of cupping include the acupuncture cupping method, the air pumping cupping method, and the water cupping method.

(See also: Cupping , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Dream Dictionary Index with links to 10.000 dream interpretations from many different sources.

Please note that all words in grey are hyperlinked to an archive with articles related to that word, including dream interpretations.

For more dream interpretation, see: Meaning of Dreams or Dream Dictionary

For articles about dreams, see: Dreams

Read more here: » Dream Interpretation Index: Dream Interpretation Index including links to 10.000 dream interpretations

Vastu Shastra is the Indian science of space and architecture and how we may create spaces and environment that supports physical & spiritual health and prosperity.
Vastu Shastra evolved during Vedic times in India. The concepts of Vastu Shastra was transferred to Tibet, South East Asia and finally to China and Japan where it provided the base for the development of what is now known as Feng Shui.
Vastu Shastra is the art and science of designing houses, offices, temples etc that swirl with good energy. Indian Maharajas and Moghul Emperors used Vastu Shastra when they built their symmetrical palaces, artificial lakes, and geometric courtyards that thirstily absorbed positive energy.

Read more here: » Vastu Shastra: What is Vastu Shastra?

Does an enlightened person have karma?
Will karma not end at any point of time?

Kalki, or Sri Kalki Bhagavan, the founder of Golden Age Foundation, is considered to be the Kalki Avatar capable of bringing enlightenment and to introduce the Golden Age. Here he is commenting on Karma.

Read more here: » Kalki about Karma

ELEMENTS

The four principles of reality. They derive their nature from the phases of the Moon (Waxing, Full, Waning, Disappearing) and can be associated with the four points of the compass (see TETRAMORPH), but we should be wary of trying to assign a logical progression to them. For instance, science tends to see them merely as matter, energy, space and time. But contemporary scientific rationalism does not apply to ancient intuitional philosophy.

The ancients were correct to advise us not to try to separate the elements from one another (the "unified field" theory, however, doesn't apply to this aspect either). They take their being from the context of one another acting in unison. Thus Earth is the materialized, magnetic form which seeks contraction (coagula) and Air is the medium of space, freedom and dispersion (solve). Water is the dual flow of involution and evolution, the End and the Beginning, quicksilver-like Creation and Dissolution, Surface and Depth. The waters are divided into the upper waters of the potential and the lower waters of the actual. Water is the element of transition between the other elements. Fire, the plasmic state of transmutation, is the energy behind all things.

Each element is unique in its relationship to the others and in fully exercising that uniqueness, disappears. Water confluences the elements into a duality, Earth contains them all and is their united totality. Air is the separation in which they individuate themselves and vanish, while Fire is the uniqueness itself that extracts anything from its context, particularly the separation of "something" from Nothing, or vice-versa.

The quartering of the elements takes innumerable forms. Eliphas Levi, for instance, even gives a tetramorphic quaternity to Alchemy (Salt, Sulphur, Mercury and Azoth) and to the Qabalah (Macroposopus, Microposopus and the 2 "Mothers").

In Facing the Sphinx, Marie Farrington gives the number of elements as seven: earth, water, fire, air, ether or vapor, blossom (the seminal principle) and the Wind of Purpose (or Ghost). Amongst the Hindus the sixth was Bala-Rama, "the representation of masculine virility, the semen virile. The 7th was the summit and soul of the rest." In Ancient China, we observe earth, water, fire, wind and space (wood is only a physical element). The seven Latin verbs are Velle, Audere, Scire, Tacere, Revelare, Resurgere, Renunciare.

(See also: ELEMENTS , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

How does the ancient science and art of feng shui relate to the New Children? Due to their sensitivities, the New Children have often been likened to canaries being sent into the coal mine. Feng shui can be used to transform the coal mine - to create more harmony and balance in our physical spaces and surroundings. Since our homes and physical surroundings are comprised of endlessly transforming and interconnected energy fields, we must develop a conscious relationship with the vast dynamics contributing to these energy fields.

(See also: Indigo Children, What is Indigo Children, Parenting Indigo Children, Adult Indigo, Indigo Children Channeling)

Read more here: » Indigo Children: Feng Shui and the New Children  

Herbalism: Herbs, Plants, Oils - A list of herbs and their purposes, including old folklore usages

This is a list of some of the thousands of herbs that I have found, there are many more. They are in alphabetical order so just scroll down the list.

From The Busy Witch.

Read more here: » Herbs, Plants, Oils: A list of herbs and their purposes

Buddhist Worship: Worship in Buddhism

Buddhists can worship both at home or at a temple. It is not considered essential to go to a temple to worship with others.

Read more here: » Buddhist Worship: Worship in Buddhism

Vedic Astrology and Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Health

In order to maintain a healthy mind we must realize the true realities of life. Therefore we must consider our spiritual nature to understand the subtleties of mind, intelligence and ego. Accordingly mental, emotional and spiritual health go together and, unless you have some knowledge in this regard, you cannot stop the onslaught of negative emotions brought on by ignorance and fear. We not only need to engage ourselves in some sort of fulfilling work to occupy our minds but need to understand why we fall victim to feelings of hate, envy, greed and avarice. These emotions only serve to destroy us intellectually, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually. Why is there so much hate in the world, anyway?

Excerpt from "An Introduction to Vedic Astrology" by Howard Beckman

Read more here: » Vedic Astrology: Vedic Astrology and Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Health

The boy says he was a Martian being seven meters in height in his past life

The unusual baby boy was born in the town of Volzhsky, the Volgograd region of Russia. His mother, Nadezhda Kipriyanovich, gave birth to her son one fine morning. "It all happened so fast, I did not even feel any pain. When they showed the baby to me, the boy was looking at me with a grown-up look. As a pediatrician I know that newborns cannot concentrate looks on anything. However, my little baby was staring at me with his big brown eyes. Brushing that fact aside, he was a usual little baby, like all other kids," the boys mother said.

(See also: Indigo Children, What is Indigo Children, Parenting Indigo Children, Adult Indigo, Indigo Children Channeling)

Read more here: » Indigo Children: Boriska, indigo boy from Mars, predicts mammoth catastrophes in 2009  

Ayurveda is the oldest surviving complete medical system in the world. Derived from its ancient Sanskrit roots - ‘ayus' (life) and ‘ved' (knowledge) – and offering a rich, comprehensive outlook to a healthy life, its origins go back nearly 5000 years. To when it was expounded and practiced by the same spiritual rishis, who laid the foundations of the Vedic civilisation in India, by organising the fundamentals of life into proper systems.

The main source of knowledge in this field therefore remain the Vedas, the divine books of knowledge they propounded, and more specifically the fourth of the series, namely Atharvaveda that dates back to around 1000 BC. Of the few other treatises on Ayurveda that have survived from around the same time, the most famous are Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita which concentrate on internal medicine and surgery respectively. The Astanga Hridayam is a more concise compilation of earlier texts that was created about a thousand years ago. These between them forming a greater part of the knowledge base on Ayurveda as it is practiced today.

The art of Ayurveda had spread around in the 6th century BC to Tibet, China, Mongolia, Korea and Sri Lanka, carried over by the Buddhist monks travelling to those lands. Although not much of it survives in original form, its effects can be seen in the various new age concepts that have originated from there.

No philosophy has had greater influence on Ayurveda than Sankhaya’s philosophy of creation and manifestation. Which professes that behind all creation there is a state of pure existence or awareness, which is beyond time and space, has no beginning or end, and no qualities. Within pure existence, there arises a desire to experience itself, which results in disequilibrium and causes the manifestation of the primordial physical energy. And the two unite to make the "dance of creation" come alive.

Imponderable, indescribable and extremely subtle, this primordial energy – which and all that flows from it existing only in pure existence – is the creative force of all action, a source of form that has qualities. Matter and energy are so closely related that when energy takes form, we tend to think of it in terms of matter only. And much modified, it ultimately leads to the manifestation of our familiar mental and physical worlds.

It also gives rise to cosmic consciousness, which is the universal order that prevades all life. Individual intelligence, as distinct from the everyday intellectual mind, is derived from and is part of this consciousness. It is the inner wisdom, the part of individuality that remains unswayed by the demands of daily life, or by Ahamkara, the sense of `I-ness’.

A Sanskrit word with no exact translation, Ahamkara, is a concept not quite understood by everyone as it is often misleadingly equated to `ego’. Embracing much more than just that, it is in essence that part of ‘me’ which knows which parts of the universal creation are ‘me’. Since ‘I’ am not separate from the universal consciousness, but ‘I’ has an identity that differentiates and defines the boundaries of `me’. All creations therefore have Ahamkara, not just human beings.

There arises from Ahamkara a two-fold creation. The first is Satwa, the subjective world, which is able to perceive and manipulate matter. It comprises the subtle body (the mind), the capacity of the five sense organs to hear, feel, see, taste and smell, and for the five organs of action to speak, grasp, move, procreate and excrete. The mind and the subtle organs providing the bridge between the body, the Ahamkara and the inner wisdom, which three together is considered the essential nature of humans.

The second is Tamas, the objective world of the five elements of sound, touch, vision, taste and smell – the five subtle elements that give rise to the dense elements of ether or space, air, fire, water and the earth – from which all matter of the physical world is derived. And it is Rajas, the force or the energy of movement, which brings together parts of these two worlds.

It is worth noting that even at the stage of the dense elements the philosophy of creation –which according to Sankaya is now and in the present, without any past and any future – is still dealing with aspects of existence beyond our simple physical realms. The point of contention being that we are the first and foremost spirit experiencing existence. To use Ayurveda in daily life, one has neither to accept nor even understand this philosophy. But it does provide a deeper insight into how Ayurveda works towards betterment of your health.

Ayurveda therefore is not simply a health care system but a form of lifestyle adopted to maintain perfect balance and harmony within the human existence, from the most abstract transcendental values to the most concrete physiological expressions. Based on the premise that life represents an intelligent co-ordination of the Atma (Soul), Mana (Mind), Indriya (Senses) and Sharira (Body). That revolves around the five dense elements that go into the making of the constitution of each individual, called Prakriti. Which in turn is determined by the vital balance of the three physical energies - Vata, Pitta, Kapha and the three mental energies - Satwa, Rajas,

Ayurveda thus offers a unique blend of science and philosophy that balances the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual components necessary for holistic health.

(See also: Ayurveda , Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Dictionary, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Karma Yoga Lesson VlI

Janaka and Shuka; Living as kings do; Helping humanity and geocentricity; Teaching the law, guarding oneself; Every act to be a sacrament.

Read more here: » Karma Yoga: Karma Yoga - Lesson VII (of XI )

Alchemy ; in Arabic Ul-Khemi, is, as the name suggests, the chemistry of nature. Ui-Khemi or Al-Kimia, however, is only an Arabianized word, taken from the Greek chemeia, (chemeia) from cumoz -  "juice", sap extracted from a plant.

Says Dr. Wynn Westcott: "The earliest use of the actual term ‘alchemy’ is found in the works of Julius Firmicus Maternus, who lived in the days of Constantine the Great. The Imperial Library in Paris contains the oldest-extant alchemic treatise known in Europe;it was written by Zosimus the Panopolite about 400 A.D. in the Greek language, the next oldest is by Eneas Gazeus, 480 A.D."

It deals with the finer forces of nature and the various conditions in which they are found to operate. Seeking under the veil of language, more or less artificial, to convey to the uninitiated so much of the mysterium magnum as is safe in the hands of a selfish world, the alchemist postulates as his first principle the existence of a certain Universal Solvent by which all composite bodies are resolved into the homogeneous substance from which they are evolved, which substance he calls pure gold, or summa materia. This solvent, also called menstvuum universale, possesses the power of removing all the seeds of disease from the human body, of renewing youth and prolonging life. Such is the lapis philosophorum (philosopher’s stone).

Alchemy first penetrated into Europe through Geber, the great Arabian sage and philosopher, in the eighth century of our era; but it was known and practised long ages ago in China and in Egypt, numerous papyri on alchemy and other proofs of its being the favourite study of kings and priests having been exhumed and preserved under the generic name of Hermetic treatises. (See "Tabula Smaragdina"). Alchemy is studied under three distinct aspects, which admit of many different interpretations, viz.: the Cosmic, Human, and Terrestrial. These three methods were typified under the three alchemical properties - sulphur, mercury, and salt.

Different writers have stated that there are three, seven, ten, and twelve processes respectively; but they are all agreed that there is but one object in alchemy, which is to transmute gross metals into pure gold. What that gold, however, really is, very few people understand correctly. No doubt that there is such a thing in nature as transmutation of the baser metals into the nobler, or gold. But this is only one aspect of alchemy, the terrestrial or purely material, for we sense logically the same process taking place in the bowels of the earth. Yet, besides and beyond this interpretation, there is in alchemy a symbolical meaning, purely psychic and spiritual.

While the Kabbalist-Alchemist seeks for the realization of the former, the Occultist-Alchemist, spurning the gold of the mines, gives all his attention and directs his efforts only towards the transmutation of the baser quaternary into the divine upper trinity of man, which when finally blended are one. The spiritual, mental, psychic, and physical planes of human existence are in alchemy compared to the four elements, fire, air, water and earth, and are each capable of a threefold constitution, i.e., fixed, mutable and volatile.

Little or nothing is known by the word concerning the origin of this archaic branch of philosophy; but it is certain that it antedates the construction of any known Zodiac, and, as dealing with the personified forces of nature, probably also any of the mythologies of the world; nor is there any doubt that the true secret of transmutation (on the physical plane) was known in days of old, and lost before the dawn of the so-called historical period. Modern chemistry owes its best fundamental discoveries to alchemy, but regardless of the undeniable truism of the latter that there is but one element in the universe, chemistry has placed metals in the class of elements and is only now beginning to find out its gross mistake.

Even sonic Encyclopedists are now forced to confess that if most of the accounts of transmutations are fraud or delusion, "yet some of them are accompanied by testimony which renders them probable. . . By means of the galvanic battery even the alkalis have been discovered to have a metallic base.

The possibility of obtaining metal from other substances which contain the ingredients composing it, and of changing one metal into another . . . must therefore be left undecided. Nor are all alchemists to be considered impostors. Many have laboured under the conviction of obtaining their object, with indefatigable patience and purity of heart, which is earnestly recommended by sound alchemists as the principal requisite for the success of their labours."

(Pop. Encyclop.)

(See also: Alchemy , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Lotus (from Greek lotos)

A lily belonging to the genus Nymphaea, an ancient and universal symbol; in India spoken of innumerable times under its Sanskrit name padma.

"It is the flower sacred to nature and her Gods, and represents the abstract and the Concrete Universes, standing as the emblem of the productive powers of both spiritual and physical nature. It was held sacred from the remotest antiquity by the Aryan Hindus, the Egyptians, and the Buddhists after them; revered in China and Japan, and adopted as a Christian emblem by the Greek and Latin Churches, who made of it a messenger as the Christians do now, who replace it with the water lily. It had, and still has, its mystic meaning which is identical with every nation on the earth" (SD 1:379).

In relation to men, the lotus is the symbol of the self-producing soul which, during manifestation immersed in material life as the lotus seed is embedded in the mud of lake or pond, is wakened by the warm rays of the spiritual sun, and grows upward through the world of illusion (symbolized by water) to blossom in the free air and sunlight of truth.

Cosmically the lotus symbolizes the emanation of the objective from the subjective, the manifested effect or production of the eternal plan on which the invisible worlds are built by the formative logoi. This lies buried, until the time for its svabhava or production comes, in the bosom of eternal ideation -- as the lotus plant of visible nature exists in miniature in the seed.

(See also: Lotus , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Energy: Qigong

The word Qigong (pronounced CHEE-gung) is a combination of two ideas: "Qi" means air, breath of life, or vital energy of the body, and "gong" means the skill of working with, or cultivating, self-discipline and achievement.

The art of Qigong consists primarily of meditation, relaxation, physical movement, mind-body integration, and breathing exercises. Practitioners of Qigong develop an awareness of Qi sensations (energy) in their bodies and use their minds to guide the Qi. When the practitioners achieve a sufficient skill level (master), they can direct or emit external Qi for the purpose of healing others. 

Qigong has evolved from many sources throughout the East. Although China is seen today as being the origin of both ancient and modern Qigong, all of the Asian countries have histories filled with examples of these traditional forms and styles of Qigong. From India, monks traveling to China thousands of years ago introduced many methods into the Chinese culture.

From Buddhist traditions, Qigong methods promoted a sense of acceptance and ways of harmonizing life as a reflection of the greater unfolding of one's purpose in the world. Taoist (DOW-ist) Buddhist monks often prefer forms of Qigong that help achieve balance and promote longevity as a way of prolonging life and achieving optimum health. From the martial arts world, Qigong is used to develop both internal and external strength for fighting and self-development.

The emerging field of Chinese medical Qigong is rapidly spreading throughout the world and utilizes the energy stored in and transmitted through the healer to aid in the treatment of many acute and chronic diseases. This form is referred to as Qi-emission.

(See also: Qigong , Alternative Health, Holistic Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Book of Dzyan (probably from Sanskrit dhyana intense spiritual meditation, wisdom, divine knowledge)

An archaic work of enormous antiquity upon which Blavatsky based her Secret Doctrine. Dzyan has been variously spelled or transliterated, and under this form is a derivative of the Tibetan. Dzyan, dzen, or ch'an is the general term for the esoteric schools and their literature.

Blavatsky describes the Book of Dzyan, saying: "An Archaic Manuscript -- a collection of palm leaves made impermeable to water, fire, and air, by some specific unknown process -- is before the writer's eye. On the first page is an immaculate white disk within a dull black ground. On the following page, the same disk, but with a central point" (SD 1:1).

"The 'very old Book' is the original work from which the many volumes of Kiu-ti were complied. Not only this latter and the Siphrah Dzeniouta but even the Sepher Jezirah, the work attributed by the Hebrew Kabbalists to their Patriarch Abraham (!), the book of Shu-king, China's primitive Bible, the sacred volumes of the Egyptian Thoth-Hermes, the Puranas in India, and the Chaldean Book of Numbers and the Pentateuch itself, are all derived from that one small parent volume.

Tradition says, that it was taken down in Senzar, the secret sacerdotal tongue, from the words of the Divine Beings, who dictated it to the sons of Light, in Central Asia, at the very beginning of the 5th (our) race; for there was a time when its language (the Sen-zar) was known to the Initiates of every nation, when the forefathers of the Toltec understood it as easily as the inhabitants of the lost Atlantis, who inherited it, in their turn, from the sages of the 3rd Race, the Manushis, who learnt it direct from the Devas of the 2nd and 1st Races. . . . The old book, having described Cosmic Evolution and explained the origin of everything on earth, including physical man, after giving the true history of the races from the First down to the Fifth (our) race, goes no further" (SD 1:xliii).

See also STANZAS OF DZYAN.

(See also: Book of Dzyan , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Business Traveling and Sales

As with the feng shui for a house, the feng shui for an office similarly involves many factors, from the owner's energies, the building's location, interior layout, site, local and global economics and so forth - 60 factors in all. The key points are that the business type and its location matches the owner's frequencies and ideally, everyone in an office should be placed where they can naturally work to their full potential. The personal offices of the owner and the major money makers are especially important in feng shui.

Read more here: » Feng Shui: Business Traveling and Sales

Phoenix [from Greek phoinix phoenix, date palm, Phoenician]

The sacred bird possibly taken from the Egyptian benu. The most familiar legend about it in Europe, dating from the early medieval period, is that a bird from India lives on air for 500 years when, leaving its native land, it flies to the temple at Heliopolis, with its wings laden with spices. Flying to the altar, it burns itself to ashes on the sacred fire, whence arises a new or young phoenix. This bird is already feathered on the day following the suicide of its parent which was its former self and, having its wings full grown on the third day, it wings its way forth. Pliny and Herodotus give slightly different versions. Ancient art pictured the phoenix as a bird with wings partly golden and partly red in color; in outline and size it was drawn to resemble an eagle.

The ancients gave different time periods as the extent of the cycle for which the phoenix stood as a symbol: 500 years, 600 years (the Babylonian naros), 1461 years, and others, as the phoenix did not symbolize any one cycle but was a general emblem of cycles themselves.

"The Phoenix -- called by the Hebrews Onech (from Phenoch, Enoch, symbol of a secret cycle and initiation), and by the Turks, Kerkes -- lives a thousand years, after which, kindling a flame, it is self-consumed; and then, reborn from itself -- it lives another thousand years, up to seven times seven . . . when comes the day of Judgment. The 'seven times seven,' 49, are a transparent allegory, and an allusion to the forty-nine 'Manus,' the Seven rounds, and the seven times seven human cycles in each Round on each globe. The Kerkes and the Onech stand for a race cycle, and the mystical tree Ababel -- the 'Father Tree' in the Kuran -- shoots out new branches and vegetation at every resurrection of the Kerkes or Phoenix; the 'Day of Judgment' meaning a 'minor Pralaya' . . . 'The Phoenix is very plainly the same as the Simorgh, the Persian roc, and the account which is given us of this last bird, yet more decisively establishes the opinion that the death and revival of the Phoenix exhibit the successive destruction and reproduction of the world, which many believed to be effected by the agency of a fiery deluge' . . . and a watery one in turn" (SD 2:617).

One equivalent in Hindu literature is Karttikeya riding on his peacock. In China the phoenix is the king of birds, eating only bamboo sprouts, drinking only spring water. His resting place is the tung tree.

(See also: Phoenix , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)