Buddha Nature

The following terms refer to the same thing: Self-Nature, True Nature, Original Nature, Dharma Nature, True Mark, True Mind, True Emptiness, True Thusness, Dharma Body, Original Face, Emptiness, Prajna, Nirvana, etc.

According to the Mahayana view, (buddha-nature) is the true, immutable, and eternal nature of all beings. Since all beings possess buddha-nature, it is possible for them to attain enlightenment and become a buddha, regardless of what level of existence they occupy ...

The answer to the question whether buddha-nature is immanent in beings is an essential determining factor for the association of a given school with Theravada or Mahayana, the two great currents within Buddhism.

In Theravada this notion is unknown; here the potential to become a buddha is not ascribed to every being.

By contrast the Mahayana sees the attainment of buddhahood as the highest goal; it can be attained through the inherent buddha-nature of every being through appropriate spiritual practice. (The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen.)

See also "Dharma Nature."

 (See also: Buddha Nature , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

BodyMind Shiatsu: Component of BodyMind Therapy that includes energy extension, pulse assessment, and touching meridian points.

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

BODY-MIND CENTERING

Body-mind centering is a movement re-education approach that explores how the body’s systems contribute to movement and self-awareness. The approach also emphasizes movement patterns that develop during infancy and childhood. Body-mind centering incorporates guided movement, exercise, imagery, and hands-on work. The approach can be used with infants, children, and adults to resolve movement problems and facilitate the “body-mind dialogue.” (Adapted from Holistic Health Directory.)

(See also: BODY-MIND CENTERING , Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

anandamaya kosha: "Body of bliss."

The intuitivesuperconscious sheath or actinic-causal body. This inmost soul form (svarupa) is the ultimate foundation of all life, intelligence and higher faculties. Its essence is Parashakti (Pure Consciousness) and Parasiva (the Absolute).

Anandamaya kosha is not a sheath in the same sense as the four outer koshas. It is the soul itself, a body of light, also called karana sharira, causal body, and karmashaya, holder of karmas of this and all past lives. Karana chitta, "causal mind," names the soul's superconscious mind, of which Parashakti (or Satchidananda) is the rarified substratum.

Anandamaya kosha is that which evolves through all incarnations and beyond until the soul's ultimate, fulfilled merger, vishvagrasa, in the Primal Soul, Parameshvara. Then anandamaya kosha becomes Sivamayakosha, the body of God Siva. The physical body (annamaya kosha) is also called sthula sharira, "gross body." The soul body (anandamaya kosha) is also called karana sharira, "causal body."

The pranamaya, manomaya and vijnanamaya koshas together comprise the sukshma sharira, "subtle body," with the pranamaya shell disintegrating at death.

See: actinic, actinodic, manomaya kosha, niyati, odic, sharira, soul, subtle body.

(See also: Anandamaya kosha , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Body Mind Breathwork: Component of BodyMind Therapy that includes rebirthing. it heals core injuries.

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

Body Characteristics - double dosha body types

PITTA-KAPHA

Pitta-Kapha people probably adjust best of any constitution to the confusions,irregularityand constant change which characterizes today’s world because they combine kapha’s stability and pitta's adaptability. many of the people who achieve all – round success in life are pitta-kapha. Pitta’s active metabolism balances kapha’s powerful physique to promote good health, and pitta’s anger is well tempered, by kapha’s cautiousness to encourage good mental balance.

The ease with which they succeed in the world promotes pitta’s arrogance and overconfidence and kapha’s smug self satisfaction which can insulate the personality totally and efficiently from all realisties other than the real

Bitter and Astringent are their best tastes.

(See also: Double dosha body types   , Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Dictionary, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Mind

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

Karma

Volition, volitional or intentional activity.

Karma is always followed by its fruit, Vipaka. Karma and Vipaka are oftentimes referred to as the law of causality, a cardinal concern in the Teaching of the Buddha.

• Common karma: the difference between personal and common karma can be seen in the following example: Suppose a country goes to war to gain certain economic advantages and in the process, numerous soldiers and civilians are killed or maimed. If a particular citizen volunteers for military service and actually participates in the carnage, he commits a personal karma of killing. Other citizens, however, even if opposed to the war, may benefit directly or indirectly (e.g., through economic gain). They are thus said to share in the common karma of killing of their country.

• Fixed karma: in principle, all karma is subject to change. Fixed karma, however, is karma which can only be changed in extraordinary circumstances, because it derives from an evil act committed simultaneously with mind, speech and body. An example of fixed karma would be a premeditated crime (versus a crime of passion).

 (See also: Karma , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Alchemia Breathwork: System that transforms karmic situations and, through focused use of the Breath and the life force, frees suppressed energy. It includes Alchemia heart breath.

(See also: Alchemia Breathwork , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Yogi yogin (Sanskrit) Feminine yogini. A devotee who practices a full yoga system; the yogi state is that which, "when reached, makes the practitioner thereof absolute master of his six 'principles,' he now being merged in the seventh. It gives him full control, owing to his knowledge of Self and Self, over his bodily, intellectual and mental states, which, unable any longer to interfere with, or act upon, his Higher Ego, leave it free to exist in its original, pure, and divine state" (TG 381).

More commonly, a practitioner of one or more various subordinate branches of yoga. There are many grades and kinds of yogis, and the term has become in India a generic name for every kind of ascetic. "In some cases, yogins are men who strive in various ways to conquer the body and physical temptations, for instance by torture of the body.

They also study more or less some of the magnificent philosophical teachings of India coming down from far-distant ages of the past; but mere mental study will not make a man a Mahatma, nor will any torture of the body bring about the spiritual vision -- the Vision Sublime" (OG 183).

(See also: Yogi, yogin , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

astral body: The subtle, nonphysical body (sukshma sharira) in which the soul functions in the astral plane, the inner world also called Antarloka. The astral body includes the pranic sheath (pranamaya kosha), the instinctive-intellectual sheath (manomaya kosha) and the cognitive sheath (vijnanamaya kosha) - with the pranic sheath dropping off at the death of the physical body. See: kosha, soul.

(See also: Astral body , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Plastic Soul. Used in Occultism in reference to the linga sharira or the astral body of the lower Quaternary. It is called "plastic" and also "Protean" Soul from its power of assuming any shape or form and moulding or modelling itself into or upon any image impressed in the astral light around it, or in the minds of the medium or of those present at séances for materialization. The linga sharira must not be confused with the mayavi rupa or "thought body" - the image created by the thought and will of an adept or sorcerer ; for while the "astral form" or linga sharira is a real entity, the "thought body" is a temporary illusion created by the mind.

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

MIND

Mind very much resembles matter, both in its degrees of density and in its peculiarity of design. That's not surprising since the one derives from the other. We might also say that they are mirror images of one another. Just as matter varies in the size of its conglomerations, from the circumferences of giant stars and galaxies to the infinitely small subatomic world of its constituents, so mind ranges through the levels of experience infinitely above and below consciousness. There is no Not-Mind - not ever - except within the Ultimate Void itself.

Hypnosis sheds a faint light on certain levels of consciousness beneath the ordinary. By means of the intense concentration and focusing of attention that hypnosis evokes, we are able to accomplish feats of mind and body that otherwise only yogis know. Hypnosis works by forcing a thread of memory awareness deep into the mind labyrinth, which, however deeply it may penetrate the darkness, is always tied tightly to the ordinary consciousness at the top. Without that Ariadne's thread, the more deeply we were to concentrate on something, the more we would be lost to the world. The more attention we bring to bear on anything, the deeper into a simulacrum of sleep we proceed, as our surroundings and the outside world disappear into this darkness and outer sensations are walled off - presumably to prevent distraction. Since this state of concentration so much resembles sleep, in fact, the slightest lapse of the will sends us drifting towards unconsciousness. Ordinary sleep is a mirror-like repetition of the fragmentation of superconsciousness that we shall see results in abandonment of the self. However, as concentration proceeds ever more inward, the more the inner landscape is illuminated and narrowed. This "inner light" of laser-like consciousness is shared by the vegetable kingdom. (Its character can be recognized in psychedelic intoxication of various kinds). Finally, as we proceed into the unconscious itself we enter a quantum universe of our own. Here we find ourselves in the very "consciousness" of matter itself, with its links to everything in the universe. Presumably, death is but a deeper descent still, a proceeding into the actual heart of Mind, leading into the Void, which is the womb of all manifestations. Ordinary consciousness is obviously the link between higher and lower planes. It is a delicate balance between retreat into self-absorption and abandonment of the self to the sensory experience. It is maintained with great difficulty, for we have a tendency to drift out of it into one or the other of the two diametrically opposed realms of experience that it separates. These realms, of course, are infinitely more attractive than boring, old, routine mind. Within this narrow water-hole of ordinary consciousness, however, lie all the accomplishments and discoveries of human history. Indeed, it is this narrow and unreliable bridge that human society has learned to exploit as "civilization". Unfortunately, it has been examined but superficially and little has been done to stretch its dimensions or protect it from disintegration. Consequently we know almost nothing either of its limitations or its potential powers.

Heightened awareness is the opposed of focused attention or concentration. Attention becomes more and more generalized and cognizant of every petal on every flower in the garden, then every vein in every leaf. . . But now, as attention fans out, mind loses its coherency and begins to fragment. Under the influence of psychedelic drugs the attention is so fragmented that it merges altogether with the outer world and the inner self is abandoned to the chaos of the interface. The loss of the inner self, however, is usually accompanied by extreme panic as it attempts to jump from scintilla to scintilla.

For a time, the fragmentation of expanding mind can be kept under control by the use of amphetamines or cocaine in ever-increasing dosages. By means of these substances, alertness and intelligence are increased because attention is spread infinitely thin across a wider and wider spectrum of sensory experience coming in from the outer world. The "outer world" includes, of course, the consciousness of one's own body, as well as reflexive self-observation. At the same time, the inner self is being supplied with increased energy and speed too, so that it can maintain consciousness of itself and stave off chaos by racing back and forth around the ever-enlarging periphery of experience. As we are all very well aware, however, this path quickly comes to an end.

Fortunately, the heightening of externalized consciousness can be achieved without drugs, through mysticism. The sensory awareness can either be bypassed or used as the vehicle of its own transcendence. If the inner self is voluntarily released to heightened consciousness, which we sometimes refer to as leaving the ego behind in order to enter Nirvana, peace descends at once and chaos is transformed into the so-called "mystical experience." This process, once begun, can continue into such total absorption that the individual consciousness ceases to exist at any point and we could refer to that as a more or less permanent trance.

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

SOUL

The illusion of separation from spirit. It should be understood that the spirit is that which seeks manifestation and appears as a soul/body. The soul is that which characterizes, shapes, informs, moves and operates the material flesh and action it its unique expression. Without the soul, the body is no more than an automaton or zombie without meaning or purpose. Without the body, the soul is a wraith and an unfinished blueprint -- electricity without a plug. The Psyche is that entire part of the soul that ranges from all the depths of the Unconscious as its roots merge with the physical body all the way up to Consciousness itself, which is the intended goal of the spirit, like the fruit or blossom of a plant. That ultimate product, consciousness, is what the Greeks called the nous and which we translate, somewhat innacurately, as "the mind". But theosophically and alchemically speaking, Mind is much larger. It is the field encompassing both being and non-being, in which the spirit dwells, a continuum or sphere of containment for the All (that is, unaccessable "omiscience"). In short, the spirit seeks to know itself by means of the soul's use of the body as a tool to create consciousness. When, however, the soul identifies too strongly with the body, it soon becomes corrupt, turning into a mere slave of the flesh and the spirit is checkmated and imprisoned.

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

MIND BODY MEDICINE: Mood, attitude, and belief can affect virtually every chronic illness: fear, cynicism, as well as a sense of hopelessness and helplessness, can have a detrimental effect on health; whereas courage, good humor, a sense of control and hopefulness can all be beneficial.

Optimistic people are less likely to become ill and, when they do become ill, tend to live longer and suffer less. Studies at Yale and Rutgers Universities by Ellen Idler, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology at Rutgers, and Stanislav Kasl Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology at Yale, indicate that the opinion of one's health status--how well one thinks one is--may be the best predictor of well-being and future health.

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

A Dictionary of Karma Terminology. From "A Sanskrit English Dictionary", by Sir Monier Monier-Williams.

vibrational medicine (energetic medicine, energetics medicine, energy medicine, subtle-energy medicine, vibrational healing, vibrational therapies): Healing philosophy whose main tenet is that humans are dynamic energy systems (body/mind/spirit complexes) and reflect evolutionary patterns of soul growth.

Its principles include the following:

(a)   Health and illness originate in subtle energy systems.

(b)  These systems coordinate the life-force and the physical body.

(c)   Emotions, spirituality, and nutritional and environmental factors affect the subtle energy systems.

Vibrational medicine embraces acupuncture, aromatherapy, Bach flower therapy, chakra rebalancing, channeling, color breathing, color therapy, crystal healing, absent healing, Electroacupuncture According to Voll (EAV), etheric touch, flower essence therapy, homeopathy, Kirlian photography, laserpuncture, the laying on of hands, meridian therapy, mesmerism, moxibustion, orthomolecular medicine, Past-life Regression, Polarity Therapy, psychic healing, psychic surgery, radionics, the Simonton method, sonopuncture, Toning, Transcendental Meditation, and Therapeutic Touch.

The expressions energy healing, energy work, and energetic healing work appear synonymous with vibrational medicine.

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

cycle of soul-mind progression

Theory: every eighteen years, seven months and a few days there occurs a particular relationship between a person's soul-mind and the etheric world; beginning at the age of 18/19 and then following at the ages of 37/38, 55/56, 74/75

(See also: Cycle of soul-mind progression , Body Mind and Soul)

subtle body: Sukshma sharira, the nonphysical, astral body or vehicle in which the soul encases itself to function in the Antarloka, or subtle world.

The subtle body includes the pranamaya, manomaya and vijnanamaya koshas if the soul is physically embodied. It consists of only manomaya and vijnanamaya after death, when pranamaya kosha disintegrates. And it consists of only vijnanamaya kosha when manomaya kosha is dropped off just before rebirth or when higher evolutionary planes are entered.

Also part of the subtle body are the antahkarana (mental faculty: intellect, instinct and ego - buddhi, manas and ahamkara), the five jnanendriyas (agents of perception: hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell); and the five karmendriyas (agents of action: speech, grasping, movement, excretion and generation).

See: indriya, jiva, kosha.

(See also: Subtle body , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

body oriented emotional release psychotherapy (Neo-Reichian emotional release work): Method promoted by Dee Cassella. Its theory posits blocked sexual energy and holds that one reclaims one's natural 'SELF' as one:

(a)           releases anger, fear, and sadness, and

(b)          grieves over the loss of one's inner child.

(See also: Body oriented emotional release psychotherapy , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

The Sanskrit word 'yoga' is derived from the root verb yuj, which means union. The supreme union of individual mind and cosmic mind is yoga. In his Yogasutras , Patanjali advocated the eight-fold path of astanga yoga . Its eight limbs are: yama (self-restraint), niyama (life-regulating moral rules and observances), asana (postures of bodily restfulness), pranayama (breath control), pratyahar (withdrawal of senses), dharana (fixing the mind on the Supreme), dhyana (absorption of self), and samadhi (liberation of the soul).

Read more here: » Patanjali Yoga Sutras: Supreme Union of Body, Mind, Soul with the Patanjali Yoga Sutras