Buddha: Sanskrit meaning Enlightened One. There are many who have attained Buddhahood, or supreme enlightenment. The best known is Siddhartha Gautama Buddha (586-511 BC). He was born in northeastern India and received spiritual enlightment through meditation. During his lifetime, his spiritual insights and teachings became a major alternative to Hinduism throughout India.

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

A Theosophical definition of Buddhas of Compassion, :

Buddha (Buddhas) of Compassion

One who, having won all, gained all  - gained the right to kosmic peace and bliss  - renounces it so that he may return as a Son of Light in order to help humanity, and indeed all that is.

The Buddhas of Compassion are the noblest flowers of the human race. They are men who have raised themselves from humanity into quasi-divinity; and this is done by letting the light imprisoned within, the light of the inner god, pour forth and manifest itself through the humanity of the man, through the human soul of the man. Through sacrifice and abandoning of all that is mean and wrong, ignoble and paltry and selfish; through opening up the inner nature so that the god within may shine forth; in other words, through self-directed evolution, they have raised themselves from mere manhood into becoming god-men, man-gods  - human divinities.

They are called Buddhas of Compassion because they feel their unity with all that is, and therefore feel intimate magnetic sympathy with all that is, and this is more and more the case as they evolve, until finally their consciousness blends with that of the universe and lives eternally and immortally, because it is at one with the universe. "The dewdrop slips into the shining sea"  - its origin.

Feeling the urge of almighty love in their hearts, the Buddhas of Compassion advance forever steadily towards still greater heights of spiritual achievement; and the reason is that they have become the vehicles of universal love and universal wisdom. As impersonal love is universal, their whole nature expands consequently with the universal powers that are working through them. The Buddhas of Compassion, existing in their various degrees of evolution, form a sublime hierarchy extending from the Silent Watcher on our planet downwards through these various degrees unto themselves, and even beyond themselves to their chelas or disciples. Spiritually and mystically they contrast strongly with what Asiatic occultism, through the medium of Buddhism, has called the Pratyeka Buddhas.

See also: Buddhas of Compassion, , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Pratyeka Buddha :

Pratyeka Buddha

(Sanskrit) Pratyeka is a compound of two words: prati, prepositional prefix meaning "towards" or "for"; eka, the numeral "one"; thus we can translate the compound by the paraphrase "each one for himself."

The Pratyeka Buddha, he who achieves buddhahood for himself, instead of feeling the call of almighty love to return and help those who have gone less far, goes ahead into the supernal light  - passes onwards and enters the unspeakable bliss of nirvana  - and leaves mankind behind. Though exalted, nevertheless he does not rank with the unutterable sublimity of the Buddha of Compassion.

The Pratyeka Buddha concentrates his energies on the one objective  - spiritual self-advancement: he raises himself to the spiritual realm of his own inner being, enwraps himself therein and, so to speak, goes to sleep. The Buddha of Compassion raises himself, as does the Pratyeka Buddha, to the spiritual realms of his own inner being, but does not stop there, because he expands continuously, becomes one with All, or tries to, and in fact does so in time. When the Pratyeka Buddha in due course emerges from the nirvanic state in order to take up his evolutionary journey again, he will find himself far in the rear of the Buddha of Compassion.

See also: Pratyeka Buddha, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Arhat (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root arh to be worthy, merit, be able)

Worthy, deserving; also enemy slayer (from ari enemy + the verbal root han to slay, smite)

, an arhat being a slayer of the foe of craving, the entire range of passions and desires, mental, emotional, and physical. Buddhists in the Orient generally define arhat in this manner, while modern scholars derive the word from the verbal root arh. Both definitions are equally appropriate (Buddhist Catachysm 93).

As a noun, originally one who had fully attained his spiritual ideals. In Buddhism arhat (Pali arahant) is the title generally given to those of Gautama Buddha's disciples who had progressed the farthest during his lifetime and immediately thereafter; more specifically to those who had attained nirvana, emancipation from earthly fetters and the attainment of full enlightenment. Arhat is broadly equivalent to the Egyptian heirophant, the Chaldean magus, and Hindu rishi, as well as being generally applicable to ascetics. On occasion it is used for the loftiest beings in a hierarchy: "The Arhats of the 'fire-mist' of the 7th run are but one remove from the Root-base of their Hierarchy -- the highest on Earth, and our Terrestrial chain" (SD 1:207).

Arhat is the highest of the four degrees of arhatship or the fourfold path to nirvana, of which the first three are srotapatti (he who has entered the stream), sakridagamin (he who returns to birth once more), and anagamin (the never returner who will have no further births on earth).

Arhat is both the way and the waygoer; and while the term is close philosophically to anagamin, the distinction between the two lies in their mystical connotations rather than in their etymological definitions. Arhat has a wider significance inasmuch as it applies to those noblest of the Buddha's disciples who were "worthy" of receiving, because comprehending, the Tathagata's heart doctrine, the more esoteric and mystical portions of his message.

As early as one hundred years after the Buddha died and had entered his parinirvana, differences in the doctrines and discipline of the Order become manifest. In the course of the centuries two basic trends developed into what has become popular to call the Hinayana (the lesser vehicle or path) or Theravada (doctrine of the elders), and Mahayana (the greater vehicle or path). The Theravada emphasized the fourfold path leading to nirvana, total liberation of the arhat from material concerns. The Mahayana held the bodhisattvayana as the ideal, the way of compassion for all sentient beings, culminating in renunciation of nirvana in order to return and inspire others "to awake and follow the dhamma." It is this fundamental difference in goal that characterizes the Old Wisdom School (arhatship) from the New Wisdom School (bodhsattvahood).

See also BUDDHAS OF COMPASSION, PRATYEKA BUDDHAS

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

cosmic energy chi kung (Buddha palm, Cosmic Chi Kung, Cosmic Healing Chi Kung): Group of techniques that develops healing hands and the capacity for absent healing. It is a form of channeling, and its theory posits acupuncture meridians, Cosmic energy, and Universal energy.

(See also: Cosmic energy chi kung, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Delusion (Ignorance)

"Delusion refers to belief in something that contradicts reality. In Buddhism, delusion is ... a lack of awareness of the true nature or Buddha nature of things, or of the true meaning of existence. "

According to the Buddhist outlook, we are deluded by our senses-- among which intellect (discriminating, discursive thought) is included as a sixth sense.

Consciousness, attached to the senses, leads us into error by causing us to take the world of appearances for the world of reality, whereas in fact it is only a limited and fleeting aspect of reality." (The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen.)

 (See also: Delusion (Ignorance, Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Tathagata (Sanskrit). "One who is like the coming"; he who is, like his predecessors (the Buddhas) and successors, the coming future Buddha or World-Saviour. One of the titles of Gautama Buddha, and the highest epithet, since the first and the last Buddhas were the direct immediate avatars of the One Deity.

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

Dipamkara (Sanskrit). Lit., "the Buddha of fixed light"; a predecessor of Gautama, the Buddha.

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

Foh-maeyu, Fo mai-yu (Chinese) (from fo buddha + miao temple)

Buddha's temple; a temple dedicated to Sakyamuni Buddha.

(See also: Foh-maeyu, Fo mai-yu, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

buddhism:

non-orthodox form of vedic / aryan teaching founded by the buddha or enlightened one

(See also: buddhism, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Fo-chu, Fo-ch'ou (Chinese) (from fo Buddha + chu lord)

A Buddha-lord, Buddha-teacher, a teacher of the doctrines of the buddhas.

(See also: Fo-chu, Fo-ch'ou, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

AMITABHA

The Buddha who protects the present era. In Japan he is the Buddha of Truth.

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

Three precious Gems. In Southern Buddhism these are the sacred books, the Buddhas and the priesthood. In Northern Buddhism and its secret schools, the Buddha, his sacred teachings, and the Narjols (Buddhas of Compassion).

(See also: Three precious Gems, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Foh-tchou (Chin.). Lit., "Buddha’s Lord", meaning, however, simply the teacher of the doctrines of Buddha. Foh means a Guru who lives generally in a temple of Sakyamuni Buddha - the Foh-Maeyu.

(See also: Foh-tchou, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Sapta Buddhaka (Sanskrit). An account in Mahanidana Sutra of Sapta Buddha, the seven Buddhas of our Round, of which Gautama Sakyamuni is esoterically the fifth, and exoterically, as a blind, the seventh.

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

Dorjeshang (Tibet, Tibetan). A title of Buddha in his highest aspect; a name of the supreme Buddha; also Dorje.

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

Kapilavastu (Sanskrit). The birth-place of the Lord Buddha; called "the yellow dwelling": the capital of the monarch who was the father of Gautama Buddha.

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

Buddhaphala (Sanskrit) (from buddha enlightened + phala fruit)

The fruit of the Buddha, which is won when the arhat has attained the fruition of arhatship (arhattvaphala).

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

Sakya (Sanskrit). A patronymic of Gautama Buddha.

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

Siddhartha (Sanskrit). A name given to Gautama Buddha.

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

Thero (Pali). A priest of Buddha. Therunnanse, also.

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

Vajradhara (Sanskrit). The Supreme Buddha with the Northern Buddhists.

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