Inclusion of Buddhahood in the nine worlds

(Jpn.: kukai-soku-bukkai or kukai-shogu-no-bukkai)

The principle that the world of Buddhahood is inherent in the nine worlds. That is, all beings of the nine worlds possess the potential for Buddhahood (i.e., the Buddha nature). The nine worlds refer to the realms of hell, hungry spirits, animals, asuras, human beings, heavenly beings, voice-hearers, cause-awakened ones, and bodhisattvas. These realms also signify inherent conditions or states of life that beings manifest at any given moment. The nine worlds are contrasted with the world of Buddhahood in that they are realms or states of illusion and suffering, while Buddha-hood is a state of enlightenment free from illusion and suffering.

The principle of Buddhahood as a potential within the nine worlds means that the beings of the nine worlds, i.e., those who are deluded, inherently possess the state of Buddhahood and can manifest Buddhahood from within their lives. This concept is derived from the Lotus Sutra, particularly the "Expedient Means" (second) chapter. Together with the inclusion of the nine worlds within Buddhahood, it explains T'ien-t'ai's concept of the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds. The chapter reads, "The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, wish to open the door of Buddha wisdom to all living beings." Nichiren says, "This refers to the world of Buddhahood inherent in the nine worlds". That is, Buddhahood is inherent in all living beings.

(See also: Inclusion of Buddhahood in the nine worlds, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment 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)

Jataka (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root jan to be born)

A birth story; the 550 Jataka tales form one of the books of the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Buddhist canon. These stories are supposed to have been related by the Buddha and are considered by some to be the accounts of his former lives, and by others to be a group of tales built of occult truth and past experiences of the Buddha and treated in an allegorical way by some of his first and greatest disciples in order to depict a synopsis of the evolutionary history of the human race.

"Gautama, the Buddha, would not have been a mortal man, had he not passed through hundreds and thousands of births previous to his last. Yet the detailed account of these, and the statement that during them he worked his way up through every stage of transmigration from the lowest animate and inanimate atom and insect, up to the highest -- or man, contains simply the well-known occult aphorism: 'a stone becomes a plant, a plant an animal, and an animal a man.' Every human being who has ever existed, has passed through the same evolution.

But the hidden symbolism in the sequence of these re-births (jataka) contains a perfect history of the evolution on this earth, pre and post human, and is a scientific exposition of natural facts. One truth not veiled but bare and open is found in their nomenclature, viz., that as soon as Gautama had reached the human form he began exhibiting in every personality the utmost unselfishness, self-sacrifice and charity" (TG 65).

(See also: Jataka, 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)

Vajrasattva (Sanskrit) [from vajra diamond + sattva essence, reality]

Diamond-heart, diamond-essence; a title given to mahatmas of the highest grade, or to bodhisattvas whose whole personality as a living essence is merged in their compound sixth and seventh principles (atman-buddhi). Vajra here expresses the spiritual adamantine quality of the inner natures of these glorious beings. Vajrasattva is a manifestation of the heart of vajradhara, the First Logos or adi-buddha; hence vajrasattva is "the second logos of creation, from whom emanate the seven (in the exoteric blind the five) Dhyani Buddhas, called the Anupadaka, 'the parentless,' " (SD 1:571). Dorjesempa is the Tibetan equivalent.

Vajrasattva is often used for celestial beings, entities belonging to the hierarchy of light or compassion. The vajrasattva quality is likewise one which can be possessed in less degree by any human being, depending upon his degree of advancement.

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

Sixth Round The sixth circling of the life-waves around the globes of a planetary chain. Following the serial evolution of the cosmic element-principles which have been developed on the five previous rounds, the sixth cosmic element will come into manifestation; but no hint as to its nature is given other than its name -- purusha-sakti (ML 91).

"From the second Round, Earth -- hitherto a foetus in the matrix of Space -- began its real existence: it had developed individual sentient life, its second principle [air]. The second corresponds to the sixth (principle); the second is life continuous, the other, temporary" (SD 1:260).

In the humanity of that far-off time, the sixth principle (buddhi) will come into relatively full development. Mankind then will become a family of buddhas -- for Gautama Buddha is known as a sixth rounder. Even the human physical body will have become greatly changed, and towards the end of the round will be an ovoid or globe emitting light.

(See also: Sixth Round, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Annunciation Announcing; in Christianity, the foretelling to Mary of Jesus' birth by the angel Gabriel, celebrated on Lady Day, March 25. The fire and lamps used in this ceremony apparently point back to the marriage of Vulcan with Venus, to the Magi watching over the sacred fire in the East, to the Vestal Virgins in the West, and to the marriage of Father Sun with Mother Nature.

Some parallels from other religions are the luminous San-tusita (Bodhisat) appearing to Maya and announcing the coming birth of Gautama Buddha; the Hindu legend that there would be born the son of the Virgin (Krishna), the date of whose death marked the beginning of kali yuga; and in Egypt where scenes of an annunciation appear in the temple of Luxor.

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

Dhatu (Sanskrit) Constituent part, ingredient; an equivalent to mahabhuta (element), the range or plane of primeval matter, five usually being reckoned: kha or akasa (ether); anila (wind); tejas (fire); jala (water); bhu (earth); but esoterically there are seven.

"As there are seven Dhatu (principal substances in the human body) so there are seven Forces in Man and in all Nature" (SD 1:290).

In Southern Buddhism, the word also means residue, relics (that which remains after the body has been cremated), and applied especially to the relics of the Buddha's body alleged to have been collected after its cremation.

See also ARUPA-DHATU; KAMA-DHATU; RUPA-DHATU

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

Messenger An intermediary between beings of a higher and a lower order, as between gods and men, or between the Great Lodge of Masters of Wisdom and ordinary mankind.

There are buddhas, in whom the whole nature is perfect; avataras, in whom the intermediate nature, or part of it, is removed and replaced by that of another being superior to ordinary humanity who loans it temporarily for the purpose; lesser messengers, in whom the intermediate nature is partially -- or even wholly -- removed for a greater or less time, in order that they may become vehicles for the transmission of light undisturbed by the individual color of their own minds.

The word angel, from the Greek, means a messenger, and in the Occident referred to the various orders of spiritual beings above man. Early Christianity, as is evidenced in the works of Dionysius the pseudo-Areopagite, distinguished very clearly between the different hierarchies of angelic or spiritual beings; but Christianity for centuries has virtually forgotten or ignored these fundamental distinctions derivative from neo-Pythagorean and Neoplatonic teachings.

(See also: Messenger, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Sangha, Samgha (Sanskrit) Sangha (Pali) [from sam together + han to strike together, unite]

Assemblage, gathering, convocation; in Buddhism, popularly applied to the assemblage of Buddhist priests (sangha-bhikkhu) and often rendered incorrectly as the Buddhist church. The Order or Brotherhood are also translations.

The idea conveyed is the unity of all who accept the doctrine of the Lord, i.e., Buddhists. More mystically applied by Buddhist initiates to signify likewise the unity or universal brotherhood of all human beings at any time or place, who through knowledge or natural intuition follow the law of the Buddhas, the law of right and compassion.

(See also: Sangha, Samgha, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Samma-sambuddha (Pali) Used by mystic Buddhists and raja-yogins to signify the complete or perfected knowledge of the whole series of one's past lives, a phenomenon of memory obtained through the practice of true inner yoga or self-control.

More generally, full or complete awaking, in the sense that all the higher nature of the individual is thoroughly awakened and active, thus conferring virtual omniscience as regards our solar system; it likewise brings with it great spiritual and psychic powers. It is the full efflorescence and self-conscious activity of the spiritual monad in and through the one who has attained to this sublime degree in spiritual unfoldment, the becoming at one with the cosmic Logos.

Also a title of Gautama Buddha referring to his perfect inner illumination.

(See also: Samma-sambuddha, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Melhas (Tibetan) [from me fire + lha deity]

Fiery deity, used both individually and collectively; equivalent to the Sanskrit agnideva. A class of elemental beings or nature spirits corresponding to the Salamanders of medieval Fire-philosophers. Esoterically, they are classed with the dhyani-buddhas, chohans, and bodhisattvas (SD 2:34), but this classification has no necessary reference to an advanced degree in evolution. It is a general term, including both evolved and unevolved beings of the original element of fire.

In The Secret Doctrine (2:63) Melha is the Lord of the Flames, a hierarchy of spirits, corresponding to St. Michael.

(See also: Melhas, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Khadomas mkha' 'gro ma (kha-do-ma) (Tibetan) (from mkha' sky + 'gro going + ma female)

Equivalent of Sanskrit dakini; in popular Tibetan folklore, deities having feminine characteristics, and hence often styled mothers, although regarded as demons. Blavatsky states that they are elementals, "occult and evil Forces of Nature," and that Lilith is the Jewish equivalent:

"Allegorical legends call the chief of these Liliths, Sangye Khado (Buddha Dakini, in Sanskrit); all are credited with the art of 'walking in the air,' and the greatest kindness to mortals; but no mind -- only animal instinct" (TG 177; SD 2:285). Thus the khado or khadoma are equivalent to one of the classes of nature spirits recognized by the medieval Fire-philosophers.

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

Fundamental darkness

(Jpn.: gampon-no-mumyo)

Also, fundamental ignorance or primal ignorance. The most deeply rooted illusion inherent in life, said to give rise to all other illusions. Darkness in this sense means inability to see or recognize the truth, particularly, the true nature of one's life.

The term fundamental darkness is contrasted with the fundamental nature of enlightenment, which is the Buddha nature inherent in life.

According to the Shrimala Sutra, fundamental darkness is the most difficult illusion to surmount and can be eradicated only by the wisdom of the Buddha. T'ien-t'ai (538-597) interprets darkness as illusion that prevents one from realizing the truth of the Middle Way, and divides such illusion into forty-two types, the last of which is fundamental darkness. This illusion is only extirpated when one attains the stage of perfect enlightenment, the last of the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice.

Nichiren (1222-1282) interprets fundamental darkness as ignorance of the ultimate Law, or ignorance of the fact that one's life is essentially a manifestation of that Law, which he identifies as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. In The Treatment of Illness, Nichiren states: "The heart of the Lotus school is the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, which reveals that both good and evil are inherent even in those at the highest stage of perfect enlightenment.

The fundamental nature of enlightenment manifests itself as Brahma and Shakra, whereas the fundamental darkness manifests itself as the devil king of the sixth heaven". Nichiren thus regards fundamental darkness as latent even in the enlightened life of the Buddha, and the devil king of the sixth heaven as a manifestation or personification of life's fundamental darkness. The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings reads, "Belief is a sharp sword that cuts off fundamental darkness or ignorance."

(See also: Fundamental darkness, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Monadic Ray The monad, that divine-spiritual-intellectual seed or originant of each evolving being, does not itself descend into the planes of matter, but shoots forth from itself a multitude of rays.

Each such rays forms the essential nature of the complex evolving being to which it pertains, and hence the monad is the primal or ultimate source of all that being's life and characteristic attributes, the immortal part of the being, whether that being be human, animal, vegetable, mineral, or what not. In man it is his essential self; it persists throughout all the evolutionary transformations in the life cycle and gathers around itself the life-atoms at each new incarnation of the reincarnating ego.

Thus the monad in any person is his inner god, the celestial buddha of his own septenary constitution, or again his individual Immanent Christ.

The rays from the person's individual monad which form the complex essential nature of his being, are the sources of the different centers in the human constitution, and in themselves are children monads, as it were, from their common source.

(See also: Monadic Ray, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Iddhi (Pali) (from the verbal root sidh to succeed, attain an objective, reach accomplishment)

Equivalent to the Sanskrit siddhi, used to signify the powers or attributes of perfection: powers of various kinds, spiritual and intellectual as well as astral and physical, acquired through training, discipline, initiation, and individual holiness. In Buddhism it is generally rendered "occult power." There are two classes of iddhis, the higher of which, according to the Digha-Nikaya and other Buddhist works, are eight in number: 1) the power to project mind-made images of oneself; 2) to become invisible; 3) to pass through solid things, such as a wall; 4) to penetrate solid ground as if it were water; 5) to walk on water; 6) to fly through the air; 7) to touch sun and moon; and 8) to ascend into the highest heavens. The same work represents the Buddha as saying:

"It is because I see danger in the practice of these mystic wonders that I loathe and abhor and am ashamed thereof" (1:213) -- a true statement although iddhis are powers of the most desirable kind when pertaining to the higher nature, for they are of spiritual, intellectual, and higher psychical character. It is only when iddhis or siddhis are limited to the meaning of the gross astral psychic attributes that the Buddha properly condemns them as being dangerous always, and to the ambitious and selfish person extremely perilous. Further, it was an offense against the regulations of the Brotherhood (Samgha) for any member to display any powers before the laity.

The bases for the acquirement of the iddhis rested upon four completed steps in training (iddhipada): determination in respect of concentration on purpose, on will, on thoughts, and on investigation.

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

Grand Architect of the Universe Masonic term for the maker of the universe:

"the Greeks gave this Third or formative Logos the title Demiourgos, a word mystically signifying the supreme cosmic Architect of the universe. This same idea always has been held by the Christians as well as by modern speculative Freemasonry . . ." (FSO 183) Theosophically this Grand Architect is a collective way of presenting the forces of nature, the cosmocratores or cosmic builders, acting on the ideation laid down by still higher beings -- dhyani-buddhas, referred to collectively mahat or cosmic mind -- rather than a personal god or entity:

"but now the modern Masons make of their G. A. O. T. U. a personal and singular Deity" (TBL 40).

See also MASTERS, THE THREE ANCIENT GREAT. ()

(See also: Grand Architect of the Universe, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Incarnation Imbodiments of an entity or monad in a body of flesh, usually human. It is also used of avataras, buddhas, etc., in treating of the manifold mystery of the union of godhood and humanhood. This mystery, both among Hindus and Christians, is a distorted and anthropomorphic understanding of the teaching as to the presence of the unseen cosmic principles throughout all nature and man, as symbolized by the circle and cross.

Divine incarnations do not mean that a divine being seizes upon and occupies the body of human being as by a kind of obsession; but that every person has within him the powers by which he can manifest his own innate divinity, and that a few people have these powers developed in a special degree. When properly understood, a truly divine incarnation, as in avataras, was one of the greatest of the mysteries of every archaic religious system.

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

Kalki-avatara (Sanskrit) (from kalkin white horse + avatara divine descent)

The white-horse avatara, the 10th and last descent of Vishnu, in the form of a white horse at the end of kali yuga.

"When the close of the Kali-age shall be nigh, a portion of that divine being which exists, of its own spiritual nature . . . shall descend on Earth . . . endowed with the eight superhuman faculties. . . . He will re-establish righteousness on earth, and the minds of those who live at the end of Kali-Yuga shall be awakened and become as pellucid as crystal. The men who are thus changed . . . shall be the seeds of human beings, and shall give birth to a race who shall follow the laws of the Krita-age, the age of purity" (VP 4:24).

Equivalent to Maitreya-Buddha of Northern Buddhism, Sosiosh of the Zoroastrians, and the Faithful and True on the white horse of Revelations.

(See also: Kalki-avatara, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Grand Architect of the Universe Masonic term for the maker of the universe:

"the Greeks gave this Third or formative Logos the title Demiourgos, a word mystically signifying the supreme cosmic Architect of the universe. This same idea always has been held by the Christians as well as by modern speculative Freemasonry . . ." (FSO 183) Theosophically this Grand Architect is a collective way of presenting the forces of nature, the cosmocratores or cosmic builders, acting on the ideation laid down by still higher beings -- dhyani-buddhas, referred to collectively mahat or cosmic mind -- rather than a personal god or entity:

"but now the modern Masons make of their G. A. O. T. U. a personal and singular Deity" (TBL 40).

See also MASTERS, THE THREE ANCIENT GREAT. ()

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

Buddha Siddharta (Sanskrit) The name given to Gautama, the Prince of Kapilavastu, at his birth. It is an abbreviation of sarvartthasiddha and means, the "realization of all desires".

Gautama, which means, on earth (gau) the most victorious (tama) "was the sacerdotal name of the Sakya family, the kingly patronymic of the dynasty to which the father of Gautama, the King Suddhodhana of Kapilavastu, belonged. Kapilavastu was an ancient city, the birth-place of the Great Reformer and was destroyed during his life time. In the title Sakyamuni, the last component, muni, is rendered as meaning one mighty in charity, isolation and silence", and the former Sakya is the family name.

Every Orientalist or Pundit knows by heart the story of Gautama, the Buddha, the most perfect of mortal men that the world has ever seen, but none of them seem to suspect the esoteric meaning underlying his prenatal biography, i.e., the significance of the popular story. The Lalitavistura tells the tale, but abstains from hinting at the truth. The 5,000 jatakas, or the events of former births (re-incarnations) are taken literally instead of esoterically.

Gautama, the Buddha, would not have been a mortal man, had he not passed through hundreds and thousands of births previous to his last. Yet the detailed account of these, and the statement that during them he worked his way up through every stage of transmigration from the lowest animate and inanimate atom and insect, up to the highest - or man, contains simply the well-known occult aphorism: "a stone becomes a plant, a plant an animal, and an animal a man". Every human being who has ever existed, has passed through the same evolution. But the hidden symbolism in the sequence of these re-births (jataka) contains a perfect history of the evolution on this earth, pre and post human, and is a scientific exposition of natural facts. One truth not veiled but bare and open is found in their nomenclature, viz., that as soon as Gautama had reached the human form he began exhibiting in every personality the utmost unselfishness, self-sacrifice and charity.

Buddha Gautama, the fourth of the Sapta (Seven) Buddhas and Sapta Tathagatas was born according to Chinese Chronology in 1024 B.C; but according to the Singhalese chronicles, on the 8th day of the second (or fourth) moon in the year 621 before our era. He fled from his father’s palace to become an ascetic on the night of the 8th day of the second moon, 597 BC., and having passed six years in ascetic meditation at Gaya, and perceiving that physical self-torture was useless to bring enlightenment, be decided upon striking out a new path, until he reached the state of Bodhi. He became a full Buddha on the night of the 8th day of the twelfth moon, in the year 592, and finally entered Nirvana in the year 543 according to Southern Buddhism. The Orientalists, however, have decided upon several other dates. All the rest is allegorical. He attained the state of Bodhisattva on earth when in the personality called Prabhapala. Tushita stands for a place on this globe, not for a paradise in the invisible regions. The selection of the Sakya family and his mother Maya, as "the purest on earth," is in accordance with the model of the nativity of every Saviour, God or deified Reformer.

The tale about his entering his mother’s bosom in the shape of a white elephant is an allusion to his innate wisdom, the elephant of that colour being a symbol of every Bodhisattva. The statements that at Gautama’s birth, the newly born babe walked seven steps in four directions, that an Udumbara flower bloomed in all its rare beauty and that the Naga kings forthwith proceeded ‘‘to baptise him ", are all so many allegories in the phraseology of the Initiates and well-understood by every Eastern Occultist. The whole events of his noble life are given in occult numbers, and every so-called miraculous event - so deplored by Orientalists as confusing the narrative and making it impossible to extricate truth from fiction - is simply the allegorical veiling of the truth, it is as comprehensible to an Occultist learned in symbolism, as it is difficult to understand for a European scholar ignorant of Occultism.

Every detail of the narrative after his death and before cremation is a chapter of facts written in a language which must be studied before it is understood, otherwise its dead letter will lead one into absurd contradictions. For instance, having reminded his disciples of the immortality of Dharmakaya Buddha is said to have passed into Samadhi, and lost himself in Nirvana - from which none can return., and yet, notwithstanding this, the Buddha is shown bursting open the lid of the coffin, and stepping out of it ; saluting with folded hands his mother Maya who had suddenly appeared in the air, though she had died seven (days after his birth, &c., &c.

As Buddha. was a Chakravartti (he who turns the wheel of the Law), his body at its cremation could not be consumed by common fire. What happens Suddenly a jet of flame burst out of the Swastica on his breast, and reduced his body to ashes. Space prevents giving more instances. As to his being one of the true and undeniable Saviours of the World, suffice it to say that the most rabid orthodox missionary, unless he is hopelessly insane, or has not the least regard even for historical truth, cannot find one smallest accusation against the life and personal character of Gautama, the "Buddha".

Without any claim to divinity, allowing his followers to fall into atheism, rather than into the degrading superstition of deva or idol-worship, his walk in life is from the beginning to the end, holy and divine. During the years of his mission it is blameless and pure as that of a god - or as the latter should be. He is a perfect example of a divine, godly man. He reached Buddhaship - i.e., complete enlightenment - entirely by his own merit and owing to his own individual exertions, no god being supposed to have any personal merit in the exercise of goodness and holiness. Esoteric teachings claim that he renounced Nirvana and gave up the Dharmakaya vesture to remain a "Buddha of compassion" within the reach of the miseries of this world.

And the religious philosophy he left to it has produced for over 2,000 years generations of good and unselfish men. His is the only absolutely bloodless religion among all the existing religions tolerant and liberal, teaching universal compassion and charity, love and self-sacrifice, poverty and contentment with one’s lot, whatever it may he.

No persecutions, and enforcement of faith by fire and sword, have ever disgraced it. No thunder-and-lightning-vomiting god has interfered with its chaste commandments; and if the simple, humane and philosophical code of daily life left to us by the greatest Man-Reformer ever known, should ever come to he adopted by mankind at large, then indeed an era of bliss and peace would dawn on Humanity.

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