Tibetan Buddhism:

Tibetan Buddhism derives from the confluence of Buddhism and yoga which started to arrive in Tibet from India briefly around the late eighth century and then more steadily from the thirteenth century onwards. Indian Buddhism around that time had incorporated both Hindu yogic and tantric practices along with the classical teachings of the historical Buddha who lived around 500 BC.

It acknowledged that there were two paths to enlightenment (complete transcendence of identification with the personal ego). One path was that taught in the sutras according to the historical teachings. The heart of sutra practice was based on morality, concentration, and wisdom (not identifying with the personal ego. The other path, which has become the cornerstone of Tibetan variations, was tantric. This practice blended the sutra teachings with techniques adapted from Hindu systems of yoga and tantra.

(See also: Tibetan Buddhism , Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

acariya (aacariya): Teacher; mentor. See kalyanamitta.

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

Zen.

A major school of Mahayana Buddhism, with several branches.

One of its most popular techniques is meditation on koans, which leads to the generation of the Great Doubt. According to this method: The master gives the student a koan to think about, resolve, and then report back on to the master. Concentration intensifies as the student first tries to solve the koan intellectually. This initial effort proves impossible, however, for a koan cannot be solved rationally. Indeed, it is a kind of spoof on the human intellect.

Concentration and irrationality -- these two elements constitute the characteristic psychic situation that engulfs the student wrestling with a koan. As this persistent effort to concentrate intellectually becomes unbearable, anxiety sets in. The entirety of one's consciousness and psychic life is now filled with one thought. The exertion of the search is like wrestling with a deadly enemy or trying to make one's way through a ring of flames. Such assaults on the fortress of human reason inevitably give rise to a distrust of all rational perception.

This gnawing doubt (Great Doubt), combined with a futile search for a way out, creates a state of extreme and intense yearning for deliverance. The state may persist for days, weeks or even years; eventually the tension has to break. (Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism, Vol. I, p.253.)

An interesting koan is the koan of Buddha Recitation. Unlike other koans, it works in two ways. First of all, if a cultivator succeeds in his meditation through this koan, he can achieve awakening as with other koans. However, if he does not succeed, and experience shows that many cultivators do not, then the meditation on the Buddha's narne helps him to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land.

This is so provided he believes (as most practitioners in Asia do) in Amitabha and the expedient Pure Land. Thus, the Buddha Recitation koan provides a safety net, and demonstrates the underlying unity of Zen and Pure Land.

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

Mahayana

Lit., great vehicle; the dominant Buddhist tradition of East Asia.

Special characteristics of Mahayana are

1. Emphasis on bodhisattva ideal,
2. The accession of the Buddha to a superhuman status,
3. The development of extensive philosophical inquiry to counter Brahmanical and other scholarly argument,
4. The development of elaborate devotional practice.

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

Difficult Path of Practice (Path of the Sages, Self-Power Path)

According to Pure Land teaching, all conventional Buddhist ways of practice and cultivation (Zen, Theravada, the Vinaya School ...), which emphasize self-power and self-reliance.

This is contrasted to the Easy Path of Practice, that is, the Pure Land method, which relies on both self-power and other-power (the power and assistance of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas).

 (See also: Difficult Path of Practice (Path of the Sages, Self-Power Path) , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Lotus Sutra

Or Saddharma-pundarika, Dharma Flower, or "The Lotus of the True Law." The sutra is the basis for the Lotus sect (T'ien-t'ai in Chinese). Among the sutras of the Mahayana canon. One of the earliest and most richly descriptive of the Mahayana sutras of Indian origin.

It became important for the shaping of the Buddhist tradition in East Asia, in particular because of its teaching of the One Vehicle under which are subsumed the usual Hinayana (Theravada) and Mahayana divisions. It is the main text of the Tendai (T'ien T'ai) school. (Joji Okazaki.)

This School has a historically close relationship with the Pure Land School. Thus, Master T'ai Hsu taught that the Lotus Sutra and the Amitabha Sutras were closely connected, differing only in length.

 (See also: Lotus Sutra , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Samadhi: A state of higher concentration in meditation. There are three stages in Buddhism (preparation, beginning, and attainment of concentration). Samadhi is the eighth element in the classical path of Yoga, meaning absorption, becoming one with, harmonizing. There are two forms of samadhi in Yoga (with and without support). The greater form of samadhi in Yoga is without support.

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

vipassana (vipassanaa): Clear intuitive insight into physical and mental phenomena as they arise and disappear, seeing them for what they actually are - in and of themselves - in terms of the three characteristics (see ti-lakkhana) and in terms of stress, its origin, its disbanding, and the way leading to its disbanding (see ariya-sacca).

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

Links to archives related to mysticism:

J - Letter J, Jabal, Jabalas, Jachin, Jachin & Boaz, Jacob, Jacob Boehme, Jacobites, Jacques Aymar, Jacques Cazotte, Jacques Coeur, Jadar-Christna, Jadoo, Jadoogar, Jadookhana, Jadoowalla, jadu, Jadu, jadugar, jadukhana, Jadupati, jaduwala, Jaduwala, Jagaddhatr, Jagaddhatri, Jagad-Yoni, Jagad-yoni, Jagannatha, Jagan-Natha, Jagat, Jagrat, Jagrata, Jah, Ja-Heva, Jah-Havah, Jah-Hovah, Jahnavi, Jahva Alhim, Jah-Veh, Jaimini, Jaina Cross, Jaina Gross, Jainas, Jains, Jakin, Jakob, Jakob Bohme, Jala, Jalarupa, Jamadar, Jamblichus, Jambu-dvipa, Jambu-dwipa, James Bassantin, Jamin, Jam-pe-yang, Jana, Janaka, Jana-loka, Janardana, Janarddana, Janarloka, Janet Farrar, Jangama, Jang-Chhub, Jang-khog bhang-khog, Janma, Janman, Janmotsar, Janna, Janus, Jao-Jehovah, Japa, Japheth, Jara-marana, Jaras, Jargon, Jasher, Jason, Jata, Jataka, Jatayu, Jati, Java Aleim, Jave, Javidan Khirad, Javo, Jaya, Jayas, Jean AimŽ de Chavigny, Jean Chiffilet, Jean Collemann, Jean M Charcot, Jebal Djudi, Jebel Djudi, Jebel Judi, Jebus, Jehoshua, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah-Tzabaoth, Jehovists, Jen-nang,

Here are links to all 10 527 archives related to mysticism:

Mysticism Dictionary

Mysticism Dictionary - A, Mysticism Dictionary - B, Mysticism Dictionary - C,

Mysticism Dictionary - D, Mysticism Dictionary - E , Mysticism Dictionary - F,

Mysticism Dictionary - G, Mysticism Dictionary - H, Mysticism Dictionary - I,

Mysticism Dictionary - J, Mysticism Dictionary - K, Mysticism Dictionary - L,

Mysticism Dictionary - M, Mysticism Dictionary - N, Mysticism Dictionary - O,

Mysticism Dictionary - P, Mysticism Dictionary - Q, Mysticism Dictionary - R,

Mysticism Dictionary - S, Mysticism Dictionary - T, Mysticism Dictionary - U,

Mysticism Dictionary - V, Mysticism Dictionary - W, Mysticism Dictionary - X,

Mysticism Dictionary - Y, Mysticism Dictionary - Z, Mysticism Dictionary - Numbers

More popular related archives:

Consciousness, Chakras, Kundalini, Kundalini Yoga, Cosmic Consciousness, Meaning of Dreams, Gaia Hypothesis, Life after death, Prana, Subconscious, Kalki, Mayan Calendar, 2012, Indigo Children, Diksha, Morphogenetic Fields, Enligtenment, Bhagavan, Past Lives, Parapsychology, Psychic Ability, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul

Map over all archives. See also: Sacred Space, Sacred Places, Power Places, Enlightenment, Spiritual Growth, Meaning of Dreams, Yoga, Mayan Calendar, 2012, Spiritual Awakening, Lucid Dreaming, Chakra and Consciousness.

Read more here: » Site Map: Site Map Archives D-J