C.E.: Christian Era or Common Era. A term preferred over A.D. (Anno Domini- the year of the domination or rule of our lord Christ), because it removes the Christian religious element, out of respect for other calendars and religions.

 (See also: C.E., Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

B.C.E.: Before the Christian (or Common) Era. Commonly seen as B.C., meaning before Christ, though Christ was actually born in 6 B.C.E. See also C.E.

 (See also: B.C.E., Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

DHARMA - (fa, Chinese, ho, Japanese) 1. law, truth, way, right in Hinduism

2. teaching of the Buddha and Patriarchs in Buddhism.

3. Second of the three refuges in Buddhism.

4. thing. e.g. “All dharmas are empty” in Buddhism (Sanskrit)

5. the grain of things in the larger picture, living close to Earth, living more simply, living more responsibly (Gary Snyder) (NAD)

(See also: DHARMA, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Teacher of the true cause

(Jpn.: honnin-myo-no-kyoshu)

In Nichiren's teachings, the Buddha who expounds the fundamental Law, or the true cause, that enables all people to attain Buddhahood.

In the "Life Span" (sixteenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni reveals the true effect, or the Buddhahood that he attained numberless major world system dust particle kalpas ago. He does not, however, fully clarify the true cause of, i.e., the practice that led to, his enlightenment. Hence, he is called the teacher of the true effect. In contrast, Nichiren taught that Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the Law implicit in the "Life Span" chapter and is the cause of enlightenment for all people. Because he clarified the true cause for attaining Buddhahood, he is called the teacher of the true cause, and his Buddhism, the Buddhism of the true cause, or the Buddhism of sowing that implants the seeds of enlightenment in the lives of those who practice it.

(See also: Teacher of the true cause, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Kanishka (Sanskrit). A King of the Tochari, who flourished when the third Buddhist Synod met in Kashmir, i.e., about the middle of the last century B.C., a great patron of Buddhism, he built the finest stupas or dagobas in Northern India and Kabulistan.

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

Buddha:

Buddha ("awakened"): a designation of the person who has attained enlightenment (bodhi) and therefore inner freedom; honorific title of Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, who lived in the sixth century B.C.E.

(See also: Buddha, Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

Nichiren Buddhism (Nichirenism, Nichiren Shoshu, NS, Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism): Mystical Japanese religion named after Nichiren Daishonin (1222-1282), founder of nichiren-shu (School of the Lotus of the Sun). Daishonin was a militant Japanese patriot and a incarnation of an early disciple of the Buddha. Chanting the Japanese expression Namu myoho renge-kyo (which literally means Veneration to the sutra [scriptural discourse] of the lotus of the good law [i.e, the Lotus Sutra]) is the core of NS worship. NS chanting isa means of gaining anything one wants, notably health, influence, and material assets.

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

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)

`Eyn Soph (Hebrew) Also Ain Soph, Ayn Soph, Eyn Suph, Ein Soph, etc. No-thing, the negatively existent one, or the no-thing of space corresponding closely in some respects to the mystical sunyata of Mahayana Buddhism. Used in the Qabbalah for that which is above Kether or Macroprosopus, i.e., no-thing.

"It is so named because we do not know, and it is impossible to know, that which there is in this Principle, because it never descends as far as our ignorance and because it is above Wisdom itself" (Zohar iii, 288b).

Strictly speaking, 'eyn signifies abstract Be-ness or the vast spatial deep in which all existences take their rise. Anything that is existent is a production and exists; and the womb of being or Be-ness, from which existences arise, is not only the cause of all existences but likewise their field of action -- the spatial deeps. Often wrongly translated as "nothing"; but Be-ness is certainly not nothing, but essential, full Be-ness itself.

(See also: `Eyn Soph, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Svastika (Sanskrit). In popular notions, it is the Jaina cross, or the "four-footed" cross (croix cramponnée). In Masonic teachings, "the most ancient Order of the Brotherhood of the Mystic Cross" is said to have been founded by Fohi, 1,027 B.C., and introduced into China fifty-two years later, consisting of the three degrees.

In Esoteric Philosophy, the most mystic and ancient diagram. It is "the originator of the fire by friction, and of the ‘ Forty-nine Fires’." Its symbol was stamped on Buddha’s heart, and therefore called the " Heart’s Seal". It is laid on the breasts of departed Initiates after their death ; and it is mentioned with the greatest respect in the Ramayana. Engraved on every rock, temple and prehistoric building of India, and wherever Buddhists have left their landmarks; it is also found in China, Tibet and Siam, and among the ancient Germanic nations as Thor’s Hammer. As described by Eitel in his Hand-Book of Chinese Buddhism. .

(1) it is "found among Bonpas and Buddhists";

(2) it is "one of the sixty-five figures of the Sripada" ; ( it is "the symbol of esoteric Buddhism" ;

(4) "the special mark of all deities worshipped by the Lotus School of China". Finally, and in Occultism, it is as sacred to us as the Pythagorean Tetraktys, of which it is indeed the double symbol.

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

Dharmakaya (Sanskrit). Lit., "the glorified spiritual body" called the "Vesture of Bliss". The third, or highest of the Trikaya (Three Bodies), the attribute developed by every "Buddha", i.e., every initiate who has crossed or reached the end of what is called the "fourth Path" (in esotericism the sixth "portal" prior to his entry on the seventh). The highest of the Trikaya, it is the fourth of the Buddhakchetra, or Buddhic planes of consciousness, represented figuratively in Buddhist asceticism as a robe or vesture of luminous Spirituality.

In popular Northern Buddhism these vestures or robes are:

(1) Nirmanakaya

(2) Sambhogakaya

(3) and Dharmakaya the last being the highest and most sublimated of all, as it places the ascetic on the threshold of Nirvana. (See, however, the Voice of the Silence, page 96, Glossary, for the true esoteric meaning.)

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

Great Age. There were several "great ages" mentioned by the ancients.

In India it embraced the whole Maha-manvantara, the "age of Brahma", each "Day" of which represents the life cycle of a chain - i.e. it embraces a period of seven Rounds. (See Esoteric Buddhism, by A. P. Sinnett.) Thus while a "Day" and a "Night" represent, as Manvantara and Pralaya, 8,640,000,000 years, an "age" lasts through a period of 311,040,000,000,000 years; after which the Pralaya, or dissolution of the universe, becomes universal.

With the Egyptians and Greeks the "great age" referred only to the tropical or sidereal year, the duration of which is 25,868 solar years. Of the complete age - that of the gods -  they say nothing, as it was a matter to he discussed and divulged only in the Mysteries, during the initiating ceremonies. The "great age" of the Chaldees was the same in figures as that of the Hindus.

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

SACRIFICE

Anton LaVey's Satanism frowns on self-sacrifice and the Catholic Church calls suicide a sin. Xtianity offers "eternal life" in "God," which is all very well, provided you know what "God" is. Once we stop separating from the Whole, we automatically place self-sacrifice above eternal life and, in doing so, paradoxically, we transform immolation into immortality. In Buddhism, which sees the true extinction of the ego in Nirvana, i.e., as release from both death and rebirth, sacrifice means having the compassion to remain in the world in order to help others. Thus, the self-incendiarism of Buddhists as protests against the war in Viet Nam were an extreme form of compassion. They were sacrifices in the Judeo-Christo-Islamic sense, but for a bodhisattva it is not a sacrifice to die, it's a gift.

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

Mantra

Mantra is a combination of divine syllables or sounds which when recited invokes the latent power in that particular mantra, which involves pleasing some deities or attaining some results (used originally in Vedic sanatana dharma, Hinduism and Buddhism). The Mantras are created by spiritual Seers (Rishis and Yogis) in a divine trance. Each mantra has a rishi (spiritual seer).

In Sanskrit, mantra literally means 'instrument of thought', from man (to think) verb: ‘Mananat trayate iti mantrah’ - by the Manana (constant recollection or recitation) of which one is liberated. Liberation involves your aim, i.e. what one wants to achieve by this mantra -sadhana.

Each Mantra consists of a Matraa (phase) which creates a distinct sound-frequency; a Devataa (deity or God); a Bija (seed) which gives it a special power, and the Kilakam (support or pillar). Some mantras consists of only seeds (single syllables without special literal meaning) an are called Bija-mantras. [The word is accepted in New English Oxford Dictionary].€€€

(See also: Mantra, Hinduism, Yoga, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Aupapaduka :

Aupapaduka

(Sanskrit) A compound term meaning "self-produced," "spontaneously generated." It is a term applied in Buddhism to a class of celestial beings called dhyani-buddhas; and because these dhyani-buddhas are conceived of as issuing forth from the bosom of Adi-buddhi or the kosmic mahat without intermediary agency, are they mystically said to be, as H. P. Blavatsky puts it, "parentless" or "self-existing," i.e., born without any parents or progenitors. They are therefore the originants or root from which the hierarchy of buddhas of various grades flows forth in mystical procession or emanation or evolution.

There are variants of this word in Sanskrit literature, but they all have the same meaning. The term aupapaduka is actually a key word, opening a doctrine which is extremely difficult to set forth; but the doctrine itself is inexpressibly sublime. Indeed, not only are there aupapaduka divinities of the solar system, but also of every organic entity, because the core of the core of any organic entity is such an aupapaduka divinity. It is, in fact, a very mystical way of stating the doctrine of the "inner god."

[NOTE: Later research shows that anupapadaka, as found in Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, is a misreading of aupapaduka. Cf. Franklin Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1953, 2:162.  - PUBLISHER]

See also: Aupapaduka, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Pali The language spoken in the north of India from and before the 7th century BC to about the 5th century AD. It is still the literary sacred language of Burma, Thailand, and Ceylon. There were two factors which made Pali one of the most important literary languages of the world: first, with the rise of the Kosalas into a kingdom, the language of its capital (Savatthi, in Nepal) become the form of speech almost universally adopted. Secondly, Gautama Buddha, being of Kosalan by birth, probably used the Pali language in giving forth his teachings, and therefore the subsequent philosophical writings of his disciples were similarly couched in this language.

Sanskrit, on the other hand, "was really the sacred language of the Brahmanas and held more or less private or secret by them. The Sanskrit even in those ancient times was the vehicle for the archaic Wisdom-teachings of the Aryan peoples of India, such as the Vedas, and the Puranas, and the Upanishads, and the great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. But Pali was one of several other languages of culture in ancient India, all which were of so-called Prakrit character, although very little is known about these other literary languages. Pali has survived to the present time because . . . it became the linguistic vehicle in which were enshrined the teachings of Buddhism, i.e., of Southern Buddhism, much as Latin has survived because enshrining the teachings of early medieval Christianity. Just as there were in ancient Italy many other Italic tongues, each one having its literary or cultured form, and likewise its popular idiom, so was it in ancient India.

"Pali is not a 'washed-out Sanskrit.' Sanskrit was rather a mystery-language which was 'composed' or 'builded up' to perfection by initiates of the Sanctuaries; and because it was thus constructed into an almost perfect expression of human thought, at least for that day, it was called samskrita, which means 'composed,' 'constructed.' Thus Pali is not a true child of Sanskrit, but is and was the literary form of one of the ancient languages of India popularly spoken over an apparently wide stretch of the Indian Peninsula, . . ." (SOPh 694-5).

In the 3rd century BC the language used throughout Northern India was practically one, and it was derived directly from the speech of the Vedic Aryans, retaining many Vedic forms lost in the later classical Sanskrit. The basis of the language used in the Buddhist canon was that used in Ujjayini, the capital of the Avanti district. The chief doctrines of Buddhism are recorded in the works known as the Suttas (Sutras in Sanskrit) -- there being four Nikayas consisting of 16 volumes; the fifth Nikaya being the Jatakas (birth stories).

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

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