Confucius Dictionary

Confucius K'ung Fu-tzu (551-479 BC) "Philosopher K'ung"; Chinese philosopher, statesman, and scholar, whose teachings dealt with morals, family, social reforms, and statecraft. He called himself a "transmitter, not an originator." His Analects is one of the Five Books of Chinese classics. (SD, BCW)

(See also: Confucius, K'ung Fu-tzu , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Tortoise In China, a favorite symbol, and Confucius regarded it as sacred; in India the same veneration is given to it, for in one of the preceding manvantaras Vishnu is said in the Puranas to have taken the form of a tortoise to uphold the earth and its beings; his second avatara is called the Tortoise or Kurma avatara.

The Satapatha-Brahmana tells of the collective creator, Prajapati, taking the form of a tortoise to create offspring, and it states that the name of one of the celebrated rishis, Kasyapa, means a tortoise. Also in Hindu astronomy the tortoise is prominent, for the host of stars and constellations are regarded as being placed on a rotating belt in the figure of a sisumara or tortoise.

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

Analects (Lun Yu): Literally "digested conversations," the most reliable of all collections of Confucius's teachings, and one of the Four Books (shu) of Confucianism; the principal themes include humanity (jen), social custom (li), the superior person (chun-tzu), filial obedience (hsiao), the rectification of names (cheng ming), and good government.

 (See also: Analects , Eastern Philosophy, Body Mind and Soul)

Acharya Ananda Giri is one of the most prominent representatives of the Foundation. In this interview, from his tour in the USA, he is explaining the Golden Age Foundations view on the status of the world and the humanity of today, and how it can be changed. Radically.

Read more here: » Enlightenment: Interview with Sri Ananda Giri

Confucianism

A world religion based on the teachings of Confucius): His writtings form the basis of Confucianism. Doctrines include ancestor worship, devotion to family elders, and right conduct based on the inherent goodness of man.

(See also: Confucianism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Confucius

(Kung Fu-tsu) Chinese sage, writer or the Analects -551-479

(See also: Confucius , Body Mind and Soul)

Kabbalah of China. One of the oldest known Chinese books is the Yih King, or Book of Changes. It is reported to have been written 2850 B.C., in the dialect of the Accadian black races of Mesopotamia.

It is a most abstruse system of Mental and Moral Philosophy, with a scheme of universal relation and divination. Abstract ideas are represented by lines, half lines, circle, and points.

Thus a circle represents YIH, the Great Supreme; a line is referred to YIN, the Masculine Active Potency; two half lines are YANG, the Feminine Passive Potency. KWEI is the animal soul, SHAN intellect, KHIEN heaven or Father, KHWAN earth or Mother, KAN or QHIN is Son; male numbers are odd, represented by light circles, female numbers are even, by black circles.

There are two most mysterious diagrams, one called "HO or the River Map", and also associated with a Horse ; and the other called "The Writing of LO" ; these are formed of groups of white and black circles, arranged in a Kabbalistic manner. The text is by a King named Wan, and the commentary by Kan, his son ; the text is allowed to be older than the time of Confucius.

(See also: Kabbalah of China , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Great Extreme of Confucius (SD)

(See also: Great Extreme , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

The New Age movement is hardly novel! Its philosophy is rooted in ancient traditions, often based on mystical experiences, each within a different context.

Part I of II, written by Michael Rogge

Read more here: » New Age Spirituality: The roots of the New Age Movement Ð Part I

I Ching

"Book of Change", Chinese oracle and philosophical text based on a deep understanding of yin and yang; consisting of 64 hexagrams, symbolizing archetypal energies or situations. Collected by the Duke of Chou, c-1500; principal commentary by Confucius

(See also: I Ching , Body Mind and Soul)

In today’s world, Feng Shui has fast entered the mainstream of practical information about alternative guidance. Authentic Feng Shui dating back 3500 years is timeless but so relevant in our contemporary lifestyles and business environments. A more harmonious interaction between people and their personal space is essential in this new millineum of thinking and living but more importantly, Feng Shui is all about life fulfillment.
This article by Feng Shui expert Siou Foon Lee give the reader a better understanding of what heavenly and eartly factors are influencing man and his life.

Read more here: » Feng Shui: How karma and luck are connected to Feng Shui

Afterife - Life After Death

An encyclopedia of different cultures mythology  around afterlife, including : Adiri, Ama-No-Hashidate: , Asamando, Asgard, Astral Plane, Avalon, Bralgu, Chalmecacivati, Ching Tu, Chinvato Peretav, Dilum, Djanna, Elysium, Fortunate Isle, Gwenved, Happy Hunting Ground, Hawaiki, Inkolwe, Isle of the Blest, Kevala, Khun-Lun, Ki-Agpga-Pod, Kotluwalawa, Land of the Moon, Lewu Liau, Limbo, Mizumu, Moksha, Mormon Heaven, Mount Kailasa, Mount Meru , New Age Afterlife, New Jerusalem, Nirvana, Otherworld, Sheol, Summerland, Tain, Tamoanchan, The Pole Star, Tlalocan, Tum and Valhalla.

Read more here: » Afterlife: Encyclopedia of Afterlife Mythology in Different Cultures

Lao-tzu

Chinese civil servant, philosopher and sage whom Confucius described as appearing like a dragon rising to the clouds; writer of the Tao Te Ching; -6th century

(See also: Lao-tzu , Body Mind and Soul)

Lao-Tse or Lao-tzu (Chinese) One of the great teachers of China who appeared and taught some little time before Confucius began his career. Tradition has it that there was a meeting between Confucius and Lao-Tzu, and that the former referred to the latter as a dragon, an ancient mode of referring to a master of wisdom or initiate.

Although said to have written one thousand books "his great work, however, the heart of his doctrine, the 'Tao-te-King,' or the sacred scriptures of the Taosse, has in it, as Stanislas Julien shows, only 'about 5,000 words,' hardly a dozen of pages, yet Professor Max Muller finds that 'the text is unintelligible without commentaries, so that Mr. Julien had to consult more than sixty commentators for the purpose of his translation,' the earliest going back as far as the year 163 BC, not earlier, as we see. During the four centuries and a half that preceded this earliest of the commentators there was ample time to veil the true Lao-Tse doctrine from all but his initiated priests. . . . Tradition affirms that the commentaries to which our Western Sinologues have access are not the real occult records, but intentional veils, and that the true commentaries, as well as almost all the texts, have long since disappeared from the eyes of the profane" (SD 1:xxv).

(See also: Lao-Tse, Lao-tzu , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Jainism is an ancient religion, more ancient than what most of us are given to believe. Although a lot of people associate Jainism with Lord Mahavira as its founder but nothing can be further from truth. Lord Mahavira was not the founder of Jainism but the last of the 24 Tirthankaras . It is very difficult to envisage and visualise how old and ancient this religion is because the period between the coming to earth of each of the Tirthankaras was yugas or eons.

Read more here: » Jainism: A Way To Cleanse

The New Age movement is hardly novel! Its philosophy is rooted in ancient traditions, often based on mystical experiences, each within a different context.

Part II of II, written by Michael Rogge

Read more here: » The roots of the New Age Movement Ð Part II

I Ching (Chinese) Also Yi King. The Book of Changes; also Holy Book of Mutations, these mutations being the manifestations of tao.

The text of the original treatise is from a system of eight trigrams and 64 hexagrams, composed of whole and broken lines, thus: (illust) which, by altering the positions of the whole and broken lines form the changes in the diagrams. This has been assigned by scholars to Fu-Hsi (30th century BC). The first extant commentary on it is assigned to Ching Wen, founder of the Chou dynasty in 1122 BC, and his son.

There have been many explanations offered regarding this work, called by many the Qabbalah of China: some see in it only a system of divination, a lunar calendar, phallic worship, or again the vocabulary of a tribe whose very existence had to be postulated for this purpose. Both Taoists and Confucianists regard the I Ching as the holiest of books; Confucius declared that he would like to give another 50 years of his life to its study, while the only Chinese commentator who is said to have understood it was Chu Hsi (1130-1200).

In the Hi-ts'ze (or so-called Appendices to the work) the universe is described as a living organism called T'ai-ch'i (the supreme being, or most ultimate). The processes of birth and rebirth, or the production of life, are due to the manifestations of tao by means of the yang and yin.

"To Yang belong the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9; to Yin belong the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. There are then five celestial and five terrestrial numbers; these rows of five operate upon each other, and each number has one with which it corresponds. The sum of the celestial numbers is twenty-five. It is in accordance with these factors that the processes of the Universe are effected, and the kwei and the shen do their work" (Hi-ts'ze).

Speaking of the I Ching, Blavatsky says:

"the Stanzas given in our text . . . represent precisely the same idea. The old archaic map of Cosmogony is full of lines in the Confucian style, of concentric circles and dots. Yet all these represent the most abstract and philosophical conceptions of the Cosmogony of our Universe" (SD 1:441).

(See also: I Ching , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Lao-Tzu: Legendary founder of Taoism and author of the Tao Te Ching, who is said to have been an older contemporary of Confucius.

 (See also: Lao-Tzu , Eastern Philosophy, Body Mind and Soul)

Golden Rule In the West, applied to the moral teaching as voiced by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, and stated by him to be all the law and the prophets:

• "All things whatsoever ye would that man should do to you, do ye even so to them" (Matt 7:12):
• "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise" (Luke 6:31).

This teaching is in all the religions of the world, expressing the law of our higher nature, which is love and harmony, as contrasted with the law of our lower nature, which makes for personal separateness and sets the individual at variance with his neighbor. Its realization in thought and conduct is an indispensable requisite to attainment on the path of wisdom and liberation.

The following are selected from many similar teachings:

Hillel, Jewish Rabbi (b. 50 B.C.):

"Do not to others what you would not like others to do to you."

Aristotle, Greek (385B.C.):

"We should conduct ourselves towards others as we would have them act towards us."

Pittacus, Greek (650 B.C.):

"Do not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him."

Zoroaster, Persian:

"Hold it not meet to do unto others what thou wouldst not desire done unto thyself; do that unto the people, which when done to thyself, is not disagreeable unto these."

Confucius, China:

"Do unto another what you would have him do unto you, and do not unto another what you would not have him do unto you."

The Mahabharata, India:

"This is the sum of all true righteousness -- treat others as thou wouldst thyself be treated. Do nothing to thy neighbor which hereafter thou wouldst not have thy neighbor do to thee."

(See also: Golden Fleece , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Raelian

Raelians are members of a UFO group that follow Claude Vorilhon, a Frenchman who calls himself Rael. He claims that on December 13, 1973, he was in a volcano near Clermont-Ferrand, France, when he saw a UFO. He says a radiant being emerged and entrusted him with a message revealing the true origin of mankind. They told him that henceforth he would be known as Rael, which means "messenger. " His followers consider him to be "the prophet of the third millennium. " Rael expects is followers to support him. A 10% tithe is the norm. His followers believe he was taken to the planet of the Elohim in a flying saucer in 1975, where he was introduced to noted spiritual teachers of Earth, such as Jesus, Buddha, Joseph Smith and Confucius.

The Elohim, small human-shaped beings with pale green skin and almond eyes, were apparently the original inspiration for the Judeo-Christian God. They informed Vorilhon that he is the final prophet - sent to relay a message of peace and sensual meditation to humankind under his new name of Rael - before the Elohim will return to Jerusalem in 2025. Rael claims that the human race was created from the DNA of aliens some 25,000 years ago. (In fact, all life on earth was created in alien laboratories. )

Among other things, Rael has also learned that cloning is the way to immortality and there is no God or soul. According to Rael, our alien creators want us to be beautiful and sexy and enjoy a sensuous life, free from the restrictions of traditional Judeo-Christian morality. The Raelian headquarters are in Montreal but the group is international and claims to have some 50,000 members in 85 countries.

(See also: Raelian , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)