Svayambhu (Sanskrit). A metaphysical and philosophical term, meaning "the spontaneously self-produced" or the "self-existent being ". An epithet of Brahma. Svayambhuva is also the name of the first Manu.

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Zumyad Yasht (Zend). Or Zamyad Yasht as some spell it. One of the preserved Mazdean fragments. It treats of metaphysical questions and beings, especially of the Amshaspends or the Amesha Spenta - the Dhyan Chohans of the Avesta books.

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Chaldeans, or Kasdim. At first a tribe, then a caste of learned Kabbalists. They were the savants, the magians of Babylonia, astrologers and diviners. The famous Hillel, the precursor of Jesus in philosophy and in ethics, was a Chaldean. Franck in his Kabbala points to the close resemblance of the "secret doctrine" found in the Avesta and the religious metaphysics of the Chaldees.

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First Point. Metaphysically the first point of manifestation, the germ of primeval differentiation, or the point in the infinite Circle "whose centre is everywhere, and circumference nowhere".

The Point is the Logos.

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Logos (Ancient Greek). The manifested deity with every nation and people; the outward expression, or the effect of the cause which is ever concealed. Thus, speech is the Logos of thought; hence it is aptly translated by the "Verbum" and "Word" in its metaphysical sense.

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Loka (Sanskrit). A region or circumscribed place. In metaphysics, a world or sphere or plane. The Puranas in India speak incessantly of seven and fourteen Lokas, above, and below our earth; of heavens and hells.

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Hotris (Sanskrit). A symbolical name for the seven senses called, in the Anugita "the Seven Priests". "The senses supply the fire of mind (i.e., desire) with the oblations of external pleasures." An occult term used metaphysically.

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avatara:

avatara - a divine incarnation, e.g. Buddha. The ten avataras of Vishnu are: Matsya(the fish), Kurma(the tortoise), Varaha(the boar), Narasimha(the man- lion), Vamana(the dwarf), Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Balarama, and Kalki. avidya - metaphysical ignorance

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Mahabharatha:

Mahabharatha (Mahaabhaaratha). Ancient epic in poetic form, by sage Vyasa; describes conflict between the Pandava brothers and their cousins, the 100 Kaurava brothers. It contains the Bhagavad Gita, the metaphysical teaching of Krishna to Arjuna.

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Purushottama purusottama (Sanskrit) [from purusha man, spirit + uttama best, highest, primordial]

The best of men; metaphysically, the divinity within the heart of all things, the supreme spirit of the universe. Also a title of Vishnu.

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Kailasa (Sanskrit) A lofty mountain in the Himalayas; in mythology Siva's paradise is placed upon Kailasa, north of Lake Manasasarovara. The god of wealth, Kuvera, also is said to have his palace there. Because of the occult history attached to Mount Kailasa, Hindu metaphysics not infrequently uses Kailasa for heaven or the abode of the gods.

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

Tripitaka (Sanskrit). Lit., "the three baskets"; the name of the Buddhist canon.

It is composed of three divisions:

(1) the doctrine;

(2) the rules and laws for the priesthood and ascetics;

(3) the philosophical dissertations and metaphysics: to wit, the Abhidharma, defined by Buddhaghosa as that law (dharma) which goes beyond (abhi) the law.

The Abhidharma contains the most profoundly metaphysical and philosophical teachings, and is the store-house whence the Mahayana and Hinayana Schools got their fundamental doctrines. There is a fourth division - the Samyakta Pitaka. But as it is a later addition by the Chinese Buddhists, it is not accepted by the Southern Church of Siam and Ceylon.

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SUN WHEEL: ancient eight-spoked wheel which symbolized the year, each spoke symbolizing one of the seasonal or cross-quarter festivals. It also bespoke the cyclical nature of all things. The sun wheel is still used as a protective talisman with many metaphysical meanings.

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AIR

In physics, vacuum interference. In metaphysics, air is the element that pertains to dimensions and represents the tendency towards dispersion. Alice Bailey describes air as "the bridge between high and low" (I would call all bridges "air"). Commonly, air is the element attributed to the intelligence.

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EMPEDOCLES

(5th Century BC, of Acraga). The last of the Presocratic Shamans, whose company included Parmenides, Zeno, Xenophanes, Heraclitus and Pythagoras. He was a healer who sought to reconcile pragmatic this-worldliness and the metaphysical concerns of reincarnation, transcendence, etc.

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Akasic Records:

A concept in Indian metaphysics, of a gigantic repository of all the memories of every incarnation of every being; some gifted ones are said to be able to “read” these records (possibly through retrocognition or the clair senses) and to gain data about past events. See Switchboard.

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paranormal healing: Field of metaphysical health-related practices.

It encompasses absent healing, Bach flower therapy, Bioplasmic healing, channeling, faith healing, the laying on of hands, LeShan psychic training, magnetic healing, psychic dentistry, psychic healing, psychic surgery, psychosynthesis, remote diagnosis, Seicho-No-Ie, self-healing, shamanism, the Simonton method, spirit healing, spirit surgery, spiritual healing, and Therapeutic Touch.

(See also: Paranormal healing, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Marcionites. An ancient Gnostic Sect founded by Marcion who was a devout Christian as long as no dogma of human creation came to mar the purely transcendental, and metaphysical concepts, and the original beliefs of the early Christians. Such primitive beliefs were those of Marcion.

He denied the historical facts (as now found in the Gospels) of Christ’s birth, incarnation and passion, and also the resurrection of the body of Jesus, maintaining that such statements were simply the carnalization of metaphysical allegories and symbolism, and a degradation of the true spiritual idea. Along with all the other Gnostics, Marcion accused the "Church Fathers", as Ireneus himself complains, of "framing their (Christian) doctrine according to the capacity of their hearers, fabling blind things for the blind, according to their blindness; for the dull, according to their dulness: for those in error, according to their errors."

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Plane. From the Latin planus (level, flat) an extension of space or of something in it, whether physical or metaphysical, e.g., a "plane of consciousness". As used in Occultism, the term denotes the range or extent of some state of consciousness, or of the perceptive power of a particular set of senses, or the action of a particular force, or the state of matter corresponding to any of the above.

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Ephesus (Ancient Greek). Famous for its great metaphysical College where Occultism (Gnosis) and Platonic philosophy were taught in the days of the Apostle Paul. A city regarded as the focus of secret sciences, and that Gnosis. or Wisdom, which is the antagonist of the perversion of Christo-Esotericism to this day. It was at Ephesus where was the great College of the Essenes and all the lore the Tanaim had brought from the Chaldees,

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Bodhisattva (Sanskrit). Lit., "he, whose essence (sattva) has become intelligence (bodhi)"; those who need but one more incarnation to become perfect Buddhas, i.e., to be entitled to Nirvana. This, as applied to Manushi (terrestrial) Buddhas. In the metaphysical sense, Bodhisattva is a title given to the sons of the celestial Dhyani Buddhas.

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Nagarjuna (Sanskrit). An Arhat, a hermit (a native of Western India) converted to Buddhism by Kapimala and the fourteenth Patriarch, and now regarded as a Bodhisattva-Nirmanakaya. He was famous for his dialectical subtlety in metaphysical arguments; and was the first teacher of the Amitabha doctrine and a representative of the Mahayana School. Viewed as the greatest philosopher of the Buddhists, he was referred to as "one of the four suns which illumine the world". He was born 223 B.C, and going to China after his conversion converted in his turn the whole country to Buddhism.

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