Harmonics: Transformative and curative mode of chanting developed and practiced by Tibetan monks. Proponents associate particular sounds with specific bodily energy centers.

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

Bacon, Roger (1214?-1294) English philosopher and natural scientists, Franciscan monk who experimented with alchemy and optics and was accused of practicing black magic. Confined in Paris by his order for ten years over heretical writings, and later again from 1278-92. {IU; SD; BCW}

(See also: Bacon, Roger, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Lama bla ma (Tibetan) Superior, excellent; equivalent to the Sanskrit guru. Correctly applied only to the ecclesiastical dignitaries of superior classes or grades, who really should be teachers or gurus in monasteries; also to such officials as the tulkus, the heads of the better class of large monasteries; also to the heads of the great monastic colleges, and likewise to monks who hold high scholastic degrees; other monks are usually called trapas (students).

Unfortunately, Occidental authors almost invariably designate any Tibetan monk a Lama, due largely perhaps to the improper assumption of the title by Tibetans themselves who have no right to use it, though they may belong to the lower ranks of the ecclesiastical hierarchy in Tibet. Hence the religion is commonly called Lamaism by European writers.

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

Vinaya-pitaka (Sanskrit) [from vinaya discipline + pitaka basket]

The second section of the Buddhist canon treating of the training and discipline of monks; Tripitaka (three baskets) is the name given to the Buddhist canon.

(See also: Vinaya-pitaka, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Toralva, Dr. Eugene. A physician who lived in the fourteenth century, and who received as a gift from Friar Pietro, a great magician and a Dominican monk, a demon named Zequiel to be his faithful servant. (See Isis Unveiled, II., 60.)

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

Bonati, Guido. A Franciscan monk, born at Florence in the XIIIth century and died in 1306. He became an astrologer and alchemist, but failed as a Rosicrucian adept. He returned after this to his monastery.

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

Talapoin (East Indian) A Buddhist monk of Ceylon, Siam, or Burma. The laws laid down for the Talapoins are very strict, particularly in regard to unchastity. Many of these ascetics have demonstrated their remarkable powers over nature, especially in medical practices (cf IU 2:620-1).

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

ACCIDIE

Heedlessness, torpor, sloth. In the 14th and 15th Centuries it was a malady generally ascribed to hermits and monks who fasted too much and fell into mental prostration. Later it gradually came to mean simply the common sin of sloth.

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

Mahavansa, Mahavamsa (Sanskrit) [from maha great + vansa lineage, race]

Great lineage; a Pali work written by the monk Mahanama in the 5th century, treating of Buddhist history and its spread in Ceylon; regarded as an authoritative historical work.

(See also: Mahavansa, Mahavamsa, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Bhikshu (Sanskrit). In Pali Bihkhu. The name given to the first followers of Sakyamuni Buddha. Lit., "mendicant scholar". The Sanskrit Chinese Dictionary explains the term correctly by dividing Bhikshus into two classes of Sramanas (Buddhist monks and priests), viz., "esoteric mendicants who control their nature by the (religious) law, and exoteric mendicants who control their nature by diet;" and it adds, less correctly: "every true Bhikshu is supposed to work miracles".

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

Boodhasp (Chaldean) "An alleged Chaldean; but in esoteric teaching a Buddhist (a Bodhisattva), from the East, who was the founder of the esoteric school of Neo-Sabeism, and whose secret rite of baptism passed bodily into the Christian rite of the same name. For almost three centuries before our era, Buddhist monks overran the whole country of Syria, made their way into the Mesopotamian valley and visited even Ireland" (TG 61).

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

Yamabushi (Japanese) A sect in Japan of ancient origin, but now inclining to Buddhism. Often regarded as the fighting monks, inasmuch as they have not hesitated to take up arms in case of necessity somewhat like certain yogis in Rajputana or the lamas in Tibet. They are perhaps most numerous near Kyoto, where they are famed for their healing powers. Yamabushi hold a "Japanese Secret Science of the Buddhist Mystics," calling their seven mystery-teachings the seven precious things or jewels (SD 1:67).

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

Vihara (Sanskrit) [from vi-hri to spend or pass time, roam, wander through]

A Buddhist or Jain monastery or temple; originally a hall where the monks met or walked about, afterwards used as temples. Today those viharas are in towns and cities, but in earlier times they were generally rock-temples or caves found only in unfrequented jungles, on mountaintops, and in the most deserted places.

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

Quietists. A religious sect founded by a Spanish monk named Molinos. Their chief doctrine was that contemplation (an internal state of complete rest and passivity) was the only religious practice possible, and constituted the whole of religious observances. They were the Western Hatha Yogis and passed their time in trying to separate their minds from the objects of sense. The practice became a fashion in France and also in Russia during the early portion of this century.

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

Bono, Peter. A Lombardian; a great adept in the Hermetic Science, who travelled to Persia to study Alchemy. Returning from his voyage he settled in Istria in 1330, and became famous as a Rosicrucian. A Calabrian monk named Lacinius is credited with having published in 1702 a condensed version of Bono’s works on the transmutation of metals. There is, however, more of Lacinius than of Bono in the work. Bono was a genuine adept and an Initiate ; and such do not leave their secrets behind them in MSS.

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

Tashi Lhunpo bKra-sis-lhun-po (Tibetan) The seat of the greatest collegiate monastery in Tibet, containing at one time about 4,000 monks; the residence of the Panchan Rimpoche or Tashi Lama, the spiritual ruler of Tibet. It was founded by Geden-tub-pa, the successor of Tsong-kha-pa.

See also PANCHEN RIMPOCHE

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

Treatise on the Discipline for Attaining Enlightenment, The

(Chin.: P'u-t'i-tzu-liang-lun; Jpn.: Bodai-shiryo-ron)

A Chinese translation by Dharmagupta (d. 619), a monk from southern India, of a treatise consisting of original verses attributed to Nagarjuna (c. 150-250) and a prose commentary added later. It sets forth the six paramitas and other practices for bodhisattvas that are conducive to enlightenment.

(See also: Treatise on the Discipline for Attaining Enlightenment, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Definition and meaning of mission system:

mission system

The mission system was a chain of missions estalbished by Franciscan monks in the Spanish Southwest and California that forced Indians to convert to Catholicism and work as agricultural laborers.

(Source: Madrid Waddington High School )

Also see these pages:  American History, American History Sitemap, History, History Sitemap

Roger Bacon. A Franciscan monk, famous as an adept in Alchemy and Magic Arts. Lived in the thirteenth century in England. He believed in the philosopher’s stone in the way all the adepts of Occultism believe in it; and also in philosophical astrology.

He is accused of having made a head of bronze which having an acoustic apparatus hidden in it, seemed to utter oracles which were words spoken by Bacon himself in another room. He was a wonderful physicist and chemist, and credited with having invented gunpowder, though he said he had the secret from "Asian (Chinese) wise men."

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

Roger Bacon. A very famous Franciscan monk who lived in England in the thirteenth century. He was an Alchemist who firmly believed in the existence of the Philosopher’s Stone, and was a great mechanician, chemist, physicist and astrologer. In his treatise on the Admirable Force of Art and Nature, he gives hints about gunpowder and predicts the use of steam as a propelling power, describing besides the hydraulic press, the diving-bell and the kaleidoscope. He also made a famous brazen head fitted with an acoustic apparatus which gave out oracles.

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

Yamabooshee, or Yamabusi (Jap.). A sect in Japan of very ancient and revered mystics. They are monks "militant" and warriors, if needed, as are certain Yogis in Rajputana and the Lamas in Tibet.

This Mystic brotherhood dwell chiefly near Kioto, and are renowned for their healing powers, says the Encyclopœdia, which translates the name "Hermit Brothers": "They pretend to magical arts, and live in the recesses of mountains and craggy steeps, whence they come forth to tell fortunes (?), write charms and sell amulets. They lead a mysterious life and admit no one to their secrets, except after a tedious and difficult preparation by fasting and a species of severe gymnastic exercise ! ")

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