Pure Consciousness Dictionary

Amitabha (Amida, Amita, Amitayus)

Amitabha is the most commonly used name for the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life. A transhistorical Buddha venerated by all Mahayana schools (T'ien T'ai, Esoteric, Zen ...) and, particularly, Pure Land. Presides over the Western Pure Land (Land of Ultimate Bliss), where anyone can be reborn through utterly sincere recitation of His name, particularly at the time of death.

Amitabha Buddha at the highest or noumenon level represents the True Mind, the Self- Nature common to the Buddhas and sentient beings -- all-encompassing and allinclusive. This deeper understanding provides the rationale for the harmonization of Zen and Pure Land, two of the most popular schools of Mahayana Buddhism. See also "Buddha Reatation," "Mind," "Pure Land."

 (See also: Amitabha (Amida, Amita, Amitayus) , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

CHAITANYA: pure consciousness

(See also: CHAITANYA , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

UPAHITA CHAITANYA: pure consciousness associated with Upadhis, the individual soul

(See also: UPAHITA CHAITANYA , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Karma :

Karma

(Karman, Sanskrit) This is a noun-form coming from the root kri meaning "to do," "to make." Literally karma means "doing," "making," action. But when used in a philosophical sense, it has a technical meaning, and this technical meaning can best be translated into English by the word consequence.

The idea is this: When an entity acts, he acts from within; he acts through an expenditure in greater or less degree of his own native energy. This expenditure of energy, this outflowing of energy, as it impacts upon the surrounding milieu, the nature around us, brings forth from the latter perhaps an instantaneous or perhaps a delayed reaction or rebound. Nature, in other words, reacts against the impact; and the combination of these two  - of energy acting upon nature and nature reacting against the impact of that energy  - is what is called karma, being a combination of the two factors.

Karma is, in other words, essentially a chain of causation, stretching back into the infinity of the past and therefore necessarily destined to stretch into the infinity of the future. It is unescapable, because it is in universal nature, which is infinite and therefore everywhere and timeless; and sooner or later the reaction will inevitably be felt by the entity which aroused it.

It is a very old doctrine, known to all religions and philosophies, and since the renascence of scientific study in the Occident has become one of the fundamental postulates of modern coordinated knowledge. If you toss a pebble into a pool, it causes ripples in the water, and these ripples spread and finally impact upon the bank surrounding the pool; and, so modern science tells us, the ripples are translated into vibrations, which are carried outward into infinity. But at every step of this natural process there is a corresponding reaction from every one and from all of the myriads of atomic particles affected by the spreading energy.

Karma is in no sense of the word fatalism on the one hand, nor what is popularly known as chance, on the other hand. It is essentially a doctrine of free will, for naturally the entity which initiates a movement or action  - spiritual, mental, psychological, physical, or other  - is responsible thereafter in the shape of consequences and effects that flow therefrom, and sooner or later recoil upon the actor or prime mover.

Since everything is interlocked and interlinked and interblended with everything else, and no thing and no being can live unto itself alone, other entities are of necessity, in smaller or larger degree, affected by the causes or motions initiated by any individual entity; but such effects or consequences on entities, other than the prime mover, are only indirectly a morally compelling power, in the true sense of the word moral.

An example of this is seen in what the theosophist means when he speaks of family karma as contrasted with one's own individual karma; or national karma, the series of consequences pertaining to the nation of which he is an individual; or again, the racial karma pertaining to the race of which the individual is an integral member. Karma cannot be said either to punish or to reward in the ordinary meaning of these terms. Its action is unerringly just, for being a part of nature's own operations, all karmic action ultimately can be traced back to the kosmic heart of harmony which is the same thing as saying pure consciousness-spirit.

The doctrine is extremely comforting to human minds, inasmuch as man may carve his own destiny and indeed must do so. He can form it  or deform it, shape it or misshape it, as he wills; and by acting with nature's own great and underlying energies, he puts himself in unison or harmony therewith and therefore becomes a co-worker with nature as the gods are.

See also: Karma , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Sachchidananda saccidananda (Sanskrit) [from sat reality + chit pure consciousness + ananda bliss]

Abstract being, abstract consciousness, abstract bliss; the state of the cosmic spiritual hierarch, Brahman or the Second Logos, the Absolute of our cosmic hierarchy. Subba Row wrote that the Logos is described as sachchidananda because as sat it is the efflux of parabrahman, as chit it contains within itself the whole law of cosmic evolution, as ananda it is the abode of impersonal bliss and the highest happiness possible for a person who has become a jivanmukta -- a freed monad, when union with the cosmic Logos is attained.

(See also: Sachchidananda, saccidananda , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Pure Land School

When Mahayana Buddhism spread to China, Pure Land ideas found fertile ground for development.

In the fourth century, the movement crystallized with the formation of the Lotus Society, founded by Master Hui Yuan (334-416), the first Pure Land Patriarch.

The school was formalized under the Patriarchs T'an Luan (Donran) and Shan Tao (Zendo). Master Shan Tao's teachings, in particular, greatly influenced the development of Japanese Pure Land, associated with Honen Shonin (Jodo school) and his disciple, Shinran Shonin (Jodo Shinshu school) in the 12th and 13th centuries. Jodo Shinshu, or Shin Buddhism, places overwhelming emphasis on the element of faith. (Pure Land comprises the schools) of East Asia which emphasize aspects of Mahayana Buddhism stressing faith in Amida, meditation on and recitation of his name, and the religious goal of being reborn in his "Pure Land" or "Western Paradise." (Keith Crim.)

Note: An early form of Buddha Recitation can be found in the Nikayas of the Pali Canon: In the Nikayas, the Buddha ... advised his disciples to think of him and his virtues as if they saw his body before their eyes, whereby they would be enabled to accumulate merit and attain Nirvana or be saved from transmigrating in the evil paths ... (D.T. Suzuki, The Eastern Buddhist, Vol.3, No.4, p.317.)

 (See also: Pure Land School , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Pure Land

Generic term for the realms of the Buddhas.

In this text it denotes the Land of Ultimate Bliss or Western Land of Amitabha Buddha. It is not a realm of enjoyment, but rather an ideal place of cultivation, beyond the Triple Realm and samsara, where those who are reborn are no longer subject to retrogression. This is the key distinction between the Western Pure Land and such realms as the Tusita Heaven.

There are two conceptions of the Pure Land: as different and apart from the Saha World and as one with and the same as the Saha World.

When the mind is pure and undefiled, any land or environment becomes a pure land (Vimalakirti, Avatamsaka Sutras ...).

See also "Triple Realm."

 (See also: Pure Land , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Three Pure Land Sutras

Pure Land Buddhism is based on three basic sutras:

a)    Amitabha Sutra (or Shorter Amitabha Sutra, or Smaller Sukhavati-Vyuha, or the Sutra of Amida);

b)    Longer Amitabha Sutra (or Longer Sukhavati-Vyuha, or the Teaching of Infinite Life);

c)    Meditation Sutra (or the Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life, or the Amitayus Dhyana Sutra). Sometimes the last chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra ("The Practices and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra") is considered the fourth basic sutra of the Pure Land tradition. Note: in Pure Land, the Longer Amitabha Sutra is considered a shorter form of the Lotus Sutra.

 (See also: Three Pure Land Sutras , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

mahavakya: (Sanskrit) "Great saying."

A profound aphorism from scripture or a holy person. Most famous are four Upanishadic proclamations: Prajanam Brahma ("Pure consciousness is God" - Aitareya U.), Aham Brahmasmi ("I am God" - Brihadaranyaka U.), Tat tvam asi ("Thou art That" - ‚handogya U.) and Ayam atma Brahma ("The soul is God" - Mandukya U.).

(See also: Mahavakya , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Samadhi (Sanskrit) [from sam with, together + a towards + the verbal root dha to place, bring]

To direct towards; to combine the mental faculties towards an object. Self-consciousness union with the spiritual monad by intense and profound spiritual contemplation or meditation.

It implies "the complete abstraction of the percipient consciousness from all worldly, or exterior, or even mental concerns or attributes, and its . . . becoming the pure unadulterate, undilute super-consciousness of the god within. . . . Samadhi is the eighth or final stage of genuine occult Yoga, and can be attained at any time by the initiate without conscious recourse to the other phases or practices of Yoga enumerated in Oriental works, and which other and inferior practices are often misleading, in some cases distinctly injurious, and at the best mere props or aids in the attaining of complete mental abstraction from worldly concerns" (OG 150-1). The seeker on attaining samadhi becomes practically omniscient for his solar universe because his consciousness is functioning in the cosmic spiritual and causal worlds.

Bodhi (enlightenment) is a particular state of samadhi, during which the subject reaches the culmination of spiritual knowledge. Samadhi is the highest state on earth that can be reached while in the body; its highest stage or degree is called turiya. To attain beyond this, the initiate must have become a nirmanakaya.

(See also: Samadhi , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Shiva:

Shiva. Lord of Withdrawal. Represents pure consciousness. Possesses 3 Shaktis or Powers: Iccha (Will), Jnana (Knowledge), and Kriya (Doing).

(See also: Shiva , Tantra, Tantra Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

actinic: Spiritual, creating light. Adjective derived from the Greek aktis, "ray." Of or pertaining to consciousness in its pure, unadulterated state. Describes the extremely rarified superconscious realm of pure bindu, of quantum strings, the substratum of consciousness, shuddha maya, from which light first originates. Actinic is the adjective form of actinism, defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as:

1)   "the radiation of heat or light, or that branch of philosophy that treats of it;

2)    that property or force in the sun's rays by which chemical changes are produced, as in photography."

See: actinodic, kala, kosha, odic, tattva.

(See also: Actinic , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Purusha:

man; pure consciousness

(See also: Purusha ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

Purusha: pure consciousness, spirit

(See also: Purusha , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Brothers of the Shadow :

Brother(s) of the Shadow

A term given in occultism and especially in modern esotericism to individuals, whether men or women, who follow the path of the shadows, the left-hand path. The term "shadow" is a technical expression and signifies more than appears on the surface: i.e., the expression is not to be understood of individuals who live in actual physical obscurity or actual physical shadows, which literalism would be simply absurd; but applies to those who follow the path of matter, which from time immemorial in the esoteric schools in both Orient and Occident has frequently been called shadow or shadows.

The term originally arose, without doubt, in the philosophical conception of the word maya, for in early Oriental esotericism maya, and more especially maha-maya, was a term applied in one of its many philosophical meanings to that which was contrary to and, indeed, in one sense a reflection of, light. Just as spirit may be considered to be pure energy, and matter, although essentially crystallized spirit, may be looked upon as the shadow world or vehicular world in which the energy or spirit or pure light works, just so is maya, as the garment or expression or sakti of the divine energy, the vehicle or shadow of the divine side of nature, in other words its negative or nether pole, as light is the upper or positive pole.

The Brothers of the Shadow are therefore those who, being essentially of the nature of matter, instinctively choose and follow the path along which they are most strongly drawn, that is, the path of matter or of the shadows. When it is recollected that matter is but a generalizing term, and that what this term comprises actually includes an almost infinite number of degrees of increasing ethereality from the grossest physical substance, or absolute matter, up to the most ethereal or spiritualized substance, we immediately see the subtle logic of this technical term  - shadows or, more fully, the Path of the Shadows, hence the Brothers of the Shadow.

They are the so-called black magicians of the Occident, and stand in sharp and notable contrast with the white magicians or the Sons of Light who follow the pathway of self-renunciation, self-sacrifice, self-conquest, perfect self-control, and an expansion of the heart and mind and consciousness in love and service for all that lives. (See also Right-hand Path)

The existence and aims of the Brothers of the Shadow are essentially selfish. It is commonly, but erroneously, supposed that the Brothers of the Shadow are men and women always of unpleasant or displeasing personal appearance, and no greater error than this could possibly be made. Multitudes of human beings are unconsciously treading the path of the shadows and, in comparison with these multitudes, it is relatively only a few who self-consciously lead and guide with subtle and nefast intelligence this army of unsuspecting victims of maya. The Brothers of the Shadow are often highly intellectual men and women, frequently individuals with apparent great personal charm, and to the ordinary observer, judging from their conversation and daily works, are fully as well able to "quote scripture" as are the Angels of Light!

See also: Brothers of the Shadow , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Pure Land: Form of Buddhism that survived the persecution of Buddhism in the ninth century C.E. in China. This school emphasizes meditation to see the Pure Land (the land we go to when we die, a western paradise, purity revealed in enlightenment) and Amitabha Buddha. Founded by Hui-yuan ca. 402 C.E. Oldest and least philosophical school of Mahayana Buddhism in China. Also called: White Lotus sect by Hui Yuan, Ching T'u (in China), and Jodoshu (in Japan).

 (See also: Pure Land , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Pure Land Sutras

See "Three Pure Land Sutras."

 (See also: Pure Land Sutras , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Pure Land Buddhism

Mahayana school originating in China teaching faith in Amitabha Buddha, invoking his name to win rebirth in his Pure Land

(See also: Pure Land Buddhism , Body Mind and Soul)

maya: (Sanskrit) "Consisting of; made of," as in manomaya, "made of mind."

From the verb root ma, "to measure, to limit, give form." The principle of appearance or manifestation of God's power or "mirific energy," "that which measures." The substance emanated from Siva through which the world of form is manifested. Hence all creation is also termed maya. It is the cosmic creative force, the principle of manifestation, ever in the process of creation, preservation and dissolution.

See: loka, mind (universal), mirific.

The Upanishads underscore maya's captivating nature, which blinds souls to the transcendent Truth. In Shankara's Vedantic interpretation, maya is taken as pure illusion or unreality. In Saivism it is one of the three bonds (pasha) that limit the soul and thereby facilitate its evolution. For Saivites and most other nondualists, it is understood not as illusion but as relative reality, in contrast to the unchanging Absolute Reality.

In the Saiva Siddhanta system, there are three main divisions of maya, the pure, the pure-impure and the impure realms. Pure or shuddha maya consists of the first five tattvas - Siva tattva, Shakti tattva, Sadasiva tattva, Ishvara tattva and Shuddhavidya tattva. The pure-impure realm consists of the next seven tattvas. The impure realm consists of the maya tattva and all of its evolutes - from the kala tattva to prithivi, the element earth. Thus, in relation to the physical universe, maya is the principle of ever-changing matter. In Vaishnavism, maya is one of the nine Shaktis of Vishnu.

See: loka, mind (universal), mirific, tattva, world.

(See also: Maya , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Bee(Bees) Greek and Roman writers, having in mind the terminology of the Mysteries, used the term bees (melissai) to denote both priestesses and women disciples. Thus it was used for the priestesses of Delphi and other Mysteries, and by the Neoplatonists for pure and chaste persons. Honey and nectar are symbols of wisdom.

Vergil says that bees have a portion of the divine mind, from which aethereal particles stream, and that divinity permeates the whole earth so that all beings draw from it the streams of life (Georgics 4, 320). The spiritual or monadic consciousness (the nous) manifests itself in innumerable ways, and this same consciousness is in man. A little later Vergil says that bees are born from the carcass of a slain bullock or bull.

The bull or cow is a symbol of the moon, and the moon has always stood as a symbol of the psychic intelligence or lower human mind; thus the meaning is that out of his perfectly subordinated ("slain") bull -- the lunar body or psychic nature -- is born the "bee" of the disciple, the will and the urge to enter into the solar life or the spirit. In the Finnish mythology of the Kalevala, a bee is the messenger between this world and higher realms. In Scandinavian mythology bees again play an important part with the world tree (Yggdrasil).

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

Pure Land Buddhism: School of Mahayana Buddhism founded in China by Tao-cho (562-645 CE) which emphasizes devotion to Amida, the Celestial Buddha who founded a heavenly Buddha-Land called the Pure Land which awaits his followers upon their deaths.

 (See also: Pure Land Buddhism , Eastern Philosophy, Body Mind and Soul)

Visualization

See Meditation Sutra for explanation.

The visualizations (in the Meditation Sutra) are distinguished into sixteen kinds (shifting from earthly scenes to Pure Land scenes at the third Visualization):

(1)  visualization of the sun,

(2)  visualization of water, (

(3)  visualization of the ground (in the Pure Land),

(4)  visualization of the trees,

(5)  visualization of the lake (s),

(6)  unified visualization of the (50 billion) storied-pavilions, trees, lakes, and so forth,

(7)  visualization of the (lotus throne of Amitabha Buddha),

(8)  visualization of the images of the Buddha (Amitabha) and Bodhisattvas (Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta),

(9)  visualization of the (Reward body of Amitabha Buddha, i.e., the form in which He appears in the Pure Land),

(10)             visualization of Avalokitesvara,

(11)             visualization of Mahasthamaprapta,

(12)             visualization of one's own rebirth,

(13)              (see below),

(14)             visualization of the rebirth of the highest grades,

(15)             visualization of the rebirth of the middle grades and

(16)             visualization of the rebirth of the lowest grades.

 (K.K. Tanaka, The Dawn of Chinese Pure Land Doctrine.)

The 13th Visualization has been summarized as follows: If one cannot visualize the (Reward body of Amitabha Buddha), focus on the small body, which is sixteen cubits high (the traditional height of Shakyamuni while he dwelt on earth); contemplate an intermingling of the (Reward) and small bodies. (1oji Okazaki, p.52.) Visualizations 14-16 refer to the nine lotus grades (of rebirth), divided into three sets of three grades each.

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