Sacred Fig

Banyan (Banian) The Indian fig tree (Ficus bengalensis of the Urticaceae), a shade tree remarkable for the enormous area that a single tree often covers, since roots are developed from the branches, which descend to the ground and take root. Inasmuch as each descending root in time becomes a tree trunk with branches of its own, which in their turn send roots to the ground, the gradual spread of the tree is theoretically indefinite and can reach more than a hundred yards in diameter. It was named tree of the merchants, as it was customary in olden times to hold markets under the shelter of these trees, called bar in Hindi, vata (covering) in Sanskrit.

In theosophy, used to express the peak of human evolutionary attainment on the earth-chain, the ever-living-human-Banyan or Wondrous Being (SD 1:207). Members of the hierarchy of Compassion under the Wondrous Being are referred to as tendrils descending from the heights to the lower planes of earth, these themselves aspiring to become like their spiritual superior.

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

Bodhi: Enlightenment; the pursuit of pure truth without any attachment.  Prince Gautama, the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree (actually a fig tree), determined to stay there until he experienced supreme enlightenment.

(See also: Bodhi ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

pippala

Ficus religiosa, a large tree of the fig family with glossy, dark green leaves.

(See also: pippala , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

In the series, Evolving Towards Enlightenment I-V, Carl Johan Calleman explains the links between the Mayan Calendar Enlightenment and the significance of the year 2012.

Read more here: » Mayan Calendar: Evolving Towards Enlightenment - IV

Bodhi (Pāli and Sanskrit. Lit. awakening) is a title given in Buddhism to the specific awakening experience attained by the Indian spiritual teacher Gautama Buddha and his disciples. It is sometimes described as complete and perfect sanity, or awareness of the true nature of the universe. After attainment, it is believed one is freed from the cycle of Samsāra: birth, suffering, death and rebirth. Bodhi is most commonly translated into English as enlightenment, though this translation is problematic, since enlightenment ...

Including:

• Bodhi - Modes of Enlightenment
• Bodhi - Pacceka-Bodhi Pratyeka
• Bodhi - Sammā-Sambodhi supreme Buddha
• Bodhi - Quotes

Read more here: » Bodhi

Bo or BO may be: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (AAR reporting mark BO) Belarus, FIPS Pub 10-4 and obsolete NATO digram (BO) Bo is the evil aspect of Voodoo practice Bo is a common Scandinavian forename (male) meaning "to live or stay" and used in Europe as short for Beau (male and female) Bo is one of the characters appearing in Breath of Fire console role-playing game (SNES/GBA) Bo is the UIC classification for the railroad locomotive wheel arrangement known ...

Read more here: » Bo: Encyclopedia - Bo

A tree can be defined as a large, perennial, woody plant. Though there is no set definition regarding minimum size, the term generally applies to plants at least 6 m (20 ft) high at maturity and, more importantly, having secondary branches supported on a single main stem or trunk (see shrub for comparison). Compared with most other plant forms, trees are long-lived. A few species of trees grow to 100 m tall, an ...

Including:

• Tree - Classifications
• Tree - Morphology
• Tree - Champion trees
• Tree - Major tree genera
• Tree - Flowering plants Magnoliophyta; angiosperms
• Tree - Conifers Pinophyta; softwood trees
• Tree - Ginkgos Ginkgophyta
• Tree - Cycads Cycadophyta
• Tree - Ferns Pterophyta
• Tree - Life stages
• Tree - Bibliography

Read more here: » Tree: Encyclopedia - Tree

The axis mundi (world axis), in religion or mythology, is the center of the world and/or the connection between heaven and earth. It is common to virtually all cultures on Earth, although it plays a much more explicit role among indigenous peoples. It is thought that the idea of the Proto-Indo-European religion axis mundi, spread throughout Eurasia, in particular the concept of the world tree. It is familiar today as the caduceus, the symbol of medicine; the staff is the axis itself, and the serpents are the guardians or guides ...

Read more here: » Axis mundi: Encyclopedia - Axis mundi

Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC - 280s BC - 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 293 BC 292 BC 291 BC 290 BC 289 BC 288 BC 287 BC 286 BC 285 BC 284 BC 283 BC Events Planting of the Sri Maha Bodhi Sacred Fig tree at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, the earliest known planting date for any planted tree still surviving. King Demetrius I of Macedon flees Macedon after an attack by Pyrrhus of Epirus. ...

Read more here: » 288 BC: Encyclopedia - 288 BC

Many; see text for examples Banyan (Ficus subgenus Urostigma) is a subgenus of many species of tropical figs with an unusual growth habit. They are large trees that usually start life as a seedling epiphytic on another tree (or on structures like buildings and bridges), where a fig-eating bird has deposited the seed. The roots descend over the trunk of the host seeking out the soil below, once they have rooted into this the fig roots rapidly thicken and lignify. Where the fig roots cross each other they fus ...

Including:

• Banyan - List of species

Read more here: » Banyan: Encyclopedia - Banyan

Bodhi (Pāli and Sanskrit. Lit. awakening) is a title given in Buddhism to the specific awakening experience attained by the Indian spiritual teacher Gautama Buddha and his disciples. It is sometimes described as complete and perfect sanity, or awareness of the true nature of the universe. After attainment, it is believed one is freed from the cycle of Samsāra: birth, suffering, death and rebirth. Bodhi is most commonly translated into English as enlightenment, though this translation is problematic, since enlightenment ...

Including:

• Bodhi - Modes of Enlightenment
• Bodhi - Sāvaka-Bodhi Arhat
• Bodhi - Pacceka-Bodhi Pratyeka
• Bodhi - Sammā-Sambodhi supreme Buddha
• Bodhi - Quotes

Read more here: » Bodhi: Encyclopedia - Bodhi

The Bodhi tree was a large and very old specimen of the Sacred Fig, located at the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya (about 100 km from Patna in the Indian state of Bihar) under which Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism later know as Gautama Buddha, arrived at Bodhi. The Bodhi Tree belongs to the Sacred Figs (Ficus religiosa), also known as Bo, Pipul (Peepal) or Ashwattha trees, which are sacred to Hindus, Jains and Buddhists. According to Buddhist belief, Siddharta Gautama meditat ...

Read more here: » Bodhi tree: Encyclopedia - Bodhi tree

Mahabodhi Temple - Rise of Buddhism. Traditional accounts say that, around 530 BC, Gautam Buddha, wandering as a monk, reached the sylvan banks of Falgu River, near the city of Gaya, India. There he sat in meditation under a peepul tree (Ficus religiosa or Sacred Fig), which later became known as the Bodhi tree. According to Buddhist scriptures, after three days and three nights, Siddharta attained enlightenment and the answers that he had sought. Mahab ...

See also:

Mahabodhi Temple, Mahabodhi Temple - History, Mahabodhi Temple - Rise of Buddhism, Mahabodhi Temple - Construction, Mahabodhi Temple - Decline, Mahabodhi Temple - Restoration, Mahabodhi Temple - Architectural style, Mahabodhi Temple - Current status and management

Read more here: » Mahabodhi Temple: Encyclopedia II - Mahabodhi Temple - History

List of famous trees - Africa. Arbre du Ténéré, a very isolated tree in the Sahara region. List of famous trees - Asia. The Bodhi tree, a Sacred Fig tree under which Buddha is supposed to have been enlightened, at Bodh Gaya, India. The Sri Maha Bodhi tree, propagated from the Bodhi tree, planted in 288 BC at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. The 450 year-old giant banyan tree at Adyar in Chennai, Tamilnadu, India in the grounds of the Theosophical ...

See also:

List of famous trees, List of famous trees - Real individual trees, List of famous trees - Africa, List of famous trees - Asia, List of famous trees - Europe, List of famous trees - North America, List of famous trees - Oceania, List of famous trees - Mythological and religious, List of famous trees - Fictional

Read more here: » List of famous trees: Encyclopedia II - List of famous trees - Real individual trees

The world's champion trees can be considered on several factors; height, trunk diameter or girth, total size, and age. It is significant that in each case, the top position is always held by a conifer, though a different species in each case; in most measures, the second to fourth places are also held by conifers. Tallest trees The heights of the tallest trees in the world have been the subject of considerable dispute and much (often wild) exaggeration. Modern verified measurement with laser rangefinders combined w ...

See also:

Tree, Tree - Classifications, Tree - Morphology, Tree - Champion trees, Tree - Major tree genera, Tree - Flowering plants Magnoliophyta; angiosperms, Tree - Conifers Pinophyta; softwood trees, Tree - Ginkgos Ginkgophyta, Tree - Cycads Cycadophyta, Tree - Ferns Pterophyta, Tree - Life stages, Tree - Bibliography

Read more here: » Tree: Encyclopedia II - Tree - Champion trees

Bodhi - Sāvaka-Bodhi Arhat. Those who study the teaching of a samma-sambuddha and then attain enlightenment in this world are known as Arhats. Such beings are skilled at helping others to reach enlightenment as they may draw on personal experience. Bodhi - Pacceka-Bodhi Pratyeka. Those who obtain enlightenment through self-realisation, without the aid of spiritual guides and teachers, are known as pratyekabuddhas. According to the Tripitaka, such beings on ...

See also:

Bodhi, Bodhi - Modes of Enlightenment, Bodhi - Sāvaka-Bodhi Arhat, Bodhi - Pacceka-Bodhi Pratyeka, Bodhi - Sammā-Sambodhi supreme Buddha, Bodhi - Quotes

Read more here: » Bodhi: Encyclopedia II - Bodhi - Modes of Enlightenment

In the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament rotten figs are used as a symbol for destruction, and in the New Testament Jesus rebukes an unfruitful fig tree. The Fig is one of the two sacred trees in Islam. Many Muslims consider Fig trees sacred. Because of the peculiar form of the flower of figs, ancient Indians regarded the fig as a flowerless tree. Buddhist and Hindu texts sometimes refer to 'seeking flowers in a fig tree' to indicate something that is pointless or impossible, or to indicate the total absence of some quality (compa ...

See also:

Fig, Fig - Symbolism

Read more here: » Fig: Encyclopedia II - Fig - Symbolism

A tree is a plant form and trees occur in many different orders and families of plants. Trees thus show a wide variety of growth form, leaf type and shape, bark characteristics, reproductive structures, etc. The earliest trees were tree ferns and horsetails, which grew in vast forests in the Carboniferous Period; tree ferns still survive, but the only surviving horsetails are not of tree form. Later, in the Triassic Period, conifers, ginkgos, cycads and other gymnosperms appeared, and subsequently flowering plants in the Cretaceous Pe ...

See also:

Tree, Tree - Classifications, Tree - Morphology, Tree - Champion trees, Tree - Major tree genera, Tree - Flowering plants Magnoliophyta; angiosperms, Tree - Conifers Pinophyta; softwood trees, Tree - Ginkgos Ginkgophyta, Tree - Cycads Cycadophyta, Tree - Ferns Pterophyta, Tree - Life stages, Tree - Bibliography

Read more here: » Tree: Encyclopedia II - Tree - Classifications

The basic parts of a tree are the roots, trunk(s), branches, twigs and leaves. Tree stems consist mainly of support and transport tissues (xylem and phloem). Wood consists of xylem cells, and bark is made of phloem and other tissues external to the vascular cambium. Trees may be broadly grouped into exogenous and endogenous trees according to the way in which their stem diameter increases. Exogenous trees, which comprise the great majority of modern trees (all conifers, and all broadleaf trees), grow by the ...

See also:

Tree, Tree - Classifications, Tree - Morphology, Tree - Champion trees, Tree - Major tree genera, Tree - Flowering plants Magnoliophyta; angiosperms, Tree - Conifers Pinophyta; softwood trees, Tree - Ginkgos Ginkgophyta, Tree - Cycads Cycadophyta, Tree - Ferns Pterophyta, Tree - Life stages, Tree - Bibliography

Read more here: » Tree: Encyclopedia II - Tree - Morphology

Tree - Flowering plants Magnoliophyta; angiosperms. Anacardiaceae (Cashew family) Cashew, Anacardium occidentale Mango, Mangifera indica Pistachio, Pistacia vera Sumac, Rhus species Lacquer tree, Toxicodendron verniciflua Annonaceae (Custard apple family) Cherimoya Annona cherimola Custard apple Annona reticulata Pawpaw Asimina triloba Soursop ...

See also:

Tree, Tree - Classifications, Tree - Morphology, Tree - Champion trees, Tree - Major tree genera, Tree - Flowering plants Magnoliophyta; angiosperms, Tree - Conifers Pinophyta; softwood trees, Tree - Ginkgos Ginkgophyta, Tree - Cycads Cycadophyta, Tree - Ferns Pterophyta, Tree - Life stages, Tree - Bibliography

Read more here: » Tree: Encyclopedia II - Tree - Major tree genera

The life cycles of trees, especially conifers, are divided into the following stages in forestry for survey and documentation purposes: Seed Seedling: the above ground part of the embryo that sprout from the seed Sapling: After the seedling reaches 1m tall, and until it reaches 7cm in stem diameter Pole: young trees from 7-30cm diameter Mature tree: over 30cm diameter, reproductive years begin Old tree: dominate old growth forest; height growth slows greatly, with majority of producti ...

See also:

Tree, Tree - Classifications, Tree - Morphology, Tree - Champion trees, Tree - Major tree genera, Tree - Flowering plants Magnoliophyta; angiosperms, Tree - Conifers Pinophyta; softwood trees, Tree - Ginkgos Ginkgophyta, Tree - Cycads Cycadophyta, Tree - Ferns Pterophyta, Tree - Life stages, Tree - Bibliography

Read more here: » Tree: Encyclopedia II - Tree - Life stages