Sayings Dictionary

While we are sleeping, angels have conversations with our souls.

Read more here: » Angel Inspirational: Daily Angel Wisdom Quotes

Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven

Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots, of angels.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Read more here: » Angel Quotes: Wisdom about Angels

Hinduism versus Islam: Hinduism and Islam Compared

Similarities and differences between Hinduism and Islam.

Read more here: » Hinduism versus Islam: Hinduism and Islam Compared

We are all angels in training.

Read more here: » Angel Inspirational: Daily Angel Wisdom Quotes

The sound of an angel's voice can unlock your hidden feelings.

Read more here: » Angel Inspirational: Daily Angel Wisdom Quotes

Whenever a child dies, an angel comes down

from heaven, takes the child in its arms,

and spreading out its large white wings,

visits all the places that had been particularly

dear to the child. From the best-loved place the

angel gathers a handful of flowers, flying up again

to heaven with them. There they bloom more

beautifully than on earth. But that flower which is most loved

receives a voice, so that it can join the song

of the chorus of bliss.

Hans Christian Anderson

Read more here: » Angel Quotes: Angel Wisdom about dying

Buddhism: Basic Buddhist Dictionary

A basic dictionary of Buddhism terms. Please note that all words in grey like " Buddhism " are links to an archive with related articles.

Aham Brahmasmi: (Sanskrit) "I am God." Famous phrase often repeated in the Upanishads. In this ecstatic statement of enlightenment, "I" does not refer to the individuality or outer nature, but to the essence of the soul which is ever identical to God Siva (or Brahman, the Supreme Being) as Satchidananda and Parasiva. One of four Upanishadic "great sayings," mahavakya.

(See also: Aham Brahmasmi , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Meaning of Dreams in Islam

Few Western dream researchers have any familiarity with the rich dream traditions of Islam. The Muslim faith first emerged in seventh century B.C.E. Arabia as a profound revisioning of early Jewish and Christian beliefs and practices. One theme the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) drew from the scriptures of those two religions was a reverence for dreaming. In the Quran, as in the Jewish Torah and the Christian New Testament, dreams serve as a vital medium by which God communicates with humans. Dreams offer divine guidance and comfort, warn people of impending danger, and offer prophetic glimpses of the future. Although the three religions drastically differ on many other topics, they find substantial agreement on this particular point: dreaming is a valuable source of wisdom, understanding, and inspiration. Indeed, as I will propose in this brief essay, Islam has historically shown greater interest in dreams than either of the other two traditions, and has done more to weave dreaming into the daily lives of its members. From the first revelatory visions of Muhammed to the myriad dream practices of present-day Muslims, Islam has developed and sustained a complex, multifaceted tradition of active engagement with the dreaming imagination.

Read more here: » Meaning of Dreams in Islam: Reflections on the Dream Traditions of Islam

Hinduism Lexicon on A

From aadheenam to axis.

Read more here: » Hinduism: Hinduism Lexicon on A

All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!

- Lucy, Peanuts

(See also: Inspirational Quotes, Love Quotes, Friendship Quotes, Life Quotes)

Read more here: » Inspirational Quotes: All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!

Trinity The divine powers at the head of every theogony. In the Christian Trinity, the original idea of a triune divinity is preserved but has become confused and adapted to theological speculation. If the Holy Ghost is regarded as feminine, as it was in primitive Christianity, we have the trinity of Father-Mother-Son.

The present manner of the procession of the Holy Ghost in the Occident is due to the early theological quarrels which was one of the main causes of the final rupture between the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches -- the filioque ("and from the son") controversy. The Orthodox held with the original procession of Father, Holy Ghost, and Son, while in the West the Holy Ghost or Spirit has become a kind of emanation from the Father or Son, or both of them, and is scarcely distinguishable in its attributes from the Son; while the place of Mother has been filled in the Roman Catholic Church by Mary who, though the mother of Jesus, nevertheless is not a member of the Trinity.

But there is another trinity besides that of Father-Mother-Son, that of the one divine root and its dual aspects -- a conception altogether lost in Christianity. The Christian God is at best but a Demiourgos or inferior creative power, and his necessary attributes clash irreconcilably with those pertaining to the supreme hierarch of our universe; but in many of the sayings of Jesus and in the Epistles of Paul is clear evidence of the true teachings as to the Trinity and the relation of the Father and the Son.

In the orthodox Christian view of its theological Trinity the three persons of the Godhead are not three gods but one God, and yet three Persons or individuals. So that we have one Godhead who is three-in-one, and yet one-in-three, which is not three gods, nor yet one God, but both. Moslems aver that the Christian Trinity is not one God in three aspects, but actually three gods manifesting as one, and the strict monotheism of Islam refuses to admit the logical monstrosity. The Christian Churches lost sight of the mystical origin of its own trinity out of the neo-Pythagorean and Neoplatonic mysticism.

All the great religious and philosophical systems of antiquity contained a divine or spiritual triadic unity as the cosmic source and focus of all beings and things, out of which emanate the universe and all that is in it. Examples are the Osiris-Isis-Horus of Egypt or the Brahma-Vishnu-Siva of India; yet these triads of gods are emanated reflections or representatives on lower planes of the still more sublime and ineffable triadic mystery above and beyond them.

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

Zen

(Japanese- "meditation") A branch of Mahayana Buddhism believed to have originated in India from the teachings of a Buddhist master, Bodhidharma, about 600 BC, but traced back by advocates to the Buddha himself.

Practitioners seek satori (sudden illumination enabling bliss and harmony), which cannot be explained but only experienced. Techniques include zazen (sitting meditation techniques) and koans, which are short riddles or sayings. The koans (which number about 1700) are not designed to have cognitive answers but to promote the experience of Zen

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

Rama, Rama Krishna or Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa

(1836-86) A Hindu mystic. He was born of a poor Brahman family in Bengal, and his given name was Gadadhar Chatterlee. In about 1855 he became a devotee of the goddess Kali and lived for the rest of his life at her temple in Dakshineswar outside Calcutta.

During a 15-year period of intense spiritual practice he mastered all the types of Hindu Yoga and also had mystical experience through Christian and Islamic worship. He concluded that all religions are valid means of approaching God. Ramakrishna had little formal learning, but his saintliness and wisdom attracted a large following.

After his death his teachings were spread by his disciples and by his wife Sarada Devi. Ramakrishna's message of universal religion was carried to the West by Swami Vivekananda. The Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Vivekananda, is represented by a large monastic order in India, devoted to both contemplation and social action, and by centers in major cities of Europe and the US. Ramakrishna's sayings are contained in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

(See also: Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Sutra:

Book or traditional collection of sayings.

(See also: Sutra , Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

mahavakyas:

great sayings of vedantic knowledge

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

Gospels Usually, the four accepted or canonical gospels of the New Testament, being the three synoptic gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke -- and the Gospel according to John. They are an authorized and approved selection from a far larger number of Gospels, extant, partially extant, and lost, attributed to various disciples and apostles, claiming to give accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles.

The key to an understanding of the nature of the four Gospels lies in a consideration of the process which the functions and teachings of some of the Mystery schools of Asia Minor became gradually transformed into the formal religious system known as Christianity. The Gospels must have originated as extracts from the Mystery-dramas enacted in those schools. The mystical-human birth of Jesus, his trials or tests, his teachings, crucifixion, resurrection, etc., are clearly a form of the world-old and universal Mystery-drama of initiation of a human neophyte re-enacted in those ceremonies.

The Gospels' present form is the result of many copyings, recensions, omissions, additions, and alterations. They are, in fact, symbolic narratives made around the personality and individuality of a real character which thus has become a Mystery-figure; and contain also many teachings properly to be attributed to him, belonging to the general class of logia, or wise sayings of teachers, paralleled in the other world sacred scriptures. Jesus, as represented, is not historical; but there was an actual teacher, doubtless bearing the name Yeshua`, Latinized as Jesus, who lived about a century earlier than the commonly accepted beginning of the Christian era.

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

Yogaswami: (Tamil) "Master of yoga."

Sri Lanka's most renowned contemporary spiritual master (18721964), Sivajnani and Natha siddhar revered by both Hindus and Buddhists. He was trained in and practiced kundalini yoga under the guidance of Satguru Chellappaswami, from whom he received guru diksha.

Sage Yogaswami was in turn the satguru of Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, current preceptor of the Natha Sampradaya's Kailasa Parampara. Yogaswami conveyed his teachings in hundreds of songs, called Natchintanai, "good thoughts," urging seekers to follow dharma and realize God within. Four great sayings capsulize his message: Thanai ari, "Know thy Self by thyself;" Sarvam Sivam Ceyal, "Siva is doing it all;" Sarvam Sivamaya, "All is Siva;" and Summa Iru, "Be still."

See: Kailasa Parampara.

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

Dream FAQ Dictionary: Common misconceptions about dreams

What are common misconceptions?

 What is wrong with these?

A. We occasionally hear sayings about "you can't do/see XXX indreams". Where XXX is seeing colors, seeing lights, seeing your facein a mirror, or perhaps a large number of variants on thistheme. Experience clearly proves this tales of unknown origin wrong.(It may well be that people who actually believe in thesemisconceptions do have the mentioned "handicaps" in their dreams. What they believe about dreams comes true. It's very hard to tell the causefrom the result in such cases...)

Source: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/dreams-faq

(See also: Dream misconceptions , Dream Interpretation FAQ, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Meaning of Dreams)

Red Caps, Red Hats, Red Hoods Often applied, especially by Europeans to the adherents of the Unreformed Buddhist sects, called in Tibet the Ning-ma-pas, who wear red robes and hoods.

This sect was founded in Tibet in the latter part of the 8th century during the reign of the Tibetan king Ti-song De-tsen, who was so impressed with the precepts of Buddhism that he summoned Padmasambhava from Udyayana in Northwest India to spread the religion of the Buddha in Tibet. But by this time the Buddhism of Northwest India and Nepal had become infected with tantric practices, and these practices predominated in Tibet until the great reformer Tsong-kha-pa (born 1358) founded the order of the Gelukpas or Yellow Caps.

Padmasambhava, called in Tibet Guru Rimpoche or Padma-jungne, is even today one of the patron saints of Tibet and the chief guru of the Red Caps -- his image occupying the place of honor on all the altars of this sect, which he founded in 749.

Mme. David-Neel writes: "the Lamas who belong to the Yellow Cap Sects acknowledge the superiority of their brethren in the various Red Cap Sects in all questions more or less connected with magic and occult science" (My Journey to Lhasa 181). This is a misinterpretation; there has always been a traditional antagonism between the reformed and unreformed sects, each sect having more or less contempt for the beliefs and practices of the other; yet each sect nevertheless holding the other in some respect and paying such deference as is in either case properly due. The Red Cap sects are very largely given over to tantric and other magical practices often partaking of sorcery.

The tantric element predominating in this sect is wholly foreign to the pure teachings of Gautama Buddha. It is the higher, more educated, and the initiates of the Yellow Cap body who condemn these practices, although acknowledging their existence and efficacy in use: yet, it is the reformed body which is the true exponent of genuine occult sayings and spiritual magic, in no wise verging upon sorcery, necromancy, or similar modes of thought. Mme. David-Neel's acquaintance was very largely among the frontier tribes and sects, where she would naturally have a better acquaintance with the practices of the Red Cap body than with those of the extremely reserved and reticent Yellow Caps.

See also GELUKPAS

(See also: Red Caps, Red Hats, Red Hoods , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)