Virtues Dictionary

Ten Precepts

Include an expanded version of the Five Precepts of body and mouth (not to kill, steal, engage in illicit sex, lie, or take intoxicants) with the addition of the virtues of the mind (elimination of greed, anger and delusion).

See also "Five Precepts," "Ten Evil Acts."

 (See also: Ten Precepts , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Birds : Dream Interpretation Dictionary - Various Bird Symbology:

Various Bird Symbology:

White Dove: well known symbol of peace; a symbol of the Holy Spirit descending on Christ, as depicted in many artistic works.  A pair of white doves is a common symbol of love and devotion.

Mourning Dove:  commonly thought of as a potential symbol of upcoming death to someone you know, but only if it is seen in unusual circumstances and not just eating at the bird feeder or sitting on a telephone line.

Eagle: Among the 7 mortal sins, depicts pride; among the 4 cardinal virtues, justice.  Symbol of John the Evangelist, depicting spiritual cognition, faith, healing and ascension.  Similar powerful symbol of the Great Spirit to the American Indians, who use it's feathers in many ceremonial dress & implements.

Goose: symbol of fidelity and loyalty.  Could also be a metaphor for

"being goosed" or "acting like a goose."

Ostrich:  closing eyes to unpleasant facts.  Just mentioning "Y2K" will make many ostriches out of you! <smile>  Also a symbol of meditation, since the Ostrich parent does not sit and hatch it's eggs, but lets the sun do it's work while it guards them vigilantly.

Owl: wisdom, as portrayed in so many children's stories and cartoons.

Peacock:  pride, vanity and showing off due to the male's proud strut; but the male does this as part of his mating ritual to get the attention of the female, so I would apply this as such.  It is used to symbolize the American CBS network, and a metaphor could be "showing your true colors."  The peacock also symbolizes joy in the afterlife.  True story:  my mother & I visited my grandmother's grave one afternoon to find a living, breathing peacock standing there staring at us.  When I found out that it symbolized "joy in the afterlife," you can imagine how special that was.   How often does one find a peacock standing on a grave?  Coincidence, my foot!

Nightingale:  symbolizes yearning and pain; in Christianity it

symbolizes the longing for heaven.

Raven: intelligence; oftentimes depicting things we really prefer not to hear.

Stork:  instantly recognizable in our culture as a symbol that a baby has been delivered or is due, possibly due to the young stork's habit of gratefully feeding it's parents when it becomes a fledgling; or due to the stork's return after winter migration, when nature begins anew.

Swan: transformation, as in from "ugly duckling" into a beautiful swan.  Also symbolizes loyalty and fidelity.

Turkey:  Is any American unfamiliar with the symbology of "Turkey Day?"  Also referred to as a metaphor often used to describe something as being silly, or an embarrassing failure or dud.

Vulture: impending death, or a metaphor for waiting to take advantage of someone in dire trouble, as in "the vultures are circling."

Egg: symbolizes primal beginnings from which all life springs forth;

also in Christianity this is a symbol of resurrection (ever wonder where the thought of Easter Eggs came from?), as in Christ breaking out of his tomb similar to a chick breaking free from it's egg.  Could also have metaphorical influence, such as the age-old question, "Which came first--the chicken or the egg?"  In this manner it could be saying, "Some questions can never be answered by mere humans, so quit agonizing over a problem without solutions and deal with what-is, as it is."

Other types of symbology involving birds:  metaphors such as

"bird-brain", "You eat like a bird", "birds of a feather flock

together," "that's for the birds", "A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the

bush", "feathered friends", etc.  Just apply the metaphor to the context of your dream to get the gist of what the symbology entails.  Also helpful is relating bird dream symbols to song lyrics.  Think of how many different songs mention birds in one way or another.

Courtesy to: http://www.readersdigest.ca

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

Salt Used in alchemy for a fundamental principle of nature, a member of the triad mercury, sulphur, and salt, corresponding to spirit, soul, and body; or to fire (or air), water, and earth. Paracelsus regarded these as the mystical elements of all compound bodies.

All forms of matter were reducible to one or other of them -- everything was either a sulphur, a mercury, a salt, or a compound. The philosopher's stone was said to be a compound of all three. Thus salt is the physical rudiment, as illustrated by the cubical crystals of common salt. Ancient thought regarded such elements as fundamental principles which manifest on various planes, nor did it make hard and fast distinctions between physical and nonphysical; but modern thought has given a fictitious reality to physical objects, and regards the ancient use of the terms as metaphorical.

The veneration shown for salt was not a mere deification of its physical virtues, but a recognition of the salt-principle in nature, of which ordinary salt is merely a physical emblem. The well-known stimulant, flavoring, and preservative qualities of salt prove it to be a physical manifestation of an important principle; such phrases as bread and salt, and salt of the earth are therefore theosophy, as concerns not merely figures of speech but a use of salt in its more radical sense. For the same reason it played an important part, along with other substances, in sacrificial ceremonies.

The word was also used to include other bodies besides sodium chloride or common salt, and is still used in chemistry in this generic sense. With some alchemists we find arsenic taking the place of salt in the fundamental triad, and this would be one of the salts of arsenic.

The Roman Catholic ritual of the exorcism of salt, promulgated in 1851 and 1852 under the sanction of Cardinal Engelbert, Archbishop of Malines, and of the Archbishop of Paris, runs: "The Priest blesses the salt and says: 'Creature of Salt, I exorcise thee in the name of the living God . . . become the health of the soul and of the body. Everywhere where thou art thrown may the unclean spirit be put to flight' " (IU 2:85). A Qabbalistic version is similar.

(See also: Salt , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Magi (plural of Old Persian magus a wise man from the verbal root meh great; cf Sanskrit maha; cf Avestan mogaha, Latin plural magus, Greek magos, Persian mogh, Pahlavi maga)

An hereditary priesthood or sacerdotal caste in Media and Persia. Zoroaster, himself a member of the Society of the Magi, divides the initiates into three degrees according to their level of enlightenment: the highest were referred to as Khvateush (those enlightened with their own inner light or self-enlightened); the second were called Varezenem (those who practice); and the third, Airyamna (friends or Aryans). The ancient Parsis may be divided into three degrees of Magi: the Herbods or novitiates; the Mobeds or masters; and the Destur Mobeds or perfect masters -- the "Dester Mobeds being identical with the Hierophants of the mysteries, as practised in Greece and Egypt" (TG 197).

Pliny mentions three schools of Magi: one founded at an unknown antiquity; a second established by Osthanes and Zoroaster; and a third by Moses and Jambres.

"And all the knowledge possessed by these different schools, whether Magian, Egyptian, or Jewish, was derived from India, or rather from both sides of the Himalayas" (IU 2:361). According to Shahrestani (12th-century Islamic scholar) the Magi are divided into three sects: Gaeomarethians (Kayumarthians), Zarvanian (Zurvanian), and Zoroastrians. They all share the common belief that in this manifested universe the dualism of light and darkness is at work and that the final victory of the light is the day of resurrection.

Porphyry refers to the Magi as the learned men among the Persians who are in the service of the deity (Abst 4:16), while Philo Judaeus describes them as the most wonderful inquirers into the hidden mysteries of nature: holy men who set themselves apart from everything else on this earth, "contemplated the divine virtues and understood the divine nature of the gods and spirits, the more clearly; and so, initiated others into the same mysteries, which consist in one holding an uninterrupted intercourse with these invisible beings during life" (IU 1:94-5). It is likely that the use of the name and the order survived in times when their true dignity was no longer apparent.

In the Bible Magi is translated "wise men." The term has also become familiar through the story of the three wise men who came to the infant Jesus bearing gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

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

Abraxas

(also Abracax) The Bailidian sects of Gnostics of the second century, claimed Abraxas as the name of the supreme god, and said that Jesus Christ was only a phantom sent to Eath by Abraxas.

They believed that his name contained great mysteries, as it was composed of the seven Greek letters which form the number 365, which is also the number of days in a year. God has under his command 365 demi-gods or powers, to whom they attributed virtues, one for each day.

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

Iukabar Zivo (Gnostic) Also Iavar Ziva, Iu-Kabar Zivo, Javar-Zivo, Kebar Zivo, Cabar Zio. Known also as Nebat-Iavar-bar-Iufin-Ifafin (Lord of the Aeons) in the Nazarene system. The Codex Nazaraeus tells of the efforts at creation of the Lords of the Aeons.

In order to counteract the creation of the seven badly disposed principles, the greatest lord, Mano, calls on Iukabar Zivo, the mighty Lord of Splendor, to create in his turn. He does so by emanating seven other lives: these are the cardinal beings or Virtues, the seven primordial archangels, "who shine in their own form and light 'from on high' and thus re-establish the balance between good and evil, light and darkness" (SD 1:196).

These seven holy lives are the seven primal dhyani-chohans, while Iukabar Zivo is called the third life, the creative or Third Logos. He is also identical with Christ (Christos) as the true vine.

(See also: Iukabar Zivo , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ahimsa (Sanskrit) (from a not + the verbal root hims to injure, kill, destroy)

Harmlessness; one of the cardinal virtues. The sanctity of life is imbodied in the teachings of the Buddhists and Jains, as well as of many Hindu schools. Asoka, the first Buddhist emperor, particularly espoused ahimsa as part of the practice of dharma. According to Manu (4:148), one may acquire the faculty of "remembering former births" by the observance of ahimsa.

In the Vamana-Purana, ahimsa is personified as the wife of Dharma, whose offspring, Nara and Narayana (epithets of Arjuna and Krishna respectively), pointed the way to spiritual enlightenment.

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

A part of the varna dharma of each person is sadharana dharma- the principles of good conduct applicable to all people regardless of age, gender or class.

sadharana dharma: "Duties applicable to all." Listed in the Manu Shastras as:

• dhairya (steadfastness),
• kshama (forgiveness),
• dama (selfrestraint),
• chauryabhava (nonstealing),
• shaucha (cleanliness),
• indriyanigraha (sense control),
• dhi (high-mindedness), vidya (learning),
• satya (veracity),
• akrodha (absence of anger).

Another term for such virtues is samanya dharma: "general duty," under which scriptures offer similar lists of ethical guidelines. These are echoed and expanded in the yamas and niyamas, "restraints and observances."

See: yama-niyama.

(See also: Sadharana dharma , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Priyavacana

Lit., loving or affectionate speech. This beautiful and affectionate speech is one of the Four All-Embracing Virtues and is used to lead sentient beings toward the truth.

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

Conditioned (compounded)

Describes all the various phenomena in the world - made up of separate, discrete elements, "with outflows," with no intrinsic nature of their own. Conditioned merits and virtues lead to rebirth within samsara, whereas unconditioned merits and virtues are the causes of liberation from Birth and Death. See also "Unconditioned."

 (See also: Conditioned (compounded) , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Tamarisk, or Erica. A sacred tree in Egypt of great occult virtues. Many of the temples were surrounded with such trees, pre-eminently one at Phile, sacred among the sacred, as the body of Osiris was s to lie buried under it.

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

Atlanteans The various peoples which flourished during long ages, on the fourth great continent, called Atlantis by theosophists; the fourth root-race. "The Fourth Race Atlanteans were developed from a nucleus of Northern Lemurian Third Race Men, centred, roughly speaking, toward a point of land in what is now the mid-Atlantic Ocean. This continent was formed by the coalescence of many islands and peninsulas which were upheaved in the ordinary course of time and became ultimately the true home of the great Race known as the Atlanteans" (SD 2:333-4).

"The term 'Atlantean' must not mislead the reader to regard these as one race only, or even a nation. It is as though one said 'Asiatics.' Many, multityped, and various were the Atlanteans, who represented several humanities, and almost a countless number of races and nations, more varied indeed than would be the 'Europeans' were this name to be given indiscriminately to the five existing parts of the world; . . . There were brown, red, yellow, white and black Atlanteans; giants and dwarfs . . ." (SD 2:433n).

It is customary to regard the later Atlanteans as a race of sorcerers because, according to the narratives told concerning the doom of Atlantis and its inhabitants (cf SD 2:427), many deliberately followed the left-hand path -- yet not all were black magicians, for there were millions in all ages of Atlantis who earnestly essayed to preserve the wisdom of their semi-spiritual forebears of the third root-race. There were wonderful civilizations during the millions of years of Atlantean development surpassing in material things anything that is known today.

In regard to the remarkable achievements that the Atlanteans made in all the arts and sciences, we read that the early fifth root-race received their knowledge from the fourth root-race. "It is from them that they learnt aeronautics, Viwan Vidya (vimana-vidya)

(the 'knowledge of flying in air-vehicles'), and, therefore, their great arts of meteorography and meteorology. It is from them, again, that the Aryans inherited their most valuable science of the hidden virtues of precious and other stones, of chemistry, or rather alchemy, of mineralogy, geology, physics and astronomy" (SD 2:426).

When the cyclic hour for the climax of the geologic changes in the earth's surface finally arrived, the catastrophe occurred during which the greater part of Atlantis and its population, largely of sorcerers, perished beneath the sea; yet many islands survived, some of them of large extent, such as Ruta and Daitya. But the wiser and more holy portions of the Atlanteans had left Atlantis before this, migrating to the high tablelands of Asia: they were the forefathers of the Turanians, Mongols, Chinese, and other ancient nations.

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

Jataka

A type of Buddhist literature consisting of stories of the previous incarnations of the being who became the Buddha. A collection of 547 such stories is included in the Pali canon.

Many of the Jataka tales include ancient folk motifs from pre-Buddhist India. In Buddhist communities, the Jataka tales are often used to teach and reflect upon the virtues of generosity, loyalty, and self-sacrifice.

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

Philo-Judaeus. A Hellenized Jew of Alexandria, a famous historian and philosopher of the first century, born about the year 30 B. C., and died between the years 45 and 50 A. D. Philo's symbolism of the Bible is very remarkable. The animals, birds, reptiles, trees, and places mentioned in it are all, it is said, "allegories of conditions of the soul, of faculties, dispositions, or passions; the useful plants were allegories of virtues, the noxious of the affections of the unwise and so on through the mineral kingdom; through heaven, earth and stars; through fountains and rivers, fields and dwellings; through metals, substances, arms, clothes, ornaments, furniture, the body and its parts, the sexes, and our outward condition."

(Dict. Christ. Biog.) All of which would strongly corroborate the idea that Philo was acquainted with the ancient Kabbala.

(See also: Philo-Judaeus , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Lotus Grades

The nine possible degrees of rebirth in the Western Pure Land. The more merits and virtues the practitioner accumulates, the higher the grade.

 (See also: Lotus Grades , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Tiphareth: In Kether is the Radix of a Golden Glory and thence is there a pure, primitive and sparkling, gleaming golden yellow which is reflected unto Tiphareth. Thus is the first reflected Triad completed. And the Sphere of its operation is that of Shemesh, the Solar Light, and bestoweth Life, Light and Brilliancy in metallic matter, and it ruleth the sphere of action of the Sun. And Yhvh Eloha va-Daath is a God of Knowledge and Wisdom, ruling over the Light of the Universe; and its Archangel is Raphael, the Prince of Brightness, Beauty and Life. And the Name of the Order of Angels is Melechim or Malakim, that is Kings or Angelic Kings, who are also called the Order of Virtues, Angels and Rulers. The Angels Peniel and Pelial are also referred unto this Sephira. It especially rules the Mineral world.

(See also: Tiphareth , Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

Karabtanos (Gnostic) In the Codex Nazaraeus, the spirit of blind or animal desire, son of Spiritus (Anima Mundi or the astral light), and generator, by the astral light as mother, of seven other spirits of his own kind: pure spirit fails at creation, so that it is only when Karabtanos "consents to help his mother, that the 'Spiritus' conceives and brings forth 'Seven Figures,' and again 'Seven' and once more 'Seven' (the Seven Virtues, Seven Sins and Seven Worlds" (BCW 6:192n). He is a symbol of matter; also of kama-rupas in the astral world, said to be without sense or judgment.

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

Svipdag (Icelandic, Scandinavian) [from svip, svep appearance + dag day]

Appearing as day; in Norse mythology, the hero Svipdag seeks the hall of Menglad (Freya) hoping to win her hand. After receiving from his dead mother (his own past) all needful virtues and qualities, he succeeds in reaching the abode of his beloved, only to be stopped at the magic gate by Odin in the guise of Verywise. Here he must satisfactorily answer a number of testing questions before he is finally admitted to the hall of Menglad, who has been eagerly awaiting his arrival. She represents his own divine hamingja (higher self).

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

Li (Chinese) The third and principal of the four cardinal virtues, embracing observance of all the duties imposed by the religious, social, and ethical rules for human life -- the tao of man.

"The li then positively have their origin in the Great Universum, which, dividing itself, became Heaven and Earth, and, revolving, is the Yin and the Yang. . . . Therefore the meaning of the term li is 'chief principle of Man.' It is through the li that Man speaks the truth and cultivates concord" (Li yun 4).

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

Trividha Dvara (Sanskrit). Lit., the "three gates", which are body, mouth, and mind; or purity of body, purity of speech, purity of thought -  the three virtues requisite for becoming a Buddha.

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

Sadhana-chatushtaya:

Sadhana-chatushtaya: the four kinds of  spiritual effort: discrimination, dispassion, sixfold virtues and  desire for liberation.

(See also: Sadhana-chatushtaya , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)