The Serpent, the Black Sun, HPB & St. Germain

[shaberon]

Well I started this thread with a particular thesis; but somewhere around page 11, this changed to a new project. So far it completely makes sense to me, but it needs to be readable by others. I am afraid of it being too much of random, out of order notes, too many subject changes from paragraph to paragraph, and things like that. Some formatting and more pictures would help break up the text. It never will be an "easy read", but it could be better organized and presentable. If anyone is willing to spend some time to help the development and flow, you would be doing a great service.

We're condensing 3,000 or more years of literature into a few pages. The points are subtle, obscure, and in many cases, never noticed by humanity. Familiarity helps, but I would like to get this to a point where any English reader of average intelligence will be able to see things plainly, without the Herculean labor of "sifting" that took a fairly long time.

[shaberon]

I found a cogent piece from Michael Hudson, a Harvard researcher with many studies on the Middle East. He explains what a Debt Jubilee is (does not forgive silver/mercantile/business debts), and that it was a long standing practice for rulers of all nations. The Roman Empire stopped it, received a few civil wars, and restarted it. The practice was eventually eliminated by Western Christianity, particularly Cyril. Jesus, of course, supported the Jubilee, and it is stated he died not for anyone's sins, but for their debts: https://www.tribes.org/web/2018/4/24...ukaemjfinepamh

This eats away at some of the rubric faulting Babylonian Kabbalistic Kings and Temples for some kind of permanent installation of debt-based slavery, because they followed the Jubilee. We also have found this was done in India. Instead, it reinforces the point of view that the church does not represent or follow Jesus, and, it is primarily only the church that has installed such a system and made people fail to understand it. He views most of history as looking at which Kings/Rulers favored the people versus which favored oligarchy, depending on this Jubilee issue. By comparison, the Orthodox Church did continue the Jubilee for a long time.

So we could say there were, occasionally, "bad" Jewish or Babylonian Kings or Pharaohs, but disregarding the Jubilee was never systematized until Cyril. How about that. No one is really known to have implemented "debt-based slavery" except the Romans and Christians. Privatization of generally public things leads to this. In Michael's view of history, it's a struggle between a government, the only thing that might protect the public from the "creditors", and those financiers using governments, churches, or anything, attempting to subdue the public. Blaming the Jews and Babylonians is not really the answer, but, like the Taxil Hoax, easily plays on fears and superstitions.

The thing is spelled out in Leviticus 25 v. 10, so it is Mosaic law: "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family."

"Proclaim liberty throughout the land" is stamped on the American Liberty Bell; "liberty" is the jubilee, freedom from debt peonage. "Let freedom ring" or freedom in general is specifically this.

[Bo Atkinson]

Thanks for your great efforts and work. I can really only intuit that you are likely presenting critical, historical aspects of earth’s history. It makes perfect sense that truer aspects of ‘liberation’ would be vanquished. This particular subject interests me greatly. Yet my inertia bogs down with the increasing use of Non English terminology. I am interested in the Sanskrit, but do not see my own likelihood of memorizing it deeply. It is the real meaning and context behind words which interest me, indispensably. The internal sourcing ultimately opens up, less dependent on earth’s words, as i think you suggest such an equivalent aspect as well.

In brief, sharing of the greater liberation, in more common language usage, is my keen interest. I go to endless lengths exploring this aspect, but in different ways than you have. Inculcating incidental-cultural memorization might block:

Posted by shaberon (here)
.... I would like to get this to a point where any English reader of average intelligence will be able to see things plainly, without the Herculean labor of "sifting" that took a fairly long time.

Through this passed week i read up to your 6th of January 2018, post. I will leave off there for a time. I skipped forward to this post #481. As i scan past foreign words for now. I have just recently returned to Avalon and intend to focus on English wordings. Here might be a barrier which many will share. Appreciative of ancient words, but just not ready to spend the time needed, for memorizing an additional language, (or two). Deeply interested in the meanings and actualities, but frustrated by this barrier. Wanting also to share one’s own findings, which for Avalon, would be in English.

[shaberon]

Posted by wavydome (here)
It makes perfect sense that truer aspects of ‘liberation’ would be vanquished. This particular subject interests me greatly. Yet my inertia bogs down with the increasing use of Non English terminology.

Hi thanks. Many of the foreign terms are very ordinary to me simply from having been exposed to them for thirty years. Presumably, many seekers would have some similar exposure. There is little dealing with the subject that does not use at least some of them. But yes, I would like to find enough of a bridge so it's not insurmountable. I have in mind editing in links or something to make it easier to use.

We still have to work with the limitations of English. The main thing that I can testify to, as an individual, is that there definitely is such a thing as kundalini (no translation), which is dealt with by some of the Buddhist schools in a very thorough manner. All our philosophy is "groundwork" for these inner states; they can be very dangerous. We are fortunate to have an unerring guide. With hindsight, I wish I had understood this type of teaching better than the fast or physical techniques; it fixes or prevents the problems those may cause.

[Bo Atkinson]

I agree, yet seekers may have already experienced such experience, before encountering any special word at all, for any such experience, in fact. I had my kundalini experience, not realizing it had a special name, until much, much later in life. I was still a minor, dismissed for lack of worldliness and perhaps now seem like an old fogy. Introducing special new contexts, deserves page space and can provide a pause, for the serious reader (and a rhythm for the receptive) . Or provide two text versions, one with and one without translation, each linked to the other, for quick toggling options.

What i wanted to get at seemed trite so i omitted elaborating this in my post. Could it make sense to use a set of several, common English words or word parts, followed by the deeper language word, for each instance? Possibly some thing fun like, “spinal whirling release” (kundalini)"…. Or perhaps invented acronyms, always followed with pertinent words in parenthesis. Such that any person would clearly get the idea that this is specialized, contextual meaning, clearly unto itself .

Funny about me, i could tolerate very little writing, compared to my fascination with spoken ideas or meanings. I just rebelled against scanning my eyes back and forth, when my mind preferred sounds over fonts. Computerized reading solved this with TTS (text to speech). I read online texts often nowadays and will return to this thread to dig through further references. T.T.S. (text to speech) saved as MP3s, for portable listening, is a new frontier to engage many more humans who are ready to explore writings without those fonts obscuring progress. It should also save some people from overdosing on texting, when they could more enjoyably share the spoken word, even perhaps useful, intelligent quotes at the same.

Extraordinarily, text compacts language, where computers can translate these into words, at the receiver end. Despite faster bandwidths, i doubt that the movers and shakers want people to share knowledge and facts too freely. So that your endeavor, to make available, this texted thread-substance, will benefit from creative methods, methinks.

[Flash]

Kasina meditations are for the dissipation of Kama and to gain an orientation to the "formless" part of nature. That is sort of an intermediate fringe towards tantra.

Evam Maya Srutam: six elements (Bhuta) of six Maitri goddesses (Locana, Mamaki, Pandara, Tara, Dhatvishvari, Prajnaparamita)

Ekasmin Samaye: six skandhas (or vijnana) of six Buddhas

The Ayatana:

Baghavan Sarvata: six sensory objects (visaya) of six goddesses (Bhutika, Sisters)

Thagata kaya vak: six sense organs (indriya) of six bodhisattvas

The subtle body:

citta (hrdaya) vajra yosit bhagesu vijaha: twelve wrathful gods and goddesses (Vidya) internal to the body

ra: Vajrasattva, who is upaya and prajna

omitted Hrdaya: to be used on its own, and as the seventh of each group.

This in you rpost made me think of something. It would be great if there were a dictionary of terms you use somewhere (with their signification and/or context). I stopped reading you because I could clearly not follow you with all those strange terms (strange for me).

It was like studying a new language, and made reading very arduous for me. And I do not think it was because of a lack of spiritual capacity in my part. Really, it was as if I had to grasp your 30 years of study witin a few weeks or a few posts. My hat to myself if I could do it - so the hat remained on my head - no bowing lolllll.

I find it sad because I could see how much teaching you are bringing and could hint at how much I was missing.

[shaberon]

Thanks for both replies. I'm pretty sure I can see where you both are coming from. A lot of what I copied into the "textual" section is just straight copies, notes loosely in order, generally lacking any preliminary explanation. It's far from finished, will take months or maybe years, to make it more easily legible.

So for example, with the bit Flash quoted, this is a version of how most of the texts start: "Thus have I heard: At one time, the Blessed One was dwelling..." and then in the Heart Sutra, he was dwelling "at Vulture's Peak in Rajgriha". Other texts use different locations. Almost all of the Tantra texts use the same introduction, "Thus have I heard: At one time, the Blessed One was dwelling in the vaginas of the magic ladies of the heart, who themselves are the body, speech, and mind of all thusly-gone ones".

The "messy" form quoted above is the phrase broken down to be used as a mnemonic for the Six Buddha system. If you say the phrase every day, then it's a useful mnemonic; otherwise, it would be easier just to learn the items on their own. I simply got carried away when I found the mnemonic skips heart, or "hridaya", which strongly suggested the mysterious seventh element is being indicated, but not spoken here.

The chief point there--and this goes all the way back to Ceylon and the Pali canon--is that the "brain consciousness" or "intellect within the senses", is in the brain and nerves, whereas the heart-consciousness, which includes the "mental only" parts of psychology, comes from another plane and is not of the nature of this world. This is what we seek through meditation. I would say that mine was largely missing when I experienced kundalini--it can still go straight to the brain and make you feel peace and love--but it's incomplete. Only the "secret part of the heart" will unlock the "secret part of the brain", and I was mistaken to call this Usnisa. That one is simply the Crown Chakra, called Usnisa or Sahasrar, related to an aperture where the skull plates join together. There are "secret chambers" inside the brain, as well as perhaps chakras beyond the body. In the average person, those are inert; the brain must become subservient to the heart. Usually it's not; the slightest thought accelerates the heart and otherwise affects the body, as seen on a "lie detector". If the heart was boss, the brain would not send out that thought that stresses it. Instead, it would fill with mystical lights.

In trained Ceylonese clairvoyance, this heart-consciousness is seen on another plane when the soul is seeking a womb for rebirth. It begins spinning, and gets smaller and smaller until it approaches the Zero Point or at least drops off the Planck scale, the smallest unit of anything that can be physically defined. It gets smaller than an atom, and that is how it crosses the boundary and makes an attachment to a fertilized egg in this world. From there, HPB's odd comment about the incarnations of Vishnu being the stages of fetal development, this completely comes from Vajramala: again, a Buddhist text, making free use of the prior Vedic terminology. I would expect those descriptions also derive from clairvoyance, pre-dating the "abortion" version by centuries if not millenia, in describing how a human builds up as a fish, pig, etc., before being ready.

This "taking birth" process is very much the same as what needs to be done--"emerge in reverse order"--to bring a full samadhi into brain consciousness. They speak of going into it with a suit of armor and carefully rebuilding oneself afterwards. I am not sure if this is indicated at all in the Vedanta schools, but it is very important in Buddhism, and makes a huge difference in the partial kundalini or samadhi experiences obtainable by general means, making it complete, full, and sustainable.

[shaberon]

The self-legend of the school of Transcendence is that it comes from a community called Sangiti which means "chanting together". Buddha himself never wrote anything down. To explain why the advanced teachings were not printed out and spread around at first, it is said there was no one to understand it. With many of the questions raised in the teachings themselves, it is frequently stated to be difficult to determine this question even exists. All of the preliminary material is akin to a basic education, then tantra is college and beyond. It is graded and progressive.

We found that Fa Hsiang, who appears to have followed the most mystical doctrine, was not understood by the Chinese royal court. Even in its native languages, it has puzzled many.

At this point, I believe it can be understood. I think we can identify a trend now called in Tibet Shentong, once in India called Nirakara Vijnana Vada, which principally is identical to the Adwaita of Adi Shankara, and mainly differs in the Bodhisattva motivation: not to cease reincarnating, but to keep doing it in order to produce greater and greater perfection.

The most specific thing I find, which can display the idea that the Theosophical Mahatmas were speaking of a unique and real form of Buddhism, is the teaching of seven skandhas. As far as I know, this has one single introduction to the world, which is by Padmavajra, son of King Indrabhuti. This is why Smrti is able to maintain that Manjushri Namasangiti really uses a Seven Mandala system. In each case, every skandha has a Buddha and Family and so forth, which are parts of the mind and body; all being a path from their respective faults such as anger and jealousy, into an experience of Transcendent Wisdom. These Seven Mandalas contain the formula to change the well-known system of Five, found with Ayurveda, Pythagoras, and all over Nepal Buddhist or Hindu.

The acceptance of having Seven Families is found in the Tibetan Second Translation from eminences such as Bu-ston and Tson-kha-pa. We find it hewn into the rocks at Ellora and Ajanta temple complexes. We do not find it publicly explained by any of the schools.

It would be accurate to say the additional Families do not exist without invocation. The first addition, Vajrasattva, is a Pledge Being or a type of Gnosis Body with which the meditator must make a formal bond. This involves Mantra and Vidya; word mastery and knowing these things inside for yourself because you can feel it.

According to Namasangiti, that step does not occur until Amogha-siddhi gains Paramartha Mahamudra. Originally, he is in the Family of Karma and is the conceptual mind, and Mahamudra is non-conceptual. Paramartha says it is infinitely perfect. In the Hindu correspondences, he is Shiva, or asceticism geared towards quietude and stillness. His specific obscuration is Envy. So we release any kind of envy towards, for example, the fact that others have advanced farther on the Path than us, and begin making perfect karma with non-conceptual mental stillness. This really must be a demonstrated fact before the rest of it would work. And from there he becomes All-Performing Wisdom; all acts done from the view of perfection. Finally afterwards, the magical Vajrasattva replaces him, and he waits around in Mahamudra to do a new thing later on.

The term "Vajra" is used constantly and really just means "crystal". By implication a diamond, which implies the perfection of coal into something clear, perfect, and strong. Here it is accurate for the Theosophists to use the term "Svabhavika-kaya" which in Buddhism is indeed taught as an Androgyne. It is known as Pure Illusory Body; Maya Deha, or Mayavi-rupa in theosophical terms. It is created partway along the Path. The Diamond or Vajra is transcendent to this. So what happens is Akshobya, the chief Vajra, who is Vishnu, is in the Heart, and from him will be sent the magical deities Vajrasattva and Vajradhara. The teaching of Seven Skandhas is in line with the Pali canon in placing the true mental person in the heart.

So the system is describing a lifelong yoga process, which starts from a heart-emanated Gnosis Being Vajrasattva in the first step, moves directly into the heart at the middle, mirror, or fourth step, and at the end, final, or seventh step, yields Fruitional Vajra or the One Existence. This sequence of steps develops the general experience of samadhi, ecstasy, or kundalini awakening, which some people are able to attain and yet fall away from it in some manner, and really unlocks it and amplifies it into infinity. Ensuingly, Vajra means arcane, magical, or esoteric; not really because anyone is trying to keep it away from us, but because it is difficult to understand, challenging to practice, hidden in plain sight but for our selves.

This system is also set to work with Occult Color which reveals the Inverted Divine Prism and describes the "Physical Representation of the Divine" that uses a standard color list, to be a subtle attachment to form. A regular image of chakras shows red at the base and violet upmost, and this is what we have reversed.

It makes a precise and definite doctrine and, because this is not delineated anywhere in the world, I am trying to streamline its presentation with the Seven Mandalas. I should have some time in the next week or so to upgrade them a bit and start moving from messy notes to a neater version. Again, this is just working with scatterings of teachings that already exist, and is not an attempt to make any new kind of claim about Masters, Shamballah, initiations, or any similar topic of a sensational nature to dress up and twist the core.

[shaberon]

So by and large, the main ingredient that operates the system is Bodhi Mind. Bodhi being Wisdom and Buddha being its fullness.

This is a Preliminary and is how one obtains one's Vajrasattva.

Our Preliminary meditation across almost all the schools consists of Refuge, Bodhi Mind Generation, Vajrasattva Purification, Seven Limb Practice, and Guru Yoga.

Of course in the right setting, Seven Limb consists of actual offerings of water and flowers and full prostration and so forth, but we are going to truncate that to just mental steps. If you really can participate in a temple that's one thing, but this is an armchair version.

On the other hand, in many practices, the Bodhi Mind part is reduced to four lines which are repeated. So if we're using an abbreviated kind of Seven Limb, and because Bodhi Mind itself is the massively crucial impulse, it seems to me that something more compelling than four lines would be best. And actually the King, the Samantabhadra Prayer, is really powerful and that would be great to use, but it's pretty long.

Passages from Shantideva are very useful, his book is the main backbone of the subject across most of the schools. His first three chapters: http://www.lotsawahouse.org/indian-m...charyavatara-1

This Bodhi Mind is not just a starting impulse or attitude, but is one of the profound Mysteries of Seven Vajras of the Jewel Lineage, RGV or Ratna-gotra Vibhaga. We know it to be characterized by compassion or overwhelming compassion. Its origin is from Avalokiteshvara, who emanates Tara for his purposes. Compassion is often called karuna in the texts. So in describing the Svabhavika kaya as an Androgyne, the following sentence is not too difficult:

esa svabhavika kaya sunyata-karuna-advaya

So the svabhavika kaya is a personally produced "body" you make by the non-dual union of voidness and compassion. Almost every time it comes up in Buddhism, non-dual is an adjective, advaya, which is a little different from adwaita, "not two". So we use non-dual as an adjective almost every time it comes up, as an androgyne or sexless unity, the couple united, yughanadda, Buddha and Prajna, Compassionate Means and Transcendental Wisdom, these couples are all non-dual. Personal experience of the metaphysical terms is on the "other side" of Bodhi Mind Generation. Or perhaps it is within it. We make this firm Bodhi Mind commitment, and to become purified by Vajrasattva, means you have to uphold a Bond of Dignity with him.

Like Avalokiteshvara, you refuse to remain in the quiet Nirvana as long as there are suffering beings, and because the best way to help them out of suffering is to become like Buddha yourself, this is why you train on the Path. You and everyone else is going to suffer where Bodhi is lacking, and it really is your fault and your responsibility and there is no other recourse other than Bodhi.

Here is a shining example appropriate for Bodhi Mind Generation, to use a fairly early, succinct and direct praise of Bodhi mind. Haribhadra is an early author we've found to be close to Nirakara, who went to the First Translation in Tibet. It appears that he was aiming for a text and meditation practice, but Padmasambhava started doing a lot of magic tricks which swept away the public attention. So we shift a little more emphasis towards Haribhadra, as the associated schools mostly have been fragmented, texts lost, never much studied by the academic community, and so forth.

In English, Bodhi is consistently translated as Enlightenment. Again, what it is, is not so much a noun, but a verb or an active participle. Also, anywhere there is a reference to Wish Granting Gem, or fulfillment of Desire, this aims at beings' wishes for Liberation and Bodhi. Sought for all beings, as they wish the end of suffering, whether they know or not, which is the same start of Bodhi.

From Haribhadra's commentary to Asanga's Ornament of Insight:

"Twenty-Two Illustrations of the Mind of Enlightenment:

A mind that seeks to become enlightened
for the sake of others is a mind of enlightenment.


Like the mighty earth a foundation of all that is good,
like gold never changing,
like the waxing moon it grows in purity,
like a raging fire burning away all hindrance to the true perfection of wisdom,
like a never-ending treasure satisfying all,
like a jewel mine the source of many a precious quality,
like the mighty ocean untroubled by misfortune,
like the vajra it will not crack, it will not split,
like the mountain never moved by distraction,
like powerful medicine curing the ills of delusion,
like a true guru never forsaking any living being,
like the wish fulfilling jewel fulfilling all desire,
like the sun ripening our minds,
like the sweetest song filling hearts with inspiration,
like a king supremely powerful in helping others,
like a treasure house holding great stores of virtue,
like a great highway travelled by all great beings,
like good horse moving effortlessly between the ditches of samsara and nirvana,
like an eternal spring holding all teachings heard and unheard,
like music to the ears of those who seek freedom,
like an ever flowing river ceaselessly working for others,
like a rain cloud whose rain of teaching falls everywhere,
this is the mind of enlightenment."


Here is another Bodhi Mind Aspiration, slightly more comprehensive, from Nyoshul Lungtok Tenpé Nyima, who showed bodhisattva signs from a young age, and was regarded as an emanation of Shantaraksita (one of the authors we've mentioned) and of Avalokiteshvara, which could also fit in meditation:

"Namo! Foremost, sublime, and most venerable root and lineage masters, pray inspire me to become just like you!

Oceanic hosts of the three jewels, three roots, buddhas, and bodhisattvas, inspire me to become just like you!

The profound meaning of the definitive sūtras, tantras and pith instructions, the subject at hand, is precious bodhicitta, relative and ultimate. In their common aspect, the two bodhicittas are the six perfect actions; in the uncommon aspect, the extraordinary method and wisdom of the outer and inner tantras. In particular, they are the supreme vehicle of the highest and most secret Great Perfection, a unity of primordial purity and spontaneous presence, the precious and most blissful mind of enlightenment – the wisdom of compassionate awareness.

This Great Perfection is the naturally uncontrived; the singular, most sublime, and ultimate path traversed by the vidyādharas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas of the three times. Pray bless both myself and all beings, my very own parents, that it might arise perfectly within us.

Bless us such that when rich and in good circumstance, or down and out; when strong or weak, happy or sad, sick, dying or taking birth, in fact, at all times and in all circumstances, we may recall and actualize two-fold bodhicitta.

Whatever difficult circumstances befall us and cause us obstacles, be they arising from inside, outside, or in some secret way, may this profound dharma be our friend and help us on our way; may all negative conditions be taken as the practice and, more to the point, pray bless us that when we come into contact with them they may prove to be the catalyst for a deep and meaningful enhancement of our practice and path toward awakening."

In this Aspiration, common Bodhi is identified as Perfect Action. In the tantric Five Buddha "starting point", Amogha-siddhi is Perfect Action. And what we do is generate Bodhi until Bodhi is his Perfect Action, and he gains Mahamudra, the Great Perfection. And this is when we start to generate the uncommon Bodhi, or Vajra Bodhi. And so that is Vajrasattva coming to us. So if you use these paragraphs in meditation, then the major basis of what we call an esoteric change about Amogha-siddhi is really summarized in the simple words common and uncommon. And this uncommon or Vajra Bodhi that dawns with us, this is straight from the Heart where it really lives.

Because Bodhi Mind Generation is one of the first things taught, that is to say, one could remain at this level only doing Bodhi as long as needed until the Vajra explanations start to sink in. Venerable Lungtok's version calls all beings our parents and pretty clearly tells us to eat the Jungian shadow, and it seems to be framed at a place where we're considering there is such a thing as Mahamudra, or what it means for Amogha-siddhi to change and Vajrasattva to appear.

Venerable Lungtok mentions unity of things we call non-dual, and so we are in the center of non-dual unity and the Middle Way Between the Extremes, but the Jewel of the Doctrine is the Catuskoti, which puts us in the center, occultly called Dhruva (Pole Star) of neither existence, nor non-existence, nor both together, nor the absence of either. The Dhatu itself, Jewel of the Doctrine. It is, to us, permanent, but is only described as Self Arising, not a Dependent Arising. So from a more advanced point of Mahamudra--once Bodhi Mind is thoroughly ingrained and we can map out a fair understanding of the teachings--then we could perhaps use a selection which only mentions compassion towards the end. That keeps it pinned to being a method of Bodhi Mind Generation, but because Bodhi Mind is not explicitly explained here like it is by Shantideva, we have moved towards an uncommon or Vajra version.

Aspiration for Mahamudra by H. H. 3rd Karmapa:

"NAMOGURU

Gurus and yidams, deities of the mandala,
Buddhas of the three times in the ten directions and your sons and daughters,
Please consider us with kindness and understanding, and
Grant your blessing that these aspirations may be accomplished exactly as we ask.

Sprung from the snow mountain of pure intentions and actions
Of myself and all sentient beings without limit,
May the river of accumulated virtue of the threefold purity
Flow into the ocean of the four bodies of the Victorious Ones.

So long as this is not accomplished,
Through all my lifetimes, birth upon birth,
May not even the words "evil deeds" and "suffering" be heard
And may we enjoy the splendour
and goodness of oceans of happiness and virtue.

Having obtained the supreme freedoms
and conjunctions of the precious human existence,
endowed with faith, energy, and intelligence,
Having attended on a worthy spiritual friend
and received the pith of the holy instructions,
May we practice these properly, just as we have received them,
without obstacle or interruption.
In all our lives, may we practice and enjoy the holy dharma.

Hearing and studying the scriptures and
reasonings free us from the obscuration of not knowing,
Contemplating the oral instructions disperses the darkness of doubt.
In the light born of meditation what is shines forth just as it is.
May the brightness of the three prajnas grow in power.

By understanding the meaning of the ground,
which is the two truths free from the extremes of eternalism and nihilism
And by practising the supreme path of the two accumulations,
free from the extremes of exaggeration and denial,
Is attained the fruit of well-being for oneself and others,
free from the extremes of samsara and nirvana.
May all beings meet the dharma which neither errs nor misleads.

The ground of purification is the mind itself,
indivisible cognitive clarity and emptiness.
That which purifies is the great vajra yoga of mahamudra.
What is to be purified are the adventitious,
temporary contaminations of confusion,
May the fruit of purification, the stainless dharmakaya, be manifest.

Resolving doubts about the ground brings conviction in the view.
Then keeping one's awareness unwavering in accordance with the view,
is the subtle pith of meditation.
Putting all aspects of meditation into practice is the supreme action.
The view, the meditation, the action--may there be confidence in these.

All phenomena are illusory displays of mind.
Mind is no mind--the mind's nature is empty of any entity that is mind
Being empty, it is unceasing and unimpeded,
manifesting as everything whatsoever.
Examining well, may all doubts about the ground be discerned and cut.

Naturally manifesting appearances, that never truly exist, are confused into objects. Spontaneous
intelligence, under the power of ignorance, is confused into a self.
By the power of this dualistic fixation, beings wander in the realms of samsaric existence.
May ignorance, the root of confusion, be discovered and cut.

It is not existent--even the Victorious Ones do not see it.
It is not nonexistent--it is the basis of all samsara and nirvana.
This is not a contradiction, but the middle path of unity.
May the ultimate nature of phenomena, limitless mind beyond extremes, be realised.

If one says, "This is it," there is nothing to show.
If one says, "This is not it," there is nothing to deny.
The true nature of phenomena,
which transcends conceptual understanding, is unconditioned.
May conviction be gained in the ultimate, perfect truth.

Not realising it, one circles in the ocean of samsara.
If it is realised, buddha is not anything other.
It is completely devoid of any "This is it," or "This is not it."
May this simple secret, this ultimate essence of phenomena,
which is the basis of everything, be realised.

Appearance is mind and emptiness is mind.
Realisation is mind and confusion is mind.
Arising is mind and cessation is mind.
May all doubts about mind be resolved.

Not adulterating meditation with conceptual striving or mentally created meditation,
Unmoved by the winds of everyday busyness,
Knowing how to rest in the uncontrived, natural spontaneous flow,
May the practice of resting in mind's true nature be skilfully sustained.

The waves of subtle and coarse thoughts calm down by themselves in their own place,
And the unmoving waters of mind rest naturally.
Free from dullness, torpor, and, murkiness,
May the ocean of shamatha be unmoving and stable.

Looking again and again at the mind which cannot be looked at,
The meaning which cannot be seen is vividly seen, just as it is.
Thus cutting doubts about how it is or is not,
May the unconfused genuine self-nature be known by self-nature itself.

Looking at objects, the mind devoid of objects is seen;
Looking at mind, its empty nature devoid of mind is seen;
Looking at both of these, dualistic clinging is self-liberated.
May the nature of mind, the clear light nature of what is, be realised.

Free from mental fabrication, it is the great seal, mahamudra.
Free from extremes, it is the great middle way, madhyamika.
The consummation of everything, it is also called the great perfection, dzogchen.
May there be confidence that by understanding one,
the essential meaning of all is realised.

Great bliss free from attachment is unceasing.
Luminosity free from fixation on characteristics is unobscured.
Nonthought transcending conceptual mind is spontaneous presence.
May the effortless enjoyment of these experiences be continuous.

Longing for good and clinging to experiences are self-liberated.
Negative thoughts and confusion purify naturally in ultimate space.
In ordinary mind there is no rejecting and accepting, loss and gain.
May simplicity, the truth of the ultimate essence of everything, be realised.

The true nature of beings is always buddha.
Not realising that, they wander in endless samsara.
For the boundless suffering of sentient beings
May overwhelming compassion be conceived in our being.

When the energy of overwhelming compassion is unceasing,
In expressions of loving kindness,
the truth of its essential emptiness is nakedly clear.
This unity is the supreme unerring path.
Inseparable from it, may we meditate day and night.

By the power of meditation arise the eyes and supernormal perceptions,
Sentient beings are ripened and buddha fields are perfectly purified,
The aspirations that accomplish the qualities of a buddha are fulfilled.
By bringing these three to utmost fruition-fulfilling,
ripening and purifying-may utmost buddhahood be manifest.

By the power of the compassion of the Victorious Ones of the ten directions
and their sons and daughters,
And by the power of all the pure virtue that exists,
May the pure aspirations of myself and all sentient beings
Be accomplished exactly as we wish."

So we may continue to tweak the sample meditation, and what I have in mind for the large text notes is probably breaking off some of the sections into individual posts. So if Tara and Goddesses come up, there can be a link just to that information, and so forth. A compressed, streamlined version linked to fuller explanations should be feasible. Another way that seems to help clarify terms is to make compounded words like Karuna Compassion and Sunyata Voidness. Every concept and every word opens up like its own sort of Rubik's cube.

____________________________________

HPB was fond enough of Bodhi to place it as a substitute for Buddha in the refuge vow. They are the same thing, differing by degree. According to her, "it is not Buddha (Gautama, the mortal man, or any other personal Buddha) who lives ubiquitously in “three different spheres, at the same time”, but Bodhi, the universal and abstract principle of divine wisdom, symbolised in philosophy by Adi-Buddha. It is the latter that is ubiquitous because it is the universal essence or principle.

It is Bodhi, or the spirit of Buddhaship, which, having resolved itself into its primordial homogeneous essence and merged into it, as Brahma (the universe) merges into Parabrahm, the ABSOLUTENESS – that is meant under the name of “essential Bodhi”...the Nirvanee, or Dhyani-Buddha, must be supposed – by living in Arupadhatu, the formless state, and in Dharmakaya – to be that “essential Bodhi” itself."

So Dhyani Buddhas are equivalent to "essential Bodhi" and the Dharmakaya. This, itself, does not teach or do much of anything. In an ordinary person, it is obscured and called Sugatagarbha or Tathagatagarbha or potential Buddha nature in all beings. Morya expressed Bodhi as "Dhyan Chohans", and it might be that "Dhyan Chohans" and "Dhyani Buddhas" meant the same thing, even though in mandalas, they are different. "Dhyan Chohans" are also given as "Tathagatas"; Koothoomi says they guide nature's impulses. "The Dhyan Chohans who have no hand in the guidance of the living human Ego, protect the helpless victim when it is violently thrust out of its element into a new one, before it is matured and made fit and ready for it." -- that element being physical life and the new one being its post-mortem disarray (victims of accidents, etc.). Dhyan Chohans are also referred to as protectors of the human race, one of whom becomes Seed Manu at the end. "...every purified Ego has the chance in the long interims between objective being upon the planets to exist as a Dhyan Chohan -- from the lowest "Deva-Chanee" to the highest Planetary, enjoying the fruits of its collective lives."

Next, "It is the Dhyani Bodhisattvas, the primordial rays of the universal Bodhi, who live in “reflected Bodhi” in Rupadhatu, or the world of subjective “forms"".

Bodhisattvas are "reflected Bodhi" or Rays, Sambhogakaya.

"...and it is the Nirmanakayas (plural) who upon ceasing their lives of “practical Bodhi”, in the “enlightened” or Buddha forms, remain voluntarily in the Kamadhatu (the world of desire), whether in objective forms on earth or in subjective states in its sphere ..."

"Practical Bodhi" here is used in the human world, and, instead of a meaningless death, these yogis continue to work consciously after passing away. Having described Bodhi in the "Three Bodies" of a Buddha, the term Bodhi becomes: "Thus, it is neither one Buddha who is meant, nor any particular avatar of the collective Dhyani Buddhas, but verily Adi-Bodhi – the first Logos, whose primordial ray is Mahabuddhi, the Universal Soul, ALAYA, whose flame is ubiquitous, and whose influence has a different sphere in each of the three forms of existence, because, once again, it is Universal Being itself or the reflex of the Absolute."

She does manage to make a Middle Ground between Void-only and Mind-only by explaining both:

“To become a Buddha one has to break through the bondage of sense and personality; to acquire a complete perception of the REAL SELF and learn not to separate it from all other selves; to learn by experience the utter unreality of all phenomena of the visible Kosmos foremost of all; to reach a complete detachment from all that is evanescent and finite, and live while yet on Earth in the immortal and the everlasting alone, in a supreme state of holiness.”

"Foremost" is the utter unreality of phenomena; i. e., we use Heart Sutra of Prajnaparamita as a basic, emphasizing the emptiness teachings. However very few schools would capitalize "real self" in relation to Buddha. Manjushri Namasangiti is like this, along with a handful of other Mahayana pieces.

With this view of the refuge vow, "The philosopher of the Yogacharya School would say – as well he could – “Dharma is not a person but an unconditioned and underived entity, combining in itself the spiritual and material principles of the universe, whilst from Dharma proceeded, by emanation, Buddha [‘reflected’ Bodhi rather], as the creative energy which produced, in conjunction with Dharma, the third factor in the trinity, viz., ‘Samgha’, which is the comprehensive sum total of all real life.”

Samgha, then, is not and cannot be that which it is now understood to be, namely, the actual “priesthood”; for the latter is not the sum total of all real life, but only of religious life. The real primitive significance of the word Samgha or “Sangha” applies to the Arhats or Bhikshus, or the “initiates”, alone, that is to say to the real exponents of Dharma – the divine law and wisdom, coming to them as a reflex light from the one “boundless light”. Such is its philosophical meaning."

In the literal sense, Sangha is all real life, which contains Tathagatagarbha or potential Buddha nature, whereas, in the ultimate sense, Sangha is those beings in whom this nature is developed as Practical Bodhi, which then is described in most of the texts as Tathagatagarbha becomes Dharmakaya.

From Voice of the Silence:

"The Dharma of the "Eye" is the embodiment of the external, and the non-existing." (Physical representation of the divine)

"The Dharma of the "Heart" is the embodiment of Bodhi, the Permanent and Everlasting."

[shaberon]

There are some differences between Nirakara/Shentong and the popular Yogachara of China and Japan. That view, or "Sakara" seems to hold that when one enters the Ultimate nature, then the Conventional one dissipates and is absorbed into it. The Indian-Tibetan systems see them simply as two ways of looking at the same thing. You as a Conventional person do not disappear just because it is established that Tathagata-garbha or Potential Buddha Nature exists in all beings. The world is still available in all its Maya and Avidya. Until a high point of attainment, one fluctuates between the Two Truths.

Their "system of Amitabha and Avalokiteshvara", mostly called Pure Land, strives for rebirth in Amitabha's Paradise called Sukhavati or Land of Bliss. In classical texts, this is often called Dewa-chen, and Theosophy, at least, teaches this as Deva-chan, and that it is a normal period after death. The least bit of good will at least get you in the door. So this is a "different interpretation of Lankavatara Sutra". Getting there is almost unavoidable, and we are aiming our understanding towards something that transcends the recurring death cycle. This is Completion Stage Yoga such as Intermediate State (Kama-loka and Deva-chan) and Transference (clarity at the moment of death).

The "Hundred Deity Mandala" is a map of the human aura after death, and an explanation of the processes. This originates with the Guhyagarbha Tantra, although it was popularized by "Tibetan Book of the Dead" or Bardo Thodol, which was found by a Terton, a "treasure finder", around the 14th century, several hundred years after Guhyagarbha.

Hundred Deity binds everything together, compared to most mandalas, which are specific lessons or stages on the Path. Therefor, it should be showing all the Families of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Protectors, Male and Female, in Peaceful and Wrathful forms. It, or the popular version at least, is based on Five Families.

Peaceful Mothers are "Purity of Element", and under them, the Offering Goddesses or Female Bodhisattvas are "Purity of Sense Object".

Buddha said the Maitrikas or Mothers are Raksha, which is a Protector. An alternate title of Prajna Paramita Sutra is Bhagavati Raksha, or, Protector of the Transcendent Goddess. In later works, Protectors are called Dharmapala, meaning the same as Chohan, Protector of Dharma. Protectors are always Wrathful. This is usually understood as a "reflex" of a Peaceful Deity, so for instance, Avalokiteshvara may appear as Mahakala to do some dirty work. Originally, in Rig Veda, Rakshas are Vritti (whirlpool, endless loop, waves or modification to consciousness) or evil tendencies in this use. They move around in the spine, each affecting a chakra and gland. "Heating up of the Rakshas indicates one becoming pure and sanctified whereas the Aratis (removal of darkness, Vedic flame rituals and songs) are meant to be heated up by the fire of true awakening." Bhagavati is Shakti, meaning "she possesses Bhaga" or six good qualities (such as paramitas).

Astagatyah are eight kinds of non-human Protectors, such as nagas and dakinis. Protectors do not have to be enlightened, they just need to protect. Some of these beings may be enlightened, others not. The lower kinds are Lokapala (Worldly Protectors) and Kshetrapala (Locality Protectors).

Then we found "Pacifying the Turmoil of the Mamos", and a Mamo is always Female and is always Wrathful. She is not a reflex of a Peaceful Deity. The "Pure Mothers" who are with Peaceful Buddhas are still their consorts on the Wrathful reflection. These Mamos never change. Although they are also referred to as Maitrikas or Mothers, they are not Protectors. This group is called Gaurima in the mandala, or just Eight Wrathful Females. The Gaurima are types of Mundane Consciousness. Below them are Tramenma or Pisacha, human-animal hybrids that are the Wrathful forms of Bodhisattvas, and these are Mundane Objects of Consciousness. And under them are Ishvari Yoginis who also have various heads; these are the ones who do Enlightened Activities such as Pacifying. Ishvari is again Shakti, specifically the manifesting kind.

Gauri is Shakti, or Sattva Devi Mahasarasvati (Vach Devi), whose peaceful forms emerge from Parvati and Durga; her Wrathful forms from Kali. Gauri means white or bright; and ma is mother, or to produce. However, the tantric Gaurima derives from an occassion when Padmasambhava went to the Cemetery of Expanded Happiness in Kashmir and taught Dharma for five years to a demoness Gaurima and other dakinis. The only way that Gauri or Gaurima makes sense as a "Mamo Chohan" is not by being Shakti, who has a peaceful side, not by meaning "white" because Wrathfuls are Nila or blue, only in this way by Padmasambhava, especially if five years of teaching did not enlighten her (not sure). Evans-Wentz just says he was blessed by the Wrathful Dakini "Subjugator of Demons". I do not understand why Tibetans would call the Mamos, Gaurima, although they say it is really because Gauri is the first in the group. Mamo, in Sanskrit Matarah, again comes out as "mothers". Note: in Tib. Book of the Dead, Evans-Wentz corrects Gauri to Kyeuri, which is no White Shakti, she is a cemetery goddess. So if we adopt this spelling and call the Mamos, Kyeurima, then it's just plural cemetery mothers.

The Eight Vidyadharas, including Manjushrimitra, started the Heruka tradition in which Matarah or Mamo Botong is considered Wrathful Bodhisattva Akashagarbha. In this tradition, Mamo Mukhali is the Queen of Space, above and separate from the rest.

The rest of the group, Mamos or Matarah, is somewhat unique because unredeemable; all you can do is calm them down. They have taken the name Mothers, but are not Protectors. They no Peaceful aspect. And unlike Shakti's Wrathful forms, the Mahavidyas, they have nothing to teach or transform. A destructive group that never will resemble anything human. Same as the Vritti from Rig Veda, but whereas yoga is all about controlling and changing the vrittis, these are uncontrollable and don't change.

If this is correct--there are two "different kinds" of Mothers--this ought to have different names and some kind of a warning label. Cemetery Mothers sounds pretty clear about that. The Mamos are the reason that "nature, unaided, fails", but, unlike all the demons, monsters, and hell itself which can grow in wisdom, these are permanent nescience and never-ending ruin. They are Mundane Consciousness and its disturbances or Vritti. I suppose they keep it available to us until the end of time.

The "different kinds" of Mothers, and/or Dharmapala Protectors, are simply whether they are Enlightened or not. Apparently, the Mamo Mothers lack the ability whatsoever.

It seems I was mistaken to try to get Peaceful and Wrathful Yoginis, as it turns out they are just Wrathful. At the Nirmanakaya level, there are Peaceful Male Munis or Sages, who are not in union with consorts. Instead, their counterparts the Wrathful Ishvari Yoginis are on their own, surrounded by Four Female Doorkeepers. This will make a whole lot of sense quick if we recall that initiations are really bestowed by goddesses. Now the Four Female Gatekeepers are the Solar Plexus, Manipura chakra, and represent gathering, balancing, and purifying its prana, which is going to sublimate into the heart. And so this is how we unlock the heart in the secret, profound manner. These Gatekeepers are all Vajri, which means they are esoteric, and the Yoginis they unlock are the Daughter Goddesses, who are Mantra-born and produced in the Human World, mostly confer sunya or voidness, handle the inner or subtle wheel of time, and you don't get in union, you "Smile" at these. Later, you "Gaze" at the Sister Goddessess (purified compound elements or sense objects), "Embrace" the Mothers (purified root elements or states of matter), and finally "Enter Union" with them in the Clear Light or Prabhasvara (abhisambodhis or highest enlightenment sequence from the drops in the subtle body).

Now when you do the Gatekeepers esoterically, after the Waters have been mastered, you start with Cuckoo Head whose call resembles the heartbeat, Goat Head who ruminates through everything gathering knowledge, Lion Head of purifying roar, and finally Snake Head which represents the motion of all prana, and kundalini transferred to the heart. These have everything to do with sexual and celibacy issues, preparation for Bodhisattva vow, and when firmly placed, as vajris they make one's samaya and siddhis stable as diamond. They do this by enacting "emanational rites" on any emanations that are not pristine.

So they reveal the Vajra Ladies of the Heart--Wrathful Ishvari Yoginis. Our system starts with Water and Causal Vajra, Vajrasattva, who is the means of doing mantra to achieve vidya, inner knowledge, and these Ladies of the Heart are vidya born from that ability, wherein most likely this Heart degree on our step four is the first actual occult initiation. When this Wrathful nature is resolved in the heart, then the further initiations are from Peaceful Goddesses or Female Bodhisattvas and Buddhas--those have Wrathful reflections if needed, but, at that point, one is already very pure.

_____________________________________

Mamo Rikye is also a Bamo. What? A witch. Bamos are used by Sakyas as protectors. In the popular conception, they are ghosts of women who died tragically, which sounds closer to what we call a Pisacha. No kind of "Mother" would be the remains of a mortal. The main three Bamos are especially bound by the Khon family itself. No one else should really trifle with these, ever.

Pehar was called a demon by Mipham, who predicted that it would use China to wreck Tibet. It controlled China during his time. This tidbit does not mention that Pehar was originally a deity of the Uighur Hor tribe, and that it controlled Tibet. Pehar was placed by Padmasambhava as a Protector of Samye' monastery, and the lama he spoke through was the State Oracle. Pehar was a disciple of Tson-kha-pa, and eventually moved closer to Drepung Loseling monastery. He may have been a demon, but became an Enlightened Protector.

Around Sikkhim, which uses HPB's term Lha for beneficial "spirits", their opposites being Dii or primarily malicious "spirits", there are many other kinds of a mixed nature. One of these is called Gyepo (Tibetan rgyal po, "king spirit" of the Preta class, who like to appear as spiritual masters and trick people) and Pehar is a Gyepo--something hateful and angry, considered kings or lamas who broke their vows. Another class is the Latsen, one of which we popularly know as Yeti. The Sakya tradition was launched by Koncho Gyepo Khon, as a reform to the debauchery in Nyingma, and to prevent more corruption from flowing up from India. Gyepo, gyalpo, and related spellings simply mean "king".

There is no explanation why Padmasambhava's oath-bound Pehar changed from being the Protector of Tibet to its oppressor. Conceivably, if he is of a "mixed nature", then a larger group of Chinese sorcerors could perhaps steal him and make him stir up the Mamos.

The 1947 oracle repeated the prophecy and added the Dalai Lama's exile, which is a pretty harsh message to be getting from the Dalai Lama's Protector. This oracle is called Nechung Chokyong (Tibetan: chos skyong), this second word meaning Dharmapala, Dharma Protector, almost certainly what was spelled by Theosophists as Chohan.

I do not know if Nechung Chokyong is Maha Chohan, or one of the Five Chohans, who are the real chiefs of meditation schools, but not necessarily the outer or visible heads. What I can say is that the Nechung is a medium in every sense of the word, who accepts possession by the King of Ghost Kings and is de-vitalized afterwards. If the nature of this class is to appear as a spiritual master and trick people, well, he seems to have really pulled a fast one on the Dalai Lama, aside from the fact that it was prophesized well in advance.

Tibet is clearly rife with "tantra and sorcery" and we need to be really, really careful about things like Dharmapalas and Mamos. Many of them are unenlightened non-human things, and the rest are mean ghosts. If I had a choice, I would pick an intelligent free-willed elemental over a ghost any day, but it's still like playing with a box of matches with another box of matches.

On the other hand, Lha meaning a higher order of beings, yields the city name Lhasa in Tibet. In the 18th century account of Father Ippolito Desideri, monks and nuns, sometimes lay people, possessed or occupied by the Lha are the Choskyongs. He gives three most important ones at Sera monastery (Lhasa), Drepung, and Samye. They act as oracles for people, and, according to the Jesuit, on new and full moons they parade in a costume identical to that of St. Michael. The Choskyongs or Chohans are said by Tibetans to have been disciples of Buddha whom he commanded to protect the Dharma and the lineages.

"Lha body" is the term in Tibetan medicine for the astral double, described exactly as the linga sharira, for instance, after death, the real consciousness pulls out of it, and it hovers around until the physical body is reduced.

In "Tibetan Teachings", HPB got a Gelung (gyelong, or monk) from the Inner Temple of Bas-pa Dharma, or Secret Doctrine, to explain the Lhas. He was commanded to do so by his revered Ngagpa (Ngak-pa or Tantrika). He takes the opportunity to blast necromancy, and explain the Lhas as, not ghosts, but the souls of adepts. All we can say here is that he has expressed the uncommon understanding, not the common one where other people are possessed by ghosts and witches. This is a monk speaking by command of a Tantrika, who has no authority over him, so he must be doing so by agreement.

HPB also had a friend, the Kutchi of Lhasa, who constantly travels to India and back. Many people surmised this was Koot Hoomi, but she never stated this. She spells it this way on page 628 vol. II of Isis Unveiled, and apparently refers back to page 609 where she says, "We were taken to visit the pilgrims by a Buddhist friend, a mystical gentleman born at Kashmir, of Katchi parents, but a Buddha-Lamaist by conversion, and who generally resides at Lha-Ssa." Koot Hoomi had a house near Shigatse.

We found earlier that he was of Punjabi heritage, but his family moved to Kashmir relatively recently. No specific time frame, and doesn't mention where exactly he was born. "Kutchi kutchi" is a Tibetan phrase meaning something like "pretty please", so that spelling doesn't help. Kutchi is also a kind of Afghan nomad. Kachhi is a region in Punjab. Katchi is a plain in northern Tibet, but the closest useful term looks like Kachee. This is both a Tibetan Muslim and also the Tibetan word for Kashmir. "Lhasa Khazi" is a distinct community, and overall, in the whole world, are about 350 Kashmiri Muslim families. The ones in Lhasa are generally merchant traders with India. Understanding him to have a Brahmanical background, it is hard to see Koothoomi as having Muslim parents, so he may not be intended by these remarks. Spelling issues aside, it would make sense for the Kutchi to be going to India a lot, although it sounds more business-oriented. By his own admission, Koothoomi was more of a pilgrim who mostly stopped in caves.

Passepa or Baspa is a script which mixes Tibetan and Sanskrit styles, developed by a lama under the orders of Kublai Khan. Bas-pa may mean something else in Tibetan; I am not sure yet.

She probably got messy information about Dug-pas or "Red Hats" because she did not get it from the Mahatmas. She says that when Tson-kha-pa forbade necromancy, the Red Hats split and had their independence at Sakya Monastery under a Gong-Sso Rinpoche. However, this monastery was built centuries prior to Tson-kha-pa, and has no leader by that name. Sakya is a mix of Nyingma with new translations of Vajrayana. Its own statement was that it was a reform to Nyingma corruption, and, although it handles the Bamo or "witches", there is a big difference between binding something as a Protector, and being possessed by it as an Oracle.

She says in the 9th-10th centuries, a lama brought Shamar Buddhism to Bhutan. That the Shamars are not even Buddhist, but an offshoot of Bon, and they opposed Gelugs and set up their own tulku. Now let's keep in mind that the Shamars were actually started by H. H. 3rd Karmapa much later than this, and Gelug did not exist at the time either. For some reason, she harps on the Bhutanese, and, it seems to me, confounds Shamar with Nyingma.

She says according to Tashi Lhunpo, there were no Dhyani Buddha/Bodhisattva incarnations prior to Tson-kha-pa, and he was not a Dhyani because he was Amita, Chinese for Buddha. Except this is Amitabha, a Dhyani Buddha. She does say that the Bodhisattva brotherhood entered Tibet much earlier, when Asoka's Indian system was being broken down by Brahmans, which was agreed by Paramartha.

However, the first Tulku line started with H. H. Karmapa, who actually left instructions on how to find his next birth. Both Shamar and the Druk of Bhutan were started by Karma Kagyu. Sakya, as we have seen, is itself a reform. So it is hard to find a problem categorically with these non-Gelug lineages. One thing that is true about Bhutan is that it is a culture of giant penises, paintings and sculptures some of which are larger than a human being. The front door of a typical house in Bhutan has a massive ejaculating penis on both sides of it.

She may have been a bit upset with those displays and perhaps with Drukpa Kunley, who was very influential to Bhutan, had sex with thousands of women and did other Left Hand kinds of things, Nyon-pa in Tibetan. There are a lot of yogis like this; sometimes these stories are interpreted allegorically and then it is denied that they really drank alcohol and all that stuff. But at least some of them really did.

Koothoomi specifically traveled to Bhutan. I may have been wrong in placing his "goat incident" in Paryang near Mt. Kailasha. Right above the famous Paro disctrict of Bhutan, just inside the Tibetan border, is a place called Pari (Phari or Pagri), with a fortress, or Dzong. This is one of the easiest passes into Tibet, and so Pari-Dzong was heavily used by European explorers. Stronger possibility this is the location he meant.

On another trip, he was at Ghalaring-tso or Ghalaring lake monastery, now mostly spelled Ngnanglaring, a very beautiful location where Sinnett's "Occult World" was discussed. From there, across Horpa Pa La towards home, and as we just found out, Hor is the same as Uighur. Very desolate area according to him. This was his nine-day ride without dismounting to his other house near Leh.

The Secret Doctrine's own claim is that Buddha reincarnated as Tson-kha-pa, and that both the original Buddhism and Tson-kha-pa's secret works are in the custody of the Panchen Lama in a private manner unrelated to the schools. HPB says that the known Buddhist canon is full of errors and blinds, but agrees with exoteric Buddhism in saying Lotsawa Vairocana was the best translator for Tibet.

Kalachakra does contain four kinds of births, such as egg or sweat, which she corresponded to Root Races. It seems strange to me that she never mentioned Kagyu at all anywhere that I have found. Damodar was the one who suggested the term Mahatma for the masters she referred to as reincarnated Chang Chubs, which is to say persons in the Bodhisattva degrees. H. H. Karmapa was never said to be Buddha, but a 10th level Bodhisattva. Since this is the first Tulku line, it would appear that it has some kind of primacy in the milieu, but is completely absent from Theosophy, which perhaps mistakenly denigrated its Red Hat branches.

I don't find the Mahatmas smearing the Sakya or the Bhutanese, on the contrary, seem to have been perfectly fine in dealing with them. Because some of the additional information comes from unidentified Gelugs, the only guess is perhaps they wished to promote this particular school. However, finding it using the King of Ghost Kings as a State Oracle--and that it later attacked their country--is a bit paradoxical compared to attempts to suppress necromancy.

Tson-kha pa kept his Vajrayogini practice quite secret. Curiously, in his lineage, they have a border area between Guru Yoga and Tantra wherein one adds a bit of Vajrayogini to the Guru Yoga. It goes so far as Guru Tson-kha-pa transforms into Vajrayogini. And the first thing that happens is he gets a hat made out of black hair. This is interesting, because--although that practice doesn't mention it--that is what the Black Crown of the Karmapas really is. It was originally made of thousands of Dakini hairs, only on the astral plane. Only certain people could see it. So later on they decided to make a physical hat to represent it.

[shaberon]

Back during the major freeze at the end of last year, that was a very good occult condition. Since then, for me, personally, at least, it is not. Trammeled by animals, tv, bigotry, and the like, making it impossible to function. Over the winter, it was so powerful, the darkness would claim me to such an extent that the little green light on the keyboard was an infinite spear skewering the brain. That's the kind of sensitivity I'm talking about (Pratyahara or sense-withdrawal). And of course, that little light is easy to fix. Currently, the rest of all this, is not.

So that would be the role of Dharmapalas or Protectors. Again, Dhyani Buddhas don't really do anything...they are the Wisdom inside all of us, which is easy to blur or distort or prevent altogether. So of course no one believes in them, if your time is spent in situations like this, they do not exist for you. Even if you know them, same thing applies...they vanish into theory if conditions are not good.

I have never practiced with a Protector because it was unnecessary. As per Shantideva, I should not get angry at conditions and the like, because they are not a self, thinking "I shall arise". So I don't lash out, but I need some kind of protection in order to operate. Again, this is the subtle meaning of Dakshina Marga or right-hand path...that right hand is a shield against the emanations from the south pole, so we may center ourselves on Dhruva or the north pole. I've never employed a shield.

We have a Protector for everything, for instance if one suffers black magic attack, then White Parasol, called Dukkar or Sitatapatra is a very good one for that. But this is highly individualized, like a guru. I can't do Tson-kha-pa Guru Yoga because I don't have a connection, even though he is a fine choice and quite popular. So I would have to look and find the right one to use in my personal situation, because I can't do Guru Yoga at all without some kind of shield against these troubling mundane influences. If you understand the power of it is so strong that a stupid keyboard light is pure agony, then it should not be surprising that bigger obstacles kill it completely. In order for the obstacles to become teachers then, there has to be some kind of shield to prevent the mind from dunking into the same samskara as any unenlightened being.

That is what has slowed me down from editing the text-based material, which I know is messy and not presented very clearly. It was hard to make. For example, even with the Pehar mentioned above, that explanation is not found in one place, it's three or four different aspects that I've assembled together. And no, I would not use that one, I don't have the power to bind and command a ghost or demon, and almost all of those things come under the category of "beings that may be helpful, but generally, the less one has to do with them, the better". So it has to be an enlightened one and not a Kshetrapala, one that protects a Tibetan locality.

It will take a good bit of work, but the concept is along the lines of when something like Dharmapala comes up, it links to a separate post explaining it. If you know the term, you can skip the explanation, but a linked post sounds a lot more elegant than footnotes, going to an index, checking four other pages with footnotes and sentences stuffed with explanations in the middle, which is what the Secret Doctrine and most of the classical texts are like. Granted, there are a lot of websites already well-made along these lines, but, we are trying to highlight a certain focus which I don't believe exists anywhere.

[shaberon]

Two posts back, that took me a few days to find out what was wrong with Gauri. It didn't make sense and I never could find anything online. I found the explanation in a footnote from a book I have had for thirty years. That's either a kind of dowsing in memory, or the finesse I am seeking for explanations.

So then we had goddesses of the solar plexus, who are called Female Outer Gatekeepers. And one of these is Lion Head and her name is Kumbhakarni, which means Water Pitcher -- Ears and Hearing. She is a Puranic character who drinks blood of Andhaka's spawn, the Serpent whose every drop of blood made a Serpent, she had to drink all these. And blood is a symbol of Transcendental Wisdom, the Serpent being the Hierophant.

As I said I don't know anything much about Protectors, and a lot of them are about fear and black magic and other really terrible problems, which is not what I have in mind. I just want a form of shield to navigate a bunch of sense impressions that make it impossible to concentrate. And so we have physically, at the house, female cat gatekeepers, and I have in mind maybe Wrathful Sarasvati Vach Devi with the cat gatekeeper, because from all the impressions, my personality will come out wrong. Inwardly, I'm not trying to battle a bunch of personal mental demons...just function properly in a normal way in a nest of stress and a bunch of noises. Outer stuff.

I'm able to use Hindu Dharma Protectors if I want, which is something like Protestants doing Hail Mary. And since it's mostly outer bombardments to the solar plexus that concerns me, because it breaks the concentration and personality which is focused in the ajna or center between the eyebrows, and I have my real physical gatekeepers in mind and Lion Head Water Pitcher Ears Hearing Deity for the outer part, it seems to me that maybe Narasimha is an Enlightened Protectress and she is Lion Head Mother, and her bija or seed syllable is Ksham and bliss. And she's wiling to deal with more mundane things than most of the ones that are for powerful purging.

Now here we go: ajna center is depicted as having many minor petals like a set of wings with feathers, but for physiological purposes, it has two petals, the actual wings. The Name Mantra of the ajna wings is Ham Ksham. As we have seen, Ham is Aham which is "I", and this is how it is used here. And Ksham is Prithivi or Earth Element. Further, it means patience and forgiving-ness. So this ajna mantra means I am patient and forgiving on Earth and Narasimhi and Bliss inside. That is the shield. So this is something you can use mentally from moment to moment. For outer things like noises that jolt your nerves and unhealthy environments that take a toll. Destructive acts; fire ants. So all day while all that ruckus is going on, Ham Ksham and focus in the ajna, and it is backed with all those meanings and makes a visualization. There is a nice Narasimhi picture already posted for instance.

Narasimhi's Root Mantra is Om Ksham Paksha Jvala Jihve Karala Dhamstre Kalaratri Pratyangira Ksham Hrim Hum Phat.

So you would use this for meditation. I don't understand it but I get the impression that it is not really a sentence but a series of other Seed Mantras. Paksha refers to the Waning Moon Fortnight. Kalaratri is one of the "Nine Durgas" who is the Black Night that is the Death of Time (Dhumavati's Night). Pratyangira is a name of Narasimhi. The use of it this thoroughly is moving towards using her against something major like the evil eye or a curse.

That's "another religion", and then we find in Buddhism, the same seed syllable used in Protectors of the Directions for Southwest, the most unfavorable direction. Nirṛti, sometimes Rakṣasa, has the mantra Oṃ Kṣaṃ Rakṣasāya Namaḥ. His weapon is Khaḍga (sword). The Female Protector is Khaḍgī. Their planet is Rāhu (North Lunar Node), decapitated by a sword. And above her is Mother Khaḍgadhāriṇī, She Wields a Sword.

The person, Fiery Lord of Speech riding the Wind Horse in the solar plexus, is initiated by Four Female Outer Gatekeeper Goddesses. First comes Cuckoo who is the sound of heartbeat, and so this is solar plexus gaining interest in sending balanced prana to the heart instead of losing it in fear, stress, shocks, nervousness, compulsive behavior, and so on. Then Goat ruminates and gathers outer and inner knowledge.

Then you get to Lion and so I picked up this Ham Ksham which is so to speak, Speech or Lion's Roar of purifying the environment. And you have to do this to get to Snake, which are the balanced winds so kundalini can flow and the Rider move on. I went and looked for a Protector I might use that would be for more of a regular daily mundane use to calm down my solar plexus so I wouldn't start getting irritated and come out as a messed up personality. And so there's what came up from looking at a "different system" than the Method of Manjushri. You don't literally have to do this mantra, but it represents a step where Goat has found out how to fix the solar plexus, then Lion is the one to do it, and physiologically these goddesses are petals or portions of the chakras. So it's unlacing that knot or blockage so life-force can move harmoniously.

Out of curiosity I looked to see what it has for solar plexus, and Manjushri is Vajratiksna, Vajra Sharp, this is his degree of gaining his famous Sword, and his appearance is Vadisimha, Invincible Lion of Speech. He is in the company of Vach Devi Sarasvati, which I thought was what I was trying to preserve originally. Narasimha's mantra includes the words vajra and tiksna.

In the Vishnu incarnations, Narasimha is prior to Vamana, which is the given one for this degree and it is Jupiter. Amitabha is characterized by Detailed Perception, warm, magnetic aura, gentle speech and bright humor. Out of the "bundle" of Samjna, Perception, from its mindless use, with mindfulness grows Pratyaksha, "towards a sense organ" and "that which is before one’s eyes". It includes direct sense perception and memory. Its transcendent form is nirvikalpa ("changeless", "without imagination, fantasy, delusion"); the whole direct subjective perception without any thought process applied to it and without perceiving detail, a higher level of samadhi that can remove one from bodily awareness. So for example you could directly perceive a memory without thinking about it and instead of it being in details, it would be the whole thing at once. So this describes the Compassionate Means by producing a fiery, gentle aura that sharply cuts off lust and attachments, and a Transcendental Wisdom of formless perception lacking mental constructs or differentiations. It is this Nirvikalpa which makes a yogi want to leave the body forever, i. e. stay in quiet nirvana and liberate from incarnation, and why it is more difficult to do samyaksambuddha and remain.

Conceivably, one enters the rite of the solar plexus in this Leonine manner and gains mastery of the Jupiter sphere, related to the second ray, second hierarchy, Anupadaka force, and Power of Time. Blue Sarasvati is not an individual in the Ten Mahavidyas; the one for Jupiter is Blue Tara, and Blue Sarasvati is a form of her. Jupiter, among other things, deals with orderly behavior, the lack of which sent me through this in the first place.

[shaberon]

Buddhism has a well-known Three Mysteries (Body, Mind, Speech), and also a system of Seven Mysteries: from Ratna-gotra-vibhaga, one of the most important texts of this study: Buddha, dharma, sangha, dhatu, bodhi, guna, karma; these seven diamond-like subjects (vajra-pada or Vajra Legs), are in brief, the body of the whole text.

Clearly, the first three are the same as the Refuge Objects from your first day of becoming a Buddhist. And just those three already form Outer, Inner, and Secret groups, just as on the Three Wheels of Kalachakra:

The Outer, or 'Three Jewels' are Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.

The Inner equivalent, or 'Three Roots' are Guru, Yidam (Deity), and Dakini (Protector).

The Secret or 'Trikaya' are Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya.

The Three Vajras are Mind, Speech, and Body.

Seed syllables are blue hum, red ah, and white om. And the syllables look slightly out of order as when used in "Vajra Muttering" or "Arcane Speech", you say Om Ah Hum. And so that's going in the "upwards" direction, and that is the way I'm going to place all Seven Mysteries with the mandalas, from Karma to Buddha. After all, Karma is the first Family, and Buddha is the fullest realization, so this order makes sense.

So all modestly advanced practitioners are always using this "hypostasis" in every Refuge Vow, but not all Seven. But then, if we know the Gayatri with the ascending Lokas ("Worlds") or Vyahriti ("Words made by Fire"), then that fits. I like to just say the words in the order written, which is not exactly a mantra, but still powerful.

Dhatu is Element, as in the One Element of existence, Swayambhu Adi-Buddha, which goes by many, many names, depending on what school or tradition you follow. We call it the One Life in Manifestation, and, while permanent to us, it must be considered as subject to the Catuskoti. While being the object of the highest possible knowledge, this allows it to have its Passive phase, a Laya or Zero condition, which is utterly unknowable. Our only teaching on this is respectful silence.

Bodhi is our whole conscious practice, from the first generation of Bodhi Mind through all its stages of development. This is said to have its source from outside of the psyche; it comes from hearing the Dharma. And it must be maintained by upholding a close bond.

Guna are enlightened qualities. Yes, it's the same word for the Three Modes of Motion, Tamas, Rajas, Sattva, or Resistance, Activity, and Harmony, which are fundamental to all the philosophies. In Buddhism, the Visuddhimagga enumerates Gunas, qualities of a Buddha, and there are others of the Dharma and Sangha. It gets to be a long list, but, especially in Mahayana, we are talking about conscious manifestation of the absolute. And when that happens, there are definite signs and characteristics. If even only one of these qualities is Bhagavata, well, here we have a word sometimes translated from Bhagavad Gita as "God" and yet in Tantra we use Bhaga as "vagina", and as much as it is interpreted as "Transcendence" it is also "possessing six virtues". Or Bha is for Bhava, an existence or being, ga, connection or relation to, vata, the form of any being. Ability to examine a being's origin in many ways. So a transcendent mind possesses and shows virtues, and is in relation to all beings and knowing their mental conditions. Just this one Guna has a lot to say, and it is only one of many.

Karma is something we are looking at beyond physical terms of "that's what you get", to the fact that the unavoidable winds that it produces causes patterns to erupt in the mind and cause Vritti or "whirlpools" in the spine or subtle body, making the life-force flail around in uncontrollable, undesirable ways. So when we talk about Lungta or Wind Horse, or the Twenty-one Knots of Tara that she melts, we are trying to expend the old karma and make new that is light, clear, and uncolored by personality, so that the Horse-like life force and the Rider-like mind are able to leave suffering and enter the realm of the real.

Now we haven't worked this out with Svabhavikakaya or Seven Skandhas or even gotten into the RGV itself, but are simply stating that this is one of the crucial texts, and that its Seven Mysteries are an extension of the Refuge Vow.

[Chris]

Just wanted to briefly mention the Gunas here, since they came up in the previous post. You mention that they are enlightened qualities. Certainly, but I think it is possible to dig a bit deeper here. The original meaning of the word Guna is string, thread or rope. Because that's what they literally are, strings or ties that bind things together. The hidden meaning of this is already encoded into the English language.

We talk about the ties that bind, heartstrings, roping somebody in, that we are connected to each other, family ties, being bound by honour, he is bound to do something, he was always bound to react that way, I am in a bind, there are invisible ties between us, etc...

This is not just allegory, some people can actually see these ties or strings as energetic gateways that tie people together and into certain actions of the future, through time. Carlos Castaneda wrote about this. It was the central theme of the cult movie Donnie Darko. We can all sense these ties and this is how we connect to other people. The closer two people are, the more strings or ties develop between them.

When I was in love for the first time, I could literally see these strings of radiant light going from my heart to her heart. I was connected to her much like a baby is connected to her mother through the umbilical cord, only energetically. We could basically guess each other's thoughts and emotions from a distance. When we broke up, it was like someone pulling the cords out of my heart and causing me massive heartbreak. Humans and animals can both die from this. This is just one example, to illustrate what I mean.

The Gunas have different qualities, depending on what they do, but they all act as a connector to various things and can go across vast distances in space and time, acting almost as wormholes. In fact they could very well be that.

I don't want to go into much detail regarding the three main types of Gunas, there is plenty of information about it already. Suffice to say, it is easy to imagine that a Tamas Guna would tie you to something like addiction to food or alcohol or laziness, whereas a Sattva Guna would tie you to something uplifting, like music or helping others. I believe that love is actually a Sattvic Guna as well, though it could be an entirely different kind of string, who knows. It is interesting that according to the Puranas, all three gunas are a hindrance in achieving Moksha, or liberation. This ties in with the Kundalini, which actually acts as a fiery cleanser of the body's energetic system, the tree of life mentioned in the Upanishads. What it does, is that it burns away the fruits of Karma and all the gunas binding the person to different things and people. In western culture, this is symbolised as the fiery Phoenix, which burns away all past attachments and leads to a spiritual rebirth. That is exactly what Kundalini does.

In any case, excellent series, thank you for your posts.

[shaberon]

Oh nice. Yes, that's the exact way to delve into each topic. You have revealed the literal or original meaning of "Guna" and so for the Tri-Guna or Three Gunas, all of manifestation is indeed tied together by these. Nothing arises without them. So if you keep the basic idea of a string or a tie that binds, then the rest of it falls into place. Then it is not hard to figure out that with reference to the Gunas of Bhagavan, that virtues are directly tied to a transcendent state of mind. Not allegorically, but directly. So although they are mostly called "qualities", that word does not really convey the significance as much as the idea of a string tying things together inseparably.

Compared to the 1927 Evans-Wentz Book of the Dead, there are now better and more complete versions available. And these include another deity type, the Vidyadhara or Knowledge-Holder. This is still based on the Five Buddha system, and so there are five of them for: Body, Mind, and Speech, which is understood as Buddha, Dharma, Sangha...and then the next two are for Guna and Karma. So then from RGV, we know that this is most likely 5/7 of the real total, and there should also be Dhatu and Bodhi.

I'm not sure if it was a version or a commentary that not only identified the Female Outer Gatekeepers as the solar plexus, but also explained their function; I lost it because I saw it in a "partial review" that searches can give you. However--and I think this is in common for any set of Gatekeepers in Four Directions--these hold the hook, the noose, the chain, and the bell, which is used in a fairly common mantra that to me, seemed a bit close to Tetragrammaton or YHVH, since a Y can be J and the H can be aspirated or not: "Om, may the diamond hook attract, Jah! Om, may the diamond noose draw in, Hum! Om, may the diamond chain tie, Vam! Om, may the diamond bell subdue, Hoh!"

I went back and polished up the links for RGV and other source texts, and, if Evans-Wentz was incomplete, and newer versions give 5/7 of the mysteries, learning all seven puts us ahead of the curve of someone like Carl Jung, and every individual can outdo him.

[shaberon]

In the Nepalese Newari system, the Buddhas of the Past are the Nirmanakaya.

In metaphysics, the Nirmanakaya is the Occult Hierarchy. This includes the older Vedic Vairajas (inabitants of Tapar Loka still in touch with the mental plane--"of the nature of Viraj", Brahma and Vach as sexless unity), and in general refers to Bodhisattvas who have passed away, but, having at least some skill with Intermediate State Yoga or control of the death process, they simply continue as an integrated consciousness for the benefit of sentient (physical) beings. This is the "unmentioned" or Seventh group of beings added to the well-known Six Realms of Beings, or Devas, Asuras, Humans, Animals, Ghosts, Hell. So when we take refuge in Sangha, that means with the Nirmanakaya, being this.

"Mistaken often for a Spirit, Deva, God himself, etc...(to a worthy person) is a guardian angel."

Nirmanakaya (Tulku; pure incarnation): pure body of emanations, transformations, creation-formation activity. Shiva has a Nirmanakaya of suddhasattva: Pure Harmony. Nirmanaratideva: class of beings inhabiting the 5th heaven.

So far I haven't come across historical materials about the Seven Buddhas that exactly nails them to a spot; they kind of feel to be kind of an average frequency over a given area. They seem to get divided differently about actually coming from Earth or having lived elsewhere before it was made, or not having lived yet, and it revolves around Manushi Buddhas, those who incarnate as human beings. But we must consider all of these Nirmanakayas as having come from a human form--past or future.

Maha Sahasra Pramardana Sutra reflects this concept called Seven Buddhas of the Past or Heroic Buddhas, who are Vipashyin, Shikhin, Vishvabhū, Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, Kāshyapa, and Gautama Buddha. The first three Buddhas appeared in the past Glorious Kalpa, while the other four Buddhas including Shakyamuni appeared in the present Wise Kalpa. The Seven Buddhas are mentioned in the Long Āgama Sutra, the Seven Buddhas Sutra (Chinese consider this to be about Manushi Human Buddhas), and other sutras.

HPB relegated the "Buddhas of the Past" to Gautama as the 5th, with Maitreya and one more yet to come. This was in reference to incarnations of Dhyanis into Manushi or Human Buddhas. She said the 35 Confession Buddhas were Sub-Race Buddhas. Curiously, the branches of Sub-Races called Family Races are attributed a lifespan close to the Great Year of astrology, twenty-some-odd thousand years. An example of a "Family Race" would be "Europe". Excluding those who were seen as perhaps direct descendants of Atlantis, such as Druids, Caledonians, Minoans, Basque, Sami, and Etruscans, the later migrations are "Europe" with its Tribal branches and Manus such as Saturn (Latin) and Odin (Germanic). Research has discovered much about an ancient Black Sea culture from perhaps the era of the Bosnian Pyramid and settlements in Anatolia such as Catal Hayuk, and a wider Kurgan culture reaching across to Central Asia.

That part is true, but it is also said in Sutras of the Heroic Buddhas that Gautama or Shakyamuni was the 7th and final. The others are perhaps non-historical or not earthly. The last of those was Kashyapa, and, if we've marked him as all kingdoms of pre-human evolution, then the rest of those Heroics are pre-human.

In its own legend, the first few Buddhas were in a previous kalpa. The Buddhas for *this* kalpa line up so Shakyamuni is 4th. So there is overlap between the Seven Buddhas of the Past, and the Five Manushi Buddhas, Two to come. In fact for the whole list of named Buddhas, these are 22-28, and in his Kalpa, Vispawsi was 998th. The name list goes back multiple kalpas.

These are considered Samyaksambuddhas (teaches others). I'm not sure why you would set aside 22-28 and bridge three Buddhas into the previous Kalpa and four into this one and call it seven. Unless you wanted to call my attention to a group of seven split into three and four.

Kasyapa died when he was 40,000 at Kashi.

The Seven Heroic Buddhas have their own practice, which resembles the following:

1) in the center Sakyamuni who makes the gesture of explaining the dharma;
2) in the east Vipasyin who makes the earth touching and meditating gesture;
3) in the northeast Buddha Sikhin, who is boon granting and in meditation;
4) in the southeast Buddha Visvabhu who is boon granting and in meditation;
5) in in the west Buddha Krakucchanda who makes the gesture of concentration;
6) in the southwest Buddha Kanakamuni explaining the dharma and in meditation;
7) in the northwest Buddha Kasyapa whose right hand is boon granting

In this sadhana, Buddha Vipasyin is sitting by an asoka tree; Conqueror Sikhin is sitting before a white lotus; Buddha Visvabhu is sitting beneath a sal tree; Brahmin Krakucchanda is sitting by a sirisa tree; Kanakamuni is sitting by a glomerate fig tree (udumbara); Kasyapa is sitting beneath a banyan tree; Supreme Sakyamuni is sitting by a a pippala (asvattha) tree; Gautama is the last to gain enlightenment.

A Japanese verse says:

安名尊 ....................Ana touto.......................How venerable!
七の仏の ............nana no hotoke no................Seven Buddhas’
ふる言は ................furu kotoba...................Primordial words are!
まなぶに六つの ....Manabu ni mutsu no.............By studying them,
道に越えたり ........michi ni koetari...........We go beyond the six realms.

Which directly tells me the Nirmanakayas are in addition to the Six Realms.

Note that Vispawsi is said to have planted the lotus on which Swayambhu appeared in Nepal, and all the successive Buddhas of the Past were said to make pilgrimages there.

Buddha's Forty-Nine Days of Enlightenment were described by Theosophy as teaching the life cycle or incarnation cycle of an individual. HPB seems to have missed this apparently crucial Seven Buddha practice, although it seems to be prevalent in the Siamese and Japanese systems, which were probably not what she was given in Tibet.

In that Seven Heroic Buddhas marks off three as coming "from above", it bears an uncanny resemblance to the Solar Trinity moving from Venus to inaugurate the Dhyani Buddhas of Earth, shown by the full glyph of Venus-Earth wherein Venus is uppermost. It sounds Kumara-like, and same pattern of three needing the Square, Earth principle, in order to manifest--Manu. With occult color, we found Prithivi--Earth as the force of Buddhi.

From these hierarchies--which we call Families--of male and female, peaceful and wrathful, etc., and developing occult samadhi, does this pattern have to do with something, yes, the body, and, beyond. The whole personal incarnation and its post mortem experience is 100 Peaceful and Wrathful Deities. Here is a Kagyu giving the explanation for occult chelaship, where in the final words we may translate certainty + dissolve = Vajradhara:

http://www.dharma-media.org/ratnashr...n/****hro.html

We are not really using the First Translation of Padmasambhava, the "system of Samantabhadra", but the Second Translation "system of Vajradhara". So in examining the vitally important deity list, we are thinking of a Guhyagarbha version:

http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?t...athful_deities

The entrance to cave 17 at Ajanta portrays the Seven Buddhas plus Maitreya. They are the top row over the door, above the eight couples:


_______________________________________________________

[Chris]

Regarding this section:

"So far I haven't come across historical materials about the Seven Buddhas that exactly nails them to a spot; they kind of feel to be kind of an average frequency over a given area. They seem to get divided differently about actually coming from Earth or having lived elsewhere before it was made, or not having lived yet, and it revolves around Manushi Buddhas, those who incarnate as human beings. But we must consider all of these Nirmanakayas as having come from a human form--past or future."

I believe the idea of the evolution of the soul is a central teaching in all three Eastern Religions. Every living thing starts out small and simple, then it gradually evolves into higher forms of life in the cycle of reincarnation. It would therefore logically follow, that all Devas, Asuras, Buddhas, etc... were once human, at least to a certain degree. From my understanding of the Puranas, every solar system has planets like ours and they are populated by various humanoid beings, most of them looking just like us. The most interesting planet mentioned is in my opinion, the planet Vaikuntha, Vishnu's home planet.

I don't remember the exact story or the names from the Bhagavata Purana, as I read this a really long time ago, but one of his devotees makes such an impression on him, that he sends his charioteer, who drives a fiery, roaring chariot in the sky, to pick him up and take him to Vaikuntha. He tells him that he first needs to transmute his body into pure light, and he starts shining like the devas. He is then taken across the stars in this other, higher density or vibrational form. When he arrives on the planet, he describes what it looks like (basically, a paradise) and he is greeted by Vishnu himself. However, he is astonished to discover that Vishnu isn't some supreme God that lords over the universe, but just one of many beings on that planet that look exactly like him. That is, they are blue and have four arms. When he eventually returns to earth, he is returned to his original, lower vibratory state. I think there is a lesson to learn from this regarding our assumptions about higher beings.

[shaberon]

Ok, so the previous post for Nirmanakayas is some cutting from the mass of notes so I can get these things set up with links from the mandalas. I added the Gayatri at the bottom of page 12, and that post may perhaps be knocked into shape as the "beginning". We might not necessarily have to justify why or how there are seven mandalas just to get started.

I figured it out, and that JHVH mantra definitely applies to Gatekeepers of the Four Directions with the weapons Hook, Noose, Chain, Bell, in that order, which each have their esoteric meanings. So Bell (Ghanta) is last. You will see on the Vajradhara image for instance, that Dorje and Bell are his implements, and meditators use these regularly. One of them is phallic and one is not. The bell, symbolically Female, is emptiness and Prajna. If you get a well-made Dorje & Bell they are also covered with symbols that teach all these same things. Basically you have to get the Gatekeepers in order so the last one, Snake--Kundalini, rings out her Prajna and your balanced energy rises to the next chakra. And I believe those weapons are basically the Four Enlightened Activities of Tara and most of the goddesses.

I found the thing that I lost when I hit that description of Gatekeepers in the solar plexus. The Profound explanation has been published very recently in Australia by Bodo Balsys: An Esoteric Exposition of the Bardo Thodol. There are two of these books and the are part five of at least a six-volume set. That would be a magnificent thing to get and have, but, we're working for free here. And this is exactly why I have maintained that standard, exoteric versions that just give me a picture of animal-headed deities are useless--because they have no explanations--and his seem to be very well done. Never heard of the guy but I expect he comes out 90% identical to what we already have.

Even in the introduction, he gives "49 days of Bardo" as the 7 x 7 modes of experience due to different sheaths of substance (matter), same as we said. He gives three Dharmakaya levels: adi, anupadaka, and atma. We follow closely with three levels of Dharmadhatu Wisdom on steps 5, 6, and 7. If not identical, very close at least.

And then he says that the standard Five Buddha Wisdoms merge into a higher two from Adi Buddha. Pretty much the same thing. The main difference is that instead of adding Vajrasattva "on top", we put him at the beginning. He is the highest thing in common to all Mahayana practice, and so I would say, the necessary factor for the beginning of esoterics.

So that Esoteric Exposition would be an incredible resource to have, but we are relegated to drawing from a few of its explanations. We want to have a core of the essentials instead of a mega-encyclopedia. That is the way of Namasangiti, and why it is a relatively brief text that contains all of the Root Tantra, Kalachakra and Hundred Deity from Bardo Thodol.

[shaberon]

Posted by Chris (here)
Every living thing starts out small and simple, then it gradually evolves into higher forms of life in the cycle of reincarnation. It would therefore logically follow, that all Devas, Asuras, Buddhas, etc... were once human, at least to a certain degree. From my understanding of the Puranas, every solar system has planets like ours and they are populated by various humanoid beings, most of them looking just like us. The most interesting planet mentioned is in my opinion, the planet Vaikuntha, Vishnu's home planet.

On the Evolutionary Arc, yes, but in terms of Prakritic or Elemental Consciousness, sort of the opposite--not related to human and involved with matter itself. Of course with these, we have nothing to do. So essentially yes, it expands.

As with the Root and Seed Manu, it is reasonable to say that at the end of our planetary system, a single Dhyan Chohan will become Seven Dhyan Chohans in another cosmos.

Vaikuntha Loka--and this may be a world of numerous Vaikuntha planets--as Vishnu's highest or home abode--is somewhere completely above our humble system. From the few who are really able to break and leave our Earth's embrace and enter one of the other spheres, very few indeed would make it to this realm. Yes this would be an object of highest possible knowledge.

None but an Adept is able to see the true Transcendental form of a deity, and this is merely with respect to the Mind-Born ones here. Vishnu's form that was revealed in that story makes him sound effortless, which is a stage reached far beyond initial mindfulness training. We say he holds everything in potential.

We would probably have to say that most of the Nirmanakayas are not able to achieve Vaikuntha Loka. Maybe only a Full Buddha could do it. Would seem to require a concept-free state of mind at the very least.

[Chris]

Posted by shaberon (here)

Posted by Chris (here)
Every living thing starts out small and simple, then it gradually evolves into higher forms of life in the cycle of reincarnation. It would therefore logically follow, that all Devas, Asuras, Buddhas, etc... were once human, at least to a certain degree. From my understanding of the Puranas, every solar system has planets like ours and they are populated by various humanoid beings, most of them looking just like us. The most interesting planet mentioned is in my opinion, the planet Vaikuntha, Vishnu's home planet.

On the Evolutionary Arc, yes, but in terms of Prakritic or Elemental Consciousness, sort of the opposite--not related to human and involved with matter itself. Of course with these, we have nothing to do. So essentially yes, it expands.

As with the Root and Seed Manu, it is reasonable to say that at the end of our planetary system, a single Dhyan Chohan will become Seven Dhyan Chohans in another cosmos.

Vaikuntha Loka--and this may be a world of numerous Vaikuntha planets--as Vishnu's highest or home abode--is somewhere completely above our humble system. From the few who are really able to break and leave our Earth's embrace and enter one of the other spheres, very few indeed would make it to this realm. Yes this would be an object of highest possible knowledge.

None but an Adept is able to see the true Transcendental form of a deity, and this is merely with respect to the Mind-Born ones here. Vishnu's form that was revealed in that story makes him sound effortless, which is a stage reached far beyond initial mindfulness training. We say he holds everything in potential.

We would probably have to say that most of the Nirmanakayas are not able to achieve Vaikuntha Loka. Maybe only a Full Buddha could do it. Would seem to require a concept-free state of mind at the very least.

Hmmm, interesting take.

I can generally only grasp about half of what you are saying, I haven't done the deep research into Buddhism like you have. I have looked into Hinduism in a bit more detail, mostly when I was younger.

This is only my take as I have had my own encounters with what you would call celestial beings. This happened after a Kundalini awakening about 6 years ago, so make of it what you will.

I think that all planets exist in all densities, if you are familiar with this Law of One term. Density is a signifier of the vibratory frequency of each material, or created thing. Basically whatever is part of Maya, the illusory universe. Ra, of the Law of One describes each density as akin to an octave, it is a band of frequency described by its harmonious nature, which has seven suboctaves and so on.

In this interpretation the planet Vaikuntha likely exists in all densities. The beings that are like Vishnu, exist on a higher density and would not normally be visible to us, hence the requirement to transmute the body into a higher density, before going there. However, if we could find a way to get there in our third density bodies, say via a starship, or a portal of some sort, we could still walk as humans on the planet, but we wouldn't be able to interact directly with members of the Vishnu species. At least that's my interpretation.

"None but an Adept is able to see the true Transcendental form of a deity" - regarding this statement, I'm not sure what you mean by True Transcendental Form. If you have activated your third eye by raising your Kundalini, you can see these beings as pure light. That is why they are called Devas or Shining Ones, because they radiate pure light. They can however go from a pure light body to something more akin to a physical body, where you can see their faces and at least an outline of their bodies. Still, they shine so brightly, it is actually difficult to see them properly. However, they can touch you, both inside and outside your body, for purposes of healing or comfort. They also communicate telepathically, so they can send you feelings, emotions, images, visions (moving images), words, thoughts and even entire sentences in some cases. That is just my experience with the Devas anyway, I wouldn't want to influence your beliefs, but I thought you might be interested in my actual encounters with them.

As for the Vishnu beings of Vaikuntha Loka, they are likely several densities above us, so we won't be able to directly interact with them until we evolve to the same level. My contact with various Devas has taught me that when we refer to them as "Vishnu" or in terms of their egyptian equivalents, such as Ra (who is probably Surya in Hindu terms, the Sun God), they have a collective consciousness and don't think of themselves as separate beings. So there really is just one Vishnu and one Ra, in terms of their consciousness, but they exist in many different bodies and forms, across many densities. They share the same divine mind and consciousness though.