classes ::: Sanskrit,
children :::
branches ::: Loka

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object:Loka
language class:Sanskrit

--- QUOTES & DEFS

loka. ::: "world"; there are fourteen worlds in the universe; seven higher ones swarga and seven lower ones patala
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi glossary

loka a way in which conscious being images itself, a world or plane of existence, including planes other than the material world, with which we may come into contact by an opening of our mind and life parts to a great range of subjective-objective experiences in which these planes present themselves no longer as extensions of subjective being and consciousness, but as worlds; for the experiences there are organised as they are in our own world, but on a different plan, with a ... different process and law of action and in a substance which belongs to a supraphysical Nature. The principal lokas, described as the seven worlds, are in ascending order: bhu (the world of anna1, matter), bhuvar (the world of pran.a, life-force), svar (the world of manas, mind), maharloka (the world of vijnana, gnosis), janaloka (the world of ananda, bliss), tapoloka (the world of [cit-]tapas, [consciousness]force), and satyaloka (the world of sat, absolute existence); when the three highest planes are combined into one world of saccidananda (existence-consciousness-bliss), the result is a scheme of ve worlds, sometimes counted in descending order so that bhu becomes the fth.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Record of Yoga glossary

anandaloka (anandaloka; ananda-loka; ananda loka) the world anandaloka (loka) of the supreme bliss (ananda) of saccidananda, the plane of the joy of absolute identity in innumerable oneness, where all consciousness is of the bliss of the Innite, all power is power of the bliss of the Innite, all forms and activities are forms and activities of the bliss of the Innite; there is also a repetition of the Ananda plane in each lower world of consciousness, but in the lower planes not only is it reached by a sort of dissolution into it of the pure mind or the life-sense or the physical awareness, but it is, as it were, itself diluted by the dissolved form of mind, life or matter, held in the dilution and turned into a poor thinness wonderful to the lower consciousness but not comparable to its true intensities.

bhu earth, the plane of terrestrial existence; the world of Matter bhu (anna1), which is Sachchidananda represented to His own mental experience as a formal basis of objective knowledge, action and delight of existence, the lowest world of the triloka; it includes the physical plane, along with its vital and mental envelopes (triloka in bhu), and the subtle bhu.

bhuvar the plane of the life-principle (pran.a), consisting of multiple dynamic worlds formative of the Earth, the second plane of the triloka; the vital layer of the material world (see bhuvar of bhu).

brahmaloka the world of the brahman in which the soul is one with the innite existence and yet able to enjoy differentiation in the oneness.

caitanyaloka (chaitanyaloka) the world of pure and innite consciousness (usually not distinguished from tapoloka).

candraloka (chandraloka) the world of the moon (candra1, symbol of the mind reecting the light of surya1, the sun of Truth); the higher ...^L42 of the two planes of svar, corresponding to buddhi (intelligence).1

chayaloka (chhayaloka) the shadowy world; same as patala. chayaloka

gan.aloka the world of the gan.as. ganaloka

goloka the Vaishnava heaven of eternal beauty and bliss.

janaloka the world (loka) of the creative delight of existence, the plane of ananda, also called anandaloka, where the soul may dwell . . . in the principle of innite self-existent delight and be aware .82 of the divine Ananda creating out of its self-existence by its energy whatever harmony of being. janamaya dr drsti

maharloka the world (loka) of vastness (mahas); the plane whose basis is vijnana or supermind, which links saccidananda in the higher hemisphere of existence (parardha) with the mental, vital and physical principles in the lower hemisphere (aparardha) and makes it possible to realise the one Existence, Consciousness, Delight in the mould of the mind, life and body.

manas mind, the psychological principle or degree of consciousness that is the basis of the mental world (manoloka or svar), the highest plane of the triloka and the summit of the aparardha or lower hemisphere of existence; in its essence, a consciousness which measures,^L limits, cuts out forms of things from the indivisible whole and contains them as if each were a separate integer; the sensational mind, the original sense [indriya] which perceives all objects and reacts upon them, capable not only of a translation into sense of so much of the outer impacts as it receives through the nervous system and the physical organs, but also of a subtle sight, hearing, power of contact of its own which is not dependent on the physical organs; the principle that governs the realm of svarga, the lower plane of svar; (on page 1281) the name of a particular svarga.

manoloka the mental world, a loka where mind is not determined by material conditions or by the life-force, but itself determines and uses them for its own satisfaction; the mental layer of the material world (see manoloka of bhu). manoloka of bh bhu

Meruloka the world of Meru, the mountain of the gods at the centre of the earth.

akasa (akasha) any subtle ether (suks.ma akasa) belonging to the mental plane, such as the cittakasa; the mental ether of the material plane, the highest akasa of the triloka in bhu.

suryaloka the world of the sun of knowledge (surya1), symbolising suryaloka the plane of vijnana.

svar (swar) the luminous world, the world of luminous intelligence of which Indra is the lord, comprising the planes at the summit of the mental consciousness; the mental world (manoloka), the highest plane of the triloka; its lower principle of manas, sensational mind, and higher principle of buddhi, intelligence, are manifested in the two realms of svarga and candraloka, respectively.

svarloka (swarloka) the world (loka) of mind; same as svar.

tapoloka the world (loka) of innite Will or conscious force, the plane where the soul may dwell . . . in the principle of innite conscious energy (tapas or cit-tapas) and be aware of it unrolling out of self-existence the works of knowledge, will and dynamic soul-action for the enjoyment of an innite delight of the being.

triloka (triloka; trilok) the three lokas or worlds (physical, vital and mental, called bhu, bhuvar and svar) of the aparardha or lower hemisphere of existence. Each plane has its own triloka, in which the principles of the other two planes are subordinated to its own principle; in their totality they are described as thrice seven, because each contains in itself not only the principles of all three worlds of the lower hemisphere, but the four principles of the higher hemisphere (parardha).


vijnana loka the world (loka) of vijnana, same as maharloka, the plane of the gnosis where the innite . . . is very concretely . . . the foundation from which everything nite forms itself. vij nanam

--- CHAPTERS
1.02.4.1 - The Worlds - Surya
2.03 - The Worlds
2.21 - The Order of the Worlds
2.22 - Rebirth and Other Worlds; Karma, the Soul and Immortality
2.3.01 - The Planes or Worlds of Consciousness
7.6.02 - The World Game

--- FOOTER
see also ::: planes, world, the World, Game World, world knowledge, world building, the Fashioners, Heaven, Lila,




see also ::: Game_World, Heaven, Lila, planes, the_Fashioners, the_World, world_building, world_knowledge, world

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now begins generated list of local instances, definitions, quotes, instances in chapters, wordnet info if available and instances among weblinks


OBJECT INSTANCES [0] - TOPICS - AUTHORS - BOOKS - CHAPTERS - CLASSES - SEE ALSO - SIMILAR TITLES

TOPICS
SEE ALSO

Game_World
Heaven
Lila
planes
the_Fashioners
the_World
world_building
world_knowledge
world

AUTH

BOOKS
Letters_On_Yoga
Letters_On_Yoga_I
Writings_In_Bengali_and_Sanskrit

IN CHAPTERS TITLE

IN CHAPTERS CLASSNAME

IN CHAPTERS TEXT
00.03_-_Upanishadic_Symbolism
02.02_-_Rishi_Dirghatama
03.04_-_The_Body_Human
03.14_-_Mater_Dolorosa
04.01_-_The_Divine_Man
04.03_-_Consciousness_as_Energy
05.02_-_Gods_Labour
10.02_-_Beyond_Vedanta
1.013_-_Defence_Mechanisms_of_the_Mind
1.02.4.1_-_The_Worlds_-_Surya
1.02_-_The_Development_of_Sri_Aurobindos_Thought
1.032_-_Our_Concept_of_God
1.03_-_Measure_of_time,_Moments_of_Kashthas,_etc.
1.03_-_The_Two_Negations_2_-_The_Refusal_of_the_Ascetic
1.03_-_YIBHOOTI_PADA
1.04_-_Narayana_appearance,_in_the_beginning_of_the_Kalpa,_as_the_Varaha_(boar)
1.04_-_The_Gods_of_the_Veda
1.05_-_Ritam
1.06_-_Iconography
1.06_-_Origin_of_the_four_castes
1.07_-_The_Ideal_Law_of_Social_Development
1.08_-_The_Gods_of_the_Veda_-_The_Secret_of_the_Veda
1.1.02_-_Sachchidananda
1.10_-_The_descendants_of_the_daughters_of_Daksa_married_to_the_Rsis
1.10_-_The_Methods_and_the_Means
1.1.2_-_Commentary
1.12_-_The_Significance_of_Sacrifice
1.13_-_The_Lord_of_the_Sacrifice
1.14_-_The_Principle_of_Divine_Works
1.17_-_M._AT_DAKSHINEWAR
1.17_-_The_Divine_Birth_and_Divine_Works
1.18_-_The_Divine_Worker
1.19_-_Equality
1.2.01_-_The_Upanishadic_and_Purancic_Systems
12.05_-_The_World_Tragedy
1.20_-_Equality_and_Knowledge
1.22__-_Dominion_over_different_provinces_of_creation_assigned_to_different_beings
1.240_-_1.300_Talks
1.240_-_Talks_2
1.26_-_The_Ascending_Series_of_Substance
1.300_-_1.400_Talks
1.3.2.01_-_I._The_Entire_Purpose_of_Yoga
1.37_-_Death_-_Fear_-_Magical_Memory
1.400_-_1.450_Talks
14.03_-_Janaka_and_Yajnavalkya
14.04_-_More_of_Yajnavalkya
1.439
1.47_-_Reincarnation
1.550_-_1.600_Talks
2.01_-_On_Books
2.01_-_The_Yoga_and_Its_Objects
2.02_-_The_Ishavasyopanishad_with_a_commentary_in_English
2.02_-_THE_SCINTILLA
2.03_-_Karmayogin__A_Commentary_on_the_Isha_Upanishad
2.04_-_On_Art
2.06_-_Works_Devotion_and_Knowledge
2.07_-_The_Supreme_Word_of_the_Gita
2.08_-_AT_THE_STAR_THEATRE_(II)
2.08_-_God_in_Power_of_Becoming
2.1.02_-_Nature_The_World-Manifestation
2.10_-_The_Vision_of_the_World-Spirit_-_Time_the_Destroyer
2.12_-_On_Miracles
2.12_-_The_Way_and_the_Bhakta
2.15_-_On_the_Gods_and_Asuras
2.18_-_January_1939
22.04_-_On_The_Brink(I)
2.20_-_Nov-Dec_1939
2.22_-_The_Supreme_Secret
2.24_-_Gnosis_and_Ananda
2.3.02_-_Mantra_and_Japa
2.3.02_-_The_Supermind_or_Supramental
24.05_-_Vision_of_Dante
30.05_-_Rhythm_in_Poetry
30.11_-_Modern_Poetry
3.03_-_The_Godward_Emotions
3.1.01_-_Distinctive_Features_of_the_Integral_Yoga
3.1.02_-_Spiritual_Evolution_and_the_Supramental
3.1.04_-_Transformation_in_the_Integral_Yoga
3.2.02_-_The_Veda_and_the_Upanishads
32.04_-_The_Human_Body
3.2.08_-_Bhakti_Yoga_and_Vaishnavism
3.2.2_-_Sleep
34.10_-_Hymn_To_Earth
36.07_-_An_Introduction_To_The_Vedas
36.08_-_A_Commentary_on_the_First_Six_Suktas_of_Rigveda
36.09_-_THE_SIT_SUKTA
37.03_-_Satyakama_And_Upakoshala
3_-_Commentaries_and_Annotated_Translations
4.24_-_The_supramental_Sense
4.2.4_-_Time_and_CHange_of_the_Nature
5.4.01_-_Notes_on_Root-Sounds
6.0_-_Conscious,_Unconscious,_and_Individuation
9.99_-_Glossary
BOOK_II._--_PART_I._ANTHROPOGENESIS.
BOOK_II._--_PART_II._THE_ARCHAIC_SYMBOLISM_OF_THE_WORLD-RELIGIONS
BOOK_I._--_PART_I._COSMIC_EVOLUTION
BOOK_I._--_PART_III._SCIENCE_AND_THE_SECRET_DOCTRINE_CONTRASTED
BOOK_I._--_PART_II._THE_EVOLUTION_OF_SYMBOLISM_IN_ITS_APPROXIMATE_ORDER
Jaap_Sahib_Text_(Guru_Gobind_Singh)
Liber_71_-_The_Voice_of_the_Silence_-_The_Two_Paths_-_The_Seven_Portals
r1912_01_13
r1912_07_17
r1913_12_26
r1914_05_22
r1914_07_13
r1914_07_21
r1914_07_23
r1914_08_13
r1914_09_01
r1914_09_04
r1914_10_05
r1914_10_07
r1914_11_18
r1914_11_19
r1914_12_13
r1914_12_14
r1914_12_21
r1915_05_20
r1915_05_21
r1915_05_22
r1917_02_17
r1919_07_20
r1919_07_27
Sayings_of_Sri_Ramakrishna_(text)
SB_1.1_-_Questions_by_the_Sages
Talks_001-025
Talks_051-075
Talks_076-099
Talks_100-125
Talks_176-200
Talks_225-239
Talks_500-550
Talks_600-652
Talks_With_Sri_Aurobindo_1
Talks_With_Sri_Aurobindo_2

PRIMARY CLASS

SIMILAR TITLES
Loka

DEFINITIONS


TERMS STARTING WITH

Loka-chakshus (Sanskrit) Loka-cakṣus [from loka world + cakṣus eye] The eye of the world; also one name of the sun.

Lokaloka (Sanskrit) Lokāloka [from loka world + aloka unworld] The world and that which is not the world, the world and the invisible worlds, the inner ranges of being. In the mythological geography of the Puranas, said to be the belt or circle of mountains surrounding the outermost of the seven seas and dividing the visible or manifest world from the invisible or unmanifest worlds, often called the region of darkness (darkness here signifying merely nonvisible).

Lokanatha (Sanskrit) Lokanātha [from loka world + nātha refuge, protector] World refuge or world protector; law. A title of Gautama Buddha, conveying the idea that he is the spiritual refuge and protector of our world.

Lokapala-sabha-varnana (Sanskrit) Lokapāla-sabhā-varṇana [from lokapāla world protector + sabhā assembly + varṇana description] The description of the assembling of the world protectors (rajarshis); see Mahabharata, Sabha Parva, Section 20:233(8) (Debroy tr.) cited by Subba Row, Notes on the Bhagavad Gita, Section 2.

Lokapalas (Sanskrit) Lokapāla-s [from loka world + pāla protector from the verbal root pā to protect] The spiritual supporters, rulers, and guardians either of a universe or of a world. The cosmic, solar, or planetary spirits who preside over the eight points of the compass, among them being the four Maharajas. Each of these guardian spirits has an elephant (or other symbolic animal) who takes part in the defense and protection of the quarter, and these eight elephants are themselves sometimes called lokapalas. These elephants and their spouses pertain “to fancy and afterthought, though all of them have an occult significance” (SD 1:128). According to the Hindu pantheon, Indra presides over the east; Agni, the southeast; Yama, the south; Surya, the southwest; Varuna, the west; Vayu, the northwest; Kuvera, the north; and Soma, the northeast.

Lokaratha. See LOKANATHA

Lokasangraha: Solidarity of the world; uplift of the world.

Loka(Sanskrit) ::: A word meaning "place" or "locality" or, as much more frequently used in theosophy, a"world" or "sphere" or "plane."The lokas are divided into rupa-lokas and arupa-lokas -- "material worlds" and "spiritual spheres." Thereis a wide range of teaching connected with the lokas and talas which belongs to the deeper reaches of theesoteric philosophy. (See also Arupa, Rupa, Tala)

Loka (Sanskrit) Loka Place, locality; in Brahmanic literature, heavens; in theosophical literature, world, sphere, plane. Used in the metaphysical systems of India, both in contrast to and in conjunction with tala (inferior world). “Wherever there is a loka there is an exactly correspondential tala, and in fact, the tala is the nether pole of its corresponding loka. Lokas and talas, therefore, in a way of speaking, may be considered to be the spiritual and the material aspects or substance-principles of the different worlds which compose and in fact are the kosmic universe” (OG 168). The lokas and talas must be thought of by twos: a loka and its corresponding tala can no more be separated than can the two poles of a magnet. They are the two sides of being, the two contrasting forces of nature, the light-side and the night-side.

Loka: World of names and forms

Lokayata: Materialist; Charvaka.

loka ::: "a way in which conscious being images itself", a world or plane of existence, including planes other than the material world, with which we may come into contact by "an opening of our mind and life parts to a great range of subjective-objective experiences in which these planes present themselves no longer as extensions of subjective being and consciousness, but as worlds; for the experiences there are organised as they are in our own world, but on a different plan, with a ... different process and law of action and in a substance which belongs to a supraphysical Nature". The principal lokas, described as the "seven worlds", are in ascending order: bhū (the world of anna1, matter), bhuvar (the world of pran.a, life-force), svar (the world of manas, mind), maharloka (the world of vijñana, gnosis), janaloka (the world of ananda, bliss), tapoloka (the world of [cit-]tapas, [consciousness]force), and satyaloka (the world of sat, absolute existence); when the three highest planes are combined into one world of saccidananda (existence-consciousness-bliss), the result is a scheme of five worlds, sometimes counted in descending order so that bhū becomes the fifth.

lokadarsanam (lokadarshanam) ::: same as lokadr.s.t.i. lokadarsanam

lokadhamma. See LOKADHARMA

lokadharma. (P. lokadhamma; T. 'jig rten gyi chos; C. shifa; J. seho; K. sebop 世法). In Sanskrit, "worldly factors," a polysemous term that in its most general sense indicates mundane factors (DHARMA) that arise and cease according to causes and conditions (HETUPRATYAYA). The term also refers to worldly ways and principles, which can be summed up as the process of birth, decay, and death. However, in its most common usage, the term lokadharma is understood as referring to eight worldly conditions or states (AstALOKADHARMA) that govern all of mundane life in this world: gain (lābha) and loss (alābha), fame (yasas) and disgrace (ayasas), praise (prasaMsā) and blame (nindā), and happiness (SUKHA) and suffering (DUḤKHA). Each of these states will inevitably befall any sentient being trapped in the cycle of continued existence (SAMSĀRA). In this schema, the lokadharma are understood as four complimentary pairs: gain (lābha) is the inevitable precursor of loss (alābha) and loss the inevitable outcome of gain; and so forth for the other three pairs. Learning to react with equanimity to each of these worldly conditions will lead to nonattachment and ultimately enlightenment.

lokadharma

lokadhātu

lokadhātu. (T. 'jig rten pa'i khams; C. shijie; J. sekai; K. segye 世界). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "worldly realm" or "world system"; a cosmos within SAMSĀRA that consists of the four continents, a central Mount SUMERU, etc. See AVACARA; TRAIDHĀTUKA.

lokadr.s.t.i (lokadrishti) ::: vision of the worlds, knowledge of the planes lokadrsti of existence (lokas). It includes ihalokadr.s.t.i, vision of this world, and paralokadr.s.t.i, vision of other worlds.

lokaishana. ::: desire for fame

loka-mahesvara ::: the mighty lord of the worlds and peoples. [Gita 5.29]

lokapāla

lokapāla. (T. 'jig rten skyong ba; C. si tianwang; J. shitenno; K. sa ch'onwang 四天王). In Sanskrit, "world guardians" or "protectors of the world"; an alternate name for the four "great kings" (mahārāja) of heaven, who were converted by the Buddha and entrusted with protecting the inhabitants of the world. The world guardians reside in the first and lowest of the six heavens of the sensuous realm of existence (KĀMADHĀTU), the heaven of the four great kings (CĀTURMAHĀRĀJAKĀYIKA). They are vassals of sAKRA, the lord or king (INDRA) of the gods (DEVA) (sAKRO DEVĀNĀM INDRAḤ), who is lord of the heaven of the thirty-three devas (TRĀYASTRIMsA), the second of the six sensuous realm heavens, which is located at the summit of the world's central axis of Mount SUMERU. The world guardians' names are (1) DHṚTARĀstRA, who guards the gate to the east at the midslope of Mount Sumeru, which leads to the continent of VIDEHA; (2) VIRudHAKA in the south, who guards the gate that leads to JAMBUDVĪPA; (3) VIRuPĀKsA in the west, who guards the gate that leads to GODĀNĪYA; and (4) VAIsRAVAnA in the north, who guards the gate that leads to UTTARAKURU. Of the eight classes of demigods, who are subservient to the world guardians, Dhṛtarāstra rules over the GANDHARVA and putana; Virudhaka over the KUMBHĀndA and PRETA; Virupāksa over the NĀGA and PIsĀCA; and Vaisravana over the YAKsA and RĀKsASA. The four world guardians began as indigenous Indian or Central Asian deities, who were eventually incorporated into Buddhism; they seem to have been originally associated with royal (KsATRIYA) lineages, and their connections with royal warfare are evidenced in the suits of armor they come to wear as their cult is transmitted from Central Asia to China, Korea, and Japan.

lokasamgraham evapi sampasyan kartum arhasi ::: thou shouldst do works regarding also the holding together of the peoples. [Gita 3.20]

lokasamgraharthaya ::: for the keeping together and control of the world and its peoples. [cf. the preceding]

lokasamgraha ::: the holding together of the race (in its cyclic evolution). ::: lokasamgrahaya [dative]

loka

loka. (T. 'jig rten; C. shijie/shijian; J. sekai/seken; K. segye/segan 世界/世間). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "world," or "realm"; a polysemous term with a wide range of literal and figurative senses. Literally, loka is used to refer to a specific realm of various types of beings as well as more broadly to an entire world system (see LOKADHĀTU, TRAIDHĀTUKA), with Mount SUMERU at the center; the term can also refer collectively to the inhabitants of such a world. In a figurative sense, loka carries many of the connotations of "world" in English ("worldly," "mundane") to refer to SAMSĀRA and its qualities, which, although attractive to the unenlightened, are subject to impermanence (ANITYA). Such a world is contrasted with what is, lit. "beyond the world" or LOKOTTARA, a term used to describe the "supramundane" aspirations and achievements of those seeking liberation.

loka ::: world.

loka. ::: "world"; there are fourteen worlds in the universe &


TERMS ANYWHERE

1) the Jewish soul &

3. The heaven of ultimate radiance (ĀBHĀSVARALOKA)

Aanroo, Aanre (Egyptian) Ȧanru, Ȧanre. More fully, Sekhet-Aanre (the fields of the reeds); more often called Aarru or Sekhet-Aarru; also Aanru, Aaru. The first region of the Afterworlds (Amenti) reached by the deceased in the afterdeath state, which he enters as a khu. “The second division of Amenti. The celestial field of Aanroo is encircled by an iron wall. The field is covered with wheat, and the ‘Defunct’ are represented gleaning it, for the ‘Master of Eternity’; some stalks being three, others five, and the highest seven cubits high. Those who reached the last two numbers entered the state of bliss (which is called in Theosophy Devachan); the disembodied spirits whose harvest was but three cubits high went into lower regions (Kamaloka). Wheat was with the Egyptians the symbol of the Law of Retribution or Karma. The cubits had reference to the seven, five and three human ‘principles’ ” (TG 1).

Abaddon (Hebrew) ’Abaddōn [from the verbal root ’ābad to perish, be cut off] Destruction, abyss; the region of the dead, synonym of She’ol in the Old Testament. Equivalent to the Greek apollyon (destruction, laying waste — Rev 9:11). Thus Abaddon, Apollyon, Hades, and Orcus all signify the underworld — the kama-loka or region of disintegrating “shells,” human or other.

AbhAsvarAloka. (P. Abhassaraloka; T. 'od gsal ba; C. jiguangjing tian/guangyintian; J. gokukojoten/koonten; K. kŭkkwangjong ch'on/kwangŭmch'on 極光淨天/光音天). In Sanskrit, the "heaven of radiant light" (in Chinese, the name is also parsed as the "heaven of radiant sound"), the highest of the three heavens associated with the second concentration (DHYANA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU). As the BRAHMA divinities dwelling in this realm perpetually experience this profound state of meditation, they are described as subsisting on bliss (PRĪTI) and abiding in ease (SUKHA). Their bodies radiate light in all directions like lightning or like flames from a torch. While the bodies of the divinities of this realm are uniform, their perceptions are diverse, and there is no assurance that they will not be reborn in a lower realm of existence after their death. At the beginning of a world cycle, when the physical world (BHAJANALOKA) of the sensuous realm (KAMADHATU) has not yet been formed, and at the end of a world cycle when that physical world has been destroyed, many beings are reborn into the AbhAsvarAloka. A BODHISATTVA is never reborn in the immaterial realm (ARuPYADHATU) even if he has achieved meditative states consistent with that realm, but he may be reborn in the AbhAsvarAloka. The Buddha once disabused a BrahmA god dwelling in that realm of the mistaken view that he was eternal. This god, whose name was Baka, had been the first living being born in the AbhAsvarAloka after a period of world dissolution, and presumed that no one had existed before him. When the divinities (DEVA) of the AbhAsvarAloka are first reborn in the realm of human beings (MANUsYA), they may retain their divine attributes for a time, being spontaneously generated rather than born viviparously, and possessing bodies made from subtle materiality rather than gross matter. However, as time passes and they take on the physical and mental characteristics of ordinary human beings, they lose their luminosity, develop sexual characteristics, and come to subsist on solid foods.

AbhidharmakosabhAsya. (T. Chos mngon pa'i mdzod kyi bshad pa; C. Apidamo jushe lun; J. Abidatsuma kusharon; K. Abidalma kusa non 阿毘達磨倶舎論). In Sanskrit, "A Treasury of ABHIDHARMA, with Commentary"; an influential scholastic treatise attributed to VASUBANDHU (c. fourth or fifth century CE). The AbhidharmakosabhAsya consists of two texts: the root text of the Abhidharmakosa, composed in verse (kArikA), and its prose autocommentary (bhAsya); this dual verse-prose structure comes to be emblematic of later SARVASTIVADA abhidharma literature. As the title suggests, the work is mainly concerned with abhidharma theory as it was explicated in the ABHIDHARMAMAHAVIBHAsA, the principal scholastic treatise of the VAIBHAsIKAABHIDHARMIKAs in the SarvAstivAda school. In comparison to the MahAvibhAsA, however, the AbhidharmakosabhAsya presents a more systematic overview of SarvAstivAda positions. At various points in his expositions, Vasubandhu criticizes the SarvAstivAda doctrine from the standpoint of the more progressive SAUTRANTIKA offshoot of the SarvAstivAda school, which elicited a spirited response from later SarvAstivAda-VaibhAsika scholars, such as SAMGHABHADRA in his *NYAYANUSARA. The AbhidharmakosabhAsya has thus served as an invaluable tool in the study of the history of the later MAINSTREAM BUDDHIST SCHOOLS. The Sanskrit texts of both the kArikA and the bhAsya were lost for centuries before being rediscovered in Tibet in 1934 and 1936, respectively. Two Chinese translations, by XUANZANG and PARAMARTHA, and one Tibetan translation of the work are extant. The Kosa is primarily concerned with a detailed elucidation of the polysemous term DHARMA, the causes (HETU) and conditions (PRATYAYA) that lead to continued rebirth in SAMSARA, and the soteriological stages of the path (MARGA) leading to enlightenment. The treatise is divided into eight major chapters, called kosasthAnas. (1) DhAtunirdesa, "Exposition on the Elements," divides dharmas into various categories, such as tainted (SASRAVA) and untainted (ANASRAVA), or compounded (SAMSKṚTA) and uncompounded (ASAMSKṚTA), and discusses the standard Buddhist classifications of the five aggregates (SKANDHA), twelve sense fields (AYATANA), and eighteen elements (DHATU). This chapter also includes extensive discussion of the theory of the four great elements (MAHABHuTA) that constitute materiality (RuPA) and the Buddhist theory of atoms or particles (PARAMAnU). (2) Indriyanirdesa, "Exposition on the Faculties," discusses a fivefold classification of dharmas into materiality (rupa), thought (CITTA), mental concomitants (CAITTA), forces dissociated from thought (CITTAVIPRAYUKTASAMSKARA), and the uncompounded (ASAMSKṚTA). This chapter also has extensive discussions of the six causes (HETU), the four conditions (PRATYAYA), and the five effects or fruitions (PHALA). (3) Lokanirdesa, "Exposition on the Cosmos," describes the formation and structure of a world system (LOKA), the different types of sentient beings, the various levels of existence, and the principle of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPADA) that governs the process of rebirth, which is discussed here in connection with the three time periods (TRIKALA) of past, present, and future. (4) Karmanirdesa, "Exposition on Action," discusses the different types of action (KARMAN), including the peculiar type of action associated with unmanifest materiality (AVIJNAPTIRuPA). The ten wholesome and unwholesome "paths of action" (KUsALA-KARMAPATHA and AKUsALA-KARMAPATHA) also receive a lengthy description. (5) Anusayanirdesa, "Exposition on the Proclivities," treats the ninety-eight types of ANUsAYA in relation to their sources and qualities and the relationship between the anusayas and other categories of unwholesome qualities, such as afflictions (KLEsA), contaminants (ASRAVA), floods (OGHA), and yokes (yoga). (6) MArgapudgalanirdesa, "Exposition on the Path and the [Noble] Persons," outlines how either insight into the four noble truths and carefully following a series of soteriological steps can remove defilements and transform the ordinary person into one of the noble persons (ARYAPUDGALA). (7) JNAnanirdesa, "Exposition on Knowledge," offers a detailed account of the ten types of knowledge and the distinctive attributes of noble persons and buddhas. (8) SamApattinirdesa, "Exposition on Attainment," discusses different categories of concentration (SAMADHI) and the attainments (SAMAPATTI) that result from their perfection. (9) Appended to this main body is a ninth section, an independent treatise titled the Pudgalanirdesa, "Exposition of the Notion of a Person." Here, Vasubandhu offers a detailed critique of the theory of the self, scrutinizing both the Buddhist PUDGALAVADA/VATSĪPUTRĪYA "heresy" of the inexpressible (avAcya) "person" (PUDGALA) being conventionally real and Brahmanical theories of a perduring soul (ATMAN). Numerous commentaries to the Kosa, such as those composed by VASUMITRA, YAsOMITRA, STHIRAMATI, and Purnavardhana, attest to its continuing influence in Indian Buddhist thought. The Kosa was also the object of vigorous study in the scholastic traditions of East Asia and Tibet, which produced many indigenous commentaries on the text and its doctrinal positions.

AbhidharmamahAvibhAsA. (T. Chos mngon pa bye brag bshad pa chen po; C. Apidamo dapiposha lun; J. Abidatsuma daibibasharon; K. Abidalma taebibasa non 阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論). In Sanskrit, "Great Exegesis of ABHIDHARMA," also commonly known as MahAvibhAsA; a massive VAIBHAsIKA treatise on SARVASTIVADA abhidharma translated into Chinese by the scholar-pilgrim XUANZANG and his translation bureau between 656 and 659 at XIMINGSI in the Tang capital of Chang'an. Although no Sanskrit version of this text is extant, earlier Chinese translations by Buddhavarman and others survive, albeit only in (equally massive) fragments. The complete Sanskrit text of the recension that Xuanzang used was in 100,000 slokas; his translation was in 200 rolls, making it one of the largest single works in the Buddhist canon. According to the account in Xuanzang's DA TANG XIYU JI, four hundred years after the Buddha's PARINIRVAnA, King KANIsKA gathered five hundred ARHATs to recite the Buddhist canon (TRIPItAKA). The ABHIDHARMAPItAKA of this canon, which is associated with the SarvAstivAda school, is said to have been redacted during this council (see COUNCIL, FOURTH). The central abhidharma treatise of the SarvAstivAda school is KATYAYANĪPUTRA's JNANAPRASTHANA, and the AbhidharmamahAvibhAsA purports to offer a comprehensive overview of varying views on the meaning of that seminal text by the five hundred arhats who were in attendance at the convocation. The comments of four major ABHIDHARMIKAs (Ghosa, DHARMATRATA, VASUMITRA, and Buddhadeva) are interwoven into the MahAvibhAsA's contextual analysis of KAtyAyanīputra's material from the JNAnaprasthAna, making the text a veritable encyclopedia of contemporary Buddhist scholasticism. Since the MahAvibhAsA also purports to be a commentary on the central text of the SarvAstivAda school, it therefore offers a comprehensive picture of the development of SarvAstivAda thought after the compilation of the JNAnaprasthAna. The MahAvibhAsA is divided into eight sections (grantha) and several chapters (varga), which systematically follow the eight sections and forty-three chapters of the JNAnaprasthAna in presenting its explication. Coverage of each topic begins with an overview of varying interpretations found in different Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools, detailed coverage of the positions of the four major SarvAstivAda Abhidharmikas, and finally the definitive judgment of the compilers, the KAsmīri followers of KAtyAyanĪputra, who call themselves the VibhAsAsAstrins. The MahAvibhAsA was the major influence on the systematic scholastic elaboration of SarvAstivAda doctrine that appears (though with occasional intrusions from the positions of the SarvAstivAda's more-progressive SAUTRANTIKA offshoot) in VASUBANDHU's influential ABHIDHARMAKOsABHAsYA, which itself elicited a spirited response from later SarvAstivAda-VaibhAsika scholars, such as SAMGHABHADRA in his *NYAYANUSARA. The MahAvibhAsa was not translated into Tibetan until the twentieth century, when a translation entitled Bye brag bshad mdzod chen mo was made at the Sino-Tibetan Institute by the Chinese monk FAZUN between 1946 and 1949. He presented a copy of the manuscript to the young fourteenth DALAI LAMA on the Dalai Lama's visit to Beijing in 1954, but it is not known whether it is still extant.

abhidharmapitaka. (P. abhidhammapitaka; T. chos mngon pa'i sde snod; C. lunzang; J. ronzo; K. nonjang 論藏). The third of the three "baskets" (PItAKA) of the Buddhist canon (TRIPItAKA). The abhidharmapitaka derives from attempts in the early Buddhist community to elucidate the definitive significance of the teachings of the Buddha, as compiled in the SuTRAs. Since the Buddha was well known to have adapted his message to fit the predilections and needs of his audience (cf. UPAYAKAUsALYA), there inevitably appeared inconsistencies in his teachings that needed to be resolved. The attempts to ferret out the definitive meaning of the BUDDHADHARMA through scholastic interpretation and exegesis eventually led to a new body of texts that ultimately were granted canonical status in their own right. These are the texts of the abhidharmapitaka. The earliest of these texts, such as the PAli VIBHAnGA and PUGGALAPANNATTI and the SARVASTIVADA SAMGĪTIPARYAYA and DHARMASKANDHA, are structured as commentaries to specific sutras or portions of sutras. These materials typically organized the teachings around elaborate doctrinal taxonomies, which were used as mnemonic devices or catechisms. Later texts move beyond individual sutras to systematize a wide range of doctrinal material, offering ever more complex analytical categorizations and discursive elaborations of the DHARMA. Ultimately, abhidharma texts emerge as a new genre of Buddhist literature in their own right, employing sophisticated philosophical speculation and sometimes even involving polemical attacks on the positions of rival factions within the SAMGHA. ¶ At least seven schools of Indian Buddhism transmitted their own recensions of abhidharma texts, but only two of these canons are extant in their entirety. The PAli abhidhammapitaka of the THERAVADA school, the only recension that survives in an Indian language, includes seven texts (the order of which often differs): (1) DHAMMASAnGAnI ("Enumeration of Dharmas") examines factors of mentality and materiality (NAMARuPA), arranged according to ethical quality; (2) VIBHAnGA ("Analysis") analyzes the aggregates (SKANDHA), conditioned origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPADA), and meditative development, each treatment culminating in a catechistic series of inquiries; (3) DHATUKATHA ("Discourse on Elements") categorizes all dharmas in terms of the skandhas and sense-fields (AYATANA); (4) PUGGALAPANNATTI ("Description of Human Types") analyzes different character types in terms of the three afflictions of greed (LOBHA), hatred (DVEsA), and delusion (MOHA) and various related subcategories; (5) KATHAVATTHU ("Points of Controversy") scrutinizes the views of rival schools of mainstream Buddhism and how they differ from the TheravAda; (6) YAMAKA ("Pairs") provides specific denotations of problematic terms through paired comparisons; (7) PAttHANA ("Conditions") treats extensively the full implications of conditioned origination. ¶ The abhidharmapitaka of the SARVASTIVADA school is extant only in Chinese translation, the definitive versions of which were prepared by XUANZANG's translation team in the seventh century. It also includes seven texts: (1) SAMGĪTIPARYAYA[PADAsASTRA] ("Discourse on Pronouncements") attributed to either MAHAKAUstHILA or sARIPUTRA, a commentary on the SaMgītisutra (see SAnGĪTISUTTA), where sAriputra sets out a series of dharma lists (MATṚKA), ordered from ones to elevens, to organize the Buddha's teachings systematically; (2) DHARMASKANDHA[PADAsASTRA] ("Aggregation of Dharmas"), attributed to sAriputra or MAHAMAUDGALYAYANA, discusses Buddhist soteriological practices, as well as the afflictions that hinder spiritual progress, drawn primarily from the AGAMAs; (3) PRAJNAPTIBHAsYA[PADAsASTRA] ("Treatise on Designations"), attributed to MaudgalyAyana, treats Buddhist cosmology (lokaprajNapti), causes (kArana), and action (KARMAN); (4) DHATUKAYA[PADAsASTRA] ("Collection on the Elements"), attributed to either PuRnA or VASUMITRA, discusses the mental concomitants (the meaning of DHATU in this treatise) and sets out specific sets of mental factors that are present in all moments of consciousness (viz., the ten MAHABHuMIKA) or all defiled states of mind (viz., the ten KLEsAMAHABHuMIKA); (5) VIJNANAKAYA[PADAsASTRA] ("Collection on Consciousness"), attributed to Devasarman, seeks to prove the veracity of the eponymous SarvAstivAda position that dharmas exist in all three time periods (TRIKALA) of past, present, and future, and the falsity of notions of the person (PUDGALA); it also provides the first listing of the four types of conditions (PRATYAYA); (6) PRAKARAnA[PADAsASTRA] ("Exposition"), attributed to VASUMITRA, first introduces the categorization of dharmas according to the more developed SarvAstivAda rubric of RuPA, CITTA, CAITTA, CITTAVIPRAYUKTASAMSKARA, and ASAMSKṚTA dharmas; it also adds a new listing of KUsALAMAHABHuMIKA, or factors always associated with wholesome states of mind; (7) JNANAPRASTHANA ("Foundations of Knowledge"), attributed to KATYAYANĪPUTRA, an exhaustive survey of SarvAstivAda dharma theory and the school's exposition of psychological states, which forms the basis of the massive encyclopedia of SarvAstivAda-VaibhAsika abhidharma, the ABHIDHARMAMAHAVIBHAsA. In the traditional organization of the seven canonical books of the SarvAstivAda abhidharmapitaka, the JNANAPRASTHANA is treated as the "body" (sARĪRA), or central treatise of the canon, with its six "feet" (pAda), or ancillary treatises (pAdasAstra), listed in the following order: (1) PrakaranapAda, (2) VijNAnakAya, (3) Dharmaskandha, (4) PrajNaptibhAsya, (5) DhAtukAya, and (6) SaMgītiparyAya. Abhidharma exegetes later turned their attention to these canonical abhidharma materials and subjected them to the kind of rigorous scholarly analysis previously directed to the sutras. These led to the writing of innovative syntheses and synopses of abhidharma doctrine, in such texts as BUDDHAGHOSA's VISUDDHIMAGGA and ANURUDDHA's ABHIDHAMMATTHASAnGAHA, VASUBANDHU's ABHIDHARMAKOsABHAsYA, and SAMGHABHADRA's *NYAYANUSARA. In East Asia, this third "basket" was eventually expanded to include the burgeoning scholastic literature of the MAHAYANA, transforming it from a strictly abhidharmapitaka into a broader "treatise basket" or *sASTRAPItAKA (C. lunzang).

abhirati. (T. mngon dga'; C. miaoxi/abiluoti; J. myoki/abiradai; K. myohŭi/abiraje 妙喜/阿比羅提). In Sanskrit, "delight," "repose," or "wondrous joy"; the world system (LOKADHATU) and buddha-field (BUDDHAKsETRA) of the buddha AKsOBHYA, which is said to be located in the east. Abhirati is one of the earliest of the buddha-fields to appear in Buddhist literature and is depicted as an idealized form of our ordinary SAHA world. As its name implies, abhirati is a land of delight, the antithesis of the suffering that plagues our world, and its pleasures are the by-products of Aksobhya's immense merit and compassion. In his land, Aksobhya sits on a platform sheltered by a huge BODHI TREE, which is surrounded by row after row of palm trees and jasmine bushes. The soil is golden in color and as soft as cotton. Although abhirati, like our world, has a sun and moon, both pale next to the radiance of Aksobhya himself. In abhirati, there are gender distinctions, as in our world, but no physical sexuality. A man who entertains sexual thoughts toward a woman would instantly see this desire transformed into a DHYANA that derives from the meditation on impurity (AsUBHABHAVANA), while a woman can become pregnant by a man's glance (even though women do not experience menstruation). Food and drink appear spontaneously whenever a person is hungry or thirsty. Abhirati is designed to provide the optimal environment for Buddhist practice, and rebirth there is a direct result of an adept having planted meritorious roots (KUsALAMuLA), engaging in salutary actions, and then dedicating any merit deriving from those actions to his future rebirth in that land. Aksobhya will eventually attain PARINIRVAnA in abhirati through a final act of self-immolation (see SHESHEN). Abhirati is described in the AKsOBHYATATHAGATASYAVYuHA, an important precursor to the more famous SUKHAVATĪVYuHA that describes SUKHAVATĪ, the buddha-field of AMITABHA.

AbhisamayAlaMkArAlokA-vyAkhyA. (T. Mngon rtogs rgyan gyi snang ba rgya cher bshad pa). In Sanskrit, "Illuminating the 'Ornament of Realization,'" by the Indian scholiast HARIBHADRA (c. 750 CE). This long commentary, summarized in his ABHISAMAYALAMKARAVIVṚTI, correlates the 273 verses of MAITREYANATHA's ABHISAMAYALAMKARA with the specific corresponding sections in the AstASAHASRIKAPRAJNAPARAMITA ("Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines"). It was translated into Tibetan by RIN CHEN BZANG PO in the eleventh century and by RNGOG BLO LDAN SHES RAB and subsequently became a central text in the curricula of many Tibetan monasteries. See AstASAHASRIKAPRAJNAPARAMITAVYAKHYABHISAMAYALAMKARALOKA.

AbhisamayAlaMkAra. (T. Mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan). In Sanskrit, "Ornament of Realization"; a major scholastic treatise of the MAHAYANA, attributed to MAITREYANATHA (c. 350CE). Its full title is AbhisamayAlaMkAranAmaprajNApAramitopadesasAstra (T. Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan) or "Treatise Setting Forth the Perfection of Wisdom called 'Ornament for Realization.'" In the Tibetan tradition, the AbhisamayAlaMkAra is counted among the five treatises of Maitreya (BYAMS CHOS SDE LNGA). The 273 verses of the AbhisamayAlaMkAra provide a schematic outline of the perfection of wisdom, or PRAJNAPARAMITA, approach to enlightenment, specifically as delineated in the PANCAVIMsATISAHASRIKAPRAJNAPARAMITA ("Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines"). This detailed delineation of the path is regarded as the "hidden teaching" of the prajNApAramitA sutras. Although hardly known in East Asian Buddhism (until the modern Chinese translation by FAZUN), the work was widely studied in Tibet, where it continues to hold a central place in the monastic curricula of all the major sects. It is especially important for the DGE LUGS sect, which takes it as the definitive description of the stages of realization achieved through the Buddhist path. The AbhisamayAlaMkAra treats the principal topics of the prajNApAramitA sutras by presenting them in terms of the stages of realizations achieved via the five paths (PANCAMARGA). The eight chapters of the text divide these realizations into eight types. The first three are types of knowledge that are essential to any type of practice and are generic to both the mainstream and MahAyAna schools. (1) The wisdom of knowing all modes (SARVAKARAJNATA), for the bodhisattva-adepts who are the putative target audience of the commentary, explains all the characteristics of the myriad dharmas, so that they will have comprehensive knowledge of what the attainment of enlightenment will bring. (2) The wisdom of knowing the paths (MARGAJNATA), viz., the paths perfected by the sRAVAKAs, is a prerequisite to achieving the wisdom of knowing all modes. (3) The wisdom of knowing all phenomena (SARVAJNATA) is, in turn, a prerequisite to achieving the wisdom of knowing the paths. With (4) the topic of the manifestly perfect realization of all aspects (sarvAkArAbhisambodha) starts the text's coverage of the path itself, here focused on gaining insight into all aspects, viz., characteristics of dharmas, paths, and types of beings. By reaching (5) the summit of realization (murdhAbhisamaya; see MuRDHAN), one arrives at the entrance to ultimate realization. All the realizations achieved up to this point are secured and commingled through (6) gradual realization (anupurvAbhisamaya). The perfection of this gradual realization and the consolidation of all previous realizations catalyze the (7) instantaneous realization (ekaksanAbhisamaya). The fruition of this instantaneous realization brings (8) realization of the dharma body, or DHARMAKAYA (dharmakAyAbhisambodha). The first three chapters thus describe the three wisdoms incumbent on the buddhas; the middle four chapters cover the four paths that take these wisdoms as their object; and the last chapter describes the resultant dharma body of the buddhas and their special attainments. The AbhisamayAlaMkAra provides a synopsis of the massive prajNApAramitA scriptures and a systematic outline of the comprehensive path of MahAyAna. The AbhisamayAlaMkAra spurred a long tradition of Indian commentaries and other exegetical works, twenty-one of which are preserved in the Tibetan canon. Notable among this literature are Arya VIMUKTISEnA's Vṛtti and the ABHISAMAYALAMKARALOKA and Vivṛti (called Don gsal in Tibetan) by HARIBHADRA. Later Tibetan commentaries include BU STON RIN CHEN GRUB's Lung gi snye ma and TSONG KHA PA's LEGS BSHAD GSER PHRENG.

AbhisamayAlaMkAravivṛti. (T. [Shes rab phar phyin man ngag gi bstan bcos] mngon rtogs rgyan gyi 'grel pa). In Sanskrit, "Commentary on the Ornament of Realization" by HARIBHADRA. The work in four bundles (T. bam po) is a digest (called 'grel chung, "short commentary") of his long detailed explanation of the AstASAHASRIKAPRAJNAPARAMITA ("Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines"), the AstASAHASRIKAPRAJNAPARAMITAVYAKHYABHISAMAYALAMKARALOKA (called 'grel chen, "long commentary"). The AbhisamayAlaMkAravivṛti gained considerable importance in Tibet after RNGOG BLO LDAN SHES RAB supplemented his translation of it with a summary (bsdus don) of its contents, beginning a tradition of PRAJNAPARAMITA commentary that spread from GSANG PHU NE'U THOG monastery into all four Tibetan sects. This tradition, which continues down to the present, uses the ABHISAMAYALAMKARA and ABHISAMAYALAMKARAVIVṚTI as twin root texts to structure wide-ranging discussions of abhidharma, right philosophical view and proper praxis. There are two subcommentaries to the work, Dharmamitra's PRASPHUtAPADA and DHARMAKĪRTIsRĪ's DurbodhAloka. PRAJNAKARAMATI, RATNAKĪRTI, and BuddhajNAna wrote summaries of the work, all extant in Tibetan translation. See also SPHUtARTHA.

Abortion The destruction of the fetus in the uterus. The issues involved in the act are more vital and far-reaching than is generally suspected. Blavatsky in classifying feticide as unjustifiable murder, says: “yet it is neither from the standpoint of law, nor from any argument drawn from one or another orthodox ism that the warning voice is sent forth against the immoral and dangerous practice, but rather in occult philosophy both physiology and psychology show the disastrous consequence. . . . For, indeed, when even successful and the mother does not die just then, it still shortens her life on earth to prolong it with dreary percentage in Kamaloka, the intermediate sphere between the earth and the region of rest, . . . a necessary halting place in the evolution of the degree of life. The crime committed lies precisely in the wilful and sinful destruction of life, and interference with the operations of nature, hence — with Karma — that of the mother and the would-be future human being. The sin is not regarded by theosophists as one of a religious character, . . . But foeticide is a crime against nature” (BCW 5:107-8).

acintya. (P. acinteyya; T. bsam gyis mi khyab pa; C. bukesiyi; J. fukashigi; K. pulgasaŭi 不可思議). In Sanskrit, "inconceivable"; a term used to describe the ultimate reality that is beyond all conceptualization. PAli and mainstream Buddhist materials refer to four specific types of "inconceivables" or "unfathomables" (P. acinteyya): the range or sphere of a buddha, e.g., the extent of his knowledge and power; the range of meditative absorption (DHYANA); the potential range of moral cause and effect (KARMAN and VIPAKA); and the range of the universe or world system (LOKA), i.e., issues of cosmogony, whether the universe is finite or infinite, eternal or transitory, etc. Such thoughts are not to be pursued, because they are not conducive to authentic religious progress or ultimately to NIRVAnA. See also AVYAKṚTA.

Acintyastava. (T. Bsam gyis mi khyab par bstod pa). In Sanskrit, "In Praise of the Inconceivable One"; an Indian philosophical work by the MADHYAMAKA master NAGARJUNA written in the form of a praise for the Buddha. In the Tibetan tradition, there are a large number of such praises (called STAVAKAYA) in contrast to the set of philosophical texts (called YUKTIKAYA) attributed to NAgArjuna. Among these praise works, the Acintyastava, LOKATĪTASTAVA, NIRAUPAMYASTAVA, and PARAMARTHASTAVA are extant in Sanskrit and are generally accepted to be his work; these four works together are known as the CATUḤSTAVA. It is less certain that he is the author of the DHARMADHATUSTAVA or DHARMADHATUSTOTRA ("Hymn to the Dharma Realm") of which only fragments are extant in the original Sanskrit. The Acintyastava contains fifty-nine stanzas, many of which are addressed to the Buddha. The first section provides a detailed discussion of why dependently originated phenomena are empty of intrinsic nature (NIḤSVABHAVA); this section has clear parallels to the MuLAMADHYAMAKAKARIKA. The forty-fifth verse makes reference to the term PARATANTRA, leading some scholars to believe that NAgArjuna was familiar with the LAnKAVATARASuTRA. The second section describes wisdom (JNANA); the third section sets forth the qualities of the true dharma (SADDHARMA); the fourth and final section extols the Buddha as the best of teachers (sASTṚ).

Agni (Sanskrit) Agni [from the verbal root ag to move tortuously, wind] Fire; as god of fire, one of the most revered of Vedic deities. As mediator between gods and humans, from whose body issue “a thousand streams of glory and seven tongues of flame,” Agni represents the divine essence or celestial fire present in every atom of the universe. Often used synonymously with the adityas. The three chief gods of Vedas are Agni, Vayu, and Surya — fire, air, and the sun — whose elements respectively are earth, air, and sky. One of the four lokapalas or world-protectors, Agni is guardian of the southeast quarter, and in the Rig-Veda as Matarisvan, messenger of Vivasvat, the sun, Agni brought down the “hidden fire” for humankind. To “kindle a fire,” therefore, is synonymous to evoking one of the three great fire-powers or “to call on God” (SD 2:114).

Ajita. (T. Ma pham pa; C. Ayiduo; J. Aitta; K. Ailta 阿逸多). In Sanskrit and PAli, "Invincible"; proper name of several different figures in Buddhist literature. In the PAli tradition, Ajita is said to have been one of the sixteen mendicant disciples of the brAhmana ascetic BAvarĪ who visited the Buddha at the request of their teacher. Upon meeting the Buddha, Ajita saw that he was endowed with the thirty-two marks of a great man (MAHAPURUsALAKsAnA) and gained assurance that the Buddha's renown was well deserved. Starting with Ajita, all sixteen of the mendicants asked the Buddha questions. Ajita's question is preserved as the AjitamAnavapucchA in the ParAyanavagga of the SUTTANIPATA. At the end of the Buddha's explanations, Ajita and sixteen thousand followers are said to have become worthy ones (ARHAT) and entered the SAMGHA. Ajita returned to his old teacher BAvarī and recounted to him what happened. BAvarī himself converted and later became a nonreturner (ANAGAMIN). ¶ Another Ajita is Ajita-Kesakambala (Ajita of the Hair Blanket), a prominent leader of the LOKAYATA (Naturalist) school of Indian wandering religious (sRAMAnA) during the Buddha's time, who is mentioned occasionally in Buddhist scriptures. His doctrine is recounted in the PAli SAMANNAPHALASUTTA, where he is claimed to have denied the efficacy of moral cause and effect because of his materialist rejection of any prospect of transmigration or rebirth. ¶ An Ajita also traditionally appears as the fifteenth on the list of the sixteen ARHAT elders (sOdAsASTHAVIRA), who were charged by the Buddha with protecting his dispensation until the advent of the next buddha, MAITREYA. Ajita is said to reside on Mt. GṚDHRAKutA (Vulture Peak) with 1,500 disciples. He is known in Chinese as the "long-eyebrowed arhat" (changmei luohan) because he is said to have been born with long white eyebrows. In CHANYUE GUANXIU's standard Chinese depiction, Ajita is shown sitting on a rock, with both hands holding his right knee; his mouth is open, with his tongue and teeth exposed. East Asian images also sometimes show him leaning on a staff. In Tibetan iconography, he holds his two hands in his lap in DHYANAMUDRA. ¶ Ajita is finally a common epithet of the bodhisattva MAITREYA, used mostly when he is invoked in direct address.

Ajīvaka. [alt. AjīvakA; Ajīvika]. (T. 'Tsho ba can; C. Xieming waidao; J. Jamyo gedo; K. Samyong oedo 邪命外道) In Sanskrit and PAli, "Improper Livelihood"; one of the major early sects of Indian wandering religious (sRAMAnA) during the fifth century BCE. Makkhali GosAla (S. MASKARIN GOsALĪPUTRA) (d. c. 488 BCE), the leader of the Ajīvakas, was a contemporary of the Buddha. No Ajīvaka works survive, so what little we know about the school derives from descriptions filtered through Buddhist materials. Buddhist explications of Ajīvaka views are convoluted and contradictory; what does seem clear, however, is that the Ajīvakas adhered to a doctrine of strict determinism or fatalism. The Ajīvakas are described as believing that there is no immediate or ultimate cause for the purity or depravity of beings; all beings, souls, and existent things are instead directed along their course by fate (niyati), by the conditions of the species to which they belong, and by their own intrinsic natures. Thus, attainments or accomplishments of any kind are not a result of an individual's own action or the acts of others; rather, according to those beings' positions within the various stations of existence, they experience ease or pain. Makkhali GosAla is portrayed as advocating a theory of automatic purification through an essentially infinite number of transmigrations (saMsArasuddhi), by means of which all things would ultimately attain perfection. The Buddha is said to have regarded Makkhali GosAla's views as the most dangerous of heresies, which was capable of leading even the divinities (DEVA) to loss, discomfort, and suffering. BUDDHAGHOSA explains the perniciousness of his error by comparing the defects of Makkhali's views to those of the views of two other heretical teachers, Purana Kassapa (S. Purana KAsyapa) (d. c. 503 BCE), another Ajīvaka teacher, and AJITA-Kesakambala, a prominent teacher of the LOKAYATA (Naturalist) school, which maintained a materialist perspective toward the world. Purana asserted the existence of an unchanging passive soul that was unaffected by either wholesome or unwholesome action and thereby denied the efficacy of KARMAN; Ajita advocated an annihilationist theory that there is no afterlife or rebirth, which thereby denied any possibility of karmic retribution. Makkhali's doctrine of fate or noncausation, in denying both action and its result, was said to have combined the defects in both those systems of thought.

akanistha. (P. akanittha; T. 'og min; C. sejiujing tian; J. shikikukyoten; K. saekkugyong ch'on 色究竟天). In Sanskrit, "highest"; akanistha is the eighth and highest level of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU), which is accessible only through experiencing the fourth meditative absorption (DHYANA); akanistha is thus one of the BRAHMALOKAS (see DEVA). akanistha is the fifth and highest class of the "pure abodes," or sUDDHAVASA (corresponding to the five highest heavens in the realm of subtle materiality), wherein abide "nonreturners" (ANAGAMIN)-viz., adepts who need never again return to the KAMADHATU-and some ARHATS. The pure abodes therefore serve as a way station for advanced spiritual beings (ARYA) in their last life before final liberation. According to some MahAyAna texts, akanistha is also the name of the abode of the enjoyment body (SAMBHOGAKAYA) of a buddha in general and of the buddha VAIROCANA in particular.

akasa (akasha) ::: any subtle ether (sūks.ma akasa) belonging to the mental plane, such as the cittakasa; the mental ether of the material plane, the highest akasa of the triloka in bhū.

AksobhyatathAgatasyavyuha. (T. De bzhin gshegs pa mi 'khrugs pa'i bkod pa; C. Achu foguo jing; J. Ashuku bukkokukyo; K. Ach'ok pulguk kyong 阿閦佛國經). In Sanskrit, "The Array of the TATHAGATAAKsOBHYA"; a SuTRA in which the Buddha, at sARIPUTRA's request, teaches his eminent disciple about the buddha AKsOBHYA; also known as the Aksobhyavyuha. It was first translated into Chinese in the mid-second century CE by LOKAKsEMA, an Indo-Scythian monk from KUSHAN, and later retranslated by the Tang-period monk BODHIRUCI in the early eighth century as part of his rendering of the RATNAKutASuTRA. The scripture also exists in a Tibetan translation by Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, and Ye shes sde. The text explains that in the distant past, a monk made a vow to achieve buddhahood. He followed the arduous BODHISATTVA path, engaging in myriad virtues; the text especially emphasizes his practice of morality (sĪLA). He eventually achieves buddhahood as the buddha Aksobhya in a buddha-field (BUDDHAKsETRA) located in the east called ABHIRATI, which the sutra describes in some detail as an ideal domain for the practice of the dharma. As its name implies, Abhirati is a land of delight, the antithesis of the suffering that plagues our world, and its pleasures are the by-products of Aksobhya's immense merit and compassion. In his land, Aksobhya sits on a platform sheltered by a huge BODHI TREE, which is surrounded by rows of palm trees and jasmine bushes. Its soil is golden in color and as soft as cotton, and the ground is flat with no gullies or gravel. Although Abhirati, like our world, has a sun and moon, both pale next to the radiance of Aksobhya himself. In Abhirati, the three unfortunate realms (APAYA) of hell denizens, ghosts, and animals do not exist. Among humans, there are gender distinctions but no physical sexuality. A man who entertains sexual thoughts toward a woman would instantly see that desire transformed into a DHYANA that derives from the meditation on impurity (AsUBHABHAVANA), while a woman can become pregnant by a man's glance (even though women do not experience menstruation). Food and drink appear spontaneously whenever a person is hungry or thirsty. There is no illness, no ugliness, and no crime. Described as a kind of idealized monastic community, Abhirati is designed to provide the optimal environment to engage in Buddhist practice, both for those who seek to become ARHATs and for those practicing the bodhisattva path. Rebirth there is a direct result of having planted virtuous roots (KUsALAMuLA), engaging in wholesome actions, and then dedicating any merit deriving from those actions to one's future rebirth in that land. One is also reborn there by accepting, memorizing, and spreading this sutra. Aksobhya will eventually attain PARINIRVAnA in Abhirati through a final act of self-immolation (see SHESHEN). After his demise, his teachings will slowly disappear from the world.

All evolving entities go to both the heavens and the hells of our solar system in accordance with their evolutionary necessities, and for the purpose of purgation through the suffering of material experience; but in all cases such peregrinating egos are attracted at the different times of their long evolutionary schooling to those spheres by sympathy or psychomagnetic pull. The immense justice of this idea, from which the heavens and hells of the different religions have come, is readily apparent. See also LOKA

Aloka lena. A cave near modern Matale in Sri Lanka where, during the last quarter of the first century BCE, during the reign of King VAttAGAMAnI ABHAYA, the PAli tipitaka (TRIPItAKA) and its commentaries (AttHAKATHA) were said to have been written down for the first time. The DĪPAVAMSA and MAHAVAMSA state that a gathering of ARHATs had decided to commit the texts to writing out of fear that they could no longer be reliably memorized and passed down from one generation to the next. They convened a gathering of five hundred monks for the purpose, the cost of which was borne by a local chieftain. The subcommentary by Vajirabuddhi and the SAratthadīpanī (c. twelfth century CE) deem that the writing down of the tipitaka occurred at the fourth Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, FOURTH), and so it has been generally recognized ever since throughout the THERAVADA world. However, the fourteenth-century SADDHAMMASAnGAHA, written at the Thai capital of AYUTHAYA, deems this to be the fifth Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, FIFTH), the fourth council being instead the recitation of VINAYA by MahA Arittha carried out during the reign of King DEVANAMPIYATISSA.

Alokasyopalabdhisa. (T. nye bar thob pa'i snang ba). In Sanskrit "appearance of near-attainment," the penultimate stage in the final three stages of the dissolution of consciousness that culminates in the dawning of "clear light" (PRABHASVARA), the actual moment of death according to certain systems of ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA. After the gross elements and states of consciousness dissolve, a process that is accompanied by a series of signs, the subtler levels of consciousness appear: first an experience of radiant whiteness called appearance (Aloka) like a night sky filled with moonlight, then an experience of redness, called increase (vṛddhi) like a clear sky filled with sunlight, and finally an experience called "near attainment" (upalabdha) like a black moonless sky, so called because it is the state nearest to the most subtle level of consciousness, the mind of clear light.

Also an equivalent of the Greek and Roman Hades, the world of shades, eidola, and umbrae, corresponding to kama-loka.

Amrita (Sanskrit) Amṛta [from a not + mṛta dead from the verbal root mṛ to die] Immortality; the water of life or immortality, the ambrosial drink or spiritual food of the gods. According to the Puranas, Ramayana, and Mahabharata, amrita is the elixir of life produced during the contest between the devas and asuras when churning the “milky sea” (the waters of life). It has been stolen many times, but as often recovered, and it is still preserved carefully in devaloka.

ana loka ::: the world (loka) of vijñana, same as maharloka, "the plane of the gnosis" where "the infinite . . . is very concretely . . . the foundation from which everything finite forms itself". vij ñanam

analoka ::: the world of knowledge. j ñanam

ananda ::: delight, bliss, ecstasy, beatitude; "a profound concentrated ananda intense self-existent bliss extended to all that our being does, envisages, creates, a fixed divine rapture"; same as sama ananda, the universal delight which constitutes active / positive samata, "an equal delight in all the cosmic manifestation of the Divine", whose "foundation is the Atmajnana or Brahmajnana by which we perceive the whole universe as a perception of one Being that manifests itself in multitudinous forms and activities"; the highest of the three stages of active / positive . 12 samata, "the joy of Unity" by which "all is changed into the full and pure ecstasy" of the Spirit; the third and highest state of bhukti, consisting of the delight of existence experienced "throughout the system" in seven principal forms (kamananda, premananda, ahaituka ananda, cidghanananda, suddhananda, cidananda and sadananda) corresponding to the seven kosas or sheaths of the being and the seven lokas or planes of existence; physical ananda or sarirananda in its five forms, also called vividhananda (various delight), the fourth member of the sarira catus.t.aya; (especially in the plural, "anandas") any of these forms of ananda; same as anandaṁ brahma, the last aspect of the fourfold brahman; bliss of infinite conscious existence, "the original, all-encompassing, all-informing, all-upholding delight", the third aspect of saccidananda and the principle manifested in its purity in janaloka or anandaloka, also present in an involved or subordinated form on every other plane.

anandaghanaloka ::: [world of compact bliss].

anandaloka (anandaloka; ananda-loka; ananda loka) ::: the world anandaloka (loka) of the supreme bliss (ananda) of saccidananda, the plane of "the joy of absolute identity in innumerable oneness", where all "consciousness is of the bliss of the Infinite, all power is power of the bliss of the Infinite, all forms and activities are forms and activities of the bliss of the Infinite"; there is also "a repetition of the Ananda plane in each lower world of consciousness", but "in the lower planes not only is it reached by a sort of dissolution into it of the pure mind or the life-sense or the physical awareness, but it is, as it were, itself diluted by the dissolved form of mind, life or matter, held in the dilution and turned into a poor thinness wonderful to the lower consciousness but not comparable to its true intensities".

anandaloka ::: [world of bliss.]

Ananda Metteyya. (1872-1923). Ordination name of the British Buddhist monk, born Charles Henry Allen Bennett. He was the son of an electrical engineer and studied science in his youth. In 1894, he joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a society devoted to esotericism, whence he gained a reputation as a magician and miracle worker, becoming the friend and teacher of Aleister Crowley. He became interested in Buddhism from reading EDWIN ARNOLD's The Light of Asia. In 1900, he traveled to Asia, both because of his interest in Buddhism and his hope of relieving his asthma. Bennett was ordained as a Buddhist novice (sRAMAnERA) in Akyab, Burma, in 1901 and received the higher ordination (UPASAMPADA) as a monk (BHIKsU) in 1902. He was among the first Englishmen to be ordained as a bhikkhu, after Gordon Douglas (Bhikkhu Asoka), who was ordained in 1899 and the Irish monk U Dhammaloka, who was ordained some time prior to 1899. In 1903, he founded the International Buddhist Society (Buddhasasana Samagama) in Rangoon. Ananda Metteya led the first Buddhist mission to Britain with his patroness Hla Oung in 1908. In the previous year, in preparation for their visit, the Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland was established, with THOMAS W. RHYS DAVIDS as president. He returned to Rangoon after six months. Plagued throughout his life with asthma, he disrobed in 1914 due to ill health and returned to England, where he continued his work to propagate Buddhism. Partly due to increasing drug dependency prompted by continuing medical treatments, he passed his final years in poverty. His published works include An Outline of Buddhism and The Wisdom of the Aryas.

anasa loka ::: the mental world, same as manoloka.

ana (vijnana; vijnanam; vijnan) ::: "the large embracing consciousness . . . which takes into itself all truth and idea and object of knowledge and sees them at once in their essence, totality and parts or aspects", the "comprehensive consciousness" which is one of the four functions of active consciousness (see ajñanam), a mode of awareness that is "the original, spontaneous, true and complete view" of existence and "of which mind has only a shadow in the highest operations of the comprehensive intellect"; the faculty or plane of consciousness above buddhi or intellect, also called ideality, gnosis or supermind (although these are distinguished in the last period of the Record of Yoga as explained under the individual terms), whose instruments of knowledge and power form the vijñana catus.t.aya; the vijñana catus.t.aya itself; the psychological principle or degree of consciousness that is the basis of maharloka, the "World of the Vastness" that links the worlds of the transcendent existence, consciousness and bliss of saccidananda to the lower triloka of mind, life and matter, being itself usually considered the lowest plane of the parardha or higher hemisphere of existence. Vijñana is "the knowledge of the One and the Many, by which the Many are seen in the terms of the One, in the infinite unifying Truth, Right, Vast [satyam r.taṁ br.hat] of the divine existence". vij ñana ana ananda

anityam asukham lokamimam prapya bhajasva mam ::: thou who hast come to this transient and unhappy world, love and turn to Me. [Gita 9.33]

anityam asukham lokam imam ::: this transient and unhappy world. [see the following]

Antariksha, Antariksha (Sanskrit) Antarīkṣa, Antarikṣa [from antar within, interior + īkṣa from the verbal root īkṣ to behold, see] The mid-region; the firmament or space between earth and heaven, the abode of apsaras (nymphs), gandharvas (celestial musicians), and yakshas (nature sprites of many types) along with the mythical wish-granting cow of plenty, Kamadhenu. In the Vedas, antariksha is the middle or second of three lokas (spheres) usually enumerated as bhur, bhuvar, and svar. Above these rise in serial order the four higher lokas of the ordinary Brahmanical hierarchy. Hierarchically, taking the bhurloka as the physical sphere, bhuvarloka or antariksha corresponds with the astral plane. In the Vishnu-Purana (3:3), Antariksha is named as the Vyasa (arranger of the Veda) in the 13th dvapara yuga in the Vaivasvata manvantara, our present world cycle.

anusaMsa. [alt. AnusaMsa; AnusaMsA, etc.] (P. AnisaMsa; T. phan yon; C. gongde/liyi; J. kudoku/riyaku; K. kongdok/iik 功德/利益). In Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, "blessing," "benefit," "reward," or "advantage" that accrues from leading a virtuous life or performing various types of virtuous actions. In the PAli MAHAPARINIBBANASUTTANTA, for example, while preaching on the benefits of moral rectitude to a gathering of lay disciples in the city of PAtaligAma (see PAtALIPUTRA), the Buddha enumerates five such blessings that a morally upright person can expect to acquire in this lifetime: first, great wealth (bhogakkhandha); second, a good reputation (kittisadda); third, self-confidence (visArada); fourth, a peaceful death (asammulho kAlaM karoti); and fifth, after he dies, a happy rebirth (saggaM lokaM upapajjati). In contrast, a morally dissolute person can expect in this lifetime: first, poverty due to sloth; second, a bad reputation; third, shame in the presence of others; fourth, an anxious death; and fifth, after he dies, an unhappy rebirth. In the so-called graduated discourse (P. ANUPUBBIKATHA), the Buddha also teaches the blessings of renunciation (nekkhamme AnisaMsa) as a prerequisite to understanding the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS. Different lists of five, ten, or eighteen such blessings appear in Sanskrit sources. The PRAJNAPARAMITA literature has long passages praising the merit gained from writing out in book form, reading, memorizing, and generally worshipping the prajNApAramitA as compared, in particular, to worshiping a STuPA containing the relics of a TATHAGATA, and the commentarial literature lists the benefits (anusaMsa) of the BODHISATTVA's path of vision (DARsANAMARGA) when compared with the earlier understanding of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS.

Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (Sanskrit) Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi The unsurpassingly merciful and enlightened heart; applied to jivanmuktas or liberated, perfected beings collectively, who then may “pass through all the six worlds of Being (Rupaloka) and get into the first three worlds of Arupa” (BCW 14:409).

aparardha ::: "the lower half of world-existence", the hemisphere of aparardha the triloka (three worlds) of manas, pran.a and anna1 or mind, life and matter; these three principles "are in themselves powers of the superior principles" (of the higher hemisphere, parardha), "but wherever they manifest in a separation from their spiritual sources, they undergo as a result a phenomenal lapse into a divided in place of the true undivided existence . . . oblivious of all that is behind it and of the underlying unity, a state therefore of cosmic and individual Ignorance" (avidya).

arupaloka. In Sanskrit and PAli, "immaterial world." See AVACARA.

Arupa(Sanskrit) ::: A compound word meaning "formless," but this word formless is not to be taken so strictly asto mean that there is no form of any kind whatsoever; it merely means that the forms in the spiritualworlds (the arupa-lokas) are of a spiritual type or character, and of course far more ethereal than are theforms of the rupa-lokas.Thus in the arupa-lokas, or the spiritual worlds or spheres or planes, the vehicle or body of an entity is tobe conceived of rather as an enclosing sheath of energic substance. We can conceive of an entity whoseform or body is entirely of electrical substance -- as indeed our own bodies are in the last analysis ofmodern science. But such an entity with an electrical body, although distinctly belonging to the rupaworlds, and to one of the lowest rupa worlds, would merely, by comparison with our own gross physicalbodies, seem to us to be bodiless or formless. (See also Rupa, Loka)

Arupa (Sanskrit) Arūpa [from a not + rūpa form, body probably from the verbal root rūp to form, figure, represent] Formless, bodiless; in Buddhism, used in a number of compounds, such as arupa-dhatu (the formless element), arupa-loka (world of the formless), and arupa-tanha (desire for rebirth in the formless sphere). Arupa, however, does not mean there is no form of any kind, but that the forms in the spiritual worlds are nonmaterial, highly ethereal and spiritual in type.

  “As Kamaloka is on the earth plane and differs from its degree of materiality only in the degree of its plane of consciousness, for which reason it is concealed from our normal sight, the occasional apparition of such shells is as natural as that of electric balls and other atmospheric phenomena. Electricity as a fluid, or atomic matter (for Theosophists hold with Maxwell that it is atomic), though invisible, is ever present in the air, and manifests under various shapes, but only when certain conditions are there to ‘materialize’ the fluid, when it passes from its own on to our plane and makes itself objective. Similarly with the eidola of the dead. They are present, around us, but being on another plane do not see us any more than we see them. But whenever the strong desires of living men and the conditions furnished by the abnormal constitutions of mediums are combined together, these eidola are drawn — nay, pulled down from their plane on to ours and made objective. This is Necromancy; it does no good to the dead, and great harm to the living, in addition to the fact that it interferes with a law of nature. The occasional materialization of the ‘astral bodies’ or doubles of living persons is quite another matter. These ‘astrals’ are often mistaken for the apparitions of the dead, since, chameleon-like, our own ‘Elementaries,’ along with those of the disembodied and cosmic Elementals, will often assume the appearance of those images which are strongest in our thoughts. In short, at the so-called ‘materialization’ séances it is those present and the medium, who create the peculiar likeness of the apparitions. Independent ‘apparitions’ belong to another kind of psychic phenomena. Materializations are also called ‘form-manifestations’ and ‘portrait statues.’ To call them materialized spirits is inadmissible, for they are not spirits but animated portrait-statues, indeed” (TG 210).

astalokadharma. (T. 'jig rten gyi chos brgyad). In Sanskrit, "eight mundane dharmas" or "eight worldly concerns"; the preoccupation with gain (lAbha) and loss (alAbha), pleasure (SUKHA) and pain (DUḤKHA), praise (prasaMsA) and blame (nindA), and fame (yasas) and disgrace (ayasas). This list encapsulates the concerns of foolish (BALA) ordinary persons (PṚTHAGJANA) who in each case desire to attain the first and avoid the second, unlike those who practice asceticism (DHUTAnGA), understand impermanence (ANITYA), and are motivated to attain both a better rebirth and the state of NIRVAnA and BODHI.

AstasAhasrikAprajNApAramitAvyAkhyAbhisamayAlaMkArAlokA. (T. Brgyad stong 'grel chen/Rgyan snang). In Sanskrit, "Light for the Ornament of Clear Realizations, a Commentary on the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines," by the Indian scholiast HARIBHADRA. See ABHISAMAYALAMKARALOKAVYAKHYA.

astau slokasahasrani ::: eight thousand slokas. [Mahabharata, Adiparva, I .81]

Astral Light ::: The astral light corresponds in the case of our globe, and analogically in the case of our solar system, towhat the linga-sarira is in the case of an individual man. Just as in man the linga-sarira or astral body is the vehicle or carrier of prana or life-energy, so is the astral light the carrier of the cosmic jiva or cosmic life-energy. To us humans it is an invisible region surrounding our earth, as H. P. Blavatsky expresses it,as indeed it surrounds every other physical globe; and among the seven kosmic principles it is the mostmaterial excepting one, our physical universe.The astral light therefore is, on the one hand, the storehouse or repository of all the energies of thekosmos on their way downwards to manifest in the material spheres -- of our solar system in general aswell as of our globe in particular; and, on the other hand, it is the receptacle or magazine of whateverpasses out of the physical sphere on its upward way.Thirdly, it is a kosmic "picture-gallery" or indelible record of whatever takes place on the astral andphysical planes; however, this last phase of the functions of the astral light is the least in importance andreal interest.The astral light of our own globe, and analogically of any other physical globe, is the region of thekama-loka, at least as concerns the intermediate and lower parts of the kama-loka; and all entities that diepass through the astral light on their way upwards, and in the astral light throw off or shed the kama-rupaat the time of the second death.The solar system has its own astral light in general, just as every globe in the universal solar system hasits astral light in particular, in each of these last cases being a thickening or materializing or concretingaround the globe of the general astral substance forming the astral light of the solar system. The astrallight, strictly speaking, is simply the lees or dregs of akasa and exists in steps or stages of increasingethereality. The more closely it surrounds any globe, the grosser and more material it is. It is thereceptacle of all the vile and horrible emanations from earth and earth beings, and is therefore in partsfilled with earthly pollutions. There is a constant interchange, unceasing throughout the solarmanvantara, between the astral light on the one hand, and our globe earth on the other, each giving andreturning to the other.Finally, the astral light is with regard to the material realms of the solar system the copy or reflection ofwhat the akasa is in the spiritual realms. The astral light is the mother of the physical, just as the spirit isthe mother of the akasa; or, inversely, the physical is merely the concretion of the astral, just as the akasais the veil or concretion of the highest spiritual. Indeed, the astral and physical are one, just as the akasicand the spiritual are one.

Asura is used in the earliest Vedic literature as a title of the cosmic hierarch or supreme spirit. The Vedic Asura is nothing other than the Great Breath of archaic occult literature — the Great Breath coming and going as manvantara and pralaya. The other Vedic gods mentioned so much more frequently in the slokas, such as Agni, Indra, and Varuna, are all subordinate hierarchically and cosmogonically to the Vedic Asura, which is really Brahman-pradhana or the Second Logos, Father-Mother; Varuna is the acme or summit of akasa-tattva; Agni is the summit or hierarch of cosmic taijasa-tattva; and Indra is often identified with Vayu as the summit of cosmic Vayu-tattva. See also MAHASURA

As with so many cosmic powers and their symbols, these other gods have been relegated in Judaism and Christianity to the position of evil powers hostile to mankind, to be fled from instead of revered, or ruled as obedient helpers when inferior to the human status. The whole idea of the Adversary or Devil is enshrined in the word daemones. But fallen angels, represented as rebels against God, were merely performing their natural duty in evolution by forming the lower worlds. As personification of evil, the word can only be truthfully applied to those beings that man himself, by his evil thoughts and passions, has generated to hover in the lowest strata of the astral light or haunt kama-loka. However, the ancient Greeks and Romans themselves drew a sharp distinction between the daemones of more ethereal type, truly spiritual beings, and the lower earth-haunting daemones who were distinctly denizens of the lower astral and physical realms, and which the ancients dreaded — with reason — far more than modern Christians have ever done. See also AGATHODAEMON

Atala (Sanskrit) Atala [from a not + tala place] No place, no material locality; the first and most spiritual of the seven talas, so nearly one with satyaloka, its corresponding loka or pole, that the two nearly conjoin into one — hence it is called “no place.” Atala bears somewhat the same relation to satyaloka that prakriti bears to Brahma; hence it is the first quasi-spiritual, quasi-material plane in the solar universe. “In satyaloka-atala, the highest loka combines into or rejoins the monadic essence of the planetary chain. The differentiation so marked on the lower planes ceases here and, because of this, the two blend into or become one” (FSO 264). Cosmically atala emanates directly from the solar logos and contains with satyaloka the substantial seeds of all that was, is, and will be, from the beginning to the end of the solar mahamanvantara. Atala, with satyaloka, may be considered from one standpoint the sphere of the hierarchies of the dhyanis, who are, when completely in this condition, in a state of parasamadhi, and hence clothed in the dharmakaya.

Ativahika (Sanskrit) Ativāhika [from ati beyond + vāhika from the verbal root vah to transport or carry] To convey or carry across; a class of beings inhabiting the lower lokas: “With the Visishtadwaitees, these are the Pitris, or Devas, who help the disembodied soul or Jiva in its transit from its dead body to Paramapadha” (TG 42), to the highest bliss. Applied to the Sukshma-sarira or subtle body in Vedanta philosophy (cf. SD 1:132).

Aum (Sanskrit) Aum The ancient Indians held that Om, when considered as a single letter was the symbol of the Supreme; when written with three letters — Aum — it stood among other things for the three Vedas, the three gunas or qualities of nature, the three divisions of the universe, and the deities of the Hindu Trimurti — Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva — concerned in the creation, preservation, and destruction of the universe or the beings composing it. “The mystic formula, résumé of every science, contained in the three mysterious letters, AUM which signify creation, conservation, and transformation” (IU 2:31). These three letters are supposed by some Hindus to have correspondences as follows: “The letter A is the Sattva Guna, U is the Rajas, and M is the Tamas; these three qualities are termed Nature (Prakriti). . . . A is Bhurloka, U is Bhuvarloka, and M is Svarloka; by these three letters the spirit exhibits itself” (Laheri in Lucifer 10:147). This word is said to have a morally spiritualizing effect if pronounced during meditation and when the mind is at peace and cleansed of all impurities. See also OM

AvataMsakasutra. (T. Mdo phal po che; C. Huayan jing; J. Kegongyo; K. Hwaom kyong 華嚴經). In Sanskrit, "Garland Scripture"; also known as the BUDDHAVATAMSAKASuTRA ("Scripture of the Garland of Buddhas"), or *BuddhAvataMsakanAmamahAvaipulyasutra, the Sanskrit reconstruction of the title of the Chinese translation Dafangguang fo huayan jing, which is usually abbreviated in Chinese simply as the HUAYAN JING ("Flower Garland Scripture"). The sutra is one of the most influential Buddhist scriptures in East Asia and the foundational text of the indigenous East Asian HUAYAN ZONG. The first major edition of the AvataMsakasutra was said to have been brought from KHOTAN and was translated into Chinese by BUDDHABHADRA in 421; this recension consisted of sixty rolls and thirty-four chapters. A second, longer recension, in eighty rolls and thirty-nine chapters, was translated into Chinese by sIKsANANDA in 699; this is sometimes referred to within the Huayan tradition as the "New [translation of the] AvataMsakasutra" (Xin Huayan jing). A Tibetan translation similar to the eighty-roll recension also exists. The AvataMsakasutra is traditionally classified as a VAIPULYASuTRA; it is an encyclopedic work that brings together a number of heterogeneous texts, such as the GAndAVYuHA and DAsABHuMIKASuTRA, which circulated independently before being compiled together in this scripture. No Sanskrit recension of the AvataMsakasutra has been discovered; even the title is not known from Sanskrit sources, but is a reconstruction of the Chinese. (Recent research in fact suggests that the correct Sanskrit title might actually be BuddhAvataMsakasutra, or "Scripture of the Garland of Buddhas," rather than AvataMsakasutra.) There are, however, extant Sanskrit recensions of two of its major constituents, the Dasabhumikasutra and Gandavyuha. Given the dearth of evidence of a Sanskrit recension of the complete AvataMsakasutra, and since the scripture was first introduced to China from Khotan, some scholars have argued that the scripture may actually be of Central Asian provenance (or at very least was heavily revised in Central Asia). There also exists in Chinese translation a forty-roll recension of the AvataMsakasutra, translated by PRAJNA in 798, which roughly corresponds to the Gandavyuha, otherwise known in Chinese as the Ru fajie pin or "Chapter on the Entry into the DHARMADHATU." Little attempt is made to synthesize these disparate materials into an overarching narrative, but there is a tenuous organizational schema involving a series of different "assemblies" to which the different discourses are addressed. The Chinese tradition presumed that the AvataMsakasutra was the first sermon of the Buddha (see HUAYAN ZHAO), and the sutra's first assembly takes place at the BODHI TREE two weeks after he had attained enlightenment while he was still immersed in the samAdhi of oceanic reflection (SAGARAMUDRASAMADHI). The AvataMsaka is therefore believed to provide a comprehensive and definitive description of the Buddha's enlightenment experience from within this profound state of samAdhi. The older sixty-roll recension includes a total of eight assemblies held at seven different locations: three in the human realm and the rest in the heavens. The later eighty-roll recension, however, includes a total of nine assemblies at seven locations, a discrepancy that led to much ink in Huayan exegesis. In terms of its content, the sutra offers exuberant descriptions of myriads of world systems populated by buddhas and bodhisattvas, along with elaborate imagery focusing especially on radiant light and boundless space. The scripture is also the inspiration for the famous metaphor of INDRAJALA (Indra's Net), a canopy made of transparent jewels in which each jewel is reflected in all the others, suggesting the multivalent levels of interaction between all phenomena in the universe. The text focuses on the unitary and all-pervasive nature of enlightenment, which belongs to the realm of the Buddha of Pervasive Light, VAIROCANA, the central buddha in the AvataMsaka, who embodies the DHARMAKAYA. The sutra emphasizes the knowledge and enlightenment of the buddhas as being something that is present in all sentient beings (see TATHAGATAGARBHA and BUDDHADHATU), just as the entire universe, or trichiliocosm (S. TRISAHASRAMAHASAHASRALOKADHATU) is contained in a minute mote of dust. This notion of interpenetration or interfusion (YUANRONG) is stressed in the thirty-second chapter of Buddhabhadra's translation, whose title bears the influential term "nature origination" (XINGQI). The sutra, especially in FAZANG's authoritative exegesis, is presumed to set forth a distinctive presentation of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPADA) in terms of the dependence of the whole on its parts, stressing the unity of the universe and its emptiness (suNYATA) of inherent nature; dependent origination here emerges as a profound ecological vision in which the existence of any one thing is completely dependent on the existence of all other things and all things on any one thing. Various chapters of the sutra were also interpreted as providing the locus classicus for the exhaustive fifty-two stage MahAyAna path (MARGA) to buddhahood, which included the ten faiths (only implied in the scripture), the ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications, and ten stages (DAsABHuMI), plus the two stages of awakening itself: virtual enlightenment (dengjue) and sublime enlightenment (miaojue). This soteriological process was then illustrated through the peregrinations of the lad SUDHANA to visit his religious mentors, each of whom is identified with one of these specific stages; Sudhana's lengthy pilgrimage is described in great detail in the massive final chapter (a third of the entire scripture), the Gandavyuha, titled in the AvataMsakasutra the "Entry into the DharmadhAtu" chapter (Ru fajie pin). The evocative and widely quoted statement in the "Brahmacarya" chapter that "at the time of the initial arousal of the aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTOTPADA), complete, perfect enlightenment (ANUTTARASAMYAKSAMBODHI) is already achieved" was also influential in the development of the East Asian notion of sudden enlightenment (DUNWU), since it implied that awakening could be achieved in an instant of sincere aspiration, without requiring three infinite eons (ASAMKHYEYAKALPA) of religious training. Chinese exegetes who promoted this sutra reserved the highest place for it in their scriptural taxonomies (see JIAOXIANG PANSHI) and designated it the "perfect" or "consummate" teaching (YUANJIAO) of Buddhism. Many commentaries on and exegeses of the sutra are extant, among which the most influential are those written by FAZANG, ZHIYAN, CHENGGUAN, LI TONGXUAN, GUIFENG ZONGMI, WoNHYO, ŬISANG, and MYoE KoBEN.

Bardo is used in Tibet to refer to the many events and experiences undergone by the excarnate human being after death, generally considered to last from physical death until the next rebirth or reincarnation, though it is somewhat shorter than this. Since this period “may last from a few years to a kalpa” (ML 105), the bardo has more than the meaning commonly understood by the Tibetan populace which includes the time passed by the excarnate entity in kama-loka, in the intermediate or gestation period in which the entity is preparing for its birth into devachan, and the period of ineffable bliss and peace (illusory as it may be from the standpoint of reality) passed by the entity in the devachanic state itself. It also includes the later intermediate period — usually carefully veiled from common knowledge — existent between the ending of devachan and the rebirth of the reincarnating ego.

Because the lokas are more particularly the spheres of spiritual and intellectual character, and the talas the spheres of vehicular or more substantial character, it has been customary in Indian literature to speak of the lokas as heavens and the talas as hells — neither heavens nor hells bearing the shades of meaning attached to them in Christian theology. Every substantial globe is considered a hell; our own earth, for instance, bhurloka-patala, is so considered. All these talas are in the last analysis rising or descending realms forming the astral light which is not one sole restricted realm or sphere.

Beyond Aanroo, in Amenti, are seven halls with guardians, associated with kama-loka by Blavatsky: “Those only of the dead, who know the names of the janitors of the ‘seven halls,’ will be admitted into Amenti for ever; i.e., those who have passed through the seven races of each round — otherwise they will rest in the lower fields; and it represents also the seven successive Devachans, or lokas” (SD 1:674n). See also AMENTI

Bhagavata Purana (Sanskrit) Bhāgavata Purāṇa One of the most celebrated and popular of the 18 principal Puranas, especially dedicated to the glorification of Vishnu-Krishna, whose history is given in the tenth book. It consists of 12 books or skandhas, of 18,000 slokas, and is narrated by Suka, the son of Vyasa, to King Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers and hero of the Bhagavad-Gita.

bhAjanaloka. (T. snod kyi 'jig rten; C. qishijian; J. kiseken; K. kisegan 器世間) In Sanskrit, lit. "container world," referring to the wider environment, or the physical or inanimate world, whose function is to serve merely as a "container" for the lives of ordinary sentient beings (SATTVA). BhAjanaloka is used in contrast to and in conjunction with SATTVALOKA, the world of sentient beings, who are the inhabitants of that "container." Its ancillary production and cessation as well as its overall physical qualities were considered to be byproducts of the actions (KARMAN) of sentient beings. In the YOGACARA school, the physical world is viewed as a product of the storehouse consciousness (ALAYAVIJNANA).

Bhavishya Purana (Sanskrit) Bhaviṣya Purāṇa [from bhaviṣya about to come to pass, future] One of the 18 principal Puranas, extant copies containing 7,000 slokas. While the original of this work is said to have been a revelation of future events by Brahma, it in main part is a treatise on various religious rites and observances, although containing other matter closely recalling portions of the Laws of Manu. Its chief deity is Siva.

bhū ::: earth, the plane of terrestrial existence; the world of Matter bhu (anna1), which is "Sachchidananda represented to His own mental experience as a formal basis of objective knowledge, action and delight of existence", the lowest world of the triloka; it includes the physical plane, along with its vital and mental envelopes (triloka in bhū), and the subtle bhū.

bhuloka. ::: the material emptiness or plane of atomic matter

Bhur Bhuvah Svah (Sanskrit) Bhūr Bhuvaḥ Svaḥ The names of the first three of the seven lokas (worlds) of this kosmos, meaning literally earth, midworld or astral world, and heaven world; the three great vyahritis or mystical utterances pronounced after Om by every Brahmin in commencing his daily prayers.

Bhur-loka (Sanskrit) Bhūr-loka [from bhūr earth + loka place, world] Earth world; the lowest of the seven lokas. The popular exoteric name of our earth when considered in terms of the cosmic lokas or planes. The corresponding tala is patala. The field of influence of bhurloka is said to extend little farther than our atmosphere. Our earth is patala if we look at it from the material standpoint, and bhurloka if we look at it from the energy-consciousness side.

bhurloka ::: the material world, the world of formal becoming.

bhūrloka ::: the world (loka) of terrestrial existence; same as bhū.

Bhur (Sanskrit) Bhūr [from the verbal root bhū to become, spring forth] The act of becoming or arising; by extension the locus or place of such becoming, therefore a world or even a universe; likewise the earth and even the ground or bottommost portion of a cosmic hierarchy. Frequently it signifies the earth, particularly as the lowest of the seven lokas. Likewise, the first in serial order of the three great vyahritis or mystic utterances, the other two vyahritis being bhuvar (or bhuvah) and svar.

Bhuvana (Sanskrit) Bhuvana [from the verbal root bhū to become] A living being; man, mankind; the world; the earth — all as being living entities. Also Rudra in the Vishnu-Purana. When used in conjunction with 14 (chaturdasa-bhuvanas), the reference is to the 14 lokas.

Bhuvar-loka (Sanskrit) Bhuvar-loka [from bhuvas air, atmosphere from the verbal root bhū to become + loka world, place] World of development or growth — so called because it is one of the higher astral realms acting as one of the fields for the evolution of sentient beings. The sixth counting downwards of the seven lokas, popularly signifying the ethereal realm or sphere between the earth and the sun. The corresponding tala is mahatala. Bhuvarloka is often spoken of in Hindu literature as the middle region (referring to the triad of ethereal dwellings name bhur, bhuvas, and svar) and as the abode of the munis. While the exoteric statements about the various lokas and talas are based on truth, they are usually picturesque and allegorical, and commonly limit the ideas associated with them to some particular or outstanding characteristic, so while true enough when properly understood, they are almost always imperfect because incomplete.

bhuvarloka ::: the world (loka) called bhuvar; the vital world.

bhuvarloka ::: world of free vital becoming in form.

bhuvar ::: the plane of the life-principle (pran.a), consisting of "multiple dynamic worlds formative of the Earth", the second plane of the triloka; the vital layer of the material world (see bhuvar of bhū).

Blavatsky relates that Atala was also the name applied by the earliest of the fifth root-race to Atlantis as a whole (SD 2:322). See also LOKA

Loka-chakshus (Sanskrit) Loka-cakṣus [from loka world + cakṣus eye] The eye of the world; also one name of the sun.

*Lokaksema. (C. Zhi Loujiachan; J. Shi Rukasen; K. Chi Rugach'am 支婁迦讖) (c. 178-198 CE). A pioneering translator of Indic Buddhist materials into Chinese. Lokaksema was an Indo-Scythian monk from the KUSHAN kingdom in the GANDHĀRA region of northwest India, who was active in China sometime in the last quarter of the second century CE, soon after the Parthian translator AN SHIGAO. His Sanskrit name is a tentative reconstruction of the Chinese transcription Loujiachan, and he is often known in the literature by the abbreviated form Zhi Chan (using the ethnikon ZHI). Lokaksema is said to have arrived in the Chinese capital of Luoyang in 167 CE, where he began to render Indic Buddhist sutras into Chinese. Some fourteen works in twenty-seven rolls are typically ascribed to him (although the numbers given in the literature vary widely), of which twelve are generally presumed to be authentic. The translations thought to be genuine include the first Chinese renderings of sutras from some of the earliest strata of Indic MAHĀYĀNA literature, including the AstASĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ (Xiaopin bore jing), the KĀsYAPAPARIVARTA (Yi rimonibao jing), the PRATYUTPANNABUDDHASAMMUKHĀVASTHITASAMĀDHISuTRA (Banzhou sanmei jing), and the AKsOBHYATATHĀGATASYAVYuHA (Achu foguo jing). Given the time of his arrival in China, the Indic texts on which his translations were based must already have been in circulation in Kushan territory by at least 150 CE, giving a terminus ad quem for their composition. Rendered into a kind of pidgin Chinese, these "translations" may actually have targeted not Chinese readers but instead an émigré community of Kushan immigrants who had lost their ability to read Indic languages.

Lokaloka (Sanskrit) Lokāloka [from loka world + aloka unworld] The world and that which is not the world, the world and the invisible worlds, the inner ranges of being. In the mythological geography of the Puranas, said to be the belt or circle of mountains surrounding the outermost of the seven seas and dividing the visible or manifest world from the invisible or unmanifest worlds, often called the region of darkness (darkness here signifying merely nonvisible).

Lokanatha (Sanskrit) Lokanātha [from loka world + nātha refuge, protector] World refuge or world protector; law. A title of Gautama Buddha, conveying the idea that he is the spiritual refuge and protector of our world.

Lokapala-sabha-varnana (Sanskrit) Lokapāla-sabhā-varṇana [from lokapāla world protector + sabhā assembly + varṇana description] The description of the assembling of the world protectors (rajarshis); see Mahabharata, Sabha Parva, Section 20:233(8) (Debroy tr.) cited by Subba Row, Notes on the Bhagavad Gita, Section 2.

Lokapalas (Sanskrit) Lokapāla-s [from loka world + pāla protector from the verbal root pā to protect] The spiritual supporters, rulers, and guardians either of a universe or of a world. The cosmic, solar, or planetary spirits who preside over the eight points of the compass, among them being the four Maharajas. Each of these guardian spirits has an elephant (or other symbolic animal) who takes part in the defense and protection of the quarter, and these eight elephants are themselves sometimes called lokapalas. These elephants and their spouses pertain “to fancy and afterthought, though all of them have an occult significance” (SD 1:128). According to the Hindu pantheon, Indra presides over the east; Agni, the southeast; Yama, the south; Surya, the southwest; Varuna, the west; Vayu, the northwest; Kuvera, the north; and Soma, the northeast.

Lokaratha. See LOKANATHA

Loka(Sanskrit) ::: A word meaning "place" or "locality" or, as much more frequently used in theosophy, a"world" or "sphere" or "plane."The lokas are divided into rupa-lokas and arupa-lokas -- "material worlds" and "spiritual spheres." Thereis a wide range of teaching connected with the lokas and talas which belongs to the deeper reaches of theesoteric philosophy. (See also Arupa, Rupa, Tala)

Loka (Sanskrit) Loka Place, locality; in Brahmanic literature, heavens; in theosophical literature, world, sphere, plane. Used in the metaphysical systems of India, both in contrast to and in conjunction with tala (inferior world). “Wherever there is a loka there is an exactly correspondential tala, and in fact, the tala is the nether pole of its corresponding loka. Lokas and talas, therefore, in a way of speaking, may be considered to be the spiritual and the material aspects or substance-principles of the different worlds which compose and in fact are the kosmic universe” (OG 168). The lokas and talas must be thought of by twos: a loka and its corresponding tala can no more be separated than can the two poles of a magnet. They are the two sides of being, the two contrasting forces of nature, the light-side and the night-side.

Bodhisattvapitaka. (T. Byang chub sems dpa'i sde snod; C. Pusazang jing; J. Bosatsuzokyo; K. Posalchang kyong 菩薩藏經). In Sanskrit, "The Bodhisattva Basket," one of the earliest MAHAYANA scriptures, written by at least the first century CE and perhaps even as early as the first century BCE. The text is no longer extant, but its antiquity is attested by its quotation in some of the earliest MahAyAna sutras translated into Chinese, including *LOKAKsEMA's translation of the KAsYAPAPARIVARTA made in 179 CE and in DHARMARAKsA's 289 CE rendering of the VimaladattAparipṛcchA. The content of the anthology is unknown, but based on much later compilations bearing the same title (and which therefore might have been derived from the original Bodhisattvapitaka), the text must have been substantial in size (one later Chinese translation is twenty rolls in length) and have offered coverage of at least the six perfections (PARAMITA). Sections of the Bodhisattvapitaka may also have been subsumed in later collections of MahAyAna materials, such as the RATNAKutASuTRA.

BrahmA. [alt. MahAbrahmA] (T. Tshangs pa; C. Fantian; J. Bonten; K. Pomch'on 梵天). An Indian divinity who was adopted into the Buddhist pantheon as a protector of the teachings (DHARMAPALA) and king of the BRAHMALOKA (in the narrow sense of that term). A particular form of the god BrahmA, called SAHAMPATI, plays a crucial role in the inception of the Buddhist dispensation or teaching (sASANA). During the seven weeks following his enlightenment, the newly awakened buddha GAUTAMA was unsure as to whether he should teach, wondering whether there would be anyone in this world who would be able to duplicate his experience. BrahmA descended to earth and convinced him that there were persons "with little dust in their eyes" who would be able to understand his teachings. The Buddha then surveyed the world to determine the most suitable persons to hear the DHARMA. Seeing that his former meditation teachers had died, he chose the "group of five" (PANCAVARGIKA) and proceeded to ṚsIPATANA, where he taught his first sermon, the "Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma" (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASuTRA; P. DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANASUTTA). Because of this intervention, BrahmA is considered one of the main dharmapAlas. BUDDHAGHOSA explains, however, that the compassionate Buddha never had any hesitation about teaching the dharma but felt that if he were implored by the god BrahmA, who was revered in the world, it would lend credence to his mission. BrahmA is depicted with four faces and four arms, and his primary attributes are the lotus and the CAKRA. The figure of BrahmA also fused with early Indian BODHISATTVAs such as PADMAPAnI (AVALOKITEsVARA). In Tibet the dharmapAla TSHANGS PA DKAR PO is a fusion of BrahmA and PE HAR RGYAL PO.

brahmakAyika. (P. brahmapArisajjA; T. tshangs ris; C. fanzhong tian; J. bonshuten; K. pomjung ch'on 梵衆天). In Sanskrit, "brahmA's retainers"; the lowest of the three heavens that constitute the first concentration (DHYANA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU) in the Buddhist cosmological system. In PAli, the term brahmakAyika seems to be used at times for a general term for all the inhabitants of the BRAHMALOKA; the inhabitants of the lowest of the three heavens are instead called brahmApArisajjA (the "assembly of BRAHMA"). However, brahmakAyika more commonly refers to the lowest of the three heavens, whose inhabitants are divinities (DEVA) who are subordinates of the god BrahmA. As with the other inhabitants of the realm of subtle materiality, the divinities there have only three sense organs: of sight, hearing, and touch. Also as with all the heavens of the subtle-materiality realm, one is reborn as a divinity there through mastering during one's meditative practice in a preceding lifetime the same level of dhyAna as those divinities.

Brahma-loka: In Hinduism, the divine plane of the first emanation, the world of Saguna Brahman (q.v.).

brahmaloka ::: the world of the brahman in which the soul is one with the infinite existence and yet able to enjoy differentiation in the oneness.

brahmaloka. (T. tshangs pa'i 'jig rten; C. fanjie; J. bonkai; K. pomgye 梵界). In Sanskrit and PAli, the "BRAHMA worlds." In its narrowest sense, brahmaloka refers to the first three heavens of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU), whose denizens live perpetually immersed in the bliss of the first meditative absorption (DHYANA; P. jhAna): BRAHMAKAYIKA (heaven of BrahmA's followers), BRAHMAPUROHITA (heaven of BrahmA's vassals), and MAHABRAHMA (heaven of BrahmA himself). The ruler of these three heavens is named either BrahmA or MahAbrahmA, and he mistakenly believes that he is the creator of the universe. In a more general sense, the brahmaloka can also refer collectively to all the heavens of both the realm of subtle materiality and the immaterial realm (ARuPYADHATU). The two realms are divided into twenty heavens, the top four of which comprise the immaterial realm. Denizens of the immaterial realm have no physical dimension but are entirely mental and are perpetually immersed in one of the four immaterial absorptions (ARuPYAVACARADHYANA). The realm of subtle materiality is divided into sixteen heavens, the top five of which are called the "pure abodes" (sUDDHAVASA), where nonreturners (ANAGAMIN) are reborn. When the time is right, inhabitants of the pure abodes descend to earth in the guise of brAhmanas to leave portents of the advent of future buddhas so that they can be recognized when they appear in the human realm. One heaven in the realm of subtle materiality is reserved for unconscious beings (S. asaMjNisattva; P. asaNNasatta) who pass their entire lives (which can last eons) in dreamless sleep, only to die the moment they awaken. As with the immaterial realm, the realm of subtle materiality is also divided into four broad strata that correspond to the four form-based meditative absorptions (RuPAVACARADHYANA) and the denizens of these strata perpetually experience the bliss of the corresponding dhyAna. Regardless of the particular heaven they occupy, all inhabitants of the brahmaloka are all classified as BrahmA gods and live in splendor that far exceeds that of the divinities in the lower sensuous realm of existence (KAMADHATU).

brahmaloka ::: world of the brahman, in which the soul is one with the infinite existence and yet in a sense still a soul able to enjoy differentiation in the oneness; the highest state of pure existence, consciousness and beatitude attainable by the soul without complete extinction in the Indefinable.

Brahmanda Purana (Sanskrit) Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa One of the 18 principal Hindu Puranas, so named because it contains an account of Brahmanda (the Egg of Brahma), and therefore of future cosmic ages as revealed by Brahma. It consists of 12,200 slokas.

brahmatejah) ::: the urge towards knowledge, light of knowledge, spiritual force, steadiness: these express the energy of the brahman.a temperament. j ñanaloka

buddhaksetra. (T. sangs rgyas zhing; C. focha; J. bussetsu; K. pulch'al 佛刹). In Sanskrit, "buddha field," the realm that constitutes the domain of a specific buddha. A buddhaksetra is said to have two aspects, which parallel the division of a world system into a BHAJANALOKA (lit. "container world," "world of inanimate objects") and a SATTVALOKA ("world of sentient beings"). As a result of his accumulation of merit (PUnYASAMBHARA), his collection of knowledge (JNANASAMBHARA), and his specific vow (PRAnIDHANA), when a buddha achieves enlightenment, a "container" or "inanimate" world is produced in the form of a field where the buddha leads beings to enlightenment. The inhabitant of that world is the buddha endowed with all the BUDDHADHARMAs. Buddha-fields occur in various levels of purification, broadly divided between pure (VIsUDDHABUDDHAKsETRA) and impure. Impure buddha-fields are synonymous with a world system (CAKRAVAdA), the infinite number of "world discs" in Buddhist cosmology that constitutes the universe; here, ordinary sentient beings (including animals, ghosts, and hell beings) dwell, subject to the afflictions (KLEsA) of greed (LOBHA), hatred (DVEsA), and delusion (MOHA). Each cakravAda is the domain of a specific buddha, who achieves enlightenment in that world system and works there toward the liberation of all sentient beings. A pure buddha-field, by contrast, may be created by a buddha upon his enlightenment and is sometimes called a PURE LAND (JINGTU, more literally, "purified soil" in Chinese), a term with no direct equivalent in Sanskrit. In such purified buddha-fields, the unfortunate realms (APAYA, DURGATI) of animals, ghosts, and hell denizens are typically absent. Thus, the birds that sing beautiful songs there are said to be emanations of the buddha rather than sentient beings who have been reborn as birds. These pure lands include such notable buddhaksetras as ABHIRATI, the buddha-field of the buddha AKsOBHYA, and SUKHAVATĪ, the land of the buddha AMITABHA and the object of a major strand of East Asian Buddhism, the so-called pure land school (see JoDOSHu, JoDO SHINSHu). In the VIMALAKĪRTINIRDEsA, after the buddha reveals a pure buddha land, sARIPUTRA asks him why sAKYAMUNI's buddha-field has so many faults. The buddha then touches the earth with his toe, at which point the world is transformed into a pure buddha-field; he explains that he makes the world appear impure in order to inspire his disciples to seek liberation.

buddhAnusmṛti. (P. buddhAnussati; T. sangs rgyas rjes su dran pa; C. nianfo; J. nenbutsu; K. yombul 念佛). In Sanskrit, "recollection of the Buddha"; one of the common practices designed to develop concentration, in which the meditator reflects on the meritorious qualities of the Buddha, often through contemplating a series of his epithets. The oldest list of epithets of the Buddha used in such recollection, which is found across all traditions, is worthy one (ARHAT), fully enlightened (SAMYAKSAMBUDDHA), perfect in both knowledge and conduct (vidyAcaranasampanna), well gone (SUGATA), knower of all worlds (lokavid), teacher of divinities (or kings) and human beings (sAstṛ devamanusyAnaM), buddha, and BHAGAVAT. BuddhAnusmṛti is listed among the forty meditative exercises (KAMMAttHANA) discussed in the VISUDDHIMAGGA and is said to be conducive to gaining access concentration (UPACARASAMADHI). In East Asia, this recollection practice evolved into the recitation of the name of the buddha AMITABHA (see NIANFO) in the form of the phrase namo Amituo fo ("homage to AmitAbha Buddha"; J. NAMU AMIDABUTSU). This recitation was often performed in a ritual setting accompanied by the performance of prostrations, the burning of incense, and the recitation of scriptures, all directed toward gaining a vision of AmitAbha's PURE LAND (SUKHAVATĪ), which was considered proof that one would be reborn there. Nianfo practice was widely practiced across schools and social strata in China. In Japan, repetition of the phrase in its Japanese pronunciation of namu Amidabutsu (homage to AmitAbha Buddha) became a central practice of the Japanese Pure Land schools of Buddhism (see JoDOSHu, JoDO SHINSHu).

caitanyaloka (chaitanyaloka) ::: the world of pure and infinite consciousness (usually not distinguished from tapoloka).

caitanyaloka (Chaitanyaloka) ::: [world of consciousness].

cakravAda. [alt. cakravAla] (P. cakkavAla; T. 'khor yug ri; C. tiewei shan; J. tetchisen; K. ch'orwi san 鐵圍山). In Sanskrit, "ring of mountains"; the proper name of the eight ranges of metallic mountains that are presumed in Buddhist cosmology to surround the world system of the sensuous realm (KAMALOKA) and thus sometimes used by metonymy to designate the entire universe or "world system." Eight concentric mountain ranges are said to surround the central axis of the world system, Mount SUMERU or Mount Meru. The seven innermost ranges are made of gold, and seven seas fill the valleys between these concentric ranges. In some representations, the mountain ranges are in the form a circle; in others, they are in the form of a square, consistent with the shape of Mount Sumeru. Located in a vast ocean that exists beyond these seven innermost concentric rings are laid out the four continents, including JAMBUDVĪPA (the Rose-Apple Continent) to the south, where human beings dwell; VIDEHA to the east; GODANĪYA to the west; and UTTARAKURU to the north. At the outer perimeter of the world system is a final range of iron mountains, which surrounds and contains the outermost sea. The universe was presumed to be occupied by an essentially infinite number of these cakravAda world systems, each similarly structured, and each world system was the domain of a specific buddha, where he achieved enlightenment and worked toward the liberation of all sentient beings. See also BUDDHAKsETRA.

Candragomin. (T. Btsun pa zla ba). Fifth-century CE Indian lay poet and grammarian, who made substantial contributions to Sanskrit grammar, founding what was known as the CAndra school. A junior contemporary of the great KAlidAsa, Candragomin was one of the most accomplished poets in the history of Indian Buddhism. His play LokAnanda, which tells the story of the BODHISATTVA king Manicuda, is the oldest extant Buddhist play and was widely performed in the centuries after its composition. He was a devotee of TARA and composed several works in her praise. Tibetan works describe him as a proponent of VIJNANAVADA who engaged in debate with CANDRAKĪRTI, but there is little philosophical content in his works that can be confidently ascribed to him. Among those works are the "Letter to a Disciple" (sisyalekha), the "Confessional Praise" (DesanAstava), and perhaps the "Twenty Verses on the Bodhisattva Precepts" (BodhisattvasaMvaraviMsaka).

candraloka (chandraloka) ::: the world of the moon (candra1, symbol of the mind reflecting the light of sūrya1, the sun of Truth); the higher ... 42 of the two planes of svar, corresponding to buddhi (intelligence).1

candraloka (Chandraloka) ::: [world of the Moon].

Catuḥstava. (T. Bstod pa bzhi). In Sanskrit, "Four Songs of Praise"; a set of four devotional hymns attributed to the Indian monk NAGARJUNA, the founder of the MADHYAMAKA school of MAHAYANA philosophy. More than four such hymns have survived, so it is uncertain which were the original four. The four hymns now included in this set are entitled LOKATĪTASTAVA ("Hymn to He Who Transcends the World"), NIRAUPAMYASTAVA ("Hymn to He Who Is Unequaled"), ACINTYASTAVA ("Hymn to the Inconceivable"), and PARAMARTHASTAVA ("Hymn to the Ultimate"). These verses are addressed to the Buddha himself, in honor of his virtues and various aspects of his enlightenment. The author praises the Buddha for his supreme insight, his compassion, and his efforts to awaken all beings. The hymns also contain many important aspects of the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school. For example, verses five through ten of the LokAtītastava are used to explain the interdependence, and therefore inessential nature, of each of the five aggregates (SKANDHA).

cAturmahArAjakAyika. (P. cAtummahArAjikA; T. rgyal chen rigs bzhi; C. sitianwang tian; J. shitennoten; K. sach'onwang ch'on 四天王天). In Sanskrit, "heaven of the assemblage of the four great kings"; the lowest of all the heavens in Buddhist cosmology and the lowest of the six heavens located in the sensuous realm (KAMADHATU). The heaven is located on the upper slopes of MOUNT SUMERU and is presided over by four kings, one in each of the cardinal directions. The four kings are DHṚTARAstRA in the east; VIRudHAKA in the south; VIRuPAKsA in the west; and VAIsRAVAnA in the north. These four are known collectively as the LOKAPALAs, or protectors of the world. There are many divinities (DEVA) inhabiting this heaven: GANDHARVAs in the east, KUMBHAndAs in the south, NAGAs in the west, and YAKsAs in the north. As vassals of sAKRO DEVANAM INDRAḤ (lit. "sakra, the lord of the gods"; see INDRA; sAKRA), the four heavenly kings serve as protectors of the dharma (DHARMAPALA) and of sentient beings who are devoted to the dharma. They are said to have protected the Buddha from the time that he entered his mother's womb and also to have presented him with his alms bowl after his enlightenment. They survey their respective quadrants of the world and report on the deeds of humans to the divinities of the TRAYASTRIMsA heaven.

caturmahArAja. (S). See LOKAPALA.

Cerberus (Greek) In Greek mythology, the three-headed dog with a serpent’s tail, son of Typhon and Echidna, who guards the gate to Hades or the underworld. He was brought to the earth and back by Hercules as his twelfth labor. Cerberus “came to the Greeks and Romans from Egypt. It was the monster, half-dog and half-hippopotamus, that guarded the gates of Amenti. . . . Both the Egyptian and the Greek Cerberus are symbols of Kamaloka and its uncouth monsters, the cast-off shells of mortals” (TG 74-5).

Chakshu (Sanskrit) Cakṣu [from the verbal root cakṣ to become visible, see] The eye; “the faculty of sight, or rather, an occult perception of spiritual and subjective realities . . . ” (TG 323). Chakshus, in addition to meaning eye, as a neuter noun denotes the faculty of seeing, light, clearness. The compound loka-chakshus (eye of the world) is a title of the sun.

Chandraloka ::: see candraloka

Charon (Greek) Ferryman of the Styx in Hades, the son of Erebos (darkness) and either Nux (night) or the Styx; equivalent to the Egyptian Khu-en-ua, the hawk-headed steersman who conveys souls across the black waters that separate life from death. Originally Mercury guided the souls to the underworld, but later Charon was said to ferry souls across who had a coin, put in their mouth at death by their relatives, and who had been properly buried. Hades is kama-loka, entered not only by the shades of the departed but by candidates for initiation, and by high adepts who enter the underworld at certain times on missions of compassion, as Jesus is stated to have descended into Hell.

Chaturdasa-bhuvana (Sanskrit) Caturdaśa-bhuvana The 14 lokas and talas, or spiritual and material worlds of existence.

Chaya, Chhaya-birth, Chayaloka. See CHHAYA, CHHAYA-BIRTH, CHHAYALOKA

chayaloka (chhayaloka) ::: the shadowy world; same as patala. chayaloka

Chhayaloka (Sanskrit) Chāyāloka [from chāyā shadow + loka world] Used in the Stanzas of Dzyan for the shadow of cosmic spirit, the first shadowy veil involving the origins of primal or intellectual forms: “the ‘Divine Arupa’ (the formless Universe of Thought) reflects itself in Chhayaloka (the shadowy world of primal form, or the intellectual) the first garment of (the) Anupadaka” (SD 1:118-19).

Chiliocosm (Greek) [from chilioi thousand + kosmos world] In Northern Buddhism, a world made up of a thousand regions; spoken of as equivalent to Sahalo-Kadhatu [Saha-lokadhatu] (ML 199), out of the many regions of which only three are named: kama-loka, rupa-loka, and arupa-loka. It is also stated that kama-loka has many subdivisions or subregions, so that the threefold enumeration is a rough summary of a manifold classification.

cikirsur lokasamgraham ::: having for his motive the holding together of the peoples. [Gita 3.25]

Cosmically the four cardinal points represent a certain stage of manifestation where the three become four, in this case the number of matter. The Zohar says that the three primordial elements and the four cardinal points and all the forces of nature form the Voice of the Will, which is the manifested Logos. The Dodonaean Zeus includes in himself the four elements and the four cardinal points. Brahma is likewise four-faced. The pyramid is the triangle repeated on the four cardinal points and symbolizes, among other things, the phenomenal merging into the noumenal. The four cardinal points are presided over, or are manifestations of, four cosmic genii, dragons, maharajas — in Buddhism the chatur-maharajas (four great kings) — hidden dragons of wisdom, or celestial nagas. Hinduism has the four, six, or eight lokapalas. In the Egyptian and Jewish temples these points were represented by the four colors of the curtain hung before the Adytum. See also EAST; NORTH; SOUTH; WEST

Cosmic Planes. See DHATU; PLANE; LOKA; TALA; TATTVA

Daojiao yishu. (J. Dokyo gisu; K. Togyo ŭich'u 道教義樞). In Chinese, "The Pivotal Meaning of the Teachings of the DAO"; a text attributed to the Daoist priest Meng Anpai (d.u.); an encyclopedic work that provides a detailed explanation of thirty-seven matters of Daoist doctrine, five of which are now lost. Among the thirty-seven concepts explained in the text, there are concepts borrowed directly from Buddhism, such as the dharma body (DHARMAKAYA), three jewels (RATNATRAYA), three vehicles (TRIYANA), three realms of existence (TRILOKA [DHATU]), knowledge of external objects, and the PURE LAND of SUKHAVATĪ. The text also employs Buddhist terms, concepts, and classificatory systems throughout. The greatest Buddhist influence on this text came from the SAN LUN ZONG and especially from the teachings of the Sanlun master JIZANG. The Daojiao yishu was, in fact, written to demonstrate the sophistication of Daoist thought in response to Buddhist criticisms during the Tang dynasty. This text influenced the compilation of many later Daoist works, such as the Yunji qiqian.

dasadis. [alt. disā] (P. dasadisā; T. phyogs bcu; C. shifang; J. jippo; K. sibang 十方). In Sanskrit, "ten directions"; the four cardinal directions (north, east, south, west), the four intermediate directions (northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest), plus the zenith and the nadir. By covering every possible direction, the "ten directions" therefore comes to be used by extension to mean "everywhere," in the sense of an all-pervasive completeness or comprehensiveness, whether of activities, states, or occurrences. The MAHĀYĀNA tradition presumes that there are innumerable world systems in all the ten directions (S. dasadiglokadhātu; C. shifang shijie), as well as innumerable "buddhas of the ten directions" (dasadigbuddha). See also SHIFANG CHA; PĀPADEsANĀ.

Dazhidu lun. (J. Daichidoron; K. Taejido non 大智度論). In Chinese, "Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom"; an important Chinese text that is regarded as the translation of a Sanskrit work whose title has been reconstructed as *MāhāprājNāpāramitāsāstra or *MahāprajNāpāramitopedesa. The work is attributed to the MADHYAMAKA exegete NĀGĀRJUNA, but no Sanskrit manuscripts or Tibetan translations are known and no references to the text in Indian or Tibetan sources have been identified. The work was translated into Chinese by the KUCHA monk KUMĀRAJĪVA (344-413) between 402 and 406; it was not translated into Chinese again. Some scholars speculate that the work was composed by an unknown Central Asian monk of the SARVĀSTIVĀDA school who had "converted" to MADHYAMAKA, perhaps even Kumārajīva himself. The complete text was claimed to have been one hundred thousand slokas or one thousand rolls (zhuan) in length, but the extant text is a mere one hundred rolls. It is divided into two major sections: the first is Kumārajīva's full translation of the first fifty-two chapters of the text; the second is his selective translations from the next eighty-nine chapters of the text. The work is a commentary on the PANCAVIMsATISĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀSuTRA, and is veritable compendium of Buddhist doctrine, replete with quotations from a wide range of Indian texts. Throughout the translation, there appear frequent and often substantial interlinear glosses and interpolations, apparently provided by Kumārajīva himself and targeting his Chinese readership; it is the presence of such interpolations that has raised questions about the text's Indian provenance. In the first thirty-four rolls, the Dazhidu lun provides a detailed explanation of the basic concepts, phrases, places, and figures that appear in the PaNcaviMsatisāhasrikāprajNāpāramitā (e.g., BHAGAVAT, EVAM MAYĀ sRUTAM, RĀJAGṚHA, buddha, BODHISATTVA, sRĀVAKA, sĀRIPUTRA, suNYATĀ, NIRVĀnA, the six PĀRAMITĀ, and ten BALA). The scope of the commentary is extremely broad, covering everything from doctrine, legends, and rituals to history and geography. The overall concern of the Dazhidu lun seems to have been the elucidation of the concept of buddhahood, the bodhisattva career, the MAHĀYĀNA path (as opposed to that of the HĪNAYĀNA), PRAJNĀ, and meditation. The Dazhidu lun thus served as an authoritative source for the study of Mahāyāna in China and was favored by many influential writers such as SENGZHAO, TIANTAI ZHIYI, FAZANG, TANLUAN, and SHANDAO. Since the time of the Chinese scriptural catalogue KAIYUAN SHIJIAO LU (730), the Dazhidu lun, has headed the roster of sĀSTRA materials collected in the Chinese Buddhist canon (DAZANGJING; see also KORYo TAEJANGGYoNG); this placement is made because it is a principal commentary to the PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ sutras that open the SuTRA section of the canon. Between 1944 and 1980, the Belgian scholar ÉTIENNE LAMOTTE published an annotated French translation of the entire first section and chapter 20 of the second section as Le Traité de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse, in five volumes.

Devachan and nirvana are not localities, but the states of consciousness of the beings in those respective spiritual conditions. Nirvana is the highest spiritual or superspiritual state; devachan is the intermediate or high psychological states; and avichi, popularly called the lowest of the hells, is the nether pole of the spiritual condition. These three are states of beings existing in the lokas or talas, the worlds of the cosmic egg; whereas paranirvana (“beyond nirvana,” a super-nirvana) is that divine state which is virtually identification with cosmic reality.

Devachani, Devachanee Coined by the Mahatmas when first presenting the theosophical teachings, to name the entity experiencing the state of devachan, consisting of the higher triad made one for the time being — atma-buddhi-manas — after its separation from the lower quaternary in kama-loka.

Deva-loka (Sanskrit) Devaloka [from deva spiritual being + loka world, sphere] A world or sphere of any divinity; in the plural, refers sometimes to the seven worlds enumerated under the seven lokas.

devaloka. (T. lha'i 'jig rten; C. tianshijie/tianjie/tianshang; J. tensekai/tengai/tenjo; K. ch'onsegye/ch'on'gye/ch'onsang 天世界/天界/天上). In Sanskrit and Pāli, the "heavenly world," the abodes of the divinities (DEVA); the highest and most salutary of the five or six rebirth destinies (GATI) of SAMSĀRA. Rebirth as a deva is considered to be the beneficial result of virtuous actions (KARMAN) performed in a previous lifetime, and all the devalokas are thus regarded as salutary levels of existence. There are a total of twenty-seven [alt. twenty-six or twenty-eight] different heavenly worlds (see DEVA), subdivided according to where their abode is located within the three realms of existence (TRAIDHĀTUKA; trailokya), viz., the sensuous or desire realm (KĀMADHĀTU), the realm of subtle materiality or form (RuPADHĀTU), and the immaterial or formless realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU). The devalokas in Buddhist cosmology seem to be an adaptation and enhancement of pre-Buddhistic Indian notions of the cosmos. For instance, the six heavens of the sensuous realm in the Buddhist schema seem to be developed from the "six spaces" (rajāMsi), the six subdivisions of the two upper strata of the Vedic cosmos. One of the earliest formulations of the Buddhist devalokas appears in the Buddha's first sermon, the "Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma" (P. DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANASUTTA; S. DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASuTRA), included in the Pāli MAHĀVAGGA, where the seven heavens are said to be comprised of the six heavens of the sensuous realm and the heaven of the BRAHMĀ gods in the realm of subtle materiality. Even so, it appears that the early Buddhists were aware of the presence of even more devalokas, since the AnGUTTARANIKĀYA notes that there are still more divinities even beyond those of the Brahmā heavens. A more or less complete roster of all the devalokas appears in the Pāli SĀlEYYAKASUTTA, which enumerates twenty-five heavens extending throughout all three realms of existence. For an extended discussion of specific heavenly realms, see DEVA.

devarājan. (T. lha'i rgyal po; C. tianwang; J. tenno; K. ch'onwang 天王). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "king of the divinities (DEVA)"; an epithet of sAKRO DEVĀNĀM INDRAḤ, viz., "sAKRA, the king of the gods," who is also known as INDRA (Lord). sakra resides in his capital city of Sudarsana, which is centered in the heaven of the thirty-three [gods] (TRĀYASTRIMsA), the second of the six heavens of the realm of sensuality (KĀMALOKA). Southeast Asian Buddhism also drew on the Hindu cult of the devarājan (divine king), which identified the reigning monarch as an incarnation of the god siva. See also BAYON.

devatā. (T. lha; C. tianshen; J. tenjin; K. ch'onsin 天神). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "state of being a divinity," referring to all classifications of heavenly beings or divinities (DEVA) in the abstract. Deriving from the principle that any being who is worshipped or to whom offerings are made may be called a devatā, the connotation of divinities was broadly expanded to include not only the higher gods of the heavenly realms (DEVALOKA) proper but also religious mendicants; domesticated animals; powerful earthly forces such as fire and wind; lesser gods such as NĀGAs, GANDHARVAs, and YAKsAs; and local ghosts and spirits, including devatās of homes, trees, and bodies of water. As Buddhism moved into new regions, various indigenous local deities thus came to be assimilated into the Buddhist pantheon by designating them as devatās.

deva. (T. lha; C. tian; J. ten; K. ch'on 天). In Sanskrit and Pāli, lit., "radiant one" or "shining one"; a "divinity," "heavenly being," or "god," as one of the five [alt. six] rebirth destinies (GATI) of SAMSĀRA. When it is said that Buddhism has "gods" but no "God," the devas are being referred to. The term deva derives from the Sanskrit root √div and is related etymologically to the English word "divinity." Rebirth as a deva is considered to be the beneficial result of virtuous actions (KARMAN) performed in a previous lifetime, and all of the many heavenly realms in Buddhist cosmology are therefore salutary levels of existence. However, they are temporary abodes within saMsāra, rather than eternal heavens. ¶ There are a total of twenty-seven [alt. twenty-six or twenty-eight] different categories of devas, which are subdivided according to where their abode (DEVALOKA) is located within the three realms of existence (TRAIDHĀTUKA, trailokya), viz., the sensuous or desire realm (KĀMADHĀTU), the materiality or form realm (RuPADHĀTU) and the immaterial or formless realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU). ¶ There are six heavens of the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU). The first two are located on Mount SUMERU; the other four are located in the sky above its summit. One is reborn into these heavens as a result of virtuous deeds done in the past, especially deeds of charity (DĀNA). They include six deva abodes:

Dharmakīrtisrī. (T. Chos kyi grags pa dpal). Buddhist pandita better known by his Tibetan name Gser gling pa (Serlingpa), "The Man from Suvarnadvīpa"; also known as Kulānta (T. Rigs sbyin). He was a GURU of ATIsA, who traveled by sea to Suvarnadvīpa (generally regarded as referring to the region of lower Burma, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra) in order to study with him. Atisa is said to have praised him as his supreme teacher of BODHICITTA. His doctrinal affiliation was said to be YOGĀCĀRA. He is the author of the Durbodhāloka, a widely cited subcommentary on HARIBHADRA's ABHISAMAYĀLAMKĀRAVIVṚTI. The Durbodhāloka is only extant in Tibetan translation and was written later than the PRASPHUtAPADĀ of Dharmamitra. It is the only extant Buddhist scholastic text from that period by a writer from that region.

Dhātukāya[pādasāstra]. (T. Khams kyi tshogs; C. Jieshen lun; J. Kaishinron; K. Kyesin non 界身論). In Sanskrit, "Collection of Elements"; traditionally placed as the fifth of the six "feet" (pāda) of the JNĀNAPRASTHĀNA, the central treatise in the SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMAPItAKA. The text, which is attributed to either VASUMITRA or PuRnA, probably dates from the middle stratum of Sarvāstivāda abhidharma materials, together with the VIJNĀNAKĀYA, and probably the PRAJNAPTIBHĀsYA and PRAKARAnAPĀDA as well; the first century BCE is the terminus ad quem for its composition. As its title suggests, the Dhātukāya is a collection of various schemata for organizing the diverse mental concominants (CAITTA) that had been listed in previous ABHIDHARMA materials. The text is in two major sections, the first of which, the *mulavastuvarga, provides a roster of ninety-one different types of mentality (CITTA) and mental concomintants (caitta) in fourteen different lists of factors (DHARMA). The second major section, the *vibhajyavarga, provides a series of analyses that details the intricate interrelationships among the various factors included in these dharma lists. The text concludes with an analysis of each individual factor in terms of its association with, or dissociation from, the eighteen elements (DHĀTU), twelve sense-fields (ĀYATANA), and five aggregates (SKANDHA). The idiosyncratic lists of dharmas found in the Dhātukāya are ultimately standardized in the later Prakaranapāda. Because the Dhātukāya's preliminary rosters are ultimately superseded by the more developed and comprehensive treatment of dharmas found in the Prakaranapāda, the Dhātukāya is less commonly read and consulted within the later Sarvāstivāda tradition and is, in fact, never cited in the ABHIDHARMAMAHĀVIBHĀsĀ, the Sarvāstivāda's encyclopedic treatment of doctrine. The fact that the Chinese tradition ascribes authorship of both of these texts to Vasumitra suggests that the Prakaranapāda may have been intended to be the definitive and complete systematization of dharmas that are outlined only tentatively, and incompletely, in the Dhātukāya. The Dhātukāya is reminiscent in style and exegetical approach to the Pāli PAttHĀNA and especially the DHĀTUKATHĀ (both of which may derive from a common urtext), although there are few similarities in their respective contents. The Dhātukāya does not survive in an Indic language and is only extant in a Chinese translation made by XUANZANG's translation team in 663 CE. The text is said to have been composed originally in six thousand slokas, although the recension Xuanzang translated apparently derived from an abbreviated edition in 830 slokas.

dhātu. (T. khams; C. jie; J. kai; K. kye 界). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "element"; a polysemous term with wide application in Buddhist contexts. ¶ In epistemology, the dhātus refer to the eighteen elements through which sensory experience is produced: the six sense bases, or sense organs (INDRIYA; viz., eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind); the six corresponding sense objects (ĀLAMBANA; viz., forms, sounds, odors, tastes, tangible objects, and mental phenomena); and the six sensory consciousnesses that result from contact (SPARsA) between the corresponding base and object (VIJNĀNA; viz., visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and mental consciousnesses). As this list makes clear, the eighteen dhātus also subsume the twelve ĀYATANA (sense-fields). The dhātus represent one of the three major taxonomies of dharmas found in the sutras (along with SKANDHA and āyatana), and represent a more primitive stage of dharma classification than the elaborate analyses found in much of the mature ABHIDHARMA literature (but cf. DHARMASKANDHA). ¶ In cosmology, dhātu is used in reference to the three realms of existence (TRILOKADHĀTU), which comprise all of the phenomenal universe: the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU), the subtle-materiality realm (RuPADHĀTU), and the immaterial realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU). The three realms of existence taken together comprise all of SAMSĀRA, and are the realms within which beings take rebirth. In this cosmological sense, dhātu is synonymous to AVACARA (sphere, domain); see AVACARA for further details. ¶ In a physical sense, dhātu is used to refer to the constituent elements of the physical world (see MAHĀBHuTA), of which four are usually recognized in Buddhist materials: earth, water, fire, and wind. Sometimes two additional constituents are added to the list: space (ĀKĀsA) and consciousness (VIJNĀNA). ¶ The term dhātu may also refer to an "elemental physical substance," that is, the physical remains of the body, and this context is synonymous with sARĪRA (relic), with which it is often seen in compound as sarīradhātu (bodily relic). Sometimes three types of relics are differentiated: specific corporeal relics (sarīradhātu), relics of use (pāribhogikadhātu), and relics of commemoration (uddesikadhātu). In a further development of this usage, in the RATNAGOTRAVIBHĀGA, dhātu is synonymous with GOTRA, the final element that enables all beings to become buddhas; see BUDDHADHĀTU.

Dhṛtarāstra. (P. Dhatarattha; T. Yul 'khor srung; C. Chiguo Tian; J. Jikokuten; K. Chiguk Ch'on 持國天). In Sanskrit, "He whose Empire is Unyielding," or "He who Preserves the Empire"; one of the four "great kings" of heaven (CATURMAHĀRĀJA), who are also known as "world guardians" (LOKAPĀLA); he is said to be a guardian of the DHARMA and of sentient beings who are devoted to the dharma. Dhṛtarāstra guards the gate that leads to the east at the midslope of the world's central axis of Mount SUMERU; this gate leads to purvavideha (see VIDEHA), one of the four continents (dvīpa), which is located in the east. Dhṛtarāstra and his fellow great kings reside in the first and lowest of the six heavens of the sensuous realm of existence (KĀMADHĀTU), the heaven of the four great kings (CATURMAHĀRĀJAKĀYIKA). Dhṛtarāstra is a vassal of sAKRO DEVĀNĀM INDRAḤ (see INDRA; sAKRA), the king of the gods, who is lord of the heaven of the thirty-three divinities (TRĀYASTRIMsA), the second of the six sensuous-realm heavens, which is located at the peak of Mount SUMERU. Among the eight classes of demigods, Dhṛtarāstra rules over the "heavenly musicians" (GANDHARVA) and the "stinking hungry demons" (putana). Dhṛtarāstra and the four heavenly kings were originally indigenous Indian or Central Asian deities, who were eventually "conquered" by the Buddha and incorporated into Buddhism; they seem to have been originally associated with royal (KsATRIYA) lineages, and their connections with royal warfare are evidenced in the suits of armor they come to wear as their cult is transmitted from Central Asia to China, Korea, and Japan. According to the Dhāranīsamuccaya, Dhṛtarāstra is to be depicted iconographically with his sword in his left hand and his right fist akimbo on his waist.

Divyachakshus, (Sanskrit) Divyacakṣus [from divya divine + cakṣus eye] The divine eye; in Buddhism the first of the divine faculties attained by a buddha: the power of seeing any object in any loka or plane of consciousness. It is one of the six or seven abhijnas (inner powers or faculties), divyachakshus being real spiritual clairvoyance, enabling one to see any object in the universe at whatever distance.

Divyasrotra (Sanskrit) Divyaśrotra [from divya divine + śrotra ear] The divine ear; in Buddhism the second of the abhijnas (powers attained by a buddha or high initiate), that of understanding all sounds on whatever loka or plane, including the understanding of all languages. It corresponds to real clairaudience.

  “each one of these lokas and each one of these talas produces the following lower one of the scale from itself, . . . The highest of either line projects or sends forth the next lower. It, in addition to its own particular characteristic or swabhava, contains also within itself the nature of the one above it, its parent, and also sends forth the one lower than it, the third in the line downwards. And so on down the scale. So that each one of the principles or elements [or lokas or talas] is likewise sevenfold, containing in itself the subelements of that or those of which it is the reflection from above” (Fund 472, 481-2).

Eighth Sphere or Planet of Death Both a globe and a condition of being, where utterly, irredeemably corrupt human souls are attracted, to be dissipated as earth entities. These “lost souls” have through lifetimes lost their link with their inner god, and so can no longer serve as a channel for those spiritual forces. Too gross to remain in kama-loka or avichi, they sink to this slowly dying planet of our solar system, invisible because too dense, which acts as a vent or receptacle for human waste. “The Eighth Sphere is a very necessary organic part of the destiny of our earth and its chain. . . . in the solar system there are certain bodies which act as vents, cleansing channels, receptacles for human waste and slag. . . . [the lost soul] therefore sinks into the Planet of Death or the globe of Mara to which its own heavy material magnetism drags it, where it is dissipated as an entity from above, which means from our globe, and is slowly ground over in nature’s laboratory. . . . However, precisely because the lost soul is yet an aggregate of astral-vital-psychical life-atoms connected around a monad as yet scarcely evolved, this monad, when freed from its earth veil of life atoms, thereupon begins in the Planet of Death a career of its own in this highly material globe.” (FSO 347-8)

Ekasloka-Sastra (Sanskrit) Ekaśloka-śāstra [from eka one + śloka stanza + śāstra scripture] A Buddhist mystical work written by Nagarjuna, called in Chinese the Yih-shu-lu-kia-lun.

Elokah :::
A Holy Name of G-d.


er chu san hui. (J. nisho san'e; K. i ch'o sam hoe 二處三會). In Chinese, "the two locations and three assemblies," the sites where the Buddha is presumed to have preached the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA; a TIANTAI term. The two locations are Vulture Peak (GṚDHRAKutAPARVATA) and the heavenly realm (DEVALOKA). According to the account in the Saddharmapundarīkasutra, the Buddha preached, first, chapters one through the middle of the eleventh chapter on Vulture Peak; continuing on to, second, the end of the twenty-second chapter in the heavens; and, finally, third, the twenty-third chapter to the end of the sutra back at Vulture Peak.

er shijian. (J. niseken; K. i segan 二世間). In Chinese, lit. "the two kinds of worlds." Following the ABHIDHARMAKOsABHĀsYA, the Chinese distinguish between the reality associated with the sentient and inanimate realms. The sentient aspect of reality refers to the living beings who are endowed with consciousness (SATTVALOKA); the inanimate aspect is the physical environment in which sentient beings exist (BHĀJANALOKA). According to this cosmology, both the sentient and inanimate aspects of reality are created and conditioned by living beings' KARMAN-the former by the so-called individual karman and the latter by "collective karman." (cf. ER BAO and GONG BUGONG YE).

Evocation [from Latin evocare to call forth] The calling forth of simulacra of the departed by magical processes; or the calling forth of the daemons or nature spirits of various classes by will directed by knowledge. The spiritual aspects of human beings cannot, however, be called forth, except in rare instances immediately after death, which in this case means black magic; and even so, these disimbodied spirits do not actually come, but cause their simulacrum to be formed, or send a messenger. The attempt thus to evoke the departed is a wrongful interference with the courses of nature and detrimental to the welfare of the departing egos. It is much easier and more common to evoke spooks from kama-loka, or denizens of the lower astral light; and the appearances thus created are often of a composite nature, to which the medium and sitters, whether knowingly or not, contribute. This must necessarily be the case where there is actual materialization. Such practices come under the general heading of necromancy.

Fayuan zhulin. (J. Hoon jurin; K. Pobwon churim 法苑珠林). In Chinese, "A Grove of Pearls in the Garden of the Dharma," compiled in 668 by the Tang-dynasty monk Daoshi (d. 683) of XIMINGXI; a comprehensive encyclopedia of Buddhism, in one hundred rolls and one hundred chapters, based on the DA TANG NEIDIAN LU and XU GAOSENG ZHUAN, which were compiled by Daoshi's elder brother, the monk DAOXUAN (596-667). The encyclopedia provides definitions and explanations for hundreds of specific Buddhist concepts, terms, and numerical lists. Each chapter deals with a single category such as the three realms of existence (TRILOKA[DHĀTU]), revering the Buddha, the DHARMA, and the SAMGHA, the monastery, relics (sARĪRA), repentance, receiving the precepts, breaking the precepts, and self-immolation (SHESHEN), covering these topics with numerous individual entries. The Fayuan zhulin is characterized by its use of numerous passages quoted from Buddhist scriptures in support of its explanations and interpretations. Since many of the texts that Daoshi cites in the Fayuan zhulin are now lost, the encyclopedia serves as an invaluable source for the study of medieval Chinese Buddhism.

Firmament Combines the meanings of support, expanse, and boundary; a translation of the Latin firmamentum (a support), which again renders the Greek stereoma (a foundation). The Hebrew is raqia‘ (an unfolding or expanse). The ordinary European meaning is the vault of heaven or sky. It is often identified with air, called the breath of the supporters of the heavenly dome in Islamic mysticism; in India the ethery expanse is the domain of Indra, and one reads of the 1008 divisions of the devaloka (god-worlds) and firmaments. It also relates to the supporters, pillars, or cosmocratores in so many ancient cosmogonies, said to uphold or support the world.

Four electropositive sons of fohat are placed in the four Circles — the equator, the ecliptic, and the two parallels of declination (or the tropics) — to preside over the climates. “Other seven (sons) are commissioned to preside over the seven hot, and seven cold lokas (the hells of the orthodox Brahmins) at the two ends of the Egg of Matter (our Earth and its poles). The seven lokas are also called the ‘Rings’ elsewhere, and the ‘Circles.’ The ancients made the polar circles seven instead of two” (SD 1:204).

gan.aloka ::: the world of the gan.as. ganaloka

Gana (Sanskrit) Gaṇa [from the verbal root gaṇ to count] A group, flock, troop, multitude, number, class, etc.; in the plural used for troops or classes of inferior deities (devatas), considered as Siva’s attendants, and under special superintendence of the god Ganesa (often used in the compound forms Ganadevata or Ganadevas). These celestial beings are said to inhabit maharloka: “They are the rulers of our Kalpa (Cycle) and therefore termed Kalpadhikarins, or Lords of the Kalpas. They last only ‘One Day’ of Brahma” (TG 124).

Gangānadīvālukā. [alt. -vālikā] (T. Gang gā'i klung gi bye ma; C. Henghesha; J. Gogasha; K. Hanghasa 恒河沙). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "sands of the Ganges," viz., an "incalculable number." The sands of the Ganges River were universally reputed to be extremely fine in texture, so the term is often used in similes in Buddhist texts to refer to an "infinity," e.g., "for world systems as numerous as the sands of the Ganges" (Gangānadīvālukāsamā lokadhātavaḥ), "eons as numerous as the sands of the Ganges" (Gangānadīvālukāsamān kalpān).

Gati (Sanskrit) Gati Way, course, path; “the six (esoterically seven) conditions of sentient existence. These are divided into two groups: the three higher and the three lower paths. To the former belong the devas, the asuras and (immortal) men; to the latter (in exoteric teachings) creatures in hell, pretas or hungry demons, and animals. Explained esoterically, however, the last three are the personalities in Kamaloka, elementals and animals. The seventh mode of existence is that of the Nirmanakaya . . .” (TG 125).

gati. (T. 'gro ba; C. qu; J. shu; K. ch'wi 趣). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "destiny," "destination," or "bourne," one of the five or six places in SAMSĀRA where rebirth occurs. In ascending order, these bournes are occupied by hell denizens (NĀRAKA), hungry ghosts (PRETA), animals (TIRYAK), humans (MANUsYA), and divinities (DEVA); sometimes, demigods (ASURA) are added between humans and divinities as a sixth bourne. These destinies are all located within the three realms of existence (TRILOKA[DHĀTU]), which comprises the entirety of our universe. At the bottom of the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU) are located the denizens of the eight hot and cold hells (nāraka), of which the lowest is the interminable hell (see AVĪCI). These are said to be located beneath the continent of JAMBUDVĪPA. This most ill-fated of existences is followed by hungry ghosts, animals, humans, demigods, and the six sensuous-realm divinities, who live on MOUNT SUMERU or in the heavens directly above it. Higher levels of the divinities occupy the upper two realms of existence. The divinities of the BRAHMALOKA, whose minds are perpetually absorbed in one of the four meditative absorptions (DHYĀNA), occupy seventeen levels in the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHĀTU). Divinities who are so ethereal that they do not require even a subtle material foundation occupy four heavens in the immaterial realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU). The divinities in the immaterial realm are perpetually absorbed in formless trance states, and rebirth there is the result of mastery of one or all of the immaterial dhyānas (ĀRuPYĀVACARADHYĀNA). The bottom three destinies, of hell denizens, hungry ghosts, and animals, are referred to as the three evil bournes (DURGATI); these are destinies where suffering predominates because of the past performance of primarily unvirtuous actions. In the various levels of the divinities, happiness predominates because of the past performance of primarily virtuous deeds. By contrast, the human destiny is thought to be ideally suited for religious training because it is the only bourne where both suffering and happiness can be readily experienced in the proper balance (not intoxicated by pleasure or racked by pain), allowing one to recognize more easily the true character of life as impermanent (ANITYA), suffering (DUḤKHA), and nonself (ANĀTMAN). Some schools posit a transitional "intermediate state" (ANTARĀBHAVA) of being between past and future lives within these destinies. See also DAsADHĀTU.

Generally speaking, because of their menacing aspects, the term Dweller on the Threshold might be applied to the denizens of kama-loka, specifically to the past kama-lokic or astral remnants of a former incarnation which haunt the new imbodiment of that reincarnating ego. A person who gives way to strongly material impulse and desires forms for himself a kama-rupa which, when the person dies, can persist without undergoing complete dissolution until the quick return of such materially-minded human soul to reincarnation, when the kama-rupa is then strongly attracted to the person thus reimbodied and haunts him as an evil genius, continually instilling by automatic psychomagnetic action thoughts and impulses of evil, temptations, and suggestions of fear and terror — all of which the person himself was responsible for in his last life.

geya. (P. geyya; T. dbyangs bsnyad; C. qiye; J. giya; K. kiya 衹夜). In Sanskrit, "verse narrations," or "songs"; the verse summaries, sometimes with preceding prose material, included in the Buddhist scriptures. The geya are typically listed as the second of the Pāli ninefold (NAVAnGA) and Sanskrit twelvefold (DVĀDAsĀnGA) divisions of the traditional genres of Buddhist literature as classified by composition style and content. These verses are sometimes written in the traditional Sanskrit sLOKA form, with four lines of eight syllables apiece. The geya genre is closely related to GĀTHĀ, religious verse, but may in some cases be distinguished by being the verse reiteration of a preceding prose narrative or by sometimes having verse interspersed with prose narration.

Ghost The occasional apparitions of deceased persons — but in no instances whatsoever of the spirits of the dead — or invisible astral entities producing various psychic phenomena. This age-old belief is consistent with the breaking up of composite human nature into its component parts at death. As the astral model-body, when freed from its familiar physical duplicate, is still magnetically attached to the body, it is sometimes seen haunting the new grave for a short time. Soon the atoms of this shadowy form begin to dissipate. But the more ethereal and enduring astral atoms cohere in the kama-rupic body of the deceased person’s lower mental, emotional, and psychic nature. These imbodied lower passions and desires become in connection with their astral automatic vehicle an earth-bound entity when they are separated from the reimbodying ego at the second death in the purgatorial astral underworld. These so-called spooks are what the Roman writers named umbrae or larvae of the dead; earlier, the Greeks spoke of these human reliquiae as eidola — the astral “images” of the dead. The ancients were well informed regarding the shades or shells which were cast off by the purified inner self when it ascended from kama-loka to its devachan in higher spheres.

goloka ::: the Vaishnava heaven of eternal beauty and bliss.

.GOLOKA. ::: Vaikuntha and Goloka arc human conceptions of states of being that arc be)ond humanity. Goloka is evidently a world of Love, Beauty and Ananda full of spiritual radiances

goloka ::: world of Love, beauty and ananda full of spiritual radiances; the vaisnava heaven of eternal Beauty and Bliss.

gong bugong ye. (S. *sādhāranāsādhāranakarman; T. thun mong dang thun mong ma yin pa'i las; J. gufugugo; K. kong pulgong op 共不共業). In Chinese, "collective KARMAN and individual karman." In both the MAHĀYĀNA and ABHIDHARMA literature, a distinction is made between collective (or communal, shared) action (sādhāranakarman) and individual (or unshared) action (asādhāranakarman). The former is the combined and mixed force of multiple individual's karman, which creates and conditions the shared physical habitat in which those sentient beings live (cf. BHĀJANALOKA). The latter is individual-specific and produces karmic effects that could only be reaped by the primary agent of that karman. However, there is an overlap between collective and individual karman, as the two interact with and, to an extent, influence one another. According to the YOGĀCĀRABHuMIsĀSTRA, for example, such geographical features as rivers and mountains are products of "absolute collective karman" (gong zhong gong); but other physical objects like homes and private lands are of "individuated instances of collective karman" (gong zhong bugong), since they are personal property enjoyed by the primary agent. Other possible combinations of collective and individual karman are also outlined in the same text (cf. ER BAO and ER SHIJIAN).

gopa, gopi ::: [cowherd, cowherdess], keepers and possessors of goloka.

Govinda, Lama Anagarika. (1898-1985). Born Ernst Lothar Hoffmann in Kassel, Germany, he served in the German army during World War I, after which he continued his studies at Freiburg University in Switzerland. He became interested in Buddhism while living with expatriate European and American artists on the Italian island of Capri, during which time he published his first book, The Basic Ideas of Buddhism and Its Relationship to Ideas of God (1920). In 1928, he sailed for Ceylon, where he studied meditation and Buddhist philosophy briefly with the German-born THERAVĀDA monk NĀnATILOKA MAHĀTHERA (who gave him the name Govinda), before leaving to travel in Burma and India. While visiting Darjeeling in the Himalayas in 1931, he was driven by a spring snowstorm to a Tibetan monastery at Ghoom, where he met Tomo (Gro mo) Geshe Rimpoche, a DGE LUGS PA lama. Govinda later held brief teaching positions at the University of Patna and at Shantiniketan, publishing essays in The Mahā Bodhi, the journal of the MAHĀBODHI SOCIETY, as well as various Theosophical journals. His lectures at Patna resulted in his book The Psychological Attitude of Early Buddhist Philosophy (1961) and his lectures at Shantiniketan led to Psycho-Cosmic Symbolism of the Buddhist Stupa. While at Shantiniketan he met a Parsi woman, Rati Petit (who assumed the name Li Gotami), whom he would marry in 1947. In 1942, he was interned by the British at Dehra Dun along with other German nationals, including Heinrich Harrer. During 1947-1948, Lama Govinda and Li Gotami traveled to some of the temples of western Tibet. During their travels, they met a lama named Ajorepa Rimpoche, who, according to Govinda, initiated them into the BKA' BRGYUD order. Returning from Tibet, Lama Govinda and Li Gotami set up permanent residence in India, publishing Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism in 1960. He spent the last two decades before his death in 1985 lecturing in Europe and the United States. His last years were spent in a home in Mill Valley, California, provided by the San Francisco Zen Center.

Grantha (Sanskrit) Grantha [from granth to tie, compose] A tying, binding, stringing together; a verse (particularly one of 32 syllables, i.e., a sloka); a composition, literary production, book — the ancient Sanskrit manuscript being leaves held together by means of a cord.

Guan Puxian pusa xingfa jing. (J. Kan Fugen bosatsu gyobokyo; K. Kwan Pohyon posal haengbop kyong 觀普賢菩薩行法經). In Chinese, "Sutra on the Procedures for Visualizing the Bodhisattva SAMANTABHADRA"; one of the "Three [Sister] Sutras of the 'Lotus'" (FAHUA SANBU [JING]), along with the WULIANG YI JING ("Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings") and the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA ("Lotus Sutra") itself. The extant text, in one roll, was translated into Chinese by Dharmamitra (356-442) sometime between 424 and 442; two earlier translations, neither of which is extant, are mentioned in the scriptural catalogues (JINGLU): the Puxian guan jing by *Gītamitra (c. fourth century) and the Guan Puxian pusa jing, attributed to KUMĀRAJĪVA. There is no extant Sanskrit recension of the scripture. While the Wuliang yi jing is presumed to be the prequel to the Saddharmapundarīkasutra, the Guan Puxian pusa xingfa jing is usually considered its sequel, being similar in content to the twenty-eighth and final chapter of the Saddharmapundarīkasutra. In this scripture, the Buddha provides a detailed account of a meditation that will generate a vision of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra in all his glory, including the majesty of the snowy-white elephant on which he rides. Once Samantabhadra is visible, he will then reveal to the meditator all the buddhas of the ten directions, as well as various other pure lands and bodhisattvas. The scripture concludes with Samantabhadra's explanation of how to conduct a repentance ritual that will purify the six sense organs, thus ensuring that the meditator will never again engage in unwholesome acts (AKUsALA-KARMAN) and will no longer be subject to rebirth in the three realms of existence (TRILOKA[DHĀTU]).

Hades or Aides (Greek) [from aides, Aidoneus the invisible] Son of Kronos and Rhea, brother of Zeus and Poseidon. When the world was shared among the three brothers, Hades obtained the nether regions sometimes equated with Dis, Orcus, and Tartarus. After the time of Homer the name was given to the region he presided over with his consort Persephone. This corresponds to the underworld, those regions of the astral light which extend from the highest kama-loka to the deepest depths of avichi; although the more restricted usage of Hades applies to kama-loka. Hades is pictured as a dark realm in the depths of the earth, surrounded by rivers. However, the meaning of underworld shifts according to the viewpoint had at any time, the earth itself sometimes being equated with Hades.

Hatthaka Ālavaka. An eminent lay disciple of the Buddha, declared by him to be foremost among laymen who attract followers by means of the four means of conversion (S. SAMGRAHAVASTU). According to the Pāli account, he was the son of the king of Ālavī, and received his name Hatthaka (which in Pāli means "handed over" as a child), because he had once been given to the Buddha by an ogre (S. YAKsA), who, in turn, handed him back to the king. The ogre, the yakkha Ālavaka, was going to eat the boy but was converted by the Buddha and persuaded to release him, instead. When he grew up, Hatthaka heard the Buddha preach and became a nonreturner (S. ANĀGĀMIN). A gifted preacher, Hatthaka had a following of five hundred disciples who always accompanied him. The suttapitaka records several conversations he had with the Buddha. On one occasion, after the Buddha asked him how he was able to gather such a large following around him, Hatthaka responded that it was through four means of conversion: giving gifts, kind words, kind deeds, and equality in treatment. It was for this capacity that Hatthaka won eminence. The Buddha declared him to be endowed with eight qualities: faith, virtue, conscientiousness, shame, the ability to listen, generosity, wisdom, and modesty. When he died, Hatthaka was reborn as a divinity in avihā heaven in the subtle materiality realm (RuPALOKA), where he was destined to attain final nibbāna (S. NIRVĀnA). Once, he visited the Buddha from his celestial world but collapsed in his presence, unable to support his subtle material body on earth; the Buddha instructed him to create a gross material body, by means of which he was then able to stand. He told the Buddha that he had three regrets upon his death: that he had not seen the Buddha enough, that he had not heard the DHARMA enough, and that he had not served the SAMGHA enough. Together with the householder CITTA (Cittagahapati), Hatthaka Ālavaka is upheld as an ideal layman, who is worthy of emulation.

Heaven and Hell ::: Every ancient exoteric religion taught that the so-called heavens are divided into steps or grades ofascending bliss and purity; and the so-called hells into steps or grades of increasing purgation orsuffering. Now the esoteric doctrine or occultism teaches that the one is not a punishment, nor is theother strictly speaking a reward. The teaching is, simply, that each entity after physical death is drawn tothe appropriate sphere to which the karmic destiny of the entity and the entity's own character andimpulses magnetically attract it. As a man works, as a man sows, in his life, that and that only shall hereap after death. Good seed produces good fruit; bad seed, tares -- and perhaps even nothing of value orof spiritual use follows a negative and colorless life.After the second death, the human monad "goes" to devachan -- often called in theosophical literature theheaven-world. There are many degrees in devachan: the highest, the intermediate, and the lowest. Whatbecomes of the entity, on the other hand, the lower human soul, that is so befouled and weighted withearth thought and the lower instincts that it cannot rise? There may be enough in it of the spirit nature tohold it together as an entity and enable it to become a reincarnating being, but it is foul, it is heavy; itstendency is consequently downwards. Can it therefore rise into a heavenly felicity? Can it go even intothe lower realms of devachan and there enjoy its modicum of the beatitude, bliss, of everything that isnoble and beautiful? No. There is an appropriate sphere for every degree of development of the ego-soul,and it gravitates to that sphere and remains there until it is thoroughly purged, until the sin has beenwashed out, so to say. These are the so-called hells, beneath even the lowest ranges of devachan; whereasthe arupa heavens are the highest parts of the devachan. Nirvana is a very different thing from theheavens. (See also Kama-Loka, Avichi, Devachan, Nirvana)

Heaven and Hell In Christian theology, the abodes of Deity and the celestial hierarchy on the one hand, and of Satan and his fallen angels on the other hand; the final goal of those who are saved and of those who are damned. The origin of the doctrine is founded in the ancient Mystery teachings concerning the human afterdeath experiences and the corresponding experiences passed through by the candidate for initiation. Hell may be likened to kama-loka and also avichi, though neither is eternal. Kama-loka is better represented, however, by purgatory. Heaven is a reflection of devachan, blended also with ideas of nirvanic states. Thus heaven and hell should both be used in the plural, as is commonly the case in their non-Christian equivalents: Elysium, nirvana, Paradise, Valhalla, Olympus, and many other names for heaven; and Tartarus, Gehenna, She’ol, Niflheim, etc., for hell.

Hippopotamus In ancient Egypt, a symbol connected with every goddess, especially Rert or Rertu, Apet, and Ta-urt. It was used as a kindly guardian of the dead in the underworld in the Book of the Dead. In a contrary aspect, the monster Am-mit, which appears in the judgment scene, has the hindquarters of a hippopotamus. It represents the horrors and fear of the astral world awaiting the defunct, which spring into life if that person’s karma has brought about awakening self-consciousness in kama-loka.

Huayan shiyi. (J. Kegon no jui; K. Hwaom sibi 華嚴十異). In Chinese, "Ten Distinctions of the AVATAMSAKASuTRA," ten reasons why HUAYAN exegetes consider the AvataMsakasutra to be superior to all other scriptures and thus the supreme teaching of the Buddha. (1) The "time of its exposition" was unique (shiyi): the sutra was supposedly the first scripture preached after the Buddha's enlightenment and thus offers the most unadulterated enunciation of his experience. (2) The "location of its exposition" was unique (chuyi): it is said that the BODHI TREE under which the sutra was preached was the center of the "oceans of world systems of the lotus womb world" (S. padmagarbhalokadhātu; C. lianhuazang shijie; cf. TAIZoKAI). (3) The "preacher" was unique (zhuyi): The sutra was supposedly preached by VAIROCANA Buddha, as opposed to other "emanation buddhas." (4) The "audience" was unique (zhongyi): only advanced BODHISATTVAs-along with divinities and demigods who were in actuality emanations of the Buddha-were present for its preaching; thus, there was no division between MAHĀYĀNA and HĪNAYĀNA. (5) The "basis" of the sutra was unique (suoyiyi): its teaching was based on the one vehicle (EKAYĀNA), not the other provisional vehicles created later within the tradition. (6) The "exposition" of the sutra was unique (shuoyi): the AvataMsakasutra preached in this world system is consistent with the sutra as preached in all other world systems; this is unlike other sutras, which were provisional adaptations to the particular needs of this world system only. (7) The "status" of the vehicles in the sutra were unique (weiyi): no provisional categorization of the three vehicles of Buddhism (TRIYĀNA) was made in this sutra. This is because, according to the sutra's fundamental theme of "unimpeded interpenetration," any one vehicle subsumes all other vehicles and teachings. (8) Its "practice" was unique (xingyi): the stages (BHuMI) of the BODHISATTVA path are simultaneously perfected in this sutra's teachings, as opposed to having to be gradually perfected step-by-step. (9) The enumeration of "dharma gates," or list of dharmas, was unique (famenyi): whereas other sutras systematize doctrinal formulas using different numerical schemes (e.g., FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, eightfold path, etc.), this sutra exclusively employs in all its lists the number "ten"-a mystical number that symbolizes the sutra's infinite scope and depth. (10) Its "instantiation" was unique (shiyi): even the most mundane phenomena described in the AvataMsakasutra (such as trees, water, mountains, etc.) are expressions of the deepest truth; this is unlike other sutras that resort primarily to abstract, philosophical concepts like "emptiness" (suNYATĀ) or "suchness" (TATHATĀ) in order to express their profoundest truths.

Human Ego ::: The human ego is seated in that part of the human constitution which theosophists call the intermediateduad, manas-kama. The part which is attracted below and is mortal is the lower human ego. The partwhich aspires upwards towards the buddhi and ultimately joins it is the higher human ego orreincarnating ego. The dregs of the human ego after the death of the human being and after the seconddeath in the kama-loka, remain in the astral spheres as the disintegrating kama-rupa or spook.

ihalokadr.s.t.i (ihalokadrishti) ::: vision of this world by means other ihalokadrsti than the physical senses, a form of lokadr.s.t.i; it includes the knowledge, by direct perception or through symbolic images, of "things concealed from the limited receptivity or beyond the range of the physical organs, distant forms, scenes and happenings, things that have passed out of physical existence or that are not yet in physical existence"...70

In a mystical sense, the Book of the Dead is a veiled rendition of the passage of the defunct through the various tests and trials of kama-loka before entering devachan; and of the trials of initiation which were but copies, at least in its lower degrees, of the postmortem pilgrimage of the dead.

In each case, the name of the realm indicates the object of meditation of the beings reborn there. Hence, in the first, for example, the beings perceive only infinite space. Rebirth in these different spheres is based on mastery of the corresponding four immaterial meditative absorptions (ĀRuPYĀVACARADHYĀNA; ārupyasamāpatti) in the previous life. While the devas of the sensuous realm and the realm of subtle materiality come to have larger and ever more splendid bodies at the more advanced levels of their heavens, the devas of the immaterial realm do not have even the subtlest foundation in materiality; their existence is so refined that it is not even possible to posit exactly where they dwell spatially. In some schools, such as the Sarvāstivāda, the immaterial realm does not even exist as a discrete place: rather, when a being who has mastered the immaterial absorptions dies, he is reborn at the very same location where he passed away, except now he is "immaterial" or "formless" and thus invisible to coarser beings. According to the Theravāda, even a mind-made body (MANOMAYAKĀYA) is excluded from this realm, for the devas here possess only the mind base (MANĀYATANA), mental objects (P. dhammāyatana), the elements of mental consciousness (P. manoviNNānadhātu), and the element of mental objects (P. dhammadhātu), needing only three nutriments (ĀHĀRA) to survive-contact (P. phassa), mental cognition (P. manosaNcetana), and consciousness (P. viNNāna). The Buddha claims to have lived among the devas of the immaterial realm in certain of his previous lives, but without offering any detailed description of those existences. ¶ In all realms, devas are born apparitionally. In the sensuous realm, devas are born in their mother's lap, appearing as if they are already five to ten years old at birth; by contrast, devas of the subtle-materiality and immaterial realms appear not to need the aid of parents; those in the subtle-materiality realm appear fully grown, while those in the immaterial realm do not appear at all, because they have no form. It is also said that, when devas are reborn, they are aware of their prior existence and of the specific KARMAN that led to their rebirth in the heavenly realms. The different deva realms are also distinguished by differences in nutriment, sexuality, requisites, and life span. The devas of the lower heavens of the sensuous realm consume ordinary food; those in the upper spheres of the sensuous realm and the lower levels of the realm of subtle materiality feed only on sensory contact; the devas of the upper levels of the realm of subtle materiality feed only on contemplation; those in the immaterial realm feed on cognition alone. Sexual differentiation remains only in the sensuous realm: in the heaven of the four heavenly kings and the heaven of the thirty-three, the devas engage in physical copulation, the devas of the yāma heaven engage in sexual union by embracing one another, the devas of the tusita heaven by holding hands, those of the nirmānarati heaven by smiling at one another, and those of the paranirmitavasavartin heaven by exchanging a single glance. Clothes are said to be used in all deva worlds except in the immaterial realm. The life spans of devas in the sensuous realm range from five hundred years for the gods of the heaven of the four heavenly kings to one thousand years for the trāyastriMsa gods, two thousand years for the yāma gods, four thousand years for the tusita gods, eight thousand years for the nirmānarati gods, and sixteen thousand years for the paranirmitavasavartin gods. However, there is a range of opinion of what constitutes a year in these heavens. For example, it is said that in the tusita heaven, four hundred human years equal one day in the life of a god of that heaven. The life spans of devas in the realm of subtle materiality are measured in eons (KALPA). The life spans of devas in the immaterial realm may appear as essentially infinite, but even those divinities, like all devas, are subject to impermanence (ANITYA) and will eventually die and be subject to further rebirths once the salutary meditative deed that caused them to be reborn there has been exhausted. The sutras say that for a deva of the sensuous realm, there are five portents of his impending death: the garlands of flowers he wears begin to fade, his clothes become soiled and his palace dusty, he begins to perspire, his body becomes opaque and loses its luster, and his throne becomes uncomfortable. At that point, the deva experiences a vision of his next place of rebirth. This vision is said to be one of the most horrible sufferings in saMsāra, because of its marked contrast to the magnificence of his current life. There are also said to be four direct reasons why devas die: exhaustion of their life spans, their previous merit, their food, and the arising of anger. ¶ Rebirth as a deva is presumed to be the reward of virtuous karman performed in previous lives and is thus considered a salutary, if provisional, religious goal. In the "graduated discourse" (P. ANUPUBBIKATHĀ; S. ANUPuRVIKATHĀ) taught by the Buddha, for example, the Buddha uses the prospect of heavenly rebirth (svargakathā), and the pleasures accruing thereto, as a means of attracting laypersons to the religious life. Despite the many appealing attributes of these heavenly beings, such as their physical beauty, comfortable lives, and long life span, even heavenly existence is ultimately unsatisfactory because it does not offer a definitive escape from the continued cycle of birth and death (saMsāra). Since devas are merely enjoying the rewards of their previous good deeds rather than performing new wholesome karman, they are considered to be stagnating spiritually. This spiritual passivity explains why they must be reborn in lower levels of existence, and especially as human beings, in order to further their cultivation. For these reasons, Buddhist soteriological literature sometimes condemns religious practice performed solely for the goal of achieving rebirth as a deva. It is only certain higher level of devas, such as the devas belonging to the five pure abodes (suddhāvāsa), that are not subject to further rebirth, because they have already eliminated all the fetters (saMyojana) associated with that realm and are destined to achieve arhatship. Nevertheless, over the history of Buddhism, rebirth in heaven as a deva has been a more common goal for religious practice, especially among the laity, than the achievement of nirvāna. ¶ The sutras include frequent reference to "gods and men" (S. devamanusya; C. tianren) as the objects of the Buddha's teachings. Despite the fact that this is how most Buddhist traditions have chosen to translate the Sanskrit compound, "gods" here is probably meant to refer to the terrestrial divinities of "princes" or "kings," rather than heavenly beings; thus, the compound should be more properly (if, perhaps, pedantically) rendered "princes and peoples." Similarly, as the "divinities" of this world, buddhas, bodhisattvas, and arhats are also sometimes referred to as devas. See also DEVALOKA; DEVATĀ.

In mystical Hindu thought the seven vyahritis are words lighted by and born of the fire of mind, and their names suggest the respective characteristics of the seven lokas.

In the case of the solar system the ten Sephiroth correspond to the lokas and talas of Brahmanical philosophy. There is a direct correspondence between the twelve globes of a planetary chain and the ten Sephiroth plus Malchuth (the earth) and the highest globe of that chain:

In the Mahabharata (Adi-parvan, ch 66) Airavata guards the eastern zone. Four such “elephants” (sometimes eight, each with its sakti or feminine potency) uphold the structure of the earth. The mighty four-tusked Airavata, therefore, represents one of the lokapalas (world protectors) — called by Buddhists maharajas (great kings) — which are the guardians and supporters of the universe. They are also mystically connected with the lipikas, the eternal karmic scribes. In the Bhagavad-Gita (10:2, 7) Krishna, in naming his divine manifestations, says that among elephants he is Airavata.

In theosophical teachings the defunct entity must pass through the various spheres of kama-loka, in the norm rising steadily upwards, in order to be purified from its gross and earth-bound attributes and elements, before entering into the state of devachan. These post-mortem purgatorial or cleansing processes are not of the nature of punishment, but are natural processes of purification escapable by none.

  “In the popular belief, semi-divine beings, shades of saints, inconsumable by fire, impervious to water, who dwell in Tapo-loka with the hope of being translated into Satya-loka — a more purified state which answers to Nirvana. The term is explained as the aerial bodies or astral shades of ‘ascetics, mendicants, anchorites, and penitents, who have completed their course of rigorous austerities.’ [Vishnu-Purana, Wilson, 2:229] Now in esoteric philosophy they are called Nirmanakayas, Tapo-loka being on the sixth plane (upward) but in direct communication with the mental plane. The Vairajas are referred to as the first gods because the Manasaputras and the Kumaras are the oldest in theogony, as it is said that even the gods worshipped them (Matsya Purana); those whom Brahma ‘with the eye of Yoga beheld in the eternal spheres, and who are the gods of gods’ (Vayu Purana)” (TG 358).

In the Puranas the apsarasas are sometimes divided into two classes, the daivika (divine or belonging to the devas), hence highly ethereal beings, and the laukika [from loka worldly], belonging to the worlds of manifestation, such as a physical plane. Considered apart from mythologic references, the apsarasas bear a strong resemblance to the undines of medieval Europe, nature forces and elementals appurtenant to all ten ranges of their hierarchical distribution, from the spiritual to the grossly material and physical. Every one of the seven or ten cosmic elements (bhutas) or principles (tattvas) has its own class of inhabitants.

In the theosophic scheme of the septenary cosmos, the three higher planes are termed arupa planes, formless worlds, where form as we humans perceive it ceases to exist on our objective planes, while the four lower cosmic planes are called rupa-lokas or manifested planes (OG 6, 149). If the cosmos is viewed as a denary, then the three highest planes may be called arupa, while the seven manifested planes are the rupa worlds (Fund 240).

It might be said that the universe is infilled with chiliocosms, each one corresponding more or less to a hierarchy with its own integral system of worlds, regions, or divisions, each division again being subdivided to form the vast complexity of universal nature we see around us. Further, each such hierarchy from another standpoint consists of divine, spiritual, intellectual, astral, or astral-physical divisions running from the higher downwards to the lowest; and the three lowest of each such chiliocosm bear the names kama-loka (or kama-dhatu), rupa-loka (or rupa-dhatu), and arupa-loka (or arupa-dhatu), these three commonly spoken of as the trailokya, the name applying to whatever universe, hierarchy, or chiliocosm they may be in or belong to.

jagat ::: literally "that which moves"; the universe as "the perpetual movement"; a world (loka); any object, regarded as "a knot of habitual motion".

Jana-loka. See JANARLOKA

janaloka ::: the world (loka) of the "creative delight of existence", the plane of ananda, also called anandaloka, where the "soul may dwell . . . in the principle of infinite self-existent delight and be aware .82 of the divine Ananda creating out of its self-existence by its energy whatever harmony of being". janamaya dr drsti

janaloka ::: the world of creative delight of existence.

jana ::: man; birth and delight, the delight that gives birth to life and world; [ =janaloka].

Janarloka (Sanskrit) Janarloka [from jan to be born + loka world, place] Also janoloka. Birth-world, world of pious men or saints; the third, counting downwards, of the seven lokas (principles or planes of a hierarchy), its tala (element or matter side) being sutala. Exoterically said to extend beyond the solar system, the abode of the kumaras belonging to a high plane, but one nevertheless inferior to those living in taparloka. The siddhas (saints, pious men) are stated to have their spiritual dwellings or rest periods in janarloka. There too, according to the Puranas, animals destroyed in the general kosmic conflagration are born again (SD 1:371).

jana ::: same as janaloka.

Jewels of Wisdom, The Seven Theosophical term for seven fundamental teachings explanatory of the universe, its structure, laws, and operations. As enumerated with their Sanskrit names, they are: 1) reimbodiment (punarjanman); 2) the doctrine of consequences, results, or of causes and effects (karma); 3) hierarchies (lokas and talas); 4) individual characteristics involving self-generation or self-becoming (svabhava); 5) evolution and involution (pravritti and nivritti); 6) the two paths (amritayana and pratyekayana); and 7) the knowledge of the divine self and how the One becomes the many (atma-vidya).

'Jig rten mgon po. [alt. 'Jig gsum mgon po] (Jikten Gonpo). A Tibetan rendering of [Tri]lokanātha, "Lord of the Three Worlds"; an epithet of AVALOKITEsVARA.

Jigten gonpo (Tibetan) ’jig rten mgon po (Jig-ten Gon po) [from ’jig rten world (cf Sanskrit loka) + mgon po lord (cf Sanskrit natha)] Lord or guardian of the world, equivalent of Sanskrit lokanatha; title applied to Avalokitesvara or Chenrezi.

Jinakālamālī. [alt. Jinakālamālīpakaranam]. In Pāli, "Garland of the Epochs of the Conqueror"; a Pāli historical chronicle written by RatanapaNNā Thera at Chiangmai during the first half of the sixteenth-century CE. The text recounts the history of the THERAVĀDA from its inception in India to its propagation in the Lānnā (La Na) kingdom of northern Thailand. The narrative begins with a synopsis of the former lives of the Buddha, and continues through his enlightenment and parinibbāna (S. PARINIRVĀnA) and the distribution of his relics. An account of the three Buddhist councils in India follows, as a prelude to a history of the religion in Sri Lanka. Attention is then given to the religious and political history of the kingdom of HaripuNjaya (Lamphun) in northern Thailand from the reign of Cāmadevī (see CĀMADEVĪVAMSA) in the seventh century to its annexation by the Lānnā king Mengrai in the thirteenth century. The text continues with a history of the Lānnā kingdom, including an account of the missionary activity of Medankara Thera who, under the patronage of the Lānnā king Tiloka, established reformed Sinhalese Buddhism as the dominant religion throughout the realm. The text concludes with an account of the activities of Tiloka's grandson, Phra Muang Keo. The Jinakālamālī has been edited for the Pāli Text Society and translated by N. A. Jayawickrama as The Sheaf of Garlands of the Epochs of the Conqueror.

Jingtu qunyi lun. (J. Jodo gungiron; K. Chongt'o kunŭi non 浄土群疑論). In Chinese, "Treatise on Myriad Doubts concerning the PURE LAND," composed by the monk Huaigan (fl. c. seventh century CE). In this treatise, written largely in dialogic format, Huaigan attempts to address systematically various questions concerning the notion of rebirth in AMITĀBHA Buddha's pure land. The seven-roll treatise is divided into twelve sections in a total of 116 chapters, which cover a wide range of subjects concerning pure land doctrine. These include, as but a few representative examples, the location of the pure land within the three realms of existence (TRILOKA[DHĀTU]), the destiny (GATI) to which beings reborn there belong, where pure land rebirth belongs on MĀRGA schemata, and Huaigan's attempts to reconcile inconsistencies in different scriptures' accounts of the pure land. The Jingtu qunyi lun has therefore functioned almost as an encyclopedia for adherents of pure land teachings. The questions raised anticipate the criticisms of Huaigan's contemporaries, who specialized in the exegesis of the MAHĀYĀNASAMGRAHA and the new YOGĀCĀRA translations of XUANZANG; Huaigan's answers also reflect his own training in Yogācāra doctrine and his extensive command of Buddhist scriptural and commentarial literature.

Just as the kosmos is divided into seven planes with its kosmic lokas and talas, its tattvas and bhutas — its principles and elements — so is every globe of our planetary chain, and indeed every human being, of necessity divided in a similar manner, with its own seven lokas and seven talas, which in the case of man are the principles and elements of his constitution. Thus,

Kaimokusho. (開目鈔). In Japanese, "Opening the Eyes"; one of the major writings of NICHIREN. Nichiren composed this treatise in 1273 while he was living in exile in a graveyard on Sado Island. Nichiren's motivation for writing this treatise is said to have come from the doubts that he came to harbor about the efficacy of the teachings of the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA due to the government's repeated persecution of him and his followers. The Kaimokusho details the reasons behind the persecutions: bad KARMAN from the past, the abandonment of the country by the gods (KAMI), life in the impure realm of SAHĀLOKA, and the trials and tribulations of the BODHISATTVA path. In the Kaimokusho, Nichiren professes to have overcome his doubts and welcomes the bodhisattva path of martyrdom. The treatise explains the path that leads to "opening the eyes" as a journey from the teachings of the heretics to those of the HĪNAYĀNA, the MAHĀYĀNA, and finally culminating in the teachings of the Saddharmapundarīkasutra (see JIAOXIANG PANSHI). According to Nichiren tradition, because Nichiren claims at the conclusion of the text to be the "sovereign, teacher, and mother and father to all the people of Japan," he has thus revealed himself to be the Buddha of the degenerate age of the dharma (MAPPo).

kalpa. (P. kappa; T. bskal pa; C. jie; J. ko; K. kop 劫). In Sanskrit, "eon" or "age"; the unit of measurement for cosmological time. There are a number of types of kalpas. An "intermediate kalpa" (antarakalpa), often a synonym of the generic kalpa, is said to mark the aeon during which the lifetime gradually decreases from being essentially eternal down to ten years. A "great kalpa" (mahākalpa) is composed of eighty intermediate kalpas and is the longest of the kalpas governing creation. (In the Pāli tradition, a mahākappa is instead said to be four "incalculable eons.") In the cycle of creation and dissolution of the universe, a great kalpa is divided into four periods of twenty intermediate kalpas. These are (1) the "kalpa of creation" (VIVARTAKALPA), the period from the arising of the primordial wind that produces the receptacle world and the arising of the hell denizens; this is followed by (2) the "kalpa of abiding" (VIVARTASTHĀYIKALPA); (3) the "kalpa of dissolution" (SAMVARTAKALPA), the period between the time when the hell denizens vanish through the dissolution of the receptacle world (BHĀJANALOKA), viz., the physical environment; and finally (4) the "kalpa of nothingness" (SAMVARTASTHĀYIKALPA). The longest of all kalpas is called the "incalculable kalpa" (ASAMKHYEYAKALPA), which, despite its name, has been calculated as a mahākalpa to the sixtieth power. The BODHISATTVA path leading to buddhahood is presumed to take not one, but three, "incalculable eons" to complete. A kalpa during which a buddha appears in the world is known as an "auspicious" or "fortunate" kalpa (BHADRAKALPA).

Kama-Loka(Sanskrit) ::: A compound which can be translated as "desire world," which is accurate enough, but onlyslightly descriptive. It is a semi-material plane or rather world or realm, subjective and invisible tohuman beings as a rule, which surrounds and also encloses our physical globe. It is the habitat ordwelling-place of the astral forms of dead men and other dead beings -- the realm of the kama-rupas ordesire-bodies of defunct humans. "It is the Hades," as H. P. Blavatsky says, "of the ancient Greeks, andthe Amenti of the Egyptians, the land of Silent Shadows."It is in the kama-loka that the second death takes place, after which the freed upper duad of the humanbeing that was enters the devachan. The highest regions of the kama-loka blend insensibly into the lowestregions or realms of the devachan; and, conversely, the grossest and lowest regions of the kama-lokablend insensibly into the highest regions of the avichi.When the physical body breaks up at death, the astral elements of the excarnate entity remain in thekama-loka or "shadow world," with the same vital centers as in physical life clinging within them, stillvitalizing them; and here certain processes take place. The lower human soul that is befouled withearth-thought and the lower instincts cannot easily rise out of the kama-loka, because it is foul, it isheavy; and its tendency is consequently downwards. It is in the kama-loka that the processes ofseparation of the monad from the kama-rupic spook or phantom take place; and when this separation iscomplete, which is the second death above spoken of, then the monad receives the reincarnating egowithin its bosom, wherein it enjoys its long rest of bliss and recuperation. If, contrariwise, the entity inthe kama-loka is so heavy with evil and is so strongly attracted to earth spheres that the influence of themonad cannot withdraw the reincarnating ego from the kama-rupa, then the latter with its befouled soulsinks lower and lower and may even enter the avichi. If the influence of the monad succeeds, as it usuallydoes, in bringing about the second death, then the kama-rupa becomes a mere phantom or kama-rupicspook, and begins instantly to decay and finally vanishes away, its component life-atoms pursuing eachone the road whither its attractions draw it.

Kama-dhatu (Sanskrit) Kāmadhātu Desire world; first of the Buddhist trailokya (three regions), called kama (desire), rupa (form), and arupa (formless). In the theosophic scheme, kama-dhatu is composed of the seven manifested globes of the earth-chain on the four lowest cosmic planes. Rupa-dhatu (form or image world) is composed of the five superior globes on the higher three cosmic planes. Arupa-dhatu (formless or imageless world), composed of the three highest of the ten cosmic planes, is to us a purely subjective world, a state rather than a place. The dhatus correspond in meaning with the Hindu lokas.

kāmadhātu. (T. 'dod khams; C. yujie; J. yokukai; K. yokkye 欲界). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "sensuous realm" or "desire realm"; the lowest of the three realms of existence, so named because the beings there are attached to pleasures derived from the five sense organs (INDRIYA). The dominant force among beings born into this realm is therefore sensuality (KĀMA), and especially the sex drive. The sensuous realm includes the following six rebirth destinies (GATI), in ascending order: denizens of hell (NĀRAKA), hungry ghosts (PRETA), animals (TIRYAK), humans (MANUsYA), demigods (ASURA), and six levels of sensuous-realm divinities (DEVA). Rebirth in the sensuous realm is the result of past performance of either predominantly unwholesome deeds (in the case of hell denizens, hungry ghosts, animals, and demigods), a mix of unwholesome and wholesome deeds (as with human beings), or predominantly wholesome deeds (the divinities). The beings in the sensuous realm all have a coarser physical constituent. Above the kāmadhātu are the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHĀTU) and the realm of immateriality (ĀRuPYADHĀTU), where sensuality exerts only minimal sway over its beings. The kāmadhātu may also be designated as a world (LOKA), worldly realm (LOKADHĀTU), or "sphere"/"domain" (AVACARA).

Kamalasīla. (T. Ka ma la shī la) (c. 740-795). One of the most important Madhyamaka authors of late Indian Buddhism, a major representative of the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka synthesis, and a participant in the famous BSAM YAS DEBATE. According to Tibetan doxographies, he was a proponent of the YOGĀCĀRA-SVĀTANTRIKA-MADHYAMAKA. Although little is known about his life, according to Tibetan sources he was a monk and teacher at NĀLANDĀ. Tibetan sources also count him as one of three (together with sĀNTARAKsITA and JNĀNAGARBHA) "Eastern Svātantrikas" (RANG RGYUD SHAR GSUM), suggesting that he was from Bengal. He was clearly a direct disciple of sāntaraksita, composing important commentaries on his teacher's two major works, the MADHYAMAKĀLAMKĀRA and the TATTVASAMGRAHA. The latter commentary, which is extant in Sanskrit, is an important source for both Hindu and Buddhist philosophical positions in the eighth century. sāntaraksita had gone to Tibet at the invitation of the Tibetan king KHRI SRONG LDE BTSAN, where, with the assistance of PADMASAMBHAVA, he founded BSAM YAS, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet. According to tradition, at the time of his death sāntaraksita warned that a mistaken philosophical view would become established in Tibet and advised the king to invite Kamalasīla to come to Tibet in order to dispel it. This mistaken view was apparently that of Heshang MOHEYAN, a Northern CHAN (BEI ZONG) monk who had developed a following at the Tibetan court. Kamalasīla was invited, and a debate was held between the Indian monk and his Chinese counterpart, with the king serving as judge. It is unclear whether a face-to-face debate took place or rather an exchange of documents. According to Tibetan sources, the king declared Kamalasīla the winner, named MADHYAMAKA as the official philosophical school of his realm, and banished the Chinese contingent. (Chinese records describe a different outcome.) This event, variously known as the BSAM YAS DEBATE, the Council of Bsam yas, and the Council of Lhasa, is regarded as one of the key moments in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. Three of Kamalasīla's most important works appear to have been composed in response to the issues raised in the debate, although whether all three were composed in Tibet is not established with certainty. These texts, each entitled BHĀVANĀKRAMA or "Stages of Meditation," set forth the process for the potential BODHISATTVA to cultivate BODHICITTA and then develop sAMATHA and VIPAsYANĀ and progress through the bodhisattva stages (BHuMI) to buddhahood. The cultivation of vipasyanā requires the use of both scripture (ĀGAMA) and reasoning (YUKTI) to understand emptiness (suNYATĀ); in the first Bhāvanākrama, he sets forth the three forms of wisdom (PRAJNĀ): the wisdom derived from hearing or learning (sRUTAMAYĪPRAJNĀ), the wisdom derived from thinking and reflection (CINTĀMAYĪPRAJNĀ), and the wisdom derived from meditation (BHĀVANĀMAYĪPRAJNĀ). This "gradual" approach, very different from what was advocated in the Chinese CHAN ZONG, is set forth in all three of the Bhāvanākrama, which, according to Tibetan tradition, were composed in Tibet after the Bsam yas debate, at the request of the king. However, only the third, and the briefest, directly considers, and refutes, the view of "no mental activity" (amanasikāra), which is associated with Moheyan. It was also during his time in Tibet that Kamalasīla composed his most important independent (i.e., noncommentarial) philosophical work, the MADHYAMAKĀLOKA, or "Illumination of the Middle Way," a wide-ranging exposition of the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka synthesis. It deals with a number of central epistemological and logical issues to articulate what is regarded as the defining tenet of the Yogācāra-Svātantrika-Madhyamaka school: that major YOGĀCĀRA doctrines, such as "mind-only" (CITTAMĀTRA), and the three natures (TRISVABHĀVA) are important in initially overcoming misconceptions, but they are in fact only provisional (NEYĀRTHA) teachings for those who have not yet understood the Madhyamaka view. The Madhyamakāloka is also important for its exploration of such central MAHĀYĀNA doctrines as the TATHĀGATAGARBHA and the question of the EKAYĀNA. On this latter point, Kamalasīla argues against the Yogācāra position that there are three final vehicles (for the sRĀVAKA, PRATYEKABUDDHA, and BODHISATTVA, with some beings excluded from any path to liberation) in favor of the position that there is a single vehicle to buddhahood (BUDDHAYĀNA) for all beings. Kamalasīla is said to have been murdered in Tibet by partisans of the Chinese position, who caused his death by squeezing his kidneys.

Kama-loka is the abode of the disimbodied astral forms called kama-rupas and of the still highly vitalized astral entities who quit physical existence as suicides and executed criminals who, thus violently hurled out of their bodies before the term of natural death, are as fully alive as ever they were on earth, lacking only the physical body and its linga-sarira. In addition the kama-loka contains elementaries and lost souls tending to avichi. All these entities remain in kama-loka until they fade out from it by the complete exhaustion of the effects of the mental and emotional impulses that created these eidolons of human and animal passions and desires. The second death takes place in kama-loka, after the upper duad frees itself of the lower, material human elements before entering devachan. “If, contrariwise, the entity in the kama-loka is so heavy with evil and is so strongly attracted to earth-spheres that the influence of the monad cannot withdraw the Reincarnating Ego from the Kama-rupa, then the latter with its befouled ‘soul’ sinks lower and lower and may even enter the Avichi. If the influence of the monad succeeds, as it usually does, in bringing about the ‘second death,’ then the kama-rupa becomes a mere phantom or kama-rupic spook, and begins instantly to decay and finally vanishes away, its component life-atoms pursuing each one the road whither its attractions draw it” (OG 76). The highest regions of kama-loka blend into the lowest regions of devachan, while the grossest and lowest regions of kama-loka bend into the highest regions of avichi.

Kama-loka (Sanskrit) Kāma-loka [from kāma desire + loka world, sphere] Desire world; a semi-material plane, subjective and invisible to us, the astral region penetrating and surrounding the earth. It is the original of the Christian purgatory, where the soul undergoes purification from its evil deeds and the material side of its nature. It is equivalent to the Hades of the Greeks and the Amenti of the Egyptians, the land of Silent Shadows.

kāmaloka. (S). See KĀMADHĀTU.

Kama-loka: The Sanskrit name of the semi-material plane which is the dwelling place of the Kama Rupa (q.v.).

Kama-rupa (Sanskrit) Kāma-rūpa [from kāma desire + rūpa body, form] The desire body; the portion of the human inner constitution in which inhere the various mental and psychic energies. After death it becomes the vehicle in the kama-loka of the usually unconscious higher principles of the person that was.

karman. (P. kamma; T. las; C. ye; J. go; K. op 業). In Sanskrit, "action"; in its inflected form "karma," it is now accepted as an English word; a term used to refer to the doctrine of action and its corresponding "ripening" or "fruition" (VIPĀKA), according to which virtuous deeds of body, speech, and mind produce happiness in the future (in this life or subsequent lives), while nonvirtuous deeds lead instead to suffering. In Vedic religion, karman referred especially to ritual actions. The term came to take on wider meanings among the sRAMAnA movements of wandering ascetics, to which Buddhism belonged. The JAINAs, for example, have a theory of karman as a physical substance created through unwholesome actions, which hinder the soul's ability to achieve liberation; in order to free the soul from the bonds created through past actions, the body had to be rigorously cleansed of this karmic substance through moral discipline and asceticism. Although the Buddhists accepted the notion of moral causality, as did the Jainas, they redefined karman instead as mental intention (CETANĀ) or intentional (cetayitvā) acts: the Buddha specifically says, "Action is volition, for after having intended something, one accomplishes action through body, speech, and mind." These actions are of four types: (1) wholesome (KUsALA), which lead to wholesome results (vipāka); (2) unwholesome (AKUsALA), which lead to unwholesome results; (3) mixed, with mixed results that may be partially harmful and partially beneficial; and (4) indeterminate (AVYĀKṚTA), which are actions done after enlightenment, which yield no result in the conditioned realm. The term karman describes both the potential and kinetic energy necessary to sustain a process; and, just as energy is not lost in a physical process, neither is it lost in the process of moral cause and effect. The Buddhists assert that there is a necessary relationship that exists between the action and its fruition, but this need not manifest itself in the present life; rather, when the complex of conditions and the appropriate time for their fruition come together, actions will bear their retributive fruit, even after an interval of hundreds of millions of eons (KALPA). The fruition of action is also received by the mental continuum (CITTASAMTĀNA) of the being who initially performed the action, not by another; thus, in mainstream Buddhism, one can neither receive the fruition of another's karman nor redeem another's actions. The physical universe (BHĀJANALOKA) and all experience within it are also said to be the products of karman, although in a passive, ethically neutral sense (viz., upapattibhava; see BHAVA). The goal of the Buddhist path is to be liberated from the effects of karman and the cycle of rebirth (SAMSĀRA) by destroying attachment to the sense of self (ĀTMAN). The doctrine of karman is meant to counter the errors of antinomianism (that morality is unnecessary to salvation), annihilationism, and materialism. Actions do, in fact, matter, even if there is ultimately no self that is the agent of action. Hence, karman as representing the continuity between action and result must be understood in conjunction with the teaching of discontinuity that is ANĀTMAN: there is indeed a causal chain connecting the initiator of action and the recipient of its result, but it is not the case that the person who performs the action is the same as the person who experiences the result (the wrong view of eternality) or that the agent is different from the experiencer (the wrong view of annihilationism). This connection is likened to milk changing to its different forms of curds, butter, and ghee: the milk and the ghee are neither identical nor different, but they are causally connected. The process that connects karmic cause and effect, as well as the process by which that connection is severed, is detailed in the twelvefold chain of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA). Enlightened beings, such as a buddha or an ARHAT, have destroyed this chain and thus have eradicated all attachment to their past karmic continuums; consequently, after their enlightenment, they can still perform actions, but those will not lead to results that would lead to additional lifetimes in saMsāra. Although the Buddha acknowledges that the connections between karman and its effect may seem so complex as to appear unfathomable (why, for example, does the evil person who harms others live in wealth, while the good Samaritan who helps others lives in poverty?), he is adamant that those connections can be known, and known with perfect precision, through the experience of awakening (BODHI). Indeed, two of the three kinds of knowledge (TRIVIDYĀ; P. tevijja) and one of the superknowledges (ABHIJNĀ) that are by-products of enlightenment involve insight into the validity of the connection between karmic cause and effect for both oneself and for all beings: viz., the ability to remember one's own former lives (PuRVANIVĀSĀNUSMṚTI: P. pubbenivāsānunssati) in all their detail; and the insight into the karmic destinies of all other beings as well (CYUTYUPAPATTIJNĀNA; P. cutupapātānuNāna). Distinguish KARMAN, "ecclesiastical proceeding," s.v.; see also ĀNANTARYAKARMAN; ANINJYAKARMAN; ER BAO; KARMĀVARAnA.

Karmendriyas (Sanskrit) Karmendriya-s Organs of action; the innate astral-vital-physical organs of sensation and action on the physical plane — the generative organs, hands, feet, excretory organs, and mouth. They form one of the three classes of indriyas (organs, channels, instruments) given in Hindu philosophy, the others being buddhindriyas (organs of spiritual consciousness, sense, and action) and jnanendriyas (organs of intellectual and psychological consciousness) (FSO 275-6). The karmendriyas also have correspondences with the tanmatras (rudiments), bhutas (elements), and jnanendriyas (sense organs) as well as with the lokas, rupas, and human principles and senses (BCW 12:660-1, 12:667). See also INDRIYA

Kashaya-vastra (Sanskrit) Kaṣāya-vastra Red-colored cloth; in the Puranas, the rishi Vaisishtha was asked by the gods to bring the sun, Surya, to satyaloka. The sun told him the worlds would be destroyed if he left, but the sage offered to place his kashaya-vastra in place of the sun’s disk, which he did. This red-colored cloth is the visible body of the sun. Blavatsky comments that “the ascetic’s dress being, as all know, dyed expressly into a red-yellow hue, a colouring matter with pinkish patches on it, rudely representing the vital principle in man’s blood, — the symbol of the vital principle in the sun, or what is now called chromosphere” (BCW 5:157).

Kāsyapaparivarta. (T. 'Od srung gi le'u; C. Yiri monibao jing; J. Yuinichi manihokyo; K. Yuil manibo kyong 遺日摩尼寶經). In Sanskrit, "The KĀsYAPA Chapter"; a SuTRA from one of the earliest strata of Indian MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism, probably dating from sometime in the first century CE. The sutra offers an overview of practices emblematic of BODHISATTVAs, which are arranged in several groups of four practices apiece. The text cites a "bodhisattva canon" (BODHISATTVAPItAKA) as the source for the teaching on the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ) and offers one of the earliest mentions of the "thought of enlightenment" (BODHICITTA) in its Mahāyāna interpretation as the aspiration to achieve buddhahood. A bodhisattva who generates this thought even for the first time is said to be superior to the solitary buddhas (PRATYEKABUDDHA) and disciples (sRĀVAKA). Disciples are also censured as not being true sons of the Buddha, an early expression of the later Mahāyāna school's more explicit denunciations of the so-called HĪNAYĀNA. The sutra also refers to bodhisattva precepts (see BODHISATTVAsĪLA), which will subsequently be elaborated upon in such texts as MAITREYA/ASAnGA's BODHISATTVABHuMI and in such Chinese APOCRYPHA as the FANWANG JING. The Kāsyapaparivarta was one of the first sutras translated into Chinese, by the Indo-Scythian monk *LOKAKsEMA (c. 178-198 CE) in 179 CE; a later recension is also included in the massive RATNAKutA collection of sutras. The Kāsyapaparivarta is one of a substantial number of scriptures in the Ratnakuta collection for which Sanskrit recensions have been rediscovered and edited. Its Sanskrit manuscript was first discovered in KHOTAN in the 1890s and was more than one thousand years old; other Sanskrit fragments have subsequently been recovered.

Khem (Egyptian) Khem. A deity presiding over the districts of Herui and Khem in Upper Egypt; being an aspect of Horus the Younger (Heru-merti). He is especially connected with the fish in the city of Sekhem in the Underworld: “Se-khen is the residence or loka of the god Khem (Horus-Osiris, or Father and Son), hence the ‘Devachan’ of Atma-Buddhi.

koolokamba ::: n. --> A west African anthropoid ape (Troglodytes koolokamba, or T. Aubryi), allied to the chimpanzee and gorilla, and, in some respects, intermediate between them.

ksetrasuddhi. [alt. ksetravisuddhi] (T. dag zhing). In Sanskrit, "pure [buddha] field"; a type of buddha-field (BUDDHAKsETRA) created by a buddha as a result of his practice and which comes into existence at the time of that buddha's enlightenment. The nature of the purity is variously defined but typically means that in this world the realms of animals, ghosts, and hell beings do not exist; although songbirds may exist, they have been created by the buddha for the delight of the inhabitants of his buddha-field. The pure buddha-field is regarded as the outcome of the training (PRAYOGA) in purifying a buddha-field, one of the final practices of BODHISATTVAS set forth in the fourth chapter of the ABHISAMAYĀLAMKĀRA's explanation of the PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ SuTRAs. The purification is brought about by the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ): for example, perfect giving (DĀNAPĀRAMITĀ) brings about an external pure field (parallel to the BHĀJANALOKA) supplied with all the enjoyments of the deities, and so on. See also JINGTU.

kumārabhuta. (T. gzhon nur gyur pa; C. tongzhen; J. doshin; K. tongjin 童眞). In Sanskrit, lit. "youthful," and "in the form of a prince"; a name commonly used in Sanskrit sources as an epithet of the BODHISATTVA MANJUsRĪ, who is considered to remain perennially youthful in appearance. The term may also be used to refer to either a novice monk (sRĀMAnERA), in particular one between the ages of four or eight and twenty; an unmarried man over the age of eight; or BODHISATTVAs in general. ¶ In Korea, Tongjin is identified with either BRAHMĀ, the king of the BRAHMALOKA, the first DHYĀNA heaven in the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHĀTU), or Skandha (K. Wit'a; C. Weituo), the guardian deity who is one of the eight generals subordinate to VIRudHAKA, one of the four heavenly kings (caturmahārāja; see LOKAPĀLA), who is the king of the southern quarter of the world. In both cases, Tongjin is described as a dharma protector (DHARMAPĀLA). His name is interpreted to mean a "youth" (tong), whose character is "authentic" (-jin). Hanging paintings (T'AENGHWA) of Tongjin and the SINJUNG ("host of spirits"; lokapāla) are often displayed on the right wall of the main shrine halls (TAEUNG CHoN) in Korean monasteries. In these paintings, Tongjin is typically portrayed wearing a grand, feathered headdress accompanied by over a dozen associates, who aid him in protecting the religion. Tongjin's image also sometimes appears on the first and last pages of a Buddhist scripture, thus protecting its content.

kumbhānda. [alt. kumbhanda] (P. kumbhanda; T. grul bum; C. jiupantu; J. kuhanda; K. kubando 鳩槃荼). In Sanskrit, a type of evil spirit, and typically listed along with especially RĀKsASA, but also PIsĀCA, YAKsA, and BHuTA spirits. VIRudHAKA (P. Virulhaka), one of the four world-guardians (LOKAPĀLA), who protects the southern cardinal direction, is usually said to be their overlord, although some texts give Rudra this role instead. The kumbhānda are also sometimes listed among the minions of MĀRA, evil personified.

Kumbha (Sanskrit) Kumbha Watering pot; the eleventh zodiacal sign, Aquarius. “When represented by numbers, the word is equivalent to 14. It can be easily perceived then that the division in question is intended to represent the ‘Chaturdasa Bhuvanam,’ or the 14 lokas spoken of in Sanskrit writings” (Subba Row, Theos 3:44).

Kushana. (S. Kusāna). A northwest Indian kingdom (late first to third centuries CE) located adjacent to the GANDHĀRA region of the Indian subcontinent. The story of the Kushan king KANIsKA's conversion to Buddhism is widely found in the literature, but it seems to belong to the realm of legend, not history. Thanks to Kaniska's putative support, the Kushan kingdom has traditionally been assumed to have been an important conduit for the introduction of Buddhist materials into China via the Silk Roads of Central Asia. Recent evidence of the decline in west Central Asian trade during the Kushan period, however, may suggest instead that the Kushans were more of an obstacle than a help. Hence, it may not have been the Kushans who facilitated the transmission of Buddhism but their Indo-Scythian predecessors in the region, the Saka (S. saka) tribe. The Chinese tradition identifies several important early translators of Buddhist materials as hailing from the Kushan kingdom, including *LOKAKsEMA, who was active in the last quarter of the second century. Monks who hailed from this region were given the ethnikon ZHI by the Chinese.

Ladder Used symbolically in many cultures, to represent a means of ascending or descending to different worlds or the structure of the universe. “The Brahmanical Ladder symbolises the Seven Worlds or Sapta Loka; the Kabalistical Ladder, the seven lower Sephiroth; Jacob’s Ladder is spoken of in the Bible; the Mithraic Ladder is also the ‘Mysterious Ladder.’ Then there are the Rosicrucian, the Scandinavian, the Borsippa Ladders, . . . and finally the Theological Ladder which, . . . consists of the four cardinal and three theological virtues” (TG 185).

Larva (Latin) A ghost, phantom; used by certain Latin writers, such as Apuleius (2nd century), for the animal souls or astral-vital shells of deceased persons. Those shells which were more or less earth-bound and of grossly material character, and therefore baneful in their influence on living humans, were commonly called larvae, as distinguished from the lares, which were inoffensive or even friendly to the living. Larvae, therefore, are the astral and kamic remnants cast off by the disembodied ego in kama-loka, the shades or spooks, also including elementaries, all to be shunned by imbodied people, as they are without intelligence and conscience and invariably vampirize astrally and vitally those who give them the opportunity of doing so.

laukika. (P. lokiya; T. 'jig rten pa; C. shijian; J. seken; K. segan 世間). In Sanskrit, "mundane" or "worldly"; anything pertaining to the ordinary world or to the practices of unenlightened sentient beings (PṚTHAGJANA) in distinction from the noble ones (ĀRYA), who have directly perceived reality. The "worldly" embraces all the contaminated (SĀSRAVA) or conditioned (SAMSKṚTA) phenomena of the three realms of existence (LOKADHĀTU), since these are subject to impermanence (anityatā). In the context of the status of practitioners, laukika refers to ordinary sentient beings (pṛthagjana); more specifically, in the fifty-two-stage BODHISATTVA path, laukika usually indicates practitioners who are at the stage of the ten faiths (C. shixin), ten understandings (C. shijie), or ten practices (C. shixing), while "supramundane" (LOKOTTARA) refers to more enlightened practitioners, such as bodhisattvas who are on the ten stages (DAsABHuMI). But even seemingly transcendent dharmas can be considered mundane if they are changeable by nature, e.g., in the MADHYAMAKA (C. SAN LUN ZONG) exegete JIZANG's (549-623) Shengman baoku ("Treasure Store of the sRĪMĀLĀDEVĪSIMHANĀDASuTRA"); mind-made bodies (MANOMAYAKĀYA) produced by bodhisattvas on the eighth through the tenth bodhisattva stages (see BODHISATTVABHuMI; DAsABHuMI) may still be designated "mundane" because they are subject to change. FAZANG's HUAYAN WUJIAO ZHANG ("Essay on the Five Teachings According to Huayan") parses these stages even more precisely: of the ten stages (dasabhumi) of the path leading to buddhahood, stages one through three belong to the mundane (laukika); the fourth to the seventh stages are supramundane (lokottara) from the standpoint of the three vehicles (TRIYĀNA) of sRĀVAKA, PRATYEKABUDDHA, and BODHISATTVA; and the eighth to the tenth stages transcend even the supramundane and belong to the one vehicle (EKAYĀNA). In Indian YOGĀCĀRA and MADHYAMAKA works, and commonly in the Tibetan commentarial tradition, laukika and lokottara are used to differentiate paths in the mindstreams of noble (ĀRYA) beings in any vehicle (YĀNA), who have directly witnessed the true reality (TATTVA) of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS. The last instants before the lokottara stage are given the name LAUKIKĀGRADHARMA (highest worldly factors); this is the last stage of the PRAYOGAMĀRGA in the five path (PANCAMĀRGA) system. The ABHIDHARMASAMUCCAYA says that the first lokottaradharma, the first instant of the sixteen-instant path of vision (DARsANAMĀRGA), happens in a single meditative sitting. Even after the supramundane awakening, all subsequent attainments (PṚstHALABDHA) are mundane, with the exception of the knowledge in equipoise (SAMĀHITAJNĀNA) when the initial vision is revisited in a process of habituation, leading to a union of subsequent states and equipoise in the final lokottara experience of full enlightenment.

Life-fluid Used for Dr. Richardson’s nervous ether and similar theories. If life is merely a property of matter, instead of matter in all its innumerable phases and densities being the productions of life, those materialists who wish to regard life as something more than a mere attribute, may posit a life-fluid, that moves “dead matter.” The hypothesis of a single life-fluid, however, is elementary in comparison with the Indian systems of psychophysiology, which divide prana into numberless vital currents, having various functions, pervading particular organs. All of these are modes or differentiations of vital cosmic electricity; and like other forms of electricity, they are each on its own plane atomic, so they may be viewed as currents of life-atoms. They follow the laws impressed on them by the linga-sarira and form a hierarchical system with master-centers and subordinate ones. At dissolution, when the linga-sarira is withdrawn, the life-atoms pass to other planes or lokas, according to their several affinities.

Limbo or Limbus [from Latin limbus border] The fringe of hell, according to the Scholastic conception, which was used by Dante and Milton in their epics. In patristic theology, it was regarded as a place for the souls of people who had lived before Christ, or imbeciles and unbaptized infants. Also in some churches it is regarded as a kind of purgatory or waiting place for the soul after death. Similar to kama-loka.

lobha. (T. chags pa; C. tan; J. ton; K. t'am 貪). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "craving," or "greed," a synonym of RĀGA ("sensuality" or "desire") and the opposite of "absence of craving" or "absence of greed" (ALOBHA). Lobha is one of the most ubiquitous of the defilements (KLEsA) and is listed among six fundamental afflictions (KLEsAMAHĀBHuMIKA), ten fetters (SAMYOJANA), ten proclivities (ANUsAYA), five hindrances (ĀVARAnA), three poisons (TRIVIsA), and three unwholesome faculties (AKUsALAMuLA). Lobha is also one of the forty-six mental factors (see CAITTA) according to the VAIBHĀsIKA school of SARVĀSTIVĀDA abhidharma, one of the fifty-one according to the YOGACĀRA school, and one of the fifty-two in the Pāli abhidhamma. When sensory contact with objects is made "without proper comprehension" or "without introspection" (ASAMPRAJANYA), craving (lobha), aversion (DVEsA), and delusion (MOHA) arise. In the case of craving-which is a psychological reaction associated with the pursuing, possessing, or yearning for a pleasing stimulus and discontent with unpleasant stimuli-this greed could target a host of possible objects. Scriptural accounts list these objects of craving as sensual pleasures, material belongings, loved ones, fame, the five aggregates (SKANDHA), speculative views (DṚstI), the meditative absorptions (DHYĀNA) of the "subtle-materiality" and "immaterial" realms (see TRILOKADHĀTU), the future "becoming" (BHAVA) of the "self" (S. bhavarāga), and the future "annihilation" of the "self" (S. abhavarāga), among other things. According to the ĀGAMAs and the ABHIDHARMAKOsABHĀsYA, craving is the self-imposed "yoking together" of the subject and its object, whereby the mind is "mired," "bonded," and "burdened" by desire. As one of the three unwholesome faculties (AKUsALAMuLA), craving is said to be the common ground or source of a variety of unwholesome mental states, such as possessiveness (MĀTSARYA) and pride (MADA).

loka ::: "a way in which conscious being images itself", a world or plane of existence, including planes other than the material world, with which we may come into contact by "an opening of our mind and life parts to a great range of subjective-objective experiences in which these planes present themselves no longer as extensions of subjective being and consciousness, but as worlds; for the experiences there are organised as they are in our own world, but on a different plan, with a ... different process and law of action and in a substance which belongs to a supraphysical Nature". The principal lokas, described as the "seven worlds", are in ascending order: bhū (the world of anna1, matter), bhuvar (the world of pran.a, life-force), svar (the world of manas, mind), maharloka (the world of vijñana, gnosis), janaloka (the world of ananda, bliss), tapoloka (the world of [cit-]tapas, [consciousness]force), and satyaloka (the world of sat, absolute existence); when the three highest planes are combined into one world of saccidananda (existence-consciousness-bliss), the result is a scheme of five worlds, sometimes counted in descending order so that bhū becomes the fifth.

lokadarsanam (lokadarshanam) ::: same as lokadr.s.t.i. lokadarsanam

lokadharma. (P. lokadhamma; T. 'jig rten gyi chos; C. shifa; J. seho; K. sebop 世法). In Sanskrit, "worldly factors," a polysemous term that in its most general sense indicates mundane factors (DHARMA) that arise and cease according to causes and conditions (HETUPRATYAYA). The term also refers to worldly ways and principles, which can be summed up as the process of birth, decay, and death. However, in its most common usage, the term lokadharma is understood as referring to eight worldly conditions or states (AstALOKADHARMA) that govern all of mundane life in this world: gain (lābha) and loss (alābha), fame (yasas) and disgrace (ayasas), praise (prasaMsā) and blame (nindā), and happiness (SUKHA) and suffering (DUḤKHA). Each of these states will inevitably befall any sentient being trapped in the cycle of continued existence (SAMSĀRA). In this schema, the lokadharma are understood as four complimentary pairs: gain (lābha) is the inevitable precursor of loss (alābha) and loss the inevitable outcome of gain; and so forth for the other three pairs. Learning to react with equanimity to each of these worldly conditions will lead to nonattachment and ultimately enlightenment.

lokadhātu. (T. 'jig rten pa'i khams; C. shijie; J. sekai; K. segye 世界). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "worldly realm" or "world system"; a cosmos within SAMSĀRA that consists of the four continents, a central Mount SUMERU, etc. See AVACARA; TRAIDHĀTUKA.

lokadr.s.t.i (lokadrishti) ::: vision of the worlds, knowledge of the planes lokadrsti of existence (lokas). It includes ihalokadr.s.t.i, vision of this world, and paralokadr.s.t.i, vision of other worlds.

lokaishana. ::: desire for fame

loka-mahesvara ::: the mighty lord of the worlds and peoples. [Gita 5.29]

lokapāla. (T. 'jig rten skyong ba; C. si tianwang; J. shitenno; K. sa ch'onwang 四天王). In Sanskrit, "world guardians" or "protectors of the world"; an alternate name for the four "great kings" (mahārāja) of heaven, who were converted by the Buddha and entrusted with protecting the inhabitants of the world. The world guardians reside in the first and lowest of the six heavens of the sensuous realm of existence (KĀMADHĀTU), the heaven of the four great kings (CĀTURMAHĀRĀJAKĀYIKA). They are vassals of sAKRA, the lord or king (INDRA) of the gods (DEVA) (sAKRO DEVĀNĀM INDRAḤ), who is lord of the heaven of the thirty-three devas (TRĀYASTRIMsA), the second of the six sensuous realm heavens, which is located at the summit of the world's central axis of Mount SUMERU. The world guardians' names are (1) DHṚTARĀstRA, who guards the gate to the east at the midslope of Mount Sumeru, which leads to the continent of VIDEHA; (2) VIRudHAKA in the south, who guards the gate that leads to JAMBUDVĪPA; (3) VIRuPĀKsA in the west, who guards the gate that leads to GODĀNĪYA; and (4) VAIsRAVAnA in the north, who guards the gate that leads to UTTARAKURU. Of the eight classes of demigods, who are subservient to the world guardians, Dhṛtarāstra rules over the GANDHARVA and putana; Virudhaka over the KUMBHĀndA and PRETA; Virupāksa over the NĀGA and PIsĀCA; and Vaisravana over the YAKsA and RĀKsASA. The four world guardians began as indigenous Indian or Central Asian deities, who were eventually incorporated into Buddhism; they seem to have been originally associated with royal (KsATRIYA) lineages, and their connections with royal warfare are evidenced in the suits of armor they come to wear as their cult is transmitted from Central Asia to China, Korea, and Japan.

lokasamgraham evapi sampasyan kartum arhasi ::: thou shouldst do works regarding also the holding together of the peoples. [Gita 3.20]

lokasamgraharthaya ::: for the keeping together and control of the world and its peoples. [cf. the preceding]

lokasamgraha ::: the holding together of the race (in its cyclic evolution). ::: lokasamgrahaya [dative]

loka. (T. 'jig rten; C. shijie/shijian; J. sekai/seken; K. segye/segan 世界/世間). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "world," or "realm"; a polysemous term with a wide range of literal and figurative senses. Literally, loka is used to refer to a specific realm of various types of beings as well as more broadly to an entire world system (see LOKADHĀTU, TRAIDHĀTUKA), with Mount SUMERU at the center; the term can also refer collectively to the inhabitants of such a world. In a figurative sense, loka carries many of the connotations of "world" in English ("worldly," "mundane") to refer to SAMSĀRA and its qualities, which, although attractive to the unenlightened, are subject to impermanence (ANITYA). Such a world is contrasted with what is, lit. "beyond the world" or LOKOTTARA, a term used to describe the "supramundane" aspirations and achievements of those seeking liberation.

loka ::: world.

loka. ::: "world"; there are fourteen worlds in the universe &

lo tsā ba. (lotsawa). In Tibetan, "translator," used especially as an epithet for the Tibetan translators of the earlier dissemination (SNGA DAR) and later dissemination (PHYI DAR) of dharma in Tibet, who translated Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Tibetan. The term may be a Tibetan phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit lokascaksus, "eye of the world." The title is often abbreviated simply as lo and appended at the beginning of the names of many of the early translators.

Madhyamakāloka. (T. Dbu ma snang ba). In Sanskrit, "Illumination of the Middle Way"; the major independent (as opposed to commentarial) work of the late eighth-century Indian master KAMALAsĪLA. The work is preserved only in Tibetan translation. While the MADHYAMAKĀLAMKĀRA of Kamalasīla's teacher, sĀNTARAKsITA, is considered the foundational philosophical text of the YOGĀCĀRA-MADHYAMAKA synthesis, the Madhyamakāloka is its most important and detailed exposition. As such, it deals with a number of central epistemological and logical issues to articulate what is regarded as the defining tenet of the YOGĀCĀRA-SVĀTANTRIKA-MADHYAMAKA school: that major YOGĀCĀRA doctrines, such as "mind-only" (CITTAMĀTRA) and the three natures (TRISVABHĀVA), are important in initially overcoming misconceptions, but they are in fact only provisional (NEYĀRTHA) teachings for those who have not yet understood the Madhyamaka view. The Madhyamakāloka is also important for its exploration of such central MAHĀYĀNA doctrines as the TATHĀGATAGARBHA and the question of the EKAYĀNA. On this latter point, Kamalasīla argues against the Yogācāra position that there are three final vehicles (sRĀVAKA, PRATYEKABUDDHA, and BODHISATTVA vehicles, with some beings excluded from any path to liberation; see SAMUCCHINNAKUsALAMuLA; ICCHANTIKA) in favor of the position that there is a single vehicle to buddhahood for all beings.

Madhyamakāvatāra. (T. Dbu ma la 'jug pa). In Sanskrit, "Entrance to the Middle Way" (translated also as "Supplement to the Middle Way"); the major independent (as opposed to commentarial) work of the seventh-century Indian master CANDRAKĪRTI, who states that it is intended as an avatāra (variously rendered as "primer," "entrance," and "supplement") to NĀGĀRJUNA's MuLAMADHYAMAKAKĀRIKĀ. The work is written in verse, to which the author provides an extensive prose commentary (bhāsya). The work is organized around ten "productions of the aspiration to enlightenment" (BODHICITTOTPĀDA), which correspond to the ten stages (BHuMI) of the bodhisattva path (drawn largely from the DAsABHuMIKASuTRA) and their respective perfections (PĀRAMITĀ), describing the salient practices and attainments of each. These are followed by chapters on the qualities of the bodhisattva, on the stage of buddhahood, and a conclusion. The lengthiest (comprising approximately half of the work) and most important chapter of the text is the sixth, dealing with the perfection of wisdom (PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ). This is one of the most extensive and influential expositions in Indian literature of Madhyamaka philosophical positions. In it, Candrakīrti provides a detailed discussion of the two truths-ultimate truth (PARAMĀRTHASATYA) and conventional truth (SAMVṚTISATYA)-arguing that all things that have these two natures and that conventional truths (which he glosses as "concealing truths") are not in fact true because they appear falsely to the ignorant consciousness. He also discusses the crucial question of valid knowledge (PRAMĀnA) among the unenlightened, relating it to worldly consensus (lokaprasiddha). The sixth chapter also contains one of the most detailed refutations of YOGĀCĀRA in MADHYAMAKA literature, treating such topics as the three natures (TRISVABHĀVA), the foundational consciousness (ĀLAYAVIJNĀNA), and the statements in the sutras that the three realms of existence are "mind-only" (CITTAMĀTRA). This chapter also contains Candrakīrti's most famous contribution to Madhyamaka reasoning, the sevenfold reasoning designed to demonstrate the absence of a personal self (PUDGALANAIRĀTMYA). Adding to and elaborating upon a fivefold reasoning found in Nāgārjuna's Mulamadhyamakakārikā, Candrakīrti argues that the person does not intrinsically exist because of it: (1) not being the aggregates (SKANDHA), (2) not being other than the aggregates, (3) not being the basis of the aggregates, (4) not depending on the aggregates, (5) not possessing the aggregates, (6) not being the shape of the aggregates, and (7) not being the composite of the aggregates. He illustrates this reasoning by applying it to the example of a chariot, which, he argues, is not to be found among its constituent parts. The sixth chapter concludes with a discussion of the sixteen and the twenty forms of emptiness (suNYATĀ), which include the emptiness of emptiness (suNYATĀsuNYATĀ). The work was the most widely studied and commented upon Madhyamaka text in Tibet among all sects, serving, for example, as one of the "five texts" (ZHUNG LNGA) that formed the DGE LUGS scholastic curriculum. The work is preserved only in Tibetan, although a Sanskrit manuscript of verses has been discovered in Tibet.

Mahabharata ::: [an epic poem of over 100,000 slokas written principally by the sage vyasa and dealing centrally with the conflict between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, descendants of Bharata].

mahābrahmā. (T. Tshang pa chen po; C. Dafan tian; J. Daibonten; K. Taebom ch'on 大梵天). In Sanskrit and Pāli, the "great BRAHMĀ"; the highest of the three heavens that constitute the first absorption (DHYĀNA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHĀTU) in the Buddhist cosmological system. The term often appears in plural, as mahābrahmānaḥ (P. mahābrahmāno), suggesting that this heaven is not the domain of a single brahmā, of whom the divinities of the two lower heavens are his subjects and ministers, but rather that a number of mahābrahmā gods inhabit this heaven. However, it is typically a single Brahmā, often called Brahmā SAHĀMPATI, who appears in the sutras. In the BRAHMAJĀLASUTTA, the false belief in a creator god derives from the fact that the first mahābrahmā divinity to be reborn in this heaven at the beginning of world cycle falsely imagined himself to be the creator of the beings who were reborn after him in the brahmā heavens, with those beings in turn believing his claim and professing it on earth after they were reborn as humans. As with all the heavens of the realm of subtle materiality, one is reborn as a divinity there through achieving the same level of concentration (dhyāna) as the gods of that heaven during one's practice of meditation in a previous lifetime. See also BRAHMALOKA.

mahabuddhi ::: great buddhi; the supreme creative intelligence of mahabuddhi janaloka, the world of ananda above that of vijñana; also, vijñana itself.

mahad brahma ::: (c. December 1926) the world of "Divine Truth and Vastness", containing seven planes where brahman is manifest in terms of satyam r.taṁ br.hat; same as vijñana loka.

mahajana ::: the great all-productive principle of janaloka (the world mahajana of ananda).

mahakaran.a ::: the first cause, the "cause of all causes"; satyaloka, mahakarana the world of sat, as the supreme plane of original causality.

Maha-loka. See MAHARLOKA

Mahāparinirvānasutra. (T. Yongs su mya ngan las 'das pa chen po'i mdo; C. Da banniepan jing; J. Daihatsunehangyo; K. Tae panyolban kyong 大般涅槃經). In Sanskrit, "Discourse on the Great Decease" or the "Great Discourse on the Final Nirvāna"; also known in all languages simply as the Nirvāna Sutra. As its title suggests, the SuTRA describes the events and the Buddha's final instructions prior to his passage into PARINIRVĀnA and is thus the Sanskrit retelling of the mainstream version of the text (see MAHĀPARINIBBĀNASUTTA). However, although some of the same events are narrated in both versions, the Sanskrit text is very different in content, providing one of the most influential sources for MAHĀYĀNA views of the true nature of the Buddha and his NIRVĀnA, and of the buddha-nature (referred to in the sutra as both BUDDHADHĀTU, or "buddha-element," and TATHĀGATAGARBHA). There appear to have been a number of Sanskrit versions of the sutra, the earliest of which was likely compiled in Kashmir (see KASHMIR-GANDHĀRA) in the third century CE. One piece of internal evidence for the date of composition is the presence of prophecies that the dharma would fall into decline seven hundred years after the Buddha's passage into nirvāna. None of the Sanskrit versions is extant (apart from fragments), but several are preserved in Chinese and Tibetan translations. The earliest and shortest of these translations is in six rolls, translated into Chinese by FAXIAN (who brought the Sanskrit text to China from India) and BUDDHABHADRA, and completed in 418 CE. A second version was translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan at the end of the eighth century. The longest version, in forty rolls, was translated into Chinese by DHARMAKsEMA and completed in 423. It is known as the "Northern Text." This version was later translated into Tibetan from the Chinese as the Yongs su mya ngan las das pa chen po'i mdo. Besides the Tibetan translation of the long Chinese version by Dharmaksema, there is another version of the sutra in Tibetan translation, a Mahāparinirvānasutra in 3,900 slokas, translated by Jinamitra, Dhyānagarbha, and Ban de btsan dra, as well as a few folios of a translation of the sutra by Kamalagupta and RIN CHEN BZANG PO. The Faxian and Dharmaksema Chinese versions were subsequently edited into a single work, in thirty-six rolls. Chinese scriptural catalogues (JINGLU) also refer to two other translations of the sutra, made prior to that of Faxian, but these are no longer extant. There were significant differences between the versions of Faxian and Dharmaksema (and hence apparently in the Sanskrit recensions that they translated), so much so that scholars speculate that the shorter version was composed in a non-Mahāyāna community, with Mahāyāna elements being added to what evolved into the longer version. The most famous of the differences between the versions occurs on the question of whether all beings, including "incorrigibles" (ICCHANTIKA), possess the buddha-nature; the shorter version says that they do not and they are therefore condemned to eternal damnation; the longer version says that they do and thus even they retain the capacity to achieve enlightenment. The shorter version of the sutra describes the SAMGHA as consisting of monks and nuns and preaches about the need to provide donations (DĀNA) to them; the longer version includes the laity among the saMgha and preaches the need for charity to all persons. The longer version also recommends various forms of punishment, including execution, for those who denigrate the Mahāyāna. The sutra also makes reference to other famous sutras, such as the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA, and is mentioned in other sutras, such as the MAHĀMEGHASuTRA. The Mahāparinirvānasutra, like other important sutras extolling tathāgatagarbha thought, such as the sRĪMĀLĀDEVĪSIMHANĀDASuTRA, plays on the classical doctrine of the four "inverted views" (VIPARYĀSA), according to which sentient beings mistakenly view that which is suffering as being pleasurable, that which is impermanent as permanent, that which is impure as pure, and that which is without self as having self. In this sutra, by contrast, the four right views of suffering, impermanence, impurity, and no-self are proclaimed to be erroneous when describing the Buddha, his nirvāna, and the buddhadhātu; these are instead each said to be in fact blissful, permanent, pure, and endowed with self (see GUnAPĀRAMITĀ). Thus, the Buddha did not pass into nirvāna, for his lifespan is incalculable. The Buddha's nirvāna-which is referred to in the sutra as "great nirvāna" (mahānirvāna) or "great final nirvāna" (MAHĀPARINIRVĀnA)-differs from that of the ARHAT. The nirvāna of the arhat is said to be merely the state of the absence of the afflictions (KLEsA) but with no awareness of the buddhadhātu. The nirvāna of the buddha is instead eternal, pure, blissful, and endowed with self, a primordially existent reality that is only temporarily obscured by the klesa; when that nirvāna and buddhadhātu are finally "recognized," buddhahood is then achieved. The Buddha reveals the existence of this nirvāna to bodhisattvas. Because the buddhadhātu is present within all sentient beings, these four qualities are therefore found not simply in the Buddha but in all beings. This implies, therefore, that the Buddha and all beings are endowed with self, in direct contradiction to the normative Buddhist doctrine of no-self (ANĀTMAN). Here, in this sutra, the teaching of no-self is described as a conventional truth (SAMVṚTISATYA): when the Buddha said that there was no self, what he actually meant was that there is no mundane, conditioned self among the aggregates (SKANDHA). The Buddha's true teaching, as revealed at the time of his nirvāna, is that there is a "great self" or a "true self" (S. mahātman; C. dawo), which is the buddhadhātu, in all beings. To assert that there is no self is to misunderstand the true dharma. The doctrine of emptiness (suNYATĀ) thus comes to mean the absence of that which is compounded, suffering, and impermanent. These teachings would become influential in Tibet, especially among the proponents of the doctrine of "other emptiness" (GZHAN STONG). See also GUnAPĀRAMITĀ.

mahārājan, four. (CATURMAHĀRĀJA) (S). See LOKAPĀLA.

Maharloka (Sanskrit) Maharloka [from the verbal root mah to be great, also pleasure, delight + loka world, plane] Great world; the fourth of the seven lokas. The corresponding tala and nether pole is rasatala. Maharloka is the abode of certain classes of pitris, certain of the manus, and the seven rishis, as well as of orders of celestial spirits and gods. Its sphere of influence is exoterically said to extend to the utmost limits of the solar system. See also LOKA; RASATALA

maharloka ::: the world (loka) of vastness (mahas); the plane whose basis is vijñana or supermind, which links saccidananda in the higher hemisphere of existence (parardha) with the mental, vital and physical principles in the lower hemisphere (aparardha) and makes it possible "to realise the one Existence, Consciousness, Delight in the mould of the mind, life and body".

maharloka ::: world of large consciousness; the world of the superconscient Truth of things.

mahas ::: "the great, the vast", "the infinity of the Truth"; same as maharloka.

Mahatala (Sanskrit) Mahātala [from mahā great + tala sphere, place] Great place, pointing to prevalence or dominance of astral substance; the sixth in the descending scale of the seven talas. The corresponding loka or pole is bhuvarloka. Mahatala among other things corresponds to the elemental beings who are connected with taste, and therefore includes the state of consciousness appertaining to this class. It corresponds in one sense to the pranic activity in man, and in nature to the salamanders and gnomes of the Rosicrucians. Mahatala is the next to the grossest of the cosmic spheres or realms; the grossest or most material of all being patala.

mahatapas ::: the supreme force; the dynamic principle of tapoloka, mahatapas the world of (cit-)tapas.

manas ::: mind, the psychological principle or degree of consciousness that is the basis of the mental world (manoloka or svar), the highest plane of the triloka and the summit of the aparardha or lower hemisphere of existence; in its essence, "a consciousness which measures, limits, cuts out forms of things from the indivisible whole and contains them as if each were a separate integer"; the sensational mind, "the original sense [indriya] which perceives all objects and reacts upon them", capable not only of "a translation into sense of so much of the outer impacts as it receives through the nervous system and the physical organs", but also of "a subtle sight, hearing, power of contact of its own which is not dependent on the physical organs"; the principle that governs the realm of svarga, the lower plane of svar; (on page 1281) the name of a particular svarga.

Manes (Latin) [from manus good] Deified ancestral spirits, the benevolent class of shades, as distinguished from the larvae and lemures, which were malevolent. The word seems originally to have denoted a class of titans, kabiri, or dhyanis, and to have ranked in the sequence of patriarchs, heroes, and manes, who acted as divine instructors of earlier races. But far later, in Roman usage, the name became degraded and applied to the better astral shades or denizens in kama-loka, which in so many lands have been propitiated by offerings as is still the case with some peoples. Sometimes they wear a retributive aspect, as in Vergil, where the painful purification of the shades before they can pass to Elysium is described: “Each of us suffers his own Manes” (Aeneid 6:743).

manoloka ::: the mental world, a loka where mind "is not determined by material conditions or by the life-force, but itself determines and uses them for its own satisfaction"; the mental layer of the material world (see manoloka of bhū). manoloka of bh bhu

manomayakāya. (T. yid kyi rang bzhin gyi lus; C. yishengshen; J. ishoshin; K. ŭisaengsin 意生身). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "mind-made body"; a subtle body acquired during meditative practice, which can exercise psychical and magical powers (ṚDDHI), such as passing through solid objects, appearing in many places at once, or flying. This body is described as living on joy, not solid nutriment; lacking such characteristics of a physical body as solidity, cohesion, heat, and motion; and being invisible to normal sight. The SĀMANNAPHALASUTTA refers to the manomayakāya as something achieved by the meditator who has mastered the fourth of the four meditative absorptions (P. JHĀNA; S. DHYĀNA) associated with the subtle-materiality realm (RuPADHĀTU); this meditative body is created from one's current physical body, the sutta says, as if drawing a sword from its scabbard or a reed from its sheath. The LAnKĀVATĀRASuTRA lists three types of manomayakāya achieved by a BODHISATTVA: (1) a body obtained through the enjoyment of SAMĀDHI on the third, fourth, and fifth stages (BHuMI) of the bodhisattva path; (2) a body obtained by recognizing the self-nature of the dharma itself, which is achieved on the eighth bhumi; and (3) a body the bodhisattva assumes in accordance with the class of being he is seeking to edify. The manomayakāya is also analogous to the "transitional being" (GANDHARVA) that abides in the ANTARĀBHAVA, the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Existence in any of the four meditative (dhyāna) heavens of either the subtle-materiality realm (rupadhātu) or the immaterial realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU) may also sometimes be designated as a heavenly mind-made body (divyo manomayaḥ kāyaḥ). Finally, the mind-made body is manifested by great bodhisattvas (vasitāprāptabodhisattva) and other sanctified beings during their transfigurational births-and-deaths (PARInĀMIKAJARĀMARAnA)-viz., the births-and-deaths that may occur even after enlightenment-one of the two categories of SAMSĀRA, along with the determinative birth-and-death (PARICCHEDAJARĀMARAnA) experienced by ordinary sentient beings within the three realms of existence (TRILOKADHĀTU). Mind-made bodies may be perceived only by the DIVYACAKsUS, literally the "divine eye," one of the five (or six) superknowledges (ABHIJNĀ) and three "knowledges" (TRIVIDYĀ). The term also figures in the development of the theories of the two, three, or four bodies of the Buddha (BUDDHAKĀYA). Early scholasts speak of the Buddha having both a physical body and a manomayakāya, or "emanation body" (NIRMĀnAKĀYA), a second body that he used to perform miraculous feats such as visiting his mother in the TRĀYASTRIMsA heaven atop Mount SUMERU after her death.

Matsya Purana (Sanskrit) Matsya Purāṇa One of the 18 principal Hindu Puranas, said to have been communicated to the seventh manu, Vaivasvata, by Vishnu in the form of a fish (matsya). It consists of over 14,000 slokas, but many of its chapters duplicate the Vishnu- and Padma-Puranas, and much of its material is drawn from the Mahabharata.

Medhankara and Mahādhammagambhīra. The names of two members of a delegation of twenty-five monks from the Thai kingdom of Lānnā (Chiangmai) who, in 1424 CE, together with a group of eight monks from Kamboja and six from RāmaNNa (the Mon homeland in Lower Burma), were reordained in Sri Lanka at the Kalyānī river near Colombo. The delegation returned to Thailand in 1425, settling first in the kingdom of AYUTHAYA before proceeding to Chiangmai in 1430. The next king of Chiangmai, Tilokarājā (r. 1442-1487 CE), strongly promoted the reformist Sinhalese sect led by Mahāmedhankara and Mahādhammagambhīra, making it the dominant Buddhist order throughout northern Thailand. This reformation occurred at the same time that the king consolidated and expanded the territories under his rule. Tilokarājā's patronage of the new Sinhalese order is celebrated in the sixteenth-century text JINAKĀLAMĀLĪ. In the PADAENG CHRONICLE, the leader of this reformist movement is given the name Nānagambhīra.

Medium ::: A word of curiously ill-defined significance, and used mostly if not exclusively by modern Spiritists. Thegeneral sense of the word would seem to be a person of unstable psychical temperament, or constitutionrather, who is supposed to act as a canal or channel of transmission, hence "medium," between humanbeings and the so-called spirits.A medium actually in the theosophical teaching is one whose inner constitution is in unstable balance, orperhaps even dislocated, so that at different times the sheaths of the inner parts of the medium'sconstitution function irregularly and in magnetic sympathy with currents and entities in the astral light,more particularly in kama-loka. It is an exceedingly unfortunate and dangerous condition to be in, despitewhat the Spiritists claim for it.Very different indeed from the medium is the mediator, a human being of relatively highly evolvedspiritual and intellectual and psychical nature who serves as an intermediary or mediator between themembers of the Great Brotherhood, the mahatmas, and ordinary humanity. There are also mediators of astill more lofty type who serve as channels of transmission for the passing down of divine and spiritualand highly intellectual powers to this sphere. Actually, every mahatma is such a mediator of this highertype, and so in even larger degree are the buddhas and the avataras. A mediator is one of highly evolvedconstitution, every portion of which is under the instant and direct control of the spiritual dominating willand the loftiest intelligence which the mediator is capable of exercising. Every human being should striveto be a mediator of this kind between his own inner god and his mere brain-mind. The more he succeeds,the grander he is as a man.Mediator, therefore, and medium are the polar antitheses of each other. The medium is irregular,negative, often irresponsible or quasi-irresponsible, and uncertain, and is not infrequently the victim orplaything of evil and degenerate entities whom theosophists call elementaries, having their habitat in theastral light of the earth; whereas the mediator is one more or less fully insouled or inspirited with divine,spiritual, and intellectual powers and their corresponding faculties and organs.

Meruloka ::: the world of Meru, the mountain of the gods at the centre of the earth.

mūrti ::: form; the second of the two principal kinds of rūpa, the "actual form" of a thing seen in its own world (jagat or loka), as opposed to pratimūrti or "image"; the form in which a deity (deva) manifests.

nanairucirhi lokah ::: [men have different tastes].

Nānaponika Mahāthera. (1901-1994). A distinguished German THERAVĀDA monk and scholar. Born Siegmund Feniger to a Jewish family in Hanau am Main, Germany, he first developed an interest in Buddhism through readings in his youth. His family moved to Berlin in 1922, where he met like-minded students of Buddhism and later formed a Buddhist study circle in the city of Konigsberg. He traveled to Sri Lanka in 1936 for further study and to escape Nazi persecution. That same year, he received lower ordination (P. pabbajjā; cf. S. PRAVRAJITA) as a novice (P. sāmanera; S. sRĀMAnERA) under the German scholar-monk NĀnATILOKA at his Island Hermitage in Dodunduwa. He took higher ordination (UPASAMPADĀ) as a monk (P. bhikkhu; S. BHIKsU) in 1937. During World War II, he was interned by the British at Dehra Dun along with with other German nationals, including Heinrich Harrer (who would escape to spend seven years in Tibet) and LAMA ANAGARIKA GOVINDA. After the war, he traveled to Burma with Nānatiloka to participate in the sixth Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, SIXTH) that was held in Rangoon (Yangon). Nānaponika was a delegate to several WORLD FELLOWSHIP OF BUDDHISTS conferences convened at Rangoon, Bangkok, and Phnom Penh, and served as vice-president of the organization in 1952. He resided at the Forest Hermitage in Kandy from 1958 to 1984. Nānaponika was the founding editor of the Buddhist Publication Society and served as its president till 1988. An energetic teacher and prolific writer, his books include the influential The Heart of Buddhist Meditation and Abhidhamma Studies. For his many contributions and accomplishments, Nānaponika was honored as one of four "Great Mentors, Ornaments of the Teaching" (mahāmahopadhyāyasāsanasobhana) in the AMARAPURA NIKĀYA, the monastic fraternity to which he belonged. He was for several decades the most senior Western Theravāda monk in the world, having completed his fifty-seventh rains retreat as a monk by the time of his death in 1994.

Nānatiloka Mahāthera. (1878-1957). A distinguished German THERAVĀDA monk and scholar. Born Anton Walter Florus Gueth in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1878, Nānatiloka studied music at conservatories in Frankfurt and Paris and became a violinist. As a child, he became interested in religion, and, after attending a lecture on Theosophy in Berlin in 1899, he decided to travel to Asia. Traveling as a violinist, he toured Turkey, Egypt, and India. From India, he went to Sri Lanka and then to Burma. In 1903 he took ordination as a Buddhist novice (P. sāmanera; S. sRĀMAnERA) in Rangoon (Yangon) from bhikkhu Ānanda Metteyya, apparently the first German ever to be ordained. In the following year he took higher ordination (UPASAMPADĀ) as a monk (P. bhikkhu; S. BHIKsU). After his ordination, Nānatiloka moved to Sri Lanka in 1905. He traveled to Europe in 1910-1911, the first of many international tours, staying mostly in Switzerland, where he conducted the first Buddhist novice ordination (P. pabbajjā; cf. S. PRAVRAJITA) on European soil. In 1911, he returned to Sri Lanka and made his hermitage on an island infested with poisonous snakes in the middle of Ratgama Lake in southwestern Sri Lanka. When he arrived at the hermitage site, he was the only human on the island. People in the nearby town of Dodanduwa brought him offerings by boat every day. Soon, many Europeans came to be ordained by Nānatiloka at what became known as Island Hermitage. He was interned by the British during World War I as an enemy alien. In 1916, he was given a passport to return to Germany via the United States. He traveled to Honolulu and then on to China but was arrested in Chungking (Chongqing) and imprisoned in Hankow (Hankou) until 1919, when he was exchanged by the International Red Cross and sent back to Germany. He was unable to return to Sri Lanka in 1920 and so went on to Japan, where he served as a professor at Komazawa University. In 1926, Nānatiloka was finally able to return to Sri Lanka. Nānatiloka was interned again with other German nationals (including his student NĀnAPONIKA) during the Second World War and returned again to Sri Lanka in 1946. He was later naturalized as a Sri Lankan citizen. He founded the International Buddhist Union with LAMA ANAGARIKA GOVINDA, another student, to whom he gave his Buddhist name. Nānatiloka was viewed by the Sinhalese as a great religious practitioner; upon Nānatiloka's death in 1957, he received a cremation ceremony of the highest honor in Independence Square, with both the prime minister of Sri Lanka and the German ambassador attending. He published his most famous work, The Word of the Buddha, in 1906, as well as articles and books in both English and German, including Buddhist Dictionary, Guide through the Abhidhamma-Pitaka, and Path to Deliverance.

nirodhasatya. (P. nirodhasacca; T. 'gog pa'i bden pa; C. miedi; J. mettai; K. myolche 滅諦). In Sanskrit, "truth of cessation," the third of the so-called FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvāry āryasatyāni) set forth by the Buddha in his first sermon, the "Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma" (P. DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANASUTTA; S. DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASuTRA). In a general sense, NIRODHA as "cessation" refers to NIRVĀnA, which constitutes the cessation of all action (KARMAN) and afflictions (KLEsA) and the suffering they induce (although the term nirvāna does not appear in the first sermon). In the ABHIDHARMA, the term is applied to the specific destruction of each of the klesa associated with the three realms of existence (TRILOKA[DHĀTU]), the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU), the subtle-materiality realm (RuPADHĀTU), and the immaterial realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU) and the nine levels (the sensuous realm, the four meditative absorptions of the subtle-materiality realm, and the four absorptions of the immaterial realm). Such cessations are "true" (SATYA) in the sense that they are permanent; the particular klesa is destroyed such that it will not occur again. The eradication of all the klesas and contaminants (ĀSRAVAKsAYA) results in the achievement of liberation from rebirth as an ARHAT. The four truths are not presented in the order of cause and effect, but rather effect and cause, with the first truth of suffering (DUḤKHASATYA) being the effect of the second truth of origin (SAMUDAYASATYA). In the same way, the third truth of cessation (nirodhasatya) is said to be the effect of the fourth truth of the path (MĀRGASATYA). However, nirodha is not an effect in the ordinary sense of the term because it is a permanent state; it is classified instead as a VISAMYOGAPHALA, an effect that is a separation, i.e., the practice of the path results in the attainment of nirodha but does not produce nirodha as its effect. Nirodhyasatya has four aspects (ĀKĀRA): suffering has stopped (nirodha); nirodha is a state of peace (sānta); it is sublime (pranīta) because there is no state superior to it; and it is a definite escape (NIRYĀnA).

Nirvana(Sanskrit) ::: This is a compound: nir, "out," and vana, the past participle passive of the root va, "to blow,"literallly meaning "blown out." So badly has the significance of the ancient Indian thought (and even its language, the Sanskrit) been understood, that for many years erudite European scholars were discussingwhether being "blown out" meant actual entitative annihilation or not. But the being blown out refersonly to the lower principles in man.Nirvana is a very different thing from the "heavens." Nirvana is a state of utter bliss and complete,untrammeled consciousness, a state of absorption in pure kosmic Being, and is the wondrous destiny ofthose who have reached superhuman knowledge and purity and spiritual illumination. It really ispersonal-individual absorption into or rather identification with the Self -- the highest SELF. It is also thestate of the monadic entities in the period that intervenes between minor manvantaras or rounds of aplanetary chain; and more fully so between each seven-round period or Day of Brahma, and thesucceeding day or new kalpa of a planetary chain. At these last times, starting forth from the seventhsphere in the seventh round, the monadic entities will have progressed far beyond even the highest stateof devachan. Too pure and too far advanced even for such a condition as the devachanic felicity, they goto their appropriate sphere and condition, which latter is the nirvana following the end of the seventhround.Devachan and nirvana are not localities. They are states, states of the beings in those respective spiritualconditions. Devachan is the intermediate state; nirvana is the superspiritual state; and avichi, popularlycalled the lowest of the hells, is the nether pole of the spiritual condition. These three are states of beingshaving habitat in the lokas or talas, in the worlds of the kosmic egg.So far as the individual human being is concerned, the nirvanic state or condition may be attained to bygreat spiritual seers and sages, such as Gautama the Buddha, and even by men less progressed than he;because in these cases of the attaining of the nirvana even during a man's life on earth, the meaning isthat one so attaining has through evolution progressed so far along the path that all the lower personalpart of him is become thoroughly impersonalized, the personal has put on the garment of impersonality,and such a man thereafter lives in the nirvanic condition of the spiritual monad.As a concluding thought, it must be pointed out that nirvana, while the ultima thule of the perfection tobe attained by any human being, nevertheless stands less high in the estimate of mystics than thecondition of the bodhisattva. For the bodhisattva, although standing on the threshold of nirvana andseeing and understanding its ineffable glory and peace and rest, nevertheless retains his consciousness inthe worlds of men, in order to consecrate his vast faculties and powers to the service of all that is. Thebuddhas in their higher parts enter the nirvana, in other words, assume the dharmakaya state or vesture,whereas the bodhisattva assumes the nirmanakaya vesture, thereafter to become an ever-active andcompassionate and beneficent influence in the world. The buddha indeed may be said to act indirectlyand by long distance control, thus indeed helping the world diffusively or by diffusion; but thebodhisattva acts directly and positively and with a directing will in works of compassion, both for theworld and for individuals.

  “nowhere shows Yama ‘as having anything to do with the punishment of the wicked.’ As king and judge of the dead, a Pluto in short, Yama is a far later creation. One has to study the true character of Yama-Yami throughout more than one hymn and epic poem, and collect the various accounts scattered in dozens of ancient works, and then he will obtain a consensus of allegorical statements which will be found to corroborate and justify the Esoteric teaching, that Yama-Yami is the symbol of the dual Manas, in one of its mystical meanings. For instance, Yama-Yami is always represented of a green colour and clothed with red, and as dwelling in a palace of copper and iron. Students of Occultism know to which of the human ‘principles’ the green and the red colours, and by correspondence the iron and copper, are to be applied. The ‘twofold-ruler’ — the epithet of Yama-Yami — is regarded in the exoteric teachings of the Chino-Buddhists as both judge and criminal, the restrainer of his own evil doings and the evil-doer himself. In the Hindu epic poems Yama-Yami is the twin-child of the Sun (the deity) by Sanjna (spiritual consciousness); but while Yama is the Aryan ‘lord of the day,’ appearing as the symbol of spirit in the East, Yami is the queen of the night (darkness, ignorance) ‘who opens to mortals the path to the West’ — the emblem of evil and matter. In the Puranas Yama has many wives (many Yamis) who force him to dwell in the lower world (Patala, Myalba, etc., etc.); and an allegory represents him with his foot lifted, to kick Chhaya, the handmaiden of his father (the astral body of his mother, Sanjna, a metaphysical aspect of Buddhi or Alaya). As stated in the Hindu Scriptures, a soul when it quits its mortal frame, repairs to its abode in the lower regions (Kamaloka or Hades). Once there, the Recorder, the Karmic messenger called Chitragupta (hidden or concealed brightness), reads out his account from the Great Register, wherein during the life of the human being, every deed and thought are indelibly impressed — and, according to the sentence pronounced, the ‘soul’ either ascends to the abode of the Pitris (Devachan), descends to a ‘hell’ (Kamaloka), or is reborn on earth in another human form” (TG 376).

Nyanatiloka Thera. See NĀnATILOKA MAHĀTHERA.

Our earth, globe D of the earth-chain, is patala if we look at it from the material standpoint; and it is bhurloka if we look at it from the energy-consciousness side. In this globe the loka and tala are equally bipolarized because it is the only globe on the lowest cosmic plane. It is the turning point of our planetary chain where matter and spirit are equilibrated. The field of influence of this loka and tala — and indeed of all the lokas and talas — extends little farther than the psychomagnetic region of globe D.

pada ::: 1. step, place, foothold of being. ::: 2. [a quarter of a sloka]. ::: padam [nominative] ::: padani [nominative plural]

pada ::: a quarter of a sloka.

Padma Purana (Sanskrit) Padma Purāṇa The Lotus-Purana; one of the Hindu Puranas which contains an account of the period when the world was “as a golden lotus (padma).” The scripture, considered to be the second in importance of the 18 principle Puranas, consists of 55,000 slokas, and is divided into five books (khandas) treating of the creation, the earth, heaven (svarga), and patala, while the fifth book is a supplementary section.

Panini (Sanskrit) Pāṇini The most eminent of all Sanskrit grammarians of whatever age, the author of the Ashtadhyayi, Paniniya, and several other works. Panini was considered a rishi who received his inspiration from the god Siva. Orientalists are not certain in what epoch he lived, some guessing 600 BC, others about 300 AD; he is said to have been born in Salatura in Gandhara, an Indian district west of the Indus. His grammar is composed in the form of 3,996 slokas or sutras arranged in eight chapters, the aphorisms extremely brief, and long study is often required in order to ascertain Panini’s meanings. Grammar with him was a science studied for its own sake, and investigated with the most minute criticism.

paralokadr.s.t.i (paralokadrishti) ::: vision of other worlds, where experiences are organised "on a different plan, with a different process and law of action and in a substance which belongs to a supraphysical Nature", a form of lokadr.s.t.i.

Paramavadhi (Sanskrit) Paramāvadhi [from parama highest + avadhi a termination, limit] Highest ranges; a place or loka of purely spiritual character where, according to Visishtadvaita Vedantists, bliss is enjoyed by those who reach moksha or freedom in spirit and complete liberation from the manifested worlds. This place “is not material but made . . . ‘of Suddhasatwa, the essence of which the body of Iswara,’ the lord, ‘is made’ ” (TG 249).

parisuddhabuddhaksetra. (T. sangs rgyas kyi shing yongs su dag pa; C. qingjing foguotu; J. shojo bukkokudo; K. ch'ongjong pulgukt'o 清淨佛國土). In Sanskrit, "purified buddha-field." In the MAHĀYĀNA, when a buddha attains enlightenment, he not only achieves the three bodies (TRIKĀYA) of a buddha, but also creates a land in which he will preach the dharma. That land can be either pure, impure, or mixed. A pure buddha field may be one in which the inhabitants engage in only virtuous deeds and experience no suffering. The term is also used to describe a buddha-field that does not include the unfortunate realms (APĀYA; DURGATI) of animals, ghosts, and hell denizens. The buddha-field of Amitābha, SUKHĀVATĪ, is a pure field in these two senses (although the term parisuddhabuddhaksetra does not appear in the SUKHĀVATĪVYuHASuTRA). The term may also be used with regard to whether the inhabitants of the buddha-field are all BODHISATTVAs, or all ĀRYABODHISATTVAs, that is, those who have achieved at least the first BHuMI. It is possible that the Chinese term JINGTU (the source of the English term "PURE LAND"), which does not appear to be a direct translation from Sanskrit, derives from parisuddhabuddhaksetra, perhaps as an abbreviation of it. In the ABHISAMAYĀLAMKĀRA's explanation of the PANCAVIMsATISĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀSuTRA, the parisuddhabuddhaksetra is twofold, corresponding to the BHĀJANALOKA ("container world," referring to the wider environment or the physical or inanimate world) and the SATTVALOKA, the "world of sentient beings," who are the inhabitants of that "container." A degraded environment with treeless deserts, thornbushes, and so on is impure; when beings are sick and hungry, etc., the sattvaloka is impure. The perfect purity of a buddha-field comes about when a bodhisattva achieves the purity of those two worlds by counteracting their imperfections through the creation of an entirely pleasant environment, and through the supply of food, clothing, shelter, etc.

Patala, from one aspect, corresponds to the lower hierarchies of the Gandha, elementals ruling the sense and organ of smell. This lowest tala is the sphere of irrational beings, including animals, having little or no sense or feeling save that of self-preservation and the gratification of the senses — attributes of materiality which might include a vast number of the human species. Patala is also the sphere of intensely human as contrasted with human-spiritual beings, and is likewise the abode of the animal dugpas, elementals of animals, and multitudes of nature spirits, all belonging to the bipolar planes of bhurloka-patala.

Patala (Sanskrit) Pātāla [possibly from the verbal root pat to sink, fly down or alight] Nethermost, farthest underneath; the reference being not so much to locality or position in space, as to quality — grossness, heaviness, or material substance. The seventh, lowest, and most material tala. It is used in Hindu literature to signify the hells, underworlds, or infernal regions, or the antipodes or Myalba. The corresponding loka or pole is bhurloka. “Meru — the abode of the gods — was placed . . . in the North Pole, while Patala, the nether region, was supposed to lie in the South. As each symbol in esoteric philosophy has seven keys, geographically, Meru and Patala have one significance and represent localities; while astronomically, they have another, and mean ‘the two poles,’ which meaning ended by their being often rendered in exoteric sectarianism — the ‘Mountain’ and the ‘Pit,’ or Heaven or Hell” (SD 2:357).

Phra Kaew Morakot. In Thai, "The Emerald Buddha" (full name: Phra Phuttha Maha Mani Ratana Patimakorn; P. Buddhamahāmaniratnapatimā); this most sacred and venerated buddha image in Thailand is currently enshrined at Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), an ornate temple located on the grounds of the royal palace in the Thai capital of Bangkok. The image, which is in the seated meditation posture, is 29.5 inches (forty-five centimeters) tall; despite its name, it is in fact not made of emerald, but is carved from a single block of a green stone thought to be either jasper or jade. Kaew is an indigenous Thai word for "glass" or "translucence"; morakot derives from the Sanskrit word for emerald (S. morakata). According to legend, the Emerald Buddha was the first buddha image ever made and was carved five hundred years after the Buddha's death out of a sacred gem that came from INDRA's palace. The image is said to have been made by NĀGASENA (c. 150 BCE), the interlocutor of the MILINDAPANHA, in the north Indian city of PĀtALIPUTRA around 43 BCE. The image was then taken to Sri Lanka in the fourth century CE, and was on its way to Burma in 457, when the ship carrying it went off course and the image next appeared in Cambodia. The image eventually came into Thai hands and made its way to AYUTHAYA, Chiangrai, Chiangmai, and ultimately Bangkok. The image's actual provenance is a matter of debate. Some art historians argue that on stylistic grounds the Emerald Buddha appears to have been carved in northern Thailand around the fifteenth century, while others argue for a south Indian or Sri Lankan origin based on its meditative posture, which is uncommon in Thai buddha images. The Emerald Buddha first enters the historical record upon its discovery in 1434 CE, in the area that is now the northern Thai province of Chiangrai, when lightning struck a chedi (P. cetiya, S. CAITYA) and a buddha image made of stucco was found inside. As the stucco began to flake off, the image of the Emerald Buddha was revealed. At that time, Chiangrai was ruled by the Lānnā Thai kingdom, whose king attempted to bring the image back to his capital of Chiangmai. The chronicles relate that three times he sent an elephant to bring the Emerald Buddha to Chiangmai, but each time the elephant went to Lampang instead, so the king finally relented and allowed the image to remain there. In 1468, the new Chiangmai monarch, King Tiloka, finally succeeded in moving the image to Chiangmai and installed it in the eastern niche of a large STuPA at Wat Chedi Luang. The image remained there until 1552, when it was taken to LUANG PRABANG, then the capital of Laos, by the Lao ruler, who was also ruling Chiangmai at the time. In 1564, the king then took the image to Vientiane, where he set up a new capital after fleeing the Burmese. The Emerald Buddha remained in Vientiane for 214 years, until 1778 when the Siamese general Taksin captured the city and took the Emerald Buddha to Thonburi, then the Siamese capital. In 1784, when Bangkok was established as the capital, the image was installed there, in Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, as the palladium of the nation (then known as Siam). Because Wat Phra Kaew is located within the palace grounds, the temple is unique in Thai Buddhism for having no monastic residences; the grounds contain only sacred shrines, stupas, and the main ubosoth (UPOsADHA hall), where the Buddha resides. The image of the Emerald Buddha is always clothed in golden raiments, which are changed according to the seasons. King Rāma I (r. 1782-1809) had two seasonal costumes made for the statue: a ceremonial robe for the hot season and a monastic robe for the rainy season. King Rāma III (1824-1851) had another costume made for the cold season: a mantle of gold beads. The ruling monarch performs the ceremonial changing of the garments each season.

Pitriloka ::: see pitrloka

pitr.loka (pitriloka) ::: the world of the divinised ancestors. pitrloka

pitrloka (Pitriloka) ::: the world of the Fathers.

Prajapati ::: "the Lord of creatures", the divine purus.a of whom all beings are the manifestations; the deva presiding over janaloka; one of "the three primal Purushas of the earth life", who appears after Agni Tvas.t.a and Matarisvan in the form of the four Manus (also called "the four Prajapatis"); any of certain mental beings connected with the terrestrial creation, one of whom is Manu Prajapati.

prajNāpāramitā. (P. paNNāpāramī; T. shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa; C. bore boluomiduo/zhidu; J. hannya haramitta/chido; K. panya paramilta/chido 般若波羅蜜多/智度). In Sanskrit, "perfection of wisdom" or "perfect wisdom"; a polysemous term, which appears in Pāli accounts of the Buddha's prior training as a BODHISATTVA (P. bodhisatta), but is widely used in MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism. ¶ PrajNāpāramitā refers to a level of understanding beyond that of ordinary wisdom, especially referring to the the wisdom associated with, or required to achieve, buddhahood. The term receives a variety of interpretations, but it is often said to be the wisdom that does not conceive of an agent, an object, or an action as being ultimately real. The perfection of wisdom is also sometimes defined as the knowledge of emptiness (suNYATĀ). ¶ As the wisdom associated with buddhahood, prajNāpāramitā is the sixth of the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ) that are practiced on the bodhisattva path. When the practice of the six perfections is aligned with the ten bodhisattva bhumis, the perfection of wisdom is practiced on the sixth BHuMI, called ABHIMUKHĪ. ¶ PrajNāpāramitā is also used to designate the genre of Mahāyāna sutras that sets forth the perfection of wisdom. These texts are considered to be among the earliest of the Mahāyāna sutras, with the first texts appearing sometime between the first century BCE and the first century CE. Here, the title "perfection of wisdom" may have a polemical meaning, claiming to possess a wisdom beyond that taught in the MAINSTREAM BUDDHIST SCHOOLS. In addition to numerous descriptions of, and paeans to, emptiness, the perfection of wisdom sutras also extol the practice of the bodhisattva path as the superior form of Buddhist practice. Although emptiness is said to be the chief topic of the sutras, their "hidden meaning" is said to be the detailed structure of the bodhisattva path. A number of later commentaries, most notably the ABHISAMAYĀLAMKĀRA, extracted terminology from these sutras in order to systematize the presentation of the bodhisattva path. There are numerous sutras with prajNāpāramitā in their titles, the earliest of which are designated simply by their length as measured in sLOKAs, a unit of metrical verse in traditional Sanskrit literature that is typically rendered in English as "stanza," "verse," or "line." Scholars speculate that there was a core text, which was then expanded. Hence, for example, the prajNāpāramitā sutra in eight thousand lines (AstASĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ) is often thought to be one of the earliest of the genre, later followed by twenty-five thousand lines (PANCAVIMsATISĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀSuTRA), and one hundred thousand lines (sATASĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ), as well as compilations many times longer, such as XUANZANG's translation of the MAHĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀSuTRA. The texts known in English as the "Heart Sutra" (PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀHṚDAYASuTRA) and the "Diamond Sutra" (VAJRACCHEDIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ) are both much shorter versions of these prajNāpāramitā sutras. ¶ Perhaps because the Sanskrit term prajNāpāramitā is in the feminine gender, PrajNāpāramitā also became the name of a goddess, referred to as the mother of all buddhas, who is the embodiment of the perfection of wisdom. ¶ In the traditional Tibetan monastic curriculum, prajNāpāramitā is one of the primary topics of study, based on the AbhisamayālaMkāra of MAITREYANĀTHA and its commentaries.

PrajNaptibhāsya[pādasāstra]. [alt. PrajNaptisāstra] (T. Gdags pa'i gtsug lag bstan bcos; C. Shishe lun; J. Sesetsuron; K. Sisol non 施設論). In Sanskrit, "Treatise on Designations," one of the earliest books of the SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMAPItAKA; it is traditionally listed as the fourth of the six ancillary texts, or "feet" (pāda), of the JNĀNAPRASTHĀNA, which is the central treatise or body (sarīra) of the Sarvāstivāda abhidharma canon. The PrajNaptibhāsya derives from the earliest stratum of Sarvāstivāda abhidharma literature, along with the DHARMASKANDHA and the SAMGĪTIPARYĀYA. YAsOMITRA and BU STON attribute authorship of the PrajNaptibhāsya to MAHĀMAUDGALYĀYANA. Unlike the rest of the canonical abhidharma texts of the Sarvāstivāda school, there is not a complete translation of this text in Chinese; the entire text survives only in a Tibetan translation ascribed to PrajNāsena. Portions of the second section of the text are, however, extant in a late Chinese translation by Dharmaraksa et al. made during the eleventh century. The Tibetan text is in three parts: (1) lokaprajNapti, which deals with the cosmogonic speculations similar to such mainstream Buddhist texts as the AGGANNASUTTA; (2) kāranaprajNapti, which deals with the causes governing the various stereotypical episodes in a bodhisattva's career (see BAXIANG), from entering the womb for his final birth to entering PARINIRVĀnA; and (3) karmaprajNapti, a general discourse on the theory of moral cause and effect (KARMAN).

pran.akasa (pranakasha; pranakash) ::: the vital ether, the akasa of the pranakasa pran.ajagat; the vital ether of the material plane, the second akasa of the triloka in bhū.

prapya punyakrtam lokan usitva sasvatih samah ::: [having attained to the world of the righteous and having dwelt there for immemorial years]. [Gita 6.41]

Prasphutapadā. (T. Tshig rab tu gsal ba). In Sanskrit, "The Clearly Worded," a work by the Indian scholiast Dharmamitra (c. ninth century); the full title of this text is AbhisamayālaMkārakārikāprajNāpāramitopadesasāstratīkā-prasphutapadā or "The Clearly Worded, Commentary on Treatise Setting Forth the Perfection of Wisdom, the Verses of the Ornament of Realization." The Prasphutapadā is a subcommentary on HARIBHADRA's ABHISAMAYĀLAMKĀRAVIVṚTI, which is intended to clarify points on the ABHISAMAYĀLAMKĀRA, one of five texts that were purportedly revealed to ASAnGA by the BODHISATTVA MAITREYA in the fourth or fifth centuries CE. The Prasphutapadā was written shortly after the composition of the AbhisamayālaMkāravivṛti in the early ninth century. In the Prasphutapadā, Dharmamitra seeks to clarify Haribhadra's views as they appear in the Vivṛti, rather than put forth his own ideas regarding the AbhisamayālaMkāra. In his work, Dharmamitra explains a number of doctrinal elements that would have a great impact on later forms of Tibetan Buddhism, including the TATHĀGATAGARBHA doctrine and the theory of multiple buddha bodies (BUDDHAKĀYA). For instance, in the Prasphutapadā, Dharmamitra asserts that the enjoyment body (SAMBHOGAKĀYA) is accessible only to a bodhisattva who has reached the tenth stage (BHuMI) of the bodhisattva path (see BODHISATTVABHuMI). Dharmamitra's text, together with the Durbodhāloka, the subcommentary on the AbhisamayālaMkāravivṛti by DHARMAKĪRTIsRĪ (the teacher of ATIsA DĪPAMKARAsRĪJNĀNA), is often cited in Tibetan PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ commentaries.

PratyutpannabuddhasaMmukhāvasthitasamādhisutra. (T. Da ltar gyi sangs rgyas mngon sum du bzhugs pa'i ting nge 'dzin gyi mdo; C. Banzhou sanmei jing; J. Hanju zanmaikyo; K. Panju sammae kyong 般舟三昧經). In Sanskrit, "Sutra on the SAMĀDHI for Encountering Face-to-Face the Buddhas of the Present," often known by its abbreviated title Pratyutpannasamādhisutra; one of the earliest MAHĀYĀNA SuTRAs, and one of the very first Mahāyāna sutras to be translated into Chinese, by the Indo-Scythian monk LOKAKsEMA in 179 CE. (There are also three other Chinese translations, as well as Tibetan and Mongolian recensions.) The sutra sets forth a meditation and visualization practice (which seems related to the traditional "recollection of the Buddha," or BUDDHĀNUSMṚTI), whereby one is able to come directly into the presence of the buddhas of the present in various world systems. An adept was to sit in meditation for up to seven days, facing the direction of his or her preferred buddha and visualizing that buddha's thirty-two major marks (MAHĀPURUsALAKsAnA) and his eighty minor characteristics (ANUVYANJANA) until he had a vision of that buddha in his world system. Through this visualization, one could receive the teachings of one's preferred buddha, transmit those teachings to others, and then be reborn in that buddha's realm (BUDDHAKsETRA). Because AMITĀBHA is used as an example of how to apply this technique, this sutra is retrospectively associated in East Asia with PURE LAND traditions. The sutra also contains expositions of the doctrine of emptiness (suNYATĀ), in which the insubstantiality of meditative experiences can be extended to all phenomena, a perspective that seems to adumbrate later YOGĀCĀRA views on the projection of external phenomena by the mind. Like many other early Mahāyāna sutras, the text also extols both lay and monastic practice, the worship of STuPAs, the making of buddha images, and the veneration of texts. Because the sutra describes a technique for hearing (viz. learning) new Buddhist teachings even after sĀKYAMUNI Buddha has passed into PARINIRVĀnA, this technique might have been employed to authenticate the production of new Mahāyāna sutras.

Pretas (Sanskrit) Preta-s [from pra away + the verbal root i to go] Gone ahead, departed; the remains in the astral light of the human dead, popularly called spooks or ghosts, and commonly in India signifying evil astral entities. In theosophy, the astral shells of human beings, especially of avaricious and selfish people, and more generally of those who have lived evil lives on earth. Pretas also can be the elementaries reborn as such in the kama-loka. See also BHUTA

prīti. (P. pīti; T. dga' ba; C. xi; J. ki; K. hŭi 喜). In Sanskrit, "rapture," "joy," "zest"; the third of the five factors of meditative absorption (DHYĀNĀnGA) and the fourth of the seven factors of enlightenment (BODHYAnGA); rapture helps to control the mental hindrances (NĪVARAnA) of both malice (VYĀPĀDA) and sloth and torpor (STYĀNA-MIDDHA). A sustained sense of prīti is obstructed by malice (vyāpāda), the second of the five hindrances to DHYĀNA. Prīti refreshes both body and mind and manifests itself as physical and mental tranquillity (PRAsRABDHI). The most elemental types of prīti involve such physical reactions as horripilation (viz., hair standing on end). As the experience becomes ever more intense, it becomes "transporting rapture," which is so uplifting that it makes the body seem so light as almost to levitate. Ultimately, rapture becomes "all-pervading happiness" that suffuses the body and mind, cleansing it of ill will and tiredness. As both a physical and mental experience, prīti is present during both the first and second of the meditative absorptions associated with the subtle-materiality realm (RuPĀVACARADHYĀNA), but fades into equanimity (UPEKsĀ). In the even subtler third dhyāna, only mental ease (SUKHA) and one-pointedness (EKĀGRATĀ) remain. Divinities in the sUDDHĀVĀSA realm (viz., the five "pure abodes," the upper five of the eight heavens associated with the fourth dhyāna) and the ĀBHĀSVARĀLOKA (heaven of universal radiance) divinities are said literally to "feed on joy" (S. prītibhaksa; P. pītibhakkha), i.e., to survive solely on the sustenance of physical and mental rapture.

rang rgyud shar gsum. (rang gyu shar sum). In Tibetan, "the three [texts] of the eastern Svātantrikas," a term used to refer to three important works of the SVĀTANTRIKA MADHYAMAKA school of Indian Buddhism (although the appellation "*Svātantrika" was not used in India and was applied retrospectively by Tibetan doxographers) composed by authors from eastern India. The three works are the MADHYAMAKĀLAMKĀRA by sĀNTARAKsITA, the MADHYAMAKĀLOKA by KAMALAsĪLA, and the SATYADVAYAVIBHAnGA by JNĀNAGARBHA.

Rupa-loka (Sanskrit) Rūpa-loka [from rūpa form, body + loka world] Form-world; planes of existence where the substance or vehicles are more material and definite, in contrast to the arupa-lokas (formless worlds) where the body-forms are less definite from our current perspective and sense faculties. In theosophical literature, the four lowest cosmic planes with the seven globes are usually called rupa worlds, while the three higher cosmic planes with their five globes are called arupa.

rupaloka. (S). See RuPADHĀTU.

Rupa(Sanskrit) ::: A word meaning "form," "image," "similitude," but this word is employed technically, andonly rarely in the popular sense in which it is commonly used in English. It signifies rather an atomic ormonadic aggregation about the central and indwelling consciousness, forming a vehicle or body thereof.Thus the rupa-lokas are lokas or worlds where the body-form or vehicle is very definitely outlined inmatter; whereas the arupa-lokas are worlds where the body-forms or "images" are outlined in a mannerwhich to us humans is much less definite. It should be noted that the word rupa applies with equal forceto the bodies or vehicles even of the gods, although these latter to us are purely subjective or arupa. (Seealso Loka)

saccidananda (sachchidananda; sacchidananda) ::: "the triune princisaccidananda ple of transcendent and infinite Existence [sat], Consciousness [cit] and Bliss [ananda] which is the nature of divine being" and "the origin, the continent, the initial and the ultimate reality of all that is in the cosmos"; in its supreme manifestation in which the three poises or worlds (lokas) called satyaloka, tapoloka and janaloka are sometimes distinguished, "the consciousness of unity dominates; the soul lives in its awareness of eternity, universality, unity, and whatever diversity there is, is not separative, but only a multitudinous aspect of oneness".Saccidananda is "the highest positive expression of the Reality to our consciousness" and "at once impersonal and personal", though the neuter form saccidanandam is sometimes used for the impersonal aspect, describing the nature of brahman, while the personal aspect of saccidananda is identified with the isvara. saccid saccidanandam

sadghanaloka ::: [world of dense Existence].

Sadhya (Sanskrit) Sādhya [from the verbal root sādh to finish, complete, subdue, master] To be fulfilled, completed, attained; to be mastered, won, subdued. As a plural noun, a class of the gana-devatas (divine beings), specifically the jnana-devas (gods of wisdom). In the Satapatha-Brahmana of the Rig-Veda their world is said to be above the sphere of the gods, while Yaska (Nirukta 12:41) gives their locality as in Bhuvarloka. In The Laws of Manu (3:195), the sadhyas are represented as the offspring of the pitris called soma-sads who are offspring of Viraj; hence they are children of the lunar ancestors (pitris), evolved after the gods and possessing natures more fully unfolded; while in the Puranas they are the sons of Sadhya (a daughter of Daksha) and Dharma — hence called sadhyas — given variously as 12 or 17 in number. These various manners of describing the ancestry of the sadhyas originated in different ways of envisioning their origin. In later mythology they are superseded by the siddhas, the difference between sadhyas and siddhas being in many respects slight. Their mythological names are given as Manas, Mantri, Prana, Nara, Pana, Vinirbhaya, Naya, Dansa, Narayana, Vrisha, and Trabhu. Two of the names are two of the theosophic seven human principles — manas and prana; while Nara and Narayan, are other aspects of man, human or cosmic. Blavatsky terms the sadhyas divine sacrificers, “the most occult of all” the classes of the dhyanis (SD 2:605) — the reference being to the manasaputras, those intellectual beings who sacrificed themselves in order to quicken the fires of human intelligence during the third root-race. “The names of the deities of a certain mystic class change with every Manvantara” (SD 2:90); thus they are called ajitas, tushitas, satyas, haris, vaikuntas, adityas, and rudras. The key to the various names given to these higher beings lies in the composite nature of each one of them. In every manvantara and in each minor cycle of a manvantara, every being unfolds another aspect of itself, just as mankind unfolds new but latent powers and senses in each age. Special names were often given to each of the sevenfold, tenfold, or twelvefold aspects of these high beings.

Saha-loka-dhatu, Sahalo-kadhatu (Sanskrit) Saha-loka-dhātu [from saha unity, union + loka world, plane + dhātu essential element] United world-elements, chiliocosm or universe. Also a Buddhist phrase meaning “the world inhabited by men,” or the earth.

sahāloka. (T. mi mjed kyi 'jig rten; C. suopo shijie; J. shaba sekai; K. saba segye 娑婆世界). In Sanskrit, lit. "world of endurance," in the MAHĀYĀNA, the name of the world system we inhabit where the buddha sĀKYAMUNI taught; the term may also be seen written as sahālokadhātu. The tradition offers at least two explanations for designating this realm as the sahāloka. First, it is called the "world of endurance" because of the suffering endured by the beings that populate it. Second, the Sanskrit term sahā can also mean "together with, conjointly," and in this sense the term is understood to indicate that in this realm karmic causes and their effects are inextricably bound together. There is a range of opinion concerning the extent of the sahā world. Some texts identify this land with the continent of JAMBUDVĪPA, some with all four continents of this world system, and some with the entire trichiliocosm (TRISĀHASRAMAHĀSĀHASRALOKADHĀTU). The sahāloka is the buddha-field (BUDDHAKsETRA) of sākyamuni, which is described as an impure field because it includes animals, ghosts, and hell denizens. In both the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA and the VIMALAKĪRTINIRDEsA, however, sākyamuni indicates that while unenlightened beings may perceive it as a world of suffering and desire, the sahā world is in reality his pure buddha field, a fact that is fully perceived by those who have achieved enlightenment. The highest divinity (DEVA) in the sahāloka is BRAHMĀ, one of whose epithets is SAHĀMPATI, "Lord of the Sahā World."

SahāMpati. (P. Sahampati; T. Mi mjed kyi bdag po; C. Suopo shijie zhu; J. Shabasekaishu; K. Saba segye chu 娑婆世界主). In Sanskrit, "Lord of the Sahā World," the epithet of a BRAHMĀ deity. The first concentration (DHYĀNA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHĀTU; see RuPĀVACARADHYĀNA) has three levels, called BRAHMAKĀYIKA, BRAHMAPUROHITA, and MAHĀBRAHMĀ. The most senior of the deities of this third and highest level within the first concentration is called Brahmā SahāMpati. He plays a crucial role in the inception of the Buddhist teaching (sĀSANA). After his enlightenment, the newly enlightened Buddha is said to have wondered whether there was anyone in this world who would be able to understand his teaching. Brahmā SahāMpati then appeared to him and implored him to teach, convincing him that there were persons "with little dust in their eyes" who would be able to understand his teachings. According to BUDDHAGHOSA, the Buddha had every intention to teach but feigned reluctance in order that Brahmā SahāMpati would make the request, knowing that if the most powerful divinity in the SAHĀLOKA implored the Buddha to teach, those who honored Brahmā would heed the Buddha's teachings. Brahmā SahāMpati also assured the Buddha that in their last lifetimes, none of the buddhas of the past had had a teacher other than the DHARMA they discovered themselves. According to some accounts, he is divinity not of the mahābrahmā realm but rather of the sUDDHĀVĀSA.

Saha (Sanskrit) Sahā [from the verbal root sah to endure, suffer] One of the loka-dhatus or divisions of the world in Buddhist philosophy: the world inhabited by men, or the earth — Buddhists consider this earth a world of suffering. Adopted into theosophy to signify the earth and likewise any inhabited or manifested world or globe in the chiliocosm or sakvala. Theosophy recognizes no hells in nature except those spheres of experience, evolutionary progress, and purgation through suffering which all the manifested globes of space are in almost infinitely varying degrees.

sahā world. (S). See SAHĀLOKA.

saMsāra. (T. 'khor ba; C. lunhui/shengsi lunhui; J. rinne/shojirinne; K. yunhoe/saengsa yunhoe 輪迴/生死輪迴). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "wandering," viz., the "cycle of REBIRTH." The realms that are subject to rebirth are typically described as composed of six rebirth destinies (GATI): divinities (DEVA), demigods or titans (ASURA), humans (MANUsYA), animals (TIRYAK), ghosts (PRETA), and hell denizens (NĀRAKA). These destinies are all located within the three realms of existence (TRAIDHĀTUKA), which comprises the entirety of our universe (see also AVACARA; LOKADHĀTU). At the bottom of the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU; kāmāvacara) are located the denizens of the hells (NĀRAKA), the lowest of which is named the interminable (AVĪCI). This most ill-fated of existences is followed by ghosts, animals, humans, demigods, and the divinities of the six heavens of the sensuous realm. Higher levels of the divinities occupy the upper two realms of existence, the subtle-materiality realm (RuPADHĀTU) and the immaterial realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU). The bottom three destinies, of hell denizens, hungry ghosts, and animals, are referred to as the three evil bournes (DURGATI); these are destinies where suffering predominates because of the past performance of unwholesome (AKUsALA) actions (KARMAN). In the various levels of the divinities, happiness predominates, because of the past performance of wholesome (KUsALA) actions. By contrast, the human destiny is thought to be ideally suited for religious training, because it is the only bourne where both suffering and happiness can be readily experienced, allowing the adept to recognize more easily the true character of life as impermanent (ANITYA), suffering (DUḤKHA), and nonself (ANĀTMAN). SaMsāra is said to have no beginning and to come to end only for those individuals who achieve liberation from rebirth through the practice of the path (MĀRGA) to NIRVĀnA. SaMsāra is depicted iconographically as a "wheel of existence" (BHAVACAKRA), which shows the six rebirth destinies, surrounding a pig, a rooster, and a snake, which symbolize ignorance (AVIDYĀ), desire (LOBHA), and hatred (DVEsA), respectively. Around the edge of the wheel are scenes representing the twelve links of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA). The relation between saMsāra and nirvāna is discussed at length in Buddhist texts, with NĀGĀRJUNA famously declaring that there is not the slightest difference between them, because the true nature of both is emptiness (suNYATĀ).

saMvartakalpa. (P. saMvattakappa; T. 'jig pa'i bskal pa; C. huaijie; J. eko; K. koegop 壞劫). In Sanskrit, "eon of dissolution," one of the four periods in the cycle of the creation and destruction of a world system, according to Buddhist cosmology. These are: the eon of creation (VIVARTAKALPA); the eon of abiding (VIVARTASTHĀYIKALPA); the eon of dissolution (saMvartakalpa); and the eon of nothingness (SAMVARTASTHĀYIKALPA). According to the ABHIDHARMAKOsABHĀsYA, each of the four eons lasts twenty intermediate eons. After the complete dissolution of the previous world system, an eon of nothingness occurs, during which the universe remains in a state of vacuity, with the sentient beings who had populated that world system reborn in other worlds or in the second absorption (DHYĀNA) of the subtle-materiality realm (RuPADHĀTU). The eon of creation begins when a wind begins to blow in space, impelled by the previous actions (KARMAN) of sentient beings. A circle of wind forms, followed by a circle of water, followed by a circle of golden earth. The entire world-system of the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU) then forms, including Mount SUMERU, the four continents and their subcontinents, the heavens, and the hells. These are then populated by beings, reborn in the various realms as a result of their previous actions. When all realms of the world system have been populated, the eon of creation ends and the eon of abiding begins. At the beginning of the eon, the human life span is said to be "infinite" and decreases until it eventually reaches ten years of age. It then increases to eighty thousand years, before decreasing again to ten years. It takes one intermediate eon for the life span to go from ten years to eighty thousand years to ten years again. The eon of abiding is composed of twenty eons, beginning with the intermediate eon of decrease (in which the life span decreases from "infinite" to ten years), followed by eighteen intermediate eons of increase and decrease, and ending with an intermediate eon of increase, when the life span increases from ten years to eighty thousand years, at which point the next eon, the eon of dissolution begins. Buddhas only appear during periods of decrease. sĀKYAMUNI Buddha appeared when the life span was one hundred years. It is said that MAITREYA will come when the human life span next reaches eighty thousand years. The eon of dissolution begins when sentient beings are no longer reborn in the hell realms of that world system. After that point, the hell realms of that world then disappear. (Beings who subsequently commit deeds warranting rebirth in hell are reborn into the hell realms of other universes.) The realms of ghosts and animals then disappear. Through the practice of meditation, humans are reborn in the first DHYĀNA and then into the second dhyāna. When the karman that has caused beings to be reborn in that world is exhausted, such that the physical world is depopulated, seven suns appear in the sky and incinerate the entire world system, including Mount Sumeru and all of the first dhyāna. This is followed by another eon of nothingness. See also SATTVALOKA.

saMvartasthāyikalpa. (P. saMvattatthāyīkappa; T. stong pa'i bskal pa; C. kongjie; J. kuko; K. konggop 空劫). In Sanskrit, "eon of nothingness"; one of the four periods in the cycle of the creation and destruction of a world system, according to Buddhist cosmology. These are: the eon of creation (VIVARTAKALPA); the eon of abiding (VIVARTASTHĀYIKALPA); the eon of dissolution (SAMVARTAKALPA); and the eon of nothingness (saMvartasthāyikalpa). According to the ABHIDHARMAKOsABHĀsYA, each of the four eons lasts twenty intermediate eons. After the complete dissolution of the previous world system, an eon of nothingness occurs in which the universe remains in a state of vacuity, with the sentient beings who had populated that world system reborn in other worlds or in the second concentration (DHYĀNA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHĀTU). (For the remainder of this cosmology, see the preceding entry SAMVARTAKALPA, s.v.) After successive eons of formation, abiding, and dissolution, the karma that had caused beings to be reborn into the world is exhausted, such that the physical world is depopulated; seven suns then appear in the sky and incinerate the entire world system, including Mount SUMERU and all of the first dhyāna. Thus begins a new eon of nothingness, a period of twenty intermediate eons of vacuity. See also BHĀJANALOKA.

saMvṛti. (P. sammuti; T. kun rdzob; C. shisu/su; J. sezoku/zoku; K. sesok/sok 世俗/俗). In Sanskrit, "conventional" or "relative"; a term used to designate the phenomena, concepts, and understanding associated with unenlightened, ordinary beings (PṚTHAGJANA). SaMvṛti is akin to the Sanskrit term LAUKIKA (mundane), in that both are used to indicate worldly things or unenlightened views, and is typically contrasted with PARAMĀRTHA, meaning "ultimate" or "absolute." In Sanskrit the term carries the connotation of "covering, concealing," implying that the independent reality apparently possessed by ordinary phenomena may seem vivid and convincing, but is in fact ultimately illusory and unreal. Much analysis and debate has occurred within the various philosophical schools regarding the questions of if, how, and in what way saMvṛti or conventional phenomena exist. For example, in his PRASANNAPADĀ, the seventh-century scholar CANDRAKĪRTI lists the following three characteristics of saMvṛti. First, they conceal reality (avacchādana). Second, they are mutually dependent (anyonyasamāsraya), meaning that saMvṛti phenomena are dependent on causes and conditions. Finally, they are concerned with worldly activities or speech (lokavyavahāra). Buddhas and BODHISATTVAs use their understanding of conventional reality to help them convey the DHARMA to ordinary beings and lead them away from suffering. See also SAMVṚTISATYA.

sāntaraksita. (T. Zhi ba 'tsho) (725-788). Eighth-century Indian Mahāyāna master who played an important role in the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet. According to traditional accounts, he was born into a royal family in Zahor in Bengal and was ordained at NĀLANDĀ monastery, where he became a renowned scholar. He is best known for two works. The first is the TATTVASAMGRAHA, or "Compendium of Principles," a critical survey and analysis of the various non-Buddhist and Buddhist schools of Indian philosophy, set forth in 3,646 verses in twenty-six chapters. This work, which is preserved in Sanskrit, along with its commentary by his disciple KAMALAsĪLA, remains an important source on the philosophical systems of India during this period. His other famous work is the MADHYAMAKĀLAMKĀRA, or "Ornament of the Middle Way," which sets forth his own philosophical position, identified by later Tibetan doxographers as YOGĀCĀRA-*SVĀTANTRIKA-MADHYAMAKA, so called because it asserts, as in YOGĀCĀRA, that external objects do not exist, i.e., that sense objects are of the nature of consciousness; however, it also asserts, unlike Yogācāra and like MADHYAMAKA, that consciousness lacks ultimate existence. It further asserts that conventional truths (SAMVṚTISATYA) possess their own character (SVALAKsAnA) and in this regard differs from the other branch of Madhyamaka, the *PRĀSAnGIKA. The Yogacāra-Madhyamaka synthesis, of which sāntaraksita is the major proponent, was the most important philosophical development of late Indian Buddhism, and the MadhyamakālaMkāra is its locus classicus. This work, together with the MADHYAMAKĀLOKA of sāntaraksita's disciple Kamalasīla and the SATYADVAYAVIBHAnGA of JNĀNAGARBHA, are known in Tibet as the "three works of the eastern *Svātantrikas" (rang rgyud shar gsum) because the three authors were from Bengal. sāntaraksita's renown as a scholar was such that he was invited to Tibet by King KHRI SRONG LDE BTSAN. When a series of natural disasters indicated that the local deities were not positively disposed to the introduction of Buddhism, he left Tibet for Nepal and advised the king to invite the Indian tantric master PADMASAMBHAVA, who subdued the local deities. With this accomplished, sāntaraksita returned, the first Buddhist monastery of BSAM YAS was founded, and sāntaraksita invited twelve MuLASARVĀSTIVĀDA monks to Tibet to ordain the first seven Tibetan monks. sāntaraksita lived and taught at Bsam yas from its founding (c. 775) until his death (c. 788) in an equestrian accident. Tibetans refer to him as the "bodhisattva abbot." The founding of Bsam yas and the ordination of the first monks were pivotal moments in Tibetan Buddhist history, and the relationship of sāntaraksita, Padmasambhava, and Khri srong lde btsan figures in many Tibetan legends, most famously as brothers in a previous life. Prior to his death, sāntaraksita predicted that a doctrinal dispute would arise in Tibet, in which case his disciple Kamalasīla should be invited from India. Such a conflict arose between the Indian and Chinese factions, and Kamalasīla came to Tibet to debate with the Chan monk Moheyan in what is referred to as the BSAM YAS DEBATE, or the "Council of Lhasa."

sanzhong shijian. (J. sanshuseken; K. samjong segan 三種世間). In Chinese, "the three types of world systems": the world of sentient beings (SATTVALOKA), the receptacle world (BHĀJANALOKA), and the world of the five aggregates (C. WUYUN SHIJIAN). See SATTVALOKA.

Sapta-loka (Sanskrit) Sapta-loka [from sapta seven + loka world, sphere, place] The seven great spheres or cosmic planes of manifested life.

sarvalokadr.s.t.i (sarvalokadrishti) ::: vision of all the worlds. sarvalokadrsti

sarvalokamahesvaram suhrdam sarvabhutanam ::: the Lord of all worlds (who is) the friend of all creatures. [Gita 5.29]

SarvatathāgatatattvasaMgraha. (T. De bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi de kho na nyid bsdus pa; C. Yiqie rulai zhenshishe dasheng xianzheng sanmei dajiaowang jing; J. Issainyorai shinjitsusho daijogenshozanmai daikyoogyo; K. Ilch'e yorae chinsilsop taesŭng hyonjŭng sammae taegyowang kyong 一切如來眞實攝大乘現證三昧大敎王經). In Sanskrit, "Compendium of Principles of All the Tathāgatas"; one of the most important Buddhist tantras, whose influence extended through India, China, Japan, and Tibet. Likely dating from the late seventh century, the text presented a range of doctrines, themes, and practices that would come to be regarded as emblematic of tantric practice. These include the the view that sĀKYAMUNI Buddha did not actually achieve enlightenment under the BODHI TREE but did so through ritual consecration. The commentaries to the SarvatathāgatatattvasaMgraha recount that Prince SIDDHĀRTHA was meditating on the banks of the NAIRANJANĀ River when he was roused by the buddha VAIROCANA and all the buddhas of the ten directions, who informed him that such meditation would not result in the achievement of buddhahood. He thus left his physical body behind and traveled in a mind-made body (MANOMAYAKĀYA) to the AKANIstHA heaven, where he received various consecrations and achieved buddhahood. He next descended to the summit of Mount SUMERU, where he taught the YOGATANTRAs. Finally, he returned to the world, reinhabited his physical body, and then displayed to the world the well-known defeat of MĀRA and the achievement of buddhahood under the Bodhi tree. The tantra also include the violent subjugation of Mahesvara (siva) by the wrathful bodhisattva VAJRAPĀnI, suggesting competition between Hindu and Buddhist tantric practitioners at the time of its composition and the increasing importance of violent imagery in Buddhist tantra. Such important elements as the five buddha families (PANCATATHĀGATA) and the practice of visualizing oneself as a deity also appear in the text. The tantra is also important for the prominment role given to the buddha Vairocana. In East Asia, the SarvatathāgatatattvasaMgraha was particularly influential in the form of the VAJRAsEKHARA, the reconstructed Sanskrit title derived from the Chinese translations of the first chapter of the SarvatathāgatatattvasaMgraha made by VAJRABODHI and AMOGHAVAJRA during the Tang dynasty. This would become a central text for the esoteric traditions of China and Japan. The full text of the SarvatathāgatatattvasaMgraha was not translated into Chinese until Dānapāla completed his version in 1015. Ānandagarbha (fl. c. 750) wrote an important commentary on the SarvatathāgatatattvasaMgraha called Tattvālokakarī ("Illumination of the Compendium of Principles Tantra"), and sākyamitra (fl. c. 750) wrote a commentary called KosalālaMkāra ("Ornament of Kosala"). Ānandagarbha's mandala ritual called Sarvavajrodayamandalavidhi is a ritual text based on the first chapter of the SarvatathāgatatattvasaMgraha. The tantra was very influential in Tibet during both the earlier dissemination (SNGA DAR) and the later dissemination (PHYI DAR) periods. Classified as a yogatantra, it was an important source during the later period, for example, for such scholars as BU STON RIN CHEN GRUB and TSONG KHA PA in their systematizations of tantra.

sat ::: being, existence; substance; "pure existence, eternal, infinite, indefinable, not affected by the succession of Time, not involved in the extension of Space, beyond form, quantity, quality", the first term of saccidananda and the principle that is the basis of satyaloka;"the spiritual substance of being" which is cast "into all manner of forms and movements"; existence as "the stuff of its own becoming", which on every plane is "shaped into the substance with which Force has to deal" and "has formed itself here, fundamentally, as Matter; it has been objectivised, made sensible and concrete to its own .. self-experiencing conscious-force in the form of self-dividing material substance" (anna1); short for sat brahman.

sat-cit-ananda (sat-chit-ananda) ::: (usually spelled saccidananda) sat-cit-ananda Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, "the infinite being [sat], the infinite consciousness [cit], the infinite delight [ananda] which are the supreme planes of existence and from which all else derives or descends into this obscurer ambiguous manifestation"; referred to as "thrice seven" planes because "each of the divine principles contains in itself the whole potentiality of all the other six notes of our being" (see loka).

sattvaloka. (P. sattaloka; T. sems can 'jig rten; C. zhongsheng shijian/youqing shijian; J. shujo seken/ujoseken; K. chungsaeng segan/yujong segan 衆生世間/有情世間). In Sanskrit, "world of sentient beings"; a term used to refer to the sentient beings (SATTVA) who are the inhabitants of the realms of SAMSĀRA. The sattvaloka is used in distinction to, and in conjunction with, its companion term BHĀJANALOKA, the "receptacle world" that is the physical environment or "container" for those sentient beings. The inanimate bhājanaloka and the animate sattvaloka together make up the three realms of existence (TRILOKA[DHĀTU]). The bhājanaloka is formed during the first of the twenty intermediate-length eons (KALPA) that make up the one great eon (MAHĀKALPA), called the "kalpa of creation" (VIVARTAKALPA); the sattvaloka comes into existence during the remaining nineteen intermediate-length kalpas as sentient beings begin to be reborn in the bhājanaloka, beginning in the heavens and ending in the hells. The disappearance of the sattvaloka takes the form of a gradual depopulation of the bhājanaloka during the "kalpa of dissolution" (SAMVARTAKALPA). This process begins with the cessation of those beings' rebirth in hell, which is followed by the dissolution of the hells themselves. (Those beings whose time in hell is not yet exhausted will be reborn in a hell in another universe.) The same twofold process then occurs for the realms of animals and ghosts. After that, seven suns appear in the sky, incinerating the remaining bhājanaloka, including Mount SUMERU, the four continents, and the subtle-materiality heavens of the first DHYĀNA. Beings in the first DHYĀNA who can achieve the second dhyāna escape destruction. When the kalpa of creation begins again, the bhājanaloka and the sattvaloka reappear due to the inertial force of the KARMAN of sentient beings. These two worlds and the world of the five aggregates (C. WUYUN SHIJIAN) together constitute the three types of world systems (C. SANZHONG SHIJIAN).

satya ::: 1. true; truth; truth of being [cf. rtam]. ::: 2. [ =satyayuga]. ::: 3. [ =satyaloka]. ::: satyam [nominative]

Satyadvayavibhanga. (T. Bden pa gnyis rnam par 'byed pa). In Sanskrit, "Distinction Between the Two Truths," a work by the eighth-century MADHYAMAKA master JNĀNAGARBHA. According to Tibetan classification, the work belongs to the SVĀTANTRIKA-MADHYAMAKA, and within that, the SAUTRĀNTIKA-SVĀTANTRIKA-MADHYAMAKA. This work, together with the MADHYAMAKĀLAMKĀRA by sĀNTARAKsITA and the MADHYAMAKĀLOKA of KAMALAsĪLA are known in Tibet as the "three works of the eastern *SVĀTANTRIKAs" (rang rgyud shar gsum) because the three authors were from Bengal. The Satyadvayavibhanga is composed in verses (kārikā) and includes a prose autocommentary (vṛtti) by the author. There is also a commentary (paNjikā) by sāntaraksita, who is said to have been a student of JNānagarbha. The text presumably takes its title from Nāgārjuna's statement in his MuLAMADHYAMAKAKĀRIKĀ: "Those who do not comprehend the distinction between these two truths do not know the nature of the profound doctrine of the Buddha." The ultimate truth (PARAMĀRTHASATYA) is nondeceptive; its nature accords not with appearance, but with valid knowledge gained through reasoning (nyāya). It is also free from discursive thought (NIRVIKALPA). The conventional truth (SAMVṚTISATYA) includes ordinary appearances, or as the text says, "whatever appears even to cowherds and women." Within the category of the conventional, there are true and false conventions, which are distinguished based on their ability to perform a function (ARTHAKRIYĀ) in accordance with their appearance; thus water is a true convention and a mirage is a false convention. The work ends with a discussion of the three bodies (TRIKĀYA) of a buddha.

Satya loka: In Hinduism and occult terminology, the world or plane of absolute purity and wisdom, the abode of the gods.

Satya-loka (Sanskrit) Satya-loka [from satya reality + loka world, place] Reality-world; the first or highest of the seven lokas, its corresponding tala and nether pole being atala. Satya-loka is the abode of the nirvanis. Being the highest and most spiritual loka, it is therefore the inmost because closest to the radiating spiritual center, and yet it extends its influence in, above, through, and beyond all the other inferior lokas. It is also referred to as the abode of truth.

satyaloka ::: the world (loka) of the "highest truth of being", the plane of sat, where the "soul may dwell in the principle of infinite unity of self-existence and be aware of all consciousness, energy, delight, knowledge, will, activity as conscious form of this essential truth, Sat or Satya".

satyaloka ::: world of (the highest) truth of being.

satya ::: true; truth (same as satyam); short for satyaloka or satyayuga. satya br brhat

Scales of seven, ten, or twelve may be used to define this hierarchical structure. Using the denary scale as an example, we see that the hierarch of any given hierarchy is the lowest member of the immediately superior decad; while the lowest member of the same hierarchy is the hierarch of the immediately inferior decad, so that the scale is a scale of nine. This may explain the use of nine as a sacred number, the difference between ancient inclusive methods of counting and our present methods, and the principle of overlapping cycles. The generalized Greek pre-Christian hierarchy is: 1) divine hierarchies; 2) gods, or divine-spiritual; 3) demigods; 4) heroes; 5) men; 6) animals; 7) plants; 8) minerals; 9) elementals, to which may be added the supreme source as hyparxis of this hierarchy, which is itself the lowest member of the immediately preceding superdivine hierarchy. See also LOKA; TALA; CELESTIAL ORDER OF BEINGS

Second Death Adopted from its use by the ancients, such as the Greeks and Romans who wrote and taught of the second death even publicly (cf Key 98-9). When a person dies the three lower of his seven principles (sthula-sarira, linga-sarira, prana) are immediately cast off, and the four higher principles (kama, manas, buddhi, atman) enter kama-loka, there to await the second death. The length of time that this fourfold entity remains in kama-loka is determined by the general characteristics of the life just ended on earth: if there has been during life but small attachment in the intermediate nature (kama-manas) to things of earth, there will perforce by little or nothing to hold the entity in kama-loka, which it will traverse relatively rapidly; and the preparation for the entry into the next state of consciousness or devachan proceeds normally and smoothly.

Second death: In occultism, the dissolution or disintegration of remains of man which dwell in the kamaloka (q.v.) after the death of the physical body.

Second Death ::: This is a phrase used by ancient and modern mystics to describe the dissolution of the principles of manremaining in kama-loka after the death of the physical body. For instance, Plutarch says: "Of the deathswe die, the one makes man two of three, and the other, one out of two." Thus, using the simple divisionof man into spirit, soul, and body: the first death is the dropping of the body, making two out of three; thesecond death is the withdrawal of the spiritual from the kama-rupic soul, making one out of two.The second death takes place when the lower or intermediate duad (manas-kama) in its turn separatesfrom, or rather is cast off by, the upper duad; but preceding this event the upper duad gathers unto itselffrom this lower duad what is called the reincarnating ego, which is all the best of the entity that was, allits purest and most spiritual and noblest aspirations and hopes and dreams for betterment and for beautyand harmony. Inherent in the fabric, so to speak, of the reincarnating ego, there remain of course theseeds of the lower principles which at the succeeding rebirth or reincarnation of the ego will develop intothe complex of the lower quaternary. (See also Kama-Rupa)

sheliju. (J. sharigu; K. sarigu 舍利具). In Chinese, a "reliquary container" containing the relics (sARĪRA) of the Buddha or a sage; also written as SHELIQI. The relics were deposited in a set of nested caskets and were placed inside or buried below the foundation of a STuPA. A tiny glass bottle placed inside several layered caskets served as the innermost container for the crystalline relic-grains remaining after cremation. The shape of the caskets differed according to time and region, from a stupa shape to the shape of a bowl or tube, and the caskets were made of gold, silver, gilt bronze, lacquered wood, porcelain, or stone. The sides of the caskets were often incised with buddha images or guardian deities. In addition to the relic, the donors frequently deposited a multitude of objects of intrinsic or artistic value in the containers, including beads, pearls, jewelry, or coins. The earliest known reliquary is a steatite casket found in the stupa of Piprāwā (fifth-fourth centuries BCE) in India. In China, the reliquary chamber excavated at the FAMENSI pagoda is the most widely researched. In contrast to most Chinese reliquary chambers, which were only accessible prior to the construction of a pagoda, the Famensi relic was escorted to and from the imperial palace. Further outstanding examples of reliquaries have been excavated at Songnimsa and Kamŭnsa in Korea. Both reliquaries date from the Silla period and show the refined amalgamation of foreign influences and native Silla craftsmanship. The center of the Songnimsa reliquary is a small green glass bottle, placed in a green glass cup decorated with twelve rings of coiled glass, which derives from Persian or Syrian prototypes. The Kamŭnsa reliquary contains a vessel in the shape of a miniature pavilion and an outer container decorated on each side with the four heavenly kings, pointing to the LOKAPĀLA cult that thrived in Silla society at that time.

Shells Derivative from qelippoth in the Hebrew Qabbalah, having the sense of empty form. They are the astral remains of the lower parts of man disintegrating in kama-loka after the death of the physical body and the separation of the higher principles. These shells persist for a short time in the case of the good, and for a long time in the case of the evil; and may be used as vehicles by various evil entities, or endowed with a temporary vitality by the necromancy of the seance room, which enables them in the physical phenomena of the seance room, whereby the ignorant very often pathetically mistake them for the spirits of the dead when they are in fact but astral phantoms.

Sheol has all the attributes of subterranean gloom and wan bloodless activity that characterize the Hades or Orcus of the Greeks and Latins. The dying, without exception, are all spoken of as going down to Sheol, which in most of its aspects corresponds to the modern theosophical astral world or kama-loka.

She’ol-’ob (Hebrew) Shĕ’ol ’ōb [from shĕ’ōl the Hebrew Hades + ’ōb a necromancer] One who raises the phantoms or kama-rupic shades of the dead from Sheol, a necromancer; intercourse or trafficking with the various kinds of inhabitants of the lower realms of the astral light or kama-loka.

shifang cha. (J. jipposetsu; K. sibang ch'al 十方刹). In Chinese, lit. "realms of the ten directions," referring to all the world systems or universes in existence. The "cha" in shifang cha is a transcription of the Sanskrit term KsETRA, and means realm, world, land, etc.; thus, it may also refer to a universe consisting of three thousand large chiliocosms, thus a "trichiliocosm" (TRISĀHASRAMAHĀSĀHASRALOKADHĀTU). "Ten directions" (C. shifang; S. DAsADIs) refers to the four cardinal directions (north, east, south, west), the four ordinal, or intercardinal, directions (northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest), plus the zenith and the nadir. By covering every possible direction, the "ten directions" therefore comes to be used by extension to mean "everywhere." Thus, shifang cha is similar in connotation to the expressions "worlds of the ten directions" (shifang shijie; dasadiglokadhātu) or "lands of the ten directions" (shifang chatu). ¶ Shifang cha is also used in Chinese to mean "monastery of the ten directions," referring to Song-dynasty public monasteries that adopted the "institution of the abbacy of the ten directions" (SHIFANG ZHUCHI ZHI). In this usage, "cha" is instead a transliteration of the first syllable of the Sanskrit term CAITYA, a reliquary cairn or STuPA that often was placed in front of the main shrine hall in a monastery and thus by metonymy indicated the monastery itself. The abbacy of the ten directions referred to a system of monastic succession in which a monk of particular renown was invited to serve as abbot of the monastery, regardless of his personal connection to the lineage of the preceding abbot. Monasteries whose abbots were thus chosen from the broader "ten directions," rather than from within a single, narrow monastic or ordination lineage, were termed "monasteries of the ten directions" (shifang cha, alt. shifang conglin). Monasteries whose control was passed within a single monastic lineage were private monasteries, and called lit. "small temples" (XIAOMIAO).

Shin Upagot. A semi-immortal ARHAT who, according to Burmese (Myanmar) and Thai popular tradition, dwells in a gilded palace beneath the southern ocean. Shin Upagot (P. Upagutta, S. UPAGUPTA) is endowed with extraordinarily long life and is destined to survive until the coming of the future buddha, MAITREYA. According to Burmese legend, Shin Upagot was ordered by the Buddha not to pass into PARINIRVĀnA until Maitreya had appeared so that he might protect the Buddha's religion during times of crisis. Shin Upagot is renowned for assisting King AsOKA to construct eighty-four thousand STuPAs, and for vanquishing MĀRA and converting him to Buddhism. The earliest known record of the legend of Shin Upagot as it is known in Southeast Asia is found in the LokapaNNatti, a Pāli cosmological text said to have been written at Thaton in the twelfth century. That recension of the legend, in turn, is based on Sanskrit Buddhist antecedents found in such works as the AsOKĀVADĀNA, all of which recount the exploits of the Upagupta. The legend of Shin Upagot is celebrated in the Burmese royal chronicles (yazawin), Mahayazawin-gyi (c. 1730) and Hmannan Mahayazawin-daw-gyi (1829), while the story is omitted from all Burmese ecclesiastical chronicles (thathanawin), presumably because it is not attested in Pāli sources. Shin Upagot is regarded as a protector of sailors, and because of his powers to control the weather, he is propitiated to prevent rainfall at inopportune times. He is depicted iconographically as a monk seated cross-legged, looking skyward, with his right hand reaching into his alms bowl.

Shloka ::: see sloka

siddhaloka. ::: the highest realm of existence in which the fully liberated live

Siddhas (Sanskrit) Siddha-s [from the verbal root sidh to attain] Perfected one, one who has attained relative perfection in this manvantara through self-devised efforts lasting through many imbodiments towards that end. A buddha is in this sense at times called a siddha. Generally, a hierarchy of dhyani-chohans who, according to Hindu mythology, inhabit the space between the earth and heaven (bhuvar-loka); the Vishnu-Purana states that there are 88,000 of them occupying the regions of the sky north of the sun and south of the seven rishis (the Great Bear). In later mythology they are confused with or take the place of the sadhyas, but in the Vedas the siddhas are those who are possessed from birth of superhuman powers — the eight siddhis — as also of knowledge and indifference to the world (Svetasvatara-Upanishad).

sinjung. (C. shenzhong; J. shinshu 神衆). In Korean, "host of spirits"; referring to the LOKAPĀLAs, the protectors of the dharma (DHARMAPĀLA). The sinjung are often headed by KUMĀRABHuTA (K. Tongjin), who appears in a grand, feathered headdress accompanied by over a dozen associates, who aid him in protecting the religion. Originally Hindu deities, the sinjung were adopted into Buddhism as guardian deities after being converted by the Buddha's teachings. In particular, BRAHMĀ (K. Pom Ch'onwang), INDRA (K. Chesok ch'on), the four heavenly kings (S. CATURMAHĀRĀJA; K. sa ch'on wang), and WEITUO (K. Wit'a) were so popular that many statues and paintings were made of them. As the SUVARnAPRABHĀSOTTAMASuTRA gained popularity in East Asian Buddhism, the sinjung also came to be regarded as protectors of the state as well as the dharma. Imported to Korea along with Buddhism, the sinjung also came to be worshipped in state Buddhist services. During the Choson dynasty, when Neo-Confucianism replaced Buddhism as the state religion, the role of the sinjung stretched into the personal realm as well, including protecting against disease. Many of the sinjung derive from such Buddhist sutras as the AVATAMSAKASuTRA, the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA ("Lotus Sutra"), and the RENWANG JING ("Scripture for Humane Kings"), but there are also indigenous sinjung who originated from within the Chinese and Korean religious traditions. Hanging paintings (T'AENGHWA) of the sinjung are often displayed on the right wall of the main shrine halls (TAEUNG CHoN) in Korean monasteries. These paintings vary widely, and the main figures include: (1) Chesok ch'on (Indra), alone without associates; (2) Yejok Kŭmgang (the vajra-ruler who purifies unclean places), with Chesok ch'on on his left side and Pom Ch'onwang (Brahmā) on his right; (3) Wit'a (Weituo) with the same associates of Yejok Kŭmgang to his sides; (4) thirty-nine sinjung from the AvataMsakasutra; (4) 104 sinjung, including all the indigenous sinjung.

Siva-loka (Shivaloka) ::: [the celestial world of Siva].

sloka. ::: a stanza in Sanskrit poetry

sloka. (P. siloka; T. tshigs bcad; C. ji/song; J. ge/ju; K. ke/song 偈/頌). In Sanskrit, "stanza," referring to a unit of metrical verse in traditional Sanskrit literature. Although the exact form of the verse may vary, the most common form of sLOKA is composed of four "feet" (pāda), each foot consisting of eight syllables, for a total of thirty-two; this form is called the anustubh. Other forms include the tristubh, which has four feet of eleven syllables each, and the gāyatrī, which has three feet of eight syllables each. The form is widely used in Buddhist and non-Buddhist Indian literature, which is often composed in a mixture of prose and verse. The term is implied in the titles of the PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ SuTRAs: e.g., in the AstASĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ, which is often translated as "The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines," where lines refers to slokas.

Sloka (Sanskrit) Śloka A verse, generally formed of verses in four half-lines of eight, or in two lines of sixteen syllables each, the Sanskrit epic meter of 32 syllables.

Sloka(Sanskrit) ::: "The Sanskrit epic meter formed of thirty-two syllables: verses in four half lines of eight, or intwo lines of sixteen syllables each" (H. P. Blavatsky, Theosophical Glossary).

sloka (Shloka) ::: a verse of four quarters or padas [each pada having eight syllables].

&

Soma-loka (Sanskrit) Soma-loka [from Soma moon + loka world, place] The region or world of the regent of the moon, Soma; equivalent to pitri-loka, abode of the lunar pitris.

srāvakabhumi. (T. Nyan thos kyi sa; C. Shengwen di; J. Shomonji; K. Songmun chi 聲聞地). In Sanskrit, the "Stage of the Listener" or "Stage of the Disciple," a work by ASAnGA included in the first and main section (Bahubhumika/Bhumivastu, "Multiple Stages") of his massive compendium, the YOGĀCĀRABHuMI. The work, which also circulated as an independent text, deals with practices associated with the sRĀVAKA (disciples) and consists of four major sections (yogasthāna), which treat spiritual lineage (GOTRA), different types of persons (PUDGALA), preparation for practice (PRAYOGA), and the mundane path (LAUKIKAMĀRGA) and supramundane path (LOKATTARAMĀRGA). The first yogasthāna on spiritual lineage is divided into three parts. First, the stage of lineage (gotrabhumi) discusses the spiritual potentiality or lineage (gotra) of the srāvaka from four standpoints: its intrinsic nature, its establishment or definition (vyavasthāna), the marks (LInGA) characterizing the persons belonging to that lineage, and the classes of people in that lineage. Second, the stage of entrance (avatārabhumi) discusses the stage where the disciple enters upon the practice; like the previous part, this section treats this issue from these same four standpoints. Third, the stage of deliverance (naiskramyabhumi) explains the stage where the disciple, after severing the bonds of the sensual realm (KĀMADHĀTU), practices to obtain freedom from passion (VAIRĀGYA) by following either the mundane or supramundane path; this section subsequently discusses thirteen collections or equipment (saMbhāra) necessary to complete both paths, such as sensory restraint, controlling food intake, etc. This stage of deliverance (naiskramyabhumi) continues over the second through fourth yogasthānas to provide an extended treatment of sravāka practice. The second yogasthāna discusses the theoretical basis of sravāka practice in terms of persons (pudgala), divided into nineteen subsections on such subjects as the classes of persons who cultivate the sravāka path, meditative objects, descriptions of various states of concentration (SAMĀDHI), hindrances to meditation, etc. The third yogasthāna concerns the preliminary practices (prayoga) performed by these persons, describing in detail the process of training. This process begins by first visiting a teacher. If that teacher identifies him as belonging to the srāvaka lineage, the practitioner should then cultivate in five ways: (1) guarding and accumulating the requisites of samādhi (samādhisaMbhāra-raksopacaya), (2) selection (prāvivekya), (3) one-pointedness of mind (CITTAIKĀGRATĀ), (4) elimination of hindrances (ĀVARAnA-visuddhi), and (5) cultivation of correct mental orientation (MANASKĀRA-bhāvanā). Among these five, the section on cittaikāgratā contains one of the most detailed discussions in Sanskrit sources of the meditative procedures for the cultivation of sAMATHA and VIPAsYANĀ. In the fourth yogasthāna, the practitioner, who has accomplished the five stages of application (prayoga), proceeds to either the mundane (laukika) or supramundane (lokottara) path. On the mundane path, the practitioner is said to be reborn into the various heavens of the subtle-materiality realm (RuPADHĀTU) or the immaterial realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU) by cultivating the four subtle-materiality meditative absorptions (RuPĀVACARADHYĀNA) or the four immaterial meditative absorptions (ĀRuPYĀVACARADHYĀNA). On the supramundane path, the sravāka practices to attain the stage of worthy one (ARHAT) by relying on the insight of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvāry āryasatyāni). See also BODHISATTVABHuMI.

Subhava (Sanskrit) Subhāva Being; the self-forming substance, equivalent to svabhava (characteristic individuality). It is the spirit within the substance, or the essence of the entity governing its noumenal and phenomenal appearances; “in the Vedanta and Vyaya Philosophies: nimitta, efficient, and upadana, the material, causes are contained in subhava co-eternally. Says a Sanskrit Sloka: ‘Worthiest of ascetics, through its potency, [that of the ‘efficient’ cause’] every emanated or evolved thing comes by its own proper nature’ ” (TG 310).

suddhananda (shuddhananda; suddhananda) ::: pure ananda, "the suddhananda pure delight of the Infinite"; the form of subjective ananda corresponding to the plane of transcendent bliss (anandaloka) or to the sub-planes created by the "repetition of the Ananda plane in each lower world of consciousness". It brings the "sense of Supreme Beauty in all things" (sarvasaundarya), differing from cidghanananda in that it "transcends or contains" the beauty of gun.a (quality) proper to vijñana, depending "not on knowledge-perception of the separate guna & yatharthya [truth] of things, but on being-perception in chit of the universal ananda of things"; its highest intensities are experienced when the soul "casts itself into the absolute existence of the spirit and is enlarged into its own entirely self-existent bliss infinitudes". suddha pravr suddha pravrtti

suhrdam sarvabhutandm sarva-lokamahesvaram ::: the Friend of all creatures and the [great] Master of the universe [of all worlds]. [cf. Gita 5.29]

Suicide As an inseparable part of the universe, whether considered as an organism or as a huge animated machine, we cannot violently remove ourselves from the pattern without interfering with the harmonious working of the other parts; and just here enters the immense moral or ethical import of the evil of suicide. But even had we a right to destroy our life, it would be futile. We may destroy the body, but we cannot destroy the mind. The suicide, after the temporary but complete unconsciousness which succeeds death, awakes in kama-loka the same person, in the same state of consciousness, minus only the physical triad (body, astral body, and gross physical vitality). His state of consciousness is one of torture, the repetition over and over of his suicidal act and the emotions that induced and accompanied it; this happens automatically because the mind, like an automaton repeats incessantly perforce the controlling or dominating impulses that governed it when the person took his physical life. And as the higher ego has its own life term, he has to remain in that condition until what would have been the natural term of life on earth is ended, body or no body.

sukrtam u lokam ::: the other world to which those who do well the works of sacrifice attain. [Ved.]

sūks.ma (sukshma; çukshma) ::: subtle; non-material, not belonging to suksma the physical world perceived by the outer mind and senses; (relating to) the subliminal parts of our being or the supraphysical planes of existence (lokas) between the sthūla and the karan.a. ssuksma ūks.ma ak akasa

Sumeru, Mount. (T. Ri rab; C. Xumishan/Miaogaoshan; J. Shumisen/Myokosen; K. Sumisan/Myogosan 須彌山/妙高山). The central axis of the universe in Buddhist cosmology; also known as Mount Meru. Mount Sumeru stands in the middle of the world as its axis and is eight leagues (YOJANA) high. It is surrounded by seven mountain ranges of gold, each separated from the other by an ocean. At the foot of the seventh range, there is a great ocean, contained at the perimeter of the world by a circle of iron mountains (CAKRAVĀdA). In this vast ocean, there are four island continents in the four cardinal directions, each flanked by two island subcontinents. The northern continent is square, the eastern semicircular, the southern triangular, and the western round. Although humans inhabit all four continents, the "known world" is the southern continent, named JAMBUDVĪPA, where the current average height is four cubits and the current life span is one hundred years. The four faces of Mount Sumeru are flat, and are each composed of a different precious stone: gold in the north, silver in the east, lapis lazuli in the south, and crystal in the west. The substance determines the color of the sky over each of the four continents. The sky is blue in the southern continent of Jambudvīpa because the southern face of the Mount Sumeru is made of lapis. The slopes of Sumeru are the abode of demigods (ASURA), and its upper reaches are the heavens of the four heavenly kings (see CĀTURMAHĀRĀJAKĀYIKA, LOKAPĀLA). At the summit of the mountain is the heaven of the thirty-three (TRĀYASTRIMsA), ruled by the king of the gods, sAKRA. Above Mount Sumeru are located the remaining heavens of the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU). Different Buddhist traditions identify Mount Sumeru with different local mountains, including Mount KAILĀSA in the Indian and Tibetan traditions, NAMSAN in the Korean tradition, etc. See also SHUMIDAN.

Supporters The cosmocratores, rectores mundi, Pillars of the World, exemplifying the Scandinavian ases and the planetary spirits of certain Christian mystics. In Hinduism they are the guardian deities of the eight cardinal points, and are called loka-palas.

sūryaloka ::: the world of the sun of knowledge (sūrya1), symbolising suryaloka the plane of vijñana.

Surya (Sanskrit) Sūrya The sun, its regent or informing divinity; in the Vedas, the sun god, the most concrete of the solar gods, generally distinguished, at least in name, from Savitri and Aditya. He was regarded as one of the original Vedic triad: Indra or Vayu presiding over the atmosphere; Agni, over the earth; and Surya, over the space of the solar system. In Vedic literature, Surya is also called Loka-chakshuh (eye of the world). He is considered the son of Dyaus, the cosmic spirit — pictured as the spatial extent of cosmic mind — and of Aditi (space). He is represented as moving through the celestial sphere in a chariot drawn by seven ruddy horses or by one horse with seven heads, referring to the seven principles or elements of the solar system, or to his own seven principles as a unit with their seven different logoi or heads; or the former refers to the seven logoi as manifested in the regents of the seven sacred planets, the latter to their common origin from the one cosmic element, often figuratively called fire (SD 1:101).

Sutala (Sanskrit) Sutala [from su good, excellent + tala sphere, place] Good place, i.e., still better for matter; the third counting downwards of the seven talas. Its corresponding loka or pole is janarloka. Sutala is a differentiated state of highly ethereal astral substance, corresponding with sabda (sound) and with the higher manas in man, and therefore with the higher ego; likewise with the Manushya-buddha state, like that of Gautama on earth. Sutala is the abode of the hierarchies of some of the manasaputras, every one in this series of seven talas having its own respective inhabitants; and due to the evolutionary ascents and descents that take place through the ages, there is a more or less continual intercourse between tala and tala.

svargalokam visalam ::: large heavenly world. [Gita 9.21]

svargaloka (Swargaloka) ::: heavenly world; the condition of bliss in the subtle body.

Svarga (Sanskrit) Svarga In Hindu philosophy, a heavenly abode — also often called Indraloka, or Svarloka, said to be situated on Mount Meru. It corresponds in theosophical writings to devachan.

Svarloka (Sanskrit) Svarloka [from svar heaven + loka world, place] Heaven-world; the fifth counting downwards of the seven lokas. The corresponding tala and nether pole is talatala. Svarloka is also exoterically said to be a paradise situated on Mount Meru, the abode of Brahma and Vishnu, and the Hindu Olympus, “described geographically as ‘passing through the middle of the earth-globe, and protruding on either side.’ On its upper station are the gods, on the nether (or South pole) is the abode of the demons (hells)” (SD 2:404). The sphere of influence of svarloka is said to reach to the pole star. See also JANARLOKA

svarloka (swarloka) ::: the world (loka) of mind; same as svar.

svarloka (Swarloka) ::: the world of free, pure and luminous mentality.

svar (swar) ::: "the luminous world", the world of luminous intelligence of which Indra is the lord, comprising the planes at the summit of the mental consciousness; the mental world (manoloka), the highest plane of the triloka; its lower principle of manas, sensational mind, and higher principle of buddhi, intelligence, are manifested in the two realms of svarga and candraloka, respectively.

Swargaloka ::: see svargaloka

Swarloka ::: see svarloka

swarloka ::: see svarloka.

t'aenghwa. (幀). In Korean, lit. "painting"; referring to the large "hanging paintings" painted on cloth or paper, which are hung on the inside walls of Korean shrine halls or behind buddha images on the altars. The term t'aenghwa may have been in use since the Koryo dynasty (918-1392), since a painting from 1306 includes the Sinograph t'aeng in its title. Because of their vulnerability to fire, most extant t'aenghwa date from the seventeenth century onward, the period following the depredations caused by the Japanese Hideyoshi invasions (1592-1598) of the Korean peninsula. T'aenghwa tend to depict different arrangements of various buddhas, BODHISATTVAs, and ARHATs, with guardians illustrated around the perimeter of the painting. Although t'aenghwa are usually painted in full color, it is possible to find them in various restrained formats such as gold and white on a black or red background; in this type, the lines are generally drawn in gold, while the skin is painted in white. There are no examples of this restrained type of t'aenghwa before the late 1800s. In main shrine halls, t'aenghwa tend to come in sets of three, with a main painting behind the central image and accompanying paintings on the walls to the left and right of the altar. Popular themes for such central t'aenghwa include the Buddha lecturing at Vulture Peak (GṚDHRAKutAPARVATA), the PURE LAND of AMITĀBHA, the medicine buddha BHAIsAJYAGURU with the twelve zodiacal signs, and stories from Buddhist history. The t'aenghwa on the right is usually the "host of spirits" (SINJUNG) hanging painting, and shows the LOKAPĀLAs, with the dharma protector KUMĀRABHuTA (K. Tongjin) prominently featured. Kumārabhuta is typically portrayed wearing a grand, feathered headdress accompanied by over a dozen associates, who aid him in protecting the religion. The t'aenghwa on the left often commemorates the deceased and features the bodhisattva KsITIGARBHA, who has vowed to rescue all beings from the hells. Sometimes monasteries with restricted budgets or space will use t'aenghwa without accompanying statues, especially for the t'aenghwas to the left and right. T'aenghwa in smaller shrine halls may include paintings of the mountain spirit (K. sansin), the guardian kings, and the seven star (ch'ilsong; see BEIDOU QIXING) spirits of the Big Dipper. ¶ Large hanging t'aenghwa, which were traditionally displayed outdoors during Buddhist ceremonies, are known as KWAEBUL. Kwaebul are generally twenty-five to forty feet (eight to twelve m.) high, although one at SSANGGYESA is fifty feet (fifteen m.) in height. Kwaebul with a depiction of a standing MAITREYA are common. The kwaebul are displayed on the Buddha's birthday and during rites such as YoNGSANJAE, as well as for the funerals of important monks. Kwaebul are the equivalent of the Tibetan THANG KA and were especially popular in the seventeenth century.

Tala(Sanskrit) ::: A word which is largely used in the metaphysical systems of India, both in contrast and at thesame time in conjunction with loka. As the general meaning of loka is "place" or rather "world," so thegeneral meaning of tala is "inferior world." Every loka has as its twin or counterpart a corresponding tala.Wherever there is a loka there is an exactly correspondential tala, and in fact the tala is the nether pole ofits corresponding loka. Lokas and talas, therefore, in a way of speaking, may be considered to be thespiritual and the material aspects or substance-principles of the different worlds which compose and infact are the kosmic universe. It is impossible to separate a tala from its corresponding loka -- quite asimpossible as it would be to separate the two poles of electricity.The number of talas as generally outlined in the exoteric philosophies of Hindustan is usually given asseven, there being thus seven lokas and seven talas; but, as a matter of fact, this number varies. If we mayspeak of a loka as the spiritual pole, we may likewise call it the principle of any world; andcorrespondentially when we speak of the tala as being the negative or inferior pole, it is quite proper alsoto refer to it as the element of its corresponding loka or principle. Hence, the lokas of a hierarchy may becalled the principles of a hierarchy, and the talas, in exactly the same way, may be called the elements orsubstantial or material aspects of the hierarchy.It should likewise be remembered that all the seven lokas and all the seven talas are continuously andinextricably interblended and interworking; and that the lokas and the talas working together form theuniverse and its various subordinate hierarchies that encompass us around. The higher lokas with thehigher talas are the forces or energies and substantial parts of the spiritual and ethereal worlds; the lowestlokas and their corresponding talas form the forces or energies and substantial parts of the physical worldsurrounding us; and the intermediate lokas with their corresponding talas form the respective energiesand substantial parts of the intermediate or ethereal realms.Briefly, therefore, we may speak of a tala as the material aspect of the world where it predominates, justas when speaking of a loka we may consider it to be the spiritual aspect of the world where itpredominates. Every loka, it should be always remembered, is coexistent with and cannot be separatedfrom its corresponding tala on the same plane.As an important deduction from the preceding observations, be it carefully noted that man's ownconstitution as an individual from the highest to the lowest is a hierarchy of its own kind, and thereforeman himself as such a subordinate hierarchy is a composite entity formed of lokas and talas inextricablyinterworking and intermingled. In this subordinate hierarchy called man live and evolve vast armies,hosts, multitudes, of living entities, monads in this inferior stage of their long evolutionary peregrination,and which for convenience and brevity of expression we may class under the general term of life-atoms.

Tala (Sanskrit) Tala Lower or inferior portions of a series, inferior world; also a chasm, abyss, floor. All these ideas suggest lower or inferior planes. Often used in conjunction with loka (place, world). The talas stand for the material aspects or substance-principles of the different worlds which are the cosmic universe, in contrast with the lokas which suggest the spiritual aspect of the universe. The number of loka-talas is generally given as seven, though the number varies, all the seven lokas and seven talas interblending and interworking to form the universe and all its various hierarchies. The seven talas are generally given in theosophical writings as atala, vitala, sutala, rasatala, talatala, mahatala, and patala.

Talatala (Sanskrit) Talātala [from tala place + atala no place] Place no-place; the fifth counting downwards of the seven talas, its corresponding loka or pole being svarloka. This term draws attention to the fact that the talas from this point become rapidly more material. Talatala corresponds to the hierarchies of rupa- or sight-devas, possessed of three senses: hearing, touch, and sight. It is the abode of certain kama-manasic entities and of certain classes of the higher elementals, among which may be classed the sylphs and undines of the medieval Rosicrusians. The state of talatala corresponds in man on earth with an artificial state of consciousness, such as that produced by hypnotism or drugs.

Taparloka (Sanskrit) Tapar-loka [from tapas devotion + loka world, place] Also tapoloka. Devotion world, contemplation world, because of the intellectual entities popularly considered to be sunken profoundly in contemplative devotion; the second, counting downward, of the seven lokas, the corresponding tala being vitala. Taparloka is often called in Hindu literature the mansion of the blest because considered the abode of vairaja-deities, agnishvattas, Sons of Brahma, the highest classes of manasaputras and kumaras who are often spoken of as spiritual nirmanakayas because connected with the hosts of beings who descended and informed man when the manvantaric period to do so arrived. These kumaric nirmanakayas are connected with but not identical with those highly evolved human beings also called nirmanakayas.

tapas ::: "concentration of power of consciousness"; will-power; the force that acts through aisvarya, isita and vasita, or the combination of these siddhis of power themselves, sometimes listed as the fourth of five members of the vijñana catus.t.aya; the divine force of action into which rajas is transformed in the liberation (mukti) of the nature from the trigun.a of the lower prakr.ti, a power "which has no desire because it exercises a universal possession and a spontaneous Ananda .. of its movements"; the force manifested by an aspect of daivi prakr.ti (see Mahakali tapas, Mahasarasvati tapas); (also called cit-tapas)"infinite conscious energy", the principle that is the basis of tapoloka; limited mental will and power. Tapas is "the will of the transcendent spirit who creates the universal movement, of the universal spirit who supports and informs it, of the free individual spirit who is the soul centre of its multiplicities. . . . But the moment the individual soul leans away from the universal and transcendent truth of its being, . . . that will changes its character: it becomes an effort, a straining". tapas ananda

tapoghanaloka ::: [world of dense essential conscious energy. (tapas) ].

Tapo-loka. See TAPARLOKA

tapoloka ::: the world (loka) of "infinite Will or conscious force", the plane where the "soul may dwell . . . in the principle of infinite conscious energy" (tapas or cit-tapas) "and be aware of it unrolling out of self-existence the works of knowledge, will and dynamic soul-action for the enjoyment of an infinite delight of the being".

tapoloka ::: world of tapas; world of infinite Will or conscious force.

Ta-urt (Egyptian) Ta-urt. One name of the hippopotamus goddess more commonly known as Rert or Rertu; regarded as the consort of Typhon, and closely associated with the beast portrayed in the Judgment scene from The Egyptian Book of the Dead called the Eater of the Dead — the Devourer of the Unjustified. Abstractly, Ta-urt represents not so much the punitive but the retributive aspect of karma, with a special application to the postmortem conditions of the defunct in kama-loka. See also HIPPOPOTAMUS

The Brahmanical equivalent to Aquarius, presided over by the sky god Indra, is Kumbha, which Subba Row states is equivalent in its numerical value to 14, a number intended to represent the 14 lokas or chaturdasa-bhuvana (Theos, Nov 1881). Assigning the twelve sons of Jacob in the Hebrew system to the signs of the zodiac, Reuben is ascribed to Aquarius, who is “unstable as water”; also associated with Rimmon, the god of storms and rain (SD 2:353), and equated with Ganymede.

The cataleptic phenomena are sometimes induced in a profound hypnotic state, where the operator’s will manifests through the intermediate nature of his subject. This explains the public hypnotic exhibitions of an unconscious person, rigidly stretched out, with only head and feet supported, while the body sustains excessive weight placed upon it. It is also possible, at times, for a person who is naturally psychic, or who has dabbled in attempts to cultivate psychic phenomena, to become dissociated from his normal physical status and, in a trance-like condition, to manifest the cataleptic state of beclouded consciousness and the wax-like rigidity of body. In such cases there is always danger that the lower quaternary including the unconscious body may be invaded by some astral entity which thus becomes an insidious and injurious link with kama-loka and its denizens.

The deceased, entering the domain as a khu, performs the same activities that he did on earth: plowing, reaping, sailing his boat, and making love. On entering Amenti, Anubis conducts the soul to the hall of Osiris where it is judged by the 42 judges and its heart is weighed against the feather of truth. If the soul passes the test, it goes to the fields of Aalu. If the names of the 15 Aats, the 7 Arrets (circles), the 21 Pylons, as well as the gods and guardians of these domains are all known, the deceased is enabled to pass from one mansion to the other, and finally to enter the Night Boat of the Sun, which passes through the Tuat on its way to arise in the heavens. The shades who miss this boat, the unprogressed egos, must remain in the afterworld or kama-loka, while those who enter the boat are carried to the heaven world or devachan where they wander about until they return to earth for rebirth. This refers to the passing from world to world by the ego proficient in knowledge of the “names,” and thereafter entering the secret or invisible pathways to the sun. The knowledge of the names indicates spiritual, intellectual, and psychic development, by which the ego of the defunct is no longer attracted to the lower spheres, but having knowledge of them correctly answers the challenges and thereafter follows the attraction upwards and onwards.

“The Formless (‘Arupa’) Radiations, existing in the harmony of Universal Will, and being what we term the collective or the aggregate of Cosmic Will on the plane of the subjective Universe, unite together an infinitude of monads — each the mirror of its own Universe — and thus individualize for the time being an independent mind, omniscient and universal; and by the same process of magnetic aggregation they create for themselves objective, visible bodies, out of the interstellar atoms” (SD 1:632-3). See also DHATU; LOKA; RUPA

The four heavenly kings of the first and lowest of the six heavens are DHṚTARĀstRA in the east, VIRudHAKA in the south, VIRuPĀKsA in the west, and VAIsRAVAnA in the north. There are many devas inhabiting this heaven: GANDHARVAs in the east, KUMBHĀndAs in the south, NĀGAs in the west, and YAKsAs in the north. As vassals of sAKRO DEVĀNĀM INDRAḤ (lit. "sakra, the lord of the gods"; see INDRA; sAKRA; DEVARĀJAN), the four heavenly kings serve as protectors of the dharma (DHARMAPĀLA) and of sentient beings who are devoted to the dharma. They dwell at the four gates in each direction at the midslope of the world's central axis, Mt. Sumeru. The thirty-three gods of the second heaven are the eight vāsava, two asvina, eleven rudra, and twelve āditya. They live on the summit of Mt. Sumeru and are arrayed around the city of Sudarsana, the capital of their lord sakra. sakra is also known as Indra, the war god of the Āryans, who became a devotee of the Buddha as well as a protector of the dharma. The remaining four heavens are located in the sky above Mt. Sumeru. At the highest level of the sensuous realm, the paranirmitavasavartin heaven, dwells MĀRA, the Evil One. The four heavenly kings and the thirty-three gods are called the "divinities residing on the ground" (bhumyavacaradeva) because they dwell on Mt. Sumeru, while the gods from the Yāma heaven up to the gods of the realm of subtle materiality are known as "divinities residing in the air" (antariksavāsin, antarīksadeva), because they reside in the sky above the mountain. The higher one ascends into the heavens of both the sensuous realm and the subsequent realm of subtle materiality, the larger and more splendid the bodies of those gods become and the longer their life spans. Related to the devas of the sensuous realm are the demigods or titans (S. ASURA), jealous gods whom Indra drove out of the heaven of the thirty-three; they now live in exile in the shadows of Mt. Sumeru. ¶ The heavens of the realm of subtle materiality (rupadhātu) consist of sixteen (according to the SARVĀSTIVĀDA school), seventeen (the SAUTRĀNTIKA school), or eighteen (the THERAVĀDA/STHAVIRANIKĀYA school) levels of devas. These levels, which are collectively called the BRAHMALOKA (world of the Brahmā gods), are subdivided into the four classes of the dhyāna or "concentration" heavens, and rebirth there is dependent on specific meditative attainments in previous lives. One of the most extensive accounts on these heavens appears in the ABHIDHARMAKOsABHĀsYA, which presents seventeen levels of the subtle-materiality devas. Whereas rebirth in the heavens of the sensuous realm are the result of a variety of virtuous deeds done in a previous life, rebirth in the heavens of the realm of subtle materiality or in the immaterial realm is the result of what is called a "nonfluctuating" or "unwavering" action (ANINJYAKARMAN). Here, the only cause that will produce rebirth in one of these heavens is the achievement of the level of meditative concentration or absorption of that particular heaven in the immediately preceding lifetime. Such meditation is called a "nonfluctuating deed" because it always produces the effect of that particular type of rebirth. The first set of dhyāna heavens, where those who practiced the first meditative absorption in the previous lifetime are born, is comprised of three levels:

  “The Gandharva of the Veda is the deity who knows and reveals the secrets of heaven and divine truths to mortals. Cosmically — the Gandharvas are the aggregate powers of the solar-fire, and constitute its Forces; psychically — the intelligence residing in the Sushumna, Solar ray, the highest of the seven rays; mystically — the occult force in the Soma (the moon, or lunar plant) and the drink made of it; physically — the phenomenal, and spiritually — the noumenal causes of Sound and the ‘Voice of Nature.’ Hence, they are called the 6,333 ‘heavenly’ Singers and musicians of Indra’s loka who personify (even in number) the various and manifold sounds in Nature, both above and below. In the latter allegories they are said to have mystic power over women, and to be fond of them. The esoteric meaning is plain. They are one of the forms, if not the prototypes, of Enoch’s angels, the Sons of God, who saw that the daughters of men were fair (Gen. vi.) who married them, and taught the daughters of the Earth the secrets of Heaven” (SD 1:523n).

The hippopotamus, the crocodile, and the frog were all either aquatic or amphibious animals, and as all ancient zoocosmology took its figures of speech from the surrounding world, these animals were chosen as symbolic of the early creative action in the waters of space, out of which arose the world. In an equally important sense, however, the hippopotamus has distinct reference to the astral world, and hence so far as the individual is concerned, to the post-mortem peregrination of the latter in kama-loka.

The lokas, in our present fourth planetary round, are dominant on the luminous arc, while the talas are recessive; whereas the talas are the dominant factors or worlds on the shadowy arc of descent, where the lokas are recessive or involving. Virtue, purity, kindness, compassion are signs that the entity possessing them is evolving the spirit within, and therefore is ascending along the lokas of the luminous arc and thus is a denizen of the lokas as the dominant factors in his evolution. Selfishness, impurity, unkindness, cruelty, and deception are the signs that the entity possessing them is then under the influence or dominance of the talas, and is for the time being on a shadowy arc — the particular and characteristic effect of the working of the influences of the talas.

The Masonic initiation was modeled on that of the Lesser Mysteries of Egypt, also used in India from time immemorial with Loka-chaksu (eye of the world) and Dinkara (day-maker or the sun). “In Egypt the third degree was called Porte de la Mort (the gate of death) . . . in the modern rite, one finds the reproduction of this Egyptian myth, except that in place of Osiris, inventor of the arts, or the Sun, one finds the name of Hiram, which signifies raised — eleve, (the epithet which belongs to the Sun) and who is skillful in the arts” (Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique 101-2). The slaying of Hiram signifies the annual slaying of the sun by the last three months of the year, the sun being reborn or raised at the winter solstice, one of the four great initiation periods celebrated in antiquity.

The modern movement which began about the middle of the 19th century, mainly with the Fox sisters, embraces a large range of differing beliefs, so that any strictures directed against certain phases of it may justly be resented by those to whom such strictures do not apply. But the characteristic doctrine which identifies Spiritualism or astralism as such, is the belief that it is possible for the living to communicate with the departed spirits of the deceased. Theosophy, however, holds that at death the personality disintegrates, the individuality of the person passing into the devachanic state, while its lower components gradually fade out in the kama-loka. It is impossible to obtain communications with the ego in devachan, except when a purely impersonal love of one human being for another reaches into the devachanic condition and comes into spiritual rapport with the devachani. A far lower rapport may be established with the astral or kama-lokic remains which have been left behind to disintegrate in the lower regions of the astral light.

The mystical and mythologic teachings concerning Amenti were all more or less symbolic descriptions of the series of afterdeath states and adventures experienced by the excarnate entity. Thus kama-loka, devachan, and the postmortem peregrinations of the excarnate monad are all combined under the one term Amenti.

The post-mortem separation of man’s seven principles frees the higher triad, atma-buddhi-manas, for return to, and experience in, the arupa (formless) planes of existence. Then the human-animal soul — kama-manas — composed of the dregs of the selfish personal emotions, desires, and impulses, becomes for a shorter or longer time a coherent astral form, finding its natural level in kama-loka. These shells of the dead, as well as the various nature spirits and other astral entities, are normally invisible to us as we are to them. However, certain conditions attract them and help them to appear. Actual materializations, though rare, are possible, as are various similar phenomenal appearances; yet none are the spirits they are supposed to be by spiritualists. As a rule they all fall into three general classes: 1) the astral body of the living medium detaches itself and assumes the appearance of the so-called spirit by reflecting some invisible image already in the astral light, or in the mind of one or more of the sitters; 2) the astral shell of a deceased person, devoid of all spirit, intellect, and conscience, can become visible and even partially tangible when the condition of the air and ether is such as to alter the molecular vibration of the shell so that it can be seen; and 3) an unseen mass of chemical, magnetic, and electrical material is collected from the atmosphere, the passive medium, and the circle. With this material, the astral entities automatically make a form, which invariably reflects as pictures or portraits the shape or appearance of any desired person, either dead or alive. The astral entities, which are of various kinds, use the mind-pictures or images which crowd the thoughts and auras of those present, as the astral light receives, preserves, and reflects when conditions are right, pictures or portraits of both dead and living, and indeed of all events. The confusion and illusion of it all may be increased by scenes related to the multiple personality of someone present whose aura presents pictured records of past lives.

There are innumerable instances of sevening — the seven days of the week, the seven colors of the spectrum, the seven notes of the musical scale — while special emphasis is placed upon the seven human and cosmic principles; the seven senses (five senses now in manifestation and two more to be attained in the future through evolutionary unfolding); the seven cosmic elements; the seven root-races and seven subraces; the seven kingdoms, human and below; the seven rounds; the seven lokas and talas; the seven manifested globes of the planetary chain; the seven sacred planets; the seven racial buddhas; the seven dhyani-bodhisattvas and -buddhas; the seven Logoi; etc.

There are many different divisions of the lokas and talas used in Hindu literature, but many are merely exoteric blinds. Dividing the universe into seven manifested grades or planes of being, which are really worlds, these worlds are polarized into lokas and talas, two by two throughout. The seven lokas and seven talas together form the seven cosmic planes. Of these seven loka-tala pairs, the three highest belong to the relatively arupa (formless) or spiritual worlds, and are often called arupa lokas and arupa talas. The four lowest pairs belong to the rupa (form) or material worlds, and are often called rupa lokas and talas. These lokas and talas are not placed in nature’s structure above each other like steps of a stair, but are within each other, interblending and continually interacting. Each inner one is finer and more ethereal than the next outer one; the inmost of either series is the most ethereal and spiritual of all. The more spiritual the center, the wider is its outflow of radiation and influence, and it therefore reaches far beyond the more material ones. Exoteric Hindu literature details specific limitations or frontiers to the reach of each loka and tala, as for instance when it is said that svarloka and talatala extend to the pole star, or that the reach of influence of bhuvarloka and mahatala extend to the sun.

There is a close connection between death, sleep, and initiation, sleep being an incomplete death and initiation being a conscious experience of the afterdeath states. See also DEVACHAN; KAMA-LOKA; PRALAYA; REIMBODIMENT; SECOND DEATH

The second death takes place when the two highest human principles, atman and buddhi, free themselves from the fourfold entity, but such separation of the monad takes place only after it has assimilated all the higher intellectual and truly spiritual attributes which the manas principle has stored up during the last life on earth. The ego then is freed from all low attractions and enters into devachanic bliss for a period according to its richness in human spiritual qualities. After the monad in the second death has abandoned the lower part of manas joined to kama, there remains the shell or spook (kama-rupa) which under normal conditions immediately begins to disintegrate in kama-loka. Thus after the second death the immortal triad — atman, buddhi, and all the spiritual and intellectual aroma of the manas — is freed, and the reimbodying ego or higher manas enters the devachanic state, and sleeps blissfully there till beginning its new cycle of descent towards reincarnation.

These lokas and talas are invisible spheres of a nature far more ethereal so far as the majority of the lokas is concerned than bhurloka, our material earth. The lokas apply not only to the solar system, but to the planetary chain and to every one of its globes.

  “the seven principles of our globe are the seven lokas and seven talas belonging especially to earth; and the seven principles of each one of the other six globes of our planetary chain, are the respective lokas and talas belonging to each one of them. Now the two other globes on each plane of the three planes above ours, making thus the other six globes of our planetary chain, receive their respective life force, recieve their respective inflow of intellectual and spiritual energies and beings, from the respective lokas and talas of the sun. There are seven suns, but only one sun on this plane, as our globe is but one on this plane, the lowest of the seven kosmical planes.”

The sojourn in kama-loka will be longer if the deceased has strong and active attractions earthward, for in such cases the defunct is earth-bound, and the time before the second death occurs, after which follows the entry into devachan, is in all cases proportionate to the strength of the attraction towards earth and its affairs.

The solar system as a whole has its corresponding cosmic lokas and talas; so has any planetary chain of the solar system and any globe of such chain. Each one of these different scales is built of its own series of lokas and talas on the analogical principle that what prevails in the cosmic whole as its fundamental structure must necessarily prevail in its every portion.

The trailokya are all, in each case, nonphysical spheres, and pertain to the postmortem states of entities. These three worlds are wholly exoteric groupings — not meaning false, but not sufficiently explained in the exoteric literature to develop the real significances. In theosophy there are seven or ten groupings of the postmortem realms or states. These states cannot be grouped under the Brahmanical three worlds, but under the three Buddhist dhatus or lokas. Rupa-dhatu and arupa-dhatu may be called dhyanas (contemplation), thus designating the deeply contemplative character of the excarnate egos sunken in the profound deeps of consciousness. See also TRIBHUVANA

This serpent is often mythologically represented as also having a thousand heads, referring to the thousand main divisions of abstract time into which pralaya or manvantara can be divided; and as supporting, after giving birth to them by emanation, the seven lokas and seven talas out of which the manifested hierarchies of the universe are formed during cosmic manvantara. See also ANANTA-SESHA

Tiantai zong. (J. Tendaishu; K. Ch'ont'ae chong 天台宗). In Chinese, "Terrace of Heaven School"; one of the main schools of East Asian Buddhism; also sometimes called the "Lotus school" (C. Lianhua zong), because of its emphasis on the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA ("Lotus Sutra"). "Terrace of Heaven" is a toponym for the school's headquarters on Mt. Tiantai in present-day Zhejiang province on China's eastern seaboard. Although the school retrospectively traces its origins back to Huiwen (fl. 550-577) and NANYUE HUISI (515-577), whom the school honors as its first and second patriarchs, respectively, the de facto founder was TIANTAI ZHIYI (538-597), who created the comprehensive system of Buddhist teachings and practices that we now call Tiantai. Zhiyi advocated the three truths or judgments (SANDI): (1) the truth of emptiness (kongdi), viz., all things are devoid of inherent existence and are empty in their essential nature; (2) the truth of being provisionally real (jiadi), viz., all things are products of a causal process that gives them a derived reality; and (3) the truth of the mean (zhongdi), viz., all things, in their absolute reality, are neither real nor unreal, but simply thus. Zhiyi described reality in terms of YINIAN SANQIAN (a single thought contains the TRICHILIOCOSM [TRISĀHASRAMAHĀSĀHASRALOKADHĀTU]), which posits that any given thought-moment perfectly encompasses the entirety of reality; at the same time, every phenomenon includes all other phenomena (XINGJU SHUO), viz., both the good and evil aspects of the ten constituents (DHĀTU) or the five sense organs (INDRIYA) and their respective objects and the three realms of existence (TRAIDHĀTUKA) are all contained in the original nature of all sentient beings. Based on this perspective on reality, Zhiyi made unique claims about the buddha-nature (FOXING) and contemplation (GUAN): he argued that not only buddhas but even sentient beings in such baleful existences as animals, hungry ghosts, and hell denizens, possess the capacity to achieve buddhahood; by the same token, buddhas also inherently possess all aspects of the unenlightened three realms of existence. The objects of contemplation, therefore, should be the myriad of phenomena, which are the source of defilement, not an underlying pure mind. Zhiyi's grand synthesis of Buddhist thought and practice is built around a graduated system of calmness and insight (jianzi ZHIGUAN; cf. sAMATHA and VIPAsYANĀ), which organized the plethora of Buddhist meditative techniques into a broad, overarching soteriological system. To Zhiyi is also attributed the Tiantai system of doctrinal classification (panjiao; see JIAOXIANG PANSHI) called WUSHI BAJIAO (five periods and eight teachings), which the Koryo Korean monk CH'EGWAN (d. 970) later elaborated in its definitive form in his CH'oNT'AE SAGYO ŬI (C. Tiantai sijiao yi). This system classifies all Buddhist teachings according to the five chronological periods, four types of content, and four modes of conversion. Zhiyi was succeeded by Guanding (561-632), who compiled his teacher's works, especially his three masterpieces, the FAHUA XUANYI, the FAHUA WENJU, and the MOHE ZHIGUAN. The Tiantai school declined during the Tang dynasty, overshadowed by the newer HUAYAN and CHAN schools. The ninth patriarch JINGXI ZHANRAN (711-782) was instrumental in rejuvenating the school; he asserted the superiority of the Tiantai school over the rival Huayan school by adapting Huayan concepts and terminologies into the tradition. Koryo monks such as Ch'egwan and Ŭit'ong (927-988) played major roles in the restoration of the school by helping to repatriate lost Tiantai texts back to China. During the Northern Song period, Wu'en (912-988), Yuanqing (d. 997), Zhiyuan (976-1022), and their disciples, who were later pejoratively called the SHANWAI (Off-Mountain) faction by their opponents, led the resurgence of the tradition by incorporating Huayan concepts in the school's thought and practice: they argued that since the true mind, which is pure in its essence, produces all phenomena in accord with conditions, practitioners should contemplate the true mind, rather than all phenomena. Believing this idea to be a threat to the tradition, SIMING ZHILI (960-1028) and his disciples, who called themselves SHANJIA (On-Mountain), criticized such a concept of pure mind as involving a principle of separateness, since it includes only the pure and excludes the impure, and led a campaign to expunge the Huayan elements that they felt were displacing authentic Tiantai doctrine. Although Renyue (992-1064) and Congyi (1042-1091), who were later branded as the "Later Off-Mountain Faction," criticized Zhili and accepted some of the Shanwai arguments, the Shanjia faction eventually prevailed and legitimized Zhili's positions. The orthodoxy of Zhili's position is demonstrated in the FOZU TONGJI ("Comprehensive History of the Buddhas and Patriarchs"), where the compiler Zhipan (1220-1275), himself a Tiantai monk, lists Zhili as the last patriarch in the dharma transmission going back to the Buddha. Tiantai theories and practices were extremely influential in the development of the thought and practice of the Chan and PURE LAND schools; this influence is especially noticeable in the white-lotus retreat societies (JIESHE; see also BAILIAN SHE) organized during the Song dynasty by such Tiantai monks as Zhili and Zunshi (964-1032) and in Koryo Korea (see infra). After the Song dynasty, the school declined again, and never recovered its previous popularity. ¶ Tiantai teachings and practices were transmitted to Korea during the Three Kingdoms period through such Korean monks as Hyon'gwang (fl. sixth century) and Yon'gwang (fl. sixth century), both of whom traveled to China and studied under Chinese Tiantai teachers. It was not until several centuries later, however, that a Korean analogue of the Chinese Tiantai school was established as an independent Buddhist school. The foundation of the Korean CH'oNT'AE CHONG is traditionally assumed to have occurred in 1097 through the efforts of the Koryo monk ŬICH'oN (1055-1101). Ŭich'on was originally a Hwaom monk, but he sought to use the Ch'ont'ae tradition in order to reconcile the age-old tension in Korean Buddhism between KYO (Doctrine) and SoN (Meditation). In the early thirteenth century, the Ch'ont'ae monk WoNMYO YOSE (1163-1245) organized the white lotus society (PAENGNYoN KYoLSA), which gained great popularity especially among the common people; following Yose, the school was led by Ch'on'in (1205-1248) and CH'oNCH'AEK (b. 1206). Although the Ch'ont'ae monk Chogu (d. 1395) was appointed as a state preceptor (K. kuksa; C. GUOSHI) in the early Choson period, the Ch'ont'ae school declined and eventually died out later in the Choson dynasty. The contemporary Ch'ont'ae chong is a modern Korean order established in 1966 that has no direct relationship to the school founded by Ŭich'on. ¶ In Japan, SAICHo (767-822) is credited with founding the Japanese TENDAISHu, which blends Tiantai and tantric Buddhist elements. After Saicho, such Tendai monks as ENNIN (793-864), ENCHIN (814-891), and ANNEN (b. 841) systematized Tendai doctrines and developed its unique forms, which are often called TAIMITSU (Tendai esoteric teachings). Since the early ninth century, when the court granted the Tendai school official recognition as an independent sect, Tendai became one of the major Buddhist schools in Japan and enjoyed royal and aristocratic patronage for several centuries. The Tendai school's headquarters on HIEIZAN became an important Japanese center of Buddhist learning: the founders of the so-called new Buddhist schools of the Kamakura era, such as HoNEN (1133-1212), SHINRAN (1173-1263), NICHIREN (1222-1282), and DoGEN KIGEN (1200-1253), all first studied on Mt. Hiei as Tendai monks. Although the Tendai school has lost popularity and patrons to the ZENSHu, PURE LAND, and NICHIRENSHu schools, it remains still today an active force on the Japanese Buddhist landscape.

Tilokaracha. [alt. Tilokarat] (P. Tilokarājā) (r. 1441-1487). Thai name of an important Lānnā king of Chiangmai in northern Thailand who expanded the boundaries of the Lānnā kingdom militarily while promoting the reform Sinhalese monastic order led by Medhankara throughout the territories under his domain. Tilokaracha promoted himself as a wheel-turning monarch (P. cakkavattin; S. CAKRAVARTIN), acting in emulation of AsOKA. He constructed hundreds of monasteries and ordination halls throughout the kingdom, and directed that BODHI TREE saplings be planted at the sites. In 1445, built a replica of the MAHĀBODHI temple named Wat Photharam Maha Wihan (P. Bodhi-Ārāma Mahāvihāra), known also as Wat Chet Yot (Temple of the Seven Spires). In 1477, he convened a sangha (S. SAMGHA) council at Wat Photharam for the editing of the Buddhist canon (P. tipitaka; S. TRIPItAKA), possibly also for the purpose of reconciling the new Sinhalese order with the older Sumana order. This meeting came to be recognized as an eighth Buddhist council by the Thais. In 1481, he restored the Wat Chedi Luang located in Chiangmai and installed the Emerald Buddha (PHRA KAEW MORAKOT) in its pinnacle. The political unification and religious and cultural integration of northern Thailand achieved under Tilokaracha laid the foundation for an efflorescence of Lānnā civilization during the reign of Phra Muang Kaew (r. 1495-1528), considered to be the golden age of Lānnā Buddhist scholarship.

Todaiji. (東大寺). In Japanese, "Great Monastery of the East"; a major monastery in the ancient Japanese capital of Nara affiliated with the Kegon (HUAYAN) school of Buddhism, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The monastery was founded by the Hossoshu (FAXIANG ZONG) monk GYoGI (668-749). The monastery is renowned for its colossal buddha image of VAIROCANA (J. Birushana nyorai), which is commonly known as the NARA DAIBUTSU; at forty-eight feet (fifteen meters) high, this image is the largest extant gilt-bronze image in the world and the Daibutsuden where the image is enshrined is the world's largest wooden building. The Indian monk BODHISENA (J. Bodaisenna) (704-760), who traveled to Japan in 736 at the invitation of Emperor Shomu (r. 724-749), performed the "opening the eyes" (KAIYAN; NETRAPRATIstHĀPANA) ceremony for the 752 dedication of the great buddha image. Todaiji was founded on the site of Konshusenji by order of Emperor Shomu and became the headquarters of a network of provincial monasteries and convents in the Yamato region. The first abbot, Ryoben (689-773), is commemorated in the kaisando (founder's hall; see KAISHAN). Other halls include the inner sanctuary of the hokkedo (lotus hall), which was probably once Konshusenji's main hall. The hall enshrines the Fukukensaku Kannon, a dry lacquer statue of the BODHISATTVA AVALOKITEsVARA, which dates from 746. The monastery was renamed Konkomyoji in 741 and, in 747 when major construction began on the large compound, it finally became known as Todaiji, the name it retains today. The Todaiji complex was completed in 798; monastery records state that 50,000 carpenters, 370,000 metal workers, and 2.18 million laborers worked on the compound, its buildings, and their furnishings, almost bankrupting the country. Entering the monastery through the Great Gate to the South (Nandaimon), itself a Japanese national treasure, a visitor would have passed through two seven-storied, 328-foot high pagodas to the east and west (both subsequently destroyed by earthquakes), before passing through the Inner Gate to the Daibutsuden. North of the Daibutsuden, which is flanked by a belfry and a SuTRA repository, is the kodo (lecture hall), which is surrounded on three sides by the monk's quarters. An ordination hall displays exceptional clay-modeled shitenno (four heavenly kings; see LOKAPĀLA) dating from the Tenpyo Era (729-749). Of the eighth-century buildings, only the tegaimon (the western gate) and the Hokkedo's inner sanctuary have survived. After a conflagration in 1180, then-abbot Chogen (1121-1206) spearheaded a major reconstruction in a style he had seen in Southern Song-dynasty China. This style is exemplified by the south gate, which is protected by two humane-kings statues, both twenty-eight feet in height, carved in 1203. The Tokugawa Shogunate sponsored a second reconstruction after another fire in 1567 and the current Daibutsuden dates from about 1709. The Shosoin repository at the monastery, itself a Japanese national treasure (kokuho), contains over nine thousand precious ornamental and fine-art objects that date from the monastery's founding in the eighth century, including scores of objects imported into Japan via the SILK ROAD from all over Asia, including cut-glass bowls and silk brocade from Persia, Byzantine cups, Egyptians chests, and Indian harps, as well as Chinese Tang and Korean Silla musical instruments, etc. Every spring, the two-week long Omizutori (water-drawing) festival is conducted at Todaiji, which is thought to cure physical ailments and cleanse moral transgressions.

traidhātuka. (P. tedhātuka; T. khams gsum; C. sanjie; J. sangai; K. samgye 三界). In Sanskrit, the "triple realm" or "three realms [of existence]"; the three realms of SAMSĀRA, in which beings take rebirth: the sensuous, or desire, realm (KĀMADHĀTU); the subtle-materiality, or form, realm (RuPADHĀTU); and the immaterial, or formless, realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU). See also AVACARA; LOKADHĀTU.

Trailokya (Sanskrit) Trailokya [from tri three + loka world, sphere] Also Triloka. The three worlds — heaven, earth, and the lower regions (esoterically the spiritual, psychic or astral, and terrestrial spheres); as ordinarily given in Brahmanical philosophy as Bhur (earth), Bhuvah (firmament, heaven), and Svar (skyey atmosphere). The Buddhist trailokya or division into three worlds is somewhat different, being from lowest to highest: kama-dhatu or -loka (desire world), rupa-dhatu (form world), and arupa-dhatu (formless world).

trailokya ::: the three worlds (physical, vital and mental) of the aparardha or lower hemisphere of existence; same as triloka.

trailokya. (T. 'jig rten gsum; C. sanjie; J. sangai; K. samgye 三界). In Sanskrit, the "three realms." See TRILOKA[DHĀTU]; TRAIDHĀTUKA; AVACARA; LOKADHĀTU.

Trapusa. (P. Tapussa/Tapussu; T. Ga gon; C. Tiwei; J. Daii; K. Chewi 提謂). Sanskrit proper name of one of the two merchants (together with his brother BHALLIKA) who became the first lay Buddhists (UPĀSAKA). Following his enlightenment under the BODHI TREE, the Buddha remained in the vicinity for seven weeks, each week spent at a different site (see BODHGAYĀ). At the end of the seventh week (or in some versions the sixth), he sat under a Rājāyatana tree, where he continued his meditation. Two merchants, Trapusa and his younger brother Bhallika, who were leading a large trading caravan with some five hundred carts, saw him there. Realizing that he had not eaten for weeks (as many as seven weeks), upon the encouragement of a deity, the brothers offered the Buddha sweet rice cakes with butter and honey. The Buddha, however, did not have a bowl in which to receive the food and said it was inappropriate for him to receive the food directly into his hands. The divine kings of the four directions (LOKAPĀLA) then offered him bowls. (According to one account, he received four bowls and collapsed them into one, which is the origin of the "four-bowl" meals served in some East Asian monastic refectories.) In response to their act of charity (DĀNA), the Buddha spoke with them informally and they took refuge (sARAnA) in the Buddha and the DHARMA (there being no third refuge, the SAMGHA, at this early point in the dispensation), thus making them the first lay Buddhists. The Buddha is said to have given the two brothers eight strands of hair from his head, which they took back to their homeland and interred for worship as relics (sARĪRA) in a STuPA. According to this account, it is interesting to note that the first thing the Buddha provided to another person after his enlightenment was not a teaching but a relic. In the account of the period of the Buddha's enlightenment in the NIDĀNAKATHĀ, this incident occurs immediately before the god BRAHMĀ descends from heaven and asks the Buddha to teach the dharma. According to Mon-Burmese legend, Trapusa and Bhallika were Mon natives, and their homeland of Ukkala was a place also called Dagon in the Mon homeland of RāmaNNa in lower Burma. The stupa they constructed at Ukkala/Dagon, which was the first shrine in the world to be erected over relics of the present Buddha, was to be enlarged and embellished over the centuries to become, eventually, the golden SHWEDAGON PAGODA of Rangoon. Because of the preeminence of this shrine, some Burmese chroniclers date the first introduction of Buddhism among the Mon in RāmaNNa to Tapussa and Bhallika. Trapusa achieved the stage of "stream-enterer" (SROTAĀPANNA); Bhallika eventually ordained and became an ARHAT. The merchants were also the subject of a prototypical Chinese apocryphal text, the TIWEI [BOLI] JING, written c. 460-464, which praises the value of the lay practices of giving (dāna) and keeping the five precepts (PANCAsĪLA).

trilokadr.s.t.i (trilokadrishti) ::: vision of the triloka. trilokadrsti triloka in bhu

Triloka. See TRAILOKYA

triloka. ::: the three worlds of existence

triloka ::: [the triple world].

triloka (triloka; trilok) ::: the three lokas or worlds (physical, vital and mental, called bhū, bhuvar and svar) of the aparardha or lower hemisphere of existence. Each plane has its own triloka, in which the principles of the other two planes are subordinated to its own principle; in their totality they are described as "thrice seven", because each contains in itself not only the principles of all three worlds of the lower hemisphere, but the four principles of the higher hemisphere (parardha).

Tushitas (Sanskrit) Tuṣita-s [from the verbal root tuṣ to become calm, be satisfied or pleased] One name of the Hindu adityas, planetary regents because of their intimate connection with the sun, the son of Aditi, called Martanda. Hence in esoteric Northern Buddhism, the tushitas are a class of divinities of great purity said to have a deva-loka (celestial region) of their own, but in the highest parts of the material plane where all the bodhisattvas are reborn before they descend on this earth as future buddhas. See also JAYA

Ullambana (Mongolian) [from Sanskrit ud up, completion + the verbal root labh to reach, attain] Attainment or recovery of spiritual status; the festival of all souls, “held in China on the seventh moon annually, when both ‘Buddhist and Tauist priests read masses, to release the souls of those who died on land or sea from purgatory, scatter rice to feed Pretas [thirty-six classes of demons ever hungry and thirsty], consecrate domestic ancestral shrines, . . . recite Tantras . . . accompanied by magic finger-play (mudra) to comfort the ancestral spirits of seven generations in Naraka’ (a kind of purgatory or Kama Loka)” (TG 351).

u loka ::: that (other) world. u lokam [accusative]

Umbra (Latin) A shade; the kama-rupic spook which remains in the lower regions of the astral light after physical death and often hovers in the neighborhood of the tomb. “The ancient Latin races . . . believed that after death Anima, the pure divine soul, ascended to heaven, a place of bliss; Manes (the Kama Rupa) descended into Hades (Kama Loka); and Umbra (or astral double, the Linga Sharira) remained on earth hovering about its tomb, because the attraction of physical, objective matter and affinity to its earthly body kept it within the places which that body had impressed with its emanations. Therefore, they said that nothing but the astral image of the defunct could be seen on earth, and even that faded out with the disintegration of the last particle of the body which had been so long its dwelling” (TG 353).

Underworld Classical mythology divides the universe into the heavens, the earth, and the underworld, each presided over by its particular deity. The underworld was the nether pole of the cosmic hierarchy, great or small, and hence the land of shadows, synonymous with Dis, Hades, Pluto, Orcus, Limbo, Tartarus, Amenti, Atala, She’ol, etc. The underworld for human beings may be the lower ranges of kama-loka, the region of the shades; the mystical pit or Planet of Death; or all the ranges, in a generalizing sense, of the cosmic planes beneath the solar plane on which our earth is located.

uru loka ::: the wide world. [Ved.]

uru u loka ::: the wide other world. [Ved.] ::: urum u lokam [accusative]

ū ::: same as triloka in bhū.

ū ::: the mental world within the physical; the mental layer of the earth-consciousness or plane of material existence, the highest level of the triloka in bhū.

ū ::: the subtle physical world, a loka in which the Spirit bases its manifestation "on a subtler and more plastic, more conscious principle of Matter".

ū ::: the vital world within the physical; the vital layer of the earth-consciousness or plane of material existence, the second level of the triloka in bhū.

utsideyur ime lokah ::: [these worlds would crumble to pieces]. ::: [see the following]

utsideyur ime loka na kuryam karma cedaham ::: these worlds would crumble to pieces (would be overpowered by tamas and sink into inaction) if I did not do actions. [Gita 3.24]

Vaikunthaloka (Sanskrit) Vaikuṇṭhaloka Vishnu’s heaven, variously described as situated in the northern ocean or on the eastern peak of Mount Meru. See also VAIKUNTHAS

Vairaja-loka (Sanskrit) Vairāja-loka [from vairāja a class of celestial beings (agniṣvātta) + loka sphere, realm, place] The realm of the vairajas or agnishvattas.

VAtKVNTHA. ::: Vide Goloka.

vijnanaloka ::: [the world of vijnana, the supramental world].

Viraja-loka. See VAIRAJA-LOKA

visvadevaloka ::: the world of the all-gods or karmadevatas. visvadevaloka

visvagati ::: the power to travel through all the worlds (lokas) in visvagati samadhi; an alternative name for the last member of the vijñana . catus.t.aya.

Vitala (Sanskrit) Vitala Better place, i.e., better for matter, in that its substance is more material or differentiated than atala which precedes it; the second on the descending scale of the seven talas, corresponding to taparloka. Vitala is related on earth to the state of samadhi, and in one sense also to human buddhic consciousness. No adept, save one, can be higher than this in the tala side of his consciousness and continue living on earth. All the different talas and their corresponding lokas are connected both with states of consciousness and with varieties of vehicles on which these various consciousnesses work. Every tala with its respective loka forms a bipolar sphere containing its own hosts of conscious entities imbodied in vehicles appropriate to the loka-tala or tala-loka in which they are.

Vyahritis (Sanskrit) Vyāhṛti-s [from vi-ā-hṛ to utter] The mystical utterance of the names of the seven lokas (worlds): bhur, bhuvah, svar, mahar, janar, tapar, and satya. The three first are called the great vyahritis, and in the Laws of Manu (2:76) are said to have been milked by the prajapatis from the Vedas: bhur or bhuh from the Rig-Veda, bhuvar or bhuvah from the Yajur-Veda, and svar or svah from the Sama-Veda. These three mystical words “are said to possess creative powers. The Satapatha Brahmana explains that they are ‘the three luminous essences’ extracted from the Vedas by Prajapati (’lords of creation,’ progenitors), through heat. ‘He (Brahma) uttered the word bhur, and it became the earth; bhuvah, and it became the firmament; and swar, which became heaven.’ Mahar is the fourth ‘luminous essence,’ and was taken from the Atharva-Veda. But, as this word is purely mantric and magical, it is one, so to say, kept apart” (TG 367).

yabhirvibhutibhir lokan imams tvam vyapya tisthasi ::: the sovereign powers of the becoming by which Thou standest pervading these worlds. [Gita 10.16]

yesam loka imah prajah ::: from whom are these creatures (their children and offspring) in the world. [Gita 10.6]

Yi-shu-lu-chia-lun (Chinese) The Chinese translation of the Ekasloka-sastra of Nagarjuna (Lung-shu). See also YU

Yu (Chinese) Being; according to the Yi-shu-lu-chia-lun (translation of Nagarjuna’s Ekasloka-sastra), “ ‘the Substance giving substance to itself,’ also explain . . . as meaning ‘without action and with action,’ ‘the nature which has no nature of its own’ ” (SD 1:61). Chinese mystics have made it the synonym of svabhavat or Father-Mother, corresponding to the Second Logos of theosophy.

Yuh-kai (Tibetan) Also chikhai. Equivalent to the Sanskrit kama-loka; although a state or condition of entities, it is also a locality for it is “the abode of Elementaries” (ML 105).



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1:Purity is the ability to see dharma in its manifold forms in any plane or loka. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove
2:Children, pray for the good of everyone. We should pray to God to give a good mind even to those who harm us. One cannot sleep peacefully when there is a theif in the neighborhood. Likewise, when we pray for the well-being of others, it is we who gain peace and quietude. Children, the mantra &

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1:Purity is the ability to see dharma in its manifold forms in any plane or loka. ~ Frederick Lenz,
2:åpana teja samhåro åpai, tino° loka hå° ka te° kå° pai. It is only you who can manage and control your power. All the three worlds tremble when you roar. ~ Anonymous,
3:Namaste, Prince of Naga-loka. I'm grateful. You're a fine fellow." He stuck out his tongue and grinned wickedly. "For a royal wriggler."
"Namaste, O flea-ridden tree-climber," Shesha replied, with a fond glint in his eyes. "May your life be as long as you insolence is great. ~ Lloyd Alexander,
4:It's ridiculous if you ask me. I don't know what any of us are doing here. But we're a tribe, a network, cruising the galaxy. We have offices in every loka, in every part of existence. I suppose you make that out to be a unique situation. We're Unique! No, I don't think so. We're enlightenment. ~ Frederick Lenz,
5:Children, pray for the good of everyone. We should pray to God to give a good mind even to those who harm us. One cannot sleep peacefully when there is a theif in the neighborhood. Likewise, when we pray for the well-being of others, it is we who gain peace and quietude. Children, the mantra 'Loka samasta sukhino bhavantu' should be chanted at least once daily. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi,
6:Asita had been raised on this knowledge. He knew also that all these planes merged into each other like wet dyed cloths hung too close on the line, the blue bleeding into the red, the

red into the saffron yellow. Lokas were apart and together at the same time. Demons could move among humans, and often did. The re-verse, a mortal visiting the demon loka, was much rarer. ~ Deepak Chopra,
7:Nelaimei ir daudz seju. Ļaužu izmisumam ir daudzi veidi. Līdzīgi varavīksnei, tas liecas pāri plašajam apvārsnim, un tā veidi ir tikpat dažādi kā šī loka krāsas- tikpat izšķirīgas un tomēr saplūdušas vienotā mirdzumā. Liecas pāri plašajam apvārsnim kā varavīksne! Kā gan varēja gadīties, ka es minēju skaisto, lai izskaidrotu pretīgo, izvēlējos miera vēstnesi par salīdzinājumu postam.? Bet, tāpat kā ētiskos secinājumos ļaunums ir labā sekas, tā arī no prieka dzimst bēdas. ~ Edgar Allan Poe,
8:Asita wasn’t hungry this day, however. There were other ways to keep the prana, or life current, going. If he did visit the demon loka, it would take enormous prana to sustain his body. There would be no air for his lungs to breathe among the demons.

He allowed the brilliant Himalayan sun to dry his body as he walked above the tree line. Demons do not literally live on moun-taintops, but Asita had learned special powers that allowed him to penetrate the subtle world. He had to get as far away as possible from human beings to exercise these abilities. The atmosphere was dense around population. In Asita’s eyes a quiet village was a seething cauldron of emotions; every person—except only small infants—was immersed in a fog of confusion, a dense blanket of fears, wishes, memories, fantasy, and longing. This fog was so thick that the mind could barely pierce it. ~ Deepak Chopra,
9:ASITA AWOKE in the forest thinking about demons. He hadn’t for many years. He could remember glimpsing one or two in the past, on the fringes of a famine or a battle, wherever bodies were being harvested. He knew the misery they caused, but misery was no longer Asita’s
concern. He had been a forest hermit for fifty years. The affairs of the world had been kept far away, and he passed whole days in a hidden cave when he retreated even from the affairs of animals, much less those of men.

Now Asita knelt by a stream and considered. He distinctly saw demons in his mind’s eye. They had first appeared in the dappled sunlight that fell on his eyelids at dawn. Asita slept on boughs strewn over the bare ground, and he liked the play of light and shadow across his eyes in the early morning. His imagination freely saw shapes that reminded him of the market village where he grew up. He could see hawking merchants, women balancing water jugs on
their heads, camels and cara-vans—anything, really—on the screen of his closed eyes.

But never demons, not before this morning. Asita walked into the nearly freezing mountain stream, his body naked except for a loincloth. As an ascetic, he did not wear clothes, not even the robes of a monastic order. Lately he had felt an impulse to travel very high, nearly in sight of the snowcapped peaks on the north-ern border of the Sakya kingdom. Which put him close to other lokas,worlds apart from Earth. Every mortal is confined to the Earth plane, but like the dense air of the jungle tapering gradually into the thin atmosphere of the mountains, the material world ta-pered off into subtler and subtler worlds. Devas had their own lokas, as did the gods and demons. Ancestors dwelt in a loka set apart for spirits in transition from one lifetime to the next. ~ Deepak Chopra,

IN CHAPTERS [52/52]



   17 Integral Yoga
   3 Occultism
   3 Hinduism
   1 Psychology


   25 Sri Aurobindo
   8 Nolini Kanta Gupta
   3 Vyasa
   2 Sri Ramana Maharshi
   2 Aleister Crowley
   2 A B Purani


   10 Essays On The Gita
   5 Record of Yoga
   4 The Secret Doctrine
   3 Vishnu Purana
   2 The Synthesis Of Yoga
   2 Talks
   2 Magick Without Tears
   2 Isha Upanishad
   2 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
   2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06
   2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03


03.14 - Mater Dolorosa, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   Some believers in God or in the Spirit admit that it is so. The world is the creation of another being, a not-God, a not-Spiritwhe ther Maya or Ahriman or the Great Evil. One has simply to forget the world, abandon earthly existence altogether as a nightmare. Peace, felicity one can possess and enjoy but not here in this vale of tears, anityam asukham Lokam imam, but elsewhere beyond.
   Is that the whole truth? We, for ourselves, do not subscribe to this view. Truth is a very complex entity, the universe a mingled strain. It is not a matter of merely sinners and innocents that we have to deal with. The problem is deeper and more fundamental. The whole question is, where, in which world, on which level of consciousness do we stand, and, what is more crucial, how much of that consciousness is dynamic and effective in normal life. If we are in the ordinary consciousness and live wholly with that consciousness, it is inevitable that, being in the midst of Nature's current, we should be buffeted along, the good and the evil, as we conceive them to be, befalling us indiscriminately. Or, again, if we happen to live in part or even mainly in an inner or higher consciousness, more or less in a mood of withdrawal from the current of life allowing the life movements to happen as they list, then too we remain, in fact, creatures and playthings of Nature and we must not wonder if, externally, suffering becomes the badge of our tribe.

04.01 - The Divine Man, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   This is a truth, a fact of creationgiving the whole clue to the riddle of this world that has not been envisaged at all in the past or otherwise overlooked and not given the value and importance that it has. Poets and seers, sages and saints along with common men from the very birth of humanity have mourned this vale of tears, this sorrowful transient earthly life, anityam asukha Lokam ima1, into which they have been thrown: they have wished and willed and endeavoured to change or reform or re-create it, but have always failed, and in the end, finding it ultimately incorrigible, concluded that escape was the only solution, the only issue, either like the sage going out into Nirvana, spiritual dissolution, or like the atheist stoically going down with a crumbling world into a material disintegration. The truth of the matter is, however, different as Sri Aurobindo sees it. The spectacle is not so gloomy and irremediable. The world has a future and man has hope.
   The world is not doomed nor man past cure; for it is not that the world has been merely created by God but that God has become and is the world at the same time: man is not merely God's creature but that he is made of God's substance and is God himself. The Spirit has shed its supreme consciousness, that is to say, overtly has become dead matter; God has veiled his effulgent infinity and has taken up a human figure. The Divine has clothed his inviolable felicity in pain and suffering, has become an earthly creature, you and me, a mortal of mortals. And thus, viewed in another perspective because Matter is essentially Spirit, because man is essentially God, therefore Matter can be resolved and transformed into Spirit and man too can become utterly divine. The urge of the spiritual consciousness that is the essence of matter even, the massed energy imbedded or lying frozen in it, manifests itself in the forward drive of evolution that brings out gradually, step by step, the various modes of the consciousness in different degrees and potentials till the original summit is revealed.

05.02 - Gods Labour, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   The Divine acts in three different ways in his three well-known aspects. As the transcendent Reality he is above and beyond creation, he is the Unmanifest, although he may hold within either involved or dissolved the entire manifestation. Next, he is the manifestation, the cosmic or the universal; he is one with creation, immanent in it, still its master and lord. Finally, he has an individual aspect: he is a Person with whom human beings can enter into relations of love and service. The Divine incarnate as a human being, is a special manifestation of the Individual Divine. Even then, as an embodied earthly person, he may act in a way characteristic of any of the three aspects. The Divine descended upon earth, as viewed by Sri Aurobindo, does not come in his transscendental aspect, fundamentally aloof and away, in his absolute power and consciousness, working miracles here; for transcendence can do nothing but that in the midst of conditions left as they are. Nor does he manifest himself only as his cosmic power and consciousness, imbedded in the creation and all-pervading, exercising his influence through the pressure of Universal Law, perhaps in a concentrated form, still working gradually, step by step, as though through a logical process, for the maintenance of the natural order and harmony, Lokasagraha. God can be more than that, individualised in a special, even a human sense. His individual being can and does hold within itself his cosmic and transcendental self covertly in a way but overtly too in a singular manner at the same time. The humanised personality of the Divine with his special role and function is at the very centre of Sri Aurobindo's solution of the world enigma. The little poem A God's Labour in its short compass outlines and explains beautifully the grand Mystery.
   The usual idea of God (as the theists hold, for example) is that he is an infinite eternal impassible being, aloof from human toils and earthly turmoils, himself untouched by these and yet, in and through them, directing the world for an inscrutable purpose, unless it is for leaning towards it and stretching out the hand of Grace to those of the mortals who wish to come out of the nightmare of life, sever the coils of earthly existence. But the Divine in order to be and remain divine need not hold to his seat above and outside the creation, severely separated from his creatures. He can, on the contrary, become truly the ordinary man and labour as all others, yet maintaining his divinity and being conscious of it. After all, is not man, every human being, built in the same pattern, a composite of the earthly human element supported and infused by a secret divine element? However, God, the individual Divine, does become man, one of them and one with them. Only, his labour thereby increases manifold, hard and heavy, although for that very reason full of a bright rich multiple promise. The Divine's self-hurilanisation has for it a double purpose: (I) to show man by example how he can become what he truly is, how he can divinise himself: the Divine as man lives out the life of a sadhakawholly and completely; (2) to help concretely by his own force of consciousness the world and man in their endeavour for progress and evolution, to give the help wholly and completely from the innermost status of the self down to the most external physical body and the material field. This help again is a twofold function. The first is to make available, gather within easy reach, the high realisations, the spiritual treasures that are normally stored in a heaven somewhere else. The Divine Man brings down the divine attributes close to our earth, turns them from mere far possibilities into near probabilities, even imminent realities. They are made part and parcel, constituent elements of the earthly atmosphere, so that one has only to open one's mouth to brea the in, extend one's arms to seize and possess them: even to this opening and this gesture man is helped by the concrete touch and presence of the Divine. Further, the help and succour come in another way which is more intimate, more living and appealing to man.

1.06 - Origin of the four castes, #Vishnu Purana, #Vyasa, #Hinduism
  [10]: These worlds, some of which will be more particularly described in a different section, are the seven Lokas or spheres above the earth: 1. Prājāpatya or Pitri Loka: 2. Indra Loka or Swerga: 3. Marut Loka or Diva Loka, heaven: 4. Gandharva Loka, the region of celestial spirits; also called Mahar Loka: 5. Jana Loka, or the sphere of saints; some copies read eighteen thousand; others, as in the text, which is also the reading of the Padma Purāṇa: 6. Tapa Loka, the world of the seven sages: and 7. Brahma Loka or Satya Loka, the world of infinite wisdom and truth. The eighth, or high world of Viṣṇu, is a sectarial addition, which in the Bhāgavata is called Vaikuntha, and in the Brahma Vaivartta, Go Loka; both apparently, and most certainly the last, modern inventions.
  [11]: The divisions of Naraka, or hell, here named, are again more particularly enumerated, b. II. c. 6.

1.07 - The Ideal Law of Social Development, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Mankind upon earth is one foremost self-expression of the universal Being in His cosmic self-unfolding; he expresses, under the conditions of the terrestrial world he inhabits, the mental power of the universal existence. All mankind is one in its nature, physical, vital, emotional, mental and ever has been in spite of all differences of intellectual development ranging from the poverty of the Bushman and negroid to the rich cultures of Asia and Europe, and the whole race has, as the human totality, one destiny which it seeks and increasingly approaches in the cycles of progression and retrogression it describes through the countless millenniums of its history. Nothing which any individual race or nation can triumphantly realise, no victory of their self-aggrandisement, illumination, intellectual achievement or mastery over the environment, has any permanent meaning or value except in so far as it adds something or recovers something or preserves something for this human march. The purpose which the ancient Indian scripture offers to us as the true object of all human action, Lokasa
  graha, the holding together of the race in its cyclic evolution, is the constant sense, whether we know it or know it not, of the sum of our activities.

1.10 - The descendants of the daughters of Daksa married to the Rsis, #Vishnu Purana, #Vyasa, #Hinduism
  ga, four daughters, Tuṣṭi, Puṣṭi, Tviṣā, and Apachiti. The latter inserts the grandsons of Paurnamāsa. Virajas, married to Gaurī, has Sudhāman, a Lokapāla, or ruler of the east quarter; and Parvasa (quasi Sarvaga) has, by Parvasī, Yajñavāma and Kaśyata, who were both founders of Gotras, or families. The names of all these occur in different forms in different MSS.
  [3]: The Bhāgavata adds, that in the Svārociṣa Manvantara the sages Uttathya and Vrihaspati were also sons of A
  giras; and the Vāyu, &c. specify Agni and Kīrttimat as the sons of the patriarch in the first Manvantara. Agni, married to Sadvatī, has Parjanya, married to Marīci; and their son is Hiranyaroman, a Lokapāla. Kīrttimat has, by Dhenukā, two sons, Cariṣṇu and Dhritimat.
  [4]: The Bhāgavata gives an account of Atri's penance, by which the three gods, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva, were propitiated, and became, in portions of themselves, severally his sons, Soma, Datta, and Durvāsas. The Vāyu has a totally different series, or five sons, Satyanetra, Havya, Āpomurtti, Sani, and Soma; and one daughter, Sruti, who became the wife of Kardama.
  --
  khapāda, one of the Lokapālas, and a daughter, Kāmyā, married to Priyavrata (note 6, p. 53). Vana-kapīvat, also read Dhana-k. and Ghana-k., had a son, Sahiṣṇu, married to Yasodharā, and they were the parents of Kāmadeva.
  [7]: The different authorities agree in this place. The Vāyu adds two daughters, Punyā and Sumatī, married to Yajñavāma (see note 2).
  --
  ga have the same sons as in our text, reading Putra and Hasta in place of Gātra: they add a daughter, Puṇḍarikā, married to Paṇḍu (see note 1). The eldest son, according to the Vāyu, espoused a daughter of Mārkaṇḍeya, and had by her the Lokapāla of the west, Ketumat. The seven sons of Vaśiṣṭha are termed in the text the seven Ṛṣis, appearing in that character in the third Manvantara.
  [9]: The eldest son of Brahmā, according to the commentator, upon the authority of the Vedas. The Vāyu P. enters into a very long detail of the names and places of the whole forty-nine fires. According to that, also, Pāvaka is electric or Vaidynta fire; Pavamāna is that produced by friction, or Nirmathya; and Śuci is solar, Saura, fire. Pavamāna was the parent of Kavyavāhana, the fire of the Pitris; Śuci of Havyavāhana, the fire of the gods; and Pavamāna of Saharakṣa, the fire of the Asuras. The Bhāgavata explains these different fires to be so many appellations of fire employed in the invocations with which different oblations to fire are offered in the ritual of the Vedas: ### explained by the commentator, ###.

1.12 - The Significance of Sacrifice, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  (done for the sake of the world, Lokasangraha, as is made clear immediately afterward); for by doing work without attachment man attains to the highest. For it was even by works that Janaka and the rest attained to perfection." It is true that works and sacrifice are a means of arriving at the highest good, sreyah. param avapsyatha; but there are three kinds of works, that done without sacrifice for personal enjoyment which is entirely selfish and egoistic and misses the true law and aim and utility of life, mogham partha sa jvati, that done with desire, but with sacrifice and the enjoyment only as a result of sacrifice and therefore to that extent consecrated and sanctified, and that done without desire or attachment of any kind. It is the last which brings the soul of man to the highest, param apnoti purus.ah..
  The whole sense and drift of this teaching turns upon the interpretation we are to give to the important words, yajna, karma, brahma, sacrifice, work, Brahman. If the sacrifice is simply the Vedic sacrifice, if the work from which it is born is the Vedic rule of works and if the brahman from which the work itself is born is the sabdabrahman in the sense only of the
  --
  That this is the sense of the passage is made clear in what follows, by the affirmation of Lokasangraha as the object of works, of Prakriti as the sole doer of works and the divine
  Purusha as their equal upholder, to whom works have to be given up even in their doing, - this inner giving up of works and yet physical doing of them is the culmination of sacrifice,

1.13 - The Lord of the Sacrifice, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  But if that be all, then, first, works may well be whittled down and reduced to a minimum, may be confined to what Nature's compulsion absolutely will have from our bodies; and secondly, even if there is no reduction to a minimum, - since action does not matter and inaction also is no object, - then the nature of the works also does not matter. Arjuna, once having attained knowledge, may continue to fight out the battle of Kurukshetra, following his old Kshatriya nature, or he may leave it and live the life of the Sannyasin, following his new quietistic impulse. Which of these things he does, becomes quite indifferent; or rather the second is the better way, since it will discourage more quickly the impulses of Nature which still have a hold on his mind owing to past created tendency and, when his body has fallen from him, he will securely depart into the Infinite and Impersonal with no necessity of returning again to the trouble and madness of life in this transient and sorrowful world, anityam asukham imam Lokam.
  If this were so, the Gita would lose all its meaning; for its first and central object would be defeated. But the Gita insists that the nature of the action does matter and that there is a positive sanction for continuance in works, not only that one quite negative and mechanical reason, the objectless compulsion of

1.14 - The Principle of Divine Works, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Yoga attained to perfection, by equal and desireless works done as a sacrifice, without the least egoistic aim or attachment - karman.aiva hi samsiddhim asthita janakadayah.. So too and with the same desirelessness, after liberation and perfection, works can and have to be continued by us in a large divine spirit, with the calm high nature of a spiritual royalty. "Thou shouldst do works regarding also the holding together of the peoples, Lokasangraham evapi sampasyan kartum arhasi. Whatsoever the
  Best doeth, that the lower kind of man puts into practice; the standard he creates, the people follows. O son of Pritha, I have no work that I need to do in all the three worlds, I have nothing that I have not gained and have yet to gain, and I abide verily in the paths of action," varta eva ca karman.i, - eva implying,
  --
   works? It is the question of Arjuna,2 but answered from a standpoint other than that from which Arjuna had put it. The motive cannot be personal desire on the intellectual, moral, emotional level, for that has been abandoned, - even the moral motive has been abandoned, since the liberated man has passed beyond the lower distinction of sin and virtue, lives in a glorified purity beyond good and evil. It cannot be the spiritual call to his perfect self-development by means of disinterested works, for the call has been answered, the development is perfect and fulfilled. His motive of action can only be the holding together of the peoples, cikrs.ur Lokasangraham. This great march of the peoples towards a far-off divine ideal has to be held together, prevented from falling into the bewilderment, confusion and utter discord of the understanding which would lead to dissolution and destruction and to which the world moving forward in the night or dark twilight of ignorance would be too easily prone if it were not held together, conducted, kept to the great lines of its discipline by the illumination, by the strength, by the rule and example, by the visible standard and the invisible influence of its Best. The best, the individuals who are in advance of the general line and above the general level of the collectivity, are the natural leaders of mankind, for it is they who can point to the race both the way they must follow and the standard or ideal they have to keep to or to attain. But the divinised man is the Best in no ordinary sense of the word and his influence, his example must have a power which that of no ordinarily superior man can exercise. What example then shall he give? What rule or standard shall he uphold?
  In order to indicate more perfectly his meaning, the divine

1.17 - The Divine Birth and Divine Works, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  God-seeking which is at the basis of the idea of the sangha or divine fellowship, is brought in when the Gita speaks of the seeking of God through love and adoration, but the real sangha of this teaching is all humanity. The whole world is moving towards this dharma, each man according to his capacity, - "it is my path that men follow in every way," - and the God-seeker, making himself one with all, making their joy and sorrow and all their life his own, the liberated made already one self with all beings, lives in the life of humanity, lives for the one Self in humanity, for God in all beings, acts for Lokasangraha, for the maintaining of all in their dharma and the Dharma, for the maintenance of their growth in all its stages and in all its paths towards the Divine. For the Avatar here, though he is manifest in the name and form of Krishna, lays no exclusive stress on this one form of his human birth, but on that which it represents, the Divine, the Purushottama, of whom all Avatars are the human births, of whom all forms and names of the
  Godhead worshipped by men are the figures. The way declared by Krishna here is indeed announced as the way by which man can reach the real knowledge and the real liberation, but it is one that is inclusive of all paths and not exclusive. For the Divine takes up into his universality all Avatars and all teachings and all dharmas.

1.19 - Equality, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  'mr.tam asnute. The tamasic unwillingness to accept the pain and effort of life is indeed by itself a weakening and degrading thing, and in this lies the danger of preaching to all alike the gospel of asceticism and world-disgust, that it puts the stamp of a tamasic weakness and shrinking on unfit souls, confuses their understanding, buddhibhedam janayet, diminishes the sustained aspiration, the confidence in living, the power of effort which the soul of man needs for its salutary, its necessary rajasic struggle to master its environment, without really opening to it - for it is yet incapable of that - a higher goal, a greater endeavour, a mightier victory. But in souls that are fit this tamasic recoil may serve a useful spiritual purpose by slaying their rajasic attraction, their eager preoccupation with the lower life which prevents the sattwic awakening to a higher possibility. Seeking then for a refuge in the void they have created, they are able to hear the divine call, "O soul that findest thyself in this transient and unhappy world, turn and put thy delight in Me," anityam asukham Lokam imam prapya bhajasva mam.
  Still, in this movement, the equality consists only in an equal recoil from all that constitutes the world; and it arrives at indifference and aloofness, but does not include that power to

12.05 - The World Tragedy, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   The Paradise, the svargyam Lokam of the Upanishads is not necessarily utterly afar and aloof, sundered from this world. The kingdom of heaven instead of being wholly within and absolutely beyond can be and has to be brought out and down upon and into earth, established here below in the fullness of its own glory. That is the material epiphany, the transformation of the physical nature, the ultimate and inevitable destiny of earth and mankind.
   Such is the full cycle of human lifein the beginning the birth in mortality and in ignorance, then a process of developing and purificatory consciousness, and then the entry into the full blaze of light and force of Consciousness leading to a rebirth and re-embodiment in immortality, transforming the ignorant death-bound body into the glorious luminous body upon material earth, the embodiment of love Divine.

1.20 - Equality and Knowledge, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
   conflict with personal wills which seek rather their own egoistic satisfaction. Therefore Arjuna is bidden to resist, to fight, to conquer; but, to fight without hatred or personal desire or personal enmity or antagonism, since to the liberated soul these feelings are impossible. To act for the Lokasangraha, impersonally, for the keeping and leading of the peoples on the path to the divine goal, is a rule which rises necessarily from the oneness of the soul with the Divine, the universal Being, since that is the whole sense and drift of the universal action. Nor does it conflict with our oneness with all beings, even those who present themselves here as opponents and enemies. For the divine goal is their goal also, since it is the secret aim of all, even of those whose outward minds, misled by ignorance and egoism, would wander from the path and resist the impulsion. Resistance and defeat are the best outward service that can be done to them. By this perception the Gita avoids the limiting conclusion which might have been drawn from a doctrine of equality impracticably overriding all relations and of a weakening love without knowledge, while it keeps the one thing essential unimpaired. For the soul oneness with all, for the heart calm universal love, sympathy, compassion, but for the hands freedom to work out impersonally the good, not of this or that person only without regard to or to the detriment of the divine plan, but the purpose of the creation, the progressing welfare and salvation of men, the total good of all existences.
  Oneness with God, oneness with all beings, the realisation of the eternal divine unity everywhere and the drawing onwards of men towards that oneness are the law of life which arises from the teachings of the Gita. There can be none greater, wider, more profound. Liberated oneself, to live in this oneness, to help mankind on the path that leads towards it and meanwhile to do all works for God and help man also to do with joy and acceptance all the works to which he is called, kr.tsna-karma-kr.t, sarvakarman.i jos.ayan, no greater or more liberal rule of divine works can be given. This freedom and this oneness are the secret goal of our human nature and the ultimate will in the existence of the race. It is that to which it must turn for the happiness all

1.22 - Dominion over different provinces of creation assigned to different beings, #Vishnu Purana, #Vyasa, #Hinduism
  [2]: We have already had occasion to notice the descent of these Lokapālas, as specified in the Vāyu P.; and it is evident, although the Viṣṇu does not supply a connected series of generations, yet that both accounts are derived from a common source.
  [3]: Vibhūti, superhuman or divine power or dignity.

1.37 - Death - Fear - Magical Memory, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  Such a man will be fully occupied after his death with the unremitting search for his new instrument; he will brush aside as he has made a habit of doing during life the innumerable lures of "Reward" and the like. (I am not going to ask you to waste any time on the fantastic fairy tales of Devachan, Kama Loka and the rest; this must come up if you want to know about Paccheka-Buddhas, Skooshoks, the Brahma- Lokas and so on but not now, please!)
  There is one Oath more important than all the rest put together, from the point of view of the AA You swear to refuse all the "rewards," to acquire your new vehicle without a moment's delay, so that you may carry on your work of helping Mankind with the minimum of interruption. Like all true Magical Oaths, it is certain of success.

14.04 - More of Yajnavalkya, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   In the spiritual sphere also Sri Aurobindo gives us the same ideal and outlook. In the early days spiritual realisation was sought for personal salvation, a complete renunciation of the world, absolute freedom from this transient unhappy world anityam asukham Lokam imam. The individual person leaves his individual existence upon earth and retires and merges into the Infinite Brahman. But here in Sri Aurobindo's Revelation we are taught that the individual realisation and spiritual attainment is not to dissolve oneself into the nameless formless Beyond but to maintain it, preserve it in a pure divine form, for the sake of the sorrowful ignorant world. The knowledge, the power, the delight that the individual gains-not as something merely individual but as the result of one's identity with the universal are at the service of earth and humanity so that these may be transformed and share in the same realisation. One becomes spiritually free and complete and enters into all so that all may be transformed into a new divine reality.
   Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram, Sri Aurobindo' Birth Centenary Library, Vol. 1, p. 516.

1.439, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  English. Sri Bhagavan was explaining its meaning. Brahma Loka may be interpreted subjectively or objectively. The latter meaning requires faith in the sastras which speak of such Lokas, whereas the former meaning is purely of experience and requires no external authority. Brahma Loka would mean Brahma jnana (Knowledge of
  Brahman) or Self-Realisation (Atma-Sakshatkara). Parantakala as opposed to aparantakala. In the latter the jivas pass into oblivion to take other births. Their oblivion is enveloped in ignorance (avidya).
  --
  D.: Asked if some sukshma tanu (subtle body) such as pranava tanu or suddha tanu (tanu = body; suddha = pure) was required to gain such Loka.
  M.: Pranava means real japa. It is however interpreted to be A, U, M,
  --
  The kramamukti (liberation by degrees) school say that the upasaka goes to the region of his Ishta Devata which is Brahma Loka to him. The souls passing to all other Lokas return to be reborn. But those who have gained the Brahma Loka do not. Moreover those desirous of a particular Loka can by proper methods gain the same. Whereas Brahma Loka cannot be gained so long as there is any desire left in the person. Desirelessness alone will confer the Loka on him. His desirelessness signifies the absence of the incentive for rebirth.
  The age of Brahma is practically immeasurable. The presiding deity of the Loka is said to have a definite period of life. When he passes away his Loka also is dissolved. The inmates are emancipated at the same
  Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi time, irrespective of the different nature of individual consciousness in them prior to Self-realisation.
  --
  This explanation when applied to the mantra amounts to this: A Jnani has his karana sarira destroyed; the sthula sarira (gross body) has no effect on him and is for all practical purposes destroyed too. The sukshma sarira (subtle body) alone remains. It is otherwise called ativahika sarira. It is this which is held by all persons after the physical body is given up. And with this they traverse to other Lokas until another suitable physical body is taken. The Jnani is supposed to move in Brahma Loka with this sukshma sarira. Then that is also dissolved and he passes to final Liberation.
  The whole explanation is meant only for the onlooker. The Jnani himself will never raise such questions. He knows by his experience that he is not bound by any kind of limitations.
  --
  Brahmaiva Lokah = Brahma Lokah (Brahma is Himself the region) and Brahma is Atma. So Brahma Loka is only the Self.
   Loka, a Loka are both synonymous. It is the same as andamillakkan in
  Ulladu Narpadu. Lokyate iti Lokah (That which is seen is Loka).
  27th September, 1938
  --
  Vasishta and in the Ganda Saila Loka in the Tripura Rahasya.
  Although the powers appear to be wonderful to those who do not

1.47 - Reincarnation, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  Briefly, the orthodox theory as put forth by H.P.B. is that one works off one's Karma after death in Devachan, or Kama Loka, or some such place; when the balance is exhausted, one may come back to earth, or in some other way carry on the Great Work. One theory see Opus Lutetianum, the Paris Working says that when one has quite finished with Earth-problems, one is promoted to Venus, where "bodies" are liquid, and thence to Mercury, where they are gaseous, finally to the Sun, where they are composed of pure Fire. Eliphaz Lvi says: "In the Suns we remember; in the planets we forget."
  Most of this is he merest speculation, useless and possibly harmful; but I don't mind relaxing occasionally to that extent.

2.01 - The Yoga and Its Objects, #Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  God's omnipotence and his delight in the Lila. He bids Arjuna work Lokasangraharthaya, for keeping the world together, for he does not wish the world to sink back into Prakriti, but insists on your acting as he acts,
   u(sFd
  --
   Loka n k,yA km c
  dhm^.

2.02 - The Ishavasyopanishad with a commentary in English, #Isha Upanishad, #unset, #Zen
   Loka,
  etc. In order to maintain the worlds therefore, the Jivanmukta
  --
   Loka aD
  n tmsAv
  --
  words in the sentence also; for he takes Loka as meaning various
  kinds of birth, so that as;yA Loka means the various births as
  man, animal etc, called aAs;rA because Rajas predominates in
  --
  The expression Loka is never applied to the various kinds of
  forms the Jivatman assumes, but to the various surroundings
  --
  for he says that as;yA Loka means the various kinds of birth; even the Devas being
  considered Asuric births as opposed to the Paratman; but this is a misuse of words

2.02 - THE SCINTILLA, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
  [46] The Egyptians held that the eye is the seat of the soul; for example, Osiris is hidden in the eye of Horus.91 In alchemy the eye is the coelum (heaven): It is like an eye and a seeing of the soul, whereby the state of the soul and her intentions are ofttimes made known to us, and through the rays and the glance [of heaven] all things take form.92 In Steebs view, which agrees with that of Marsilius Ficinus,93 the coelum is a virtus, indeed a certain perfect, living being.94 Hence the alchemists called their quinta essentia coelum. The idea of a virtus is borne out by the description of the Holy Ghost as an eye,95 a parallel to the invocation to Hermes: Hermes . . . the eye of heaven.96 The eye of God emits power and light,97 likewise the fishes eyes are tiny soul-sparks from which the shining figure of the filius is put together. They correspond to the particles of light imprisoned in the dark Physis, whose reconstitution was one of the chief aims of Gnosticism and Manichaeism. There is a similar nexus of ideas in the siddhaila of Jainism: The Loka [world] is held in the middle of the a Loka [void], in the form of the trunk of a man, with siddhaila at the top, the place where the head should be. This siddhaila is the abode of the omniscient souls, and may be called the spiritual eye of the universe.98
  [47] The eye, like the sun, is a symbol as well as an allegory of consciousness.99 In alchemy the scintillulae are put together to form the gold (Sol), in the Gnostic systems the atoms of light are reintegrated. Psychologically, this doctrine testifies to the personality- or ego-character of psychic complexes: just as the distinguishing mark of the ego-complex is consciousness, so it is possible that other, unconscious complexes may possess, as splinter psyches, a certain luminosity of their own.100 From these atoms is produced the Monad (and the lapis in its various significations), in agreement with the teachings of Epicurus, who held that the concourse of atoms even produced God.101

2.03 - Karmayogin A Commentary on the Isha Upanishad, #Isha Upanishad, #unset, #Zen
   Loka,. In order therefore
  to maintain the law of the world unimpaired, the Jivanmukta
  --
  Farther Loka, has always the sense of worlds as in golok b}$lok
  ;lok but Shankara forces it to mean births, for example birth
  --
  Rajasic but not in the way Shankara applies to it; for as;yA Loka
  cannot signify the births of beasts, men, gods as opposed to the
  --
  dream. The Sruti speaks of the spirit's Loka in the next world,
  am;E%mn^ lok

2.07 - The Supreme Word of the Gita, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Godhead is fourfold and humanity expresses this nature in its fourfold character. These also, as their name implies, are mental beings. Creators of all this life that depends on manifest or latent mind for its action, from them are all these living creatures in the world; all are their children and offspring, yes.am Loka imah. prajah.. And these great Rishis and these Manus are themselves perpetual mental becomings of the supreme Soul 2 and born out of his spiritual transcendence into cosmic Nature, - originators, but he the origin of all that originates in the universe. Spirit of all spirits, Soul of all souls, Mind of all mind, Life of all life,
  Substance of all form, this transcendent Absolute is no complete opposite of all we are, but on the contrary the originating and illuminating Absolute of all the principles and powers of our and the world's being and nature.
  --
  But there is another supreme reality of the Infinite that must also be recognised as an indispensable element of the liberating knowledge. This reality is that of the transcendent downlook as well as the close immanent presence of the divine government of the universe. The Supreme who becomes all creation, yet infinitely transcends it, is not a will-less cause aloof from his creation. He is not an involuntary originator who disowns all responsibility for these results of his universal Power or casts them upon an illusive consciousness entirely different from his own or leaves them to a mechanical Law or to a Demiurge or to a Manichean conflict of Principles. He is not an aloof and indifferent Witness who waits impassively for all to abolish itself or return to its unmoved original principle. He is the mighty lord of the worlds and peoples, Loka-mahesvara, and governs all not only from within but from above, from his supreme transcendence. Cosmos cannot be governed by a Power that does not transcend cosmos. A divine government implies the free mastery of an omnipotent Ruler and not an automatic force or mechanical law of determinative becoming limited by the apparent nature of the cosmos. This is the theistic seeing of the universe, but it is no shrinking and gingerly theism afraid of the world's contradictions, but one which sees God as the omniscient and omnipotent, the sole original Being who manifests in himself all, whatever it may be, good and evil, pain and pleasure, light and darkness as stuff of his own existence and governs himself what in himself he has manifested. Unaffected by its oppositions, unbound by his creation, exceeding, yet intimately related to this Nature and closely one with her creatures, their
  The Supreme Word of the Gita

2.08 - God in Power of Becoming, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  He acclaims in him the original Godhead, adores the Unborn who is the pervading, indwelling, self-extending master of all existence, adi-devam ajam vibhum. He accepts him therefore not only as that Wonderful who is beyond expression of any kind, for nothing is sufficient to manifest him, - "neither the Gods nor the Titans, O blessed Lord, know thy manifestation," na hi te bhagavan vyaktim vidur deva na danavah., - but as the lord of all existences and the one divine efficient cause of all their becoming, God of the gods from whom all godheads have sprung, master of the universe who manifests and governs it from above by the power of his supreme and his universal Nature, bhutabhavana bhutesa deva-deva jagat-pate. And lastly he accepts him as that Vasudeva in and around us who is all things here by virtue of the world-pervading, all-inhabiting, all-constituting master powers of his becoming, vibhutayah., "the sovereign powers of thy becoming by which thou standest pervading these worlds," yabhir vibhutibhir Lokan imams tvam vyapya tis.t.hasi.1
  He has accepted the truth with the adoration of his heart, the submission of his will and the understanding of his intelligence.

2.10 - The Vision of the World-Spirit - Time the Destroyer, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Nature. Nimittamatram bhava savyasacin. He will not cherish personal enmity, anger, hatred, egoistic desire and passion, will not hasten towards strife or lust after violence and destruction like the fierce Asura, but he will do his work, Lokasangrahaya.
  Time the Destroyer

2.15 - On the Gods and Asuras, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
   Sri Aurobindo: I do not know Buddhist mythology. But what do you mean by Arupa Loka?
   Disciple: A plane of consciousness where the Gods have no forms, perhaps. Or they have forms which are so different from man's, that for man they are no forms at all.
  --
   Sri Aurobindo: What do you mean? The origin of all the forms is there. Even if you call it Arupa Loka still there must be some form. The Gods there must be distinguishing themselves from one another and that means they must have forms. If you say they have no 'human' form it is understandable. All forms need not be human.
   Disciple: They say that all abstractions belong to the Arupa Loka. For instance, the idea of beauty.
   Sri Aurobindo: Beauty is not an abstraction. It is a power of the Supreme on the plane above the Mind. On the mental plane you have abstractions. It is the mind's way of representing realities of planes higher than its own, but behind these abstractions there is a reality. On the plane above the mind there are no abstractions; there are realities and powers. For instance, you form an abstract idea in the mind about the Supermind. When you get to the Supermind you find it is not an abstraction at all. It is more intensely concrete than Matter, something quite overwhelming in its concreteness. That is why I called it the Real-Idea and not an abstract idea. In that sense there is nothing more concrete than God. If we were on the pure mental plane we would find Mind quite concrete and real. But as we are on the physical plane we always think that mind is abstract.

2.18 - January 1939, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
   Disciple: As far as I remember he spoke of Loka hita the good of the world.
   Sri Aurobindo: But that is not the same as service to humanity. The Gita also asks us to work for the good of the world. Loka hita can be done in many ways.
   Disciple: So far as I know Ramakrishna did not say anything like that. In feet, there was a great difference among Ramakrishna's disciples about what Vivekananda was bringing in. But some of them submitted saying: "Vivekananda must know better." The phrase 'Daridra Narayana' was Vivekananda's.

22.04 - On The Brink(I), #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   Lokaksayakrt- but he also declares in no uncertain terms his voice of assurance, the resounding bugle-call of his panchajanya the Divine Conch:
   anityam asukham Lokam imam prapya bhajasva mam.
   ...mamekam saranam vraja

2.22 - The Supreme Secret, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
   takes up his works, movements no longer deformed by ego, and sovereignly acts through him for the keeping together and control of the world and its peoples, Loka-sangraharthaya.
  There is little difference between these experiences and the first impersonal activity inculcated by the Gita. The Gita also demands of us renunciation of desire, attachment and ego, transcendence of the lower nature and the breaking up of our personality and its little formations. The Gita also demands of us to live in the Self and Spirit, to see the Self and Spirit in all and all in the Self and Spirit and all as the Self and Spirit. It demands of us like the Taoist thinker to renounce our natural personality and its works into the Self, the Spirit, the Eternal, the Brahman, atmani sannyasya, brahman.i. And there is this coincidence because that is always man's highest and freest possible experience of a quietistic inner largeness and silence reconciled with an outer dynamic active living, the two coexistent or fused together in the impersonal infinite reality and illimitable action of the one immortal Power and sole eternal Existence. But the Gita adds a phrase of immense import that alters everything, atmani atho mayi. The demand is to see all things in the self and then in "Me" the Ishwara, to renounce all action into the Self, Spirit, Brahman and thence into the supreme Person, the Purushottama. There is here a still greater and profounder complex of spiritual experience, a larger transmutation of the significance of human life, a more mystic and heart-felt sweep of the return of the stream to the ocean, the restoration of personal works and the cosmic action to the Eternal Worker. The stress on pure impersonality has this difficulty and incompleteness for us that it reduces the inner person, the spiritual individual, that persistent miracle of our inmost being, to a temporary, illusive and mutable formation in the Infinite. The Infinite alone exists and except in a passing play has no true regard on the soul of the living creature. There can be no real and permanent relation between the soul in man and the Eternal, if that soul is even as the always renewable body no more than a transient phenomenon in the Infinite.

2.3.02 - Mantra and Japa, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  There is a level corresponding to the Satya Loka in the head but the consciousness has at a certain stage to rise above the head freely to meet the same level in the universal Consciousness above.
  ***

24.05 - Vision of Dante, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   The Heaven is composed of many circles or regions, tier upon tier, a hierarchy of worlds. They are inhabited by saints and holy persons of various degrees of merit; the greater the merit the higher the status of their dwelling. Dante describes the first Heaven, it is the moon; and then follow one by one many of the planets. He saw the habitat of saints and holy persons each busy with his own occupation, some studying, some meditating, some assembled in a group engaged in conversation and so on. We too, we have in India many heavenly Lokas,Brahma Loka, Shiva Loka, Vishnu Loka, Jana Loka, Go Loka, inhabited by various types of gods and spiritual siddhas. We have Hell too in India, an underworld Patala or Rasatala - they are supposed to be seven in number! Our Heavens too are seven. Dante became very curious to know more of the mind of the holy persons - their thoughts and experiences. When they reached one of these worlds, he told Beatrice: "I would like to talk to one of these saints." "Yes, you can." Then he approached one and asked him: "You are happy here?" - "Yes" - "You do not feel monotonous and bored?" The answer was, "No, not at all." "You do not long to rise higher and higher upward in your ascent to greater heavens? You have no impulse to progress in this way?" Answer: "No, I am content with what I have and where I am. I rely on God's will, whatever He has decided I accept without question. As long as 'He wishes me to be in a particular place or in a particular condition I obey unquestioningly. All things and happenings are equal to me. This is what I have learnt. In His will lies our peace. E'n la sua volontade nostra pace.3
   Apart from the saints and sages and wise men (theologians) of Christendom, the higher Heavens sheltered also non-human, that is to say, godly or divine beings - angels and archangels, cherubs and seraphs - powers of Love, powers of Knowledge - Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Principalities, as Dante names them - various grades and modes of the divine force and energy - or, as we say, Personalities and Emanations.

36.09 - THE SIT SUKTA, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08, #unset, #Zen
   Lokah- the truth that subsequently takes form in the pure mental world.
   The process does not end here. The truth contained in the material earth which "is illumined by the mental light as well as the truth of the vital world filled with pure enjoyment and inspiration are concretely apprehended by the aspirant. Earth, mid-region, sky and svar,that is the body, life, mind and the vast Truth beyond mind become manifest in their divine essence in the human aspirant inhabited by the mental being. Indra is the divine mental being and Indra is the power of revealing the truth.

3 - Commentaries and Annotated Translations, #Hymns to the Mystic Fire, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  in Mahas or Brihat, the uru Loka, the wide & vast world, the
  world of Vijnana, the devas know themselves as one even in

4.24 - The supramental Sense, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  All these powers of the psychic consciousness need have and often have no more than a mental utility and significance, but it can also be used with a spiritual sense and light and intention in it and for a spiritual purpose. This can be done by a spiritual meaning and use in our psychical interchange with others, and it is largely by a psycho-spiritual interchange of this kind that a master in Yoga helps his disciple. The knowledge of our inner subliminal and psychic nature, of the powers and presences and influences there and the capacity of communication with other planes and their powers and beings can also be used for a higher than any mental or mundane object, for the possession and mastering of our whole nature and the overpassing of the intermediate planes on the way to the supreme spiritual heights of being. But the most direct spiritual use of the psychic consciousness is to make it an instrument of contact, communication and union with the Divine. A world of psycho-spiritual symbols is readily opened up, illuminating and potent and living forms and instruments, which can be made a revelation of spiritual significances, a support for our spiritual growth and the evolution of spiritual capacity and experience, a means towards spiritual power, knowledge or Ananda. The Mantra is one of these psycho-spiritual means, at once a symbol, an instrument and a sound body for the divine manifestation, and of the same kind are the images of the Godhead and of its personalities or powers used in meditation or for adoration in Yoga. The great forms or bodies of the Divine are revealed through which he manifests his living presence to us and we can more easily by their means intimately know, adore and give ourselves to him and enter into the different Lokas, worlds of his habitation and presence, where we can live in the light of his being. His word, command, Adesha, presence, touch, guidance can come to us through our spiritualised psychic consciousness and, as a subtly concrete means of transmission from the spirit, it can give us a close communication and nearness to him through all our psychic senses. These and many more are the spiritual uses of the psychic consciousness and sense and, although capable of limitation and deformation, -- for all secondary instruments can be also by our mental capacity of exclusive self-limitation means of a partial but at the same time hindrances to a more integral realisation, -- they are of the greatest utility on the road to the spiritual perfection and afterwards, liberated from the limitation of our minds, transformed and supramentalised, an element of rich detail in the spiritual Ananda.
  As the physical and vital, the psychical consciousness and sense also are capable of a supramental transformation and receive by it their own integral fullness and significance. The supermind lays hold oil the psychical being, descends into it, changes it into the mould of its own nature and uplifts it to be a part of the supramental action and state, the supra-psychic being of the Vijnana Purusha. The first result of this change is to base the phenomena of the psychical consciousness on their true foundation by bringing into it the permanent sense, the complete realisation, the secure possession of the oneness of our mind and soul with the minds and souls of others and the mind and soul of universal Nature. For always the effect of the supramental growth is to universalise the individual consciousness. As it makes us live, even in our individual vital movement and its relations with all around us, with the universal life, so it makes us think and feel and sense, although through an individual centre or instrument, with the universal mind and psychical being. This has two results of great importance.

BOOK II. -- PART I. ANTHROPOGENESIS., #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  of those they ruled -- from other Lokas (spheres). . . " say the Commentaries. Now: "The earliest
  inventions (?) of mankind are the most wonderful that the race has ever made. . . The first use of fire,
  --
  was sheer nonsense, as the Atala is one of the seven dwipas, or islands, belonging to the nether Lokas,
  one of the seven regions of Patala (the antipodes). Moreover, as Wilford* shows, the Puranas place it
  --
  Atlas, and locates there also the Loka- Lokas. Now Meru, we are told, which is the Swar- Loka, the abode
  of Brahma, of Vishnu, and the Olympus of Indian exoteric religions, is described geographically as

BOOK II. -- PART II. THE ARCHAIC SYMBOLISM OF THE WORLD-RELIGIONS, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  Ashtadisa or eight faces bounding Space," referring thus to the Loka-palas, the eight points of the
  compass (the four cardinal and the four intermediate points) . . . "From an objective point of view the

BOOK I. -- PART I. COSMIC EVOLUTION, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  ARUPA" REFLECTS ITSELF IN CHHAYA Loka, THE FIRST GARMENT OF THE
  ANUPADAKA.
  --
  Sun, Surya is the prototype of all those bodies that evolved after him. In the Vedas he is called LokaChakshuh, "the Eye of the World" (our
  [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
  --
  of Brahma' in the sixth division, and stating the fifth, or Jana Loka, to be that where animals destroyed
  in the general conflagration are born again." (see Hindu Classical Dictionary.) Some real esoteric
  --
  points of the compass -- the four cardinal and the four intermediate points -- and are called Loka-Palas,
  "Supporters or guardians of the World" (in our visible Kosmos), of which Indra (East), Yama (South),
  --
  "Other seven (sons) are commissioned to preside over the seven hot, and seven cold Lokas (the hells of
  the orthodox Brahmins) at the two ends of the Egg of Matter (our Earth and its poles). The seven Lokas
  are also called the "Rings," elsewhere, and the "Circles." The ancients made the polar circles seven
  --
  the residence or Loka of the god Khem (Horus-Osiris, or Father and Son), hence the "Devachan" of
  Atma-Buddhi. In the Ritual of the Dead the defunct is shown entering into Sekhem with Horus-Thot

BOOK I. -- PART III. SCIENCE AND THE SECRET DOCTRINE CONTRASTED, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  Nature." Hence, they are called the 6,333 "heavenly Singers" and musicians of Indra's Loka who
  personify (even in number) the various and manifold sounds in Nature, both above and below. In the
  --
  will rest in the lower fields; "and it represents also the seven successive Devachans, or Lokas. In
  Amenti, one becomes pure spirit for the eternity (xxx. 4.); while in Aanroo "the soul of the spirit," or

Jaap Sahib Text (Guru Gobind Singh), #Jaap Sahib, #unset, #Zen
  keh abhij Lokai, keh aadit sokai.
  keh avdhoot barnai, keh bebhoot karnai. (104)

r1914 07 23, #Record of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
   6) The rupa, samadhi, the Lokadrishti, vishaya continues to progress less definitely behind the mist of obstruction.
   7) The physical siddhi prepares its strength always. So too the Karma.

r1914 12 13, #Record of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
   All parts of the Vijnana are now being prepared for practicality & combined to that end. This includes sukshma shabda (manushi vak) which is becoming more coherent. It is also being applied to the Lokas.
   ***

r1914 12 14, #Record of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
   Manushi Vakcoherent conversation .. short sentences regarding things of the moment in Europe .. of this world, not the other Lokas.
   Rupa

r1915 05 22, #Record of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
   In swapnasamadhi successive scenes coherently connected together, but in themselves fleeting, though absolutely perfect. In jagrat antardrishta a scene of the manasa Loka, (affective), coherent, well designed, but dim.
   The vak of the thought maintains the level it had acquired and yet prepares a more ample & varied form. That it does this without sinking into a more backward state, is a sign that the old rhythm of [ ]1 progress & relapse is passing away; a movement anandamaya anarvan is beginning

r1919 07 20, #Record of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
   In Samadhi much pressure of Nidra, but the ideal samadhi persevered and kept itself in progress as an overtone. Rupas of the manasa Loka, bright and tejomaya, but with a brief stability. Dream was immediately converted into symbol of ideality; incoherence of lipi into a crookedness of pointed significance.
   In the lapse of the tapas the intuitional ideal mind reappeared for a while, but always with the inspired gnosis hovering over it to take it up and transform it into its own character. As yet the mornings hint of rapidity is not fulfilled,it was so understood at the time that there might be some delay. The inspiration holds the field.

SB 1.1 - Questions by the Sages, #Bhagavata Purana, #unset, #Zen
  Thanks to Gopalakrishnan S; Gert Leerdam; Srikanth Kyatham; Srikanta dasa; HH Bhakti Rasamrita Swami; Nilachal; Usha, Kuppuswamy, Vivek, Varsha, Ramani, Rajeswari, Raj, Ramya, Ridhvik, Radha; Bimal Gupta; Jayadharma das; Radhapati Das; Aishwarya Balaraj; Gostabihari das and Mahavisnupriya dasi; Yogendra Sharad Puranik; Indradyumna Swami; Krishna & Family; Thomas; Geetanjali Nath; Mario; Joeie; Susheela and Rama Krishna Reddy Patlolla; Jai Devaki Parks; Ashmi Chakraborty; Hari-kirtana das; Ramesta das; Prasad Buddhavarapu; Harakumara dasa; Kresna Sucandra; Late Mr. S. Sundaram; Esekiel Jaggernauth; Isvari Priya DD & Lokadhyaksa dasa and all others for supporting this site.
  His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupda, Founder-crya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

Talks 076-099, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  M.: The mind is only a projection from the Self, appearing in the waking state. In deep sleep, you do not say whose son you are and so on. As soon as you wake up you say you are so and so, and recognise the world and so on. The world is only Lokah, Lokah = lokyate iti Lokah (what is perceived is the world). That which is seen is Lokah or the world. Which is the eye that sees it? That is the ego which rises and sinks periodically. But you exist always. Therefore
  That which lies beyond the ego is consciousness - the Self.

Talks 100-125, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi again from the Upanishad - as in the mirror, so in the world of manes, as in the water, so in the world of Gandharvas; as shadow and sunlight in Brahma Loka.
  D.: There is spiritual awakening since 1930 all the world over? Does

Talks 176-200, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  M.: That is what is meant by saying that all Lokas, even the Brahma Loka, do not release one from rebirth. Vide. the Bhagavad Gita:
  Reaching ME, there is no rebirth .... All others are in bondage.
  --
  M.: If you do not make Atma vichara, then Loka vichara creeps in. That which is not, is sought for, but not that which is obvious. When once you have found what you seek, vichara (enquiry) also ceases and you rest in it. As long as one is confusing the body with the Atman, Atman is said to be lost and one is said to seek for it, but the ATMAN itself is never lost. It always exists. A body is said to be Atman, an indriya is said to be Atman, then there is the Jivatman and Paramatman and what not. There are a thousand and one things called Atman. The search for Atman is to know that which is really Atman.
  SAMADHI: KEVALA AND SAHAJA

Talks 225-239, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  M.: If atma-vichara (self-investigation), ceases, Loka vichara (worldinvestigation) takes its place. (Laughter in the hall).
  Engage in Self-investigation, then the non-self will disappear. The

Talks 500-550, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  English. Sri Bhagavan was explaining its meaning. Brahma Loka may be interpreted subjectively or objectively. The latter meaning requires faith in the sastras which speak of such Lokas, whereas the former meaning is purely of experience and requires no external authority. Brahma Loka would mean Brahma jnana (Knowledge of
  Brahman) or Self-Realisation (Atma-Sakshatkara). Parantakala as opposed to aparantakala. In the latter the jivas pass into oblivion to take other births. Their oblivion is enveloped in ignorance (avidya).
  --
  D.: Asked if some sukshma tanu (subtle body) such as pranava tanu or suddha tanu (tanu = body; suddha = pure) was required to gain such Loka.
  M.: Pranava means real japa. It is however interpreted to be A, U, M,
  --
  The kramamukti (liberation by degrees) school say that the upasaka goes to the region of his Ishta Devata which is Brahma Loka to him. The souls passing to all other Lokas return to be reborn. But those who have gained the Brahma Loka do not. Moreover those desirous of a particular Loka can by proper methods gain the same. Whereas Brahma Loka cannot be gained so long as there is any desire left in the person. Desirelessness alone will confer the Loka on him. His desirelessness signifies the absence of the incentive for rebirth.
  The age of Brahma is practically immeasurable. The presiding deity of the Loka is said to have a definite period of life. When he passes away his Loka also is dissolved. The inmates are emancipated at the same
  513
  --
  This explanation when applied to the mantra amounts to this: A Jnani has his karana sarira destroyed; the sthula sarira (gross body) has no effect on him and is for all practical purposes destroyed too. The sukshma sarira (subtle body) alone remains. It is otherwise called ativahika sarira. It is this which is held by all persons after the physical body is given up. And with this they traverse to other Lokas until another suitable physical body is taken. The Jnani is supposed to move in Brahma Loka with this sukshma sarira. Then that is also dissolved and he passes to final Liberation.
  The whole explanation is meant only for the onlooker. The Jnani himself will never raise such questions. He knows by his experience that he is not bound by any kind of limitations.
  --
  Brahmaiva Lokah = Brahma Lokah (Brahma is Himself the region) and Brahma is Atma. So Brahma Loka is only the Self.
   Loka, a Loka are both synonymous. It is the same as andamillakkan in
  Ulladu Narpadu. Lokyate iti Lokah (That which is seen is Loka).
  27th September, 1938

Talks 600-652, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  Vasishta and in the Ganda Saila Loka in the Tripura Rahasya.
  Although the powers appear to be wonderful to those who do not possess them, yet they are only transient. It is useless to aspire for that which is transient. All these wonders are contained in the one changeless Self. The world is thus within and not without. This meaning is contained in verses 11 and 12 - Chapter V of Sri Ramana

Talks With Sri Aurobindo 1, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  NIRODBARAN: Lokanath Bhikshu, an Italian convert, tried to call me back
  from here. I found him rather illogical.
  --
  NIRODBARAN: As far as I remember, Ramakrishna spoke of Loka hita, "the
  good of the world".
  --
  asks us to work for the good of the world. Loka hita can be done in many
  ways.
  --
  SATYENDRA: You mean Lokanath?
  NIRODBARAN: Yes.
  SATYENDRA: Jayantilal told me that Lokanath got his realisation at the age of
  eighty, but that his Guru had no realisation, for which Lokanath was very
  sorry.
  NIRODBARAN: Yes. Lokanath's Guru was Jnanamargi. Lokanath used to say,
  "You, my Guru, are still bound while I your disciple am free. I feel very sad
  about it." This Lokanath seems to have travelled to Sumeru.
  SATYENDRA: Yes, he wanted to go to heaven like Yudhishthir,

WORDNET












--- Grep of noun loka
fanaloka



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https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philokalia
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Savage Beach(1989) - Donna and Taryn are federal drug enforcement agents based in the Hawaiian isles. Upon the success of a drug bust, they receive a call from Shane Aviation to fly an emergency package of vaccine from Molokai to Knox Island. Unbeknownst to them, Philippine representative Martinez has convinced Captain...
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24 Oras Ilokano
Adholokam
Agriades jaloka
Alii nui of Molokai
loka David Smith
Alokananda Roy
Ampelokampos
Angaria, Jhalokati
Angelokastro
Angelokastro, Aetolia-Acarnania
Angelokastro (Corfu)
Anoplokaros
Banja Loka
Banna Bannada Loka
Barbara Kloka Hackett
Battle of Lokalaks
Belokalitvinsky
Belokalitvinsky District
Belokamenka
Belokamenka (ship)
Belokamennaya (Moscow Central Circle)
Belokamenny
Belokataysky District
Bernard Lokai
Bidens molokaiensis
Blokart
Bloka Polica
Brn Loka
Brahmaloka
Bhatkathlokasagraha
Brode, kofja Loka
B. S. Lokanath
Bukovica, kofja Loka
Canavalia molokaiensis
Caulokaempferia
Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum
Cholokashvili
Claudia Lokar
Dane, Loka Dolina
Devaloka
Devalokam
Diplazium molokaiense
Draga, kofja Loka
East Molokai Volcano
Ee Lokam Evide Kure Manushyar
Ekeino to kalokairi
Eugeniusz Lokajski
Fabrice Lokembo-Lokaso
Flokati rug
Frankfurt Lokalbahnhof
Gabrk, kofja Loka
Gabrovo, kofja Loka
Gembira Loka Zoo
George Iloka
Gloka planina
Goloka
Hans-Jrgen Wloka
Hosta, kofja Loka
Information Technology Lokam
Ika Loka
Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari
Jhalokati-1
Jhalokati District
Jhalokati Sadar Upazila
John Bullokar
Kakutsa Cholokashvili
Kalokairino Randevou me ton Saki Tour
Kastellokampos
Ke Aupuni Lokahi
KK kofja Loka
Kloka
Kloka Anna i Vallkra
Kolokani Airport
Kotha Bangaru Lokam
Lipica, kofja Loka
Loka
Lokachi Raion
Lokai (company)
Loka, Koper
Lokaksema
Lokaksema (Buddhist monk)
Lokaksema (Hindu prayer)
Lokal
Lokalavisa VerranNamdalseid
Lokalbahn
Lokalbahn AG
Lokalbanen
Loka Lodge at Raduha
Lokanarkavu Temple
Lokanatha
Lokanath Behera
Lokanath Misra
Lokanath Siva Temple
Lokanath Swami
Lokanayak Omeo Kumar Das College
Lokandu
Lokaneethi
Lokanga
Lokanja Vas
Lokapala
Loka pri Mengu
Loka pri usmu
Lokasenna
Loka, entjernej
Loka Stadium
Loka, Stare
Lokata Company
Loka Tttur
Lokatheikpan Temple
Loka, Tri
Lokavec, Ajdovina
Lokavec, Lako
Lokavibhaga
Lokayukta
Loka
Loka Gora pri Zreah
Loka Gora, Radee
Loka Vas
Makpoloka Mangonga
Mala Loka, Domale
Mala Loka pri Vinji Gori
Malm Lokaltrafik
Maloka
Malokarachayevsky District
Mass graves in kofja Loka
Matthew Lokan
Mayalokam
Megalagrion molokaiense
Molokai
Molokai Airport
Molokai Island Times
Molokai Light
Molokai: The Story of Father Damien
Molokan
Municipality of Loka Dolina
Municipality of kofja Loka
Nemka Loka
Nemka Vas na Blokah
Nikoloz Cholokashvili
Nyanatiloka
Onnam Loka Mahayudham
Palamadai S. Lokanathan
Paul Bilokapic
Peggy Lokando
Perevoloka (village)
Philokalia
Philokalia (Origen)
Poses Hiliades Kalokairia
Prameya shloka
Premaloka
Prena Loka
Pungert, kofja Loka
Pyrausta amelokalis
RD Loka
Samahang Ilokano
Saraswati Shloka
Sasmita Loka Ahmad Yani Museum
Shloka
Sindhu Lokanath
Sione Tu'ifangaloka
Sivalokanathar Temple, Tirupunkur
kofja Loka
kofja Loka dialect
kofja Loka Passion Play
Sloka
Sloka, Latvia
Slokas Stadium
Sokolki, Belokataysky District, Republic of Bashkortostan
Sopotnica, kofja Loka
Spyridon Belokas
Sri Lokanath
Stari Dvor, kofja Loka
Stor-Oslo Lokaltrafikk
Storstockholms Lokaltrafik
Strmica, kofja Loka
Suha, kofja Loka
Sveti Andrej, kofja Loka
Sveti Duh, kofja Loka
Sveti Lenart, kofja Loka
Sveti Toma, kofja Loka
Talokar
Tantraloka
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013
Tilokaraj
Topp Stemning P Lokal Bar
Trata, kofja Loka
Trnje, kofja Loka
Tsidii Le Loka
Uduwe Dhammaloka
Urdhva lokas
Uro Slokar
Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta
Vasily Molokanov
Vedat Dalokay
Vestsjllands Lokalbaner
Vidyaloka College
Vishnulokam
Voloka
Voloka, Chernivtsi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast
Vrh, Loka Dolina
West Molokai Volcano
Wieloka, Greater Poland Voivodeship
Wieloka, Opole Voivodeship
William Bullokar
Xylokastro
Xylokastro-Evrostina
Zaloka Gorica



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