Inter-  Faiths  Dialogue

The Man > Mind & Soul

13 quote(s)  | Page 1 / 1




L eaving the dead body on the ground like a log of wood or a clod of earth, the relatives depart with averted faces; but spiritual merit follows the soul.

Let him therefore always slowly accumulate spiritual merit, in order that it may be his companion after death; for without merit as his companion he will traverse a gloom difficult to traverse.

That companion speedily conducts the man who is devoted to duty and effaces his sins by austerities, to the next world, radiant and clothed with an ethereal body.


quote 4237  | 
Laws of Manu 4.241-43 




A nd what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection from the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown in a physical body, it is raised in a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.


quote 4233  | 
1 Corinthians 15.35-44 




W hen King Solomon "penetrated into the depths of the nut garden" (Song of Solomon 6.11), he took up a nut shell and studying it, he saw an analogy in its layers with the spirits which motivate the sensual desires of humans....

God saw that it was necessary to put into the world so as to make sure of permanence all things having, so to speak, a brain surrounded by numerous membranes. The whole world, upper and lower, is organized on this principle, from the primary mystic center to the very outermost of all the layers. All are coverings, the one to the other, brain within brain, spirit inside of spirit, shell within shell.

The primal center is the innermost light, of a translucence, subtlety, and purity beyond comprehension. That inner point extends to become a "palace" which acts as an enclosure for the center, and is also of a radiance translucent beyond the power to know it. The "palace" vestment for the incognizable inner point, while it is an unknowable radiance in itself, is nevertheless of a lesser subtlety and translucency than the primal point. The palace extends into a vestment for itself, the primal light. From then outward, there is extension upon extension, each constituting a vesture to the one before, as a membrane to the brain. Though membrane first, each extension becomes brain to the next extension.

Likewise does the process go on below; and after this design, man in the world combines brain and membrane, spirit and body, all to the more perfect ordering of the world.


quote 4216  | 




G od encased the human soul successively in three bodies—the idea, or causal, body; the subtle astral body, seat of man's mental and emotional natures; and the gross physical body. On earth a man is equipped with his physical senses. An astral being works with his consciousness and feelings and a body made of lifetrons.(1) A causal-bodied being remains in the blissful realm of ideas.


quote 3976  |   Paramhansa Yogananda

(1) Sri Yukteswar used the word prana; I have translated it as lifetrons. The Hindu scriptures refer not only to the anu, "atom," and to the paramanu, "beyond the atom," finer electronic energies; but also to prana, "creative lifetronic force." Atoms and electrons are blind forces; prana is inherently intelligent. The pranic lifetrons in the spermatozoa and ova, for instance, guide the embryonic development according to a karmic design.




T hen said Mahamati: Blessed One, you speak of the sameness of all the Buddhas, but in other places you have spoken of Dharmata-Buddha, Nishyanda-Buddha and Nirmana-Buddha.
As though they were different from each other; how can they be the same and yet different?
The Blessed One replied: I speak of the different Buddhas as opposed to the views of the philosophers who base their teachings on the reality of an external world of form and who cherish discriminations and attachments arising there from; against the teachings of these philosophers I disclose the Nirmana-Buddha, the Buddha of Transformations. In the many transformations of the Tathagata stage, the Nirmana-Buddha establishes such matters as charity, morality, patience, thought-fullness, and tranquillization; by right-knowledge he teaches the true understanding of the maya-like nature of the elements that make up personality and its external world; he teaches the true nature of the mind-system as a whole and in the distinctions of its forms, functions and ways of performance. In a deeper sense, The Nirmana-Buddha symbolizes the principles of differentiation and integration by reason of which all component things are distributed, all complexities simplified, all thoughts analyzed; at the same time it symbolizes the harmonizing, unifying power of sympathy and compassion; it removes all obstacles, it harmonizes all differences, it brings into perfect Oneness the discordant many. For the emancipation of all beings the Bodhisattvas and Tathagatas assume bodies of transformation and employ many skillful devices, -this is the work of the Nirmana-Buddha.
For the enlightenment of the Bodhisattvas and their sustaining along the stages, the Inconceivable is made realizable. The Nishyanda -Buddha, the "Out-flowing-Buddha, through transcendental Intelligence, reveals the true meaning and significance of appearances, discrimination, attachment; and of the power of habit-energy which is accumulated by them and conditions them; and of the un-bornness, the emptiness, the egolesness of all things. Because of Transcendental Intelligence and the purification of the evil out-flowings of life, all dualist views of existence and non-existence are transcended and by self-realization of Noble Wisdom the true imagelessness of Reality is made manifest. The inconceivable glory of Buddha hood is made manifest in rays of Noble Wisdom; Noble Wisdom is the self-nature of the Tathagatas. This is the work of the Nishyanda-Buddha. In a deeper sense, the Nishyanda-Buddha symbolizes the emergence of the principles of intellection and
compassion but as yet undifferentiated and in perfect balance, potential but unmanifest. Looked at from the in-going side of the Bodhisattvas, Nishyanda-Buddha is seen in the glorified bodies of the Tathagatas; looked at from the forth-going side of Buddhahood, Nishyanda-Buddha is seen in the radiant personalities of the Tathagatas ready and eager to manifest the inherent Love and Wisdom of the Dharmakaya.

Dharmata-Buddha is Buddhahood in its self-nature of Perfect Oneness in whom absolute Tranquility prevails. As Noble Wisdom, Dharmata-Buddha transcends all differentiated knowledge, is the goal of intuitive self-realization, and is the self-nature of the Tathagatas. As Noble Wisdom, Dharmata-Buddha is inscrutable, ineffable, unconditioned. Dharmata-Buddha is the Ultimate Principle of Reality from which all things derive their being and truthfulness, but which in itself transcends all predicates. Dharmata-Buddha is the central sun which holds all, illumines all. Its inconceivable Essence is made manifest in the "out-flowing" glory of Nishyanda-Buddha and in the transformations of Nirmana-Buddha.


quote 2614  |   The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XII, p.349-350, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible 




T hen Mahamati said to the Blessed One: You have spoken of an astral-body, a "mind-vision-body" (manomayakaya) which the Bodhisattvas are able to assume, as being one of the fruits of self-realization of Noble Wisdom: pray tell us, Blessed One, what is meant by such a transcendental body?
The Blessed One replied: There are three kinds of such transcendental bodies: First, there is the one in which the Bodhisattva attains enjoyment of the Samadhis and Samapattis. Second, there is the one which is assumed by the Tathagatas according to the class of beings to be sustained, and which achieves and perfects spontaneously with no attachment and no effort. Third, there is the one in which the Tathagatas receive their intuition of Dharmakaya.
The transcendental personality that enters into the enjoyment of the Samadhis comes with the third, fourth and fifth stages as the mentations of the mind-system become quieted and waves of consciousness are no more stirred on the face of Universal Mind. In this state, the conscious-mind is still aware, in a measure, of the bliss being experienced by this cessation of the mind's activities.
The second kind of transcendental personality is the kind assumed by the Bodhisattvas and Tathagatas as bodies of transformation by which they demonstrate their original vows in the work of achieving and perfecting; it comes with the eighth stage of Bodhisattvahood. When the Bodhisattva has a thorough-going penetration into the maya-like nature of things and understands the dharma of imagelessness, he will experience the "turning-about" in his deepest consciousness and will become able to experience the higher Samadhis even to the highest. By entering into these exalted Samadhis he attains a personality that transcends the conscious-mind, by reason of which he obtains supernatural powers of self-mastery and activities because of which he is able to move as he wishes, as quickly as a dream changes, as quickly as an image changes in a mirror. This transcendental body is not a product of the elements and yet there is something in it that is analogous to what is so produced; it is furnished with all the differences appertaining to the world of form but without their limitations; possessed of this "mind-vision-body" he is able to be present in all the assemblages in all the Buddha-lands. Just as his thoughts move instantly and without hindrance over walls and rivers and trees and mountains, and just as in memory he recalls and visits the scenes of his past experiences, so, while his mind keeps functioning in the body, his thoughts may be a hundred thousand yojanas away. In the same fashion the transcendental personality that experiences the Samadhi Vajravimbopama will be endowed with supernatural powers and psychic faculties and self-mastery by reason of which he will be able to follow the noble paths that lead to the assemblages of the Buddhas, moving about as freely as he may wish. But his wishes will no longer be self-centered nor tainted by discrimination and attachment, for this transcendental personality is not his old body, but is the transcendental embodiment of his original vows of self-yielding in order to bring all beings to maturity.
The third kind of transcendental personality is so ineffable that it is able to attain intuitions of the Dharmakaya, that is, it attains intuitions of the boundless and inscrutable cognition of Universal Mind. As Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas attain the highest of the stages and become conversant with all the treasures to be realized in Noble Wisdom, they will attain this inconceivable transformation-body which is the true nature of al the Tathagatas past, present and future, and will participate in the blissful peace which pervades the Dharma of all the Buddhas.


quote 2599  |   The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch IX, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible 




T he Teacher was roaming in Nan-chen. A friend pointed to flowering trees on a cliff and said, "[You say] there is nothing under heaven external to the mind. (1) These flowering trees on the high mountain blossom and drop their blossoms of themselves. What have they to do with my mind?"
The Teacher said, "Before you look at these flowers, they and your mind are in the state of silent vacancy. As you come to look at them, their colors at once show up clearly. From this you can know that these flowers are not external to your mind."


quote 2449  | 
Wang Wen-ch'eng Kung ch'uan-shu, or Complete Works of Wang Yang-ming, Instruction for a Practical Living, 3:30a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 35 

(1) Ch'uan-hsi lu




T he substance of the mind is revealed through its tranquillity and its function through its activity."


quote 2443  | 
Wang Wen-ch'eng Kung ch'uan-shu, or Complete Works of Wang Yang-ming, Instruction for a Practical Living, 1: 52a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 35 




T he Teacher said, "The original mind is vacuous (devoid of selfish desires), intelligent, and not beclouded. All principles are contained therein and all events proceed from it." There is no principle outside the mind; there is no event outside the mind."


quote 2436  | 
Wang Wen-ch'eng Kung ch'uan-shu, or Complete Works of Wang Yang-ming, Instruction for a Practical Living, 1: 24b, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 35 




M ost interpreters have explained the human mind (which is liable to make mistakes) as equivalent to [selfish] human desires and the moral mind (which follows the Way, the Moral Law) as equivalent to the Principle of Nature. This interpretation is wrong. The mind is one. How can man have two minds?


quote 2405  | 
Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 34: 1 b, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33 




T he human mind is most intelligent and principle is most clear. All people have this mind and all minds contain this principle in full.


quote 2402  | 
Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 22:5a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33 




H ui Yan of K'uang-shan said, "The transmission of fire in the firewood is similar to the transmission of the spirit in the body. Fire is transmitted to another piece of firewood in the same way as the spirit is transmitted to another body. The earlier firewood is not the same as the later one. From this we know that the art is wonderful for fingers to supply no more [firewood while the fire is transmitted elsewhere]. (1) The former body is not the later body. From this we realize that the feeling about man's destiny (2) is deep. When we see that the body of one life perishes, we must not say that consciousness and spirit die with it, and when we see the fire ending with one piece of wood, we must not say that the time is up and all is finished. (3) A latter-day scholar (4) quoted the words of the Yellow Emperor (5) saying, "Although the body has decomposed, the spirit does not disintegrate. It goes along with the transformations [of the universe] and changes infinitely. (6) Although the saying does not explicitly talk about the three periods (past, present and the future are continuous).


quote 2302  |   Huiyan
Hui Yan in Chi-Tsang (549-623), Profound meaning of the Three Treatises, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 22. 

(1) Referring to Chuang Tzu, ch. 3, NHCC, 2:6b. See Giles, p. 50. (2) Ch'ing-shu, the allotted number or fate of sentient beings. (3) (Hung-ming chi (Essays Elucidating the Doctrine), sppy, 5: 10a. (4) The phrase "the questioner asked" at the head of this sentence is superfluous, according to the San-lun hsuan-i yu-meng (Instructions for Beginners on the Profound Meaning of the Three Treatises), pt. 2, TSD, 70:534. In Hui-yuan's treatise, the scholar's name Wen Tzu is mentioned (Hung-ming chi, 5: 10a). He was a mythical figure supposed to have been Lao Tzu's pupil. (5) Legendary emperor of great antiquity. (6) " Hung-ming chi, 5: 10a. In the present Wen Tzu, sec. 13 (sppy, pt. 1, p. 21a), the words are attributed not to the Yellow Emperor but to Lao Tzu.




S pirit has no physical form and has no spatial restrictions, whereas concrete things (ch'i) are produced through an integration of elements. When there is an integration without form, it is therefore called a spiritual thing. The nature of the myriad things is spontaneity.


quote 2274  | 
WANG PI, Lao Tzu chu, or Commentary on the Lao Tzu, ch. 29, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 19. 



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