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GOD
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AN ATTEMPT AT ITS ABSTRACT DEFINITION
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We all know the various definitions of God like omnipresent, omnipotent, kind, merciful, all knowing, all pervading, powerful, loving, Creator, Operator, Destroyer etc..
According to this website, God is a superconscious energy field which needs immense patience and grit with oneself to realize and acknowledge the awareness of.
Here are a few excerpts from global spiritual texts and other commentaries on the topic to help our dear surfers get into the abstract mood needed for this realization.
It will help if our dear surfers remember that:
Black is White and White is Black.
Happy hunting!
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DA XUE - The Great Learning
http://www.chinapage.com/confucius/classic/english.html
What the Great Learning teaches, is to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence.
The point where to rest being known, the object of pursuit is then determined; and, that being determined, a calm unperturbedness may be attained to. To that calmness there will succeed a tranquil repose. In that repose there may be careful deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed by the attainment of the desired end.
Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.
The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons . Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.
Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy.
From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides.
It cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what should spring from it will be well ordered. It never has been the case that what was of great importance has been slightly cared for, and, at the same time, that what was of slight importance has been greatly cared for.
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MAHAVIRA - By Sri Swami Sivananda
http://www.dlshq.org/saints/mahavira.htm
Mahavira is not the founder of Jainism. He revised the Jain doctrines. He was more a reformer than the founder of the faith. In Jain metaphysics, "Time" is divided into cycles. It is claimed that in each half-cycle, twenty-four Tirthankaras, at long intervals, preach anew the doctrines. Mahavira was the twenty-fourth, and like the others, is claimed to have been omniscient.
Mahavira was also known by the names Vardhamana (i.e., ever advancing) and Sanmati. At the age of eight he observed the twelve vows of Ahimsa, etc. He was obedient to his parents and served them with great faith and devotion. He was an able statesman. He did not marry.
Mahavira was immersed in Self-contemplation. He knew that the pleasures of this world were transitory and that they strengthened the letters of Karma. He knew that renunciation would lead to the attainment of eternal bliss.
People were quite astonished at the virtuous nature of Mahavira at such a tender age. He was very much interested in meditation. He cultivated the arts of music and literature. Thirty years of Prince Vardhamana’s life passed off in this way.
Vardhamana saw, through his clairvoyant vision, that he had been passing through innumerable births. He thought, "How many births have gone by fruitlessly! I clearly see that the Soul is essentially separate from the Karma matter. I have still wasted away thirty years of my life. I have not practised any penance. I have not renounced the world in order to attain pure Knowledge. The infatuation which is at the root of all evils is not yet destroyed".
Prince Vardhamana became extremely penitent. He resolved to give up everything worldly. He gave up attachment to his parents, friends and relatives. He thought over the twelve Anuprekshas or matters of deep thinking according to the Jain scriptures:
1. All worldly things are temporary.
2. The Soul alone is the sole resort.
3. This world is beginningless and crooked.
4. There is nothing to help the Soul, but the Soul itself.
5. Body, mind, etc., are essentially separate from the Soul.
6. The Soul is essentially pure and the body, etc., are essentially impure.
7. The Soul’s bondage is due to the inflow of Karma in it.
8. Every being ought to stop this inflow.
9. Emancipation is attained when Karma is absolutely got rid of.
10. The emancipated Souls remain fit the foremost top of the filled spaces.
11. In this world, to have the birth of a human being and to meditate on the nature of the Soul are the greatest blessings.
12. To have the three jewels as described by the Omniscient is the only morality.
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Human Nature and the Purpose of Existence
Written by: Julia Hardy
http://www.patheos.com/Library/Zen/Beliefs/Human-Nature-and-the-Purpose-of-Existence
The key to understanding human nature in Zen teachings is the concept of Buddha-nature. The discourse about Buddha-nature developed within the Buddhist tradition because of a seeming contradiction between the doctrine of no-self, or an atman, and the potential of an individual to attain enlightenment. Even in the early texts, which explain that the key to enlightenment is the realization that there is no separate, permanent self, the Buddha talked about self-mastery, conquering the self, etc. In addition, there was a concern that the doctrine of no-self was being perceived as nihilistic, because it seemed to some that the dissolution of self led only to oblivion.
The subject of the nature of the self was debated by Yogacara and Madhyamika scholars, and also addressed by Mahayana scriptures. To oversimplify a very complex debate, some argued that within each person was an intrinsic essence of Buddha-nature, some argued that there is no such material essence, some that it both exists and does not exist, and some argued that the illusion of separation between self and Buddha-nature persisted only until the moment of enlightenment.
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THE HIDDEN WORDS OF BAHA'U'LLAH
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bhi/bahaullah/hw.txt
Part I.--From the Arabic
HE IS THE GLORY OF GLORIES
This is that which hath descended from the realm of glory, uttered by the tongue of power and might, and revealed unto the Prophets of old. We have taken the inner essence thereof and clothed it in the garment of brevity, as a token of grace unto the righteous, that they may stand faithful unto the Covenant of God, may fulfill in their lives His trust, and in the realm of spirit obtain the gem of Divine virtue.
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THE FAITH OF BUDDHISM
Trust the Practice, Trust Yourself
By Barbara O'Brien
http://buddhism.about.com/od/Living-A-Buddhist-Life/fl/The-Faith-of-Buddhism.htm
Great Faith, Great Doubt
In the Zen tradition, it's said a student must have great faith, great doubt, and great determination. In a way, great faith and great doubt are the same thing. This faith-doubt is about letting go of the need for certitude and remaining open to not-knowing. It's about dropping assumptions and courageously stepping outside your familiar worldview.
Along with courage, the Buddhist path requires confidence in ourselves. Sometimes clarity will seem light-years away. You may think you don't have what it takes to drop confusion and illusion. But we all have "what it takes." The dharma wheel was turned for you as much as for everyone else. Have faith in yourself.
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WELCOME TO JAINISM.ORG
http://www.jainism.org/
I bow to the Arahants, the perfected human beings, Godmen.
I bow to the Siddhas, liberated bodiless souls, God.
I bow to the Acharyas, the masters and heads of congregations.
I bow to the Upadhyayas, the spiritual teachers.
I bow to the spiritual practitioners in the universe, Sadhus.
This fivefold obeisance mantra,
Destroys all sins and obstacles,
And of all auspicious repetitions,
Is the first and foremost.
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BASIC TAO CONCEPTS
http://taoism.about.com/od/daojiadaojiao/a/daojia.htm
By Elizabeth Reninger
What Are Daojia & Daojiao?
Daojia and Daojiao refer to the philosophical and religious aspects of Taoism. Daojia includes the mystical and philosophical reflections of the Taoist sages found in Taoist scriptures. Daojiao includes the institutional religious activities of Taoist Temples, including rituals and ceremonies performed by ordained Taoist Priests. The ways that Daojia and Daojiao are inter-related have produced the many faces of Taoist practice.
What Is Tao?
Tao (Dao) is Taoism’s ultimate principle – the Source of all existence. It is, for Taoism, what Buddha-Nature is for Buddhism; what Allah is for Islam; what God is for Christianity; what Brahman is for Hinduism; what Pure Consciousness is for Advaita Vedanta. To gain direct access to the Tao is to become an Immortal: the summit of Taoist practice.
What Are Yin & Yang?
Yin and Yang are the primordial feminine and masculine energies, symbolic of all polarities of mind, which produce our experience of the world. The categories of Yin and Yang are inter-related and mutually-arising: you can’t have one without the other!
The classic example of Yang is the sunny side of a mountain; and Yin, the shady side. Within every human body – men and women alike – there exists both Yin and Yang energy.
What Is Qi?
Qi is the subtle energetic force that animates all of existence. It is also what flows through the meridians used in Chinese Medicine and qigong practice. Taoist practitioners have identified many different kinds of qi, each with a specific function within the human bodymind, or within the cosmos.
What Taoists refer to as qi is, in Hindu traditions, called prana or shakti. In Christianity it is called the Holy Spirit; and in Africa it is known as ashe.
What Are The Five Elements?
The Taoist Five Elements – also known as the five phases, five transformations, or five agents of change - are metal, water, wood, fire and earth. The five elements represent five elemental energies, or patterns of movement, which both support and control one another. Each element has correspondences with a specific season, direction, color, taste, internal organ, spirit, sense organ, sound … and many more!
What Are The Ten-Thousand Things?
The phrase “the ten-thousand things” is Taoism’s way of saying “everything that exists.” The ten thousand things are expressions of the various ways that the five elements can combine to produce humans and beetles and mountains and super-novas and dolphins and orchids and oak trees and hummingbirds and lichen and hot-springs and crystals and … you get the idea!
What Is Baibai?
Baibai is the practice – in ceremonial Taoism – of offering incense to an altar. The offering of incense represents the separation of pure from impure; and the internal alchemical “burning” which results in the refinement and purification of internal energies. As the practitioner offers the incense, s/he is aware that the ashes that fall represent impure air that sinks; and the smoke, pure air that rises. The practice of baibai also symbolizes the human body as being the meeting-place of Heaven and Earth: as the smoke rises, and the ashes fall, the practitioner makes a connection to both earth and sky.
What Is Inner Alchemy?
Inner Alchemy (neidan) – a term often used synonymously with Qigong - is the Taoist art and science of gathering, storing and circulating the energies of the human body. In Inner Alchemy, the human body becomes a laboratory in which the Three Treaures of Jing, Qi, and Shen are cultivated, for the purpose of improving physical, emotional and mental health; and, ultimately, merging with the Tao, i.e. becoming an Immortal. Internal Alchemy understands the human body to be a precious and necessary resource for our spiritual journey, rather than as something to be ignored or “transcended.”
What Are The Three Treasures?
The Three Treasures are the three principle energies cultivated in the practice of Inner Alchemy. They include: (1) Jing, or reproductive energy, whose home is in the lower dantian; (2) Qi, or life energy, whose home is in the middle dantian; and (3) Shen, or spiritual energy, whose home is in the upper dantian. Taoist practitioners learn to transmute Jing into Qi into Shen, and the reverse.
What Are The Three Dantians?
The Three Dantians are three major energetic centers used in Inner Alchemy/Qigong practice. The lower dantian – residence of Jing – is located in the lower abdomen; the middle dantian – residence of qi – is located in the thoracic cavity, at the level of the heart; and the upper dantian – residence of shen - is located in the head. The dantians can be thought of as similar to the “chakras” of Hindu yogic systems – locations within the subtle body for the storing and transmutation of qi/prana.
What Are The Three Purities?
The Three Purities represent the three primordial energies of the cosmos, and are central Deities of ceremonial Taoism – important especially within the Complete Perfection school. The Three Purities are: (1) Celestial Worthy of the Tao & Inner Power; (2) Celestial Worthy of Original Beginning; and (3) Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure. The Three Purities have correspondences to the Three Treasures and the Three Dantians.
What Is The Bagua?
The Bagua are the eight trigrams - various combinations of Yin and Yang, represented visually by solid or broken lines. The eight trigrams, in their various permutations, make up the 64 hexagrams of the Yijing (I Ching) – one of Taoism’s principle divination systems. Bagua maps are also a central feature of Fengshui – another of Taoism’s divination systems.
What Are Grotto-Heavens & Wholesome Earths?
The phrase “Grotto-Heavens and Wholesome Earths” or "Grotto-Heavens and Blissful Realms" – refers to specific locations in China’s sacred mountains, which are governed by Immortals. More generally, it can refer to any landform whose spiritual energy is potent – making it a sacred space for Taoist practice. The Grotto-Heavens and Wholesome Earths have much to do with both the terrestrial branch of Fengshui, and the practice of “aimless wandering” through places of great natural beauty.
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(To be continued...)
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