Bodhicitta

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Everything posted by Bodhicitta

  1. Gayatri Mantra & English text

    Many profound commentaries, such as the one by Shankara in his commentary on the Brihadaryanaka Upanishad, section 14. Swami Madavananda's translation is good. Here is a short simple, yet wise one, by William Q. Judge: http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/path/v07n10p301_a-commentary-on-the-gayatri.htm
  2. Theosophy

    Purucker
  3. new Shantideva text

    Not since Bendall's translation in 1922 of the Śikṣā-samuccaya has anyone bothered to render a new translation. Charles Goodman has done that now. He titles it The Training Anthology of Santideva, Oxford U. Press. It has around 350 pages of sutra passages compiled to emphasize the practices and motives of the bodhisattva. Shantideva gives a little commentary and connective tissue. The Dalai Lama suggests studying this work along with the better known Guide to the Bodhisattva Path also by Shantideva. Here is a little snip from the Vajra Flag Sutra on vows:
  4. Pure sources of Kabbalah

    If this Zohar series has been mentioned, good, if not, here is a reminder that the 12 volume full English edition is now finished. The first nine translated by Daniel C. Matt. Many fine notes from traditional kabbalists. http://www.sup.org/zohar/
  5. Theosophy

    G. de Purucker
  6. Theosophy

    G. de Purucker
  7. Theosophy

    1888 Letter of Blavatsky
  8. Theosophy

    "Esotericism, pure and simple, speaks of no personal God; therefore are we considered as Atheists. But, in reality, Occult Philosophy, as a whole, is based absolutely on the ubiquitous presence of God, the Absolute Deity; and if IT Itself is not speculated upon, as being too sacred and yet incomprehensible as a Unit to the finite intellect, yet the entire Philosophy is based upon Its Divine Powers as being the Source of all that breathes and lives and has existence. In every ancient Religion the ONE was demonstrated by the many. In Egypt and India, in Chaldæ and Phœnicia, and finally in Greece, the ideas about Deity were expressed by multiples of three, five and seven; and also by eight, nine and twelve great Gods, which symbolized the powers and properties of the One and Only Deity. This was related to that infinite subdivision by irregular and odd numbers to which the metaphysics of these nations subjected their ONE DIVINITY. Thus constituted, the cycle of the Gods has all the qualities and attributes of the ONE SUPREME AND UNKNOWABLE; for in this collection of divine Personalities, or rather of Symbols personified, dwells the ONE GOD, the GOD ONE, that God which, in India, is said to have no Second." Blavatsky in Esoteric Instructions pp. 99-100
  9. Good Charities to Donate too

    I prefer those which are not funded by multi-millions, but the smaller ones. Here is one in the USA: http://farmrescue.org
  10. Not necessarily fiction, but often enriched with truth. Here is an old one by WQ Judge - A Weird Tale: http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/wqjtales/tales-1.htm
  11. Theosophy

    Today is the date of the Winter Solstice for 2016; a sacred time of spiritual initiation. Here is G. de Purucker on the inner events: http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/seasons/4s-gdpw.htm
  12. Metatron

    There are at least two traditions - one says he was always on a throne next to God, another says he was a man - Enoch - whose service was rewarded with transformation into Metatron. Of course there are ways to blend the two versions.
  13. Metatron

    Another theosophic explanation: Metatron (Chaldean) Mĕṭaṭrōn Messenger; the Presence-Angel of the Covenant, superior to all other angels, according to the Qabbalah, considered as occupying as its Angel the second world (‘olam Beri’ah), constituting the entire world of spirits or angels, as he governs the visible world, preserves the harmony, unity, and revolutions of the spheres, planets, and celestial bodies, and is the commander of all the myriads of the angelic hosts of the next inferior world (Yetsirah). Metatron is equivalent to the Greek angel, the idea being that it steps down the first world (’Atstsiloth) of spirit to the third world of form. Metatron is the garment or visible manifestation of the projected spiritual and substantial energies from the first world, and his name equals 314, and thus is equal numerically to Shaddai, the Almighty (Zohar iii, 231a).
  14. Victims of Communism

    A recent book about a family trying to live in Communist East Germany. Personal freedom was denied in so many ways then; we have little to seriously complain about in the West of today. https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062410313/forty-autumns
  15. Logic, the prerequisite of all truth

    Logic is helpful only when dealing with concepts, that is, bringing order to the content of the mind. A logically arranged set of concepts is truth, as far as it goes. However there is, admittedly rare, a non-conceptual, non-sensory awareness or knowing. This conveys truth experientially, whereas logic is just suggestive.
  16. Last Dalai Lama video

    This link will ask you for a password - HHDL - then after watching the movie, donate if you wish. https://vimeo.com/user26857382/review/189258551/6091edcf6e
  17. Last Dalai Lama video

    They wrote for a 'limited time' only - guess that time came quickly.
  18. Theosophy

    Interesting new issue of Lucifer on duties & rights for this lifetime and future ones. http://www.blavatskyhouse.org/pdf/Lucifer-EN-No1-2016.pdf
  19. The fake occult

    There are real black magic practitioners in So. California, not confined to just Hollywood. Read about Parsons and Hubbard et al. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/241887.Sex_and_Rockets
  20. Bodhicitta

    The late Yogi Chen listed Bodhicitta similes and metaphors from chapter 39 of the Avatamsaka Sutra: http://www.yogichen.org/cw/cw39/bk108.html http://www.yogichen.org/cw/cw39/bk109.html
  21. Transgender Problem

    Now is the time to convert toddlers to Transgenderism; a sad & horrid movement. https://4thwavenow.com/2016/10/12/genderqueer-teddy-bear-teaches-toddlers-proper-pronoun-etiquette/
  22. new Shantideva text

    Excerpt From: Charles Goodman. The Training Anthology of Santideva.
  23. Empowerments & Deities

    One way of looking at personalized energies is that they are all aspects of out mind. Does that mean 'our' mind is a person, because we think we are a 'self'? The same notion is applied to non-physical bodhisattvas, devas and other helpful invisible beings - all are aspects of or disciples of Buddha. The Avatamsaka Sutra has a famous line - 'Everything is made from mind alone.' Not being fixated on or attached to the 'reality' of beings or formless energies is a good advice Master Hua used to give.
  24. Empowerments & Deities

    Not sure why Orion thinks there is or should be, a gulf between beings and qualities or energies. Buddha is a being who is Great Compassion, Vast Wisdom and Power. How could any beneficent (or evil) force, energy or quality exist apart and separate from the entity of compassion or hatred etc.? I suppose it is possible for our mind to filter out the notion of a 'being' and superimpose 'just energy', but that is our mind's coloration. Everything is a living being, even objects that appear not to be so.