Monthly Archives: September 2020

Coming in October: Wordsworth and Zen

No other Romantic-Poet of the 19th century has touched and influenced my very beingness than the poetry of William Wordsworth (1770-1850). I distinctly remember with great-recall my first introduction to English Romanticism in 1978 during a college-class when the Professor, a distinguishably fashioned tall and elderly Indian (India) Oxford-taught gentleman (somewhat fragile in demeanor) with a full head of striking white hair, introduced us to Wordsworth and his works for the first time. The poem in question was Tintern Abbey (Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798). read more

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Omniscient Gnosis

Bodhicitta is directly translated as Enlightened-Mind (or Enlightened Consciousness) but also as the Bodhisattva being ready for the next step and that is the “production of the Thought of Enlightenment.” Suzuki identifies it as being Bodhi itself, or as Lankavatarians like to refer to it as “Bodhipower”, or the very vivifying power of the Enlightened Unborn Mind. All of this is bracketed by Bodhicittapada—or the self-awakened and compassionate Mindseal of the Tathagatas, as such it is inconceivable and omniscient. The term for this omniscience is sarvajñajñāna: read more

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Carriers of the Seed

An excellent composite study of Bodhicitta as well as all things Bodhisattva is The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature, by Har Dayal circa 1932. For myself it has become the bible regarding such subject matter. What I treasure most about it is that it was written before contemporary sectarian studies that always flavors said material with superficial psychophysical makeup that mars the original import of the Bodhi-structure itself. Before dining on the succulent taste of this endeavor we must first focus on those who prepare the ingredients of this marvelous meal. The Carriers of the Bodhi-seed. Bodhisattvas as well as Arhats, yes Arhats too have much ado concerning this cuisine raffinée. Recollect that one of the epithets of the Buddha is that of an Arhat, this even after his former career as a Bodhisattva. read more

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The Cult of Compassion

Bodhicitta is a misused and abused term in our dark age. It has become stripped-down to a mere puddle of mediocrity in the hands of those “do-gooders” who paint the world according to their own misguided assessment and faulty utilization of the term–in effect, it has become hijacked by the “cult of compassion.” Compassion itself used to be aligned with agape—or burning with love for the divine. When employed as such it was a direct channel for divine agencies themselves to intervene in human affairs and apply that com-(with the divines’ own) passionate embrace that alone can assure lasting healing and positive aftermaths. Today it has become a whore and tool of Mara, a fiery cult that masks its true intentions of not providing comfort and reassurance, but rather the employment of hidden agendas of keeping one in bondage and subservient to the evil will of politically-correct overlords who never have the good-will of individuals at heart, but rather their mass-incarceration into a dark-collective, much like the mechanized Borgs of Star-Trek the Next Generation fame. read more

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The Ultimatum of Klaatu’caricature by Javier Martin

The two dynamics that invariably need to be borne in mind when considering Bodhisattvas are awakening and transforming. Once awakening, the Bodhisattva immediately sets out to transform the life of sentient beings so that they in turn will experience the fruits and liberation of that self-same awakening. Along the way of this most compassionate endeavor, they will experience the ten-stages of Bodhisattva-bhūmi but not without first extending that gift of transformation; hence their life is never an isolated affair but directly other-involved. It’s all about adhering to the Law of Maturation. Jens Braarvig writes: read more

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