Tag Archives: imagination

The Purge

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Vajragoni

The initial inspiration for this series is based upon a book (The Doctrine of the Void as Propounded by St. John of the Cross and as Viewed in the Light of Thomistic Principles, 1955) by Rev. Leonard McCann (1908-1966). This was his Doctoral-Thesis based on the works of St. John of the Cross. What he provided in its pages are actual Bullet-Points incorporating the nature of the Void in relationship to the saints spirituality and works under each heading, for example, Memory and the Void, Various effects of the Void, Beginners and the Void, etc.—all in aphoristic fashion. This blog follows suit and has provided a version in light of the Unborn. Unfortunately, the book is long out of print and I only hope to do it justice in light of our subject matter. read more

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Dark Workmanship

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Vajragoni

Wordsworth’s magnum opus, The Prelude, recounts the circumstances surrounding the growth of the poet’s mind involving elements of the natural world, the sense of how his own powers of imagination interacted with that realm, and the transcendent element that arises and unifies them both without abdicating the role that is the exclusive domain of the poet’s creative prowess. read more

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The Celestial Palace of Akanishṭha

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Vajragoni
  1. [Cleary]: For mind is the womb of what’s in the triple world, for this wandering mind is seen here and yon; knowing the state of this world to be thus, unreal, one should not imagine the world.

Oftentimes I would find myself being uncomfortable with the Lanka’s admonition to silence the faculty of imagination. From time to time I’ve used this faculty in many a creative fashion, like on my YouTube Bodhichild channel. After much reflection on this, I’ve come to the realization that the Lanka is not saying to banish forever the creative-side of this faculty; indeed, the very composers of the Lanka oftentimes drew heavily upon their active-imagination to illustrate the Buddhadharma. Imagination, for the Lanka, means the incessant yearning to create image after image after image. Of course, [image] entails much here—like the intellect, the use of all the sensate faculties, memory, etcetera…anything apparently concretized in this wooden-world we live in but in reality is only fleeting and eventually dissolving away like a mirage in the sultry desert wastelands of Samsara. Hence, the discriminative-side of imagination needs to be curtailed. If not, then the possibility of a million Chimeric Realms will descend and keep you preoccupied in its discriminating-grasp for many eons to come. read more

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