Elaboration of Eastern Concepts/Gods

I would like to share a little writing which demonstrates correspondences for Eastern terms and concepts with more elaborately explained concepts/design. This was inspired by a description of how the Universe came/comes into existence by John Lily, and I thought of the correspondences. There is more you could do, with various spiritual systems, but here is what I have for now.

Before Beginning(of Time/Space): Sunyata(emptiness/void)
From void Came Brahma(Growing/Choosing-God)
Then Self(Atman) was realized; Consciousness-Without-Object
Then the first notion of an Object arose; Unity(of time/space), 1
Then polarity arose, which would always equal out to 0, all the way up to infinity.

That which becomes all experiences: Brahma
That which is the experience itself: Vishnu
Spontaneous creation & destruction of every reality/moment from Void: Shiva
Sensual-Body: Soma

Breaking Down Nirvana, Samsara, And Liberation

Samsara stems from Nirvana. Nirvana is not attained through Samsara. Samsara is an illusion which the conceptual mind continuously creates. It never departs from Nirvana, because it is not “real.” The moment you object to this concept, and begin to conceptualize, you are back at work creating Samsara. You’re never departing from Nirvana; this is impossible. It is only through Nirvana that Samsara can be created. Note how this is the opposite of the way this issue is typically approached. Samsara is effort, Nirvana is effortless. This is why Karma permeates all of Samsara. Karma is intentional action. It is an active process, and through this active process Samsara comes into existence.

Imagine that you are running. This running is an intentional effort. The moment you stop running, you are still. Stillness is the natural state. It does not take intentional effort to be still. You stop making intentional effort to run, and you are still. This is how it is with Samsara and Nirvana, illusion and reality. I say “illusion,” but I do not mean this in a derogatory sense. Nirvana expresses itself through the infinite manifestations of Samsara.

Many Spiritual types place great emphasis on shedding illusion, finding the “truth,” which naturally opposes what is “false.” This discrimination is of the same conceptual mind that brings about the “illusion” in the first place! They are missing their own truth, by being so caught up in separating themselves from “illusion.” You see, Nirvana expresses as Samsara. Samsara is inherent in Nirvana. So when you really grasp the “truth,” you see the non-dual, and all discrimination ends. This opens up true freedom, which is why enlightenment is called liberation. Now everything is just a big play, or experiment. When you see “All as One,” as the common expression goes, you are free to participate in any aspect of reality you would like. You don’t become attached to any particular aspect either, because that doesn’t make sense either, in light of this Truth which has no opposite. Now you can float through eternity, playing with the infinite amount of potential causes and effects.

What is the Triple Gem? Who is the Awoken One?

Buddhism talks about the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. They call this the Triple Gem. It is the perfect unity, that appears in three forms. Reality often is viewed in a way that could be divided into three “parts.” Buddha literally means “The Awoken One.” It cannot be said that Buddha is a person. The historical Buddha himself is recorded as having emphasized this, beyond the further Mahayana writings that make this abundantly clear. Buddha is the great unity. It could be called Buddha Nature. When you speak of “The Buddha” it is referring to the One who has awoken. “He” can be found anywhere in existence. You can either find him, or you can BE HIM. He could be looked at as the great teacher. When you yourself are in touch with “Buddha Nature” you are literally being The Buddha. Yet Buddha Nature never departs from reality, so when you are, for instance, learning from another, or reality itself, this is The Buddha reminding you of the truth.

“The truth” is what is called “The Dharma.” Although the Dharma is often expressed in words, it cannot be said to be the words themselves. It is the truth about reality itself. Therefore, it can be found anywhere in reality. When one speaks the truth, he is speaking Dharma. When you hear Dharma, think Dharma, or speak Dharma, this is the teaching of The Buddha; this is true regardless of whether you’re “being The Buddha” or interacting with The Buddha

Those who are seeking the Dharma/Truth are the Sangha. When you are in communion with another of like mind, he is of the Sangha. You could look at the Sangha as those who are working together to try to end suffering. Suffering is attachment. We seek a universal end of suffering, which is to say universal enlightenment. When we see one who is suffering, and recognize him as a fellow traveler of the Journey towards the end of suffering, we help to unhook him from his attachments, as we seek to do for ourselves. The interacting of the Sangha/Community, Dharma/Truth, and Buddha/Awoken One all come together as the great ONE, the unity of all of existence.