Friday, August 18, 2023

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy that originated in India around the 6th century BCE, founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha (the "Awakened One"). Buddhism has hundreds of millions of followers, making it one of the world's largest religions.

The fundamental teachings of Buddhism are encapsulated in the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.

The Four Noble Truths are:

1. The Truth of Suffering (Dukkha): Life is suffering. This includes physical and mental suffering, impermanence, and the concept of self.

2. The Truth of the Origin of Suffering (Samudāya): Suffering is caused by desires and attachments.

3. The Truth of the Cessation of Suffering (Nirodha): Suffering can be ended by attaining dispassion, thus achieving Nirvana (liberation).

4. The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering (Magga): The path to end suffering is the Eightfold Path.

The Noble Eightfold Path consists of:

1. Right Understanding

2. Right Thought

3. Right Speech

4. Right Action

5. Right Livelihood

6. Right Effort

7. Right Mindfulness

8. Right Concentration

These eight aspects are divided into three categories: wisdom (understanding and thought), ethical conduct (speech, action, livelihood), and concentration (effort, mindfulness, concentration).

Buddhism has evolved into various schools and traditions over time, including Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana, each with its own interpretations and practices.

Theravada Buddhism, prevalent in Southeast Asia, is often considered closer to the original form of Buddhism, focusing on the use of meditation and mindfulness to achieve self-enlightenment.

Mahayana Buddhism, found in East Asia, includes a variety of subsets such as Zen, Pure Land, and Nichiren, among others. It emphasizes the Bodhisattva ideal, the individual who seeks enlightenment to help all sentient beings.

Vajrayana Buddhism, also known as Tantric Buddhism or Esoteric Buddhism, primarily found in Tibet and Mongolia, includes practices and doctrines that are believed to allow individuals to achieve enlightenment in a single lifetime.

Despite the variations, all forms of Buddhism share a focus on personal spiritual development and the quest for enlightenment.

THE "REALIST" THEORY OF REALITY

Preamble

Asamskrita

Samsara

Kamavakara

Satvari Aryan Satyani

Nirvana

Preamble

"There is, brothers, a sphere of life where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor the sphere of endless space, nor even the sphere of consciousness. Where I tell you there is not really even this world, nor the other world, nor the sphere of infinite space, nor the sphere of infinite consciousness, nor the sphere of the non-existence of anything, nor the sphere where there is neither perception nor non-perception. Such a state, brothers, I will I described it like this: neither coming, nor going, nor standing, nor turning back, nor descending, nor ascending. It is something like unborn, unmade, uncreated, uncomposed: it is the end of suffering". Udana, VIII, I, 1st century B.C.).

Asamskrita

The Ultimate Reality in the Buddhist Teaching ("Asamskrita") can neither be realized as an individual experience, nor determined, nor perceived, felt, or touched. Ultimate Reality can only be perceived by "he" who has "reached" Nirvana (from the negative particle "nir" and the root "va" - to breathe), in the extinguishing of becoming (the processes of evolution). Thus, Ultimate Reality Is Identical with Nirvana. Anyone who has not reached Nirvana experiences a relative reality, a continuous becoming...

So, the Buddhist Teaching accepts that there is One Reality which is the Background of everything. But since it is impossible to determine by someone who does not experience it, he systematically avoids talking about This Reality. What we can talk about is becoming. Nirvana, the extinguishing of becoming, leads to Reality, beyond becoming... Thus, the Supreme Reality must be "perceived" as the Absolute and not as non-existence.

Samsara

For the Buddhist Teaching the only "real" thing is the evolutionary process. What appears, what is perceived, the phenomenon, is an evolutionary process. "Existence" is an evolutionary process, but so are worlds and individual phenomena, all, are evolutionary processes. "All this" is Samsara.

The evolutionary process is broken down into successive, momentary, states, called " dharma " (from the root "dri", to support, to hold). So, dharmas are the ultimate realities that we can perceive, the first composite of phenomena. So, becoming, the evolutionary process, appears as a flow of these dharmas.

Dharmas are dependent realities, they are the result of previous dharmas and are what predetermine future dharma. All this flow obeys strict laws which can ultimately be reduced to the Law of Universal Causation, "Karma" (from the root " kri ", act). Karma denotes the action but also the result of the action, thus it denotes the responsibility from the action itself and the behavior that is transmitted through time.

Dharmas are momentary and last only a short time. Thus, the only real thing is the flow, the evolutionary process, the becoming. "All that exists is momentary," everything is transitory.

The evolutionary process appears in various forms. As vijnana , conscious process, succession of conscious states, as samskara , mental process, succession of momentary mental states, as samjna , perceptual process, succession of perceptual states, as vedana , sensuous process, succession of sensuous states, as rupa , material, organic process, succession organic structures. It is actually a single process that appears in various forms. There is no essential difference between consciousness and material form, it is the same process at a different frequency. The process appears sometimes as consciousness, sometimes as intellect, sometimes as perception, sometimes as sensation, sometimes as form. But it is always the same process. Thus, becoming constitutes a continuum (through space-times and through local time). "Being" is but a combination of evolutionary processes, streams of dharmas ("skandhas") working harmoniously together.

The Regions of Samsara

Samsara (becoming) is divided into three Regions, "Vakkara" (state of becoming and not an objective, fixed region). The Regions, states, of becoming are: a) The Arupavakara (formless region), the state of the supermental process, the succession of momentary supermental processes. b) The Rupavakara (region with form), the state of the perceptual process, the succession of momentary perceptual states. c) The Kamavakara (region of desire and sense pleasure), the state of material form, the succession of momentary material states.

What we call "being" is actually a becoming, a stream of dharma. In Arupavakara this being is a stream of " formless dharma", Vijnana, consciousness, self-awareness, Samskara, volition, mental imprints that incite desires, Samjna , perception, mental perception. The difference of these dharma categories is very subtle. Being constitutes a presence, an existence, without concrete form, a mental existence.

Arupavakara is divided into Four Heavens, states which are (listed from highest to lowest, the infinity of neither, the infinity of nonbeing, the infinity of thought and the infinity of space): 1) Naivasamjna Samgnyayatana (region where there is neither perception nor non-perception and which actually transcends Arupavakara and extends into the Absolute). 2) Akinchaniyatana (region where consciousness exists within the non-existence of anything). 3) Vigyanananthyatana (region where consciousness exists in the infinite state of consciousness). 4) Akasanandyatana (region where consciousness exists in infinite space).

It is evident that there is a complete correspondence between the states experienced by the being, the level at which the being functions (Vijnana, Samskara, Samjna) and the "heavens".

In Rupavakara, being is mentality (flow of formless dharma) expressed in the realm of 'sense'. A new category of dharma is thus created, ("Vedana", sensibility), a stream of dharma in form, a succession of momentary sensory states. Here the formless dharmas (mindfulness) do not have the same function as in Arupavakara. Their function is adapted to Rupavakara, degraded. Formed dharmas rule. Being here is a mentality which has an inner dimension originating from Arupavakara and an outer activity which brings the 'being' into contact with the world of forms. "Being" is expressed through a subtle body (which is a stream of sensory states structured in such a way that they appear as a form). It is an ethereal being that occupies a certain space, etc.

Rupavakara is divided into Sixteen Heavens arranged in four levels.

It is evident that there is a complete correspondence between the states experienced by the being, the level at which the being functions (Vijnana, Samskara, Samjna adapted to Rupavakara) and the "four levels".

In Kamavakara, being is an ethereal existence that expresses itself in the realm of 'matter'. There is thus created a new category of dharma ("Rupa", body, a becoming of matter structured in such a way as to appear as a solid form), a stream of dharma of material form (a succession of momentary states of matter structured so as to appear as the material body that we know. Here the formless dharmas (intelligence) and the dharmas with form (sensibility) do not have the same function as in the higher realms, their function is adapted to Kamavakara, degraded. The dharmas of material form predominate. Thus the mental functions of "being" in Kamavakara have a higher dimension originating from Arupavakara, an inner dimension originating from Rupavakara, and an external activity which brings "being" into contact with the world of forms.

It also has "sensibility" which has an internal dimension originating from Rupavakara -intuition- and an external activity that assists the intellect in the perception of Kamavakara -sensibility-. In Kamavakara being is ethereal existence expressed through a material, gross body.

Kamavakara is divided into Three Regions, Heaven, earth and the underworld. Heaven is the world of devas. Earth is the world of humans, asuras (demons), pretas (ghosts) and animals. The underworld is the world of hell.

It is evident that there is a complete correspondence between the states experienced by the being, the level at which the being functions (Vijnana, Samskara, Samjna adapted to Kamavakara) and the "three regions".

Life in Samsara

Becoming is a flow, a succession of momentary states and constitutes a continuum... Essentially there is no difference between mentality, sensibility, or biological becoming. These are different states of becoming, becoming is a continuum. Being is a becoming, a stream of momentary states. It is within the space of becoming, in one of three states of becoming. When the being, in a certain Region, closes the circle of its evolution (life) dissolution of the synthesis occurs (death). As long as the being, during his "life" reached a transcendence of becoming, an erasure of the dharma of the Region of becoming in which he was evolving, then the being is liberated and after death passes to a higher state of existence. But since the being during life remained within becoming (absorbed in the continuous succession of dharmas of the Region of becoming in which it was evolving) then the being after death is not freed to pass to a higher state of existence but under the pressure of attachments remains a "core of becoming" that leads sooner or later to a new synthesis of dharma within the Precinct of becoming that was evolving in the being's previous life, into a new incarnation. Thus, the being moves within becoming, in the Regions of becoming. It is a continuous current that passes from existence to existence, without stopping.

We must note that the previous development (life) within a state of becoming and the subsequent development (life) within the same state of becoming although they are a continuum yet seem to be different. It is actually a new dharma synthesis but its structure is entirely dependent on the existence that preceded it. This is precisely where the operation of Karma, the Law of Causation, can be seen. Being is a continuous stream that passes from life to life without stopping. This is the cycle of reincarnation. The being disappears here, appears there, all the time. This evolution strictly obeys the Law of Karma. Whatever is the action, that is the result. Thus, the being by evolution creates itself. Each being bears full responsibility for its evolution. Beings act according to the Law of Karma. No being can escape the wheel of evolution. The only way out is liberation.

Thus, beings are trapped within becoming, in the three Realms of becoming. Therefore, a being, on his way, has to overcome three stages (corresponding to the three Regions of becoming) until final liberation. The Nirvana attained by the total extinction of all becoming is the True Nirvana.

Kamavakara

The moment a being begins its existence within Kamavakara it is already the result of a previous becoming. The fact that this being tends to manifest in Kamavakara means that there is already a tendency, an impulse, within him which leads him to manifest in Kamavakara. It is mentality (in the Rupavakara Region) oriented towards the material world (an accumulation of mental impressions entered by perception and related to the material world), with sense memories, which feels the need to manifest again through material dharma texture, through a body.

The being that manifests in Kamavakara is a new, complete, synthesis of all these dharmas , a flow of these dharmas : Vijnana, Samskara, Samjna (these three constitute the mentality that has a higher dimension originating from Arupavakara, an inner dimension which originates from Rupavakara and an external activity which brings the “being” into contact with the world of forms), Vedana (sensibility which has an inner dimension which originates from Rupavakara and an external activity which brings the 'being' into contact with the world of forms), Rupa (body, biological becoming). The relationship between these categories of dharma is clearly defined. Mindfulness is self-awareness that uses sensibility and the body as a vehicle within Kamavakara.

Thus the “being” in Kamavakara can (and does) experience the following activities, states.

1) Nirvana

2) Four higher states, Naivasamjna-Samjnyayatana, Akinchanyayatana, Vijnananandiyatana and Akasanandiyatana.

3) Three mental states, vijnana, samskara, samjna, which have an internal function and an external activity.

4) The activity of the senses, ventana, which has an internal function and an external activity.

5) An external material activity, rupa.

The being as a whole act, evolves, moves through life. Nirvana (in Kamavakara) means the transcendence of becoming in Kamavakara. Transcending biological becoming means transcending attachment to the body and material things. The transcendence of sensuous -motor becoming means the transcendence of passions, obsessive desires, etc. The transcendence of mental becoming has three stages with three degrees each. The external mentality connected with sensibility (three levels) must first be overcome. Then the inner processes must be overcome (three stages of dyana and a fourth stage which has the character of harvest and demarcates the passage to a higher state). Finally, there is still a more inner process (three higher states and a fourth which is Nirvana). Nirvana (in Kamavakara) means the passage beyond all becoming. It is not the realization of some state. There is no perception that a state has been realized because as long as there is any perception of a realization the being is still in becoming and has not passed beyond.

When the being reaches Nirvana, beyond all becoming, then it is freed from the life in Kamavakara and when death occurs (when the causes that created this life are exhausted) then the being is freed and does not return to Kamavakara, it goes to a higher state of existence, in Rypavakara.

We must note that Nirvana in Kamavakara is not itself the Absolute. What has been eliminated is the becoming in Kamavakara, the causes that would lead to a new incarnation within Kamavakara have been eliminated. Nirvana in Kamavakara although it is the Absolute in relation to becoming in Kamavakara and cannot be defined in mental terms yet is a state of being (in Rupavakara), a becoming in a higher dimension. There is intelligence of another kind and sensibility as a carrier in this new state of being. Thus Nirvana in Kamavakara is common existence in a higher state of existence (in Rupavakara).

When the being does not achieve Nirvana, it remains in becoming and is condemned (according to the Law of Karma) after death to return to Kamavakara.

All this course of being into becoming (in the Kamavakara) is described in Buddhist grammar in the "theory of the dependent arising of phenomena (" Pratiya Samutpada”) or “chain of the Twelve Causes” (“Nidana”) as follows:

(Previous life)

1) Avidya (ignorance, non-liberation, abiding in becoming) creates samskaras (mental impressions, remnants of previous becoming).

2) Samskaras create vijnana (consciousness, initial mental core that will form the basis of new becoming)

(Present Life)

3) Vijnana creates namarupa (name and form, composition of the various categories of dharma – vijnana, samskara, samjn , vedana, rupa ).

4) Namarupa creates the santayatanas (sense organs, through which the being comes into contact with the world).

5) Sandayatanas create sparsa (contact, between the being and the world).

6) The sparsa ventana (sensation, the concrete fact of sensation) is created.

7) Ventana creates trisna (thirst for life, in Kamavakara).

8) Trisna creates upadhana (attachment to life, intense thirst, conquest of the sense world, compared to flame consuming fuel).

9) Upadhana creates the bhava (future, the karma produced during the lifetime in Kamavakara, the samskaras that will cause a new life in Kamavakara ).

10) Bhava creates jati (birth, a new becoming within Kamavakara).

(Future Life)

11) Jati creates sbamarana (old age, a new existence accompanied by all the characteristics of existence in Kamavakara, decay, pain, etc.).

12) Sambarana is a new link in the chain of Samsara.

Satwari Aryan Satyani

The Four Noble Truths

Being is a becoming, passing from life to life within Kamavakara without stopping. There is nothing fixed, nothing eternal, everything is transitory, an incessant flow of states. And it is precisely this Transience that causes suffering (dukkha). " Sarvam dukham, sarvam anityam » (all is suffering, all is transitory). Thus, the whole of existence, the very becoming in every moment of it is suffering. Staying in becoming, obsessing over becoming, is called " trisna " (thirst for life in Kamavakara). As long as this thirst exists, becoming is fed and the journey continues. Therefore it is the thirst for life in Kamavakara that keeps the being bound in becoming, in constant rebirth within Kamavakara.

Buddha himself formulating the Four Noble Truths (Satvari Aryan Satyani ) identified:

1) With the First Truth is becoming and the suffering of becoming.

2) With the Second Truth the cause of becoming which is the obsession with becoming (the thirst for life in Kamavakara).

3) With the Third Truth the elimination of becoming

4) With the Fourth Truth the Atrapos for Nirvana which is exactly:

a) the perception of becoming, suffering,

b) the awareness of the cause of becoming,

c) the elimination of becoming

d) Nirvana

The road leading to Nirvana is known as “Arya Ashtanga Marga” (Noble Eightfold Atrapos) and includes:

Samyak dristi (right perception),

Samyak sankalpa (right decision),

Samyak wak (proper speech),

Samyak karmanda (right conduct),

Samyak ajiva (right living),

Samyak vinyama (right effort),

Samyak smriti (right thinking),

Samyak Samadhi (right meditation, perfect concentration of consciousness).

In particular the Path that leads to Nirvana, to Reality, has Three Stages.

The First Stage is called Prajna (Knowledge) and includes Right Perception and Right Disposition. By entering the Sangha (Buddhist Brotherhood) man has already taken a step beyond the world: he renounces all material things to march towards Nirvana. This renunciation is not a formal, external, abstinence: it is an internal detachment, an erasure of all interest in material things. This is the Stage of destruction of material dharmas (rupa): what is implied here is the destruction of attachment to material dharmas , their neutralization (material dharmas will continue to exist until the causes that caused them disappear, i.e. until the death of the material body ). This is a Preliminary Stage and is not yet the Main Exercise.

The Second Stage is called Sila (Morality) and includes Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Living. Before the Buddhist can actually enter Atrapo he needs to go through a Stage of Inner Perfection, ridding himself of the various passions that are obstacles to Atrapo. He must listen to what is called the Panka Sila (Fivefold Discipline) which consists of five prohibitions: not to kill, not to steal, not to have intercourse with another person, not to lie, not to drink alcohol. These are the main prohibitions but it is implied that all passions must be eliminated. This purification from the passions should not be a simple, external, abstinence but an internal attitude. This is the Stage of destruction of form dharmas ( vedana): implied here is the destruction of attachment to form dharmas , their neutralization (the Buddhist feels everything but is no longer attached).

The Third Stage is called Samadhi (Theory) and includes Right Effort, Right Thought, Right Concentration (Samadhi). The Real Journey to Nirvana begins with Entering the Third Stage. This is the Stage of destruction of formless dharmas (samjna, samskara, vijnana ): the destruction of attachment to these dharmas , their neutralization, is implied here. Realization here is not to be understood as a spiritual evolution but as a progressive destruction of becoming.

Right Endeavor corresponds to the Experiencing of the First Noble Truth (perception of becoming, suffering), to the destruction of the external activity of mentality and has four levels, three levels corresponding to the destruction of the external activity of samjna, samskara, vijnana and a fourth level which is the harvest of all effort and marks the passage to the higher state.

Right Thought corresponds to the Experiencing the Second Noble Truth (awareness of the cause of being), to the destruction of the inner activity of mentality and has four stages corresponding to the destruction of the inner activity of samjna, samskara, vijnana and the harvest of all effort which signifies the passage to the higher state. The technical term used in Buddhist Teaching for Practice at this stage is “Rupa Dhyana”. The term is translated as Meditation, but the word is not exactly the same and needs clarification. Rupa Dhyana therefore means for the Buddhists the destruction of the inner activity of the mind. There are Three Stages of Rupa Dhyana and together with the Stage of Realization they form the Four Stages of Realization at this stage.

The four Dhyana Rupas in detail:

1) Elimination of samjna, the perception of the external world.

2) Elimination of samskara, the intellect whose object is external phenomena.

3) Elimination of vijnana, consciousness, individual existence, ego that is limited in space, in the body.

4) When vijnana is eliminated, we reach a state where consciousness transcends the limits of space (the body) and expands to infinity, throughout space.

Right Concentration corresponds to the Experiencing of the Third Noble Truth (elimination of becoming), the destruction of the higher activity of the mind and has four stages corresponding to the destruction of the higher activity of samjna, samskara, vijnana and the harvesting of all effort which marks the passage in the superior state. The technical term used in Buddhist Teaching for Practice at this stage is " Arupa Dhyana » or Samapatti (achievements) - formless meditations. Arupa Dhyana or Samapatti it means the destruction of the higher activity of the mind. There are Three Ranks of Arupa Dhyana or Samapatti and together with the Stage of Realization constitute the Four Stages of Realization at this stage.

The four Arupas in detail Dhyana or Samapatti:

1) Akasa-nadi-ayatana (Region of infinite space, region where consciousness exists in infinite space). Consciousness (though it locates itself, as a center, in a space) extends throughout space, is a wider, higher ego. (There is a distinction between consciousness and environment, between subject and object). This conception of a center related to the inner workings of samjna must be overcome.

2) Vijnana-nadi-ayatana (Region of infinite consciousness, region where consciousness exists in the infinite state of consciousness). Consciousness rejects the perception of a center, it can be anywhere, throughout space - thus creating the perception that consciousness is infinite. (There is no longer a distinction between consciousness and environment, between subject and object). This achievement is related to overcoming the inner workings of samskara.

3) Akinchani-ayatana (Region of non-existence, region where consciousness exists within the non-existence of anything). Consciousness cannot attribute to its existence any idiom. Consciousness realizes that its existence is empty. Existence is “non-existence”, on the relative side. This achievement is related to overcoming the inner workings of vijnana.

4) Naivasamjna-Samjni-ayatana (Region of neither perception nor non-perception, region where there is neither perception nor non-perception). By overcoming the inner workings of vijnana, we reach a state where any process of existence is absent. This is Nirvana

Actually, the attainment of the fourth samapatti corresponds to a State beyond relative existence, it is Asamskrita.

Of course, in Buddhist Dhyana, Asana, Meditation Posture and other external elements are used, but the Essence of Dhyana consists of "internal transformation" and that is what is of interest here. Besides, Diana is not something that can enter time. When we enter Atrapos, we practice Dhyana all the time, whatever we do and not just the hours we sit in Asana: Dhyana is continuous. In this sense it must be understood. Because as we have already said, the Essence of Dhyana is the Experiencing Noble Truths and when we experience something we experience it continuously and not at certain times: Thus, all time is Dhyana and we cannot divide time into hours of Dhyana and hours when we do not practice Dhyana.

Harvesting the fruit of all effort is Nirvana. We must note that when we speak of Realization of the Three Truths, we do not mean the mental conception of these Truths at all but the Realization of what the words imply, in essence the "transcendence of becoming": it is an experience).

The transcendental evolution of being

The man who performed the First Samapatti is in the First Rank of the Atrapu of the Nobles (Arya Marga): on the Stage of Srotopana (one who has "entered the stream" to cross over to the other bank, to Nirvana).

The man who has Performed the Second Samapatti is in the Second Stage of the Atrapu of the Noble Ones: the Stage of Sakritagamin (one who will return only once more to Kamavakara).

The man who has Realized the Third Samapatti is in the Third Stage of the Atrapu of the Noble Ones: the Stage of the Anagamin (the one who does not return, who lives his last incarnation in Kamavakara and is not bound to return to Kamavakara).

He who has succeeded in realizing the Fourth Samapatti, Nirvana ( Bodhi ), attaining the Stage of Arhat , is completely free from the cycle of birth and death within the Kamavakara .. To such a person (a Buddha) opens the prospect of a of higher development in the invisible worlds. But he can renounce this higher evolution and willingly continue to incarnate within the Kamavakara, completely free. This second path is the path of the Bodhisattva, one who refuses higher evolution and remains within Kamavakara to help Kamavakara 's creatures. We must note that what moves such a free being is not mere desire or compassion. Such a being has realized freedom, and it is through this new perception of Reality that he has realized that he moves in all that he does. It cannot therefore be judged by the standards of the common man.

He who continues his evolution in higher worlds passes to Rupavakara. Rupavakara beings (ethereal beings) evolve in a manner analogous to that of Kamavakara. He who evolves in Atrapo passes here also Four Stages of Realization and is also freed from Rupavakara. Goes to Arupavakara.

Here too the beings (mental entities) evolve in a manner analogous to that of the two lower worlds. He who evolves into Way passes here also Four Stages of Realization and is also freed from Arupavakara and sinks into the "Ultimate Nirvana". "He" who has realized Ultimate Nirvana is no longer an entity but the Absolute Himself who assimilates into Bodhi the Self the Absolute and Self-Deception, completely Free, Unbound.

But talking about higher worlds is already meaningless: We must realize the Truth in Kamavakara. That's what matters. The higher perspective is beyond the powers of the common man. That is why any reference to higher worlds is usually avoided since they are outside the perspective of evolution of the common man.

Nirvana

According to the "Teaching of Buddhism" There is One Underlying Fundamental Reality which is "revealed" when "becoming" is exhausted. It manifests as Supreme Reality, as Supreme Truth, more real than the immediately existing which although real is transitory and painful.

The Real Nature of This Reality Is Emptiness. The Void is not defined (and thus "seems" as if it does not exist). What appears (definable, existent, objective) when analyzed in its determinations cannot finally "hold" the perception, it is nothing more than a phenomenon.

Ultimately there is only One Reality. This Reality Eternal, Unchangeable in Its Nature, Indeterminate in Its Essence, Emptiness, is the Only Reality. What appears are actions, processes, phenomena that arise spontaneously from nothingness and again disappear into nothingness.

The One and Only Reality is Pure Bodhi It is not born, it is not lost, it is not realized. It is the Nature of everything and everything. Bodhi is the One and Only Reality. There is no difference between rest and activity. All activities, phenomena that arise and disappear completely naturally do not alter the Bodhi Nature.

...

Ελληνικά:

Βουδισμός

https://www.wholeness.gr/2022/04/blog-post_17.html

Monday, 9 March, 2026

1.2. The Sacred Threshold: A Mystical Contemplation on the Despondency of Arjuna

Chapter II — The Trembling of the Bow

"My limbs fail and my mouth is parched, my body quivers and my hair stands on end."

— Bhagavad Gita, 1.29

I. The Warrior at the Edge

When Arjuna stands in that divine chariot, poised between the two assembled armies at Kurukshetra, he stands not merely in a geographic or military position — he stands at the precise center of a cosmic drama that has been unfolding since consciousness first became aware of itself. He is the archer supreme, the wielder of Gandiva, that celestial bow gifted by Agni himself and capable of devastating entire armies with the speed of the wind. He is the third Pandava, beloved of the gods, trained in the celestial weapons by Indra himself. He is, by every outward measure, the embodiment of what a warrior is and must be. And yet it is precisely here, in this moment of supreme readiness, that the warrior becomes something else — something the epic's outer narrative does not know how to name, something the mystical reading alone can fully honor.

He asks Krishna to drive the chariot between the two armies. The request seems tactical at first — the warrior surveying the field before battle, the archer measuring the range between himself and his targets. But the mystic hears a different resonance in this request. It is the soul asking to be brought to the threshold, asking to see clearly and completely the full weight of what it is about to do. There is in this a quality of courage that is rarely acknowledged — the courage not to act, but to look. To stand, fully present, in the terrible clarity of what one's choices actually mean.

II. What the Eyes Reveal

And so he looks. And what he sees undoes him entirely.

The armies arrayed before him are not strangers. They are not the faceless masses of an enemy host. They are — and this is the heart of the mystery — his people. On the side of the Kauravas, he sees Bheeshma, the grand patriarch, the man whose silver beard is the color of all the winters Arjuna has ever lived through, whose blessing has been the shelter over his entire boyhood. He sees Drona, the teacher, the man in whose eyes the young Arjuna first saw the reflection of his own potential, who drew out of that gifted child the warrior the world has come to know. He sees Kripa and Salya and Jayadratha and a hundred others — cousins, uncles, kinsmen, companions — all arrayed now in the terrible symmetry of war, all prepared to die or to kill, and he, Arjuna, is the instrument by which so many of them will be struck down.

The Gita tells us that in this moment, Arjuna is overwhelmed by compassion — the Sanskrit word is karuna, which carries within it overtones of sorrow, tenderness, and the ache of a heart that cannot bear the weight of what it perceives. This karuna is not sentimentality. It is not cowardice dressed in the language of feeling. It is the natural response of a soul that has not yet been taught to see through the surfaces of things to the eternal truth beneath. It is the grief of a consciousness still operating within the framework of attachment — the belief that what we love can be lost, that what we are is bound up with the forms in which we find our beloveds, that the end of a body is the end of a soul.

III. The Physiology of Transformation

What follows is one of the most remarkable passages in all of world literature, remarkable not for its philosophy — that comes later — but for its extraordinary physical honesty. Arjuna does not maintain the composed dignity of a hero confronting an impossible situation. He falls apart. His body becomes the language of his interior crisis, and the Gita records this dissolution with a fidelity that feels less like epic convention and more like a direct transcript of spiritual emergency.

His limbs tremble. The great bow Gandiva — that magnificent instrument of his glory and identity, the physical emblem of everything he has been and done — slips from his fingers. His skin burns as though with fever. His hair stands on end. His mouth dries. His body will not obey him. He who has faced demon-kings and celestial opponents without flinching finds himself helpless before the faces of his own beloved.

The mystical traditions have long understood that the body is not separate from the soul's journey — it is the soul's journey made flesh, made palpable, made visible to the world. When the inner ground shifts, the body knows it first. The yogic traditions speak of kriyas — spontaneous physical responses to the movement of spiritual energy — trembling, heat, altered breathing, the sensation of electricity moving through the limbs. The Christian mystical tradition records in its saints the stigmata, the raptures, the levitations — all ways in which the body testifies to what the soul is undergoing. What Arjuna experiences in this moment is no less than this: the body bearing witness to the soul's collision with a reality larger than it has been equipped to hold.

The bow slipping from his hands is perhaps the most symbolically potent detail in the entire first chapter. Gandiva is not merely a weapon — it is Arjuna's identity. The warrior is the one who draws the bow. When the bow falls, the warrior falls. The self that has organized its entire existence around a particular function — around being the best, being the instrument of dharmic victory, being the one who can do what no one else can — finds that self suddenly impossible to sustain. The hands that have held the bow through ten thousand trials cannot hold it now. Not because the hands have weakened, but because something deeper than the hands has given way.

IV. The Sacred Dissolution of Identity

In the language of mystical theology, what Arjuna undergoes in this moment is the beginning of what the great medieval Christian mystic Meister Eckhart called Abgeschiedenheit — detachment, or more precisely, the stripping away of all that is not the essential self. The Sufi traditions speak of fana, annihilation, the necessary dissolution of the ego-constructed self as a precondition for the encounter with the divine. The Hindu tradition knows this process as the burning away of the impurities of ego in the fire of tapas, spiritual discipline, or — as here — in the equally purifying fire of overwhelming crisis.

The identity that Arjuna has built over a lifetime is extraordinarily robust. He is not a man of small self-conception. He is a hero in the full mythological sense — a figure whose excellence partakes of the divine, whose deeds have altered the shape of the world. And yet it is precisely the magnitude of his constructed self, the height and glory of the Arjuna-identity, that makes its dissolution so seismic. Small selves fall quietly. The collapse of a great soul shakes the earth.

When he sinks onto the seat of his chariot, unable to stand, unable to fight, unwilling to act — this sinking is a form of truth-telling that his previous life has never required of him. The warrior's life is organized around forward motion, decisive action, the conquest of opposition. Now, for the first time, Arjuna moves in a different direction entirely: inward. Downward. Into the darkness that has always been there, beneath the gleaming surface of his heroic identity, waiting for exactly this moment of extremity to make itself known.

V. The Question That Cannot Be Avoided

Arjuna speaks to Krishna, and his words cascade in a great torrent of despair and confusion. He speaks of kinsmen, of traditions, of the women left behind when warriors die, of the disruption of family rites and ancestral prayers. He speaks — and here the contemporary reader must listen with particular care — of the pollution of kingdoms and the destruction of families, by which he means something far deeper than social convention. He means the dissolution of the web of relationship and meaning that gives human existence its context, its purpose, its sense of being held within something larger than the isolated individual.

But beneath all these specific arguments, beneath the careful enumeration of social and religious consequences, there throbs a single question — the question that has been present in every human consciousness that has ever grown honest enough to ask it: What is this for? What is any of this for? If I must destroy what I love in order to preserve what I love, what exactly is it that I am preserving? If victory means the death of teachers and grandfathers and beloved cousins, what precisely has been won?

This is not a question born of weakness or confusion, though it arises in a moment of crisis. It is the most serious question a human soul can ask. It is the question that stands behind every great spiritual tradition's central teaching — the question that Buddhism answers with the teaching of impermanence and non-attachment, that Christianity answers with the paradox of losing life to find it, that Vedanta answers with the revelation that the self one fears to lose was never the real self to begin with. Arjuna, in his despondency, has stumbled to the very threshold of the tradition's deepest wisdom — and he has arrived there not through study or discipline but through the irresistible pressure of lived experience pressing him, at last, to his knees.

VI. The Mercy Hidden in Collapse

There is a teaching in the Zen tradition that speaks of the great doubt — the moment when the practitioner's ordinary understanding finally and completely fails, when the frameworks by which the mind has organized reality are revealed as insufficient, when the student realizes, in the full weight of that word, that they do not know. This great doubt is not a problem to be solved. It is a threshold to be crossed. It is the necessary preliminary to genuine understanding — not the understanding that is constructed from concepts and accumulated over years of study, but the understanding that arises when the conceptual mind has exhausted itself and something older and deeper becomes audible.

Arjuna, at this moment, has arrived at his great doubt. The bow — that instrument of certainty, of directed power, of knowing exactly what one is doing and why — has fallen. And in the silence that opens in the wake of its falling, something is made possible that was impossible before. Not immediately — the teaching of the Gita is not given in a single instant of shock, but over the long patient unfolding of eighteen chapters, through which Krishna meets Arjuna exactly where he is and leads him, by graduated degrees, from collapse to comprehension. But the collapse is the condition of the comprehension. The silence created by the fallen bow is the silence into which the divine voice can finally speak and be heard.

The mystic sees in this collapse not a failure but a gift — and moreover, a gift that Arjuna did not choose, could not have chosen, but received by the sheer grace of his own humanity, his own capacity for love. It is his love for Bheeshma that breaks him open. It is his love for Drona, for his cousins, for the intricate human tapestry of his world, that strips from his hands the instrument of his power. Love, in the mystical vision, is always the agent of transformation — not the comfortable, confirming love that says yes to all we already are, but the costly, shattering love that cracks the shell of the self and lets the light in.

And so when the Gita's opening chapter is read with full attention, it reveals itself not as a prelude to something greater but as a complete spiritual event in its own right — a full and sufficient account of the soul's first surrender. Every subsequent teaching of the Gita is present, in seed form, in this single image: the warrior, the fallen bow, the grief that is also love, the chariot poised between two worlds, and, quietly present at the center, the divine companion who holds the reins and waits for the question to become complete.

VII. Between the Armies, Between Two Selves

The two armies facing each other across the field of Kurukshetra have, by the time Arjuna's bow falls, become something more than military formations. They have become the two aspects of a divided self — the self that knows its duty and the self that cannot perform it; the self that understands the eternal and the self that is entangled in the temporal; the self that, as Krishna will later teach, is immortal and indestructible, and the self that identifies with the body and clings to the forms it loves.

Arjuna stands in the chariot between these armies as the contemplative stands in meditation between the thinking mind and the witnessing awareness — caught in that liminal space where the ordinary self has been suspended but the deeper self has not yet fully declared itself. It is the bardo of human consciousness, the transitional state between one mode of being and another. And as in all genuine liminal states, it is characterized by disorientation, by the loss of familiar coordinates, by the dissolution of the certainties that have until now made coherent action possible.

This is why the mystic has always found in Arjuna's despondency not an embarrassment to be explained away but a mirror to be contemplated. Every soul that has ever pursued genuine transformation has known this moment — this specific quality of darkness, this exact species of grief that cannot be consoled because it is not asking for consolation. It is asking for truth. It is asking, from the deepest place in a human being that is capable of asking anything, for the one answer that the world's consolations cannot provide.

And in the sacred economy of the Gita, the answer is already present. It has been present from the beginning. It rides in the chariot beside the grief, holds the reins with patient hands, and waits — as the divine always waits, with a patience that encompasses all of time — for the silence that follows the last argument, the stillness that follows the exhaustion of all strategies, the open and empty moment when the soul, having at last relinquished its bow, turns to the one who has always been beside it and asks: Teach me. I do not know. I am yours. Teach me what is real.

…

Το Ιερό Κατώφλι: Μια Μυστική Στοχαστική Προσέγγιση στην Απελπισία του Αρτζούνα

Κεφάλαιο ΙΙ — Το Τρέμουλο του Τόξου

«Τα μέλη μου λυγίζουν και το στόμα μου στεγνώνει, το σώμα μου τρέμει και οι τρίχες μου ορθώνονται.»

— Μπαγκαβάτ Γκίτα, 1.29

I. Ο Πολεμιστής στο Χείλος

Όταν ο Αρτζούνα στέκεται σε εκείνο το θεϊκό άρμα, έτοιμος ανάμεσα στους δύο παραταγμένους στρατούς στο Κουρουκσέτρα, δεν βρίσκεται απλώς σε μια γεωγραφική ή στρατιωτική θέση — στέκεται ακριβώς στο κέντρο ενός κοσμικού δράματος που ξετυλίγεται από τότε που η συνείδηση έγινε για πρώτη φορά ενήμερη του εαυτού της. Είναι ο υπέρτατος τοξότης, ο κάτοχος του Γκάντιβα, εκείνου του ουράνιου τόξου που του δόθηκε από τον ίδιο τον Αγνί και μπορεί να καταστρέψει ολόκληρους στρατούς με την ταχύτητα του ανέμου. Είναι ο τρίτος Πάνταβα, αγαπημένος των θεών, εκπαιδευμένος στα ουράνια όπλα από τον ίδιο τον Ίντρα. Είναι, με κάθε εξωτερικό μέτρο, η ενσάρκωση αυτού που πρέπει να είναι ένας πολεμιστής. Και όμως, ακριβώς εδώ, σε αυτή τη στιγμή της απόλυτης ετοιμότητας, ο πολεμιστής γίνεται κάτι άλλο — κάτι που η εξωτερική αφήγηση του έπους δεν ξέρει πώς να ονομάσει, κάτι που μόνο η μυστική ανάγνωση μπορεί να τιμήσει πλήρως.

Ζητάει από τον Κρίσνα να οδηγήσει το άρμα ανάμεσα στους δύο στρατούς. Το αίτημα φαίνεται τακτικό στην αρχή — ο πολεμιστής εξετάζει το πεδίο πριν τη μάχη, ο τοξότης μετράει την απόσταση ανάμεσα σε αυτόν και τους στόχους του. Όμως ο μύστης ακούει μια διαφορετική αντήχηση σε αυτό το αίτημα. Είναι η ψυχή που ζητά να οδηγηθεί στο κατώφλι, που ζητά να δει καθαρά και ολοκληρωμένα όλο το βάρος αυτού που πρόκειται να κάνει. Υπάρχει εδώ μια ποιότητα θάρρους που σπάνια αναγνωρίζεται — το θάρρος όχι να δράσει, αλλά να κοιτάξει. Να σταθεί, πλήρως παρών, στη φοβερή διαύγεια του τι σημαίνουν πραγματικά οι επιλογές του.

II. Τι Αποκαλύπτουν τα Μάτια

Και έτσι κοιτάζει. Και αυτό που βλέπει τον αποσυνθέτει ολοκληρωτικά.

Οι στρατοί που παρατάσσονται μπροστά του δεν είναι ξένοι. Δεν είναι άβουλες μάζες ενός εχθρικού στρατού. Είναι — και αυτό είναι η καρδιά του μυστηρίου — ο δικός του λαός. Από την πλευρά των Καουράβα, βλέπει τον Μπχίσμα, τον μεγάλο πατριάρχη, τον άνδρα του οποίου η ασημένια γενειάδα έχει το χρώμα όλων των χειμώνων που έχει ζήσει ποτέ ο Αρτζούνα, του οποίου η ευλογία υπήρξε η στέγη σε όλη την παιδική του ηλικία. Βλέπει τον Ντρόνα, τον δάσκαλο, τον άνδρα στα μάτια του οποίου ο νεαρός Αρτζούνα είδε για πρώτη φορά την αντανάκλαση του δικού του δυναμικού, που έβγαλε από εκείνο το προικισμένο παιδί τον πολεμιστή που γνώρισε ο κόσμος. Βλέπει τον Κρίπα και τον Σάλια και τον Τζαγιαντράθα και εκατό άλλους — ξαδέρφους, θείους, συγγενείς, συντρόφους — όλους παρατεταγμένους τώρα στη φοβερή συμμετρία του πολέμου, όλους έτοιμους να πεθάνουν ή να σκοτώσουν, και αυτός, ο Αρτζούνα, είναι το όργανο με το οποίο τόσοι από αυτούς θα χτυπηθούν.

Η Γκίτα μας λέει ότι σε αυτή τη στιγμή ο Αρτζούνα κατακλύζεται από συμπόνια — η σανσκριτική λέξη είναι καρούνα, που φέρει μέσα της αποχρώσεις θλίψης, τρυφερότητας και του πόνου μιας καρδιάς που δεν μπορεί να αντέξει το βάρος αυτού που αντιλαμβάνεται. Αυτή η καρούνα δεν είναι συναισθηματισμός. Δεν είναι δειλία ντυμένη με τη γλώσσα του συναισθήματος. Είναι η φυσική απόκριση μιας ψυχής που δεν έχει ακόμα διδαχθεί να βλέπει πέρα από τις επιφάνειες των πραγμάτων στην αιώνια αλήθεια από κάτω. Είναι η θλίψη μιας συνείδησης που λειτουργεί ακόμα μέσα στο πλαίσιο της προσκόλλησης — την πίστη ότι ό,τι αγαπάμε μπορεί να χαθεί, ότι αυτό που είμαστε συνδέεται με τις μορφές στις οποίες βρίσκουμε τους αγαπημένους μας, ότι το τέλος ενός σώματος είναι το τέλος μιας ψυχής.

III. Η Φυσιολογία της Μεταμόρφωσης

Αυτό που ακολουθεί είναι ένα από τα πιο αξιοσημείωτα αποσπάσματα σε όλη την παγκόσμια λογοτεχνία, αξιοσημείωτο όχι για τη φιλοσοφία του — αυτή έρχεται αργότερα — αλλά για την εξαιρετική φυσική του ειλικρίνεια. Ο Αρτζούνα δεν διατηρεί την ήρεμη αξιοπρέπεια ενός ήρωα που αντιμετωπίζει μια αδύνατη κατάσταση. Διαλύεται. Το σώμα του γίνεται η γλώσσα της εσωτερικής του κρίσης, και η Γκίτα καταγράφει αυτή τη διάλυση με μια πιστότητα που μοιάζει λιγότερο με επική σύμβαση και περισσότερο με άμεση μεταγραφή πνευματικής έκτακτης ανάγκης.

Τα μέλη του τρέμουν. Το μεγάλο τόξο Γκάντιβα — εκείνο το μεγαλοπρεπές όργανο της δόξας και της ταυτότητάς του, το φυσικό έμβλημα όλων όσων υπήρξε και έκανε — γλιστράει από τα δάχτυλά του. Το δέρμα του καίει σαν να έχει πυρετό. Οι τρίχες του ορθώνονται. Το στόμα του στεγνώνει. Το σώμα του δεν υπακούει. Αυτός που αντιμετώπισε βασιλιάδες-δαίμονες και ουράνιους αντιπάλους χωρίς να διστάσει, βρίσκεται τώρα ανήμπορος μπροστά στα πρόσωπα των δικών του αγαπημένων.

Οι μυστικές παραδόσεις έχουν από καιρό κατανοήσει ότι το σώμα δεν είναι ξεχωριστό από το ταξίδι της ψυχής — είναι το ταξίδι της ψυχής που γίνεται σάρκα, που γίνεται αισθητό, ορατό στον κόσμο. Όταν το εσωτερικό έδαφος μετατοπίζεται, το σώμα το γνωρίζει πρώτο. Οι γιόγκικες παραδόσεις μιλούν για κρίγια — αυθόρμητες σωματικές αντιδράσεις στην κίνηση της πνευματικής ενέργειας — τρέμουλο, θερμότητα, αλλαγμένη αναπνοή, αίσθηση ηλεκτρισμού που διαπερνά τα μέλη. Η χριστιανική μυστική παράδοση καταγράφει στους αγίους της τα στίγματα, τις εκστάσεις, τις αναλήψεις — όλα τρόποι με τους οποίους το σώμα μαρτυρεί αυτό που υφίσταται η ψυχή. Αυτό που βιώνει ο Αρτζούνα σε αυτή τη στιγμή δεν είναι λιγότερο από αυτό: το σώμα να γίνεται μάρτυρας της σύγκρουσης της ψυχής με μια πραγματικότητα μεγαλύτερη από αυτήν που ήταν εξοπλισμένη να συγκρατήσει.

Το τόξο που γλιστράει από τα χέρια του είναι ίσως η πιο συμβολικά δυνατή λεπτομέρεια σε ολόκληρο το πρώτο κεφάλαιο. Το Γκάντιβα δεν είναι απλώς ένα όπλο — είναι η ταυτότητα του Αρτζούνα. Ο πολεμιστής είναι αυτός που τεντώνει το τόξο. Όταν το τόξο πέφτει, ο πολεμιστής πέφτει. Ο εαυτός που οργάνωσε όλη του την ύπαρξη γύρω από μια συγκεκριμένη λειτουργία — γύρω από το να είναι ο καλύτερος, το όργανο της νίκης του ντάρμα, αυτός που μπορεί να κάνει αυτό που κανείς άλλος δεν μπορεί — βρίσκει ξαφνικά αυτόν τον εαυτό αδύνατο να διατηρηθεί. Τα χέρια που κράτησαν το τόξο σε δέκα χιλιάδες δοκιμασίες δεν μπορούν να το κρατήσουν τώρα. Όχι επειδή τα χέρια αδυνάτισαν, αλλά επειδή κάτι βαθύτερο από τα χέρια έσπασε.

IV. Η Ιερή Διάλυση της Ταυτότητας

Στη γλώσσα της μυστικής θεολογίας, αυτό που υφίσταται ο Αρτζούνα αυτή τη στιγμή είναι η αρχή αυτού που ο μεγάλος μεσαιωνικός χριστιανός μύστης Μάιστερ Έκχαρτ ονόμασε Abgeschiedenheit — απομάκρυνση, ή πιο ακριβώς, η απογύμνωση από όλα όσα δεν αποτελούν το ουσιώδες Εαυτό. Οι σουφικές παραδόσεις μιλούν για fana, την αφανισμό, την αναγκαία διάλυση του εγω-κτισμένου εαυτού ως προϋπόθεση για τη συνάντηση με το θείο. Η ινδουιστική παράδοση γνωρίζει αυτή τη διαδικασία ως το κάψιμο των ακαθαρσιών του εγώ στη φωτιά του tapas, της πνευματικής πειθαρχίας, ή —όπως εδώ— στην εξίσου εξαγνιστική φωτιά της συντριπτικής κρίσης.

Η ταυτότητα που έχει χτίσει ο Αρτζούνα σε όλη του τη ζωή είναι εξαιρετικά στιβαρή. Δεν είναι άνθρωπος μικρής αυτοαντίληψης. Είναι ήρωας με την πλήρη μυθολογική έννοια — μια μορφή της οποίας η αριστεία μετέχει του θείου, των οποίων οι πράξεις έχουν αλλάξει το σχήμα του κόσμου. Και όμως, ακριβώς το μέγεθος του κτισμένου του εαυτού, το ύψος και η δόξα της ταυτότητας-Αρτζούνα, κάνει τη διάλυσή της τόσο σεισμική. Οι μικροί εαυτοί πέφτουν ήσυχα. Η κατάρρευση μιας μεγάλης ψυχής σείει τη γη.

Όταν βυθίζεται στο κάθισμα του άρματός του, ανίκανος να σταθεί, ανίκανος να πολεμήσει, απρόθυμος να δράσει — αυτή η βύθιση είναι μια μορφή αλήθειας που η προηγούμενη ζωή του ποτέ δεν του είχε ζητήσει. Η ζωή του πολεμιστή οργανώνεται γύρω από την κίνηση προς τα εμπρός, την αποφασιστική δράση, την κατάκτηση της αντίστασης. Τώρα, για πρώτη φορά, ο Αρτζούνα κινείται προς εντελώς διαφορετική κατεύθυνση: προς τα μέσα. Προς τα κάτω. Στο σκοτάδι που υπήρχε πάντα εκεί, κάτω από την αστραφτερή επιφάνεια της ηρωικής του ταυτότητας, περιμένοντας ακριβώς αυτή τη στιγμή ακρότητας για να αποκαλυφθεί.

V. Η Ερώτηση που Δεν Μπορεί να Αποφευχθεί

Ο Αρτζούνα μιλάει στον Κρίσνα, και τα λόγια του ξεχύνονται σαν μεγάλος χείμαρρος απόγνωσης και σύγχυσης. Μιλάει για συγγενείς, για παραδόσεις, για τις γυναίκες που μένουν πίσω όταν πεθαίνουν οι πολεμιστές, για τη διατάραξη των οικογενειακών τελετουργιών και των προγονικών προσευχών. Μιλάει — και εδώ ο σύγχρονος αναγνώστης πρέπει να ακούσει με ιδιαίτερη προσοχή — για τη μόλυνση των βασιλείων και την καταστροφή των οικογενειών, με την οποία εννοεί κάτι πολύ βαθύτερο από κοινωνικές συμβάσεις. Εννοεί τη διάλυση του ιστού των σχέσεων και του νοήματος που δίνει στην ανθρώπινη ύπαρξη το πλαίσιο, τον σκοπό, την αίσθηση ότι κρατιέται μέσα σε κάτι μεγαλύτερο από το απομονωμένο άτομο.

Όμως κάτω από όλα αυτά τα συγκεκριμένα επιχειρήματα, κάτω από την προσεκτική απαρίθμηση των κοινωνικών και θρησκευτικών συνεπειών, πάλλεται μια μοναδική ερώτηση — η ερώτηση που έχει υπάρξει σε κάθε ανθρώπινη συνείδηση που έγινε ποτέ αρκετά ειλικρινής για να τη θέσει: Για τι είναι όλα αυτά; Για τι είναι οτιδήποτε από αυτά; Αν πρέπει να καταστρέψω αυτό που αγαπώ για να διατηρήσω αυτό που αγαπώ, τι ακριβώς είναι αυτό που διατηρώ; Αν η νίκη σημαίνει τον θάνατο δασκάλων και παππούδων και αγαπημένων ξαδέρφων, τι ακριβώς έχει κερδηθεί;

Αυτή δεν είναι ερώτηση που γεννιέται από αδυναμία ή σύγχυση, παρόλο που αναδύεται σε στιγμή κρίσης. Είναι η πιο σοβαρή ερώτηση που μπορεί να θέσει μια ανθρώπινη ψυχή. Είναι η ερώτηση που στέκεται πίσω από την κεντρική διδασκαλία κάθε μεγάλης πνευματικής παράδοσης — η ερώτηση που ο Βουδισμός απαντά με τη διδασκαλία της ατέλειας και της μη-προσκόλλησης, που ο Χριστιανισμός απαντά με το παράδοξο του να χάνεις τη ζωή για να τη βρεις, που η Βεδάντα απαντά με την αποκάλυψη ότι ο εαυτός που φοβάσαι να χάσεις ποτέ δεν ήταν ο πραγματικός εαυτός εξαρχής. Ο Αρτζούνα, στην απελπισία του, έχει φτάσει στο ίδιο το κατώφλι της βαθύτερης σοφίας της παράδοσης — και έφτασε εκεί όχι μέσω μελέτης ή πειθαρχίας αλλά μέσω της ακαταμάχητης πίεσης της βιωμένης εμπειρίας που τον πιέζει, επιτέλους, στα γόνατα.

VI. Το Έλεος που Κρύβεται στην Κατάρρευση

Υπάρχει μια διδασκαλία στη Ζεν παράδοση που μιλάει για τη μεγάλη αμφιβολία — τη στιγμή που η συνηθισμένη κατανόηση του ασκούμενου αποτυγχάνει τελικά και ολοκληρωτικά, όταν τα πλαίσια με τα οποία ο νους οργάνωνε την πραγματικότητα αποκαλύπτονται ανεπαρκή, όταν ο μαθητής συνειδητοποιεί, με όλο το βάρος αυτής της λέξης, ότι δεν γνωρίζει. Αυτή η μεγάλη αμφιβολία δεν είναι πρόβλημα προς επίλυση. Είναι κατώφλι προς διάβαση. Είναι η αναγκαία προκαταρκτική φάση για την γνήσια κατανόηση — όχι την κατανόηση που κατασκευάζεται από έννοιες και συσσωρεύεται επί χρόνια μελέτης, αλλά την κατανόηση που αναδύεται όταν ο εννοιολογικός νους έχει εξαντληθεί και κάτι παλαιότερο και βαθύτερο γίνεται ακουστό.

Ο Αρτζούνα, αυτή τη στιγμή, έχει φτάσει στη δική του μεγάλη αμφιβολία. Το τόξο — εκείνο το όργανο της βεβαιότητας, της κατευθυνόμενης δύναμης, της ακριβούς γνώσης του τι κάνει και γιατί — έχει πέσει. Και στη σιωπή που ανοίγει μετά την πτώση του, γίνεται δυνατό κάτι που πριν ήταν αδύνατο. Όχι αμέσως — η διδασκαλία της Γκίτα δεν δίνεται σε μια μοναδική στιγμή σοκ, αλλά μέσα από την μακρά υπομονετική ξετύλιξη δεκαοκτώ κεφαλαίων, μέσα από τα οποία ο Κρίσνα συναντά τον Αρτζούνα ακριβώς εκεί που βρίσκεται και τον οδηγεί, βαθμίδα-βαθμίδα, από την κατάρρευση στην κατανόηση. Όμως η κατάρρευση είναι η προϋπόθεση της κατανόησης. Η σιωπή που δημιουργείται από το πεσμένο τόξο είναι η σιωπή μέσα στην οποία η θεϊκή φωνή μπορεί επιτέλους να μιλήσει και να ακουστεί.

Ο μύστης βλέπει σε αυτή την κατάρρευση όχι αποτυχία αλλά δώρο — και μάλιστα δώρο που ο Αρτζούνα δεν το επέλεξε, δεν μπορούσε να το επιλέξει, αλλά το έλαβε χάρη στη δική του ανθρωπιά, στη δική του ικανότητα για αγάπη. Είναι η αγάπη του για τον Μπχίσμα που τον σπάει. Είναι η αγάπη του για τον Ντρόνα, για τους ξαδέρφους του, για τον περίπλοκο ανθρώπινο ιστό του κόσμου του, που του αφαιρεί από τα χέρια το όργανο της δύναμής του. Η αγάπη, στη μυστική όραση, είναι πάντα ο παράγοντας της μεταμόρφωσης — όχι η άνετη, επιβεβαιωτική αγάπη που λέει ναι σε όλα όσα ήδη είμαστε, αλλά η δαπανηρή, συντριπτική αγάπη που σπάει το κέλυφος του εαυτού και αφήνει το φως να μπει.

VII. Ανάμεσα στους Στρατούς, Ανάμεσα σε Δύο Εαυτούς

Οι δύο στρατοί που αντιμετωπίζονται πέρα από το πεδίο του Κουρουκσέτρα έχουν, τη στιγμή που πέφτει το τόξο του Αρτζούνα, γίνει κάτι περισσότερο από στρατιωτικές παρατάξεις. Έχουν γίνει οι δύο όψεις ενός διχασμένου εαυτού — ο εαυτός που γνωρίζει το καθήκον του και ο εαυτός που δεν μπορεί να το εκτελέσει· ο εαυτός που κατανοεί το αιώνιο και ο εαυτός που είναι μπλεγμένος στο χρονικό· ο εαυτός που, όπως θα διδάξει αργότερα ο Κρίσνα, είναι αθάνατος και άφθαρτος, και ο εαυτός που ταυτίζεται με το σώμα και προσκολλάται στις μορφές που αγαπά.

Ο Αρτζούνα στέκεται στο άρμα ανάμεσα σε αυτούς τους στρατούς όπως ο στοχαστής στέκεται στη διαλογιστική κατάσταση ανάμεσα στη σκεπτόμενη διάνοια και στη μαρτυρούσα επίγνωση — παγιδευμένος σε αυτόν τον λιμινικό χώρο όπου ο συνηθισμένος εαυτός έχει ανασταλεί αλλά ο βαθύτερος εαυτός δεν έχει ακόμα πλήρως δηλωθεί. Είναι το bardo της ανθρώπινης συνείδησης, η μεταβατική κατάσταση ανάμεσα σε έναν τρόπο ύπαρξης και σε έναν άλλο. Και όπως σε όλες τις γνήσιες λιμινικές καταστάσεις, χαρακτηρίζεται από αποπροσανατολισμό, από την απώλεια των οικείων συντεταγμένων, από τη διάλυση των βεβαιοτήτων που μέχρι τώρα έκαναν δυνατή τη συνεκτική δράση.

Αυτός είναι ο λόγος που ο μύστης έχει πάντα βρει στην απελπισία του Αρτζούνα όχι μια ντροπή που πρέπει να εξηγηθεί μακριά, αλλά έναν καθρέφτη προς στοχασμό. Κάθε ψυχή που έχει ποτέ επιδιώξει γνήσια μεταμόρφωση έχει γνωρίσει αυτή τη στιγμή — αυτή την ειδική ποιότητα σκοταδιού, αυτό το ακριβές είδος θλίψης που δεν μπορεί να παρηγορηθεί επειδή δεν ζητά παρηγοριά. Ζητά αλήθεια. Ζητά, από τον βαθύτερο τόπο ενός ανθρώπινου όντος που είναι ικανός να ζητήσει οτιδήποτε, την μία απάντηση που οι παρηγοριές του κόσμου δεν μπορούν να δώσουν.

Και στην ιερή οικονομία της Γκίτα, η απάντηση είναι ήδη παρούσα. Ήταν παρούσα από την αρχή. Ταξιδεύει στο άρμα δίπλα στη θλίψη, κρατά τα ηνία με υπομονετικά χέρια και περιμένει — όπως πάντα περιμένει το θείο, με μια υπομονή που περιλαμβάνει όλο τον χρόνο — τη σιωπή που ακολουθεί το τελευταίο επιχείρημα, την ηρεμία που ακολουθεί την εξάντληση όλων των στρατηγικών, την ανοιχτή και κενή στιγμή όταν η ψυχή, έχοντας επιτέλους αφήσει το τόξο της, στρέφεται προς αυτόν που πάντα ήταν δίπλα της και ρωτά: Δίδαξέ με. Δεν γνωρίζω. Είμαι δικός σου. Δίδαξέ με τι είναι πραγματικό.

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Δικαιώματα πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας

Το σύνολο του περιεχομένου του Δικτυακού μας τόπου, συμπεριλαμβανομένων, ενδεικτικά αλλά όχι περιοριστικά, των κειμένων, ειδήσεων, γραφικών, φωτογραφιών, σχεδιαγραμμάτων, απεικονίσεων, παρεχόμενων υπηρεσιών και γενικά κάθε είδους αρχείων, αποτελεί αντικείμενο πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας (copyright) και διέπεται από τις εθνικές και διεθνείς διατάξεις περί Πνευματικής Ιδιοκτησίας, με εξαίρεση τα ρητώς αναγνωρισμένα δικαιώματα τρίτων.

Συνεπώς, απαγορεύεται ρητά η αναπαραγωγή, αναδημοσίευση, αντιγραφή, αποθήκευση, πώληση, μετάδοση, διανομή, έκδοση, εκτέλεση, «λήψη» (download), μετάφραση, τροποποίηση με οποιονδήποτε τρόπο, τμηματικά η περιληπτικά χωρίς τη ρητή προηγούμενη έγγραφη συναίνεση του Ιδρύματος. Γίνεται γνωστό ότι σε περίπτωση κατά την οποία το Ίδρυμα συναινέσει, ο αιτών υποχρεούται για την ρητή παραπομπή μέσω συνδέσμων (hyperlinks) στο σχετικό περιεχόμενο του Δικτυακού τόπου του Ιδρύματος. Η υποχρέωση αυτή του αιτούντος υφίσταται ακόμα και αν δεν αναγραφεί ρητά στην έγγραφη συναίνεση του Ιδρύματος.

Κατ’ εξαίρεση, επιτρέπεται η μεμονωμένη αποθήκευση και αντιγραφή τμημάτων του περιεχομένου σε απλό προσωπικό υπολογιστή για αυστηρά προσωπική χρήση (ιδιωτική μελέτη ή έρευνα, εκπαιδευτικούς σκοπούς), χωρίς πρόθεση εμπορικής ή άλλης εκμετάλλευσης και πάντα υπό την προϋπόθεση της αναγραφής της πηγής προέλευσής του, χωρίς αυτό να σημαίνει καθ’ οιονδήποτε τρόπο παραχώρηση δικαιωμάτων πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας.

Επίσης, επιτρέπεται η αναδημοσίευση υλικού για λόγους προβολής των γεγονότων και δραστηριοτήτων του Ιδρύματος, με την προϋπόθεση ότι θα αναφέρεται η πηγή και δεν θα θίγονται δικαιώματα πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας, δεν θα τροποποιούνται, αλλοιώνονται ή διαγράφονται εμπορικά σήματα.

Ό,τι άλλο περιλαμβάνεται στις ηλεκτρονικές σελίδες του Δικτυακού μας τόπου και αποτελεί κατοχυρωμένα σήματα και προϊόντα πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας τρίτων ανάγεται στη δική τους σφαίρα ευθύνης και ουδόλως έχει να κάνει με τον Δικτυακό τόπο του Ιδρύματος.

Esoterism Academy

CIRCLE OF LIGHT / Perennial Sayings

ESOTERISM STUDIES YOUTUBE / The Way of the Real

ESOTERISM STUDIES YOUTUBE / Η Οδός του Πραγματικού

ESOTERISM STUDIES BOOKS