Theos-Talk Archives (May 2005 Message tt00713)

CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS FORMS

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A study of the Constitution of Man finds that there is of necessity a
constant definition of the relations between one "principle" and the rest,
which serve in several relations to it. Some duplication of references is
inevitable.

The following references to Buddhi and its function as link between Atma and
Manas in man are "active". It has a "passive" aspect as the 'vehicle'
(sheath, kosha, sthula) of Atma, without which Atma would be forever an
abstraction to matter.

On the other it is the active repository of all experiences. It looks
directly on IDEAS. Its vision is Universal. Therefore it is intimately
connected with KARMA.

The connection of man's consciousness with and through Buddhi to the Higher
Self (Atma) can only be traced by a number of definitions, and some appear
to contradict others. But when taken all together they are found to offer a
more complete picture of this most important "principle."

It is inevitable that some definitions that relate to Manas are used here,
as they throw more light on the function and activity of Buddhi.

The following may prove helpful:

						
CONSCIOUSNESS AND PERCEPTION


"Our consciousness is one and not many, nor different from other
consciousnesses. It is not waking consciousness or sleeping consciousness,
or any other but consciousness itself. But the One Consciousness of each
person is the Witness or Spectator [Atma] of the actions and experiences of
every state we are in or pass through...[It] pierces up and down through all
the states or planes of Being, and serves to uphold the memory--whether
complete or incomplete--of each state's experiences." [Old MSS in
W.Q.Judge -- Gita Notes, p. 99 ]  


"Every one of us is a PERCEIVER, just as much a Perceiver as we ever were or
ever will be. So is every atom of our body the perceiver. But we look
directly upon ideas; the lives below man look directly upon sensation. We
say waking, dreaming, sleeping, because our attention has not been directed
to the state of nature beyond life or man as immortal. But there are other
names for these states of consciousness. Think of the mineral kingdom as a
state of consciousness, and the forms built in that state. Think of the
animal kingdom as life in a given state of consciousness with the
appropriate forms built in them.

Now we--in the state called the Thinker [Manas], which is our natural
state--are not any the less the Perceiver, because we are also at the same
time the Thinker and the being which feels. But neither are we the Thinker
pure and simple, nor are we the creature that is the experiencer of effects
pure and simple--nor are we the Perceiver pure and simple. It is impossible
to dissociate the three. If a man were in the state called the Perceiver,
and if he were in that state pure and simple, all this that is a mystery to
us would be just as objective in the spiritual sense as we here and now are
objective to each other in the "sense use" of the term."  
J. G.] "QUESTIONS ANSWERED AT AN INFORMAL OCEAN CLASS"  	
Theos. Movement, Nov. 1952.


"As to the "we," there is but one "we," or PERCEIVER, who perceives on any
plane through the sheaths evolved by him on each plane; his perceptions on
any plane will depend on the quality of the sheath or vehicle. Atma
(spirit) or consciousness alone, is what remains after the subtraction of
the sheaths. It is the ONLY witness--a synthesizing unity. On this
plane--and this means during waking consciousness or its dream effects--the
perceiver knows only what it knows on this plane (generally speaking), and
through the ignorance of the Real, involves itself in the cause and effect
of physical nature, identifying itself with body and sensations, and looking
at other human beings in the same light. This is a wrong attitude of mind.
The "we," at this end, is the identification of the perceiver with this
plane's perceptions--a misconception of the perceiver, a dream--a play--in
which the perceiver is so involved as to have lost sight and memory of his
real life.

The mind is both "carrier" and "translator" of both lower and higher self;
the attitude determines the quality and kind of action, for one will act
according to the attitude of mind firmly held. The great and incalculable
value of acting for and as the Supreme is that there is nothing higher in
the way of attitude, and this endeavor must by its very nature bring about
the best results.

What moves the "mind" this way or that is usually desire for the attractions
of matter, and self-interest in them; these then move and control the mind
through the brain. "We," the Perceiver, do not perceive anything but the
"ideas" which the senses and organs present. He is not fully awake on this
plane; sometimes he gets partly wakened, but drops off to sleep again,
lulled by the sounds and memories of his dream; sometimes "bad dreams"
awake him; sometimes he is awakened by the voices of those who are awake.

The "Real" and the "unreal," the "fleeting" and the "ever-lasting" are terms
which will be more fully understood if looked at from the point of view of
the Perceiver. This is the attitude of mind we should hold."
Friendly Philosopher 48-8



Buddhi


Here are some words from Oriental and Hindu texts that are used in
Theosophical works, the definition of which is helpful to us. Implied in
these definitions are philosophical ideas that relate to Buddhi and its many
functions in the Universe as well as in each human being. On one side it is
the vehicle of the Higher Self (Atma), and on the other it is the link
between Manas [Mind] and Atma.

In the Universe we find:


"Maha Buddhi (Sk) "Mahat. The Intelligent Soul of the World. The 7
Prakritis or 7 "natures" or planes, are counted from Mahabuddhi downwards."
Cosmic Buddhi, the emanation of the
Spiritual Soul Alaya, is the vehicle of Mahat only when that Buddhi
corresponds to Prakriti. Then it is called Maha-Buddhi. This Buddhi
differentiates through 7 planes, whereas the Buddhi in man is the vehicle of
Atman, which vehicle is of the essence of the highest plane of Akasa and
therefore does not differentiate. The difference between Manas and Buddhi
in man is the same as the difference between the Manasaputra and the Ah-hi
in Kosmos."	GLOS. 199


"Adi-Buddhi (Sk) "Primeval Intelligence or Wisdom; the eternal Budhi or
Universal Mind. Used of Divine Ideation, "Mahabuddhi" being synonymous with
MAHAT."	GLOS. 6


"...the Logos or Word is called incarnate wisdom. "Light shining in
darkness." The distinction lies between the immovable or eternal immutable
All, and the movable Speech or Logos, i.e., the periodical and manifested.
It can relate to the universal and the manifested. It can relate to the
Universal, and to the individual mind, to Mahat, or to the Higher Manas, or
even to the lower, the Kama Manas or Brain-Mind. Because that which is
desire, instinctive impulse in the lower, becomes thought in the Higher.
The former finds expression in acts, the latter in words. Esoterically,
thought is more responsible and punishable than act. But exoterically it is
the reverse. Therefore, in ordinary human law, an assault is more severely
punished than the thought or intention, i.e., the threat, whereas Karmically
it is the contrary."	Trans 142


Buddhi - Manas


Augoeides (Gr.) ... "Luminous Self," or our Higher Ego. But Occultism
makes of it something distinct from this. It is a mystery. The Augoeides
is the human divine radiation of the EGO which, when incarnated, is but its
shadow--pure as it is yet. This is explained in the Amshaspends and is
their Ferouer."
GLOS. 43-4


Individuality "One of the names given in Theosophy and Occultism to the
Human Higher EGO. We make a distinction between the immortal and divine
Ego, and the mortal human Ego which perishes. The latter, or "personality"
(personal Ego) survives the dead body only for a time in the Kama Loka; the
Individuality prevails forever." GLOS. 154-5



Spirit "...in Theosophical teachings "Spirit" is applied solely to that
which belongs directly to Universal Consciousness, and which is its
homogeneous and unadulterated emanation. Thus, the higher Mind in Man or
his Ego (Manas) is, when linked indissolubly with Buddhi, a spirit; while
the term "Soul", human or even animal (the lower Manas acting in animals as
instinct), is applied only to Kama-Manas, and qualified as the living soul.
This is nephesh, in Hebrew, the "breath of life." Spirit is formless and
immaterial, being, when individualized, of the highest spiritual substance
--Suddhasatwa, the divine essence, of which the body of the manifesting
highest Dhyanis are formed... Spirit, in short, is no entity in the sense of
having form; for, as Buddhist philosophy has it, where there is a form,
there is a cause for pain and suffering. But each individual spirit-- this
individuality lasting only throughout the manvantaric life-cycle-- may be
described as a centre of consciousness, a self-sentient and self-conscious
centre; a state, not a conditioned individual. This is why there is such a
wealth of words in Sanskrit to express the different States of Being,
Beings, and Entities, each appellation showing the philosophical difference,
the plane to which such unit belongs, and the degree of its spirituality or
materiality..."	GLOS. 306


"the one free force acts, helped in this by that portion of its essence
which we call imprisoned force, or material molecules. The worker within,
the inherent force, ever tends to unite with its parent essence without;
and thus, the Mother acting within, causes the Web to contract; and the
Father acting without, to expand. Science calls this gravitation;
Occultists, the work of the universal Life-Force, which radiates from that
Absolute and Unknowable FORCE which is outside of all Space and Time. This
is the work of eternal Evolution and involution, or expansion and
contraction. [ Web cooling ]...it begins when the imprisoned force and
intelligence inherent in every atom of differentiated as well as of
homogeneous matter arrives at a point when both become the slaves of a
higher intelligent Force whose mission is to guide and shape it.

It is the Force which we call the divine Free-Will, represented by the
Dhyani-Buddhas. When the centrepetal and centrifugal forces of life and
being are subjected by the one nameless Force which brings order in
disorder, and establishes harmony in Chaos--then it begins cooling...Every
form, we are told, is built in accordance with the model traced for it in
the Eternity and reflected in the DIVINE MIND. There are hierarchies of
"Builders of form," and series of forms and degrees, from the highest to the
lowest. While the former are shaped under the guidance of the "Builders,"
the gods, "Cosmocratores;" the latter are fashioned by the Elementals or
Nature Spirits."	Trans 128-9


"The universal force cannot be regarded as a conscious force as we
understand the word consciousness, because it would immediately become a
personal god. It is only that which is enclosed in a form, a limitation of
matter, which is conscious of itself on this plane. This Free Force or
Will, which is limitless and absolute, cannot be said to act
understandingly, but it is the one and sole immutable Law of Life and Being.
Fohat, therefore, is spoken of as the synthetic motor power of all
imprisoned life-forces and the medium between the absolute and conditioned
Force. It is a link, just as Manas is the connecting link between the gross
matter of the physical body and the divine Monad which animates it, but is
powerless to act upon the former directly."	Trans 134
(see "Psychic and Noetic Action - HPB Art. II 7-23)


"..."Mind" is manas, or rather its lower reflection, which whenever it
disconnects itself, for the time being, with kama, becomes the guide of the
highest mental faculties [Buddhi], and is the organ of the free-will in
physical man...." HPB ARTICLES, Vol. II, p. 13


"Mind is a name given to the sum of the states of Consciousness grouped
under Thought, Will, and Feeling. During deep sleep, ideation ceases of the
physical plane, and memory is in abeyance; thus for the time-being "Mind is
not," because the organ through which the Ego manifests ideation and memory
on the material plane has temporarily ceased to function. A noumenon can
become a phenomenon on any plane of existence only by manifesting on that
plane through an appropriate basis or vehicle...The Ah-hi (Dhyan-Chohans)
are the collective hosts of spiritual beings--the Angelic Hosts of
Christianity,,,--who are the vehicle for the manifestation of the divine or
universal though and will. They are the Intelligent Forces that give to and
enact in Nature her "laws," while themselves acting according to laws
imposed upon them in a similar manner by still higher Powers...This
hierarchy of spiritual Beings, through which the Universal Mind comes into
action, is like an army--a "Host,"	SD I 38  


"...Plato accepted the clue and followed it, if to these five, namely
Agathon (Deity or Atma), Psuche (Soul in its collective sense), Nous (Spirit
or Mind), Phren (physical mind), and Thumos (Kama-rupa or passions) we add
the eidolon of the mysteries, the shadowy form or the human double, and the
physical body...(= 7)" KEY, 96



Kama-Manas opposed to Buddhi-Manas


Personality "In Occultism--which divides man into 7 principles, considering
him under three aspects of the divine, the thinking or the rational, and the
animal man--the lower quaternary or the purely astro-physical being; while
by Individuality is meant the Higher Triad, considered as a Unity. Thus the
Personality embraces all the characteristics and memories of one physical
life, which the Individuality is the imperishable Ego which re-incarnates
and clothes itself in one personality after another."	GLOS. 252


Kama (Sk) "Evil desire, lust, volition; the cleaving to existence. Kama
is generally identified with Mara, the tempter."	GLOS. 170


Manas (Sk) "Lit., "the mind," the mental faculty which makes of man an
intelligent and moral being, and distinguishes him from the mere animal; a
synonym of Mahat. Esoterically, however, it means, when unqualified, the
Higher Ego, or the sentient reincarnating Principle in man. When qualified
it is called by Theosophists Buddhi-Manas or the Spiritual Soul in
contradistinction to its human reflection--Kama-Manas."	GLOS. 292


In Theosophical psychology the Mind (Manas) is held to be dual in its
nature. The nobler "higher" aspect is called Higher Manas or Buddhi-Manas.
The "lower" is designated Kama-Manas, or the mind when it allows itself to
be influenced, or wrapped in the desire and passionate nature. Between
these two is a mystic "thread" named the:


ANTASKARANA (Sk.) or Antah'karana..."understanding"..."the internal
instrument, the Soul, formed by the thinking principle and egoism" ... the
Occultists explain it as the path or bridge between the Higher and the Lower
Manas, the divine Ego, and the personal Soul of man. It serves as a medium
of communication between the two, and conveys from the Lower to the Higher
Ego all those personal impressions and thoughts of men which can, by their
nature, be assimilated and stored by the undying Entity, and be thus made
immortal with its, these being the only elements of the evanescent
Personality that survive the death and time. It thus stands to reason that
only that which is noble spiritual and divine in man can testify in Eternity
to his having lived." T. GLOSSARY, p. 23-4


"(e) Manas -- a dual principle in its functions. Mind,
Intelligence: which is the higher human mind, whose light, or radiation
links the MONAD, for the lifetime, to the mortal man.

The future state and karmic destiny of man depend on whether Manas
gravitates more downward to Kama rupa, the seat of the animal passions, or
upwards to Buddhi, the Spiritual Ego. In the latter case, the higher
consciousness of the individual Spiritual aspirations of mind (Manas),
assimilating Buddhi, are absorbed by it and form the (Ego), which goes into
Devachanic bliss.

(f) Buddhi. The Spiritual Soul. The vehicle of pure universal
spirit.
(g) Atma. Spirit. One with the Absolute, as its radiation.
KEY, p. 92


"...this means that he would have to admit a lower (animal), and a higher
(or divine) mind in man, of what is known in Occultism as the "personal" and
the "impersonal" Egos. For, between the psychic and the noetic, between the
personality and the individuality there exists the same abyss as between a
"Jack the Ripper," and a holy Buddha...These two we distinguish as the
Higher Manas (Mind or Ego) and the Kama-Manas, i.e., the rational, but
earthy or physical intellect of man, encased in, and bound by. matter,
therefore subject to the influence of the latter: the all-conscious Self,
that which reincarnates periodically--verily the Word made flesh--and which
is always the same, while its reflected "Double," changing with every new
incarnation and personality, is, therefore, conscious but for a life-period.
The latter "principle," is the Lower Self, or that which manifesting through
our organic system, acting on this plane of illusion, imagines itself the
Ego Sum, and thus falls into what Buddhist philosophy brands as the "heresy
of separateness." The former, we term Individuality, the latter
Personality."
HPB "Psychic and Noetic Action"- HPB Articles, II pp. 9-10, 20-1


In Manvantara, when the process of continuous refinement of "matter" is
taking place under the impulse and guidance of "Spirit" we note that the
Karma of the past manvantara for every being (each an immortal) is being
adjusted. That which is to be adjusted is broadly called "Kama" or passions
and desires.

It ought to be noted that Kama has a divine counterpart, a "Spiritual
Source" of which it is the 'shadow:'


KAMADEVA (Sk) "...the first conscious, all embracing desire for universal
good, love, and for all that lives and feels, needs help and kindness, the
first feeling of infinite tender compassion and mercy that arose in the
consciousness of the creative ONE FORCE, as soon as it came into life and
being as a ray from the ABSOLUTE..."Desire first arose in IT, which was the
primal germ of mind, and which Sages, searching with their intellect, have
discovered in their heart to be the bond which connects Entity with
non-Entity," or Manas with pure Atma-Buddhi."	(see SD II 176 )


"There is no idea of sexual love in the conception. Kama (deva) is pre-
eminently the divine desire of creating happiness and love ... is
represented as the Supreme Deity and Creator ... is the child of Dharma,
the god of Law and Justice, of Sraddha, faith...springs from the heart of
Brahma...born from water, i.e., from primordial chaos, or the "Deep"...one
of his many names, Ira-ja, "the water-born;" and Aja, "unborn;" and Atma
bhu or "Self-existent...the sign of Makara (Capricornus) on his banner,
he is also called "Makara Ketu." The allegory about Siva, the "Great
Yogin," reducing Kama to ashes by the fire from his central (or third)
Eye...is very suggestive, as it is said that he thereby reduced Kama to his
primeval substance." GLOS. 170-1



BUDDHI AND ATMA -- THE LINKS - PERCEIVER


Macrocosmically in the Kosmos :


"At the commencement of a great Manvantara [great cycle of evolution],
Parabrahm [the ABSOLUTE] manifests as Mulaprakriti [root-matter or
Mahabuddhi] and then as the Logos ["Word"- -thought-plan]. This Logos is
equivalent to the "Unconscious Universal Mind," etc., of Western Pantheists.
It constitutes the Basis of the Subject-side of manifested Being, and is the
source of all manifestations of individual consciousness.

Mulaprakriti or Primordial Cosmic Substance, is the foundation of the
Object-side of things--the basis of all objective evolution and
Cosmogenesis. Force, then, does not emerge with Primordial Substance from
Parabrahmic Latency. It is the transformation into energy of the
supra-conscious thought of the Logos, infused, so to speak, into the
objectivization of the latter out of potential latency in the One Reality.  

Hence spring the wondrous laws of matter...Force succeeds Mulaprakriti;
but, minus Force, Mulaprakriti is for all practical intents and purposes
non-existent."	SD II 24-5	
(see also M L 89-91)


"Spirit is universal, indivisible, and common to all...there are not many
spirits, one for each man, but solely one spirit, which shines upon all men
alike, finding as many souls--roughly speaking--as there are beings in the
world. In man the spirit has a more complete instrument or assemblage of
tools with which to work. This spiritual identity is the basis of the
philosophy; upon it the whole structure rests..."
Echoes, p. 50


"...Atman is no individual property of any man, but is the Divine essence
which has no body, no form, which is imponderable, invisible, and
indivisible, that which does not exist, and yet is...It only overshadows the
mortal; that which enters into him and pervades the whole body being only
its omnipresent rays, or light, radiated through Buddhi, its vehicle and
direct emanation. This is the secret meaning of the assertions of almost
all the ancient philosophers, when they said that "the rational part of
man's soul" never entered wholly into the man, but only overshadowed him
more or less through the irrational spiritual Soul or Buddhi...the
difference between that which is negatively, or passively, "irrational,"
because undifferentiated, and that which is irrational because too active
and positive. Man is a correlation of spiritual powers, as well as a
correlation of chemical and physical forces, brought into function by what
we call "principles." ...the spirit (Atma) never descends hypostatically
into the living man, but only showers more or less its radiance on the inner
man (the psychic and spiritual compound of the astral principles)..."
Key 101-3 


"...Atman is the Universal All, and becomes the Higher Self of man only in
conjunctions with Buddhi, its vehicle, which links It to the individuality
(or divine man). For it is the Buddhi-Manas which is called the Causal
Body, (the united 5th and 6th Principles) and which is consciousness, that
connects it with every personality it inhabits on earth."	Key, p. 121


"Bodha means the innate possession of divine intellect or "understanding;"
"Buddha," the acquirement of it by personal efforts and merit; while Buddhi
is the faculty of cognizing the channel through which divine knowledge
reaches the "Ego," the discernment of good and evil, "divine conscience"
also; and "Spiritual Soul," which is the vehicle of Atma. "When Buddhi
absorbs our EGO-tism (destroys it) with all its Vikara, Avalokiteshwara
becomes manifested to us, and Nirvana, or Mukti, is reached," "Mukti" being
the same as Nirvana, i.e., freedom from the trammels of "Maya" or illusion.

"Bodhi" is likewise the name of a particular state of trance condition,
called Samadhi, during which the subject reaches the culmination of
spiritual knowledge."	SD I xix


"The Occultist would call the "Higher Ego" the immortal Entity, whose shadow
and reflection is the human Manas, the mind limited by its physical senses.
The two may be well compared to the Master-artist and the
pupil-musician...In the course of natural evolution our "brain-mind" will be
replaced by a finer organism, and helped by the 6th [Buddhi] and the 7th
[Atma] senses..."	Theos. Articles & Notes, p. 208


"...Buddhi and Atma...These higher principles are entirely inactive on our
plane, and the higher Ego (Manas) itself is more or less dormant during the
waking of the physical man....So dormant are the Spiritual faculties,
because the Ego is so trammeled by matter, that It can hardly give all its
attention to man's actions, even should the latter commit sins for which
that Ego--when reunited with its lower Manas--will have to suffer conjointly
in the future. It is...the impressions projected into the physical man by
this Ego which constitute what we call "conscience;" and in proportion as
the personality, the lower Soul (or Manas), unites itself to its higher
consciousness, or EGO, does the action of the latter upon the life of mortal
man become more marked."	TRANS 62-3


"Self-Consciousness" ...it is the higher Manas illuminated by Buddhi; the
principle of self-consciousness, the "I-am-I"...It is the Karana-Sarira, the
immortal man, which passes from one incarnation to another." TRANS 63


The idea of the combined nature of the inextricably linked Atma and Buddhi
-- as an immortal Life-unit, or, the "eternal Pilgrim" -- is embodied in
the use of the work Monad:

"Monad (Gr.) The Unity, the one; but in Occultism it often means the
unified triad, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, or the duad, Atma-Buddhi, that immortal
part of man which reincarnates in the lower kingdoms, and gradually
progresses through them to Man and then to the final goal--Nirvana."	T.
Glos. 216 
[see SD I pp. 173-4 footnotes]		


"Metaphysically speaking, it is of course an absurdity to talk of the
"development" of a Monad, or to say that it becomes "Man."...a Monad cannot
either progress or develop, or even be affected by the changes of states it
passes through. It is not of this world or plane, and may be compared only
to an indestructible star of divine light and fire, thrown down on to our
Earth as a plank of salvation for the personalities in which it indwells.
It is for the latter to cling to it; and thus partaking of its divine
nature, obtain immortality. Left to itself the Monad will cling to no one;
but, like the "plank," be drifted away to another incarnation by the
unresting current of evolution."
SD I 174-5 fn.


"Occultism calls this seventh principle [Atma] the synthesis of the six, and
gives it for vehicle the Spiritual Soul, Buddhi..."	-- HPB	Key p. 119


In Man the Microcosm:


"Buddhi (Sk.) "Universal Soul or Mind. Mahabuddhi is a name of Mahat
(see "Alaya"); also the spiritual Soul in man (the 6th principle), the
vehicle of Atma, exoterically the 7th."	GLOS. 67


"Buddhi is the Immortal Ego. Buddhi cannot be described. It is feeling,
the accumulated experiences--all our experience is in feeling. Manas is the
Higher Mind, that part of the Buddhi which is in action; the creative power
of Buddhi. There is a continuous line of experience as Perceivers--all
beings are Perceivers. They are limited by the power of their self-created
instruments. In all perceptions is the quality of the instrument through
which that perception comes."	Answers to Questions on the "Ocean
of Theosophy" . p. 6


"Causal Body " This "body," which is no body either objective or
subjective, but Buddhi, the Spiritual Soul, is so called because it is the
direct cause of the Sushupti condition, leading to the Turya state, the
highest state of Samadhi. It is called Karanopadhi, "the basis of the
Cause," by the Taraka Raja Yogis...corresponds to both the Vignanamaya and
Anandamaya Kosha, the latter coming next to Atma, and therefore being the
vehicle of the universal Spirit. Buddhi alone could not be called a "Causal
Body," but becomes so in conjunction with Manas, the incarnating Entity or
EGO." GLOS. 74


"Karana Sarira (Sk.)	The "Causal body."...Exoterically it is Avidya,
ignorance, or that which is the cause of the evolution of a human ego and
its reincarnation; hence the lower Manas; esoterically--the causal body of
Karanopadhi...	corresponding to Buddhi and the Higher "Manas," or Spiritual
Soul." T. Glos. 173


"Buddhi the Spiritual soul...because it is the direct cause of Sushupti
[deep sleep]...leading to Turiya...the highest state of Samadhi [ Meditation
]...Buddhi becomes a "causal body" in conjunction with Manas the incarnation
of the Entity or Ego..." Glossary, p. 74

			
"The real Mahatma is then not his physical body but that higher Manas which
is inseparably linked to the Atma and its vehicle (6th principle) [Buddhi]
-- a union effected by him in a comparatively very short period by passing
through the self-evolution laid down by the Occult Philosophy." HPB
ART I 293


"As the synthesis of the 7 Dhyani-Buddhas, Avalokiteshwara was the first
Buddha (the Logos), so Amitabha is the inner "god" of Gautama, who, in
China, is called Amita(-Buddha)...the glorious counterparts of every earthly
mortal Buddha--the liberated Manushi-Buddhas appointed to govern the Earth
in this Round. They are the "Buddhas of Contemplation," and are all
Anupadaka (parentless), i.e., self-born of divine essence ...rests on the
fact that owing to the highest initiation performed by one overshadowed by
the "Spirit of Buddha"--...a candidate becomes virtually a Bodhisattva,
created such by the High Initiator."	SD I 109


"Every man has a god within, a direct ray from the Absolute, the celestial
ray from the One..."	TRANS 53


"Free-will can only exist in a man who has both mind and consciousness,
which act and make him perceive things both within and without himself."
"Consciousness is a condition of the monad [Atma-Buddhi] as a result of
embodiment in matter and the dwelling in a physical form."	WQJ
ART I 29

-----------------------------

I hope these will help,

Best wishes, 

Dallas

==============================================
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Meredith 
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 8:32 PM
To: 
Subject: Re: "just being" 


Hello -------

I will keep the idea of the "Perceiver" in mind as the discussions
continue.  
 
bill