Three Jewels

Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism

Katinka Hesselink 2006

Taking the Triple Gem is generally considered to make one officially a Buddhist . Thus, in many Buddhist communities, a Pali chant, the Vandana Ti-sarana is often recited by both monks and lay people. It means the following:

• Buddham saranam gacchāmiI go for refuge in the Buddha

• Dhammam saranam gacchāmiI go for refuge in the Dharma

• Sangham saranam gacchāmiI go for refuge in the Sangha

The Japanese / Chinese version means something only slightly different:

• I take refuge in the Buddha, wishing for all sentient beings to understand the great way and make the greatest vow.
• I take refuge in the Dharma, wishing for all sentient beings to deeply delve into the Sutra Pitaka, gaining an ocean of knowledge.
• I take refuge in the Sangha, wishing all sentient beings to lead the congregation in harmony, entirely without obstruction.

In both cases the central concepts are Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The meaning given to those terms does differ though, depending on the precise lineage. The Pali version stands for Theravada Buddhism, where the Japanese/Chinese version exemplifies Mahayana Buddhism.

Buddha

Originally, it is safe to say, the term Buddha simply meant Gautama Buddha, Siddharta the princewho had found Enlightenment after years of fasting, meditation and having followed the best spiritual teachers of India. When Theravada Buddhists take refuge in the Buddha, they mean exactly that: thank you Buddha for having found enlightenment and showing us the way. They honour the man who started the whole tradition.

In Mahayana Buddhism the term Buddha has come to mean not just the originator of the tradition, but also every other being who reaches enlightenment. So when Mahayana Buddhists take refuge in the Buddha, they honour all beings who have taken that path and reached the ultimate goal. As can be seen in the Japanese or Chinese version above, they also wish for all sentient beings to follow that example and take the great vow. The Bodhisattva Vow is meant, which is to vow to reach enlightenment and save all sentient beings in the process. This is obviously circular: every being is hoped to reach enlightenment, to become a bodhisattva and to help each other being reach enlightenment. Nobody is left out, at any stage of the process. 

Dharma

Dharma (or Dhamma in Pali) stands for the teachings of Buddhism, or for the practice of the Buddhist Path. Mahayana Buddhism is obviously going to include a wider variety of texts and teachings in that term than Theravada Buddhism. For Theravada Buddhism the Dharma means the Pali Scripture as well as the stories of Buddha's life and his previous lives (the Jataka tales).

Mahayana Buddhism and Vajrayana or esoteric Buddhism have an extensive literature added to the traditional texts. These include works like The Dhammapada, The Diamond Sutra, and The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Part of this list is more local. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is not included in Zen Buddhist dharma, but even Zen Buddhists only consider themselves seriously part of the tradition of Buddhism if they have taken refuge in the three jewels. 

Sangha

Sangha can be interpreted widely or very strictly. The strict (Theravada) interpretation is that of the community of Buddhist monks. An even stricter interpretation is that of the community of Arhats. The widest interpretation of Sangha is: the community of those who come together in any size group to study, discuss or practice meditation with a desire to help and be helped by that group. The Sangha might even be taken to mean the community of active spiritual seekers, though that is a theosophical interpretation. 

fonte - http://www.katinkahesselink.net/tibet/three-jewels.html

Krishnamurti e Annie Besant

The Seven Principles of Man

TERM GIVEN BY THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY TERM GIVEN BY THE ASCENDED MASTERS* 1. Rupa, Physical body Physical body 2. Prana, Life, or vital principle Life, or vital principle Spirit, or essence of a person 3. Linga sharira, Astral body, etheric double Etheric double (astral shell), Ka. A sheath that serves as the outer skin of the etheric, mental, astral and physical bodies. 4. Kama Rupa Seat of animal desires and passions. This is the center of the animal man, where lies the line of demarcation which separates the mortal man from the immortal entity. Lower Etheric Body Lower mental body Lower desire body (lower astral body) Electronic belt The four lower halves of the four lower bodies are the Kama Rupa. This is the place of the subconscious and unconscious records in the electronic belt. Line of Demarcation 5. Manas Mind, intelligence; Higher human mind, whose light, or radiation, links the monad for the lifetime to the mortal man. Holy Christ Self Plus the higher etheric body, higher mental body and higher desire body. 6. Buddhi The Spiritual Soul Atma-Buddhic Monad   The Causal Body The Body of First Cause, a replica of the causal body of the Great Central Sun The I AM THAT I AM Centered in the Causal Body is the Atma-Buddhic Monad. 7. Atma 8. The soul resides in the seat-of-the-soul chakra during life. The seed atom resides in the thymus with the spirit. The Kundalini, or sacred fire, resides in the Base-of-the-spine chakra. The threefold flame resides in the antechamber of the heart chakra, the Eighth Ray chakra. *Through Mark and Elizabeth Clare Prophet http://www.alpheus.org/html/source_materials/theosophy/principles.html

The Seven Theosophical Principles: An Initial Experiential Grounding in Reflective Experience

This small essay is an initial attempt to bring to language the “lived, first-personal, experiential characteristics” of the 7 Theosophical principles of our being based on the idea that these are “subjective, introspectivley available features.” (1)

One prerequisite for doing so is to resist the use of any metaphorical or explanatory concepts, which is the major line of contention between metaphysics and descriptive psychology in the spirit of phenomenology. The use of third-person examples is acceptable as long as they can be empathetically entered and made into hypothetical first-person experiences.

Below are the names of the principles in both English and Sanskrit followed by descriptions and examples.

I) Physical (Rupa): our experience of our physical body as a physical body will show in experiences like bumping into something, when you feel the weight and pure physicality of the body, when you realize it is a physical thing among other physical things and is subject to the laws of physical causality.

II) Vital principle (Prana): our experience of our vitality, or lack thereof, will show itself in the way the physical body comes along when we go about our business. Is it nimble, fresh, rested, dynamic, or limp, fatigued and sluggish? The same would apply to our emotional and mental bodies too, or, more accurately, it is the integrated complex of our physical-emotional-mental bodies that we experience as vital or not.

III) Etheric Double (Linga sharira): our experience of the prototypical double of our physical body would be accessible when we would have an unambiguous experience of a phantom limb in the case we lost a physical part of our body, but still experience its (phantom) reality.

IV) Lower Mental Body (Kama Rupa): our experience of our lower mental-desire body is maybe most accessible for reflection in the moment when a physical intention arises and is not yet fulfilled. It’s then that we can feel explicitly the pull of a lower, projected mental-emotional body image towards its physical object for fulfillment. For example, Janet feels the temptation to keep the excessive change she received in order to pay her rent.

V) Upper Mental Body (Manas): our experience of our higher mental-desire body is maybe most accessible for reflection in the moment when a spiritual intention arises and is not yet fulfilled. It’s then that we can feel explicitly the pull of a higher, projected mental-emotional body image towards its spiritual object for fulfillment. Janet feels the obligation to return the excessive change she received for the sake of honesty and justice.

VI) The Spiritual Soul (Budhi): our experience of our higher spiritual being is maybe most accessible for reflection when conscience announces itself as a still voice calling us to self-transcendentally take care of situations of moral ambiguity when we find ourselves in unprecedented limit-situations and all our Manasic maxims and principles fail to lead us to a right decision. This might then lead to a new caring perceptive intuition of a situation and the appropriate actions implied. Janet, torn between principled obligation and ego-centered temptation, has–triggered by her call of conscience–a new intuition of the situation as involving not just herself and the cashier, but also the wider network of relations involved that are directly or indirectly affected by her decision, and therefore resolves, unambiguously, to return the excess change. Mary has had such insights already and appropriated them into her being and therefore returned the excessive change spontaneously, virtuously, without second thoughts.

VII) The Divine Self (Atma): our experience of our divine self is maybe most accessible for reflection just at the beginning and end of an experience when, first, our whole being is integrally (physical, vital, emotional, mental, intuitive, etc.) and self-transcendentally involved in a meditative action of intense spiritual significance and then the grace of consciousness-being-bliss overcomes us, uninvited, all-encompassing and for a timeless moment. This might happen in different settings. To me it happened a few times during work and while hiking in the mountains. Because of the overwhelming, intense and complete nature of the experience it will be probably quite impossible for consciousness to find the attitude and space to reflect upon itself during the height of it. But because of its intensity it will linger or sets itself in memory and then reflection can set in.

The above is an initial experiential grounding of the 7 Theosophical principles in reflective experience and made ready for a future phenomenology of Theosophy, or maybe better-stated–and paraphrasing Kant–a phenomenological prolegomena for any future Theosophy. Phenomena to be explored would be the interconnected nature of our physical-vital-emotional-mental experiences and bring out its essential structures and dynamics.

(1). John J. Drummond ”Moral phenomenology and moral intentionality” in Phenomenology and Cognitive Science(2008): 7:35-49. The examples of Janet and Mary were taken from this article, though slightly adapted to the article. Because the article is of a technical philosophical nature I can only recommend it to those with some philosophical training. For a more accessible text see “Phenomenology of Practice” by Max van Manen in Phenomenology & Practice (2007) 1: 11-30.

http://theosophist.wordpress.com/page/4/

Buda - Kung Fu Tse - Lao Tse

Representação Simbológica das Cores

Cor - Chakra - Aspecto - Religião

Amarelo - Plexo Solar - Espiritualidade - Espiritualismo

Azul - Laríngeo / Frontal - Mentalidade - A vida no aspecto positivo - Budismo, Hinduísmo

Vermelho - Básico - Materialidade - A vida no aspecto negativo - Judaísmo, Catolicismo, Maometismo