Higher Mind Art – Abhidhamma Explorations
Keys to the Abhidhamma System
The earth the solid element,through weight and texture comprehend. While flowing, depth and clearness,show you water’s nearness. Heat, or radiance, or a light,shows you a fire is alight. And air, the subtlest elementhelps you change to comprehend From Greece, to Native America, from Egypt to India, the idea of four fundamental elements which form the… Continue reading Wisdom of the Elements
The condition wherein things, material or immaterial, exist rather as a potential, without actually being manifest, is what is called a condition of latency. It is the condition of mental or material phenomena existing in germ form (the term Purejata literally means pre-nascence).While anything (any phenomena) that already is in existence exists in the condition… Continue reading Purejāta-Pacchājāta – Condition of Latency and Manifestation
Whenever we give something, whenever we sacrifice something from whatever material goods we possess, or from our time, …we are going against the stream of the world. We are going against the worship of matter. And we make spiritual things more important than material things. And whenever we make spiritual things more important in our… Continue reading The spiritual side to giving
This is an idealised version of the arising of the Jhāna factors,...mainly for making clear the meaning of the terms. In actual practice, things might not progress as smoothly as depicted here. The light shown, in Buddhist terms is always a manifestation of the 5 spiritual faculties (Indriyas), that is, faith or inspiration, energy, mindfulness… Continue reading The Factors of Jhāna (with audio description)
As choices become more consistent and as the mind grows in its capacities of making intelligent kammical calculations that are in alignment with those choices, individuality reaches its peak. Ultimately the mind will then seek to know, what the worthiest of goals to aspire to is. Hence it sets out to study life with an… Continue reading Dhamma Niyāma – The Law of Holiness
With every mental impulse, your body throws off particles of energy. Strong mental impulses produce a larger quantity of these particles. And how far these spread is largely dependent on the together-play of your physical vitality, with the strength of the emotion or mind-state. Now, when you have trained to be sensitive towards finer matter,… Continue reading Developing Mettā Meditation by Understanding Emotions and Energy
Every person who through proficiency in some skill rises himself up above his fellow human beings, does so through having found some way of cultivating a dynamic interaction of these 5 spiritual faculties. That is through: Inspiration, Exertion or Vigour, Clarity, Inner Unity and Wisdom. But, although it might be easy enough to understand them… Continue reading Five Spiritual Faculties
Nowadays it is perhaps more important than ever, that we learn to better look after ourselves and gain greater control over the workings of our body. Thus increasing our potential for warding off disease and for developing greater resilience. For accomplishing that more effectively, I want to offer this small pictorial description of the basics… Continue reading Healthy Mindfulness
A combination is a coming together of various elements, material or immaterial, to form a new whole. In fact, the whole universe is but a combination of elements. But to start small, comprehending this condition in childlike simplicity, we seek to understand it first in matters of the four elements. Thus we may observe, how… Continue reading Anantara Paccaya – Condition of Combinations
Sometimes people studying Buddhism, especially in relation to the vipassanā schools, end up with some conclusion that there is no continuity in mental and material phenomena…So here we want to give some food for thought related to continuity.In matter of the most rudimentary form, one may think how at times one thing pretty much bumps… Continue reading Continuity
Paticca samuppāda (often called the Law of Dependent Origination is perhaps the most famous of Buddhist Laws. Discovered by the Buddha and prescribed by him as one of the most fundamental principles to comprehend, it is a chain of 12 links, which is spanning the whole of human life in a cause-effect manner. It thereby… Continue reading The Chain-Reaction of Becoming (or the Law of Dependent Origination)
Very often we find different teachings on similar subjects or identical phenomena and we do not know, which one to believe. In the psychology of traditional Buddhism for example there is a teaching that the mind arises as a process of 17 mind moments, each possessing an arising, standing and perishing phase, happening so fast… Continue reading Looking for the Meaning
Should a person desire to practice Four Elements meditation as a subject for establishing mindfulness, he should frequently recite to himself the names of the primary elements and further on, extend the recitation to include the main characteristics of the elements. Thus he might first recite earth, water, fire, wind,… earth, water, fire, wind… earth,… Continue reading Meditation on The Four Elements
Bīja literally means 'seed', in the sense of 'germ of life'. Thus this law called Bīja Niyāma, is essentially the law that governs the growth of organic life, from the smallest germ to the birth and growth of higher beings. When some small particle of matter, surrounded by a medium of water which is neither… Continue reading Bīja Niyama – The Law of Organic Life
Conceiving of a past and a future and a good and a bad, the mind seeks to make more often decisions that assure a greater 'good' in the vaster space of the future. Yet, as it may oftentimes be undecided as to the good and the bad of things, it seeks for outside sources of… Continue reading Learning and what Hinders it
Now, our body needs nutriment. When we eat our food, that food gets digested in the stomach and then send further downward to the lower intestines. Along our spine, there are many nerve threads extending forward to the interior of the body, at some places only few, but at some places collecting into vast nerve-bundles.… Continue reading Physiology of a Celibate’s Demon
Principally should the study of this system give a person the key to comprehend any teaching or statement or problem whatsoever, be it religious, mathematical, philosophical, biological or what ever else. Because, although there is a certain relativity to all truths spoken or written down, there is but one universal truth which may be approached… Continue reading Acquiring Knowledge
Whenever one phenomenon is, by virtue of its own qualities, pulling towards itself another phenomenon, it is called attraction. On all the conceivable scales of life, can there be found this condition of attraction. Matter from the tiniest of particles, to the matter of the whole universe is kept together through the condition of attraction.… Continue reading Sampayutta Paccaya- Condition of Attraction
Utu Niyama - The Law of Physical Nature The Buddha declared, that an absolute beginning of things can not be found. Yet in regard to the phenomenal world, whether on a grand scale or in the very tiny things, all things are understood to possess these two sides of a spectrum, one being the beginning… Continue reading Utu Niyāma – The Law of Physical Nature
Kamma Niyāma - The Law of Kamma Kamma Niyāma is the law of will or intention. Whenever the mind based on previous investigation and classification (of some sense-sphere phenomena) is thinking a thought, that thought will incline in one direction or another (usually dependent on how something was classified). When that direction of thought, becomes… Continue reading Kamma Niyāma – The Law of Kamma
Nutriment or Fuel condition refers to the way in which a particular physical thing or mental state or process is supported in its further growth. Most people will have had some experience of this condition when their mind was running wild due to having too much fuel from the senses. Traditionally there are 4 kinds… Continue reading Ahāra Paccaya – Condition of Fuel or Nutriment
Ārammana, usually translated as objects, may more accurately be thought of as supports of the mind (and the senses). Thus, this condition is describing any relation between mind or matter (as in the case of sense-base matter) and an supporting object. Any consideration wherein "my house", "my country", "my friends", "my relatives", "my property" etc.… Continue reading Ārammaṇa Paccaya – Condition of Objects
Citta Niyāma- The Law of Mentation Citta Niyāma is the law of mind. It is the law that governs the appearance and sequence in regard to mental phenomena. Even as the coarsest and deadest of matter, contains in it the potential for life, in that, by chance it might combine with a material sympathetic with… Continue reading Citta Niyāma – The Law of Mentation
Anger Anger is life resisting life. It is when life is identified with what it is not, that it resists its own flow. But as lives vision of life becomes more complete, life learns to flow with life in an unobstructed manner. Anger is a form of resistance of the higher part of ourselves,...an awareness… Continue reading Anger, Desire and Delusion
EmotionEmotions are the first stirrings of a latent mind seeking manifestation For doing work with/ for collaborating with some of the good forces of this universe,...big or small...we’d better try to learn about their nature and what they can do for us... Here only some example of how such understanding might look when seen from… Continue reading Conditions of Emotions using the Abhidhamma method
If we want to learn how to transcend unwholesome states of mind, we need to make a start in understanding those little understood inner forces that we experience as undesirable emotions. It is only through true understanding, that we may transcend the ignorance which is at the root of all unwholesome emotions. Here only two… Continue reading Unwholesome Emotion
For a Buddhist practitioner, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the law of kamma, is one of the essential things to aim at. So, here a small elucidation of this very fundamental law along the line of Abhidhamma. Some Explanations on the Workings of Kamma Suppose, for example a good meditator, attains samadhi, and picks up… Continue reading Kamma, Meditation and Rebirth
Once a person has acquired an understanding of natural laws and the natural sequence of those laws, he will have to order each item of importance under the functionings of those laws. That is, how anything that he would like to understand properly, is working out or is functioning under the governance of each of… Continue reading Application of the Knowledge of the 5 Niyamas
Bīja Niyama is the law of organic life. Bīja literally means 'seed', in the sense of 'germ of life'. Thus, Bīja Niyama, is essentially the law that governs the growth of life...from plant growth to the birth and growth of higher beings. All the immutable facts of life, prove the existence of the law that… Continue reading Bīja Niyāma (2)- The Law of Organic Life
Nature is cyclical and moody, …sometimes she gives, sometimes she takes Mans inner nature too is cyclical and moody Yet, to some degree man has proven a capacity to move beyond certain cycles.. towards a direction not indicated by nature Although, this has brought with it various definite complications, it has yet allowed man to… Continue reading Improving Nature to transcend Suffering-Cycles
Dependent Origination as a Formula to Comprehend Life Unfathomable like the deep dark depth of the earth, is the deep dark depth of ignorance, out of which in random fashion sprout formation after formation. Those are the kammical seeds of an unthinkable past, which like little saplings whose planting has been long forgotten pierce through… Continue reading Dependent Origination
For gaining a clearer understanding about the mental process, we might consider about it in the light of human development and its relation to the higher faculties. Example: A person receives an impression from outside...A strong person oppresses a weaker one... First level of development...The third person receives the impression, and after that his mind… Continue reading The Mental process in Human Development
An overriding theme of all mystical and contemplative traditions is, the question: "By knowing what, one may come to know all ?"... for the answering of which, systems have been developed, aiding the practice delineated in the scriptures of the respective tradition. 'The Paṭṭhāna' is the system of Synthesis, that is, once a person has… Continue reading The Patthāna
Good begets good, bad begets bad. Most people, at the very least have heard such saying. Yet, although there may be situations in life where it is quite obvious what is good and what is bad, many times in life we may come across situations in which it is difficult to decide which road or… Continue reading The Problem of Good and Evil
“To understand means, to understand all,...to understand only in part, means to not understand at all” 'The Paṭṭhāna', traditionally regarded as the quintessence of the Buddha's wisdom and as the surest proof of his omniscience, is a system which, in mathematical order, seeks to expand the comprehension of matter, mind and consciousness delineated in the… Continue reading Summary of Patthāna Conditions
The Vithi model shows the mind as a sequence and depicts the order by which mental phenomena occur. Apart from that, it indicates, that certain aspects of cognition/ of processing Information have perhaps more significance than others...As man learns to master the world in which he finds himself, initially he will be so to say… Continue reading Philosophical Notes on Vithi
"When I the starry courses know, And Nature's wise instruction seek, With light of power my soul shall glow, As when with spirits spirits speak." Since ancient times, there have been methods for attaining knowledge, designed to help man to understand the universe and himself. Systems such as Astrology, Alchemy, Kabaala, I Ching should not… Continue reading Ancient Methods of attaining Knowledge ‐ Abhidhamma and Astrology
Concepts and Ultimate truth Phenomena are ever only phenomena, words and concepts are ever only words and concepts. But if we possess a word or concept, which has for us a significant relation to a certain phenomenon, we may be able to gain a certain amount of power over that named phenomenon. If a person… Continue reading Paramattha- On Ultimate Truth
If while observing yourself and remembering your dhamma practice, you of and on formulate a desire, such as 'may I realize, what I have not yet realized', or more concretely 'may I see the light of wisdom in my meditation' or 'may I experience meditative ecstasy' ...('accompanied by an effort of will ')...you are practicing… Continue reading Notes on Iddhi Padas (Roads to success)
All the major religions of the world possess a certain creation myth...an explanation of how the world came about...as well as what its ending will be....Buddhism too has an conception of how the world came about, but having arisen to a great extent as an opposition to the metaphysical dogmatism of the brahmins...its doctrine of… Continue reading Dependent Origination applied
Using your mind Just repeating something that was said before,... are you using your mind?...If you make a calculator that only shows the input as output..who would buy it? ...Yet, even the most simple calculator seem to have a more functional mind than many a man of the crowd... Reading a book....are you really using… Continue reading 4 Using the Mind
Higher Mind Art - Abhidhamma Explorations 