Reconciliatory Remembering
- letting go of the unilateral identification with the chthonic° body
- reining in the emotional substrate
- harmonizing with the One Self
- Yellow Emperor vs Red Emperor°° or,
- the transition from the Yellow to the Red Opus (in the reverse engineering of BCE times)
- citrinitas, a yellowing or xanthosis, "yellowness" the solar dawn or awakening (䷲ 51, 震 (zhèn)), referred to "transmutation of silver into gold" or "yellowing of the lunar consciousness." It stood for the dawning of the "solar light" inherent in one's being, and that the reflective "lunar or soul light" was no longer necessary. For Carl Gustav Jung, citrinitas is Senex (賢人,ㄒㄧㄢˊ ㄖㄣˊ/君子,ㄐㄩㄣ ㄗˇ) the wise old man (or woman) archetype whose antithetical archetype, or enantiodromic opposite is the Puer Aeternus. XVIIII-XIX
- rubedo, a reddening, purpling, or iosis, the Self archetype which has achieved wholeness. This stage entails the attempt of the alchemist to integrate the psychospiritual outcomes of the process into a coherent sense of self before its re-entry to the world. The stage can take some time or years to complete due to the required synthesis and substantiation of insights and experiences. In an archetypal schema, rubedo represents the Self archetype and is the culmination of the four stages, the merging of ego and Self. XXI
道德經: 第十章
滌除玄覽，能無疵乎？
天門開闔，能為雌乎？
生之、畜之，生而不有，為而不恃，長而不宰，是謂玄德。*
(Possibilities through the Dao)
When one gives undivided attention to the (vital) breath and brings it to the utmost degree of pliancy, he can become as a (tender) babe.
Can you control the restless physical-being and at the same time hold fast to the Oneness of the Universe?
Can you so regulate your breathing that it becomes soft and effortless like a child's?
Can you sponge away the dust from the surface of the Mysterious Mirror, leaving nothing obscure?**
Can you love the people and govern the country while remaining yourself unknown?
Can you, opening and shutting Nature's gates, remain passive, playing the woman's part?
Can you penetrate all quarters and understand all creatures, and yet not interfere?
Very well then: Quicken them, nourish them;
Give life to them, but make no claim on them;
Govern them, but do not be dependent on them;
Be chief among them, but do not order them about.
This is to use the Mysterious Power.
The soul's journey or "ascent" is described in such terms as "an ecstatic.., mystical or out-of-body experience, wherein the spiritual traveller leaves the physical body and travels in his/her subtle body (or dreambody or astral body) into ‘higher’ realms".
In the Myth of Er*** (Ἤρ, gen.: Ἠρός), particularly, Plato rendered an account of the afterlife which involved a journey through seven planetary spheres and then eventual reincarnation. He taught that man was composed of a mortal body, immortal reason and an intermediate "spirit".
The Myth of Er is the legend that concludes Plato's Republic (10.614–10.621). The story includes an account of the cosmos and the afterlife that greatly influenced religious, philosophical, and scientific thought for many centuries.
The story begins as a man named Er (/ɜːr/; Greek: Ἤρ, gen.: Ἠρός), son of Armenios (Ἀρμένιος), of Pamphylia dies in battle. When the bodies of those who died in the battle are collected, ten days after his death, Er remains undecomposed. Two days later he revives on his funeral-pyre and tells others of his journey in the afterlife, including an account of reincarnation and the celestial spheres of the astral plane. The tale includes the idea that moral people are rewarded and immoral people punished after death.
Although called the Myth of Er, the word "myth" means "word, speech, account", rather than the modern meaning. The word is used at the end when Socrates explains that because Er did not drink the waters of Lethe, the account (mythos in Greek) was preserved for us.
सूक्ष्म शरीर, sūkṣma śarīra
one of a series of psycho-spiritual constituents of living beings, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. According to such beliefs each subtle body corresponds to a subtle plane of existence, in a hierarchy or great chain of being that culminates in the physical form.
The subtle body consists of focal points, often called chakras, connected by channels, often called nadis, that convey subtle breath (with names such as prana or vayu). These are understood to determine the characteristics of the physical body. Through breathing and other exercises, a practitioner may direct the subtle breath to achieve supernormal powers, immortality, or liberation.
According to yogic philosophy, humans have three bodies -- the physical, the astral and the causal -- which, together, are the vehicle of the soul. The astral body is more subtle than the physical body and it contains prana (life force), the senses and the mind.
In yoga, it is the astral body which contains prana and the system of nadis (energy channels) that carry prana. These are sometimes known as astral tubes.
Early Hinduism
Early concepts of the subtle body (सूक्ष्म शरीर sūkṣma śarīra) appeared in the Upanishads, including the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad and the Katha Upanishad. The Taittiriya Upanishad describes the theory of five koshas or sheaths², though these are not to be thought of as concentric layers, but interpenetrating at successive levels of subtlety:
- The anna-maya ("food body", physical body, the grossest level),
- The prana-maya (body made of vital breath or prana),
- The mano-maya (body made of mind),
- The vijñana-maya (body made of consciousness)
- The ananda-maya (bliss body, the subtlest level).
Subtle internal anatomy included a central channel (nadi). In later Vedic texts called samhitas and brahmanas one also finds a theory of five "winds" or "breaths" (vayus, pranas):
- Prāṇa, associated with inhalation
- Apāna, associated with exhalation
- Uḍāna, associated with the distribution of breath within the body
- Samāna, associated with digestion
- Vyāna, associated with excretion of waste
Later
A millennium later, these concepts were adapted and refined by various spiritual traditions. The similar concept of the Liṅga Śarīra is seen as the vehicle of consciousness in later Samkhya, Vedanta, and Yoga, and is propelled by past-life tendencies, or bhavas. Linga can be translated as "characteristic mark" or "impermanence" and the Vedanta term sarira as "form" or "mould". Karana or "instrument" is a synonymous term. In the Classical Samkhya system of Isvarakrsna (ca. 4th century CE), the Lińga is the characteristic mark of the transmigrating entity. It consists of twenty-five tattvas from eternal consciousness down to the five organs of sense, five of activity (buddindriya or jñānendriya, and karmendriya respectively) and the five subtle elements that are the objects of sense (tanmatras) The Samkhyakarika says:
The classical Vedanta tradition developed the theory of the five bodies into the theory of the koshas "sheaths" or "coverings" which surround and obscure the self (atman). In classical Vedanta, these are seen as obstacles to realization and traditions like Shankara's Advaita Vedanta had little interest in working with the subtle body.
Fourth Way
Subtle bodies are found in the "Fourth Way" teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, which claim that one can create a subtle body and hence achieve post-mortem immortality, through spiritual or yogic exercises. The "soul" in these systems is not something one is born with, but developed through esoteric practice to acquire complete understanding and to perfect the self. According to the historian Bernice Rosenthal, "In Gurdjieff's cosmology, our nature is tripartite and is composed of the physical (planetary), emotional (astral) and mental (spiritual) bodies; in each person one of these three bodies ultimately achieves dominance." The ultimate task of the fourth way teachings is to harmoniously develop the four bodies into a single way.
The Remorse of Orestes, where he is surrounded by the Erinyes, who were identified as chthonic beings, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1862
& reinterpreted 一 actually
In the Homeric telling of the story, Orestes is a member of the doomed house of Atreus which is descended from Tantalus and Niobe. Orestes is absent from Mycenae when his father, Agamemnon, returns from the Trojan War with the Trojan princess Cassandra as his concubine, and thus not present for Agamemnon's murder by Αἴγισθος (Aegisthus)3, the lover of his wife, Clytemnestra. Seven years later, Orestes returns from Athens and avenges his father's death by slaying both Aegisthus and his own mother Clytemnestra.
Aeschylus
In Aeschylus's Eumenides, Orestes goes mad after the deed and is pursued by the Erinyes, whose duty it is to punish any violation of the ties of family piety. He takes refuge in the temple at Delphi; but, even though Apollo had ordered him to do the deed, he is powerless to protect Orestes from the consequences. At last, Athena receives him on the acropolis of Athens and arranges a formal trial of the case before twelve judges, including herself. The Erinyes demand their victim; he pleads the orders of Apollo. Athena votes last announcing that she is for acquittal; then the votes are counted and the result is a tie, resulting in an acquittal according to the rules previously stipulated by Athena. The Erinyes are propitiated by a new ritual, in which they are worshipped as "Semnai Theai", "Venerable Goddesses", and Orestes dedicates an altar to Athena Areia.
Euripides
As Aeschylus tells it, the punishment ended there, but according to Euripides, in order to escape the persecutions of the Erinyes, Orestes was ordered by Apollo to go to Tauris, carry off the statue of Artemis which had fallen from heaven, and to bring it to Athens. He went to Tauris with Pylades, and the pair were at once imprisoned by the people, among whom the custom was to sacrifice all Greek strangers to Artemis. The priestess of Artemis, whose duty it was to perform the sacrifice, was Orestes' sister Iphigenia. She offered to release him if he would carry home a letter from her to Greece; he refused to go, but bids Pylades to take the letter while he stays to be slain. After a conflict of mutual affection, Pylades at last yielded, but the letter brought about the recognition of brother and sister, and all three escaped together, carrying with them the image of Artemis.
° Chthonic (/ˈθɒnɪk/, UK also /ˈkθɒn-/; from Ancient Greek: χθόνιος, romanized: khthónios [kʰtʰónios], "in, under, or beneath the earth", from χθών khthōn "earth") literally means "subterranean", but the word in English describes deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in the Ancient Greek religion. The Greek word khthon is one of several for "earth"; it typically refers to that which is under the earth, rather than the living surface of the land (as Gaia or Ge does), or the land as territory (as khora χώρα does).
Each of 五方上帝 the Wufang Shangdi is represented by a particular colour:
- Huangdi (黄帝) is known as the Yellow Emperor,
- Cangdi (蒼帝) as the Green Emperor,
- Heidi (黑帝) as the Black Emperor,
- Chidi (赤帝) as the Red Emperor, and
- Baidi (白帝) as the White Emperor.
- Each of them has a dragon that serves as their steed.
The concept of the Five Emperors was very important to early Chinese culture, including philosophy, the understanding about the night sky, and beliefs about the afterlife. The 五方上帝 represent the five sacred Chinese mountains, the five most important planets in the solar system, the five directions of space, and the five major constellations that rotate around the North Star.
The Red and Yellow deities are especially important to the Han Chinese, who consider themselves to be the descendants of these two emperors. The Five Emperors serve as an example of how real Chinese emperors were supposed to carry themselves and behave.
The Yan Emperor (炎帝; Yán Dì) or the Flame Emperor was a legendary ancient Chinese ruler in pre-dynastic times. Modern scholarship has identified 羊頭山the Sheep's Head Mountains (Yángtóu Shān) just north of 寶雞Baoji in 陕西Shaanxi Province as his homeland and territory.
A long debate has existed over whether or not the 炎帝 Yan Emperor was the same person as the legendary神農Shennong. An academic conference held in China in 2004 achieved general consensus that the 炎帝 and 神農 were the same person. Another possibility is that the term "flame emperor" was a title, held by a dynastic succession of tribal lords, with 神農 being known as 炎帝 perhaps posthumously. Accordingly, the term "flame emperors" would be generally more correct. The succession of these flame emperors, from 神農, the first 炎 Emperor, until the time of the last 炎 Emperor's defeat by 黃帝 the Yellow Emperor, may have been some 500 years.
炎帝 the Yan Emperor, retreating from a recent invasion from the forces of 蚩尤 a tribal leader of 九黎, the Nine Li tribe, came into territorial conflict with its neighbouring 有熊 Youxiong tribes, led by 黃帝 the Yellow Emperor. The Yan Emperor was defeated after three successive battles and surrendered to 黃帝 the Yellow Emperor, who assumed the title of overlord (共主) and agreed to merge the two tribes into a new confederation — 炎黃 the Yanhuang tribe. Under 黃帝 the Yellow Emperor's leadership, the newly combined tribes then went to war and defeated 蚩尤 Chi You in 涿鹿之戰 the Battle of Zhuolu, and established their cultural and political dominance in China proper.
- "The Canon of Reason and Virtue", translated by D. T. Suzuki and Paul Carus, 1913.
** 皈依佛門
- 神秀偈
The mind is like a bright mirror's stand.
The mind is like a bright mirror’s stand;
Time after time polish it diligently,
So that no dust can collect.
- 惠能偈
The bright mirror has no stand;
Originally there is not one thing
What place could there be for dust?
- 惠能偈（其他版本）
*** הַר • (har) m (plural indefinite הָרִים, singular construct הַר־)
- mountain (mass of earth and rock)
Compare Ugaritic 𐎅𐎗 (hr, “mountain”) & synonym 𐎙𐎗 (ġr)
² In Ayurveda, a dosha4 ( दोषः, doṣa) is one of three substances that are believed to be present in a person's body. Beginning with twentieth-century literature, there was an idea called "The Three-Dosha Theory" (Sanskrit: त्रिदोषोपदेशः, tridoṣa-upadeśaḥ). Authoritative Ayurvedic treatises describe how the quantity and quality of these three substances fluctuate in the body according to the seasons, time of day, diet, and several other factors. While Ayurvedic doshas are a similar concept to Latin Humorism, it is a distinct system.
One important concept of Ayurvedic medicine is the belief that health exists when there is an equal amount of the three fundamental bodily bio-elements or doshas called wind, bile and phlegm (वात, पित्त, कफ: vāta, pitta5, kapha).
3 Αἴγισθος was the son of Thyestes and Thyestes' own daughter Pelopia, an incestuous union motivated by his father's rivalry with the house of Atreus for the throne of Mycenae. Thyestes felt he had been deprived of the Mycenean throne unfairly by his brother, Atreus. The two battled back and forth several times. In addition, Thyestes had an affair with Atreus' wife, Aerope. In revenge, Atreus killed Thyestes' sons and served them to him unknowingly. After realizing he had eaten his own sons' corpses, Thyestes asked an oracle how best to gain revenge. The advice was to father a son with his own daughter, Pelopia, and that son would kill Atreus.
Thyestes raped Pelopia after she performed a sacrifice, hiding his identity from her. When Aegisthus was born, his mother abandoned him, ashamed of his origin, and he was raised by shepherds and suckled by a goat, hence his name Aegisthus (from αἴξ, male goat). Atreus, not knowing the baby's origin, took Aegisthus in and raised him as his own son.
4 दोष From Proto-Indo-Aryan *dáwṣas, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dáwšas, from Proto-Indo-European *dew- (“to fail, to lag, to be behind”). Cognate with English tire and Ancient Greek δεύομαι (deúomai, “to lack”): दोष • (dóṣa) m
- fault, deficiency (ex.: bile vomiting)
- vice
- blame
- damage
- mistake
No comments:
Post a Comment