click here to return to the text, or you could use the back-browser

Nobody who is ever wasn’t, and everything that begins ends. We never weren’t, and we never won’t be. Sometimes we have these lives, and sometimes we don’t. If you’re theistic you call the place where we have them “creation”, and if you’re not you call it “sangsara”.

A good analogy is the ovum, where life begins. The ovum is an enormous sphere; during fertilization it is covered by a smear containing millions of sperm cells. Only by working in concert can all the sperm cells produce an enzyme which cracks the cell just enough for one of them to slip through. Then the crack seals, and the sperm and egg are joined.

The ovum is like the mind of God. Everything that takes place in it is imaginary, and that includes this planet, and all of the matter in it. Our bodies are imaginary; they consist of molecules, which in turn consist of atoms, which in turn consist of sub-atomic particles, which in turn consist of even finer stuff, which eventually resolves into light, or thought. The bodies seem very real, but in truth they are all being imagined by Vishnu. He’s very vivid.

We are not really here. We actually never leave nirvana (the smear of sperm cells), but by Krishna’s magic we take “birth” in one of these forms that he creates, each uniquely. Life on this planet consists of minerals, plants, animals, and humans. The human is the only divine form on the planet; by this I mean that each human body represents a separate and distinct eternal Buddha-self in nirvana. The lower animals, plants, and minerals are all being expressed by group-souls; they are not individual in the same sense as humans; so it is not sinful to eat them.

Just as the body is imaginary, so also is the mind, and so also is the soul. Higher than the soul is the purusha, and even the purusha is imaginary and temporal. Only the Godhead and the buddha-selves in nirvana are eternally real. But souls and purushas last a lot longer than one life; they go from one life to another, experiencing and evolving; first the intellect, and then the spirit-mind. After countless existences they are finally ready to end that particular “fold”, or series of lives, and resolve into nirvana, never having really left it. Then, after a long time, they’re ready for another existence, and they begin another fold at some point in the evolutionary scheme, depending on what they’re up for.

Why do we do it? Why do we play at these series of existences? Ultimately, we do it because it is fun. Creation (which Buddhists call sangsara) is divided into days and nights of Braham. Each “day” is billions of years long, say at least five, and nights are of equal duration. So all of the time that we spend not playing at them makes the prospect of play more attractive. It’s like swimming on a hot day. After a long time in the water you’re ready to dry out on the wharf, but after a long time in the sun, you’re ready for the water again. We don’t “fall” into these existences; we jump.

There are seven planes on which lives can take place in creation; we have the honor of occupying the lowest of the seven. The other six are of successively higher level and longer life. It is said that in Brahmaloka, the highest plane, lifetimes are equal to over one hundred thousand of our years.

There is a cycle of time through which the ages pass; a cycle is divided into four “yugas”. A day of Braham begins at the mid-point of Sattva-yuga (the top of a circle, for understanding), proceeds down the right side of the circle for one-half of the Treta-yuga, then one-half of the Dwapara-yuga, then the entire Kali-yuga, covering the bottom of the circle, then up the left side through the other half of the Dwapara, the other half of the Treta, and finally the other half of the Sattva, up to the mid-point, where the day of Braham begins and ends.

During Kali-yuga, the normal condition of man is one-quarter unfolded; during the Dwapara, half-unfolded, during the Treta, three-quarters; and finally fully unfolded during Sattva. Each yuga lasts at least a billion years, and we are currently in Kali. However, there are always some souls which unfold to a higher degree during the lower ages; there are always some fully-unfolded ones to be found.

Creation is a game, and one which we play willingly. The latin word for game is “ludus”, and as long as we do not diverge from cosmic law, the set of principles which underlie the reality, we lude merrily away and enjoy our natural state, which is very happy. If however we deviate from cosmic law, and commit infractions of it which are called “sins”, then we become “de-luded”, and enter subsets of the reality proper which are called “delusions”, and in which we seem to undergo much uncomfortable suffering.

The more deluded souls become, the more convinced they are that their seeming being in creation is their real self, so when they become very deluded and enter a demonic, or satanic state, they become very preoccupied with power, and see having power over others as the way to better themselves. In reality only the Godhead has power over others. I prefer to call Him Krishna, the name of His personality which is most generic and least role-defined; hence it is called His “chief” personality. At all times Krishna has 100% of all of the power in creation, for it is all taking place only within his own mind. We do not ever have any of it, but deluded souls think they do. They are a silly-billy to think that.

The higher the level a soul falls into sin from, the more formidible a demon he becomes in his deluded state. You see a lot of them in this world, for this is a very popular place to send deluded souls. Lives here are short, and things are slow, so it gives one an opportunity to realize that he is indeed in error, and to escape from that error while doing less damage to oneself and others.

To the hellbound, this world seems a hell, but to those who are deserving of heaven it can be a pretty good place; one with a lot of happiness. But if we experience suffering here, it need not mean that we have sinned; sometimes suffering is for a different reason, to instruct us about something. And every life has its ups and downs; the down part is sometimes the seasoning which gives the up part its savour.

Now we come to religion, one of the ways by which souls can right themselves when they have strayed from the straight and narrow by their wrongful actions. Here is a parable which explains the basic ground of all religion. It is from the Lotus Sutra, a Mahayana sutra of unknown authorship, ostensibly a teaching of the Nirmanakaya Siddartha Gautama (A Nirmanakaya is one who has realized contact with his buddha-self beyond a certain degree.):

Text below quoted from Lectures on the Sutra, the Hoben and Juryo Chapters, Revised Edition, Nichiren Shoshu International Center, 1-33-11 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151, Copyright © 1978, 1984 by Nichiren Shoshu International Center. All rights reserved. ISBN4-88872-017-7 C1015

“Imagine a wise and skilled physician who can compound medicines to cure any disease. He has many sons, perhaps ten, twenty, or even a hundred. He goes off to a distant land to see to some matter.

“Later, the children drink some kind of poison that makes them wild with pain, and they fall writhing to the ground. At this time the father comes back to his home and finds that his children have drunk poison. Some are out of their minds, while others are not. Seeing their father from afar, all are filled with joy and kneel down to entreat him, saying, ‘How wonderful that you have returned safely! We were stupid and by mistake drank some poison. We beg you to cure us and let us live longer.’

“The father, seeing his children suffering like this, follows various prescriptions. Gathering fine medicinal herbs that are perfect in color, fragrance and flavor, he grinds, sifts and mixes them together. Giving a dose of these to his children, he tells them, ‘This highly beneficial medicine is perfect in color, fragrance and flavor. Take it, and you will be quickly relieved of your sufferings and will be free of all distress.’

“Those children who have not lost their senses can see that the beneficial medicine is good in both color and fragrance, so they take it immediately and are completely cured of their sickness. Those who are out of their minds are equally delighted to see their father return and beg him to cure their sickness, but when they are given the medicine, they refuse to take it.

“This is because the poison has penetrated deeply, causing them to lose their true minds. Therefore they think that the medicine will not taste good in spite of its fine color and fragrance. Then the father thinks, ‘My poor children! The poison has attacked them and completely deranged their minds. Although they are happy to see me and ask me to cure them, they refuse to take this fine medicine I offer them. Now I must use some means to get them to take it.’”

These means are called “religions”. Although in reality there is only one religion, it is placed into various forms to appeal to various kinds of nut. The purest form of the medicine is a sin-free state, and the process of repudiation and cessation is a super-highway which enables one to enter that state.

There are other ways -- a commitment to the eightfold path (right understanding, right motives, right speech, right behavior, right mindfulness, right effort, right livelihood, and right contemplation) will bring one to the state. A good way to utilize the path is to apply punishment to inconsistencies with each of the principles. The punishments should not be extreme -- ordinary parent/child type discipline will suffice. In this way, it can be realized that this eightfold path is a unique jewel and a master key to enlightenment. To the unenlightened it appears to be merely a collection of nice platitudes. To view the original form in which the eightfold path was given, click here.

Repudiation is a process of recognition and reformation. It begins with an examination of one’s past life. All of the sins that one can remember should be acknowledged and repudiated, sin by sin, and a firm and real resolution made to not do that thing again, whatever the wrong act was. It is not enough to repent, and to simply cease to commit the sinful act. Unless the act is repudiated, the penitant will remain inwardly a ravening beast, and the tendency to sin in that way will remain in him. Part of repudiation is to decide what you should have done instead, and to bring yourself to a state of mind in which if you had that to do over again, you would choose your selected alternative.

The examination of the past life should be repeated at least once weekly when one has entered the process. At its peak it can be more than once. The entire procedure can take two years, even if you haven’t really been all that bad. To successfully complete the process is to exit your delusions by the same doorway through which you entered them.

The process of addressing a sinful act which one has committed, and saying “I should not have done that and I apologize (optional; one could apologize to God, or to the cosmos, or to humanity, or whatever gets you off); further I resolve to reform myself such that if I had that to do over again, I wouldn’t,” can draw one very strongly to corrective discipline, particularly to a form which is formative as well as corrective, and that brings us to spanking.