Quotations relevant to the Path

Rituals, spells, prayer, meditation and magical acts.
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Angolmois

Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Angolmois »

"If you do not meditate on death upon waking in the morning, your entire morning will be wasted; if you do not meditate on death at noon, your entire afternoon will be wasted; and if you do not meditate on death in the evening, your entire night will be wasted."

~ Tibetan Buddhist teaching
obnoxion
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by obnoxion »

Verily, one who, during a gloomy, moonless night of the darkest phase of the moon, [contemplates the darkness] for a long time [and] sees the pure image of the darkness itself will go towards the state of bhairava.


- Interprative translation of Dh. 64. from "Vijnanabhairava, or Techniques for Entering Liminal Consciousness" (Sattarka, 2010; page 101) by Dimitri Semenov. This is an attractive translation for me, having considered the black moon a sacrosanct image from very early age. So it is a practice that has come naturally for me, and it is a joy to find it from such a universally esteemed Tantric treatise, as is the Vigna Bhairava Tantra.

In his commentary on the same page, Semenov quotes Jaidevs Singh's words on this practice from Dh. 64. :"...One is filled with sense of awe and uncanny mystery, and easily slips into the mystic consciouness". It is said that any one of the 112 tantric meditation methods in the Vijnabhairava pursued alone can lead the practioner to the great liberation.
One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; his life has 54 000 Indras. One day of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The lifetime of Vishnu is one day of Shiva.
obnoxion
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by obnoxion »

Sariputra, the wisest of Buddha's disciples, was sitting in solitary meditation beneath a tree deep in the forest when he was suddenly approached by Vimalakirti. The layman told the monk in no uncertain terms, "This is not the way to meditate. You must place yourself in a state of contemplation where there is neither body nor mind; where you manifest ordinary behavior while in nirvana; where you act like a normal person without losing your spiritual nature; where your mind neither settles nor moves about; and where nothing troubles you at any stage of the practice. In short, you must attain liberation without avoiding the passions that rule the world!!" Sariputra was dumbstruck.


- John Stevens: "Lust for Enlightenment - Buddhism and Sex" (Shambhala, 1990: p. 51). The quote within the quote is from "Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra" (Shambhala, 1990) by C. Luck. There are many translations of the famous Vimalakirti Sutra available. Here Vimalakirti lays out the tantric householder ideal in a neatly condensed form.
One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; his life has 54 000 Indras. One day of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The lifetime of Vishnu is one day of Shiva.
Angolmois

Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Angolmois »

"Because you did not want to exist for your sake only, but you gave wholly yourself, you became a star. Your beauty is unforgettable, wounding like an arrow. Only the true sage deciphered beauty's allegory and released himself from her spell. Not even death can separate lovers who drink from your chalice. Powerful sorceress! You maintain the wheel of the world in motion and you keep secret the elixir that turns an instant into eternity and gives life its very meaning."

Emil Páles, Seven Archangels (Rhytms of Inspiration in the History of Culture and Nature), chapter Anael
obnoxion
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by obnoxion »

"SADIES SATANI AGIR FONS TORIBUS"


[According to Honorius,] "If an individual wished to discover a treasure, he should make his way to the place where he believes one can be found and speak these words while striking the ground three times with his left heel, then do it again three times in a row.

- Claude Lecouteux: "Dictionary of Ancient Magic Words and Spells" (Inner Traditions, 2014; p. 286).

***

...Tantra, then, borrowed magical rites from its ethnic context and turned them to its own purposes...Tantra does this by taking magical rituals of destruction and changing their aim. Instead of destroying rivals and enemies, the rites have been refined so that they now eradicate hatered and hindrances to gaining Enlightenment.

- Vessantara: "A Guide to the Deities of the Tantra" (Windhorse Publications, 1995, 2008; p. 7).
One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; his life has 54 000 Indras. One day of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The lifetime of Vishnu is one day of Shiva.
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Nefastos
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Nefastos »

Today my study of the 40th chapter of Ezekiel brought me instantly back to this text, found last night from Michel Houellebecq nice little biography H.P. Lovecraft. Against the World, Against Life:

"H.P. Lovecraft's architecture, like that of great cathedrals, like that of Hindu temples, is much more than a three-dimensional mathematical puzzle. It is entirely imbued with an essential dramaturgy that gives its meaning to the edifice. That dramatizes the very smallest places, that uses the conjoint resources of the various plastic arts, that annexes the magic play of light to its own ends. It is living architecture because at its foundation lies a living and emotional concept of the world. In other words, it is sacred architecture."

The idea of "more than three dimensions" in this sacred geometry really hit the spot.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
Angolmois

Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Angolmois »

"Only a brave self-confident community can tolerate a man uncompromisingly dedicated to the open quest for truth."

- Harry Neumann
obnoxion
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by obnoxion »

All those who are not completely at home in this world of fleeting shadows and who yearn for their origin in the paradisal abode belong to the family of birds, for their soul possesses wings no matter how inexperienced they might be in actually flying towards the space of Divine Presence.


- Seyyed Hossein Nasr: "Islamic Art and Spirituality" (State University of New York Press, 1987; p. 98). The quote is the first sentence from chapter VI, "The Flight of Birds to Union: Meditations upon 'Attar's Mantiq al-Tayr'"
One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; his life has 54 000 Indras. One day of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The lifetime of Vishnu is one day of Shiva.
Mars
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Mars »

"Jung understood nothing about archetypes."

- Seyyed Hossein Nasr

This was in a YouTube video I watched years ago, but I don't remember which video it was anymore.
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Nefastos
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Nefastos »

Mars wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 8:41 pm"Jung understood nothing about archetypes."

Meaning that Jung used the word "archetype" in a bit different meaning than the word is used in occult context?
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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