Rewriting Dane Rudhyar’s Astrological Mandala

Awakening to one’s true nature

(Sun in tropical Zodiac, April 20, 2015)

Taurus 1° –  a clear mountain stream 

keynote:  the pure, uncontaminated, spontaneous awakening to one’s own nature.

  Here we see life-force in its original, dynamic form as it emerges from emptiness, formless and without form. The mountain stream may be conditioned by the nature of the soil and by all the forces which in the past have formed the mountain’s rock strata—by its past history, but out of this past a new, pure, unadulterated release of potentiality has emerged, imbued with primordial energy, energy being matter at its source. It is flowing irresistibly toward its own destiny.

  Emphasis here resonates with awakening to one’s true nature, the buddha-nature, a return to the original source of one’s being where freed from conditioning factors, one’s original mind is revealed. As one awakens, the manipulations of the ego are no longer in control. The “self” is taken out of the equation.

Text revised from An Astrological Mandala, The Cycle of Transformations and Its 360 Symbolic Phases, by Dane Rudhyar, published by Random House, 1973. The book itself is a reformulation of the Sabian Symbols originally developed by astrologer Marc Edmund Jones in San Diego, California, 1925 with intermediator Elsie Wheeler.

  Aquí vemos la fuerza vital en su forma original, dinámico tal como surge del vacío, sin forma y sin forma. El arroyo de montaña puede ser condicionada a la naturaleza del suelo y por todas las fuerzas que en el pasado se han formado las montañas de roca por estratos su historia pasada, pero fuera de este pasado ha surgido una nueva versión pura, sin adulterar de potencialidad, imbuido de energía primordial, ser materia de energía en su origen. Está fluyendo irresistiblemente hacia su propio destino.

  El énfasis aquí resuena con despertar a nuestra verdadera naturaleza, la naturaleza de Buda, un retorno a la fuente original del ser de uno donde liberada de condicionantes, la mente original se reveló. Como uno despierta, las manipulaciones del ego ya no tienen el control. El "yo" se saca de la ecuación.

Galaxies -  6 billion years ago

half the life of the universe

Seal of the Three Laws

All things are impermanent – following natural direction of human life, advancing toward realization of buddhahood – one substance with Buddha – gestures of the great perfection.  The cause to live is unchangeable and permanent.

Nothing has an ego – without exception all things, existences, all individuals in this world are related to one another – nothing leads to an isolated existence. We are all part of one inseparable web of relationships, endowed with the same life-energy which causes everything to live. Everything is permeated by the same life-energy.

“This is the original vow of the Buddha, by the way which I walk I desire universally for all living beings to enter the same way along with me. The Enlightened Ones, the World-honored Ones, know that nothing has an independent existence, and that seeds of enlightenment spring from a cause, so they reveal the one vehicle.” (Lotus Sutra)

Giving up or releasing the personal ego, denying its right to control our thoughts and actions—doesn’t mean denying existence of individual self. It means mindfulness to see beyond discriminations, not allowing the “idea of who I am” to interfere with practicing universal compassion toward everyone.

Nirvana is quiescence – extinguishing all illusions.  The quiet stage in which we cling to nothing.

Who wrote this play?

Who wrote this play in which we have to laugh, cry, and exit according to the script? No god can write it, nor can Buddha. Only your own mind can write it.

– from “Buddhist Inspirations” Polishing the Diamond

A response to Blaine as to "dealing with past and future."

  Dealing with past and future??? No possible quick or easy answer to that one—if any—no "quote" or "set of words" to tell one how to deal with past and future. It's something be lived with—to be “inside” your own experience.

  "Mindfulness" (which is rooted in teachings of the Buddha) "says" that the past and the future do not exist – they are only "stories" we store in our minds as we remember the past or imagine the future, and one could say we are not the person we were in the past or will become in the future. Who we are now is all that matters.

  What I’m learning from Cody doesn’t come from his words or explanations of how or what he believes – he seldom says anything about that. Learning is from how I see him when he’s with his family or talking about them (very proud of his two daughters), his actions at the health center, or when we're riding around town listening to audio books (many ideas we share from them but seldom make any “comments” only – a “yes” or “just like me” now and then) When we lunch together, there’s little conversation.

  Especially at the supermarket where we have a chance of interchanges with so many people. He is TOTALLY ATTENTIVE to the moment. HE SEES EVERYTHING, is totally focused, his mind is right where he's at in the moment, and this results in many delightful exchanges – "quick takes" you might say, and kidding me about my love of butter—“hadn’t you better check out the butter sales today?” and checking the blueberries to see if they have any mold.

  When he's working at the center, he’s totally focused on the people his adjusting, giving them his complete attention.

  All this is a marvel, and so in tune with my own desire to "travel lost, arriving now, here” and celebrate life every minute of the day – even when “participating” in the lives of characters I love so much on DVDs, or books read, and most certainly here at FB.

  Once, some time ago when Cody was driving me home from a Thanksgiving dinner at his home, he told me about a seminar he'd attended and how impressed he was with the man who was giving it – I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember he said something that prompted me to respond with a "quote" whose meaning I had pondered many time as to its meaning while meditating with the Lotus Sutra, and suddenly I didn’t have to “ponder” it any more, and said simply, "Aspiring to the mind of non-existence . . ." He replied, "Yes." It was a wonderful moment—a spark of “knowing” between us, with only these few words spoken. Nothing further was said, or needed to be said.

Mendocino

Being Totally Present

  A lesson I’ve been learning through the years (nine and counting) from living example of friend Cody – with many thanks for yesterday (Thursday, April 9) – believe it or not, this was the “Buddhist Inspiration” for April 9, recalling our exchange as you brought me home again with that humongous load of groceries – “time for some mindfulness.”

  Ayya Khema – Be and Island – The greatest support we can have is mindfulness, which means being totally present in each moment. If the mind remains centered, it cannot make up stories about the injustice of the world or one’s friends, or about one’s desires or sorrows All these stories could fill many volumes, but when we are mindful such verbalizations stop. Being mindful means being fully absorbed in the moment, leaving no room for anything else. We are filled with the momentary happening, whatever it is—standing, or sitting, or lying down, feeling pleasure or pain—and we maintain a non judgmental awareness, a “just knowing.”

  (Dfs) – “Knowing” the vibrant Law of the Void, the real aspect of things. “Knowing” in our mindfulness we are always in the arms of the all-pervading life-force which causes everything to live. Our perceptions are clear, pure, as we perceive the real aspect of things, resting in emptiness, embracing all forms.

Barcelona - El Penidés

Being Totally Present

Estar totalmente presente

A lesson I’ve been learning through the years (nine and counting) from living example of friend Cody – with many thanks for yesterday (Thursday, April 9) – believe it or not, this was the “Buddhist Inspiration” for April 9, recalling our exchange as you brought me home again with that humongous load of groceries – “time for some mindfulness.”

Una lección que he estado aprendiendo a través de los años (nueve y contando) de ejemplo de amigo Cody vivir - con muchas gracias por lo de ayer (jueves 9 de abril) - aunque no lo crean, esta fue la "inspiración budista" de 9 de abril, recordando nuestro intercambio como usted me trajo a casa otra vez con esa carga descomunal de comestibles - "tiempo para un poco la atención."

Ayya Khema – Be and Island – The greatest support we can have is mindfulness, which means being totally present in each moment. If the mind remains centered, it cannot make up stories about the injustice of the world or one’s friends, or about one’s desires or sorrows All these stories could fill many volumes, but when we are mindful such verbalizations stop. Being mindful means being fully absorbed in the moment, leaving no room for anything else. We are filled with the momentary happening, whatever it is—standing, or sitting, or lying down, feeling pleasure or pain—and we maintain a non judgmental awareness, a “just knowing.”

Ayya Khema - Ser y la Isla - El mayor apoyo que podemos tener es la atención plena, lo que significa estar totalmente presente en cada momento. Si la mente permanece centrada, no puede inventar historias acerca de la injusticia del mundo o los amigos de uno, o sobre los propios deseos o tristezas Todas estas historias podrían llenar muchos volúmenes, pero cuando somos conscientes de detener tales verbalizaciones. Ser consciente significa estar totalmente absorto en el momento, sin dejar espacio para nada más. Estamos llenos de la ocurrencia momentánea, lo que sea de pie o sentado, o acostado, sentir placer o dolor, y mantenemos una conciencia sin prejuicios, un "hecho de saber."

(Dfs) – “Knowing” the vibrant Law of the Void, the real aspect of things. “Knowing” in our mindfulness we are always in the arms of the all-pervading life-force which causes everything to live. Our perceptions are clear, pure, as we perceive the real aspect of things, resting in emptiness, embracing all forms.

(Dfs) - "Conocer" la vibrante Ley del Vacío, el aspecto real de las cosas. "Saber" en nuestro mindfulness estamos siempre en los brazos de la que todo lo impregna de fuerza vital que hace que todo lo que vive. Nuestras percepciones son claras, puro, tal como lo percibimos el aspecto real de las cosas, que descansa en el vacío, que abarca todas las formas.

Lilacs - from Kristine Etter

Defining The Threefold Lotus Sutra

Undaunted amidst the multitude
let them openly expound and preach it.
With great compassion for their abode,
gentleness and forbearance for their robe,
and the voidness of all laws for their throne,
abiding in these, let them preach the Law.

. . . think of the Buddha; let them be patient.
In thousands of myriads of countless lands,
I will appear to them with pure, imperishable bodies,
and in infinite countless kalpas, preach the Law for all the living.

 . . . wherever they may go, I shall still be Buddha,
though under different names . . .”

  The Threefold Lotus Sutra is a Buddhist scripture of pivotal importance and one of the world’s great religious classics, representing the Buddha’s ageless teaching of wisdom, compassion, and liberation.

  The English text at the heart of the Threefold, “The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law” (the Lotus Sutra) is derived from a fifth century translation, Sanskrit to Chinese, by revered scholar Kumarajiva, based on earlier Sanskrit texts, some of which had been inscribed five hundred years earlier; his final translation also resulting at the time from counsels held with other Chinese scholars..

  All the Buddha’s teachings have been transmitted by the sutras. They do not contain the Buddha’s exact words since no sutra has been handed down in the language the Buddha himself spoke; they were trans­mitted in other Indic languages of later periods, so without doubt, conscious and unconscious changes in the Buddha’s exact words were made during several centuries of oral trans­mission. Nevertheless, both the primitive and Mahayana sutras are considered by scholars as authentic records of the Buddha’s original teachings. For a definitive history of the Buddhist sutras, see Kogen Mizuno’s Buddhist Sutras, Origin, Develop­ment, Transmission.

  At the first Buddhist council held after Shakyamuni’s death around 480 B.C., his teachings were recited by various disciples (chiefly by his cousin, Ananda); this is why many of the Great Vehicle Sutras (the Maha­yana) begin with “Thus have I heard.”

  The literal meaning of “sutra” is “warp or thread.” Seemingly limitless “threads” are woven into the fabric of the Buddha’s teachings and the The Threefold Lotus Sutra weaves them into “one vehicle” including formerly taught fundamental doctrine, such as “The Four Noble Truths,” “The Eightfold Path,” “The Six Virtues of the Bodhisattvas.” The Buddha’s forty years of preaching after his enlightenment now extend to embrace those whose hearts are longing to reach and “accomplish the Way supreme.”

  “Now is the very time” Shakyamuni declares early in the sutra, his desire arising from his universal compassion for all living beings. Celebrating the Buddha’s life and his teachings in the Lotus Sutra becomes a celebra­tion of life itself.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra, translated by Bunno Kato, Yoshiro Tamura, and Kojiro Miyasaka, with revisions by W.E. Soothill, Wilhelm Schiffer, and Pier P. del Campana; published, 1975, by John Weatherhill, Inc., New York and Tokyo; and Kosei Publishing Company, Tokyo.

Rissho Kosei-kai is a Buddhist lay organization head­quartered in Japan and is responsible for the beautifully rendered, scholarly English translation of The Threefold Lotus Sutra. (I was a member of Rissho Kosei-kai in Los Angeles for four years, from 1989 to 1993.)