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Immortal Arts (仙術)1Edit
Immortal Arts (仙術) is the authority to twist the principles of the heavens without using any energy, soul power, or spiritual power — in other words, using only the heart, alter the laws of the world without Immortal Cultivation or any other supernatural abilities. Anyone can use this authority, should they repentantly enlighten themselves[1]
Contents1Substages of Immortal Arts1.1Clearing the heart1.2Basics of Immortal Arts1.2.1Real life inspiration1.3Reaching the heavens2Uses of Immortal Arts3History4Known Immortal Arts4.1Yeon's Play4.2Vast Cold Beautiful Agreement4.3Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique4.4Purple Soul Filling the Heavens4.5Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens4.6Flower Soul Filling the Heavens4.7Crystal Glass to Treading Sea (玻瓈蹈海成)5Mantras6ReferencesSubstages of Immortal Arts
Immortal Arts, before the systemization of Immortal Cultivation, was divided into three realms corresponding to the Minor, Middle, and Greater Boundaries of Immortal Cultivation:
The realm of clearing the heartThe realm of laying the basics of Immortal Arts through the heartThe realm of fully using Immortal Arts and reaching the heavensClearing the heart
This is the realm corresponding to the Minor Boundary of Immortal Cultivation.
Basics of Immortal Arts
The basics of Immortal Arts is divided into four substages:[2]
Various Omens (庶徵). It consists of the Rain (雨), Sun (陽), Heat (燠), Cold (寒), Wind (風), and Time (時). This corresponds to the Integration stage formula.Examination of Doubts (稽疑). Also known as Divination, it includes Rain (雨), Clearing (霽), Cloudiness (蒙), Want of Connection (驛), Crossing (克), Inner Diagram (貞), and Outer Diagram (悔). It primarily uses attraction forces to rearrange phenomena. This corresponds to the Star Shattering stage formula.Five Epochs, Three Spirits (五紀三靈). It involves reading the five constellations and gathering the three spirits to complete the Eight Paths. This corresponds to the Sacred Vessel stage formula.Eight Paths, One Extreme (八道一極). This is the completion of the training of Immortal Arts, uniting the Eight Paths and One Extreme to achieve the Nine Palaces and enter 'true' Immortal Arts. This corresponds to the Entering Nirvana stage formula.
Afterward, by focusing the Five Affairs (五事) on the Five Elements, if one enlightens to the principles of the Ten Heavenly Stems, that is what Cheongmun Ryeong called the 'final stage' of training.
Real life inspiration
The basics of Immortal Arts is a reference to the Nine Divisions (jiuchou 九疇) of the Hongfan (洪範; Great Plan) in Confucian literature.[3] The divisions corresponding to the basics of Immortal Arts are as follows. Notice that the hanja of the basics of Immortal Arts are similar, if not identical, to the hanzi of the Hongfan.
Corresponding realms of Immortal CultivationRToC's basics of Immortal ArtsThe Hongfan (洪範)Earth Axis (地軸)Five Blessings (五福)The Five Sources of Happiness (wufu 五福)Six Extremes (六極)The Awing Use of the Six Occasions of Suffering (liuji 六極)Five Elements (五行)Knowledge of the Nature of the Five Agents (wuxing 五行)Integration (合體)Various Omens (庶徵)The Various Verifications in Divination (shuzheng 庶徵)Star Shattering (碎星)Examination of Doubts (稽疑)The Examination of Doubts by Prognostication (jiyi 稽疑)Sacred Vessel (星槃)Five Epochs, Three Spirits (五紀三靈)The Five Dividers of Time (wuji 五紀)The Three Virtues (sande 三德)Eight Paths, One Extreme (八道一極)The Eight Objects of Government (bazheng 八政)Entering Nirvana (開涅)Royal Perfection (huangji 皇極)UnknownFive Affairs (五事)The Five Personal Matters (wushi 五事)
It is unclear if, or where the five affairs are integrated into cultivation. It may be in the Great Boundary.
Reaching the heavens
This is the realm corresponding to the Greater Boundary of Immortal Cultivation.
Uses of Immortal Arts
An Immortal Art can manipulate the Plane of Fate or affect the hearts of many. Often times, cultivation spells are created as a path to reach Immortal Arts. The more peerless a spell is, the closer its approximation is to the actual Immortal Art.[4]
Cheongmun Ryeong described Immortal Arts as so:
"
Immortal Arts are something anyone can use. It is an authority everyone wields from the moment they are born. Everything, from the act of breathing to the ability to see light, all of it is a form of Immortal Arts. However, most people keep Immortal Arts confined within their bodies, and few bring it out into the world to unfold.
That's why you must never grow arrogant just because you've learned Immortal Arts. It won't be easy, but always remember. All life in this world carries the Immortal Art called life. Therefore, all life in this world exists for a reason. Every living being has a reason and a purpose for existence, and we call that fate.
" — Cheongmun Ryeong, chapter 465History"
"Immortal Cultivation isn't the process of learning Immortal Arts. Immortal Cultivation itself is...someone's Immortal Art."
"...Is that so?"
He continues.
"You're familiar with the typical cultivation realm system. Qi Refining, Qi Building, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Heavenly Being... But in very ancient times...so ancient that it surpasses imagination, such a complex realm system didn't exist."
"Pardon?"
"There were only three realms. 'The realm of clearing the heart,' 'the realm of laying the basics of Immortal Arts through the heart,' and 'the realm of fully using Immortal Arts and reaching the heavens'."
It seems that these correspond to the Minor Boundary, Middle Boundary, and Great Boundary.
"But later, the realms began to divide. As the realms split, many began gaining powerful authorities. However...the precise division of stages within the cultivation realms was meant to study the heart more systematically, not to attain world-encompassing power or become monsters capable of destroying stars."
He gazes up at the distant sky.
For some reason, he's glaring at the sky as if it displeases him.
"But [someone] twisted 'the process of cultivation' through an Immortal Art called 'Immortal Cultivation.' As a result, all living beings began gathering Qi, aligning it with the process of cultivation, and gradually acquired excessive lifespans and overwhelming power and authority. The purpose of living beings shifted from understanding the heart to craving power. Everyone became capable of wielding immense power, but...whether that was the right thing, I cannot say..."
" — Chapter 464Known Immortal ArtsYeon's Play
Yeon's Play is an Immortal Art created by Mad Lord when he was mortal. He was inspired by the Serving Command Palace in the Head Realm, and from that idea came the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress.[5] The Fortress was built with the sole purpose of using hundreds of millions of artificial puppet souls to create an attraction of fate that recreates a moment from his past[6] — his first dance with his wife, [[Jo Yeon#[Her]|Wol Ha-eun]], in Seoak village[7] (continent of Shengzi, Head Realm).[8] Yeon's Play contains the power of Vast Cold Heavenly King.[9]
Vast Cold Beautiful Agreement
Also known as the Vast Cold Oath,[10] this Immortal Art binds a couple and grants them a fate to die together. The Vast Cold Oath contains the power of Vast Cold Heavenly King.[11]
The activation condition for this oath had been forgotten to time.[12] It is cast through a hand seal and a kiss.[13] If the other side does not reciprocate, the Vast Cold Oath can be undone by sincerely returning the kiss to the caster.[14] Conversely, the caster can freely undo the oath.[15] In either case, undoing the oath has to be done in the presence of a witness who had watched the oath when it was done.
In the 16th cycle, Kim Yeon was capable of reactivating the Vast Cold Oath when she unconsciously awakened her talent through Mad Lord's consciousness method, the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon.[16] The reason Kim Yeon successfully activated the Vast Cold Oath is still unknown.
Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens Technique
This Immortal Art was created by Yang Su-jin to overcome fates imposed by other True Immortals by obscuring the person's fate in calamitous misfortune. It is a sacrificial ritual obtained by combining all 9000 methods of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect and reciting the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[17][18]
There are four regulations for this Immortal Art:
First, one who has mastered Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens must never disclose the technique to the Heavenly Lightning Banner.Second, one must not hold the Heavenly Lightning Banner when using Extinguishing Divine Tribulating HeavensThird, be cautious about openly using Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens in front of high-ranking entities, as it may provoke their wrath.Fourth, Extinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens is not an auspicious ritual but one that invites calamity, so be mindful.Purple Soul Filling the Heavens
An Immortal Art found in the Ancient Force Realm, themed around inheritance. By itself, the Immortal Art does not do anything. It only activates when it is merged with another inheritance.
Purple Soul Filling the Heavens has various formulas and mantras, but the most crucial formula consists of three sentences.
They are as follows:
—Purple is the most suitable color to hide in the darkness.
—Carry on life in the darkness where light can never reach.
—By continuing the inherited life, we shall all finally reach liberation.
Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens
Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens came to be when Purple Soul Filling the Heavens, under the order of Ja Eum, flowed down into the lower realms, where it merged with 'fragments' hidden within the Head Realm and formed Seo Hweol. Seo Hweol is an innate Sacred Vessel, born when an Immortal Art came to possess a personality. That Immortal Art is the Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.[19] This Immortal Art disassembles the consciousness into configurations, which Seo Hweol can implant onto other people, unknowingly influencing their actions to his favour, at lightest, and brainwashing them to become him, at worst.
Flower Soul Filling the Heavens
Flower Soul Filling the Heavens came to be when Seo Eun-hyun inherited the memories and experiences of Ryeo Hwa, which then merged with Purple Soul Filling the Heavens. It enables him to bestow the hearts of people he have met who have been stored within his Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections for others to inherit.[20]
Crystal Glass to Treading Sea (玻瓈蹈海成)
Crystal Glass to Treading Sea is Seo Eun-hyun's Innate True Method. It is an incomplete Immortal Art Seo Eun-hyun formed by merging all the cultivation techniques he have learned, evolving them. As it is incomplete, this technique possesses three weaknesses:[21]
Illusions of the past are not affected by the pain of Crystal Glass to Treading Sea, as present pain does not affect the past.Attacks on opponents that use the heart are less effective, as the power of Crystal Glass to Treading Sea in the Plane of Soul is halved. Additionally, complete Immortal Arts that uses only the heart can shatter the pain inflicted by the Crystal Glass to Treading Sea head-on and even critically injure Seo Eun-hyun.Salt, which symbolizes 'repentant enlightenment' in the higher planes, can completely extinguish and destroy the pain of the Glass True Fire. Therefore, in the Plane of Qi, salt itself has a property that disperses the formula of the Crystal Glass to Treading Sea, weakening the flames of the Glass True Fire. This includes any techniques involving salt, such as Salt Sea Flooding the Heavens Esoteric Method (鹽海滔天密言)[22] or the Salt Sea Returning Dew Jade (鹽海歸露玉).[23]
The various technique forms of Crystal Glass to Treading Sea corresponding to their previous iterations can be found below.
Precursor cultivation technique[24]Technique forms of Crystal Glass to Treading SeaAppearanceFunctionYin Soul Ghost IncantationTwin Flowers Reaching the Heavens (雙花長天)"A glass-colored flame rises in both of my hands. One side has a dark, obsidian-like light, and the other has a pure white, quartz-like light. It is a flame that burns based on my 'memories of suffering,' and anyone touched by the Glass True Fire experiences a part of the pain I've endured, without exception."[25]The Glass True Fire is the fundemental of Crystal Glass to Treading Sea. Anyone who touches this fire experiences part of Seo Eun-hyun's pain and begins losing their cultivation unless they can maintain their sanity and accept the suffering. Anything that enters the flames of pain then melt down, adding to the Glass True Fire.White Orchid Blessing IncantationGreat Desert to Dead Sea—Sword Sea Star Body (劍海星體)"The Glass True Fire blazing on his body transforms. Each fire fragment of the Glass True Fire turns into a sword, whirling wildly around him. His hand transforms completely into Glass True Fire and 'merges' perfectly with the Colorless Glass Sword that emerges from the void."[26]Conjecture: the Sword Sea Star Body is a form optimized to wield the Colorless Glass Sword with the Glass True Fire.Azure Spirit Starlight Quintessence Great MethodHeavenly Shatter Star Body (天碎星體)"A pair of wings appears behind the Glass True Fire. The wings forged from flames of glass seem to reflect both the vast sky and the starry night alternatively."[26]Conjecture: the Heavenly Shatter Star Body is a body refinement technique for additional strength.Black Blood Tears FlowerAvīci Hell Star Body (無間星體)
Ghost-Face Killing Heavens Furnace (鬼面戮天爐)
"The Glass True Fire turns black. Simultaneously, the now darkened Glass True Fire envelops Seo Eun-hyun's entire body."[26]— — — — —
"The flames of the Crystal Glass to Treading Sea engulf me. Simultaneously, the flames twist and distort as they transform into ghost fire, exuding pitch-black ghostly energy. From my entire body, streams of ghost fire surge forth, dyeing the surroundings. And then... Over the immortal attire covering my body, [faces] begin to emerge. Each face takes the form of a skull, with expressions ranging from agonized suffering to serene calm. However, they share one common trait: every single skull weeps tears of blood. The skull faces emerging over the immortal attire total 999. At that moment, ghost fire spreads to my face, changing its form as well. My original face becomes completely covered by a mask with the texture of charcoal. Eyes, nose, mouth, ears— The seven orifices vanish entirely. What remains is nothing but a faceless charcoal mask, emitting ghost fire in fiery streams through its cracks. On top of that mask, several eye-shaped patterns, representing curses, etch themselves, creating a grotesque and eerie impression. The ends of my arms and legs sharpen into jagged edges, reaching a point where they could easily be called devil claws."[27]
The Avīci Hell Star Body transforms the Glass True Fire into a Black Flame (黑炎) — a curse infinitely close to a True Immortal.
The Ghost-Face Killing Heavens Furnace is a form optimized for Curse and Ghost Path Methods.
Five Elements Blood Curse BannerBlack Ghost Curse BannerExtinguishing Realm Demonic Curse BannerGhost Immortal Kui Devilish SecretsMysterious Bizarre GuMysterious Bizarre Star Body (奇怪星體)"Thousands of strands of Glass True Fire spread out in all four directions from Seo Eun-hyun's body."[26]Conjecture: the Mysterious Bizarre Star Body transforms the strands of consciousness into Glass True Fire, infiltrating the opponent's body.Great Desert to Dead SeaWind-Painting Star Body (風塗星體)"The authority of Wind-Painting Star Body, which combines methods that manipulate wind and attraction force, controls the interstellar wind through attraction force. A tornado arises in the universe. Glass True Fire mixes with the interstellar wind, scattering everywhere."[26]The Wind-Painting Star Body manipulates wind and attraction force.Summoning Wind, Dragon TransformationAnd others
Other precursor techniques:[24]
Five Surpassing Paths to CultivationWonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart CanonSilica Earth Great Wall PracticeTaiji Quaking Lightning BodyVast Cold FormulaDevil Legion Terracotta ScrollSix Extremes Yin Thunder BodyGreat Mountain Splitting Emperor TechniqueSpirit Sealing BodkinDragon Form Disguise MethodHidden Consciousness TechniqueFlower Soul Filling the HeavensExtinguishing Divine Tribulating Heavens TechniqueCanvas of Myriad Forms and ConnectionsThousand Lusters to Forest SeaMantras
Main page: Mantras (眞言)
Mantras are collections are Immortal Arts which are far more powerful than regular Immortal Arts. They are woven from a couple all the way up to thousands of them.
Some powerful Mantras have hearts of their own and are a form of innate True Immortal. Because of this, they can corrupt or overpower the user if they are not mastered properly.
Kim Young-hoon4EditOverviewHistoryAbilitiesGalleryMartial Art Progression...Is there not a path? Then just walk it.
—Kim Young-hoon
Purity...is the possibility to become anything! That is...my will!
—Kim Young-hoon
Kim Young-hoonNovel (Fanart By @failose_)(Before) Manhwa(After) ManhwaAliasesExtreme Heavenly Demon (2nd Cycle)Heaven Cutter (7th Cycle)Wuji Divine Demon (999th cycle)Golden Speed Heavenly King (1003rd cycle)DebutChapter 0TalentVoid PerceptionStatusUnknownPersonal InformationAge1.8 billion+ (1004th Cycle)GenderMaleRaceHumanRelationshipsLove InterestsOh Ye-rin (Wife)AlliesSeo Eun-hyunBuk Hyang-hwaSeo RanSong JinProwessPeak CultivationHeavenly Being (천인/天人)Peak Martial RealmMartial Pinnacle (武極)
Golden Speed Heavenly King Kim Young-hoon is an Ender, and the first of the current generation to rise to the level of a Heavenly King.
In the initial cycles, he was Seo Eun-hyun's martial master and brother.
In the 1004th Cycle, he momentarily reached the power level of a Heavenly Venerable and struck the True Martial Emperor Hyeon Mu a fatal wound, before hurtling towards an uncertain future, where all seven Enders of this generation are challenging the Future King. He remains stuck in limbo ever since.
Appearance
Kim Young-hoon was initially a balding man of fifty who looked fit. He usually dressed in suits at the company, and wore athletic clothes on hikes.
After his Five Energies Converging Onto the Origin transformation, he grew a head of luscious black hair and reverted to a younger appearance.
Kim Young-hoon appears to be a man in his mid-twenties, with long black hair. He typically dresses in a black martial robe and a black straw hat. He always carries a sabre at his hip. Golden radiance exudes from his eyes. Behind him a taenghwa depicting an image of a Buddha supporting a golden divinity shaped like the sun behind its head, with two wings and two arms making an abhayamudra unfolds.
Personality
Kim Young-hoon is a joyful man. He was slightly distant to his subordinates on Earth. He is self-aware of his own genius. He yearns to return home, surpassing this world and returning to his family. He also indulges his close ones, and finds joy through martial arts, always striving for something. However, when faced with being the sole being at the peak, he becomes chaotic and distraught..
TriviaKim Young-hoon is an Ender.The author has given the seven transmigrators literary genres. Kim Young-hoon's genre is Classical Wuxia.Kim Young-hoon had a wife and kids back at Earth.In the 17th Cycle, Kim Young-hoon trained with the White Fox in Ascension Path.In the non-regression cycle, Kim Young-hoon had already died before Eun-hyun's death.His Guide is The entire martial realm of the Head Realm
The Lesser Key of Solomon23 languagesArticleTalkReadEditView historyToolsAppearance hideTextSmallStandardLargeWidthStandardWideColor (beta)AutomaticLightDarkFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor other uses, see Key of Solomon (disambiguation).The Secret Seal of Solomon
The Lesser Key of Solomon, also known by its Latin title Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis[1] or simply the Lemegeton, is an anonymously authored grimoire on sorcery, mysticism, and magic. It was compiled in the mid-17th century from materials several centuries older.[2][3] It is divided into five books: the Ars Goetia, Ars Theurgia-Goetia, Ars Paulina, Ars Almadel, and Ars Notoria.[2] It is based on the Testament of Solomon and the ring mentioned within it that he used to seal demons.
Ars Goetia[edit]The magical circle and triangle, magical objects/symbols used in the evocation of the seventy-two spirits of the Ars GoetiaTerminology[edit]Further information: Goetia
The text is more properly called Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis, or, The little Key of Solomon. The title most commonly used, The Lesser Key of Solomon, does not in fact occur in the manuscripts. A. E. Waite, in his 1898 Book of Black Magic and of Pacts does use the terms "so-called Greater Key" and "Lesser Key" to distinguish between the Clavicula Salomonis and Lemegeton, so he may have been the one to coin it. The Latin term goetia refers to the evocation of demons or evil spirits.[4][5] It is derived from the Ancient Greek word γοητεία (goēteía) meaning "charm", "witchcraft", or "jugglery". [6]
In medieval and Renaissance Europe, goetia was generally considered evil and heretical, in contrast to theurgia (theurgy) and magia naturalis (natural magic), which were sometimes considered more noble.[7][8] Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, in his Three Books of Occult Philosophy, writes, "Now the parts of ceremonial magic are goetia and theurgia. Goetia is unfortunate, by the commerces of unclean spirits made up of the rites of wicked curiosities, unlawful charms, and deprecations, and is abandoned and execrated by all laws."[5]
Sources[edit]
The most obvious source for the Ars Goetia is Johann Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum in his De praestigiis daemonum. Weyer does not cite, and is unaware of, any other books in the Lemegeton, suggesting that the Lemegeton was derived from his work, not the other way around.[2][9] The order of the spirits changed between the two, four additional spirits were added to the later work, and one spirit (Pruflas) was omitted. The omission of Pruflas, a mistake that also occurs in an edition of Pseudomonarchia Daemonum cited in Reginald Scot's The Discovery of Witchcraft, indicates that the Ars Goetia could not have been compiled before 1570. Indeed, it appears that the Ars Goetia is more dependent upon Scot's translation of Weyer than on Weyer's work in itself. Additionally, some material came from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, the Heptameron by pseudo-Pietro d'Abano,[note 1][2][10] and the Magical Calendar.[11]
Weyer's Officium Spirituum, which is likely related to a 1583 manuscript titled The Office of Spirits,[12] appears to have ultimately been an elaboration on a 15th-century manuscript titled Livre des Esperitz (30 of the 47 spirits are nearly identical to spirits in the Ars Goetia).[3][10]
In a slightly later copy made by Thomas Rudd (1583?–1656), this portion was labeled Liber Malorum Spirituum seu Goetia, and the seals and demons were paired with those of the 72 angels of the Shem HaMephorash[13] which were intended to protect the conjurer and to control the demons he summoned.[14] The angelic names and seals derived from a manuscript by Blaise de Vigenère, whose papers were also used by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854–1918) in his works for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn[10] (1887–1903). Rudd may have derived his copy of Liber Malorum Spirituum from a now-lost work by Johannes Trithemius,[10] who taught Agrippa, who in turn taught Weyer.
This portion of the work was later edited by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and published by Aleister Crowley in 1904 under the title The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King. Crowley added some additional invocations previously unrelated to the original work (including some evocations in the Enochian language), as well as essays describing the rituals as psychological exploration instead of demon summoning.[15][16]
The seventy-two demons[edit]Further information: List of demons in the Ars GoetiaThe 72 sigils
The demons' names (given below) are taken from the Ars Goetia, which differs in terms of number and ranking from the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum of Weyer. As a result of multiple translations, there are multiple spellings for some of the names, which are given in the articles concerning them. The demons Vassago, Seere, Dantalion, and Andromalius are new additions in Ars Goetia that are not present in the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum that it is based upon. In contrast, the demon Pruflas appears in the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum but not in Ars Goetia.
King BaelDuke AgaresPrince VassagoMarquis SamiginaPresident MarbasDuke ValeforMarquis AmonDuke BarbatosKing PaimonPresident BuerDuke GusionPrince SitriKing BelethMarquis LerajeDuke EligosDuke ZeparCount/President BotisDuke BathinDuke SallosKing PursonCount/President MoraxCount/Prince IposDuke AimMarquis NaberiusCount/President Glasya-LabolasDuke BunéMarquis/Count RonovéDuke BerithDuke AstarothMarquis ForneusPresident ForasKing AsmodeusPrince/President GäapCount FurfurMarquis MarchosiasPrince StolasMarquis PhenexCount HalphasPresident MalphasCount RäumDuke FocalorDuke VeparMarquis SabnockMarquis ShaxKing/Count VinéCount BifronsDuke VualPresident HaagentiDuke CrocellKnight FurcasKing BalamDuke AllocesPresident CaimDuke/Count MurmurPrince OrobasDuke GremoryPresident OsePresident AmyMarquis OriasDuke VapulaKing/President ZaganPresident ValacMarquis AndrasDuke FlaurosMarquis AndrealphusMarquis KimarisDuke AmdusiasKing BelialMarquis DecarabiaPrince SeereDuke DantalionCount Andromalius
A footnote in one variant edition lists the kings of the cardinal directions as Oriens or Uriens, Paymon or Paymonia, Ariton or Egyn, and Amaymon or Amaimon, alternatively known as Samael, Azazel, Azael, and Mahazael (purportedly their preferred rabbinic names).[17] Agrippa's Occult Philosophy lists the kings of the cardinal directions as Urieus (east), Amaymon (south), Paymon (west), and Egin (north); again providing the alternate names Samuel (i.e. Samael), Azazel, Azael, and Mahazuel. The Magical Calendar lists them as Bael, Moymon, Poymon, and Egin,[18][19] though Peterson notes that some variant editions instead list: "Asmodel in the east, Amaymon in the south, Paymon in the west, and Aegym in the north"; "Oriens, Paymon, Egyn, and Amaymon"; or "Amodeo [sic] (king of the east), Paymon (king of the west), Egion (king of the north), and Maimon."[18]
Ars Theurgia Goetia[edit]
The Ars Theurgia Goetia mostly derives from Trithemius's Steganographia, though the seals and order of the spirits are different due to corrupted transmission via manuscript.[10][20] Rituals not found in Steganographia were added, in some ways conflicting with similar rituals found in the Ars Goetia and Ars Paulina. Most of the spirits summoned are tied to compass points: four emperors are tied to the cardinal points (Carnesiel in the east, Amenadiel in the west, Demoriel in the north, and Caspiel in the south); and sixteen dukes are tied to cardinal points, inter-cardinal points, and additional directions between those. There are eleven "wandering princes", so a total of thirty-one spirit leaders each rule several spirits, up to a few dozen.[21]
Ars Paulina[edit]Further information: List of angels in Ars Paulina
Derived from book three of Trithemius's Steganographia and from portions of the Heptameron, but purportedly delivered by Paul the Apostle instead of (as claimed by Trithemius) Raziel. Elements from The Magical Calendar, astrological seals by Robert Turner's 1656 translation of Paracelsus's Archdiocese of Magic, and repeated mentions of guns and the year 1641 indicate that this portion was written in the later half of the seventeenth century.[22][23] Traditions of Paul communicating with heavenly powers are almost as old as Christianity itself, as seen in some interpretations of 2 Corinthians 12:2–4 and the apocryphal Apocalypse of Paul. The Ars Paulina is in turn divided into two books, the first detailing twenty-four angels aligned with the twenty-four hours of the day, the second (derived more from the Heptameron) detailing the 360 spirits of the degrees of the zodiac.[23]
Ars Almadel[edit]
Mentioned by Trithemius and Weyer, the latter of whom claimed an Arabic origin for the work. A 15th-century copy is attested to by Robert H. Turner, and Hebrew copies were discovered in the 20th century. The Ars Almadel instructs the magician on how to create a wax tablet with specific designs intended to contact angels via scrying.[24][25]
Ars Notoria, quam Creator Altissimus Salomoni revelavit[edit]Main article: Ars Notoria
The Ars Notoria, quam Creator Altissimus Salomoni revelavit, or The Notory Art, which the Almighty Creator Revealed to Solomon, is a seventeenth-century composite text consisting of two separate and imperfect magical texts, the fourteenth century Ars Notoria, or the Notory Art (glossed version), and the mid-fourteenth century Ars Brevis, or the Short Art. From the original Ars Notoria (glossed version), the compiler of the Ars Notoria, quam Creator Altissimus Salomoni revelavit presents a new rearrangement of a series of mysteriously formulated prayers (which are also found in the London manuscript of The Sworn Book of Honorius) intended to enhance the mental faculties, such as memory, eloquence, and understanding, of the magician. Some editions of the Lemegeton contain the 1657 English translation of The Notory Art, which the Almighty Creator Revealed to Solomon being published and retitled by Robert Turner of Holshott as Ars Notoria: The Notory Art of Solomon, Shewing the Cabalistical Key of Magical Operations, The liberal Sciences, Divine Revelation, and The Art of Memory. Other editions of the Lemegeton omit this work entirely;[26][27][28] A. E. Waite ignores it completely when describing the Lemegeton.[9]
Editions[edit]Crowley, Aleister (ed.), S. L. MacGregor Mathers (transcribed) The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King. Translated into the English tongue by a dead hand (Foyers, Inverness: Society for the Propagation of Religious Truth, 1904) 1995 reprint: ISBN 0-87728-847-X.Greenup, A. W., "The Almadel of Solomon, according to the text of the Sloane MS. 2731" The Occult Review vol. 22 no. 2, August 1915, 96–102.Henson, Mitch (ed.) Lemegeton. The Complete Lesser Key of Solomon (Jacksonville: Metatron Books, 1999) ISBN 978-0-9672797-0-1. Noted by Peterson to be "uncritical and indiscriminate in its use of source material".[15]de Laurence, L. W. (ed.), The Lesser Key of Solomon, Goetia, The Book of Evil Spirits (Chicago: de Laurence, Scott & Co., 1916) 1942 reprint: ISBN 978-0-7661-0776-2; 2006 reprint: ISBN 978-1-59462-200-7. A plagiarism of the Mathers/Crowley edition.[29]Peterson, Joseph H. (ed.), The Lesser Key of Solomon: Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis (York Beach, Maine: Weiser Books, 2001). Considered "the definitive version"[30] and "the standard edition".[31]Runyon, Carroll, The Book of Solomon's Magick (Silverado, California: C.H.S. Inc., 1996). Targeted more toward practicing magicians than academics, claims that the demons were originally derived from Mesopotamian mythology.[32]Shah, Idries, The Secret Lore of Magic (London: Abacus, 1972). Contains portions of Ars Almandel and split sections the Goetia, missing large portions of the rituals involved.[15]Skinner, Stephen & Rankine, David (eds.), The Goetia of Dr Rudd: The Angels and Demons of Liber Malorum Spirituum Seu Goetia (sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic) (London and Singapore: The Golden Hoard Press 2007) ISBN 978-0-9547639-2-3Thorogood, Alan (ed.), Frederick Hockley (transcribed), The Pauline Art of Solomon (York Beach, Maine: The Teitan Press, 2016)Veenstra, Jan R. "The Holy Almandal. Angels and the intellectual aims of magic" in Jan N. Bremmer and Jan R. Veenstra (eds.), The Metamorphosis of Magic from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period (Leuven: Peeters, 2002), pp. 189–229. The Almadel is transcribed at pp. 217–229.Waite, Arthur Edward, The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts. Including the rites and mysteries of goëtic theurgy, sorcery, and infernal necromancy, also the rituals of black magic (Edinburgh: 1898). Reprinted as The Secret Tradition in Goëtia. The Book of Ceremonial Magic, including the rites and mysteries of Goëtic theurgy, sorcery, and infernal necromancy (London: William Rider & Son, 1911). Includes the Goetia, Pauline Art and Almadel.[15]White, Nelson & Anne (eds.) Lemegeton: Clavicula Salomonis: or, The complete lesser key of Solomon the King (Pasadena, California: Technology Group, 1979). Noted by Peterson to be "almost totally unreadable".[15]Wilby, Kevin (ed.) The Lemegetton. A Medieval Manual of Solomonic Magic (Silian, Lampeter: Hermetic Research Series, 1985)See also[edit]Aleister Crowley bibliographyThe Book of AbramelinList of occult termsMagical Treatise of SolomonDictionnaire InfernalPseudomonarchia DaemonumReferences[edit]Notes[edit]^ The Heptameron was republished spuriously as a purported Fourth Book of Agrippa.Citations[edit]^ Peterson 2001.^ Jump up to:a b c d Peterson 2001, pp. xi–xvii.^ Jump up to:a b Rudd 2007, p. 399.^ Asprem, Egil (2016). "Intermediary Beings". In Partridge, Christopher (ed.). The Occult World. Routledge. p. 653. ISBN 9781138219250.^ Jump up to:a b Agrippa, Henry Cornelius (1651). Three Books of Occult Philosophy (PDF). Translated by Freake, James. London. pp. 572–575.^ "LSJ". Perseus Digital Library. Retrieved 2013-10-18.^ Mebane, John S. (1992). Renaissance Magic and the Return of the Golden Age: The Occult Tradition and Marlowe, Jonson, and Shakespeare. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 44, 45. ISBN 9780803281790.^ Thorndike, Lynn (2003). History of Magic and Experimental Science. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger. p. 505. ISBN 9780766143135.^ Jump up to:a b Arthur Edward Waite (1913). The Book of Ceremonial Magic. Part I, Chapter III, section 2: "The Lesser Key of Solomon". London – via The Internet Sacred Text Archive.^ Jump up to:a b c d e Rudd 2007, pp. 31–43.^ Rudd 2007, p. 82.^ Porter 2011, pp. xiii–xvii.^ Rudd 2007, pp. 14–19.^ Rudd 2007, p. 71.^ Jump up to:a b c d e Peterson 2001, pp. xviii–xx.^ Rudd 2007, pp. 47–50.^ Peterson 2001, p. 40.^ Jump up to:a b First footnote by Joseph H. Peterson to Trithemius 1999.^ The Magical Calendar; Johann Baptist Grossschedel, trans. and ed. Adam McLean; Phanes Press, 1994. p. 35.^ Peterson 2001, p. xv.^ Rudd 2007, pp. 53–57.^ Peterson 2001, pp. xv–xvi.^ Jump up to:a b Rudd 2007, pp. 57–59.^ Peterson 2001, p. xvi.^ Rudd 2007, pp. 59–60.^ Peterson 2001, p. xvii.^ Rudd 2007, pp. 60–63.^ Castle, Matthias (2023-07-12). "Agrippa's Latin Edition of the Ars Notoria and Robert Turner's 1657 English Translation Thereof". Matthias Castle. Retrieved 2023-12-03.^ Rudd 2007, p. 50.^ Rudd 2007, p. 8.^ Rudd 2007, p. 52.^ Rudd 2007, pp. 51–52.Works cited[edit]Peterson, Joseph H., ed. (2001). The Lesser Key of Solomon: Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis. York Beach, Maine: Weiser Books. ISBN 978-1-57863-220-6.Porter, John (2011). Campbell, Colin D. (ed.). A Book of the Office of Spirits. Translated by Frederick Hockley. Teitan Press.Rudd, Thomas (2007). Skinner, Stephen; Rankine, David (eds.). The Goetia of Dr Rudd: The Angels and Demons of Liber Malorum Spirituum Seu Goetia (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic. Golden Hoard Press. ISBN 978-0-9547639-2-3.Trithemius, Johannes (1999). Peterson, Joseph H. (ed.). The Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals.Further reading[edit]Crowley, Aleister, ed. (1995). The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King. Translated by Samuel Liddell Mathers. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-847-X.Garstin, E. J. Langford (2004). Theurgy: or The Hermetic Practice: A Treatise on Spiritual Alchemy'. Berwick: Ibis Press.[ISBN missing]External links[edit]J. B. Hare, online edition (2002, sacred-texts.com)Joseph H. Peterson, online edition (1999)Demon list with descriptions
Wufu4 languagesArticleTalkReadEditView historyToolsAppearance hideTextSmallStandardLargeWidthStandardWideColor (beta)AutomaticLightDarkFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor the ruler of Chen, see Chen Tuo.Zhong Kui with the wufu as represented by five bats, in a late 19th or early 20th century xylograph
Wufu (Chinese: 五福), meaning the five blessings, is a concept that signify a grouping of certain good fortunes and luck in Chinese culture.
The number five is regarded as an auspicious number in Chinese traditions and closely associated with the Five Elements (Wu Xing, Chinese: 五行), which are essential for a good life as well as the basic organisational principle in Chinese thought. As a result, the number five appears ubiquitously as in the Five Blessings.
Meaning[edit]
The term wufu is originally cited in the Book of Documents in China Zhou dynasty (c. 1046 BC–256 BC). In Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), the Chinese philosopher, Huan Tan (桓譚) (c. 43 BC–28 AD) redefined the element of wufu. Generally speaking, the symbolic meaning of wufu invoking the blessing on positive hope such as good wealth and health.[1]
Definition from Book of Documents[edit]
"書·洪范":"五福:一曰壽,二曰富,三曰康寧,四曰攸好德,五曰考终命.
Book of Documents
Referring the episode of Hong Fan in the Book of Documents, the meaning of five blessings are "health" (康寧)), "wealth" (富)), "long life" (壽)), {{zhi|out=tr|tr=love of virtue (yu hao te (攸好德)) and "peaceful death" (考終命)) accordingly.
Five blessings, are the concepts that first appeared in the episode of Hong Fan (洪範), Classic of History (also named as Shujing (書經) or Shangshu (尚書)), in ancient China, more than 2,000 years ago.[2][3] They refer to "longevity" (壽; shou), "wealth" (富; fu), "health and composure" (康寧; kangning), "love of virtue" (修好德; xin hao de), and the "peaceful death in old age" (考終命; kao zhong ming), being the concrete forms of good luck.[3][4] The last blessing, peaceful death, means dying naturally of old age without pain or suffering. It is interpreted finishing the allotted span of one's life with psychosocial comfort, acceptance and peace of mind individually.[1][2]
Definition from Xinlun[edit]
桓譚"新論":"五福:壽,富,貴,安樂,子孫眾多.
According to the Xinlun (新論), as known as New Discussion, by Huan Tan, a different definition is given to the five blessings. Xinlun suggested that the meaning of five blessings are "longevity" (壽; shou), "wealth" (富; fu), "prosperity in government" (貴; kuei), "health" (安樂; an le) and "fertility" (子孫眾多; tzu-sun chung-tuo) accordingly.[5] The meaning of "fertility and fecundity" in the definition of Xinlun still implies the original meaning of "long span of life" and "peaceful death" (kan zhong ming and shou) in the Book of Documents. However, the meaning of "kuei" refers to the "allotment and mandate of one's share in government position and society," not the meaning of "love of virtue" mentioned in Book of Documents.[1]
Application in Chinese traditions[edit]Rebus of Wu Fu Peng Shou[edit]Shou and five red batsShou and red bats on porcelain
The rebus of Wǔ Fù Pĕng Shòu (五褔捧壽) is used by Chinese people in their lives. Referring to the rebus, there are five bats surrounding the Chinese character for longevity, which literally imply blessings of longevity. Thus, the rebus is regarded as a powerful and auspicious motif among the Chinese society. The Chinese people like adopting this rebus in architecture, since they believe that the good fortunes will come to their families afterward.[6]
Rebus of Wu Fu He He[edit]
Wǔ Fù Hé Hé (五褔和合[盒]) is another rebus used by Chinese people. It is an image which contains five bats flying above a round box. Though hé hé (和合) literally means "box" (盒), its implied meaning is "harmony", since the Chinese word Hé (盒) is phonetically the same as hé (合). Hehé (和盒) is actually the name of a fairy of a Chinese myth, who symbolized the mutual love between the married couple. Chinese people hope the rebus of "Wu Fu He He" will bring blissful and harmony life to the married couple.[7]
Phrase of Wu Fu Lin Men[edit]
The phrase Wu Fu Lin Men (五褔臨門) is commonly used among the Chinese people as a blessing to their relatives especially during the Chinese New Year. The rebus of "Wu Fu Lin Men" is created by five grouped bats. Many Chinese people would post up the "Wu Fu Lin Men" red paper on their home, to wish the Five good fortune will come to their home in the coming year.[7] They hope every family member can get the "Fu", so that everyone will be lucky afterward. They hope the "Lu" will enable their family members to embrace honor or status in their job, so that they can gain prosperity. They hope the "Shou" will let the elderly to have a long life. They hope the "Xi" will enable the young couple to get married or enable the married couples to have babies. They hope the Cai (財; "wealth") will enable them to a make good fortune through business, trade or harvest.[7]
See also[edit]Shou (character)Fu (character)Double Happiness (calligraphy)References[edit]^ Jump up to:a b c Roy, David T. & Tsien, T. H. (1978) Ancient China: Studies in Early Civilization. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. ISBN 978-9622011441.^ Jump up to:a b Mui Hing June Mak. (2016). Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics – Death: Good Death. Springer International Publishing. ISBN 9783319094847^ Jump up to:a b Leong Ko & Ping Chen. (2015). Translation and Cross-Cultural Communication Studies in the Asia Pacific. Koniniklijke Brill NV, Leiden,The Netherlands.Book 424. ISBN 978-90-04-29923-8. ISBN 978-90-04-29924-5^ Huang Quanxin. (2003). Designs of Chinese Blessings: Longevity.24 Baiwanzhuang Road, Beijing 100037, China. Sinolingua Book. 4–7. ISBN 7-80052-890-1^ Joseph Needham. (1981). Science in Traditional China: A Comparative Perspective. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. ISBN 962-201-144-6^ Knapp, R. G. (2005). Chinese houses: The architectural heritage of a nation. Singapore: Tuttle.^ Jump up to:a b c Sung, V. (2002). Five-fold happiness : Chinese concepts of luck, prosperity, longevity, happiness, and wealth. 9050 Shaughnessy Street, Canada: Raincoast Book. 18–19, 32–35, 70-7194-95,156–157,210–211. ISBN 9780811835268
While investigating the number 108 I became curious about these 108 defilements (also called "impure thoughts", "vices" or "evils", or "earthly desires") and wanted to get a list. I found the following items at this page. I put them in alphabetical order, then added definitions (from the Oxford American dictionary) for any words I did not know.
Later articles, such as this one quote my text including the added definitions. I provide some other sources in the footnotes section.
In the list I found, the 108 items appear to have been translated roughly into English. Note some apparent duplications (for example, "deceit" and "deception"; "disrespect" and "disrespectfulness"). I believe these result from the imperfection of translation from the original language/culture into English.
abuse; aggression; ambition; anger; arrogance; baseness; blasphemy; calculation; callousness; capriciousness (unaccountable changes of mood or behavior); censoriousness (being severely critical of others); conceitedness; contempt; cruelty; cursing; debasement; deceit; deception; delusion; derision; desire for fame; dipsomania (alcoholism characterized by intermittent bouts of craving); discord; disrespect; disrespectfulness; dissatisfaction; dogmatism; dominance; eagerness for power; effrontery (insolent or impertinent behavior); egoism; enviousness; envy; excessiveness; faithlessness; falseness; furtiveness; gambling; garrulity (tediously talking about trivial matters); gluttony; greed; greed for money; grudge; hard-heartedness; hatred; haughtiness; high-handedness; hostility; humiliation; hurt; hypocrisy; ignorance; imperiousness (assuming power or authority without justification); imposture (pretending to be someone else in order to deceive); impudence; inattentiveness; indifference; ingratitude; insatiability; insidiousness; intolerance; intransigence (unwilling or refusing to change one's views or to agree about something); irresponsibility; jealousy; know-it-all; lack of comprehension; lecherousness; lying; malignancy; manipulation; masochism; mercilessness; negativity; obsession; obstinacy; obstinacy; oppression; ostentatiousness; pessimism; prejudice; presumption; pretence; pride; prodigality (spending money or using resources freely and recklessly); quarrelsomeness; rage; rapacity (being aggressively greedy or grasping); ridicule; sadism; sarcasm; seducement; self-denial; self-hatred; sexual lust; shamelessness; stinginess; stubbornness; torment; tyranny; unkindness; unruliness; unyielding; vanity; vindictiveness; violence; violent temper; voluptuousness; wrath
Note the British spelling pretence and the rare word seducement (which, as one would expect, means "seduction" (the act), but can also mean "something that serves to seduce").
Combinatorial Constructions
I have also found sources that build up the number 108 through multiple permutations of attributes that are combined in each each possible way. Here is an example2:
What are the six feelings? The feelings born of sense-impression through eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
What are the eighteen feelings? There are the (above) six feelings by which there is an approach (to the objects) in gladness; and there are six approaches in sadness and there are six approaches in equanimity.
What are the thirty six feelings? There are six feelings of gladness based on the household life and six based on renunciation; six feelings of sadness based on the household life and six based on renunciation; six feelings of equanimity based on the household life and six based on renunciation.
What are the hundred and eight feelings? There are the (above) thirty six feelings of the past; there are thirty six of the future and there are thirty six of the present.
Which constructs the number 108 as
{eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind} × {gladness, sadness, equanimity} × {household life, renunciation} × {past, future, present}
= 6×3×2×3 = 108
Another almost identical construction, using different words, is quoted on the Wikipedia page for Buddhist prayer beads:
In traditional Buddhist thought, people are said to have 108 afflictions or klesas. There are six senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and consciousness) multiplied by three reactions (positive, negative, or indifference) making 18 "feelings." Each of these feelings can be either "attached to pleasure or detached from pleasure" making 36 "passions", each of which may be manifested in the past, present, or future.
which corresponds to:
{sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and consciousness} × {positive, negative, indifferent} × {attached to pleasure, detached from pleasure} × {past, present, future}
= 6×3×2×3 = 108
More Complicated Constructions
Most of the original (Asian) sources give lists of defilements that are built up in a more complicated way. There are many different versions that total 98, some of which are mentioned by Hirakawa and Groner8. For another example see the chart given by Korin9. To these 98 are usually added ten "bonds", or "secondary defilements" (upaklesa):
absence of shame, absence of embarrassment, jealousy, parsimony, remorse, drowsiness, distraction, torpor, anger, concealment of wrongdoing
Footnotes
Here are my sources and some other material related to 108 and Buddhism:
1 : Charles C. Goodin, Hyaku Hachi No Bonno: The Influence of The 108 Defilements and Other Buddhist Concepts on Karate Thought and Practice
(Describes a 36+31+31+10 construction: "[...] 36 proclivities of the realm of desire, 31 proclivities of the realm of form, 31 proclivities of the realm of formlessness, [and] 10 bonds or secondary defilements [...]")
2 : DharmaNet International, In the Sky -- II, from Vedana-Samyutta, (translated from the Pali, with an Introduction by Nyanaponika Thera), 1983.
(The source of the "combinatorial construction" that I quote above)
3 : Peter Johnson, The 108 Kinds of Emotional Desires (Klesas), 2001.
4 : Stefan Laug (silent-light.de), The 108 Defilements, documenting an art installation and performance given in Reru, Zanskar in the Himalayans, North of India, 2002 Aug 14-15.
This page has moved (see next footnote) but it was preserved by archive.org and can be seen here. The list of 108 "defilements" has exactly the same 108 words/phrases as on the VirtueScience source, but in a different order. I suspect it was their source.
5 : Stefan Laug (silent-light.de), The 108 Defilements.
Has an updated version of the 2002 list used by VirtueScience. The words have been reordered and 15 items were refined. For example, "seducement" was changed to "seduction", and "know-it-all" was changed to "being a know-all".
6 : VirtueScience.com, Spiritual Sciences Forum, The 108 Defilements of Buddhism.
The article from which I originally got the list above.
7 : Yahoo Answers, user "Vajrasiddha", response to question Why is the number 108 sacred to Buddhism?, early 2010.
Quotes my list in the same order I use, and including my added definitions. They credit "耶穌轉換為佛教經" as a source, but I was not able locate this Chinese text anywhere (which seems to mean "Jesus conversion to Buddhist scriptures" or perhaps "Christianity [related to] Busshism").
8 : Akira Hirakawa and Paul Groner, A history of Indian Buddhism: from Shakyamuni to early Mahayana, 1993, ISBN 81-208-0955-6.
9 : "Korin" (username "abhidharmakosa"), Anusaya -- Latent Defilements (study materials for the Abhidharma-kosa, chapter 5), 2010.
Eight Consciousnesses8 languagesArticleTalkReadEditView historyToolsAppearance hideTextSmallStandardLargeWidthStandardWideColor (beta)AutomaticLightDarkFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaPart of a series onBuddhismGlossaryIndexOutlineshowHistoryshowDharmaConceptsshowBuddhist textsshowPracticesshowNirvāṇashowTraditionsshowBuddhism by country Buddhism portalvte"Alaya" redirects here. For other uses, see Alaya (disambiguation).
The Eight Consciousnesses (Skt. aṣṭa vijñānakāyāḥ[1]) are a classification developed in the tradition of the Yogācāra school of Mahayana Buddhism. They enumerate the five sense consciousnesses, supplemented by the mental consciousness (manovijñāna), the defiled mental consciousness (kliṣṭamanovijñāna[2]), and finally the fundamental store-house consciousness (ālāyavijñāna), which is the basis of the other seven.[3] This eighth consciousness is said to store the impressions (vāsanāḥ) of previous experiences, which form the seeds (bīja) of future karma in this life and in the next after rebirth.
This article contains Tibetan script. Without proper rendering support, you may see very small fonts, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Tibetan characters.Eightfold network of primary consciousnesses[edit]
All surviving schools of Buddhist thought accept – "in common" – the existence of the first six primary consciousnesses (Sanskrit: vijñāna, Tibetan: རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: rnam-shes).[4] The internally coherent Yogācāra school associated with Maitreya, Asaṅga, and Vasubandhu, however, uniquely – or "uncommonly" – also posits the existence of two additional primary consciousnesses, kliṣṭamanovijñāna and ālayavijñāna, in order to explain the workings of karma.[5] The first six of these primary consciousnesses comprise the five sensory faculties together with mental consciousness, which is counted as the sixth.[6] The kliṣṭamanovijñāna is described as an afflicted consciousness, which exhibits an ongoing subtle clinging to self that provides the basis for the ego and disturbing emotions. Based on the Kangyur, the Kagyu scholar 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje additionally points out that it must also have an immediate aspect, with the power to give rise to the six primary consciousnesses.[7]
According to Gareth Sparham,
The ālaya-vijñāna doctrine arose on the Indian subcontinent about one thousand years before Tsong kha pa. It gained its place in a distinctly Yogācāra system over a period of some three hundred years stretching from 100 to 400 C.E., culminating in the Mahāyānasaṃgraha, a short text by Asaṅga (circa 350), setting out a systematic presentation of the ālaya-vijñāna doctrine developed over the previous centuries. It is the doctrine found in this text in particular that Tsong kha pa, in his Ocean of Eloquence, treats as having been revealed in toto by the Buddha and transmitted to suffering humanity through the Yogācāra founding saints (Tib. shing rta srol byed): Maitreya[-nātha], Asaṅga, and Vasubandhu.[5]
While some noteworthy modern scholars of the Gelug tradition (which was founded by Tsongkhapa's reforms to Atisha's Kadam school) assert that the ālāyavijñāna is posited only in the Yogācāra philosophical tenet system, all non-Gelug schools of Tibetan buddhism maintain that the ālāyavijñāna is accepted by the various Madhyamaka schools, as well.[8] The Yogācāra eightfold network of primary consciousnesses – aṣṭavijñānāni in Sanskrit (from compounding aṣṭa, "eight", with vijñānāni, the plural of vijñāna "consciousnesses"), or Tibetan: རྣམ་ཤེས་ཚོགས་བརྒྱད་, Wylie: rnam-shes tshogs-brgyad – is roughly sketched out in the following table.
The Eightfold Network of Primary Consciousnesses[4]SubgroupsName[α] of Consciousness[β]Associated Nonstatic Phænomena[γ] in terms of Three Circles of Action[δ]EnglishSanskritTibetanChineseCognitive Object[ε]Type of Cognition[ζ]Cognitive Sensor[η]I. – VI.
Each of these Six Common Consciousnesses – referred to in Sanskrit as pravṛttivijñānāni[16][θ] – are posited on the basis of valid straightforward cognition,[ι] on any individual practitioner's part, of sensory data input experienced solely by means of their bodily sense faculties.
The derivation of this particular dual classification schema for these first six, so-called "common" consciousnesses has its origins in the first four Nikāyas of the Sutta Pitaka – the second division of the Tipitaka in the Pali Canon – as first committed to writing during the Theravada school's fourth council at Sri Lanka in 83 (BCE).[18]
Both individually and collectively: these first six, so-called "common" consciousnesses are posited – in common – by all surviving buddhist tenet systems.
I.
Eye Consciousness
cakṣurvijñāna[5]༡
Tibetan: མིག་གི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: mig-gi rnam-shes
眼識Sight(s)SeeingEyesII.
Ear Consciousness
śrotravijñāna[5]༢
Tibetan: རྣའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: rna'i rnam-shes
耳識Sound(s)HearingEarsIII.
Nose Consciousness
ghrāṇavijñāna[19]༣
Tibetan: སྣའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: sna'i rnam-shes
鼻識Smell(s)SmellNoseIV.
Tongue Consciousness
jihvāvijñāna[20]༤
Tibetan: ལྕེའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: lce'i rnam-shes
舌識Taste(s)TasteTongueV.
Body Consciousness
kāyavijñāna[21]༥
Tibetan: ལུས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: lus-kyi rnam-shes
身識Feeling(s)TouchBodyVI.
Mental Consciousness[κ]
manovijñāna[5]༦
Tibetan: ཡིད་ཀྱི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: yid-kyi rnam-shes
意識Thought(s)IdeationMindVII.
This Seventh Consciousness, posited on the basis of straightforward cognition in combination with inferential cognition,[λ] is asserted, uncommonly, in Yogācāra.[5]
VII.
Deluded awareness[μ]
manas, kliṣṭa-manas,[5] kliṣṭamanovijñāna,[25]༧
Tibetan: ཉོན་ཡིད་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: nyon-yid rnam-shes
末那識The eighth consciousness (which it grasps to as a self)[26]Disturbing emotion or attitude (Skt.: kleśa)[ν]MindVIII.
This Eighth Consciousness, posited on the basis of inferential cognition, is asserted, uncommonly, in Yogācāra.[5]
VIII.
"Storehouse" or "repository" consciousness [28][ξ]
ālāyavijñāna,[5] Also known as the appropriating consciousness (ādānavijñāna), the basic consciousness (mūla-vijñāna), and the "mind which has all the seeds" (sarvabījakam cittam).[28]༨
Tibetan: ཀུན་གཞི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: kun-gzhi rnam-shes
藏識,
種子識, 阿賴耶識, or 本識
The surrounding world, the "receptacle" or "container" (bhājana) world [29]Reflexive awareness[ο]MindOrigins and development[edit]Early Buddhist texts[edit]
The first five sense-consciousnesses along with the sixth consciousness are identified in the Suttapiṭaka, especially in the Sabbasutta,[31] Saṃyuttanikāya 35.23:
"Monks, I will teach you the All. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak."
"As you say, lord," the monks responded.
The Blessed One said, "What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas. This, monks, is called the All. [1] Anyone who would say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe another,' if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds for his statement, would be unable to explain, and furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it lies beyond range."[32]
The early Buddhist texts speak of anusayā (Sanskrit: anuśayāḥ), the "underlying tendencies" or "latent dispositions" which keep beings caught in the circle of samsara. These potential tendencies are generally seen as unconscious processes which "lie beneath" our everyday consciousness, and according to Waldron "they represent the potential, the tendency, for cognitive and emotional afflictions (Pali: kilesā, Sanskrit: kleśāḥ) to arise".[2]
Sautrāntika and Theravāda theories[edit]
The Sautrāntika school of Buddhism, which relied closely on the sutras, developed a theory of seeds (bīja, 種子) in the mindstream (cittasaṃtāna, 心相續,[33] lit. "mind-character-continuity") to explain how karma and the latent dispositions continued throughout life and rebirth. This theory later developed into the alayavijñana view.[34]
The Theravāda theory of the bhavaṅga may also be a forerunner of the ālāyavijñana theory. Vasubandhu cites the bhavaṅgavijñāna of the Sinhalese school (Tāmraparṇīyanikāya) as a forerunner of the ālāyavijñāna. The Theravadin theory is also mentioned by Xuánzàng.[35]
Yogācāra[edit]Main article: Yogācāra
The texts of the Yogācāra school gives a detailed explanation of the workings of the mind and the way it constructs the reality we experience. It is "meant to be an explanation of experience, rather than a system of ontology".[36] The theory of the ālāyavijñana and the other consciousnesses developed out of a need to work out various issues in Buddhist Abhidharma thought. According to Lambert Schmithausen, the first mention of the concept occurs in the Yogācārabhumiśāstra, which posits a basal consciousness that contains seeds for future cognitive processes.[37] It is also described in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and in the Mahāyānasaṃgraha of Asaṅga.
Vasubandhu is considered to be the systematizer of Yogācāra thought.[38] Vasubandhu used the concept of the six consciousnesses, on which he elaborated in the Triṃśikaikākārikā (Treatise in Thirty Stanzas).[39]
Vijñānāni[edit]
According to the traditional interpretation, Vasubandhu states that there are eight consciousnesses (vijñānāni, singular: vijñāna):
Five sense-consciousnesses,Mind (perception),Manas (self-consciousness),[40]Storehouse-consciousness.[41]
According to Kalupahana, this classification of eight consciousnesses is based on a misunderstanding of Vasubandhu's Triṃśikaikākārikā by later adherents.[42][note 1]
Ālayavijñāna[edit]
The ālayavijñāna (Japanese: 阿頼耶識 arayashiki, Vietnamese: A-lại-da thức), or the "All-encompassing foundation consciousness",[8] forms the "base-consciousness" (mūlavijñāna) or "causal consciousness". According to the traditional interpretation, the other seven consciousnesses are "evolving" or "transforming" consciousnesses originating in this base-consciousness. The store-house consciousness accumulates all potential energy as seeds (bīja) for the mental (nāma) and physical (rūpa) manifestation of one's existence (nāmarūpa). It is the storehouse-consciousness which induces rebirth, causing the origination of a new existence.
Role[edit]
The ālayavijñāna is also described in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra as the "mind which has all the seeds" (sarvabījakam cittam) which enters the womb and develops based on two forms of appropriation or attachment (upādāna); to the material sense faculties, and to predispositions (vāsanāḥ) towards conceptual proliferations (prapañca).[43] The Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra also defines it in varying ways:
This consciousness is also called the appropriating consciousness ("adana-vijñana") because the body is grasped and appropriated by it.
It is also called the "alaya-vijñana" because it dwells in and attaches to this body in a common destiny ("ekayogakṣema-arthena").
It is also called mind ("citta") because it is heaped up and accumulated by [the six cognitive objects, i.e.:] visual forms, sounds, smells, flavors, tangibles and dharmas.[43]
In a seemingly innovative move, the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra states that the alayavijñana is always active subliminally and occurs simultaneously with, "supported by and depending upon" the six sense consciousnesses.[3]
According to Asanga's Mahāyānasaṃgraha, the alayavijñana is taught by other Buddhist schools by different names. He states that the alaya is what the Mahasamghikas call the "root-consciousness" (mulavijñana), what the Mahīśāsakas call "the aggregate which lasts as long as samsara" (asaṃsārikaskandha) and what the Sthaviras call the bhavaṅga.[44]
Rebirth and purification[edit]
The store-house consciousness receives impressions from all functions of the other consciousnesses, and retains them as potential energy, bīja or "seeds", for their further manifestations and activities. Since it serves as the container for all experiential impressions it is also called the "seed consciousness" (種子識) or container consciousness.
According to Yogācāra teachings, the seeds stored in the store consciousness of sentient beings are not pure.[note 2]
The store consciousness, while being originally immaculate in itself, contains a "mysterious mixture of purity and defilement, good and evil". Because of this mixture the transformation of consciousness from defilement to purity can take place and awakening is possible.[45]
Through the process of purification the dharma practitioner can become an Arhat, when the four defilements of the mental functions[note 3] of the manas-consciousness are purified.[note 4][note 5]
Tathagata-garbha thought[edit]
According to the Laṅkāvatārasūtra and the schools of Chan and Zen Buddhism, the ālāyavijñāna is identical with the tathāgatagarbha[note 6], and is fundamentally pure.[46]
The equation of ālāyavijñāna and tathāgatagarbha was contested. It was seen as "something akin to the Hindu notions of ātman (permanent, invariant self) and prakṛti (primordial substrative nature from which all mental, emotional and physical things evolve)." According to Lusthaus, the critique led by the end of the eighth century to the rise of the logico-epistemic tradition of Yogācāra and a hybrid school combining Tathāgatagarbha thought with basic Yogācāra doctrines:[47]
The logico-epistemological wing in part sidestepped the critique by using the term citta-santāna, "mind-stream", instead of ālaya-vijñāna, for what amounted to roughly the same idea. It was easier to deny that a "stream" represented a reified self. On the other hand, the Tathāgatagarbha hybrid school was no stranger to the charge of smuggling notions of selfhood into its doctrines, since, for example, it explicitly defined the tathāgatagarbha as "permanent, pleasurable, self, and pure (nitya, sukha, ātman, śuddha)". Many Tathāgatagarbha texts, in fact, argue for the acceptance of selfhood (ātman) as a sign of higher accomplishment. The hybrid school attempted to conflate tathāgatagarbha with the ālaya-vijñāna.[47]
Transformations of consciousness[edit]
The traditional interpretation of the eight consciousnesses may be discarded on the ground of a reinterpretation of Vasubandhu's works. According to Kalupahana, instead of positing such an consciousnesses, the Triṃśikaikākārikā describes the transformations of this consciousness:
Taking vipaka, manana and vijnapti as three different kinds of functions, rather than characteristics, and understanding vijnana itself as a function (vijnanatiti vijnanam), Vasubandhu seems to be avoiding any form of substantialist thinking in relation to consciousness.[48]
These transformations are threefold:[48]
Whatever, indeed, is the variety of ideas of self and elements that prevails, it occurs in the transformation of consciousness. Such transformation is threefold, [namely,][49]
The first transformation results in the ālāya:
the resultant, what is called mentation, as well as the concept of the object. Herein, the consciousness called alaya, with all its seeds, is the resultant.[50]
The ālāyavijñāna therefore is not an eighth consciousness, but the resultant of the transformation of consciousness:
Instead of being a completely distinct category, alaya-vijnana merely represents the normal flow of the stream of consciousness uninterrupted by the appearance of reflective self-awareness. It is no more than the unbroken stream of consciousness called the life-process by the Buddha. It is the cognitive process, containing both emotive and co-native aspects of human experience, but without the enlarged egoistic emotions and dogmatic graspings characteristic of the next two transformations.[42]
The second transformation is manana, self-consciousness or "Self-view, self-confusion, self-esteem and self-love".[51] According to the Lankavatara and later interpreters it is the seventh consciousness.[52] It is "thinking" about the various perceptions occurring in the stream of consciousness".[52] The alaya is defiled by this self-interest;
[I]t can be purified by adopting a non-substantialist (anatman) perspective and thereby allowing the alaya-part (i.e. attachment) to dissipate, leaving consciousness or the function of being intact.[51]
The third transformation is viṣayavijñapti, the "concept of the object".[53] In this transformation the concept of objects is created. By creating these concepts human beings become "susceptible to grasping after the object":[53]
Vasubandhu is critical of the third transformation, not because it relates to the conception of an object, but because it generates grasping after a "real object" (sad artha), even when it is no more than a conception (vijnapti) that combines experience and reflection.[54]
A similar perspective is give by Walpola Rahula. According to Walpola Rahula, all the elements of the Yogācāra storehouse-consciousness are already found in the Pāli Canon.[55] He writes that the three layers of the mind (citta, manas, and vijñāna) as presented by Asaṅga are also mentioned in the Pāli Canon:
Thus we can see that 'Vijñāna' represents the simple reaction or response of the sense organs when they come in contact with external objects. This is the uppermost or superficial aspect or layer of the 'Vijñāna-skandha'. 'Manas' represents the aspect of its mental functioning, thinking, reasoning, conceiving ideas, etc. 'Citta' which is here called 'Ālayavijñāna', represents the deepest, finest and subtlest aspect or layer of the Aggregate of consciousness. It contains all the traces or impressions of the past actions and all good and bad future possibilities.[56]
Understanding in Buddhism[edit]China[edit]Eight Consciousnesses Return to the Origin 八識歸元圖, 1615 Xingming guizhiFǎxiàng and Huayan[edit]
According to Thomas McEvilley, although Vasubandhu had postulated numerous ālāya-vijñāna-s, a separate one for each individual person in the parakalpita,[note 2] this multiplicity was later eliminated in the Faxiang and Huayan metaphysics.[note 7] These schools inculcated instead the doctrine of a single universal and eternal ālaya-vijñāna. This exalted enstatement of the ālāyavijñāna is described in the Fǎxiàng as "primordial unity".[57]
Thomas McEvilley further argues that the presentation of the three natures by Vasubandhu is consistent with the Neo-platonist views of Plotinus and his universal 'One', 'Mind', and 'Soul'.[58]
Chán[edit]
A core teaching of Chan/Zen Buddhism describes the transformation of the Eight Consciousnesses into the Four Wisdoms.[note 8] In this teaching, Buddhist practice is to turn the light of awareness around, from misconceptions regarding the nature of reality as being external, to kenshō, "directly see one's own nature".[citation needed]. Thus the Eighth Consciousness is transformed into the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, the Seventh Consciousness into the Equality (Universal Nature) Wisdom, the Sixth Consciousness into the Profound Observing Wisdom, and First to Fifth Consciousnesses into the All Performing (Perfection of Action) Wisdom.
Korea[edit]
The Interpenetration (通達) and Essence-Function (體用) of Wonhyo (元曉) is described in the Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith (大乘起信論, Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra, AMF in the excerpt below):
The author of the AMF was deeply concerned with the question of the respective origins of ignorance and enlightenment. If enlightenment is originally existent, how do we become submerged in ignorance? If ignorance is originally existent, how is it possible to overcome it? And finally, at the most basic level of mind, the alaya consciousness (藏識), is there originally purity or taint? The AMF dealt with these questions in a systematic and thorough fashion, working through the Yogacāra concept of the alaya consciousness. The technical term used in the AMF which functions as a metaphorical synonym for interpenetration is "permeation" or "perfumation (薫)," referring to the fact that defilement (煩惱) "perfumates" suchness (眞如), and suchness perfumates defilement, depending on the current condition of the mind.[61]
See also[edit]BrahmaviharaDoctrine of Consciousness-OnlyMindstreamThirty Verses on Consciousness-onlyThree kinds of objectsAnatta in the Tathagatagarbha SutrasNotes[edit]^ Kalupahana: "The above explanation of alaya-vijnana makes it very different from that found in the Lankavatara. The latter assumes alaya to be the eight consciousness, giving the impression that it represents a totally distinct category. Vasubandhu does not refer to it as the eight, even though his later disciples like Sthiramati and Hsuan Tsang constantly refer to it as such".[42]^ Jump up to:a b Each being has his own one and only, formless and no-place-to-abide store-house consciousness. Our "being" is created by our own store-consciousness, according to the karma seeds stored in it. In "coming and going" we definitely do not own the "no-coming and no-going" store-house consciousness, rather we are owned by it. Just as a human image shown in a monitor can never be described as lasting for any instant, since "he" is just the production of electron currents of data stored and flow from the hard disk of the computer, so do seed-currents drain from the store-consciousness, never last from one moment to the next.^ the mental functions (心所法),: self-delusion (我癡), self-view (我見), egotism (我慢), and self-love (我愛)^ By then the polluted mental functions of the first six consciousnesses would have been cleansed. The seventh or the manas-consciousness determines whether or not the seeds and the contentdrain from the alaya-vijnana breaks through, becoming a "function" to be perceived by us in the mental or physical world.^ In contrast to an Arhat, a Buddha is one with all his seeds stored in the eighth Seed consciousness. Cleansed and substituted, bad for good, one for one, his polluted-seeds-containing eighth consciousness (Alaya Consciousness) becomes an all-seeds-purified eighth consciousness (Pure consciousness 無垢識 ), and he becomes a Buddha.^ The womb or matrix of the Thus-come-one, the Buddha^ See also Buddha-nature#Popularisation in Chinese Buddhism^ It is found in Chapter 7 of the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Ancestor Zen Master Huineng and other Zen masters, such as Hakuin Ekaku, in his work titled Keiso Dokuqui,[59] and Xuyun, in his work titled Daily Lectures at Two Ch'an Weeks, Week 1, Fourth Day.[60]Definitions[edit]^ Sanskrit nama = Tibetan: མིང་, Wylie: ming = English "name".[9]^ Sanskrit vijñāna = Tibetan: རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: rnam-shes = English "consciousness".[10]^ Sanskrit anitya = Tibetan: མི་རྟག་པ་, Wylie: mi-rtag-pa = English "nonstatic phænomenon".[11]'^ Tibetan: འཁོར་ལོ་གསུམ་, Wylie: khor-lo gsum = English "three circles" of action.[12]^ Sanskrit rupa = Tibetan: གཟུགས་, Wylie: gzugs = English "form(s) of physical phænomena".[13]^ Tibetan: ཤེས་པ་, Wylie: shes-pa = English "cognition".[14]^ Sanskrit indriya = Tibetan: དབང་པོ་, Wylie: dbang-po = English "cognitive sensor".[15]^ Sanskrit pravṛtti-vijñāna refers to the first six consciousnesses which derive from direct sensory (including mental) cognition.[5]: 11 ^ Sanskrit pratyakshapramana = Tibetan: མངོན་སུམ་ཚད་མ་, Wylie: mngon-sum tshad-ma = English "valid straightforward cognition".[17]^ Sanskrit mano-vijñāna = Tibetan: ཡིད་ཀྱི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: yid-kyi rnam-shes = English "mental consciousness".[22]^ Sanskrit anumana = Tibetan: རྗེས་དཔག་, Wylie: rjes-dpag = English "inferential cognition".[23]^ Tibetan: ཉོན་ཡིད་་, Wylie: nyon-yid = English "deluded awareness".[24]^ Sanskrit klesha = Tibetan: ཉོན་མོངས་, Wylie: nyon-mongs = English "disturbing emotion or attitude"[27] – also called "moving mind", or mind monkey, in some Chinese and Japanese schools.^ Sanskrit ālayavijñāna (from compounding ālaya – "abode" or dwelling", with vijñāna, or "consciousness") = Tibetan: ཀུན་གཞི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wylie: kun-gzhi rnam-shes = Chinese 阿賴耶識 = English "All-encompassing foundation consciousness"[8] = Japanese: arayashiki.^ Tibetan: རང་རིག་, Wylie: rang-rig = English "reflexive awareness"[30] in non-Gelug presentations of Sautrantika and Chittamatra tenet systems.