Re: mercurius

[Guest guest]

>From: cloudhand@...

>This mercury may be regarded, in spritual alchemy, as the subtle essence at

>the very root of being - at the root of being before even being or not

>being

>have come into existence - imbued with the totality of all that is to

>follow.

" Rigpa is like mercury; it is unmixed with habitual tendencies ..

Rigpa is neither caught up in the object perceived nor with the sense organ

through which perception takes place. It is not caught up in the perceiving

dualistic mind. Rigpa is not caught up in anything whatsoever. Rigpa is

therefore described as flawless as immaculate dharmakaya, which means

flawless ..

Rigpa means the state that is totally untainted by any obscuration, negative

karma or habitual imprints, just like mercury remains unaffected by whatever

it touches ..

Rigpa is innately stable; it is not caught up in the subject object duality

... In every sentient beaing there is mind. The essence of this mind, whether

known or not, is rigpa. "

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

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[Guest guest]

> " Rigpa is like mercury; it is unmixed with habitual tendencies ..

>

> Rigpa is neither caught up in the object perceived nor with the sense organ

> through which perception takes place. It is not caught up in the perceiving

> dualistic mind. Rigpa is not caught up in anything whatsoever. Rigpa is

> therefore described as flawless as immaculate dharmakaya, which means

> flawless ..

>

> Rigpa means the state that is totally untainted by any obscuration, negative

> karma or habitual imprints, just like mercury remains unaffected by whatever

> it touches ..

>

> Rigpa is innately stable; it is not caught up in the subject object duality

> .. In every sentient beaing there is mind. The essence of this mind, whether

> known or not, is rigpa. "

>

> Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

*Whence my interest in alchemy.

Rigpa, a Tibetan term, is an extremly difficult word to translate because it is

actually pointing to a state of pure awareness prior to but informing all of

self-

conscious and conceptual knowledge.

I tend to use 'pure awareness', but I've seen 'awareness', 'pure presence'.

Schmidt's extraordinary Tibetan/English dictionary gives:

" vidya 1) intr. v.; to know, cognize, understand, see, be aware of. 2)

intelligence, cognition, understanding, knowledge, insight. 3) intellectual

reasoning, rationality, logic, philosophy, [intrinsically] real, reason,

intellect,

awareness, insightful; science 4) knowing, nondual mind, pure/sheer

presence, awareness mind, wakefulness, intuitive awareness, intrinsic

awarenese, awakeness, immediate awareness. 5) noun. the knower /

cognizer, mind. 6) Two of six/eight qualities describing the sangha. 7) in

gnas 'gyu rig gsum - noticing. 8) mantra. "

.... which, I'm sure, requires a little glossing.

'Vidya' is the root of the German 'wissen', to know, and of our 'wit' as in a

witting partner, but also the idea of that sense of ease with one's innate

knowingness that allows one even to play with it. It's opposite, avidya, or

marigpa in Tibetan, 'unwitting' in all senses of that word, and even 'witless'.

Vidya also means knowledge or science, whereby all forms of knowledge

(Skt. vidya) are rigpa in their own right. The meaning here is that contained in

the 4th. section and describes the absolute basis of knowing in any shape or

form.

The vidyamantra of a deity is the mantra which contains the essence of that

deity's wisdom. A perfect example is the mantra of the goddess

Prajnaparamita, which is the famous syllables TADYATHA GATE GATE

PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SWAHA, the sense of which

explains the stages toward and character of the perfection of wisdom. The

term 'gate' (pronounced ga-te) means 'gone', hence " Gone (from attachment

to this), gone from attachment to nonattachment, gone beyond attachment of

any description, gone beyond even going beyond: such is enlightenment:

how auspicious! " The Tadyatha at the beginning means something like 'thus

it is'...

The 'Ne gyu rig sum' mentioned in the seventh section, I translated as 'the

unmoving (gnas) and moving (gyu) mind and an examination (rig) of its

capacity', which is possibly a little heavy, but - just for the fun of it -

here's

that text for your examination...

CH'AG CHEN PA'I NE 'GYU RIG SUM GYITR'I SHUG SO

An Explication of the Unmoving and Moving Mind and the Examination of

its Capacity in the Mahamudra System

by

Mi-p'am Rinpoche

For those who can put it into practice, here are the essential points of the

Mahamudra teachings on the still and moving minds and how to recognise

them, leading by stages to a direct perception of the truth of the innate

nature of emptiness.

The innate nature of the mind is the Buddha–Nature or Quintessence of

Those Who Course in Bliss (bde–gshegs sning–po, sugatagharbha), and this

is the pith instruction pointing out its essence.

Having understood that mind is the root of all phenomena, when you look for

the essence of your mind, as you understand its secret nature you come to

recognise the selfless nature of all phenomena as understood by those who

are versed in Dharma.

So, when you drop repeated investigation of external phenomena and

establish yourself in the view of the pith instructions of the accomplished

meditators, turning your attention inwards, when you look into your own mind

and there is nothing arising in it, this is what is called ‘the unmoving’. When

the various discursive thoughts arise from it, this is ‘the moving’. Whichever

of these is happening, that which knows them to be of the very nature of the

innate pure awareness of one's own mind is what is known as ‘the pure

awareness' or rigpa.

Meditating in this way, you will come to know the essence of the divers

hosts of good and bad appearances arising from and dissolving back into

your own mind in an uninterrupted manner. Knowing this is meeting

face–to–face with all appearance as the inherent radiance of your own mind.

Having nakedly seen the essence of moving and unmoving mind in this way,

you will come to a clear understanding that, though they appear in various

forms, they are utterly devoid of essence and are ‘void’. This so–called

‘voidness’, however, is not at all like the empty voidness of space.

Just as knowledge of all things does not obscure the clarity aspect of

omniscient pure awareness and certain knowledge arises as to the

emptiness of the myriad objects in which an inherent nature can never be

established, in the same way, when you recognise the secret essence of

mind where subject and object are without the least difference, the inherent

nature experiencing the radiant luminosity of the quintessential nature of

mind, this is what is called ‘meeting your own pure awareness face–to–face’.

This is the very substance of the pointing–out teachings of both Mahamudra

and Maha–Ati. If you can keep it, these experiences will arise. As a

says

Gazing and gazing into the sky of the inherent nature pure from the very

beginning,

Vision comes to an end.

And the Prajñaparamita says

There is no mind in mind; the nature of mind is radiant luminosity.

These point to the same thing.

Thus, since it is by no means easy, it's extremely important that you put it

into practice.

This is by Mi-p'am. May it be auspicious.

Lots of love,

m

[Guest guest]

Alice, do you mind if I ask Dr. Maguire about that dream?

love, fa

Re: mercurius

> have been on overload! clients, visitors, bk contract etc etc so reduced

to

> reading but wanted to share a dream i had ab 25 yrs ago re alchemy

>

> i was told that in any alc text wh the word mercurius occurs, one shld

feel

> free to remove it n substitute the correct process! in this way the

secrets

> were preserved fr the unworthy........

>

> mike?

>

> love

>

> ao

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

>From: cloudhand@...

> > Rigpa means the state that is totally untainted by any obscuration,

>negative

> > karma or habitual imprints, just like mercury remains unaffected by

>whatever

> > it touches ..

> >

> > Rigpa is innately stable; it is not caught up in the subject object

>duality

> > .. In every sentient beaing there is mind. The essence of this mind,

>whether

> > known or not, is rigpa. "

> >

> > Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

>*Whence my interest in alchemy.

>Rigpa, a Tibetan term, is an extremly difficult word to translate because

>it is

>actually pointing to a state of pure awareness prior to but informing all

>of self-

>conscious and conceptual knowledge.

>I tend to use 'pure awareness', but I've seen 'awareness', 'pure presence'.

I use pure consciousness or awareness. I would like to ask you if that is

shunyata? Or what is the explanation for that?

>The 'Ne gyu rig sum' mentioned in the seventh section, I translated as 'the

>unmoving (gnas) and moving (gyu) mind and an examination (rig) of its

>capacity', which is possibly a little heavy, but - just for the fun of it -

>here's

>that text for your examination...

>

> CH'AG CHEN PA'I NE 'GYU RIG SUM GYITR'I SHUG SO

>An Explication of the Unmoving and Moving Mind and the Examination of

> its Capacity in the Mahamudra System

> by

>

> Mi-p'am Rinpoche

>

>For those who can put it into practice, here are the essential points of

>the

>Mahamudra teachings on the still and moving minds and how to recognise

>them, leading by stages to a direct perception of the truth of the innate

>nature of emptiness.

>The innate nature of the mind is the Buddha–Nature or Quintessence of

>Those Who Course in Bliss (bde–gshegs sning–po, sugatagharbha), and this

>is the pith instruction pointing out its essence.

>Having understood that mind is the root of all phenomena, when you look for

>the essence of your mind, as you understand its secret nature you come to

>recognise the selfless nature of all phenomena as understood by those who

>are versed in Dharma.

This is the first explanation that has led me to understand why Buddhists

use the term 'selfless'. I have heard use of the term Impersonal elsewhere.

My friends & I had been trying to work out why Buddhists speak of anatta or

no self whereas advaitins use the term Self. I guess some of us were

wondering if the terms Atman & Brahman might fit in there somewhere?

I also wanted to share what Almaas has written on essence or the essential

Self. He has written a lot but this is a part:

" .. Essence is the part of us that is the experience of " I am " .

Essence is the direct experience of existence ..

Essence is & that is what is most basic to its experience ..

Essence is the only thing in us that is directly aware of its own existence

...

The most direct perception & experience is the one of identity,

when we are what we experience, when the perception is so direct

that what perceives & what is perceived are the same thing.

This is exactly the experience of essence ..

The experience of essence as existence, the experience of " I am, "

is not as if there is a subject that is the actor of existence.

The " I " & the " am " are not separate.

The " I am " is a unitary experience.

The nature of the essence, of the real self, is existence.

The " I " itself is existence ..

Essence is not simply the only part of us that is aware of its existence.

It is what exists.

It is not only what exists, but it is also existence.

This existence is not only the nature of man but the nature of everything.

It is the unity of all .. "

A.H. Almaas

Also in his writings he mentions that he believes essence develops after

realisation, because it has ontological qualities. He believes that the

wounded personality mimicks essence, but as deficient emptiness, not the

real fulfilling experience of pure essence. He says this is why the mind is

so restless trying to fill the gnawing holes by seeking happiness with many

thoughts & activities & that it's a search for the essential Self.

> Gazing and gazing into the sky of the inherent nature pure from the very

> beginning,

> Vision comes to an end.

>

>And the Prajñaparamita says

>

> There is no mind in mind; the nature of mind is radiant luminosity.

>

>These point to the same thing.

>Thus, since it is by no means easy, it's extremely important that you put

>it

>into practice.

>

> This is by Mi-p'am. May it be auspicious.

>

>Lots of love,

>m

>

Thanks for sharing that Mike. It is very beautiful.

Peace,

Col

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[Guest guest]

Greetings Mike and Alice,

>*This is a great *theory* for certain aspects of speculative alchemy, Alice.

>I'm not at all convinced that it's universally applicable, but it certainly is

>intriguing. My immediate question would be: If Mercury is whatever the

>correct/appropriate process is, what are Sulphur and Salt, let alone all the

>other techniques and manipulations, and why bother to mention them at all?

Like the Lapis or Philosopher's Stone, Mercurius has many names

and refers to the beginning of the work as well as to the goal. In fact, for

me the " Stone " and " Mercurius " are the same thing. For what is the stone

if not the union of the Sun and the Moon, of fire and water, of active and

passive, of radiating and reflecting, of conscious and unconscious, of

objective and subjective.Is this not our Hermaphrodite which is Mercurius

as the two headed male female ? In this sense perhaps we can say that

Mercurius represents the process, but I would rather say that Mercurius is

the result of the process which process is forever engendering itself.

But then, surely this most mysterious sought after substances is also

very much a something to behold and grasp if we are to make it work for

us in the process. The most common mistake in the study of alchemy is

that Sulfur and Mercury are thought of as two separate different energies

or forces. That is that Sulfur belongs to the male gender and that mercury

belongs to the female gender. Yet they are flip sides of the same coin.

Flip sides of the human soul, the entity as personality and the universal

cosmic aspects of one's being. These two are the opposite ends of

eternity, and this is where the mystery makes one gasp.

It is said that our fire is found in our water. Our blessed blackness as

the forever virgin female and mother, womb and essence of life

engenders her " son " , the light of the world (consciousness). From her

comes the Virgin's Milk that feeds the Hermetic Child. Out of her by an

" immaculate conception " which is a sort of ( autogenesis, a spiritual

endogenesis ) an inner spiritual heat , a passion and desire to become,

as in its eternal striving to be. Being the Mother, the Universal spirit

energy she is also the Wife of her own Son, who serving as the male

principle, the Soul , consciousness and entity, the I am , possesses

and impregnates her. Entity and eternity becoming as one. This

impregnation is nothing more than consciousness introverting and

entering into the unconscious ( divine incest ). While the mother

engenders the son , the son engenders the mother. This generation

of the mother purifies her, so that what purifies is also purified. In this

a divine relationship is set up between the inner universal divine forces

and the soul personality and consciousness. One acts on an other in a

reciprocal action. An this is that great Mercurial process as the secret

of all secrets. For to become Mercurius one becomes a god as the

" Son of God " .

Concerning what is the salt, I love Goethe's take on it. He says that

" out of the archetypes, individual organisms precipitate as salts.

When I first read this it truly blew my mind. Just think about it. Where

are the Archetypes ? Are they not within us ? We are the Elohims,

the creators and the created. We are our own precipitates.

Spirit, Soul and Body are the triune aspects of Being !

Mercury, Sulfur and Salt are the three aspects of life !

Father, Holy Spirit and Son are the three persons of God !

Best Regards,

Steve Kalec

[Guest guest]

<<

Spirit, Soul and Body are the triune aspects of Being !

Mercury, Sulfur and Salt are the three aspects of life !

Father, Holy Spirit and Son are the three persons of God ! >>

Mother is --- ?

lightly, lightly,

phoebe

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 7/14/01 12:04:17 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

josefa@... writes:

> Alice, do you mind if I ask Dr. Maguire about that dream?

>

>

course not!

counting the days!

love

ao

Alice O. Howell

Rosecroft

72 Beartown Mt. Road

Monterey, MA 01245 USA

Tel:

Fax:

" Look for the sacred in the commonplace! "

[Guest guest]

<<

Spirit, Soul and Body are the triune aspects of Being !

Mercury, Sulfur and Salt are the three aspects of life !

Father, Holy Spirit and Son are the three persons of God ! >>

Mother is --- ?

The Holy Spirit of course ! It doesn't matter what you call it.

Positive + negative = manifestation

[Guest guest]

>Mother is -- ?

*In the Buddhist tantric approach, the Mother would be the 'wisdom-space'

within which all this other is the deployment of skilful means as a

compassionate response to her solicitation.

In response to Colette's question " ... I use pure consciousness or

awareness. I would like to ask you if that is shunyata? Or what is the

explanation for that?... " , shunyata - 'openness, emptiness' - is a quality of

pure consciousness, it's essence. Although inseparable from it, two other

aspects can be discerned, viz., the radiant luminous nature of its awareness

and the all-encompassing compassionate nature of its deployment as this

and that.

What is this openness? It is the fact that things are never what they seem

but only one's awareness (or lack of awareness) of them. The only thing we

can be sure of is that awareness, which in itself has no qualities except

those of being aware of what it is that arises within it, smewhat like the

surface of a mirror and the images that arise on it, or the spontaneous

arising and dissolution of cloud and mist and rainbow light within space.

Shunyata is the absolutly unobscured nature of awareness as such.

Stabilised conscious awareness of this and of the illusory nature of the

appearances is rigpa - pure awareness - awareness that, like the surface of

the mirror or the openness of space, does not become embroiled and tangled

up within the appearances and yet is their very ground - their source.

Colette continues a little further down...

" I have heard use of the term Impersonal elsewhere. "

*Impersonal is totally inadequate. The Tibetan term is dag-me (bdag med),

where bdag means a self in the sense of the great I am - the lord and owner

of the situation and hero of the endless saga - and med is an absolute

negative, meaning that all our ideas of selfness and otherness are simply

convulsive imputations built up upon the misapprehension of what's actually

there. What's actually there is only this awareness, and the awareness,

when examined, is found to be as devoid of all qualities as pinhole in the

fabric of space.

> My friends & I had been trying to work out why Buddhists speak of anatta

> or no self whereas advaitins use the term Self. I guess some of us were

> wondering if the terms Atman & Brahman might fit in there somewhere?

*It is exactly the terms Atman and Brahman that the Buddists reject as a

precipitate conclusion ( " A conclusion is simply where people stop looking at

and thinking about something " ). When the Self is examined, it is discovered

to exist nowhere, and the actual nature of being is found to be radiant

openess manifesting to itself as an all-encompassing energy generally

referred to as compassion... There is no ultimate Self or self... that's the

whole point.

Rather than try and discuss the Almaas quote blow for blow, let me instead

offer a few quotes from one of the greatest Buddhist teachers of recent (and

not so recent) times, my own teacher, Kyabje Düd'jom Rinpoche, 'Jigdräl

Yeshe Dorje

A HO This is naked awareness of the present

Undefiledby thoughts of the three times.

Do not grasp at it with the so-called meditative mind;

Do not lose sight of it in the everlasting waves of non–meditation.

Thisprotection of self–arisen nakedness

Is the very practice of Great Perfection.

At that time, whatever the discursive thoughts that arise,

Thereis no need to adopt or reject the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’.

As you recognise them, they are liberated in their own place.

Understandthe essence of this path of liberation on arising.

Utterlyabandoning whatever mental state might arise,

The mind, perfectly devoid of reference point, is bliss.

Holdto this companion — your bliss–filled mind — now,

And perform many Dharma activities.

To find the Buddha Samantabhadra within you,

Let this teaching dissolve into and merge with your heart.

Thus,so that the great bliss of Mahasukha may clearly be remembered,

This was spoken by 'Jigdräl Yeshe Dorje.

Catch that in the very first instant - in the instant of the A HO - and read it

before you start to think. The entire view, meditation and action are included

in it.

Love,

m