328 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
328 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
Polarity, Relationality, And Interdependence
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World Scripture
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POLARITY, RELATIONALITY, AND INTERDEPENDENCE
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A result of the transcendent law at work in the creation and sustenance of the
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cosmos is that the cosmos evidences order, regularity, and mutuality. All
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existences, great and small, are linked in a web of interdependent
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relationships. Every relationship has a certain polarity and a certain order,
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and there is dynamic, mutual movement, and exchange between male and female,
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heaven and earth, mind and matter, subject and object, light and dark, being
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and non-being, this and that, myself and the other. The movement within and
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between beings in relationship is the source of generation and creative power.
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This motion is seen in the regular cycles of nature, the changing seasons. It
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is sometimes mythically represented by the cosmic union of god and goddess, of
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male and female principles.
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In addition, interdependence is the basis for teachings which deny egoism and
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acquisitiveness while encouraging compassion and reciprocity. The Buddhist and
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Taoist understandings of causality link all beings into an interdependent whole
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of which the individual is but one part, and this is the basis for the attitude
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of no-self and the ethic of compassion. Each person is his neighbor; any
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distinction between myself as subject and the other as object is illusory.
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The Great Primal Beginning (t'ai chi) generates the two primary forces [yang
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and yin]. The two primary forces generate...the great field of action.
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1. Confucianism. I Ching, Great Commentary 1.11.5-6
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And of everything created We two kinds; haply you will remember.
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2. Islam. Qur'an 51.49
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Beauty arises from the fusion of extremes into a harmonious oneness.
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3. Unification Church. Sun Myung Moon 9-11-79
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All things are twofold, one opposite the other,
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and he has made nothing incomplete.
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One confirms the good things of the other,
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and who can have enough of beholding his glory?
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4. Christianity. Sirach 42.24-25
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So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male
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and female he created them.
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5. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Genesis 1.27
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The Originator of the heavens and the earth; He has appointed for you of
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yourselves spouses, and pairs also of the cattle, by means of which He
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multiplies you.
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6. Islam. Qur'an 42.11
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All life, all pulsation in creation throbs with the mighty declaration of the
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biune truth of Shiva-Shakti, the eternal He and the eternal She at play in
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manifestation.
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7. Hinduism. Kularnava Tantra 3
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The creator, out of desire to procreate, devoted himself to concentrated ardor
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(tapas). Whilst thus devoted to concentrated ardor, he produced a couple,
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Matter and Life (prana), saying to himself, "these two will produce all manner
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of creatures for me." Now Life is the Sun; Matter is the Moon.
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8. Hinduism. Prasna Upanishad 1.4-5
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The Master said, "Heaven and earth come together, and all things take shape and
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find form. Male and female mix their seed, and all creatures take shape and
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are born." In the Changes it is said, "When three people journey together,
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their number decreases by one. When one man journeys alone, he finds a
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companion."
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9. Confucianism. I Ching, Great Commentary 2.4.13
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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Sun Myung Moon 9-11-79: Cf. Book of Ritual 19, p. 325. Kularnava Tantra 3: In
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the Tantra this defines a Mantra 'Ham-sa,' identified with the breath, inhaling
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and exhaling. Prasna Upanishad 1.4-5: Tradition has speculated on the fact
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that Matter (rayi) is feminine and prana, that is Life or energy, is masculine.
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This is another expression of the polarity of Purusha and prakriti, or Shiva
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and Shakti. Cf. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.3, p. 252; Rig Veda 10.129, p.
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130; 10.190.1-3, p. 150; Bhagavad Gita. 13.19-26, p. 178; Shiva Purana, p. 179.
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I Ching, Great Commentary 2.4.13: Cf. I Ching, Great Commentary 1.4.1-4, p. 324.
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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Observe how all God's creations borrow from each other: day borrows from night
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and night from day, but they do not go to law one with another as mortals
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do.... The moon borrows from the stars and the stars from the moon... the sky
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borrows from the earth and the earth from the sky.... All God's creatures
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borrow from the other, yet make peace with one another without lawsuits; but if
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man borrows from his friend, he seeks to swallow him up with usury and robbery.
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10. Judaism. Midrash, Exodus Rabbah 31.15
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When the sun goes, the moon comes; when the moon goes, the sun comes. Sun and
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moon alternate; thus light comes into existence. When cold goes, heat comes;
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when heat goes, cold comes. Cold and heat alternate, and thus the year
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completes itself. The past contracts. The future expands. Contraction and
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expansion act upon each other; hereby arises that which furthers.
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The measuring worm draws itself together when it wants to stretch out. Dragons
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and snakes hibernate in order to preserve life. Thus the penetration of
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germinal thought into the mind promotes the workings of the mind. When this
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working furthers and brings peace to life, it elevates a man's nature.
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11. Confucianism. I Ching, Great Commentary 2.5.2-3
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Which of these two came earlier, which came later?
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How did they come to birth? Who, O Seers, can discern it?
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They contain within them all that has a name,
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while days and nights revolve as on a wheel.
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You two, though motionless and footless, nurture
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a varied offspring having feet and movement.
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Like parents clasping children to their bosoms,
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O Heaven and Earth, deliver us from evil!
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These twin maidens (day and night), like two friendly sisters
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nestled close together, rest in their parents' bosom
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and kiss together the center of the world.
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O Heaven and Earth, deliver us from evil!
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12. Hinduism. Rig Veda 1.185.1,2,5
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I Ching, Great Commentary 2.5.2-3: The philosophy of the I Ching emphasizes the
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constant dynamic interchange of yang and yin. Every action engenders its
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opposite. One who wishes to prosper should understand the principles of change
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and use them to his advantage; cf. Chuang Tzu 22, p. 550 and 27, p. 153. Hence
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the example: he who wishes to create and expand must first look within and
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concentrate the self--cf. Chuang Tzu 12, p. 589. Exodus Rabbah 31.15: Cf.
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Isaiah 1.2-3, p. 456.
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Heaven is high, the earth is low; thus the Creative and the Receptive are
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determined. In correspondence with this difference between low and high,
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inferior and superior places are established.
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Movement and rest have their definite laws; according to these, firm and
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yielding lines [of the hexagrams] are differentiated.
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Events follow definite trends, each according to its nature. Things are
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distinguished from one another in definite classes. In this way good fortune
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and misfortune come about. In the heavens phenomena take form; on earth shapes
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take form. In this way change and transformation become manifest.
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Therefore the eight trigrams succeed one another by turns, as the firm and the
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yielding displace each other.
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Things are aroused by thunder and lightning; they are fertilized by wind and
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rain. Sun and moon follow their courses and it is now hot, now cold.
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The way of the Creative brings about the male.
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The way of the Receptive brings about the female.
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The Creative knows the great beginnings.
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The Receptive completes the finished things.
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13. Confucianism. I Ching, Great Commentary 1.1.1-5
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Know that prakriti (nature, energy) and Purusha (spirit) are both without
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beginning, and that from prakriti come the gunas (qualities of the phenomenal
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world) and all that changes. Prakriti is the agent, cause, and effect of every
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action, but it is Purusha that seems to experience pleasure and pain. Purusha,
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resting in prakriti, witnesses the play of the gunas born of prakriti. But
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attachment to the gunas leads a person to be born for good or evil. Within the
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body the supreme Purusha is called the witness, approver, supporter, enjoyer,
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the supreme Lord, the highest Self... Whatever exists, Arjuna, animate or
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inanimate, is born through the union of the field and its Knower.
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14. Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 13.19-22, 26
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I Ching, Great Commentary 1.1.1-5: The philosophy of Change finds its concrete
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form in the system of divination of the I Ching, with its 64 hexagrams, each
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composed of two trigrams. Each of the six lines of the hexagram may be either
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yang or yin, firm or yielding. Because these lines change into each other
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according to rule: firm yang becoming yielding yin, firm yin becoming yielding
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yang, the hexagrams denote a fortune that is dynamic and has various potentials
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for change. This passage is a commentary on two paradigmatic hexagrams: the
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Creative (ch'ien) is composed of all six yang lines and the Receptive (k'un) is
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composed of all six yin lines. Bhagavad Gita 13.19-22, 26: The cosmos is
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formed by the polarity of Purusha--mind, consciousness, divinity--and
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prakriti--matter, energy, the world of nature. However, in monistic Vedanta,
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the duality of Purusha and prakriti is not at all benign or supportive of
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enlightenment, it is rather a fetter to be transcended. Cf. Mundaka Upanishad
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3.1.1-3, p. 387.
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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The original Being without a second, with neither beginning nor end... the
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Supreme Brahman, the all-pervasive and undecaying, vanished. The manifest form
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of that formless Being is Shiva. Scholars of the ancient and succeeding ages
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have sung of it as Ishvara.
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Ishvara, though alone, then created the physical form Shakti from his body.
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This Shakti did not affect his body in any way.
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Shakti is called by various names: Pradhana, Prakriti, Maya, Gunavati, Para.
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She is the mother of Cosmic Intelligence, without modification. That Shakti is
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Matter-energy (prakriti), the goddess of all and the prime cause and mother of
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the three gunas....
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The supreme Purusha is Shiva. He has no other lord over Him.... In the form of
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Time (Kala) together with Shakti, they simultaneously created the holy center
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called Shivaloka. It is the seat of salvation shining over and above
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everything. The holy center is of the nature of supreme Bliss inasmuch as the
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primordial lovers, supremely blissful, made the beautiful holy center their
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perpetual abode.
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15. Hinduism. Shiva Purana, Rudrasamhita I.16
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The deities Izanagi and Izanami descended from Heaven to the island Ono-goro
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and erected a heavenly pillar and a spacious palace.... "Let us, you and me,
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walk in a circle around this heavenly pillar and meet and have conjugal
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intercourse," said Izanagi. "You walk around from the right, and I will walk
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around from the left and meet you."... They united and gave birth to children,
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[the eight islands of Japan].
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16. Shinto. Kojiki 4-6
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In space
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is the triangle;
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here meditate.
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Thence the circles
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in right order,
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and the divine forms
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appearing in due order..
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In the lotus
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lies knowledge;
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here is union
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Thence bliss
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self-experiencing,
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which is bodhicitta
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and is thought of enlightenment
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Therefore the Innate is twofold, for Wisdom is the woman and Means is the man.
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Thereafter these both become twofold, distinguished as absolute and relative.
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In man there is this twofold nature: the thought of enlightenment [relative]
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and the bliss arising from it [absolute]; in woman too it is the same, the
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thought of enlightenment and the bliss arising from it.
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17. Buddhism. Hevajra Tantra 8.26-29
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Kojiki 4-6: In Shinto, the deities Izanagi and Izanami correspond to the male
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and female principles. The union of opposites is seen as the source of life,
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divine and human. However, the deities at first erred in this ritual; the
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complete text is given on p. 431. Hevajra Tantra 8.26-29: This Tantric text
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advocates the attainment of enlightenment by the union of Wisdom (prajna) and
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Means (upaya), the female and male principles. The first column describes the
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Means, a meditation surrounded by certain geometric symbols, and the second
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column describes the unfolding of Wisdom.
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When ones accumulate to become ten, it becomes a complete being. Heaven is
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three because positivity and negativity harmonize to produce the neutral. Earth
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is three because positivity and negativity come together to produce the one.
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Man is three because man and woman come together to produce the one. The three
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poles are added together to form six. The processes of life are manifested
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through the seven, eight, and nine.
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The Ultimate One achieves the four by the movement of the three [poles]. The
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five becomes the seven by a circular movement, and then returns to the One as
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life flows on mysteriously. Although myriads of things come out from the One,
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flow, are used, and change, the root is always present in all movement coming
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and going. It lies in man to highly brighten the core of his mind like the sun.
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Heaven is one, earth is one, and they move as one body. The end of a finite
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being is a return to the endless; the beginning and the end are one.
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18. Korean Religions: Chun Boo Kyung
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Chun Boo Kyung: This cryptic text plays with numbers one to ten but never
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explains what these numbers mean, leaving much to interpretation. Many see the
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Chun Boo Kyung as setting forth a theory of generation, movement, and return.
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The theory of generation states that the three poles, interpreted as mind,
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life, and energy, or positive, negative, and neutral (see Chun Boo Kyung, p.
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95), are generated through the harmony of subject and object. This generates
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the power of growth through nine stages to maturity, the tenth stage. The
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theory of movement describes a circular or spherical motion of the three poles
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centered on the Ultimate One, thus creating a unified body of four positions.
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It is said that man should similarly brighten his mind by centering on the
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Ultimate and participating in this movement. Finally, the theory of return
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affirms that all things return to their origin and continually change into new
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forms of existence.
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Thirty spokes share one hub to make a wheel.
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Through its not-being (wu),
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There being (yu) the use of the carriage.
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Mold clay into a vessel.
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Through its not-being,
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There being the use of the vessel.
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Cut out doors and windows to make a house.
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Through its not-being
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There being the use of the house.
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Therefore in the being of a thing,
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There lies the benefit;
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In the not-being of a thing,
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There lies its use.
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19. Taoism. Tao Te Ching 11
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Every existence has both internal character [mind] and external form [body];
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accordingly, its purpose is two-fold. One purpose pertains to internal
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character and the other to external form. The purpose pertaining to internal
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character is for the whole, while the purpose pertaining to external form is
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for the individual. These relate to each other as cause and effect, internal
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and external, and subject and object. Therefore, there cannot be any purpose
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of the individual apart from the purpose of the whole, nor any purpose of the
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whole that does not include the purpose of the individual. All the creatures
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in the entire universe form a vast complex linked together by these dual
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purposes.
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20. Unification Church. Divine Principle I.1.3.1
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This world of men, given over to the idea of "I am the agent," bound up with
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the idea "a
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