Monday, April 17, 2006
Ganesha, Buddhas, Mandalas--Images in Meditation
Today, I did not fall immediately into meditative consciousness. At first the Tibetan chanting was more like background music, merely something I witnessed rather than something I participated. I decided to continue without expectation, focusing on my chi gong movements, and at times striking what I like to think of as "body mudras" (positions which arise spontaneously and are held for a few seconds.)
Then, the images began to appear. First, it was a vague image of Ganesha, the elephant faced god of India, who is sometimes described as a "threshold god." There was, again, an illumined Buddha, with replicas extending behind him. A Tara whose face dimmed and transformed into a mandala composed of a dark circle surrounding by a much larger circle of light. Another mandala suggestive of the familiar Tibetan square with its various bands of color. And, at some point, as if to correct my notion that the same "teacher" never appears twice, the figure of yesterday's "master" with his flat hat came forth. (I still don't know what his nationality is--I even wonder if he might be Japanese, though why a Japanese would be a chi gong master is unclear.)
In any case, though I did not have the intense energetic flow, I did experience the images, which were quite fascinating, I thought.
Now the sequence started with Ganesha, and this brought to mind my friend Michael who is especially devoted to Ganesha. And the Ganesha was followed by the Buddhas appearing as a series, and I remembered that Michael himself had once seen a brilliant vision of similar images in geometric progression, and this vision had marked the beginning of his awakening experience. So I wondered if somehow my images were connected with his inner vision, if my subconscious had "tapped in" to his own connection with universal mind.
We know that we are connected, but no one knows exactly how, nor why the little breaks occur from time to time to reveal the inner relatedness. We are all part of what Yeats called "anima mundi," the world soul. Our conviction of separate identity is a myth, as many writers have told us. God/goddess (the Source) is all that is, and we are each mere aspects of that total reality. We are, indeed, all one person.
Then, the images began to appear. First, it was a vague image of Ganesha, the elephant faced god of India, who is sometimes described as a "threshold god." There was, again, an illumined Buddha, with replicas extending behind him. A Tara whose face dimmed and transformed into a mandala composed of a dark circle surrounding by a much larger circle of light. Another mandala suggestive of the familiar Tibetan square with its various bands of color. And, at some point, as if to correct my notion that the same "teacher" never appears twice, the figure of yesterday's "master" with his flat hat came forth. (I still don't know what his nationality is--I even wonder if he might be Japanese, though why a Japanese would be a chi gong master is unclear.)
In any case, though I did not have the intense energetic flow, I did experience the images, which were quite fascinating, I thought.
Now the sequence started with Ganesha, and this brought to mind my friend Michael who is especially devoted to Ganesha. And the Ganesha was followed by the Buddhas appearing as a series, and I remembered that Michael himself had once seen a brilliant vision of similar images in geometric progression, and this vision had marked the beginning of his awakening experience. So I wondered if somehow my images were connected with his inner vision, if my subconscious had "tapped in" to his own connection with universal mind.
We know that we are connected, but no one knows exactly how, nor why the little breaks occur from time to time to reveal the inner relatedness. We are all part of what Yeats called "anima mundi," the world soul. Our conviction of separate identity is a myth, as many writers have told us. God/goddess (the Source) is all that is, and we are each mere aspects of that total reality. We are, indeed, all one person.
