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Through Buddhist eyes .. a Gnostic passage from the Gospel of Mary . . .
RE::Through Buddhist eyes .. a Gnostic passage from the Gospel of Mary:
I would appreciate some help with what the following could mean, Okay? Many have proposed certain similarities to the Tibetan Book of the Dead (with the soul's sole encounters . .)
Key..Terms::
Apocrypha Pseudepigrapha Topic : (New Testament -- non-Canonical ) - christianity battle for origins
Gnostic texts were largely the result of individual speculation, and they were soundly criticized not only by Christianity, but by Greek Philosophical systems generally. 2nd Century gnosticism was the pop-culture pick-n-mix of its' day. Many scholars focus on the Gnostic texts to understand the battle for Christianity in the late 1st and early 2nd Century.
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Larger Text for convenient reference in the Gospel of Mary..
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In helping threads along remember the twin virtues of metta, and compassion :"karuna"
I would appreciate some help with what the following could mean, Okay? Many have proposed certain similarities to the Tibetan Book of the Dead (with the soul's sole encounters . .)
<cite></cite>
<cite>Quote: </cite>The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom
Key..Terms::
Apocrypha Pseudepigrapha Topic : (New Testament -- non-Canonical ) - christianity battle for origins
Gnostic texts were largely the result of individual speculation, and they were soundly criticized not only by Christianity, but by Greek Philosophical systems generally. 2nd Century gnosticism was the pop-culture pick-n-mix of its' day. Many scholars focus on the Gnostic texts to understand the battle for Christianity in the late 1st and early 2nd Century.
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Larger Text for convenient reference in the Gospel of Mary..
<cite>Quote:</cite>"'What is hidden from you will proclaim to you." And she began to speak to them these words: "I," she said, " I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him, 'Lord, I saw you today in a vision.' He answered and said to me, 'Blessed are you, that you did not waver at the sight of me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure. 'I said to him, 'Lord, now does he who sees the vision see it (through) the soul (or) through the spirit?' The Savior answered and said. 'He does not see through the soul nor through the spirit, but the mind which [is] between the two - that is [what] sees the vision and it is [. ..].' (pp. 11-14 missing) .. "[. ..] it. And desire that, 'I did not see you descending, but now I see you ascending. Why do you lie, since you belong to me?' The soul answered and said, 'I saw you. You did not see me nor recognize me. I served you as a garment, and you did not know me.' When it had said this, it went away rejoicing greatly. "Again it came to the third power, which is called ignorance. [It (the power)] questioned the soul saying, 'Where are you going? In wickedness are you bound. But you are bound; do not judge!' And the soul said, 'why do you judge me although I have not judged? I was bound though I have not bound. I was not recognized. But I have recognized that the All is being dissolved, both the earthly (things) and the heavenly.' When the soul had overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw the fourth power, (which) took seven forms. The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven [powers] of wrath. They ask the soul, 'Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?' The soul answered and said, 'What binds me has been slain, and what surrounds me has been overcome, and my desire has been ended, and ignorance has died. In a [world] I was released from a world, [and] in a type from a heavenly type, and (from) the fetter of oblivion which is transient. From this time on will I attain to the rest of the time, of the season, of the aeon, in silence.' When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her. But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, "Say what you (wish to). What I say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas ..'"
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In helping threads along remember the twin virtues of metta, and compassion :"karuna"
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Comments
The spirit is consciousness, that capacity of mind which inherently has unconditional non-judgemental awareness. It is by establishing the mind in the state of non-judgemental consciousness that allows the insight or enlightenment to occur that purifies the mind of defilement (or the root of sin).
Here, I am pointing to soul and spirit being two distinct things rather than being the same thing.
So returning to Mary, this "the mind which [is] between the two - that is [what] sees the vision" I am not sure what this refers apart from the faculty of wisdom (panna indriya) or what the Buddha called knowing (mano).
The Buddha used three words for mind: citta, the intellect; vinanna, sense-consciousness; and mano, knowing.
Wrathful wisdom sounds like moral self-righteous & dhammic self-righteousness.
:smilec: