Glossary
to
The Voice of the Silence
S
Śaiva (Sk.) H. [I 39]
Belonging to Śiva, or dedicated to this God. A Śaivite.
The theory (Diṭṭhi) of the soul attributing permanence to the personality: the first illusion one has to get rid of on entering the Path. See Attavāda and Five Hindrances.
In Hīnayāna Buddhism, the stage to be reached by him who has to reincarnate only once more (sakṛt). See Fourfold Path.
Śākya Thubpa (Tib.) B. [Fragment 2]
Translation of Śākyamuni (Sk.), the wise of the Śākyas: the Buddha.
Samādhi (Sk.) H., B. [I 41 42, III 6]
From the root Samādhā: to place, to hold fast, to join together. Hence: an attentive application or fixation of the mind in the state of profound meditation or intense contemplation, reaching identification with the object of one’s contemplation. It is the eighth and last degree of Yoga described in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. In Hinduism there are various levels of Samādhi, from the state of quiet concentration and absorption in the chosen object – without any reflection or mental speculation – up to total fusion, removing every duality between the consciousness of the Yogī and his eternal source, Brahman. In Nirvikalpa Samādhi or perpetual Samādhi without change, a Yogi reaches a state of utmost trance, which involves the total catalepsy (rigidity) of the body. In Buddhism, this term may have other applications depending on the Schools. See Theos. I, p. 176.
Sambhogakāya (Sk.) B. [III 34; Fragment 2]
The “body of complete enjoyment” of a Buddha wherein he is supposed to enjoy the delight of the paradise which tradition assigns to him (Devachan, Tuṣita, etc.). It is one of the glorious bodies of an ascetic having progressed on the Path (T.G.). See Trikāya.
From the root Saṁsṛ, to flow, to cross digressively in a rambling way. The journey of transmigration through the alternations of birth – life – death. The perpetual cycle of rebirths, maintained through ignorance and the thirst of desire (Taṇhā).
Samtan [bSam-gtan] (Tib) B. [III 4]
A word corresponding to Dhyāna (Sk.). See: Fourfold Dhyāna. In his dictionary S. Chandra Das explains this word as follows (p. 1317): “State of complete abstraction, contemplation, meditation and concentration of the thoughts; especially mystical meditation, which in the long run develops an astral counterpart of the meditating person ….”
Samudaya Satya (Ch.: chi ti, or tsi) is the second of the Four Noble Truths. In the sense of union, association, combination of elements, Samudaya refers to the collectivity of all the causes which lie at the origin of suffering. Edkins (C.B., p. 27) defines the term as “the accumulation of the entanglements caused by the passions.” Elsewhere (Ibid. p. 23fn) when speaking of the “Four Modes of Truth” he translates the term (in its Chinese form) as “assembling.” In the same sense The Voice of the Silence mentions “the Portal of Assembling.”
From the root saṁvṛ – to cover, to hide. Saṁvṛti Satya is the conventional, relative truth, “hiding” in contradistinction to Paramārtha Satya, the absolute Truth.
Samyak Sambuddha (Sk.) B. [Fragment 2]
This refers to someone who is completely awakened (samyak) on reaching Samyak-sambodhi, the complete enlightenment.
According to the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (III, 4) it is the state integrating Dhāranā, Dhyāna, and Samādhi, in which one finally perceives the light of Prajñā (III, 5).
Made of the fibers of Śaṇa (hemp or Indian linen). Śaṇavāsa is the “śaṇa robe” possessed of magic properties which are supposed to have enabled a Pratyeka Buddha to acquire wisdom and to reach the “Nirvāṇa of Destruction.” For this legend see: Edkins (C.B., p. 66-7).
The name of a particular Arhat (the 3rd patriarch of Buddhism). According to the legend, he had helped a sick Pratyeka Buddha in rags, offering him a robe made of śaṇa. Seeing the magical effects of his gift, the merchant wished “that he might always wear such a robe of this kind.”
The united community of the followers of Buddhism. In a more limited sense: the monks (Bhikṣu), the nuns (Bhikṣunī) and the novices (śrāmana). Esoterically (comp, T.G. Triratna), the word refers only to the collectivity of the initiated Arhats, as vehicles of the divine Dharma which reaches them, as a reflected light, from the one and eternal source of Wisdom (Ādi-Buddha).
Sat (Sk.) H. [II 5; all Fragments]
The present participle of the verb to be: “Being,” being per se, “Be-ness,” referring to the one eternal and immutable essence of all beings, “existing” in the world of dualities.
A word connected with Sat: Truth. See Paramārtha Satya and Samvṛti Satya.
A word referring to the Sanskrit terms Yantra (a symbolical figure with a great mystical power) and Mudrā (a symbolical gesture which can express a yantra). The most famous of these representations is the Śrī Yantra, integrating several seals of Solomon, a combination of two reversed triangles). See S.D. I, 118. Edkins (C.B., p. 63) describes the “seal of the heart” (Ch.: Hsin yin [xin yin]) as a symbol of the esoteric teaching of the Buddha (Ch.: Ch’eng fa yen ts’ang = “the pure secret of the eye of right doctrine”) which he passed on verbally. It is the Svāstika (Ch.: Wan), which also means “ten thousand” as it implies the possession of this number of perfections reached by the Saint. “Usually this seal is placed on the heart of the Buddha in images and pictures of that divinity […]; it decorates the crowns of the gods of the Bonpos in Tibet […].” See also Vajra.
The mystic name of the secret sacerdotal language or “the language of the Mysteries” of the initiated Adepts in the whole world (T.G.).
One of the great disciples of Hung-jen, 5th Patriarch of the Ch’an-School (Sk.: Dhyāna – Jap.: Zen), founded by Bodhidharma. Shen-hsiu (ca. 605-706) spread this teaching in the north of China, while his rival Hui-neng was the master of the southern School which, ramified into many branches, reaching even as far as Japan.
See Buddha.
Siddhi (Sk.) H., B. [I 1; Fragment 2]
One type of the great occult powers obtained by the Yogī during his discipline, which, however, can stop his progress if he is tempted to use them. In Buddhism, there are various descriptions thereof (cf. Iddhi). In the context of The Voice of the Silence, the Siddhis can refer to the six Abhijnā according to the following classical list: 1) iddhi (comprising all kinds of marvelous powers, but being characteristic of a lower type of magic); 2) “divine hearing” (= “deva-hearing”), clairaudience, hearing human and divine voices from a distance (and understanding their meaning); 3) perception of the thoughts of others; 4) remembering past lives; 5) “divine sight or eye” (= the deva-sight), clairvoyance, which knows the cycles of rebirth of all beings according to the rules of Karma; 6) realizing the state of liberation by means of the extinction of the vagaries caused by desire and ignorance.
The second Pāramitā. In Hīnayāna-Buddhism: moral conduct, morality; the positive basis of a perfect Buddhist conduct, including word, thought, action, means of living or surviving. From the point of view of a Bodhisattva, Śīla, the ethics aimed at in every action, is inspired by the wisdom derived from Dhyāna.
“The auspicious one,” the “patron-saint” – the gracious, benevolent and auspicious God. As the third aspect of the Hindu Trinity, he typifies the destroyer and regenerator. He is the great patron of the Yogīs.
Six Glorious Virtues – B. [II 23, III 5, 7]
See Pāramitā.
Soul – Th. [I 5, 8, III 8, 9, 34; all Fragments]
The many meanings of this word (which should not be confused) refer to the diverse manifestations (more or less altered in man) of the great power of Consciousness and Life animating the Kosmos – the World-Soul or Ālaya. In the incarnated being a distinction can be made between the animal soul (formed of the animal impulses and instincts) and the human soul (the conjugated expression of desire – Kāma – and the cerebral mind – lower Manas) essentially dominated by the sense of I (Ahaṁkāra). But The Voice of the Silence speaks to the noble and magnanimous part of that human soul which is open to the inner influences of the Spirit, and is called forth to take its divine destiny in its own hands; this aspect of the soul is symbolized in the Bhagavad-Gītā by the hero Arjuna. For “Diamond Soul,” see Vajrasattva.
Singalese word for Srotāpanna (cf. Eitel, H.C.B., p. 213).
The divine core of man, the inner Master (see Ālaya); the word denotes the inner sphere in contradistinction to the psychological and sensuous world) where the spiritual senses open themselves. The Voice of the Silence places the Planetary Spirit opposite the malicious spirit (Lhamayin). See also Ātman.
From the root Śram: to toil, to take pains (cf. ascetic). A word indicating him who imposes upon himself a physical, psychological, and spiritual discipline as does an athlete in exercising his body. In a rather slack way, the term may designate: a Buddhist (or Jain) monk.
From the root Śru: to hear, to listen with attention. Originally: one of the “listeners” of the Buddha who received his teaching for the first time. More generally: a “listener” who follows the lessons of a teacher.
Śrimad Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Sk.) H. [I 1]
The most known and popular of the 18 great Purāṇas, celebrating the glory of Viṣṇu – Kṛṣṇa (whose history given in the 10th book).
Srotāpanna (Sk.) B. [II 27, III 6+fn]
“He who has entered (Apanna) the stream” (Srota) leading to Nirvāṇa. The first step of the Āryamārga [Noble Path] is called Srotāpatti, “entering the stream.” These two terms, originally belonging to Hīnayāna, are often confounded (for instance by Schlagintweit, B.T., p. 18).
See Srotāpanna. Srotāpatti does not mean: “he who enters the stream,” but “entering the stream.”
See Meru.
The state of deep sleep without dreams (cf. Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad). It is the state of waking consciousness experienced by the Yogī on the corresponding plane.
Sutta Nipāta (Pāli) B. [Preface]
Collection of didactic texts, in prose and verse, for the laymen, which belongs to the Buddhistic Canon (department Sutta Pitaka).
Dream state (cf. Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad). Experienced by the Yogī as a state of waking consciousness on the corresponding plane: clairvoyant vision (T.G.).
Svasaṁvedana (Sk.) H. [III 18]
The conscious and perceptive awareness of the real essence of one’s being. It is a synonym for Paramārtha, the pure consciousness of the Self as being the supreme truth (Cf. S.D. I, 44 fn:* 48 fn:* and 53-4).
