3) Jewel of the Mind

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>From _Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism_ by Lama Anagarika Govinda

 

Part Two: 'MANI': The Path Of Unification And Of Inner Equality

 

3

MANI, THE JEWEL OF THE MIND, AS 'THE

PHILOSOPHER'S STONE' AND PRIMA MATERIA

 

In the mystic language of alchemy, mercury was identified with the prima

materia, but what was meant in this case was not the metal but 'the mercury

of the philosophers', which was the essence or soul of mercury, freed from

the four Aristotelian elements, earth, water, fire and air - or rather from

the qualities which these represent and in which the material world appears

to us.

To the Buddhist these four elements, or elementary qualities

(mahabhuta), are well known as the solid, the liquid, the gaseous, and the

radiating principle; in other words the qualities of inertia, cohesion,

radiation, and vibration, as the characteristics of the four states of

aggregation in which the material world appears to us.

There can be no doubt about the source from which the idea and the

definition of these four eiements had come into Greek philosophy. And if we

learn that the problem of the alchemist was how to remove from the object

of his experiments the elements of earth, water, fire and air, then we

cannot help being reminded of the Kevaddha-Sutta in the Digha-Nikaya of the

Pali-Canon, where the very same problem - namely, the dissolution of the

material elements - troubles the mind of a monk who, in a state of dhyana

or meditative trance, travels through all the heavenly worlds without

finding a solution.

Finally he comes to the Buddha and puts this strange question before

him: 'Where do earth, water, fire and air come to an end? Where are these

four elements completely annihilated?' And the Buddha answers: 'Not thus, O

monk, is this question to be put, but: Where is it that these elements find

no footing? - And the answer is: In the invisible, infinite, all-radiant

consciousness (vinnanam anidassanam anantam sabbato pabham); there neither

earth nor water, neither fire nor air can find a footing (ettha apo ca

pathavi tejo vayo na gadhati).'

The term anidassanam (invisible, imperceptible) alludes to the fact

that consciousness, when differentiated or objectivated, steps into visible

appearance, incarnates itself, coagulates into material form, which we call

our body and which in reality is the visible expression of our past

consciousness, the result (vipaka) of previous form-creating states of

consciousness.

Vinnanam anidassanam, therefore, can only be understood as

consciousness in its undivided purity, not yet or no more split into the

duality of subject and object. Buddhaghosa, the author of the

Visuddhi-magga, declares this consciousness to be identical with Nirvana.

The term anantam confirms this idea, because consciousness can be infinite

only when it is not limited by objects, when it has overcome the dualism of

ego and non-ego. The purity of this state of consciousness is also

emphasized by the expression sabbato pabham: radiating towards all sides,

penetrating everything with light (bodhi). In other words: this is the

consciousness in the state of Enlightenment (sambodhi).

The Buddha alludes to the same state, when saying in Udana VIII:

'Verily, there is a realm, where there is neither the solid nor the fluid,

neither heat nor motion, neither this world nor any other world, neither

sun nor moon. . . . There is, O monks, an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated,

Unformed. If there were not this Unborn, this Unoriginated, this Uncreated,

this Unformed, escape from the world of the born, the originated, the

created, the formed, would not be possible.'

He who has realized this, has truly found the Philosopher's Stone, the

precious jewel (mani), the prima materia of the human mind, nay, of the

very faculty of consciousness in whatever form of life it might appear.

This was the real aim of all great alchemists, who knew that 'mercury'

stood for the creative forces of higher consciousness, which had to be

freed from the gross elements of matter in order to attain the state of

perfect purity and radiance, the state of Enlightenment.

[snipping another long story]

Already in the earliest forms of Buddhism the jewel was made the symbol

of 'the three vessels of enlightenment, namely, the Enlightened one

(Buddha), the Truth (dharma) in the realization of which enlightenment

consists, and the community (sangha) of those who have entered or trodden

the Path of Enlightenment. It is for this reason that the jewel is spoken

of as the 'three-fold jewel' (tri-ratna).

He who possesses this shining jewel overcomes death and rebirth, and

gains immortality and liberation. But this jewel cannot be found anywhere

except in the lotus (padma) of one's own heart.

Here mani is indeed the Philosopher's Stone, the cintamani, the

wish-granting jewel of innumerable Buddhist legends, which in Tibet until

the present day stands in the centre of folklore and religious poetry.

In later forms of Buddhism the idea of the jewel took the form of the

Diamond Sceptre, the Vajra, and became as such the most important symbol

for the transcendental qualities of Buddhism. The Vajra was originally an

emblem of the power of Indra, the Indian Zeus, the god of thunder and

lightning, who is often mentioned in the Pali texts.

It is significant for the spiritual attitude of Buddhism that, without

rejecting the cosmological and religious ideas of its time, it succeeded in

creating a complete re-valuation of those ideas, mere;y by shifting the

centre of spiritual gravitation.

 

 

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