The Kundalini Shakti, The Heart, and Buddhism

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone,

 

Given the recent discussion on Kundalini Shakti and the Heart, I thought I

repost my response to Andy from last October.

 

Harsha

 

Andy Lesmana Sastrahadijaya [als]

 

Dear Harsha,

 

You seem to attach a unique meaning to the word "Heart" (e.g. the depth of

the Heart,the Original Face is the Heart). Please forgive my ignorance by

asking you, "What does it really refer to?"

Than you for your enlightening answer!

_______________

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Hi Andy. Let me welcome you and others who have recently joined the Sangha.

Thank you for your presence. Your question is important as the word Heart is

used differently depending on the context and the meaning varies. We can

distinguish between the three hearts. There is the physical organ that pumps

blood, there is the Heart Center of Kundalini Yoga - a major psychic center,

and then there is the Spiritual Heart, which is beyond the Sahasarara chakra

and all the centers. It is the Center beyond all centers.

 

In Sanskrit, the word Hridyam is used and that is translated to English as

the Heart. I am not a Sanskrit scholar but Hrid means Heart or Center.

"Hridyam" means "Here is the Center." It is the Same as Buddha Nature, The

Original Nature, Self, Original Face, Shunya, etc.

 

When Upanishads mention the Hridyam or Hridya Gufa (Cave of the Heart) or

Ramana Maharshi speaks of the Heart, they are speaking of this Center of

Being...Pure Being, Pure Presence without edges, the Spiritual Heart. When

Gloria quoted Suzuki, I was actually struck by the similarity between how I

would describe the Heart and the way Suzuki described the Buddhist

perspective. Here is Gloria's quote.

 

"All-knowledge is what constitutes the essence of Buddhahood. It does not

mean that the Buddha knows every individual thing, but that he has grasped

the

fundamental principle of existence and that he has penetrated deep down into

the centre of his own being."

 

D.T. Suzuki (1870-1966

 

Again the following quote given by Gloria from Suzuki is stunning for its

beauty and clarity

 

"Penetrating deep down into the centre of one's own being one finds a

nameless transparency, an awake space filled by all the world, from one's

own

thoughts and feelings and body to the stars in the heavens. This still,

spacious

no-thingness is the heart of everyone's being. Thus to find this

no-thingness is to see

that one is fundamentally united with all beings. At root there is only

one - the

One."

 

"Awakening to the One is primarily a matter of actual seeing, of bare

attention, rather than intellectual understanding - vital as understanding

is. As

Suzuki said, "I see. This is it." This seeing is not yet another state of

mind that

comes and goes. It is awake No-mind, the ground of being that underlies and

is the

source of all states of mind, including samadhi. The contents of mind come

and go

in No-mind."

 

The quotes of Suzuki given by Gloria (Thank you Gloria) are remarkable in

that I (having a totally different background and training than Suzuki and a

close affinity with Kundalini Yoga) find them resonating with the Truth of

Being.

 

The Spiritual Heart transcends time and space and all reference points in

terms of location. However, experience of Yogis and Jnanis shows that there

is a particular "knot of the heart" in the heart region which some become

aware of before the mind and Shakti are absorbed into the Self That Is the

Heart or the Center of Centers. We can talk about that another time. This

post is already getting long!

 

Love to all

Harsha