I LAMA Spiritual Practice School

Part 1. Structure of the Universe

The soul is immortal. The body is born and dies. The word «spirit» has different meanings. To understand the different meanings of various religious words, we need to use a constructive image. For this, we will use diagrams as a tool. A diagram is just a tool, a pair of scissors. We need scissors to separate certain meanings found in spiritual literature from others. Words in spiritual sources often denote a multitude of different meanings. Often, the same words appear in different spiritual sources, but the meanings behind them are different. Or, conversely, we encounter words that seem different, but the meanings behind them are the same. So, in these diagrams, we will arrange different meanings as on a shelf. Different meanings – on different shelves. And different words denoting the same meanings – on the same shelf.

In this book, the concept of the "Universe" will encompass and structurally describe both the material and mental components of "absolutely everything".

Unified Religious Structure

Physical world is the world we live in. The world of phenomena. Physical dimension. The corporeal dimension. The material universe. Reality. Visible reality. In Buddhism: Kamaloka (Desire Realm).

Astral world is the world we enter in a dream. Astral dimension. Soul dimension. In Buddhism: Rupaloka (Form Realm). The astral world is divided into the lower and the upper. The lower astral overlaps the world of phenomena. The upper astral has no direct projection with the world of phenomena. The astral controls reality by the mechanism of image projection. A phenomenon or object, before manifesting in our physical world, first appears in the astral as an image. A person who has a spiritual level that allows them to freely be reborn in the next life in the upper astral or higher is called a "saint".

Causal world is the world that controls the astral world and the world of phenomena. The causal dimension. The spiritual dimension. In Buddhism: Arupaloka (Formless Realm). The causal world is divided into the upper, middle and lower. The lower causal overlaps the lower astral and the world of phenomena. The middle causal overlaps the upper astral. The upper causal does not have a direct projection with the astral. The causal controls the astral through the mechanism of idea projection. That is, an astral image, before manifesting in the astral, first appears in the causal as an idea.

The causal world is the world of causes. In the three-dimensional diagrams of the structure of the Universe used in this (first) part, the vertical axis can be interpreted as the "axis of merit", and the axis extending downwards, toward nirvana, can be interpreted as the "axis of tranquility".

Typical Divisions of Nirvana

World of Nirvana is the world of the highest Absolute. "Nirvana" is translated as "absence of agitation". It is a state of liberation, absolute peace. In the sutras, nirvana is designated as the destruction of worldly desires. Nirvana is opposed to samsara, that is, reality, the astral, and the causal are samsara, and nirvana is not samsara. A distinction is made between minor nirvana, nirvana with remainder, parinirvana, bodhinirvana, and mahanirvana.

Nirvana. Minor nirvana. Simply nirvana. Solitary nirvana. A person who has attained lesser nirvana arrives at this attainment of nirvana (the first attainment of liberation) alone. Such a person is called an arhat or a singularly awakened one. Lesser nirvana can be roughly divided into causal nirvana, astral nirvana, and nirvana of the phenomenal world, depending on the spiritual level of the "liberated one" and, accordingly, the experience of which world in the horizontal projection he stops (casts aside).

Nirvana with a remainder. By "residue" in this term is meant the "life" that the arhat has not yet cast aside. Parinirvana is the highest level of nirvana, "nirvana without remainder". The completely independent existence of the True Ego. "Pari" is translated as "finally".

Parinirvana is not associated with any of the worlds of samsara; therefore, it is impossible to simultaneously be in a state of parinirvana and be alive. If an arhat immediately after achieving nirvana discards life, he will enter parinirvana. "Parinirvana" and "nirvana with a remainder" are antonyms.

Bodhinirvana. An arhat, after achieving nirvana, does not stop there, but expands his achievement, leading other individuals to the achievement of nirvana, and thus overcoming the bonds of other worlds, other delusions, which he did not have before. Such a person is called a "bodhisattva". "Bodhi" is translated as "awakening, enlightenment", and "satva" is translated as "being" – a being striving for awakening. The bodhisattva goes through a shuttling motion: nirvana – samsara – nirvana again – samsara again – nirvana – samsara – and so on. Repeating the path of liberation doubles the individual's experience. Then triples it. Then quadruples it. And so on. Thus, the individual gains an increasingly broader experience of liberation than simply the individual's nirvana. This state of expanding nirvana experience is called bodhinirvana. In the world of bodhinirvana, relative to the world of nirvana, one can distinguish an upper level: bodhiparinirvana, to which the bodhisattva can pass after death; and a lower one. Lower bodhinirvana can also be conditionally divided into three levels depending on which world's experience is destroyed: causal bodhinirvana, astral bodhinirvana, and bodhinirvana of the phenomenal world.

Mahanirvana. When a bodhisattva achieves liberation from all delusions, whether in the phenomenal world, the astral plane, or the causal plane, they find themselves in a state where they have nothing more to achieve; they have transcended all possible experience. This state is called "buddha", and it corresponds to mahanirvana. "Maha" translates as "great". If a person has already attained buddhahood in a past life, then in the next life, their individual liberation will simultaneously become a great liberation. Since mahanirvana corresponds to liberation from all worlds, it is divided into only two levels: mahanirvana and mahaparinirvana.

Mahaparinirvana is decoded as stands for the great, final destruction of worldly desires. Buddha Shakya muni entered mahaparinirvana after his death. The sources often discuss the question "Can a Buddha's personality return from mahaparinirvana as the same person?" – Yes. Since a Buddha's personality is free, it is free to choose whether to return from mahaparinirvana or never again.

Levels of Consciousness

A person consists of several bodies: physical, astral, causal, and the True Ego (True Self).

Physical body is a normal human body. The physical body has consciousness.

Astral body can be described as something like a reflection of the body in a mirror. That is, it is not a body, but merely a reflection. That is, it is both present and not present. To see the astral body, one must have astral vision. The physical body is designed in such a way that when a person uses the physical eyes, they suppress their astral vision due to a specific mechanism of connection between the astral body and the physical body. However, the ability to see with astral vision is not unattainable. This ability is developed through meditation. The astral body has its own consciousness. This consciousness of the astral body is correlated with what science calls the subconscious (the unconscious). The astral body, separated from the physical body, is also called the precognitive body. There are beings who have only an astral body, but no physical body. Such beings are simply called precognitive. When a person is said to be possessed by a demon, this may mean that a lower astral being (precognition), which lacks its own physical body, has imprinted itself on the person's astral body or taken (replaced) the place of their astral body.

Causal body may appear externally as a sphere of plasma, similar to ball lightning, or, to be more precise, simply a ball of light, simply light as a ball. The causal body also has its own consciousness. This causal consciousness is comparable to what science calls the super-subconscious (the deep unconscious, the preconscious). You can discern causal consciousness like this: Imagine a time when you forgot something so completely, for example, the name of an old acquaintance, that you could not remember it at all. You try to remember. You make a mental effort. And suddenly, a distant spark flashes in your mind. "I know!" You have not yet remembered what exactly it is, but you already know it's in your memory, and you know that this information will soon emerge from the depths of memory. So, this spark is causal consciousness. What psychology calls the "collective unconscious" is the entire lower causal world.

True Ego. In the world of nirvana (in all worlds of nirvana), body and consciousness are one. The body-consciousness in the world of nirvana is called the True Ego.

The causal body, together with the True Ego, is also called the human spirit. The astral body, together with the spirit, is also called the human soul. The essence of a person is their soul. The essence of the soul is its spirit. And the essence of the spirit is the True Ego. The physical body is controlled by the soul. The soul is controlled by the spirit. And the spirit is controlled by the True Ego. The human "I" and the True Ego are essentially one and the same.

Besides the aforementioned case of the causal body, the word spirit is often used to refer to any vital, mental, or mystical energy. The word "spirit" is also sometimes used to refer to the mystical ascending energy: kundalini (Holy Spirit).

Matter of the Universe

What is called matter in philosophy and the three gunas are essentially the same thing. The three gunas are the three primordial dimensions: Causal, astral, and physical.

World of phenomena. What is understood by matter in science (physics) is the matter of the world of phenomena, guna rajas.

Astral world. Just as with the matter of the physical world, one can also speak of the matter of the astral world. In Hinduism, astral matter is sometimes called drachma, drachma vibrations, drachma vibrations, guna tamas.

Causal world. Just as with the matter of the physical world, one can also speak of the matter of the causal. Causal matter is mystical light, guna satva. The causal stores information about everything. Information in the causal exists in the form of mystical light.

World of nirvana. Nirvana is considered "inseparable", so it is not customary to isolate any of its components. Nirvana is usually studied from the perspective of unknowability, universality, indivisibility, constancy, eternity, and absoluteness. The world of nirvana is where the Absolute is located. It is also clarified that the Absolute and the world of nirvana are identical, that the Absolute and the world of nirvana are one and the same.

According to the law of conservation of matter and energy, neither energy nor matter can flow from one dimension to another. Therefore, no physical instruments can detect the astral or causal. Information about the astral or causal can only be obtained introspectively. The causal, astral, and reality interact with each other through the mechanism of identification. The more subtle physical matter of which devas and asuras are composed exists in the phenomenal world. Therefore, it is theoretically possible to detect asuras and devas with physical instruments.

Time is absent in nirvana.

Anthropomorphism

Homo created himself in his own image and likeness

The population of reality and the astral world is overwhelmingly anthropomorphic. This means that beings from many worlds where form is possible are close in their structure to the human form. This is a universal form. It turns out that the human form is used not only by creatures resembling humans gods, asuras, pretas, hellish beings but even by those who, at first glance, don't look human at all. For example: dragons, animals, insects, fish, birds. All creatures have an image of their body in their consciousness. That is, any creature, seeing the world, also sees itself in this world. So, this self-perception is anthropomorphic for almost all creatures. That is, any creature believes itself to be human. A dog, for example, running on all fours believes itself to be human. It's just that, for speed, right now, due to a somewhat incomprehensible state of its body, it's more convenient for it to run on all fours rather than on two. It's simply faster at the moment. But when it's not in a hurry, it can easily stand on its hind legs and stand and move like an ordinary person. It perceives other people as ordinary, equal people, as its friends. It perceives other dogs as dogs. A dolphin, for example, swimming in the water, also perceives itself as a person who is in the water only because it can swim well, and it simply enjoys swimming. It perceives the other dolphins around it as dolphins, he, a supposedly swimming man, simply has a friendly relationship with them. He helps them whenever possible simply because he knows how. He views people as good friends, as equals. During a storm, he doesn't go ashore because he's afraid of the surf. A high wave near the shore can hit something, and there's a risk of drowning. Therefore, it's safer to wait out the storm in the deep. This internal image of oneself as human leads many animals, during Darwinian evolution, to acquire uniquely human characteristics earlier than they need to for their lifestyle. For example, the hind and forelimb fins in fish, and the five-fingered structure of the fin bones in fish.

Why did God Create the Devil?

Why does God Allow Evil to Exist?

• Just because something is asserted on behalf of religion about otherworldly things does not mean that it is actually so.

• If something in a religion is correct, you can agree with it. – For example, that God exists. – That does not mean that everything else that this religion says is also correct.

• The Creator is not the Almighty God. And the Almighty God is not the Creator. These are different gods.

• The omnipresent, omnipotent God is the Absolute – he did not create anything. He is generally indifferent to everything. He does not care what happens in the world, and how anyone lives in this world.

• God who created the world is the Maker, the Creator. The Creator is not absolute. This is the same ordinary soul as all human souls. And therefore, he, just like any other rational soul, can make mistakes.

• God the Creator is a powerful god, but not omnipotent.

• Nobody created people, the souls of people.

• People, their souls, like all other souls, are free. Souls themselves decide who to be and what they should be: angels or devils, good or evil.

• Nobody created the devil and his soul. Just like the souls of people. No one created great or small gods. No one created evil dragons. No one created good wizards. They all created themselves.

• The physical body, in particular the physical body of a person – yes, it has a created origin. The main creator in this case is the person himself. To be more precise, the main mental creator of the physical human body is the collective mind of people. Women work more on male bodies, and men work more on female bodies.

• The soul that enters the body and temporarily lives in the body exists forever. We can conditionally talk about only one option for the creation of the soul: this is when the soul creates itself (the emergence of the soul), and when the soul destroys itself. There are no other options for the appearance of souls.

• When God the Creator (God the Creator or God the Father) allegedly breathes a soul into a body, in reality he is only inviting an already existing soul to fill this body, and to everyone on the outside it seems that a new soul has allegedly appeared in this way.

• The same thing happens at the birth of a child. At the birth of a child, a new soul is not born. Only a body is born. And the soul just chooses and fills a body if it likes it in this body, and if it likes these specific parents.

• There is actually no evil in the world. The world is neutral in its essence. Evil and good appear in the consciousness of a person when a person evaluates what is happening. If a person likes something, then he considers it good. And if a person does not like something, then he considers it evil.

• Evil and good encountered by the soul are subject to the law of karma. If you do good, good comes back. If you do evil, evil comes back. Therefore, any soul should return all claims to the creators back, personally to oneself.

• The devil is inside us. In every person there is both absolute and destructive. It is important to understand, what is harmful and what is uplifting. Usually, the devil is understood to mean simply everything bad that occurs in our life, everything that we do not like. However, this is a misunderstanding. The devil within us is our worldly desires.

• Samsara was not created by the Absolute, but by the True Egos that fell from the Absolute state.

• Each True Ego, each personality, after the fall (after separation from the Absolute), itself created the world that surrounds it. And, therefore, the personality is completely responsible for everything that happens to it.

• There is actually no evil in the world. The world is neutral in its essence. However, God Shiva (the Almighty) exists in this world. Shiva does not leave and remains in this world in order to save. And, therefore, the essentially neutral world ceases to be neutral for Shiva. With the decision to lead the salvation, Shiva developed goals and values, tasks and rules, desires and fears, motivation and experience. With the decision to lead salvation for Shiva, everything that leads souls to salvation became good, and everything that leads souls to decline became evil.

The Emergence of the Soul

• Absolute state. Initially, all True Egos were merged with the Absolute and were in this absolute state. The absolute state means that the True Ego could create whatever it wanted, create whatever body it wanted, experience whatever state it wanted. However, the absolute state did not mean that this True Ego was absolutely perfect in terms of maturity and wisdom.

• Movement. The moment the True Ego actually did what it could do by virtue of its absolute state, by virtue of its absolute freedom, when it realized its free state, then it automatically became the True Ego, having movement. This movement took place in the three original dimensions (three gunas). Having made a free movement, the True Ego returned to its original absolute state.

• Three gunas. Guna is translated as rope. The three primordial dimensions and the three gunas are one and the same. Matter and the three gunas are one and the same. Without the influence of the True Ego, all the primordial dimensions (three gunas) were in a state of transparent, silent equilibrium. The dimension in which it was easy to move began to be called causal. The dimension in which it was average to move began to be called astral. The dimension in which it was difficult to move began to be called manifest. The manifest dimension is structured in such a way that the emergence of physical space-and-time is possible in it by the will of the True Ego. The three Gunas are satva, tamas and rajas. The causal is conditioned by satva. The astral is conditioned by tamas. Reality is conditioned by rajas. The three Gunas and the Absolute are parallel to each other and exist eternally.

• Antimystical force. The True Ego made movements in order to be convinced, to confirm, to prove to itself its absolutely free state. Such doubt in one’s absoluteness is a delusion and, because of this, is the first step on the path to further decline.

• Formed experience. By virtue of the antimystical force, the True Ego tried even harder to make sure that the original state was the best, the most suitable for it. For this reason, for the sake of comparing one thing with another, the True Ego stopped discarding the experience of its free movement immediately after its cessation, as it had done until now. And the True Ego began to accumulate the experience of the movements it performed.

• Motivation. Comparing different experiences in order to understand what suits it and what does not, the True Ego created criteria for evaluating experience. The criterion for evaluation is "habit". That is, what in the past formed experience led to the initial happy, joyful, free state, became the criterion for evaluating new experience.

• Elements of the spirit. For the sake of adequacy between experience and space, the True Ego formed a causal body: an external causal object identical to the True Ego, and merged, identified with this external object. The True Ego began to think like this: “This is not an external object, but this I myself am.” With repeated experience, the True Ego found itself bound by this obscuration. This moment can be seen as the emergence of the spirit. The spirit can also be seen as the totality of the True Ego, the antimystical force, formed experience, motivation and the causal body. The spirit as the causal body appears as a clot of light.

• Elements of the soul. In order to understand more deeply, to see more clearly, to distinguish more clearly, to hold more firmly what was seen and understood, the spirit formed an astral body (according to some sources: “subtle body” or “etheric body”, or one of the particular variants of “form” or “form-exterior”): an external astral object identical to the spirit, and merged, identified with this external object. The True Ego began to think like this: “This is not an external object, but this I myself am.” With repeated experience, the True Ego found itself bound by this obscuration. This moment can be considered as the emergence of the soul. The soul as an astral body looks like only a blurry reflection in a mirror without a physical body.

• Elements of sensations. To cognize everything else objectively external, the soul formed the primary, elementary, sensory organs: the ability to see, hear, touch, smell, taste, and feel movement.

• Consciousness. For a better understanding of what the sensory organs perceive, to synthesize various sensations into a single whole, the soul mastered the ability to construct images and think with these images.

• Touch. Contact of the sensory organs with external objects. External objects were created by this same soul, as well as by other souls. Three gunas are used as building material for the formation of external objects.

• Sensation. As a result of contact of the sensory organs with external objects, the soul receives sensations. Sensations can be divided into strong and weak, as well as pleasant and unpleasant.

• Perception. Summation of individual sensations into a single image.

• Feeling. Evaluation of the image received during perception. The criterion for evaluating the image is what was formed at the motivation stage. Thus, when the details of the past and new experience coincide, an illusion of approaching the original absolute state of the True Ego is created, and then the new experience, new sensations, and new images are also evaluated as pleasant.