Вадим Сычевский
Absolute freedom and happiness – our true essence
Dhyanas 5-8
From the subconscious mind, we pass to the superconscious mind. The superconsciousness corresponds to the Formless World or Causal World. The Higher Causal World consists of four levels or four States of Emptiness:
1. The State of Infinite Space, in which we experience an infinite expansion of consciousness. The fifth dhyana.
2. The State of Infinite Distinction, in which the wisdom of omniscience arises concerning the many expansions of consciousness – any state of consciousness is instantly recognized as it is, without the illusions of double thinking. Sixth dhyana.
3. State of Non-Possession[36] – when the experience comes to us of realizing that everything we possess, including the physical body and sensations, is not our property is not us (the True «Self»). Seventh dhyana.
4. The state of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception, in which no information can be said to exist or not to exist. In this state, there is no cognition of perceived objects (given as light), which exist by themselves, independent of our cognition. Eighth dhyana.
He who has attained these stages of Samadhi sees the original source of his Formed experience. It is quite difficult for a person who has not had such an experience to understand this. I will try to describe as simply as possible my experience of the Higher Causal World, which I received in meditation.
Formed Experience (Aggregate No.4) and Distinction (Aggregate No.5)
Our Formed Experience (Aggregate No.4) connects us with the Astral and Causal Worlds. Of course, if we consider the Formed Experience as broadly as possible, we can say that it connects us with all three worlds because our past accumulated experience necessarily manifests itself in the World of Phenomena. The manifestation of our own past experience in the material world we call life.
However, Formed experience manifests itself indirectly in the World of Phenomena. In the Causal World, the Formed experiences are particles of light. When they are projected onto the Astral World because of the work of the superconsciousness, we have desires/no desires, or intentions. Actually, this is the function of the Formed Experience – will, or intentions, which are connected with the work of our subconscious mind. We see our desires or no desires in meditation in the form of multi-coloured light and images in our Astral World, as I described above. After that, the images of the Astral World are projected onto the World of Phenomena and take place in the form of concrete events. Therefore, we can say that the Formed experience is directly present only in the Astral World (intentions, will) and the Causal World (particles of light as a primary source). Consequently, we can directly see, and understand the principle of work and stop the action of our Formed experience only in deep meditation and Samadhi, passing from the World of Phenomena to the Astral and then to the Causal World.
Further, it is necessary to note that our Aggregate No. 4 stores, first of all, the experience which we have acquired exclusively in this life. Aggregate No. 4 itself is formed in our intermediate state between the past and present life. By performing actions with our body, speech, and thoughts, we form new experiences, which are accumulated in Aggregate No.4, then moved to Aggregate No.5, and then in reverse order, eventually manifesting in our daily life in the World of Phenomena (see Chapter 1 for details).
Aggregate No.5 is the «repository» of all our data (experience and information) that we have accumulated from the beginningless past to the present moment. Therefore, when data from Aggregate No. 5 is moved to Aggregate No. 4, the latter contains not only the data we have accumulated in this life but also the information and experience we have accumulated in past lives.
Consequently, our desires or intentions in everyday life can be caused both by our experience gained in this life and by the data, we have accumulated, for example, one or a thousand lives ago. For example, a person is likely to make a decision about how to spend an evening based on his or her ordinary daily experience from, say, yesterday or a week ago. But an important decision, for example, about which institute to enroll in or the decision to start spiritual practice, a person will obviously make not on the basis of yesterday's experience, but on the basis of deep data contained in his Distinction, or Aggregate No. 5, based on data formed in past lives.
Samadhi of the Higher Causal World
Entering the Samadhi into the Causal World, or rather into its Higher, «pure» part (i.e. the Higher Causal World, which does not overlap with other worlds), we see all the past experience accumulated by us, first of all, in this life (although there may be particles relating to the experience of past lives) in the form of an ocean of particles of light. They have different shapes, colors, and intensities of the emitted light. The intensity of light, its color, and the shape of the particles are, in fact, information.
Imagine a computer screen. You click on the «My Documents» folder and many folders with different names appear in front of you. These folders contain all kinds of information. It is the same with bits and pieces of past experience. You can «click» on any of them. Since I have done a lot of martial arts in both current and past lives, I saw some red-purple light grains (this color means fighting and points to the World of Asuras). I «clicked», that is, focused on one of them. The experience of one instance when I had to fight came before me. The feeling that I had in that situation arose. I remembered it completely. After I relived the experience of that fight again, the image of it appeared – I saw again how everything happened. That is, at that moment I saw two worlds simultaneously: in my Causal World, I «clicked» on a grain of the past experience, and in my Astral World it appeared as a reliving of that experience in the form of an image. This is how the three worlds of the Universe interact: the Causal World (the Formless World) is the primary source of all information and experience, in the Astral World (the World of Forms) it manifests itself as an image, and then in the World of Phenomena (the World of Passions) the corresponding event takes place.
By experiencing the Causal World in meditation, we begin to understand the elements that shape all of our lives. In other words, we begin to understand the karma we have accumulated. For example, we realize why we strive for these things and reject others. Why do we lead this or that way of life, and so on?
I often hear about «going into the subconscious mind to understand the causes of your problems». However, having gained experience of the Causal World, I can say that such reasoning is meaningless. Firstly, to really dive into one's subconsciousness, one should enter deep meditative concentration or dhyana, and then Samadhi, which is absolutely impossible without correct and serious spiritual practice. Secondly, the subconscious mind is a reflection of the superconscious mind, hence, in order to really understand one's karma it is necessary to immerse oneself in Samadhi into the ocean of light consisting of individual particles. Each grain of light in the Causal World is a grain of our past experience, or karma, from which a desire or no desire is formed in the subconscious mind, i.e. a tendency, then an image appears, and only then these data appear in our actual consciousness and we begin to act. Thus, if we want to realize perfect Enlightenment and Emancipation, it is necessary not only to see and understand these particles of experience, but also to stop their action.
If we continue to concentrate, these grains of light will stop and remain behind. At that moment, I was immersed in transparent pure light. Everything stopped completely. I just stayed in that light, immersed in a state of happiness that is beyond the reach of words.
This light is the fifth of the Five Aggregates: information in its purest form. It is a «data bank»: everything we have done, said, and thought since the beginningless past and up to now, all our past experiences, all the knowledge we have gained, finally, from our World of Phenomena through our Astral World get here – to our Causal World, the world of our superconsciousness. This information determines all our subsequent actions in this world, all our present life, as well as the next life. This information is the only thing we have in us from the past: the body, sensations, images, and will are destroyed at the moment of death, and the data accumulated in them pass into our Causal World, transforming into this information in its pure form, and we enter this transparent light. Then our new Astral World (will, images, subconsciousness) and our new World of Phenomena (body, senses, and actual consciousness) are formed from this information. Thus, if this information in the Causal World does not affect us, there are no rebirths for us and no suffering.
The pure transparent light of the Higher Causal World is called Clear Light in esoteric Buddhism (Tantra-Vajrayana); it is mentioned in the «Bardo Thödol» sutra. The very transparent state of the Emptiness of the Higher Causal World is called Dharmakaya. This is the original state of our consciousness, the Five Aggregates, the information (karma) contained in them, and the entire Universe – the transparent Dharmakaya, the Emptiness or Tao. The World of Phenomena is just a projection of the Astral World, and the Astral World as such is a projection of the Causal World. If this is so, then the World of Phenomena in which we now live is a false, illusory world. However, to see and understand it, we must realize the Causal World, which is the original source, must gain experience of it. That is what Wisdom is. To acquire completely, to exhaust the experience of the Causal World is what Wisdom is. To understand one's true essence, one must understand not only this World of Phenomena but also the Astral and Causal Worlds. Without this, one cannot understand one's essence. For example, to have an experience of the Astral World alone is not enough. I am firmly convinced that only when one understands the Causal World, and to be more precise, only when breaking through its transparent light, one understands the state of the independent existence of the Atman (i.e. one's true original state), then one can understand the structure of the Universe, consciousness, the Five Aggregates, and their interaction.
The Higher Formless World is only a precursor to Nirvana
The state of the Higher Formless World is sometimes considered Nirvana and sometimes confused with it. In the Higher Formless World there is only information, only light, therefore there is no suffering. There are no images or actions in this world. Since there are no deeds, or actions from past experience, the Law of Karma is interrupted there. However, the stay in the Higher Formless World ends when the work of consciousness resumes. At this point, past experience also begins to work and new experience begins to form. Then the function of Discernment resumes. Thus, the state of the Higher Formless World is not absolute freedom or Emancipation.
At one point, I realized that I was not breathing. «Samadhi!» – I thought. That was the mistake, for the completely stopped consciousness came into motion. The perception of information began, and a division into «self» and «not-self» emerged. In the next second, the transparent light turned into multi-coloured particles of experience, then images emerged from them, and then the senses began to work. Next, a slight jolt and I opened my eyes. I was still sitting in the Lotus, my body a little numb. If that time I had continued to concentrate and not let my consciousness start working, then having surpassed this pure light, I would have experienced the state of Nirvana, «situated» above the light.
Nirvana and Personal Emancipation
When the full and repeated experience of Nirvana is experienced, personal Enlightenment and Emancipation[37] are realized. Of course, this experience, like any experience in spiritual practice, must be fixed, expanded, and made completely one's own. In other words, to achieve perfection. For example, to be able at any moment in meditation to undergo dhyana from the first to the eighth as described. Then, at the moment of death of the physical body, that practitioner, having passed through all the stages from the World of Passion to the Formless World, can enter Nirvana. In the terminology of Buddhism, such souls are called Arhats.
If having reached this stage, the practitioner decides not to go to Nirvana but to be reborn again and again to help others achieve Enlightenment and Emancipation and to realize Buddhahood himself one day, then he enters the Path of the Bodhisattva, the Soul destined to attain Buddhahood. Such a soul, repeatedly reborn, will continue his own spiritual practice and will lead other souls from worlds full of suffering to the absolute state of Nirvana.
Chapter 4
After Attainment
Living for him is like giving in to the current,
Dying to him is like going to rest…
Jia Yi[38]
Enlightenment without Emancipation
Perhaps here the reader may have a question: here Enlightenment and Emancipation have been achieved, what next? How do these absolute states manifest themselves in our world?
Let us imagine that a certain person did not engage in technical practice: he did not do, for example, pranayama or mudras to awaken Kundalini and activate the chakras. This practitioner had studied the Dharma deeply, accumulated merit, observed the precepts, and practiced meditation seriously. He has reached the first levels of Enlightenment, and he is not familiar with the energy process. What will be the future life of this practitioner?
First of all, a practitioner who has reached this level will use only his subconsciousness in his daily life. His surface consciousness will be in the state of Calmness and Contemplation, i.e. in its original stopped state. Thanks to this, he will see everything happening around him many times more accurately: it is the work of the actual consciousness that prevents an ordinary person from seeing reality correctly. Depending on the level of Enlightenment, this person will either not experience suffering at all, or suffering will still occur, but he will be able to stop their causes in his subconsciousness, and thus get rid of the suffering itself. Let me give as an example the story of Master Hakuin.
«Zen Master Hakuin was known among his neighbors as a man who lived a pure life. Nearby lived a beautiful girl whose parents ran a grocery store.
One day, the parents discovered that their daughter was pregnant. They were furious. The girl refused to name the father of the child, but after much insistence, she named Hakuin. In great anger, the parents came to the Master.
– Really? Was the only thing he said in response to the avalanche of accusations.
When the child was born, they brought it to Hakuin with the words:
– This is your child, so take it!
The master only uttered:
– Really?
By then he had lost all respect from those around him, but that didn't bother him at all. He diligently took care of the baby, borrowed milk and everything the baby needed from the neighbors.
A year later, the young mother could not stand it and told her parents the truth. The real father of the child turned out to be a young man working at the fish market. The girl's father and mother immediately ran to Hakuin, begged his forgiveness, apologized to him for a long time and asked him to return the child to them. Hakuin willingly forgave them. Returning the child, he only said:
– "Really?» (From the collection «One Hundred and One Stories of Zen»).
What happens to someone who has reached this level after death? At the moment of death, any person experiences the energetic process of Emancipation. That is, there is a cessation of the gross senses, destruction of the gross Four Elements, and then, under the influence of energy, the person leaves his physical body. Then, having passed through his subconsciousness, he leaves behind images and past experiences, immersing himself in the pure light of the Higher Formless World, the world of his superconsciousness. The problem of an ordinary person is that he experiences postmortem shock and does not realize what is happening to him. After all, if one enters the transparent light, one can realize Emancipation and immerse into Nirvana. That is why death is the most important moment in a person's life. However, ordinary people are deprived of this chance due to postmortem shock, or an interruption of consciousness. Of course, an enlightened person will have little or no shock. Thus, he who has attained Enlightenment immediately after the death of the physical body will be able to go through the whole energetic process of Emancipation at once and go to Nirvana. If this could not be done, then, since this person has not accumulated bad karma, he can be reborn in the good world and continue his practice. Thus, death for the enlightened or yogis who do only mental practices is the most important moment in their life, and also a joyful event: as they will be able to see the results of their practice.