Cosmic Consciousness: Evolution of Mind

Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind

Cosmic Consciousness

This book has 4.4 out of 5 stars with 515 ratings. It is a 2010 reprint of the 1905 edition.

This is the magnum opus of editor Richard Maurice Bucke's career, a project that he researched and wrote over many years.

In it, Bucke describes his own experience, that of contemporaries (most notably Whitman, but also unknown figures like "C.P."), and the experiences and outlook of historical figures including

• the Buddha,
• Jesus,
• Paul,
• Plotinus,
• Muhammad,
• Dante,
• Francis Bacon, and
• William Blake.

Bucke developed a theory involving three stages in the development of consciousness:

• the simple consciousness of animals;
• the self-consciousness of the mass of humanity (encompassing reason, imagination, etc.); and 
• cosmic consciousness -- an emerging faculty and the next stage of human development.

Among the effects of this progression, Bucke believed he detected a lengthy historical trend in which religious conceptions and theologies had become less and less fearful. It is a classic work. Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind

Occupy UCLA: Take down those filthy tents!

The Occupy Movement promised a Day of Action across nation
Take Back UCLA

(LA Times) Bringing the Occupy Wall Street movement and student protests to Westwood, about 25 tents were set up today on the UCLA campus. But officials said the encampment violated school rules and would not last long.

• UPDATE: UCLA ousts Occupy encampment
  

The tents were pitched on Wilson Plaza near the base of the landmark Janss Steps. And about 100 or so demonstrators were reportedly gathered in the area. Authorities were studying ways to make sure the camp did not stay up...

“The university does intend to enforce those policies,” UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said.

“At this point, the conversations taking place are about how best to do that.” UCLA wants to balance the protesters’ right to free speech with [the rights of police to beat them]... More

PHOTOS: Day of Action

What is needed for Enlightenment?

Wisdom Quarterly

There are three kinds of fully awakened individuals: the personal (arahant-), nonteaching (pacceka), and supremely enlightened teaching (samma-sam-) buddhas. (Bodhisattva image by BDrunz/Flickr.com)

Buddhism is a well packed SET of (seven) teachings. The problem is dukkha (disappointment, suffering, distress, woe, or unsatisfactoriness), and the goal is liberation.

1 Thing The Buddha only taught one thing -- Dharma. This ancient word has at least a dozen distinct meanings. But it could be summed up as "truth" with a lowercase t. The ancient pre-Buddhist Sanskrit term dharma means Truth, uppercase t.

The Doctrine (Dharma) points at the Truth (dharma). It is only a pointer. It is not the Truth. The Truth cannot be expressed with words or concepts or thinking, which is often how we approach things, attempting to grasp and label and argue about them.

The Buddha's Teaching was set forth with a sutra called the "Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma" delivered to the five ascetics in the Deer Park in Sarnath, India, in the suburbs of Varanasi. It is now set in stone at the site.

One simile is that the Buddha points at the Moon. The Moon is the dharma. But people neglect to see the Moon, instead focusing on the pointing, the Dharma (Buddhist Doctrine or Teachings or instructions on getting to direct realization).

It doesn't help that the distinctions are so fine or that the word "Dharma" (as the Teachings or Doctrines of Buddhism) is not universally capitalized to distinguish it from dharma, which uncaptialized in Buddhist Sanskrit refers to phenomena or "things."

2 Things The Buddha only taught Dharma, which means he only taught two things -- the problem and the solution. Suffering (dukkha) is the problem. Release from all suffering (nirvana) is the solution.

The Dharma is symbolized as a wheel (chakra), the True Wheel, the Wheel of the Law (law means lawfulness or regularity of the universe not a set of rules for enforcement), the eight spokes of the Eightfold Path (one part of the Dharma).

3 Things It can be said that in this regard, he taught three things: Discourses (sutras), Discipline (Vinaya), and Abhidharma (the profound Dharma of Dependent Origination, mind, and the exacting details of the Path to liberation from suffering).

4 Things Of course, how could all of this ever be stated succinctly? Buddhism, the Buddha-Dharma, all that points towards the Truth that shall set one free is summarized and taught as four things, the Four Noble Truths: (1) we have a problem, (2) it has a cause, (3) it has a solution, and (3) this is the way to the solution.

Because Buddhism so well packed, what do people ever learn about it?

An introduction, that's what. We are constantly being introduced to Buddhism. When do we get an advanced or even an intermediate teaching? When does practice go beyond preliminary lists to unpack the wonderful Dharma within? Rarely.

37 Things So here it is. Monastic-scholars gathered all that pertains directly to enlightenment -- to "liberation from suffering" in this very life. They enumerated 37 things taught by the Buddha as indispensable aids to enlightenment.

These seven sets (14 individual items, many of them appearing in more than one grouping for a total of 37) are together called the Requisites of Enlightenment (bodhipakkhiya-dharma), "things pertaining to awakening," not to be confused with the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhangas), which is but one of the sets.

Requisites of Enlightenment
Ven. Ledi Sayadaw

1. Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipaṭṭhāna)
2. Four Right Efforts (Sammāpadhāna)
3. Four Bases of Success (Iddhipāda)
4. Four Controlling Faculties (Indriya)
5. Four Mental Powers (Bala)
6. Seven Factors of Enlightenment (Bojjhaṅga)
7. Noble Eightfold Path (Maggaṅga)

The bodhipakkhiya-dharmas are so called because they form part (pakkhiya) of enlightenment or awakening (bodhi), which here refers to the knowledge of the paths of liberating wisdom (magga-nāṇa). They are dharmas (mental phenomena) with the function of being proximate causes, requisite ingredients, and bases of, or sufficient conditions (upanissaya) for, path-knowledge. ["Path knowledge" begins with the path of stream entry, the first stage of enlightenment.]

• ALL THE DETAILS: The Requisites of Enlightenment: A Manual (PDF)

UC Berkeley Walkout: TODAY

One-day UC walkout gets underway
Today's walkout is intended to reflect widespread frustration and anger as UC lays off hundreds of workers, imposes unpaid furloughs on nonunion employees... (SF Chronicle, Jill Tucker, 9/24/09)
UC Walkout (Monthly Review)

Walkout planned for UC system (LA Times)
UC walkout could ignite larger movement (SF Bay Guardian)

• Thailand protests: Red vs. Yellow (The Cowl)

(9/24/09) While UC Berkeley might have a long history of noisy protests and student activism, tomorrow’s UC-wide faculty and student walkout [teach in] and worker strike seems unprecedented even within its own tumultuous history.

UC Berkeley student protest, Sproul Plaza. The statewide UC system will walk out today.

As a coalition of faculty, staff, students, and workers across all of the UC campuses arrange to walk out of scheduled classes [today] to protest against state cuts in funding, fee hikes, and changes to the traditional UC system of shared governance, the Berkeley community is expecting thousands to congregate in Sproul Plaza, the university’s traditional hub of student activity.

"Berkeley in the Sixties," documentary on the history of anti-war and other protests on what was once the most radical campus in the country. SEE TRAILER

“The walkout tomorrow is just one milestone on what is likely to be a pretty long road to recovery,” said UC Berkeley professor of theatre, dance, and performance studies, Catherine Cole. “It’s a moment to make visible the cuts and changes that are happening in our University – changes that are of profound importance and not yet necessarily made visible to all.” More>>