Tradition says that Buddha took seven steps as soon as he was born and declared that the Ego was the most important reality in heaven and on earth. Afterwards, young Buddha, prince of the Shakya (Sakiya) clan, perceived that life was suffering. He abandoned the rank of king for spiritual training.
After six years of meditation, he recognized that "The cause of death is birth. The cause of birth is pregnancy. The cause of pregnancy is sensuality. The cause of sensuality is desire. The cause of desire is feeling. The cause of feeling is touch. The cause of touch is senses. The cause of senses is personality. The cause of personality is consciousness. The cause of consciouness is unconscious power. The cause of unconscious power is ignorance. Unconscious power will disappear if one overcomes ignorance. And the consciousness, personality, the senses, touch, feeling, desire, sensuality, pregnancy, birth and the death will consequently disappear."
Herman Beckh (1875-1937), German Indologist and priest of The Christian Community, observed that "Human ignorance is the result of Lucifer's seduction. Unconscious power is that power which is sleeping in the ether body. Consciousness lies in the astral. Personality is the shadow of individuality; it is merely pseudo-Ego. The senses: touch, feeling, desire, sensuality, pregnancy, birth and death are under the power of Ahriman." (From Buddha to Christ, 1925)
Buddha preached that "Life is suffering. There is an eightfold path which leads to the overcoming of Suffering. It is right thinking, right resolves, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right aspiration, right recollection and right contemplation." Rudolf Steiner empathised this path in his “Guidance in Esoteric Training", and he wrote in the “Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment" that the Eightfold Path vivified the sixteen-petalled lotus flower which is in neighborhood of the larynx (8).
Buddha's sayings were recorded in the Agama Sutras. Buddha said in the famous Agama Sutra, Dhammapada, that the Ego was one's lord, and that none other than the Ego can be one's anchor. And the old Buddha said in the beloved Agama Sutra, Mahaparinibbana Suttanta (which describes the last days of Buddha), to his disciples to "Make your Ego your light, your island."
The early Buddhists recognized that "Nothing is eternal. Nothing has eternal substance. Nirvana is pure supreme contentment." They said that the human being became free when he abided by morality, meditated, and obtained wisdom. They analyzed the essential nature of human beings, described the three worlds, and contemplated cosmic evolution. The most important book of early Buddhist spiritual science is Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosha Bhasya, a study of the teachings of Buddha.
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Indian Samkhya philosophy was dualistic. There were purusha or atman, the pure spiritual principle, and prakriti, the original physical principle. Prakriti consists of sattva (pure nature), rajas (rough nature), and tamas (dark nature). The pseudo-Ego arose from buddhi, the original thinking organ which was derived from prakriti. Ego consciousness misunderstood that buddhi must be the pure spirit, the true Ego. The five elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether), five sense organs, the human body and consciousness arose from the pseudo-Ego.
Indian Vedanta philosophy was spiritual monism. Brahman, the supreme cosmic spiritual principle, was absolute Being. Ether was born from Brahman, air from ether, fire from air, water from fire, and earth from water. (Steiner said in the lecture cycle “East in the Light of West", that the ancient Indian saw fire in the air, and called the air the fire. They perceived the fire as the air.) (9) The purpose of Vedanta philosophers was to recognize that atman, the human spirit, was not fundamentally different from brahman.
Early Buddhist spiritual scientists held two ideas about the constitution of man. They sometimes said that the human being consisted of six vijnyanas, and sometimes that man consisted of five skandhas. (Other early Buddhists said that man consisted of six elements.) The six vijnyanas are sight, hearing, sense of smell, taste, sense of touch and consciousness. The five skandhas are body, feeling, thinking, will and consciousness. The six elements are earth, water, air, fire, ether and consciousness.
Buddha's teaching was, "Do not eliminate the Ego, but rather strive to make the Ego firm." Buddhists declared that all human beings had a soul which was originally pure. They thought that desires entered the soul, but that the soul was not in itself polluted. The soul becomes pure when cleansed of desires. The later Buddhists equated the pure soul to the inner Buddha.
Beckh was interested in the Sanskrit word Ishvara. He wrote, "Ishvara means Lord in Ego (Herr im Ich). Ishvara has the same derivation as the German word Ich (English "I"). The region of Ego is felt most directly in yoga. Yoga disciples concentrate on the Ego sphere, experience the Ego sphere, and become conscious of the Ego sphere. Yoga is the mystical inner way to the higher self. Peaceful rest in the divine Ego is the purpose of yoga." (Indian Wisdom and Christianity, 1937))
Alfred P. Sinnett (1840-1921), the English theosophist who lived in India, introduced the Indian sevenfold classification of the nature of man in his “Esoteric Buddhism" (1883) as follows; rupa or sthula sharira (physical body), prana jiva (life or vital principle), linga sharira (astral body), kama rupa (the seat of animal desires and passions), manas (mind or intelligence), buddhi (the spiritual soul) and atma (spirit). And H. P. Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Movement, adopted this selfsame sevenfold classification in her “Secret Doctrine" (1888) and “Key to Theosophy" (1889).
Rudolf Steiner clearly explained the seven members of man in his “Theosophy" and in “An Outline of Occult Science"; viz., physical body, ether body, astral body, Ego, spirit self, life spirit and spirit man. And it is important to acknowledge the nine members of man for the correct understanding of human being: physical body, ether body, soul body, sentient soul, intellectual soul, consciousness soul, spirit self, life spirit, spirit man.
After six years of meditation, he recognized that "The cause of death is birth. The cause of birth is pregnancy. The cause of pregnancy is sensuality. The cause of sensuality is desire. The cause of desire is feeling. The cause of feeling is touch. The cause of touch is senses. The cause of senses is personality. The cause of personality is consciousness. The cause of consciouness is unconscious power. The cause of unconscious power is ignorance. Unconscious power will disappear if one overcomes ignorance. And the consciousness, personality, the senses, touch, feeling, desire, sensuality, pregnancy, birth and the death will consequently disappear."
Herman Beckh (1875-1937), German Indologist and priest of The Christian Community, observed that "Human ignorance is the result of Lucifer's seduction. Unconscious power is that power which is sleeping in the ether body. Consciousness lies in the astral. Personality is the shadow of individuality; it is merely pseudo-Ego. The senses: touch, feeling, desire, sensuality, pregnancy, birth and death are under the power of Ahriman." (From Buddha to Christ, 1925)
Buddha preached that "Life is suffering. There is an eightfold path which leads to the overcoming of Suffering. It is right thinking, right resolves, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right aspiration, right recollection and right contemplation." Rudolf Steiner empathised this path in his “Guidance in Esoteric Training", and he wrote in the “Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment" that the Eightfold Path vivified the sixteen-petalled lotus flower which is in neighborhood of the larynx (8).
Buddha's sayings were recorded in the Agama Sutras. Buddha said in the famous Agama Sutra, Dhammapada, that the Ego was one's lord, and that none other than the Ego can be one's anchor. And the old Buddha said in the beloved Agama Sutra, Mahaparinibbana Suttanta (which describes the last days of Buddha), to his disciples to "Make your Ego your light, your island."
The early Buddhists recognized that "Nothing is eternal. Nothing has eternal substance. Nirvana is pure supreme contentment." They said that the human being became free when he abided by morality, meditated, and obtained wisdom. They analyzed the essential nature of human beings, described the three worlds, and contemplated cosmic evolution. The most important book of early Buddhist spiritual science is Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosha Bhasya, a study of the teachings of Buddha.
*
Indian Samkhya philosophy was dualistic. There were purusha or atman, the pure spiritual principle, and prakriti, the original physical principle. Prakriti consists of sattva (pure nature), rajas (rough nature), and tamas (dark nature). The pseudo-Ego arose from buddhi, the original thinking organ which was derived from prakriti. Ego consciousness misunderstood that buddhi must be the pure spirit, the true Ego. The five elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether), five sense organs, the human body and consciousness arose from the pseudo-Ego.
Indian Vedanta philosophy was spiritual monism. Brahman, the supreme cosmic spiritual principle, was absolute Being. Ether was born from Brahman, air from ether, fire from air, water from fire, and earth from water. (Steiner said in the lecture cycle “East in the Light of West", that the ancient Indian saw fire in the air, and called the air the fire. They perceived the fire as the air.) (9) The purpose of Vedanta philosophers was to recognize that atman, the human spirit, was not fundamentally different from brahman.
Early Buddhist spiritual scientists held two ideas about the constitution of man. They sometimes said that the human being consisted of six vijnyanas, and sometimes that man consisted of five skandhas. (Other early Buddhists said that man consisted of six elements.) The six vijnyanas are sight, hearing, sense of smell, taste, sense of touch and consciousness. The five skandhas are body, feeling, thinking, will and consciousness. The six elements are earth, water, air, fire, ether and consciousness.
Buddha's teaching was, "Do not eliminate the Ego, but rather strive to make the Ego firm." Buddhists declared that all human beings had a soul which was originally pure. They thought that desires entered the soul, but that the soul was not in itself polluted. The soul becomes pure when cleansed of desires. The later Buddhists equated the pure soul to the inner Buddha.
Beckh was interested in the Sanskrit word Ishvara. He wrote, "Ishvara means Lord in Ego (Herr im Ich). Ishvara has the same derivation as the German word Ich (English "I"). The region of Ego is felt most directly in yoga. Yoga disciples concentrate on the Ego sphere, experience the Ego sphere, and become conscious of the Ego sphere. Yoga is the mystical inner way to the higher self. Peaceful rest in the divine Ego is the purpose of yoga." (Indian Wisdom and Christianity, 1937))
Alfred P. Sinnett (1840-1921), the English theosophist who lived in India, introduced the Indian sevenfold classification of the nature of man in his “Esoteric Buddhism" (1883) as follows; rupa or sthula sharira (physical body), prana jiva (life or vital principle), linga sharira (astral body), kama rupa (the seat of animal desires and passions), manas (mind or intelligence), buddhi (the spiritual soul) and atma (spirit). And H. P. Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Movement, adopted this selfsame sevenfold classification in her “Secret Doctrine" (1888) and “Key to Theosophy" (1889).
Rudolf Steiner clearly explained the seven members of man in his “Theosophy" and in “An Outline of Occult Science"; viz., physical body, ether body, astral body, Ego, spirit self, life spirit and spirit man. And it is important to acknowledge the nine members of man for the correct understanding of human being: physical body, ether body, soul body, sentient soul, intellectual soul, consciousness soul, spirit self, life spirit, spirit man.