[Buddha-l] bodhi

[Dan Lusthaus]

Hi Joy,

> Light is coming from outside and shining inwards.

To bring your attention back to the passage you quoted. What was radiant, 
illuminating, was citta, i.e., one's own mind. Not coming from outside. It 
is that radiance that shines out through the eyes.

"Pabhassaramidam bhikkhave cittam tanca kho akantukehi uppakkilesehi
uppakkilittham"
"Monks, naturally the mind is bright, but by the visit of defilements,
it is polluted."

In early Buddhist cosmology there are also radiant beings, in fact, an 
entire deva realm called the Radiant World (aabhassara loka), mentioned in 
the Brahmajala sutta and elsewhere, considered one of the highest realms. 
Such radiance is an intrinsic property of their high level in the samsaric 
food chain. They are not reflective light, but generative light. One still 
finds them in later Buddhist cosmologies (Abhidharmakosa, Tibetan 
cosmologies, etc.). Even the sun is a deva (surya), radiant (from a Buddhist 
perspective) due to the karma of his birth.

In addition, to quote from B.C. Law's _Heaven and Hell in Buddhist 
Perspective_, p. 8:

"Some special gods are referred to in the Anuruddha Suttam of the Majjhima 
Nikaya:
1. One becomes a parittaabha-deva if he dies after finishing meditation in a 
small circle of light (paritta.m aaloka-ka.sina.m).
2. One becomes a appamaanaabha-deva if he dies after finishing meditation on 
a boundless circle of light (appamaana aaloka-ka.sina.m).
3. One becomes a Sa.mkili.t.thaabha-deva if he dies after finishing 
meditation on pure light."

Is this starting to sound like external light as well? Self-power advocates 
must be thrilled to see the resistance being generated against any and all 
connotations of other power (though Joy seems to be embracing "grace"). 
Theravadins were not so circumspect. Again, quoting B.C. Law (pp. 16-17):

"The Acchariyabbhutadhamma Sutta.m of the Majjhima Nikaya narrates how the 
Bodhisattva [i.e., Sakyamuni Buddha before becoming a Buddha] came down from 
the Tusita Heaven to be born here upon the earth. When the Bodhisattva 
entered the womb of Queen Maayaa leaving the Tusita heaven, a very bright 
light appeared illuminating the deva, Brahmaa and human worlds, etc. It was 
more brilliant than the heavenly light. By the help of the light the beings 
of one world could see the being of another world."

The Lalita Vistara version of the story has a lotus that extends up to the 
Brahma loka where Mahabrahma alone sees it.

So there is inner and outer light. And external light that can be 
internalized, and become constitutively corporeal. Take light as your 
meditation object (kasina) and you may be reborn as a halogen lamp or movie 
projector.

Dan