Logos & Dharma - Platonic Buddhism

On the Tension of the Soul and Anatta Between Platonism and Buddhism The soul in Platonism is a mediating power, not a "puppeteer" substance-entity. It exists relatively, as the emanative unity—at once indivisible and divisible—of Nous and the One within Time. In union with the "One"—a deictic term for Hellenic philosophy to point to the "Not Two", the Non-Dual— the soul's self-identity is transcended. Master Proclus, following the hierophant Iamblichus, describes this median mode of existence by attributing to the soul opposing terms held simultaneously, terms characteristic of the intelligible and sense-perceptible realities that form the upper and lower limits of the soul's existence as a mean between them. The soul is thus indivisible and divisible, eternal and temporal, immortal and mortal, ungenerated (agennētos) and generated (genētos). This simultaneous inherence of contradictory attributes earns soul its designation as a "middle" being, an intermediary dynamic power—simultaneously changeable and unchangeable—between incorporeal intelligible realities and sense-perceptible things. As such, Platonic emantive soul-doctrines stands in no absolute conflict with the emanative Trikāya of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its descriptions on how individuality appears in the temporal realm. Platonism emphasizes ontology; Buddhism emphasizes the phenomenology of mind. The difference generates a productive comparative tension, one I find genuinely exciting. The Platonic doctrines of the soul are incompatible chiefly with Madhyamaka Emptiness-Only (Prāsaṅgika) and other anti-metaphysical Buddhist schools, where dependent origination is radicalized into ontological incoherence and reductionist metaphysical nihilism is reified as dogma. Nonetheless, the Prāsaṅgika approach, in turn, is incompatible with multiple other Buddhist schools as well, including but not limited to the "Buddha-Nature/Tathagathagarbha" sutric litertature, the Other-Emptiness Madyamikas, Yogachara, and Dzogchen, the crown pinnacle of Tibetan Buddhism. Most essentially, I argue, that the metaphysical nihilist branches of Buddhism sit uneasily with pre-Abhidharmic Pāli Buddhism—the canon closest in time, and therefore the most accurate source available to us, of Śākyamuni Buddha's actual teachings. Regardless whether one understands selfhood in terms of soul or in purely reductionist terms, The essential to our immediate felt experience is this: egohood is a living power—a creative, free, relational, conscious force mediating between the unmanifest and the manifest.

I had the pleasure of a two-hour discussion yesterday with a fellow Platonist and community-builder, Eric Claussen, founder of the Platonic Path. We covered a range of topics relevant to Platonic, Buddhist, and Tantric practitioners navigating spiritual self-realization through an age steeped in uncertainty and dissolution, yet pregnant with unprecedented potential for creative reimagining of ourselves and our civilizational paradigm. Among the many topics discussed, I presented briefly the common operative principles of theurgy and tantra, and the opportunity for theurgic practitioners to connect with living lineages of tantric praxis. This opens a path for an authentic revival—rather than a reconstruction—of the ancient Mystery and theurgic lineages of Hellenic and Western origin. We also stressed the importance of forming hubs of spiritual communal life, and I mentioned Politeia Mandala, the emergent community in Greece I founded, built on Platonic and Eastern non-dual philosophical and contemplative principles. Such hubs will serve as vital nodes for the world to come, once the already-rotten foundation of the nihilistic, hylic worldview governing both the secular and religious mind of the modern age finally gives way. In that unraveling of modernity's dead forms, the cutting-edge scientific study of consciousness will play a vital role, particularly where non-dual consciousness is understood as primary to spacetime. Scientist-practitioners, following the example of the Platonic and Far Eastern spiritual masters of old, are ideal to facilitate this shift. To cross the turbulent waves of the sea of Becoming and reach undiscovered shores of Blessedness requires nothing less than a lucid and grounded innate sense of destiny, and a reconnection with the Primordial Religion of the Heart. https://youtu.be/Ce7SEoKYz4k?is=ugxy8rrQzDtlNPKL

If your beliefs point toward the Good, the Just, and the True, why be ashamed, or afraid, to share them in public onymity? If you aspire to bring about a beneficial change in an age steeped in Darkness, what good does it do to remain within an anti-social echo-chamber? If you follow a life of virtue and sanctity, guided by principles of timeless wisdom, why not present yourself as a real persona, instead of standing behind an online mask, so that others may draw inspiration from it? The following essay raises these questions, which have arisen in me more than once in the past. Although issues of online security and avoiding the “evil eye” of the regime’s Political Correctness remain unresolved, the author provides a mirror to all of us who claim to want to build a better future for our communities. The author speaks mainly to the Pagan community, yet I believe it holds equally for the rest of the counter-culture spiritual movements of our time. https://open.substack.com/pub/platonicpath/p/which-way-pagan-anon?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1rg85c

Recognizing the Primordial Dimensions of our Original Face In my experience, practitioners of contemplative-insight traditions not infrequently hold only a vague, obscure understanding of what their practice is meant to reconnect them to. Whether they conceptualize…

Recognizing the Primordial Dimensions of our Original Face In my experience, practitioners of contemplative-insight traditions not infrequently hold only a vague, obscure understanding of what their practice is meant to reconnect them to. Whether they conceptualize that "something" they wish to realize as Dharmakaya, the Self, the Unconditioned, Union, or by some other name, they often lack the clarity to discern the phenomenological qualities meant to be apprehended as participatory knowledge of their own cognition. The following list of qualitative categories, then, may serve as a useful cognitive map through the felt experience of liberation. Though that experience is unbounded by such conceptualizations, these mental mappings can still help us avoid losing our way in our mind's labyrinth. The unchanging dimensions of Primordial, Pure, and Total Consciousness - rigpa - already completely luminous in the immediacy of the present moment, can be laid out as follows: Being: the obvious, self-evident, and self-manifest fact of awareness being present, or phenomenally existing. Emptiness: an absence of conceptually assigned identity, free of the conceptualizations about itself or the world that reify awareness as subject and phenomena as objects. Spaciousness: the sphere of nondual awareness that encompasses and pervades everything within one's perceptual bubble, internal and external alike, without conceptually constructed boundaries. It is phenomenally infinite, since no edge can be detected in it, no point at which it ceases. Non-dual reflexivity and luminosity: rigpa inherently knows itself to be aware, without relying on mediation by mental representations or by any other person, entity, or factor external to it. This luminosity is not perceptual content that rigpa comes to know; it is what awareness itself is. Atemporality: rigpa is without past or future as ordinarily experienced. Nondual awareness holds no beliefs about the past and makes no predictions about the future; it abides always in the Now. Yet this nowness is not a present moment sandwiched between a past and a future. That way of experiencing time presupposes a subject observing a succession of moments, and no such subject is present in nondual awareness. Bliss: the silent, equanimous contentment of being entirely complete in itself, with no sense of lack or need for anything outside itself, without intention, and thus beyond desire. Singularity or unity: nondual awareness is singular and homogeneous, a unity of all its dimensions rather than something compounded or constructed from them, or from anything else. It is, for this reason, beyond co-dependent origination and conditionality.

Logos is the Sword. Dharma is the Essence.

"There is, monks, an unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated. If there were not that unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated, there would not be the case that emancipation from the born — become — made — fabricated would be discerned. But precisely because…

"There is, monks, an unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated. If there were not that unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated, there would not be the case that emancipation from the born — become — made — fabricated would be discerned. But precisely because there is an unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated, emancipation from the born — become — made — fabricated is discerned." -Siddhartha Gautama, Udāna 8.3, the Tatiyanibbānasutta "The Third Discourse about Nibbāna". "Freed from the classification of form, Vaccha, the Tathagata is deep, boundless, hard to fathom, like the ocean." -Siddhartha Gautama, Majjhima Nikāya 72, Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta. if we ever see in ourselves a nature of this kind which has nothing of the other things which are attached to us by which we have to experience whatever happens by chance … when we ascend to this and become this alone and let the rest go, what can we say of it except that we are more than free and more than independent? -Plotinus, Plot. 6.8.15.15-17 and 21-24. “The Self exists. There is no other. Spontaneous perfection exists, as the Great Self. Because it is one with the state of Samantabhadra (Primordial Buddhahood), there is no other. In [the misunderstanding of the notion of] no-self, one falls into the error of nihilism.” -The Universal Inclusiveness [of Perfection] - Spyi bcings, Early Dzogchen text.

I had a podcast conversation with a fellow farer of the innermost reaches of the Hidden and the Manifest—the substack content-creator @seeingthroughtheworld. We discussed Neoplatonic theurgy and tantra in relation to the perennial structure of awakening consciousness; the narrow line separating deep non-dual immersion (samadhi states) from psychotic breakdown; the importance of connection to a living lineage; the ideal of the Overman as the eternal process of forging new and vital modes of being-in-the-world; the transformative power of the vibration of ineffable names; and more. May it be of benefit. https://youtu.be/AX02MXRD4fI?is=ZUZPZ5fkErcYroJg

We live inside a dream. But where is the Dreamer? When the curtain of death falls, the theater empties. We look backstage and the borrowed masks fade away. At this moment how immaculate it will be to recognize our true face. We live inside a dream. But who is the Dreamer? Through the darkness of the future past, the magician longs to see — one chance for a sudden flash, between life and death— the light asking the dark an unspoken question, it already answered, long after future, long before past. There is no dream yet there is a Dreamer beyond our dreams. Light of memory shine upon us.

The Overman is not an ideal man with fixed characteristics, but a process that instantiates a new mode of recollecting being. From a Platonist perspective, one could say the Overman is what reveals or embodies a Henad—perfect and complete in its self-ownership and relational Unity. The Overman perpetuates the procession of the One in the grand epic of sentient life in the beginningless vastness of the Cosmos. _________ Much appreciation to the author of the channel https://t.me/SunTastinGood for the articulation of this logos.

Channel name was changed to «Logos & Dharma - Platonic Buddhism»

Logos & Dharma - Platonic Buddhism pinned «My Vajra Consort and I have just published the first video in our Logos and Dharma project. This video introduces the central concerns of our work and spiritual praxis: rekindling genuine initiation and cultivating a culture of awakening in the West. We…»

My Vajra Consort and I have just published the first video in our Logos and Dharma project. This video introduces the central concerns of our work and spiritual praxis: rekindling genuine initiation and cultivating a culture of awakening in the West. We believe this is possible through a clear and lucid understanding of the perennial phenomenology of awakening, forged by studying, practicing, and synthesizing the teachings of Platonic, Tantric, and other Non-Dual contemplative schools of gnosis and liberation — re-seen and authentically embodied through contemporary scientific lenses and lived ways of life. Such a rekindling could awaken a new renaissance in the West, which, like the rest of the modern world, has long languished under a crisis of meaning--"the Death of God". From this renaissance, new philosophies, religions, and scientific fields may emerge. In time, new sociopolitical possibilities may open beyond the fixed ideological categories and modes of being that have constrained contemporary human life. History offers us real precedents for this task. The European peoples have, on several occasions, reinvented themselves by reinterpreting Hellenic philosophy and sacred symbolism. And there was once a moment, in Hellenistic times, when the Hellenic and Western spirit synthesized harmoniously with the Dharma: the Greco-Buddhism of Gandhara, the Indo-Greek Kingdom, and the Kushan Empire. What was possible then is possible again. Our work centers on what is called the "West" because this is our immediate heritage and social surroundings, but it is ultimately ecumenical in scope, embracing the interconnected ecological, inter-cultural, and sentient life on this small planet, our shared home in the vastness of the cosmos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo_BCH5etbc

Lost in Translation: Why Western and Buddhist Philosophy Rarely Understand Each Other Buddhism deals primarily with the phenomenology and psychology of liberation. "Ultimate Truth" within this context refers to the "ultimacy of felt experience," not to metaphysical…

Lost in Translation: Why Western and Buddhist Philosophy Rarely Understand Each Other Buddhism deals primarily with the phenomenology and psychology of liberation. "Ultimate Truth" within this context refers to the "ultimacy of felt experience," not to metaphysical ultimate truth. The reason for this is that metaphysical speculation is seen within Buddhism (broadly speaking) as an obscuration on the path of awakening. This Buddhist attitude goes all the way back to the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni as depicted in the Pali canon. In the Culamalunkya Sutta (MN 63), the monk Māluṅkyaputta threatens to leave the Sangha unless the Buddha answers a series of metaphysical questions. The Buddha responds with the famous poison-arrow simile: a man struck by a poisoned arrow (the Samsaric condition of perpetual suffering) does not refuse treatment until he knows the archer's caste, name, height, skin color, and hometown. The arrow must be removed now. This foundational approach to soteriology can be discerned in all Buddhist lineages. As such, Buddhist traditions—depending on schools and lineage— are either non-metaphysical or even anti-metaphysical, with certain more niche forms of Buddhism being quasi-ontological.

A selection of Heraclitus quotes (Fragments): “The aeion is child moving pieces in a game. Sovereignty belongs to the child.” “Man does not step into the same river twice” “War is both father and king of all, some he has shown forth as gods and others men, some he has made slaves and others free” “It should be understood that war is the common condition, that strife is justice, and that all things come to pass through the compulsion of strife” “Homer was wrong in saying ‘Would that strife perish from amongst gods and men’ For if that were to occur, then all things would cease to exist” “There is exchange of all things for fire and of fire for all things, as there is of wares for gold and gold for ware” “This universe, which is the same for all, has not been made by any god or man, but it always has been and will be an ever-living fire, kindling itself by regular measures and going out by regular measures” “The thunderbolt pilots all things through all things” “The sun is not only new each day, but forever continually new.” “Every beast is driven to pasture by a blow” “A man’s character is his daimon” “Greater dooms win greater destinies” “Fire in its progress will catch all things by surprise and judge them” “One man is worth ten thousand if he is best” “The best of men choose one thing in preference to all else, immortal glory in preference to mortal good, whereas the masses simply glut themselves like cattle” “To extinguish hubris is more needed than to extinguish a fire” “Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony” “To God all things are beautiful, good, and right. Men, on the other hand, deem some things right and others wrong” “The way up and the way down are one and the same” “Into the same rivers we step and do not step. We exist and we do not exist” “The hidden harmony is better than the obvious” “Listening not to me but to the logos, it is wise to acknowledge that all things are one”

Theurgy is not mundane Magic Although ancient terminology of esoteric practices is fluid, master Iamblichus draws a sharp distinction between Theurgy and Magic (Goeteia)—practices of coercion, dealings and manipulations related with occult entities for the sake of wordly acquisition. Though their operative principles may share common ground, their effects diverge entirely, owing to the inner constitution of those who conduct the rite. The goetes grasps at a fabricated and enlarged selfhood. He believes himself to command metaphysical forces whereas in reality, he becomes a puppet of his passions, and frequently, of occult entities that is beyond his comprehension. The very incantations through which he seeks mastery over his reality tighten the bonds of his captivity. The theurgist, by contrast, undertakes a purificatory work of self-emptying (Oudenia)— stripping away the illusory imprints accumulated through countless cycles of Generation, until the soul becomes a transparent vehicle—not an ego-maniac "commander"—for supra-human, sacred agency. In the silence that abides within primordial Oneness, the Power and the Beauty of the One is recognized as the soul's own most authentic will: what master Proclus calls *to hen en hēmin* — "the one in us." Yet the line dividing Theurgy from Goeteia is a thin one for the practitioner who lacks discrimination. As such, it is not unsual for one to slip between both without knowing it.

Hail Lord Apollon, Creator of Boundaries The following Paean, sung majestically by Polish musicians, is derived from a papyrus of the late second or early third century AD (Papyrus Berlin 6870). Annie Bélis advanced the significant scholarly proposal that it was composed by Mesomedes of Crete (early 2nd century AD), the celebrated lyric poet and musician of Emperor Hadrian's court, whose works number among the few surviving compositions of antiquity. For a theurgist, such Paeans — invoking the divine names and qualitative powers of the divinity — are not mere literary compositions. A hymn properly ordered according to the mathematical ratios of harmony pervading the Universe, and sung with a heart open to receive the self-manifestation of the Ineffable, functions as a Synthema: a living symbol participating directly in the Unified Powers that sustain the Cosmos. This theurgic hymn does not "speak about" Apollo. The meaning of its words, their vibration, the musical harmonies pervading them, and their emergent relation with consciousness itself is Apollo — or more precisely, a mode of manifestation of the non-representational Form that wishes and does not wish to be called "Apollo." As such, the theurgist singing this Paean participates directly, to the capacity of their ontological limits, within and as the Eternal Unity (Henad) that is Apollo, the maker of Boundaries. This theurgical understanding of hymnology — both as theory and as felt experience — aligns with the tantric account of mantric formulas and magical dharanis, and with the understanding of vibration as the creative potency of the universe rooted in the pre-tantric Vedas. The epithet attributed to Apollo at the hymn's opening — "ὁροποιός," meaning "boundary-maker" or "establisher of limit" — carries considerable metaphysical weight. It points toward the long-standing Hellenic philosophical tradition, traceable to Plato and Pythagoras, in which the interplay of Limit and the Unlimited constitutes a fundamental principle of Reality. The Paean thus figures Apollo as the Power that binds cosmic levels into harmonious proportion and the principle preventing reality from dissolving into indeterminacy, represented by the Great Snake of Chaos, Python, whom Apollo slays. https://youtube.com/shorts/jeXg2Ht4Fu8?si=z0_Py4i4ILDzkEs-

Is Bön Buddhism? Many Buddhists are skeptical of Bön's legitimacy, dismissing it as little more than Shamanism or a heretical mixture of indigenous Tibetan spirituality with Buddhist influence. Traditional Bönpos would be equally averse to associating their…