kensbikes100
USA
150 Posts
Posted - Oct 20 2018 : 8:11:35 PM Show Profile Email Poster Edit Reply Reply with Quote View user's IP address Get a Link to this Reply Delete Reply
nothing in >12 years!
Can anyone even give basic definitions of the two terms, as a prelude to the requested scholarly comparative analysis of the two concepts?
Christi
United Kingdom
3552 Posts
Posted - Oct 21 2018 : 10:22:13 PM Show Profile Email Poster Visit Christi's Homepage Edit Reply Reply with Quote View user's IP address Get a Link to this Reply Delete Reply
Hi Kensbikes,
The term "chitta vritti nirodha" refers to a calm and balanced state of mind. "Chitta" means mind, "vritti" means "to turn about" or "to go around" or "to whirl". ""Nirodha" means "to cease" or "to end". So "chitta vritti nirodha" means to cease the endless whirling or turning of the mind". The mind then comes into a calm state and becomes transparent and we are able to see things as they truly are.
The term "spanda" refers to the primordial vibration of all of creation. So, it is the condition of existence in its original undifferentiated state before the mind labels things with name and form (nama rupa). So spanda, is what is seen when the whirling of the mind ceases.
Another way of putting it would be to say that in samadhi, everything is seen as emptiness dancing.
Christi
jonesboy
USA
594 Posts
Posted - Oct 22 2018 : 09:27:29 AM Show Profile Email Poster Visit jonesboy's Homepage Edit Reply Reply with Quote View user's IP address Get a Link to this Reply Delete Reply
Here is what the great Abhinavagupta says on spanda...
"The nature of such a consciousness is its capacity for self-referral, and because of that, there always arises a spontaneous sound (dhvani) which is termed the supreme, the great Heart. That self-consciousness in the Heart in which the entire universe without remainder is dissolved, present at the beginning and at the end of perception of objects, is called in the authoritative texts the vibration (spanda), and more precisely, the universal vibration, and its nature is an overflowing in the Self. For that vibration, which is a slight motion of a special kind, a unique vibrating light, is the wave of the ocean of consciousness, without which there is no consciousness at all. For the character of the ocean is that it sometimes filled with waves and sometimes waveless. This conciseness is the essence of all."
The analogy of simply being a wave in the ocean, is known to be incorrect...Not just a wave, but the ocean itself...
"He who by means of this teaching perceives on all sides the universe like a mass of foam in the midst of the ambrosial ocean of consciousness, he is declared to be the one Siva Himself"
Here is a link to the longer version of the above quote.
http://community.livingunbound.net/index.php?/topic/610-the-triadic-heart-of-siva/&do=findComment&comment=5506Edited by - jonesboy on Oct 22 2018 10:19:40 AM
