[INDOLOGY] Mind and moon

[Claudius Teodorescu]

Hi,


I think that the relation between mind and Moon is of correspondence.

This is a correspondence between two realities, one located within
microcosm (the mind), and the other located within the macrocosm (the
Moon). I this is why the mind is the microcosmic counterpart of the Moon.

I am thinking of the ancient Rishis exploring their microcosm in a
practical manner, and finding these correspondences, which they expressed
in written form afterwards.

Such a correspondence is to be found be mere spiritual intuition, and can
be proved afterwards by using analogies.

So, I think that mind and Moon are in correspondence, among others, because
of the following aspects:
1. *reflection*;
2. *fluctuation* (as Matthew nicely pointed out) - but I think that mind is
subjected to more influences than the Moon is, so that its state of
fluctuation is more complex that the one of the Moon; we just have to think
to the five tattvas, to the three gunas, etc.;
3. *seen / unseen* - just like the Moon, which has a hidden face, the mind
a ”hidden” part, which is the subconscious.

I am sure that more analogies or similitudes can be found, in order to
prove that the mind and Moon are in correspondence.


Claudius



On Tue, Aug 2, 2016 at 11:14 AM, Matthew Kapstein <mkapstei at uchicago.edu>
wrote:

> So far as I am aware, the moon was considered in early India, as in many
> other civilizations,
> to be a bright body, not a source of reflected light. So it is unlikely
> that reflection plays
> any role in the mind-moon analogy.
>
> I would suggest, however, that serious thought be given to the phenomena
> of waxing and waning.
> Indeed, the increase of wisdom (prajñā) is not infrequently compared in
> Buddhist texts to the
> waxing moon.
>
> Unlike the sun, which blazes quite constantly, the mind strengthens or
> weakens, both periodically
> and in the course of life -- if there is metaphor that links mind and
> moon, I suspect that it is
> to be found here.
>
> Matthew Kapstein
> Directeur d'études,
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
>
> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
> The University of Chicago
> ------------------------------
>
>


-- 
http://kuberam.ro


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