Jewel in the Lotus

Welcome to my blog.

Hello, my name is Boyd. This is my corner of the blogosphere. It is an exploration of awakening, mindfulness, awareness, consciousness, compassion, and equanimity. As a secular and agnostic Buddhist with an interest in Taoism and other Eastern mythos and Western science, I will be exploring these topics through the perspective of the middle way.

I've never really run a successful blog. Honestly I've never really tried. I'm very much an introvert and have never had much to say. Throughout the last several years and not without much difficulty along the way, I've universalized my faith into a "religion of no religion".

I've got nothing to say right now, nor am I in a hurry to say anything. I'm also still making some small changes to the design of this blog, though I'm quite happy and nearly content with it as it is. As an aside, attribution for the background goes to Erin Hope. Icon by Vexels.

If you'd like to connect with me on Bluesky you can find my profile at https://bsky.app/profile/aimagineer.com, though as I said above I'm an introvert and not very active there at the moment. I also welcome your comments and discussions on any posts where comments are enabled, though all comments are moderated.

 

Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ

Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ is a mantra that is seen as the condensed form of all Buddhist teaching. Some see a mantra as a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words believed by practitioners to have religious, magical or spiritual powers. I'm going to take a more practical approach with it though and offer a simple yet incomplete commentary on its meanings.

Oṃ symbolizes the impure body, speech, and mind of the practitioner as well as the pure body, speech, and mind of awakened ones. It is represented in the sounds of three letters: A, U, and M. In Hinduism and specifically Shaivism, I have heard it described as the sound of creation, preservation, destruction. In my practice of oṃ, after those three sounds there is silence that represents the emptiness which is the true nature of reality. (Though that is a Buddhist idea, or perhaps an idea of my own making.)

Maṇi means "jewel" and within the context of the mantra represents the factors of method for the altruistic intention to become enlightened. A jewel is multifaceted and wish-fulfilling, that with right view and right intent it offers the means (factors of method) to right knowledge and right liberation, for oneself and others.

Padme means "lotus" and within the context of the mantra represents the wisdom and insight into the true nature of reality and thus of self and non-self. The lotus which grows forth from mud but is not sullied by the mud. The wisdom and insight into the true nature of reality and realization of the emptiness of existence itself.

Hūṃ represents the indivisibility and union of method and wisdom. Wisdom affected by method and method affected by wisdom. The full form of both wisdom and method as one undifferentiated union. (I will say more on this in time.)

There's more that could be and has been said about this mantra, as a whole and for each piece. In time I intend on exploring these topics further, both within and outside the context of the mantra itself. This brief explanation helps give meaning for the name of my blog, as well as some of the topics I will be exploring here. Please search online for additional resources if you'd like to discover more.

Some of the text was taken (directly or modified) from https://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/om-mani-padme-hum-dalai-lama/. Additional resources about the mantra can be found on its Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om_mani_padme_hum. Some other commentary about the mantra can be found at https://os.me/learn/about-om-mani-padme-hum/.

My worldview and philosophy.

The worldview and philosophy I offer you here is simple. You are the expansion of the Universe which is experiencing itself. The true nature of reality, so to say. To really drive that point home requires some explanation. You are not only an identity and ego created through the accumulation of your past and even future experiences. You are that, but also not when seen through emptiness and non-self.

"Identity and ego is not an entity apart from thought, but thought you have identified with."

You are in this present moment the quanta of existence, the being and becoming that is the experience of the Universe. From the Big Bang to the formation of galaxies and stars, to the planets and its plants and animals and humans. Consciousness is a mindfulness and an awareness of the current and present moment of its experience.

You are consciousness itself. The Universe experiencing itself is all there is.

"You are not the thought. You are the awareness." The awareness of consciousness itself.

"We don't see things as they are. We see them as we are." I am. You are. This is that.

Quotes taken from one of my favorite "Philosophy Chillstep" videos on YouTube here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK_MFiWvSNI).