Seuse's Sixth and Seventh Bodies

◎Jade Tablet - 11-9

◎Atman - 9

◎Various Aspects of the Sixth Body Atman - 1

◎Self-Abandonment, Submergence in God, and the One

Seuse speaks of the sixth body:

"It is beneficial for all people, who are destined to be led back to the primordial One, to know the origin of themselves and of all things. For through this, the ultimate goal of such people is also determined. Therefore, it must be understood that all who have ever spoken of the truth are in agreement on this point: that there is an absolute beginning, the most simple something, which nothing precedes." (The Book of Eternal Wisdom / German Mysticism Series 6 Heinrich Seuse / Sobunsha, p. 175)

Seuse refers to the sixth body as the primordial One, the origin of oneself and all things, and the absolute beginning, the most simple something, thus using three different expressions. This is the side of Being. Furthermore, he states that the primordial One has no end, is immeasurable, and cannot be known by reason. He also excludes expression through words.

Moreover, he acknowledges that this One is the beginning and end of the submergence in God that occurs in parallel with self-abandonment.

And furthermore, he states that beyond it there is nothing, confirming that there is nothing. This is the seventh body Nirvana.

Samadhi Between the Sixth Body Atman and the Seventh Body Nirvana - 3

◎Jade Tablet - 11-8

◎Atman - 8

◎Only by Becoming Conscious in a Dream Can You Know Reality

When the Samadhi between the sixth body Atman and the seventh body Nirvana is diagrammed in this way, people may try to approach it as a formal theory or a system for practical training. However, OSHO Bhagwan cautions against this.

"If you intend to know the whole world of dreams, then Yoga, Tantra, and other esoteric trainings have to be introduced. For every type of dream there is a corresponding reality, and unless the whole of Maya is revealed, unless the whole world of illusion is revealed, it is impossible to know reality. Reality is revealed only through illusion.

But don't take what I have been saying as a theory, as a system. Just take it as a starting point and begin to dream with a conscious mind. Only by becoming conscious in a dream can you know reality."
(Quoted from "The Psychology of the Esoteric" by Osho, Meditation Society, p. 143)

What is a dream, and what is reality? To know the whole of Maya, ignorance, is to know all the worlds of delusion.

There is a poem that might be helpful in understanding this. From Dante's Daiji's poem "And You Are Myself":

"Dreams repeated again and again
Brahman continuing to dream
Countless streams of consciousness
Reincarnating, ascending or descending again
And streams trying to return

Brahman continuing to sleep
The infinite universe within one human being
The diverse and plural universes of all living things
The plural universes tangent within one human being
The universe continuing to dream

A distant, distant dream in timeless time
The sweet joy of the fleeting world, heart pounding
And suffering, deep, deep lamentation
Brahman continuing to dream
An eternal dream that never awakens
The dream sea of Akasha sleeping with all secrets"
(Quoted from "The Play of Absolute Nothingness" by Dante's Daiji, Morikita Publishing, pp. 72-73)

※Akasha: In the table of contents of "The Telephone Between Heaven and Earth / by J. Crenshaw / translated by Seicho Taniguchi / Nippon Kyobunsha 1968," there are entries for "The Philosophy of Akasha" and "The Words of Akasha," suggesting Akasha is an ancient spirit.

There is an infinite universe within one human being, diverse and plural universes in all living things, and plural universes tangent within one human being continue to dream. The point is to awaken and see all those dreams.

That is to know the whole of Maya, ignorance, illusion. It is not a glimpse, not a vision, but an experience that cannot be called an experience.

Furthermore, "to dream with a conscious mind" is a technique of Kundalini Yoga. Using this, Zhuang Zhou pondered whether he had become a butterfly in a dream, or whether a butterfly had become Zhuang Zhou in a dream. This was not simply about having a strange dream. Which was the illusion, and which was reality?

Samadhi Between the Sixth Body Atman and the Seventh Body Nirvana - 2

◎Jade Tablet - 11-7

◎Atman - 7

◎From a World with Seeds of All Things to a World Without Even That

"Tama-yokan" is a Japanese sweet, about the size of a ping pong ball, filled in a balloon. You eat it by piercing the balloon with a toothpick, which causes the balloon to burst and the yokan inside to be revealed. The sixth body Atman, like a toothpick, plunges into the central sun. Following on from the previous section, OSHO Bhagwan describes the attributes of the seventh body Nirvana, which is like the yokan.

"So when substantiality (positivity) disappears in the sixth body, you enter the seventh body. The sixth reality is the door to the seventh. If substantiality is not there—no myths, no dreams—dreams cease. Then there is just that which is, Suchness. Now nothing exists, but existence is. Things are not, but the source is. The tree is not, but the seed is.

Those who have come to know have called this mind seed samadhi—samadhi savichara. Everything disappears, everything returns to the original source, the cosmic seed. The tree is not, but the seed is. But because dreaming is still possible from the seed, even the seed has to be destroyed.

In the seventh body, neither dream nor reality exists. Up to the point where dreaming is possible, you can see something of reality. If there is no possibility of dream, then neither reality nor illusion exists. So the seventh is the center. Now dream and reality have become one. No difference exists. Whether you dream of nothingness or know nothingness, nothingness remains the same.

If I dream of you, it is illusion. If I see you, it is reality. But whether I dream of your absence or see your absence, there is no difference. Whatsoever dream of absence you dream, that dream as absence is the same. Real difference exists only in regard to the substantial (positive). So up to the sixth body, differences exist. In the seventh body, only nothingness remains. Even about the seed, there is absence. This is nirvichara samadhi, seedless samadhi. Now there is no possibility of dreaming."
(Quoted from "The Psychology of the Esoteric" by Osho, Meditation Society, pp. 141-142)

※Substantiality or substantial: existing by itself and not requiring other existence.

According to this, he particularly emphasizes that it is a door, a Samadhi, but it is not very clear where exactly in the sixth body, which is a body, this door is located. However, one can understand the momentum that if Savikalpa Samadhi (Samadhi with seed) occurs, one inevitably progresses to Nirvikalpa Samadhi (Samadhi without seed).

In Dante's Daiji's meditation cross map, the Rupadhyana Samadhi (Samadhi with form), corresponding to Savikalpa Samadhi, and the Arupadhyana Samadhi (Samadhi without form), corresponding to Nirvikalpa Samadhi, are placed on the horizontal line of spatial evolution, while the wisdom of the sixth body and the seventh body Nirvana are placed on the vertical line of temporal evolution. In other words, it should not be simply thought that Savikalpa Samadhi is the sixth body Atman and Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the seventh body Nirvana.

Perhaps within that experience that cannot be called an experience, the door and the contents of the room become naturally understood.

Samadhi Between the Sixth Body Atman and the Seventh Body Nirvana - 1

◎Jade Tablet - 11-6

◎Atman - 6

◎Everything Returns to the Original Source

It is OSHO Bhagwan who speaks of a Samadhi between the sixth and seventh bodies. The relevant passage is as follows:

"In the sixth body, the mirror is not. Now only the cosmic is. You are lost. You are no more. The dreamer is not.

But without the dreamer, the dream can still exist. And when the dream exists without the dreamer, it looks like authentic reality. Because the mind is not, the thinker is not, whatsoever is known is all known. It becomes your knowledge.

The myth of creation comes and it drifts away. You are not, things just flow. There is no judge, no dreamer.

But the mind that is not, is still there. The mind that has been destroyed is still there—not as an individual, but as the cosmic whole. You are not, but Brahman is.

That's why the whole world is said to be Brahman's dream. This whole world is a dream, Maya. Not somebody's individual dream, but the dream of the total, the whole. You are not, but the total is dreaming."
(Quoted from "The Psychology of the Esoteric" by Osho, Meditation Society, p. 140)

Unless one has the image of the causal body's ascent eventually switching to the sixth body Atman, which then attempts to plunge into the central sun that is the seventh body Brahman, this passage might be incomprehensible. (Once again, I am impressed by the greatness of Dante's Daiji.)

He speaks of "the whole world is Brahman's dream," but if we say it is the dream of the seventh body Brahman, not the dream of the sixth body Atman, the question arises: who is dreaming? The entire world, which is the sixth body, is said to be the dream of the seventh body Brahman.

"Now the only distinction is whether the dream is substantial (positive) or not. If it is substantial, it is illusion, it is dream. Because in the ultimate sense, only non-substantiality (negative) exists.

When everything becomes part of the formless, when everything has returned to the original source, then everything is and is not simultaneously. Substantiality is the only factor that is left. It has to be transcended."
(Ibid., pp. 140-141)

So, when everything has "returned to the original source, then everything is and is not simultaneously," is the "everything is" the sixth body, and the "everything is not" the seventh body? Isn't "everything is not" the same as emptiness (śūnyatā, 色即是空)?

Samadhi Immediately Before Nirvana

◎Jade Tablet - 11-5
◎Atman - 5
◎The Relationship Between the Sixth Body Atman and the Seventh Body Nirvana - 4
◎The Useless Part of Meditation - 4
◎Samadhi Between Each Body

OSHO Bhagwan states that moving from the sixth body Atman to the seventh body Nirvana is the ultimate death and letting go.

Furthermore, he speaks of something no one else mentions: the Samadhi that occurs in between.

It should be noted that there are two types of Samadhi: a trance-like Samadhi where the observing self remains, and a type of Samadhi where the observing self does not exist.

"In fact, there are various types of Samadhi. Some Samadhi occurs between the fourth and fifth bodies. Remember, Samadhi is not an event within a single dimension. It always occurs in the twilight between two dimensions. It is most natural to ask whether twilight belongs to day or night, but twilight belongs to neither; it is an event in between. Samadhi is the same.

The first Samadhi occurs between the fourth and fifth dimensions. This Samadhi leads to self-realization, Atma-Gyan. Some Samadhi occurs between the fifth and sixth dimensions, and this leads to Brahma-Gyan, cosmic wisdom. The Samadhi that occurs between the sixth and seventh dimensions leads to Nirvana.

Therefore, generally, three Samadhis occur between the last three shariras—the last three bodies."
(Quoted from "The Search for the Miraculous, Vol. 2 - The Mystery of the Seven Bodies" by Osho, Shimin Publishing House, p. 414)

OSHO Bhagwan also explains that Samadhi is something that occurs between bodies, like a door (if you consider each body a room), and not the body itself. (Ibid., p. 416)

This speaks of something that should not really be spoken of.

Most religions and ancient traditions do not go this far.

It is commonly said that when a person dies, they cross the Sanzu River, which is the boundary between life and death. However, there is almost no explanation of what kind of river it is.

However, the Tibetan Book of the Dead speaks of the entire process of crossing this boundary (hazama). It speaks of the in-between.

OSHO Bhagwan also hints at the path of crossing over to Nirvana.

Something that offers a similar image of a bridge to Nirvana is what Dante Alighieri described.