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> In Vedas, Puranas and Tamil classics > The term māyā occurs 70 times in Rigveda and around 27 times in the Atharvaveda; and in all these places Yaska, Sayana
by kordlessagain 6y ago
> In Vedas, Puranas and Tamil classics
> The term māyā occurs 70 times in Rigveda and around 27 times in the Atharvaveda; and in all these places Yaska, Sayana, Dayananda Saraswati agree the term means Prajñā, jnana-vishesha (specific knowledge). The term Asuri-Maya in the Yajurveda at one place was translated by Uvvat as the "knowledge of the vital air". With regard to the usage of the word Maya in the Rigveda, Radhakrishnan opines it was only used to signify might and power. Maya as the cause of illusion or as the sense of Avidya (lack of knowledge) has never been used in the Vedas. According to Monier Williams, Maya meant wisdom and extraordinary power in an earlier language, but later the word came to mean illusion and magic.
So, depending, "Maya" can mean "illusion" or "mirage", but the original meaning might be closer to Prajñā, which means "non-discriminating knowledge" or "intuitive apprehension". According to Chan and most Zen lines, those "states" of consciousness are obtained by practicing non-clinging discrimination in a given moment. Maybe one way of thinking about this is not adding to the observation of something that has been discriminated already.
Chan texts mention holding vexation and the polar observations of the vexation (good vs. evil or light vs. darkness as examples) without "adding" to the metaphor. The "adding" is the part that can be considered important (to not do). Consider the highly polarized topics that result from unfettered discourse on the Internet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc
"Sitting with the rock is wet" without wondering how much longer it is going to rain.
Or, observing an imagined (in mind) scenario without "adding to it" in the moment that it is being perceived.
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y agohttps://dict.leo.org/german-english/Klar https://dict.leo.org/german-english/Klar
- kordlessagain 6y agoYes, and maybe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y agoThat is not clear to me, since i can't imagine that :) edit: by that i mean having that "neuroarchitecture" which just percieves, but can't imagine anything(visually). Reminds me of the relatively recent (6 months to a year ago?) discussions about not having an internal voice while thinking, which was obviously new to a large set of people, while my whole state of mind revolves around thinking without vocalizing. Alas, i digress...
- kordlessagain 6y agoHardly a digression when discussing the path to cessation of suffering. Liberation of vibration (sound) must occur before liberation of form (images). Nobel effort spans lifetimes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandha
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y agoI think i wrongly described what i meant with while my whole state of mind revolves around thinking without vocalizing. and you thereby understood it as i'd try to achieve that. That isn't the case. I simply don't have it! While i have that whole "Palace of the Mind/Method of Loci" thing, that's not the whole thing either. I'd say it is on a lower level, and even below that is the language, and whenever i need to write or speak, there happens to be some sort of hyperdimensonal self-solving Tetris in fast-forward mode which gives me the words in the languages i happen to know in an instant, readily formed to write or speak. But without an inner voice speaking them first. I can't do it any different. That would be exhausting.