Muccalinda Sutta: About Muccalinda

translated from the Pali by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

—–

I have heard that on one occasion, the Blessed One was staying at Uruvelā on the bank of the Nerañjarā River at the root of the Muccalinda tree, newly awakened. And on that occasion he sat for seven days in one session, sensitive to the bliss of release.

And on that occasion a great, out-of-season storm-cloud rose up, with seven days of rainy weather, cold winds, & intense darkness. Then Muccalinda the nāga king — leaving his dwelling place and encircling the Blessed One’s body seven times with his coils — stood with his great hood spread over the Blessed One, (thinking,) “Don’t let the Blessed One be disturbed by cold. Don’t let the Blessed One be disturbed by heat. Don’t let the Blessed One be disturbed by the touch of flies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, & creeping things.”

Then, with the passing of seven days, the Blessed One emerged from that concentration. Muccalinda the nāga king, realizing that the sky had cleared and was free of clouds, unraveled his coils from the body of the Blessed One, dropped his own appearance and, assuming the appearance of a young man, stood in front of the Blessed One with hands before his heart, paying homage.

Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

Blissful is solitude

for one who’s content,

who has heard the Dhamma,

who sees.

Blissful is non-affliction

with regard for the world,

restraint for living beings.

Blissful is dispassion

with regard for the world,

the overcoming of sensuality.

But the subduing of the conceit “I am”

That is truly

the ultimate bliss.

Instant Expert – Just Add Beer – Toltec and Nāga

You might have guessed it is raining cats and dogs, so no gardening.

A lot of people are instant experts and this tendency can be enhanced by alcohol consumption.

On the internet the exact same text can be found in multiple places, which implies with high probability the cut and paste method. This is often done without attribution.

Research can stop at Wikipedia level.

A while back people were offering shamanic trips to Teotihuacán to experience the temple of the sun and the temple of the moon. I was pretty interested in the Mayan calendar. It looks as though “The Hunger Games” may have draw some inspiration from it.

I read a lot about it and I have read some more today. This word Toltec is bandied about in various ways. I doubt many have fully researched it.

—-

C.W.Leadbetter and W. Scott-Elliot apparently collaborated to produce “The Story of Atlantis” with Leadbeater accessing the occult records clairvoyantly.

These are “maps” of the heyday and of Poseidonis just before it sunk excerpted from this publication.

From 1,000,000 to 800,000 years ago…

from 80,000 to 9564 BC…

In the book the Toltecs held an empire there for a long time. There were Toltec migrations.

I have just come across this book.

Annie Besant & C. W. Leadbeater mention in “The lives of Alcyone” Toltecs having been on Atlantis and later in Mexico and in Egypt

13,524 B.C.

“At this time Viraj was Ruler of the great South Indian empire, and Brihat was his queen, and Mars was one of their sons. The Manu appeared astrally to the Emperor, and directed him to send Mars over the sea to Egypt by way of Ceylon. He was directed also to choose a band of young men and young women who were to accompany him and take part in the great work of the Aryanisation of Egypt. Among those so chosen were a number of our characters, as will be seen from the subjoined chart. On their arrival in Egypt, then under Toltec rule, they were met by Jupiter, the Pharaoh of the time.”

“The Toltecs were sometimes spoken of as Nagas”

Besant and Leadbeater have the Toltec race pretty much everywhere eventually.

They seem to be a bit obsessed about the physicality of race and bloodline, with “Toltec blood intermingling with Aryan”. The book was written over a hundred years ago and is not woke.

It is not the vehicle it is the incarnating jiva, the soul, which switches between “races”.  Thus, we have probably all been brown, oriental, white etc. at one time or another. There area lot of souls in Chinese and Indian incarnations just now.

Toltec as I understand it means “man of knowledge” and could have been arrived at tenuously when referring to the once wise and not corrupt Toltec kings and priests, in the top mentioned text.

These theosophical publications suggest a common root to all world religions…from a putative undiscovered continent.

The Toltec Teachings have supposed to have been handed down across the centuries from one nagal or nagual to another through the lineages across time. And if the Toltecs were everywhere this transfer of lineage is not exclusively American or Mexican…

———–

*I am uncomfortable with the level of detail in “The lives of Alcyone”. I am not an astral clairvoyant so I have no idea how that works

Nāga – नाग

Excerpted from Wikipedia:

The Nāga (IAST: nāga; Devanāgarī: नाग) or Nagi (f. of nāga; IAST: nāgī; Devanāgarī: नागी) are divine, semi-divine deities, or a semi-divine race of half-human half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala) and can occasionally take human form. Rituals devoted to these supernatural beings have been taking place throughout south Asia for at least two thousand years. They are principally depicted in three forms: wholly human with snakes on the heads and necks, common serpents, or as half-human half-snake beings in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. A female naga is a “Nagi”, “Nagin”, or “Nagini”. Nagaraja is seen as the king of nāgas and nāginis. They are common and hold cultural significance in the mythological traditions of many South Asian and Southeast Asian cultures. They are the children of Rishi Kashyapa and Kadru.

Etymology

In Sanskrit, a nāgá (नाग) is a cobra, the Indian cobra (Naja naja). A synonym for nāgá is phaṇin (फणिन्). There are several words for “snake” in general, and one of the very commonly used ones is sarpá (सर्प). Sometimes the word nāgá is also used generically to mean “snake”. The word is cognate with English ‘snake’, Germanic: *snēk-a-, Proto-IE: *(s)nēg-o- (with s-mobile).

Hinduism

The mythological serpent race that took form as cobras can often be found in Hindu iconography. The nāgas are described as the powerful, splendid, wonderful and proud semidivine race that can assume their physical form either as human, partial human-serpent or the whole serpent. Their domain is in the enchanted underworld, the underground realm filled with gems, gold and other earthly treasures called Naga-loka or Patala-loka. They are also often associated with bodies of waters — including rivers, lakes, seas, and wells — and are guardians of treasure. Their power and venom made them potentially dangerous to humans. However, they often took beneficial protagonist role in Hindu mythology; in Samudra manthan folklore, Vasuki, a nāgarāja who abides on Shiva’s neck, became the churning rope for churning of the Ocean of Milk. Their eternal mortal enemies are the Garudas, the legendary semidivine birdlike-deities.

Vishnu is originally portrayed in the form sheltered by Śeṣanāga or reclining on Śeṣa, but the iconography has been extended to other deities as well. The serpent is a common feature in Ganesha iconography and appears in many forms: around the neck, use as a sacred thread (Sanskrit: yajñyopavīta) wrapped around the stomach as a belt, held in a hand, coiled at the ankles, or as a throne. Shiva is often shown garlanded with a snake. Maehle (2006: p. 297) states that “Patanjali is thought to be a manifestation of the serpent of eternity”.

Buddhism

As in Hinduism, the Buddhist nāga generally has sometimes portrayed as a human being with a snake or dragon extending over his head. One nāga, in human form, attempted to become a monk; and when telling it that such ordination was impossible, the Buddha told it how to ensure that it would be reborn a human, and so able to become a monk.

The nāgas are believed to both live on Nagaloka, among the other minor deities, and in various parts of the human-inhabited earth. Some of them are water-dwellers, living in streams or the ocean; others are earth-dwellers, living in caverns.

The nāgas are the followers of Virūpākṣa (Pāli: Virūpakkha), one of the Four Heavenly Kings who guards the western direction. They act as a guard upon Mount Sumeru, protecting the dēvas of Trāyastriṃśa from attack by the asuras.

Among the notable nāgas of Buddhist tradition is Mucalinda, Nāgarāja and protector of the Buddha. In the Vinaya Sutra (I, 3), shortly after his enlightenment, the Buddha is meditating in a forest when a great storm arises, but graciously, King Mucalinda gives shelter to the Buddha from the storm by covering the Buddha’s head with his seven snake heads. Then the king takes the form of a young Brahmin and renders the Buddha homage.

In the Vajrayāna and Mahāsiddha traditions, nāgas in their half-human form are depicted holding a nāgas-jewel, kumbhas of amrita, or a terma that had been elementally encoded by adepts.

The two chief disciples of the Buddha, Sariputta and Moggallāna are both referred to as Mahānāga or “Great nāga”. Some of the most important figures in Buddhist history symbolize nāgas in their names such as Dignāga, Nāgāsēna, and, although other etymons are assigned to his name, Nāgārjuna.

Literature

The Nāga Saṃyutta of the Pali Canon consists of suttas specifically devoted to explaining nature of the nāgas.

In the “Devadatta” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the daughter of the dragon king, an eight year old longnü (龍女, nāgakanyā), after listening to Mañjuśrī preach the Lotus Sutra, transforms into a male Bodhisattva and immediately reaches full enlightenment. Some say this tale appears to reinforce the viewpoint prevalent in Mahayana scriptures that a male body is required for Buddhahood, even if a being is so advanced in realization that they can magically transform their body at will and demonstrate the emptiness of the physical form itself. However many schools of Buddhism and classical, seminal Chinese exegeses interpret the story to repudiate this viewpoint, stating the story demonstrates that women can attain Buddhahood in their current form.

According to tradition, the Prajñapāramita sutras had been given by the Buddha to a great nāga who guarded them in the sea, and were conferred upon Nāgārjuna later.

————————-

I have often pondered on the similarity of nāga with nagal and nagual, East meets West.

Gateway to the Nagual’s world similar to Nagaloka?

The Doctrine of the Avatāras as per Blavatsky

From Wikipedia

Avatar (Sanskrit: अवतार, avatāra; pronounced [ɐʋɐtaːrɐ]), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means “descent”. It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to “alight, to make one’s appearance” is sometimes used to refer to any guru or revered human being.

The word avatar does not appear in the Vedic literature; however, it appears in developed forms in post-Vedic literature, and as a noun particularly in the Puranic literature after the 6th century CE. Despite that, the concept of an avatar is compatible with the content of the Vedic literature like the Upanishads as it is symbolic imagery of the Saguna Brahman concept in the philosophy of Hinduism. The Rigveda describes Indra as endowed with a mysterious power of assuming any form at will. The Bhagavad Gita expounds the doctrine of Avatara but with terms other than avatar.

Theologically, the term is most often associated with the Hindu god Vishnu, though the idea has been applied to other deities. Varying lists of avatars of Vishnu appear in Hindu scriptures, including the ten Dashavatara of the Garuda Purana and the twenty-two avatars in the Bhagavata Purana, though the latter adds that the incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable. The avatars of Vishnu are important in Vaishnavism theology. In the goddess-based Shaktism tradition of Hinduism, avatars of the Devi in different appearances such as Tripura Sundari, Durga and Kali are commonly found. While avatars of other deities such as Ganesha and Shiva are also mentioned in medieval Hindu texts, this is minor and occasional. The incarnation doctrine is one of the important differences between Vaishnavism and Shaivism traditions of Hinduism.

Incarnation concepts that are in some aspects similar to avatar are also found in Buddhism, Christianity, and other religions.

The scriptures of Sikhism include the names of numerous Hindu gods and goddesses, but it rejected the doctrine of savior incarnation and endorsed the view of Hindu Bhakti movement saints such as Namdev, that formless eternal god is within the human heart, and man is his own savior.

Etymology and meaning

The Sanskrit noun (avatāra /ˈævətɑːr, ˌævəˈtɑːr/; Hindustani: [əʋˈtaːr]) is derived from the Sanskrit prefix ava- (down) and the root tṛ (to cross over). These roots trace back, states Monier-Williams, to –taritum, -tarati, -rītum. It’s cognate to “away” in English, which is root from PIE *au- means “off, away”.

Avatar means “descent, alight, to make one’s appearance”, and refers to the embodiment of the essence of a superhuman being or a deity in another form. The word also implies “to overcome, to remove, to bring down, to cross something”. In Hindu traditions, the “crossing or coming down” is symbolism, states Daniel Bassuk, of the divine descent from “eternity into the temporal realm, from unconditioned to the conditioned, from infinitude to finitude”. An avatar, states Justin Edwards Abbott, is a saguna (with form, attributes) embodiment of the nirguna Brahman or Atman (soul). Avatar, according to Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati actually means ‘Divine Descent’ in his commentaries of The Shrimad Bhagavatam and The Bramha Samhita (mentioned in Brahmavaivarta Purana).

Neither the Vedas nor the Principal Upanishads ever mention the word avatar as a noun. The verb roots and form, such as avatarana, appear in ancient post-Vedic Hindu texts, but as “action of descending”, but not as an incarnated person (avatara). The related verb avatarana is, states Paul Hacker, used with double meaning, one as action of the divine descending, another as “laying down the burden of man” suffering from the forces of evil.

The term is most commonly found in the context of the Hindu god Vishnu. The earliest mention of Vishnu manifested in a human form to establish Dharma on Earth, uses other terms such as the word sambhavāmi in verse 4.6 and the word tanu in verse 9.11 of the Bhagavad Gita, as well as other words such as akriti and rupa elsewhere. It is in medieval era texts, those composed after the sixth century CE, that the noun version of avatar appears, where it means embodiment of a deity. The idea proliferates thereafter, in the Puranic stories for many deities, and with ideas such as ansha-avatar or partial embodiments.

The term avatar, in colloquial use, is also an epithet or a word of reverence for any extraordinary human being who is revered for his or her ideas. In some contexts, the term avatara just means a “landing place, site of sacred pilgrimage”, or just “achieve one’s goals after effort”, or retranslation of a text in another language. The term avatar is not unique to Hinduism even though the term originated with Hinduism. It is found in the Trikaya doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism, in descriptions for the Dalai Lama in Tibetan Buddhism, and many ancient cultures.

Avatar versus incarnation

The manifest embodiment is sometimes referred to as an incarnation. The translation of avatar as “incarnation” has been questioned by Christian theologians, who state that an incarnation is in flesh and imperfect, while avatar is mythical and perfect. The theological concept of Christ as an incarnation, as found in Christology, presents the Christian concept of incarnation. The term avatar in Hinduism refers to act of various gods taking form to perform a particular task which in most of the times is bringing dharma back. The concept of avatar is widely accepted all over the India.  Sheth disagrees and states that this claim is an incorrect understanding of the Hindu concept of avatar. Avatars are embodiments of spiritual perfection, driven by noble goals, in Hindu traditions such as Vaishnavism. The concept of the avatar in Hinduism is not incompatible with natural conception through a sexual act, which is again different from the Christian concept of the Virgin Birth.

—–

This is the first insight of the rule of the three pronged nagal concerning the second contact with the void.

Note the reference to free beings adopting a form.

Here Blavatsky talks about adepts giving up their freedomn {nirvana} to help humanity as a Nirmanakaya..The adept is born consciously…

Study the paragraph which is on either side of this text. Might it lie aback the Tulku process? Copernicus a reincarnated cleric…

Nāga – नाग

Excerpted from Wikipedia:

The Nāga (IAST: nāga; Devanāgarī: नाग) or Nagi (f. of nāga; IAST: nāgī; Devanāgarī: नागी) are divine, semi-divine deities, or a semi-divine race of half-human half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala) and can occasionally take human form. Rituals devoted to these supernatural beings have been taking place throughout south Asia for at least two thousand years. They are principally depicted in three forms: wholly human with snakes on the heads and necks, common serpents, or as half-human half-snake beings in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. A female naga is a “Nagi”, “Nagin”, or “Nagini”. Nagaraja is seen as the king of nāgas and nāginis. They are common and hold cultural significance in the mythological traditions of many South Asian and Southeast Asian cultures. They are the children of Rishi Kashyapa and Kadru.

Etymology

In Sanskrit, a nāgá (नाग) is a cobra, the Indian cobra (Naja naja). A synonym for nāgá is phaṇin (फणिन्). There are several words for “snake” in general, and one of the very commonly used ones is sarpá (सर्प). Sometimes the word nāgá is also used generically to mean “snake”. The word is cognate with English ‘snake’, Germanic: *snēk-a-, Proto-IE: *(s)nēg-o- (with s-mobile).

Hinduism

The mythological serpent race that took form as cobras can often be found in Hindu iconography. The nāgas are described as the powerful, splendid, wonderful and proud semidivine race that can assume their physical form either as human, partial human-serpent or the whole serpent. Their domain is in the enchanted underworld, the underground realm filled with gems, gold and other earthly treasures called Naga-loka or Patala-loka. They are also often associated with bodies of waters — including rivers, lakes, seas, and wells — and are guardians of treasure. Their power and venom made them potentially dangerous to humans. However, they often took beneficial protagonist role in Hindu mythology; in Samudra manthan folklore, Vasuki, a nāgarāja who abides on Shiva’s neck, became the churning rope for churning of the Ocean of Milk. Their eternal mortal enemies are the Garudas, the legendary semidivine birdlike-deities.

Vishnu is originally portrayed in the form sheltered by Śeṣanāga or reclining on Śeṣa, but the iconography has been extended to other deities as well. The serpent is a common feature in Ganesha iconography and appears in many forms: around the neck, use as a sacred thread (Sanskrit: yajñyopavīta) wrapped around the stomach as a belt, held in a hand, coiled at the ankles, or as a throne. Shiva is often shown garlanded with a snake. Maehle (2006: p. 297) states that “Patanjali is thought to be a manifestation of the serpent of eternity”.

Buddhism

As in Hinduism, the Buddhist nāga generally has sometimes portrayed as a human being with a snake or dragon extending over his head. One nāga, in human form, attempted to become a monk; and when telling it that such ordination was impossible, the Buddha told it how to ensure that it would be reborn a human, and so able to become a monk.

The nāgas are believed to both live on Nagaloka, among the other minor deities, and in various parts of the human-inhabited earth. Some of them are water-dwellers, living in streams or the ocean; others are earth-dwellers, living in caverns.

The nāgas are the followers of Virūpākṣa (Pāli: Virūpakkha), one of the Four Heavenly Kings who guards the western direction. They act as a guard upon Mount Sumeru, protecting the dēvas of Trāyastriṃśa from attack by the asuras.

Among the notable nāgas of Buddhist tradition is Mucalinda, Nāgarāja and protector of the Buddha. In the Vinaya Sutra (I, 3), shortly after his enlightenment, the Buddha is meditating in a forest when a great storm arises, but graciously, King Mucalinda gives shelter to the Buddha from the storm by covering the Buddha’s head with his seven snake heads. Then the king takes the form of a young Brahmin and renders the Buddha homage.

In the Vajrayāna and Mahāsiddha traditions, nāgas in their half-human form are depicted holding a nāgas-jewel, kumbhas of amrita, or a terma that had been elementally encoded by adepts.

The two chief disciples of the Buddha, Sariputta and Moggallāna are both referred to as Mahānāga or “Great nāga”. Some of the most important figures in Buddhist history symbolize nāgas in their names such as Dignāga, Nāgāsēna, and, although other etymons are assigned to his name, Nāgārjuna.

Literature

The Nāga Saṃyutta of the Pali Canon consists of suttas specifically devoted to explaining nature of the nāgas.

In the “Devadatta” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the daughter of the dragon king, an eight year old longnü (龍女, nāgakanyā), after listening to Mañjuśrī preach the Lotus Sutra, transforms into a male Bodhisattva and immediately reaches full enlightenment. Some say this tale appears to reinforce the viewpoint prevalent in Mahayana scriptures that a male body is required for Buddhahood, even if a being is so advanced in realization that they can magically transform their body at will and demonstrate the emptiness of the physical form itself. However many schools of Buddhism and classical, seminal Chinese exegeses interpret the story to repudiate this viewpoint, stating the story demonstrates that women can attain Buddhahood in their current form.

According to tradition, the Prajñapāramita sutras had been given by the Buddha to a great nāga who guarded them in the sea, and were conferred upon Nāgārjuna later.

————————-

I have often pondered on the similarity of nāga with nagal and nagual, East meets West.

Gateway to the Nagual’s world similar to Nagaloka?