Thoughtform

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A thoughtform is a manifestation of mental energy, also known as a tulpa in Tibetan mysticism.[1] The concept of thoughtforms is related to the Western philosophy and practice of magick.[2]

Contents

[edit] Interpretation

A thoughtform is held to be a combination of mind, energy, and consciousness manifested by a sentient being.[citation needed] In the Dzogchen view, thoughtforms of kye-rim type are sentient beings in their own right.[citation needed] Thoughtforms may be benevolent, malevolent, or a combination of both, and can come about as either an intentional or unconscious manifestation of mental energy.[citation needed] In the Tibetan tradition, these are considered an emergence of the Five Pure Lights — the "radiance" or "Clear Light" which is acted upon by mental energy.[citation needed][3]

This is related to the concept of mindstream, which is a confluence of the "Eight Consciousnesses" (Tibetan: rnam shes tshogs brgyad), and thus form the "root" of the Western scientific conceptions of matter and energy.[citation needed][original research?] From the Dzogchen perspective energy is disconnected from spiritual energy or vital force, which has medical implications in traditional Tibetan medicine.[citation needed][4]

Parapsychologist H. H. Price, held that once an idea has been formed, it "is no longer wholly under the control of the consciousness which gave it birth" but may operate independently on the minds of other people or on physical objects.[citation needed] It is contended that a meme is not a thoughtform, unless it is sentient.[citation needed] Though, memetic theory can be considered an information-based relative of thoughtform phenomena.[original research?][citation needed]

In Buddhist phenomenology, "appearances" and "phenomena" are English renderings of "dharmas". The communion undertaken by the wife of Marpa in the quotation, is an ancient mode of "mind transmission" in the Himalayan traditions, documented in the folklore and anthropological studies of Himalayan and Siberian Shamanism.[citation needed][original research?] The Russian Psychiatrist Olga Kharitidi published her direct experience of this phenomenon in the Altay Mountains, where a shaman merged a stream of his consciousness or spirit with hers.[5] This phenomenon is a variation of the spiritual discipline of Phowa and is often rendered as "spirit possession" within English anthropological discourse.[citation needed]

Archdeacon Lucius Revelle spoke of Load Forms as well. These, he speculated, were thought to be an astral manifestation of sexual energy built up and released deep within the silvery void.

[edit] History

Theosophists Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater in their classic book Thought Forms first articulated the concept of thought forms. While the knowledge and the power of our thoughts had been around for some time they first coined the term.

EACH definite thought produces a double effect—a radiating vibration and a floating form. The thought itself appears first to clairvoyant sight as a vibration in the mental body, and this may be either simple or complex. Pg 18 Thought Forms, Besant, Leadbeater.

The authors go on to detail how a thought form works, looks like and how to work with thought forms. Both authors have written several other books dealing with thought forms--Thought Power, Power and Use of Thought, Textbook on Theosophy. The idea of thought forms play a dominant role with many theosophists.

The New Thought Movement beginning in the latter half of the nineteenth century developed a cosmology of how to work with thoughts. They would coin many of the terms such as the "law of attraction" and others so common today.

[edit] Spiritual lineage

Jansen (1990: p.7-8) in her treatise on singing bowls relates the experience that David-Néel narrated in her book Tibet, Bandits, Priests and Demons:

When she entered the temple of the Bön monastery of Tesmon, the service that was being conducted was rudely interrupted. While a lama was busy with a kyilkhor, a magic diagram, and sacred cakes, called tormas, one of her bearers entered the temple, clearly indicating that he was not very impressed by the sacred rituals. He was ordered away by the monks. Objecting and cursing violently he insulted the lamas by shouting out that the tormas were only made of momo dough (bread dough).

'(...)Then, as the man came forward, the bonpo[6] grasped a chang, [7] which was standing next to him, and swung it around. Strange, savage sounds filled the room with a tidal wave of vibrations that pierced my ears. The disrespectful peasant screamed and staggered back with his arms held up as though he was warding off something threatening. 'Get out', the lama repeated again. The other bearers grabbed their friend and rushed out of the temple, greatly disturbed. Bong! Bong! continued the drum. The accompanying bonpo returned unpurturbed, sat in front of the kyilkhor, and continued the muffled singing and chanting. What had happened? I hadn't noticed anything, except for that extraordinary sound. I went outside and asked my bearers. The troublemaker who had disturbed the sacred ritual had lost his bravado. 'It was a snake. I tell you', he said, nodding to the others who sat around him. 'A snake of fire came out of the chang.' 'What? Did you really see a snake of fire?' I asked. 'Is that why you recoiled?' 'Didn't you see it?' they replied. 'It came out of the chang when the lama beat upon it.' 'You must have dreamt it,' I said. 'I didn't see anything.' 'We didn't see the snake, but we did see flashes of light shoot out of the chang,' the other bearers interjected. In fact, they had all been witnesses to a miracle. (...)[8]

Later David-Néel questions the bonpo that emanated the thoughtform, and the bonpo affirmed:

'That it was the power of the zoung[9] that I cast,' declared the lama emphatically. Speaking more softly he said: 'The sound creates shapes and beings..[.]the sound inspires them.[10]

Thoughtform are evident in Vajrayana Buddhism, Bönpo traditions, indigenous cultural traditions throughout the world such as Cherokee of North America and Indigenous Australians (who understand the waking, created world to be a thoughtform subset of The Dreaming[11]), shamanic traditions, echoes are evident in ghosts or supernatural agency, folk religion, esoteric philosophies such as Theosophy and what is construed as the New Age.

Though Alice Bailey may have been inspired (and comparable to a tertön), her collaborative work with Djwal Khul, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, that evocatively described the process for working with thoughtforms, is not formally recognised by the Himalayan dharmic traditions. Thoughtform are not only the energetic phantasmagoria of our consciousness and mindstream, either intentional or unconscious, but may also constitute an emotional filter (refer trance, NLP) or lens that shapes the play of our phenomenal experience; as per the incisive quotation of Bailey et. al.(1951: p.489) in A Treatise on White Magic:

"A thought-form can also act as a poisoning agent, and poison all the springs of life....A violent dislike, a gnawing worry, a jealousy, a constant anxiety, and a longing for something or someone, may act so potently as an irritant or poison that the entire life is spoilt, and service is rendered futile. The entire life is embittered and devitalized by the embodied worry, hatred and desire....and is held back by the poison in his [sic.[12]] mental system. His vision becomes distorted, his nature corroded, and all his relationships impeded by the wearing, nagging thoughts which he himself embodies in form and which have a life so powerful that they can poison him."

It may be valuable to extend the water metaphor of "the springs of life" aforementioned to include the mindstream. We now know from emergent disciplines that thoughts and emotions are chemical as well as electrical processes, refer neuropeptides, and may be potentially toxic. So we may indeed be driven, railroaded and possessed by our thoughtforms and emotions: called in popular currency 'our demons'. These 'demons' or 'poisons' in Hindu and Buddhist traditions are known as kleśa (Sanskrit). Moreover, kleśa is often rendered into English as "poison", "obscuration" and "demon". This understanding is not to diminish the reality of adverse as well as benevolent possession and trance-forms but to establish a complex of views.

In the Vajrayana Buddhist view promulgated by Padmasambhava & Jamgön Kongtrül (1999: p.84), the thoughtform of the six lokas or "six classes of beings" of 'dependent co-arising' and the obscurations forded by the samsaric view is held to be a dream:

Due to the great demon [13] of coemergent and conceptual ignorance,
From the solidified habitual patterns of grasping and fixation,
And the different perceptions of worlds and inhabitants,
The six classes of beings appeared as a dream.[14] (NB: original text not meta-enhanced.)

...evocative of Edgar Allan Poe's: “All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream”.

[edit] Scientific lineage

Thoughtforms, in the sense of being homunculi of awareness with the attribute of self-will and self-determination[citation needed] – also figure in various cognitive and psychological theories.[citation needed] Marvin Minsky's "agents" are amongst the best known of these.[original research?] Lester (1995: p.123) in framing Minsky's "agents" and the logistics of their contingency states:

Minsky (1986), cofounder of the artificial intelligence laboratory at MIT, proposes that there are agencies of the mind, by which he means any and all psychological processes. Although he grants that a view of the mind as made up of many selves may be valid, he suggests that this may be a myth that we construct.
However, when introducing the concept of agencies (a broad term that includes selves as one type of agency), Minsky (1986) does suggest several important questions to ask about agencies: How do agents work? What are they made of? How do they communicate? Where do the first agents come from? Are we born with the same agents? How to make new agents and change old ones? What are the most important kinds of agents? What happens when agents disagree? How could networks of agents want or wish? How can groups of agents do what separate agents cannot do? What gives them unity or responsibility? How could they understand anything? How could they have feelings and emotions? How could they be conscious or self-aware? Not all of these questions, of course, apply to subselves. But the questions of origins, heredity, learning, character, authority, and competence are pertinent to subselves.[15]

Andras Angyal's work and the Dzogchen triunic modality of the manifestation of energy deserve a dialogic analysis.[original research?] Carl Jung's technique of Active imagination involves interacting with thoughtforms of the subconscious mind.[citation needed] Jung identified certain universal thoughtform archetypes such as Anima and Animus which are characteristic of all humans.[citation needed] Psychological Archetypes are thoughtforms.[citation needed]

The chief difference between these scientific formulations and magical/spiritual definitions of thoughtforms is that the former are created unconsciously whereas the latter are created deliberately.[citation needed]

Thoughtform phenomena, by any other name, are worked with variously in Imaginal Psychology and Process Oriented Psychology and is evident in the work of Gregory Bateson.[original research?] Jean Houston, a disciple of Campbell and Mead (and in the direct lineage of Jung), was a modern pioneer of engaging thoughtform in what she termed the 'imaginal realm', and in the associated discipline of aspecting or 'carrying' deity, dæmon or other somesuch (Houston, 1996).[citation needed][original research?]

[edit] Phenomenal world as thoughtform

Tenzin Namdak (2002: p.37) translates the 'fruit' (Tibetan: 'bras) of the 'Khorde Rushen' (Tibetan: 'khor-'das ru-shan) 'preparatory practice' (Tibetan: ngondro) of the Bön Dzogchen lineage thus:

All things are created by your thought and mind - and if you look back to the source of your thought and mind you find that it disappears. It dissolves and goes back to its nature. That is the limit; every individual thing is dependent on the mind. All worldly life, all the beings in the six realms are in the same situation. The purpose of this practice is to stop all desire for worldly life - to see that it is all created by our mind. The world is like a common mind.[16]

Towards the end of his life, the visionary biologist Gregory Bateson intuited the manifested realm to be a thoughtform of the unmanifested. Lawlor (1991: p.43) cites Bateson from Lovelock (1995: p.218):

The individual mind is imminent but not only in the body. It is imminent also in pathways and messages outside the body, and there is a larger mind of which the individual mind is only a sub-system. This larger mind is comparable to God and is perhaps what some people mean by God, but it is still imminent in the total interconnected social systems and planetary ecology.

The Gaia hypothesis, Gaia philosophy and Deep Ecology hold that Gaia is a congeries of entities. Forerunners and permutations of Gaian theory hold that the Earth (and by extension all phenomena) is the actualization of thoughtform phenomena.

[edit] Varṇamālā (Garland of Phonemes)

Khanna (2003: p.21) links mantras and yantras to thoughtforms:

Mantras, the Sanskrit syllables inscribed on yantras, are essentially 'thought forms' representing divinities or cosmic powers, which exert their influence by means of sound-vibrations.[17]

In the Dharmic traditions, all phenomena are essentially the 'formation of vibration and resonance' (Sanskrit: namarupa). Mookerjee and Khanna (1977: p.33) state how all form arises from the Aum:

The Primal Sound as the monosyllabic mantra Oṃ is the basis of cosmic evolution. All the elemental sound-forms of mantras emanate from this eternal sound. Sound and form are interdependent, and every form is a vibration of a certain density; conversely, every sound has a visual equivalent. Sound is the reflex of form and form is the product of sound. All that is animate and inanimate are vibrations of a particular frequency. All the mantras have their colour forms, and when a mantra is pronounced properly its visual correlates begin to manifest. The dynamic power-pattern rooted in sound by which it is revealed is called a yantra.[18]

Hence, all phenomena are constituted by Bīja, known in Tibetan as sprul pa cho 'phrul gyi yi ge, "spontaneously emergent magical phonemes/letters/symbols", which is another way of perceiving the all-pervasive buddha-nature, the 'Thirteenth Bhumi' or the 'Third Bhumi of Enlightenment' (Tibetan: yi ge 'khor lo tshogs chen; "the bhumi where the Universe is present as a rotating procession of spell-letters").[19]

[edit] What the!

A principal tenet in the film What the Bleep Do We Know!? is that the Universe is envisioned as constructed from thought (or ideas) rather than from substance.[citation needed][original research?] The movie is a vehicle exploring the views of JZ Knight/Ramtha. This idea is also explored by Fred Alan Wolf (1994) and Amit Goswami. Goswami, a proponent of lucid dreaming, has affirmed that "during a dream that felt like an admonition...[that he heard]...so clearly: 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead[20] is correct. It's your job to prove it!' The Bardo Thodol is a Dzogchen cycle of teaching. Dream Yoga is a senior sadhana of Dzogchen. Dzogchen, a confluence and complex of practices, philosophies and worldviews of the mystical shamanic Bönpo and tantric Vajrayana Buddhism that yields the view that phenomena is a thoughtform or a dreamform. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche (2002), a Dzogchen Master, expounds this view (refer Dzogchen#Reality vs dreams).

[edit] Working definitions

A number of prima facie unrelated definitions have been suggested:

  • A homunculus of awareness: an instantaneous observer / observed duality. Homunculi appear in various theories of cognitive philosophy and psychology to account for different facets of conscious self. They are created by everyone every moment (in some formulations they are everyone every moment); and they possess wills of their own.[citation needed]

[edit] See also

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[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Eileen Campbell, J.H. Brennan and Fran Holt-Underwood, Body Mind & Spirit: A Dictionary of New Age Ideas, People, Places, and Terms, Tuttle Pub, ISBN 0-8048-3010-X
  2. ^ Reed, Ellen Cannon (1989). The Witches Tarot. Llewellyn Worldwide, 128. ISBN 0875426689. 
  3. ^ The aforecited "substrate" of the mindstream in the doctrinal development of the Eight Consciousnesses of Nichiren Daishonin is the "ninth consciousness" (Chinese: Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō).[citation needed] There is no difference between this ninth consciousness (of which all others are tributaries) and the 'absolute' view of the Eighth Consciousness, which is sugata-garbha, the mindstream substrate.[original research?]
  4. ^ Wangyal (2002: p.36-37) states:

    La is usually translated as "soul" but, more accurately, the la is the depth of who we are. On the deepest level, it is the balance of the five pure lights, the pure elemental energies. On the level of ordinary life, the la is the capacity to experience the five elemental qualities: groundedness, comfort, inspiration, flexibility, and accommodation. The la is associated with the karmic traces that make us human rather than something else, such as a turtle or a god. Our la is a human la. The la of a tiger is a tiger la. The la determines which kind of being we will be as well as much of our individual identity and capacity. The la underlies our vitality, our inner strength as an individual. It can be damaged or enhanced, stolen and retrieved. If we are humiliated, it is weakened. If we succeed in what is important to us, it is strengthened. If we act with integrity it is made stronger. If we betray ourselves, it loses vigor...In Tibetan Astrology it is said that la is the mother of the life-force; if the la is damaged, the life-force is diminished. Damage to the la can occur slowly, over a long period of time, or all at once. After an accident, for example, there can be long-lasting damage; fear that won't subside, a negative change in perspective, and so on. We call this kind of damage or disturbance..."soul loss."
    Cited from: Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (2002). Healing with Form, Energy, and Light. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1559391766

  5. ^ Kharitidi, Olga (c1996). Entering the circle : the secrets of ancient Siberian wisdom discovered by a Russian psychiatrist . 1st ed. [San Francisco] : HarperSanFrancisco, c1996. 224 p. ; 22 cm. ISBN 0-06-251415-6 (cloth), ISBN 0-06-251417-2 (pbk.)
  6. ^ A follower of the Bön religion.
  7. ^ The chang (written as 'gchang') is a musical instrument that is especially used by bonpos. It is roughly the same shape as a cymbal, with the edges bent inward and it has a clapper. It is played with the clapper pointing upwards like an upturned bell. NB: The chang may also be orthographically rendered into English as Shang.
  8. ^ Jansen, Eva Rudy (1990). Singing bowls: a practical handbook of instruction and use. Holland: Binkey Kok Publications. ISBN 9074597017. p.7-8
  9. ^ Written as 'gzungs': something that grips, holds onto. A magic formula. The Sanskrit equivalent is dharani mantra.
  10. ^ Jansen, Eva Rudy (1990). Singing bowls: a practical handbook of instruction and use. Holland: Binkey Kok Publications. ISBN 9074597017. p.9
  11. ^ As Lawlor (1991: p.36) evocatively codifies:

    The great ancestral beings were vast, unbounded, intangible, vibratory bodies, similar to fields of energy. They created by drawing vibratory energy out of themselves and stabilizing this energy and by specifying or naming - the inner name is the potency of the form or creature. The comparable image is the creation of sounds, words, or songs from the vibration of breath. Aborigines refer to the Dreamtime creation as the world being "sung" into existence. Lawlor, Robert (1991). Voices Of The First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal dreamtime. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International, Ltd. ISBN 0-89281-355-5

  12. ^ No endorsement or perpetuation unchecked of gendered language herein.
  13. ^ The 'great demon' mentioned herein is cognate with Mahamaya. Essentially, Mahamaya (great illusion) both blinds perception to the realm of samsara and liberates the view in the realisation of non-duality.
  14. ^ Padmasambhava & Kongtrül, Jamgön (transl. Erik Pema Kunsang) (1999). The Light of Wisdom (Vol. 1). Boudhanath: Rangjung Yeshe Publications. (A translation of the Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo)
  15. ^ Lester, David (1995). Theories of Personality: A Systems Approach. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1560323507. Source: [1] (accessed: February 2, 2008)
  16. ^ Lopön Tenzin Namdak and Dixey, Richard (2002). Heart Drops of Dharmakaya: Dzogchen Practice of the Bön Tradition. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN : 1559391723
  17. ^ Khanna, Madhu (2003). Yantra: The Tantric Symbol of Cosmic Unity. Inner Traditions. ISBN-10: 0892811323 & ISBN-13: 978-0892811328. p.21
  18. ^ Mookerjee, Ajit & Khanna, Madhu (1977; reprinted 2003). The Tantric Way: Art, Science, Ritual. High Holborn, London, U.K.: Thames and Hudson Ltd. ISBN 0 500 27088 0
  19. ^ Guenther, Herbert V. (1972). Buddhist Philosophy in Theory and Practice. Viking Press. ISBN-10: 0140213929 & ISBN-13: 978-0140213928
  20. ^ The Bardo Thodol, Liberation through Hearing in the Intermediate State is erroneously attributed the title The Tibetan Book of the Dead) describes the experiences of bardo.

[edit] References

  • Bailey, Alice (1951). A Treatise on White Magic or The Way of the Disciple (Hardcover). Lucis Pub. ISBN 0853300232 & ISBN 978-0853300236 Source: http://home.thirdage.com/Spirituality/rainbowbridge1/thougtforms.html (Accessed: Friday January 19, 2007)
  • Beer, Robert (1999). The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs (Hardcover). Shambhala. ISBN 157062416X, ISBN 978-1570624162
  • Eileen Campbell, J.H. Brennan and Fran Holt-Underwood, Body Mind & Spirit: A Dictionary of New Age Ideas, People, Places, and Terms, Tuttle Pub, ISBN 0-8048-3010-X
  • Gold, Peter (1994). Navajo and Tibetan Sacred Wisdom: The Circle of the Spirit (Paperback). Inner Traditions. ISBN 089281411X, ISBN 978-0892814114
  • Haselhoff, Eltjo H.(). The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research and Urban Legends ISBN 0-285-63625-1. Full text version on Google Books [2]
  • Houston, Jean (1982). The Possible Human: A Course in Extending Your Physical, Mental, and Creative Abilities.
  • Houston, Jean (1987). The Search for the Beloved: Journeys in Mythology and Sacred Psychology.
  • Houston, Jean (1996). A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story.
  • Houston, Jean (2000). Jump Time: Shaping Your Future in a World of Radical Change.
  • Lawlor, Robert (1991). Voices Of The First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal dreamtime. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International, Ltd. ISBN 0-89281-355-5
  • Lovelock, James (1995). The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our Living Earth ISBN 0-393-31239-9
  • Norbu, Namkhai (2002, revised). Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-007-7
  • Padmasambhava & Kongtrül, Jamgön (transl. Erik Pema Kunsang) (1999). The Light of Wisdom (Vol. 1). Boudhanath: Rangjung Yeshe Publications. (A translation of the Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo)
  • Perkins, John (1994). The World Is As You Dream It: Shamanic Teachings from the Amazon and Andes. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street. ISBN 0-89281-459-4 [4]
  • Schmidt, Marcia Binder (Ed.) (2002). The Dzogchen Primer: Embracing The Spiritual Path According To The Great Perfection. London, Great Britain: Shambhala Publications, Inc. ISBN 1-57062-829-7 (alk. paper)
  • Thomas, Andy (2001). Scientific Studies “Confirm Crop Circles Are Made By Balls Of Light” - 31/07/2001. Andy Thomas is a principal part of Swirled News
  • Unknown Compiler (Undated). Quotes from the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul on Thought-forms (the title of website. Source: http://home.thirdage.com/Spirituality/rainbowbridge1/thougtforms.html (accessed: Friday January 19, 2007)
  • Wolf, Fred Alan (1994). The Dreaming Universe: a mind-expanding journey into the realm where psyche and physics meet. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-74946-3

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links