anthropology
Body As Obstacle
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
949 passages · 17 traditions
neoplatonism327
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Va
“In the next place, let us direct our attention to the solution of your inquiries.
There is, therefore, the good itself which is beyond essence, and there is that good which subsists according to essence; I mean the essence which is most an…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VII
“Of the extremes, therefore, one is supreme, transcendent, and perfect; but the other is last in dignity, deficient, and more imperfect. And the former, indeed, is capable of accomplishing all things at once, uniformly in an instant; but the…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIa
“But neither must we admit that cause of the distinction of these genera which you subjoin, viz.
“ that it is an arrangement with reference to different bodies; as, for instance, 39 of Gods to etherial bodies, but of dæmons to aerial bodies…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIb
“Hence, through these things such a corporeal-formed division as you introduce, is demonstrated to be false.
It is, indeed, especially necessary not to propose any thing of this kind; but if this should appear to you to be requisite, yet yo…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Xa
“After these things, you again subjoin another division for yourself, “ in which you separate the essences of the more excellent genera by the difference of passive and impassive .” But neither do I admit this division.
For no one of the mo…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIb
“[31] Things of this kind, therefore, are introduced for the sake of our soul, and of the diminution of the evils which adhere to it 55 through generation, and of a solution and liberation from its bonds.
On this account, also, they are ver…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVa
“After this, you pass on to another division into contraries, viz.
the division of Gods with reference to dæmons.
For you say, “ that the Gods are pure intellects ;” but you propose this opinion as an hypothesis, or you narrate it as a dog…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVb
“Or what passion can accede to a thing of this kind, the purity of which the most worthy human manners cannot easily equal?
You say, however, “ that the things which are offered in supplications are offered as to sensitive and psychical nat…”
Show all 327 →gnosticism151
◆Gospel of Philip | Section 1a
“(Above image of the Gospel of Thomas courtesy of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont Graduate University) Visit the Bookstore for a complete selection of translations and books about The Nag Hammadi Library The Nag Hamma…”
◆Gospel of Philip | Section 1f
“When wanton women see a man sitting alone, the man is overcome.
They fondle him and pollute him.
When wanton men see a beautiful woman sitting alone, they overcome her, and she is violated and polluted.
But when spirits see a man and his…”
◆Gospel of Philip | Section 1i
“His seed was Jesus, and the plant was the cross.” The tree of life in the middle of that garden of paradise is an olive tree, and from the olive tree comes chrism, and from that oil comes the resurrection.
THE WORLD EATS BODIES The world e…”
◆Gospel of Philip | Section 1k
“If you become light, light will share you.
If you are of those from above, one of those from above will rest in you.
If you become a horse or a donkey or bull or dog or sheep or another animal that is wild or tame, then neither a person n…”
◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 1
“And he said, "Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death."…”
◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 15
“Jesus said, "When you see one who was not born of woman, prostrate yourselves on your faces and worship him. That one is your father."…”
◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 17
“Jesus said, "I shall give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never occurred to the human mind."…”
◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 27
“<Jesus said,> "If you do not fast as regards the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath, you will not see the father."…”
Show all 151 →western_esoteric102
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Introductiond
“Both Pythagoras and Empedocles accepted the theory of transmigration, the latter saying: "A boy I was, then did a maid become; a plant, bird, fish, and in the vast sea swum." Archytas is credited with invention of the screw and the crane.…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Introductione
“He himself declared philosophy to be the way of true happiness and its purpose twofold: (1) to contemplate God, and (2) to abstract the soul from corporeal sense.
The principles of all things he conceived to be three in number: God , matte…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolismm
“Of these shoots one is manifested from above, which is the Great Power, the Universal Mind ordering all things, male, and the other, [is manifested] from below, the Great Thought, female, producing all things.
Hence pairing with each other…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolismn
“In discussing the original meaning of this word, Godfrey Higgins, in his Celtic Druids, has demonstrated that the numerological powers of the letters forming the word Abraxas when added together result in the sum of 365.
The same author al…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolismp
“In an oracle delivered to the King of Cyprus, Serapis described himself thus: ''A god I am such as I show to thee, The Starry Heavens are my head, my trunk the sea, Earth forms my feet, mine ears the air supplies, The Sun's far-darting, bri…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolismw
“The Mysteries were the channels through which this one philosophic light was disseminated, and their initiates, resplendent with intellectual and spiritual understanding, were the perfect fruitage of the divine tree, bearing witness before…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolismx
“Pluto, the lord of the underworld, represents the body intelligence of man; and the rape of Persephone is symbolic of the divine nature assaulted and defiled by the animal soul and dragged downward into the somber darkness of Hades, which i…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolism~
“By the symbolism of his music he communicated the divine secrets to humanity, and several authors have declared that the gods, though loving him, feared that he would overthrow their kingdom and therefore reluctantly encompassed his destruc…”
Show all 102 →christian_mysticism95
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1c
“59 59 ὡς οὐκ ὄντος ἴχνους τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν κρυφίαν αὐτῆς ἀπειρίαν διεληλυθότων.
Two interpretations of this passage are possible: (1) Those who have penetrated the hidden Depths cannot describe the Vision (cf.
Dante, Par.
xxxiii.
55–66) ; (2…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1d
“And we press upwards to those beams which in the Holy Scripture shine upon us; wherefrom we gain the light which leads us unto 55 the Divine praises 64 64 πρὸς τοὺς θεαρχικοὺς ὕμνους.
Either (1) “leads us to declare the Divine praises”; or…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1f
“And in all the other Divine enlightenments which the occult Tradition of our inspired teachers hath, by mystic Interpretation, accordant with the Scriptures, bestowed upon us, we also have been initiated: apprehending these things in the pr…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1l
“The formless essence (ἀμορφία) of a thing is simple and imageless—a Platonic idea—perceived by the mind; things which have bodily form are, as it were, types and symbols perceived by the senses.
54 Or “indeterminate.” 55 Thus the three gra…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1n
“82 ἐν θειοτέρᾳ μιμήσει τῶν ὑπερουρανίων νοῶν—i.
e.
the angels.
83 Luke xx.
36 84 Meditation leads on to Contemplation; and the higher kind of Contemplation is performed by the Via Negativa.
85 i.e.
The Angels.
I have throughout trans…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1m
“καὶ τῆς εἰρημένης ἑνώσεως ἴδια καὶ αὖθις τῆς διακρίσεως εἶνάι τινας ἰδικὰς καὶ ἱνώσεις καὶ διακρίσεις.
This, as it stands, must be translated: “They say that certain qualities belong to the said Undifference, and that to Differentiation, o…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 3, Section 1d
“233 Cf p.
77, n.
1.
234 This is profound.
Spatial metaphors are always dangerous, though unavoidable, in Theology.
In space if A is touching B then B must be touching A.
In the spiritual world this is not so.
God is near me (or rathe…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1e
“260 260 The light permeates water but it does not permeate a stone.
It passes over the stone and permeates the water beyond it.
Yea, and it contributes to the birth of material bodies and brings them unto life, and nourishes them that the…”
Show all 95 →platonism92
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1d
“Socrates replied: And have you, Cebes and Simmias, who are acquainted with Philolaus, never heard him speak of this?
I never understood him, Socrates.
My words, too, are only an echo; but I am very willing to say what I have heard: and in…”
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1e
“And I rather imagine that Cebes is referring to you; he thinks that you are too ready to leave us, and too ready to leave the gods who, as you acknowledge, are our good rulers.
Yes, replied Socrates; there is reason in that.
And this indi…”
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1f
“And being dead is the attainment of this separation; when the soul exists in herself, and is parted from the body and the body is parted from the soul-that is death?
Exactly: that and nothing else, he replied.
And what do you say of anoth…”
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1g
“And he attains to the knowledge of them in their highest purity who goes to each of them with the mind alone, not allowing when in the act of thought the intrusion or introduction of sight or any other sense in the company of reason, but wi…”
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1h
“And now that the hour of departure is appointed to me, this is the hope with which I depart, and not I only, but every man who believes that he has his mind purified.
Certainly, replied Simmias.
And what is purification but the separation…”
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1i
“They are temperate because they are intemperate-which may seem to be a contradiction, but is nevertheless the sort of thing which happens with this foolish temperance.
For there are pleasures which they must have, and are afraid of losing;…”
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1k
“That is clear, he replied.
Then the inference is, that our souls are in the world below?
That is true.
And one of the two processes or generations is visible-for surely the act of dying is visible?
Surely, he said.
And may not the othe…”
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1m
“And yet from these equals, although differing from the idea of equality, you conceived and attained that idea?
Very true, he said.
Which might be like, or might be unlike them?
Yes.
But that makes no difference; whenever from seeing one…”
Show all 92 →renaissance_hermeticism47
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XI — How Occult Virtues are Infused into the Several Kinds of Things by Ideas Through the Help of the Soul of the World, And Rays of the Stars; and what Things Abound Most with this Virtue | Chapter XI, Section 1
“CHAPTER XI. How Occult Virtues are Infused into the Several Kinds of Things by Ideas Through the Help of the Soul of the World, And Rays of the Stars; and what Things Abound Most with this Virtue . Platonists say that all inferior bodies ar…”
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LVIII — Of the Reviving of the Dead, and of Sleeping or Hibernating (Wanting Victuals) Many Years Together | Chapter LVIII, Section 1a
“CHAPTER LVIII.
Of the Reviving of the Dead, and of Sleeping or Hibernating (Wanting Victuals) Many Years Together .
The Arabian philosophers agree that some men may elevate themselves above the powers of their body and above their sensiti…”
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LX — Of Madness, and Divinations which are made when men are awake, and of the Power of a Melancholy Humor, by which Spirits are sometimes induced into Men's Bodies | Chapter LX, Section 1c
“There are also some prognostics which are in the middle, betwixt natural and supernatural divination, as in those who are near to death, and, being weakened with old age, do sometimes foresee things to come, because, as saith Plato, by how…”
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogued
“Some are called in vain to put in a ready appearance, and are chiefly those which proceed from the lower instincts, and which obey the reason either not at all, or very little; and forcing himself to prevent their actions and condemn those…”
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguec
“I can very well conceive, from what you have said, the condition of that heroic enthusiast, who says, "My hopes are ice and my desires are glowing," because he is not in the temperance of mediocrity, but, in the excess of contradictions, hi…”
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguee
“Herein he proves that his love is truly heroic; because he proposes to himself as the chief aim, not corporeal beauty, but rather the grace of the spirit, and the inclination of the affections in which, rather than in the beauty of the body…”
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguef
“Fitly, therefore, this rapture of heroic enthusiasm feeds on such "high emprise." For the object is infinite, and in action most simple, and our intellectual power cannot apprehend the infinite except in speech or in a certain manner of spe…”
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueh
“Heaven the second gift denies, To him who does the first despise.
With these and similar reasons the soul, taking part with the weakest, seeks to recall the thoughts to the care of the body.
And these, although late, come and show themsel…”
Show all 47 →greek_mystery40
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 2)
“For a self-motive being, is the cause of motion to those, which are moved by another, in the same manner as that which is immovable, inserts in all beings the power of moving.
And again, that which is moved only, must depend on those natur…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 7)
“And although the same employment is common both to the ruler, and those who are ruled; yet the latter, if destitute of a leader, could no longer conspire together in one occupation; as the concord of the fingers and ` dancers, and the exped…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 6 (part 3)
“Thus a bond among men, is the impediment and retention of action: but in divine concerns it insinuates a conjunction and ineffable union with causes; and hence the Saturnian bonds signify the union of the deiurgus of the universe, with the…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn XXXIII. APOLLO (part 3)
“Ζεὺς δέ τε πάντων ἐςὶ ϑεὸς, πάντων τε κεραςὴς, Πνέυμασι συζι#ων, ( ) φωναῖσι τε ἀερομικτοις· That is, "But Jupiter is the God of all, and the mingler of all things; whistling with the breathing winds and aerial voices." And this perfectly a…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn XXXVIII. CORYBAS * The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE
“XXXVIII. TO CORYBAS * The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. THE mighty ruler of this earthly ball, For ever flowing, to these rites I call; p. 170 Martial and blest, unseen by mortal sight, Preventing fears, and pleas'd with gloomy night: Hence…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXV. THE MUSES (part 1)
“LXXV.
TO THE MUSES.
The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE.
Daughters of Jove, dire-sounding and divine, 1 Renown'd Pierian, sweetly speaking Nine; p.
206 To those whose breasts your sacred furies fire Much-form'd, the objects of supreme desi…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 4 (part 2)
“Wherein have I done amiss?
What have I done?
What have I omitted that I ought to have done?
43.
If in this examination thou find that thou hast done amiss, reprimand thyself severely for it; 44.
And if thou hast done any good, rejoice.…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 5 (part 3)
“"Thou shalt not hope what thou ought'st not to hope," knowing the nature of all things, and what is possible.
55.
The Gods near at hand are virtue and truth.
p.
17 59, 60.
The fatal strife is caused by our inclination "madly to run cou…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 6 (part 3)
“A woman should not be given to loquacity; for it is a dreadful thing.
77.
To be governed by a woman is the extremity of insolence and unmanliness.
78.
It is the property of a divine intellect p.
27 to be always intently thinking about…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 7 (part 2)
“Understand that no dissimulation can be long concealed.
24.
The unjust man suffers greater evil while his soul is tormented with a consciousness of guilt, than when his body is scourged with whips.
25.
It is by no means safe to discours…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 12 (part 3)
“75 words accord with their energies, to honour and reverence them with the greatest earnestness.
SYMBOL 9.
Cut not fire with a sword.
1 Explanation .--This Symbol exhorts to prudence.
For it excites in us an appropriate conception with…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 12 (part 9)
“Honour a figure and a step before a figure and a tribolus.
Explanation .--The exhortation of this Symbol is as follows: Philosophize and diligently betake yourself to disciplines, and through these, as through steps, proceed to the thing p…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 13 (part 53)
“Ὡς δ᾽ ὁπότ᾽ ἐν σμήνεσσι κατηρεφέεσσι μέλισσαι κηφῆνας βόσκωσι, κακῶν ξυνήονας ἔργων· 595 αἳ μέν τε πρόπαν ἦμαρ ἐς ἠέλιον καταδύντα ἠμάτιαι σπεύδουσι τιθεῖσί τε κηρία λευκά, οἳ δ᾽ ἔντοσθε μένοντες ἐπηρεφέας κατὰ σίμβλους ἀλλότριον κάματον σφ…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 13 (part 58)
“660 Τῷ καὶ νῦν ἀτενεῖ τε νόῳ καὶ ἐπίφρονι βουλῇ ῥυσόμεθα κράτος ὑμὸν ἐν αἰνῇ δηιοτῆτι μαρνάμενοι Τιτῆσιν ἀνὰ κρατερὰς ὑσμίνας.
Ὥς φάτ᾽· ἐπῄνεσσαν δὲ θεοί, δωτῆρες ἐάων, μῦθον ἀκούσαντες· πολέμου δ᾽ ἐλιλαίετο θυμὸς 665 μᾶλλον ἔτ᾽ ἢ τὸ πάροι…”
◇Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 8)
“43 these unnatural habits." As, therefore, it is not wonderful that the greatest part of those who inhabit a pestiferous region, should languish and decline, but that a very few should preserve their natural strength; so we ought not to won…”
◇Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 9)
“For we preserve as sacred to those divinities, a perpetual fire in our temples; since this element is most similar to their lucid frames.
But with respect to fumigations from herbs produced by the earth, they called the censer or pan, in w…”
◇Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 10)
“For in this solemnity grass is carried about, enwrapping the kernels of olives, attended with figs, all kinds of pulse, oaken boughs or acorns, the fruit of the strawberry, wheat, and barley, a mass of dried figs, cakes composed from the me…”
◇Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 5 (part 1)
“SECT.
III.
BUT it is now time to speak of the following Hymns, of which, as we have before observed, Onomacritus is the reputed author.
And first, with regard to the dialect of these Hymns, Gesner well observes it ought to be no objectio…”
◇Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXVI. MNEMOSYNE, or the GODDESS of MEMORY
“LXXVI. To MNEMOSYNE, or the GODDESS of MEMORY * . The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. THE consort I invoke of Jove divine, Source of the holy, sweetly-speaking Nine; p. 215 Free from th' oblivion of the fallen mind, By whom the soul with inte…”
◇Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXVII. AURORA
“LXXVII. TO AURORA. The FUMIGATION from MANNA. HEAR me, O Goddess! whose emerging ray Leads on the broad refulgence of the day; Blushing Aurora, whose celestial light Beams on the world with red'ning splendours bright: Angel of Titan, whom w…”
◇Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXXV. THE DIVINITY OF DREAMS
“LXXXV. TO THE DIVINITY OF DREAMS. The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS. THEE I invoke, blest pow'r of dreams divine, Angel of future fates, swift wings are thine: Great source of oracles to human kind, When stealing soft, and whisp'ring to the min…”
◇Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXXVI. DEATH (part 1)
“LXXXVI.
TO DEATH.
The FUMIGATION from MANNA.
HEAR me, O Death, whose empire unconfin'd, Extends to mortal tribes of ev'ry kind.
On thee, the portion of our time depends, Whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends.
p.
225 Thy sl…”
◇Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXXVI. DEATH (part 2)
“The waters of Thames, heavy laden with the wealth of merchandize, and sonorous with the din of trade, may devolve abundance in a golden tide; but we must remember that the Dæmon of commerce is at the same time advancing with giant strides,…”
◇Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 93
“The new sacred-texts hypertext version of Homer's Iliad can be found here! You can wait for your browser to take you there or you can click on this link.…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 4 (part 1)
“p.
1 THE GOLDEN VERSES OF PYTHAGORAS 1.
First worship the Immortal Gods, as they are established and ordained by the Law.
2.
Reverence the Oath, and next the Heroes, full of goodness and light.
3.
Honour likewise the Terrestrial Dæmon…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 9 (part 2)
“Or in the third place, it is impelled when it is not proper, and to objects to which it ought not to tend.
22.
Endeavour not to conceal your errors p.
49 by words, but to remedy them by reproof.
23.
It is not so difficult to err, as no…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 10 (part 1)
“p.
53 SELECT SENTENCES OF SEXTUS THE PYTHAGOREAN 1.
To neglect things of the smallest consequence, is not the least thing in human life.
2.
The wise man, and the despiser of wealth, resemble God.
3.
Do not investigate the name of God,…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 10 (part 3)
“Speak not of God to every man.
79.
It is dangerous and the danger is not small, to speak of God even things which are true.
80.
A true assertion respecting God is an assertion of God.
p.
61 81.
You should not dare to speak of God to…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 12 (part 1)
“p.
67 THE SYMBOLS OF PYTHAGORAS All the Symbols are exhortatory in common to the whole of virtue; but particularly each to some particular virtue.
Different symbols also are differently adapted to parts of philosophy and discipline.
Thus…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 12 (part 2)
“At the same time, however, we perfectly fall short of the gods, and neither possess the same power with them, nor equal virtue, This Symbol, therefore, in a particular manner introduces the knowledge of the gods, as beings who are able to e…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 12 (part 5)
“Explanation .--The Symbol may be considered more Pythagorically, beginning from the same principles with those above.
For since nutriment is to be measured by the corporeal and animal nature, and not by a bushel, do not pass your life in i…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 12 (part 6)
“The precept, therefore, admonishes us when we philosophize, and Proceed in the way pointed out, to fly from the snares of, and avoid all connection with, things corporeal and multifarious, but to become familiar with the essence of the inco…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 12 (part 7)
“It admonishes us, therefore, rather to betake p.
90 ourselves to scientific conceptions about intellectual objects, from which a most splendid and stable purity is produced about the eye of the soul, resulting from all intellectual concept…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 12 (part 8)
“Explanation .--This Symbol signifies that it is not proper to divulse the union and consent of the universe.
And still further it signifies this, Be not envious, but philanthropic and communicative; and from this it exhorts us to philosoph…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 12 (part 10)
“98:2 Thales was the founder of this sect, and the most illustrious professors of it were Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, and Archelaus.…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 13 (part 5)
“Δεύτερον αὖτε Ζῆνα, θεῶν πατέρ᾽ ἠδὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν, ἀρχόμεναί θ᾽ ὑμνεῦσι θεαὶ λήγουσαί τ' ἀοιδῆς, ὅσσον φέρτατός ἐστι θεῶν κράτεΐ τε μέγιστος.
Αὖτις δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων τε γένος κρατερῶν τε Γιγάντων 50 ὑμνεῦσαι τέρπουσι Διὸς νόον ἐντὸς Ὀλύμπου Μοῦσαι…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 13 (part 6)
“55 Ἐννέα γάρ οἱ νυκτὸς ἐμίσγετο μητίετα Ζεὺς νόσφιν ἀπ᾽ ἀθανάτων ἱερὸν λέχος εἰσαναβαίνων· ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δή ῥ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸς ἔην, περὶ δ᾽ ἔτραπον ὧραι μηνῶν φθινόντων, περὶ δ᾽ ἤματα πόλλ᾽ ἐτελέσθη, ἣ δ᾽ ἔτεκ᾽ ἐννέα κούρας ὁμόφρονας, ᾗσιν ἀοιδὴ 60 μέμ…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 13 (part 7)
“Πὰρ δ᾽ αὐτῇς Χάριτές τε καὶ Ἵμερος οἰκί᾽ ἔχουσιν ἐν θαλίῃς· ἐρατὴν δὲ διὰ στόμα ὄσσαν ἱεῖσαι 65 μέλπονται πάντων τε νόμους καὶ ἤθεα κεδνὰ ἀθανάτων κλείουσιν, ἐπήρατον ὄσσαν ἱεῖσαι.] Αἳ τότ᾽ ἴσαν πρὸς Ὄλυμπον ἀγαλλόμεναι ὀπὶ καλῇ, ἀμβροσίῃ μ…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 13 (part 8)
“Ταῦτ᾽ ἄρα Μοῦσαι ἄειδον, Ὀλύμπια δώματ᾽ ἔχουσαι, 75 ἐννέα θυγατέρες μεγάλου Διὸς ἐκγεγαυῖαι, Κλειώ τ᾽ Εὐτέρπη τε Θάλειά τε Μελπομέενη τε Τερψιχόρη τ᾽ Ἐρατώ τε Πολύμνιά τ᾽ Οὐρανίη τε Καλλιόπη θ᾽· ἣ δὲ προφερεστάτη ἐστὶν ἁπασέων.
Ἥ γὰρ καὶ β…”
◇The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 13 (part 10)
“Ἐκ γάρ τοι Μουσέων καὶ ἑκηβόλου Ἀπόλλωνος ἄνδρες ἀοιδοὶ ἔασιν ἐπὶ χθόνα καὶ κιθαρισταί, 95 ἐκ δὲ Διὸς βασιλῆες· ὃ δ᾽ ὄλβιος, ὅν τινα Μοῦσαι φίλωνται· γλυκερή οἱ ἀπὸ στόματος ῥέει αὐδή.
Εἰ γάρ τις καὶ πένθος ἔχων νεοκηδέι θυμῷ ἄζηται κραδίη…”
← Collapsehermeticism24
◆Corpus Hermeticum 2: The Serapeum | Section 1a
“To Asclepius <This dialogue sets forth the difference between the physical and metaphysical worlds in the context of Greek natural philosophy.
Some of the language is fairly technical: the "errant spheres" of sections 6 and 7 are the celes…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 2: The Serapeum | Section 1b
“A: How is it, then, that things down here, Thrice-greatest one, are moved with those that are [already] moved?
For thou hast said the errant spheres were moved by the inerrant one.
H: This is not, O Asclepius, a moving with, but one again…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 5: The Discourse of Hermes to Asclepius | Section 1a
“Though Unmanifest God Is Most Manifest 1.
I will recount to thee this sermon (logos) too, O Tat, that thou may'st cease to be without the mysteries of the God beyond all name.
And mark thou well how that which to the many seems unmanifest…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 8: The Eight Sphere | Section 1a
“That No One of Existing Things doth Perish, but Men in Error Speak of Their Changes as Destructions and as Deaths <The idea of cyclic change central to CH III, "The Sacred Sermon", also takes center stage here.
A current of ancient specula…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 9: The Decalogue | Section 1a
“On Thought and Sense <This somewhat diffuse essay covers a series of topics, starting with (and to some extent from) the concept that the set of perceptions we call "thoughts" and the set we call "sensory perceptions" are not significantly…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1a
“The Key <This longer tractate presents itself explicitly as a summary or abridgement of the General Sermons (CH II-IX), and discusses the Hermetic view of knowledge and its role in the lives and afterlives of human beings.
The attentive re…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1f
“But God is o'er them all, and God contains them all.
God's rays, to use a figure, are His energies; the Cosmos's are natures, the arts and sciences are man's.
The energies act through the Cosmos, thence through the nature-rays of Cosmos u…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 12: The Prayer | Section 1b
“But for the moment, [Tat,] let be the teaching as to vice and Fate, for we have spoken of these things in other [of our sermons]; but now our teaching (logos) is about the Mind: - what Mind can do, and how it is [so] different - in men bein…”
Show all 24 →buddhism23
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter I, Section 1e
“It is the negative of the fourth Nidâna, the so-called Upâdâna, which Köppen has well explained by Anhänglichkeit, 'taking to the world, loving the world.' Köppen, Die Religion des Buddha, p.
610.
Cf.
Suttanipâta, v.
470 .]…”
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter II, Section 1b
“A Bhikshu (mendicant) who delights in earnestness, who looks with fear on thoughtlessness, [25.
Childers explains this island again as the state of an Arhat (arahatta-phalam).
28.
Cf.
Childers, Dictionary, Preface, p.
xiv.
See Vinaya,…”
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter III, Section 1b
“That s ru means 'to run,' and is in fact a merely dialectic variety of sru, has been proved by Burnouf, while Boehtlingk thinks the substitution of s for s is a mistake.
 s rava therefore, or âsrava, meant originally 'the running out towa…”
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter IV, Section 1a
“p.
16 CHAPTER IV.
FLOWERS [1] .
44.
Who shall overcome this earth, and the world of Yama (the lord of the departed), and the world of the gods?
Who shall find out the plainly shown path of virtue, as a clever man finds out the (right)…”
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter VI, Section 1b
“I would rather take the whole sentence together as a gloss upon the word va g anti:--va g antîti arahatta ñ ânena apaka ddh antâ kh andarâga m vi g ahanti; va g anti means that, ridding themselves of lust by the wisdom which Arhatship confe…”
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter XI, Section 1a
“p.
41 CHAPTER XI.
OLD AGE.
146.
How is there laughter, how is there joy, as this world is always burning?
Why do you not seek a light, ye who are surrounded by darkness?
147.
Look at this dressed-up lump, covered with wounds, joined…”
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter XI, Section 1b
“In the Rudrâya n âvadâna of the Divyâvadâna this verse appears as, Yânîmâny apariddhâni vikshiptâni di s o di s a h , Kapotavar n âny asthîni tâni d ri sh t vaiha kâ rati h .
See Schiefner, Mél.
Asiat.
VIII, p.
589; G âtaka, vol.
i.
p…”
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter XI, Section 1c
“I had formerly translated anibbisan, as not resting (anirvi s an), but the commentator seems to authorise the meaning of not finding (avindanto, alabhanto), and in that case all the material difficulties of the verse seem to me to disappear…”
Show all 23 →sufism13
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | PROLOGUEb
“Knowest thou why thy mirror reflects not?
Because the rust has not been scoured from its face.
If it were purified from all rust and defilement, It would reflect the shining of the SUN Of GOD.6 O friends, ye have now heard this tale, Whic…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY II
“The Oilman and his Parrot. An oilman possessed a parrot which used to amuse him with its agreeable prattle, and to watch his shop when he went out. One day, when the parrot was alone in the shop, a cat upset one of the oil-jars. When the oi…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY IIIa
“The Jewish King, his Vazir, and the Christians.
A certain Jewish king used to persecute the Christians, desiring to exterminate their faith.
His Vazir persuaded him to try a stratagem, namely, to mutilate the Vazir himself, and expel him…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY IV
“Another Tyrannical Jewish King. A certain Jewish king, the same who is referred to in the Sura "Signs of the Zodiac," I made up his mind to utterly exterminate the Christian faith, and with that view he set up a huge idol, and issued comman…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY Vc
“The skill taught by God to the silkworm Is a learning beyond the reach of the elephant.
The earthly Adam was taught of God names, 4 So that his glory reached the seventh heaven.
He laid low the name and fame of the angels, 5 Yet blind ind…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY VIa
“Omar and the Ambassador.
The hare, having delivered his companions from the tyranny of the lion, in the manner just described, proceeds to improve the occasion by exhorting them to engage in a greater and more arduous warfare, viz., the st…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY VIIa
“The Merchant and his Clever Parrot.
There was a certain merchant who kept a parrot in a cage.
Being about to travel to Hindustan on business, he asked the parrot if he had any message to send to his kinsmen in that country, and the parrot…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY IXb
“Woman is a ray of God, not a mere mistress, The Creator's self, as it were, not a mere creature!
Moses and Pharaoh, alike doers of God's will, as Light and Darkness.
Poison and Antidote.
Verily, both Moses and Pharaoh walked in the right…”
Show all 13 →taoism11
◆The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 127 (part 1)
“p.
223 BOOK V.
PART I.
SECTION V.
Teh Khung Fû, or 'The Seal of Virtue Complete 1 .' 1.
In Lû 2 there was a Wang Thâi 3 who had lost both his feet 4 ; while his disciples who followed and went about with him were as numerous as those o…”
◆The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 127 (part 4)
“for many months, when I was drawn to the man; and before he had been with me a full year, I had confidence in him.
The state being without a chief minister, I (was minded) to commit the government to him.
He responded to my proposal sorro…”
◆The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 127 (part 7)
“Shû-shan or Shû hill was, probably, where he dwelt:--'Toeless of Shû hill.' 229:1 'Heaven' here is a synonym of Tâo.
Perhaps the meaning is 'unavoidable;' it is so in the Tâoistic order of things.
229:2 It was in the sixteenth year of duk…”
◆The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 128 (part 12)
“All things begin from nothing and end in nothing.
Their birth and their death are only the creations of our thought, the going and coming of the primary ether.
When we have penetrated to the non-reality of life and death, what remains of…”
◆The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 129 (part 4)
“It conducts nothing and anticipates nothing; it responds to (what is before it), but does not retain it.
Thus he is able to deal successfully with all things, and injures none.
7.
The Ruler 3 of the Southern Ocean was Shû 4 , the p.
267…”
◇Tao Te Ching | Chapter 12
“Colour's five hues from th' eyes their sight will take; Music's five notes the ears as deaf can make; The flavours five deprive the mouth of taste; The chariot course, and the wild hunting waste Make mad the mind; and objects rare and stran…”
◇Tao Te Ching | Chapter 13
“Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same kind). What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is being in a low position (after the…”
◇The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 127 (part 2)
“'As a verification of the (power of) the original endowment, when it has been preserved, take the result of fearlessness,-how the heroic spirit of a single brave soldier has been thrown into an army of nine hosts 4 .
If a man only seeking…”
Show all 11 →jewish_mysticism6
◆The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1c
“And to it also pertain the following names, namely, the name) IH, Yah (whensoever it is written in full with A in this manner:) IVD HA, Yod Ha (and containeth the number of the numeral powers of the letters of the Tetragrammaton, namely, 26…”
◆The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1f
“[The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are divided into three classes, the three mothers as they are called, AMSh; the seven duplex letters, BGDKPRTh, so called because they are sometimes tenues and sometimes aspirates, according to whether th…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XII
“XII-XVI. Dream Vision of Enoch: his intercession for Azâzêl and the fallen Angels: and his announcement to them of their first and final doom . CHAPTER XII. 1. Before these things Enoch was hidden, and no one of the children of men knew whe…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XIV (part 2)
“None of the angels could enter and could behold His face by reason of the magnificence and glory and no flesh could behold Him.
22.
The flaming fire was round about Him, and a great fire stood before Him, and none around could draw nigh H…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XXXIX
“XXXIX. The Abode of the Righteous and of the Elect One: the Praises of the Blessed . CHAPTER XXXIX. 1. [ And it †shall come to pass in those days that elect and holy children †will descend from the high heaven, and their seed †will become o…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter LX (part 1)
“LX.
Book of Noah--a Fragment .
p.
76 Quaking of Heaven: Behemoth and Leviathan: the Elements .
CHAPTER LX.
1.
In the year five hundred, in the seventh month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the life of †Enoch†.
In that Parable…”
mandaean6
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 4
“Yahyā proclaims in the nights, Yōhānā on the Night's
evenings. 4
YAHYĀ proclaims in the nights and says: "Through my Father's discourses
I give light and through the praise of the Man, my creator, I have freed my
soul from the world and fr…”
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 7
“YAHYĀ proclaims and speaks: "Ye nobles, who lie there, ye ladies, who
will not awaken,—ye who lie there, what will you do on the Day of the
Judgment? When the soul strips off the body, on Judgment-Day what will you
do? O thou distracted, ju…”
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 15
“When the youth saw her alone, he set himself free and fell down from
the cloud. He set himself free and fell down from the cloud and kissed the
mouth of Enishbai. When Anōsh, the treasure, saw him [do this], he spake unto
Yahyā in Jerusalem…”
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 16
“When Messiah said this, Yahyā cries aloud; tears come to him without
ceasing, and he speaks: "[God] forbid that the high King of Light should look
for lot in deceivers. The soul is not like the blood, that it should become
heated in the bod…”
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 17
“"[The women] who wept ran hither and thither and [the men] who wailed
ran hither and thither, as long as the body lay there before them. When the
soul leaves the body, four 2 go forth to the
graveyard. [The women] who wept ran hither and th…”
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — Some Typical Extracts | Section 15
“"Who will come, who tell me what was before this? When the heaven was
not yet outspread and stars were not yet in it figured, when the earth was
not yet condensed and into the water no condensation had fallen, when sun and
moon came not as…”
finnic5
◆The Kalevala | Rune IVc
“Deck thy brow with silken ribbon, Trim with gold thy throbbing temples, And thy neck with pearly necklace, Hang the gold-cross on thy bosom, Robe thyself in pure, white linen Spun from flax of finest fiber; Wear withal the richest short-fro…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune IVd
“Thus the tearful maiden answered: Therefore do I weep and sorrow, Wretched maiden all my life long, Since poor Aino, thou hast given, Since thy daughter thou hast promised To the aged Wainamoinen, Comfort to his years declining Prop to stay…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune XXIIIg
“"Thus did I, a youthful housewife, At the right time, all my duties, Drenched myself in perspiration, Hoped for better times to follow; But I only rose to labor, Knowing neither rest nor pleasure.
I was blamed by all the household, With un…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune XXXVc
“When the day-star led the morning, When the second day was dawning, Then the maid addressed Kullervo, Questioned thus the wicked wizard: "Of what tribe art thou descended, Of what race thy hero-father?
Tell thy lineage and kindred.` This,…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune XXXVd
“In the court-yard stood the mother, Thus the wicked son addressed her: "Faithful mother, fond and tender, Hadst thou slain me when an infant, Smoked my life out in the chamber, In a winding-sheet hadst thrown me To the cataract and whirlpoo…”
egyptian4
◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 44)
“The preservation of the corruptible body too was in some way connected with the life in the world to come, and its preservation was necessary to ensure eternal life; otherwise the prayers recited to this end would have been futile, and the…”
◆The Egyptian Heaven and Hell | Chapter 30 (part 2)
“When the disk is on the horizon all men know that the monsters of the Tuat have failed to destroy AFU-RA or to obstruct his passage, that the god has, with the aid of KHEPERA, made all his transformations, that he has appeared in the sky ag…”
◇The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 5 (part 3)
“When Isis heard of this she went to Byblos, and, gaining admittance to the palace through the report of the royal maidens, she was made nurse to one of the king's sons, Instead of nursing the child in the ordinary way, Isis gave him her fin…”
◇The Egyptian Heaven and Hell | Chapter 31
“Sacred-texts Egypt The Egyptian Heaven and Hell by E. A. Wallis Budge [1905] This is a three volume collection of texts and commentary about the Ancient Egyptian alternate reality called the Tuat. The Tuat was both the region that the boat…”
celtic2
◆The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINj
“And the king caused them to fetch Elphin in haste from his dungeon, and placed him before Taliesin.
And it is said, that immediately he sang a verse, so that the chains opened from about his feet.
“I adore the Supreme, Lord of all animati…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINl
“And then said Taliesin, “Elphin, behold a payment and reward unto thee, for having taken me out of the weir, and for having reared me from that time until now.” And on this spot stands a pool of water, which is to this time called Pwllbair.…”
norse1
◆The Poetic Edda: Hovamol | Section 1j
“On his ring swore Othin | the oath, methinks; Who now his troth shall trust?
Suttung's betrayal | he sought with drink, And Gunnloth to grief he left.
* * * 111.
It is time to chant | from the chanter's stool; By the wells of Urth I was,…”