Great Awakening

A Christian revivalist movement that swept the American colonies from 1725 to 1760. In experiences of ecstatic joy and release, converts "awakened" to Christ and knew him experientially. By 1730, Theodore J. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch Calvinist, and Gilbert Tennent, a revivalist Presbyterian, had begun the Awakening from their churches in New Jersey. In 1734, Jonathan Edwards, the most formidable apologist for this experiential religion, witnessed to the "surprising work of God" in his Congregationalist church at Northampton, Massachusetts. British evangelist George Whitefield toured the colonies between 1738 and 1740 lending impetus and cohesiveness to the movement. Itinerant revivalists carried the Awakening to the South.

Its distinguishing characteristics included the insistence on the personal nature of conversion to Christ, itinerant ministry, and a novel preaching style appealing openly to the emotions. Mobile ministry and individual conversion tended to undermine the parish structure of the old tax-supported churches and led to a proliferation of separate and voluntary ones. The revivalists succeeded in revitalizing colonial Protestantism by a typically modern appeal to individual experience. They accommodated New World Calvinism and Anglicanism to conditions of dramatically expanded personal liberty.

(See also: Great Awakening, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Great Awakening

A Christian revivalist movement that swept the American colonies from 1725 to 1760. In experiences of ecstatic joy and release, converts "awakened" to Christ and knew him experientially. By 1730, Theodore J. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch Calvinist, and Gilbert Tennent, a revivalist Presbyterian, had begun the Awakening from their churches in New Jersey. In 1734, Jonathan Edwards, the most formidable apologist for this experiential religion, witnessed to the "surprising work of God" in his Congregationalist church at Northampton, Massachusetts. British evangelist George Whitefield toured the colonies between 1738 and 1740 lending impetus and cohesiveness to the movement. Itinerant revivalists carried the Awakening to the South.

Its distinguishing characteristics included the insistence on the personal nature of conversion to Christ, itinerant ministry, and a novel preaching style appealing openly to the emotions. Mobile ministry and individual conversion tended to undermine the parish structure of the old tax-supported churches and led to a proliferation of separate and voluntary ones. The revivalists succeeded in revitalizing colonial Protestantism by a typically modern appeal to individual experience. They accommodated New World Calvinism and Anglicanism to conditions of dramatically expanded personal liberty.

(See also: Great Awakening, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

planetary awakening

Spreading awareness that we share a single planetary home and must be responsible for our environment

(See also: Planetary awakening, Body Mind and Soul)

Airplane Dream Symbols:

(Source: Myths - Dreams - Symbols)

Related pages: Dream Symbols, Dream Interpretation, Dream Symbol Airplane, Dream Dictionary Airplane, Meaning of dreams about Airplane, Dream Interpretation Airplane, Dream Analysis Airplane, Dreaming of Airplane

Airplane, New heights, Capabilities, Spiritual awakening, Spiritual dreams, Sexual symbol, Sexual symbols, Penis, Liberation, Release, Transcendence, Escape, Escaping, New departure, New life, New ideas

Great Awakening

See "Awakening vs. Enlightenment."

 (See also: Great Awakening, Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Awakening of the Faith (Treatise)

A major commentary by the Patriarch Asvaghosha (lst/2nd cent.), which presents the fundamental principles of Mahayana Buddhism. Several translations exist in English.

 (See also: Awakening of the Faith (Treatise) , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Awakening vs. Enlightenment

A clear distinction should be made between awakening to the Way (Great Awakening) and attaining the Way (attaining Enlightenment). (Note: There are many degrees of Awakening and Enlightenment. Attaining the Enlightenment of the Arhats, Pratyeka Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, etc. is different from attaining Supreme Enlightenment, i.e., Buddhahood.)

To experience a Great Awakening is to achieve (through Zen meditation, Buddha Recitation, etc.) a complete and deep realization of what it means to be a Buddha and how to reach Buddhahood.

It is to see one's Nature, comprehend the True Nature of things, the Truth. However, only after becoming a Buddha can one be said to have truly attained Supreme Enlightenment (attained the Way).

A metaphor appearing in the sutras is that of a glass of water containing sediments. As long as the glass is undisturbed, the sediments remain at the bottom and the water is clear. However, as soon as the glass is shaken, the water becomes turbid. Likewise, when a practitioner experiences a Great Awakening (awakens to the Way), his afflictions (greed, anger and delusion) are temporarily suppressed but not yet eliminated.

To achieve Supreme Enlightenment (i.e., to be rid of all afflictions, to discard all sediments) is the ultimate goal. Only then can he completely trust his mind and actions. Before then, he should adhere to the precepts, keep a close watch on his mind and thoughts, like a cat stalking a mouse, ready to pounce on evil thoughts as soon as they arise.

To do otherwise is to court certain failure, as stories upon stories of errant monks, roshis and gurus demonstrate.

 (See also: Awakening vs. Enlightenment, Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Great Awakening

See "Awakening vs Enlightenment."

(See also: Great Awakening, Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

False Awakening:

An experience in which a person believes he or she has woken up, but actually is still dreaming.

(See also: False Awakening, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

Self-awakened one

(Jpn.: dokkaku)

See: cause-awakened one

(See also: Self-awakened one, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Cause-awakened one

(Jpn.: engaku; Skt.: pratyekabuddha)

Also, self-awakened one. One who perceives the twelve-linked chain of causation, or the truth of causal relationship. Cause-awakened one also means those who, in an age when there is no Buddha, realize on their own the truth of impermanence by observing natural phenomena. Because their awakening is self-gained, cause-awakened ones are also called self-awakened ones. Together with voice-hearers, they constitute the persons of the two vehicles. Unlike bodhisattvas, they seek their own emancipation without thought of preaching for and instructing others.

The Sanskrit term pratyekabuddha means "independently enlightened one" or "individually enlightened one." In the early Chinese translations of Buddhist scriptures, it was rendered cause-awakened one, which implies one enlightened through perceiving causal relation ship. The Treatise on the Meaning of the Mahayana, written by Hui-yüan (523-592), describes pratyekabuddha as one who perceives the twelve-linked chain of causation or who awakens to the truth by observing natural phenomena such as the scattering of blossoms or the falling of leaves. Later the term was rendered as self-awakened one.

In The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra, T'ien-t'ai (538-597) distinguishes these two types of pratyekabud-dha-cause-awakened ones and self-awakened ones. Mahayana, which upholds practice to benefit others, referred to the vehicle of pratyekabuddha, or the teaching that leads one to the state of pratyekabuddha, as Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle), because it concerns only one's own salvation. The realm of cause-awakened ones is also viewed as a condition of life, in which one perceives the transience of life in the six paths and strives to free oneself from the six paths by seeking eternal truth through one's own effort. This realm or state constitutes the eighth of the Ten Worlds.

(See also: Cause-awakened one, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Stage of progressive awakening

(Jpn.: bunshin-soku)

The fifth of the six stages of practice.

(See also: Stage of progressive awakening, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Awakening of Faith

(Jpn.: Kishin-ron)

See: Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, The

(See also: Awakening of Faith, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Awakening of Faith (Sraddhotpada-sastra): Mahayana Buddhist text of the 5th or 6th centuries CE by an otherwise unknown figure named Asvaghosha; the work which emphasizes ultimate reality as suchness (tathata).

 (See also: Awakening of Faith, Eastern Philosophy, Body Mind and Soul)

Cause-awakened one

(Jpn.: engaku; Skt.: pratyekabuddha)

Also, self-awakened one. One who perceives the twelve-linked chain of causation, or the truth of causal relationship. Cause-awakened one also means those who, in an age when there is no Buddha, realize on their own the truth of impermanence by observing natural phenomena. Because their awakening is self-gained, cause-awakened ones are also called self-awakened ones. Together with voice-hearers, they constitute the persons of the two vehicles. Unlike bodhisattvas, they seek their own emancipation without thought of preaching for and instructing others.

The Sanskrit term pratyekabuddha means "independently enlightened one" or "individually enlightened one." In the early Chinese translations of Buddhist scriptures, it was rendered cause-awakened one, which implies one enlightened through perceiving causal relation ship. The Treatise on the Meaning of the Mahayana, written by Hui-yŸan (523-592), describes pratyekabuddha as one who perceives the twelve-linked chain of causation or who awakens to the truth by observing natural phenomena such as the scattering of blossoms or the falling of leaves. Later the term was rendered as self-awakened one.

In The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra, T'ien-t'ai (538-597) distinguishes these two types of pratyekabud-dha-cause-awakened ones and self-awakened ones. Mahayana, which upholds practice to benefit others, referred to the vehicle of pratyekabuddha, or the teaching that leads one to the state of pratyekabuddha, as Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle), because it concerns only one's own salvation. The realm of cause-awakened ones is also viewed as a condition of life, in which one perceives the transience of life in the six paths and strives to free oneself from the six paths by seeking eternal truth through one's own effort. This realm or state constitutes the eighth of the Ten Worlds.

(See also: Cause-awakened one, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

The Awakened Life (The Awakened Life program): One of psychotherapist Wayne W. Dyer's audiocassette programs for self-development.

Wayne Dyer, Ph.D., is the author of Manifest Your Destiny: The Nine Spiritual Principles for getting Everything You Want (Harper, 1998) and the bestsellers Real Magic, Seeing Is Believing, Your Erroneous Zones, and Your Sacred Self.

The Awakened Life program can teach one how to attune oneself to a Higher Power, which Nightingale-Conant Corporation, marketer of Dyer's programs, equates with God, Nature, and the Life Force. Wayne Dyer describes The Awakened Life program as powerful medicine that has been helpful in the treatment of cancer, other 'incurable' diseases, and addiction to smoking, alcohol, and drugs.

(See also: The Awakened Life, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, The

(Jpn.: Daijo-kishin-ron; Chin.: Ta-ch'eng-ch'i-hsin-lun)

Abbreviated as Awakening of Faith. A work traditionally attributed to Ashvaghosha, a Mahayana scholar who lived from the first through the second century, though opinions on this differ. There are two Chinese translations of this work, the first done in 550 by Paramartha, who had gone from India to China, and the second around 700 by Shikshananda, a monk from Khotan in Central Asia. Paramartha's version has been the more popular. Awakening of Faith sets forth the fundamental doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism and attempts to awaken people to faith in it. It specifically takes up the concept of tathata, literally thusness or suchness, meaning the true aspect of reality. It was widely studied in China and Japan, and in China several commentaries on it were written.

(See also: Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

World of cause-awakened ones

(Jpn.: engaku-kai)

Also, realm of cause-awakened ones or world of realization. The eighth of the Ten Worlds and one of the four noble worlds. Cause-awakened ones (Skt pratyekabuddha ) are those who awaken to the impermanence of all phenomena by perceiving the twelve-linked chain of causation or by observing natural phenomena. While they seek personal emancipation, they tend not to share it with others. For this reason, various sutras describe them as being reprimanded by Shakyamuni Buddha.

When viewed as a state of life, the world of cause-awakened ones is a condition in which one perceives the transience of all things and strives to free oneself from the sufferings of the six paths, seeking to learn the way to self-improve-ment through personal effort and direct observation of the world. In this world, a sense of the impermanence of all things causes one to aspire for something eternal and unchanging. The world of cause-awakened ones and that of voice-hearers constitute the two vehicles. In The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind, Nichiren states: "The fact that all things in this world are transient is perfectly clear to us. Is this not because the worlds of the two vehicles are present in the human world?".

(See also: World of cause-awakened ones, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Anudita-viveka - one whose spiritual discrimination is not awakened; the spiritually unconscious.

(See also: Anudita-viveka, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Viveki - one who discriminates; one whose spiritual consciousness is awakened.

(See also: Viveki, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)