Astrology and Buddhism
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25 Years of Research: How Astrology and Buddhism Fit
Are you confused about Astrology? Is it entertainment or is it a science? You can happily forget those fictitious tabloid columns. There is no real substance to those articles, apart from the luck of 'chance'! You may find something far more fascinating and genuine here...
I would like to offer you the real story about Astrology: what it IS, what it CAN be, and what it can DO for you (personally and also in business!). Plus on this lens I'll be including my ideas on how I have melded the (dare I say!) SCIENCE of Astrology with ancient Buddhist psychology, as relevant today as is Shakespeare's centuries-old view of the human psyche! And I will be offering reviews on books that may be of interest to you, as I progress further with this Lens ...
How I Came To My Conclusions:
I have been studying astrology seriously since 1976, and practising professionally since 1986. I'm a curious person, so I kept exploring ever more deeply, finding answers to the bits of astrological tradition that made little sense to me. It became clear that astrology is a science of 'mind', based on how our brains are wired due to frequency responses in the Earth's field (that's a big subject of my research and the finer details will be in one of my forthcoming books).
I also found that as most modern astrological counselors were employing a version of Western Psychology in their practices, astrology was developing a reputation for being a harsh tool that dissects people into little troublesome bits for analysis, leaving the client ungrounded and disoriented.
Pointing out defects in an individual's character merely leaves the individual with more problems than what they thought they had started with! Also, this style of counseling contains the danger of cementing these negative traits in the clients consciousness as permant fixtures of the personality! This can be debilitating and depressing for the client. And depression is a world-wide epidemic in especially our now world-wide technological culture.
Clearly, this was not the answer.
But there was another answer. It was BUDDHIST psychology. Completely different point of reference. I soon found that my work was already dovetailing perfectly with an ancient system of Buddhist psychology, The Yogacara Doctrine of Mind, formalised in the 5th century AD by the noble Buddhist sage, Asanga and his half-brother Vasabandhu, both inspired by Asanga's teacher, Maitreyanatha. This system was based on teachings in the Buddhist sutras, which came directly from Siddhartha Gautama, the man we call The Buddha, the 'Awakened One'.
Siddhartha was way ahead of his time in understanding human psychology, the trappings of the ego nature, etc. He was a Renaissance Man (in the true meaning of the term), and developed systems for getting around our shortcomings by focusing instead on our inherent perfection which he believed is always subtly present.
Siddhartha's logical conclusion was that if this perfection was not already present, there would be no desire to attain it in the first place! Simple. And of course, once one has reached that Enlightened point of being totally free from suffering, from attachments and aversions, one never regresses to a former belief in suffering. The mind stabilises, matures itself, the brain is 'hard-wired' for Joy and Equanimity and Compassion and, most essentially, WISDOM. Just look at His Holiness the Dalai Lama: his joy and laughter and wisdom are contageous! Almost the entire world has caught his 'virus', even if for brief moments of time!
And so, if Astrology is truly a science of the mind, then Buddhist Psychology becomes a perfect partner to fulfil Astrology's promise of Comprehending what the mind IS, what it CAN be, and what it can DO for us!
I would like to offer you the real story about Astrology: what it IS, what it CAN be, and what it can DO for you (personally and also in business!). Plus on this lens I'll be including my ideas on how I have melded the (dare I say!) SCIENCE of Astrology with ancient Buddhist psychology, as relevant today as is Shakespeare's centuries-old view of the human psyche! And I will be offering reviews on books that may be of interest to you, as I progress further with this Lens ...
How I Came To My Conclusions:
I have been studying astrology seriously since 1976, and practising professionally since 1986. I'm a curious person, so I kept exploring ever more deeply, finding answers to the bits of astrological tradition that made little sense to me. It became clear that astrology is a science of 'mind', based on how our brains are wired due to frequency responses in the Earth's field (that's a big subject of my research and the finer details will be in one of my forthcoming books).
I also found that as most modern astrological counselors were employing a version of Western Psychology in their practices, astrology was developing a reputation for being a harsh tool that dissects people into little troublesome bits for analysis, leaving the client ungrounded and disoriented.
Pointing out defects in an individual's character merely leaves the individual with more problems than what they thought they had started with! Also, this style of counseling contains the danger of cementing these negative traits in the clients consciousness as permant fixtures of the personality! This can be debilitating and depressing for the client. And depression is a world-wide epidemic in especially our now world-wide technological culture.
Clearly, this was not the answer.
But there was another answer. It was BUDDHIST psychology. Completely different point of reference. I soon found that my work was already dovetailing perfectly with an ancient system of Buddhist psychology, The Yogacara Doctrine of Mind, formalised in the 5th century AD by the noble Buddhist sage, Asanga and his half-brother Vasabandhu, both inspired by Asanga's teacher, Maitreyanatha. This system was based on teachings in the Buddhist sutras, which came directly from Siddhartha Gautama, the man we call The Buddha, the 'Awakened One'.
Siddhartha was way ahead of his time in understanding human psychology, the trappings of the ego nature, etc. He was a Renaissance Man (in the true meaning of the term), and developed systems for getting around our shortcomings by focusing instead on our inherent perfection which he believed is always subtly present.
Siddhartha's logical conclusion was that if this perfection was not already present, there would be no desire to attain it in the first place! Simple. And of course, once one has reached that Enlightened point of being totally free from suffering, from attachments and aversions, one never regresses to a former belief in suffering. The mind stabilises, matures itself, the brain is 'hard-wired' for Joy and Equanimity and Compassion and, most essentially, WISDOM. Just look at His Holiness the Dalai Lama: his joy and laughter and wisdom are contageous! Almost the entire world has caught his 'virus', even if for brief moments of time!
And so, if Astrology is truly a science of the mind, then Buddhist Psychology becomes a perfect partner to fulfil Astrology's promise of Comprehending what the mind IS, what it CAN be, and what it can DO for us!
Contents at a Glance
The Promise of Astrology
... What It IS
Many people fear astrologers, because they think we will tell them they are about to have a car accident, or should not fly on Tuesday, or that their spouses are cheating on them! This is all nonesense, of course. No one can tell you those things. All disasters can be averted, anyway, with a little 'applied wisdom'.
But there is a level of foresight in astrology. This is the same type of foresight the tourist may see from the cliff's edge when a huge wave is about sweep through the ocean where a surfer is blissfully paddling along and looking the other way. With a little knowledge of the wave approaching, the swimmer can make a choice as to whether to duck below the wall of water, allow himself to be dumped, or to hitch a ride with the wave all the way to shore.
In other words, Astrology can be seen as hindsight for Clarity, and foresight for Opportunity.
And, yet, there is another application for this most ancient of sciences, which brings us to the 'What it IS' part of this lens.
If you have ever been in a noisy nightclub or rock concert where music was pounding into your bones, you will appreciate the power of frequency waves of sound. Yet, not all frequencies are audible, such as EMR, microwaves, radiowaves, etc. And yet these all impact upon material substance. In fact, all matter is comprised principally of frequencies of energy. But that is a BIG subject that will also have to wait for my book.
For now, the main point is that planetary orbits also circle in frequencies, not of cycles per second as audible sound, but cycles per weeks or years. Added to this is the Earth's magnetic field: lines of invisible resonance, like huge curved harp strings that have actually been recorded as music while the solar wind has 'plucked' them on its journey to the farthest points of the solar system.
This may be news to many astrolgers, but astrology is the science of the impact these vibrating and waving field lines make upon the neural circuitry of our brains. Some scientific research has already been attempted in this area by Astrophysicist Professor Percy Seymour, of Plymouth University in Britain. (You can read his conclusions in his book 'Astrology: The Evidence of Science', now out of print but still available from Used Book sellers.)
So we have the brain organised. Now for the Mind. This is where Buddhism comes in.
More to follow soon ...
But there is a level of foresight in astrology. This is the same type of foresight the tourist may see from the cliff's edge when a huge wave is about sweep through the ocean where a surfer is blissfully paddling along and looking the other way. With a little knowledge of the wave approaching, the swimmer can make a choice as to whether to duck below the wall of water, allow himself to be dumped, or to hitch a ride with the wave all the way to shore.
In other words, Astrology can be seen as hindsight for Clarity, and foresight for Opportunity.
And, yet, there is another application for this most ancient of sciences, which brings us to the 'What it IS' part of this lens.
If you have ever been in a noisy nightclub or rock concert where music was pounding into your bones, you will appreciate the power of frequency waves of sound. Yet, not all frequencies are audible, such as EMR, microwaves, radiowaves, etc. And yet these all impact upon material substance. In fact, all matter is comprised principally of frequencies of energy. But that is a BIG subject that will also have to wait for my book.
For now, the main point is that planetary orbits also circle in frequencies, not of cycles per second as audible sound, but cycles per weeks or years. Added to this is the Earth's magnetic field: lines of invisible resonance, like huge curved harp strings that have actually been recorded as music while the solar wind has 'plucked' them on its journey to the farthest points of the solar system.
This may be news to many astrolgers, but astrology is the science of the impact these vibrating and waving field lines make upon the neural circuitry of our brains. Some scientific research has already been attempted in this area by Astrophysicist Professor Percy Seymour, of Plymouth University in Britain. (You can read his conclusions in his book 'Astrology: The Evidence of Science', now out of print but still available from Used Book sellers.)
So we have the brain organised. Now for the Mind. This is where Buddhism comes in.
More to follow soon ...
Reader Feedback
Please leave comments or questions here. I've had a lot of experience with Astrology and especially past-life influences that impact upon our present life. I'm also a practising Buddhist in the TIbetan traditon. I'm happy to answer your queries to the best of my abilities. But, please, no astrology-bashing if you haven't studied the subject! Many thanks for your interest!
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