- This is a reference to the sankhãra khandha: one of the mental
components of personality which is associated with thought and imagi-
nation. Sankhãra are the thoughts that constantly form in the mind and
conceptualize about one’s personal perceptions. Sankhãra creates these
ideas and then hands them on to saññã, which interprets and elaborates
on them, making assumptions about their significance. - Terrestrial or rukkha devas are a special class of non-human beings
who inhabit a realm of sensuous existence immediately above the human
realm. Also known as bhumma devas because of their natural affinity
with the earth, these beings normally “inhabit” the uppermost foliage of
large trees, a group or “family” of them often living together in a clus-
ter in one tree. Birth in this realm is a consequence of certain kinds of
wholesome, meritorious actions, combined with a strong attachment to
the earth plane.
Although their existence has a substantive, physical base (the
earth), the bodies of these devas have no gross material characteristics.
A rukkha deva is composed of ethereal light, which is beyond the range
of the human senses but clearly visible to the divine eye of the medita-
tor. It seems that the majority of devas who visited Ãcariya Mun during
his career as a wandering monk were from this terrestrial realm, for
remote wilderness areas have always been their preferred habitat. - A sãvaka is a direct disciple of the Lord Buddha who hears the
Buddha’s teaching and declares him to be his teacher. - Samãdhi nimitta is a sensory image that appears in the citta at the
level of upacãra samãdhi (access concentration). The message, in the
case of the sãvaka Arahants, is communicated telepathically by means
of the heart’s own universal language: a direct, non-verbal communica-
tion in which the essence of the meaning appears unambiguously in its
entirety, allowing no room for misunderstanding or misconception to
occur. Unobscured by conjecture or interpretation, the “listener” intu-
itively “knows” the whole meaning as it is conveyed. - A samaõa is a contemplative who abandons the conventional obli-
gations of social life in order to follow a life of spiritual striving. At the
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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