Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP)

Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram

Copyright © 1999, David Griffin

The Sign of the Enterer	The Sign of Silence

Ritual

1. Look around and assure yourself that the Charged Force of any Consecrated Magical Implements will not be accidentally banished.

2. Stand West of the Altar facing East, holding your Elemental Banishing Dagger. Begin with the Rite of the Qabalistic Cross.

3. Go to the East of the Altar (The Magician should always move in a clockwise fashion around the Circle). Trace a light blue (tinged with golden white, like the flame of a gas stove) Banishing Earth Pentagram while vibrating “IHVH.” Project blue Light through its center using the Sign of the Enterer. Give the Sign of Silence.

4. Pierce the center of the Pentagram with the Dagger. Trace a line of white Light as you move to the South (to the point where the center of the next Pentagram will be).

5. Trace a blue Banishing Earth Pentagram while vibrating “ADNI.” Project blue Light through its center using the Sign of the Enterer. Give the Sign of Silence.

6. Pierce the center of the Pentagram with the Dagger. Trace a line of white Light as you move to the West (to the point where the center of the next Pentagram will be).

7. Trace a blue Banishing Earth Pentagram while vibrating “AHIH.” Project blue Light through its center using the Sign of the Enterer. Give the Sign of Silence.

8. Pierce the center of the Pentagram with the Dagger. Trace a line of white Light as you move to the North (to the point where the center of the next Pentagram will be).

9. Trace a blue Banishing Earth Pentagram while vibrating “AGLA.” Project blue Light through its center using the Sign of the Enterer. Give the Sign of Silence.

10. Pierce the center of the Pentagram with the Dagger. Trace a line of white Light as you move back to the East. Complete the Circle by finishing the line in the center of the first Pentagram (i.e. where you began).

11. Go to the West. Stand West of the Altar facing East. Give the Sign of Osiris Slain (with your arms outstretched horizontally to your sides, Dagger pointing upward in your right hand). Say forcefully, vibrating as indicated: “Before me ‘RPAL‘ behind me ‘GBRIAL,’ to my right ‘MIKAL,’ and to my left ‘AURIAL,’ about me flame the Pentagrams (touch the Dagger to your forehead), and in the column shines the Six Rayed Star.”

12. Repeat the Rite of the Qabalistic Cross.

Rite of the Qabalistic Cross

The Rite of the Qabalistic Cross

Copyright © 1999, David Griffin

Rite

1. Stand West of the Altar facing East. Imagine yourself expanding, getting larger and larger. Visualize yourself standing with the Earth beneath your feet (about the size of a soccer ball). Imagine yourself continuing to grow and expand, until you are so large that entire galaxies spin around you. Visualize a ball of white Light, burning like a star, directly above your head. Raise either your Elemental or Planetary Banishing Dagger in your right hand above your head, pointing straight up, and pierce the star with the Dagger. Visualize a shaft of white Light rising vertically from the star above your head to infinity. Vibrate “AThH,” while lowering the Dagger down to touch first your forehead (while vibrating the first syllable), then your breast around the heart area (while vibrating the second syllable), and extend the shaft of Light downwards as you move.

2. Lower the Dagger to the groin area, with the tip still pointing straight up (Israel Regardie taught that one should never point a Magical Dagger downward toward the Earth). Vibrate “MLKVTh.” Visualize a vertical shaft of white Light, descending from the star above your head, to another star beneath your feet, and onward, through the center of the Earth, to infinity.

3. Touch your right shoulder with the point of the Dagger (you should feel the sharp tip), and vibrate “VGBVRHH.” Visualize another star shining where the Dagger is touching your shoulder, and a shaft of white Light, extending horizontally to your right, and on to infinity.

4. Touch your left shoulder with the point of the Dagger, and vibrate “VGDVLH.” Visualize another star, at the place where the Dagger is touching your shoulder, and a shaft of Light extending horizontally to your left, to infinity.

5. Bring the Dagger, pointing upward, to your heart. Move it in a circular counter-clockwise motion (toward the left, from the top downwards, then up to the right), several times, as you vibrate “LOVLM.”

6. Clasp your hands together over the center of your chest. Interlace your fingers, and hold the Dagger between your knuckles, pointing upward (The interlaced fingers symbolize the ten Sephiroth). Extend your elbows horizontally, along the plane of the horizontal shaft of Light, extending from the stars at your shoulders. Visualize yourself, standing at the center of a blazing Cross of white Light, which extends to the ends of the Universe, as you vibrate “AMN.”

Dark Jedi, Jedi, and Sith; Differences

There is a common misconception that Dark Jedi and Sith are one in the same. I myself have been Sith, and Jedi, too, for that matter. A Dark Jedi can, if he or she so chooses, become a Sith or Jedi, though more often than not, become Sith in fiction. Dark Jedi wish to become one with the Dark Side whereas Sith tend to serve the Dark Side rather than become one with the Dark Side. This, of course, presents opposing philosophical beliefs. There is also a common misconception that Dark Jedi are uncontrolled, undisciplined, chaotic beings where Sith are calm, controlled, and disciplined. That, my student, is a fallacy. Powerful Dark Jedi are controlled, disciplined, and calm, just as the Sith, because the Dark Jedi is born of Jedi teachings. We all know that control, discipline, et cetera are subject to perception. Jedi wish to become one with the Light, the opposite of Dark Jedi. Through the Light, Jedi are denying their own existence and are denying their own nature. They too have their codes. Furthermore, the Dark Jedi does revere life, even harmony, serenity, and knowledge. Dark Jedi, however, do not follow the code of the Jedi and, instead, are free to follow their own emotions and choices in finding peace. Sith have a belief that peace is unattainable whereas the Dark Jedi view peace as an internal goal through emotion and power over the self. Please refer to my lesson “Cure for the Common Code” to further see Dark Jedi belief in accordance with codes. The Dark Jedi knows when to and when not to trust his or her emotions, and when that time comes, he or she becomes that emotion and is “controlled” by it as the Jedi would say. This is not the emotion controlling the self, this is the self controlling the self. Sith, like Jedi, also believe in controlling their emotions as the Jedi, but believe in using those emotions, unlike the Jedi. Emotions are of the Dark Side.

Many believe Dark Jedi are less powerful than Sith or even Jedi; however, I dissent to that statement. Dark Jedi are free to do as they please in terms of Jedi and Sith. Dark Jedi fight for not only themselves, but others as well. Dark Jedi belief that self empowerment is very important, but one should use that self empowerment for good, good being that which is “good” within the perception of the individual.

We are dark because we firstly focus on ourselves and secondly, but importantly on others. We are dark because we trust our emotions over logic and reason. We follow our feelings and intuition. We are dark because we are not afraid of chaos, we are not afraid of fear itself and use them to our advantages. We, however, do not believe in behaving as Jedi do, however. Jedi are a proud people. They are proud of their clarity, their codes, and their maxims. I say throw out their form of clarity, throw out their codes, and throw out their maxims. The same goes to the Sith. In the end, we are one with the Dark Side, and we believe sacrifice is necessary. The ends justifies the means? I, more often than not, agree.

The path of the Dark Jedi is the only true path of the Dark Side, the others are light shades of gray. In essence, the Dark Jedi does as the Jedi does, but does so with emotion and enjoyment whereas the Sith are more apt to deceive, lie, and destroy.

Zazen

Zen Meditation Instructions

By Mountains and Rivers Organization and the Zen Mountain Monastery
Zazen is a particular kind of meditation, unique to Zen, that functions centrally as the very heart of the practice. In fact, Zen Buddhists are generally known as the “meditation Buddhists.” Basically, zazen is the study of the self.The great Master Dogen said, “To study the Buddha Way is to study the self, to study the self is to forget the self, and to forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things.” To be enlightened by the ten thousand things is to recognize the unity of the self and the ten thousand things. Upon his own enlightenment, Buddha was in seated meditation; Zen practice returns to the same seated meditation again and again. For two thousand five hundred years that meditation has continued, from generation to generation; it’s the most important thing that has been passed on. It spread from India to China, to Japan, to other parts of Asia, and then finally to the West. It’s a very simple practice. It’s very easy to describe and very easy to follow. But like all other practices, it takes doing in order for it to happen.

We tend to see body, breath, and mind separately, but in zazen they come together as one reality. The first thing to pay attention to is the position of the body in zazen. The body has a way of communicating outwardly to the world and inwardly to oneself. How you position your body has a lot to do with what happens with your mind and your breath. Throughout the years of the evolution of Buddhism, the most effective positioning of the body for the practice of zazen has been the pyramid structure of the seated Buddha. Sitting on the floor is recommended because it is very stable. We use a zafu – a small pillow – to raise the behind just a little, so that the knees can touch the ground. With your bottom on the pillow and two knees touching the ground, you form a tripod base that gives three hundred and sixty-degree stability.

Burmese position

There are several different leg positions that are possible while seated this way. The first and simplest is the Burmese position, in which the legs are crossed and both feet rest flat on the floor. The knees should also rest on the floor, though sometimes it takes a bit of exercise to be able to get the legs to drop that far. After awhile the muscles will loosen up and the knees will begin to drop. To help that happen, sit on the front third of the zafu, shifting your body forward a little bit. By imagining the top of your head pushing upward to the ceiling and by stretching your body that way, get your spine straight – then just let the muscles go soft and relax. With the buttocks up on the zafu and your stomach pushing out a little, there will be a slight curve in the lower region of the back. In this position, it takes very little effort to keep the body upright.

Half Lotus position

Another position is the half lotus, where the left foot is placed up onto the right thigh and the right leg is tucked under. This position is slightly asymmetrical and sometimes the upper body needs to compensate in order to keep itself absolutely straight.

Full Lotus position

By far the most stable of all the positions is the full lotus, where each foot is placed up on the opposite thigh. This is perfectly symmetrical and very solid. Stability and efficiency are the important reasons sitting cross-legged on the floor works so well. There is absolutely no esoteric significance to the different positions. What is most important in zazen is what you do with your mind, not what you do with your feet or legs.

Seiza position

There is also the seiza position. You can sit seiza without a pillow, kneeling, with the buttocks resting on the upturned feet which form an anatomical cushion. Or you can use a pillow to keep the weight off your ankles. A third way of sitting seiza is to use the seiza bench. It keeps all the weight off your feet and helps to keep your spine straight.

Chair position

Finally, it’s fine to sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. You can use the cushion, or zafu, the same way you would use it on the floor – sitting on the forward third of it. Alternatively, you can place the zafu at the small of the back. It’s very important to keep the spine straight with the lower part of the back curved. All of the aspects of the posture that are important when seated on the floor are just as important when sitting in a chair.

The importance of keeping the back straight is to allow the diaphragm to move freely. The breathing you will be doing in zazen becomes very, very deep. Your abdomen will rise and fall much the same way an infant’s belly rises and falls. In general, as we mature, our breathing becomes restricted, and less and less complete. We tend to take shallow breaths in the upper part of the chest. Usually, we’ve got our belts on very tight or we wear tight clothing around the waist. As a result, deep, complete breathing rarely occurs. In zazen it is important to loosen up anything that is tight around the waist and to wear clothing that is non-binding. For instance, material should not gather behind the knees when you cross the legs, inhibiting circulation. Allow the diaphragm to move freely so that the breathing can be deep, easy, and natural. You don’t have to control it. You don’t have to make it happen. It will happen by itself if you assume the right posture and position your body properly.

Once you’ve positioned yourself, there are a few other things you can check on. The mouth is kept closed. Unless you have some kind of a nasal blockage, breathe through your nose. The tongue is pressed lightly against the upper palate. This reduces the need to salivate and swallow. The eyes are kept lowered, with your gaze resting on the ground about two or three feet in front of you. Your eyes will be mostly covered by your eyelids, which eliminates the necessity to blink repeatedly. The chin is slightly tucked in. Although zazen looks very disciplined, the muscles should be soft. There should be no tension in the body. It doesn’t take strength to keep the body straight. The nose is centered in line with the navel, the upper torso leaning neither forward nor back.

The hands are folded in the cosmic mudra. The dominant hand is held palm up holding the other hand, also palm up, so that the knuckles of both hands overlap. If you’re right-handed, your right hand is holding the left hand; if you’re left-handed, your left hand is holding the right hand. The thumbs are lightly touching, thus the hands form an oval, which can rest on the upturned soles of your feet if you’re sitting full lotus. If you’re sitting Burmese, the mudra can rest on your thighs. The cosmic mudra tends to turn your attention inward. There are many different ways of focusing the mind. There are visual images called mandalas that are used in some traditions as a point of concentration. There are mantras, or vocal images. There are different kinds of mudras used in various Eastern religions. In zazen, we focus on the breath. The breath is life. The word “spirit” means breath. The words “ki” in Japanese and “chi” in Chinese, meaning power or energy, both derive from breath. Breath is the vital force; it’s the central activity of our bodies. Mind and breath are one reality: when your mind is agitated your breath is agitated; when you’re nervous you breathe quickly and shallowly; when your mind is at rest the breath is deep, easy, and effortless.

It is important to center your attention in the hara. The hara is a place within the body, located two inches below the navel. It’s the physical and spiritual center of the body. Put your attention there; put your mind there. As you develop your zazen, you’ll become more aware of the hara as the center of your attentiveness.

Breathing in Zazen

Begin rocking the body back and forth, slowly, in decreasing arcs, until you settle at your center of gravity. The mind is in the hara, hands are folded in the cosmic mudra, mouth is closed, tongue pressed on the upper palate. You’re breathing through the nose and you’re tasting the breath. Keep your attention on the hara and the breath. Imagine the breath coming down into the hara, the viscera, and returning from there. Make it part of the whole cycle of breathing.

We begin working on ourselves by counting the breath, counting each inhalation and each exhalation, beginning with one and counting up to ten. When you get to ten, come back to one and start all over. The only agreement that you make with yourself in this process is that if your mind begins to wander – if you become aware that what you’re doing is chasing thoughts – you will look at the thought, acknowledge it, and then deliberately and consciously let it go and begin the count again at one.

The counting is a feedback to help you know when your mind has drifted off. Each time you return to the breath you are empowering yourself with the ability to put your mind where you want it, when you want it there, for as long as you want it there. That simple fact is extremely important. We call this power of concentration joriki. Joriki manifests itself in many ways. It’s the center of the martial and visual arts in Zen. In fact, it’s the source of all the activity of our lives.

When you’ve been practicing this process for a while, your awareness will sharpen. You’ll begin to notice things that were always there but escaped your attention. Because of the preoccupation with the internal dialogue, you were too full to be able to see what was happening around you. The process of zazen begins to open that up.

When you’re able to stay with the counting and repeatedly get to ten without any effort and without thoughts interfering, it’s time to begin counting every cycle of the breath. Inhalation and exhalation will count as one, the next inhalation and exhalation as two. This provides less feedback, but with time you will need less feedback.

Eventually, you’ll want to just follow the breath and abandon the counting altogether. Just be with the breath. Just be the breath. Let the breath breathe itself. That’s the beginning of the falling away of body and mind. It takes some time and you shouldn’t rush it; you shouldn’t move too fast from counting every breath to counting every other breath and on to following the breath. If you move ahead prematurely, you’ll end up not developing strong joriki. And it’s that power of concentration that ultimately leads to what we call samadhi, or single-pointedness of mind.

In the process of working with the breath, the thoughts that come up, for the most part, will be just noise, just random thoughts. Sometimes, however, when you’re in a crisis or involved in something important in your life, you’ll find that the thought, when you let it go, will recur. You let it go again but it comes back, you let it go and it still comes back. Sometimes that needs to happen. Don’t treat that as a failure; treat it as another way of practicing. This is the time to let the thought happen, engage it, let it run its full course. But watch it, be aware of it. Allow it to do what it’s got to do, let it exhaust itself. Then release it, let it go. Come back again to the breath. Start at one and continue the process. Don’t use zazen to suppress thoughts or issues that need to come up.

Scattered mental activity and energy keeps us separated from each other, from our environment, and from ourselves. In the process of sitting, the surface activity of our minds begins to slow down. The mind is like the surface of a pond – when the wind is blowing, the surface is disturbed and there are ripples. Nothing can be seen clearly because of the ripples; the reflected image of the sun or the moon is broken up into many fragments.

Out of that stillness, our whole life arises. If we don’t get in touch with it at some time in our life, we will never get the opportunity to come to a point of rest. In deep zazen, deep samadhi, a person breathes at a rate of only two or three breaths a minute. Normally, at rest, a person will breathe about fifteen breaths a minute – even when we’re relaxing, we don’t quite relax. The more completely your mind is at rest, the more deeply your body is at rest. Respiration, heart rate, circulation, and metabolism slow down in deep zazen. The whole body comes to a point of stillness that it doesn’t reach even in deep sleep. This is a very important and very natural aspect of being human. It is not something particularly unusual. All creatures of the earth have learned this and practice this. It’s a very important part of being alive and staying alive: the ability to be completely awake.

Once the counting of the breath has been really learned, and concentration, true one-pointedness of mind, has developed, we usually go on to other practices such as koan study or shikantaza (“just sitting”). This progression should not be thought of in terms of “gain” or “promotion”; that would imply that counting the breath was just a preparation for the “real” thing. Each step is the real thing. Whatever our practice is, the important thing is to put ourselves into it completely. When counting the breath, we just count the breath.

It is also important to be patient and persistent, to not be constantly thinking of a goal, of how the sitting practice may help us. We just put ourselves into it and let go of our thoughts, opinions, positions – everything our minds hold onto. The human mind is basically free, not clinging. In zazen we learn to uncover that mind, to see who we really are.

Dark Zen

The Method of Dark Zen Meditation
by Tao-Hsüan (Dôgen)

Dark Zen Meditation (hereafter, DZM) is a method designed to enter into communion with the superessential light of the Buddha.  For those of you who are of pure intent converging with this light is tantamount to directly sensing the Buddha’s true teaching which spontaneously emanates from his most mysterious supernal body.  Letting this light dwell within insures that you will eventually reach the far shore of liberation.

The Guidelines

1.  Leave desires behind.
2.  Visualize your sensory perceptions to be posterior to the Buddha’s light.  Accept that sensory perceptions are empty of substantiality.
3.  Sit with legs crossed and the spine erect.
4.  Recollect that which is most antecedent to the in breath and the out breath during your normal breathing rhythm.
5.  Do not follow the breath or try to visualize a point between the in breath and the out breath.

Explanation of the Guidelines

1.  To leave your desires behind means to stop grasping after conditioned things since they are finite and subject to endless transformation (i.e., birth and death).  If we enter into sympathy with conditioned things we will surely suffer their fate and destiny.

2.  What we perceive with our senses, calling such “the world,” is a product of finite causes and conditions.  Such perceptions are posterior to that which is their absolute source.  If we wish to commune with the source of all, then we must come to see all things as coming after the first.

3.  To sit with legs crossed and spine erect prepares the body to be offered to the Buddha’s great light; for his light enjoys an immovable posture and a mind without attachment, which sitting with legs crossed and holding the spine erect symbolizes.

4.  To recollect that which is most antecedent to the in breath and out breath means that you must tune into that which is prior to the entire breathing cycle itself. Just as the hand which lifts a staff is not part of the staff, likewise the antecedent recollection is not a part of your breathing.  As a practical illustration, you must recollect the antecedent as you breathe in and breathe out. If the breathing is long or short, labored or otherwise, you must focus on the antecedent so that breathing follows after it.  When you breathe, for example, your normal belief is, “I am breathing.”  It never dawns on you to retract your attention and look in the opposite direction so as to rise above breathing.  Not surprisingly, this is not an easy task (owing to force of habit, all of us still attend to conditions which are always posterior).

5.  Those who teach that one must follow the breath are making their very minds breath dependent, thus falling into samsara.  On the other hand, if one applies antecedent recollection, they will one day become free of all bodily functions.

Some Practical Points

1.  The minimum time for this practice is 20 minutes. Two periods are highly recommended each day.  When you feel that your mind is joyous and agile, then it is a good time to begin.  Generally, in the morning and in the evening our minds are in such a state.

2.  Use some kind of timing device which will not disrupt your attempt to access the Buddha’s light.

3.  If you gain access to the Buddha light by recollecting the antecedent it will be present to you throughout your daily life as both a friend and a guide.  Hence it is not just limited to formal sitting.  Additionally, no kind of suffering can diminish it; it is always present.  Why is this?  It is because the object of recollection is not within the human body.  It exists prior to the body in the realm of Universal Mind.

4.  Signs of access

a.  Feeling a magnetic-like energy in the head or in the chest region;
b.  Feeling a sense of being disembodied when in the presence of the energy;
c.  Vitality arises as a result of sensing the energy;
d.  Bliss is sensed in differing degrees.

Further comments on DZM

Meditation is never an end in itself.  It is for the purpose of gaining access to the Buddha’s mysterious light which discloses the character of the immortal (i.e., the light’s true source).  Without access to it there is no possibility that you will comprehend the true path and its true completion.  You can only hope to accrue good merit and be reborn in this world when Lord Maitreya is born.

If you intend to practice DZM, be advised that it is not to be used as a tranquilizer or for finite purposes.  It is much more than that.   In one respect, it is the raft of Dharma which takes us to the other shore of nirvana.  By it, your dangerous journey across the waters of samsara will not be one in which you drown in the abyss of materialism.

Government

The Dark Jedi, unlike the Sith, choose whichever government structure they see fit. The Dark Jedi is not subject to government because such basic structural belief is a denial of freedom. Of course, I am not saying that the Dark Jedi should not follow the rules of society and the laws of the government in which they reside within the boundaries of. I am speaking of Dark Jedi organizations and societies. Dark Jedi may come together, but they are usually organizational structures of equality amongst the group with an appointed leader or the founder as the leader. Otherwise, all hope is lost. You start building up structures of government and you’re becoming Sith because of the Sith’s egotistical and prideful outlook on power. Dark Jedi generally do not belong to groups, except those of other Dark Jedi, where they are inclined to work towards a ranking office.