Nomenclature of Atman

• lingo, jargon, nomenclature, vernacular, argot, parlance

• Ātman

  • soul
  • Pneuma - to the Greeks, the breath of air that sustains consciousness in the body
    • contrast with prana in the Vedas
  • subjective sense of self
  • essence of being
  • moksha is attained when one acquires atma jnana or self-knowledge that one's true self or ātman is identical with the transcendent self, the Brahman

• mind

  • will, vīrya, semen
  • consciousness
  • psyche
  • Nous - sense of truth
  • host of memes

• body

  • vessel
  • survival machine
  • the only thing we can know at the same time as both a phenomenon and a thing in itself
  • host of genes

• Gene/Meme

  • code
  • self-replicating instruction

• Teme

  • genes and memes working in concert within a mind and body
  • objective sense of self

• Species

  • defined by similar genes

• qualia

  • purely subjective, conscious experiences through our senses and perception
  • "what it is like"

• Māyā - extraordinary wisdom, or illusion/appearance

• Karma - intended action, the cause and eventual effect of a deed

• Samsāra

  • wandering cyclitude of all life
  • transmigration of ātmans among temes
  • cycle of aimless drifting, wandering, or mundane existence
  • karmic cycle - deeds steer transmigration

• Puruṣārthas - four proper aims of a life

  1. Moksha
     • transcendence
     • liberation from samsāra
  2. Dharma
     • righteousness
     • morality
  3. Artha
     • prosperity
     • wealth
  4. Kama
     • love
     • pleasure

• Three Buddhist marks of existence

  • aniccā - impermanence
  • dukkhā - suffering
  • anattā - not-self, or anātman, opposite of ātman

• Bodhisattva

  • a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so out of compassion in order to save suffering beings.

• Buddhist Kalpa

  • aeon, period of time
  • ayu-kalpa
    • lifespan
    • ranges from 10-100 years, or up to one Asaṃkhyeya or asankya which is incalculable
  • antah-kalpa
    • wavelength of ayu-kalpa which moves from min to max
    • mass extinction
  • asankya-kalpa
    • 20 antah-kalpas
    • 0.25 maha-kalpas
  • maha-kalpa
    • apocalypse
    • four quarters:
      • world formation
      • stable world supporting life
      • world destruction
      • empty period

• Hindu Kalpa

  • 4,320,000 years
  • a day or night of the Brahman
  • during the day the Brahman knows itself and we are all one
  • at night the Brahman forget itself and dreams up the universe
  • at the end of a night kalpa, the dream-world is annihilated