9209.15 e.v. [excerpts] In Tantra I am taught that Truth consists of weaving apparent opposites to arrive at a transcendent or fundamental resolution. This process directly involves that 'self' of which you and Pat speak, for this 'self' (however you'd like to define or undefine it), joins the two opposites in a Trinity to produce the Child of the Divine. Our ability to firmly join such apparent opposites determines the extent our divinity is realized. While I understand that it is possible to associate 'God' with buddha-nature, I find myself making associations which do not agree with this. It seems more appealing to me to forego concrete associations outside specific schools (and I tend to see Western Scholarship as 'one school') and examine ALL the possible relationships between terms, Eastern and Western alike. In this light, I sometimes associate 'buddha-nature' with 'atman', since both are names for the essentiality of the person. I also associate 'God' with 'Buddha' and 'Brahman'. In Western literature, and I presume in Eastern as well, there are so many different definitions of 'God' or 'Buddha' that it becomes less an activity of making one coherent thought- system and more one of tasting all the thoughts, consuming those which please one in one's meditations, and then using them to move beyond simple, lingual thought-constructs. In Tantra I am taught that ALL difference is illusory. This is not a simple concept for me to grasp. The primary revelation is that I am One with All. The secondary is that difference is illusory. The tertiary is that illusion is not different than reality. The fourth is that the self is not different than the Self. The fifth is that thought and feeling are not separate. The sixth is that these words (i.e. these thoughts) are not different than their context. How far can one go with this? I am unsure, but comparision and contrast seem to yield the Child of the Divine eventually. :> Tyagi --------------------------------------------------------------- Did you write this?