"The" Boddhisattva Vow
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I've read in some places in Crowley's writings (I think) and in other places on this forum that it is common for Exempt Adepts to take "the Bodhisattva Vow," which causes them to forsake any kind of reward and reincarnate almost immediately after death instead of waiting several decades between incarnations.
I thought about it and am somewhat interested in taking the vow at some point even if I don't achieve Adepthood, in order to keep the momentum of this life going and possibly attain Adepthood in a subsequent life.
Is there anywhere I can read more about this specific vow (or group of vows)?
Is there anything anyone in a position to know (cough Jim cough) would like to add (such as, "it's probably an incredibly stupid idea to do this unless you're an Adept," or, "you're completely missing the point of the Vow")? -
Recommended: The Bodhisattva Vow by Geshe Sonam Rinchen (Snow Lion Publications, 2000).
"I thought about it and am somewhat interested in taking the vow at some point even if I don't achieve Adepthood, in order to keep the momentum of this life going and possibly attain Adepthood in a subsequent life."
That's not, per se, the right motive for this vow. (It might be a motive that indirectly serves the purposes of this vow.)
You don't need to take this extra step "to keep the momentum of this life going," etc. In the next life (barring the need for a karmic "time out" to deal with some particular issue), you will quickly recapitulate the work you accomplished in this life and be ready to go further. Everyone starts over (in part because the physical body has to develop a certain way to tolerate particular levels of consciousness), but levels previously reached are reviewed and resumed much more quickly. Rapid reincarnation wouldn't do a thing to alter this particular pattern.
In any case, read up on it and draw your own conclusions.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"That's not, per se, the right motive for this vow. "
Exactly the kind of information I was looking for; Thank you
" In the next life [...] you will quickly recapitulate the work you accomplished in this life and be ready to go further. Everyone starts over (in part because the physical body has to develop a certain way to tolerate particular levels of consciousness), but levels previously reached are reviewed and resumed much more quickly. Rapid reincarnation wouldn't do a thing to alter this particular pattern."
Ah, I see; is this related to the way that an organism, as it grows to maturity, essentially reenacts the entire evolution of its species to some degree? I think Crowley stated this somewhere, probably either MWT or Book IV.
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@Ash said
"Ah, I see; is this related to the way that an organism, as it grows to maturity, essentially reenacts the entire evolution of its species to some degree?"
Broadly, yes. That is, the course of evolution is first biological and then in terms of consciousness.
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@Ash said
"
Ah, I see; is this related to the way that an organism, as it grows to maturity, essentially reenacts the entire evolution of its species to some degree? I think Crowley stated this somewhere, probably either MWT or Book IV."Crowley was a big admirer of Ernst Haeckel's "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny":