Indra’s Net and the Bodhisattva

By Aaron on April 9, 2019 in Culture, Mind

Indra's Net 3D render — Indra’s Net created using Blender 3D (blender.org)

Bodhisattva is a level of enlightenment to understand fractal patterns in the vibration of the universe as well as Indra’s Net and the very nature of the source but not the source itself, which is impossible, like seeing your own eyes with your eyes, it theoretically can’t be done.

In the Early Buddhist schools as well as modern Theravada Buddhism, a bodhisattva (Pali: bodhisatta) refers to anyone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that this will be so.

The metaphor’s earliest known reference is found in the Atharva Veda. It was developed by the Mahayana school in the 3rd century Avatamsaka Sutra and later by the Huayan school between the 6th and 8th centuries

“Imagine a multidimensional spider’s web in the early morning covered with dew drops. And every dew drop contains the reflection of all the other dew drops. And, in each reflected dew drop, the reflections of all the other dew drops in that reflection. And so ad infinitum. That is the Buddhist conception of the universe in an image.”
–Alan Watts

Indra's Net: This image was designed by Stress Engineering Services in Cincinnati, OH to illustrate the need for an integrated, holistic approach to design that can anticipate the enormous and interconnected repercussions of change in a complex system. It depicts a sea of infinitely faceted jewels reflecting each other - change one jewel and its reflection is repeated in every other jewel. — Indra’s Net: This image was designed by Stress Engineering Services in Cincinnati, OH to illustrate the need for an integrated, holistic approach to design that can anticipate the enormous and interconnected repercussions of change in a complex system. It depicts a sea of infinitely faceted jewels reflecting each other – change one jewel and its reflection is repeated in every other jewel.

The of study of Cymatics helps us visualize this concept in sound vibrations that everything has a pattern. Then imagine what is the substance in which the frequency wave is travelling, compared to the ocean except infinite and mathematically identical and repetitive like a fractal pattern.

Cornstarch and water solution under the influence of sine wave vibration

Cymatics, from the Ancient Greek: κῦμα, meaning, “wave”, is a subset of modal vibrational phenomena. The term was coined by Hans Jenny (1904-1972), a Swiss follower of the philosophical school known as anthroposophy. Typically the surface of a plate, diaphragm, or membrane is vibrated, and regions of maximum and minimum displacement are made visible in a thin coating of particles, paste, or liquid. Different patterns emerge in the excitatory medium depending on the geometry of the plate and the driving frequency.

A Bodhisattva would become aware of these concepts from meditation and by exploring the depths of consciousness, in a method of attaining awareness of the awareness. And realizing that there is only one consciousness.

Then the way to awaken oneself, is to awaken all beings. One’s imperfections are inexhaustible, vow to overcome them. The Dharma unknowable, vow to know it, and the way to enlightenment unattainable so vow to attain it. Such is the way of the Bodhisattva.

Indra’s Net Fractal Photo credit: WayShare on Visualhunt / CC BY-ND