#ex-buddhist

[kojiarakiartworks]

June 2013 KTM Kathmandu Nepal 　Thamel

© KOJI ARAKI Art Works

Daily life and every small thing is the gate to the universe ：）

[marioluigimarioluigi]

Massed Prayer for Florian and Juliana go to Pasio

[tanuki-kimono]

Lovely article+illustrations by Kimono Ichiba (via Tanpopo <3), overviewing famous "scary"patterns... which are in fact often auspicious as traditional Japanese patterns ;)

I believe I have them all on the blog somewhere but it's nice having them in one place so let's go!

Spiderwebs (kumo no su)

In ancient China, spider were seen as auspicious messengers connecting Heaven to Earth.

As the spider catches its prey in its web, spiderweb came to signify "grasping happiness".

Apparently during Edo period, prostitutes and geisha used spiderweb patterned items as a good luck charm (meaning something like "this customer will come back").

A very famous spiderweb depiction is the Lady Rokujo ukiyoe [焔 honô (the flame of passion)] by female artist Uemura Shoen. Wisteria caught in the web could mean ``I hope [Prince Genji] will come tonight'' which is pretty sad considering her story T_T

Skulls (dokuro)

Exact name for human remains pattern is "nozarashi" (lit. "weather beaten") ie bones scattered in a field. This depicts a corpse turned to bones/unveiled from its grave by the elements.

Skulls are thought to ward off evil and bad luck. Bones can also symbolize a do-or-die spirit​, or hope for rebirth after death.

OP stresses a theory linking bones pattern to a buddhist saying 色即是空 shikisokuzekū "form is emptiness, matter is void, all is vanity​". An interpetation is that we'll all turn to dust one day so we're all equal.

Bones patterns are often seen during Obon (Festival of the dead) season.

Monsters, ogres and ghosts (yôkai / oni / yûrei)

Monsters patterns were then worn to ward off bad luck and evil spirits. Reasoning is: let's repel scary things by wearing an even scarier monster!

Fearsome monsters were especially use by people with dangerous jobs, like Edo period firemen.

Firemen often had the lining of their heavy fire attire (火事装束 kajishouzoku) embelished with lavish designs of brave heroes and fantastic monsters. It was both a talisman and a way to show that they did not fear danger or death.

Another reason behing monsters patterns is the Edo period love for "scary" entertainements, be it ghost stories, parlor or other types of games, art (see for ex. Utagawa Kuniyoshi), etc. And Edo city dwellers were all about being fashionable so a monster pattern would have been considered quite iki!

[teashoptiramisu]

Royalty converting to an outsider religion? Especially more associated with a group that their family/people isn’t exactly friendly with? Yeah, totally implausible, I’m sure that’s never happened before in history.

I dunno maybe the ttrpg plotline is bad but your guys’ criticisms of it are pretty weak. I’m more sympathetic to “there’s too much shit about the fire nation” but it IS what sells; if we want air nomad and water tribe stuff we’re gonna have to shower more love and funding on fan efforts. How are those Kyoshi Vnovel guys doing? Tbh that might be more earth kingdom than air nomads, i’m not sure.

my initial reaction to this new princess zeisan character was just to say her design was weird but honestly the problems with her design don't bode well for her writing. like already the premise of "fire nation royalty joins the air nomads" is kinda weird bc someone from a nation's royal family is probably one of the people LEAST able to break free from the propaganda. like it only happened to iroh and zuko because of major life-changing events (losing lu ten & being banished) and you wouldn't include their transformations in a short description of their characters bc iroh's is slowly revealed and zuko's happens over the course of the story. and her design is just an air nomad necklace and sash on top of a fire nation royal outfit so like...where's the transformation? and how are zuko and iroh notable for breaking free if someone barely two generations earlier was able to?

like are we supposed to believe everything was totally chill between the fire nation and the air nomads before the sozin's comet genocide? bc that's not how genocide works. how could sozin have justified sending all those soldiers to the air temples if there wasn't already a concerted anti-air nomad propaganda effort in the fire nation? not all fire nation citizens bought into it obviously (kuzon) but a member of the royal family? a member of the royal family wearing the whole fucking shoulderpads and hairpiece get-up? where's the treason haircut? the rags from living among the people for years unlearning what she was raised with? the visual reflection of her turning her back on her culture?

creating a new character that's an existing character's previously-unmentioned sibling is already hokey and fanfiction-y, having her be the air nomad convert sister of the Guy Who Committed Genocide Against The Air Nomads strains believability, and the laziness of her design means that i have little faith in her writers' ability to make anything good out of this

[ossidae-passeridae]

4. What’s the worst part of fanon? 😈

Question from here

That'd be the implicit racism thanks for asking!

A non snappy response, aka to explain what I mean by that:

A lot of fanon tropes implicitly reinforce a very white, America-centric POV, and in a universe like the GFFA which lies somewhere between heavily Asian-inspired and gloriously multicultural, that really rubs me the wrong way. (To clarify upfront: it is not racist or whatever to enjoy these tropes or to write them, but it worries me when people don't even seem to realise it)

An obvious, innocuous-seeming example is the tendency to use 'Ben' instead of Obi-Wan's actual name in AUs — especially when others' names (Anakin, Mace, Cody, etc) aren't changed as well. The biggest difference between those names and Obi-Wan's is that Obi-Wan's is obviously Asian inspired, and theirs aren't. It's not something I expect most people even think about! But it always leaves a sinking feeling in my chest.

(Obviously if, like in canon, Obi-Wan is using Ben as a pseudonym while in hiding that's a very different kettle of fish.)

A larger example is how incredibly common it is to cast the Jedi as space-Christians — some common examples being focus on tenets (the Jedi Code, which is a meditation mantra, not a rulebook), the pervasive Catholic Guilt which is very explicitly Christian in nature, the emphasis on worship as ritual rather than a state to work towards, the generalised "all organised religion must be Bad" sentiments that feel very specifically ex-Christian in nature.

Thinking about one's own religion and expressing thoughts through fiction/art isn't an issue in and of itself.

The thing is, the Jedi are explicitly based on Asian Buddhists. Not just in set dressing, but from the ground up, from their beliefs and the way they act, to their clothing to the structure of their temple — to strip that away is to remove what makes the Jedi the Jedi. It's to remove the Asian-ness and replace it with something predominantly white. It implies that Asian influence shouldn't or can't exist in the GFFA, or that there's something inferior or wrong about Buddhism that needs to be "fixed".

Again this isn't something where I think that fan authors are sitting there going "muhahaha I'm going to be RACIST today", I know that's not what's happening. But when so much Jedi-centric content being produced minimises the Asian influence and pushes a western one, it starts to say "there's something wrong with this group, we're trying to erase it because there shouldn't be representation at all" — an issue of scale, at its core.

(Then ofc there's all the "the Jedi steal babies" and "the Jedi ban emotions" and "the Jedi need to be destroyed" which, entirely separate from the above, if you replace 'Jedi' with 'Buddhists' I'm kind of starting to wonder why you hate Asian people/Asian religions, you know?)

I won't even get into the fanon surrounding the clones, because that'd require me to talk about KT far more than I'd like to on any day, but especially today 🤣

(All opinions expressed above are solely those of pass e. ridae and do not express the views or opinions of any affiliates or associates, passerine or otherwise)

[phoenixyfriend]

Apologies if you’ve been asked this before, but do you have any thoughts on fanon!Obi-Wan vs. canon!Obi-Wan? And is there any part of his character that you wish fandom or fic would address more often?

I think that a lot of the fics I had a lot of frustration with aren't really in my search field anymore; I got really frustrated with Woobie-wan and some related themes, and those were really common in Cod*Wan... but since I don't really read that ship anymore, I come across that specific characterization a lot less. It still shows up (especially in fics that decide to have some fun with the Qui-Gon bashing), but less so.

I do think a lot of authors have difficulty balancing the Sass with the Competence etc. but ngl I think one of my biggest Wow That's Uncomfortable approaches is when people can't fathom the idea of Obi-Wan being happy as a monk; in those cases, he's either written as repressed and unable to fathom the idea of loving someone the way Anakin can, or he's written as Secretly Yearning To Break Free For The Ship. A lot of it also has some real shades of "ex-Christian Western Fans project their trauma onto a Space Buddhist who doesn't want to leave his religion/culture despite many opportunities to do so."

(Seriously, there is so much 'oh, you are definitely imagining the Jedi as a fundamentalist Christian sect with culty elements and can't fathom that they aren't evil' out there.)

And like. IDK. I hate that a lot. The man may not be celibate, but that doesn't mean he's unhappy with the life he's leading. He's a space buddhist and happy about it! He doesn't need to be fixed. There are other things he needs help with, other things where he could use therapy or family counseling or something, but his religion is never implied to be something that needs fixing.

IDK if that answers your question but it's definitely the two things I notice most often: Woobie-Wan and Jedi-As-Western-Cult stuff.

The stuff I wish I could see more of is unfortunately less easy to pin down because it's mostly about balancing character elements and that's a matter of skill, not choice.

[beemovieerotica]

trying to find like 1 buddhist temple near me to go to and braved reddit to find commentary on different sects and it's such a cesspool of both completely unaware hypocrisy and "all religion bad" shit.

the way americans talk about modern buddhism is like "it's such a cult...they require membership dues...and they get political sometimes...and the leaders are really charismatic speakers" as if. as if every community center doesn't have rent to pay. and makes commentary on society at large. and the people they choose to speak are probably good speakers. every christian church in america also does all these things. like if these are the requirements for a cult then every religion also does this and so of course the other half of the reddit comments go "and THIS is why all religions are cults!!"

I feel like I have a pretty good radar for cult behavior after matrix bullet dodging at least 2 in college and these people online are specifically talking about the sect my grandparents & extended family are in. and it's weird because the complaints are primarily philosophical in nature, like "they communicate with the spirit realm!!" and idk how to emphasize to people that it doesn't strictly matter how weird you think a belief system is, that's not what makes something a cult. it's whether or not the cult subsumes the person's life, isolates them from non-participants, forces an emotional dependency, deifies and makes unimpeachable a still-living leader, and/or requires an ever-escalating financial stake. the average evangelical church ticks off most boxes in this list, the temples they're talking about don't do any of these things, they have esoteric takes that at best will get an eyebrow raise in conversation.

like it's not terribly surprising that american ex-christians are put off by the idea of people connecting with their ancestors and deceased loved ones because of its contradiction with both atheism and the christian afterlife - and I wouldn't lump it in with spirit medium grifters since people are literally not being paid for this service. it's just really odd sifting through all of the commentary because I absolutely agree that any religious group can turn into a cult, I don't think buddhism is immune to that at all, I don't think any belief system is at its core immune to becoming an isolating force in someone's life - but it's just wild seeing these sects being but through a Good Religion purity test that no christian church would pass just based on the surface level strangeness of their beliefs versus the actual identifiers of what a cult looks like.

but anyway that's a long tangent. the temple that I'm looking at is not part of that sect but a different one, it's the only one within reasonable driving distance with an up-to-date calendar of events and responsive staff, and I'm feeling very cunty right now and I'm seeing that is has had concerns raised about it in the past of being "too political" "too fast-growing" "too aggressive in recruiting" and I simply love placing myself in circumstances and then telling everyone about the drama I find. that is worth jotting down. I'm going to record all my experiences and report back, and if I do end up in a cult, y'all will be the first to know - and if it's an unremarkable place with a normal staff, you will also know. I would preemptively rate my cult susceptibility a 3 out of 10 - but looking at this temple I'm going to say it's a 2 out of 10 because everyone there is white and I'm put off by overly-enthusiastic white people.

[booblywooblies]

some "chiller" christians wouldnt like this but i think christianity is inherently misogynist, like its right there in your creation myth theres nothing you can do to make it progressive

watching multiple videos on girl defined and how the younger sister got married recently and she was all i wont kiss before marriage and now shes married shes suddenly like wait sex should be pleasurable why do so many married women hate sex, why did no one warn us sex is a skill that needs to be developed

and its like, im not a christian im not even an ex christian but if youre the wait til marriage + no sodomy type person then just go whole hog on having bad sex, like at that point sex isnt for fun right its for procreation so you should only bother to do it to pump out more kids

and im not saying like just let your man have his way with you i dont think women should have to "put up" with sex just bc man horny its like, if youre gonna have this restrictive regressive view of sex then no one should get to have fun, including the men

i mean even then i guess its still annoying bc cis women just arent built the same way cis men are like, a cis man cumming is necessary for procreation and a cis woman cumming is completely irrelevant, like biology is already inherently unfair, but i think fundamentalist christian men should be punished more bc it would make me happy

youd think if there was a god hed make female orgasms relevant to procreation, probably some good evidence then that hes not bc why else would human biology be so slapdash and bare minimum like that

[niteshade925]

April 11, Xi'an, China, Xi'an City Museum/西安博物院 (Part 1):

Since I didn't take pictures of all the plaques, and some of these artifacts can be near impossible to look up, I will not attempt to name all of them.

The entrance to the Xi'an City Museum, also called 西安市博:

Xi'an city used to be called Chang'an/长安, and was the capital city of 13 different dynasties, including Qin dynasty, Han dynasty, and Tang dynasty. This is a (pretty big) model of Chang'an city in Tang dynasty, including parts of the palace:

Various Buddhist statues from different dynasties:

And a statue of Guanyin (Avalokiteśvara) that's in a pose I've never seen before:

Stone column with a loong dragon and clouds carved upon it:

I didn't take a picture of the plaque, but if I remember right this is a bixi/笔洗, or a small bowl containing water where you rinse your brush, and in this case it's fashioned from jade:

A carved jade decor (from a belt?):

A Qing dynasty jade zhaijie/斋戒 tag. Zhaijie is usually translated as "fasting", but it's more than that, it combines temporary dietary restrictions (definitely no meat or fish/seafood or alcohol, I'm not sure about animal products) and abstinence from a variety of activities, like enjoying feasts, entertainment, and working on official business. Those in mourning may be exempt from zhaijie. This tag was worn by officials when there were major national ceremonies going on, for example the annual ceremonies at Temple of Heaven/Tiantan/天坛 where the emperor prays for rain and a good harvest, as a reminder to observe the zhaijie rules during the ceremony:

Painting from Republic era (1946). I can literally read everything on the upper left but the name of the painter.........................sigh. Can't find it online either. Anyway I love how the painter created depth here:

This painting is by Qing era painter Zhang Qia/张洽 in 1787. I love the brushwork:

Totally forgot to take a picture of the plaque, but I love this calligraphy:

Bronze ritual wine vessel (called hé/盉) with phoenix head spout, from Warring States period (475 - 221 BC):

Bronze wine vessel (called jué/爵), if I remember right, this is from Zhou dynasty (1046 - 256 BC):

Bronze bells, part of a bianzhong/编钟 set. Although pentatonic scale has been seen as a key characteristic of traditional Chinese music, the bianzhong can play in heptatonic scale. And for the physics lovers out there, this kind of bell is very interesting in that the cross section is almond-shaped, and a single bell can produce two different tones depending on where it is struck. The protrusions on the bell (called mei/枚 or zhongru/钟乳) apparently affect the frequency of the sound produced as well.

The Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng (曾侯乙编钟) is the oldest playable set that has been found so far, discovered in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (died 430 BC). A full album was recorded with this ancient bianzhong set in 1989.

Early currency....yep these are shells. This is the reason why Chinese characters with the shell radical (贝/貝) usually have to do with money or treasure (ex: 财, 寶, 购, 赎, etc etc):

Different coins from different states in the Warring States period:

Different coins and molds after Qin dynasty (the weirdly shaped ones are apparently all from Xin dynasty/新莽):

Different seal stamps. I love the one with the turtle on it

[meirimerens]

the pathologic Kin is largely fictionalized with a created language that takes from multiple sources to be its own, a cosmogony & spirituality that does not correlate to the faiths (mostly Tengrist & Buddhist) practiced by the peoples it takes inspirations from, has customs, mores and roles invented for the purposes of the game, and even just a style of dress that does not resemble any of these peoples', but it is fascinating looking into specifically to me the sigils and see where they come from... watch this:

P2 Layers glyphs take from the mongolian script:

while the in-game words for Blood, Bones and Nerves are mongolian directly, it is interesting to note that their glyphs do not have a phonetic affiliation to the words (ex. the "Yas" layer of Bones having for glyph the equivalent of the letter F, the "Medrel" layer of Nerves having a glyph the equivalent of the letter È,...)

the leatherworks on the Kayura models', with their uses of angles and extending lines, remind me of the Phags Pa Script (used for Tibetan, Mongolian, Chineses, Uyghur language, and others)

some of the sigils also look either in part or fully inspired by Phags Pa script letters...

some look closer to the mongolian or vagindra (buryat) script

looking at the Herb Brides & their concept art, we can see bodypainting that looks like vertical buryat or mongolian script (oh hi (crossed out: Mark) Phags Pa script):

shaped and reshaped...

[kojiarakiartworks]

June 2013 KTM Kathmandu Nepal 　Thamel

© KOJI ARAKI Art Works

Daily life and every small thing is the gate to the universe ：）

[rainboopz]

The Main Cast + Minor Cast together for my little concept "Happy Asian Market" 🛒🦀💛

For those who are new, it's about Hughie, an ex-gangster, stumbling upon a job at an Asian supermarket that includes beating up demons with Buddhist magic. Right up the lug's alley!

[girlwithhorn]

Hi everyone!

My name is Mia, I'm a soon-to-be 30yo comic artist and essayist living on unceded Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung country aka Melbourne, Australia. My pronouns are she/her. Here's my website. You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram.

Most of my work can be found on my Medium. You can support me by buying my e-zines off Gumroad or subscribing to my Patreon, although fair warning that my updates are currently intermittent and my webcomic is on hiatus.

Here are some of my comics and writing:

SAMSARA DREAMIN'

My action-horror feel-bad epic webcomic about a trans girl and her psycho wolf boy on the lam in Buddhist hell. Currently on hiatus due to work/life balance with plans to resume around October. Please check the content warning in the About page.

APPLE/SEED

A sci-fi comic about life under neoliberalism and talking to your ex. Made for Liminal Magazine.

Mount Macedon Hiking Guide

This is the one that blew up it's probably how you got here lol. A how-to guide to climbing mountains and grieving the dead. Made for the Emerging Writers' Festival.

Lone Shadow

My Reuben Award-nominated comic about Sekiro and queer phenomenology. A companion piece with YOU, DEFEATED, an essay on Dark Souls and trans grief.

Winner Winner

A comic about children at the end of civilisation, inspired by Taiyo Matsumoto and Katsuhiro Otomo.

[sillygoofyqueer]

Woah, even without being a Heavenly Demon, Moha makes perfect sense for Meng Mo’s personal heart demon. (All demons are heart demon related after all, not just the Heavenly variety). The guy is literally living in people’s heads instead of the real world!

Thinking about other demons in terms of Buddhist poisons/kleshas makes sense too.

Looking at skinner demons, I bet their powers are a manifestation of an Irshya/envy related heart demon. They can literally wear another person’s skin and take over that person’s life!

Even if ex-Jinwu Heavenly Demon crows are Māna/pride or Pramāda/carelessness (or maybe a mix of both, since the sun incident involved at least ten of them), most regular demon corvids probably come from Yao turned demon via Rāga/greed heart demons (what with all the shiny stealing).

This reminds me of other thoughts I’ve had about SVSSS demons too.

So Heavenly Demons are special and extra powerful thanks to originating from the literal Heavens, right? This has me thinking the power level of other demon bloodlines might also be related to how powerful their predecessor was before being corrupted by heart demons!

What if the demon noble bloodlines are more powerful than regular demons because their predecessors successfully achieved immortality before becoming demons? Immortality is not godhood, so Heavenly Demons are still their natural superiors, but as the decedents of immortals, demon nobility are still far more powerful than those descended from ordinary corrupted cultivators or mortals.

[insert interesting response here] (listen, you've already cooked HARD so you get to have this to yourself because I don't quite know how I could elaborate on this!!!)

[transmutationisms]

totally diff anon now but i wanted to chime in on the catholic guilt posts as a buddhist and i used to* see a ridiculous amount of recent converts come crying scared that they're gonna go to hell because they told a little white lie, or stepped on a bug, or like had any kind of pleasurable experience at all. it was very wild to me.

*quit lurking on r/buddhism cold turkey for the sake of my sanity

there is an extremely robust pipeline of ex catholic -> buddhist convert lol and it's usually people who rejected the catholic teachings relatively superficially but are still very invested in self denial and asceticism and then just import that into their practice of buddhism. like im sure there are also other reasons for the phenomenon you describe but for sure some of them are 'ex' catholics it's a very insufferable type of person. i would honestly rather just deal with catholics who know they're catholic

[antmightpost]

The nature of cursed energy, after death sequences and a possible inspiration from Tibetan Buddhism & Tibetan book of the dead

"Nine points. Polarized light" A theory on the nature of cursed energy, after death sequences and a possible inspiration from Tibetan Buddhism & Tibetan book of the dead (Bardo Thodol). This is the 1st part of a long theory that I intend to cover in multiple parts

Gojo's chant

The Tibetan book of the dead, also known as Bardo Thodol is a sacred text guiding souls through the afterlife. Rooted in Tibetan Buddhism, it's a profound exploration of life, death and the transitional state between ( Bardo) . The origins of Bardo Thodol can be traced back to the 8th century when emperor Trisong Detsen directed Indian buddhist master Padmasambhava (lotus born) to bring the Buddhist teachings to Tibet. Also known as 'Guru Rinpoche' he brought the teachings of Bardos ( state between Death and Rebirth)

Tibetan book of the dead

Padmasambhava Physics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, While we're alive a pattern of energy called consciousness or the 'mind' flows within our body that we identify as ourselves. But what happens after death ? This energy is no longer associated or anchored by the Physical body. It now floats, freely. In JJK the physical body is also like a barrier for the soul / consciousness which is why the innate domain or inner world manifests within a barrier or outline through a domain expansion.

Body acting as a barrier for a domain Once consciousness is loosened from any barriers ,Thoughts have no limitations set for them. "In life you make the mind , in death the mind makes you" what does this buddhist saying mean ? For ex- suppose you want to visit a place, while alive you have to follow the whole process of travelling to visit it. After death , the mere thought of visiting it will take you there (the dream realm version of it). This seems like a Fascinating concept until you think about the negative thoughts that one might have. Thoughts that while alive are slower in realization by the physical limit of the body, thoughts that in death will become your reality instantly, sometimes in rapid unending succession. This is why Buddhism places heavy emphasis on mental purification while you are alive, achieving the state of enlightenment and learning the illusory nature of one's consciousness before they Proceed to afterlife. The mind forms that one entertained or clung to while alive that manifest as body-less consciousness after dying in the dream realm are called 'Bardo'. Bardos are formed by the 'Karmic energies' or repeated thoughts one accumulates during their lifetime.

An example of the transitional state between death and rebirth (Bardo) Bardo Thodol's main purpose is to make practitioners aware of the unreality of what manifests as bardos post death. The concept of Karma refers to one's action but not merely action , Karma includes your thoughts, deeds and words. As mentioned above , the Buddhist belief is to purify the mind pre death but most if not all are unable to attain such mental purification, hence the karmic energy is inherently negative when it leaves the body, this karmic energy IS cursed energy. While passing through the state of Bardo , the deceased experiences visions And hallucinations influenced by their karmic energy they accumulated while being alive. If the deceased can recognize that these visions are illusory, let them go, they will attain a better birth and ultimately Nirvana.

Mention of karma in JJK

Even people outside of japan release karmic energy ( Cursed energy) In JJK, rebirth and attachment to one's consciousness is presented by the concept of North and South directions. North meaning rebirth, South meaning being chained to your Karma.

The idea of North and south pertaining to rebirth and clinging to your past self

There are mainly 3 sections of the Bardo state-

Chikai Bardo ( Bardo of the moment of death) - this occurs at the exact moment of death .According to Buddhist beliefs individuals may experience a profound luminosity or a clear light. The teachings suggest recognizing that clear light

The core of cursed energy (Consciousness) that Gojo experienced right at the moment of death represented with a luminous light 2. The Chonyid Bardo ( Bardo of the intermediate state of visions) After death in this state individuals may encounter various visionary experiences which can be pleasant or terrifying, the experiences are the reflections of one's karma and mental projections, individuals are said to have been visited by either deities or their loved ones in this state.

Gojo visited in his Bardo state by his loved ones

Kashimo in attendance of a deity (Sukuna) in his bardo state 3. Sidpa bardo (Bardo of Rebirth) -it refers to the period between the end of Chonyid Bardo and the time of Rebirth, in this phase the consciousness seeks a new birth guided by it's karma and desires, individual is drawn to a new existence ( Someone choosing to go North) The idea of Bardo is recognised in a broader sense in Tibetan Buddhism, various transitional states like when you dream or meditate, the state of Bardo is akin to a mental high or Trance. It's similar to NDE's ( Near death experiences) where survivors often experience a profound sense of peace and blissfulness.

Gojo feeling a mental high after experiencing the core of cursed energy (Chikai Bardo) As for why i started this thread with the words used in Gojo's chant, I think "Nine points" refers to the Nine levels of consciousness in Buddhism, 'Light' is often referred to as pure consciousness across multiple cultures and religions , the 9 levels of consciousness are - The first 5 levels ( the 5 senses of the human body) Touch, taste , sight, hearing and smell. The basic layer of consciousness formed from physical sensations, what Heavenly restriction heightens

Heavenly restriction's impact on the first 5 consciousness, possibly a binding vow that sacrifices the latter levels for heightening the first 5 The 6th level - where one understands what is being taken in from the 5 senses It's the ability to perceive and judge things , it's the ability to process information. This level integrates all the sensory input from first 5 consciousness . Perhaps that's what 6 eyes are, mastery over the 6th consciousness

7th level- unlike the prior 6 consciousness, this is directed by one's inner thoughts without any sensory input. This level deals with comprehension of the abstract, morals , distinguishing between good and evil etc. It's akin to one's ego

8th level (Alaya)- The karmic storehouse or storehouse consciousness which is known as 'Alaya' in Sanskrit. This storehouse accumulates one's karmic energy through interactions with others, as well as the causes and effects of one's actions. It stores all of one's thoughts, deeds and words throughout a lifetime , unlike the first 7, the 8th consciousness persists even after death.

Storehouse consciousness (Megumi's shadow) 9th consciousness ( Brahman)- the final consciousness from which all energy arises. It is the pure consciousness that can even suppress one's negative karma , it cannot be tarnished by any karma, the core for all mental and spiritual activity We have seen the word "Brahmic barrier" mentioned in JJK while referring to the most supreme form of barriers that are even better than the barriers tengen used to suppress the outbreak of curses in Japan, so this tracks extremely well.

Pure consciousness and the Brahmic barrier, the supreme barrier I'll end this part of my theory here, Next I'll be continuing with Megumi and his connection to the 8th consciousness, the storehouse consciousness (Alaya)