A Little More Buddhism, and Good Mistakes

The tathagatagarbha is the potential buddha in everyone/everything. The alaya-vijnana is the store-consciousness, or "warehouse" of information in the deep Unconscious. I believe that this concept emerged in Buddhism from the older Hindu concept of akasha, a collective area of the Unconscious, worldmind, or world-soul, which was reputed to have contained every word ever spoken and every thought ever thought-- not only by earthers, but by all sentient lifeforms in the galaxies. The "tathagata" means he who thus comes, a common title for Buddha. Also, this is a great reminder of the simplicity of the Buddhamind, as the Sanskrit is thought perhaps to have imitated the simple sounds of toddlers. It is correct to use "the Buddha" only with the definite article, as "Buddha" is not a name, but a position in the scale of enlightenment. This is similar to some writers' preference for "the Christ" over "Christ."

We all have some unwelcome flaws in our "tapestries." This is like the famous carpets of the Islamic people, always having a flaw deliberately created in their beautiful patterns to remind everyone that "no one is perfect but Allah." Personally, imperfections and neural deletions emerge like a wounded appendage from this mind, and it needs no further reminders. This occurs with such regularity and rapidity at times that it reminds that "imperfection is the name of the game." for it is only by our lacunas and frequent inadequacies that we are triggered to learn and grow. Mystics teach, in essence, that mistakes are good; for they offer our only opportunity to grow. They hold our only hope for progress.:)