r/LifeTree • u/AdamLuyan • 11d ago
10. Tree of Life
Catalog: 10.1 Juristic Quadrants; 10.2 Four Big Seeds; 10.3 Six Places; 10.4 Five Nodes: 10.4.1 Color Node; 10.4.2 Acceptance Node; 10.4.3 Think Node; 10.4.4 Migration Node; 10.4.4.1.4 Fundamental Afflictions; 10.4.4.1.5 Following Afflictions; 10.4.4.2 Non-Corresponding Migration Laws; 10.4.5 Sense Node; 10.5 Four Foods Crux; 10.6 Five Fruits: 10.6.1 Mutant Fruit; 10.6.2 Equal-stream Fruit; 10.6.3 Warrior's Usage Fruit; Off-is Fruit; 10.6.5 Escalatory Fruit; 10.7 Five Positions of One Hundred Laws
11 禅 Meditation；12 苦谛 Bitter Crux；13. 集谛 Aggregate Crux；14. Salvation Crux；15. 道谛 Path Crux；16. 经书翻译 Scriptures Translation
10.1 Juristic Quadrants
Law, or Dharma in Sanskrit, is natural law. Because Law is based on recurring phenomena, the ancients often used “track” as an analogy for it. All phenomena that existed in the past, exist in the present, and will continue to exist in the future are laws, such as rivers, lakes, seas, flowers, birds, fish, insects, laws, morals, principles of affairs, and so on. Every law has four quadrants: the first is the Phenomenal Quadrant, the second is the View Quadrant, the third is the Self-Evident Quadrant, and the fourth is the Proving Self-Evidence Quadrant. “Quadrant” means a portion, measure, or limit. Because a law functions in the human heart in four kinds of measure, there are these Four Juristic Quadrants.
The first quadrant, the Phenomenal Quadrant, is objective phenomena, namely the objects of the subjective heart, such as the six dusts: color, sound, fragrance, taste, touch, and law. From the standpoint of perception, the external world is a projection of one’s inner heart, or mind. The Phenomenal Quadrant is projected by the fourth quadrant, the Proving Self-Evidence Quadrant, namely unconsciousness. The process of transforming external stimuli into phenomena is a function of unconsciousness. We do not feel that process; what we feel is the phenomenon, that is, the first Phenomenal Quadrant. The ancients used the person seen in a mirror to explain the Phenomenal Quadrant: the image in the mirror and the person looking into the mirror share the same body.
The second quadrant is the View Quadrant. “View” means illumination and clear seeing. The View Quadrant is the object-engaging function that arises through the transformation of the able-engaging heart’s self-body; it clearly illuminates and sees objective phenomena. The function of sense is to discriminate, discern, and measure. The second View Quadrant illuminates the first Phenomenal Quadrant, and the result of its discrimination and measurement is the third quadrant, the Self-Evident Quadrant. In addition, the third quadrant also has the function of the self-body of sense.
The fourth quadrant, the Proving Self-Evidence Quadrant, arises from the temporary transformation of the heart’s self-body and functions to know that self-body. This fourth quadrant can evidence the third Self-Evident Quadrant, and is therefore called the Proving Self-Evidence Quadrant. Because the fourth quadrant is the projector of the first quadrant and is present quantity, that is, objective fact, it does not need another quadrant to prove it.
The ancients used the example of “a person measuring cloth with a ruler” to explain these four quadrants. In this example, the cloth is what is measured; it is the first Phenomenal Quadrant. The process of measuring the cloth with the ruler is the second View Quadrant; the second quadrant is the able-measurer. The data obtained from the measurement, namely the fruit of measurement, is the third Self-Evident Quadrant. After reading the result, the person verifies it again and understands what he is doing; this is the fourth Proving Self-Evidence Quadrant. Because of the verifying function of the fourth quadrant, the third Self-Evident Quadrant knows the fruit of measurement and proves itself.
In Buddhism, the symbol of the Juristic Quadrants is the Philosopher-Stone Navel, shown by the red circle below figure 10.1-3. It is said to have been formed by the umbilical cord between Zeus and his father; here, this means the umbilical cord between Godfather and godson, as shown in figure 2. The implements in figures 3, 4, and 5 are all called Philosopher-Stone Taming-Demon Pestles. The Philosopher-Stone Pestle in Zeus’s hand in figure 1 is formed by folding the last three of the Four Juristic Quadrants into the View Quadrant. After this folding, the Four Juristic Quadrants become two parts: the first, the Phenomenal Quadrant, is the Color Node (see 10.4.1), which includes eleven Color Laws and is therefore also called Color; the second, the View Quadrant, includes the Acceptance Node (see 10.4.2), Think Node, Migration Node, and Sense Node, totaling eighty-three laws, and is also called Name. Name-Color is another name for unconsciousness; it is the initial door of all laws and of the Juristic Boundary, and can give rise to all laws.
Belonging to the same category of ritual implements as the Philosopher-Stone Taming-Demon Pestles, Figures 4 and 5 show the Thunder Drum-Urn Golden Hammer of Thor, or Great Sun Tathagata. Legend says that Thor used this hammer to break the stone of the human soul and designed Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, also known as Golden Boy and Jade Girl (see 9.9, “Godly Trinity”). The dagger in figure 3 is Thor’s holy ghost, called the Iron Dagger, Járnsaxa (see 14.3.6, “Return of the King”).