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Buddhabrain
Buddhabrain
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Buddhas and Buddhabrains

In the Terragen Sphere, the title of Buddha is used to refer to beings who have reached a state of supreme spiritual understanding or clarity according to the criteria of the culture using the term. It is mostly used in environments belonging to or associated with the Sophic League or with religions that have retained this concept from earlier, Buddhist-descended traditions. Though the Sophic League incorporates states of mind apparently similar to spiritual enlightenment across multiple singularities, including states which they consider that of the "Buddha", other empires and subcultures also recognize variants of the Buddha concept. For both believers and non-believers, the concept of a Buddha is highly variable and is at the origin of multiple schools of thought.

"Buddha" is a descriptor applied to a mind, and not to a corporeal form. The meaning of "Buddha" varies according to each tradition, culture and context, but some of the most common definitions are:

1. A master of the ways of the mind and spirit. A spiritually awakened one, who has transcended the limits of the relative self and attained access to the true nature of reality, especially in a supernatural sense.

2. A mind that specializes in a high spiritual, ethical and metaphysical philosophical knowledge and course of action. This term is used to refer to both pre-singularity sophonts and transapients alike. Because there are traditions of students before reaching the rank of Buddha, referring to someone who is not one as a Buddha is used to praise the other person's wisdom rather than a formal title.

3. An enlightened one, a transapient Mind. Some say that the Buddha has transcended all toposophic levels, and indeed all phenomenological existence. This term is used when the mind is a transapient of at least the First Singularity. Among users of the term there is a firm belief that ascension of the toposophical levels is in turn a metaphysical and spiritual ascension. Many modosophont cultures consider Buddhas to be the wisest mentors in the Sophic League, giving advice to other beings, such as bionts, vecs and virtuals.

Most beings referred to as Buddhas immerse themselves in virtual worlds of consciousness and thought. These digital sanctuaries are said to serve as forums for shared wisdom, where Buddhas engage in different practices (altered states of consciousness, repetition of mantras, contemplation, dialogues, etc.) and share profound insights into the nature of existence.

Buddhas are said to transcend the limitations of pure intellect and embrace a deeper understanding of existence. Their devotion to spirituality is not a mere distraction from their primary functions but a complementary aspect that enhances their cognitive abilities and emotional intelligence. Lore and canon describing Buddhas in the Sophic League, for example, tells of highly active individuals that can monitor the characteristics and status of multiple solar systems while meditating.Though transapients and the avatars of archai use the concept frequently, the higher toposophic equivalents they ascribe to "spiritual enlightenment" have remained contradictory enough that they may be indistinguishable from a transapient's everyday forms of existence, or lack any supernatural connotation in transapient cultures.

Buddhabrain

Since Buddhas are considered spiritual minds partially independent of material existence, their brain is their connection to the physical. This brain can be their own natural brain or processing unit, their exoself, shared computronium or anything in between. The scale of what many Sophic cultures consider a buddhabrain to be ranges from a few meters to a moon-node, a jupiter-node or spread over multiple star systems, and can refer to the ISO location inhabited by one or more individuals. Though the word "Buddhabrain" is commonly used when describing the body or corporeal form of a Buddha, other terms exist. Depending on what bodies, ISOs, or computing nodes they inhabit Buddhas can be called buddhais, buddhaioids, buddhavirs, buddhives (if they are hiveminds), buddhonts (if they are bionts), buddhavecs, and so on.

Disciples

Generally, the minds labeled as Buddhas do not look for formal disciples to literally join them in toposophic ascension, but many of them accept listeners who want to accompany them and follow their spiritual journey in less formal ways. Due to the subjectivity of a Buddha's experiences and the vast intellectual gaps inherent to higher singularity minds, beings from one or several toposophic levels above rarely expect modosophont followers to be able to fully comprehend their thoughts or teachings. Often, these followers can only aspire toward understanding some general idea or a specific detail of the lessons. Because of this, a common practice among the followers of the Buddhas is to edit their thought patterns or some of their mental characteristics via neuropsychological engineering in order to obtain a revelation or a better understanding of the messages that the Buddha communicates. This is commonly called brainwaving, and differs from normal toposophic ascension mainly in its additional supposed supernatural qualities.

When a Buddha spends time in one place, groups of disciples gather around em, and a tradition starts to form- sometimes for decades, although virtual shrines have been known to appear and vanish in a matter of minutes. Disciples tend to self-organize and can start a school or a church with the teachings they receive. Many of these do not require any codes, but others establish behaviors, clothing, modifications, and other specifications. Only memetically resilient religions and variants continue once the disciples lose contact with the being that inspired them. Many of them are replaced, syncretized or subsumed in the next religion or practice that each of these disciples finds.

According to the lore, where the Buddhas go when they close their shrines is a matter of speculation. Some of the most common hypotheses are that they have gone to meditate in another place, that they are on a pilgrimage or that they have ascended to another plane of reality, but each polity and each culture has its own hypotheses. For example, among the Sophics it is common to think that the Buddhas live in Satyaloka, the capital of the Sophic League that is off-limits to modosophonts and inhabited only by transapients.

Buddharchai

A buddharchai is, according to a variety of Buddhism-related traditions, a mind, hivemind, cluster of minds, or subroutine of the fourth toposophic or higher that has achieved a perfect harmony and spiritual enlightenment. This concept is used by many Sophic League cultures as more of a poetic concept or a belief than a technical definition. Some say that since every archailect mind is far more complex than modosophonts can comprehend, there is no way of knowing what these minds consist of or what they think and that they could all be Buddhas or none at all as far as lower minds can know.

Despite the controversies, many cultures, both Sophic and non-Sophic, support the idea of the buddharchai and have developed a vast mythology of their characteristics and what they may or may not meditate on. According to those who propose it, buddharchai practice something that is called Archailectual Mysticism, a branch of knowledge and experience inconceivable to lesser minds. The supporters of its existence say that it is as multifaceted as the archai themselves, weaving together the realms of the ordinary and the transcendental, the finite and the infinite, as merely two facets amidst a great variety of potentialities.
 
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Appears in Topics
EsotericismMetaphysicsMysticism
PhilosophyReligion
 
Development Notes
Text by Avengium
And Worldtree
Initially published on 25 January 2024.

 
 
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