Bīja

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Bīja (Skt., ‘seed, potency’). In both Hinduism and Buddhism, the latent power underlying every manifest appearance. In particular, bīja is the power concentrated in a symbolic sound, which a guru has learnt in experience, and which he passes on to a pupil in a bīja mantra (seed syllable). An aspect of the absolute reality is thus concentrated in the mantra.

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