Buddhism and Essential Wholeness
Body, Mind, Soul and Spirit
Essential Wholeness is the sum total of what it is to be a human being. We are human and we are being. Our Essential Wholeness includes body, mind, soul and spirit. What is changing and what is unchanging. What is changing is like an ecosystem. As human animals we are imbedded in and dependent on the rest of nature. Our wellbeing as humans is dependent on living in harmony with our own nature, which is at one with all of nature. We are also Being. Our deepest nature is spirit or pure awareness. There is only one spirit, which is the unified field of energy and information out of which all of creation arises and disappears back into.
The bridge between spirit and body is soul. Soul allows us to experience the connection spirit and the rest of creation is soul. It is soul that awakens to its true spiritual nature while manifesting full creative potential through the human mind and body.
Mahayana Buddhism refers to these three aspects as dharmakaya as the Absolute; the unified and unmanifested essence of the universe. Sambhogakaya (soul) is what is in the process of realising enlightenment through spiritual practice. In Eastern traditions, it is what reincarnates for lifetime to lifetime. Nirmanakaya is the body that appears in the world. Dharmakaya (spirit) is like the atmosphere, sambhogakaya (soul) is like clouds, and nirmanakaya (body) is like rain. Clouds are a manifestation of atmosphere that enables rain. These dimensions are sometimes referred to as causal, subtle and gross. They are present in deep, dreamless sleep and silent meditation (dharmakaya), dreaming, imagination and trance (sambhokaya) and ordinary waking consciousness (nirmanakaya). The unified field of these dimensions is referred to as svabhavikakaya. I like to refer to that as Essential Wholeness.