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ACCORDING to ancient Indian tradition the universe reveals itself in two fundamentalproperties: as motion, and as that in which motion takes place, namely space. Thisspace is called ksha (Tib.: nam-mkhah) and is that through which things step intovisible appearance, i.e., through which they possess extension or corporeality.As that which comprises all things, ksha corresponds to the three-dimensionalspace of our sense-perception, and in this it is called mahksha. The nature ofksha, however, does not exhaust itself in this three-dimensionality; it comprises allpossibilities of movement, not only the physical, but also the spiritual ones: itcomprises infinite dimensions.

KSHA is derived from the root ksh, to radiate, to shine, and has therefore alsothe meaning of ether, which is conceived as the medium of movement. Theprinciple of movement, however, isprna (Tib.: sugs), the breath of life, the all-powerful, all-pervading rhythm of the universe, in which world-creations and world-destructions follow each other like inhalation and exhalation in the human body, andin which the course of suns and planets plays a similar role as the circulation of theblood and the currents of psychic energy in the human organism. All forces of theuniverse, like those of the human mind, from the highest consciousness to the

depths of the subconscious, are modifications ofprna. The wordprna can thereforenot be equated with the physical breath, though breathing (prna in the narrowersense) is one of the many functions in which this universal and primordial forcemanifests itself.

THOUGH, in the highest sense, ksha andprna cannot be separated, becouse theycondition each other like above and below, or right and left, it is possible toobserve and distinguish the preponderance of the one or other principle in the realmof practical experience.

ALL that is formed and that has taken spatial appearance by possessing extension,

reveals the nature ofksha. Therefore the four great elements (mahbhta; Tib.:hbyun-ba) or states of aggregation, namely the solid (earth), the liquid (water), theincandescent or heating (fire) and the gaseous (air), are conceived asmodifications ofksha, the space-ether.

ALL dynamic qualities, all that causes movement, change or transformation, revealthe nature ofprna. All bodily or psychic processes, all physical or spiritual forces,from the functions of breathing, of the circulation of blood and of the nervoussystem, to those of consciousness, of mental activities and all higher spiritualfunctions are modifications ofprna.

IN its grossest form ksha presents itself as matter; in its subtlest forms it mergesimperceptibly into the realm of dynamic forces. The state of aggregation, forinstance, which we call fire or the state of incandescence, is material as well asenergetic. Prna, on the other hand, appears in such bodily functions as breathing,digestion, etc., and is the cause of physical and psychic heat (Tib.: gtum-mo).

IF this were not so, the interaction of body and mind, of spiritual and material forces,of matter and consciousness, sense-organs and sense-objects, etc., would be

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impossible. It is precisely this interaction of which the yogin (irrespective whether heis Buddhist or Hindu) makes use, and upon which the technique of meditation is built.

Excerpt from Foundations of Tibetan Mysticismby Lama Anagarika Govinda