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| SUBUD | (Pronounced 'Soobood', with the accent on the first syllable, as in the English word 'throughput'.) A contraction of the Indonesian words Susila, Budhi, and Dharma. Susila means living a morally good life; Budhi means the divine spark, soul, inner essence of a person; and Dharma means the duty, obligation and the work of individuals to bring the first two together through the experience of submission to the power of God.
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| LAITIHAN | ('Lahtihahn'). An Indonesian word meaning training, practising, becoming accustomed to something. Used in Subud to denote (a) the spiritual 'training that people experience in groups; (b) for the individual, the feeling and experience of a gentle power, a vibration. force or energy in the body; and © the long-term overall process of spiritual development that the training induces.
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| BAPAK | ('Bah-pa'). Common Indonesian word meaning father, or 'respected older man'. Here the word refers to the Javanese-born founder of Subud, the man who first received the contact with the energy or power of God experienced also now by others in the latihan. While on this earth Bapak travelled extensively, giving explanations of the latihan to Subud members. He repeatedly said, however, that he was just an ordinary man. not a teacher or guru: that we could only find out each for ourselves the reality of God's power, the spiritual path. Bapak's full name is Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo; 'Subuh' is the name of the Islamic dawn prayer, so has no relation to the word 'Subud'. Bapak was born at dawn on 22 June 1901 and died at dawn on 22 June 1987.
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| OPENING | The first time a person attends the Subud spiritual latihan, when the contact is first made, the unconscious begins to be opened, and the process of change is set in motion.
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| TESTING | This has a special meaning in Subud. It denotes a method of finding answers to questions which cannot be answered satisfactorily by either reason or common sense. Questions are submitted to the spiritual force itself, and the answers are experienced either by physical movements or in the feelings or, more occasionally, in the understanding direct.
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Note: When the authors are writing about the 'force' or 'forces',
they are referring to higher-than-human forces or powers. Lower
forces, the forces of nature and of humanity itself are specified
as such in the text.
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