23. Why are they called the Seven Bonds of Karmic Entanglement?  

• Thất Phách: The Seven Bonds of Karmic Entanglement (Seven Bonds of Karma)
• The Seven Emotions: (七情) the seven fundamental human feelings, namely: joy, anger, love, hatred, sorrow, pleasure, and desire.
• Oan nghiệt: (冤孽) karmic grievance and harsh retribution.

The Seven Bonds of Karmic Entanglement: according to Đầu Sư Thượng Sáng Thanh in the work Esoteric Transmission of the True Law, human life is nourished by the vital force known as the Breath of Creative Light.

Within the human body, this Breath of Creative Light gathers at seven apertures, forming spiritual electrical energy, called the Seven Orifices of Creative Light, commonly known as the Seven Bonds of Karmic Entanglement (or the seven magnetic cords).

While a person lives in the earthly realm, the True Spirit remains connected to the physical body through seven electromagnetic currents invisible to the ordinary eye.

Through these seven electromagnetic currents, the physical body demands that the True Spirit satisfy its material desires.

If the True Spirit yields to these demands of the flesh, the physical body will create many karmic entanglements throughout one’s lifetime.

For this reason, the Cao Đài Faith calls these seven electromagnetic currents the Seven Bonds of Karmic Entanglement; yet it is also through these very currents that the True Spirit commands the body not to commit wrongdoing.

When we sleep and enter the state of dreaming, the True Spirit departs from the physical body to wander freely, yet it always remains connected to the body by these Seven Cords.

At that time, the seven cords merge into a single great cord, which, to one endowed with spiritual sight, appears silver in color — the Silver Cord.

When a sudden loud noise occurs, these seven cords draw the True Spirit back into the physical body, and we instantly awaken with a start.

The Seven Bonds of Karmic Entanglement are seven currents of spiritual energy linking the True Spirit and the physical body; as long as this energy remains, the body continues to function and live; when it is severed, the body must die.

As death approaches, the body undergoes a period of suffering and pain, because these seven bonds still bind the physical body and the True Spirit together.

Out of His Great Compassion, Đức Chí Tôn grants mercy by bestowing upon the Cao Đài Faith the sacred rite of Cutting the Bonds of Karmic Entanglement, that is, employing a mystical method to sever these seven energetic bonds so that the True Spirit may peacefully depart from the mortal body, and thereafter be guided, by the same sacred method, into the Realm of Spiritual Subtlety.

Every human being harbors the seven emotions and six desires; these passions arise from the six viscera and five organs, yet their true master is the True Spirit itself.

When the True Spirit can no longer restrain them, the six desires and seven emotions surge forth, causing the True Vital Energy to exude an impure substance, thereby preventing the True Spirit from approaching and exercising control.

For example, when a person harbors an evil intention, and begins to carry it out, they hear an unseen voice, commonly called the pang of conscience. That voice is none other than the voice of the True Spirit.

But if that person stubbornly persists in executing the planned deed, from that point onward, they no longer hear that sacred voice. At that moment, the True Spirit can no longer reach them, for impure vital energy stands as a barrier.

With regard to sin and fault, the True Spirit must continually accompany the physical body, for wherever the body reincarnates, the True Spirit must follow.

The vital energy emitted through the Seven Bonds of Karmic Entanglement is called the Seven Phách:

• The Extreme Yin Phách resides at the coccyx;
• The Extreme Yang Phách resides at the Nê Hoàn Palace (the crown of the head);
• The Central Phách resides in the kidneys.