Part 15 · Chapter 158

The Ari's Text

And with this you will understand how there are male people who come from the Gevurot, which is the name BaN. The matter is that they are from MaH of BaN, and their females are from BaN of BaN, inferior to them. And there are males from MaH of MaH, and females from BaN of MaH, inferior to them. But relative to the general MaH and the general BaN, there is a great advantage to the general BaN over the general MaH, since the name BaN is the aspect of SaG, and it is higher than MaH, as explained in another book, in the matter of the kings, that they are from SaG. And this is the matter of Arich Anpin: his right shoulder is the Hasadim from the general MaH, and his left shoulder is the Gevurot from the general BaN; and these are the Daat of ZA.

Inner Light

This commentary hasn't been matched to individual seifim yet — items are shown in reading order, and the number beside each one counts the notes themselves, not the seifim of the Ari's text.

Not matched to a seif

1There is a great advantage to the general BON over the general MA, since the name BON is the discernment of SAG and it is higher than MA. This has already been explained in Part 8: that all the vessels of Atzilut come from the ten Sefirot of Nekudim, called BON, which are the upper Partzuf of Atzilut. And this resembles all the preceding Partzufim of AK itself, in which the lights of the lower Partzuf always fill the vessels of the upper Partzuf after they have been refined and their lights have departed from them. Only, the difference here is that the vessels of Nekudim were flawed on account of the breaking and the fall into BYA. And therefore, in the Partzufim of AK, even though the lights of the lower one fill the vessels of the upper one, nevertheless the vessels of the upper one are still reckoned as being far more important than the lower one, since they are the discernment of upper. And not only that, but at first the upper one receives the lights of the lower one into its own vessels that have been refined, and afterward it gives them to the lower one; and therefore the virtue of the upper one is not diminished because the lights of the lower one fill it. This is not so here with BON, which comes from the ten Sefirot of Nekudim in which there was nullification and breaking; behold, the virtue of the upper one within them was flawed, for indeed they require correction by means of the lights of the one lower than they, which are the new MA that emerged in Atzilut; and they do not receive the lights first, as in the Partzufim of AK, but the lower one receives them first and afterward bestows them upon BON, as is known. Therefore they fell from their degree and became the discernment of lower with respect to Atzilut, since they need its bestowal. However, the matter of the advantage that is in them from the discernment of their root will not be revealed until the end of correction. For after BON receives all its correction from the new MA, then it will return to its root, meaning that it will once more join in the discernment of the ten Sefirot of Nekudim, which are SAG, and in the discernment of Partzufim that are upper to the Partzufim of the new MA; for then MA will be found in the discernment of a receiver from them, in the manner of the lower Partzufim of AK, as above. And this is the secret that BON will return to being SAG. And although MA too will then be renewed and its virtue will be magnified, nevertheless there is no absence and no change in spirituality; for then the new MA will be in the discernment of a garment upon the ten Sefirot of Nekudim, and the ten Sefirot of Nekudim will be reckoned as the discernment of internality. And understand. And this is what the ARI stresses here, that there is a great advantage to the general BON over the general MA.