Part 16 · Chapter 205

The Ari's Text

And therefore it did not say 'the three Sefirot nest in the Throne' but only 'Ima', for she alone is Tevuna, who spreads within ZA of Atzilut and illuminates in Beriah, and she alone nests in the Throne. For the three Sefirot do not spread, only that she receives illumination from them, and by their power she nests in the Throne. And from Tevuna alone are the Mochin of her children, within whom she spreads in the secret of Ohr Pnimi (inner lights), internal Mochin, and squats upon them in the secret of the Mochin of Ohr Makif, in the secret that she is called the green line that surrounds the world, ZON.

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

1Tevuna, who spreads within ZA of Atzilut and illuminates in Beria, and she alone nests in the Throne, for the three Sefirot do not spread, only that she receives illumination from them. You already know that the root of BYA is from the Chazeh [chest] downward of the ZAT of Nekudim, for in the second restriction the concluding Malchut that is in the point of this world rose to the place of the Bina of the Guf [body], called Tifferet, and concluded the ZAT at the place of their Chazeh, and the two thirds of the Tifferet that are from the Chazeh downward, together with NHYM, went out to the discernment of a vacant space, which is beneath the point of the Sium, as above in the words of the ARI, page 1889, item 3; see there. And in the Inner Light.
And it was explained there that from the discernment of the two thirds of the Tifferet the world of Beria was made, and from NHY the world of Yetzira, and from Malchut the world of Assiya; see there. And with this you will understand that the world of Beria has no part at all in AVI of Atzilut, for it is known that every discernment must receive from the discernment opposite it in the upper world, and since there is in the world of Beria only the discernment of the bottom two thirds of the Tifferet, which is the discernment of the ZAT of the Bina of the Guf, and in the GAR of the Bina of the Guf they have nothing at all, for that is the discernment of the upper third of the Tifferet, which remained above in the ZAT of Nekudim, that is, above the concluding Malchut of the second restriction, if so, they can receive only from YESHSUT of Atzilut, which are the discernment of the ZAT of Bina like their own discernment, and they cannot receive from AVI of Atzilut, which are the discernment of the GAR of Bina.
And this is what he says, “for she alone is Tevuna, who spreads within ZA of Atzilut and illuminates in Beria,” that is, as above, for Beria is the discernment of the ZAT of the Bina of the Guf, and is obliged to receive from the ZAT of Bina in Atzilut, which are YESHSUT. And this is what he says, “for the three Sefirot do not spread, only that they receive illumination from them, and by their power she nests in the Throne, and from Tevuna alone are the Mochin of the children,” that is, as explained, that the GAR, which are AVI, have no relation whatsoever with Beria such that they could illuminate to them, except that AVI become one Partzuf with YESHSUT, and YESHSUT too receive the Mochin of AVI, and YESHSUT is the one that illuminates the Mochin of AVI to Beria, for YESHSUT are the discernment opposite the world of Beria. And it follows that from Tevuna alone are the Mochin of her children, within whom she spreads, and not the GAR, who are the upper AVI. And as for his saying Tevuna and not YESHSUT, the matter is that wherever the ARI says Tevuna, his intention is also Israel Saba, and likewise wherever he says upper Ima, his intention is also upper Aba. And remember this.
2Within whom she spreads in the secret of inner light, internal Mochin, and squats upon them in the secret of the Mochin of surrounding light. For these Mochin from the second coupling of AVI, who descend to the place of YESHSUT, as above, behold, they are there only the discernment of surrounding light to the children, ZON, for the internal Mochin of ZON come only from YESHSUT, which are revealed Hassadim, but the Mochin of AVI themselves, which are covered Hassadim, are not ascribed to ZON except as the discernment of surrounding light, in the secret of the Mem of Tzelem [image], as is well written in Part 14. And behold, now, in the secret of the second coupling of AVI, which is called crouching, those Mochin are only from the discernment of AVI alone, which are covered Hassadim, and there is nothing in them of the discernment of YESHSUT. And this is what he says, that they are called crouching because they are the Mochin that he is fit to receive at the time of Gadlut [greatness/adulthood], in the secret of the Mem of Tzelem, for they are Mochin of AVI, and since these Mochin have now descended from their place and been clothed in the place of YESHSUT, they are reckoned as crouching, which indicates a descent of level. However, they spread within the children by reason of this crouching in the secret of inner light, for therefore they descended to the place of YESHSUT, who are the discernment of the Rosh [head] toward ZON and Beria, and from YESHSUT they can now receive the Mochin of surrounding light as the discernment of inner light. As above in the adjacent item. And nevertheless they leave ZON in the discernment of VAK without a Rosh, for they need revealed Hassadim, as above. But the Partzufim of Beria receive these Mochin as the discernment of GAR, only within the garments of YESHSUT, as above in the adjacent item.