TERMS STARTING WITH
discipled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Disciple
disciple ::: n. --> One who receives instruction from another; a scholar; a learner; especially, a follower who has learned to believe in the truth of the doctrine of his teacher; an adherent in doctrine; as, the disciples of Plato; the disciples of our Savior. ::: v. t. --> To teach; to train.
disciple. See sRĀVAKA.
discipleship ::: n. --> The state of being a disciple or follower in doctrines and precepts.
disciples ::: “In considering the action of the Infinite we have to avoid the error of the disciple who thought of himself as the Brahman, refused to obey the warning of the elephant-driver to budge from the narrow path and was taken up by the elephant’s trunk and removed out of the way; ‘You are no doubt the Brahman,’ said the master to his bewildered disciple, ‘but why did you not obey the driver Brahman and get out of the path of the elephant Brahman?’” The Life Divine
disciple
discipless ::: n. --> A female disciple.
disciples ::: those who are pupils or adherents of the doctrines of another; followers.
Disciple: A follower or student of a school, doctrine or teacher.
Disciple of the Vilna Gaon; a leader of the Mitnagg'dim (anti-Hasidim); founder of the Volozhin yeshiva; Lithuania.
Disciple. See CHELA
DISCIPLESHIP In order to attain the fifth natural kingdom in just a few incarnations, the aspirant must strive after discipleship under the planetary hierarchy. Only those who have acquired the physical, emotional, and mental prerequisites can be accepted as disciples. Physically and dietetically, the athlete training for the
Olympic Games may serve as an example. Emotionally, they must discard all manifestations of repulsion (hatred) and acquire the qualities of attraction. Mentally, they must acquire perspective consciousness and a well-developed ability to meditate in the correct way. All qualities and abilities have to be put solely at the service of evolution, since their egoistic use counteracts evolution. K 7.22.12
Disciple: The initiated beginners of the Traditions. Disciples can perform limited magic, and they are accepted as Tradition members.
TERMS ANYWHERE
11. Ha-’Irda’ Zuta’ Qaddisha’ (The Lesser Holy Assembly), discourses on the Sephiroth to six disciples.
1. KARMA BKA' BRGYUD, also called the Karma kam tshang, originating with the first KARMA PA DUS GSUM MKHYEN PA-a disciple of Sgam po pa
2. TSHAL PA BKA' BRGYUD originating with Zhang tshal pa Brtson 'grus grags pa (Shangtsalpa Tsondru Drakpa, 1123-1193)-a disciple of Dwags po Sgom tshul
35. Isaac de Acco (13th-14th century), a disciple of Nahmanides, “laid claim to the performance of miracles
3. 'BA' ROM BKA' BRGYUD originating with 'Ba' rom Dar ma dbang phyug (Barom Darma Wangchuk, 1127-1199)-a disciple of Sgam po pa
3. Gling ras bka' brgyud (Lingre Kagyü) originating with Gling rje ras pa Padma rdo rje (Lingje Repa Pema Dorje, 1128-1288), this later became the 'BRUG PA BKA' BRGYUD under his disciple GTSANG PA RGYA RAS YE SHES RDO RJE
4. Phag gru bka' brgyud (Pakdru Kagyü) originating with PHAG MO GRU PA RDO RJE RGYAL PO-a disciple of Sgam po pa.
9. Ha-’Idra’ Rabba’ Qaddisha’ (The Great Holy Assembly), discourses of Rabbi Yohai to his disciples on the form of the deity and on pneumatology;
“a disciple, a pupil, a learner or hearer. The relationship of teacher and disciple is infinitely more sacred even than that of parent and child; because, while the parents give the body to the incoming soul, the teacher brings forth that soul itself and teaches it to be and therefore to see, teaches it to know and to become what it is in its inmost being — that is, a divine thing.
Abhayagiri-vasinah (Sanskrit) Abhayagiri-vāsināḥ [from vas to dwell, inhabit] Dwellers on Mount Fearless; also a branch of Katyayana’s disciples (3rd century BC).
abhidhammika. [alt. Abhidhammika]. In PAli, "specialist in the ABHIDHAMMA"; scholarly monks who specialized in study of the abhidhamma (S. ABHIDHARMA) section of the Buddhist canon. In the PAli tradition, particular importance has long been attached to the study of abhidharma. The AttHASALINĪ says that the first ABHIDHAMMIKA was the Buddha himself, and the abhidhammikas were presumed to be the most competent exponents of the teachings of the religion. Among the Buddha's immediate disciples, the premier abhidhammika was SAriputta (S. sARIPUTRA), who was renowned for his systematic grasp of the dharma. Monastic "families" of abhidhamma specialists were known as abhidhammikagana, and they passed down through the generations their own scholastic interpretations of Buddhist doctrine, interpretations that sometimes differed from those offered by specialists in the scriptures (P. sutta; S. SuTRA) or disciplinary rules (VINAYA) . In medieval Sri Lanka, the highest awards within the Buddhist order were granted to monks who specialized in this branch of study, rather than to experts in the scriptures or disciplinary rules. Special festivals were held in honor of the abhidhamma, which involved the recital of important texts and the granting of awards to participants. In contemporary Myanmar (Burma), where the study of abhidhamma continues to be highly esteemed, the seventh book of the PAli ABHIDHARMAPItAKA, the PAttHANA ("Conditions"), is regularly recited in festivals that the Burmese call pathan pwe. Pathan pwe are marathon recitations that go on for days, conducted by invited abhidhammikas who are particularly well versed in the PatthAna, the text that is the focus of the festival. The pathan pwe serves a function similar to that of PARITTA recitations, in that it is believed to ward off baleful influences, but its main designated purpose is to forestall the decline and disappearance of the Buddha's dispensation (P. sAsana; S. sASANA). The TheravAda tradition considers the PatthAna to be the Buddha's most profound exposition of ultimate truth (P. paramatthasacca; S. PARAMARTHASATYA), and according to the PAli commentaries, the PatthAna is the first constituent of the Buddha's dispensation that will disappear from the world as the religion faces its inevitable decline. The abhidhammikas' marathon recitations of the PatthAna, therefore, help to ward off the eventual demise of the Buddhist religion. This practice speaks of a THERAVADA orientation in favor of scholarship that goes back well over a thousand years. Since at least the time of BUDDHAGHOSA (c. fifth century CE), the life of scholarship (P. PARIYATTI), rather than that of meditation or contemplation (P. PAtIPATTI), has been the preferred vocational path within PAli Buddhist monasticism. Monks who devoted themselves exclusively to meditation were often portrayed as persons who lacked the capacity to master the intricacies of PAli scholarship. Even so, meditation was always recommended as the principal means by which one could bring scriptural knowledge to maturity, either through awakening or the realization (P. pativedha; S. PRATIVEDHA) of Buddhist truths. See also ABHIDHARMIKA.
Abhidharmadīpa. In Sanskrit, "Lamp of ABHIDHARMA"; an Indian scholastic treatise probably composed between 450 and 550 CE. Only fragments of the treatise (sixty-two of 150 folios) are extant; these were discovered in Tibet in 1937. The treatise is composed of two parts-the Abhidharmadīpa, written in verse (kArikA), and a prose autocommentary, the VibhAsAprabhAvṛtti-both of which were probably composed by the same anonymous author. The author, who refers to himself merely as the "DīpakAra" ("author of the Dīpa") may be Vimalamitra (d.u.), an otherwise-unknown disciple of SAMGHABHADRA. The structure of the text is modeled on that of the influential ABHIDHARMAKOsABHAsYA, and almost half of the kArikA verses included in the Abhidharmadīpa are virtually identical to those found in the Abhidharmakosa. Although borrowing freely from the Kosa, the DīpakAra launches a harsh critique of VASUBANDHU's (whom he calls the "KosakAra," or "author of the Kosa") AbhidharmakosabhAsya, from the standpoint of SARVASTIVADA abhidharma. Vasubandhu is criticized for the SAUTRANTIKA tendencies betrayed in his doctrinal analyses and also for being a MahAyAnist adherent of the teachings of the "three natures" (TRISVABHAVA). As such, the Abhidharmadīpa's author seems to have been a follower of SAMGHABHADRA's *NYAYANUSARA, and the text helps to clarify the positions of SaMghabhadra and the orthodox VAIBHAsIKAs. The DīpakAra shares the latter's concern with providing both a systematic exegesis of abhidharma theory and a vigorous polemical defense of SarvAstivAda doctrinal positions. Since it presents theories of other thinkers not covered in the AbhidharmakosabhAsya, the Abhidharmadīpa serves as an important source for studying the history of Indian abhidharma. For example, in his discussion of the eponymous SarvAstivAda position that "everything exists" throughout all three time periods (TRIKALA) of past, present, and future, the DīpakAra also critiques three rival positions: the VIBHAJYAVADA and DArstAntikas, who maintain that only "part" exists (viz., the present); the Vaitulika and AyogasunyatAvAda, who say that nothing exists; and the PUDGALAVADA, who presume that existence is indeterminate (AVYAKṚTA).
abhidharma. (P. abhidhamma; T. chos mngon pa; C. apidamo/duifa; J. abidatsuma/taiho; K. abidalma/taebop 阿毘達磨/對法). In Sanskrit, abhidharma is a prepositional compound composed of abhi- + dharma. The compound is typically glossed with abhi being interpreted as equivalent to uttama and meaning "highest" or "advanced" DHARMA (viz., doctrines or teachings), or abhi meaning "pertaining to" the dharma. The SARVASTIVADA Sanskrit tradition typically follows the latter etymology, while the THERAVADA PAli tradition prefers the former, as in BUDDHAGHOSA's gloss of the term meaning either "special dharma" or "supplementary dharma." These definitions suggest that abhidharma was conceived as a precise (P. nippariyAya), definitive (PARAMARTHA) assessment of the dharma that was presented in its discursive (P. sappariyAya), conventional (SAMVṚTI) form in the SuTRAS. Where the sutras offered more subjective presentations of the dharma, drawing on worldly parlance, simile, metaphor, and personal anecdote in order to appeal to their specific audiences, the abhidharma provided an objective, impersonal, and highly technical description of the specific characteristics of reality and the causal processes governing production and cessation. There are two divergent theories for the emergence of the abhidharma as a separate genre of Buddhist literature. In one theory, accepted by most Western scholars, the abhidharma is thought to have evolved out of the "matrices" (S. MATṚKA; P. mAtikA), or numerical lists of dharmas, that were used as mnemonic devices for organizing the teachings of the Buddha systematically. Such treatments of dharma are found even in the sutra literature and are probably an inevitable by-product of the oral quality of early Buddhist textual transmission. A second theory, favored by Japanese scholars, is that abhidharma evolved from catechistic discussions (abhidharmakathA) in which a dialogic format was used to clarify problematic issues in doctrine. The dialogic style also appears prominently in the sutras where, for example, the Buddha might give a brief statement of doctrine (uddesa; P. uddesa) whose meaning had to be drawn out through exegesis (NIRDEsA; P. niddesa); indeed, MAHAKATYAYANA, one of the ten major disciples of the Buddha, was noted for his skill in such explications. This same style was prominent enough in the sutras even to be listed as one of the nine or twelve genres of Buddhist literature (specifically, VYAKARAnA; P. veyyAkarana). According to tradition, the Buddha first taught the abhidharma to his mother MAHAMAYA, who had died shortly after his birth and been reborn as a god in TUsITA heaven. He met her in the heaven of the thirty-three (TRAYASTRIMsA), where he expounded the abhidharma to her and the other divinities there, repeating those teachings to sARIPUTRA when he descended each day to go on his alms-round. sAriputra was renowned as a master of the abhidharma. Abhidharma primarily sets forth the training in higher wisdom (ADHIPRAJNAsIKsA) and involves both analytical and synthetic modes of doctrinal exegesis. The body of scholastic literature that developed from this exegetical style was compiled into the ABHIDHARMAPItAKA, one of the three principal sections of the Buddhist canon, or TRIPItAKA, along with sutra and VINAYA, and is concerned primarily with scholastic discussions on epistemology, cosmology, psychology, KARMAN, rebirth, and the constituents of the process of enlightenment and the path (MARGA) to salvation. (In the MAHAYANA tradition, this abhidharmapitaka is sometimes redefined as a broader "treatise basket," or *sASTRAPItAKA.)
Abhiniskramanasutra. (T. Mngon par 'byung ba'i mdo; C.Fo benxing ji jing; J. Butsuhongyojukkyo; K. Pul ponhaeng chip kyong 佛本行集經). In Sanskrit, "Sutra of the Great Renunciation"; this scripture relates the story of Prince SIDDHARTHA's "going forth" (abhiniskramana; P. abhinikkhamana) from his father's palace to pursue the life of a mendicant wanderer (sRAMAnA) in search of enlightenment. There are no extant Sanskrit versions of the SuTRA, but the work survives in Tibetan and in several distinct recensions available in Chinese translation, one dating to as early as the first century CE. The best-known Chinese translation is the Fo benxing ji jing, made by JNANAGUPTA around 587 CE, during the Sui dynasty. The text claims to be a DHARMAGUPTAKA recension of the JATAKA, or past lives of the Buddha. (Franklin Edgerton has suggested that this text may instead be a translation of the MAHAVASTU, "The Great Account," of the LOKOTTARAVADA offshoot of the MAHASAMGHIKA school.) JNAnagupta's recension has sixty chapters, in five major parts. The first part is an introduction to the work as a whole, which relates how rare it is for a buddha to appear in the world and why people should take advantage of this opportunity. Reference is made to the various meritorious roots (KUsALAMuLA) that sAKYAMUNI acquired throughout his many lifetimes of training, in order to prepare for this final life when he would finally attain enlightenment. The second part enumerates the entire lineage of the buddhas of antiquity, a lineage that sAkyamuni would soon join, and the third part follows with a genealogy of the sAKYA clan. The fourth part describes the decisive stages in sAkyamuni's life, from birth, through his awakening, to the first "turning of the wheel of the DHARMA" (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA). The last part gives extended biographies (going even into their past lives) of his prominent disciples, of which the stories involving his longtime attendant, ANANDA, are particularly extensive. In 1876, SAMUEL BEAL translated this Chinese recension of the sutra into English as The Romantic Legend of sAkya Buddha.
abhisaMdhi. (T. ldem por dgongs pa; C. miyi; J. mitchi/mitsui; K. mirŭi 密意). In Sanskrit, "implied intention," a term used in hermeneutics to classify the types of statements made by the Buddha. In the MAHAYANASuTRALAMKARA, there are four such abhisaMdhi listed. (1) The first is implied intention pertaining to entrance (avatAranAbhisaMdhi). The Buddha recognizes that if he were to teach HĪNAYANA disciples that, in addition to the nonexistence of the self (ANATMAN), DHARMAs also did not exist (DHARMANAIRATMYA), they would be so terrified that they would never enter the MAHAYANA. Therefore, in order to coax them toward the MahAyAna, he teaches them that a personal self does not exist while explaining that phenomena other than the person do exist. (2) The second is implied intention pertaining to the [three] natures (laksanAbhisaMdhi). When the Buddha said that all phenomena are without own-nature, he had in mind the imaginary nature (PARIKALPITA) of phenomena. When he said that they were neither produced nor destroyed, he had in mind their dependent nature (PARATANTRA). When he said that they were inherently free from suffering, he had in mind their consummate nature (PARINIsPANNA). (3) The third is implied intention pertaining to antidotes (pratipaksAbhisaMdhi). In the hīnayAna, the Buddha teaches specific antidotes (PRATIPAKsA) to various defilements. Thus, as an antidote to hatred, he teaches the cultivation of love; as an antidote to sensuality, he teaches meditation on the foul, such as a decomposing corpse; as an antidote to pride, he teaches meditation on dependent origination; and as an antidote to a wandering mind, he teaches meditation on the breath. He indicates that these faults can be completely destroyed with these antidotes, calling them a supreme vehicle (agrayAna). In fact, these faults are only completely destroyed with full insight into non-self. Thus, the Buddha intentionally overstated their potency. (4) The final type is implied intention pertaining to translation (parinAmanAbhisaMdhi). This category encompasses those statements that might be termed antiphrastic, i.e., appearing to say something quite contrary to the tenor of the doctrine, which cannot be construed as even provisionally true. A commonly cited example of such a statement is the declaration in the DHAMMAPADA (XXI.5-6) that one becomes pure through killing one's parents; the commentators explain that parents are to be understood here to mean negative mental states such as sensual desire. See also ABHIPRAYA; SANDHYABHAsA.
abhiseka. (P. abhiseka; T. dbang bskur; C. guanding; J. kanjo; K. kwanjong 灌頂). In Sanskrit, "anointment," "consecration," "empowerment," or "initiation"; a term originally used to refer to the anointment of an Indian king or the investiture of a crown prince, which by extension came to be applied to the anointment of a BODHISATTVA as a buddha. Just as a wheel-turning monarch (CAKRAVARTIN) invests the crown prince by sprinkling the crown of his head with fragrant water from all the four seas, so too do the buddhas anoint the crown of a bodhisattva when he makes his vow to achieve buddhahood. The Chinese translation, lit. "sprinkling the crown of the head," conveys this sense of anointment. In the MAHAVASTU, an early text associated with the LOKOTTARAVADA branch of the MAHASAMGHIKA school, the tenth and last stage (BHuMI) of the bodhisattva path is named abhiseka, rather than the more commonly known DHARMAMEGHABHuMI, indicating that the bodhisattva has then been initiated into the lineage of the buddhas. Abhiseka is used especially in tantric literature, such as the MAHAVAIROCANABHISAMBODHISuTRA, to refer to an initiation ceremony that empowers disciples to "enter the MAndALA," where they are then allowed to learn the esoteric formulae (MANTRA) and gestures (MUDRA) and receive the instructions associated with a specific tantric deity. In ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA, a series of four initiations or empowerments are described, the vase empowerment (KALAsABHIsEKA), the secret empowerment (GUHYABHIsEKA), the knowledge of the wisdom empowerment (PRAJNAJNANABHIsEKA), and the word empowerment (sabdAbhiseka), also known as the "fourth empowerment" (caturthAbhiseka). The vase empowerment is the only one of the four that is used in the three other tantras of KRIYATANTRA, CARYATANTRA, and YOGATANTRA. A special type of consecration ceremony, called a BUDDHABHIsEKA, is conducted at the time of the installation of a new buddha image, which vivifies the inert clay, metal, or wood of the image, invests the image with insight into the dharma (e.g., through reciting some version of the formula concerning causality, or PRATĪTYASAMUTPADA), and transforms the image into a living buddha.
Accepted chela: A disciple of esoteric philosophy, who has passed the fourth initiation.
acroamatical ::: a. --> Communicated orally; oral; -- applied to the esoteric teachings of Aristotle, those intended for his genuine disciples, in distinction from his exoteric doctrines, which were adapted to outsiders or the public generally. Hence: Abstruse; profound.
AdittapariyAyasutta. (S. *AdityaparyAyasutra; C. Ranshao; J. Nensho; K. Yonso 燃燒). In PAli, lit. "Discourse on the Manner of Being Aflame," usually known in English as the "Fire Sermon"; the third sermon spoken by the Buddha following his enlightenment. After his conversion of the three matted-hair ascetics Uruvela-Kassapa, GayA-Kassapa, and Nadī-Kassapa, along with their one thousand disciples, the Buddha was traveling with them to GayAsīsa, where he delivered this sermon. Because of his new disciples' previous devotions to the Brahmanical fire sacrifice, once they were ordained the Buddha preached to these new monks a targeted discourse that he called the "Fire Sermon." The Buddha explains that all of the six sense bases, six sensory objects, and six sensory consciousnesses, along with the sensory contacts (phassa; S. SPARsA) and sensations (VEDANA) that accompany the senses, are burning with the fires of greed (LOBHA), hatred (P. dosa; S. DVEsA), and delusion (MOHA) and with the fires of all the various types of suffering (dukkha; S. DUḤKHA). Only through dispassion toward the senses (see INDRIYASAMVARA) will attachment diminish and liberation eventually be achieved. In the PAli tradition, the sermon appears in the MAHAVAGGA section of the PAli VINAYAPItAKA, on the history of the dispensation, not in the SUTTAPItAKA; a parallel SARVASTIVADA recension appears in the Chinese translation of the SAMYUKTAGAMA.
Again, the building of a temple, sanctuary, Holy of Holies, etc., always signified in the occult language of ancient days the founding and dissemination throughout the world or a portion of mankind of a secret doctrine of nature. In a more restricted sense, the building of a temple referred to the actual establishment of an initiation center, where not only for such territory the ancient wisdom and its divine significances were taught, but disciples were trained and brought to the “new” or “second” birth, and thenceforth themselves became adepts or initiates. On these lines the building of Solomon’s Temple was the inauguration and establishment of the teaching of nature’s occult wisdom in Judea and surrounding territory.
Agama. (T. lung; C. ahan jing; J. agongyo; K. aham kyong 阿含經). In Sanskrit and PAli, "text" or "scripture"; a general term for received scriptural tradition. The term Agama is commonly paired with two other contrasting terms: Agama and YUKTI (reasoning) are the means of arriving at the truth; Agama and ADHIGAMA (realization) are the two divisions of the BUDDHADHARMA-the verbal or scriptural tradition and that which is manifested through practice. In its Sanskrit usage, the term Agama is also used to refer more specifically to the four scriptural collections of the mainstream tradition (now lost in Sanskrit but preserved in Chinese translation), attributed to the Buddha and his close disciples, which correspond to the four PAli NIKAYAs: (1) DĪRGHAGAMA or "Long Discourses," belonging to the DHARMAGUPTAKA school and corresponding to the PAli DĪGHANIKAYA; (2) MADHYAMAGAMA or "Medium Discourses," associated with the SARVASTIVADA school and corresponding to the PAli MAJJHIMANIKAYA; (3) SAMYUKTAGAMA or "Connected Discourses," belonging to the SarvAstivAda school (with a partial translation perhaps belonging to the KAsYAPĪYA school) and corresponding to the PAli SAMYUTTANIKAYA; and (4) EKOTTARAGAMA or "Numerically Arranged Discourses," variously ascribed to the Dharmaguptakas, or less plausibly to the MAHASAMGHIKA school or its PRAJNAPTIVADA offshoot, and corresponding to the PAli AnGUTTARANIKAYA. Despite the similarities in the titles of these collections, there are many differences between the contents of the Sanskrit Agamas and the PAli nikAyas. The KHUDDAKANIKAYA ("Miscellaneous Collection"), the fifth nikAya in the PAli canon, has no equivalent in the extant Chinese translations of the Agamas; such miscellanies, or "mixed baskets" (S. ksudrakapitaka), were however known to have existed in several of the MAINSTREAM BUDDHIST SCHOOLS, including the Dharmaguptaka, MahAsAMghika, and MAHĪsASAKA.
A glad and strong and helpful ^submission is demanded to the working of the Divine Force, the obedience of the Illumined disciple of thb Truth, of the inner warrior who fights against obscurity hnd falsehood, of the faithful servant of the Divine.
Agneyastra (Sanskrit) Āgneyāstra [from āgneya fiery weapon from agni fire + astra missile weapon, arrow] Fiery weapon; one of the magic weapons used by some of the gods and heroes of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. The Vishnu-Purana (3:8) recounts that the agneyastra was given by the sage Aurva to his disciple King Sagara. A magic weapon said to have been “wielded by the adept-race (the fourth), the Atlanteans” (TG 9), and to have been built of “seven elements” (SD 2:629). It can signify a weapon of fiery character used in physical warfare, or on a cosmic scale can denote the employment of a force of nature by an intelligent being either for offensive or defensive purposes. In archaic thought fire, in its abstract sense, is almost equivalent to spirit, and permeates the sevenfold nature of the universe.
AI koan ::: (humour) /A-I koh'an/ One of a series of pastiches of Zen teaching riddles created by Danny Hillis at the MIT AI Lab around various major figures of the Lab's culture.See also ha ha only serious, mu.In reading these, it is at least useful to know that Marvin Minsky, Gerald Sussman, and Drescher are AI researchers of note, that Tom Knight was one of the Lisp machine's principal designers, and that David Moon wrote much of Lisp Machine Lisp. * * * A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off and on.Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong.Knight turned the machine off and on.The machine worked. * * * better garbage collector. We must keep a reference count of the pointers to each cons.Moon patiently told the student the following story: One day a student came to Moon and said: `I understandhow to make a better garbage collector... [Pure reference-count garbage collectors have problems with circular structures that point to themselves.] * * * In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6.What are you doing?, asked Minsky.I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe, Sussman replied.Why is the net wired randomly?, asked Minsky.I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play, Sussman said.Minsky then shut his eyes.Why do you close your eyes?, Sussman asked his teacher.So that the room will be empty.At that moment, Sussman was enlightened. * * * A disciple of another sect once came to Drescher as he was eating his morning meal.I would like to give you this personality test, said the outsider, because I want you to be happy.Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it into the toaster, saying: I wish the toaster to be happy, too. (1995-02-08)
AI koan "humour" /A-I koh'an/ One of a series of pastiches of Zen teaching riddles created by {Danny Hillis} at the {MIT AI Lab} around various major figures of the Lab's culture. See also {ha ha only serious}, {mu}. In reading these, it is at least useful to know that {Marvin Minsky}, {Gerald Sussman}, and Drescher are {AI} researchers of note, that {Tom Knight} was one of the {Lisp machine}'s principal designers, and that {David Moon} wrote much of Lisp Machine Lisp. * * * A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off and on. Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: "You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong." Knight turned the machine off and on. The machine worked. * * * One day a student came to Moon and said: "I understand how to make a better garbage collector. We must keep a reference count of the pointers to each cons." Moon patiently told the student the following story: "One day a student came to Moon and said: `I understand how to make a better garbage collector... [Pure reference-count garbage collectors have problems with circular structures that point to themselves.] * * * In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6. "What are you doing?", asked Minsky. "I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe", Sussman replied. "Why is the net wired randomly?", asked Minsky. "I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play", Sussman said. Minsky then shut his eyes. "Why do you close your eyes?", Sussman asked his teacher. "So that the room will be empty." At that moment, Sussman was enlightened. * * * A disciple of another sect once came to Drescher as he was eating his morning meal. "I would like to give you this personality test", said the outsider, "because I want you to be happy." Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it into the toaster, saying: "I wish the toaster to be happy, too." (1995-02-08)
Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta. (1870-1949). Thai monk who revitalized the Thai forest-monk tradition (Thai PHRA PA), and the subject of a celebrated Thai hagiography by Ajahn MahA Boowa NAnasampanno (b. 1913). Born in 1870, in Ban Khambong village in the province of Ubon Ratchathani, Mun was ordained in 1893 at Wat Liab and began studying insight practice (VIPAsYANA) under the guidance of Ajahn Sao Kantasīla (1861-1941). Through developing the meditation on foulness (AsUBHABHAVANA), he eventually had an experience of calmness (sAMATHA), and in order to enhance his practice, he embarked on the life of asceticism (P. DHUTAnGA) as a forest dweller (P. ARANNAVASI) in northeast Thailand and southern Laos. After every rains' retreat (VARsA) was over, he would travel into the forests, staying just close enough to a few small villages in order to perform his alms round (PIndAPATA) each morning. According to the hagiography, after first experiencing the fruition of the state of the nonreturner (ANAGAMIN), he eventually achieved the stage of a worthy one (ARHAT) in Chiang Mai, an experience that he said shook the entire universe and brought a roar of accolades from the heavenly hosts. Ajahn Mun became a widely known and respected meditator and teacher, who was invited to dwell in monasteries throughout much of Thailand. The hagiography compiled by Ajahn MahA Boowa is filled with exuberantly told tales of his meditative visions, prophetic dreams, lectures and instructions, and encounters with other eminent monks, laypeople, and even with deceased arhats and divinities (DEVA) such as sAKRA with his 100,000 strong retinue. Ajahn Mun's many prominent disciples helped revive the Thai forest-monk tradition, especially in the northeast, and defined its austere practices (Thai, THUDONG; P. DHUTAnGA) in their contemporary context.
AjAtasatru. (P. AjAtasattu; T. Ma skyes dgra; C. Asheshi wang; J. Ajase o; K. Asase wang 阿闍世王). In Sanskrit, "Enemy While Still Unborn," the son of King BIMBISARA of Magadha and his successor as king. According to the PAli account, when BimbisAra's queen VAIDEHĪ (P. Videhī) was pregnant, she developed an overwhelming urge to drink blood from the king's right knee, a craving that the king's astrologers interpreted to mean that the son would eventually commit patricide and seize the throne. Despite several attempts to abort the fetus, the child was born and was given the name AjAtasatru. While a prince, AjAtasatru became devoted to the monk DEVADATTA, the Buddha's cousin and rival, because of Devadatta's mastery of yogic powers (ṚDDHI). Devadatta plotted to take revenge on the Buddha through manipulating AjAtasatru, whom he convinced to murder his father BimbisAra, a close lay disciple and patron of the Buddha, and seize the throne. AjAtasatru subsequently assisted Devadatta in several attempts on the Buddha's life. AjAtasatru is said to have later grown remorseful over his evil deeds and, on the advice of the physician JĪVAKA, sought the Buddha's forgiveness. The Buddha preached to him on the benefits of renunciation from the SAMANNAPHALASUTTA, and AjAtasatru became a lay disciple. Because he had committed patricide, one of the five most heinous of evil deeds that are said to bring immediate retribution (ANANTARYAKARMAN), AjAtasatru was precluded from attaining any degree of enlightenment during this lifetime and was destined for rebirth in the lohakumbhiya hell. Nevertheless, Sakka (S. sAKRA), the king of the gods, described AjAtasatru as the chief in piety among the Buddha's unenlightened disciples. When the Buddha passed away, AjAtasatru was overcome with grief and, along with other kings, was given a portion of the Buddha's relics (sARĪRA) for veneration. According to the PAli commentaries, AjAtasatru provided the material support for convening the first Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, FIRST) following the Buddha's death. The same sources state that, despite his piety, he will remain in hell for sixty thousand years but later will attain liberation as a solitary buddha (P. paccekabuddha; S. PRATYEKABUDDHA) named Viditavisesa. ¶ MahAyAna scriptures, such as the MAHAPARINIRVAnASuTRA and the GUAN WULIANGSHOU JING ("Contemplation Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life"), give a slightly different account of AjAtasatru's story. BimbisAra was concerned that his queen, Vaidehī, had yet to bear him an heir. He consulted a soothsayer, who told him that an aging forest ascetic would eventually be reborn as BimbisAra's son. The king then decided to speed the process along and had the ascetic killed so he would take rebirth in Vaidehī's womb. After the queen had already conceived, however, the soothsayer prophesized that the child she would bear would become the king's enemy. After his birth, the king dropped him from a tall tower, but the child survived the fall, suffering only a broken finger. (In other versions of the story, Vaidehī is so mortified to learn that her unborn son will murder her husband the king that she tried to abort the fetus, but to no avail.) Devadatta later told AjAtasatru the story of his conception and the son then imprisoned his father, intending to starve him to death. But Vaidehī kept the king alive by smuggling food to him, smearing her body with flour-paste and hiding grape juice inside her jewelry. When AjAtasatru learned of her treachery, he drew his sword to murder her, but his vassals dissuaded him. The prince's subsequent guilt about his intended matricide caused his skin break out in oozing abscesses that emitted such a foul odor that no one except his mother was able to approach him and care for him. Despite her loving care, AjAtasatru did not improve and Vaidehī sought the Buddha's counsel. The Buddha was able to cure the prince by teaching him the "NirvAna Sutra," and the prince ultimately became one of the preeminent Buddhist monarchs of India. This version of the story of AjAtasatru was used by Kosawa Heisaku (1897-1968), one of the founding figures of Japanese psychoanalysis, and his successors to posit an "Ajase (AjAtasatru) Complex" that distinguished Eastern cultures from the "Oedipal Complex" described by Sigmund Freud in Western psychoanalysis. As Kosawa interpreted this story, Vaidehī's ambivalence or active antagonism toward her son and AjAtasatru's rancor toward his mother were examples of the pathological relationship that pertains between mother and son in Eastern cultures, in distinction to the competition between father and son that Freud posited in his Oedipal Complex. This pathological relationship can be healed only through the mother's love and forgiveness, which redeem the child and thus reunite them.
Ajita. (T. Ma pham pa; C. Ayiduo; J. Aitta; K. Ailta 阿逸多). In Sanskrit and PAli, "Invincible"; proper name of several different figures in Buddhist literature. In the PAli tradition, Ajita is said to have been one of the sixteen mendicant disciples of the brAhmana ascetic BAvarĪ who visited the Buddha at the request of their teacher. Upon meeting the Buddha, Ajita saw that he was endowed with the thirty-two marks of a great man (MAHAPURUsALAKsAnA) and gained assurance that the Buddha's renown was well deserved. Starting with Ajita, all sixteen of the mendicants asked the Buddha questions. Ajita's question is preserved as the AjitamAnavapucchA in the ParAyanavagga of the SUTTANIPATA. At the end of the Buddha's explanations, Ajita and sixteen thousand followers are said to have become worthy ones (ARHAT) and entered the SAMGHA. Ajita returned to his old teacher BAvarī and recounted to him what happened. BAvarī himself converted and later became a nonreturner (ANAGAMIN). ¶ Another Ajita is Ajita-Kesakambala (Ajita of the Hair Blanket), a prominent leader of the LOKAYATA (Naturalist) school of Indian wandering religious (sRAMAnA) during the Buddha's time, who is mentioned occasionally in Buddhist scriptures. His doctrine is recounted in the PAli SAMANNAPHALASUTTA, where he is claimed to have denied the efficacy of moral cause and effect because of his materialist rejection of any prospect of transmigration or rebirth. ¶ An Ajita also traditionally appears as the fifteenth on the list of the sixteen ARHAT elders (sOdAsASTHAVIRA), who were charged by the Buddha with protecting his dispensation until the advent of the next buddha, MAITREYA. Ajita is said to reside on Mt. GṚDHRAKutA (Vulture Peak) with 1,500 disciples. He is known in Chinese as the "long-eyebrowed arhat" (changmei luohan) because he is said to have been born with long white eyebrows. In CHANYUE GUANXIU's standard Chinese depiction, Ajita is shown sitting on a rock, with both hands holding his right knee; his mouth is open, with his tongue and teeth exposed. East Asian images also sometimes show him leaning on a staff. In Tibetan iconography, he holds his two hands in his lap in DHYANAMUDRA. ¶ Ajita is finally a common epithet of the bodhisattva MAITREYA, used mostly when he is invoked in direct address.
AjNAtakaundinya. (P. ANNAtakondaNNa / ANNAkondaNNa; T. Kun shes kaun di nya; C. Aruojiaochenru; J. Anyakyojinnyo; K. Ayakkyojinyo 阿若憍陳如). In Sanskrit, "Kaundinya (P. KondaNNa) who Knows"; the first person to understand the insights of the Buddha, as delivered in the first sermon, the DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASuTRA (P. DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANASUTTA), and the first disciple to take ordination as a monk (BHIKsU), following the simple EHIBHIKsUKA (P. ehi bhikkhu), or "come, monk," formula: "Come, monk, the DHARMA is well proclaimed; live the holy life for the complete ending of suffering." Kaundinya was one of the group of five ascetics (BHADRAVARGĪYA) converted by the Buddha at the ṚsIPATANA (P. Isipatana) MṚGADAVA (Deer Park), located just north-east of the city of VArAnasī. According to the PAli account, he was a brAhmana older than the Buddha, who was especially renowned in physiognomy. After the birth of the infant GAUTAMA, he was one of eight brAhmanas invited to predict the infant's future and the only one to prophesize that the child would definitely become a buddha rather than a wheel-turning monarch (CAKRAVARTIN). He left the world as an ascetic in anticipation of the bodhisattva's own renunciation and was joined by the sons of four of the other eight brAhmanas. Kaundinya and the other four ascetics joined the bodhisattva in the practice of austerities, but when, after six years, the bodhisattva renounced extreme asceticism, they left him in disgust. After his enlightenment, the Buddha preached to the five ascetics at the Ṛsipatana deer park, and Kaundinya was the first to realize the truth of the Buddha's words. The PAli canon describes Kaundinya's enlightenment as proceeding in two stages: first, when the Buddha preached the Dhammacakkappavattanasutta, he attained the opening of the dharma eye (DHARMACAKsUS), the equivalent of stream-entry (SROTAAPANNA), and five days later, when the Buddha preached his second sermon, the ANATTALAKKHAnASUTTA, he attained the level of ARHAT. The Buddha praised him both times by exclaiming "Kaundinya knows!," in recognition of which AjNAta ("He Who Knows") was thereafter prefixed to his name. Later, at a large gathering of monks at JETAVANA grove in sRAVASTĪ, the Buddha declared AjNAtakaundinya to be preeminent among his disciples who first comprehended the dharma, and preeminent among his long-standing disciples. AjNAtakaundinya received permission from the Buddha to live a solitary life in the Chaddantavana forest and only returned after twelve years to take leave of the Buddha before his own PARINIRVAnA. After his cremation, AjNAtakaundinya's relics were given to the Buddha, who personally placed them in a silver reliquary (CAITYA) that spontaneously appeared from out of the earth.
Akankheyyasutta. (C. Yuan jing; J. Gangyo; K. Won kyong 願經). In PAli, "Discourse on What One May Wish," the sixth sutta in the MAJJHIMANIKAYA (a separate SARVASTIVADA recension appears as SuTRA no. 105 in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMAGAMA, and a recension of uncertain affiliation in the Chinese translation of the EKOTTARAGAMA); preached by the Buddha to a group of disciples in the JETAVANA grove in the town of sRAVASTĪ. The Buddha describes how a monk who wishes for all good things to come to himself, his fellow monks, and his lay supporters should restrain his sense faculties by seeing danger (ADĪNAVA) in the slightest fault and by abiding by the dictates of the disciplinary codes (PRATIMOKsA). This restraint will allow him to develop morality (sĪLA), meditative concentration (SAMADHI), and liberating wisdom (PRAJNA), leading to the destruction of the contaminants (ASRAVAKsAYA).
AksobhyatathAgatasyavyuha. (T. De bzhin gshegs pa mi 'khrugs pa'i bkod pa; C. Achu foguo jing; J. Ashuku bukkokukyo; K. Ach'ok pulguk kyong 阿閦佛國經). In Sanskrit, "The Array of the TATHAGATAAKsOBHYA"; a SuTRA in which the Buddha, at sARIPUTRA's request, teaches his eminent disciple about the buddha AKsOBHYA; also known as the Aksobhyavyuha. It was first translated into Chinese in the mid-second century CE by LOKAKsEMA, an Indo-Scythian monk from KUSHAN, and later retranslated by the Tang-period monk BODHIRUCI in the early eighth century as part of his rendering of the RATNAKutASuTRA. The scripture also exists in a Tibetan translation by Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, and Ye shes sde. The text explains that in the distant past, a monk made a vow to achieve buddhahood. He followed the arduous BODHISATTVA path, engaging in myriad virtues; the text especially emphasizes his practice of morality (sĪLA). He eventually achieves buddhahood as the buddha Aksobhya in a buddha-field (BUDDHAKsETRA) located in the east called ABHIRATI, which the sutra describes in some detail as an ideal domain for the practice of the dharma. As its name implies, Abhirati is a land of delight, the antithesis of the suffering that plagues our world, and its pleasures are the by-products of Aksobhya's immense merit and compassion. In his land, Aksobhya sits on a platform sheltered by a huge BODHI TREE, which is surrounded by rows of palm trees and jasmine bushes. Its soil is golden in color and as soft as cotton, and the ground is flat with no gullies or gravel. Although Abhirati, like our world, has a sun and moon, both pale next to the radiance of Aksobhya himself. In Abhirati, the three unfortunate realms (APAYA) of hell denizens, ghosts, and animals do not exist. Among humans, there are gender distinctions but no physical sexuality. A man who entertains sexual thoughts toward a woman would instantly see that desire transformed into a DHYANA that derives from the meditation on impurity (AsUBHABHAVANA), while a woman can become pregnant by a man's glance (even though women do not experience menstruation). Food and drink appear spontaneously whenever a person is hungry or thirsty. There is no illness, no ugliness, and no crime. Described as a kind of idealized monastic community, Abhirati is designed to provide the optimal environment to engage in Buddhist practice, both for those who seek to become ARHATs and for those practicing the bodhisattva path. Rebirth there is a direct result of having planted virtuous roots (KUsALAMuLA), engaging in wholesome actions, and then dedicating any merit deriving from those actions to one's future rebirth in that land. One is also reborn there by accepting, memorizing, and spreading this sutra. Aksobhya will eventually attain PARINIRVAnA in Abhirati through a final act of self-immolation (see SHESHEN). After his demise, his teachings will slowly disappear from the world.
AkutobhayA. (T. Ga las 'jigs med). In Sanskrit, "Fearless," the abbreviated title of the Mulamadhyamakavṛtti-akutobhayA, a commentary on NAGARJUNA's MuLAMADHYAMAKAKARIKA. In Tibet, the work has traditionally been attributed to NAgArjuna himself, but scholars doubt that he is the author of this commentary on his own work, in part because the commentary cites the CATUḤsATAKA of ARYADEVA, who was NAgArjuna's disciple. In places, the work is identical to the commentary of BUDDHAPALITA. Regardless of the authorship, the work is an important commentary on NAgArjuna's most famous work. In China, the commentary of Qingmu (*Pingala?), an influential work in the SAN LUN ZONG, is closely related to the AkutobhayA.
Alawn (Welsh) [from alaw song, harmony] One of the three primitive Bards, the disciples of Tydain Tad Awen by whom Druidism was founded, the other two being Plenydd and Gwron. A Druidic movement being started would be presided over in turn by a Plenydd or light-bringer, a Gwron or stabilizer, and an Alawn or harmonizer, and so on in succession.
Albertists: The appellation is conferred on any disciple of Albertus Magnus. In particular it was applied to a group of Scholastics at the University of Cologne during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It was the age of the struggles between the nominalists and the realists, who controlled the University of Cologne, but were themselves split into factions, the Thomists and the Albertists. The latter taught that the universalia in re and post rem were identical, and that logic was a speculative rather than a practical science. The principal Albertists were Heinrich von Kampen, Gerhard von Harderwyk, and Arnold von Lugde. -- J.J.R.
Although advancing steadily in spirituality and upwards towards a lower nirvana, and therefore evolving on a path which is not only not harmful to humanity and others, but in a sense is even passively beneficial, the Pratyeka Buddha, precisely because his thoughts are involved in spiritual freedom and benefits for himself, is really enwrapped in a spiritual selfishness; and hence in the intuitive, albeit popular, consideration of Northern Buddhism is called by such names as the Solitary or the Rhinoceros — applied in contrast to the Buddhas of Compassion, whose entire effort is to merge the individual into the universal, to expand their sympathies to include all that is, to follow the path of immortality (amrita), which is self-identification without loss of individuality with all that is. When the sacrifice of the lower personal and inferior self, with all its hoard of selfish thought and impulses, for the sake of bringing into full and unfettered activity the ineffable glorious faculties and powers and functions of the higher nature — not for the purpose of selfish personal advancement, but in order to become a helper of all that is — the consequence is that as time passes, the disciple so living and dedicating himself finds himself becoming the very incarnation of his inner divinity. He becomes, as it were, a man-god on earth. This, however, is not the objective, for holding such an objective as the goal to be attained would be in itself a proof that selfishness still abides in the nature.
AmrapAlī. (P. AmbapAlī [alt. AmbapAlikA]; T. A mra skyong ma; C. Anpoluonü; J. Anbaranyo; K. Ambaranyo 菴婆羅女). A courtesan in the city of VAIsALĪ (P. VesAli) and famous patron of the Buddha, who donated her mango grove (the AmrapAlīvana) to the SAMGHA. PAli sources describe her as a woman of exceptional beauty, who is said to have been spontaneously born at the foot of a mango tree in the king's garden, whence her name. As a young maiden, many princes vied for her hand in marriage. To quell the unrest, she was appointed courtesan of the city. She is said to have charged her patrons the extraordinary amount of fifty kahApanas for a night with her. So much revenue flowed into the coffers of VaisAlī through her business that BIMBISARA, the king of RAJAGṚHA, decided to install a courtesan at his capital as well. It was during the Buddha's last visit to VaisAlī, shortly before his death, that AmrapAlī first encountered his teachings. Hearing that the famous sage was to preach in the nearby town of KotigAma, she went there with a retinue of chariots to listen to him preach. Enthralled by his sermon, she invited him for his meal the next morning. Delighted at his acceptance and proud by nature, she refused to give way to the powerful Licchavi princes whom she met on the road, and who likewise had intended to invite the Buddha the next day. Knowing the effect such beauty could have on minds of men, the Buddha admonished his disciples to be mindful in her presence lest they become infatuated. At the conclusion of the meal, AmrapAlī offered to the Buddha and his order her park, AmrapAlīvana, which was the venue of several sermons on the foundations of mindfulness (S. SMṚTYUPASTHANA; P. SATIPAttHANA). AmrapAlī's son Vimala Kaundinya (P. KondaNNa) entered the order and became a renowned elder. Listening to him preach one day, AmrapAlī renounced the world and became a nun. Practicing insight (VIPAsYANA) and contemplating the faded beauty of her own aging body, she became an ARHAT.
Analogeticists Name for the disciples of Ammonius Saccas, from their use of analogy and correspondence in the interpretation of myths and symbolic legends.
Ananda (Sanskrit) Ānanda [from ā-nand to rejoice, be delighted] Bliss, joy, happiness; the favorite disciple of Gautama Buddha, who served his teacher with utmost devotion for twenty years and is credited with having recited, shortly after the Buddha’s parinibbana (great passing away), the entire buddhavachana (word of Buddha).
Ananda Temple. A monumental THERAVADA Buddhist monastery located outside the Tharba Gate in the medieval Burmese capital of Pagan. The Ananda was built around 1105 by King Kyanzittha (r. 1084-1111), third monarch of the Pagan empire, and is dedicated to the four buddhas who have appeared during the present auspicious age: Krakucchanda (P. Kakusandha), Kanakamuni (P. KonAgamana), KAsYAPA, and GAUTAMA. In architectural style, the Ananda represents a fusion of Bengali, Burmese, and Pyu (precursors of the ethnic Burmans) elements. Legend states that eight ARHATs from Mount Gandhamadana in India visited King Kyanzittha, and he was so impressed that he constructed a monastery for them, and next to it founded the Ananda. Like all temples and pagodas of the city of Pagan, the Ananda is built of fired brick and faced with stucco. It is cruciform in plan following a Pyu prototype and crowned with a North Indian style tower, or sikhara. Its interior consists of two circumambulatory halls pierced by windows that allow a limited amount of light into the interior. The hallways are decorated with terracotta plaques depicting episodes from the PAli JATAKAs, the MahAnipAta, and NIDANAKATHA. The inner hall contains niches housing numerous seated images of the Buddha that are rendered in a distinctive Pala style. The temple is entered from four entrances facing the four cardinal directions, which lead directly to four large inner chambers, each containing a colossal standing statue of a buddha. Two of the statues are original; a third was rebuilt in the eighteenth century; and the fourth has been repaired. Three of the statues are flanked by smaller images of their chief disciples. The exception is the statue of Gautama Buddha, located in the western chamber, which is flanked by what is believed to be portrait statues of King Kyanzitha and SHIN ARAHAN, the Mon monk said to have converted Pagan to TheravAda Buddhism, who was also Kyanzittha's preceptor.
Ananda. (T. Kun dga' bo; C. Anan[tuo]; J. Anan[da]; K. Anan[da] 阿難[陀]). In Sanskrit and PAli, literally "Bliss," the name of the Buddha's cousin, longtime attendant, and one of his chief disciples. According to tradition, in his previous life, he was a god in the TUsITA heaven, who was born on the same day and into the same sAKYA clan as the BODHISATTVA and future buddha who was born as prince SIDDHARTHA. Ananda was born as the son of Amṛtodana, the brother of king sUDDHODANA. He was thus the Buddha's cousin and the brother of DEVADATTA. When the Buddha returned to his home town of KAPILAVASTU in the second year after his enlightenment, many of the sAkyan men, such as Ananda and Devadatta, wished to renounce the householder life and become the Buddha's disciples as monks. Not long after his ordination, Ananda became a SROTAAPANNA upon hearing a sermon by PuRnA. The Buddha did not have a personal attendant for the first twenty years after his enlightenment, with various monks occasionally offering various services to him. But after two decades of these ad hoc arrangements, the Buddha finally asked for someone to volunteer to be his personal attendant; all the monks volunteered except Ananda, who said that he did not do so because the Buddha would choose the correct person regardless of who volunteered. The Buddha selected Ananda, who accepted on the following conditions: the Buddha was never to give him any special food or robes that he had received as gifts; the Buddha was not to provide him with a special monk's cell; and the Buddha was not to include him in dining invitations he received from the laity. Ananda made these conditions in order to prevent anyone from claiming that he received special treatment because of serving as the Buddha's attendant. In addition, he asked to be allowed to accept invitations on behalf of the Buddha; he asked to be allowed to bring to the Buddha those who came from great distances to see him; he asked to be able to bring any questions he had to the Buddha; and he asked that the Buddha repeat to him any doctrine that had been taught in his absence. Ananda saw these latter conditions as the true advantages of serving the Buddha. For the next twenty-five years, Ananda served the Buddha with great devotion, bringing him water, sweeping his cell, washing his feet, rubbing his body, sewing his robes, and accompanying him wherever he went. He guarded the Buddha's cell at night, carrying a staff and a torch, in order to make sure that his sleep was not disturbed and to be ready should the Buddha need him. As the Buddha grew older and more infirm, Ananda provided devoted care, despite the fact that the two were exactly the same age. Because Ananda was constantly in the Buddha's presence, he played a key role in many famous events of the early dispensation. For example, it was Ananda who, on behalf of MAHAPRAJAPATI, requested that women be allowed to enter the SAMGHA as nuns, persisting in his request despite the Buddha's initial refusal. He is therefore remembered especially fondly by the order of BHIKsUnĪs, and it is said that he often preached to nuns. In a famous tale reproduced in various sources, the daughter of a woman named MAtangī attempted to seduce Ananda with the help of her mother's magical powers, only to come to realize her wrongdoing with the intervention of the Buddha. Toward the end of his life, the Buddha mentioned to Ananda that a buddha could live for a KALPA or until the end of the kalpa if he were asked to do so. (See CAPALACAITYA.) Ananda, distracted by MARA, failed to request the Buddha to do so, despite the Buddha mentioning this three times. Ananda was chastised for this blunder at the first council (see infra). Ananda figures prominently in the account of the Buddha's last days in the MAHAPARINIBBANASUTTA, weeping at the knowledge that the Buddha was about to die and being consoled by him. Ananda was known for his extraordinary powers of memory; he is said to have heard all 84,000 sermon topics (82,000 taught by the Buddha and 2,000 taught by other disciples) and was able to memorize 15,000 stanzas without omitting a syllable. He therefore played a key role in the recitation of the Buddha's teachings at the first council (SAMGĪTI; see COUNCIL, FIRST) held at RAJAGṚHA shortly after the Buddha's death. However, MAHAKAsYAPA, who convened the council, specified that all five hundred monks in attendance must be ARHATs, and Ananda was not. On the night before the opening of the council, Ananda achieved the enlightenment of an arhat as he was lying down to sleep, as his head fell to the pillow and his feet rose from the ground. He is therefore famous for achieving enlightenment in none of the four traditional postures (ĪRYAPATHA): walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. As an arhat, Ananda was welcomed to the council, where he recounted all the words of the Buddha (except those concerning the VINAYA, or monastic rules, which were recited by UPALI). For this reason, most SuTRAs open with the words, "Thus have I heard" (EVAM MAYA sRUTAM); the "I" is usually Ananda. (For this reason, Ananda is also known in China as Duowen Diyi, "First in Vast Hearing" or "He Who Heard the Most.") After the Buddha's death, the order of monks brought five charges against Ananda: (1) the Buddha had said that after his passing, the monks could disregard the minor precepts, but Ananda failed to ask him which those were; thus, all the precepts had to be followed; (2) Ananda had once stepped on the Buddha's robe when sewing it; (3) Ananda had allowed women to honor the Buddha's naked body after his death and their tears had fallen on his feet; (4) Ananda failed to ask the Buddha to live on for the rest of the kalpa; and (5) Ananda urged the Buddha to admit women to the order. Ananda replied that he saw no fault in any of these deeds but agreed to confess them. According to FAXIAN, when Ananda was 120 years old, he set out from MAGADHA to VAIsALĪ in order to die. Seeking his relics (sARĪRA), AJATAsATRU followed him to the Rohīni River, while a group from VaisAlī awaited him on the other bank. Not wishing to disappoint either group, Ananda levitated to the middle of the river in the meditative posture, preached the dharma, and then meditated on the TEJOKASInA, which prompted his body to burst into flames, with the relics dividing into two parts, one landing on each bank of the river. Ananda has long been one of the most beloved figures in the history of Buddhism, in part because he was not the wisest of the Buddha's disciples but showed unstinting devotion to the Buddha, always seeking to understand him correctly and to bring his teachings to as many people as possible.
AnAthapindada. (P. AnAthapindika; T. Mgon med zas sbyin; C. Jigudu zhangzhe; J. Gikkodoku choja; K. Kŭpkodok changja 給孤獨長者). In Sanskit, "Feeder of the Defenseless"; a wealthy merchant from the city of sRAVASTĪ who became such a great patron of the SAMGHA that the Buddha declared him to be chief among laymen (UPASAKA) in his munificence. His personal name was Sudatta; AnAthapindada was a sobriquet suggesting his philanthropic qualities. AnAthapindada's father-in-law introduced him to the Buddha, and he was quickly converted, becoming in the process a stream-enterer (SROTAAPANNA). AnAthapindada built numerous dwellings, guest houses, and residential parks for the Buddha and his monastic order and was unstinting in his donation of requisites. The most famous of the residences he built was the JETAVANA park on the outskirts of srAvastī, which he purchased from the prince JETA (JetakumAra) by covering the entire property with gold coins. Prince Jeta himself donated the entrance to the park, over which he built a splendid gate. AnAthapindada had numerous buildings constructed at the site-including the Buddha's own residence, the GANDHAKUtĪ, or perfumed chamber-to serve the Buddha and the monastic community during the rains retreat (VARsA). The very same spot had served as a monastery and rains retreat center for previous buddhas as well, although the extent of the establishments varied. Jeta's Grove was said to be the Buddha's favorite residence and, according to tradition, he passed nineteen rains retreats there. After the laywoman VIsAKHA built the grand monastery MṚGARAMATṚPRASADA in srAvastī, the Buddha would alternate between both residences, spending the day at one and the night at another. The Buddha preached numerous sermons to AnAthapindada who, in turn, was fond of debating with ascetics and teachers of other religions. Although skilled in business, AnAthapindada was in his later years reduced to penury. He is said to have died shortly after feeding the monks with gruel prepared from his own cooking pot. One of the more poignant exchanges in the PAli canon involves AnAthapindada and is recorded in the AnAthapindikovAdasutta, the 143rd sutta in the PAli MAJJHIMANIKAYA (a recension of unidentified affiliation appears in the Chinese translation of the EKOTTARAGAMA). When AnAthapindada was on his deathbed, the Buddha sent sARIPUTRA, one of his two chief disciples, along with ANANDA as his attendant, to visit him. Learning that AnAthapindada was in great pain, sAriputra taught him a fairly standard discourse on how to guard the senses (INDRIYASAMVARA) so as to remain unattached toward sensory experience and thereby develop a state of consciousness that clings to nothing. At the conclusion of the discourse, AnAthapindada was brought to tears; seeing him weep, sAriputra asked him whether he was deteriorating. AnAthapindada said that he was actually lamenting the fact that, throughout his years of attending the Buddha and his monks, he had not once heard this kind of instruction. sAriputra responded that such teachings were intended for the monks, not the laity, but AnAthapindada begged him to make such teachings available to the laity as well, since some of them had "little dust in their eyes" and would be able to understand. Soon afterward that evening, AnAthapindada was reborn in TUsITA heaven and, as a young divinity (DEVA), visited the Buddha and praised the virtues of the Jetavana and of sAriputra, of whom AnAthapindada was especially fond.
and all disciples of Christ; he is also one of the 72
Angaja. (T. Yan lag 'byung; C. Yinjietuo; J. Inkatsuda; K. In'get'a 因陀). The Sanskrit name of the thirteenth of the sixteen ARHAT elders (sOdAsASTHAVIRA), who were charged by the Buddha with protecting his dispensation until the advent of the next buddha, MAITREYA. He is said to reside on Guangxie Mountain with thirteen hundred disciples. According to the Chinese tradition, Angaja had been a snake wrangler before he was ordained, so whenever he went into the mountains, he carried a cloth bag with him to catch snakes, which he would release after removing their fangs so they would not injure people. For this reason, he earned the nickname "Cloth-Bag Arhat" (BUDAILUOHAN/heshang). In CHANYUE GUANXIU's standard Chinese depiction, Angaja leans against a staff, with his head lowered, reading a SuTRA that he holds in his left hand, his right hand counting recitation beads (JAPAMALA).
AngulimAla. (S. alt. AngulimAlīya; T. Sor mo phreng ba; C. Yangjuemoluo; J. okutsumara; K. Anggulmara 央掘摩羅). In Sanskrit and PAli, literally, "Garland of Fingers"; nickname given to AhiMsaka, a notorious murderer and highwayman who was converted by the Buddha and later became an ARHAT; the Sanskrit is also seen written as AngulimAlya and AngulimAlīya. AhiMsaka was born under the thieves' constellation as the son of a brAhmana priest who served the king of KOsALA. His given name means "Harmless," because even though his birth was attended by many marvels, no one was injured. The boy was intelligent and became a favorite of his teacher. His classmates, out of jealousy, poisoned his teacher's mind against him, who thenceforth sought AhiMsaka's destruction. His teacher instructed AhiMsaka that he must collect one thousand fingers as a gift. (In an alternate version of the story, the brAhmana teacher's wife, driven by lust, attempted to seduce the handsome student, but when he rebuffed her, the resentful wife informed her husband that it was instead he who had attempted to seduce her. Knowing that he could not defeat his disciple by force, the vengeful brAhmana teacher told his student that he must kill a thousand people and string together a finger from each victim into a garland as the final stage of his training.) Following his teacher's instructions, he began to murder travelers, cutting off a single finger from each victim. These he made into a garland that he wore around his neck, hence his nickname AngulimAla, or "Garland of Fingers." With one finger left to complete his collection, AngulimAla resolved to murder his own mother, who was then entering the forest where he dwelled. It was at this time that the Buddha decided to intervene. Recognizing that the thief was capable of attaining arhatship in this life but would lose that chance if he killed one more person, the Buddha taunted AngulimAla and converted him through a miracle: although the Buddha continued to walk sedately in front of the brigand, AngulimAla could not catch him no matter how fast he ran. Intrigued at this feat, AngulimAla called out to the Buddha to stop, but the Buddha famously responded, "I have stopped, AngulimAla; may you stop as well." AngulimAla thereupon became a disciple of the Buddha and spent his time practicing the thirteen austere practices (see DHUTAnGA), eventually becoming an ARHAT. Because of his former misdeeds, even after he was ordained as a monk and became an arhat, he still had to endure the hatred of the society he used to terrorize, sometimes suffering frightful beatings. The Buddha explained that the physical pain he suffered was a consequence of his violent past and that he should endure it with equanimity. His fate illustrates an important point in the theory of KARMAN: viz., even a noble one who has overcome all prospect of future rebirth and who is certain to enter NIRVAnA at death can still experience physical (but not mental) pain in his last lifetime as a result of past heinous deeds. AngulimAla also became the "patron saint" of pregnant women in Buddhist cultures. Once, while out on his alms round, AngulimAla was profoundly moved by the suffering of a mother and her newborn child. The Buddha recommended that AngulimAla cure them by an "asseveration of truth" (SATYAVACANA). The Buddha first instructed him to say, "Sister, since I was born, I do not recall that I have ever intentionally deprived a living being of life. By this truth, may you be well and may your infant be well." When AngulimAla politely pointed out that this was not entirely accurate, the Buddha amended the statement to begin, "since I was born with noble birth." The phrase "noble birth" can be interpreted in a number of ways, but here it seems to mean "since I became a monk." When AngulimAla spoke these words to the mother and her child, they were cured. His statement has been repeated by monks to pregnant women over the centuries in the hope of assuring successful childbirth. See also AnGULIMALĪYASuTRA.
An inert passivity is constantly confused with the real sur- render, but out of an inert passivity nothing true and powerful can come. It is the inert passivity of physical Nature that leaves it at the mercy of every obscure or undivlne influence. A glad and strong and helpful submission Is demanded to the working of the Divine Force, the obedience of the illumined disciple of the
Aniruddha. (P. Anuruddha; T. Ma 'gags pa; C. Analü; J. Anaritsu; K. Anayul 阿那律). One of the ten great disciples of the Buddha, who was GAUTAMA's first cousin and brother of MAHANAMAN. Along with many others of the Buddha's relatives in the sAKYA clan, such as ANANDA and DEVADATTA, Aniruddha renounced the life of a householder to become a disciple of the Buddha when the Buddha returned to his home town of KAPILAVASTU after his enlightenment. According to legend, Aniruddha was once scolded by the Buddha for sleeping too much. Aniruddha subsequently devoted himself to vigorous practice without sleep (see DHUTAnGA), as a consequence of which he became blind. The PAli THERAGATHA notes that he did not sleep at all for twenty-five years, and that for the last thirty years of his life, he slept only during the last watch of the night. Despite his physical blindness, he attained through his meditative practice the divine eye (DIVYACAKsUS) and came to be ranked as foremost among the Buddha's disciples in that attainment. For this reason, in East Asia, he is given the epithet Tianyan Diyi or "First of Those Who Have the Divine Eye." According to PAli tradition, after the recitation of the Buddha's teachings at the first Buddhist council (COUNCIL, FIRST), Aniruddha and his disciples were entrusted with preserving the AnGUTTARANIKAYA. Aniruddha and the Buddha held one another in particularly high regard, and many of the Buddha's discourses were addressed personally to him. In assemblies, Aniruddha always sat near the Buddha, and he was present at the Buddha's death. He consoled his fellow monks at their master's passing (PARINIRVAnA) and advised the MALLA on how properly to carry out the funerary rites.
Anuruddha. (P) The PAli name for one of the ten chief disciples of the Buddha; see ANIRUDDHA. ¶ Anuruddha is also the name of the author of the THERAVADA abhidhamma manual ABHIDHAMMATTHASAnGAHA, as well as the Paramatthavinicchaya and the NAmarupapariccheda. Anuruddha flourished during the eleventh or twelfth century and was the abbot of Mulasoma VihAra. His Abhidhammatthasangaha has for centuries been the most widely used introductory text for the study of ABHIDHAMMA (S. ABHIDHARMA) in monastic colleges throughout the PAli Buddhist world.
anusaMsa. [alt. AnusaMsa; AnusaMsA, etc.] (P. AnisaMsa; T. phan yon; C. gongde/liyi; J. kudoku/riyaku; K. kongdok/iik 功德/利益). In Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, "blessing," "benefit," "reward," or "advantage" that accrues from leading a virtuous life or performing various types of virtuous actions. In the PAli MAHAPARINIBBANASUTTANTA, for example, while preaching on the benefits of moral rectitude to a gathering of lay disciples in the city of PAtaligAma (see PAtALIPUTRA), the Buddha enumerates five such blessings that a morally upright person can expect to acquire in this lifetime: first, great wealth (bhogakkhandha); second, a good reputation (kittisadda); third, self-confidence (visArada); fourth, a peaceful death (asammulho kAlaM karoti); and fifth, after he dies, a happy rebirth (saggaM lokaM upapajjati). In contrast, a morally dissolute person can expect in this lifetime: first, poverty due to sloth; second, a bad reputation; third, shame in the presence of others; fourth, an anxious death; and fifth, after he dies, an unhappy rebirth. In the so-called graduated discourse (P. ANUPUBBIKATHA), the Buddha also teaches the blessings of renunciation (nekkhamme AnisaMsa) as a prerequisite to understanding the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS. Different lists of five, ten, or eighteen such blessings appear in Sanskrit sources. The PRAJNAPARAMITA literature has long passages praising the merit gained from writing out in book form, reading, memorizing, and generally worshipping the prajNApAramitA as compared, in particular, to worshiping a STuPA containing the relics of a TATHAGATA, and the commentarial literature lists the benefits (anusaMsa) of the BODHISATTVA's path of vision (DARsANAMARGA) when compared with the earlier understanding of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS.
ApadAna. In PAli, "Heroic Tales" or "Narratives" (cf. S. AVADANA); the thirteenth book of the KHUDDAKANIKAYA of the PAli SUTTAPItAKA, this collection includes hagiographies of 547 monks and forty nuns, all arahant (S. ARHAT) disciples who lived during the lifetime of the Buddha. The text also contains two introductory chapters in verse. The first, the "BuddhApadAna," is a series of encomiums praising the merits and perfections (P. pAramī; S. PARAMITA) of the Buddha and an account of the past lives during which he mastered these qualities. The second chapter, the "PaccekabuddhApadAna," deals with solitary buddhas who do not teach (paccekabuddha; S. PRATYEKABUDDHA). Quite distinctively, the ApadAna names thirty-five buddhas of antiquity, in contrast to the twenty-four listed in the BUDDHAVAMSA; this is one of the reasons that the ApadAna is presumed to be one of the latest books in the PAli canon. The third and fourth chapters offer accounts of the noble deeds of the senior disciples, including many of the most famous names in Buddhist history. Each story focuses on a specific meritorious action performed by one of these elders while they trained under a buddha in a previous lifetime, followed by an account of what wholesome result that action produced in subsequent lifetimes, and how this ultimately led them to achieve arahantship in the present life. The collection thus highlights the merit that results from perfecting specific types of moral actions.
apostle ::: n. --> Literally: One sent forth; a messenger. Specifically: One of the twelve disciples of Christ, specially chosen as his companions and witnesses, and sent forth to preach the gospel.
The missionary who first plants the Christian faith in any part of the world; also, one who initiates any great moral reform, or first advocates any important belief; one who has extraordinary success as a missionary or reformer; as, Dionysius of Corinth is called the apostle of France, John Eliot the apostle to the Indians, Theobald
Archelaus: A disciple of Anaxagoras; belonged to the Sophistic period; proclaimed the conventionality of all ethical judgments. He distinguished between man's natural impulses and dispositions and the dictates of human moral laws. The former he held to be superior guides to conduct. -- M.F.
Arhat is both the way and the waygoer; and while the term is close philosophically to anagamin, the distinction between the two lies in their mystical connotations rather than in their etymological definitions. Arhat has a wider significance inasmuch as it applies to those noblest of the Buddha’s disciples who were “worthy” of receiving, because comprehending, the Tathagata’s heart doctrine, the more esoteric and mystical portions of his message.
Aristippus of Cyrene: (c. 435-366 B.C.) Originally a Sophist, then Socrates' disciple, and finally the founder of the Cyrenaic School. He taught that pleasure, understood as the sensation of gentle character, is the true end of life. All pleasures are equal in value, but differ in degree and duration; they should be controlled and moderated by reason. -- R.B.W.
Aryadeva. (T. 'Phags pa lha; C. Tipo; J. Daiba; K. Cheba 提婆). While traditional sources are often ambiguous, scholars have identified two Aryadevas. The first Aryadeva (c. 170-270 CE) was an important Indian philosopher, proponent of MADHYAMAKA philosophy, and a direct disciple of the Madhyamaka master NAGARJUNA. According to traditional accounts, he was born to a royal family in Sri Lanka. Renouncing the throne at the time of his maturity, he instead sought monastic ordination and met NAgArjuna at PAtALIPUTRA. After his teacher's death, Aryadeva became active at the monastic university of NALANDA, where he is said to have debated and defeated numerous brahmanic adherents, eventually converting them to Buddhism. He is the author of the influential work CATUḤsATAKA ("The Four Hundred"). He is also said to be the author of the *sATAsASTRA (C. BAI LUN), or "The Hundred Treatise," counted as one of the "three treatises" of the SAN LUN ZONG of Chinese Buddhism, together with the Zhong lun ("Middle Treatise," i.e., MuLAMADHYAMAKAKARIKA) and SHI'ERMEN LUN ("Twelve [Chapter] Treatise"), both attributed to NAgArjuna. The *satasAstra is not extant in Sanskrit or Tibetan, but is preserved only in Chinese. ¶ The second Aryadeva [alt. AryadevapAda; d.u.] trained in yogic practices under the tantric master NAgArjuna at NAlandA. In the Tibetan tradition, this Aryadeva is remembered for his great tantric accomplishments, and is counted among the eighty-four MAHASIDDHAs under the name Karnari or Kanheri. His important tantric works include the CaryAmelapakapradīpa ("Lamp that Integrates the Practices") and Cittavisuddhiprakarana [alt. CittAvaranavisuddhiprakarana] ("Explanation of Mental Purity").
Aryasangha (Sanskrit) Āryasaṃgha Founder of the first Yogacharya school, a direct disciple of Gautama Buddha; also a sage who lived in about the 5th or 6th century, who mixed Tantric worship with the Yogacharya system. The followers of the latter “claimed that he was the same Aryasangha, that had been a follower of Sakyamuni, and that he was 1,000 years old. Internal evidence alone is sufficient to show that the works written by him and translated about the year 600 of our era, works full of Tantra worship, ritualism, and tenets followed now considerably by the ‘red-cap’ sects in Sikhim, Bhutan, and Little Tibet, cannot be the same as the lofty system of the early Yogacharya school of pure Buddhism, which is neither northern or southern, but absolutely esoteric. Though none of the genuine Yogacharya books (the Narjol chodpa) have ever been made public or marketable, yet one finds in the Yogacharya Bhumi Shastra of the pseudo-Aryasangha a great deal from the older system, into the tenets of which he may have been initiated. It is, however, so mixed up with Sivaism and Tantrika magic and superstitions, that the work defeats its own end, notwithstanding its remarkable dialectical subtilty” (TG 323).
Aryashtangamarga (Sanskrit) Āryāṣṭāṅgamārga [from ārya holy, noble + aṣṭa eight + aṅga limb, division + mārga path, way from the verbal root mṛg to seek, strive to attain, investigate] Holy eight-limbed way; in Buddhism the Noble Eightfold Path enunciated by Gautama Buddha as the fourth of the Four Noble Truths (chattari aryasatyani). Consistent practice of aryashtangamarga leads the disciple ultimately to perfect wisdom, love, and liberation from samsara (the round of repetitive births and deaths). The Eightfold Path is enumerated as: 1) samyagdrishti (right insight); 2) samyaksamkalpa (right resolve); 3) samyagvach (right speech); 4) samyakkarmantra (right action); 5) samyagajiva (right living); 6) samyagvyayama (right exertion); 7) samyaksmriti (right recollection); and 8) samyaksamadhi (right concentration). See also ARIYA ATTHANGIKA MAGGA (for Pali equivalents)
As a noun, originally one who had fully attained his spiritual ideals. In Buddhism arhat (Pali arahant) is the title generally given to those of Gautama Buddha’s disciples who had progressed the farthest during his lifetime and immediately thereafter; more specifically to those who had attained nirvana, emancipation from earthly fetters and the attainment of full enlightenment. Arhat is broadly equivalent to the Egyptian hierophant, the Chaldean magus, and Hindu rishi, as well as being generally applicable to ascetics. On occasion it is used for the loftiest beings in a hierarchy: “The Arhats of the ‘fire-mist’ of the 7th run are but one remove from the Root-base of their Hierarchy — the highest on Earth, and our Terrestrial chain” (SD 1:207).
Ashmogh (Pahlavi) Demon with disheveled hair of the race of wrath; Ahriman’s disciple who encourages Azhi-Dahak (Bevar-Aspa) to rise up in order to destroy mankind and shouts: “Now it is nine thousand years that Fereydun is not living; why do you not rise up, although thy fetters are not removed, when this world is full of people and they have brought them the enclosure which Yima formed?” (SBE 5:234).
ASHRAM (Skt, T.B.) That group which a member of the planetary hierarchy
(at least a 46-self) forms of his disciples and with himself as the focus in the
power house. The planetary hierarchy consists of seven greater ashrams led by
44-selves and representing the seven departments, and 42 lesser ones led by 45- and
46-selves. The type energies these collective beings emit encompass the planet.
Ashram: The Hindu name of a settlement of disciples living with or around a guru (spiritual leader or teacher).
Aspirant: A disciple of esoteric philosophy, eligible for initiation.
AstasAhasrikAprajNApAramitA. (T. Sher phyin brgyad stong pa; C. Xiaopin bore jing; J. Shobon hannyakyo; K. Sop'um panya kyong 小品般若經). In Sanskrit, "Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines." This scripture is now generally accepted to be the earliest of the many PRAJNAPARAMITA sutras and thus probably one of the very earliest of the MAHAYANA scriptures. The Asta, as it is often referred to in the literature, seems to have gradually developed over a period of about two hundred years, from the first century BCE to the first century CE. Some of its earliest recensions translated into Chinese during the Han dynasty do not yet display the full panoply of self-referentially MahAyAna terminology that characterize the more elaborate recensions translated later, suggesting that MahAyAna doctrine was still under development during the early centuries of the Common Era. The provenance of the text is obscure, but the consensus view is that it was probably written in central or southern India. The Asta, together with its verse summary, the RATNAGUnASAMCAYAGATHA, probably represents the earliest stratum of the prajNApAramitA literature; scholars believe that this core scripture was subsequently expanded between the second and fourth centuries CE into other massive PrajNApAramitA scriptures in as many as 100,000 lines (the sATASAHASRIKAPRAJNAPARAMITA). By about 500 CE, the Asta's basic ideas had been abbreviated into shorter condensed statements, such as the widely read, 300-verse VAJRACCHEDIKAPRAJNAPARAMITA ("Diamond Sutra"). (Some scholars have suggested instead that the "Diamond Sutra" may in fact represent one of the earliest strata of the prajNApAramitA literature.) The MahAyAna tradition's view of its own history, however, is that the longest of the prajNApAramitA scriptures, the 100,000-line satasAhasrikAprajNApAramitA, is the core text from which all the other perfection of wisdom sutras were subsequently excerpted. The main interlocutor of the Asta, as in most of the prajNApAramitA scriptures, is SUBHuTI, an ARHAT foremost among the Buddha's disciples in dwelling at peace in remote places, rather than sARIPUTRA, who much more commonly appears in this role in the mainstream Buddhist scriptures (see AGAMA; NIKAYA). The prominent role accorded to Subhuti suggests that the prajNApAramitA literature may derive from forest-dwelling (Aranyaka) ascetic traditions distinct from the dominant, urban-based monastic elite. The main goal of the Asta and other prajNApAramitA scriptures is rigorously to apply the foundational Buddhist notion of nonself (ANATMAN) to the investigation of all phenomena-from the usual compounded things (SAMSKARA) and conditioned factors (SAMSKṚTADHARMA), but even to such quintessentially Buddhist summa bona as the fruits of sanctity (ARYAMARGAPHALA) and NIRVAnA. The constant refrain of the Asta is that there is nothing that can be grasped or to which one should cling, not PRAJNA, not PARAMITA, not BODHISATTVA, and not BODHI. Even the six perfections (sAdPARAMITA) of the bodhisattva are subjected to this same refutation: for example, only when the bodhisattva realizes that there is no giver, no recipient, and no gift will he have mastered the perfection of giving (DANAPARAMITA). Such radical nonattachment even to the central concepts of Buddhism itself helps to foster a thoroughgoing awareness of the emptiness (suNYATA) of all things and thus the perfection of wisdom (prajNApAramitA). Even if the Asta's area of origin was in the south of India, the prajNApAramitA scriptures seem initially to have found their best reception in the northwest of India during the KUSHAN dynasty (c. first century CE), whence they would have had relatively easy entrée into Central Asia and then East Asia. This geographic proximity perhaps accounts for the early acceptance the Asta and the rest of the prajNApAramitA literature received on the Chinese mainland, helping to make China the first predominantly MahAyAna tradition.
Asvajit. (P. Assaji; T. Rta thul; C. Ashuoshi; J. Asetsuji; K. Asolsi 阿示). The fifth of the five ascetics (PANCAVARGIKA), along with AJNATAKAUndINYA (P. ANNAtakondaNNa), BHADRIKA (P. Bhaddiya), VAsPA (P. Vappa), and MAHANAMAN (P. MahAnAma), who practiced austerities with GAUTAMA prior to his enlightenment. Subsequently, when Gautama abandoned the severe asceticism they had been practicing in favor of the middle way (MADHYAMAPRATIPAD), Asvajit and his companions became disgusted with Gautama's backsliding and left him, going to the ṚsIPATANA (P. Isipatana) deer park, located in the northeast of VArAnasī. After the Buddha's enlightenment, however, the Buddha sought them out to teach them the first sermon, the DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASuTRA (P. DHAMMACAKKAPAVATTANASUTTA); while listening to this sermon, Asvajit achieved the first stage of awakening or "opening of the dharma eye" (DHARMACAKsUS), becoming a stream-enterer (SROTAAPANNA), and was immediately ordained as a monk using the informal EHIBHIKsUKA, or "come, monk," formula. Five days later, the Buddha then preached to the group of five new monks the second sermon, the *AnAtmalaksanasutra (P. ANATTALAKKHAnASUTTA), which led to Asvajit's becoming a worthy one (ARHAT). It was through an encounter with Asvajit that sARIPUTRA and MAHAMAUDGALYAYANA, the Buddha's two chief disciples, were initially converted. SAriputra witnessed Asvajit's calm demeanor while gathering alms in the city of RAJAGṚHA. Impressed, he approached Asvajit and asked who his teacher was and what were his teachings. In response, Asvajit said that he was new to the teachings and could offer only the following summary: "Of those phenomena produced through causes, the TathAgata has proclaimed their causes and also their cessation. Thus has spoken the great renunciant." His description, which came to known as the YE DHARMA (based on its first two words of the summary), would become perhaps the most commonly repeated statement in all of Buddhist literature. Upon hearing these words, sAriputra attained the stage of stream-entry (see SROTAAPANNA), and when he repeated what he heard to his friend MaudgalyAyana, he also did so. The two then agreed to become the Buddha's disciples. According to PAli sources, Asvajit once was approached by the ascetic Nigantha Saccaka, who inquired of the Buddha's teachings. Asvajit explained the doctrine of nonself (ANATMAN) with a summary of the Anattalakkhanasutta, which the Buddha had taught him. Convinced that he could refute that doctrine, Nigantha Saccaka challenged the Buddha to a debate and was vanquished. The PAli commentaries say that Asvajit intentionally offered only the briefest of explanations of the nonself doctrine as a means of coaxing the ascetic into a direct encounter with the Buddha.
Aswapati ::: Sri Aurobindo: “Aswapati, the Lord of the Horse, her [Savitri’s] human father, is the Lord of Tapasya, the concentrated energy of spiritual endeavour that helps us to rise from the mortal to the immortal planes; …” (From a letter of Sri Aurobindo to a disciple, listed now as the Author’s Note at the beginning of Savitri.)
Atisa DīpaMkarasrījNAna. (T. A ti sha Mar me mdzad dpal ye shes) (982-1054). Indian Buddhist monk and scholar revered by Tibetan Buddhists as a leading teacher in the later dissemination (PHYI DAR) of Buddhism in Tibet. His name, also written as Atisha, is an ApabhraMsa form of the Sanskrit term atisaya, meaning "surpassing kindness." Born into a royal family in what is today Bangladesh, Atisa studied MAHAYANA Buddhist philosophy and TANTRA as a married layman prior to being ordained at the age of twenty-nine, receiving the ordination name of DīpaMkarasrījNAna. After studying at the great monasteries of northern India, including NALANDA, ODANTAPURĪ, VIKRAMAsĪLA, and SOMAPURA, he is said to have journeyed to the island of Sumatra, where he studied under the CITTAMATRA teacher Dharmakīrtisrī (also known as guru Sauvarnadvīpa) for twelve years; he would later praise Dharmakīrtisrī as a great teacher of BODHICITTA. Returning to India, he taught at the Indian monastic university of VIKRAMAsĪLA. Atisa was invited to Tibet by the king of western Tibet YE SHES 'OD and his grandnephew BYANG CHUB 'OD, who were seeking to remove perceived corruption in the practice of Buddhism in Tibet. Atisa reached Tibet in 1042, where he initially worked together with the renowned translator RIN CHEN BZANG PO at THO LING monastery in the translation of PRAJNAPARAMITA texts. There, he composed his famous work, the BODHIPATHAPRADĪPA, or "Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment," an overview of the MahAyAna Buddhist path that served as a basis for the genre of literature known as LAM RIM ("stages of the path"). He spent the remaining twelve years of his life in the central regions of Tibet, where he formed his principal seat in Snye thang (Nyetang) outside of LHA SA where he translated a number of MADHYAMAKA works into Tibetan. He died there and his relics were interred in the SGROL MA LHA KHANG. Atisa and his chief disciples 'BROM STON RGYAL BA'I 'BYUNG GNAS and RNGOG LEGS PA'I SHES RAB are considered the forefathers of the BKA' GDAMS PA sect of Tibetan Buddhism. In Tibet, he is commonly known by the honorific title Jo bo rje (Jowoje), "the Superior Lord."
ATTITUDE. ::: A glad and strong and helpful submission is demanded to the working of the Divine Force, the obedience of the illumined disciple of the Truth, of the inner Warrior who fights against obscurity and falsehood, of the faithful servant of the Divine.
AvadAnasataka. (T. Rtogs pa brjod pa brgya pa; C. Zhuanji baiyuan jing; J. Senju hyakuengyo; K. Ch'anjip paegyon kyong 撰集百經). In Sanskrit, "A Hundred Tales" (AVADANA). The collection was originally ascribed to the SARVASTIVADA school but is now thought to belong to the MuLASARVASTIVADA, because of the large number of stereotyped passages that the AvadAnasataka shares with the DIVYAVADANA and the MulasarvAstivAda VINAYA and its close correlation with certain other elements of the MulasarvAstivAda vinaya. Hence, the AvadAnasataka most likely originated in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, a provenance confirmed with the recent discovery of fragments of the text in the Schoyen Collection that most likely come from BAMIYAN. The AvadAnasataka is one of the earliest avadAna collections and was translated into Chinese (Zhuanji baiyuan jing), a translation traditionally attributed to ZHI QIAN. The Tibetan translation (Gang po la sogs pa rtogs pa brjod pa brgya pa) was carried out in the early ninth century by the monk Jinamitra and Devacandra. The composition date of the AvadAnasataka is uncertain. A date c. 100 CE has been proposed, based on Zhi Qian's putative Chinese translation, whose traditional date of c. 223-253 CE provided a terminus ante quem for the compilation of the anthology. Recent scholarship, however, has questioned this attribution to Zhi Qian and indicates that the translation probably dates instead to the late fifth or early sixth century CE. The significant degree of divergence between the known Sanskrit texts and the Chinese recension may indicate that two or more Sanskrit versions were in circulation. The Chinese text also includes interpolations of story elements that derive from another Chinese collection, the Xian yu jing. In terms of structure, the stories in the AvadAnasataka are arranged symmetrically in ten chapters of ten stories apiece, each with a central theme: (1) prophecies (VYAKARAnA) of buddhahood, (2) JATAKA tales, (3) prophecies of pratyeka ("solitary") buddhahood (see PRATYEKABUDDHA), (4) more jAtakas, (5) tales of PRETA or "hungry ghosts," (6) heavenly rebirths as DEVA ("divinities"), (7)-(9) male and female disciples who become ARHATs, and (10) stories of suffering resulting from misdeeds in past lives. The structure of a typical avadAna story includes (1) a frame story told in the narrative present; (2) a story of past deeds (which is the cause of the present achievement or suffering); and (3) a bridge between the two, linking the past actor with the person presently experiencing its consequence. Major motifs include devotion to the Buddha, the benefits of donation (DANA), and the workings of moral cause and effect (see KARMAN), as indicated in the stock passage with which more than half of the tales end: "Thus, O monks, knowing that black actions bear black fruits, white actions white fruits, and mixed ones mixed fruits, you should shun the black and the mixed and pursue only the white." Although avadAnas have often been assumed to target the laity, the reference to monks in this stock passage clearly indicates the monastic audience to which these tales were directed.
Avanti. (T. Srung byed; C. Abanti [guo]; J. Ahandai[koku]; K. Abanje [kuk] 阿般提[國]). In Sanskrit and PAli, an Indian kingdom in the southwest subcontinent, north of present-day Mumbai; its capital was Ujjayinī (P. Ujjenī); the dialect spoken there was related to, and perhaps the ancestor of, the language used in the PAli canon. Avanti was located along the major southern Indian trade route (the DaksinApatha) that passed through sRAVASTĪ in central India, one of the main centers of early Buddhism. Buddhist missionaries following this trade route began to proselytize in the southwest even during the Buddha's lifetime. KAtyAyana, also known as "KAtyAyana the Great" (MAHAKATYAYANA; P. MahAkaccAna), one of the Buddha's ten major disciples, hailed from the Avanti region and later returned to his native land to disseminate Buddhism. He is said to have requested that the Buddha allow for special dispensation to ordain new monks in outlying regions without the requisite number of ten monastic witnesses. PuRnA (P. Punna) was another important disciple from the coastal area of this region (SurpAraka), who returned there to proselytize as well. He is the subject of the PunnovAdasutta (no. 145 in the PAli MAJJHIMANIKAYA) and the PurnAvadAna, which describe his resolve to spread the teachings of Buddhism. Buddhism became firmly established in the Avanti region at least by the time of King AsOKA; Asoka's son, MAHINDA, who later transmitted Buddhism to the island kingdom of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), is said to have been a native of its capital, Ujjayinī. Avanti was a stronghold of the STHAVIRANIKAYA, and its monks led the opposition to ten disputed items in the monastic discipline that resulted in the schism with the MAHASAMGHIKA order.
BAhiya-DArucīriya. (C. Poxijia; J. Bakika; K. Pasaga 婆迦). A lay ARHAT (P. arahant), who is declared by the Buddha to be foremost among those of swift intuition (khippAbhiNNAnaM). According to PAli accounts, BAhiya was a merchant from the town of BAhiya (whence his toponym), who was engaged in maritime trade. He sailed seven times across the seas in search of profit and seven times returned home safely. On an eighth journey, however, he was shipwrecked and floated on a plank until he came ashore near the seaport town of SuppAraka. Having lost his clothes, he dressed himself in tree bark and went regularly to the town to beg for alms with a bowl. Impressed with his demeanor, the people of SuppAraka were exceedingly generous, offering him luxurious gifts and fine clothes, which he consistently refused. Over time, he came to be regarded by the populace as an arhat, and, infatuated with his growing fame, BAhiya also came to believe that he had attained that state of holiness. A BRAHMA god, who had been BAhiya's friend in a previous existence, convinced him out of kindness that he was mistaken and recommended that he seek out the Buddha in sRAVASTĪ (P. SAvatthi). The BrahmA god transported BAhiya to the city of RAJAGṚHA (P. RAjagaha) where the Buddha was then staying and told him to meet the Buddha during his morning alms round. BAhiya approached the Buddha and requested to be taught what was necessary for liberation, but the Buddha refused, saying that alms round was not the time for teaching. BAhiya persisted three times in his request, whereupon the Buddha consented. The Buddha gave him a short lesson in sensory restraint (INDRIYASAMVARA): i.e., "in the seen, there is only the seen; in the heard, only the heard; in what is thought, only the thought," etc. As he listened to the Buddha's terse instruction, BAhiya attained arhatship. As was typical for laypersons who had attained arhatship, BAhiya then requested to be ordained as a monk, but the Buddha refused until BAhiya could be supplied with a bowl and robe. BAhiya immediately went in search of these requisites but along the path encountered an ox, which gored him to death. Disciples who witnessed the event informed the Buddha, who from the beginning had been aware of BAhiya's impending demise. He instructed his disciples to cremate the body and build a reliquary mound (P. thupa, S. STuPA) over the remains; he then explained that BAhiya's destiny was such that he could not be ordained in his final life.
Baiyun Shouduan. (J. Hakuun Shutan; K. Paegun Sudan 白雲守端) (1025-1072). Chinese CHAN master of the LINJI ZONG. Baiyun was a native of Hengyang in present-day Hunan province. After studying with various teachers, Baiyun eventually became a disciple of the Chan master YANGQI FANGHUI (992-1049) and inherited his YANGQI PAI collateral lineage of the Linji school. Baiyun's illustrious career took him to such monasteries as Shengtian Chanyuan in Jiangzhou, Shongsheng Chanyuan in Yuantong, Zhengdao Chanyuan on Mt. Fahua, Ganming Chanyuan on Mt. Longmen, and Haihui Chanyuan on Mt. Baiyun, whence he acquired his toponym. The Yangqi lineage came to dominate the Chan tradition of the Song dynasty largely through the efforts of Baiyun and his disciples. Among Baiyun's disciples, WUZU FAYAN (1024?-1104) is most famous. His teachings can be found in the Baiyun Shouduan yulu, Baiyun Duan heshang guanglu, and Baiyun Duan heshang yuyao.
Baizhang Huaihai. (J. Hyakujo Ekai; K. Paekchang Hoehae 百丈懷海) (749-814). Chinese CHAN monk of the Tang dynasty, who was a dharma successor (FASI) of MAZU DAOYI. Mazu's disciples dedicated a monastery known as Dazhi Shengshou Chansi (Chan Monastery of Great Wisdom and Sagacious Longevity) on Mt. Baizhang (whence Huaihai derived his toponym) and appointed Baizhang Huaihai to be its founding patriarch (kaizu). According to later Song-dynasty accounts, Baizhang compiled for this first independent Chan monastery a novel code of monastic regulations known as the BAIZHANG QINGGUI. This text was said to have been compiled so that Chan monks would no longer need to reside in VINAYA monasteries, where they were regulated by the imported monastic rules of the Indian vinaya tradition, but could now follow a code unique to their own tradition. Because of this supposedly momentous development in Chan history, Baizhang is often heralded as a revolutionary figure within the Chan tradition. However, thus far, no conclusive evidence exists from the time of Baizhang to support this claim. The famous Chan maxim "a day without work is a day without food" is also attributed to Baizhang. He left many famous disciples, among whom GUISHAN LINGYOU and HUANGBO XIYUN are best known.
Ba Khin, U. (1899-1971). Influential lay Burmese teacher of insight meditation (S. VIPAsYANA; P. VIPASSANA). Born to a working-class family in Rangoon, U Ba Khin was educated in Christian middle and high schools. Married with six children, he began his career as a government clerk during the British colonial period, later becoming accountant general of independent Burma. He began practicing vipassanA in 1937 under the guidance of Saya Thet Gyi, a lay meditation teacher and disciple of the Burmese monk LEDI SAYADAW. He explored several styles of tranquility (P. samatha, S. sAMATHA) and insight meditation and eventually developed his own technique of vipassanA by drawing on his own experiences. The method he devised focuses on physical sensations (VEDANA), beginning at the crown of the head and continuing throughout the body; his approach is considered to be especially effective in producing states of deep concentration (SAMADHI). In 1941, U Ba Khin met the famous meditation teacher Webu Sayadaw, who encouraged him to teach his meditation technique to others. He began teaching small groups informally and eventually, while accountant general, taught vipassanA to his staff. Under his influence, the government of Burma instituted a policy of encouraging civil servants to practice meditation as part of their daily routine. In 1952, U Ba Khin established the International Meditation Centre in Rangoon, where he taught meditation and began holding intensive ten-day vipassanA retreats on a regular basis. After his retirement from government service in 1953, he devoted all of his time to promoting vipassanA practice. He also played an active role in the sixth Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, SIXTH), held in Rangoon from 1954-1956. His style of vipassanA is one of the most widely disseminated techniques internationally, and his disciples include such well-known meditation teachers as S. N. Goenka.
Bakkula. [alt. Nakula; Vakula; etc.] (P. Bakkula; T. Ba ku la; C. Bojuluo; J. Hakukura; K. Pakkura 薄拘羅). Sanskrit and PAi name of an ARHAT disciple of the Buddha, who became an arhat only eight days after ordaining at the age of eighty. The Buddha declared him to be foremost among those who enjoyed good health, and also one of the four monks most proficient in superknowledges (ABHIJNA), supernatural powers that are the by-products of meditation. ¶ Bakkula is also traditionally listed as fifth (or, in Tibetan, ninth) of the sixteen arhat elders (sOdAsASTHAVIRA), who are charged by the Buddha with protecting his dispensation until the advent of the next buddha, MAITREYA. He is said to reside in JAMBUDVĪPA with eight hundred disciples. According to the East Asian tradition, Bakkula was a fierce warrior. After he ordained, the Buddha calmed him by making him sit in meditation, whence he became known as the "Quietly Sitting Arhat" (Jingzuo Luohan). Bakkula may be the arhat known by the epithet of Kundovahan (Holder of the Mongoose; C. Juntoupohan) referred to in the sAriputraparipṛcchA ("Sutra of sAriputra's Questions"). In Tibetan iconography he holds a mongoose (nakula) spitting out jewels; East Asian images have him seated in a chair holding a mongoose, sometimes accompanied by a beggar child. In CHANYUE GUANXIU's standard Chinese depiction, Bakkula is shown sitting cross-legged on a rock, with both hands holding a backscratcher over his left shoulder. In Tibetan Buddhism, Bakkula (or Bakula) is the first figure in an important incarnation (SPRUL SKU) lineage of the DGE LUGS sect. The nineteenth Bakula Rinpoche (1917-2003) served in the Indian parliament and as the Indian ambassador to Mongolia. Bakkula is alternatively known in Sanskrit as Bakula, Vakkula, Vakula, Vatkula (cf. P. BAkula; Vakkula).
Bankei Yotaku. (盤珪永琢) (1622-1693). Japanese ZEN master of the Tokugawa period; also known as Eitaku. Bankei was born in the district of Hamada in present-day Hyogo prefecture. According to his sermons, Bankei was dissatisfied with the standard explanations of the concept of "bright virtue" (mingde) found in the CONFUCIAN classic Daxue ("Great Learning"), and sought explanations elsewhere. His search eventually brought him to the temple of Zuioji, the residence of Zen master Unpo Zensho (1568-1653). After he received ordination and the dharma name Yotaku from Unpo, Bankei left his teacher to perform a long pilgrimage (angya) to various temples and hermitages. After what he describes in sermons as an awakening at the age of twenty-six, Bankei continued his post-awakening training under Unpo's senior disciple, Bokuo Sogyu (d. 1694), and perfected the teaching of FUSHo ZEN ("unborn Zen"). Upon hearing of the arrival of the Chinese monk DAOZHE CHAOYUAN in Nagasaki (1651), Bankei traveled to Sofukuji where Daozhe was residing and furthered his studies under the Chinese master. Bankei spent the rest of his life teaching his "unborn Zen" to both lay and clergy in various locations. He also built and restored a great number of temples and hermitages, such as Ryumonji in his native Hamada. In 1672 he was appointed the abbot of the RINZAI monastery of MYoSHINJI in Kyoto.
Bao'en fengben jing. (J. Hoonbubongyo; K. Poŭn pongbun kyong 報恩奉盆經). In Chinese, "Scripture for Offering Bowls to Requite Kindness." Along with the YULANBEN JING, the Bao'en fengben jing details the practice of the ghost festival (YULANBEN) and its mythology. These scriptures describe the pious efforts of Mulian (the Chinese transcription of the Sanskrit name MAUDGALYAYANA), one of the two main disciples of the Buddha, to save his mother from the tortures of her rebirth as a hungry ghost (PRETA). In this scripture, the Buddha explains to Mulian that if someone should make offerings to the SAMGHA in a bowl, the power of the order's meditative practices will be sufficient to save one's ancestors and loved ones from unfortunate rebirths (see APAYA, DURGATI).
Baojing sanmei. (J. Hokyo sanmai/zanmai; K. Pogyong sammae 寶鏡三昧). In Chinese, "Jeweled-Mirror SAMADHI"; a definitive poem on enlightenment and practice from the standpoint of the Chinese CAODONG ZONG; otherwise known as the Baojing sanmei ge, or "GATHA of the Jeweled-Mirror SamAdhi." This lengthy Chinese song is attributed to the Chan master DONGSHAN LIANGJIE and, along with the CANTONG QI, is revered in the Chinese Caodong and Japanese SoTo schools of CHAN and ZEN as the foundational scripture of their tradition. Although the song is traditionally attributed to Dongshan, a number of sources note that Dongshan secretly received this song from his teacher Yunyan Tansheng (780-841), and Dongshan in turn transmitted it to his head disciple CAOSHAN BENJI. The earliest version of this song appears in the entry on Caoshan in the CHANLIN SENGBAO ZHUAN, written in 1123. The Baojing sanmei emphasizes the "inherent enlightenment" (BENJUE; cf. HONGAKU) of sentient beings and the futility of seeking that enlightenment through conscious reflection. Instead, the song urges its audience to allow one's inherently pure enlightened nature to "silently illuminate" itself through meditation (MOZHAO CHAN), as the Buddha did under the BODHI TREE. Numerous commentaries on this song are extant.
Baotang Wuzhu. (J. Hoto Muju: K. Podang Muju 保唐無住) (714-774). Chinese monk in the early CHAN school, who is considered the founder of the BAOTANG ZONG during the Tang dynasty. Baotang is the name of the monastery where Wuzhu resided (located in present-day Sichuan province). Wuzhu is said to have attained awakening through the influence of Chen Chuzhang (d.u.), a lay disciple of the monk Hui'an (582-799; a.k.a. Lao'an); Chen was thought to be an incarnation of the prototypical Buddhist layman VIMALAKĪRTI. According to the LIDAI FABAO JI, Wuzhu attended a mass ordination performed by the Korean monk CHoNGJONG MUSANG at Jingzhong monastery in the city of Chengdu. Upon hearing Musang's instructions to practice in the mountains, Wuzhu left for Baiyaishan, where he remained for the next seven years (759-766). He subsequently went to the monastery Konghuisi, until he finally moved to Baotangsi, where he passed away in the summer of 774. Wuzhu was famous for his antinomian teachings that rejected all devotional practices, and is remembered as the founder of the eponymous BAOTANG ZONG. Wuzhu's successor was a lay disciple by the name of Tu Hongjian, deputy commander-in-chief and vice president of the Imperial Chancellery.
Baotang zong. (J. Hotoshu; K. Podang chong 保唐宗). An important school of the early Chinese CHAN tradition, known for its radically antinomian doctrines. The school takes its name from the monastery (Baotangsi) where the school's putative founder, BAOTANG WUZHU, resided. The monastery was located in Jiannan (in modern-day Sichuan province), in the vicinity of the city of Chengdu. Until the recent discovery of the LIDAI FABAO JI at DUNHUANG, information on this school was limited to the pejorative comments found in the writings of the ninth-century CHAN historian GUIFENG ZONGMI. Owing perhaps to the antinomian teachings espoused by its members, the school was short-lived. The school rejected all soteriological practices and devotional activities. No images of the Buddha were enshrined in their monasteries, and they questioned the value of chanting scriptures and performing repentance rituals. Instead, they insisted on "simply sitting in emptiness and quietude" (zhikong xianzuo) and transmitting "no thought" (WUNIAN) in lieu of formal precepts. The Baotang lineage is often traced back to Hui'an (582-709; also known as Lao'an, "Old An," because of his long life), a disciple of the fifth patriarch HONGREN, and to Hui'an's lay disciple Chen Chuzhang (d.u.), through whose influence Baotang Wuzhu is said to have attained awakening. Although the author of the Lidai fabao ji, a disciple of Wuzhu, attempts to associate the Baotang lineage with that of CHoNGJONG MUSANG, the founder of the JINGZHONG ZONG, these schools are now considered to have been two distinct traditions. Like the Jingzhong school, the Baotang zong also seems to have exerted considerable influence on the development of Tibetan Buddhism, especially on the early teachings of RDZOGS CHEN (dzogchen).
Bardesanes Greek form of Bar Deisan or Bardaisan (154-222?), a Gnostic from Edessa in Mesopotamia in the time of Marcus Aurelius. Little is known of his life, and his teachings must be gathered from fragments preserved by commentators. He has something in common with Valentinus but, if he was ever a disciple of that Gnostic, he soon diverged on his own line. Though his doctrines frequently conflict with those of the Christian Church, he is considered by some to have been a Christian. He derived much of his doctrine from India. At the head of his cosmogony stands the unknown Deity, whose shadow is the root of matter — primordial chaos; from the One and Matter spring the Son, whose union with Sophia produces the elements; and duality pervades the manifested worlds in a system of seven syzygies or pairs of active and passive principles. He upholds human free will, and makes great use of the astrological keys connecting mankind with the seven planetary spheres. As to birth, regeneration, and the inner meaning of baptism, he taught the continuing existence of the essential self through many changes of vehicle.
'Ba' rom bka' brgyud. (Barom Kagyü). One of the eight Tibetan subsects of the BKA' BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism, originating with 'Ba' rom Dar ma dbang phyug (Barom Darma Wangchuk, 1127-1199), a disciple of SGAM PO PA BSOD NAMS RIN CHEN.
Basilides A celebrated Alexandrian Gnostic of about 120 AD, probably born in Syria, whose teachings included a system of emanations and hierarchies of powers; founder of the Basilidian Gnostics, declared an heretical sect. Basilides claimed to have derived his teachings from an original Gospel of Matthew and from Glaucus, a disciple of Peter.
Baumgarten, Alexander Gottlieb: (1714-1762) A German thinker of the pre-Kantian period and disciple of Christian Wolff whose encyclopaedic work he tried to continue. Among his works the best known is Aesthetica in which he analyzes the problem of beauty regarded by him as recognition of perfection by means of the senses. The name of aesthetics, as the philosophy of beauty and art, was introduced by him for the first time. -- R.B.W.
Bdag med ma. (Dakmema) (fl. c. eleventh century). Chief of the nine wives of the renowned Tibetan translator MAR PA CHOS KYI BLO GROS. Bdag med ma plays a leading role in the life story of Marpa's chief disciple MI LA RAS PA, as his benefactor, confidant, and teacher. Her name, literally "selfless woman," is the Tibetan translation for the Sanskrit goddess NAIRATMYA, consort of the deity HEVAJRA. Marpa's principal chosen deity (YI DAM) was Hevajra, and it is believed that Marpa's family represented the nine deity Hevajra MAndALA (Kye'i rdo rje lha dgu) consisting of Hevajra and NairAtmyA in the center surrounded by eight goddesses.
discipled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Disciple
disciple ::: n. --> One who receives instruction from another; a scholar; a learner; especially, a follower who has learned to believe in the truth of the doctrine of his teacher; an adherent in doctrine; as, the disciples of Plato; the disciples of our Savior. ::: v. t. --> To teach; to train.
disciple. See sRĀVAKA.
discipleship ::: n. --> The state of being a disciple or follower in doctrines and precepts.
disciples ::: “In considering the action of the Infinite we have to avoid the error of the disciple who thought of himself as the Brahman, refused to obey the warning of the elephant-driver to budge from the narrow path and was taken up by the elephant’s trunk and removed out of the way; ‘You are no doubt the Brahman,’ said the master to his bewildered disciple, ‘but why did you not obey the driver Brahman and get out of the path of the elephant Brahman?’” The Life Divine
discipless ::: n. --> A female disciple.
disciples ::: those who are pupils or adherents of the doctrines of another; followers.
Bee(s) Greek and Roman writers, having in mind the terminology of the Mysteries, used the term bees (melissai) to denote both priestesses and women disciples. Thus it was used for the priestesses of Delphi and other Mysteries, and by the Neoplatonists for pure and chaste persons. Honey and nectar are symbols of wisdom.
beidou qixing. (J. hokuto shichisho; K. puktu ch'ilsong 北斗七星). In Chinese, "seven stars of the Northern Dipper" (viz., the Big Dipper, or Ursa Major); Daoist divinities that are also prominent in Korean Buddhism, where they are typically known as the ch'ilsong. The cult of the seven stars of the Big Dipper developed within Chinese Buddhist circles through influence from indigenous Daoist schools, who worshipped these seven deities to guard against plague and other misfortunes. The apocryphal Beidou qixing yanming jing ("Book of the Prolongation of Life through Worshipping the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper"), suggests a correlation between the healing buddha BHAIsAJYAGURU and the Big Dipper cult by addressing the seven-star TATHAGATAs (qixing rulai) with names that are very similar to Bhaisajyaguru's seven emanations. This indigenous Chinese scripture (see APOCRYPHA), which derives from an early Daoist text on Big Dipper worship, is certainly dated no later than the late thirteenth or early fourteenth centuries but may have been composed as early as the middle of the eighth century; it later was translated into Uighur, Mongolian, and Tibetan, as part of the Mongol Yuan dynasty's extension of power throughout the Central Asian region. Thanks to this scripture, the seven-star cult became associated in Buddhism with the prolongation of life. We know that seven-star worship had already been introduced into esoteric Buddhist ritual by at least the eighth century because of two contemporary manuals that discuss HOMA fire offerings to the seven stars: VAJRABODHI's (671-741) Beidou qixing niansong yigui ("Ritual Procedures for Invoking the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper") and his disciple AMOGHAVAJRA's (705-774) Beidou qixing humo miyao yigui ("Esoteric Ritual Procedure for the Homa Offering to the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper"). Renderings of DHARAnĪ sutras dedicated to the tathAgata TEJAPRABHA (Qixingguang Rulai), who is said to be master of the planets and the twenty-eight asterisms, are also attributed to Amoghavajra's translation bureau. Worship of the seven stars within esoteric Buddhist circles was therefore certainly well established in China by the eighth century during the Tang dynasty and probably soon afterward in Korean Buddhism. ¶ The worship of the Big Dipper in Korea may date as far back as the Megalithic period, as evidenced by the engraving of the Big Dipper and other asterisms on dolmens or menhirs. In the fourth-century Ji'an tombs of the Koguryo kingdom (37 BCE-668 CE), one of the traditional Three Kingdoms of early Korea, a mural of the Big Dipper is found on the north wall of tomb no. 1, along with an accompanying asterism of the six stars of Sagittarius (sometimes called the Southern Dipper) on the south wall; this juxtaposition is presumed to reflect the influence of the Shangqing school of contemporary Chinese Daoism. Court rituals to the seven stars and the tathAgata Tejaprabha date from the twelfth century during the Koryo dynasty. By at least the thirteen century, the full range of texts and ritual practices associated with the seven-star deities were circulating in Korea. At the popular level in Korea, the divinities of the Big Dipper were thought to control longevity, especially for children, and the ch'ilsong cult gained widespread popularity during the Choson dynasty (1392-1910). This popularization is in turn reflected in the ubiquity in Korean monasteries of "seven-stars shrines" (ch'ilsonggak), which were typically located in less-conspicuous locations along the outer perimeter of the monasteries and were worshipped primarily by the nonelite. Inside these shrines were hung seven-star paintings (T'AENGHWA), which typically depict the tathAgatas of the seven stars, with the tathAgata Tejaprabha presiding at the center. There are also several comprehensive ritual and liturgical manuals compiled during the Choson dynasty and Japanese colonial period in Korea that include rituals and invocations to the seven stars and Tejaprabha, most dedicated to the prolongation of life. Along with the mountain god (sansin), who also often has his own shrine in the monasteries of Korea, the role of the ch'ilsong in Korean Buddhism is often raised in the scholarship as an example of Buddhism's penchant to adapt beliefs and practices from rival religions. Although ch'ilsong worship has declined markedly in contemporary Korea, the ch'ilsokche, a worship ceremony dedicated to the tathAgata Tejaprabha, is occasionally held at some Buddhist monasteries on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, with lay believers praying for good fortune and the prevention of calamity.
Being: In early Greek philosophy is opposed either to change, or Becoming, or to Non-Being. According to Parmenides and his disciples of the Eleatic School, everything real belongs to the category of Being, as the only possible object of thought. Essentially the same reasoning applies also to material reality in which there is nothing but Being, one and continuous, all-inclusive and eternal. Consequently, he concluded, the coming into being and passing away constituting change are illusory, for that which is-not cannot be, and that which is cannot cease to be. In rejecting Eleitic monism, the materialists (Leukippus, Democritus) asserted that the very existence of things, their corporeal nature, insofar as it is subject to change and motion, necessarily presupposes the other than Being, that is, Non-Being, or Void. Thus, instead of regarding space as a continuum, they saw in it the very source of discontinuity and the foundation of the atomic structure of substance. Plato accepted the first part of Parmenides' argument. namely, that referring to thought as distinct from matter, and maintained that, though Becoming is indeed an apparent characteristic of everything sensory, the true and ultimate reality, that of Ideas, is changeless and of the nature of Being. Aristotle achieved a compromise among all these notions and contended that, though Being, as the essence of things, is eternal in itself, nevertheless it manifests itself only in change, insofar as "ideas" or "forms" have no existence independent of, or transcendent to, the reality of things and minds. The medieval thinkers never revived the controversy as a whole, though at times they emphasized Being, as in Neo-Platonism, at times Becoming, as in Aristotelianism. With the rise of new interest in nature, beginning with F. Bacon, Hobbes and Locke, the problem grew once more in importance, especially to the rationalists, opponents of empiricism. Spinoza regarded change as a characteristic of modal existence and assumed in this connection a position distantly similar to that of Pinto. Hegel formed a new answer to the problem in declaring that nature, striving to exclude contradictions, has to "negate" them: Being and Non-Being are "moments" of the same cosmic process which, at its foundation, arises out of Being containing Non-Being within itself and leading, factually and logically, to their synthetic union in Becoming. -- R.B.W.
Bei zong. (J. Hokushu; K. Puk chong 北宗). In Chinese, "Northern school"; a designation for an early tradition of the CHAN school that flourished in the seventh and eighth centuries, and referring specifically to the lineage of SHENXIU and his disciples. The doctrines of the "Northern school" are known to have focused on the transcendence of thoughts (linian) and the five expedient means (fangbian; S. UPAYA); these teachings appear in "Northern school" treatises discovered at Dunhuang, such as the DASHENG WUSHENG FANGBIAN MEN, YUANMING LUN, and Guanxin lun. The appellations "Northern school" and "Southern school" (NAN ZONG) began to be used widely throughout the Tang dynasty, largely due to the efforts of HEZE SHENHUI and his followers. As a result of Shenhui's polemical attacks on Shenxiu and his followers, later Chan historians such as GUIFENG ZONGMI came to speak of a "Northern school" whose teachings promoted a "gradual awakening" (JIANWU) approach to enlightenment (see SUDDEN-GRADUAL ISSUE); this school was distinguished from a superior "Southern school," which was founded on the prospect of "sudden awakening" (DUNWU). While such a characterization is now known to be misleading, subsequent genealogical histories of the Chan tradition (see CHUANDENG LU) more or less adopted Shenhui's vision of early Chan wherein the legendary sixth patriarch (LIUZU) HUINENG, rather than Shenxiu, became the bearer of the orthodox transmission from the fifth patriarch HONGREN. The LIUZU TAN JING played an important role in making this characterization of a gradualist Northern school and a subitist Southern school part of the mainstream tradition. Despite Shenhui's virulent attacks, Shenxiu and his disciples YIFU (661-736), PUJI (651-739), and XIANGMO ZANG played a much more important role in the early growth of Chan than the later tradition generally acknowledges. There is strong evidence, in fact, that Shenxiu was considered by his contemporaries to be the legitimate successor to the fifth patriarch Hongren and he and his followers were part of the metropolitan elite and wielded deep influence at the Chinese imperial court. The Northern school also seems to have been a force in Tibetan Buddhism during the eighth century and the Northern-school monk Heshang MOHEYAN was the Chinese protagonist in the famous BSAM YAS DEBATE.
Beni-Nabim (Hebrew) Bĕnēi Nĕbī’īm [from bēn son, disciple + nābī’ seer, prophet] Sons of seers; disciples of prophets. Blavatsky speaks of the Essenes as descendants of the Beni-Nabim (IU 1:xxx).
BhaddA-KundalakesA. (S. *BhadrA-KundalakesA; C. Batuo Juntuoluojuyiguo; J. Batsuda Gundarakuikoku; K. Palt'a Kundaraguiguk 拔陀軍陀羅拘夷國). A female ARHAT whom the Buddha declared foremost among his nun disciples in swift intuition (khippAbhiNNA). According to PAli sources, BhaddA was the daughter of the treasurer of RAjagaha (S. RAJAGṚHA). She witnessed once from her window a handsome thief named Sattuka being led off to execution and instantly fell in love with him. Pleading that she could not live without the young man, she persuaded her father to bribe the guard to release the thief into his custody. Sattuka was bathed and brought to the treasurer's home, where BhaddA bedecked in her finest jewelry waited upon him. Sattuka feigned love for her, all the while plotting to murder her for her jewelry. One day he informed her that he had once promised the deity of Robbers' Cliff that, if he were ever to escape punishment, he would make an offering to the god, and that now the time was at hand to fulfill his promise. BhaddA trusted him and, after preparing an offering for the deity, she accompanied Sattuka to the cliff adorned in her finest jewelry. Once they reached the edge of the cliff, he informed her of his real intentions, and without hesitation, she begged him to let her embrace him one last time. He agreed and, while feigning an embrace, BhaddA pushed him over the cliff to his death. The local deity commended her for her cleverness and presence of mind. BhaddA refused to return to her father's house after what had happened and joined the JAINA nuns' order. As part of her ascetic regime, she pulled out her hair with a palmyra comb, but it grew back in curls, hence her epithet KundalakesA, "Curly Hair." BhaddA was exceptionally intelligent and soon grew dissatisfied with Jain teachings. She wandered as a solitary mendicant, challenging all she encountered to debate and quickly proved her proficiency. Once she debated SAriputta (S. sARIPUTRA), one of the Buddha's two chief disciples, who answered all her questions. He then asked her, "One: What is that?," which left her speechless. She asked SAriputta to be her teacher, but he instead brought her before the Buddha, who preached her a sermon about it being better to know one verse bringing tranquillity than a thousand profitless verses. Hearing the Buddha's words, she immediately became an ARHAT and the Buddha personally ordained her as a nun in his order.
Bhaddiya-KAligodhAputta. (S. *Bhadrika-KAligodhAputrika; C. Bati; J. Batsudai; K. Palche 跋提). An ARHAT whom the Buddha declared foremost among his disciples of aristocratic birth (P. uccakulika). According to PAli sources, Bhaddiya was the son of lady KAligodhA and belonged to the royal SAkiyan (S. sAKYA) clan of Kapilavatthu (S. KAPILAVASTU) and entered the order together with Anuruddha (S. ANIRUDDHA) and other nobles in the Anupiya mango grove. Bhaddiya and Anuruddha were childhood friends. When Anuruddha decided to renounce the world, his mother agreed, but only on the condition that Bhaddiya accompany him. Her hope was that Bhaddiya would dissuade him, but in the end Anuruddha instead convinced Bhaddiya to join him as a renunciant. Soon after his ordination, Bhaddiya attained arhatship and subsequently dwelled in solitude beneath a tree, exclaiming, "Oh happiness, Oh happiness!," as he reveled in the bliss of NIRVAnA. When the Buddha queried him about his exclamation, he explained that as a prince in his realm he was well guarded but nevertheless always felt anxious of enemies; now, however, having renounced all worldly things, he was finally free from all fear. Bhaddiya was regal in bearing, a consequence of having been born a king five hundred times in previous lives. During the time of Padumuttara Buddha, he was the son of a wealthy family and performed numerous meritorious deeds, which earned him this distinction under the current buddha GAUTAMA.
Bhadrakalpikasutra. (T. Bskal pa bzang po'i mdo/Mdo sde bskal bzang; C. Xianjie jing; J. Gengogyo; K. Hyon'gop kyong 賢劫經). In Sanskrit, "Auspicious Eon Scripture"; a MAHAYANA text in twenty-four chapters, written c. 200-250 CE and translated into Chinese by DHARMARAKsA in either 291 or 300 CE. In this scripture, the Buddha teaches a special concentration (SAMADHI) through the mastery of which bodhisattvas come to be equipped with 2,100 perfections (PARAMITA), 84,000 samAdhis and 84,000 codes (DHARAnĪ). He then lists the names of a thousand buddhas who will appear during the "auspicious eon" (BHADRAKALPA) due to the merit they obtained from practicing this samAdhi, as well as their residences, parents, disciples, spiritual powers, teachings, and so on. In the Tibetan BKA' 'GYUR the Bhadrakalpikasutra takes pride of place as the first in the sutra section (mdo sde); it is recited often, and it is not uncommon for the elaborate hagiographies (RNAM THAR) of important Tibetan religious figures or incarnations (SPRUL SKU) to identify their subject as an earlier rebirth of one of the thousand buddhas.
Bhadra-KapilAnī. (P. BhaddA-KapilAnī; C. Batuoluo Jiabeiliye; J. Batsudara Kahiriya; K. Palt'ara Kabiriya 跋陀羅迦卑梨耶). A female ARHAT whom the Buddha declared to be foremost among his nun disciples in her ability to recall former lives (PuRVANIVASANUSMṚTI). According to PAli sources, she was the daughter of a wealthy man named Kapila and was married to Pipphali, a landlord's son who later was to become the great arhat MahAkassapa (S. MAHAKAsYAPA). It is said that Pipphali was inclined toward renunciation and only agreed to his parents' request that he marry on the condition that it be a woman as lovely as a beautiful statue he had crafted. BhaddA was found to be the equal of the statue in beauty and arrangements were made for their wedding. But BhaddA too was similarly inclined toward renunciation and, although she and Pipphali finally consented to marry for the sake of their parents, they chose not to consummate their marriage. Pipphali was master of a grand estate and one day, while observing a plowman plow one of his fields, saw birds eating worms turned up by the plow. At the same time, BhaddA witnessed crows eating insects as they scurried among sesame seeds drying in the sun. Filled with pity and remorse for indirectly causing the death of those creatures, the couple resolved to renounce the world and take up the life of mendicancy. After shaving their heads and donning the yellow robes of mendicants, Pipphali and BhaddA abandoned their estate and wandered forth into homelessness, parting company at a fork in the road. Pipphali met the Buddha and was ordained as MahAkAssapa and soon attained arhatship. BhaddA took up residence in a hermitage near the JETAVANA Grove named TitthiyArAma. There she dwelled for five years, unable to take ordination because the nuns' (BHIKsUnĪ) order had not yet been established. When MAHAPRAJAPATĪ GAUTAMĪ was finally granted permission to begin a nuns' order, BhaddA took ordination from her and quickly attained arhatship. BhaddA KapilAnī became a famous preacher, though several of her disciples are recorded as having been unruly and ill disciplined.
Bhadra. (P. Bhadda; T. Bzang po; C. Batuoluo zunzhe; J. Batsudara sonja; K. Palt'ara chonja 跋陀羅尊者). The Sanskrit name of the sixth of the sixteen ARHAT elders (sOdAsASTHAVIRA), who are charged by the Buddha with protecting his dispensation until the advent of the next buddha, MAITREYA. He is said to reside in Sri Lanka with nine hundred disciples. His mother gave birth to him under the bhadra (auspicious) tree, hence his name. A cousin of the Buddha, he served as his attendant and was famed for his clear exposition of the teachings. In the Chinese tradition, he is charged with matters related to bathing and his image is therefore enshrined in bath houses in some mountain monasteries. In CHANYUE GUANXIU's standard Chinese depiction, Bhadra typically sits on a rock in meditation. His forehead is high, his cheeks plump, and his gaze is turned slightly upward. His right hand is hidden under his robes and his left hand rests on his knee, holding prayer beads (JAPAMALA). Some East Asian images also show him accompanied by a tiger. In Tibetan iconography, he holds his left hand at his chest in VITARKAMUDRA, his right at his lap in DHYANAMUDRA.
Bhadrika. (P. Bhaddiya; T. Bzang ldan; C. Poti/Renxian; J. Badai/Ninken; K. Paje/Inhyon 婆提/仁賢). In Sanskrit, "Felicitous," one of the five ascetics (S. PANCAVARGIKA; P. paNcavaggiyA), along with AJNATAKAUndINYA (P. ANNakondaNNa), AsVAJIT (P. Assaji), VAsPA (P. Vappa), and MAHANAMAN (P. MahAnAma), who practiced austerities with GAUTAMA before his enlightenment; he later became one of the Buddha's first disciples upon hearing the first "turning of the wheel of the DHARMA" (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA; P. dhammacakkappavatana) at the ṚsIPATANA (P. Isipatana) deer park. When Gautama first renounced the world to practice austerities, Bhadrika and his four companions accompanied him (some texts say that the Buddha's father, King sUDDHODANA, dispatched them to ensure his son's safety). Later, when Gautama abandoned the severe asceticism they had been practicing in favor of the middle way (MADHYAMAPRATIPAD), Bhadrika and his companions became disgusted with Gautama's backsliding and left him, going to practice in the Ṛsipatana deer park, located in the northeast of Benares. After the Buddha's enlightenment, however, the Buddha sought them out to teach them the first sermon, the DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASuTRA (P. DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANASUTTA); Bhadrika became a stream-enterer (SROTAAPANNA) while listening to this sermon and was immediately ordained as a monk using the informal EHIBHIKsUKA (P. ehi bhikkhu), or "come, monk," formula. Five days later, the Buddha then preached to the group of five monks the second sermon, the *AnAtmalaksanasutra (P. ANATTALAKKHAnASUTTA), which led to Bhadrika becoming an arhat. Bhadrika is presumed to have been related to the Buddha on his father King suddhodana's side and was the son of one of the eight brAhmanas who attended Gautama's naming ceremony, when it was predicted he would become either a wheel-turning monarch (CAKRAVARTIN; P. cakkavattin) or a buddha. There are several variant transcriptions of Bhadrika's name in Chinese and a number of different translations, including Xiaoxian (J. Shoken; K. Sohyon), Shanxian (J. Zenken; K. Sonhyon), Renxian (J. Ninken; K. Inhyon), and Youxian (J. Yuken; K. Yuhyon). ¶ For another Bhadrika (P. Bhaddiya) known in the mainstream Buddhist literature as chief among monks of aristocratic birth, see BHADDIYA-KAlIGODHAPUTTA.
Bhakti (Sanskrit) Bhakti [from the verbal root bhaj to divide, share, serve, love] As a noun, devotion or affectionate attachment; also one of the paths (margas) followed by the disciple or student, which might be translated as liberation by faith or love.
bids his disciples not to despise the little ones and
Biyan lu. (J. Hekiganroku; K. Pyogam nok 碧巖録). In Chinese, "Emerald Grotto Record" or, as it is popularly known in the West, the "Blue Cliff Record"; compiled by CHAN master YUANWU KEQIN; also known by its full title of Foguo Yuanwu chanshi biyan lu ("Emerald Grotto Record of Chan Master Foguo Yuanwu"). The Biyan lu is one of the two most famous and widely used collection of Chan cases (GONG'AN), along with the WUMEN GUAN ("The Gateless Checkpoint"). The anthology is built around XUEDOU CHONGXIAN's Xuedou heshang baice songgu, an earlier independent collection of one hundred old Chan cases (GUCE) with verse commentary; Xuedou's text is embedded within the Biyan lu and Yuanwu's comments are interspersed throughout. Each of the one hundred cases, with a few exceptions, is introduced by a pointer (CHUISHI), a short introductory paragraph composed by Yuanwu. Following the pointer, the term "raised" (ju) is used to formally mark the actual case. Each case is followed by interlinear notes known as annotations or capping phrases (ZHUOYU; J. JAKUGO) and prose commentary (PINGCHANG), both composed by Yuanwu. The phrase "the verse says" (song yue) subsequently introduces Xuedou's verse, which is also accompanied by its own capping phrases and prose commentary, both added by Yuanwu. The cases, comments, and capping phrases found in the Biyan lu were widely used and read among both the clergy and laity in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam as an contemplative tool in Chan meditation practice and, in some contexts, as a token of social or institutional status. A famous (or perhaps infamous) story tells of the Chan master DAHUI ZONGGAO, the major disciple of Yuanwu, burning his teacher's Biyan lu for fear that his students would become attached to the words of Xuedou and Yuanwu. The Biyan lu shares many cases with the Wumen guan, and the two texts continue to function as the foundation of training in the Japanese RINZAI Zen school.
bka' babs bzhi. (kabap shi). In Tibetan, "four instructional lineages" (bka' means words-of a buddha or enlightened master-and babs means to descend in a stream); a series of tantric instructions that the Indian SIDDHA TILOPA received from various masters, codified, and then passed on to his disciple NAROPA. These later became foundational teachings for the BKA' BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism and were incorporated into the six doctrines of NAropa (NA RO CHOS DRUG). Tibetan sources vary widely regarding the lineage and content of these four transmissions. According to a biography of Tilopa composed by MAR PA CHOS KYI BLO GROS, they are (1) the transmission of illusory body (T. sgyu lus kyi bka' babs) received from the siddha NAGARJUNA; (2) the transmission of dreams (T. rmi lam gyi bka' babs) received from the siddha CaryApa; (3) the transmission of clear light (T. 'od gsal gyi bka' babs) received from the siddha Lavapa; and (4) the transmission of inner heat (T. gtum mo'i bka' babs) received from JNAnadAkinī. According to other sources, these four may alternatively include the transmissions of MAHAMUDRA, the intermediate state (BAR DO), mother tantra (MATṚTANTRA), father tantra (PITṚTANTRA), and individual tantras such as the tantra of CAKRASAMVARA, HEVAJRA, and GUHYASAMAJA.
Bka' brgyud che bzhi chung brgyad. (Kagyü che shi chung gye). In Tibetan, the "Four Major and Eight Minor Bka' brgyud." A division of the BKA' BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism into various sects and subsects stemming from the disciples of SGAM PO PA BSOD RNAM RIN CHEN. The terms "major" and "minor" indicate a relative proximity to the master Sgam po pa and carry no quantitative or qualitative overtones. The four major subsects follow from the direct disciples of Sgam po pa and his nephew Dwags po Sgom tshul (Dakpo Gomtshul, 1116-1169):
Bka' brgyud. (Kagyü). In Tibetan, "Oral Lineage" or "Lineage of the Buddha's Word"; one of the four main sects of Tibetan Buddhism. The term bka' brgyud is used by all sects of Tibetan Buddhism in the sense of an oral transmission of teachings from one generation to the next, a transmission that is traced back to India. Serving as the name of a specific sect, the name Bka' brgyud refers to a specific lineage, the MAR PA BKA' BRGYUD, the "Oral Lineage of Mar pa," a lineage of tantric initiations, instructions, and practices brought to Tibet from India by the translator MAR PA CHOS KYI BLO GROS in the eleventh century. Numerous sects and subsects evolved from this lineage, some of which developed a great deal of autonomy and institutional power. In this sense, it is somewhat misleading to describe Bka' brgyud as a single sect; there is, for example, no single head of the sect as in the case of SA SKYA or DGE LUGS. The various sects and subsects, however, do share a common retrospection to the teachings that Mar pa retrieved from India. Thus, rather than refer to Bka' brgyud as one of four sects (chos lugs), in Tibetan the Mar pa Bka' brgyud is counted as one of the eight streams of tantric instruction, the so-called eight great chariot-like lineages of achievement (SGRUB BRGYUD SHING RTA CHEN PO BRGYAD), a group which also includes the RNYING MA, the BKA' GDAMS of ATIsA, and the instructions on "severance" (GCOD) of MA GCIG LAB SGRON. In some Tibetan histories, Mar pa's lineage is called the Dkar brgyud ("White Lineage"), named after the white cotton shawls worn by its yogins in their practice of solitary meditation. The reading Dka' brgyud ("Austerities Lineage") is also found. The lineage from which all the sects and subsects derive look back not only to Mar pa, but to his teacher, and their teachers, traced back to the tantric buddha VAJRADHARA. Vajradhara imparted his instructions to the Indian MAHASIDDHA TILOPA, who in turn transmitted them to the Bengali scholar and yogin NAROPA. It was NAropa (in fact, his disciples) whom Mar pa encountered during his time in India, receiving the famous NA RO CHOS DRUG, or the six doctrines of NAropa. Mar pa returned to Tibet, translated the texts and transmitted these and other teachings (including MAHAMUDRA, the hallmark practice of Bka' brgyud) to a number of disciples, including his most famous student, MI LA RAS PA. These five figures-the buddha Vajradhara, the Indian tantric masters Tilopa and NAropa, and their Tibetan successors Mar pa and Mi la ras pa (both of whom were laymen rather than monks)-form a lineage that is recognized and revered by all forms of Bka' brgyud. One of Mi la ras pa's chief disciples, the physician and monk SGAM PO PA BSOD NAMS RIN CHEN united the tantric instructions he received from Mi la ras pa and presented them in the monastic and exegetical setting that he knew from his studies in the Bka' gdams sect. Sgam po pa, therefore, appears to have been instrumental in transforming an itinerant movement of lay yogins into a sect with a strong monastic element. He established an important monastery in the southern Tibetan region of Dwags po; in acknowledgment of his importance, the subsequent branches of the Bka' brgyud are sometimes collectively known as the DWAGS PO BKA' BRGYUD. The Bka' brgyud later divided into what is known in Tibetan as the "four major and eight minor Bka' brgyud" (BKA' BRGYUD CHE BZHI CHUNG BRGYAD). A number of these subsects no longer survive as independent institutions, although the works of their major figures continue to be studied. Among those that survive, the KARMA BKA' BRGYUD, 'BRI GUNG BKA' BRGYUD, and 'BRUG PA BKA' BRGYUD continue to play an important role in Tibet, the Himalayan region, and in exile.
Bka' brgyud sngags mdzod. (Kagyü Ngagdzo). In Tibetan, "Treasury of Bka' brgyud Mantra"; a compilation of tantric teachings belonging to the BKA' BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism, compiled and edited in six volumes by the nineteenth-century Tibetan master 'JAM MGON KONG SPRUL BLO GROS MTHA' YAS. The collection forms one of the five treasuries of Kong sprul (KONG SPRUL MDZOD LNGA), and largely preserves the esoteric instructions transmitted by Bka' brgyud founder MAR PA CHOS KYI BLO GROS to his disciple Rngog Chos sku rdo rje (Ngok Choku Dorje).
Bka' gdams. (Kadam). An early sect of Tibetan Buddhism. In Tibetan, BKA' (ka) is the word of the Buddha or an enlightened master, and gdams (dam) means "to instruct"; traditionally the compound is parsed as "those who take all of the Buddha's words as instruction." Another etymology associates the word bka' with the words of ATIsA DĪPAMKARAsRĪJNANA, whose followers began the early sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and in place of gdams "to advise" understands dam "to bind," hence, "those who hold his sacred words as binding." The origins of the sect are traced back to the founding of RWA SGRENG monastery in 1056 by Atisa's foremost disciple and interpreter 'BROM STON RGYAL BA'I 'BYUNG GNAS. The three main students of 'Brom ston pa are Po to ba Rin chen gsal (Potowa), Spyan mnga' ba Tshul khrims 'bar (Chen Ngawa), and Bu chung ba Gzhon nu rgyal mtshan (Bu chungwa), from whom originate the three principal Bka' gdams lineages (bka' babs): (1) the authoritative treatises (gzhung) lineage, (2) the essential instruction (gdams ngag) lineage, and (3) the oral instruction (man ngag) lineage, respectively. Po to ba's authoritative treatise lineage emphasized the close study of six paired fundamental Buddhist treatises: the BODHISATTVABHuMI and MAHAYANASuTRALAMKARA, the BODHICARYAVATARA and sIKsASAMUCCAYA, and the JATAKAMALA and UDANAVARGA. The teachings of the lineage of oral instructions are collected in the BKA' GDAMS GLEGS BAM PHA CHOS BU CHOS. The sect is probably best known for its strict discipline and austerity of practice, but the Gsang phu ne'u thog Bka' gdams lineage that is traced back to the founding of the monastery of GSANG PHU NE'U THOG in about 1073 by RNGOG LEGS PA'I SHES RAB, an immediate disciple of Atisa, and his nephew, the translator RNGOG BLO LDAN SHES RAB, gave the Bka' gdams a well-deserved reputation as a sect of great learning. Monks from Gsang phu ne'u thog like PHYWA PA CHOS KYI SENG GE wrote important works on PRAMAnA (logic and epistemology) and formalized debate (rtsod rigs). The Bka' gdams was responsible for the distinctive Tibetan BSTAN RIM (tenrim) ("stages of teaching") genre, based on Atisa's seminal work, the BODHIPATHAPRADĪPA. This genre was later adapted and popularized by TSONG KHA PA in his influential LAM RIM CHEN MO. Tsong kha pa idealized Atisa as the perfect teacher and his early DGE LUGS PA followers, first called Dga' ldan pa (Gandenpa) after the DGA' LDAN monastery he founded, were also known as the new Bka' gdams pa. After the rise of the Dge lugs sect, the Bka' gdams disappeared from Tibetan history, for reasons still not fully understood, with only the monasteries of Rwa sgreng and SNAR THANG retaining their original affiliation.
Bkra shis lhun po. (Tashi Lhunpo). A Tibetan monastery that served as the seat of the PAn CHEN LAMAs, located in the Tibetan city of Gzhi ka rtse (Shigatse), and considered one of the six great institutions of the DGE LUGS sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The others include SE RA, 'BRAS SPUNGS, and DGA' LDAN, all located near LHA SA, together with BLA BRANG BKRA SHIS 'KHYIL and SKU 'BUM, in the northeast region of A mdo. Bkra shis lhun po was founded in 1447 by DGE 'DUN GRUB, a disciple of the Dge lugs luminary TSONG KHA PA. In 1618, the KARMA BKA' BRGYUD monastery Bkra shis zil gnon (Tashi Silnon, "Tashi Lhunpo Suppressor") was established on a nearby hill and, for a short while, superceded Bkra shis lhun po, but it was eventually destroyed amid sectarian strife between the rival institutions. The cleric BLO BZANG CHOS KYI RGYAL MTSHAN enlarged Bkra shis lhun po's original structure, and the fifth Dalai Lama NGAG DBANG BLO BZANG RGYA MTSHO conferred upon him the title of PAn CHEN LAMA, "Great Scholar." Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan was affirmed as the fourth such master, with the first three prelates recognized posthumously, beginning with Tsong kha pa's disciple MKHAS GRUB DGE LEGS DPAL BZANG. The Pan chen Lama was elevated to a position of great religious and political authority, officially ranking second after the Dalai Lama but often acting as his tutor and occasionally rivaling him in political power. His monastery thus became a key institution in the religious and political history of central and western Tibet from the seventeenth century onward. The large monastic complex of assembly halls, temples, and residences, including its famous golden roof, was spared major destruction during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
Blavatsky identifies Orpheus with Arjuna, son of Indra and disciple of Krishna, who taught mankind, established Mysteries, and went to Patala (hell or the Antipodes) and there marries the daughter of the naga king (TG 242).
Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan. (Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen) (1570-1662). A Tibetan Buddhist scholar and incarnate lama (SPRUL SKU), revered as the first or the fourth PAn CHEN LAMA; he was the first to receive the title. He entered BKRA SHIS LHUN PO monastery at age seventeen and in 1601 ascended the throne as the monastery's abbot. He also later served as abbot of 'BRAS SPUNGS and SE RA. He lived during a formative period in Tibetan history that saw the rise to power of the DALAI LAMA institution and the DGA' LDAN PHO BRANG government, and the demise of the political power of the KARMA BKA' BRGYUD sect and their Gtsang patrons. Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan was instrumental in forging alliances between the emerging DGE LUGS sect and powerful families associated with the RNYING MA sect. He discovered and served as tutor to the fifth Dalai Lama, NGAG DBANG BLO BZANG RGYA MTSHO, who recognized Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan's achievements and conferred on him the title pandita chen po, or "great scholar," from which the name Pan chen Lama is derived. Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtsan is traditionally viewed as the fourth such master, with the first three prelates recognized posthumously as the previous incarnations, beginning with the Dge lugs founder TSONG KHA PA's disciple MKHAS GRUB DGE LEGS DPAL BZANG. For this reason, Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan is also sometimes considered the fourth Pan chen Lama.
BodhgayA. (S. BuddhagayA). Modern Indian place name for the most significant site in the Buddhist world, renowned as the place where sAKYAMUNI Buddha (then, still the BODHISATTVA prince SIDDHARTHA) became a buddha while meditating under the BODHI TREE at the "seat of enlightenment" (BODHIMAndA) or the "diamond seat" (VAJRASANA). The site is especially sacred because, according to tradition, not only did sAkyamuni Buddha attain enlightenment there, but all buddhas of this world system have or will do so, albeit under different species of trees. BodhgayA is situated along the banks of the NAIRANJANA river, near RAJAGṚHA, the ancient capital city of the MAGADHA kingdom. Seven sacred places are said to be located in BodhgayA, each being a site where the Buddha stayed during each of the seven weeks following his enlightenment. These include, in addition to the bodhimanda under the Bodhi tree: the place where the Buddha sat facing the Bodhi tree during the second week, with an unblinking gaze (and hence the site of the animesalocana caitya); the place where the Buddha walked back and forth in meditation (CAnKRAMA) during the third week; the place called the ratnagṛha, where the Buddha meditated during the fourth week, emanating rays of light from his body; the place under the ajapAla tree where the god BRAHMA requested that the Buddha turn the wheel of the dharma (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA) during the fifth week; the lake where the NAGA MUCILINDA used his hood to shelter the Buddha from a storm during the sixth week; and the place under the rAjAyatana tree where the merchants TRAPUsA and BHALLIKA met the Buddha after the seventh week, becoming his first lay disciples. ¶ Located in the territory of MAGADHA (in modern Bihar), the ancient Indian kingdom where the Buddha spent much of his teaching career, BodhgayA is one of the four major pilgrimage sites (MAHASTHANA) sanctioned by the Buddha himself, along with LUMBINĪ in modern-day Nepal, where the Buddha was born; the Deer Park (MṚGADAVA) at SARNATH, where he first taught by "turning the wheel of the dharma" (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA); and KUsINAGARĪ in Uttar Pradesh, where he passed into PARINIRVAnA. According to the AsOKAVADANA, the emperor AsOKA visited BodhgayA with the monk UPAGUPTA and established a STuPA at the site. There is evidence that Asoka erected a pillar and shrine at the site during the third century BCE. A more elaborate structure, called the vajrAsana GANDHAKUtĪ ("perfumed chamber of the diamond seat"), is depicted in a relief at BodhgayA, dating from c. 100 BCE. It shows a two-storied structure supported by pillars, enclosing the Bodhi tree and the vajrAsana, the "diamond seat," where the Buddha sat on the night of his enlightenment. The forerunner of the present temple is described by the Chinese pilgrim XUANZANG. This has led scholars to speculate that the structure was built sometime between the third and sixth centuries CE, with subsequent renovations. Despite various persecutions by non-Buddhist Indian kings, the site continued to receive patronage, especially during the PAla period, from which many of the surrounding monuments date. A monastery, called the BodhimandavihAra, was established there and flourished for several centuries. FAXIAN mentions three monasteries at BodhgayA; Xuanzang found only one, called the MahAbodhisaMghArAma (see MAHABODHI TEMPLE). The temple and its environs fell into neglect after the Muslim invasions that began in the thirteenth century. British photographs from the nineteenth century show the temple in ruins. Restoration of the site was ordered by the British governor-general of Bengal in 1880, with a small eleventh-century replica of the temple serving as a model. There is a tall central tower some 165 feet (fifty meters) in height, with a high arch over the entrance with smaller towers at the four corners. The central tower houses a small temple with an image of the Buddha. The temple is surrounded by stone railings, some dating from 150 BCE, others from the Gupta period (300-600 CE) that preserve important carvings. In 1886, EDWIN ARNOLD visited BodhgayA. He published an account of his visit, which was read by ANAGARIKA DHARMAPALA and others. Arnold described a temple surrounded by hundreds of broken statues scattered in the jungle. The MahAbodhi Temple itself had stood in ruins prior to renovations undertaken by the British in 1880. Also of great concern was the fact that the site had been under saiva control since the eighteenth century, with reports of animal sacrifice taking place in the environs of the temple. DharmapAla visited BodhgayA himself in 1891, and returned to Sri Lanka, where he worked with a group of leading Sinhalese Buddhists to found the MAHABODHI SOCIETY with the aim of restoring BodhgayA as place of Buddhist worship and pilgrimage. The society undertook a series of unsuccessful lawsuits to that end. In 1949, after Indian independence, the BodhgayA Temple Act was passed, which established a committee of four Buddhists and four Hindus to supervise the temple and its grounds. The Government of India asked AnagArika Munindra, a Bengali monk and active member of the MahAbodhi Society, to oversee the restoration of BodhgayA. Since then, numerous Buddhist countries-including Bhutan, China, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet, and Vietnam-have constructed (or restored) their own temples and monasteries in BodhgayA, each reflecting its national architectural style. In 2002, the MahAbodhi Temple was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Bodhidharma. (C. Putidamo; J. Bodaidaruma; K. Poridalma 菩提達磨) (c. late-fourth to early-fifth centuries). Indian monk who is the putative "founder" of the school of CHAN (K. SoN, J. ZEN, V. THIỀN). The story of a little-known Indian (or perhaps Central Asian) emigré monk grew over the centuries into an elaborate legend of Bodhidharma, the first patriarch of the Chan school. The earliest accounts of a person known as Bodhidharma appear in the Luoyang qielan ji and XU GAOSENG ZHUAN, but the more familiar and developed image of this figure can be found in such later sources as the BAOLIN ZHUAN, LENGQIE SHIZI JI, LIDAI FABAO JI, ZUTANG JI, JINGDE CHUANDENG LU, and other "transmission of the lamplight" (CHUANDENG LU) histories. According to these sources, Bodhidharma was born as the third prince of a South Indian kingdom. Little is known about his youth, but he is believed to have arrived in China sometime during the late fourth or early fifth century, taking the southern maritime route according to some sources, the northern overland route according to others. In an episode appearing in the Lidai fabao ji and BIYAN LU, after arriving in southern China, Bodhidharma is said to have engaged in an enigmatic exchange with the devout Buddhist emperor Wu (464-549, r. 502-549) of the Liang dynasty (502-557) on the subject of the Buddha's teachings and merit-making. To the emperor's questions about what dharma Bodhidharma was transmitting and how much merit (PUnYA) he, Wudi, had made by his munificent donations to construct monasteries and ordain monks, Bodhidharma replied that the Buddha's teachings were empty (hence there was nothing to transmit) and that the emperor's generous donations had brought him no merit at all. The emperor seems not to have been impressed with these answers, and Bodhidharma, perhaps disgruntled by the emperor's failure to understand the profundity of his teachings, left for northern China, taking the Yangtze river crossing (riding a reed across the river, in a scene frequently depicted in East Asian painting). Bodhidharma's journey north eventually brought him to a cave at the monastery of SHAOLINSI on SONGSHAN, where he sat in meditation for nine years while facing a wall (MIANBI), in so-called "wall contemplation" (BIGUAN). During his stay on Songshan, the Chinese monk HUIKE is said to have become Bodhidharma's disciple, allegedly after cutting off his left arm to show his dedication. This legend of Bodhidharma's arrival in China is eventually condensed into the famous Chan case (GONG'AN), "Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?" (see XILAI YI). Bodhidharma's place within the lineage of Indian patriarchs vary according to text and tradition (some list him as the twenty-eighth patriarch), but he is considered the first patriarch of Chan in China. Bodhidharma's name therefore soon became synonymous with Chan and subsequently with Son, Zen, and Thièn. Bodhidharma, however, has often been confused with other figures such as BODHIRUCI, the translator of the LAnKAVATARASuTRA, and the Kashmiri monk DHARMATRATA, to whom the DHYANA manual DAMODUOLUO CHAN JING is attributed. The Lidai fabao ji, for instance, simply fused the names of Bodhidharma and DharmatrAta and spoke of a BodhidharmatrAta whose legend traveled with the Lidai fabao ji to Tibet. Bodhidharma was even identified as the apostle Saint Thomas by Jesuit missionaries to China, such as Matteo Ricci. Several texts, a number of which were uncovered in the DUNHUANG manuscript cache in Central Asia, have been attributed to Bodhidharma, but their authorship remains uncertain. The ERRU SIXING LUN seems to be the only of these texts that can be traced with some certainty back to Bodhidharma or his immediate disciples. The legend of Bodhidharma in the Lengqie shizi ji also associates him with the transmission of the LankAvatArasutra in China. In Japan, Bodhidharma is often depicted in the form of a round-shaped, slightly grotesque-looking doll, known as the "Daruma doll." Like much of the rest of the legends surrounding Bodhidharma, there is finally no credible evidence connecting Bodhidharma to the Chinese martial arts traditions (see SHAOLINSI).
bodhisattvayAna. (T. byang chub sems dpa'i theg pa; C. pusa sheng; J. bosatsujo; K. posal sŭng 菩薩乘). In Sanskrit, lit. "BODHISATTVA vehicle," the path (MARGA) that begins with the initial activation of the aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTOTPADA) and culminates in the achievement of buddhahood; one of the early terms used for what eventually comes to be called the "Great Vehicle" (MAHAYANA). The bodhisattvayAna focuses on the development of the six perfections (PARAMITA) over a period as long as three incalculable eons of time (ASAMKHYEYAKALPA). At the culmination of this essentially interminable process, the bodhisattva becomes a buddha, with the full range of unique qualities (AVEnIKA[BUDDHA]DHARMA) that are developed only as a result of mastering the perfections. The bodhisattvayAna is distinguished from the sRAVAKAYANA, in which teachings were learned from a buddha or an enlightened disciple (sRAVAKA) of the Buddha and which culminates in becoming a "worthy one" (ARHAT); and the PRATYEKABUDDHAYANA, the vehicle of those who reach their goal in solitude. The bodhisattvayAna, by contrast, is modeled on the accounts of the current buddha sAKYAMUNI's extensive series of past lives, during which he was motivated by the altruistic aspiration to save all beings from suffering by becoming a buddha himself, not simply settling for arhatship. The srAvakayAna, pratyekabuddhayAna, and bodhisattvayAna together constitute the TRIYANA, or "three vehicles," mentioned in many MahAyAna sutras, most famously in the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA.
bodhi. (T. byang chub; C. puti/jue; J. bodai/kaku; K. pori/kak 菩提/覺). In Sanskrit and PAli, "awakening," "enlightenment"; the consummate knowledge that catalyzes the experience of liberation (VIMOKsA) from the cycle rebirth. Bodhi is of three discrete kinds: that of perfect buddhas (SAMYAKSAMBODHI); that of PRATYEKABUDDHAs or "solitary enlightened ones" (pratyekabodhi); and that of sRAVAKAs or disciples (srAvakabodhi). The content of the enlightenment experience is in essence the understanding of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvAry AryasatyAni): namely, the truth of suffering (DUḤKHA), the truth of the cause of suffering (SAMUDAYA), the truth of the cessation of suffering (NIRODHA), and the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering (MARGA). Bodhi is also elaborated in terms of its thirty-seven constituent factors (BODHIPAKsIKADHARMA) that are mastered in the course of perfecting one's understanding, or the seven limbs of awakening (BODHYAnGA) that lead to the attainment of the "threefold knowledge" (TRIVIDYA; P. tevijjA): "recollection of former lives" (S. PuRVANIVASANUSMṚTI; P. pubbenivAsAnussati), the "divine eye" (DIVYACAKsUS; P. dibbacakkhu), which perceives that the death and rebirth of beings occurs according to their actions (KARMAN), and the "knowledge of the extinction of the contaminants" (ASRAVAKsAYA; P. AsavakkayaNAna). Perfect buddhas and solitary buddhas (pratyekabuddha) become enlightened through their own independent efforts, for they discover the four noble truths on their own, without the aid of a teacher in their final lifetime (although pratyekabuddhas may rely on the teachings of a buddha in previous lifetimes). Of these two types of buddhas, perfect buddhas are then capable of teaching these truths to others, while solitary buddhas are not. srAvakas, by contrast, do not become enlightened on their own but are exposed to the teachings of perfect buddhas and through the guidance of those teachings gain the understanding they need to attain awakening. Bodhi also occupies a central place in MAHAYANA religious conceptions. The MahAyAna ideal of the BODHISATTVA means literally a "being" (SATTVA) intent on awakening (bodhi) who has aroused the aspiration to achieve buddhahood or the "thought of enlightenment" (BODHICITTA; BODHICITTOTPADA). The MahAyAna, especially in its East Asian manifestations, also explores in great detail the prospect that enlightenment is something that is innate to the mind (see BENJUE; HONGAKU) rather than inculcated, and therefore need not be developed gradually but can instead be realized suddenly (see DUNWU). The MahAyAna also differentiates between the enlightenment (bodhi) of srAvakas and pratyekabuddhas and the full enlightenment (samyaksaMbodhi) of a buddha. According to Indian and Tibetan commentaries on the PRAJNAPARAMITA sutras, buddhas achieve full enlightenment not beneath the BODHI TREE in BODHGAYA, but in the AKANIstHA heaven in the form of a SAMBHOGAKAYA, or enjoyment body remaining for eternity to work for the welfare of sentient beings. The bodhisattva who strives for enlightenment and achieves buddhahood beneath the Bodhi tree is a NIRMAnAKAYA, a conjured body meant to inspire the world. See also WU; JIANWU.
Bo dong Phyogs las rnam rgyal. (Chokle Namgyal) (1376-1451). The twenty-third abbot of Bo dong E monastery, founded in about 1049 by the BKA' GDAMS geshe (DGE BSHES) Mu dra pa chen po, and the founder of the BO DONG tradition. His collected works, said to number thirty-six titles, include his huge encyclopedic work De nyid 'dus pa ("Compendium of the Principles"); it alone runs to 137 volumes in the incomplete edition published by Tibet House in Delhi. Phyogs las rnam rgyal (who is sometimes confused with Jo nang pa Phyogs las rnam rgyal who lived some fifty years earlier) was a teacher of DGE 'DUN GRUB (retroactively named the first DALAI LAMA) and MKHAS GRUB DGE LEGS DPAL BZANG, both students of TSONG KHA PA. Among his leading disciples was the king of Gung thang, Lha dbang rgyal mtshan (1404-1463), whose daughter Chos kyi sgron me (1422-1455) became a nun after the death of her daughter and then the head of Bsam lding (Samding) monastery, which her father founded for her. The monastery is the only Tibetan monastery whose abbot is traditionally a woman; incarnations are said to be those of the goddess VAJRAVARAHĪ (T. Rdo rje phag mo), "Sow-Headed Goddess."
Bo Juyi. [alt. Bai Juyi] (J. Haku Kyoi; K. Paek Koi 白居易) (772-846). A celebrated Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty; also known as Yaotian (Enjoying Heaven) and Layman Xiangshan. Bo Juyi was born in Henan to a destitute family with a scholarly background. He passed the civil examinations at the age of twenty-seven and held various government positions throughout his political career. Bo Juyi was exiled in 815 from the capital of Chang'an for his criticisms of governmental policies, after which he turned to Buddhism for solace. Bo Juyi befriended numerous CHAN masters of his time and studied under Foguang Ruman (d.u.), a disciple of the renowned Chan master MAZU DAOYI. He acquired his Buddhist toponym Xiangshan during his residence at the monastery of XIANGSHANSI. In addition to his famous collections of poems, such as the Changhen ge, Bo Juyi also left numerous funerary inscriptions that he composed for deceased monks. His writings were compiled together in his Baishi wenji, in seventy-five rolls.
BrahmajAlasuttanta. (C. Fandong jing; J. Bondokyo; K. Pomdong kyong 梵動經) In PAli, "Discourse on BRAHMA's Net"; the first sutta of the DĪGHANIKAYA (a separate DHARMAGUPTAKA recension appears as the twenty-first SuTRA in the Chinese translation of the DĪRGHAGAMA). While dwelling in the AmbalatthikA grove, the Buddha preaches this sermon to the ascetic Supiyya and his disciple Brahmadatta, in order to allay their disagreement over the merits and demerits of the Buddha. The Buddha first explains that there are some who praise him for his observation of moral precepts (sīla; S. sĪLA), which, he notes, are merely abstentions from wrongdoing. These he elaborates in increasing detail in three sections and concludes by saying that those who judge him by these abstentions have only a trivial understanding of his virtues. The Buddha then describes sixty-two theories regarding the existence of the self (attan; S. ATMAN) advocated by other recluses (samana, S. sRAMAnA) and brAhmanas, all of which he rejects. These he classifies as the doctrines of eternalism (sassatavAda, see S. sAsVATADṚstI), semieternalism (ekaccasassatavAda), extensionism (antAnantavAda), equivocation or eel-wriggling (amarAvikkhepavAda), causeless originationism (adhiccasamuppannavAda), the belief in conscious existence after death (saNNīvAda), unconscious existence after death (asaNNīvAda), existence after death that is neither conscious or unconscious (nevasaNNīnAsaNNīvAda), annihilationism (UCCHEDAVADA), and hedonism (ditthadhammanibbAnavAda). All of these theories the Buddha rejects as examples of wrong views (ditthi, S. DṚstI), which are advocated by other recluses and brAhmanas through their contact with, and experience of, sensory objects. Because of their wrong views, these theories produce craving (tanhA, S. TṚsnA) and grasping (UPADANA), which in turn fuel the process of becoming (BHAVA) and leads to continued rebirth (JATI), old age and death (JARAMARAnA), sorrow (soka), lamentation (parideva), pain (DUḤKHA), grief (daurmanasya), and despair (upAyAsa) (see PRATĪTYASAMUTPADA). The BrahmajAlasuttanta is valued by scholars as a source for understanding the range of philosophical views present in India at the time of the early Buddhist community.
Brahmanimantanikasutta. (C. Fantian qing fo jing; J. Bonten shobutsukyo; K. Pomch'on ch'ongbul kyong 梵天請佛經). In PAli, "Discourse on the Invitation of a BRAHMA"; the forty-ninth sutta of the MAJJHIMANIKAYA, preached by the Buddha to a gathering of monks at the JETAVANA Grove in the town of SAvatthi (S. sRAVASTĪ). (A separate SARVASTIVADA version appears as the seventy-eighth SuTRA in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMAGAMA.) The Buddha recounts to his disciples how he once visited the divine abode of the brahmA god Baka to dissuade him of the wrong view of eternalism (S. sAsVATADṚstI). Because Baka had lived a very long time as lord of his realm-so long that his memory had failed him-the wrong view occurred to him that everything in his heaven was permanent, everlasting, and eternal; that nothing was beyond it; that nothing in his heaven was born, grew old, or died; that nothing passed away or reappeared; and that beyond his heavenly realm there was no escape. The Buddha tells Baka he knows more than Baka knows, that there are in fact other heavens more resplendent than his, and that because of their awakening, the Buddha and his disciples are quite beyond and free from all realms of existence.
'Bras spungs. (Drepung). In Tibetan, literally "Rice Heap"; one of the three monastic seats (GDAN SA GSUM) of the DGE LUGS sect of Tibetan Buddhism; located eight kilometers west of the Tibetan capital of LHA SA. The monastery is named after the Dhanyakataka stupa in AMARAVATĪ in southern India, where the Buddha is said to have first taught the KALACAKRATANTRA. It was founded in 1416 by 'JAM DBYANGS CHOS RJE BKRA SHIS DPAL LDAN, one of TSONG KHA PA's leading disciples, and after only a few years in operation already housed over 2,000 monks. In the early sixteenth century, the second DALAI LAMA Dge 'dun rgya mtsho (Gendün Gyatso, 1475-1542) became the monastery's abbot; in 1530, he established a residence and political institution there called the DGA' LDAN PHO BRANG or "Palace of TUsITA." Following him, Bsod nams grags pa (Sonam Drakpa, 1478-1554) became the abbot. Thereafter, until the ascendancy of the Dalai Lamas, the most powerful religious dignitaries in the monastery were the Dalai Lamas and the reincarnations of Bsod nams grags pa. In the seventeenth century, under the direction of the fifth Dalai Lama NGAG DBANG BLO BZANG RGYA MTSHO, the Dga' ldan pho brang (also known as the gzims khang 'og ma or "lower chambers" to distinguish it from the "upper chambers," gzims khang gong ma, where the incarnations of Bsod nams grags pa resided), was moved to the PO TA LA palace. There it functioned as the seat of the Tibetan government until the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959. The monastery is an enormous complex of assembly halls, temples, chapels, living quarters and mountain hermitages. At the time of the fifth Dalai Lama, 'Bras spungs housed over 10,000 monks divided into seven (and later four) colleges (grwa tshang), more than fifty regional dormitories (khams tshan), and occupied an area of some 180,000 square feet, easily forming the largest monastery in Tibet. At the height of its florescence, 'Bras spungs drew applicants from all quarters of the Tibetan cultural world including the far east and northeast in A mdo, as well as Mongolia, Kalmykia, and Buryatia. The monastery was large enough to accommodate individuals of a wide range of capacities and interests. A large percentage of its monks engaged in little formal intellectual study, instead choosing to work for the institution as laborers, cooks, and ritual assistants. Even so, 'Bras spungs's numerous monastic colleges also attracted some of Tibet's most talented and gifted scholars, producing a line of elite academicians and authors. The complex was sacked a number of times, first by the King of Gtsang (Tsang) during a civil war in 1618, then by the Mongol army in 1635, and again by Lha bzang Khan in 1706. It was most recently plundered by the People's Liberation Army during the Chinese Cultural Revolution but opened again in 1980 with five hundred monks.
'Bri gung mthil. (Drigung Til). An important monastery affiliated with the 'BRI GUNG BKA' BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism, located northeast of the Tibetan capital of LHA SA. A hermitage was initially established at the site in 1167 by Mi nyag sgom ring (Minyak Gomring), a disciple of the influential Bka' brgyud hierarch PHAG MO GRU PA RDO RJE RGYAL PO. In 1179 Phag mo gru pa's disciple 'JIG RTEN GSUM MGON, founder of the 'Bri gung bka' brgyud sect, constructed a monastery there, deriving its name (literally "back of a female yak") from the contour of the surrounding ridge. The institution was renowned for its excellence in meditative training and gained great political power during the thirteenth century when it rivaled even the SA SKYA establishment. 'Bri gung mthil was sacked by the Mongol-backed Sa skyas in 1290 but was rebuilt and later flourished as an active, though politically insignificant, religious center for the 'Bri gung bka' brgyud teachings. One of central Tibet's most famous sky-burial sites is affiliated with the monastery.
'Brog mi ShAkya Ye shes. (Drogmi ShAkya Yeshe) (c. 992-1072?). Tibetan scholar and founder of the SA SKYA sect of Tibetan Buddhism; one of the foremost translators of the new traditions (GSAR MA) in Tibet. Also known as 'Brog mi Lo tsA ba ("Drokmi the Translator"), 'Brog mi traveled to Nepal and India and studied for thirteen years under numerous masters and at the monastic university of VIKRAMAsĪLA. After returning to Tibet, he translated a variety of Sanskrit works, including important tantric treatises and commentaries. Chief among these were the HEVAJRATANTRA and the RDO RJE TSHIG RKANG ("Vajra Verses") of the adept VIRuPA. He received the latter in Tibet from the Indian master Gyadhara (d. 1103) and it formed a scriptural basis for the seminal Sa skya tradition known as LAM 'BRAS, or "path and result." His chief disciple, DKON MCHOG RGYAL PO, is credited with founding SA SKYA monastery.
'Brom ston Rgyal ba'i 'byung gnas. (Dromton Gyalwe Jungne) (1004-1064). The foremost Tibetan disciple of the Bengali scholar ATIsA, and central figure in the founding of the BKA' GDAMS sect of Tibetan Buddhism during the period known as the later dissemination (PHYI DAR) of Buddhism in Tibet. Born in central Tibet, he began his education at an early age. Toward the middle years of his life, news of Atisa's arrival in western Tibet reached him, and he set out on the arduous journey to meet the master. 'Brom ston pa became an early and close student of Atisa and made arrangements for his Indian guru's tour of central Tibet in 1045. After Atisa's death, 'Brom ston pa established RWA SGRENG monastery in 1056, consolidating his career as translator and teacher at this important religious institution. He is remembered especially for the firm austerity of his religious practice. 'Brom ston pa's instructions, as recorded in Bka' gdams pa works such as the Bka' gdams gtor bu ("Bka' gdams Miscellania"), perhaps wary of the potential abuses of tantric practice, instead emphasize meditation on impermanence and compassion coupled with adherence to strict ethical principles and monastic discipline.
'Brug pa bka' brgyud. (Drukpa Kagyü). A lineage counted among the four major and eight minor BKA' BRGYUD subsects (BKA' BRGYUD CHE BZHI CHUNG BRGYAD) of Tibetan Buddhism, which maintained an active presence throughout central and western Tibet and became a predominant tradition in neighboring Bhutan. Its practitioners were widespread and renowned for their simple lifestyle and intensive meditative practices. For this reason, a Tibetan proverb arose that said, "Half of the people are 'Brug pas. Half of the 'Brug pas are beggars. Half of the beggars are saints." The lineage originated with GLING RAS PA PADMA RDO RJE (1128-1188), student of renowned Bka' brgyud master PHAG MO GRU PA RDO RJE RGYAL PO, and his disciple GTSANG PA RGYA RAS YE SHES RDO RJE. The sect eventually divided into three branches, known as (1) Upper 'Brug (stod 'brug), established by Gtsang pa rgya ras's disciple RGOD TSHANG PA MGON PO RDO RJE; (2) Middle 'Brug (bar 'brug), established by Gtsang pa rgya ras's disciple Lo ras pa Dar ma [alt. Grags pa] dbang phyug (Lorepa Darma Wangchuk) (1187-1250); and (3) Lower 'Brug (smad 'brug) established by Gtsang pa rgya ras himself. It was the Middle 'Brug tradition that was transmitted to Bhutan by ZHAB DRUNG NGAG DBANG RNAM RGYAL.
BuddhabhumisAstra. (C. Fodijing lun; J. Butsujikyoron; K. Pulchigyong non 佛地經論). In Sanskrit, "Exposition of the Stage of Buddhahood"; an influential commentary on the BUDDHABHuMISuTRA, attributed to Bandhuprabha (Qinguang; d.u.), a disciple of DHARMAPALA (530-561), and collaborators. The commentary is extant only in a seven-roll Chinese translation made by XUANZANG and his translation team in 649-650.
buddhaksetra. (T. sangs rgyas zhing; C. focha; J. bussetsu; K. pulch'al 佛刹). In Sanskrit, "buddha field," the realm that constitutes the domain of a specific buddha. A buddhaksetra is said to have two aspects, which parallel the division of a world system into a BHAJANALOKA (lit. "container world," "world of inanimate objects") and a SATTVALOKA ("world of sentient beings"). As a result of his accumulation of merit (PUnYASAMBHARA), his collection of knowledge (JNANASAMBHARA), and his specific vow (PRAnIDHANA), when a buddha achieves enlightenment, a "container" or "inanimate" world is produced in the form of a field where the buddha leads beings to enlightenment. The inhabitant of that world is the buddha endowed with all the BUDDHADHARMAs. Buddha-fields occur in various levels of purification, broadly divided between pure (VIsUDDHABUDDHAKsETRA) and impure. Impure buddha-fields are synonymous with a world system (CAKRAVAdA), the infinite number of "world discs" in Buddhist cosmology that constitutes the universe; here, ordinary sentient beings (including animals, ghosts, and hell beings) dwell, subject to the afflictions (KLEsA) of greed (LOBHA), hatred (DVEsA), and delusion (MOHA). Each cakravAda is the domain of a specific buddha, who achieves enlightenment in that world system and works there toward the liberation of all sentient beings. A pure buddha-field, by contrast, may be created by a buddha upon his enlightenment and is sometimes called a PURE LAND (JINGTU, more literally, "purified soil" in Chinese), a term with no direct equivalent in Sanskrit. In such purified buddha-fields, the unfortunate realms (APAYA, DURGATI) of animals, ghosts, and hell denizens are typically absent. Thus, the birds that sing beautiful songs there are said to be emanations of the buddha rather than sentient beings who have been reborn as birds. These pure lands include such notable buddhaksetras as ABHIRATI, the buddha-field of the buddha AKsOBHYA, and SUKHAVATĪ, the land of the buddha AMITABHA and the object of a major strand of East Asian Buddhism, the so-called pure land school (see JoDOSHu, JoDO SHINSHu). In the VIMALAKĪRTINIRDEsA, after the buddha reveals a pure buddha land, sARIPUTRA asks him why sAKYAMUNI's buddha-field has so many faults. The buddha then touches the earth with his toe, at which point the world is transformed into a pure buddha-field; he explains that he makes the world appear impure in order to inspire his disciples to seek liberation.
Buddha(s) of Compassion ::: One who, having won all, gained all -- gained the right to kosmic peace and bliss -- renounces it so thathe may return as a Son of Light in order to help humanity, and indeed all that is.The Buddhas of Compassion are the noblest flowers of the human race. They are men who have raisedthemselves from humanity into quasi-divinity; and this is done by letting the light imprisoned within, thelight of the inner god, pour forth and manifest itself through the humanity of the man, through the humansoul of the man. Through sacrifice and abandoning of all that is mean and wrong, ignoble and paltry andselfish; through opening up the inner nature so that the god within may shine forth; in other words,through self-directed evolution, they have raised themselves from mere manhood into becominggod-men, man-gods -- human divinities.They are called Buddhas of Compassion because they feel their unity with all that is, and therefore feelintimate magnetic sympathy with all that is, and this is more and more the case as they evolve, untilfinally their consciousness blends with that of the universe and lives eternally and immortally, because itis at one with the universe. "The dewdrop slips into the shining sea" -- its origin.Feeling the urge of almighty love in their hearts, the Buddhas of Compassion advance forever steadilytowards still greater heights of spiritual achievement; and the reason is that they have become thevehicles of universal love and universal wisdom. As impersonal love is universal, their whole natureexpands consequently with the universal powers that are working through them. The Buddhas ofCompassion, existing in their various degrees of evolution, form a sublime hierarchy extending from theSilent Watcher on our planet downwards through these various degrees unto themselves, and evenbeyond themselves to their chelas or disciples. Spiritually and mystically they contrast strongly withwhat Asiatic occultism, through the medium of Buddhism, has called the Pratyeka Buddhas.
buddhavacana. (T. sangs rgyas kyi bka'; C. foyu; J. butsugo; K. puro 佛語). In Sanskrit and PAli, "word of the Buddha"; those teachings accepted as having been either spoken by the Buddha or spoken with his sanction. Much traditional scholastic literature is devoted to the question of what does and does not qualify as the word of the Buddha. The SuTRAPItAKA and the VINAYAPItAKA of the Buddhist canon (TRIPItAKA), which are claimed to have been initially redacted at the first Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, FIRST), held in RAJAGṚHA soon after the Buddha's death, is considered by the tradition-along with the ABHIDHARMAPItAKA, which was added later-to be the authentic word of the Buddha; this judgment is made despite the fact that the canon included texts that were spoken, or elaborated upon, by his direct disciples (e.g., separate versions of the BHADDEKARATTASUTTA, which offer exegeses by various disciples of an enigmatic verse the Buddha had taught) or that included material that clearly postdated the Buddha's death (such as the MAHAPARINIRVAnASuTRA, which tells of the events leading up to, and immediately following, the Buddha's demise, or the NAradasutta, which refers to kings who lived long after the Buddha's time). Such material could still be considered buddhavacana, however, by resort to the four references to authority (MAHAPADEsA; CATURMAHAPADEsA). These four types of authority are found listed in various SuTRAs, including the eponymous PAli MahApadesasutta, and provide an explicit set of criteria through which to evaluate whether a teaching is the authentic buddhavacana. Teachings could be accepted as authentic if they were heard from four authorities: (1) the mouth of the Buddha himself; (2) a SAMGHA of wise elders; (3) a group of monks who were specialists in either the dharma (dharmadhara), vinaya (vinayadhara), or the proto-abhidharma (mAtṛkAdhara); or (4) a single monk who was widely learned in such specializations. The teaching should then be compared side by side with the authentic SuTRA and VINAYA; if found to be compatible with these two strata of the canon and not in contradiction with reality (DHARMATA), it would then be accepted as the buddhavacana and thus marked by the characteristics of the Buddha's words (buddhavacanalaksana). Because of this dispensation, the canons of all schools of Buddhism were never really closed, but could continue to be reinvigorated with new expressions of the Buddha's insights. In addition, completely new texts that purported to be from the mouths of the buddha(s) and/or BODHISATTVAs, such as found in the MAHAYANA or VAJRAYANA traditions, could also begin to circulate and be accepted as the authentic buddhavacana since they too conformed with the reality (dharmatA) that is great enlightenment (MAHABODHI). For example, a MahAyAna sutra, the AdhyAsayasaNcodanasutra, declares, "All which is well-spoken, Maitreya, is spoken by the Buddha." The sutra qualifies the meaning of "well spoken" (subhAsita), explaining that all inspired speech should be known to be the word of the Buddha if it is meaningful and not meaningless, if it is principled and not unprincipled, if it brings about the extinction and not the increase of the afflictions (KLEsA), and if it sets forth the qualities and benefits of NIRVAnA and not the qualities and benefits of SAMSARA. However, the authenticity of the MahAyAna sutras (and later the tantras) was a topic of great contention between the proponents of the MahAyAna and mainstream schools throughout the history of Indian Buddhism and beyond. Defenses of the MahAyAna as buddhavacana appear in the MahAyAna sutras themselves, with predictions of the terrible fates that will befall those who deny their authenticity; and arguments for the authenticity of the MahAyAna sutras were a stock element in writings by MahAyAna authors as early as NAGARJUNA and extending over the next millennium. Related, and probably earlier, terms for buddhavacana are the "teaching of the master" (S. sAstuḥ sAsanam) and the "dispensation of the Buddha" (buddhAnusAsanam). See also APOCRYPHA, DAZANGJING, GTER MA.
BuddhavaMsa. In PAli, "The Chronicle of the Buddhas"; the fourteenth book of the KHUDDAKANIKAYA of the PAli SUTTAPItAKA. A work in verse, it contains the life histories of twenty-five buddhas, concluding with that of the historical Buddha, Gotama (S. GAUTAMA). Details of each buddha are given, such as the species of the BODHI TREE under which he sat at the time of attaining enlightenment, as well as the name that the future buddha Gotama assumed under each previous buddha. The final chapter concerns the distribution of the relics (sarīra; S. sARĪRA) of Gotama Buddha. According to TheravAda tradition, the BuddhavaMsa was preached at the request of the Buddha's disciple SAriputta (S. sARIPUTRA), following the Buddha's display of the "jeweled-walk" (ratanacankama) miracle, which is the name of the chronicle's first chapter. The MadhuratthavilAsinī is the PAli commentary to the BuddhavaMsa.
buddhayAna. (T. sangs rgyas kyi theg pa; C. fo sheng; J. butsujo; K. pul sŭng 佛乘). In Sanskrit, "buddha vehicle," the conveyance leading to the state of buddhahood. In general, the buddhayAna is synonymous with both the BODHISATTVAYANA and the MAHAYANA, although in some contexts it is considered superior to them, being equivalent to a supreme EKAYANA. When this path is perfected, the adept achieves the full range of special qualities unique to the buddhas (AVEnIKA[BUDDHA]DHARMA), which result from mastery of the perfections (PARAMITA). This understanding of the term buddhayAna and its significance is explained in chapter two of the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA ("Lotus Sutra"). There, the Buddha compares three means of salvation to three carts promised to children in an effort to convince them to come out from a burning house. The three carts are said to correspond to the three vehicles (TRIYANA). The first is the sRAVAKAYANA, the vehicle for sRAVAKAs ("disciples"), in which teachings were learned from a buddha and which culminates in becoming a "worthy one" (ARHAT). Next is the PRATYEKABUDDHAYANA, the vehicle of the PRATYEKABUDDHA or "solitary buddha," those who strive for enlightenment but do not rely on a buddha in their last life. The third is the bodhisattvayAna, the path followed by the BODHISATTVA to buddhahood. In the parable in the "Lotus Sutra," the Buddha uses the prospect of these three vehicles to entice the children to leave the burning house; once they are safely outside, they find not three carts waiting for them but instead a single magnificent cart. The Buddha then declares the three vehicles to be a form of skillful means (UPAYAKAUsALYA), for there is in fact only one vehicle (ekayAna), also referred to as the buddha vehicle (buddhayAna). Later exegetes, especially in East Asia, engaged in extensive scholastic investigation of the relationships between the terms bodhisattvayAna, buddhayAna, and ekayAna.
“But it is probable that the theosophic effort which Jesus attempted to initiate did not endure for fifty years after his death. Almost immediately after his passing, his disciples, all half-instructed, and in some cases almost illiterate, men . . . foisted upon the world of their time the forms and beliefs of early Christianity; and had there been nothing but these, that religious system had not lived another fifty years. But what happened? During the oncoming of the dark cycle after Jesus (which began as before said about the time of Pythagoras), the last few rays from the setting sun of the ancient light shone feebly in the minds of certain of these Christian Fathers, Clement of Alexandria for one, and Origen of Alexandria for another, and in one or two more like these, who had been initiated at least in the lowest of some of the then degenerate pagan Mysteries; and these men entered into the Christian Church and introduced some poor modicum of that light, . . . which they still cherished; and these rays they derived mainly from the Neo-pythagorean and the Neoplatonic system” (Fund 486-7).
But with all the krpa is there working in one way or another and it can only abandon the disciple if the disciple himself abandons or rejects it — by decisive and deSnitive revolts, by rejection of the Guru, by cutting the painter and declaring his
By the year 200 of the Hejira a definite sect of mystics had arisen, and following the instructions of a prominent member, Abu Said, his disciples forsook the world and entered the mystic life with a view of pursuing contemplation and meditation. These disciples wore a garment of wool, and from this received their name. Sufiism spread rapidly in Persia, and all Moslem philosophers were attracted to this sect, as great latitude in the beliefs of its followers was at first permitted, until in the reign of Moktadir, a Persian Sufi named Hallaj was tortured and put to death for teaching publicly that every man is God. After this the Sufis veiled their teachings, and especially in their poetry used amorous language and sang of the delights of the wine cup. In spite of the amorous trend of poetry followed by the Sufis, to the observing eye there appears a beauty and a spirituality of thought which has found many devotees. Ideas of pantheism abound, for God is held to be immanent in all things, expresses itself through all things, and is the transcendent essence of every human soul. For a person to know God is to see that God is immanent in himself.
campbellite ::: n. --> A member of the denomination called Christians or Disciples of Christ. They themselves repudiate the term Campbellite as a nickname. See Christian, 3.
Candragomin. (T. Btsun pa zla ba). Fifth-century CE Indian lay poet and grammarian, who made substantial contributions to Sanskrit grammar, founding what was known as the CAndra school. A junior contemporary of the great KAlidAsa, Candragomin was one of the most accomplished poets in the history of Indian Buddhism. His play LokAnanda, which tells the story of the BODHISATTVA king Manicuda, is the oldest extant Buddhist play and was widely performed in the centuries after its composition. He was a devotee of TARA and composed several works in her praise. Tibetan works describe him as a proponent of VIJNANAVADA who engaged in debate with CANDRAKĪRTI, but there is little philosophical content in his works that can be confidently ascribed to him. Among those works are the "Letter to a Disciple" (sisyalekha), the "Confessional Praise" (DesanAstava), and perhaps the "Twenty Verses on the Bodhisattva Precepts" (BodhisattvasaMvaraviMsaka).
Caodong zong. (J. Sotoshu; K. Chodong chong 曹洞宗). One of the so-called "five houses and seven schools" (WU JIA QI ZONG) of the mature Chinese CHAN tradition. The school traces its own pedigree back to the sixth patriarch (LIUZU) HUINENG via a lineage that derives from QINGYUAN XINGSI and SHITOU XIQIAN, but its history begins with the two Tang-dynasty Chan masters who lend their names to the school: DONGSHAN LIANGJIE and his disciple CAOSHAN BENJI. The name of this tradition, Caodong, is derived from the first characters of the two patriarchs' names, viz., Caoshan's "Cao" and Dongshan's "Dong." (The disciple's name is said to appear first in the school's name purely for euphonic reasons.) One of the emblematic teachings of the Caodong tradition is that of the "five ranks" (WUWEI), taught by Dongshan and further developed by Caoshan, which was a form of dialectical analysis that sought to present the full panoply of MAHAYANA Buddhist insights in a compressed rubric. During the Song dynasty, the Caodong school also came to be associated with the contemplative practice of "silent illumination" (MOZHAO CHAN), a form of meditation that built upon the normative East Asian notion of the inherency of buddhahood (see TATHAGATAGARBHA) to suggest that, since enlightenment was the mind's natural state, nothing needed to be done in order to attain enlightenment other than letting go of all striving for that state. Authentic Chan practice therefore entailed only maintaining this original purity of the mind by simply sitting silently in meditation. The practice of silent illumination is traditionally attributed to HONGZHI ZHENGJUE (see MOZHAO MING) and ZHENGXIE QINGLIAO, who helped revive the moribund Caodong lineage during the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries and turned it into one of the two major forces in mature Song-dynasty Chan. The silent-illumination technique that they championed was harshly criticized by teachers in the rival LINJI ZONG, most notably Hongzhi's contemporary DAHUI ZONGGAO. In Japan, the ZEN master DoGEN KIGEN is credited with transmitting the Caodong lineage to the Japanese isles in the thirteenth century, where it is known as the SoToSHu (the Japanese pronunciation of Caodong zong); it became one of the three major branches of the Japanese Zen school, along with RINZAISHu and oBAKUSHu. In Korea, just one of the early Nine Mountains schools of SoN (see KUSAN SoNMUN), the Sumisan school, is presumed to trace back to a teacher, Yunju Daoying (d. 902), who was also a disciple of Dongshan Liangjie; the Caodong school had no impact in the subsequent development of Korean Son, where Imje (C. Linji zong) lineages and practices dominated from the thirteenth century onwards.
Caoshan Benji. (J. Sozan Honjaku; K. Chosan Ponjok 曹山本寂) (840-901). Chinese CHAN master and reputed cofounder of the CAODONG line of Chan; also known as Danzhang. Caoshan was a native of Quanzhou in present-day Fujian province. After leaving home at age eighteen and fully ordaining at twenty-five, Caoshan visited the Chan master DONGSHAN LIANGJIE and became his disciple. Caoshan was later invited to Mt. Heyu in Fuzhou (present-day Jiangxi province), and there he established his unique style of Chan. He later renamed the mountain Mt. Cao (or Caoshan) after the sixth patriarch HUINENG's own residence of CAOXISHAN. Caoshan's line of Chan came to be known as Caodong, which is derived eponymously from the first Sinograph in both Caoshan and Dongshan's names. One of the most emblematic teachings of the Caodong tradition is that of the "five ranks" (WUWEI), taught by Dongshan and further developed by Caoshan, a form of dialectical analysis that JUEFAN HUIHONG (1071-1128) considered to be the origin of "lettered Chan" (WENZI CHAN). Caoshan was later given the posthumous title Great Master Yunzheng. Although Caoshan had many disciples, his own lineage did not survive into the Song dynasty and the Caodong line was carried on by the lineage of Yunju Daoying (d. 902), a fellow student of Dongshan.
Catharsis [from Greek katharsis cleansing from katharos pure] Cleansing, purgation; used by Aristotle for the cleansing of the emotions of the audience through experiencing a work of art, such as a drama. Also the preliminary discipline in the ancient Mysteries, where the lower nature of the aspirant is purified, fitting him or her for higher training, knowledge, and initiation. The three lowest degrees “consisted of teachings alone, which formed the preparation, the discipline, mental and spiritual and psychic and physical; what the Greeks called the katharsis or ‘cleansing’; and when the disciple was considered sufficiently cleansed, purified, disciplined, quiet mentally, tranquil spiritually, then he was taken into the fourth degree” (Fund 608). See also INITIATION; MYSTERIES.
Catuḥsataka. (T. Bzhi brgya pa; C. Guang Bai lun ben; J. Kohyakuronpon; K. Kwang Paengnon pon 廣百論本). In Sanskrit, "Four Hundred [Stanzas]"; the magnum opus of ARYADEVA, a third century CE Indian monk of the MADHYAMAKA school of MAHAYANA philosophy and the chief disciple of NAGARJUNA, the founder of that tradition. The four-hundred verses are divided into sixteen chapters of twenty-five stanzas each, which cover many of the seminal teachings of Madhyamaka philosophy. The first four of the sixteen chapters are dedicated to arguments against erroneous conceptions of permanence, satisfaction, purity, and a substantial self. In chapter 5, Aryadeva discusses the career of a BODHISATTVA, emphasizing the necessity for compassion (KARUnA) in all of the bodhisattva's actions. Chapter 6 is a treatment of the three afflictions (KLEsA) of greed or sensuality (LOBHA or RAGA), hatred or aversion (DVEsA), and delusion (MOHA). Chapter 7 explains the need to reject sensual pleasures. In chapter 8, Aryadeva discusses the proper conduct and attitude of a student of the TATHAGATA's teaching. Chapters 9 through 15 contain a series of arguments refuting the erroneous views of other Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools. These refutations center on Aryadeva's understanding of emptiness (suNYATA) as the fundamental characteristic of reality. For example, in chapter 9, Aryadeva argues against the conception that anything, including liberation, is permanent and independent of causes. In chapter 11, Aryadeva argues against the SARVASTIVADA claim that dharmas exist in reality in the past, present, and future. Chapter 16, the final chapter, is a discussion of emptiness and its centrality to the Madhyamaka school and its doctrine. There is a lengthy and influential commentary on the text by CANDRAKĪRTI, entitled CatuḥsatakatīkA; its full title is BodhisattvayogacaryAcatuḥsatakatīkA. The Catuḥsataka was translated into Chinese by XUANZANG and his translation team at DACI'ENSI, in either 647 or 650-651 CE. The work is counted as one of the "three treatises" of the Chinese SAN LUN ZONG, where it is treated as Aryadeva's own expansion of his *sATAsASTRA (C. BAI LUN; "One Hundred Treatise"); hence, the Chinese instead translates the title as "Expanded Text on the One Hundred [Verse] Treatise." Some have speculated, to the contrary, that the satasAstra is an abbreviated version of the Catuḥsataka. The two works consider many of the same topics, including the nature of NIRVAnA and the meaning of emptiness in a similar fashion and both refute SAMkhya and Vaisesika positions, but the order of their treatment of these topics and their specific contents differ; the satasAstra also contains material not found in the Catuḥsataka. It is, therefore, safer to presume that these are two independent texts, not that one is a summary or expansion of the other. It is possible that the satasAstra represents KumArajīva's interpretation of the Catuḥsataka, but this is difficult to determine without further clarity on the Indian text that KumArajīva translated.
catuḥsatyadharmacakra. (T. bden bzhi'i chos 'khor; C. sidi falun; J. shitai horin; K. saje pomnyun 四諦法輪). In Sanskrit, lit. "the dharma wheel of the four truths"; the wheel of the dharma (DHARMACAKRA) delivered in ṚsIPATANA. In this first turning of the wheel of dharma, the Buddha set in motion a wheel with twelve aspects, by setting forth the four noble truths three separate times. He addressed the original group of five disciples (PANCAVARGIKA), telling them that they should not fall into extremes of asceticism or indulgence, and laid out for them the eightfold noble path (AstAnGIKAMARGA). He set forth the four truths the first time by saying that the five aggregates (SKANDHA) qualified by birth, aging, sickness, and death are the noble truth of suffering, craving is the noble truth of their origination, the elimination of that craving is the noble truth of their cessation, and that the eightfold noble path is the noble truth of the path leading to their cessation. He set forth the four truths a second time when, in the same extended discourse, he said, "I knew well that the truth of suffering was what I had to comprehend; I knew well that the truth of the origin was what I had to eliminate; I knew well that the truth of cessation was what I had to realize; and I knew well that the truth of the path was what I had to cultivate." He then set forth the four truths a third and final time when he said, "I comprehended the truth of suffering, I eliminated the true origin of suffering, I realized the true cessation of suffering, and I cultivated the true path." There are twelve aspects to this triple wheel because for each of the three stages there is (1) a vision that sees reality directly with the wisdom eye that is free from contaminants, (2) a knowledge that is free from doubt, (3) an understanding of the way things are, and (4) an intellectual comprehension of an idea never heard of before. ¶ The SAMDHINIRMOCANASuTRA calls the triple turning of the catuḥsatyadharmacakra with its twelve aspects the "first turning of the wheel." According to its commentaries, it is a demonstration that all dharmas, the skandhas, sense-fields (AYATANA), elements (DHATU), and so forth, exist. This teaching is provisional (NEYARTHA) because it must be interpreted in order to understand what the Buddha really means. A second "middle" dispensation, called "the dharma wheel of signlessness" (ALAKsAnADHARMACAKRA), is the teaching of the MahAyAna doctrine, as set forth in the PRAJNAPARAMITA SuTRAs, that all dharmas, even buddhahood and NIRVAnA, are without any intrinsic nature (NIḤSVABHAVA). The first turning of the wheel is directed toward the sRAVAKAs and PRATYEKABUDDHAs, who tremble at this doctrine of emptiness (suNYATA). The second turning is also not a final, definitive (NĪTARTHA) teaching. The ultimate teaching is the final turning of the wheel of dharma, called "the dharma wheel that makes a fine delineation" (*SUVIBHAKTADHARMACAKRA), i.e., the SaMdhinirmocanasutra itself. Here the Buddha, through his amanuensis ParamArthasamudgata, sets forth in clear and plain language what he means: that dharmas are endowed with three natures (TRISVABHAVA) and each of those is, in a distinctive way, free from intrinsic nature (niḥsvabhAva). The doctrine of the first, middle, and final wheels of dharma is not intended to be a historical presentation of the development of Buddhist doctrine, but the first turning does loosely equate to the early teachings of the Buddha, the second to early MahAyAna, and the third to the emergence of the later YOGACARA school of MahAyAna philosophy. In Tibet, there is no argument over this first turning of the wheel of dharma: it is always understood to refer to the basic teachings of the Buddha for those of a HĪNAYANA persuasion. There is, however, substantial argument over the status of the second and third turnings of the wheel.
caturthAbhiseka. (T. dbang bzhi pa; C. disi guanding; J. daishi kanjo; K. chesa kwanjong 第四灌頂). In Sanskrit, "fourth empowerment"; the fourth of the four empowerments or initiations employed in ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA, the other three being the vase empowerment (KALAsABHIsEKA), the secret empowerment (GUHYABHIsEKA), and the knowledge of the consort empowerment (PRAJNAJNANABHIsEKA). After having engaged in sexual union with a consort in the third empowerment, in this fourth and final empowerment, the practitioner seeks to attain the state of innate bliss (sahajAnanda) with the mind of clear light (PRABHASVARACITTA), in a vision like the natural color of the autumn sky at dawn, free from moonlight, sunlight, and darkness. The initiation is also called the "word empowerment" (sabdAbhiseka) because the teacher will identify this state for the disciple.
cela (Chela) [Hind.] ::: disciple.
Changansa. (長安寺). In Korean, "Monastery of Extended Peace"; was one of the major monasteries on the Korean sacred mountain of KŬMGANGSAN (Diamond Mountains), now in North Korea. There are two different accounts of the monastery's foundation: it was built either by an unidentified figure during the rule of the Silla king Pophŭng (r. 514-540) or by the Koguryo monk Hyeryang (d.u) in 551, which he was proselytizing in the Silla dynasty. The monastery was frequently rebuilt with state support. Especially elaborate was the reconstruction project sponsored in 1323 by the empress Ki (d.u.), a Koryo native and consort of Emperor Shundi (r. 1333-1368) of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, on behalf of the emperor and her son, the prince. The Choson-dynasty Son monk SoSAN HYUJoNG (1520-1604) and his disciple SAMYONG YUCHoNG (1544-1610) are both said to have practiced at Changansa. During the Korean War (1950-1953), most of the monastery burned to the ground and the campus has yet to be restored.
Changlu Zongze. (J. Choro Sosaku; K. Changno Chongsaek 長蘆宗賾) (d.u.; fl. c. late eleventh to early twelfth centuries). Chinese CHAN monk of the YUNMEN ZONG. Little is known about his life, but Changlu is said to have been a native of Yongnian in Luozhou, in present-day Henan province. Changlu also seems to have had a close relation to the disciples of Tianyi Yihuai (993-1064), himself a disciple of the Yunmen Chan master XUEDOU CHONGXUAN. Changlu eventually became a student of Tianyi's disciples Fayun Faxiu (1027-1090) and Changlu Yingfu (d.u.), and later inherited the latter's lineage. Changlu Zongze is most famous for his compilation of the influential text on Chan monastic regulations or "rules of purity" (QINGGUI), the CHANYUAN QINGGUI, during his tenure at the Chan monastery Hongji chanyuan in 1103. When a revised edition of the Chanyuan qinggui was published in 1202, the meditation manual ZUOCHAN YI, probably composed by Changlu or his colleagues, was included. Changlu is also remembered as a PURE LAND adept renowned for his rigorous practice of NIANFO, the recitation of the name of the buddha AMITABHA. He later moved to Changlu in present-day Jiangxi province, whence he acquired his toponym. Changlu was later given the title Chan master Cijue (Compassionate Enlightenment).
Chan. (J. Zen; K. Son; V. Thièn 禪). In Chinese, the "Meditation," or Chan school (CHAN ZONG); one of the major indigenous schools of East Asian Buddhism. The Sinograph "chan" is the first syllable in the transcription channa, the Chinese transcription of the Sanskrit term DHYANA (P. JHANA); thus chan, like the cognate term chanding (chan is a transcription and ding a translation, of dhyAna), is often translated in English simply as "meditation." For centuries, the title CHANSHI (meditation master) was used in such sources as the "Biography of Eminent Monks" (GAOSENG ZHUAN) to refer to a small group of elite monks who specialized in the art of meditation. Some of these specialists adopted the term chan as the formal name of their community (Chan zong), perhaps sometime during the sixth or seventh centuries. These early "Chan" communities gathered around a number of charismatic teachers who were later considered to be "patriarchs" (ZUSHI) of their tradition. The legendary Indian monk BODHIDHARMA was honored as the first patriarch; it was retrospectively claimed that he first brought the Chan teachings to China. Later Chan lineage histories (see CHUANDENG LU) reconstructed elaborate genealogies of such patriarchs that extended back to MAHAKAsYAPA, the first Indian patriarch, and ultimately to the Buddha himself; often, these genealogies would even go back to all of the seven buddhas of antiquity (SAPTABUDDHA). Six indigenous patriarchs (Bodhidharma, HUIKE, SENGCAN, DAOXIN, HONGREN, and HUINENG) are credited by the established tradition with the development and growth of Chan in China, but early records of the Chan school, such as the LENGQIE SHIZI JI and LIDAI FABAO JI, reveal the polemical battles fought between the disparate communities to establish their own teachers as the orthodox patriarchs of the tradition. A particularly controversial dispute over the sixth patriarchy broke out between the Chan master SHENXIU, the leading disciple of the fifth patriarch Hongren, and HEZE SHENHUI, the purported disciple of the legendary Chinese monk Huineng. This dispute is often referred to as the "sudden and gradual debate," and the differing factions came to be retrospectively designated as the gradualist Northern school (BEI ZONG; the followers of Shenxiu) and the subitist Southern school (NAN ZONG; the followers of Huineng). The famous LIUZU TANJING ("Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch"), composed by the followers of this putative Southern school, is an important source for the history of this debate. Following the sixth patriarch, the Chan lineage split into a number of collateral lines, which eventually evolved into the so-called "five houses and seven schools" (WU JIA QI ZONG) of the mature Chan tradition: the five "houses" of GUIYANG (alt. Weiyang), LINJI, CAODONG, YUNMEN, and FAYAN, and the subsequent bifurcation of Linji into the two lineages of HUANGLONG and YANGQI, giving a total of seven schools. ¶ The teachings of the Chan school were introduced to Korea perhaps as early as the end of the seventh century CE and the tradition, there known as SoN, flourished with the rise of the Nine Mountains school of Son (KUSAN SoNMUN) in the ninth century. By the twelfth century, the teachings and practices of Korean Buddhism were dominated by Son; and today, the largest Buddhist denomination in Korea, the CHOGYE CHONG, remains firmly rooted in the Son tradition. The Chan teachings were introduced to Japan in the late twelfth century by MYoAN EISAI (1141-1215); the Japanese tradition, known as ZEN, eventually developed three major sects, RINZAISHu, SoToSHu, and oBAKUSHu. The Chan teachings are traditionally assumed to have been transmitted to Vietnam by VINĪTARUCI (d. 594), a South Indian brAhmana who is claimed (rather dubiously) to have studied in China with the third Chan patriarch SENGCAN before heading south to Guangzhou and Vietnam. In 580, he is said to have arrived in Vietnam and settled at Pháp Van monastery, where he subsequently transmitted his teachings to Pháp Hièn (d. 626), who carried on the Chan tradition, which in Vietnamese is known as THIỀN. In addition to the Vinītaruci lineage, there are two other putative lineages of Vietnamese Thièn, both named after their supposed founders: VÔ NGÔN THÔNG (reputedly a student of BAIZHANG HUAIHAI), and THẢO ĐƯỜNG (reputedly connected to the YUNMEN ZONG lineage in China). Chan had a presence in Tibet during the early dissemination (SNGA DAR) of Buddhism, and the Chan monk MOHEYAN was an influential figure at the Tibetan court in the late eighth century, leading to the famous BSAM YAS DEBATE.
Chanlin sengbao zhuan. (J. Zenrin soboden; K. Sollim sŭngbo chon 禪林僧寶傳). In Chinese, "Chronicles of the SAMGHA Jewel in the Forests of CHAN"; compiled in the twelfth century by the "lettered Chan" (WENZI CHAN) monk JUEFAN HUIHONG (1071-1128). Huihong intended for this chronicle to serve as a supplement to his own "Biographies of Eminent Monks" (GAOSENG ZHUAN), which is no longer extant. Huihong collected the biographies of over a hundred eminent Chan masters who were active in the lettered Chan movement between the late Tang and early Song dynasties, appending his own comments to each biography. Huihong's collection is said to have been pared down to eighty-one biographies by the Chan master DAHUI ZONGGAO. Later, Dahui's disciple Jinglao (d.u.) of Tanfeng added a biography of WUZU FAYAN, the teacher of Dahui's own master YUANWU KEQIN, and two other masters to the conclusion of Huihong's text, giving a total of eighty-four biographies in the extant collection. A postscript by XUTANG ZHIYU appears at the end of the compilation. Unlike Chan "lamplight histories" (CHUANDENG LU), which are typically arranged according to principal and collateral lineages, the monks treated in this compilation are listed according to their significance in the origin and development of the "lettered Chan" movement; Huihong's treatment undermines the neat charts of master-disciple connections deriving from the lamplight histories, which have become so well known in the literature. In Japan, a copy of the Chanlin sengbao zhuan was published as early as 1295 and again in 1644.
Chapada. A Mon disciple of Uttarajīva Thera who introduced reformed Sinhalese Buddhism into the Pagan empire of Burma during the reign of King Narapatisithu (r. 1173-1210 CE). According to the KALYAnĪ INSCRIPTIONS (1479), where his story is first told, Chapada traveled to Sri Lanka as a twenty-year-old novice in the company of his preceptor, Uttarajīva, shortly after the THERAVADA tradition of the island kingdom had been reformed by ParAkramabAhu I in accordance with the orthodox standards of the MAHAVIHARA. Chapada was given the UPASAMPADA higher ordination by both Uttarajīva and other patriarchs of the Sinhalese sangha (S. SAMGHA), thus becoming the first monk from Burma to be ordained into the MahAvihAra tradition. The joint ceremony is described as having symbolized the essential unity of the Burmese-Mon and Sinhalese monastic lineages. Despite this initial ecumenism, when Chapada returned to Burma after ten years of study on the island, he and his cohorts refused to join with the existing sangha of Pagan, and instead organized themselves into a separate monastic fraternity at the capital. The fraternity thus established became known as the Sīhala sangha, while the older "unreformed" congregation of monks of Pagan came to be known as the Ariya Arahanta sangha. The Sīhala sangha founded by Chapada continued to fragment so that by the end of the Pagan empire (late thirteenth century), there were at least ten separate monastic fraternities in Burma. The "KalyAnī Inscriptions" decry this disunity as a factor that ultimately weakened the vitality of the religion.
chela. ::: disciple; one who wants to become the reflection of the Guru
Chela(Cela) ::: An old Indian term. In archaic times more frequently spelled and pronounced cheta or cheda. Themeaning is "servant," a personal disciple attached to the service of a teacher from whom he receivesinstruction. The idea is closely similar to the Anglo-Saxon term leorning-cneht, meaning "learningservant," a name given in Anglo-Saxon translations of the Christian New Testament to the disciples ofJesus, his "chelas." It is, therefore, a word used in old mystical scriptures for a disciple, a pupil, a learneror hearer. The relationship of teacher and disciple is infinitely more sacred even than that of parent andchild; because, while the parents give the body to the incoming soul, the teacher brings forth that soulitself and teaches it to be and therefore to see, teaches it to know and to become what it is in its inmostbeing -- that is, a divine thing.The chela life or chela path is a beautiful one, full of joy to its very end, but also it calls forth and needseverything noble and high in the learner or disciple; for the powers or faculties of the higher self must bebrought into activity in order to attain and to hold those summits of intellectual and spiritual grandeurwhere the Masters themselves live. For that, masterhood, is the end of discipleship -- not, however, thatthis ideal should be set before us merely as an end to attain to as something of benefit for one's own self,because that very thought is a selfish one and therefore a stumbling in the path. It is for the individual'sbenefit, of course; yet the true idea is that everything and every faculty that is in the soul shall be broughtout in the service of all humanity, for this is the royal road, the great royal thoroughfare, of self-conquest.The more mystical meanings attached to this term chela can be given only to those who have irrevocablypledged themselves to the esoteric life.
Chela (Hindi) Celā. Archaic spelling cheta (ceta) or cheda (ceda). Servant, disciple.
CHELA (Hindi, T.B.) Disciple
Chela: Sanskrit for disciple. (Cf. accepted chela.)
Chengguan. (J. Chokan; K. Chinggwan 澄觀) (738-839). Putative fourth patriarch of the Chinese HUAYAN tradition; also known as Daxiu, Huayan pusa, Huayan shuzhu, and Qingliang GUOSHI. Chengguan is said to have entered the monastery in 746 under the guidance of a monk named Tizhen (d.u.). Although little is known of Chengguan's early training, he is supposed to have studied a broad range of scriptures and commentaries including the PRAJNAPARAMITA SuTRAs, MAHAPARINIRVAnASuTRA, DASHENG QIXIN LUN, YOGACARABHuMIsASTRA, and others. In 757, he received the full monastic precepts from a certain Tanyi (d.u.) of the NANSHAN LÜ ZONG and studied for several years under Tanyi's prominent disciple JINGXI ZHANRAN. Chengguan is also said to have studied CHAN during this period under various masters. After his training under Fashen (718-778), second-generation disciple of the Huayan master FAZANG, Chengguan left for WUTAISHAN, the earthly abode of the BODHISATTVA MANJUsRĪ, in 776. Chengguan was a prolific exegete, whose writings amount to over four hundred rolls in total. Chengguan is best known for his massive commentary on sIKsANANDA's new translation of the AVATAMSAKASuTRA, entitled the [Dafangguang fo] HUAYAN JING SHU, in sixty rolls. This work rivaled and may even have surpassed in influence the most popular commentary on the AvataMsakasutra of his day, viz., Fazang's HUAYAN JING TANXUAN JI. Chengguan also wrote a comprehensive autocommentary to his commentary, entitled the HUAYAN JING SUISHU YANYI CHAO, in a total of ninety rolls. In these works, Chengguan expands upon the Huayan master DUSHUN's work on the notion of the realm of reality (DHARMADHATU), the HUAYAN FAJIE GUANMEN. Chengguan approached the dharmadhAtu from four interrelated perspectives, viz., the dharmadhAtu of phenomena (SHI FAJIE), dharmadhAtu of principle (LI FAJIE), the dharmadhAtu of the mutual nonobstruction between principle and phenomena (LISHI WU'AI FAJIE), and the dharmadhAtu of the mutual nonobstruction between phenomenon and phenomena (SHISHI WU'AI FAJIE). As the premier Huayan exegete of his generation, Chengguan also was summoned to the Tang capital of Chang'an in 796 to collaborate with the northwest Indian monk PRAJNA in preparing a new translation of the GAndAVYuHA, the forty-roll final chapter of the AvataMsakasutra. Among Chengguan's many disciples, the CHAN and Huayan exegete GUIFENG ZONGMI is most famous.
Cheng weishi lun. (S. *VijNaptimAtratAsiddhi; J. Joyui-shikiron; K. Song yusik non 成唯識論). In Chinese, "Demonstration of Consciousness-Only"; a magnum opus of Sino-Indian YOGACARA Buddhism and the foundational text of the Chinese WEISHI, or FAXIANG, school. The text is often cited by its reconstructed Sanskrit title *VIJNAPTIMATRATASIDDHI, and its authorship attributed to DHARMAPALA (530-561), but the text as we have it in Chinese translation has no precise analogue in Sanskrit and was never used within the Indian or Tibetan traditions. Its Chinese translator XUANZANG (600/602-664), one of the most important figures in the history of Chinese Buddhist scholasticism, traveled to India in the seventh century, where he specialized in YogAcAra doctrine at NALANDA monastic university under one of DharmapAla's disciples, sĪLABHADRA (529-645). At NAlandA, Xuanzang studied VASUBANDHU's TRIMsIKA (TriMsikAvijNaptimAtratA[siddhi]kArikA), the famous "Thirty Verses on Consciousness-Only," along with ten prose commentaries on the verses by the prominent YogAcAra scholiasts DharmapAla, STHIRAMATI, Nanda, CitrabhAnu, Gunamati, Jinamitra, JNAnamitra, JNAnacandra, Bandhusrī, suddhacandra, and Jinaputra. After his return to China in 645, Xuanzang set to work translating this massive amount of new material into Chinese. Rather than translate in their entirety all ten commentaries, however, on the advice of his translation team Xuanzang chose to focus on DharmapAla's exegesis, which he considered orthodox, rather than muddy the waters in China with the divergent interpretations of the other teachers. As a foil for DharmapAla's interpretation, Xuanzang uses the commentaries by Sthiramati, Nanda, and occasionally CitrabhAnu, but he typically concludes any discussion with DharmapAla's definitive view. This decision to rely heavily on DharmapAla's interpretation probably comes from the fact that Xuanzang's own Indian teacher, sīlabhadra, was himself a pupil of DharmapAla. ¶ The Cheng weishi lun is principally concerned with the origination and removal of ignorance (AVIDYA), by clarifying the processes by which erroneous perception arises and enlightened understanding is produced. Unlike the writings of STHIRAMATI, which understood the bifurcation of consciousness into subject and object to be wholly imaginary, the Cheng weishi lun proposed instead that consciousness in fact always appears in both subjective and objective aspects, viz., a "seeing part" (darsanabhAga) and a "seen part" (nimittabhAga). The apparent dichotomy between inner self and external images is a supposition of mentality (MANAS), which in turn leads to the various afflictions (KLEsA), as the mind clings to those images it likes and rejects those it dislikes; thus, suffering (DUḤKHA) is created and the cycle of rebirth (SAMSARA) sustained. Both the perceiving self and the perceived images are therefore both simply projections of the mind and thus mere-representation (VIJNAPTIMATRA) or, as Xuanzang translated the term, consciousness-only (WEISHI). This clarification of the perceptual process produces an enlightened understanding that catalyzes a transmutation of the basis (AsRAYAPARAVṚTTI), so that the root consciousness (MuLAVIJNANA), or ALAYAVIJNANA, no longer serves as the storehouse of either wholesome or unwholesome seeds (BĪJA), thus bringing an end to the subject-object bifurcation. In the course of its discussion, the Cheng weishi lun offers an extensive treatment of the YogAcAra theory of the eight consciousnesses (VIJNANA) and especially the storehouse consciousness (AlayavijNAna) that stores the seeds, or potentialities, of these representational images. The text also offers an overview of the three-nature (TRISVABHAVA) theory of vijNaptimAtra as imaginary (PARIKALPITA), dependent (PARATANTRA), and perfected (PARINIsPANNA). Finally, the Cheng weishi lun provides such exhaustive detail on the hundred dharmas (BAIFA) taxonomical system of the YogAcAra that it has been used within the tradition as a primer of YogAcAra dharma theory.
Cheta or Che-ti (Chinese) Used in Chinese Buddhist works in reference to the famous Saptaparna Cave mentioned by a number of Chinese Buddhist pilgrims and writers, such as Fa-hian and Hiuen-Tsang. This cave is supposed to be one of the spots where the brilliant shadow of Gautama Buddha may still be seen on the walls of the cave at certain times by those who are fit and ready to perceive it. It is stated that in this famous cave, Gautama Buddha used to meditate and teach his arhats and disciples.
Chims phu. [alt. Mchims phu]. A conglomeration of meditation caves and hermitages on the side of a low ridge near BSAM YAS monastery south of LHA SA; also known as Mchims phu. It forms one of central Tibet's most important and active pilgrimage sites. The location's principal cave, Brag dmar ke'u tshang (Drakmar Ke'utsang), is one of eight major centers connected with PADMASAMBHAVA, and is considered the representation of the Indian master's speech. It is identified as the place where Padmasambhava first gave the instructions known as the "eight transmitted precepts of attainment" (SGRUB PA BKA' BGYAD) to his eight main disciples, including the Tibetan king KHRI SRONG LDE BTSAN. It is also the location where Padmasambhava resurrected Khri srong lde btsan's young daughter PADMA GSAL, and gave her the teachings of the MKHA' 'GRO SNYING THIG for the first time. The Chims phu complex also contains a natural representation of Padmasambhava's pure land, ZANGS MDOG DPAL RI, the glorious copper-colored mountain, as well as meditation caves of YE SHES MTSHO RGYAL, VAIROCANA, and KLONG CHEN RAB 'BYAMS, who died there. Many of the caves and hermitages at Chims phu are still used for meditation retreat by Tibetan men and women.
Chin'gak Hyesim. (眞覺慧諶) (1178-1234). Korean SoN master during the Koryo dynasty, also known as Yongŭl and Muŭija. Although he sought to ordain as a monk at an early age, his mother adamantly opposed his wish and he instead studied to become a Confucian literatus. It was not until 1202, after his mother's death, that he finally was able to join the SUSoNSA community established by POJO CHINUL and become his principal disciple. Hyesim was known for his intense style of practice: he is said, for example, to have been so absorbed in his meditation while he was at CHIRISAN that snow had piled up to his head. Although Chinul had decided to pass the leadership of his community on to Hyesim in 1208, Hyesim declined and went into hiding on Chirisan. In 1210, when Chinul passed away, some of his disciples notified the king of their master's death and he issued a royal decree, ordering Hyesim to return to Susonsa and succeed Chinul. Hyesim thus became the second teacher of the Susonsa community. He spent the rest of his life building the community and teaching the kanhwa Son (see KANHUA CHAN), or "questioning meditation," technique that Chinul had first championed in Korea. Hyesim compiled the first indigenous kongan (C. GONG'AN) collection, the SoNMUN YoMSONG CHIP, and the emphasis on kanhwa Son in subsequent Korean Buddhist practice owes much to his fervent advocacy of the technique. Hyesim passed away at the age of fifty-seven and received the posthumous title Chin'gak kuksa (State Preceptor Authentic Enlightenment). His other works include the CHOGYE CHIN'GAK KUKSA oROK and the Sonmun gangyo.
Chin'gam Hyeso. (眞鑑慧昭) (774-850). A Korean SoN master and pilgrim during the Silla dynasty, also known as Chin'gam Sonsa. Hyeso is famous for introducing a traditional Indian Buddhist chanting style (K. pomp'ae; C. FANBAI) to Korea. In 804, Hyeso accompanied the official embassy to China, where he studied under a disciple of the eminent CHAN master MAZU DAOYI in the HONGZHOU school of early Chan. In China, Hyeso is said to have been often referred to as the Sage of the East (Dongfang shengren) and the Black-Headed Ascetic (Heidoutuo) because of his dark skin. In 810, Hyeso received full monastic precepts at the monastery of SHAOLINSI on SONGSHAN, where he met a fellow Korean monk TOŬI. Hyeso later traveled to Zhongnanshan, where he practiced sAMATHA and VIPAsYANA meditation for three years. In 830, he returned to Korea and became the king's personal teacher. He later established the monasteries of Changbaeksa on Soraksan and Okch'onsa on CHIRISAN, where he constructed an image hall for the sixth patriarch (LIUZU) HUINENG. King Chonggang (r. 886-887) gave him the posthumous title Chin'gam (True Mirror) and changed the name of his monastery from Okch'onsa to SSANGGYESA (Paired Brooks Monastery). Hyeso is also renowned for introducing tea and tea culture to the Korean peninsula and green tea from the mountains surrounding SSANGGYESA is still renowned in Korea for its quality. Chin'gam Hyeso is also reputed to have introduced the distinctive "Indian style" of chanting to Korea around 830, and current pomp'ae specialists trace their lineage back to him.
Chinmyong Honwon. (眞明混元) (1191-1271). A Korean SoN master during the Koryo dynasty. Honwon was ordained in 1203 and studied under various teachers before visiting the Son master CHIN'GAK HYESIM. He began his training in Son (CHAN) meditation under Hyesim's disciple Mongyo (d. 1252), who became the third state preceptor (kuksa, C. GUOSHI) to lead the SUSoNSA community established by POJO CHINUL. Honwon eventually became Mongyo's disciple. In 1245, Honwon was invited by the powerful military commander Ch'oe U (d. 1249) to the newly founded monastery of Sonwonsa that he had established in the Koryo capital of Kaesong. There, Honwon attracted many talented disciples including CH'UNGGYoNG CH'oNYoNG. When Mongyo passed away in 1252, Honwon became the fourth state preceptor of Susonsa, but he quickly abdicated this position to his disciple Ch'onyong in 1259 to become the personal teacher of the king (wangsa). He was later given the posthumous title Chinmyong (True Illumination).
Chinp'yo. (眞表) (fl. c. eighth century). Korean VINAYA master (yulsa) during the Silla dynasty. Chinp'yo was a native of Mangyong county in Wansan province (present-day Chonju). According to legend, Chinp'yo is said to have been a student of a certain dharma master named Sungje (d.u.) of the monastery of KŬMSANSA, and was himself responsible for a major expansion of the monastery that took place between 762 and 766. Sungje, who purportedly studied under the eminent Chinese monk SHANDAO, informed Chinp'yo of his vision of MANJUsRĪ on WUTAISHAN, after which Chinp'yo decided to devote himself to the practice of body-discarding repentance (mangsinch'am) at Pusaŭiam (Inconceivable Hermitage). In 740, after seven nights of ascetic repentance, Chinp'yo had a vision of the BODHISATTVA KsITIGARBHA. Chinp'yo continued his training at the monastery Yongsansa, where he had a vision of the bodhisattva MAITREYA. From Maitreya, Chinp'yo received the divination scripture, ZHANCHA SHANE YEBAO JING, and 189 divination sticks made of sandalwood, two of which were said to have been made of Maitreya's fingers. In 766, he began teaching at Kŭmsansa, where he installed six gilded images of Maitreya in the main shrine hall (TAEUNG CHoN). King Kyongdok (r. 742-764) later invited Chinp'yo to the palace and received the bodhisattva precepts (K. posal kye, C. PUSA JIE). Chinp'yo had many disciples, among whom Yongsim (d.u.) is most famous.
chinyong. (C. zhenying; J. shin'ei 眞影). In Korean, lit. "true image"; viz., a "monk's portrait." Although the term is known throughout the East Asian Buddhist traditions, it is especially associated with Korea; the related term DINGXIANG (J. chinzo, lit. "head's appearance") is more typically used within the Chinese and Japanese traditions. The employment of the term chinyong in Korea is a late Choson dynasty development; different terms were used in Korea before that era to refer to monk's portraits, including chinhyong ("true form"), sinyong ("divine image"), chinyong ("true appearance") and yongja ("small portrait image"). "Chin" ("true") in the compound refers to the inherent qualities of the subject, while "yong" ("image") alludes to his physical appearance; thus, a chinyong is a portrait that seeks to convey the true inner spirituality of the subject. Images of eminent masters who had been renowned patriarchs of schools, courageous monk soldiers, or successful fund-raisers were enshrined in a monastery's portrait hall. These portraits were painted posthumously-and, unlike Chinese dingxiang portraits, typically without the consent of the subjects-as one means of legitimizing the dharma-transmission lineage of their religious descendants; this usage of portraits is seen in both meditation (SoN) and doctrinal (KYO) monasteries. Korean monk portraits were not given out to individual disciples or lay adherents, as occurred in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, where dozens and even hundreds of portraits were produced by and for a variety of persons. In the context of the Korean Son school, the pictures additionally enhanced the Son Buddhist emphasis on the direct spiritual transmission (see YINKE) between master and disciple. The development of monk portraiture was closely tied to annual commemorative practices in Buddhist monasteries, which sought to maintain the religious bonds between the dharma ancestors and their descendants.
Chion'in. (知恩院). In Japanese, "Knowing Beneficence Cloister"; the headquarters of the JoDOSHu, or PURE LAND school of Japanese Buddhism, which was founded by HoNENs (1133-1212); located in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto. Chion'in was the site where Honen taught and where he died after a long period of fasting. His disciple Genchi (1183-1238) built the complex in his honor in 1234 and, still today, a statue of Honen is enshrined in the founder's hall. Most of the monastery was destroyed by fire in 1633, but the third Tokugawa shogun rebuilt the monastery in the middle of the seventeenth century with the structures present today. These include the main gate, or sanmon, built in 1619 and the largest gate of this type in Japan at seventy-nine feet tall. The oldest building on the monastery campus is the hondo, or main Buddha hall, built in 1633, which can hold three thousand people. Guesthouses from 1641 are roofed in the Irimoya style, and the roof beams on many of the buildings are capped with the Tokugawa three-hollyhock leaf crest. Various hallways in the monastery have also been built with "nightingale floors" (J. uguisubari)-floorboards with metal ends that rub on metal joints when someone walks across them, making them extremely squeaky. This flooring was specifically designed to sound an alarm in case any assassin might try to sneak into the sleeping quarters when the Tokugawa family stayed over at the monastery. The monastery's bell was cast in 1633 and weighs seventy-four tons; it is so massive that it takes seventeen monks to ring it when it is rung annually on New Year's Day.
Chodang chip. (C. Zutang ji; J. Sodoshu 祖堂集). In Korean, "Patriarchs' Hall Collection"; one of the earliest "lamplight histories" (CHUANDENG LU), viz., lineage records, of the CHAN tradition, compiled in 952 by the monks Jing (K. Chong) (d.u.) and Yun/Jun (K. Un/Kyun) (d.u.) of the monastery of Chaojingsi in Quanzhou (in present-day Fujian provine). The Chodang chip builds on an earlier Chan history, the BAOLIN ZHUAN, on which it seems largely to have been based. According to one current theory, the original text by Jing and Yun was a short work in a single roll, which was expanded into ten rolls early in the Song dynasty and subsequently reissued in twenty rolls in the definitive 1245 Korean edition. The anthology includes a preface by the compilers' teacher and collaborator Zhaoqing Shendeng/Wendeng (884-972), also known as the Chan master Jingxiu, who also appends verse panegyrics after several of the biographies in the collection. The Chodang chip provides biographies of 253 figures, including the seven buddhas of the past (SAPTATATHAGATA), the first Indian patriarch (ZUSHI) MAHAKAsYAPA up to and including the sixth patriarch (LIUZU) of Chan in China, HUINENG, and monks belonging to the lineages of Huineng's putative disciples QINGYUAN XINGSI and NANYUE HUAIRANG. In contrast to the later JINGDE CHUANDENG LU, the Chodang chip mentions the lineage of Qingyuan before that of Nanyue. In addition to the biographical narrative, the entries also include short excerpts from the celebrated sayings and dialogues of the persons it covers. These are notable for including many features that derive from the local vernacular (what has sometimes been labeled "Medieval Vernacular Sinitic"); for this reason, the text has been the frequent object of study by Chinese historical linguists. The Chodang chip is also significant for containing the biographies of several Silla-dynasty monks who were founders of, or associated with, the Korean "Nine Mountains School of Son" (KUSAN SoNMUN), eight of whom had lineage ties to the Chinese HONGZHOU ZONG of Chan that derived from MAZU DAOYI; the anthology in fact offers the most extensive body of early material on the developing Korean Son tradition. This emphasis suggests that the two compilers may themselves have been expatriate Koreans training in China and/or that the extant anthology was substantially reedited in Korea. The Chodang chip was lost in China after the Northern Song dynasty and remained completely unknown subsequently to the Chinese Chan and Japanese Zen traditions. However, the 1245 Korean edition was included as a supplement to the Koryo Buddhist canon (KORYo TAEJANGGYoNG), which was completed in 1251 during the reign of the Koryo king Kojong (r. 1214-1259), and fortunately survived; this is the edition that was rediscovered in the 1930s at the Korean monastery of HAEINSA. Because the collection is extant only in a Koryo edition and because of the many Korean monks included in the collection, the Chodang chip is often cited in the scholarly literature by its Korean pronunciation.
Ch'ongho Hyujong. (清虚休静) (1520-1604). Korean SoN master of the Choson dynasty; best known to Koreans by his sobriquet Sosan taesa (lit. the Great Master "West Mountain," referring to Mt. Myohyang near present-day P'yongyang in North Korea). Hyujong was a native of Anju in present-day South P'yongan province. After losing his parents at an early age, Hyujong was adopted by the local magistrate of Anju, Yi Sajŭng (d.u.), and educated at the Songgyun'gwan Confucian academy. In 1534, Hyujong failed to attain the chinsa degree and decided instead to become a monk. He was ordained by a certain Sungin (d.u.) on CHIRISAN in 1540, and he later received the full monastic precepts from Hyuong Ilson (1488-1568). Hyujong later became the disciple of the Son master Puyong Yonggwan (1485-1571). In 1552, Hyujong passed the clerical exams (SŬNGKWA) revived by HoŮNG POU, who later appointed Hyujong the prelate (p'ansa) of both the SoN and KYO traditions. Hyujong also succeeded Pou as the abbot of the monastery Pongŭnsa in the capital, but he left his post as prelate and spent the next few years teaching and traveling throughout the country. When the Japanese troops of Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1536/7-1598) invaded Korea in 1592, Hyujong's disciple Kiho Yonggyu (d. 1592) succeeded in retaking the city of Ch'ongju, but died shortly afterward in battle. Hyujong himself was then asked by King Sonjo (r. 1567-1608) to lead an army against the invading forces. His monk militias (ŭisŭnggun) eventually played an important role in fending off the Japanese troops. When the king subsequently gave Hyujong permission to retire, the master left his command in the hands of his disciple SAMYoNG YUJoNG; he died shortly thereafter. Hyujong is said to have had more than one thousand students, among whom Yujong, P'yonyang Ŭn'gi (1581-1644), Soyo T'aenŭng (1562-1649), and Chonggwan Ilson (1533-1608) are best known. Hyujong left a number of writings, including the SoN'GA KWIGAM, which is one of the most widely read works of the Korean Buddhist tradition. Other important works include the Samga kwigam, Son'gyo sok, Son'gyo kyol, and Solson ŭi. In these works, Hyujong attempted to reconcile the teachings of the Son and Kyo traditions of Buddhism, as well as the doctrines of Buddhism and Confucianism.
Chongjung Musang. (C. Jingzhong Wuxiang; J. Joshu Muso 淨衆無相) (680-756, alt. 684-762). Korean-Chinese CHAN master of the Tang dynasty; because he was of Korean heritage, he is usually called Musang in the literature, following the Korean pronunciation of his dharma name, or Master Kim (K. Kim hwasang; C. Jin heshang), using his Korean surname. Musang is said to have been the third son of a Silla king and was ordained in Korea at the monastery of Kunnamsa. In 728, he arrived in the Chinese capital of Chang'an (present-day Xi'an) and had an audience with the Tang emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-756), who appointed him to the monastery of Chandingsi. Musang subsequently traveled to Chu (in present-day Sichuan province) and became a disciple of the monk Chuji (alt. 648-734, 650-732, 669-736), who gave him dharma transmission at the monastery of Dechunsi in Zizhou (present-day Sichuan province). He later resided at the monastery of Jingzhongsi in Chengdu (present-day Sichuan province; later known as WANFOSI), which gave him his toponym Chongjung (C. Jingzhong). Musang became famous for his ascetic practices and meditative prowess. Musang also began conferring a unique set of precepts known as the three propositions (SANJU): "no recollection" (wuji), which was equated with morality (sĪLA); "no thought" (WUNIAN) with concentration (SAMADHI); and "no forgetting" (mowang) with wisdom (PRAJNA). He also taught a practice known as YINSHENG NIANFO, a method of reciting the name of the Buddha by extending the length of the intonation. Musang's prosperous lineage in Sichuan came to be known as the JINGZHONG ZONG line of Chan. Musang seems to have taught or influenced several renowned Chan monks, including HEZE SHENHUI (668-760), BAOTANG WUZHU (714-774), and MAZU DAOYI (707-786); he also played an important role in transmitting Chan to Tibet in the 750s and 760s.
Ch'ont'ae sagyo ŭi. (C. Tiantai sijiao yi; J. Tendai shikyogi 天台四教儀). In Korean, the "Principle of the Fourfold Teachings of the Tiantai [School]," composed by the Korean monk Ch'egwan (d. 970); an influential primer of TIANTAI ZONG (K. Chont'ae chong) doctrine. The loss of the texts of the Tiantai tradition in China after the chaos that accompanied the fall of the Tang dynasty prompted the king of the Wuyue kingdom to seek copies of them elsewhere in East Asia. King Kwangjong (r. 950-975) of the Koryo dynasty responded to the Wuyue king's search by sending the monk Ch'egwan to China in 961. In order to summarize the major teachings of the Tiantai school, Ch'egwan wrote this one-roll abstract of TIANTAI ZHIYI's Sijiao yi, which also draws on other of Zhiyi's writings, including his FAHUA XUANYI. Ch'egwan's text is especially known for its summary of Zhiyi's doctrinal classification schema (see JIAOXIANG PANSHI) on the different (chronological) stages of the Buddha's teaching career and the varying methods he used in preaching to his audiences; these are called the "five periods and eight teachings" (WUSHI BAJIAO). The five periods correspond to what the Tiantai school considered to be the five major chronological stages in the Buddha's teaching career, each of which is exemplified by a specific scripture or type of scripture: (1) HUAYAN (AVATAMSAKASuTRA), (2) AGAMA, (3) VAIPULYA, (4) PRAJNAPARAMITA, and (5) SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA and MAHAPARINIRVAnASuTRA. The different target audiences of the Buddha's message lead to four differing varieties of content in these teachings (huafa): (1) the PItAKA teachings, which were targeted at the two-vehicle adherents (ER SHENG) of disciples (sRAVAKA) and solitary buddhas (PRATYEKABUDDHA); (2) the common teachings, which were intended for both two-vehicle adherents and neophyte bodhisattvas of the MAHAYANA; (3) the distinct teachings, which targeted only bodhisattvas; (4) the perfect or consummate teachings (YUANJIAO), which offered advanced bodhisattvas an unvarnished assessment of Buddhist truths. In speaking to these audiences, which differed dramatically in their capacity to understand his message, the Buddha is said also to have employed four principal techniques of conversion (huayi), or means of conveying his message: sudden, gradual, secret, and indeterminate. Ch'egwan's text played a crucial role in the revitalization of the Tiantai tradition in China and has remained widely studied since. The Ch'ont'ae sagyo ŭi was also influential in Japan, where it was repeatedly republished. Numerous commentaries on this text have also been written in China, Korea, and Japan.
Chos kyi 'byung gnas. (Chokyi Jungne) (1700-1774). Tibetan Buddhist scholar recognized as the eighth TAI SI TU incarnation, remembered for his wide learning and his editorial work on the Tibetan Buddhist canon. He traveled extensively throughout his life, maintaining strong relationships with the ruling elite of eastern Tibet and the Newar Buddhists of the Kathmandu Valley. Born in the eastern Tibetan region of SDE DGE, Chos kyi 'byung gnas was recognized as a reincarnate lama (SPRUL SKU) by the eighth ZHWA DMAR, from whom he received his first vows. He would go on to study with KAḤ THOG Rigs 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu (1698-1755), from whom he learned about GZHAN STONG ("other emptiness"). At the age of twenty-one, he accompanied several important Bka' brgyud hierarchs, the Zhwa dmar and the twelfth KARMA PA, to Kathmandu, a journey that was to have a profound impact on the young Si tu's life. He returned to eastern Tibet in 1724, where he was received favorably by the king of Sde dge, Bstan pa tshe ring (Tenpa Tsering, 1678-1738). Under the latter's patronage, Chos kyi 'byung gnas founded DPAL SPUNGS monastery in 1727, which became the new seat for the Si tu lineage (they are sometimes called the Dpal spungs si tu). Between the years 1731 and 1733, he undertook the monumental task of editing and correcting a new redaction of the BKA' 'GYUR section of the Tibetan Buddhist canon, to be published at the printing house of Sde dge. Although in his day Tibetan knowledge of Indian linguistic traditions had waned, Chos kyi 'byung gnas devoted much of his later life to the study of Sanskrit grammar and literature, which he had first studied with Newar panditas during his time in Kathmandu. He sought out new Sanskrit manuscripts in order to establish more precise translations of Sanskrit works already translated in the Tibetan canon; he is esteemed in Tibet for his knowledge of Sanskrit grammar. In addition to his prolific scholarly work, Chos kyi 'byung gnas was an accomplished painter as well as a gifted physician, much sought after by the aristocracy of eastern Tibet. In 1748, he visited Nepal once again, where he translated the SvayambhupurAna, the legends concerning the SVAYAMBHu STuPA, into Tibetan. He was received amicably by the rulers JayaprakAsamalla (1736-1768) of Kathmandu, Ranajitamalla (1722-1769) of what is now Bhaktapur, and PṛthvīnArAyana sAha, who would unify the Kathmandu Valley under Gorkhali rule several decades later. Chos kyi 'byung gnas' collected writings cover a vast range of subjects including lengthy and detailed diaries and an important history of the KARMA BKA' BRGYUD sect coauthored by his disciple Be lo Tshe dbang kun khyab (Belo Tsewang Kunkyap, b. 1718). He is retrospectively identified as an originator of what would become known as Khams RIS MED movement, which gained momentum in early nineteenth century Sde dge.
Ch'oŭi Ŭisun. (草衣意恂) (1786-1866). Korean SoN master of the Choson period; also known as Ilchiam ("One-Finger Hermitage"). He received the full monastic precepts and the name Ch'oŭi from the monk Wanho Yunu (1758-1826). Ch'oŭi became Yunu's disciple, and made a name for himself as an influential Son master. Ch'oŭi is perhaps most renowned for his efforts to revitalize the art of tea in Korea. He developed the tea ceremony as a form of religious practice and is known for synthesizing the tea ceremony and Son practice, as exemplified in his slogan ta son ilmi ("tea and Son are a single taste"). Ch'oŭi also wrote several guides to growing, preparing, and drinking tea, such as the Tongdasong and the Tasin chon, which is based on the Chinese classic Wanbao quanshu. Ch'oŭi's other writings include a collection of his poetry, the Ch'oŭi shigo, and a biography of the eminent Korean monk Chinmuk Irok (1562-1633), the Chinmuk chosa yujokko. Among his writings, the Sonmun sabyon mano ("Prolix Discourse on Four Distinctive Types in the Son School") in particular played a major role in determining the future of Son discourse in Korea. The text was written as a critique of PAEKP'A KŬNGSoN's equally influential text, the Sonmun sugyong ("Hand Mirror on the Son School").
christophany ::: n. --> An appearance of Christ, as to his disciples after the crucifixion.
chuandeng lu. (J. dentoroku; K. chondŭng nok 傳燈録). In Chinese, "transmission of the lamplight record"; a generic term for a genre of historical writing associated with the CHAN school, or more specifically to the most representative text of that genre, the JINGDE CHUANDENG LU. These so-called "lamp" or "lamplight histories" (denglu) include the CHODANG CHIP (C. Zutang ji), CHUANFA ZHENGZONG JI, Tiansheng guangdeng lu, Wudeng huiyuan ("Collected Essentials of the Five Lamplight Histories"), and others. These texts were composed primarily to establish a genealogical map of Chan orthodoxy and to reinforce the legitimacy for the lineages, teachings, and practices of the various Chan lines. These mature Chan histories were strongly influenced by earlier genealogical histories compiled during the Tang dynasty, such as the CHUAN FABAO JI, LENGQIE SHIZI JI, LIDAI FABAO JI, and BAOLIN ZHUAN. In these earlier texts, contending groups of masters and their disciples wove together intricate lineages that they traced back to the legendary Indian founder of Chan, BODHIDHARMA, and his immediate successors. These texts began using the metaphor of a "lamplight" (deng) being transmitted from lamp to lamp to suggest the wordless, mind-to-mind transmission (YIXIN CHUANXIN) of the Buddha's insight from master to disciple and down through the generations. These chuandeng lu also came to serve another important purpose as the primary source of the stories about the interactions between masters and students, from which important precedents or cases (GONG'AN) were collected for contemplation or testing of meditative experience.
Chuan fabao ji. (J. Denbohoki; K. Chon poppo ki 傳法寶紀). In Chinese, "Annals of the Transmission of the Dharma Jewel"; compiled c. 713 by the layman Du Fei (d.u.) for followers of the so-called Northern School (BEI ZONG) of CHAN. Along with the LENGQIE SHIZI JI, the Chuan fabao ji is probably one of the earliest Chan chronicles that delineate the theory of the "transmission of the lamplight" (see CHUANDENG LU). The narrative of transmission that appears in the Chuan fabao ji seems to be based on an epitaph for the monk Faru (638-689), which is the oldest extant document outlining the transmission of the lamplight theory (written in 689). According to Faru's epitaph and the Chuan fabao ji, the wordless teaching of Chan that sAKYAMUNI transmitted to his disciple ANANDA was inherited by BODHIDHARMA, HUIKE, SENGCAN, DAOXIN, HONGREN, Faru, and finally by SHENXIU. The Chuan fabao ji is largely comprised of the biography of these figures.
chuanfa. (J. denbo/denpo; K. chonpop 傳法). In Chinese, lit., "transmit the dharma"; the transmission from master to disciple that constitutes the genealogy or lineage of different schools of Buddhism. See CHUANDENG LU;CHUANFA ZHENGZONG JI; FASI; YINKE.
Chuanxin fayao. (J. Denshinhoyo; K. Chonsim pobyo 傳心法要). In Chinese, "Essential Teachings on the Transmission of the Mind"; by the CHAN master HUANGBO XIYUN, also known as the Huangboshan Duanji chanshi chuanxin fayao. Huangbo's prominent lay disciple Pei Xiu's (787?-860) preface to the text was prepared in 857. Pei Xiu, the powerful Tang-dynasty minister of state, is said to have recorded the lectures delivered by Huangbo at the monasteries of Longxingsi and Kaiyuansi, and edited his notes together as the Chuanxin fayao and WANLING LU. The two texts seem to have circulated together until the eleventh century. The central tenet of the Chuanxin fayao is the teaching of the "one mind" (YIXIN). Since everything, including buddhas and sentient beings, are all considered to be aspects of the one mind, Huangbo's use of this term underscores the fundamental unity of all things. Huangbo also likens this mind to space, a common metaphor for emptiness (suNYATA). Chan practice entails bringing an end to the discriminative process of thought, so that this one mind will be made manifest. Since all beings are inherently endowed with this one mind, which is complete in and of itself, there is no need to develop a series of practices, such as the six PARAMITAs, or to amass stores of merit (PUnYA), in order to perfect that one mind. Simply awakening to that one mind will itself be sufficient to transform an ignorant sentient being into an enlightened buddha.
Chu dbar. (Chubar). A Tibetan name for the region of the Rongshar Valley in southern Tibet close to the Nepalese border, chiefly associated with the eleventh-century Tibetan YOGIN MI LA RAS PA; also spelled Chu 'bar. According to Mi la ras pa's biographies, many of the yogin's favored retreat sites were located in the Chu dbar area, a short distance from the famed enclave of LA PHYI. Foremost among these was 'Bri lce phug (Driche puk), or "Dri's Tongue Cave," which served as the site for his cremation. Many of Mi la ras pa's patrons hailed from Chu dbar and the neighboring village BRIN, both of which later came under the administrative control of 'BRI GUNG BKA' BRGYUD hierarchs. The region is also home to Chu dbar monastery, which was eventually directed by the tenth KARMA PA Chos dbying rdo rje (Choying Dorje, 1604-1674), but was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Nearby is Mt. Tseringma (Nepalese: Gaurishanker) which, together with four surrounding peaks, is believed to be the divine residence of the five long-life sister goddesses (TSHE RING MCHED LNGA) who were converted to Buddhism and became disciples of Mi la ras pa.
Ch'unggyong Ch'onyong. (冲鏡天英) (1215-1286). Korean monk of the Koryo dynasty and fifth patriarch of the SUSoNSA community established by POJO CHINUL. Ch'unggyong was ordained by CHIN'GAK HYESIM in 1229 and passed the national clerical examinations (SŬNGKWA) in 1236. He subsequently began his studies under Hyesim's disciple Mongyo (d. 1252), and he later became the student of Mongyo's disciple CHINMYoNG HONWoN. Ch'unggyong continued studying with his teacher while they were living at the monastery of Sonwonsa and in the Susonsa community. When Chinmyong stepped down as patriarch of Susonsa in 1256, the king gave Ch'unggyong the title of Great Son Master (taesonsa) and appointed him as Chinmyong's successor. The community flourished under Ch'unggyong's supervision. He passed away at the monastery of Pulgaesa in 1286 and was succeeded as patriarch of the Susonsa community by his chief disciple MIRAM CH'UNGJI.
Cihang. (慈航) (1895-1954). Chinese monk during the Republican Era and prominent disciple of the influential Buddhist reformer TAIXU; his mummified remains continue to be a major focus of relic worship in Taiwan. Cihang was first educated in the traditional Chinese Buddhist exegetical traditions of the CHAN, TIANTAI, and PURE LAND schools before beginning his studies in 1927 at Taixu's modern Buddhist academy in Minnan. It was there that Cihang was exposed to, and inspired by, Taixu's reformist ideals, and began his own active missionary career. Cihang's achievements as a missionary included establishing various Chinese Buddhist organizations and lecturing on Buddhism throughout Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Singapore, Burma, and Malaysia, where he was credited with promoting a type of "socially engaged Buddhism." Cihang was also the founder and editor of the Buddhist monthly Renjian ("Human Realm"), and served as abbot of various monasteries. Most notably, Cihang founded the renowned Mile Neiyuan (MAITREYA Buddhist Academy) in Taiwan for training young clergy who had recently relocated from the Chinese mainland, so that they would be able to minister to new Taiwanese converts to Buddhism. Cihang's classes on YOGACARA and other MAHAYANA traditions in and outside of the academy were influential on the way Chinese Buddhism spread, developed, and took root in Taiwan after the retreat of the Kuomintang (Guomindang) from the Chinese mainland in 1949. Cihang's mummified remains-in the form of his largely intact body-continue to be a source of great fascination and controversy in Taiwan. In addition to the many debates within both the secular and religious communities concerning his "whole-body relic" (QUANSHEN SHELI), a new cult of relic worship began in earnest as soon as the existence of his mummified body became publicized. Cihang's pious followers undertook extra measures to ensure the lasting preservation of his body. Cihang's mummy, still sitting in a meditative posture, remains on display inside the memorial building (Cihang guan) dedicated to him.
Cleanthes: (c. 310-230 B.C.) Zeno's disciple and one of the most prominent thinkers of the Stoic School. Of his writings only a hymn to Zeus is extant. -- R.B.W.
comtist ::: n. --> A disciple of Comte; a positivist.
condisciple ::: n. --> A schoolfellow; a fellow-student.
CONFESSION. ::: Helps to purge the consciousness of ham- pering elements and clears the inner air and makes for a closer and more intimate relation between the Guru and the disciple.
confucianism ::: n. --> The political morality taught by Confucius and his disciples, which forms the basis of the Chinese jurisprudence and education. It can hardly be called a religion, as it does not inculcate the worship of any god.
Council, 2nd. The second council was held at VAIsALĪ, some one hundred years after the Buddha's death. It is said that the monk YAsAS was traveling in VaisAlī when he observed the monks from the city, identified as VṚJIPUTRAKAs, receiving alms in the form of gold and silver directly from the laity, in violation of the disciplinary prohibition against monks' handling gold and silver. He also found that the monks had identified ten points in the VINAYA that they considered were sufficiently minor to be ignored, despite the decision at the first council (see COUNCIL, FIRST) not to disregard any of the minor precepts. The ten violations in question were: (1) carrying salt in an animal horn; (2) eating when the shadow of the sundial is two fingerbreadths past noon; (3) after eating, traveling to another village on the same day to eat another meal; (4) holding several assemblies within the same boundary (SĪMA) during the same fortnight observance; (5) making a monastic decision with an incomplete assembly and subsequently receiving the approval of the absent monks; (6) citing precedent as a justification for violating monastic procedures; (7) drinking milk whey after mealtime; (8) drinking unfermented wine; (9) using mats with fringe; and (10) accepting gold and silver. Yasas informed the monks that these were indeed violations of the disciplinary code, at which point the monks are said to have offered him a share of the gold and silver they had collected; when he refused, they expelled him from the order. Yasas sought support of several respected monks in the west, including sAnAKAVASIN and REVATA, and together with other monks, they travelled together to VaisAlī. Once there, Revata went to SarvagAmin, the senior-most monk in the order, who was said to have been a disciple of ANANDA. However, when Revata questioned him about the ten points, the elder monk refused to discuss them in private. At Revata's suggestion, a jury of eight monks was appointed, with four representatives from each party. Revata was selected as one of four from the party declaring the ten practices to be violations, and it was Revata who publicly put the questions to SarvagAmin. In each case, he said that the practice in question was a violation of the vinaya. Seven hundred monks then gathered to recite the vinaya. Those who did not accept the decision of the council held their own convocation, which they called the MAHASAMGHIKA, or "Great Assembly." This event is sometimes referred to as "the great schism." The second council is generally accepted as a historical event. ¶ Some accounts make MAHADEVA a participant at the second council, which is said to have resulted in the schism of the SAMGHA into the conservative STHAVIRANIKAYA and the more liberal MahAsAMghika. However, the chief points of controversy that led to the convening of the council seem not to have been MahAdeva's five theses, but rather these ten relatively minor rules of monastic discipline. If MahAdeva was a historical figure, it is more likely that he was involved in a later schism that occurred within the MahAsAMghika, as a result of which the followers of MahAdeva formed the CAITYA sect. See also SAMGĪTI.
coven ::: Coven The word coven was used specifically to denote groups of witches in the seventeenth century, but now also refers to a modern Wiccan magical group. A coven usually comprises thirteen members, including a Priest and Priestess. Funny .... I seem to remember that Jesus Christ had twelve disciples! And what part did Mary Magdalene play in it?
Cudapanthaka. (P. Culapanthaka/Cullapantha; T. Lam phran bstan; C. Zhutubantuojia; J. Chudahantaka; K. Chudobant'akka 注荼半托迦). An eminent ARHAT declared in PAli sources as foremost among the Buddha's disciples in his ability to create mind-made bodies (MANOMAYAKAYA) and to manipulate mind (cittavivatta). Cudapanthaka was the younger of two brothers born to a merchant's daughter from RAJAGṚHA who had eloped with a slave. Each time she became pregnant, she wanted to return home to give birth to her children, but both were born during her journey home. For this reason, the brothers were named "Greater" Roadside (MahApanthaka; see PANTHAKA) and "Lesser" Roadside. The boys were eventually taken to RAjagṛha and raised by their grandparents, who were devoted to the Buddha. The elder brother Panthaka often accompanied his grandfather to listen to the Buddha's sermons and was inspired to be ordained. He proved to be an able monk, skilled in doctrine, and eventually attained arhatship. He later ordained his younger brother Cudapanthaka but was gravely disappointed in his brother's inability to memorize even a single verse of the dharma. Panthaka was so disappointed that he advised his brother to leave the order, much to the latter's distress. Once, the Buddha's physician JĪVAKA invited the Buddha and his monks to a morning meal. Panthaka gathered the monks together on the appointed day to attend the meal but intentionally omitted Cudapanthaka. So hurt was Cudapanthaka by his brother's contempt that he decided to return to lay life. The Buddha, knowing his mental state, comforted the young monk and taught him a simple exercise: he instructed him to sit facing east and, while repeating the phrase "rajoharanaM" ("cleaning off the dirt"), continue to wipe his face with a clean cloth. As Cudapanthaka noticed the cloth getting dirty from wiping off his sweat, he gained insight into the reality of impermanence (ANITYA) and immediately attained arhatship and was equipped with the four analytical knowledges (PRATISAMVID), including knowledge of the entire canon (TRIPItAKA). (According to other versions of the story, he came to a similar realization through sweeping.) Thereafter Cudapanthaka became renowned for his vast learning, as well as for his supranormal powers. He was a master of meditative concentration (SAMADHI) and of the subtle-materiality absorptions (RuPAVACARADHYANA). He could simultaneously create a thousand unique mind-made bodies (MANOMAYAKAYA), while other meditative specialists in the order could at best produce only two or three. ¶ Cudapanthaka is also traditionally listed as the last of the sixteen arhat elders (sOdAsASTHAVIRA), who were charged by the Buddha with protecting his dispensation until the advent of the next buddha, MAITREYA. In CHANYUE GUANXIU's standard Chinese depiction, Cudapanthaka sits among withered trees, his left hand raised with fingers slightly bent, and his right hand resting on his right thigh, holding a fan.
Culaniddesa. In PAli, "Shorter Exposition," second part of the Niddesa ("Exposition"), an early commentarial work on the SUTTANIPATA included in the PAli SUTTAPItAKA as the eleventh book of the KHUDDAKANIKAYA; also written as Cullaniddesa. Attributed by tradition to the Buddha's chief disciple, SAriputta (S. sARIPUTRA), the Niddesa is divided into two sections: the MAHANIDDESA ("Longer Exposition"), and Culaniddesa. The MahAniddesa comments on the sixteen suttas (S. SuTRA) of the AttHAKAVAGGA chapter of the SuttanipAta, while the Culaniddesa comments on the sixteen suttas of the ParAyanavagga chapter and on the KhaggavisAnasutta (see KHAdGAVIsAnA). The MahAniddesa and Culaniddesa do not comment on any of the remaining contents of the SuttanipAta, a feature that has suggested to historians that at the time of their composition the Atthakavagga and ParAyanavagga were autonomous anthologies not yet incorporated into the SuttanipAta, and that the KhaggavisAnasutta likewise circulated independently. The exegesis given to the SuttanipAta by the MahA- and Culaniddesa displays the influence of the PAli ABHIDHAMMA (S. ABHIDHARMA) and passages from it are frequently quoted in the VISUDDHIMAGGA. Both parts of the Niddesa are formulaic in structure, a feature that appears to have been designed as a pedagogical aid to facilitate memorization. In Western scholarship, there has long been a debate regarding the dates of these two compositions, with some scholars dating them as early as the third century BCE, others to as late as the second century CE. The MahA- and Culaniddesa are the only commentarial texts besides the SUTTAVIBHAnGA of the VINAYAPItAKA to be included in the Sri Lankan and Thai recensions of the PAli canon. In contrast, the Burmese canon includes two additional early commentaries, the NETTIPAKARAnA and PEtAKOPADESA, as books sixteen and seventeen in its version of the KhuddakanikAya.
Culavedallasutta. (C. Fale biqiuni jing; J. Horaku bikunikyo; K. Pomnak piguni kyong 法樂比丘尼經). In PAli, "Shorter Discourse on Points of Doctrine"; the forty-fourth sutta in the MAJJHIMANIKAYA (a separate SARVASTIVADA recension appears as the 210th sutra in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMAGAMA; the entire discourse is also subsumed in the Tibetan translation of samathadeva's commentary to the ABHIDHARMAKOsABHAsYA), expounded by the nun DhammadinnA (S. DHARMADINNA) to her former husband, the householder VisAkha, at the Veluvana (S. VEnUVANAVIHARA) bamboo grove in RAjagaha (S. RAJAGṚHA). VisAkha approached DhammadinnA and questioned her concerning a number of points of doctrine preached by the Buddha. These questions included: what is the nature of this existing body (P. sakkAya; S. satkAya); what is its origin (SAMUDAYA), its cessation (NIRODHA), and the path (P. magga; S. MARGA) leading to its cessation; how does wrong view concerning this body (P. sakkAyaditthi; S. SATKAYADṚstI) arise and how is it removed; what is the noble eightfold path; what is concentration (SAMADHI); what are bodily, verbal, and mental formations; what is the attainment of cessation (nirodha); what is sensation (VEDANA); what are the underlying tendencies with regard to pleasant, painful, and neutral sensations and how should these be overcome; and what are the counterparts of pleasant, painful, and neutral sensations. DhammadinnA answered all of the questions put to her to the satisfaction of the householder VisAkha-proving why the Buddha considered her foremost among his nun disciples in the gift of preaching.
Cunda. (T. Skul byed; C. Zhuntuo; J. Junda; K. Chunda 準陀). In Sanskrit and PAli, the proper name of a metalworker famous, or perhaps infamous, for having offered the Buddha his final meal before his demise. According to the PAli account, the Buddha was traveling to KusinArA (S. KUsINAGARĪ) and interrupted his journey to rest at Cunda's mango grove in PAvA. Cunda paid his respects to the Buddha and invited him and his followers for the morning meal the next day. Cunda prepared for them sweet rice, cakes, and SuKARAMADDAVA, literally "tender boar" or "soft boar's [food]." There has been much debate, both in the tradition and among modern scholars, as to the meaning of this term. It is unclear whether it means something soft that is consumed by boars (such as a type of mushroom, truffle, or bamboo shoots that had been trampled by boars) or some kind of pork dish. The Indian and Sinhalese commentators prefer, although not unanimously, the latter interpretation. Some East Asian recensions of Cunda's story state that he offered the Buddha mushrooms rather than pork for his last meal, thus preserving the idea that the Buddha was vegetarian. At the meal, the Buddha announced that he alone should be served the dish, and what was left over should be buried, for none but a buddha could survive eating it. This has led some modern interpreters to suggest that the meal had been poisoned, but no such implication appears in traditional commentaries. Shortly thereafter, the Buddha became afflicted with the dysentery from which he would eventually die. Shortly before his death, the Buddha instructed his disciple ANANDA to visit Cunda and reassure the layman that he was blameless; in fact, he should rejoice at the great merit he earned for having given the Buddha his last meal. In an earlier meeting, Cunda remarked to the Buddha that he approved of Brahmanical rites of purification, to which the Buddha responded with a sermon on the threefold defilement and purification of the body, the fourfold defilement and purification of speech, and the threefold defilement and purification of the mind. Although Cunda is not recorded as having ever reached any degree of spiritual attainment, he did have his doubts removed by the Buddha, whom he regarded as his teacher. There are a variety of different transcriptions of the name in Chinese, of which the above is among the most common.
Daguan Zhenke. (J. Takkan Shinka; K. Talgwan Chin'ga 達觀眞可) (1543-1603). Chinese CHAN master of the Ming dynasty, also known as ZIBO. Daguan was a native of Jugu prefecture in Jiangsu province. He was ordained at age sixteen and is said to have attained awakening after reading the following verse by the layman Zhang Zhuo (d.u.), a disciple of the Chan master SHISHUANG QINGZHU: "Cutting off deluded thoughts increases maladies ever more,/ Heading out toward true suchness is also heresy" (duanji wangxiang zhongzeng bing,/ quxiang zhenru yishi xie). Like his influential contemporaries HANSHAN DEQING and YUNQI ZHUHONG, he was renowned for his advocacy of NIANFO Chan, in which Chan meditative practice was combined with the invocation or recitation of the name of the buddha AMITABHA. Daguan was known as one of the four great monks of the Ming dynasty along with Hanshan Deqing (1546-1623), Yunqi Zhuhong (1535-1615), and OUYI ZHIXU (1599-1655). Daguan's teachings are recorded in the Zibo zunzhe quanji and Zibo laoren shiji.
Dahong Bao'en. (J. Daiko Hoon; K. Taehong Poŭn 大洪報恩) (1058-1111). Chinese CHAN master of the CAODONG lineage. Dahong was a native of Liyang in present-day Henan province. Raised in a traditional family, he became an official at an early age, but later abandoned the position, with the court's permission, in order to ordain as a monk. He studied under the Chan master TOUZI YIQING and became his disciple. Dahong was later invited by the prime minister to lecture at the famed monastery of SHAOLINSI. In response to still another request, he moved to Mt. Dahong in Suizhou prefecture (present-day Hubei province), whence he acquired his toponym, and became the first Chan monk to convert a VINAYA monastery into a Chan center, which he named Chongning Baoshou Chanyuan. Dahong also became close friends with the powerful and outspoken statesman ZHANG SHANGYING (1043-1122). Dahong is known to have composed several texts including a history of the Caodong tradition, Caodong zongpai lu, and manuals for conferring the precepts, such as the Shou puti xinjie wen and Luofa shoujie yiwen; none of these texts are extant.
Dahong Shousui. (J. Daiko Shusui; K. Taehong Susu 大洪守遂) (1072-1147). Chinese CHAN master in the CAODONG lineage. Dahong was a native of Suining in present-day Sichuan province. He was ordained at the age of twenty-seven and became the student of DAHONG BAO'EN of Mt. Dahong and acquired the same toponym. In 1118, the title Great Master Jingyan (Pure and Strict) was bestowed upon him. After the invasion of Jin dynasty troops, Dahong moved south and became the abbot of the monastery Shuinan Chanyuan. Later he moved back to Mt. Dahong where he and his seven hundred disciples devoted themselves to its restoration.
Dahui Pujue chanshi shu. (J. Daie Fukaku zenji sho; K. Taehye Pogak sonsa so 大慧普覺禪師書). In Chinese, "CHAN Master Dahui Pujue's Letters"; also known as the Dahui shumen, DAHUI SHUZHUANG, SHUZHUANG, and Dahui shu. Its colophon is dated to 1166. In reply to the letters he received from his many students, both ordained and lay, the Chan master DAHUI ZONGGAO wrote back with detailed instructions on meditation practice, especially his signature training in "observing the meditative topic," or more freely "questioning meditation" (KANHUA CHAN); after his death, his letters were compiled and edited in two rolls by his disciples Huiran and Huang Wenchang. Numerous editions of this collection were subsequently printed in China, Korea, and Japan. Many practitioners of Chan, SoN, and ZEN favored the Dahui Pujue chanshi shu for its clarity, intelligibility, and uniquely personal tone. The text was especially influential in the writings of the Korean Son master POJO CHINUL (1158-1210), who first learned about the Chan meditative technique of kanhua Chan from its pages and who attributed one of his three awakenings to his readings of Dahui. Dahui's letters were formally incorporated into the Korean Son monastic curriculum by at least the seventeenth century, as one of books in the "Fourfold Collection" (SAJIP), where it is typically known by its abbreviated title of "Dahui's Letters" (K. TAEHYE SoJANG) or just "Letters" (K. SoJANG; C. Shuzhuang). The Japanese monk and historian MUJAKU DoCHu (1653-1744) also wrote an important commentary to the text, known as the Daiesho koroju.
Dahui Zonggao. (J. Daie Soko; K. Taehye Chonggo 大慧宗杲) (1089-1163). Influential Song-dynasty Chinese CHAN master in the LINJI ZONG; also known as Miaoxi, Yunmen, Tanhui, or more typically just Dahui (J. Daie; K. Taehye). Dahui was a native of Ningguo in Xuanzhou (present-day Anhui province). After studying at LUSHAN and Mt. Dong, Dahui became the student of the Chan master DANTANG WENZHUN; in 1115, aware of his impending death, Dantang encouraged Dahui to continue his studies under YUANWU KEQIN. Before approaching Yuanwu, Dahui visited the Chan master JUEFAN HUIHONG, at which time he also met the powerful statesman and layman ZHANG SHANGYING. In 1124, while Yuanwu was serving under imperial orders as abbot of the monastery of Tianningsi in Dongjing, Dahui became his disciple and later inherited his Linji lineage. At the recommendation of the current grand councilor, Dahui was given the title Fori Dashi (Great Master Buddha Sun). After Yuanwu returned to his home province of Sichuan, Dahui moved to the hermitage of Yunmen'an in Haihun (present-day Jiangxi province) to avoid the invading forces of the Jin dynasty. In 1134, Dahui moved again to the hermitage of Yangyuan in Fujian province, where he launched a harsh critique against the practice of "silent-illumination Chan" (MOZHAO CHAN), championing instead the "investigation of the meditative topic" (KANHUA CHAN) method of meditation. Dahui later served as abbot of the powerful monastery Nengren Chanyuan on Mt. Jing (see WANSHOUSI) and revitalized the teachings of the Chan master LINJI YIXUAN. While a truce with the rival Jin dynasty was being negotiated, Dahui was accused of collaborating with Jin forces, for which he was exiled to Hengzhou in present-day Hunan province. During this period, Dahui composed his magnum opus, ZHENGFAYANZANG. After he was absolved of his alleged crime of treason, Dahui began his residence on Mt. Ayuwang and befriended the CAODONG ZONG Chan master HONGZHI ZHENGJUE, who was the preemiment advocate of the "silent-illumination" technique that Dahui so harshly criticized, suggesting that this professional disagreement did not affect their personal ties. Dahui later returned to his post at Nengren Chanyuan and became the teacher of Emperor Xiaozong (r. 1162-1189), who gave him the title Chan Master Dahui (Great Wisdom). He was also given the posthumous title Chan Master Pujue (Universal Enlightenment), the name typically used in his publications. Dahui's teachings are recorded in his Dahui chanshi yulu, DAHUI PUJUE CHANSHI SHU, and DAHUI PUJUE CHANSHI ZONGMEN WUKU.
Dainichi(bo) Nonin. (大日[房]能忍) (d.u.). Japanese monk of the late Heian and early Kamakura eras; his surname was Taira. Nonin is the reputed founder of the short-lived ZEN sect known as the DARUMASHu, one of the earliest Zen traditions to develop in Japan. Nonin was something of an autodidact and is thought to have achieved awakening through his own study of scriptures and commentaries, rather than through any training with an established teacher. He taught at the temple of Sanboji in Suita (present-day osaka prefecture) and established himself as a Zen master. Well aware that he did not have formal authorization (YINKE) from a Chan master in a recognized lineage, Nonin sent two of his disciples to China in 1189. They returned with a portrait of BODHIDHARMA inscribed by the Chan master FOZHAO DEGUANG (1121-1203) and the robe of Fozhao's influential teacher DAHUI ZONGGAO. Fozhao also presented Nonin with a portrait of himself (see DINGXIANG), on which he wrote a verse at the request of Nonin's two disciples. Such bestowals suggested that Nonin was a recognized successor in the LINJI lineage. In 1194, the monks of HIEIZAN, threatened by Nonin's burgeoning popularity, urged the court to suppress Nonin and his teachings as an antinomian heresy. His school did not survive his death, and many of his leading disciples subsequently became students of other prominent teachers, such as DoGEN KIGEN; this influx of Nonin's adherents introduced a significant Darumashu component into the early SoToSHu tradition. Nonin was later given the posthumous title Zen Master Shinpo [alt. Jinho] (Profound Dharma).
dakshina. ::: a monetary gift traditionally given to a Guru by a disciple
Damoduoluo chan jing. (J. Darumatara zenkyo; K. Talmadara son kyong 達摩多羅禪經). In Chinese, the "DhyAna Sutra of DharmatrAta"; a scripture on meditation (DHYANA) attributed to the SARVASTIVADA teacher DHARMATRATA (c. fourth century CE) and translated into Chinese by BUDDHABHADRA in the early fifth century. Buddhabhadra arrived in the Chinese capital of Chang'an in 406 and briefly stayed at LUSHAN HUIYUAN's (334-416) monastery on LUSHAN, where he translated the text at the latter's request. The Damoduoluo chan jing describes the transmission of the oral teachings of the Buddha from master to disciple and details the various practices of meditation (GUAN) such as mindfulness of breathing (S. ANAPANASMṚTI; P. AnApAnasati) and meditation on the foul (AsUBHABHAVANA), as well as the categories of, SKANDHA, AYATANA, and DHATU. The text includes a listing of patriarchs of the tradition before and after DharmatrAta, which begins with MAHAKAsYAPA and ANANDA, continues through MADHYANTIKA, sAnAKAVASIN, UPAGUPTA, VASUMITRA, and SaMgharaksa, leading up to DharmatrAta, who is then followed in turn by Punyamitra. This lineage seems to derive from the SARVASTIVADA school in the KASHMIR-GANDHARA region and suggests that the notion of a teaching geneaology as a central part of Buddhist religious identity has its start in the Indian tradition. Prefaces to the Damoduoluo chan jing by Lushan Huiyuan and Huiguan subsequently connect versions of this lineage to BODHIDHARMA, the putative founder of the CHAN school in East Asia, suggesting this text exerted some influence in the rise of transmission lineages within the early Chan tradition.
dana. ::: a giving; an offering that a disciple gives to his Guru &
dAnapati. (T. sbyin pa'i bdag po/sbyin bdag; C. tanyue/shizhu; J. dan'otsu/seshu; K. tanwol/siju 檀越/施主). In Sanskrit and PAli, lit. "master of giving," viz., a "generous donor"; a "patron" of individual monks and nuns, or of the SAMGHA as a whole. Being a willing dAnapati is also one of the expectations of a wise ruler. Among the disciples of the Buddha, the most famous dAnapati was ANATHAPIndADA. In Tibet, the denotation of the term is extended to include those who commission prayers, rituals, and particularly public discourses by well-known teachers. For large public discourses there is a primary sbyin bdag (jindak), who at the start ritually offers to the teacher a small statue of the Buddha, a religious book, and a STuPA (together called the mandal rten gsum) representing the body, speech, and mind of the Buddha, while holding a white scarf (kha btags), along with a small gift. The primary sbyin bdag is the person who originally asked the teacher to give the discourse, and whose request was accepted; it is not necessarily the person who actually sponsored the event. At the end of the teaching, the primary sbyin bdag heads a line of all those who have contributed (also called sbyin bdag) who give gifts to the teacher. The Chinese use both the translation shizhu (lit. "master of giving") and the transcription tanyue, which transcribes a Prakrit form of the Indic term.
Dao'an. (J. Doan; K. Toan 道安) (312-385). In Chinese, "Peace of the Way"; monk-exegete and pioneer of Buddhism during the Eastern Jin dynasty. A native of Fuliu in present-day Hebei province, at the age of eleven he became a student of the famous Kuchean monk and thaumaturge FOTUDENG. Fleeing from the invasions of the so-called northern barbarians, Dao'an and his teacher relocated frequently, with Dao'an finally settling down in the prosperous city of Xiangyang in Hubei province, where he taught for fifteen years. Learning of Dao'an's great reputation, the Former Qin ruler Fu Jian (338-385) amassed an army and captured Xiangyang. After the fall of Xiangyang, Fu Jian invited Dao'an to the capital of Chang'an and honored him as his personal teacher. Dao'an later urged Fu Jian to invite the eminent Central Asian monk KUMARAJĪVA to China. In order to determine the authenticity and provenance of the various scriptural translations then being made in China, Dao'an compiled an influential catalogue of scriptures known as the ZONGLI ZHONGJING MULU, which was partially preserved in the CHU SANZANG JIJI. He also composed various prefaces and commentaries, and his exegetical technique of dividing a scripture into three sections (SANFEN KEJING)-"preface" (xufen), "text proper" (zhengzongfen), and "dissemination section" (liutongfen)-is still widely used even today in East Asian scriptural exegesis. In Dao'an's day, the Indian VINAYA recensions had not yet been translated into Chinese, so Dao'an took it upon himself to codify an early set of indigenous monastic regulations known as the Sengni guifan fofa xianzhang (no longer extant) as a guide for Chinese monastic practice. Also traced to Dao'an is the custom of monks and nuns abandoning their secular surnames for the surname SHI (a transcription of the Buddha's clan name sAKYA; J. Shaku; K. Sok; V. Thích), as a mark of their religious ties to the Buddha's lineage. Among his many disciples, LUSHAN HUIYUAN is most famous.
Daosheng. (J. Dosho; K. Tosaeng 道生) (355-434). Influential Chinese monk during the Eastern Jin dynasty and renowned scholar of the MAHAPARINIRVAnASuTRA; also known as ZHU DAOSHENG. Daosheng was a native of Julu in present-day Hebei province. He became a student of the monk Zhu Fatai (320-387), changing his surname to Zhu in his honor. Daosheng received the full monastic precepts in his nineteenth year and took up residence at the monastery of Longguangsi in Jianye. Later, he moved to LUSHAN, where he studied under the eminent monk LUSHAN HUIYUAN. Daosheng also continued his studies under the famed translator and MADHYAMAKA scholar KUMARAJĪVA, and was later praised as one of KumArajīva's four great disciples. In 409, Daosheng returned to Jianye and made the controversial claim that even incorrigibles (ICCHANTIKA) may eventually attain enlightenment and that buddhahood is attained in an instant of awakening (DUNWU). For these claims, Daosheng was harshly criticized by the community of scholars in Jianye, which prompted Daosheng to return to Lushan once more. His interpretations were eventually corroborated in subsequent Chinese translations of the MAHAPARINIRVAnASuTRA and become emblematic of many important strands of indigenous Chinese Buddhism. Daosheng's teachings are quoted in many of his contemporaries' works and Daosheng himself is known to have composed numerous treatises and commentaries, including the Foxing dangyou lun ("Buddha Nature Perforce Exists"), Fashen wuse lun ("DHARMAKAYA Lacks Form"), Fo wu jingtu lun ("The Buddha has no Pure Land"), and Fahua jing yishu (a commentary on the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA).
Daozhe Chaoyuan. (J. Dosha Chogen; K. Toja Ch'owon 道者超元) (1630-1698). Chinese CHAN and ZEN master in the LINJI lineage. Daozhe was a native of Xinghua prefecture in present-day Fujian province. He became a student of Gengxin Xingmi (1603-1659), a direct disciple of the Chan master FEIYIN TONGRONG and, after inheriting Gengxin's lineage, became a dharma cousin of the renowned Chan master YINYUAN LONGQI. In 1651, Daozhe traveled to Nagasaki, Japan, where he served as abbot of the monastery Sofukuji for the next five years. During his stay in Japan, a number of important Buddhist figures visited him for instruction, including the monks Dokuan Genko (1630-1698), Kengan Zen'etsu (1618-1690), EGOKU DoMYo, Choon Dokai (1628-1695), and BANKEI YoTAKU. Unlike his compatriot Yinyuan, who continued to reside in Japan, Daozhe returned to China in 1658 and died shortly thereafter. Daozhe played an important role in preparing the ground for Yinyuan's later establishment of the oBAKUSHu in Japan.
Dari jing shu. (J. Dainichikyosho; K. Taeil kyong so 大日經疏). In Chinese, "Commentary on the MAHAVAIROCANASuTRA"; dictated by sUBHAKARASIMHA and committed to writing with additional notes by his disciple YIXING. After Yixing's death, the Dari jing shu was further edited and expanded by the monks Zhiyan (d.u.) and Wengu (d.u.), and this new edition is known as the DARI JING YISHI. Both editions were transmitted to Japan (the Dari jing shu by KuKAI, Dari jing yishi by ENNIN) and they seem to have circulated without a determinate number of volumes or fixed title. SAICHo, for example, cites a fourteen-roll edition of the Dari jing shu, and Kukai cites a twenty-roll edition; Ennin cites a fourteen-roll edition of the Dari jing yishi, and ENCHIN cites a ten-roll edition. Those belonging to the Tomitsu line of Kukai's SHINGON tradition thus began to exclusively paraphrase the twenty-roll edition of the Dari jing shu, while those of the Taimitsu line of the TENDAI tradition relied solely on the version Ennin had brought back from China. The exact relation between the two editions remains a matter for further study. The first two rolls of the Dari jing shu, known more popularly in Japan as the "Kuchi no sho," provide notes and comments on the first chapter of the MAHAVAIROCANABHISAMBODHISuTRA and serve as an important source for the study of the MahAvairocanasutra's central doctrines. Numerous studies and commentaries on the Kuchi no sho exist. The rest of Yixing's commentary, known as the "Oku no sho," is largely concerned with matters of ritual and art (see MAndALA). Further explanations of the Oku no sho were primarily transmitted from master to disciple as an oral tradition in Japan; twelve such oral traditions are known to exist. The Dari jing shu played an important role in the rise of esoteric Buddhism (see TANTRA) in East Asia, and particularly in Japan.
Dari jing yishi. (J. Dainichikyo gishaku; K. Taeil kyong ŭisok 大日經義釋). In Chinese, "Interpretation of the Meaning of the MAHAVAIROCANABHISAMBODHISuTRA." The monks Zhiyan (d.u.) and Wengu (d.u.) further edited and expanded upon the famous commentary on the MahAvairocanAbhisaMbodhisutra, the DARI JING SHU. The Dari jing shu was dictated by sUBHAKARASIMHA and written down by his disciple YIXING, with further notes. Both texts were transmitted to Japan (the Dari jing shu by KuKAI and Dari jing yishi by ENNIN); monks connected with the Taimitsu strand of the TENDAI tradition exclusively relied on the Dari jing yishi that Ennin had brought back from China. The eminent Japanese monk ENCHIN paid much attention to the Dari jing yishi and composed a catalogue for the text known as Dainichigyo gishaku mokuroku, wherein he details the provenance of the text and the circumstances of its arrival in Japan. Enchin also discusses three different points on which the Dari jing yishi was superior to the Dari jing shu. These points were further elaborated in his other commentaries on the Dari jing yishi. Few others besides Enchin have written commentaries on this text. In China, the Liao dynasty monk Jueyuan (d.u.) composed a commentary entitled the Dari jing yishi yanmi chao.
Darshan: Sanskrit for sight. When a Hindu spiritual leader allows his disciples to enjoy the gift of his presence, he is said to “give them darshan.” The word is used also in the meaning philosophical system or doctrine.
Darumashu. (達摩宗). In Japanese, the "BODHIDHARMA sect"; one of the earliest Japanese Buddhist ZEN sects, established in the tenth century by DAINICHI NoNIN; the sect takes its name from the putative founder of the CHAN tradition, Bodhidharma. Little was known about the teachings of the Darumashu until the late-twentieth century apart from criticisms found in the writings of its contemporary rivals, who considered the school to be heretical. Criticisms focused on issues of the authenticity of Nonin's lineage and antinomian tendencies in Nonin's teachings. A recently discovered Darumashu treatise, the Joto shogakuron ("Treatise on the Attainment of Complete, Perfect Enlightenment"), discusses the prototypical Chan statement "mind is the buddha," demonstrating that a whole range of benefits, both worldly and religious, would accrue to an adept who simply awakens to that truth. As a critique of the Darumashu by Nonin's rival MYoAN EISAI states, however, since the school posits that the mind is already enlightened and the afflictions (KLEsA) do not exist in reality, its adherents claimed that there were therefore no precepts that had to be kept or practices to be followed, for religious cultivation would only serve to hinder the experience of awakening. The Darumashu also emphasized the importance of the transmission of the patriarchs' relics (J. shari; S. sARĪRA) as a mark of legitimacy. Although the Darumashu was influential enough while Nonin was alive to prompt other sects to call for its suppression, it did not survive its founder's death, and most of Nonin's leading disciples affiliated themselves with other prominent teachers, such as DoGEN KIGEN. These Darumashu adherents had a significant influence on early SoToSHu doctrine and self-identity and seem to have constituted the majority of the Sotoshu tradition into its third generation of successors. ¶ Darumashu, as the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese term Damo zong (Bodhidharma lineage), can also refer more generally to the CHAN/SoN/ZEN school, which traces its heritage back to the founder and first Chinese patriarch, Bodhidharma.
dasadhātu. (T. [gzugs can gyi] khams bcu; C. shijie; J. jikkai; K. sipkye 十界). In Sanskrit, "ten elements"; an ABHIDHARMA classification referring to the five physical sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body) plus the five sense objects (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile objects). ¶ In MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism, and especially in the East Asian TIANTAI schools, the term was appropriated to refer to ten "realms" or "destinies" of being; in East Asian Buddhism, this denotation is by far the most common. These destinies are, from the bottom up, the six rebirth destinies (GATI) in SAMSĀRA, viz., (1) hells (naraka; see NĀRAKA), (2) hungry ghosts (PRETA), (3) animals (TIRYAK), (4) demigods (ASURA), (5) human beings (MANUsYA), and (6) divinities (DEVA), plus the four destinies of enlightened beings, viz., (7) disciples of the Buddha (sRĀVAKA), (8) solitary buddhas (PRATYEKABUDDHA), (9) BODHISATTVAs, and (10) buddhas. According to Tiantai doctrine, since these ten destinies are mutually pervasive (C. shijie huju), each of these realms pervades, and is pervaded by, all the nine other realms; hence, the potential for buddhahood is inherent even in the most dire destiny in the hells.
dasbodh. ::: 17th century advaita vedanta spiritual text orally narrated in 1654 by Saint Samarth Ramdas &
Da Tang Xiyu ji. (J. Dai To Saiiki ki; K. Tae Tang Soyok ki 大唐西域). In Chinese, "The Great Tang Record of [Travels to] the Western Regions"; a travelogue of a pilgrimage to India by the Chinese translator and exegete XUANZANG (600/602-664) written in 646 at the request of the Tang emperor Taizong and edited by the monk Bianji (d. 652). Xuanzang was already a noted Buddhist scholiast in China when he decided to make the dangerous trek from China, through the Central Asian oases, to the Buddhist homeland of India. Xuanzang was especially interested in gaining access to the full range of texts associated with the YOGĀCĀRA school, only a few of which were then currently available in Chinese translation. He left on his journey in 627 and eventually spent fourteen years in India (629-643), where he traveled among many of the Buddhist sacred sites, collected manuscripts of Buddhist materials as yet untranslated into Chinese, and studied Sanskrit texts with various eminent teachers, most notably DHARMAPĀLA'S disciple sĪLABHADRA, who taught at the Buddhist university of NĀLANDĀ. The Da Tang xiyu ji provides a comprehensive overview of the different countries that Xuanzang visited during his travels in India and Central Asia, offering detailed descriptions of the geography, climate, customs, languages, and religious practices of these various countries. Xuanzang paid special attention to the different ways in which the teachings of Buddhism were cultivated in different areas of the Western Regions. The Da Tang xiyou ji thus serves as an indispensible tool in the study of the geography and Buddhist history of these regions. Xuanzang's travelogue was later fictionalized in the narrative Xiyou ji ("Journey to the West"), written c. 1592 during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. The Xiyou ji is one of the greatest of Chinese vernacular novels and is deservedly famous for its fanciful accounts of the exploits of the monk-pilgrim, here called Sanzang (TREPItAKA), and especially of his protector, Monkey. See also CHENG WEISHI LUN.
Daxiu Zhengnian. (J. Daikyu Shonen; K. Taehyu Chongnyom 大休正念) (1215-1289). Chinese CHAN master in the LINJI ZONG. A native of Wenzhou in present-day Zhejiang province, Daxiu began his training under the CAODONG master Donggu Miaoguang (d. 1253) of Linyinsi, and later became the disciple of Shiqi Xinyue (d. 1254). In 1269, Daxiu left for Japan, where he received the patronage of the powerful regent Hojo Tokimune (1251-1284). In Kamakura, Daxiu established the monastery Jochiji, which came to be ranked fourth in the Kamakura GOZAN system. Daxiu also served as abbot of the monasteries ZENKoJI, Juhukuji, and KENCHoJI. In 1288, Daxiu became the abbot of ENGAKUJI, but passed away the next year in 1289. He was given the posthumous title Zen Master Butsugen ("Source of the Buddhas"). His teachings can be found in the Daikyu osho goroku.
Dayang Jingxuan. (J. Taiyo Kyogen; K. Taeyang Kyonghyon 大陽警玄) (942-1027). Chinese CHAN master in the CAODONG ZONG. A native of Jiangxia in present-day Hubei province, Dayang was ordained at the monastery of Chongxiaosi in Jinleng by his uncle, who had also become a monk. After traveling throughout China, Dayang visited the Chan master Liangshan Yuanguan (d.u.) in Dingzhou prefecture (present-day Sichuan province) and became his disciple. Later, he became a student of the Caodong monk Huijian (d.u.) and took over his lecture seat on Mt. Dayang, which became his toponym. Before his death, Dayang entrusted his portrait (DINGXIANG), leather shoes, and patched robe to his friend Fushan Fayuan (991-1067) of the LINJI ZONG in hopes of continuing his Caodong lineage and the incumbent annual memorial services to the patriarchs in his line. Fushan in turn transferred these items to his student TOZI YIQING, who embraced Dayang's line and became a Caodong lineage holder. Dayang was bestowed the posthumous title Great Master Ming'an ("Illuminating Peace"). His teachings are recorded in the Dayang Ming'an dashi shibaban miaoyu.
Definitions by Disciples
Denkoroku. (傳光録). In Japanese, "Record of the Transmission of the Light"; a text also known by its full title, Keizan osho denkoroku ("A Record of the Transmission of the Light by Master Keizan"). The anthology is attributed by Soto tradition to KEIZAN JoKIN, but was most probably composed posthumously by his disciples. The Denkoroku is a collection of pithy stories and anecdotes concerning fifty-two teachers recognized by the Japanese SoToSHu as the patriarchs of the school, accompanied by the author's own explanatory commentaries and concluding verses. Each chapter includes a short opening case (honsoku), which describes the enlightenment experience of the teacher; a longer section (called a kien) offering a short biography and history of the teacher, including some of his representative teachings and exchanges with students and other teachers; a prose commentary (teisho; C. TICHANG) by the author; and a concluding appreciatory verse (juko). The teachers discussed in the text include twenty-seven Indian patriarchs from MAHĀKĀsYAPA to PrajNātāra; six Chinese patriarchs from BODHIDHARMA through HUINENG; seventeen Chinese successors of Huineng in the CAODONG ZONG, from QINGYUAN XINGSI to TIANTONG RUJING; and finally the two Japanese patriarchs DoGEN KIGEN and Koun Ejo (1198-1280). The Denkoroku belongs to a larger genre of texts known as the CHUANDENG LU ("transmission of the lamplight records"), although it is a rigidly sectarian lineage history, discussing only the single successor to each patriarch with no treatment of any collateral lines.
Den-sa Sum (Tibetan) “The three pillars of the State”; the three great Gelukpa monasteries in the vicinity of Lhasa: Ganden (Dga’ldan, 1409), founded by Tsong-kha-pa; and Drepung (’Bras spung, 1416) and Sera (Se ra, 1419), founded by his disciples. A commonly used term for the three monasteries is Serdegasum [composed of abbreviations for the names of each + sum (gsum) three].
Deshan Xuanjian. (J. Tokusan Senkan; K. Toksan Son'gam 德山宣鑑) (780/2-865). Chinese CHAN master of the Tang dynasty; famous for the fearsome "blows" (bang) through which he expressed his understanding of enlightenment, similar to the terrifying shouts (he) of Chan master LINJI YIXUAN (see BANGHE). A native of Jiannan in present-day Sichuan province, Deshan first studied the scriptures and the VINAYA, and became famous as a teacher of the VAJRACCHEDIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀSuTRA ("Diamond Sutra"). According to his hagiography, he was determined to defeat the Chan masters of the south with his knowledge of the sutra, but on his way in Lizhou (present-day Hunan province), Deshan was rendered speechless by the following question from an old woman: "The 'Diamond Sutra' says that neither the past mind, present mind, nor future mind can be grasped; so which mind does the elder desire to refresh?" He later became a student of the Chan master Longtan Chongxin (d.u.) and inherited his lineage. After his thirty-year residence at Lizhou, Deshan was forced by Emperor Wuzong's (840-846) persecution of Buddhism (see HUICHANG FANAN) to hide on Mt. Dufu. He was later invited by the governor of Wuleng (present-day Hunan province) to reside on Deshan ("Mount Virtue"), whence he acquired his toponym. Deshan's most famous disciple was XUEFENG YICUN, and their joint lineage leads ultimately to the mature Chan schools of the YUNMEN ZONG and FAYAN ZONG.
Dga' ldan. (Ganden). The Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit TUsITA, the joyous, or contented, heaven (see DEVA), which is the abode of the future buddha MAITREYA. ¶ The short name for Dga' ldan rnam rgyal gling (Ganden Namgyal Ling), one of the three chief monasteries (known as the GDAN SA GSUM or "three seats") of the DGE LUGS sect of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the sect's principal monasteries, located twenty-eight miles (forty-five kilometers) east of LHA SA. Named after the tusita heaven, the monastery was established by the Dge lugs founder TSONG KHA PA in 1409 near a hill originally associated with the consecration rituals performed after the birth of the king SRONG BTSAN SGAM PO. A nearby ridge was the favored picnic ground of the king's royal wives. According to legend, the JO BO statue of Lha sa's JO KHANG temple miraculously confirmed the location's significance to Tsong kha pa. The great assembly hall was added in 1417, followed by the two colleges, Byang rtse (Jangtse) and Shar rtse (Shartse). Tsong kha pa died at Dga' ldan in 1419 and was entombed there in a STuPA. Following Tsong kha pa's death, the abbacy passed to two of his foremost disciples, first, RGYAL TSHAB DAR MA RIN CHEN, then twelve years later to MKHAS GRUB DGE LEGS DPAL BZANG. Thus, the tradition of the DGA' LDAN KHRI PA or Throne Holder of Dga' ldan was established. Because Dga' ldan was the seat of Tsong kha pa and his two chief disciples, his followers were initially called Dga' ldan pa'i lugs, "the system of Dga' ldan." This was shortened to Dga' lugs and eventually to Dge lugs. Dga' ldan monastery was traditionally said to have 3,300 monks, although over the course of its history it often housed twice that number, forming a vast monastic complex. It was completely destroyed by the Chinese in the 1960s but has since been partially rebuilt. It has also been reestablished in exile in southern India.
Dga' ldan khri pa. (Ganden Tripa). In Tibetan, lit. "Holder of the Dga' ldan Throne"; title of the head of the DGE LUGS sect of Tibetan Buddhism, who is regarded as the successor of TSONG KHA PA. The first two Dga' ldan khri pas were Tsong kha pa's disciples; the first was RGYAL TSHAB DAR MA RIN CHEN and the second was MKAS GRUB DGE LEGS DPAL BZANG. Together with Tsong kha pa, they are traditionally considered to be the founders of the Dge lugs sect. The fifteenth Dga' ldan khri pa Pan chen Bsod nams grags pa (Panchen Sonam Drakpa) (1478-1554) is known for his role during the terms of the third and fourth DALAI LAMAs. At present, the Dga' ldan khri pa is selected by the Dalai Lama from a group of candidates who have already served in a number of specific positions in the major Dge lugs monasteries and tantric colleges; the term of office is generally seven years. It is not the case, as is often imagined, that the Dalai Lama is the head of the Dge lugs sect, or that the Dga' ldan khri pa is necessarily an incarnate lama (SPRUL SKU). According to the traditional system of selection, the monk who became the Dga' ldan khri pa had to rise through several ranks of the Dge lugs sect. First, he completed the prescribed course of study in one of the three GDAN SA (the major Dge lug monasteries in the LHA SA area) and achieved the highest degree in the Dge lugs academy, that of DGE BSHES lha ram pa. He then entered one of the two Dge lugs tantric colleges in Lha sa (see RGYUD STOD and RGYUD SMAD) and became a dge bshes sngags ram pa (ngakrampa). Only a dge bshes sngags ram pa could become a dge skos (geko) (disciplinarian) of a tantric college. Rgyud stod and Rgyud smad chose three disciplinarians each year, and the bla ma dbu mdzad (lama umdze), literally "leader of the chant," i.e., vice abbot, was chosen from among the former dge skos and served for three years. Following that period, he became the abbot (mkhan po) of his tantric college for three years. The senior-most former abbot (mkhan zur) received the title Byang rtse chos rje, if he attended Rgyud smad, and Shar rtse chos rje if he attended Rgyud stod. (Byang rtse and Shar rtse are two colleges of Dga' ldan monastery.) Since the time of the eighth Dga' ldan khri pa these two alternated in the position of Dga' ldan khri pa. To date there have been 102 Dga' ldan khri pas.
Dge 'dun grub. (Gendün Drup) (1391-1475). A revered scholar of the DGE LUGS sect of Tibetan Buddhism, posthumously recognized as the first DALAI LAMA. He was from the clan of Ngar tso in the region of Ru lug and received his early training at SNAR THANG monastery, where he earned fame for his erudition. In 1415, he traveled to central Tibet, where he became a close disciple of the Dge lugs polymath TSONG KHA PA in the years before the master's death in 1419. He went on to serve as the abbot of DGA' LDAN monastery. In 1447, Dge 'dun grub founded BKRA SHIS LHUN PO monastery, later the seat of the PAn CHEN LAMAS in the central Tibetan city of Gzhis ka rtse (Shigatse). After the Mongolian ruler Altan Khan bestowed the title Dalai Lama on BSOD NAMS RGYA MTSHO in 1578, Dge 'dun grub was posthumously identified as the lineage's first incarnation. He was a renowned scholar, writing influential works on both VINAYA and ABHIDHARMA.
Dge lugs. (Geluk). In Tibetan, lit. "System of Virtue"; one of the four major sects of Tibetan Buddhism (see also BKA' BRYUD, SA SKYA, RNYING MA). Originating among the disciples of TSONG KHA PA, it was originally referred to as the Dga' ldan pa'i lugs (abbreviated as Dga' lugs) "the system of those from Dga' ldan Mountain," where Tsong kha pa, with the patronage of the powerful Phag mo gru family, founded Ri bo DGA' LDAN monastery in 1409. (The name Dge lugs may have originally been an abbreviation of Dga' ldan pa'i lugs.) Within a few years of the founding of Dga' ldan, two followers of Tsong kha pa, 'JAM DBYANGS CHOS RJE BKRA SHIS DPAL LDAN and Byams chen chos rje Shākya ye shes (1354-1435), founded 'BRAS SPUNGS (1416) and SE RA (1419) monasteries, respectively, apparently at Tsong kha pa's urging. These three monasteries developed into the institutional center of Dge lugs power and influence; Tsong kha pa with his two most prominent followers, RGYAL TSHAB DARMA RIN CHEN (called Rgyal tshab rje) and MKHAS GRUB DGE LEGS DPAL BZANG PO (called Mkhas grub rje)-both important scholars in their own right-became the cultic center, called rje yab sras gsum ("the lord and his two spiritual sons"). BKRA SHIS LHUN PO monastery, the fourth great Dge lugs monastery, was founded in Gzhis ka rtse (Shigatse) in 1447 by another of Tsong kha pa's followers, the scholarly and politically astute DGE 'DUN GRUB, providing a basis for Dge lugs power in the west. Dge 'dun grub was posthumously recognized as the first DALAI LAMA. The fifth Dalai Lama NGAG DBANG BLO BZANG RGYA MTSHO and BLO BZANG CHOS KYI RGYAL MTSHAN, with the help of the Mongols, established the Dge lugs as the largest and most powerful Buddhist sect in Tibet. After the founding of the DGA' LDAN PHO BRANG government in 1642, the Dalai Lama was invested with temporal power, making the Dge lugs the de facto ruling party and bringing an end to the political instability that accompanied the rise of the sect during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan became abbot of Bkra shis lhun po and began the lineage of powerful PAn CHEN BLA MAS, after the Dalai Lamas, the second most powerful lineage of Dge lugs incarnate lamas (see SPRUL SKU). The influence of the Dge lugs sect over Tibet was based on an elaborate system of regional monasteries with ties to the four central Dge lugs monasteries; the two largest of the regional monasteries, BLA BRANG BKRA SHIS DKYIL and SKU 'BUM in A mdo, rivaled the central monasteries in size and stature. The sect is known for its scholastic curriculum, and for a rigorous examination system that culminates in the rank of DGE BSHES, providing a steady stream of abbots and incarnate lamas to administer the system in collaboration with the aristocratic elite under the oversight of the Dga' ldan pho brang government. In its rise to power, the Dge lugs incorporated doctrines and monasteries that were earlier separate and distinct traditions.
Dhammacakkappavattanasutta. (S. Dharmacakrapravartanasutra; T. Chos 'khor bskor ba'i mdo; C. Zhuan falun jing; J. Tenboringyo; K. Chon pomnyun kyong 轉法輪經). In Pāli, "Discourse on Turning the Wheel of the DHARMA"; often referred to as GAUTAMA Buddha's "first sermon," delivered after his enlightenment to the "group of five" (PANCAVARGIKA; bhadravargīya), at the Deer Park (P. Migadāya; S. MṚGADĀVA) in ṚsIPATANA near SĀRNĀTH. In its Pāli version, the discourse appears in the MAHĀVAGGA section of the VINAYA, which recounts the founding of the dispensation, rather than in the suttapitaka (S. SuTRAPItAKA). (A separate SARVĀSTIVĀDA recension appears in the Chinese translation of the SAMYUKTĀGAMA; there is also an early Chinese translation by AN SHIGAO that circulated independently.) Following his enlightenment, the Buddha considered who might be able to comprehend what he had experienced and remembered the "group of five" ascetics, with whom he had previously engaged in self-mortification practices (TAPAS). Although initially reticent to receive Gautama because he had abandoned his asceticism and had become "self-indulgent," they soon relented and heard Gautama relate his realization of the deathless state. Their minds now pliant, the Buddha then "set rolling the wheel of the dharma" (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA), which is the first enunciation of his liberation. In the sermon, the Buddha advocates a middle way (P. majjhimapatipadā; S. MADHYAMAPRATIPAD) between sensual indulgence and self-mortification, and equates the middle way to the noble eightfold path (P. ariyātthangikamagga; S. ĀRYĀstĀnGAMĀRGA). He follows with a detailed account of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, the full knowledge and vision (P. Nānadassana; S. JNĀNADARsANA) of which leads to liberation. While listening to the discourse, ĀJNĀTAKAUndINYA (P. ANNātakondaNNa) understood the principle of causation-that all things produced will also come to an end-and achieved the first level of sanctity, that of stream-enterer (P. sotāpanna; S. SROTAĀPANNA). He was the first disciple to take ordination (UPASAMPADĀ) as a monk (P. BHIKKHU; S. BHIKsU), following the simple "come, monk" formula (P. ehi bhikkhu; S. EHIBHIKsUKĀ): "Come, monk, the dharma is well proclaimed; live the holy life for the complete ending of suffering." Soon afterward, he was followed into the order by the rest of the "group of five" monks. The site where the first sermon was delivered-the Deer Park (Mṛgadāva) in Ṛsipatana (P. Isipatana), the modern Sārnāth, near Vārānasī-subsequently became one of the four major Buddhist pilgrimage sites (MAHĀSTHĀNA) in India.
Dhammakāya. (Thai, Thammakai). A Buddhist reform movement in Thailand that originated in 1916, when a monk named Luang Phor Sodh is said to have rediscovered a technique of meditation that had been lost since the time of the Buddha. The movement began to gain impetus in 1970, when one of the abbot's disciples, a nun known as Khun Yay Upāsika, founded Wat Phra Dhammakāya. Dhammakāya meditation practice consists of visualizing a small crystal sphere entering one's body through the nasal passage; the sphere settles in the solar plexus and eventually becomes transformed into a crystal image of the Buddha. While engaging in this visualization, the meditator is supposed to focus on the MANTRA "samma arahang." The practice is supposed to culminate in the ability to see a buddha image (the dhammakāya, or "truth body" of the Buddha; see DHARMAKĀYA) inside oneself, an experience compared to tasting NIRVĀnA in the present life. Meditation is the principal Dhammakāya practice, and the organization encourages its followers to meditate twice a day as a way of improving self-confidence and as a tool for success, well being, and fostering family life. Dhammakāya also offers group training courses for adults in the private and public sectors. Devotees dress in white, and temple buildings are simple in design. Dhammakāya is also known for organizing massive ceremonies involving several thousand monks and tens of thousands of laypeople on Buddhist holy days. Rather than following the traditional lunar calendar and practicing on the days of the waning and waxing moon, Dhammakāya practice is held every Sunday, with meditation in the morning, followed by a sermon on topics relevant to the problems and concerns of everyday life. Its adherents are also encouraged to take part in such activities as retreats, youth camps, and massive ordinations for college students during the summer break. The Dhammakāya movement also differs from mainstream Thai Buddhism in that it requires monks to be ordained for life rather than the temporary ordination that is common among Thai laymen. In addition to its massive WAT outside of Bangkok, it has established branches throughout Thailand and overseas. Many Thais, especially intellectuals who support the forest meditation tradition, criticize Dhammakāya for its "direct marketing" type of organization and its quick-fix solutions to complex problems.
Dhammaruci Nikāya. The name of a Sri Lankan THERAVĀDA monastic order, which, according to Sinhalese chronicles, is named after a Vajjiputaka (S. VṚJIPUTRAKA) monk named Dhammaruci. Dhammarui is said to have brought his disciples from India to Sri Lanka, where they were welcomed by a group of monks at ABHAYAGIRI who had seceded from the MAHĀVIHĀRA when a monk named Mahātissa was expelled from the Mahāvihāra for inappropriate interaction with the laity. This secession is said to have occurred not long after the founding of Abhayagiri in the late first century BCE. The Dhammaruci Nikāya is considered a heterodox sect of Sri Lankan Theravāda because of disagreements over minor points in the VINAYA. They nonetheless received royal patronage during several periods of Sri Lankan history. The Abhayagiri Nikāya, which maintained close ties with India and adopted some MAHĀYĀNA teachings, is sometimes referred to as the Dhammaruci Nikāya.
Dhammasangani. [alt. Dhammasanganī]. In Pāli, lit. "Enumeration (sanganī) of Factors (dhamma)"; the first of the seven books of the THERAVĀDA ABHIDHAMMAPItAKA. The text undertakes a systematic analysis of all the elements of reality, or factors (dhamma; S. DHARMA), discussed in the suttapitaka, organizing them into definitive rosters. The elaborate analysis of each and every element of existence provided by the Dhammasangani is considered to be foundational to the full account of the conditional relations pertaining between all those dharmas found in the PAttHĀNA, the last book of the Pāli abhidhamma. ¶ The Dhammasangani consists of an initial "matrix" (mātikā; S. MĀTṚKĀ), followed by four main divisions: (1) mind (CITTA) and mental concomitants (CETASIKA), (2) materiality (RuPA), (3) analytical summaries (nikkhepa; S. NIKsEPA), and (4) exegesis (AttHAKATHĀ). In the opening matrix, the complete list of subjects to be treated in both the Dhammasangani, as well as the entire abhidhammapitaka, is divided into three groups. (1) The triad matrix (tikamātikā) consists of twenty-two categories of factors (dhamma; S. DHARMA), each of which is treated as triads. For example, in the case of the matrix on wholesomeness (kusala; S. KUsALA), the relevant factors are divided into wholesome factors (kusaladhamma; S. kusaladharma), unwholesome factors (akusaladhamma; S. akusaladharma), and neither wholesome nor unwholesome factors (avyākatadhamma; S. AVYĀKṚTA-DHARMA). (2) The dyad matrix (dukamātikā) consists of one hundred categories of factors, treated as dyads. For example, in the matrix on cause (HETU), factors are divided between factors that are root causes (hetudhamma) and factors that are not root causes (na hetudhamma). (3) The dyad matrix from the sutras (suttantikadukamātikā) consists of forty-six categories of factors found in the suttapitaka that are treated as dyads. According to the AttHASĀLINĪ, the commentary to the Dhammasangani, this section was added by Sāriputta (S. sĀRIPUTRA), one of the two main disciples of the Buddha, to facilitate understanding of the suttapitaka. Of the four main divisions of the Dhammasangani that follow this initial matrix, the first two, the division on mind and mental concomitants (cittuppādakanda) and the division on materiality (rupakanda), expound upon the first category in the triad matrix, the matrix on wholesomeness, so as to provide a basis for the analysis of other categories of dharmas. The division on mind and mental concomitants contains the analysis of wholesome factors, unwholesome factors, and the first two of the four categories of factors that are neither wholesome nor unwholesome (avyākata; S. AVYĀKṚTA), namely, resultant (VIPĀKA) and noncausative action (kiriya); the division on materiality (rupakanda) treats the remaining two categories of abyākatadhammas, namely, materiality (rupa) and nibbāna (S. NIRVĀnA), although nibbāna does not receive a detailed explanation. In the first division on wholesomeness in the triad category, each aspect is analyzed in relation to the various realms of existence: wholesome states of mind and mental concomitants: (1) pertaining to the sensuous realm (KĀMĀVACARA) (P. kāmāvacara-atthamahācitta), (2) pertaining to the realm of subtle materiality (rupāvacara) (P. rupāvacarakusala), (3) pertaining to the immaterial realm (arupāvacara) (P. arupāvacarakusala), (4) leading to different levels of existence within the three realms, and (5) leading to liberation from the three realms (lokuttaracitta). The third division, the division on analytical summaries (nikkhepakanda), provides a synopsis of the classifications found in all the triads and dyads, organized in eight categories: roots (mula), aggregates (khandha; S. SKANDHA), doors (dvāra), field of occurrence (BHuMI), meaning (attha; S. ARTHA), doctrinal interpretation (dhamma), nomenclature (nāma), and grammatical gender (linga). The final division on exegesis (atthakathākanda) offers additional detailed enumeration of other triads and dyads.
Dharmadinnā. (P. Dhammadinnā; T. Chos kyis sbyin; C. Tanmotina biqiuni/Fale biqiuni; J. Donmadaina bikuni/Horaku bikuni; K. Tammajena piguni/Pomnak piguni 曇摩提那比丘尼/法樂比丘尼). An eminent ARHAT nun, declared by the Buddha to be foremost among his nun disciples in the gift of preaching. According to Pāli sources, she was married to a rich merchant of Rājagaha (S. RĀJAGṚHA) named VISĀKHA. Visākha was a lay disciple of the Buddha, but his behavior toward his wife changed after he became a nonreturner (ANĀGĀMIN). When he explained why, Dhammadinnā requested permission to renounce the world and become a Buddhist nun. So highly did Visākha regard his wife's piety that he informed Bimbisāra, the king of MAGADHA, who arranged for her to be carried to the nuns' convent on a golden palanquin. Dhammadinnā dwelled in solitude and soon became an arhat of the highest degree, equipped with the four analytical knowledges (patisambhidā; S. PRATISAMVID), which included knowledge of the entire Buddhist canon. When she returned to Rājagaha to venerate the Buddha, her former husband Visākha approached her with questions on doctrine, which she easily answered. Visākha reported this to the Buddha, who praised Dhammadinnā's proficiency in preaching. Dhammadinnā's preeminence in preaching was a result of a vow she made during the time of the past buddha Padumuttara, when she witnessed a nun who was praised for her eloquence and vowed to achieve the same.
Dharmaguptaka. (T. Chos sbas pa; C. Fazangbu/Tanwudebu; J. Hozobu/Donmutokubu; K. Popchangbu/Tammudokpu 法蔵部/曇無德部). In Sanskrit, "Adherents of Dharmagupta"; one of the eighteen traditional "mainstream" (that is, non-MAHĀYĀNA) schools of early Indian Buddhism. There are various theories on the origin of the school in Buddhist literature. The SARVĀSTIVĀDA treatise SAMAYABHEDOPARACANACAKRA states that the Dharmaguptaka separated from the MAHĪsĀSAKA school, one of the collateral branches of the Sarvāstivāda school (probably sometime around the late second or early first centuries BCE), while inscriptional evidence and Tibetan sources instead suggest it was one strand of the VIBHAJYAVĀDA (P. Vibhajjavāda) school, a collateral line of the STHAVIRANIKĀYA that was most active in KASHMIR-GANDHĀRA, and Sri Lanka. There is inscriptional evidence from the northwest of the Indian subcontinent for the continued existence of the school into the seventh century. The school is named after the eponymous teacher Dharmagupta (c. third century BCE), even though the school itself traces its lineage back to MAHĀMAUDGALYĀYANA (P. Mahāmoggallāna), one of the two main disciples of the Buddha. Unlike the typical tripartite division of the canon (TRIPItAKA), viz., SuTRAPItAKA, VINAYAPItAKA, and ABHIDHARMAPItAKA, the Dharmaguptaka canon is said to have consisted of five divisions, adding to the usual three a collection on BODHISATTVA doctrines and practices (BODHISATTVAPItAKA) and a DHĀRAnĪ collection (dhāranīpitaka). Some of the distinctive tenets of the school are (1) the Buddha is not included among the members of the SAMGHA and thus a gift given to him is superior to offerings made to the community as a whole; (2) there are four characteristics (CATURLAKsAnA) of compounded things-origination, maturation, decay, and extinction-of which the first three were conditioned (SAMSKṚTA) and the last unconditioned (ASAMSKṚTA); (3) the path of the buddhas and bodhisattvas is distinct from that of the sRĀVAKAs; (4) non-buddhists (TĪRTHIKA) cannot attain the five kinds of superknowledge (ABHIJNĀ); (5) the body of an ARHAT is free from the contaminants (ANĀSRAVA). Because of their views about the Buddha's superiority to the broader saMgha, the school also emphasized the extraordinary merit accruing from offerings made to a STuPA, which was considered to be the contemporary representation of the Buddha because of the relics (sARĪRA) it enshrined. Due to the convergence of some of the school's doctrines with those of the MAHĀSĀMGHIKA, it has been suggested that the school may have had its origins within the Sthaviranikāya but was subsequently influenced by MahāsāMghika ideas. One of the enduring influences of the Dharmaguptaka school in Buddhist history comes from its vinaya, which came to be adopted widely throughout East Asia; this so-called "Four-Part Vinaya" (SIFEN LÜ, *Dharmaguptaka vinaya) was translated into Chinese in 405 by BUDDHAYAsAS (c. fifth century CE) and is still used today in the East Asian Buddhist traditions. The recension of the DĪRGHĀGAMA (C. Chang Ahan jing) that was translated into Chinese in 413 CE by Buddhayasas and ZHU FONIAN is also attributed to the Dharmaguptaka school.
Dharmaksema. (C. Tanwuchen; J. Donmusen; K. Tammuch'am 曇無讖) (385-433 CE). Indian Buddhist monk who was an early translator of Buddhist materials into Chinese. A scion of a brāhmana family from India, Dharmaksema became at the age of six a disciple of Dharmayasas (C. Damoyeshe; J. Donmayasha) (d.u.), an ABHIDHARMA specialist who later traveled to China c. 397-401 and translated the sāriputrābhidharmasāstra. Possessed of both eloquence and intelligence, Dharmaksema was broadly learned in both monastic and secular affairs and was well versed in mainstream Buddhist texts. After he met a meditation monk named "White Head" and had a fiery debate with him, Dharmaksema recognized his superior expertise and ended up studying with him. The monk transmitted to him a text of the MAHĀPARINIRVĀnASuTRA written on bark, which prompted Dharmaksema to embrace the MAHĀYĀNA. Once he reached the age of twenty, Dharmaksema was able to recite over two million words of Buddhist texts. He was also so skilled in casting spells that he earned the sobriquet "Great Divine Spell Master" (C. Dashenzhou shi). Carrying with him the first part of the Mahāparinirvānasutra that he received from "White Head," he left India and arrived in the KUCHA kingdom in Central Asia. As the people of Kucha mostly studied HĪNAYĀNA and did not accept the Mahāyāna teachings, Dharmaksema then moved to China and lived in the western outpost of DUNHUANG for several years. Juqu Mengxun, the non-Chinese ruler of the Northern Liang dynasty (397-439 CE), eventually brought Dharmaksema to his capital. After studying the Chinese language for three years and learning how to translate Sanskrit texts orally into Chinese, Dharmaksema engaged there in a series of translation projects under Juqu Mengxun's patronage. With the assistance of Chinese monks, such as Daolang and Huigao, Dharmaksema produced a number of influential Chinese translations, including the Dabanniepan jing (S. Mahāparinirvānasutra; in forty rolls), the longest recension of the sutra extant in any language; the Jinguangming jing ("Sutra of Golden Light"; S. SUVARnAPRABHĀSOTTAMASuTRA; in four rolls); and the Pusa dichi jing (S. BODHISATTVABHuMISuTRA; in ten rolls). He is also said to have made the first Chinese translation of the LAnKĀVATĀRASuTRA (C. Ru Lengqie jing), but his rendering had dropped out of circulation at least by 730 CE, when the Tang Buddhist cataloguer ZHISHENG (700-786 CE) compiled the KAIYUAN SHIJIAO LU. The Northern Wei ruler Tuoba Tao, a rival of Juqu Mengxun's, admired Dharmaksema's esoteric expertise and requested that the Northern Liang ruler send the Indian monk to his country. Fearing that his rival might seek to employ Dharmaksema's esoteric expertise against him, Juqu Mengxun had the monk assassinated at the age of forty-nine. Dharmaksema's translation of Indian Buddhist texts into Chinese had a significant impact on Chinese Buddhism; in particular, the doctrine that all beings have the buddha-nature (FOXING), a teaching appearing in Dharmaksema's translation of the Mahāparinirvānasutra, exerted tremendous influence on the development of Chinese Buddhist thought.
Dharmapāla. (T. Chos skyong; C. Hufa; J. Goho; K. Hobop 護法) (530-561). One of the ten great YOGĀCĀRA philosophers of Indian Buddhism. He was born in southern India in the middle of the sixth century CE, to the family of a high government minister. At around the age of twenty, on the evening that he was to be married, he ran away to a mountain monastery to become a monk. After mastering the teachings of both mainstream and MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism, Dharmapāla traveled extensively, becoming renowned for his debating skills. Later, he studied under the YOGĀCĀRA specialist and logician DIGNĀGA (d.u.) at NĀLANDĀ, where he became chief instructor despite his youth. His teaching focused especially on Yogācāra doctrine, and he produced many excellent disciples. XUANZANG (600/602-664), one of the most important figures in the history of Chinese Buddhist scholasticism, traveled to India in the seventh century, where he studied Dharmapāla's doctrines at Nālandā under one of his principal disciples, sĪLABHADRA (529-645), and brought Dharmapāla's scholastic lineage back to China. Xuanzang edited and translated some of the materials he had collected in India into the CHENG WEISHI LUN (*VijNaptimātratāsiddhisāstra; "Demonstration of Consciousness-Only"), a synopsis of ten separate commentaries on VASUBANDHU's TRIMsIKĀ ("Thirty Verses") but heavily focused on the insights of Dharmapāla, which Xuanzang considered orthodox. Unlike STHIRAMATI, who understood the bifurcation of consciousness into subject and object to be wholly imaginary, Dharmapāla proposed instead that consciousness always appears in both subjective and objective aspects, viz., a "seeing part" (darsanabhāga) and a seen part (nimittabhāga). His interpretations regarding the nature of consciousness became predominant in the Chinese FAXIANG (alt. Weishi) school of Yogācāra, which was developed by Xuanzang and his two main disciples, WoNCH'ŬK and KUIJI. Dharmapāla retired to AsaMbodhi monastery at the age of twenty-nine and passed away at the age of thirty-one.
dharma. (P. dhamma; T. chos; C. fa; J. ho; K. pop 法). In Sanskrit, "factor," or "element"; a polysemous term of wide import in Buddhism and therefore notoriously difficult to translate, a problem acknowledged in traditional sources; as many as ten meanings of the term are found in the literature. The term dharma derives from the Sanskrit root √dhṛ, which means "to hold" or "to maintain." In Vedic literature, dharma is often used to refer to the sacrifice that maintains the order of the cosmos. Indian kings used the term to refer to the policies of their realms. In Hinduism, there is an important genre of literature called the dharmasāstra, treatises on dharma, which set forth the social order and the respective duties of its members, in relation to caste, gender, and stage of life. Based on this denotation of the term, many early European translators rendered dharma into English as "law," the same sense conveyed in the Chinese translation of dharma as fa (also "law"). ¶ In Buddhism, dharma has a number of distinct denotations. One of its most significant and common usages is to refer to "teachings" or "doctrines," whether they be Buddhist or non-Buddhist. Hence, in recounting his search for truth prior to his enlightenment, the Buddha speaks of the dharma he received from his teachers. After his enlightenment, the Buddha's first sermon was called "turning the wheel of the dharma" (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA). When the Buddha described what he himself taught to his disciples, he called it the DHARMAVINAYA, with the vinaya referring to the rules of monastic discipline and the dharma referring presumably to everything else. This sense of dharma as teaching, and its centrality to the tradition, is evident from the inclusion of the dharma as the second of the three jewels (RATNATRAYA, along with the Buddha and the SAMGHA, or community) in which all Buddhists seek refuge. Commentators specified that dharma in the refuge formula refers to the third and fourth of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS: the truth of the cessation (NIRODHASATYA) of the causes that lead to suffering and the truth of the path (MĀRGA) to that cessation. Here, the verbal root of dharma as "holding" is evoked etymologically to gloss dharma as meaning something that "holds one back" from falling into states of suffering. A distinction was also drawn between the dharma or teachings as something that is heard or studied, called the scriptural dharma (ĀGAMA-dharma), and the dharma or teachings as something that is made manifest in the consciousness of the practitioner, called the realized dharma (ADHIGAMA-dharma). ¶ A second (and very different) principal denotation of dharma is a physical or mental "factor" or fundamental "constituent element," or simply "phenomenon." In this sense, the individual building blocks of our compounded (SAMSKṚTA) existence are dharmas, dharma here glossed as something that "holds" its own nature. Thus, when Buddhist texts refer to the constituent elements of existence, they will often speak of "all dharmas," as in "all dharmas are without self." The term ABHIDHARMA, which is interpreted to mean either "higher dharma" or "pertaining to dharma," refers to the analysis of these physical and mental factors, especially in the areas of causation and epistemology. The texts that contain such analyses are considered to be one of the three general categories of the Buddhist canon (along with SuTRA and vinaya), known as the TRIPItAKA or "three baskets." ¶ A third denotation of the term dharma is that of "quality" or "characteristic." Thus, reference is often made to dharmas of the Buddha, referring in this sense not to his teachings but to his various auspicious qualities, whether they be physical, verbal, or mental. This is the primary meaning of dharma in the term DHARMAKĀYA. Although this term is sometimes rendered into English as "truth body," dharmakāya seems to have originally been meant to refer to the entire corpus (KĀYA) of the Buddha's transcendent qualities (dharma). ¶ The term dharma also occurs in a large number of important compound words. SADDHARMA, or "true dharma," appears early in the tradition as a means of differentiating the teachings of the Buddha from those of other, non-Buddhist, teachers. In the MAHĀYĀNA sutras, saddharma was used to refer, perhaps defensively, to the Mahāyāna teachings; one of the most famous Mahāyāna sutras is the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA, known in English as the "Lotus Sutra," but whose full title is "White Lotus of the True Dharma Sutra." In Buddhist theories of history, the period after the death of the Buddha (often said to last five hundred years) is called the time of the true dharma. This period of saddharma is followed, according to some theories, by a period of a "semblance" of the true dharma (SADDHARMAPRATIRuPAKA) and a period of "decline" (SADDHARMAVIPRALOPA). The term DHARMADHĀTU refers to the ultimate nature of reality, as does DHARMATĀ, "dharma-ness." It should also be noted that dharma commonly appears in the designations of persons. Hence, a DHARMABHĀnAKA is a preacher of the dharma, a DHARMAPĀLA is a deity who protects the dharma; in both terms, dharma refers to the Buddhist doctrine. A DHARMARĀJAN is a righteous king (see CAKRAVARTIN), especially one who upholds the teachings of the Buddha. For various rosters of dharmas, see the List of Lists appendix.
Dhṛtaka. [alt. Dhītika] (C. Tiduojia; J. Daitaka; K. Chedaga 提多迦). The fifth of the twenty-eight Indian patriarchs of Buddhism listed in the LIDAI FABAO JI, the important lineage history of the CHAN school. Dhṛtaka is said to have been a disciple of UPAGUPTA and is best known for having converted to Buddhism the religious teacher Micchaka [alt. Mikkaka], who became his successor and the sixth patriarch, along with his eight thousand followers.
dingxiang. (J. chinzo; K. chongsang 頂相). In Chinese, lit. "mark on the forehead" or "head's appearance." The term dingxiang was originally coined as the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit term UsnĪsA, but the term also came to be used to refer to a portrait or image of a monk or nun. Written sources from as early as the sixth century, such as the GAOSENG ZHUAN ("Biographies of Eminent Monks"), recount the natural mummification of eminent Buddhist monks, and subsequently, the making of lifelike sculptures of monks made from ashes (often from cremation) mixed with clay. The earliest extant monk portraits date from the ninth century and depict the five patriarchs of the esoteric school (C. Zhenyan; J. SHINGONSHu); these portraits are now enshrined in the collection of ToJI in Kyoto, Japan. Another early example is the sculpture of the abbot Hongbian in cave 17 at DUNHUANG. Dingxiang portraits were largely, but not exclusively, used within the CHAN, SoN, and ZEN traditions, to be installed in special halls prepared for memorial and mortuary worship. After the rise of the SHIFANGCHA (monasteries of the ten directions) system in the Song dynasty, which guaranteed the abbacy to monks belonging to a Chan lineage, portraits of abbots were hung in these image halls to establish their presence in a shared spiritual genealogy. The portraits of the legendary Indian monk BODHIDHARMA and the Chan master BAIZHANG HUAIHAI were often placed at the center of these arrangements, symbolizing the spiritual and institutional foundations of Chan. The practice of inscribing one's own dingxiang portrait before death also flourished in China; inscribed portraits were presented to disciples and wealthy supporters as gifts and these portraits thus functioned as highly valued commodities within the Buddhist religious community. The practice of preparing dingxiang portraits was transmitted to Japan. Specifically noteworthy are the Japanese monk portrait sculptures dating from the Kamakura period, known for their lifelike appearance. The making of dingxiang portraits continues to flourish even to this day. In Korea, the related term CHINYoNG ("true image") is more commonly used to refer to monks' portraits.
Disciple: A follower or student of a school, doctrine or teacher.
Disciple of the Vilna Gaon; a leader of the Mitnagg'dim (anti-Hasidim); founder of the Volozhin yeshiva; Lithuania.
Disciple. See CHELA
DISCIPLESHIP In order to attain the fifth natural kingdom in just a few incarnations, the aspirant must strive after discipleship under the planetary hierarchy. Only those who have acquired the physical, emotional, and mental prerequisites can be accepted as disciples. Physically and dietetically, the athlete training for the
Olympic Games may serve as an example. Emotionally, they must discard all manifestations of repulsion (hatred) and acquire the qualities of attraction. Mentally, they must acquire perspective consciousness and a well-developed ability to meditate in the correct way. All qualities and abilities have to be put solely at the service of evolution, since their egoistic use counteracts evolution. K 7.22.12
Disciple: The initiated beginners of the Traditions. Disciples can perform limited magic, and they are accepted as Tradition members.
discipline ::: n. --> The treatment suited to a disciple or learner; education; development of the faculties by instruction and exercise; training, whether physical, mental, or moral.
Training to act in accordance with established rules; accustoming to systematic and regular action; drill.
Subjection to rule; submissiveness to order and control; habit of obedience.
Severe training, corrective of faults; instruction by
discipling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Disciple
dkar po chig thub. (karpo chiktup). In Tibetan, "self-sufficient white [remedy]" or "white panacea"; in Tibetan pharmacology, a single remedy that has the ability to effect a cure by itself alone. In Tibetan Buddhism, the term was used as a metaphor to describe certain doctrines or methods said to be self-sufficient for bringing about awakening. Although found in various contexts, the term is best known from its use by members of the DWAGS PO BKA' BRGYUD, including SGAM PO PA BSOD NAMS RIN CHEN and his nephew's disciple BLA MA ZHANG. This method is often equated with the introduction to the nature of mind (sems kyi ngo sprod) or the direct realization of the mind's true nature, and is deeply rooted in the tradition of MAHĀMUDRĀ transmitted by Sgam po pa. In Sgam po pa's own words, "I value the realization of the nature of mind as better than excellent meditation." Some Tibetan scholars, most notably SA SKYA PAnDITA KUN DGA' RGYAL MTSHAN, rejected the notion that any single method or factor (even insight into suNYATĀ, or emptiness) could be soteriologically sufficient. He also argued that the fruit of mahāmudrā practice could never be gained through wholly nonconceptual means. Nor, he argued, could it be gained outside of strictly tantric practice, in contrast to Sgam po pa's tradition, which advocated both SuTRA and TANTRA forms of mahāmudrā. Such arguments often disparagingly associate dkar po chig thub with the subitism of MOHEYAN, the Chinese CHAN protagonist in the BSAM YAS DEBATE, who is known to have also used the metaphor.
Dogen Kigen. (道元希玄) (1200-1253). Japanese ZEN monk who is regarded as the founder of the SoToSHu. After losing both his parents at an early age, Dogen became the student of a relative, the monk Ryokan (d.u.), who lived at the base of HIEIZAN, the headquarters of the TENDAI school (C. TIANTAI) in 1212; Ryokan subsequently recommended that Dogen study at the famed training center of Senkobo. The next year, Dogen was ordained by Koen (d.u.), the abbot of the powerful Tendai monastery of ENRYAKUJI. Dogen was later visited by the monk Koin (1145-1216) of Onjoji, who suggested the eminent Japanese monk MYoAN EISAI as a more suitable teacher. Dogen visited Eisai at his monastery of KENNINJI and became a student of Eisai's disciple Myozen (1184-1225). In 1223, Dogen accompanied Myozen to China as his attendant and made a pilgrimage to various important monastic centers on Mts. Tiantong, Jing, and Yuwang. Before returning to Japan in 1227, Dogen made another trip in 1225 to Mt. Tiantong to study with the CAODONG ZONG Chan master TIANTONG RUJING (1162-1227), from whom he is said to have received dharma transmission. During his time there, Dogen overheard Rujing scolding a monk who was sleeping, saying, "The practice of zazen (C. ZUOCHAN) is the sloughing off of body and mind. What does sleeping accomplish?" Dogen reports that he experienced awakening upon hearing Rujing's words "sloughing off body and mind" (SHINJIN DATSURAKU), a phrase that would figure prominently in his later writings. The phrase, however, is not common in the Chan tradition, and scholars have questioned whether Dogen's spoken Chinese was up to the task of understanding Rujing's oral instructions. Dogen also attributes to Rujing's influence the practice of SHIKAN TAZA, or "just sitting," and the notion of the identity of practice and attainment: that to sit correctly in meditative posture is to enact one's own buddhahood. After Rujing's death, Dogen returned to Japan, famously reporting that he had learned only that noses are vertical and eyes are horizontal. He returned to Kenninji, but relocated two years later in 1229 to the monastery of Anyoin in Fukakusa. In 1233, Dogen moved to Koshoji, on the outskirts of Kyoto, where he established one of the first monasteries in Japan modeled on Song-dynasty Chan monastic practice. Dogen resided there for the next ten years and attracted a large following, including several adherents of the DARUMASHu, who became influential in his burgeoning community. When the powerful monastery of Tofukuji was established by his RINZAISHu rival ENNI BEN'EN, Dogen moved again to remote area of Echizen (present-day Fukui prefecture), where he was invited to reside at the newly established monastery of Daibutsuji; Dogen renamed the monastery EIHEIJI in 1246. There, he composed several chapters of his magnum opus, SHoBoGENZo ("Treasury of the True Dharma Eye"). In 1253, as his health declined, Dogen entrusted Eiheiji to his successor Koun Ejo (1198-1280), a former disciple of the Darumashu founder DAINICHIBo NoNIN, and left for Kyoto to seek medical treatment. He died that same year. Dogen was a prolific writer whose work includes the FUKAN ZAZENGI, EIHEI SHINGI, Eihei koroku, BENDoWA, HoKYoKI, GAKUDo YoJINSHU, Tenzo kyokun, and others. Dogen's voluminous oeuvre has been extremely influential in the modern construction of the Japanese Zen tradition and its portrayal in Western literature. See also GENJo KoAN; SHIKAN TAZA.
dombī Heruka. A tantric adept counted among the eighty-four MAHĀSIDDHAs, often depicted riding a tiger with his consort. As recorded in his hagiographies, he was originally king of the Indian region of MAGADHA and received teachings on the HEVAJRATANTRA from the SIDDHA VIRuPA. These he practiced for twelve years in secret while continuing to skillfully administer his kingdom. He then secretly took a low-caste musician, a dombī, as his consort and continued his practice of TANTRA with her. (The word heruka is rendered khrag thung, "blood drinker," in Tibetan.) When his subjects discovered their king's transgression of customary social and caste restrictions, dombī Heruka abdicated the throne and disappeared with his consort into the jungle, where they continued to practice tantric yoga for twelve years. Later, the kingdom was wrought with famine and the subjects searched for their former king to request his assistance. dombī Heruka then emerged from the jungle astride a tigress, brandishing a snake in one hand. Displaying miraculous signs of his mastery, he denied the subjects' request and departed for the celestial realms. dombī Heruka is an important member of the lineage of the Hevajratantra and, according to some accounts, was a disciple of NĀROPA as well as a teacher of ATIsA DĪPAMKARAsRĪJNĀNA. Seventeen texts attributed to him are preserved in the BSTAN 'GYUR section of the Tibetan Buddhist canon. He is also known as dombīpa.
Dongshan famen. (J. Tozan homon; K. Tongsan pommun 東山法門). In Chinese, lit. "East Mountain Dharma Gate" or "East Mountain Teachings"; one of the principal early CHAN schools, which is associated with the putative fourth and fifth patriarchs of the tradition, DAOXIN (580-651) and HONGREN (602-675). The name of the school is a toponym for the location of Hongren's monastery, at Huangmei in Qizhou (present-day Hubei province). "East Mountain" refers to the easterly of the "twin peaks" of Mount Shuangfeng, where Hongren taught after the death of his master Daoxin, who had taught on the westerly peak; the term "East Mountain Teachings," however, is typically used to refer to the tradition associated with both masters. The designations Dongshan famen and Dongshan jingmen (East Mountain Pure Gate) first appear in the LENGQIE SHIZI JI ("Records of the Masters and Disciples of the Lankā[vatāra]") and were used in the Northern school of Chan (BEI ZONG) by SHENXIU (606?-706) and his successors to refer to the lineage and teachings that they had inherited from Daoxin and Hongren. ¶ Although later Chan lineage texts list Daoxin and Hongren as respectively the fourth and the fifth Chan patriarchs, succeeding BODHIDHARMA, HUIKE, and SENGCAN, the connection of the East Mountain lineage to these predecessors is tenuous at best and probably nonexistent. The earliest biography of Daoxin, recorded in the XU GAOSENG ZHUAN ("Supplementary Biographies of Eminent Monks"), not only does not posit any connection between Daoxin and the preceding three patriarchs, but does not even mention their names. This connection is first made explicit in the c. 713 CHUAN FABAO JI ("Annals of the Transmission of the Dharma-Jewel"), one of the earliest Chan "transmission of the lamplight" (CHUANDENG LU) lineage texts. Unlike many of the Chan "schools" that were associated with a single charismatic teacher, the "East Mountain Teachings" was unusual in that it had a single, enduring center in Huangmei, which attracted increasing numbers of students. Some five or six names of students who studied with Daoxin survive in the literature, with another twenty-five associated with Hongren. Although Hongren's biography in the Chuan fabao ji certainly exaggerates when it says that eight to nine out of every ten Buddhist practitioners in China studied under Hongren, there is no question that the number of students of the East Mountain Teachings grew significantly over two generations. ¶ The fundamental doctrines and practices of the East Mountain Teachings can be reconstructed on the basis of the two texts: the RUDAO ANXIN YAO FANGBIAN FAMEN ("Essentials of the Teachings of the Expedient Means of Entering the Path and Pacifying the Mind") and the XIUXIN YAO LUN ("Treatise on the Essentials of Cultivating the Mind"), ascribed respectively to Daoxin and Hongren. The Rudao anxin yao fangbian famen, which is included in the Lengqie shizi ji, employs the analogy of a mirror from the Banzhou sanmei jing (S. PRATYUTPANNABUDDHASAMMUKHĀVASTHITASAMĀDHISuTRA) to illustrate the insubstantiality of all phenomena, viz., one's sensory experiences are no more substantial than the reflections in a mirror. The text then presents the "single-practice SAMĀDHI" (YIXING SANMEI) as a practical means of accessing the path leading to NIRVĀnA, based on the Wenshushuo bore jing ("Perfection of Wisdom Sutra Spoken by MANJUsRĪ"). Single-practice samādhi here refers to sitting in meditation, the supreme practice that subsumes all other practices; it is not one samādhi among others, as it is portrayed in the MOHE ZHIGUAN ("Great Calming and Contemplation"). Single-practice samādhi means to contemplate every single aspect of one's mental and physical existence until one realizes they are all empty, just like the reflections in the mirror, and "to guard that one without deviation" (shouyi buyi). The Xiuxin yao lun, which is attributed to Hongren, stresses the importance of "guarding the mind" (SHOUXIN). Here, the relationship between the pure mind and the afflictions (KLEsA) is likened to that between the sun and clouds: the pure mind is obscured by afflictions, just as the sun is covered by layers of clouds, but if one can guard the mind so that it is kept free from false thoughts and delusions, the sun of NIRVĀnA will then appear. The text suggests two specific meditation techniques for realizing this goal: one is continuously to visualize the original, pure mind (viz., the sun) so that it shines without obscuration; the other is to concentrate on one's own deluded thoughts (the clouds) until they disappear. These two techniques purport to "guard the mind" so that delusion can never recur. The East Mountain Teachings laid a firm foundation for the doctrines and practices of later Chan traditions like the Northern school.
Dongshan Liangjie. (J. Tozan Ryokai; K. Tongsan Yanggae 洞山良价) (807-869). Chinese CHAN master of the Tang dynasty and reputed founder of the CAODONG lineage of Chan; also known as Xinfeng. Dongshan was a native of Yuezhou in present-day Zhejiang province. He left home at an early age and became the student of the Chan master Lingmo (747-818). Having received full monastic precepts from a certain VINAYA master Rui on SONGSHAN, Dongshan visited the Chan masters NANQUAN PUYUAN and GUISHAN LINGYOU and later continued his studies under Yunyan Tancheng (782-841). Dongshan is said to have attained awakening under Yunyan's guidance and eventually inherited his lineage. During the HUICHANG FANAN, Dongshan remained in hiding until the persecution ran its course, eventually reemerging at Xinfeng tong in Jiangxi province. With the support of his followers, Dongshan later established the monastery Guangfusi (later renamed Puli yuan) on Mt. Dong (Dongshan), whence he acquired his toponym. Among his many disciples, Yunju Daoying (d. 902) and CAOSHAN BENJI are most famous. Dongshan was renowned for his poetry and verse compositions and his teaching of the "five ranks" (WUWEI). His teachings are recorded in the Dongshan yulu ("The Record of Dongshan"), but the most famous of his works is the BAOJING SANMEI ("Jeweled-Mirror Samādhi"), a definitive verse on enlightenment and practice from the standpoint of the CAODONGZONG. The Baojing sanmei emphasizes the "original enlightenment" (BENJUE; cf. HONGAKU) of sentient beings and the futility of seeking that enlightenment through conscious thought. Instead, the song urges its audience to allow one's inherently pure, enlightened nature to "silently illuminate" itself through meditation (see MOZHAO CHAN), as the Buddha did under the BODHI TREE.
Dongta lü zong. (J. Toto Risshu; K. Tongt'ap yul chong 東塔律宗). In Chinese, the "East Pagoda VINAYA School"; one of the three major exegetical traditions of the DHARMAGUPTAKA school's SIFEN LÜ ("Four-Part Vinaya"); the other traditions are DAOXUAN's NANSHANLÜ ZONG (South Mountain) and Fali's XIANGBU LÜ ZONG (Xiang Region) vinaya schools. The reputed patriarch of the Dongta tradition is the vinaya master HUAISU. This exegetical tradition derived its name from Huaisu's residence near the east pagoda of the monastery of Xidayuansi in the Chinese capital of Chang'an. Huaisu's disciple Fashen (d.u.) firmly established his teacher's Sifen lü kaizong ji (composed in 682), also known as the "new commentary" (xinshu), as the authoritative commentary on the "Four-Part Vinaya." The tradition thrived under Emperor Daizong (r. 762-779), thanks to the grand councilor's support of Huaisu, but was subsequently eclipsed by the Nanshan school.
Dpal sprul Rin po che. (Patrul Rinpoche) (1808-1887). One of the most important teachers of the RNYING MA sect of Tibetan Buddhism during the nineteenth century, famous for his great humility and simple lifestyle. Recognized as an incarnate lama (SPRUL SKU) while a child, Dpal sprul Rin po che trained under the great ascetic 'Jigs med rgyal ba'i myu gu (Jigme Gyalwe Nyugu), himself a disciple of the renowned treasure revealer (GTER STON) 'JIGS MED GLING PA, from whom he received instructions on the KLONG CHEN SNYING THIG, "Heart Essence of the Great Expanse." He later studied with many other great masters, including MDO MKHYEN RTSE YE SHES RDO RJE, mind emanation (thugs sprul) of 'Jigs med gling pa. Although he established himself as one of the foremost scholars of his time, Dpal sprul Rin po che emulated the renunciate lifestyle of his masters, wandering from place to place with few possessions, often in the guise of an ordinary beggar. He was known for his exceptional kindness, treating both king and pauper with equal compassion. The author of numerous commentaries and treatises on Buddhist philosophy and doctrine, he is perhaps best known for his KUN BZANG BLA MA'I ZHAL LUNG ("Words of My Perfect Teacher"), an explanation of the preliminary practices of the klong chen snying thig. Together with other great lamas of eastern Tibet, Dpal sprul Rin po che was also an active participant in the so-called RIS MED (nonsectarian) movement, which sought to cut through the rampant sectarian controversies of the time. According to one account, when asked what religious affiliation he maintained, Dpal sprul Rinpoche famously remarked that he was only a follower of the Buddha. He is also known as Rdza Dpal sprul (Dza Patrul) and O rgyan 'jigs med chos kyi dbang po.
Dravya Mallaputra. (P. Dabba Mallaputta; C. Tapomoluo; J. Tobamara; K. Tappamara 沓婆摩羅). An important ARHAT, whom the Buddha declared to be foremost among his monk disciples in service (S. VAIYĀPṚTYA[KARA]; P. veyyāvaccakara) to the community of monks, specifically in assigning residence quarters and arranging meals. According to Pāli sources, Dravya (P. Dabba) belonged to the Malla clan and had a most unusual birth: he was born to his mother while her corpse was burning on the funeral pyre and was discovered lying amid the ashes after the flames were extinguished. He was seven when he first saw the Buddha and immediately asked his grandmother to allow him to join the order. She gave her consent and he became an arhat while he was being ordained as a novice. Because he was already enlightened, he was given the higher ordination as a BHIKsU while he was still only seven years old. Wishing to be useful, Dravya assumed the task of assigning night lodgings to visiting monks. So diligent and efficient was the young boy that he quickly became famous. Monks used to arrive late in the evening intentionally so they could witness his special thaumaturgic skill: he would burst into flames and use his body as a lamp to show his guests to their quarters. Dravya appears to have had several encounters with the infamous "group of six" (S. sAdVĀRGIKA), a notorious band of recalcitrant malefactors in the order. Twice these monks falsely accused him of seducing women, and once for neglecting his duties, but Dravya was vindicated of all charges. Dravya was fated to die young and had a premonition of his own demise. With his death imminent, he bid farewell to the Buddha and passed away in his presence amid a marvelous display of ṚDDHI power. Cf. DIANZUO.
Drona. (P. Dona; T. Bre bo; C. Xiangxing poluomen; J. Kosho baramon; K. Hyangsong paramun 香姓婆羅門). A renowned brāhmana who is remembered for resolving the dispute that arose over control of the Buddha's relics following his cremation. Drona was a brāhmana with many disciples who came upon the Buddha once while traveling. After hearing the Buddha's discourse, he became a once-returner (ANĀGĀMIN) and wrote an extended verse eulogizing the Buddha. Drona was revered by the secular rulers of his day, so while he was sojourning in the city of KUsINAGARĪ (P. Kusinārā), he was able to mediate among the various competing groups concerning who would take charge of the Buddha's relics (sARĪRA) following the teacher's cremation. His solution was to divide the relics into eight parts, which he distributed among the factions to take back to their regions for enshrinement. After the division of the relics into eight shares, there remained the ashes from the cremation fire and the bucket (drona) that Drona had used to divide the relics. Drona received permission to keep the bucket himself and erected a reliquary STuPA in Kusinagarī to house the vessel that had temporarily held the relics. A young brāhmana who arrived late for the division of the relics received the ashes and built a tenth stupa to house them.
Druids Members of a priestly hierarchy among the ancient Celts of Britain, Gaul, and Ireland, composed of the three Orders of Druids, Bards, and Ovates. According to the Gaulish reports mentioned by Julius Caesar, Druidism was founded in Britain, which remained in his time its headquarters, candidates for the priesthood being sent to that island from Gaul for their training. The Welsh tradition confirms this, stating the The Wisdom had always existed; that in remote times it was known simply as Gwyddoniaeth (science) and its teachers as the Gwyddoniaid (sing., Gwyddon); that knowledge of it had declined until at some unknown period a wiseman named Tydain Tad Awen arose and taught it to his three disciples, Plenydd, Gwron, and Alawn, who in their turn taught it to the race of the Cymry. From that time forth it was known as Derwyddoniaeth or Druidism, “the wisdom taught in oak groves.”
Druses A sect calling themselves Disciples of Hamsa, living mainly on Mt. Lebanon in Syria, with offshoots in neighboring regions. Its origin is a puzzle to scholars. It seems to have preserved an esoteric school and to have guarded it successfully by exclusiveness towards other peoples. They believe that the Deity, ordinarily inscrutable, manifests himself from time to time in avataric Messiahs. The fact that their faith seems to scholars to have affinity with so many different sources is proof of its eclecticism.
duiji. (J. taiki; K. taegi 對機). In Chinese, lit. teaching "in accord with capacity"; an abbreviation of the phrase duiji shuofa, or "speaking the DHARMA in accord with [the student's] capacity," referring to the Buddha's propensity to tailor his message through stratagems (UPĀYA) in order to respond to the specific needs of his audience and his listeners' ability to understand him. The term comes to be used in the CHAN school to refer to a formal exchange between a Chan master and disciple that takes place in the master's room (see FANGZHANG). This exchange between master and disciple is typically a "private" affair, for the master's answers are designed to respond to the spiritual capacity of that specific student. These exchanges constitute much of the content of the discourse records (YULU) of Chan, SoN, and ZEN masters.
Dus gsum mkhyen pa. (Dusum Kyenpa) (1110-1193). A renowned Tibetan master recognized as the first in the lineage of KARMA PA incarnations and early founder of the KARMA BKA' BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in the Tre shod region of eastern Tibet and at the age of sixteen was ordained by a monk of the BKA' GDAMS sect and received tantric instruction from a disciple of ATIsA DĪPAMKARAsRĪJNĀNA. He went on to study MADHYAMAKA and the KĀLACAKRATANTRA with some of the leading scholars of the day. At the age of thirty, Dus gsum mkhyen pa met his principal GURU, SGAM PO PA BSOD NAMS RIN CHEN, from whom he received many teachings, including so-called "heat yoga" (gtum mo; see CAndĀLĪ). He also studied with MI LA RAS PA's renowned disciple RAS CHUNG PA. He devoted himself to the teachings that would become the hallmark of the Bka' brgyud, such as the six yogas of NĀROPA and MAHĀMUDRA, but he also received teachings from a number of Bka' gdams and SA SKYA masters. He went on to found three important Bka' brgyud monasteries: Kam po gnas nang in 1164, KARMA DGON in 1184, both in eastern Tibet, and MTSHUR PHU northwest of LHA SA in 1187. The latter became a powerful central-Tibetan institution as the primary seat of the Karma pas up to 1959. It is said that at the age of sixteen Dus gsum mkhyen pa received a hat woven from the hair of one hundred thousand dĀKINĪs. This hat has been passed down to subsequent Karma pas, and seen in the so-called "black hat ceremony" (zhwa nag).
Dutthagāmanī. [alt. Sinhalese: Dutugümunu] (r. 101-77 BCE). Sinhalese king best known for restoring Sinhalese suzerainty over the entire island of Sri Lanka after his first century BCE defeat of King Elāra of the predominantly Hindu Damilas (Tamil). According to the MAHĀVAMSA, Dutthagāmanī had been a monk in his previous life, when he vowed to be reborn as a CAKRAVARTIN. As king, he went to war against the enemies of the dharma, carrying a spear with a relic of the Buddha attached to it. The battle ended when he killed the enemy king, the pious but non-Buddhist Elāra. After his victory, he planted his spear in the earth. When he attempted to extract it, he failed, and so decided to have a STuPA built around it, making the instrument of his victory a site for merit-making. Like AsOKA, Dutthagāmanī was troubled by the carnage he had caused, specifically the death of sixty thousand of his enemies. But a delegation of ARHATs assured him that, because his victims were not Buddhists, he had only accrued the negative KARMAN of having killed just one and a half persons. As a result of meritorious deeds, Dutthagāmanī is said to have been reborn in the TUsITA heaven, awaiting rebirth as a disciple of MAITREYA. The story of Dutthagāmanī continues to be told in Sri Lanka, and was deployed during the late-twentieth century to defend the violence of Sinhalese Buddhists against non-Buddhist Tamils. After his victory over Elāra at his capital of ANURĀDHAPURA, the king began a series of construction projects in support of Buddhism, culminating in the MAHĀTHuPA, the great stupa [alt. Ruwanwelisaya], at the site where the Buddha is thought to have made his third visit to the island of Sri Lanka. Dutthagāmanī fell ill before this massive project was completed, but according to legend his brother Saddhātissa draped the site in white cloth so that the king could visualize it in all its glory prior to his death.
Dvedhāvitakkasutta. (C. Nian jing; J. Nengyo; K. Yom kyong 念經). In Pāli, "Discourse on Two Kinds of Thoughts"; the nineteenth sutta contained in the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA (a separate SARVĀSTIVĀDA recension appears as the 102nd sutra in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMĀGAMA); preached by the Buddha to his disciples gathered at the JETAVANA Grove in the town of Sāvatthi (sRĀVASTĪ). The Buddha explains that thoughts can be divided into two categories: unsalutary (P. akusala; S. AKUsALA) thoughts associated with sensual desire, ill will, and harmfulness; and salutary (P. kusala; S. KUsALA) thoughts associated with renunciation, non-ill will, and harmlessness. He describes his own practice prior to his enlightenment as discerning between these two types of thoughts and recognizing the advantages that come from developing the salutary and the disadvantages of the unsalutary. He advises his monks to examine their minds in the same way so that they too would develop salutary thoughts and overcome unsalutary thoughts.
Dwags lha sgam po. (Daklha Gampo). The site of an important BKA' BRGYUD monastic complex in the Dwags po (Dakpo) region of south-central Tibet, founded in 1121 by SGAM PO PA BSOD RNAM RIN CHEN. Flanked by an unusual range of mountains, the location was originally developed by the Tibetan king SRONG BTSAN SGAM PO, who constructed one of his many "taming temples" (mtha' 'dul) there in order to pin down the head of the supine demoness (srin mo) believed to be hindering the spread of Buddhism in Tibet. It is said that PADMASAMBHAVA later hid several treasure texts (GTER MA) in the surrounding peaks, foremost among which was the BAR DO THOS GROL CHEN MO, or "Liberation Through Hearing in the Intermediate State," usually known in English as The Tibetan Book of the Dead, which was unearthed by the treasure revealer (GTER STON) KARMA GLING PA. Dwags lha sgam po is best known, however, as the seat of the important Bka' brgyud hierarch Sgam po pa and under his direction it became an active center for meditative retreats. His numerous disciples, from whom stem the four major and eight minor Bka' brgyud subsects, include the first KARMA PA DUS GSUM MKHYEN PA and PHAG MO GRU PA RDO RJE RGYAL PO. Following Sgam po pa's death, the complex was directed by masters in his familial lineage, and later, Sgam po pa's incarnation lineage, including lamas such as DWAGS PO BKRA SHIS RNAM RGYAL. It was destroyed by the invading Dzungar Mongol army in 1718 and rebuilt, only to be completely destroyed once again during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Several small chapels have since been renovated.
Dwags po Bka' brgyud. (Dakpo Kagyü). The main branch of the BKA' BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism stemming from MAR PA CHOS KYI BLO GROS, MI LA RAS PA, and SGAM PO PA BSOD NAMS RIN CHEN. It refers to the various Bka' brgyud branches, known as the four major and eight minor Bka' brgyud subsects (BKA' BRGYUD CHE BZHI CHUNG BRGYAD) that formed and flourished due to the activities of Sgam po pa and his immediate disciples. The name Dwags po Bka' brgyud is derived from Sgam po pa's main seat, DWAGS LHA SGAM PO, located in the Dwags po region of southern Tibet.
Dyumatsena ::: : “Dyumatsena, Lord of the Shining Hosts, father of Satyavan, is the Divine Mind here fallen blind, losing its celestial kingdom of vision, and through that loss its kingdom of glory.” (Note at the beginning of Savitri from a letter of Sri Aurobindo to a disciple.)
'Dzam thang. A monastic complex in eastern Tibet founded in 1658 in the 'Dzam thang region of A mdo; the major monastric seat of the JO NANG tradition following the suppression of the Jo nang sect in central Tibet by the fifth DALAI LAMA. Following the death of TĀRANĀTHA, the fifth Dalai Lama forcibly converted the main seat of the Jo nang sect at Phun tshogs gling in central Tibet into a DGE LUGS monastery (see DGA' LDAN PHUN TSHOGS GLING) in 1658 and sealed the works of DOL PO PA and TĀRANĀTHA as heretical. Long unknown to modern scholarship, the tradition flourished in the far east of Tibet since that time. Important masters from the monastery are Thub bstan dge legs rgya mtsho (Tupten Gelek Gyatso) (1844-1904) from 'Bam mda', who studied with the luminaries of the Khams RIS MED movement; and Ngag dbang blo gros grags pa (1920-1975) and his disciple Ngag dbang yon tan rgya mtsho, who died in 2002. In the early twenty-first century, there were about fifteen hundred residents of the monastic complex.
Ebionites [probably from Hebrew ’ebyon poor] An early sect of Christians, but predating the term Christian. They were probably disciples of Jeshua ben Panthera, an initiated teacher living in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus (104-79 BC), around whom many scholars believe the Gospel story of the avatara Jesus was later built. There seems little support for the conjecture that they had a founder called Ebion. Accounts of their tenets are uncertain, for their name was transferred to various diverging sects, differing in the extent of their adhesion to the Mosaic law and in their way of interpreting Christian dogmas as to the nature and work of Jesus. They were regarded as Judaizers and heretics, and eventually became eliminated from the Church. As Gnostics of a kind, they regarded both Christ and the polar opposite Jehovah as emanations or rays of the Logos, and were concerned with the adaptation of esoteric teachings with the Mosaic law on the one hand and with the materializing spirit of the Church on the other.
Ecstasy, Ecstasis (Greek) [from ekstasis displacement, standing out from the proper place, hence rising above] A transference of consciousness from the physical plane to another inner and superior plane, accompanied by awareness and memory of the experience. It is necessary to distinguish between an astral-psychic experience and a truly psychospiritual one. The former is delusive and fraught with harm; the latter is the state of illumination spoken of by Plotinus, resulting from the true asceticism of the disciple, and in its highest form is the same as the high stage of meditation of the Hindu yogi.
egoism ::: n. --> The doctrine of certain extreme adherents or disciples of Descartes and Johann Gottlieb Fichte, which finds all the elements of knowledge in the ego and the relations which it implies or provides for.
Excessive love and thought of self; the habit of regarding one&
ehibhiksukā. (P. ehi bhikkhu; T. dge slong tshur shog; C. shanlai bichu; J. zenrai bisshu; K. sollae p'ilch'u 善來苾芻). In Sanskrit, the "come, monk" formula; the oldest of the four types of ordination (UPASAMPADĀ), the ehibhiksukā was primarily performed at the inception of the Buddhist dispensation before the establishment of a formal procedure for admission into the order; for this reason, many of the Buddha's most famous early disciples were called the ehibhiksu UPĀLI, etc. Early in his teaching career, when a disciple sought to enter formally the Buddha's incipient order, the Buddha would ordain them via this simple formula, the full form of which is "Come, monk, the DHARMA is well proclaimed; live the holy life for the complete ending of suffering." Some women were also ordained as nuns following a parallel exhortation. In the AVADĀNA literature, when the Buddha ordains monks with this famous phrase, the following description of the new monks often appears, "No sooner had the BHAGAVAT pronounced these words than they found themselves shaved, covered with the robe and provided with the alms-bowl and the pitcher that ends in the beak of a bird; having beard and hair of seven days, they appeared with the proper aspect of monks who had received ordination a hundred years ago."
ekayāna. (T. theg pa gcig pa; C. yisheng; J. ichijo; K. ilsŭng 一乘). In Sanskrit, lit. "one vehicle" or "single vehicle." "Vehicle" literally means "conveyance" or "transportation," viz., the conveyance that carries sentient beings from SAMSĀRA to NIRVĀnA; the term may also refer to the actual person who reaches the destination of the path. The doctrine of a single vehicle is set forth in certain MAHĀYĀNA SuTRAs, most famously, the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA ("Lotus Sutra"), which declares that the three vehicles of the sRĀVAKA (disciple), PRATYEKABUDDHA (solitary buddha), and BODHISATTVA are actually just three expedient devices (UPĀYAKAUsALYA) for attracting beings to the one buddha vehicle, via which they all become buddhas. It is important to note that, although it is often claimed that a central tenet of the MAHĀYĀNA is that all sentient beings will eventually achieve buddhahood, this view is not universally set forth in the Mahāyāna sutras and philosophical schools. A number of important sutras, notably the SAMDHINIRMOCANASuTRA, maintained that there are three final vehicles and that those who successfully followed the path of the srāvaka and pratyekabuddha would eventually become ARHATs and would not then go on to achieve buddhahood (cf. GOTRA; BUDDHADHĀTU). This position was also held by such major YOGĀCĀRA figures as ASAnGA. In the Saddharmapundarīkasutra, however, the Buddha reveals that his earlier teachings of the three vehicles were in fact three expedient forms suited to specific beings' capacities; the sutra's exposition of the one buddha vehicle is said to be the unifying, complete, and final exposition of his teachings. Since this one-vehicle teaching is the teaching that leads to buddhahood, it is synonymous with the "buddha vehicle" (BUDDHAYĀNA), the "great vehicle" (MAHĀYĀNA), and sometimes the "bodhisattva vehicle" (BODHISATTVAYĀNA). In East Asia, there was substantial consideration given to the precise relations among these terms. Thus, the FAXIANG school of Chinese YOGĀCĀRA interprets the "one vehicle" of the three-vehicle system as being equivalent to the bodhisattva vehicle, while the HUAYAN and TIANTAI schools distinguish between the one buddha vehicle and the bodhisattva vehicle that is included within the three vehicles. The Faxiang school also distinguishes between two levels of the ekayāna, the "inclusive" Mahāyāna (sheru dasheng) and the "derivative" Mahāyāna (chusheng dasheng). According to the explanation of KUIJI (632-682), the first is an expedient like that used in the Saddharmapundarīkasutra to attract people of indeterminate nature to the one buddha vehicle. Because this type of sentient being is incapable of immediately attaining buddhahood, this teaching does not fully correspond to the meaning of the ekayāna. However, because all members of the Saddharmapundarīkasutra's audience have the potential to become buddhas through hearing this teaching, it is still considered to be true and effective. The second type means that all teachings of the Buddha are "born from" or "derive from" a single Mahāyāna teaching; Kuiji says that this type corresponds to the teaching of the sRĪMĀLĀDEVĪSIMHANĀDASuTRA and the MAHĀPARINIRVĀnASuTRA.
Enneads [from Greek ennead group of nine] A work of Plotinus (205? - 270) — one of the last and most famous of the Neoplatonic philosophers, and pupil of Ammonius Saccas — published by his disciple Porphyry. Each of its six books contained nine chapters.
En no Ozunu. (役小角) (b. 634). Also known as En no Gyoja (lit. "En the Ascetic"), a semi-legendary figure associated with SHUGENDo (lit. the "Way of Cultivating Supernatural Power") who is known for his shamanic abilities and mountain austerities. Practitioners of Shugendo, Japan's tradition of mountain asceticism, regard him as their founder and view him as the archetypal ascetic. The earliest accounts of En no Ozunu appear in the Shoku Nihongi (797) and the Nihon Ryoiki (810-824). He subsequently became the subject of numerous medieval texts, although many of the details of his life are sketchy. Allegedly born in Chihara in present-day Nara prefecture, he spent three decades of practice in KATSURAGISAN, where legend holds that he worked to convert malicious spirits. In 699, he was exiled to Izu (in present-day Shizuoka prefecture) by Emperor Monmu because of accusations made by his disciple, Karakuni no Muraji Hirotari that he was practicing sorcery. Shugendo considers En no Ozunu to be a manifestation of Hoki Bosatsu (DHARMODGATA), whose sphere of practice in the Katsuragi mountains includes KONGoSAN (see also KŬMGANGSAN), the traditional residence of this BODHISATTVA. In 1799, in conjunction with the alleged eleven hundredth anniversary of En no Ozunu's death, Emperor Kokaku bestowed on him the title Jinben Daibosatsu (Great Bodhisattva Mysterious Change).
Epictetus: (c. 60-110 A.D.) A Stoic philosopher and freed slave, who established his School in Nicopolis, Epirus; his Discourses were published by Arrian, his learned disciple, they contain sharp observations of human behavior and pithy sayings on ethical matters. -- R.B.W.
Epicurus: (341-270 B.C.) A native of Samos, founded his School in Athens about 306 B.C., where he instructed his disciples and admirers in the art of rational living. He taught that pleasure and happiness are the natural end of life. But, contrary to later misconceptions, he did not advocate the pursuit of all or any pleasures, but only of those which are consistent with intelligence and moderation. Joys of the mind are superior to pleasures of the body. In his interpretation of nature, he accepted Democritus' atomism, but contended that the element of chance enters into atoms' motions and makes them deviate from their course. -- R.B.W.
er jia. (J. nika; K. i ka 二加). In Chinese, "two kinds of empowerment (ADHIstHĀNA) [of the Buddha]": "manifest empowerment" (xian jia) and "covert empowerment" (min jia). Manifest empowerment is the direct, physical assistance provided by the Buddha through such acts as aiding and protecting the empowered with his psychic powers (S. ṚDDHI); verbally communicating with and speaking the dharma to them; displaying physical gestures, such as rubbing the disciple's head, in order to increase the latter's faith; verbal exhortation in order to enhance the eloquence (S. PRATISAMVID) of the empowered, etc. Because this type of empowerment is visible to all, it is manifest empowerment. Covert empowerment has been variously interpreted to be the Buddha's telepathic assistance to his disciples, or his disciples' ability to partake mystically in the Buddha's powers by recollecting him or invoking his name. Because such empowerment is typically hidden from view, it is covert.
Erru sixing lun. (J. Ninyu shigyoron; K. Iip sahaeng non 二入四行論). In Chinese, "Treatise on the Two Accesses and Four Practices," attributed to the legendary Indian monk BODHIDHARMA, putative founder of the CHAN ZONG; regardless of the authenticity of this ascription, the text is legitimately regarded as the earliest text of the Chan school. The treatise provides an outline of "two accesses" (ER RU): the access of principle (liru) a more static approach to practice, which sought an intuitive insight into the DHARMA and a recognition of the fact that each and every person was innately endowed with the capacity for enlightenment. This was complemented by the access of practice (xingru), which was subdivided into four progressive practices: retribution of enmity, acquiescing to conditions, seeking nothing, and practicing in accord with the dharma. The treatise underscores the inherent purity of the practitioner, which it glosses as the dharma or principle, and betrays little evidence of features that come to characterize the later Chan tradition, such as the debate over sudden or gradual enlightenment, the rejection of traditional meditative techniques, etc. Numerous copies of this treatise were found in DUNHUANG, and citations of this text are found in the XU GAOSENG ZHUAN, LENGQIE SHIZI JI, and JINGDE CHUANDENG LU. The text was published in Korea as part of the SoNMUN CH'WARYO and in Japan as the SHoSHITSU ROKUMONSHu. A preface to this relatively short treatise was prepared by the monk Tanlin (fl. 506-574) and some editions of the treatise also contain two letters attributed to Bodhidharma's disciple HUIKE.
er sheng. (S. yānadvaya; J. nijo; K. i sŭng 二乘). In Chinese, "two vehicles," referring to adherents of the "two vehicles" of disciples (sRĀVAKA) and solitary buddhas (PRATYEKABUDDHA), and thus often functionally equivalent to the "lesser vehicle" (HĪNAYĀNA). The Chinese translates literally the Sanskrit yānadvaya (two vehicles), but the Chinese term is often used as an abbreviated translation for the Sanskrit compound srāvaka-pratyekabuddha (disciples and solitary buddhas). In many contexts, therefore, the term means "two-vehicle adherents," in distinction to the BODHISATTVAs and buddhas of the MAHĀYĀNA.
ershiwu yuantong. (J. nijugoenzu; K. isibo wont'ong 二十五圓通). In Chinese, "twenty-five kinds of consummate interpenetration." According to the *suRAMGAMASuTRA (Shoulengyan jing), twenty-five of the Buddha's disciples and bodhisattvas have each mastered a concentration (SAMĀDHI) pertaining to one of the twenty-five objects of meditation. The latter include the six sensory objects (liu chen; S. ĀLAMBANA), the six sensory faculties (liu gen; S. INDRIYA), the six sensory consciousnesses (liu shi; S. VIJNĀNA), and the seven primary elements (qi da). It is said that enlightenment is possible by accessing any of the twenty-five masteries even though the bodhisattva AVALOKITEsVARA's mastery over the "ear faculty," or auditory sense-base, has been singled out as a particularly efficacious method for practice.
er xieshi. (J. nikyoji; K. i hyopsa 二脇士). In Chinese, "the two flanking attendants." In Buddhist art and literature, sĀKYAMUNI and other buddhas are often depicted flanked by two companions, usually either BODHISATTVAs or disciples (sRĀVAKA). In the case of sākyamuni, typically sĀRIPUTRA and MAHĀMAUDGALYĀYANA, the bodhisattvas MANJUsRĪ and SAMANTABHADRA, or the disciples ĀNANDA and MAHĀKĀsYAPA are at his sides. In the case of the buddha AMITĀBHA, the bodhisattvas AVALOKITEsVARA and MAHĀSTHĀMAPRĀPTA are his "two flanking attendants." In the case of BHAIsAJYAGURU, the bodhisattvas Sunlight (C. Riguang; S. Suryaprabha) and Moonlight (C. Yueguang; S. Candraprabha) are his ancillary companions. See MCHOG ZUNG.
Esoteric [from Greek esoterikos pertaining to the inner] Applied to the advanced instructions given to qualified candidates in Mysteries or schools of philosophy, first used popularly in Greece by Aristotle. Jesus in the Bible had teachings for his disciples in private, and others for the public, precisely as all other ancient religious and philosophical teachers always had. Esoteric teachings both were and are such as could not be understood or profitably received by those not previously prepared by study and probation. Exoteric or outer teachings were often given in symbolic language which revealed the esoteric meaning only to those who were in possession of the keys to interpretation.
ESOTERIC HISTORY AFTER 1875 The instrument the planetary hierarchy had chosen for the task of publicizing the knowledge which had been kept secret since Atlantis was H. P. Blavatsky (1831-1891). Blavatsky was enjoined not to give out any esoteric facts without special permission in each individual case. She was not to mention anything about the planetary hierarchy.
The truth, or the knowledge of reality, is only to be given gradually, with sparing facts, to a mankind unprepared to receive it. It is necessary to find connections to established fictions of which people have heard enough for them to believe that they comprehend what it all is about. A new, revolutionary system of ideas would be rejected off hand as a mere fantastic invention. It could not be comprehended, let alone understood, without careful preparation.
The most important reason, which probably only esotericians are able to understand, is the fact of the dynamic energy of ideas.
Once the esoteric knowledge was permitted to be published there was no longer any need of initiation into the old knowledge orders, nobody having been initiated into anyone of them since 1875. Although those initiated in previous incarnations were not given the opportunity to revive all their old knowledge, enough was made known, and besides hinted at, for them to be able to discover the most essential by themselves.
The most important esoteric facts to be found in the works of Sinnett, Judge, and
Hartmann &
ESOTERIC HISTORY BEFORE 1875 Members of this planetary hierarchy incarnated in mankind, eventually to make up what in the esoteric history has been called the &
Etz Hayim: Hebrew for Tree of Life. The title of a book by Hayim Vital Calabrese, disciple of Isaak Luria, explaining the Kabalistic system of the latter.
evaM mayā srutam. (P. evaM me sutaM; T. 'di skad bdag gis thos pa; C. rushi wowen; J. nyozegamon; K. yosi amun 如是我聞). In Sanskrit, "thus have I heard," the stock phrase that begins most SuTRAs, certifying that the teachings about to be recounted were heard from the mouth of the Buddha (or, in some cases, were spoken with his sanction by insightful disciples). The "I" in the phrase is generally assumed to refer to the Buddha's attendant ĀNANDA, who recited the SuTRAPItAKA at the first Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, FIRST) following the Buddha's PARINIRVĀnA. In MAHĀYĀNA scholastic literature, however, where the argument is made that the Buddha taught many sutras that were not heard by Ānanda, it is sometimes advocated that the "I" instead refers to a particular BODHISATTVA who serves as the interlocutor for the scripture, such as MANJUsRĪ . There is also some debate within scholarly circles, following the commentarial interpretations of certain Buddhist traditions, whether this stock opening should also include the phrase "at one time" (ekasmin samaye) that usually follows, viz., "thus I have heard at one time" or "thus I once heard" (evaM mayā srutaM ekasmin samaye). See also ER XU; cf. GUHYASAMĀJATANTRA.
Exorcism [from Greek exorkizein to bind by an oath] In the Christian Church, the casting out of evil spirits by adjuring and commanding them. Under other names the rite has been practiced in all lands and times, with a great variety of ceremonies, and by the power of a person who is versed in the procedure and especially efficaciously by one whose life is holy. Jesus of the Gospels exercises the power and delegates it to his disciples.
Fahai. (J. Hokai; K. Pophae 法海) (d.u.). In Chinese, "Sea of Dharma": a disciple of HUINENG, the sixth patriarch (LIUZU) of the CHAN ZONG. Fahai is said to have been the head monk of the monastery of Tafansi in Shaozhou Prefecture, where Huineng is presumed to have delivered a sermon on the "sudden" teachings (DUNJIAO) of the Southern school (NAN ZONG) of Chan. Fahai is dubiously credited with compiling the written record of this sermon, the LIUZU TAN JING ("Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch"). A rather late "brief preface" (luexu) to the Liuzu tan jing is also retrospectively attributed to Fahai. The story of this figure may have been based on a monk by the same name who was affiliated with the NIUTOU ZONG of Chan.
Fahua jing lüeshu. (J. Hokekyo ryakusho; K. Pophwa kyong yakso 法華經略疏). In Chinese, "A Brief Commentary on the 'Lotus Sutra,'" the earliest extant Chinese commentary on the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA, though there is considerable controversy regarding its authenticity. The text is attributed to DAOSHENG from the Liu-Song period (420-479), who was one of the direct disciples of the Kuchean translator KUMĀRAJĪVA. Daosheng claimed that the treatise combined the famous translator's lectures notes on the Saddharmapundarīkasutra with Daosheng's own insights. If authentic, this commentary would be Daosheng's only surviving work, offering a rare perspective into the way the Saddharmapundarīkasutra was understood and interpreted by Kumārajīva and his circle of adherents. Employing expressions found in the Chinese "Book of Changes" (Yijing), this commentary discusses the notions of "consummate perfection" (yuan) and a peculiar MAHĀYĀNA definition of the "middle way" (C. zhongdao, MADHYAMAPRATIPAD), notions that were further elaborated by subsequent TIANTAI and HUAYAN exegetes.
Fahua wenju. (J. Hokke mongu; K. Pophwa mun'gu 法華文句). In Chinese, "Words and Phrases of the 'Lotus Sutra'"; a major commentary on the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA, taught by TIANTAI ZHIYI and put into writing by his disciple Guanding (561-632), in alt. ten or twenty rolls. Along with the MOHE ZHIGUAN and the FAHUA XUANYI, the Fahua wenju is considered one of Zhiyi's three great commentaries. The lectures that formed the basis of the Fahua wenju were delivered by Zhiyi in 587 at the monastery of Jinzhaisi in Jinling (present-day Jiangsu province), and they offered a thorough exegetical analysis of the Saddharmapundarīkasutra. The Fahua wenju was incorporated in the Song-dynasty Buddhist canon at the recommendation of the Tiantai monk Ciyun Zunshi (964-1032) in 1024. The treatise employs a fourfold exegetical technique (sishi) unique to Zhiyi and his TIANTAI ZONG, viz., exegesis via: (1) causes and conditions, (2) classification of the teachings (see JIAOXIANG PANSHI), (3) fundamentals and traces, and (4) contemplation on the mind. Throughout the Fahua wenju, the interpretations of other teachers, such as DAOSHENG, are critiqued. An influential commentary on the Fahua wenju known as the Fahua wenju ji was prepared by JINGXI ZHANRAN.
Fahua xuanyi. (J. Hokke gengi; K. Pophwa hyonŭi 法華玄義). In Chinese, "Profound Meaning of the 'Lotus Sutra,'" taught by the eminent Chinese monk TIANTAI ZHIYI and put into writing by his disciple Guanding (561-632). Along with the MOHE ZHIGUAN and FAHUA WENJU, the Fahua xuanyi is considered one of Zhiyi's three great commentaries. The lectures that form the basis of the Fahua xuanyi were delivered by Zhiyi in 593, perhaps at the monastery of Yuquansi in Jingzhou (present-day Hubei province), and they are concerned with the thorough analysis of the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA. The treatise is divided into two broader methods of interpretation: general (tongshi) and specific (bieshi). The general interpretation further consists of seven subtypes, such as a listing of the chapters, citations, provenance, and so forth. The specific interpretation consists of five subtypes (see FAHUA WUCHONG XUANYI): the interpretation of the title, determination of its main theme, clarification of its main tenet, discussion of its purpose, and classification of its teachings (panjiao; see JIAOXIANG PANSHI). Nearly two-thirds of the treatise is dedicated to the first two characters in the title of the Chinese translation of the Saddharmapundarīka, "subtle" (miao) and "dharma" (fa).
Faqin. (J. Hokin; K. Pophŭm 法欽) (714-792). In Chinese, "Dharma Reverence"; CHAN master in the NIUTOU ZONG, also known as Daoqin. A chance encounter with the monk HELIN XUANSU when Faqin was twenty-eight is said to have resulted in his decision to become a monk. In 741, Faqin went to Mt. Jing, where he established a small hut to study. Faqin was later summoned in 768 by Emperor Daizong (r. 762-779) to give a lecture in the imperial palace. In honor of his achievements, the emperor bestowed upon him the title Great Master Guoyi (Foremost of the Country) and a plaque for Faqin's monastery that bore the name Jingshansi, or Mt. Jing monastery, which later came to be known as WANSHOUSI. Faqin had many famous disciples; in addition, masters in other Chan lineages, such as XITANG ZHIZANG, TIANHUANG DAOWU, and DANXIA TIANRAN, also sought instruction from Faqin. In 790, Faqin moved to the hermitage Jingtuyuan at the monastery Rongxingsi, where he passed away two years later at the age of seventy-nine. Emperor Dezong (r. 779-805) later gave Faqin the posthumous title Chan master Dajue (Great Awakening).
fasi. (J. hoshi/hassu; K. popsa 法嗣). In Chinese, lit., "DHARMA heir"; a disciple who has received transmission (see YINKE) in his or her master's lineage. Generally, a fasi refers to a disciple whose understanding has been certified by his teacher, thereby becoming his inheritor. Histories of the CHAN tradition, such as the JINGDE CHUANDENG LU can largely be characterized as the history of the dharma heirs of such thriving Chan lineages as the LINJI ZONG, CAODONG ZONG, etc. See also CHUANFA; PARAMPARĀ.
Faxiang zong. (J. Hossoshu; K. Popsang chong 法相宗). In Chinese, "Dharma Characteristics School," the third and most important of three strands of YOGĀCĀRA-oriented MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism to emerge in China, along with the DI LUN ZONG and SHE LUN ZONG. The name Faxiang (originally coined by its opponents and having pejorative connotations) comes from its detailed analysis of factors (DHARMA) on the basis of the Yogācāra doctrine that all phenomena are transformations of consciousness, or "mere-representation" (VIJNAPTIMĀTRATĀ). The school's own preferred name for itself was the WEISHI ZONG (Consciousness/Representation-Only School). Interest in the theories of the SHIDIJING LUN (viz., Di lun) and the MAHĀLĀNASAMGRAHA (viz., She lun) largely waned as new YOGĀLĀRA texts from India were introduced to China by the pilgrim and translator XUANZANG (600/602-664) and the work of HUAYAN scholars such as FAZANG (643-712) on the AVATAMSAKASuTRA (within which the Dasabhumikasutra is incorporated) began to gain prominence. One of the reasons motivating Xuanzang's pilgrimage to India, in fact, was to procure definitive Indian materials that would help to resolve the discrepancies in interpretation of Yogācāra found in these different traditions. Because of the imperial patronage he received upon his return, Xuanzang became one of the most prominent monks in Chinese Buddhist history and attracted students from all over East Asia. The Faxiang school was established mainly on the basis of the CHENG WEISHI LUN (*VijNaptimātratāsiddhi; "The Treatise on the Establishment of Consciousness-Only"), a text edited and translated into Chinese by Xuanzang, based on material that he brought back with him from India. Xuanzang studied under sĪLABHADRA (529-645), a principal disciple of DHARMAPĀLA (530-561), during his stay in India, and brought Dharmapāla's scholastic lineage back with him to China. Xuanzang translated portions of Dharmapāla's *VijNaptimātratāsiddhi, an extended commentary on VASUBANDHU's TRIMsILĀ ("Thirty Verses on Consciousness-Only"). Dharmapāla's original exegesis cited the different interpretations of Vasubandhu's treatise offered by himself and nine other major scholiasts within the Yogācāra tradition; Xuanzang, however, created a précis of the text and translated only the "orthodox" interpretation of Dharmapāla. Xuanzang's disciple KUIJI (632-682) further systematized Xuanzang's materials by compiling the CHENG WEISHI LUN SHUJI ("Commentarial Notes on the *VijNaptimātratāsiddhi") and the Cheng weishi lun shuyao ("Essentials of the *VijNaptimātratāsiddhi"); for his efforts to build the school, Kuiji is traditionally regarded as the first Faxiang patriarch. The Faxiang school further developed under Huizhao (650-714), its second patriarch, and Zhizhou (668-723), its third patriarch, but thereafter declined in China. ¶ The teachings of the Faxiang school were transmitted to Korea (where it is called the Popsang chong) and were classified as one of the five major doctrinal traditions (see KYO) of the Unified Silla (668-935) and Koryo (935-1392) dynasties. The Korean expatriate monk WoNCH'ŬK (613-696) was one of the two major disciples of Xuanzang, along with Kuiji, and there are reports of intense controversies between Kuiji's Ci'en scholastic line (CI'EN XUEPAI) and Wonch'uk's Ximing scholastic line (XIMING XUEPAI) due to their differing interpretations of Yogācāra doctrine. Wonch'ŭk's commentary to the SAMDHINIRMOCANASuTRA, the Jieshenmi jing shu (K. Haesimmil kyong so), was transmitted to the DUNHUANG region and translated into Tibetan by CHOS GRUB (C. Facheng, c. 755-849) at the behest of the Tibetan king RAL PA CAN (806-838), probably sometime between 815 and 824. Wonch'ŭk's exegesis of the scripture proved to be extremely influential in the writings of TSONG KHA PA (1357-1419), and especially on his LEGS BSHAD SNYING PO, where Wonch'ŭk's work is called the "Great Chinese Commentary." ¶ The Japanese Hossoshu developed during the Nara period (710-784) after being transmitted from China and Korea, but declined during the Heian (794-1185) due to persistent attacks from the larger TENDAI (C. TIANTAI) and SHINGON (C. Zhenyan) schools. Although the Hossoshu survived, it did not have the wide influence over the Japanese tradition as did its major rivals. ¶ Faxiang is known for its comprehensive list of one hundred DHARMAs, or "factors" (BAIFA), in which all dharmas-whether "compounded" or "uncompounded," mundane or supramundane-are subsumed; this list accounts in large measure for its designation as the "dharma characteristics" school. These factors are classified into five major categories:
Fayan Wenyi. (J. Hogen Mon'eki; K. Poban Munik 法眼文益) (885-958). Chinese CHAN master and reputed founder of the FAYAN ZONG of Chan. Fayan was a native of Yuhang in present-day Zhejiang province. At the age of six, he was ordained by the monk Quanwei (d.u.) of the monastery Xinding Zhitongyuan and later received the full monastic precepts at the monastery of KAIYUANSI in Yuezhou. Fayan first visited the Chan master Changqing Huiling (854-932); later, while staying at the monastery Dizangyuan on Mt. Shi (present-day Fujian province), he met Luohan Guichen (867-928) and eventually became his disciple. Later, Fayan arrived in Linchuan (present-day Jiangxi province) where he was invited by the steward to serve as abbot of the monastery of Chongshouyuan. Admired by the local ruler, Fayan was again invited as the abbot of the monastery of BAO'ENSI in Jinling (present-day Jiangsu province) and was given the title Chan master Jinghui (Pure Wisdom). Fayan later moved to the monastery of Qingliangyuan in Shengzhou (present-day Jiangsu province), which flourished under his guidance and the support of the ruler of the state of Wuye. He was also given the posthumous title Chan master Dafayan (Great Dharma Eye). Fayan composed the ZONGMEN SHIGUI LUN ("Treatise on the Ten Rules of the Tradition"), which outlines ten defects of Chan practice; the text is also important for being the first to name the so-called five houses (wu jia), viz., schools or lineages, of the mature Chan tradition (see WU JIA QI ZONG).
Fazang. (J. Hozo; K. Popchang 法藏) (643-712). Tang-dynasty Chinese monk and putative third patriarch of the HUAYAN ZONG, also known as Xianshou, Dharma Master Guoyi (Nation's Best), Great Master Xiangxiang (Fragrant Elephant), and state preceptor (GUOSHI) Kang Zang. Fazang was the third-generation descendent of immigrants to China from the kingdom of SOGDIANA in Central Asia (the Greek Transoxiana) and thus used as his secular surname the ethnicon KANG. At a young age, Fazang became a student of the Chinese monk ZHIYAN, and studied the AVATAMSAKASuTRA. Fazang was also fluent in several Central Asian languages, and assisted the monks sIKsĀNANDA and YIJING in translating new recensions of the AvataMsakasutra (699) and the LAnKĀVATĀRASuTRA (704). Empress WU ZETIAN often requested Fazang to lecture on the AvataMsakasutra and its teachings on PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA. Fazang devoted the rest of his career to the study of the AvataMsakasutra and composing commentaries on the Lankāvatārasutra, FANWANG JING, DASHENG QIXIN LUN, and other texts. Many of Fazang's compositions sought to systematize his teacher Zhiyan's vision of the AvataMsakasutra in terms drawn from indigenous Chinese Buddhist materials, such as the Dasheng qixin lun. In so doing, Fazang developed much of the specific doctrinal terminology and worldview that comes to be emblematic of the Huayan zong, making him the de facto founder of this indigenous school of Chinese Buddhist philosophy. Among Fazang's many works, his HUAYAN JING TANXUAN JI, HUAYAN WUJIAO ZHANG, and his commentary to the Dasheng qixin lun shu ("Awakening of Faith According to the Mahāyāna") are most famous. Fazang passed away while residing at the monastery of Da Qianfusi. Fazang remained close throughout his life to his Korean colleague ŬISANG, the founder of the Korean Hwaom school, with whom he studied together under Zhiyan, and some of his correspondence with Ŭisang survives. SIMSANG (J. Shinjo) (d. c. 744), another Korean who is claimed to have been a direct disciple of Fazang, was the first transmitter of the Huayan teachings in Japan, and Simsang's own disciple RYoBEN [alt. Roben] (689-773) is considered the founder of the Japanese Kegon school. For discussion of Fazang's philosophical views, see also HUAYAN ZONG; INDRA'S NET; SI FAJIE.
Feiyin Tongrong. (J. Hiin Tsuyo; K. Piŭn T'ongyong 費隱通容) (1593-1661). Chinese CHAN master in the LINJI ZONG, who lived at the end of the Ming dynasty. Feiyin was a native of Min Prefecture in present-day Fujian province. After losing his father at age six and his mother at eleven, Feiyin entered the monastery two years later and became the student of a certain Huishan (d.u.) of Sanbaosi. Feiyin subsequently studied under the renowned Chan masters ZHANRAN YUANDENG, Wuming Huijing, and Wuyi Yuanlai. In 1622, he departed Jiangxi province for Mt. Tiantai, where he continued his studies under MIYUN YUANWU. Feiyin eventually became Miyun's disciple and inherited his lineage. In 1633, Feiyin served as abbot of Wanfusi on Mt. Huangbo. He subsequently resided at such monasteries as Tianningsi and WANSHOUSI in Zhejiang province. His disciple YINYUAN LONGQI edited Feiyin's teachings together in the Feiyin chanshi yulu. Feiyin himself composed several texts including the Chan primer ZUTING QIANCHUI LU and the Chan history Wudeng yantong.
Fire or the 49 fires refer not only to the physical kosmic fire or the human vital warmth which is so generally recognized; but more strongly to the fires of vitality and intelligence. Thus for instance the kosmic First Logos might be called the original kosmic fire of intelligence and life as well as substance, dividing in manifestation as it does into its offspring which are likewise in a sense its brothers, the various principles and elements of the manifested universe. In the Gnostic Pistis Sophia the Rabbi Jesus in speaking to his disciples says: “Nothing therefore is more excellent than the mysteries which ye seek after, saving only the mystery of the seven vowels and their forty and nine powers, . . .” (SD 2:564).
follower ::: n. --> One who follows; a pursuer; an attendant; a disciple; a dependent associate; a retainer.
A sweetheart; a beau.
The removable flange, or cover, of a piston. See Illust. of Piston.
A gland. See Illust. of Stuffing box.
The part of a machine that receives motion from another part. See Driver.
Fori Qisong. (J. Butsunichi Kaisu; K. Puril Kyesung 佛日契嵩) (1007-1072). In Chinese, "Buddha Sun, Accords with Loftiness"; renowned scholar-monk during the Song dynasty and fifth-generation successor in the YUNMEN ZONG of the Chan school. After entering the monastery in his seventh year and being ordained in his thirteenth year, he traveled widely throughout China to meet with the famous Chan masters of his age. He eventually received formal dharma transmission from Dongshan Xiaocong (d.u.) in the Yunmen school. Qisong served as abbot of Jinghuisi, a monastery located nearby the city of Hangzhou on Mt. Fori, hence his toponym. He was known as a severe abbot, and his presence led many of the less serious monks who had been residing there to leave the monastery. Around 1061, Qisong completed an early history of the Chan school titled Chuanfa zhengzong ji ("Essay on the Authentic Lineage of Dharma Transmission"), which contains the first reference to the five houses schema of the mature Chan school (see WU JIA QI ZONG): the GUIYANG ZONG (which Qisong says was virtually extinct in his day), CAODONG ZONG (which he says is barely extant), and the LINJI ZONG, Yunmen zong, and FAYAN ZONG (all three of which he says were flourishing). Qisong also wrote a widely read and cited introduction to the Yuan-dynasty edition of the "Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch" (LIUZU TAN JING), the edition of that text most commonly used in the Chan school from that point forward. Qisong died in 1072 in his sixty-sixth year. Many relics (sARĪRA) remained after his cremation and near-contemporary records say that his eyes, tongue, and penis survived the flames. These relics were enshrined in a reliquary (STuPA) at Lingyinsi in Hangzhou. We know of only one named disciple of Qisong's, and the Yunmen school with which he was affiliated faded soon after his demise.
"For it is only the few who can make the past Teacher and his teaching, the past Incarnation and his example and influence a living force in their lives. For this need also the Hindu discipline provides in the relation of the Guru and the disciple. The Guru may sometimes be the Incarnation or World-Teacher; but it is sufficient that he should represent to the disciple the divine wisdom, convey to him something of the divine ideal or make him feel the realised relation of the human soul with the Eternal.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
“For it is only the few who can make the past Teacher and his teaching, the past Incarnation and his example and influence a living force in their lives. For this need also the Hindu discipline provides in the relation of the Guru and the disciple. The Guru may sometimes be the Incarnation or World-Teacher; but it is sufficient that he should represent to the disciple the divine wisdom, convey to him something of the divine ideal or make him feel the realised relation of the human soul with the Eternal.” The Synthesis of Yoga
For the others, the “ baby monkey ” type or those who are still more independent, following their own ideas, doing their own sadhana, asking only for some instruction or help, the grace of the Guru is there, but it acts according to the nature of the sadhaka and counts upon his efforts to a greater or less degree ; it helps, succours in difficulty, saves in the time of danger ; the disciple is not always, is perhaps hardly at all aware of what is being done as he is absorbed in himself and his endeavour. In such cases the decisive psychological movement, the touch that makes all clear, may lake longer to come.
Fotudeng. [alt. Fotucheng] (J. Butsutocho/Buttocho; K. Pultojing 佛圖澄) (232-348). A monk and thaumaturge, perhaps from the Central Asian kingdom of KUCHA, who was a pioneer in the transmission of Buddhism to China. According to his hagiography in the GAOSENG ZHUAN, Fotudeng was a foreign monk, whose surname was BO, the ethnikon used for Kuchean monks; in some sources, his name is transcribed as BuddhasiMha. He was talented at memorizing and expounding scriptures, as well as in debate. Fotudeng is said to have received training in Kashmir (see KASHMIR-GANDHĀRA) and to have arrived in China in 310 intending to spread the DHARMA. Fotudeng is described as a skilled magician who could command spirits and predict the future. Despite his initial failure to establish a monastery in the Chinese capital of Luoyang, Fotudeng was able to convert the tyrannical ruler of the state of Later Zhao, Shi Le (r. 319-333), with a demonstration of his thaumaturgic skills. Fotudeng's continued assistance of Shi Le won him the title Daheshang (Great Monk). After Shi Le's general Shi Hu (r. 334-339) usurped the throne, Fotudeng was elevated to the highest status at the palace, and he continued to play the important role of political and spiritual advisor to the ruler. During his illustrious career as royal advisor, Fotudeng also taught many Buddhist disciples and is said to have established hundreds of monasteries. Among his disciples Zhu Faya (d.u.), DAO'AN, and Chu Fatai (320-387) are most famous.
Fukeshu. (普化宗). In Japanese, "Puhua Sect"; a secondary sect of the Japanese ZEN school, founded by SHINCHI KAKUSHIN (1207-1298). While Kakushin was in China studying under WUMEN HUIKAI (1183-1260), he is said to have met a layman, the otherwise-unknown Zhang Can (J. Cho San; d.u.), who claimed to be a sixteenth-generation successor of the little-known Tang-dynasty monk Puhua (J. Fuke; d.u.), supposedly an eccentric friend of LINJI YIXUAN and a successor of MAZU DAOYI. Four lay disciples of Zhang's accompanied Kakushin when he returned to Japan, helping Kakushin to establish the sect. There is no evidence of the existence of a Puhua school in China apart from Kakushin's account, however, and the school seems to be a purely Japanese creation. During the Tokugawa era (1603-1867), in particular, the school attracted itinerant lay Zen practitioners, known as "clerics of emptiness" (kamuso), who played the bamboo flute (shakuhachi) as a form of meditation and wore a distinctive bamboo hat that covered their entire face as they traveled on pilgrimage around the country. Because masterless samurai (ronin) and bandits began adopting Fuke garb as a convenient disguise during the commission of their crimes, the Meiji government proscribed the school in 1871 and it vanished from the scene.
Furong Daokai. (J. Fuyo Dokai; K. Puyong Tohae 芙蓉道楷) (1043-1118). Chinese CHAN master in the CAODONG ZONG, a native of Yizhou in present-day Shandong province. When he was young, Daokai is said to have trained to become a Daoist transcendent (shenxian). He later became a monk at the monastery Shushengyuan (or Shutaisi) in Jingshi, where he studied under a monk named Dexian (d.u.); and, in 1074, he received the full monastic precepts. Daokai later became a disciple of the Chan master TOUZI YIQING at the Chan monastery of Haihui Chansi on Mt. Baiyun in Shuzhou prefecture (present-day Anhui province). In 1082, he established himself on Mt. Xiantong in Yizhou and in 1103 became the second abbot of the influential Chan monastery of Baoshou Chanyuan on Mt. Dahong (present-day Hubei province). A year later he relocated to the Chan monastery of Shifang Jingyin Chanyuan in Dongjing (present-day Henan province) and again to the nearby Tianningsi in 1107. The emperor offered him a purple robe and the title Chan Master Dingzhao (DHYĀNA Illumination), but Daokai declined. Later, a prominent lay follower built a hermitage for him on Furong island (present-day Shandong province), whence he acquired his toponym. The community at Furong quickly grew into a prominent monastery. In 1117, Daokai's hermitage was given the official plaque Huayan Chansi, thereby elevating it to an official "monastery of the ten directions" (SHIFANGCHA). Inheriting his lineage were twenty-nine disciples, of whom the most famous was Danxia Zichun (1064-1117). Furong's teachings are recorded in the Furong Kai chanshi yuyao.
Gaofeng Yuanmiao. (J. Koho Genmyo; K. Kobong Wonmyo 高峰原妙) (1238-1295). Yuan-dynasty Chinese CHAN monk in the YANGQI PAI of the LINJI ZONG. Gaofeng was a native of Suzhou in present-day Jiangsu province. He was ordained at the age of fourteen and two years later began his studies of TIANTAI thought and practice under Fazhu (d.u.) at the monastery of Miyinsi. He later continued his studies under Chan master WUZHUN SHIFAN's disciples Duanqiao Miaolun (1201-1261) and Xueyan Zuqin (1215-1287). Gaofeng trained in Chan questioning meditation (KANHUA CHAN), and Xueyan Zuqin taught him the necessity of contemplating his meditative topic (HUATOU) not just while awake, but also during dreams, and even in dreamless sleep. (In his own instructions on GONG'AN practice, Gaofeng eventually used the same question Zuqin had asked him: "Do you have mastery of yourself even in dreamless sleep?") In 1266, Gaofeng went into retreat at Longxu in the Tianmu mountains of Linan (in present-day Zhejiang province) for five years, after which he is said to have had a great awakening when the sound of a falling pillow shattered his doubt (YIQING). In 1274, he began his residence at a hermitage on Shuangji peak in Wukang (present-day Zhejiang province), and in 1279 he began teaching at Shiziyan on the west peak of the Tianmu mountains. He subsequently established the monasteries of Shizisi and Dajuesi, where he attracted hundreds of disciples, including the prominent ZHONGFENG MINGBEN (1263-1323). He was given the posthumous title Chan Master Puming Guangji (Universal Radiance and Far-reaching Salvation). Gaofeng is most renowned for his instruction on the "three essentials" (SANYAO) of kanhua Chan practice: the great faculty of faith, great fury, and great doubt. Gaofeng's teachings are recorded in his discourse record, the Gaofeng dashi yulu, and his GAOFENG HESHANG CHANYAO, better known as simply the Chanyao ("Essentials of Chan"; K. Sonyo), which has been a principal text in Korean monastic seminaries since at least the seventeenth century. Gaofeng is also known for his famous gong'an: "Harnessing the moon, the muddy ox enters the sea."
GavāMpati. (P. Gavampati; T. Ba glang bdag; C. Jiaofanboti/Niuzhu; J. Kyobonhadai/Goshu; K. Kyobombaje/Uju 憍梵波提/牛主). In Sanskrit and Pāli sources, the name of an ARHAT disciple of the Buddha. His name literally means "Lord of Cattle," after a previous lifetime in which he owned many head of cattle. (The Chinese both transcribe, and translate, his name.) GavāMpati was a companion of the Buddha's sixth disciple, YAsAS; he followed his friend into the order and like him also became an arhat. GavāMpati was known for his special ability in supernatural powers (ṚDDHI), which he used in one instance to stem advancing floodwaters that were endangering the lives of the monks. GavāMpati is said to have been summoned to attend the first Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, FIRST) of arhats following the Buddha's PARINIRVĀnA, but decided to pass into NIRVĀnA rather than attend; as a result of his death, a rule was made that none of the arhats invited to the council were allowed to die until the conclusion of the council. In the eponymous Gavampatisutta (in the Pāli SAMYUTTANIKĀYA), the elder explains that the understanding of suffering (P. dukkha; S. DUḤKHA) subsumes all four of its aspects: its implications, its production, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation. The Sanskrit text Mahākarmavibhanga also speaks of an Ārya GavāMpati who converted the inhabitants of Suvarnabhumi (P. SUVAnnABHuMI) for a distance of one hundred YOJANAs. ¶ In Burma, Mon legend has it that the novice GavāMpati invited the Buddha to preach the dhamma (S. DHARMA) to the people of Suvannabhumi in Lower Burma. The Buddha complied with his request, converting many inhabitants of that border region. The Buddha promised Sirimāsoka, the king of Suvannabhumi, that after his parinibbāna (S. parinirvāna), GavāMpati would carry thirty-two tooth relics to the kingdom so that the king might enshrine them in pagodas for the faithful to worship. The Mons identify their homeland in Lower Burma with Suvannabhumi, and date the initial foundation of Buddhism in their region to the Buddha's visit and the arrival of the tooth relics. This GavāMpati legend finds no parallel in Pāli sources and most likely derives from Sanskrit sources.
Gayā-Kāsyapa. (P. Gayā-Kassapa; T. Ga ya 'od srung; C. Qieye Jiashe; J. Gaya Kasho; K. Kāya Kasop 伽耶迦葉). A matted-hair ascetic who was ordained with his two brothers and became an early enlightened disciple of the Buddha. According to the Pāli account, the three brothers were fire worshippers, who practiced austerities on the banks of the NeraNjarā (S. NAIRANJANĀ) river. Gayā-Kāsyapa dwelt at Gayāsīsa with two hundred disciples, while his older brother URUVILVĀ-KĀsYAPA (P. Uruvela-Kassapa), dwelled upriver at Uruvelā with five hundred disciples, and the middle brother NADĪ-KĀsYAPA (P. Nadī-Kassapa) with three hundred disciples. All three brothers were devoted to the observance of brahmanical fire rituals. Gayā-Kāsyapa also observed the practice of bathing three times in the river in order to wash away sins during the festival of Gayāphaggu. Not long after his enlightenment, the Buddha visited the hermitage of Uruvilvā-Kāsyapa with the intention of converting him and his disciples. Uruvilvā-Kāsyapa mistakenly believed that he was already an arahant (S. ARHAT) himself and was liberated from the bonds of rebirth. Knowing that Uruvilvā-Kāsyapa could be dissuaded from his false views by a display of yogic power, the Buddha performed numerous magical feats to demonstrate his mastery of iddhi (S. ṚDDHI), including subduing a fire serpent (NĀGA) without being burned, a scene depicted in Indian rock carvings. Using his ability to read Uruvilvā-Kāsyapa's mind, the Buddha was able to dispel his view that he was an arahant and converted him and his disciples. As part of their conversion, they shaved off their long locks and threw them in the river. When Uruvilvā-Kāsyapa's younger brothers Gayā-Kāsyapa and Nadī-Kāsyapa saw all the hair floating downstream, they came to investigate. They in turn accepted the Buddha as their teacher and entered the order of monks (SAMGHA), bringing all their disciples along with them. As a result, the Buddha's community gained a thousand monks. Because of their previous devotions to fire rituals, after their ordination, the Buddha preached to all these new monks the renowned "Fire Sermon" (ĀDITTAPARIYĀYASUTTA), whereupon the three brothers and their disciples attained arahantship. Gayā-Kāsyapa earned the merit to encounter the Buddha and attain arahantship in a previous life during the time of the buddha Sikhī (S. Sikhin), when, as a hermit, he encountered that previous buddha walking in the woods and offered him fruit.
Ginsberg, Allen. (1926-1997). American Beat poet and Buddhist born in Newark, New Jersey. Ginsberg attended Columbia University with the intent of becoming a labor lawyer, but soon fell in with a group that included students such as JACK KEROUAC, and nonstudents, such as William Burroughs, with whom he shared common interests, both literary and otherwise. In 1948, he had a transformative vision while reading William Blake in his Harlem apartment. He moved to San Francisco where he joined the burgeoning poetry movement. In October 1955, he read his most famous work, Howl, at the Six Gallery. By his own account, Ginsberg was first introduced to Buddhism in letters he received from Kerouac, in which his friend wrote of suffering as the fundamental fact of existence. He began to read the works of DAISETZ TEITARO SUZUKI, whom he later met in New York in the company of Kerouac. Ginsberg was intimately involved in the various cultural movements of the 1960s, collaborating with Timothy Leary, Bob Dylan, and Ken Kesey, and protesting actively against the Vietnam War. In 1962, he traveled to India with GARY SNYDER, visiting BODHGAYĀ and SĀRNĀTH; he also had an audience with the fourteenth DALAI LAMA, who had arrived from Tibet just three years earlier. After experimenting with various forms of Hindu practice, Ginsberg met the Tibetan lama CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA in 1970, and remained his disciple until Trungpa's death, helping to found the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Trungpa's Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado; in his last years, Ginsberg became a disciple of another Tibetan lama, Gelek Rinpoche. Buddhist themes figure prominently in much of Ginsberg's poetry.
Glang 'khor. (Langkor). A site in central Tibet associated principally with the eleventh-century Indian adept PHA DAM PA SANGS RGYAS. The small temple of Glang 'khor, located in a village of the same name near the town of Ding ri, marks the location where Pha dam pa sangs rgyas disseminated his teachings on pacification (ZHI BYED) and severance (GCOD), primarily to his foremost Tibetan disciple MA GCIG LAB SGRON.
glassite ::: n. --> A member of a Scottish sect, founded in the 18th century by John Glass, a minister of the Established Church of Scotland, who taught that justifying faith is "no more than a simple assent to the divine testimone passively recived by the understanding." The English and American adherents of this faith are called Sandemanians, after Robert Sandeman, the son-in-law and disciple of Glass.
Gling ras pa Padma rdo rje. (Lingrepa Pema Dorje) (1128-1188). A Tibetan YOGIN venerated as a founder of the 'BRUG PA BKA' BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism; also known as Gling chen ras pa (Lingchen Repa) and Gling rje ras pa (Lingje Repa). He trained under the renowned BKA' BRGYUD master PHAG MO GRU PA RDO RJE RGYAL PO at GDAN SA MTHIL monastery and later spent numerous years in solitary meditation retreat. He consecrated the site upon which his principal disciple, GTSANG PA RGYA RAS YE SHES RDO RJE, founded the important 'BRUG PA monastery of RWA LUNG.
Gnubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes. (Nupchen Sangye Yeshe) (c. 832-962). A Tibetan Buddhist master revered as one of the twenty-five original disciples of the Indian tantric adept PADMASAMBHAVA. He is the author of the BSAM GTAN MIG SGRON, an early text explaining, among other systems, RDZOGS CHEN. According to traditional biographies, he was born in to the Gnubs (Nup) clan, an important clan that provided ministers to the kings in central Tibet. In his youth, he studied with Padmasambhava and numerous other masters in India, Nepal, and northwest India. He later made seven trips to Nepal and India, collecting and translating tantric texts. He is considered to be the chief recipient of the ANUYOGA teachings. Other sources state that he frightened away king GLANG DAR MA with his magical powers when the king threatened his community of practitioners. ZHI BA 'OD and others criticized the RNYING MA PA for claiming an Indian origin for texts that they alleged had in fact been composed by Gnubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes.
God-parents Christian law, strong in the Greek Orthodox Church, weaker in the Roman Catholic, and forgotten in the Protestant, based in the fact that once a spiritual teacher begins to teach the disciple, he takes on the student’s karma in connection with the occult sciences until the student becomes in turn a master. The god-parents “tacitly take upon themselves all the sins of the newly baptised child — (anointed, as at the initiation, a mystery truly!) — until the day when the child becomes a responsible unit, knowing good and evil” (BCW 9:156, cf 9:285-6).
gomarite ::: n. --> One of the followers of Francis Gomar or Gomarus, a Dutch disciple of Calvin in the 17th century, who strongly opposed the Arminians.
gong'an. (J. koan; K. kongan 公案). In Chinese, "public case," or "precedent"; better known in the West by its Japanese pronunciation koan, a word that has now entered common English parlance as "koan." Gong'an was originally a legal term, referring to the magistrate's (gong) table (an), which by metonymy comes to refer to a legal precedent or an authoritative judgment; the term also comes to mean simply a "story" (gong'an in vernacular Chinese refers to the genre of detective stories). The term is widely used in the CHAN school in a way that conveys both denotations of a legal precedent and a story. The study of gong'an seems to have had its beginnings in the practice, probably dating from the late-Tang dynasty, of commenting on the exchanges or "ancient precedents" (guce) culled from Chan genealogical histories (e.g., JINGDE CHUANDENG LU) and the recorded sayings or discourse records (YULU) of the Chan masters of the past. Commenting on old cases (niangu), often using verses (SONGGU), seems to have become a well-established practice by the early Song dynasty, as more recorded sayings began to include separate sections known as nianggu and songgu. Perhaps one of the most famous collections of verse commentaries on old cases is the Chan master XUEDOU CHONGXIAN's Xuedou heshang baice songgu, which now exists only as part of a larger influential collection of gong'ans known as the BIYAN LU. Other famous gong'an collections, such as the CONGRONG LU and WUMEN GUAN, were compiled during the Song dynasty and thereafter. These collections often shared a similar format. Each case (bence), with some exceptions, begins with a pointer (CHUISHI), a short introductory paragraph. The actual case, often a short anecdote, is interspersed with interlinear notes known as "annotations" or "capping phrases" (C. zhuoyu/zhuyu; see J. JAKUGO). After the case, a prose commentary (pingchang), verse commentary (songgu), and subcommentary on the verse commentary follow. Traditionally, 1,700 specific gong'an are said to have been in circulation in the Chan school. Although this number does have antecedents within the tradition, there are no fixed numbers of cases included in Chan gong'an anthologies; for example, a late Qing-dynasty collection, the 1712 Zongjian falin, includes 2,720 gong'an, which were claimed to be all the gong'an then in active use within the tradition. Whatever the number, there seems not to have been any kind of systematic curriculum within the Chinese Chan or Korean Son traditions using this full panoply of gong'an. The creation of a pedagogical system of training involving mastery of a series of many different koans is commonly attributed to HAKUIN EKAKU (1685-1768) in the Japanese RINZAISHu of ZEN. The widespread reference to 1,700 gong'an in Western-language materials may derive from accounts of Japanese government attempts in 1627 to routinize the Rinzai monastic curriculum, by promulgating a regulation requiring all Zen abbots to master 1,700 cases as part of their training. ¶ The literary endeavor of studying old cases also gave rise to new forms of meditation. The Chan master DAHUI ZONGGAO in the YANGQI PAI of the LINJI ZONG systematized a practice in which one focuses on what he termed the "meditative topic" (HUATOU), which in some contexts refers to the "keyword," or "critical phrase" of a gong'an story. For instance, the famous huatou "WU" (no) that Dahui used as a meditative topic was derived from a popular gong'an attributed to ZHAOZHOU CONGSHEN: A student asked Zhaozhou, "Does a dog have buddha nature, or not?," to which Zhaozhou replied "wu" (no; lit., "it does not have it") (see WU GONG'AN; GOUZI WU FOXING). This new practice was called the "Chan of observing the meditative topic" or, more freely, "questioning meditation" (KANHUA CHAN). During the Song dynasty, students also began to seek private instruction on gong'an from Chan masters. These instructions often occurred in the abbot's quarters (FANGZHANG). ¶ The active study of gong'an in Korean SoN begins with POJO CHINUL and his disciple CHIN'GAK HYESIM, who learned of Dahui's kanhua Chan largely through the writings of their Chinese counterpart. Hyesim was also the first Korean Son monk to compile his own massive collection of cases, titled the SoNMUN YoMSONG CHIP. The use of cases was later transmitted to Japan by pilgrims and émigré monks, where koan study became emblematic of the Rinzaishu. Because rote memorization of capping phrases came to take precedence over skilled literary composition in classical Chinese, the Japanese compiled large collections of capping phrases, such as the ZENRIN KUSHu, to use in their training.
Gospels Usually, the four accepted or canonical gospels of the New Testament, being the three synoptic gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke — and the Gospel according to John. They are an authorized and approved selection from a far larger number of Gospels, extant, partially extant, and lost, attributed to various disciples and apostles, claiming to give accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles.
gozan. (五山). In Japanese, "five mountains"; a medieval Japanese ranking system for officially sponsored ZEN monasteries, which may derive from Chinese institutional precedents. Large and powerful public monasteries in China known as "monasteries of the ten directions" (SHIFANGCHA) came under the control of the Chinese state during the Song dynasty and were designated either as VINAYA or CHAN monasteries. Government administration of these monasteries eventually ceased, but it is widely believed that five major Chan monasteries in Zhejiang province (ranked in the order of WANSHOUSI, Lingyinsi, Jingdesi, Jingci Bao'en Guangxiaosi, and Guanglisi) were selected to be protected and governed by the state, largely through the efforts of the Chan master DAHUI ZONGGAO and his disciples. Whether this is indeed the beginning of a "five-mountain ranking system" is unclear, but by the Yuan dynasty the term was clearly in use in China. The implementation of this system in Japan began under the rule of the Kamakura shogun Hojo Sadatoki (1271-1311). Five illustrious RINZAISHu monasteries in Kamakura, including KENCHoJI and ENGAKUJI, were granted gozan status and given a specific rank. A reordering of the gozan ranks occurred when Emperor Godaigo (1288-1339) came to power in 1333. The powerful Zen monasteries in Kyoto, NANZENJI and DAITOKUJI, replaced Kenchoji and Engakuji as the top-ranking monasteries, and the monastery of ToFUKUJI was added to the gozan system. The gozan ranks were changed again several times by the Ashikaga shogunate. By the Muromachi period, some three hundred official monasteries (kanji) were ranked either gozan, jissatsu (ten temples), or shozan (many mountains). The term gozan also came to denote the prosperous lineages of MUSo SOSEKI and ENNI BEN'EN, who populated the gozan monasteries; monks in these lineages were particularly renowned for their artistic and literary talents in classical Chinese and brushstroke art. There seems also to have been a five-mountain convent system (amadera gozan or niji gozan) for Japanese nuns, which paralleled the five-mountain monastery system of the monks, but little is known about it.
Gṛdhrakutaparvata. (P. Gijjhakutapabbata; T. Bya rgod phung po'i ri; C. Lingjiushan; J. Ryojusen; K. Yongch'uksan [alt. Yongch'wisan/Yongch'usan] 靈鷲山). In Sanskrit, "Vulture Peak," one of the five hills surrounding the city of RĀJAGṚHA, a favored site of GAUTAMA Buddha and several of his most important disciples in mainstream Buddhist materials and the site where the Buddha is said to have delivered many renowned sutras in the NIKĀYAs and ĀGAMAs; in the MAHĀYĀNA, Gṛdhrakuta is also the location where sĀKYAMUNI Buddha is purported to have preached such important Mahāyāna scriptures as the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA ("Lotus Sutra") and the perfection of wisdom sutras (PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ). The hill was so named either because it was shaped like a vulture's beak or a flock of vultures, or because vultures roosted there. In another legend, the peak is said to have received its name when, in an attempt to distract ĀNANDA from his meditation, the demon MĀRA turned himself into a frightening vulture; Ānanda, however, was unswayed by the provocation and eventually became enlightened. In one of the most famous episodes in the life of the Buddha, his evil cousin DEVADATTA, in attempting to kill the Buddha, instead wounded him when he hurled a boulder down on him from the hill, cutting his toe; for this and other "acts that bring immediate retribution" (ĀNANTARYAKARMAN), Devadatta fell into AVĪCI hell. Because many important Mahāyāna sermons are said to have been spoken on the peak, some schools-specifically the Japanese NICHIRENSHu-believe that the mountain itself is a PURE LAND. Other sources state that because of the sutras set forth there, the peak has become a STuPA, and like the Buddha's seat (VAJRĀSANA) in BODHGAYĀ, it will not be destroyed by fire at the end of the KALPA. Although beings in the intermediate state (ANTARĀBHAVA) are said to be able to pass through mountains, they are not able to pass through Vulture Peak. The first Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, FIRST), in which a group of five hundred ARHATS met to recite the Buddha's teaching after his death, is said to have been held in a cave on Vulture Peak.
gṛhastha. (P. gahattha; T. khyim na gnas pa; C. zaijia; J. zaike; K. chaega 在家). In Sanskrit, lit. "householder," a married male who has a family and supports his household through his labor. The householder is often contrasted with the sRAMAnA or BHIKsU, who has renounced the life of the householder and the social entanglements it entails (see PRAVRAJITA). The term is often translated simply as "layman" to indicate this distinction from the Buddhist clergy. It is important to note, however, that a householder is not necessarily an UPĀSAKA, a term also often translated as "layman," but perhaps better rendered as "lay [male] disciple." An upāsaka is a householder who has at minimum taken refuge in the three jewels (RATNATRAYA), and who may also hold any of the five upāsaka precepts (see PANCAsĪLA). Householders play important roles in Buddhism, primarily by providing alms to the SAMGHA. The Buddha offered specific teachings for them, generally consisting of advice on how to live an ethical life and accumulate merit so that they will be reborn in heaven (see P. ANUPUBBIKATHĀ, the "graduated discourse"). A number of householders figure prominently in the canon, including the Buddha's wealthy patron ANĀTHAPIndADA. Although among the Buddha's disciples, householders generally do not practice or excel at meditation, there are some exceptions, most notably CITTA. It is said that householders who excel at the practice of meditation achieve the state of the ANĀGĀMIN. Pāli texts state that a layperson who becomes an ARHAT must be ordained as a monk or nun within seven days or die; the body of a layperson, unpurified by monastic vows, is considered incapable of supporting such a state of enlightenment. Although gṛhastha is sometimes used interchangeably with GṚHAPATI, the latter term seems to connote an especially wealthy and influential householder who is a patron of Buddhism.
gter ma. (terma). In Tibetan, "hidden treasures" or "treasure text," a source of Tibetan Buddhist and BON sacred objects, including a wide range of manuscripts, relics, statuary, and ritual implements from earlier periods. Such treasure texts have been found in caves, mountains, lakes, valleys, or sequestered away in monasteries, sometimes within a pillar. Whether gter ma are BUDDHAVACANA, i.e., authentic words of the Buddha (or a buddha) or whether they are APOCRYPHA, is contested. In the RNYING MA canon, a division is made between gter ma and BKA' MA, the latter made up of commonly authenticated canonical works. Some gter ma are authentic (although proper criteria for authenticity is a subject of debate in both traditional and modern sources), and some are clearly forgeries and fabricated antiquities. Gter ma are of three types: sa gter ("earth treasure"), dgongs gter ("mind treasure"), and dag snang ("pure vision"). Those physically discovered in caves and so on are sa gter; they may be revealed in a public gathering (khrom gter) or found privately (gsang gter) and then shown to others; they may be accompanied by a prophecy (lung bstan; gter lung; see VYĀKARAnA) of the discovery, made at the time of concealment; the gter ma may have a guardian (gter srung), and the revealer (GTER STON) is often assisted by a dĀKINĪ. Dgongs gter are discovered in the mindstream of the revealer, placed there as seeds to be found, coming from an earlier lifetime, often as a direct disciple of PADMASAMBHAVA. Dag snang are discovered by the revealer through the power of the innate purity of the mind. Gter ma are associated most closely with the RNYING MA sect, although not exclusively so. The basic account of gter ma, in which myth and historical fact are interwoven, relates that prior to the persecution of Buddhism by GLANG DAR MA (reigned c. 838-842), PADMASAMBHAVA hid many teachings, often dictated to YE SHES MTSHO RGYAL, as treasures to be discovered in later times in order to ensure the continuation of the doctrine and to provide appropriate teachings for future generations. The first Tibetan gter ma appear sometime after the start of the second dispensation (PHYI DAR), c. 1000, with the rise of the new (GSAR MA) sects of BKA' GDAMS, SA SKYA, and BKA' BRGYUD, who in many cases call into question the authenticity of earlier Tibetan practices and translations. Gter ma became more common in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Prominent among the revealers is PADMA LAS 'BREL RTSAL, a shadowy figure who revealed the RDZOGS CHEN SNYING THIG that KLONG CHEN RAB 'BYAMS PA then systematized into the definitive RDZOGS CHEN teachings. Klong chen pa's scholarly presentation was again made more accessible through a series of gter ma (called the KLONG CHEN SNYING THIG) discovered by 'JIGS MED GLING PA. These are the basis of the rdzogs chen teachings as they are commonly found today in most branches of the Rnying ma sect. According to traditional accounts, Padmasambhava taught a system of meditation called the MKHA' 'GRO SNYING THIG ("Heart Essence of the dākinī") to PADMA GSAL, the daughter of king KHRI SRONG SDE BTSAN, in whose heart he had inscribed a sacred syllable after bringing her back from the dead. They were discovered there by Padma las 'brel rtsal and Klong chen pa, who are her reincarnations. Besides this widely acknowledged tradition, there are numerous other gter ma that form the basis of practices and rituals in specific Rnying ma monasteries. For example, the main line of teachings and consecrations (ABHIsEKA) in the DPAL YUL monastery in the Khams region of eastern Tibet, and in its reestablished Indian branch near Mysore in South India, is based on gter ma teachings combining Rnying ma and Bka' brgyud practices, revealed by Mi 'gyur rdo rje and redacted by KARMA CHAGS MED; the gter ma discovered by PADMA GLING PA are held in great reverence by the 'BRUG PA BKA' BRGYUD sect in Bhutan; and the secret teachings of the fifth DALAI LAMA (1617-1682) that later locate and legitimate the role of the Dalai Lamas in the Dge lugs pa sect originated in gter ma that he revealed. The different gter ma were brought together in a quasi-canonical form by 'JAM MGON KONG SPRUL BLO GROS MTHA' YAS in his RIN CHEN GTER MDZOD ("Treasury of Precious Treasure Teachings"). It is believed that the sacred and even political space of Tibet is empowered through the discovery of gter ma and, by extension, that the religious practice of a region is empowered through the discovery of treasures within it.
Gtsang pa rgya ras Ye shes rdo rje. (Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje) (1161-1211). The founder of the 'BRUG PA BKA' BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and considered to be the first in the line of 'BRUG CHEN INCARNATIONS that begins historically with Chos rje Kun dga' dpal' 'byor (Choje Kunga Paljor, 1426/8-1476). His works include the Rten 'brel rab bdun ("Seven Auspicious Dharmas") and the Ro snyom skor drug ("Six Spheres of Equal Taste"), said to be teachings concealed as GTER MA (treasure) by RAS CHUNG PA, the disciple of MI LA RAS PA and discovered by Gtsang pa rgya ras. These works were systematized by PADMA DKAR PO, a prolific author and scholar, and fourth in the line of reincarnations. The students of Gtsang pa rgya ras founded three 'Brug pa bka' brgyud subsects; of the three, the so-called Bar 'Brug (middle Drukpa) was passed down through Gtsang pa rgya ras's family to the fourth incarnation, Padma dkar po. Of the two candidates to the lineage throne on his death, ZHABS DRUNG NGAG DBANG RNAM RGYAL fell afoul of strong political forces in Dbus (central Tibet) and was forced to flee to Bhutan where he founded the southern sect (Lho 'brug bka' brgyud) and became both the spiritual and temporal head of the country. The name of Bhutan, 'Brug yul (Drukpa Lands), stems from that time.
Gtsang smyon Heruka. (Tsangnyon Heruka) (1452-1507). Tibetan iconoclast, best known as Gtsang smyon, the "madman of Gtsang"; revered especially for his literary works, including the biography of eleventh-century master MI LA RAS PA. Gtsang smyon Heruka began his career as a monk, receiving Buddhist ordination at the age of seven. He studied various systems of tantra and meditation under his chief guru, the Bka' brgyud master Shes rab 'byams pa, and later under several Sa skya teachers. Discouraged by the limitations of life as a monk and scholar, he adopted the life of a wandering YOGIN, engaging in the unusual behavior for which he earned the appellation smyon pa, "madman." His actions have been interpreted as part of a fifteenth-century reaction and reform movement against the growing wealth and power of elite incarnation lineages and religious institutions of his day. He and other "mad yogins" affiliated with the Bka' brgyud sect, such as 'BRUG BA KUN LEGS, and the lesser known Dbu smyon Kun dga' bzang po (1458-1532), sought to reemphasize the importance of meditation and retreat over strict adherence to monastic discipline or intellectual study-a tradition reaching back to the renowned Bka' brgyud founder, Mi la ras pa. Gtsang smyon Heruka himself spent many years visiting the meditation caves and retreat sites associated with Mi la ras pa. He also attempted to preserve important Bka' brgyud instruction lineages that were in danger of being lost, and toward the end of his life compiled an enormous thirteen-volume synthesis of the aural instructions (snyan brgyud) stemming from three of Mi la ras pa's principal disciples, RAS CHUNG PA RDO RJE GRAGS, SGAM PO PA BSOD NAMS RIN CHEN, and Ngan rdzongs rdo rje rgyal po (late eleventh century). He visited Nepal on several occasions, directing the renovation of SVAYAMBHu STuPA, one of the Kathmandu Valley's principal Buddhist pilgrimage centers. He is perhaps best remembered as the author of the widely read MI LA RAS PA'I RNAM THAR ("Life of Milarepa") and MI LA RAS PA'I MGUR 'BUM ("Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa"), as well as a biography of Milarepa's guru MARPA CHOS KYI BLO GROS.
Guardian Wall A collective or generalized title given to the body of nirmanakayas and their immediate chelas or disciples who watch over, protect, and help humanity and all creatures of earth, each initiate being compared to a stone in the Guardian Wall (VS 68).
guru bandhu :::or guru bhai. ::: co-disciple; having same Guru
Guru is the channel or the representative or the manifestation of the Divine, according to (be measure of his personality or his attainment ; but whatever he is, it is to the Divine that one opens in opening to him ; and if something is determined by the power of the channel, more is determined by the inherent and intrinsic attitude of the lecciving consciousness, an element that comes out in the surface mind as simple trust or direct uncondi- tional self-giving, and once that is there, the essential things can be gained even from one who seems to others than the disciple an inferior spiritual source, and the rest will grow up in the sadhaka of itself by the Grace of the Divine, even if the human being in the Guru cannot it.
guru purnima. ::: annual festival traditionally celebrated by hindus and buddhists &
Guru (Sanskrit) Guru Teacher, preceptor; applied not only to a chela’s spiritual teacher, but to spiritual and metaphysical teachers of many kinds. The spiritual fire within each person, the higher self or atma-buddhi, is also called a guru, a divine instructor; and this higher self within each individual is, when all is said, the supreme guru for that person. The Master outside of the disciple’s own spiritual guide is a very necessary element in genuine occult instruction; but the outer guru, the Master who teaches and leads the disciple, has always in view the evocation and development of the guru within the disciple — the bringing to birth of the chela’s own inner divine and intellectual energies and powers.
Guru(Sanskrit) ::: Sometimes gurudeva, "master divine." The word used in the old Sanskrit scriptures forteacher, preceptor. According to the beautiful teachings of the ancient wisdom, the guru acts as themidwife bringing to birth, helping to bring into the active life of the chela, the spiritual and intellectualparts of the disciple -- the soul of the man. Thus the relationship between teacher and disciple is anextremely sacred one, because it is a tie which binds closely heart to heart, mind to mind. The idea is,again, that the latent spiritual potencies in the mind and heart of the learner shall receive such assistancein their development as the teacher can karmically give; but it does not mean that the teacher shall do thework that the disciple himself or herself must do. The learner or disciple must tread his own path, and theteacher cannot tread it for him. The teacher points the way, guides and aids, and the disciple follows thepath.
guru-sisya (guru-shishya) ::: the teacher-disciple relation (bhava), in guru-sisya which the isvara is perceived as "the teacher and guide" who "leads us to knowledge; at every step of the developing inner light and vision, we feel his touch like that of the artist moulding our clay of mind, his voice revealing the truth and its word", until there is "a transformation of our mentality into his and more and more he becomes the thinker and seer in us"H
Guru ::: The relation of Guru and disciple is only one of many relations which one can have with the Divine, and in this Yoga which aims at a supramental realisation, it is not usual to give it this name; rather, the Divine is regarded as the Source, the living Sun of Light and Knowledge and Consciousness and spiritual realisation and all that one receives is felt as coming from there and the whole being remoulded by the Divine Hand. This is a greater and more intimate relation than that of the human Guru and disciple, which is more of a limited mental ideal. Nevertheless, if the mind still needs the more familiar mental conception, it can be kept so long as it is needed; only do not let the soul be bound by it and do not let it limit the inflow of other relations with the Divine and larger forms of experience.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 35, Page: 395
Ha-’Idra’ Zuta’ Qaddisha’ (Aramaic) Hā-’Idrā’ Zūṭā’ Qaddīshā’. The Less (or Small) Holy Assembly; a small treatise of the Zohar, containing the discourses of Rabbi Shim‘on to his remaining six disciples upon the Sephiroth; based upon the Ha-’Idra’ Rabba’ Qaddisha’.
Ha-’Indra’ Rabba’ Qaddisha’ (Aramaic) Hā-’Idrā’ Rabbā’ Qaddīshā’. The Great Holy Assembly; one treatise of the Zohar, consisting of discourses by Rabbi Shim‘on to his assembly of disciples upon the form of the Deity and on pneumatology. It is considered to be a development of the Siphra di-Tseni‘utha’, the most ancient portion, and therefore the basis of the Zohar.
Hakem The wise one, the Messiah to come, of the Druzes or the Disciples of Hamsa (TG 133).
hasta diksha. ::: spiritual initiation in which the Guru places his hand on the head of the disciple
Herbartianism: The philosophical, but particularly the psychological and pedagogical doctrines of Johann Friedrich Herbart (q.v.) as expounded in modified and developed form by his disciples, notably M. Lazarus and H. Steinthal in psychology, T. Zillcr and W. Rein in pedagogy, M. Drobisch in religious philosophy and ethics. In America, the movement was vigorous and influential, but shortlived (about 1890-1910) and confined mainly to education (Charles De-Garmo and Charles A. McMurry). Like Herbart, his disciples strove for a clarification of concepts with special emphasis on scientific method, the doctrine of apperception, and the efficacy of a mathematical approach even in their psychology which was dominated by associational thinking; yet they discarded more or less the master's doctrine of reals. -- K.F.L.
hermogenian ::: n. --> A disciple of Hermogenes, an heretical teacher who lived in Africa near the close of the second century. He held matter to be the fountain of all evil, and that souls and spirits are formed of corrupt matter.
“If we only search for the true essence of the philosophy of both Manu and the Kabala, we will find that Vishnu is, as well as Adam Kadmon, the expression of the universe itself; and that his incarnations are but concrete and various embodiments of the manifestations of this ‘Stupendous Whole.’ ‘I am the Soul, O, Arjuna. I am the Soul which exists in the heart of all beings; and I am the beginning and the middle, and also the end of existing things,’ says Vishnu to his disciple, in the Bhagavad-Gita (ch. x)” (IU 2:277).
II. Early Scholastics (12 cent.) St. Anselm of Canterbury (+1109) did more than anyone else in this early period to codify the spirit of Scholasticism. His motto: credo, ut tntelligam taken from St. Augustine, expressed the organic relation that existed between the supernatural and the natural during the Middle Ages and the interpretative and the directive force which faith had upon reason. In this period a new interest was taken in the problem of the universals. For the first time a clear demarcation was noted between the realistic and the nominalistic solutions to this problem. William of Champeaux (+1121) proposed the former and Roscelin (+c. 1124) the latter. A third solution, concepiualistic in character, was proposed by Abelard (+1142) who finally crystalized the Scholastic method. He was the most subtle dialectician of his age. Two schools of great importance of this period were operating at Chartres and the Parisian Abbey of St. Victor. The first, founded by Fulbert of Chartres in the late tenth century, was characterized by its leanings toward Platonism and distinguished by its humanistic tendencies coupled with a love of the natural sciences. Many of its Greek, Arabian and Jewish sources for studies in natural sciences came from the translations of Constantine the African (+c. 1087) and Adelard of Bath. Worthy to be noted as members of or sympathizers with this school are Bernard and Thierry of Chartres (+c. 1127; c. 1150); William of Conches (+1145) and Bernard Silvestris (+1167). The two most important members of the School were Gilbert de la Poiree (+1154) and John of Salisbury (+1180). The latter was a humanistic scholar of great stylistic skill and calm, balanced judgment. It is from his works, particularly the Metalogicus, that most of our knowledge of this period still derives. Juxtaposed to the dialectic, syllogistic and rationalistic tendencies of this age was a mystical movement, headed by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (+1153). This movement did not oppose itself to dialectics in the uncompromising manner of Peter Damiani, but sought rather to experience and interiorize truth through contemplation and practice. Bernard found a close follower and friend in William of St. Thierry (+1148 or 1153). An attempt to synthesize the mystic and dialectical movements is found in two outstanding members of the Victorine School: Hugh of St. Victor (+1141) who founded its spirit in his omnia disce, videbis postea nihil esse supervuum and Richard of St. Victor (+1173), his disciple, who introduced the a posteriori proof for God's existence into the Scholastic current of thought. Finally, this century gave Scholasticism its principal form of literature which was to remain dominant for some four centuries. While the method came from Abelard and the formulas and content, in great part, from the Didascalion of Hugh of St. Victor, it was Robert of Melun (+1167) and especially Peter the Lombard (+1164) who fashioned the great Summae sententiarum.
In exoteric Buddhist literature, Manjusri is looked upon as the god of wisdom because the title is personalized or anthropomorphized as an individual, but “It is erroneous to take literally the worship of the human Bodhisattvas, or Manjusri. It is true that, exoterically, the Mahayana school teaches adoration of these without distinction, and that Hiuen-Tsang speaks of some disciples of Buddha as being worshipped. But esoterically it is not the disciple or the learned Manjusri personally that received honours, but the divine Bodhisattvas and Dhyani Buddhas that animated . . . the human forms” (SD 2:34n).
"Influence is more important than example. Influence is not the outward authority of the Teacher over his disciple, but the power of his contact, of his presence, of the nearness of his soul to the soul of another, infusing into it, even though in silence, that which he himself is and possesses. This is the supreme sign of the Master. For the greatest Master is much less a Teacher than a Presence pouring the divine consciousness and its constituting light and power and purity and bliss into all who are receptive around him.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
“Influence is more important than example. Influence is not the outward authority of the Teacher over his disciple, but the power of his contact, of his presence, of the nearness of his soul to the soul of another, infusing into it, even though in silence, that which he himself is and possesses. This is the supreme sign of the Master. For the greatest Master is much less a Teacher than a Presence pouring the divine consciousness and its constituting light and power and purity and bliss into all who are receptive around him.” The Synthesis of Yoga
Initiation ::: In olden times there were seven -- and even ten -- degrees of initiation. Of these seven degrees, threeconsisted of teachings alone, which formed the preparation, the discipline, spiritual and mental andpsychic and physical -- what the Greeks called the katharsis or "cleansing." When the disciple wasconsidered sufficiently cleansed, purified, disciplined, quiet mentally, tranquil spiritually, then he wastaken into the fourth degree, which likewise consisted partly of teaching, but also in part of directpersonal introduction by the old mystical processes into the structure and operations of the universe, bywhich means truth was gained by first-hand personal experience. In other words, to speak in plain terms,his spirit-soul, his individual consciousness, was assisted to pass into other planes and realms of being,and to know and to understand by the sheer process of becoming them. A man, a mind, an understanding,can grasp and see, and thereby know, only those things which the individual entity itself is.After the fourth degree, there followed the fifth and the sixth and the seventh initiations, each in turn, andthese consisted of teachings also; but more and more as the disciple progressed -- and he was helped inthis development more and more largely as he advanced farther -- there was evolved forth in him thepower and faculties still farther and more deeply to penetrate beyond the veils of maya or illusion; until,having passed the seventh or last initiation of all of the manifest initiations, if we may call them that, hebecame one of those individuals whom theosophists call the mahatmas.
INITIATION Process in esoteric training where the disciple (his monad) under the guidance of his teacher (a member of a higher natural kingdom) breaks through to the consciousness and energy (&
“In Pralaya, or the intermediate period between two manvantaras, it [the monad] loses its name, as it loses it when the real ONE self of man merges into Brahm in cases of high Samadhi (the Turiya state) or final Nirvana; ‘when the disciple’ in the words of Sankara, ‘having attained that primeval consciousness, absolute bliss, of which the nature is truth, which is without form and action, abandons this illusive body that has been assumed by the atma just as an actor (abandons) the dress (put on)’ ” (SD 1:570).
In the Greek, remission (of sins) meant sending away, the intent being that the disciples and the assembled believers together were able to work a change of heart in the sinner so that he would sin no more (James 5:16), not a remission of the karmic penalty due. Only much later was the power of remission taken over by the priest. Moreover, for a thousand years the formula used was “May Christ absolve thee,” superseded by “I absolve thee.” While clearly a priest may release one from the penalties imposed by his church, he cannot release anyone from the natural consequences of his acts; yet Christians have attached extreme importance to death-bed absolution by a priest. Such death-bed repentance had its origin in the fact that the last thoughts of a dying person color his afterdeath experiences, and even his next incarnation. But though well-wishers and people of high attainment can help with their counsel and example, they cannot set aside the laws of nature. Real absolution must be emancipation from error and wrongdoing, not an escape from the demands of justice or karma.
In theosophy the redeemer or redemption is found within the person himself, for such redeemer is the spiritual monad, the highest part of the constitution, and the redemption consists in becoming progressively at one with the spiritual monad or inner god. The disciple or pilgrim has the constant spiritual and intellectual support of more advanced beings than himself, but the disciple must himself choose to turn toward the source whence such help comes, and to take it.
In this series we explore the words of other languages and list their definitions given by major dictionaries as well as by other disciples and Sri Aurobindo in his letters on Savitri.
I. Period of Preparation (9-12 cent.). Though he does not belong in time to this period, the most dominant figure in Christian thought was St. Augustine (+430), who constructed the general framework within which all subsequent Scholastic speculation operated. Another influential figure was Boethius (+525) whose opuscula sacra established the Scholastic method and who furnished many of the classical definitions and axioms. The first great figure of this period was John Scottus Erigena (+c. 877) who introduced to Latin thought the works of Denis the Pseudo-Areopagite, broadened the Scholastic method by his glossary on Boethius' opuscule sacra and made an unfruitful attempt to interest his contemporaries in natural philosophy by his semi-pantheistic De Divisione Naturae. Other figures of note: Gerbert (+1003) important in the realm of mathematics and natural philosophy; Fulbert of Chartres (+1028) influential in the movement to apply dialectics to theology; Berengar of Tours (+1088) Fulbert's disciple, who, together with Anselm the Peripatetic, was a leader in the movement to rationalize theology. Peter Damiani (+1072), preached strongly against this rationalistic spirit. More moderate and more efficacious in his reaction to the dialectical spirit of his age was Lawfranc (+1089), who strove to define the true boundaries of faith and reason.
Isherwood, Christopher. Ramakrishna and His Disciples.
ishta. ::: beloved; the chosen deity one worships; the particular aspect of the divine Reality with which the disciple will have to be in perfect communion before the supreme Gnosis becomes possible; the Self that is beyond name and form; the Supreme in its aspect of bliss
Jataka (Sanskrit) Jātaka [from the verbal root jan to be born] A birth story; the 550 Jataka tales form one of the books of the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Buddhist canon. These stories are supposed to have been related by the Buddha and are considered by some to be the accounts of his former lives, and by others to be a group of tales built of occult truth and past experiences of the Buddha and treated in an allegorical way by some of his first and greatest disciples in order to depict a synopsis of the evolutionary history of the human race.
Jetavaniya (Sanskrit) Jetavanīya [from Jetavana a grove near Sravasti where the Buddha at one time promulgated his doctrines] A Buddhist mystical school of Ceylon, which tradition alleges was founded about 247 BC by Katyayana, a favorite disciple of Gautama Buddha. One of the three divisions of an early Buddhist school called the Sthavirakaya founded some 300 BC.
jnana guru. ::: one who initiates a disciple into jnana; one who grants true knowledge; the supreme Self that reveals its own Truth in every Heart; one who has realised the Truth
John the Baptist Considered by Christians the last of the Hebrew prophets and the forerunner and announcer of Jesus. His statement “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matt 3:11), is explained to mean that John as a non-initiate could impart no greater mysteries than those pertaining to the plane of matter — the exoteric gnosis and ritualism; while Jesus could impart the fire of spiritual knowledge (SD 2:566). His disciples are described as dissenters from the Essenes (IU 2:130).
judas ::: n. --> The disciple who betrayed Christ. Hence: A treacherous person; one who betrays under the semblance of friendship. ::: a. --> Treacherous; betraying.
kantist ::: n. --> A disciple or follower of Kant.
Kauravya (Sanskrit) Kauravya King of the nagas or initiates in Patala (geographically the Americas) at least some 5000 years ago. Krishna’s disciple, Arjuna, is said in the Mahabharata to have traveled to Patala and to have married Ulupi, the daughter of King Kauravya.
Krittika (Sanskrit) Kṛttikā [from kṛtti pelt, hide on which a disciple sits from the verbal root kṛt to divide into portions] plural krittikas. The Pleiades; originally the first lunar mansion, in later times the third, having Agni as its regent. The constellation is sometimes represented as a flame, sometimes as a knife. In mythology there are six krittikas represented as nymphs, who became the nurses of the god of war, Karttikeya.
Lanoo ::: A word used in old Asiatic mystical training-schools for "disciple." (See also Chela)
Lay-chelas [from Greek laikos Latin laicus of the people + Sanskrit chela disciple] Coined by the Master KH who applied it to Sinnett and Hume in the same sense as in speaking of a lay preacher as contrasted with an officially ordained one. Such a chela has not entered upon the prescribed rules incumbent upon one formally accepted as a chela — nor is he even a probationary chela — but he has nevertheless by his devotion and study, by his own wish enrolled himself as member of the outer court, so to speak.
Leibniz, Gottfried Withelm: (1646-1716) Born in Leipzig, where his father was a professor in the university, he was educated at Leipzig, Jena, and Altdorf University, where he obtained his doctorate. Jurist, mathematician, diplomat, historian, theologian of no mean proportions, he was Germany's greatest 17th century philosopher and one of the most universal minds of all times. In Paris, then the centre of intellectual civilization (Moliere was still alive, Racine at the height of his glory), where he had been sent on an official mission of state, he met Arnauld, a disciple of Descartes who acquainted him with his master's ideas, and Huygens who taught him as to the higher forms of mathematics and their application to physical phenomena. He visited London, where he met Newton, Boyle, and others. At the Hague he came face to face with the other great philosopher of the time, Spinoza. One of Leibniz's cherished ideas was the creation of a society of scholars for the investigation of all branches of scientific truth to combine them into one great system of truth. His philosophy, the work "of odd moments", bears, in content and form, the impress of its haphazard origin and its author's cosmopolitan mode of large number of letters, essays, memoranda, etc., published in various scientific journals. Universality and individuality characterize him both as a man and philosopher.
Logia (Greek) Sayings, referring to the spoken teachings of an initiate to his disciples, as distinct from written teachings; sometimes equivalent to agrapha (unwritten teachings) and the aporrheta (things that must not be revealed) of the Mysteries. It usually refers to such sayings believed to have been given by Jesus and not recorded in the canon, but the secret basis on which Matthew and other evangelists constructed their Gospels. Certain schools of early Christians, whom afterwards were called heretics — the Nazarenes and the Ebionites — based their teachings and rules upon some of these secret discourses. They could only be interpreted by those possessing the keys, hence Jerome, who was employed by the ecclesiastical authorities to translate some of them, could not make much out of them; and what he did make out was hard to reconcile with the canonical Gospels.
Lung (Chinese) Dragon; the being who excels in intelligence. Dragons of Wisdom was the name given by the Chinese to the first disciples of the primitive adepts of the third root-race, and later of the fourth and fifth root-races. The dragon was described as: “gifted with an accepted form, which he has the supernatural power of casting off for the assumption of others, he has the power of influencing the weather, producing droughts or fertilizing rains at pleasure, of raising tempests and allaying them” (Mythical Monsters 212).
Manduka Yoga (Sanskrit) Maṇḍūka-yoga [from maṇḍūka frog] A “particular kind of abstract meditation in which an ascetic sits motionless like a frog” (Monier-Williams). However, all true yoga practice involves complete mental abstraction from exterior concerns and the outer environment, so that all yogis, while practicing yoga sit motionless “like a frog.” It is not a particularly high kind of yoga, in any case, for true spiritual yoga is the yoga of the inner man, implying intense intellectual and spiritual concentration on affairs and subjects of spiritual character, and need not necessarily involve any sitting in yoga whatsoever. The true disciple may be doing his master’s business and going about in pursuit of his duties from day to day, and yet be practicing this spiritual yoga without a moment’s intermission. All forms of yoga practice which involve postures, sittings or similar things in which the physical body is active or inactive, technically belong to one of the various kinds of hatha yoga and are to be discouraged.
master ::: a respectful term of address, esp. as used by disciples when addressing or referring to a religious teacher.
Master(s) Adopted in theosophical literature to designate those human beings further progressed on the evolutionary pathway than the general run of humanity, from which are drawn the saviors of humanity and the founders of the world-religions. These great human beings (also known by the Sanskrit term mahatma, “great self”) are the representatives in our day of a brotherhood of immemorial antiquity running back into the very dawn of historic time, and for ages beyond it. It is a self-perpetuating brotherhood formed of individuals who, however much they may differ among themselves in evolution, have all attained mahatmaship, and whose lofty purposes comprise among other things the constant aiding in the regeneration of humanity, its spiritual and intellectual as well as psychic guidance, and in general the working of the best spiritual, intellectual, psychic, and moral good to mankind. From time to time members from their ranks, or their disciples, enter the outside world publicly in order to inspire mankind with their teachings.
Medicine was originally a divine science, providing for the well-being of the spiritual, mental, psychic, astral, and physical man. Archaic medicine included a profound knowledge of genuine astrology, of true alchemy, of occult physiology, of the finer forces vibrating as sound, color, form, thought, and feeling, and whatever related man to his home universe of natural law and order. This was the basis of the natural “magic” which tradition has linked with the medical art. This knowledge was dual in its power to work for life or death, for good or evil ends. Its full comprehension required not only a trained intellect, but the intuitive understanding of a pure spiritual nature. Nevertheless, the Atlanteans acquired enough knowledge of the use of dangerous powers that they became — albeit with numerous and noteworthy exceptions — a nation of sorcerers. Then, the white magicians established the Mystery schools in which to safeguard the sacred teachings from evildoers and to protect humanity from their influence. Thus, the deeper truths of the healing art have ever since been entrusted only to pledged disciples and initiates. Such fragments of it as have been rediscovered by intuitive physicians from time to time have usually been in keeping with the general cultural level of their civilization. The exceptions have been men who have frequently been too far ahead of their times to be understood. Such a man was Paracelsus in medieval Europe, persecuted for heretical teachings such as the psychoelectric and magnetic play of sidereal forces which linked man with the stars — the spiritus vitae in man came from the spiritus mundi.
Meinong, Alexius: (1853-1921) Was originally a disciple of Brentano, who however emphatically rejected many of Meinong's later contentions. He claimed to have discovered a new a priori science, the "theory of objects" (to be distinguished from metaphysics which is an empirical science concerning reality, but was never worked out by Meinong). Anything "intended" by thought is an "object". Objects may either "exist" (such as physical objects) or "subsist" (such as facts which Meinong unfortunately termed "objectives", or mathematical entities), they may either be possible or impossible and they may belong either to a lower or to a higher level (such as "relations" and "complexions", "founded" on their simple terms or elements). In the "theory of objects," the existence of objects is abstracted from (or as Husserl later said it may be "bracketed") and their essence alone has to be considered. Objects are apprehended either by self-evident judgments or by "assumptions", that is, by "imaginary judgments". In the field of emotions there is an analogous division since there are also "imaginary" emotions (such as those of the spectator in a tragedy). Much of Meinong's work was of a psychological rather than of a metaphysical or epistemological character. -- H.G.
Mishnah, extra canonical: R. Juda Hanasi included in his Mishnah (now the Mishnah par excellence) selected materials from the older Mishnah-collections, particularly from that of R. Akiba (d. 135 A.D.) and his disciple, R. Meir. In fact, it is assumed that any anonymous statement in the Mishnah is R. Meir's (setam mathnithin R. Meir).
“Mohammed and his disciples borrowed from the
Naga (Sanskrit) Nāga Serpent; the symbol of immortality and wisdom, of renewed births, of secret knowledge and, when the tail is held in the mouth, of eternity. The nagas or serpents of wisdom are, therefore, full initiates: “the first Nagas — beings wiser than Serpents — are the ‘Sons of Will and Yoga,’ born before the complete separation of the sexes, ‘matured in the man-bearing eggs produced by the power (Kriyasakti) of the holy sages’ of the early Third Race” (SD 2:181). These first nagas were the original human adepts, who were later symbolized by the terms serpents and dragons. “These ‘originals’ — called to this day in China ‘the Dragons of Wisdom’ — were the first disciples of the Dhyanis, who were their instructors; in short, the primitive adepts of the Third Race, and later, of the Fourth and Fifth Races. The name became universal, and no sane man before the Christian era would ever have confounded the man and the symbol” (SD 2:210).
Naljor (Tibetan) rnal ’byor (nal-jor) A disciple undergoing training under the advice and guidance of one higher than himself, a holy man who is learned in the secret wisdom; and occasionally, a glorified adept — because even such an adept is inferior to others more advanced than himself, and under whose guidance and training he lives and strives towards higher things. Equivalent to the Sanskrit yoga-kshema (the acquisition of yoga, or maintaining yoga and acquiring).
Nazarenes One of two early sects of Christians, the other sect being the Ebionites, which go back in their origin before the Christian era. They were disciples of that Jeshua ben Panthera who was an initiated teacher living in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus, who ruled over the Jews from 104-79 BC, and around whom, some state, that the Gospels story of Jesus was built (cf IU 2:201). The Greek for this name is Nazoraioi, confused both with Nazarenoi (inhabitants of Nazareth) and with the Jewish sect of Nazarites; for Matthew 2:23 says that Jesus came and dwelt in Nazareth, that the Jewish prophecy that he should be called a Nazoraios might be fulfilled. This word has been translated Nazarene, as is also the case in Acts 24:5, where Paul is said to belong to the sect of the Nazoraios. It would appear that the Jews claimed Jesus as a Nazarite [from Hebrew nazar to set apart, consecrate; cf nazar].
Okhal (Druze) [from Arab akl intelligence, wisdom] The hierophant and chief initiator of the Syrian Brotherhood of the Druzes or Disciples of Hamsa.
Olam Hamalbush (&
Om ::: A word considered very holy in the Brahmanical literature. It is a syllable of invocation, as well as ofbenediction and of affirmation, and its general usage (as elucidated in the literature treating of it, which israther voluminous, for this word Om has attained almost divine reverence on the part of vast numbers ofHindus) is that it should never be uttered aloud, or in the presence of an outsider, a foreigner, or anon-initiate, and it should be uttered in the silence of one's mind, in peace of heart, and in the intimacy ofone's "inner closet." There is strong reason to believe, however, that this syllable of invocation wasuttered, and uttered aloud in a monotone, by the disciples in the presence of their teacher. This word isalways placed at the beginning of any scripture or prayer that is considered of unusual sanctity.It is said that by prolonging the uttering of this word, both of the o and the m, with the mouth closed, thesound re-echoes in and arouses vibration in the skull, and affects, if the aspirations be pure, the differentnervous centers of the body for good.The Brahmanas say that it is an unholy thing to utter this word in any place which is unholy. It issometimes written Aum.
Orpheus (Greek) An early religious teacher and reformer in Greece about whom clustered so many legends that in course of time his historic existence came to be disputed. He was, however, an actual historic character, probably born in Thrace about the 13th century BC, lived and taught at Pimpleia on Mount Olympus, revived the ancient wisdom-religion, reformed the then degraded popular religion, and was killed — according to the story — because of it. He gathered pupils or disciples about him, and founded a famous Mystery school from which in time emanated a vast literature, now perished with the exception of the Orphic Hymns, the Lithica (a poem on the nature of precious stones), the Argonautica (which recites the connection of Orpheus with the Argonautic expedition), and some other fugitive fragments — and in our time these are supposed to be apocryphal or of a far later date than Orpheus himself, although certainly containing Orphic elements.
Pali The language spoken in the north of India from and before the 7th century BC to about the 5th century AD. It is still the literary sacred language of Burma, Thailand, and Ceylon. There were two factors which made Pali one of the most important literary languages of the world: first, with the rise of the Kosalas into a kingdom, the language of its capital (Savatthi, in Nepal) become the form of speech almost universally adopted. Secondly, Gautama Buddha, being of Kosalan by birth, probably used the Pali language in giving forth his teachings, and therefore the subsequent philosophical writings of his disciples were similarly couched in this language.
Peripatetics [from Greek peri about + patein to pace, walk] The followers of Aristotle (384-322 BC), either because he paced up and down when he lectured as commonly supposed, or from the peripatos or covered walk of the Lyceum. The chief representatives of the school are Theophrastus of Lesbos (372-287 BC), who with Eudemus of Rhodes, Aristoxemus of Tarentum, and Dicaearchus of Messene, were the personal disciples of Aristotle; Strato of Lampsacus (succeeded Theophrastus 288 BC); Andronicus of Rhodes (head of the school at Rome 58 BC); Alexander of Aphrodisias (commentator of Aristotle, 2nd and 3rd century AD).
plotinist ::: n. --> A disciple of Plotinus, a celebrated Platonic philosopher of the third century, who taught that the human soul emanates from the divine Being, to whom it reunited at death.
Porphyry: (c. 232-304 B.C.) A disciple of Plotinus, who adapted Aristotelian logic to Neo-Platonic philosophy. His method of classification by means of dichotomy is known as the "Tree of Porphyry" (q.v.). Cf. Isagoge (tr. by Boethius, q.v.). -- R.B.W.
Preface ::: This supplement to the Lexicon of an Infinite Mind, A Dictionary of Words and Terms in Savitri, is a selection of answers to our numerous questions posed to disciples and devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It is a rare treasure for generations to come for it provides a profound insight into the understanding of various terms and phrases in Savitri by those who knew Sri Aurobindo and had His darshan many times and a few others with a deep knowledge of specific terms in Savitri.
Principle of sufficient reason: According to Leibniz, one of the two principles on which reasoning is founded, the other being the principle of Contradiction. While the latter is the ground of all necessary truths, the Principle of Sufficient Reason is the ground of all contingent and factual truths. It applies especially to existents, possible or factual, hence its two forms actual sufficient reasons, like the actual volitions of God or of the free creatures, are those determined by the perception of the good and exhibit themselves as final causes involving the good, and possible sufficient reasons are involved, for example, in the perception of evil as a possible aim to achieve. Leibniz defines the Principle of Sufficient Reason as follows: It is the principle "in virtue of which we judge that no fact can be found true or existent, no judgment veritable, unless there is a sufficient reason why it should be so and not otherwise, although these reasons cannot more than often be known to us. . . . There must be a sufficient reason for contingent truths or truths of fact, that is, for the sequence of things which are dispersed throughout the universe of created beings, in which the resolution into particular reasons might go into endless detail" (Monadology, 31, 32, 33, 36). And again, "Nothing happens without a sufficient reason; that is nothing happens without its being possible for one who should know things sufficiently to give a reason showing why things are so and not otherwise" (Principles of Nature and of Grace). It seems that the account given by Leibniz of this principle is not satisfactory in itself, in spite of the wide use he made of it in his philosophy. Many of his disciples vainly attempted to reduce it to the Principle of Contradiction. See Wolff.
Qabbalah (Hebrew) Qabbālāh [from qābal to receive, hand down] Also Cabala, Kabala, Kabbalah, etc. Tradition, that which is handed down; the theosophy of the Jews. Originally these truths were passed on orally by one initiate to chosen disciples, hence were referred to as the Tradition. The first one historically alleged to have reduced a large part of the secret Qabbalah of the Chaldees into systematic, and perhaps written, form was the Rabbi Shim‘on ben Yohai, in the Zohar; but the work of this name that has come down to the present day — through the medieval Qabbalists — is but a compilation of the 13th century, presumably by Moses de Leon.
Resurrection A rising again, implying a previous descent; a rebirth after death. In its widest sense, the universal law of cyclic renewal manifested in cosmic, solar, terrestrial, and human phenomena, applying to manvantaras, and to reawakenings of the earth and of man — whether humanity as a whole, races, or individuals. In the last case it means regeneration, the second birth, initiation, symbolized by the resurrection of the mystic Christ enacted in the Mysteries, when the candidate rose from that cruciform couch which he had undergone the experiences of death. In Christianity this has become an actual physical or bodily resurrection of Jesus, supported by the stories of the empty tomb and the appearances to the disciples. The dogma of the resurrection of the body, however, is pointedly related to the teaching of the migration of the life-atoms, whereby the reincarnating entity draws together the elements which it had previously discarded. There is an Arabic legend of the bone Luz, said to be one of the bones at the bottom of the spinal column, the os coccygis, as indestructible and forming the nucleus of the resurrection body. In the adytum or Holy of Holies of ancient temples was found a sarcophagus symbolizing the universal process of resurrection, but in degenerate times it was occasionally turned by ignorance into a symbol of physical procreation. Other emblems of resurrection are the frog, phoenix, and egg.
reverent ::: a. --> Disposed to revere; impressed with reverence; submissive; humble; respectful; as, reverent disciples.
Expressing reverence, veneration, devotion, or submission; as, reverent words; reverent behavior.
Rosicrucians [from Latin rosa rose + crux cross] Rosy cross or rose cross, referring to the cross of the rose, the general medieval idea of the rose being an emblem of divine love, and the cross of renunciation and self-conquest. A medieval European mystical and quasi-occult fraternity, probably dating from about the mid-15th century. It represented one of the many cyclic attempts to reintroduce and keep alive the ancient wisdom, and its history is typical of most such enterprises. The name was first given to the disciples of a learned adept, Christian Rosenkreuz, the alleged surname itself being a German translation of rose-cross, leaving open whether Rosenkreuz was actually a family name or a surname mystically adopted to designate a particular body of mystical thought; the name Christian may be another such mystical name-adoption. At any rate, Rosenkreuz returned form a journey in Asia and founded a mystical order in Europe. He and his disciples encountered the determined opposition of the Christian Church which then held sway over so much of Europe. He dressed up his teachings in a Christian garb, using such names as Jehovah as screens for the real meaning, and communicating to his disciples the keys for an interpretation of his doctrines. He founded no formal association and built no colleges, for the utmost secrecy was necessary to escape persecution and even death. It is for these reasons that the true history of the Rosicrucians is so difficult to trace. The original Rosicrucians were fire-philosophers, successors of the theurgists and the Magi.
sadhak&
Samika (Sanskrit) Śamīka In the Vishnu-Purana Parasara tells his disciple Maitreya that at the end of the kali yuga Maitreya will teach to Samika the whole of the Purana as it has just been related to him. Hence Samika represents some sage to come in the far future.
Samyutta-Nikaya (Pali) Saṃyutta-Nikāya One of the principal Buddhist works: one of five parts of the Suttanta-Pitaka — a collection of Suttas (dialogs between the Buddha and his disciples). Also spelled Samyuttaka-Nikaya.
Sankaracharya did this in three ways: first by writing commentaries on the great Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita which revealed the original message of these old writings; secondly, by himself composing a series of original works, such as Ata-bodha, Ananda-lahari, Jnana-bodhini, and Mani-ratna-mala, as well as catechisms and manuals for students wishing to follow the path of wisdom; thirdly, by a system of reform and discipline within the Brahmin order itself, which if accepted and faithfully followed would so purify and clarify the mind and body, that his disciples finally became fit to receive his precepts.
satguru &
“Satyavan is the soul carrying the divine truth of being within itself but descended into the grip of death and ignorance; …” (From a letter of Sri Aurobindo to a disciple. Included as a Note at the preface to Savitri.)
Savitri ::: “Savitri is the Divine Word, daughter of the Sun, goddess of the supreme Truth who comes down and is born to save; …” (From a letter of Sri Aurobindo to a disciple. Included as a Note at the preface to Savitri.)
Scheler, Max (1874-1928) was originally a disciple of Rudolf Eucken, but joined early -- at the University of Munich -- the Husserl circle of phenomenologists, of which school he became one of the leading exponents. Moving from Kantianism and Eucken-personalism into phenomenology, he later espoused successively positions which may be called a synthesis between phenomenology and Catholic philosophy, sociological dynamism, and ideo-realistic humanism. He was the psychologist, ethicist, and religious and social philosopher of the phenomenological movement. In common with other phenomenologists, Scheler's doctrine begins with the assertion of an inherent correlation of the essences of objects with the essences of intentional experience. His unique contributions lie in the comprehensiveness of his vision, in his interpretation of the value-qualities of being; of emotional experience, especially love, as the key for the disclosure of being; of a hierarchy of concrete ("material" as against formal) values; of an analysis of "resentment" as a thorough grudge (rancour) perverted emotional attitude towards the values of life; of his definition of "person" as the concrete unity of acts; of his acknowledgment of total personality beyond individual persons; of his definition of "ethos" as a preferential system of values determinative for the validity of any specific thought-form; of his development of the sociology of knowledge as a distinct discipline within cultural sociology; and of his working out of a philosophical anthropology showing man's position in and towards the whole of being. His most important works include: Die transzendentale und die psychologische Methode (1900); Der Formalismus in der Ethik und die materiale Wertethik (1916); Vom Ewigen in Menschen (1921); Wesen und Formen der Sympathie (1923); Schriften zur Soziologie und Weltanschauungslehre (3 vols., 1923-1924); Die Wissensformen und dte Gesellschaft (1926); Die Stellung des Menschen in Kosmos (1928); Philosophische Weltanschauung (1929); Zur Ethik und Erkenntnislehre (1933).
scholar ::: n. --> One who attends a school; one who learns of a teacher; one under the tuition of a preceptor; a pupil; a disciple; a learner; a student.
One engaged in the pursuits of learning; a learned person; one versed in any branch, or in many branches, of knowledge; a person of high literary or scientific attainments; a savant.
A man of books.
In English universities, an undergraduate who belongs to
sectary ::: n. --> A sectarian; a member or adherent of a sect; a follower or disciple of some particular teacher in philosophy or religion; one who separates from an established church; a dissenter.
sectator ::: n. --> A follower; a disciple; an adherent to a sect.
sect ::: n. --> A cutting; a scion.
Those following a particular leader or authority, or attached to a certain opinion; a company or set having a common belief or allegiance distinct from others; in religion, the believers in a particular creed, or upholders of a particular practice; especially, in modern times, a party dissenting from an established church; a denomination; in philosophy, the disciples of a particular master; a school; in society and the state, an order, rank, class, or party.
Seer In its highest sense, one who discerns truths clearly by the use of the real inner vision, the Eye of Siva; who can see throughout the ranges of space and time belonging to a universe — not barring intuitions of the spaces and times of other surrounding universes. But it is also used for a number of varying degrees of ability to see clairvoyantly in the astral light. Swedenborg is sometimes called a seer, which he was in small degree, but because he was untrained, what he saw was mainly peculiar to himself, as is the case with seers of the same class. Instructions for aspirants to wisdom are replete with warnings as to the manifold dangers and deceptions of the astral light, and the obstacles thrown up by the unpurified and undisciplined nature of the disciple. The ability to become a true spiritual seer using the inner eye, means the fruits of many lives of aspiration and training, involving the successful passing of many trials and initiations. The science called gupta-vidya is due to the collaboration and teaching of real seers, whose trained faculties enable them to have direct vision of actualities.
shishya. ::: disciple; student; also means a mirror
Sila (Sanskrit) Śīla [from the verbal root śīl to serve, practice] Moral fortitude, ethical steadiness, one of the Buddhist paramitas. Described as “the key of Harmony in word and act, the key that counterbalances the cause and the effect, and leaves no further room for Karmic action” (VS 47). The Mahayana Sraddhotpada Sastra says of practicing sila: “Lay disciples, having families, should abstain from killing, stealing, adultery, lying, duplicity, slander, frivolous talk, covetousness, malice, currying favor, and false doctrines. Unmarried disciples should, in order to avoid hindrances, retire from the turmoil of worldly life and, abiding in solitude, should practise those ways which lead to quietness and moderation and contentment. . . . They should endeavor by their conduct to avoid all disapproval and blame, and by their example incite others to forsake evil and practise the good.” (FSO p. 45)
sisya (Shishya) ::: [pupil, disciple].
socratist ::: n. --> A disciple or follower of Socrates.
Sons or disciples of prophets were called Benei Nebi’im.
Srama (Sanskrit) Śrama [from the verbal root śram to toil, labor] Exertion, labor, toil; often used for the different methods of mental and physical austerity used in several of the yogas of Hindustan. Mystically, srama is active labor, exertion, and training which the disciple undergoes in the acquiring of esoteric wisdom.
Sravaka (Sanskrit) Śrāvaka [from the verbal root śrū to hear] One who listens or attends to the esoteric instructions, a disciple or chela. In Buddhism, a student of the exoteric teaching of Gautama Buddha, and a practicer of the four great truths of Buddhism.
Sri Aurobindo: "In considering the action of the Infinite we have to avoid the error of the disciple who thought of himself as the Brahman, refused to obey the warning of the elephant-driver to budge ::: from the narrow path and was taken up by the elephant"s trunk and removed out of the way; ‘You are no doubt the Brahman," said the master to his bewildered disciple, ‘but why did you not obey the driver Brahman and get out of the path of the elephant Brahman?"” *The Life Divine
Srotriya (Sanskrit) Śrotriya [from the verbal root śru to hear, listen] A Brahmin who practices the Vedic rites and the sacred knowledge he studies, as distinguished from the Vedavid, the Brahmin who studies them only theoretically; traditionalist, as a Qabbalist in Hebrew though is the theosophical traditionalist of the Jews. It is precisely those who follow the tradition who are among the most eminent and successful disciples of the inner meaning of the sacred teaching in India, as contrasted with the mere bibliolaters, who read with reverence but without desire themselves to practice and follow the teaching and precepts which they study. Thus, books are seen to be great helps, if taken for the purpose for which religious books were originally written, and yet distinct stumbling blocks when they become the mere containers of the revealed faith which cannot be changed. The traditionalist seeks and finds the living reality, whether imbodied in books or not; the bibliolater or book-man is content with what already has been received.
Sthavira or Sthavirakaya (Sanskrit) Sthāvira, Sthāvirakāya [from sthāvira old; an old and venerable bhikṣu] The school of the elder, president, or chohan; one of the earliest philosophical contemplative schools, founded in 300 BC, distinctly Buddhist in character. In 247 BC, it split into three divisions: the Mahavihara (dweller of the great monasteries); Jetavaniyah; and Abhaya-giri-vasinah. It is one of the four branches of the Vaibhashika school founded by Katyayana, one of the disciples of Gautama Buddha and author of the Abhidharma-Jnana-Prasthana-Sastra. All these schools are highly mystical, although frequently stated to be materialistic, which may be the fact in later times when they had degenerated and literalism took the place of the original mystical intent and significance of their teachings. See also ABHAYAGIRI
stoic ::: n. --> A disciple of the philosopher Zeno; one of a Greek sect which held that men should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and should submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity, by which all things are governed.
Hence, a person not easily excited; an apathetic person; one who is apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain.
Alt. of Stoical
St. Thomas was a teacher and a writer for some twenty years (1254-1273). Among his works are: Scriptum in IV Libros Sententiarum (1254-1256), Summa Contra Gentiles (c. 1260), Summa Theologica (1265-1272); commentaries on Boethius. (De Trinitate, c. 1257-1258), on Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite (De Divinis Nominibus, c. 1261), on the anonymous and important Liber de Causis (1268), and especially on Aristotle's works (1261-1272), Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, On the Soul, Posterior Analytics, On Interpretation, On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption; Quaestiones Disputatae, which includes questions on such large subjects as De Veritate (1256-1259); De Potentia (1259-1263); De Malo (1263-1268); De Spiritualibus Creaturis, De Anima (1269-1270); small treatises or Opuscula, among which especially noteworthy are the De Ente et Essentia (1256); De Aeternitate Mundi (1270), De Unitate Intellecus (1270), De Substantiis Separatis (1272). While it is extremely difficult to grasp in its entirety the personality behind this complex theological and philosophical activity, some points are quite clear and beyond dispute. During the first five years of his activity as a thinker and a teacher, St. Thomas seems to have formulated his most fundamental ideas in their definite form, to have clarified his historical conceptions of Greek and Arabian philosophers, and to have made more precise and even corrected his doctrinal positions, (cf., e.g., the change on the question of creation between In II Sent., d.l, q.l, a.3, and the later De Potentia, q. III, a.4). This is natural enough, though we cannot pretend to explain why he should have come to think as he did. The more he grew, and that very rapidly, towards maturity, the more his thought became inextricably involved in the defense of Aristotle (beginning with c. 1260), his texts and his ideas, against the Averroists, who were then beginning to become prominent in the faculty of arts at the University of Paris; against the traditional Augustinianism of a man like St. Bonaventure; as well as against that more subtle Augustinianism which could breathe some of the spirit of Augustine, speak the language of Aristotle, but expound, with increasing faithfulness and therefore more imminent disaster, Christian ideas through the Neoplatonic techniques of Avicenna. This last group includes such different thinkers as St. Albert the Great, Henry of Ghent, the many disciples of St. Bonaventure, including, some think, Duns Scotus himself, and Meister Eckhart of Hochheim.
Sutta-pitaka (Pali) Sutta-piṭaka [from sutta (Sanskrit sūtra) dialogue, originally a thread + piṭaka basket] The third section of the Buddhist canon (the Tripitaka or Three Baskets) treating on the dialogs (suttas) of the Buddha and his disciples, especially those in the style of discourses and narratives.
Tat, Tad (Sanskrit) Tat That; used by Vedic and archaic Hindu writers to describe the unutterable Principle or boundless All, from which all in a universe springs, in contrast to idam (this), the manifested universe. The old sages would ask their disciples, “Kas twam asi?” (who are you?); and then would tell them, “Tat twam asi” (That [the Boundless] you are). The ancient wisdom teaches as one of its fundamental postulates, that we are inseparable parts of the universe, and therefore we have all within us, whether active or latent, that the universe contains.
The chela life or chela path is a beautiful one, full of joy to its very end, but also it calls forth and needs everything noble and high in the learner or disciple; for the powers or faculties of the higher self must be brought into activity in order to attain and to hold those summits of intellectual and spiritual grandeur where the Masters themselves live. For that, masterhood, is the end of discipleship — not, however, that this ideal should be set before us merely as an end to attain to as something of benefit for one’s own self, because that very thought is a selfish one and therefore a stumbling in the path. It is for the individual’s benefit, of course; yet the true idea is that everything and every faculty that is in the soul shall be brought out in the service of all humanity, for this is the royal road, the great royal thoroughfare, of self-conquest” (OG 27-8).
The egg is used in Easter celebrations as the symbol of the renewal of life. The Easter egg derives from the pagan custom of exchanging eggs at the birth-time of the year. Originally it had a deep esoteric hint completely lost sight of today where the custom is still held in the Occident, although commonly candies in the shape of eggs are exchanged. Giving a fellow disciple an egg in the old Mystery schools suggested the rebirth of nature, so apparent in the springtime, or again the initiation ceremonies that prevailed at the spring equinox, thereby expressing the hope that he too might at some time be “reborn,” able to free his spiritual nature from the enveloping shell as a chick frees itself from the egg.
The eight minor subsects stem from disciples of Phag mo gru pa:
The existence of such powers should be recognized and we should hope some day to be able to avail ourselves properly of them, but a prime requisite in discipleship is equal and harmonious development. We may attain psychic powers by observing the conditions under which they may safely and profitably be allowed to develop. The presence of vanity, ambition, self-assertion, egoism, and similar qualities prove a bar, and the aspirant who is sincerely desirous of eliminating these defects will not willingly adopt a course likely to enhance them. There is no hard-and-fast division of powers into psychic, physical, mental, etc.: we may contemplate the gradual development of our mental faculties without defining a point where we have stepped out of the ordinary into the occult; and our perceptions may become refined by gradual stages without any sudden jump from one plane to another.
The first Dalai Lama, DGE 'DUN GRUB, was known as a great scholar and religious practitioner. A direct disciple of TSONG KHA PA, he is remembered for founding BKRA SHIS LHUN PO monastery near the central Tibetan town of Shigatse. The second Dalai Lama, Dge 'dun rgya mtsho, was born the son of a RNYING MA YOGIN and became a renowned tantric master in his own right. ¶ It is with the third Dalai Lama, BSOD NAMS RGYA MTSHO, that the Dalai Lama lineage actually begins. Recognized at a young age as the reincarnation of Dge 'dun rgya mtsho, he was appointed abbot of 'BRAS SPUNGS monastery near LHA SA and soon rose to fame throughout central Asia as a Buddhist teacher. He served as a religious master for the Mongol ruler Altan Khan, who bestowed the title "Dalai Lama," and is credited with converting the Tümed Mongols to Buddhism. Later in life, he traveled extensively across eastern Tibet and western China, teaching and carrying out monastic construction projects. ¶ The fourth Dalai Lama, Yon tan rgya mtsho, was recognized in the person of the grandson of Altan Khan's successor, solidifying Mongol-Tibetan ties. ¶ While the first four Dalai Lamas served primarily as religious scholars and teachers, the fifth Dalai Lama, NGAG DBANG BLO BZANG RGYA MTSHO, combined religious and secular activities to become one of Tibet's preeminent statesmen. He was a dynamic political leader who, with the support of Gushi Khan, defeated his opponents and in 1642 was invested with temporal powers over the Tibetan state, in addition to his religious role, a position that succeeding Dalai Lamas held until 1959. A learned and prolific author, he and his regent, SDE SRID SANGS RGYAS RGYA MTSHO, were largely responsible for the identification of the Dalai Lamas with the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. The construction of the PO TA LA palace began during his reign (and was completed after this death). He is popularly known as the "Great Fifth." ¶ The sixth Dalai Lama, TSHANGS DBYANGS RGYA MTSHO, was a controversial figure who chose to abandon the strict monasticism of his predecessors in favor of a life of society and culture, refusing to take the vows of a fully ordained monk (BHIKsU). He is said to have frequented the drinking halls below the Po ta la palace. He constructed pleasure gardens and the temple of the NAGAs, called the KLU KHANG, on the palace grounds. He is remembered especially for his poetry, which addresses themes such as love and the difficulty of spiritual practice. Tibetans generally interpret his behavior as exhibiting an underlying tantric wisdom, a skillful means for teaching the dharma. His death is shrouded in mystery. Official accounts state that he died while under arrest by Mongol troops. According to a prominent secret biography (GSANG BA'I RNAM THAR), however, he lived many more years, traveling across Tibet in disguise. ¶ The seventh Dalai Lama, SKAL BZANG RGYA MTSHO, was officially recognized only at the age of twelve, and due to political complications, did not participate actively in affairs of state. He was renowned for his writings on tantra and his poetry. ¶ The eighth Dalai Lama, 'Jam dpal rgya mtsho (Jampal Gyatso, 1758-1804), built the famous NOR BU GLING KHA summer palace. ¶ The ninth through twelfth Dalai Lamas each lived relatively short lives, due, according to some accounts, to political intrigue and the machinations of power-hungry regents. According to tradition, from the death of one Dalai Lama to the investiture of the next Dalai Lama as head of state (generally a period of some twenty years), the nation was ruled by a regent, who was responsible for discovering the new Dalai Lama and overseeing his education. If the Dalai Lama died before reaching his majority, the reign of the regent was extended. ¶ The thirteenth Dalai Lama, THUB BSTAN RGYA MTSHO, was an astute and forward-looking political leader who guided Tibet through a period of relative independence during a time of foreign entanglements with Britain, China, and Russia. In his last testament, he is said to have predicted Tibet's fall to Communist China. ¶ The fourteenth and present Dalai Lama, Bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho, assumed his position several years prior to reaching the age of majority as his country faced the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950. In 1959, he escaped into exile, establishing a government-in-exile in the Himalayan town of Dharamsala (DHARMAsALA) in northwestern India. Since then, he has traveled and taught widely around the world, while also advocating a nonviolent solution to Tibet's occupation. He was born in the A mdo region of what is now Qinghai province in China to a farming family, although his older brother had already been recognized as an incarnation at a nearby important Dge lugs monastery (SKU 'BUM). On his becoming formally accepted as Dalai Lama, his family became aristocrats and moved to Lha sa. He was educated traditionally by private tutors (yongs 'dzin), under the direction first of the regent Stag brag rin po che (in office 1941-1950), and later Gling rin po che Thub bstan lung rtogs rnam rgyal (1903-1983) and Khri byang rin po che Blo bzang ye shes (1901-1981). His modern education was informal, gained from conversations with travelers, such as the Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer. When the Chinese army entered the Khams region of eastern Tibet in 1951, he formally took over from the regent and was enthroned as the head of the DGA' LDAN PHO BRANG government. In the face of Tibetan unrest as the Chinese government brought Tibet firmly under central control, the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959; the Indian government accorded the Dalai Lama respect as a religious figure but did not accept his claim to be the head of a separate state. In 1989, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, an event that increased his prominence around the world. He is the author of many books in English, most of them the written record of lectures and traditional teachings translated from Tibetan.
The first three successors to Tsong-kha-pa as leaders of the Gelukpa school were his foremost disciples Gyel-tshab-je (Rgyal tshab rje), Khe-dub-je (Mkhas grub rje), and his nephew Gen-dun-dub (Dge ’dun grub). Gendundub, who founded the monastery of Tashi-Lhunpo and built up the Gelukpa order, was subsequently recognized as the first Dalai Lama. He was succeeded by Gen-dun Gya-tsho (Dge ’dun rgya mtsho), who was recognized as the reincarnation of Gendundub. Gendun Gyatsho was, in turn, succeeded by his reincarnation, Sonam Gyatsho (Bsod nams Rgya mstho). In 1578 Sonam Gyatsho received the patronage of Altan Khan, leader of the Tumed Mongols, who conferred on him the honorific title of Ta-le Lama, which was posthumously conferred on Sonam Gyatsho’s predecessors. From this time on the Gelukpas received Mongol patronage and spread their school among the Mongols — in fact, the fourth Dalai Lama was a great-grandson of Altan Khan. It was the fifth Dalai Lama who commissioned the building of the Potala palace and, with the aid of the Mongol leader Gushri Khan, established the Gelukpa order as the dominant power in Tibet and the Dalai Lama in Lhasa as the temporal ruler of the country.
The Gnostics used the seven vowels of the Greek alphabet AEHIOY-O on their gems; and in the Pistis Sophia the Rabbi Jesus in speaking to his disciples says: “Nothing therefore is more excellent than the mysteries which ye seek after, saving only the mystery of the seven vowels and their forty and nine powers, and their numbers thereof; and no name is more excellent than all these vowels” (SD 2:564).
The history of human evolution has passed down to us transfigured by the progressive accretion of myths, so that the name cyclopes was handed down to various owners until it meant merely giants who built vast walls. Hesiod’s original three were the last three subraces of the Lemurians, the one eye was the wisdom eye, the other eyes not being fully developed as physical organs until the beginning of the fourth root-race. Odysseus, a fourth-race hero, though he destroys a barbarous race in the interests of culture, nevertheless puts out the third eye. It is an allegory of the passage from a simpler Cyclopean civilization of huge stone buildings to the more sensual civilization of the Atlanteans (SD 2:769). Disciples of the initiates of the fourth root-race were said to hand over divine knowledge to their cyclopes, sons of cycles or of the infinite (SD 1:208), while the cyclopes supposed to have built walls were masons in the sense of initiators (SD 2:345).
The Holy of Holies, however, must not be confused with initiation chambers also contained in many temples and caves of antiquity, in which during the rites of initiation the neophyte entered, was initiated, and thereafter left the sacred precincts as reborn. In ancient Egypt the holy of holies par excellence of this latter type was the King’s Chamber in the Great Pyramid; and the coffer there was the sarcophagus used for initiation purposes. The sarcophagus was symbolic of the female principle, as from the feminine principle of nature, as a mother, was born the new “child” or disciple, now become a twice-born. The idea of the twice-born was that the physical birth came from the human mother, while the mystic birth took place from the womb of nature, of which the initiation chamber was the emblem. Hence at a much later date arose the phallic idea of the Jews that the human female womb was the maqom (the place).
The invariable form of the Puranas is of a dialogue between an exponent or teacher and an inquirer or disciple, interspersed with the dialogues and observations of other individuals. In addition to the Puranas there are 18 subordinate Upa-puranas. The Puranas are popularly classified in India under three categories corresponding to the gunas sattva, rajas, and tamas. Those in which the quality of sattva (purity) prevails are: the Vishnu, Naradiya, Bhagavata, Garuda, Padma, and Varaha Puranas, also called the Vaishnava-Puranas. Those in which rajas (passion) are said to prevail, relating chiefly to the god Brahma, are the Brahma, Brahmanda, Brahma-vaivarta, Markandeya, Bhavishya, and Vamana Puranas. Those in which tamas (inertia) is said to prevail, relating chiefly to the god Siva, are the Matsya, Kurma, Linga, Siva, Skanda, and Agni Puranas.
Theophrastus: (370-287 B.C.), the most important disciple and friend of Aristotle, left voluminous writings of which only fragments are extant; they dealt with many topics of philosophy and science (notably, botany) and defended his master's philosophy against rival schools of thought, particularly against Stoics. Cf. Characters of Theophrastus. -- R.R.V.
Thera (Pali) Thera A Buddhist priest, especially a bhikkhu of Gautama Buddha’s community; specifically a senior member. Three grades were distinguished: thera bhikkhu (a senior); majjhima bhikkhu (middle or secondary disciple); and nava bhikkhu (novice). Four characteristics are mentioned, however, making a man a thera: high character, knowing the essential doctrines by heart, practicing the four jhanas (stages of meditation), and being conscious of having attained at least relative freedom through the destruction of the mental intoxications. A senior woman was termed theri or therika.
The six, seven, or ten paramitas have reference to the three fundamental grades of training in discipleship: six for the beginner, seven for the one who is more advanced, and ten which are practiced by the adept. A faithful following of these virtues is incumbent upon every disciple, and fidelity and perseverance in performance mark progress along the mystic way. The other three paramitas, making ten, are adhishthana (inflexible courage) that goes forward to meet danger or difficulty; upeksha (discrimination) which seeks and finds the right way of applying the paramitas; and prabodha (awakened inner consciousness) or sambuddhi (complete or perfect illumination).
The third generation consisted of the disciples of R. Ishmael and R. Akiba: R. Meir, Simeon b. Johal to whom the authorship of the Zohar is ascribed.
The touch of grace, divine grace, coming directly or through the Guru is a special phenomenon having two sides to it, — the grace of the Guru or the Divine, in fact both together, on one side and a “ state of grace ” in the disciple on the other.
The use of drugs in initiatory ceremonies of any kind, however, is a relatively late and degenerate practice, and has never at any time been, nor will it ever be, introduced by the Mother-Lodge coming down to us even from the middle of the third root-race. With it the old tradition burns more brightly than ever that the true soma, the true mead of the gods or wine of the spirit, is the raising of the human into the spiritual by aspiration, training, and strict following of the traditional laws of discipleship, so that finally the neophyte feels the sunlight from above stealing through the moon of his mind.
“They are called ‘Buddhas of Compassion’ because they feel their unity with all that is, and therefore feel intimate magnetic sympathy with all that is, and this is more and more the case as they evolve, until finally their consciousness blends with that of the universe and lives eternally and immortally, because it is at one with the universe. ‘The dewdrop slips into the shining sea’ — its origin. . . . The Buddhas of Compassion, existing in their various degrees of evolution, form a sublime hierarchy extending from the Silent Watcher on our planet downwards through these various degrees unto themselves, and even beyond themselves to their chelas or disciples” (OG 23-4).
The Zohar was compiled by Rabbi Simeon Ben-Iochai, and completed by his son Rabbi Eleazar, and his secretary Rabbi Abba. “But voluminous as is the work, and containing as it does the main points of the secret and oral tradition, it still does not embrace it all. It is well known that this venerable kabalist [Simeon] never imparted the most important points of his doctrine otherwise than orally, and to a very limited number of friends and disciples, including his only son. Therefore, without the final initiation into the Mercaba the study of the Kabala will be ever incomplete, . . . Since the death of Simeon Ben-Iochai this hidden doctrine has remained an inviolate secret for the outside worlds” (IU 2:348-9).
“This was known to every high Initiate in every age and in every country: ‘I and my Father are one,’ said Jesus (John x. 30). When He is made to say, elsewhere (xx. 17): ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father,’ . . . It was simply to show that the group of his disciples and followers attracted to Him belonged to the same Dhyani Buddha, ‘Star,’ or ‘Father,’ again of the same planetary realm and division as He did” (SD 1:574).
T'ime: The general medium in which all events take place in succession or appear to take place in succession. All specific and finite periods of time, whether past, present or future, constitute merely parts of the entire and single Time. Common-sense interprets Time vaguely as something moving toward the future or as something in which events point in that direction. But the many contradictions contained in this notion have led philosophers to postulate doctrines purporting to eliminate some of the difficulties implied in common-sense ideas. The first famous but unresolved controversy arose in Ancient Greece, between Parmenides, who maintained that change and becoming were irrational illusions, and Heraclitus, who asserted that there was no permanence and that change characterized everything without exception. Another great controversy arose centuries later between disciples of Newton and Leibniz. According to Newton, time was independent of, and prior to, events; in his own words, "absolute time, and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature, flows equably without regard to anything external." According to Leibniz, on the other hand, there can be no time independent of events: for time is formed by events and relations among them, and constitutes the universal order of succession. It was this latter doctrine which eventually gave rise to the doctrine of space-time, in which both space and time are regarded as two systems of relations, distinct from a perceptual standpoint, but inseparably bound together in reality. All these controversies led many thinkers to believe that the concept of time cannot be fully accounted for, unless we distinguish between perceptual, or subjective, time, which is confined to the perceptually shifting 'now' of the present, and conceptual, or objective, time, which includes til periods of time and in which the events we call past, present and future can be mutually and fixedly related. See Becoming, Change, Duration, Persistence, Space-Time. -- R.B.W.
Transfiguration Most familiar in reference to the event described in Matthew 17 where Jesus is said to have taken three disciples onto a high mountain and is transfigured before them, so that his face shines as the sun and his raiment is as white as the light; and Moses and Elias appear with him. A church festival exists in commemoration of this event. The Greek word is metamorphosis (transformation). The phenomenon occurred at a certain stage in the initiation of a candidate in the Mysteries, when his personal self made contact with the god within him, the augoeides (the glorious) and caused his body to shine with radiance.
Ulupi (Sanskrit) Ulūpī The daughter of Kauravya, king of the nagas of Patala — the initiates in ancient prehistoric America, according to Blavatsky. When Arjuna, the disciple of Krishna, traveled to Patala, Ulupi fell in love with the stalwart bowman and married him (cf Mahabharata).
Unfortunately, however, physical practices of various kinds seem to be particularly attractive to the average person because apparently within the sphere of easy performance. One does not know the dangers lurking there; but actually, to achieve even the minor results that come from perfect performance, greater effort and larger difficulties have to be encountered than in raising one’s eyes to the nobler forms of yoga. It is always safe and indeed requisite for a disciple to practice the higher branches of yoga: jnana yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga, and karma yoga, which means the yoga of unselfish action in daily life. Consequently, when considered apart from the nobler forms of yoga there is not a particle of spirituality in all these hatha yoga practices.
Upasaka (Sanskrit) Upāsaka [from upa-ās to serve, worship, engage in reverential and devoted study as a disciple from upa by the side of, with the implication of reverential following + the verbal root ās to sit] Serving, worshiping; worshiper, follower, disciple, pupil; also in Buddhism a lay worshiper as distinguished from a bhikshu.
Vallabhacharyas (Sanskrit) Vallabhācārya-s A Vaishnava sect founded by Vallabhacharya, a sectarian mystic said to have been the disciple of Vishnu-svamin, a celebrated teacher of his time. His followers are called Gosvami-maharajas and have a considerable amount of landed property and numerous temples in Bombay.
Vallabhacharya was born in the forest of Champaranya in 1479. At an early age he began traveling to propagate his doctrines, and at the court of Krishna-deva, king of Vijaya-nagara, succeeded so well in his controversies with the Saivas, according to the reports of his followers, that many Vaishnavas chose him as their chief. He then went to other parts of India, and finally settled at Benares, where he composed 17 works, the most important of which were commentaries on the Vedanta- and Mimansa-Sutras and another on the Bhagavata-Purana, on which this sect seems in the main to base their doctrines. He left 84 disciples. He taught a non-ascetic view of religion and deprecated all self-mortification as dishonoring the body which contained a portion of the supreme spirit. His emphasis on human affections and emotions seems at times to fringe closely the frontiers of licentiousness.
Vergil says that bees have a portion of the divine mind, from which aethereal particles stream, and that divinity permeates the whole earth so that all beings draw from it the streams of life (Georgics 4, 320). The spiritual or monadic consciousness (the nous) manifests itself in innumerable ways, and this same consciousness is in man. A little later Vergil says that bees are born from the carcass of a slain bullock or bull. The bull or cow is a symbol of the moon, and the moon has always stood as a symbol of the psychic intelligence or lower human mind; thus the meaning is that out of his perfectly subordinated (“slain”) bull — the lunar body or psychic nature — is born the “bee” of the disciple, the will and the urge to enter into the solar life or the spirit. In the Finnish mythology of the Kalevala, a bee is the messenger between this world and higher realms. In Scandinavian mythology bees again play an important part with the world tree (Yggdrasil).
“While the members of the Brahmo Samaj may be designated as the Lutheran Protestants of orthodox Brahmanism, the disciples of the Swami Dyanand [the Arya-Samaj] should be compared to those learned mystics, the Gnostics, who had the key to those earlier writings which, later, were worked over into the Christian gospels and various patristic literature” (BCW 1:382).
Yu-posah Used by KH as equivalent to the Sanskrit upasika (chela, disciple) (ML 236).
Zeno of Elea: (about 490-430 B.C.) Disciple of Parmenides, defended the doctrine of his master that only changeless "Being" is real by indirect proofs exposing the logical absurdities involved in the opposite view, namely that plurality and change are real. Zeno's famous arguments against the possibility of motion were intended as proofs that motion was full of contradictions and that it could not therefore serve as a principle for the explanation of all phenomena, as the atomists, Heraclitus, Empedocles and others had taught. -- M.F.
Zohar, cursed anyone, particularly his disciples,
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2 Saint John Chrysostom
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1:The disciple returned after a week and said, "No one has bound me." ~ ?, #KEYS
2:I have no disciple. I am the servant of the servant of Rama. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
3:am its disciple. How many are there alive who have taken in its meaning." ~ Kibir, #KEYS
4:At this instant the disciple became liberated. ~ Anthony de Mello, 'One Minute Wisdom,", (1985), #KEYS
5:Humility is the mark of a genuine disciple. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #KEYS
6:There is no Guru, no disciple. Realize who you are. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
7:There is no Guru, no disciple. Realize who you are.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5],#KEYS
8:Love and devotion towards the Guru makes the disciple's life beautiful, filled with light and divinely fragrant. ~ MATA AMRITANANDAMYI, #KEYS
9:We can rise only through humility. Obedience to the Guru elevates the disciple to a more expansive, higher plane. ~ MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI, #KEYS
10:Let him repulse lust and coveting, the disciple who would lead a holy life. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
11:Spoken words are of no use whatsoever if the eyes of the Guru meet the eyes of the disciple. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
12:The disciple should never complain about his own guru. One must obey implicitly whatever his guru says. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
13:The guru is always ready to give what can be given, if the disciple can receive. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, The Guru, #KEYS
14:A disciple, having firm faith in the infinite power of his Guru, walked over a river by simply uttering his name. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
15:Whatever boon the disciple asks, the Guru grants. The Guru even takes the disciple to the highest bliss, Nirvana. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
16:A divided nature is the worst possible condition for this path. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram, Acceptance as a Disciple, #KEYS
17:He is not a man of religion who does ill to another. He is not a disciple who causes suffering to another. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
18:The Guru shows the disciple the path to life eternal, and protects him from all troubles. Putting great faith in the words of the Guru let the disciple live them. ~ SWAMI BRAHMANANDA, #KEYS
19:One must have devotion towards one's own guru. Whatever may be the nature of the guru, the disciple gets salvation by dint of his unflinching devotion towards his guru. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
20:Without stick or sword, filled with sympathy and benevolence, let the disciple show to all beings love and compassion. ~ Magghima Nikaya, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
21:Slay thy desires, O disciple, make powerless thy vices, before thou takest the first step of that solemn journey. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
22:The guru is not as important as the disciple himself. If one worships with utmost devotion, even a stone would become the Supreme Lord. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
23:A Guru is a God-knowing person who has been divinely appointed by Him to take the seeker as a disciple and lead him from the darkness of ignorance to the light of wisdom. ~ PARAMAHAMSA YOGANANDA, #KEYS
24:He whose senses are not attached to name and form who is no longer troubled by transient things; can be really called a disciple. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
25:That he may vanquish hate, let the disciple live with a soul delivered from all hate and show towards all beings love and compassion. ~ Magghima Nikaya, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
26:The difficulties which come to birth in the disciple, are ignorance, egoism, desire, aversion and a tenacious will to existence upon the earth. ~ Patanjali, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
27:It would be very good if the disciple could live in a place close to his Guru's residence and spend some time daily in visiting his Guru, enjoying his company and receiving his instructions. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
28:Let the disciple consecrate himself to love, not in order to seek for his own happiness, but let him take pleasure in love for the love of love. ~ Jatakamala, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
29:If the disciple has sincere faith in the Guru, it is easy for him to attain Divine knowledge and devotion. The one thing needful is faith in the Guru. When this is gained, everything is gained. ~ SWAMI BRAHMANANDA, #KEYS
30:O disciple, that which was not created dwells in thee. If thou wish to attain to it,...thou must strip thyself of thy dark robes of illusion. ~ The Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
31:In reality, there is neither guru nor disciple, neither theory nor practice, neither ignorance nor realization. It all depends on what you take yourself to be. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
32:Soon after the death of Rabbi Moshe, Rabbi Mendel of Kutsk asked one of his disciples, 'What was most important to your teacher?' The disciple thought and then replied, 'Whatever he happened to be doing at the moment.'" ~ Source:, #KEYS
33:This is a great error to imagine that men can have a lofty spiritual life when the body remains in luxury and idleness. The body is ever the first disciple of the soul. ~ Thoreu, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
34:Awakening cannot take place as long as the idea persists that one is a seeker." ~ Ramesh Balsekar, (1917 - 2009) disciple of the late Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, a renowned Advaita master, Balsekar wrote more than 20 books, Wikipedia., #KEYS
35:Disciple: Mother, where is God? ~ Sri Sarada Devi; Dear, where else is God except very close to His devotees? If worldly people even visit the place used by holy men, the very atmosphere of the place can remove the dross of their mind., #KEYS
36:The disciple has rejected indolence and indolence conquers him not; loving the light, intelligent, clearly conscient, he purifies his heart of all laxness and all lassitude. ~ Buddhist Texts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
37:People who believe in the reality of the world are really no better than people who build dams to catch the water that they see in a mirage." ~ Annamalai Swami, (1906-1995), a direct disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi, author of "Final Talks", (2000), #KEYS
38:Consciousness is all there is, and whatever appears to happens is merely a movement of consciousness… Consciousness is where God resides." ~ Ramesh Balsekar, (1917 - 2009), a disciple of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, wrote more than 20 books, Wikipedia., #KEYS
39:If you want to ask your Guru anything regarding your Sadhana, you must do so in private. I have seen in the case of Sri Ramakrishna how He would take each disciple alone and give him in private the special instructions necessary for him. ~ SWAMI BRAHMANANDA, #KEYS
40:The disciple lives as a reconciler of those that are divided, uniting more closely those that are friends, establishing peace, preparing peace, rich in peace, pronouncing always words of peace ~ Metta Sutta, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
41:The true disciple rejects enervation and idleness; he is delivered from caieless lassitude. Loving the light, intelligent and clear of vision he purifies his heart of all carelessness and idleness. ~ Majjhima Sntta, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
42:If after having traversed the hall of wisdom, thou wouldst reach the valley of Beatitude, close, O disciple, thy senses to the great and cruel heresy of the separation which severs thee from the rest. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
43:Good is the mastery of the body, good the mastery of the speech, good too the mastery of the mind, good the perfect self-mastery. The disciple who is the master of himself, shall deliver his soul from every sorrow. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
44:Discovering himself everywhere and in all things, the disciple embraces the entire world in a sentiment of peace, of compassion, of love-large, profound and without limits, delivered from all wrath and all hatred. ~ Magghima Nikaya, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
45:Carelessness is not proper even for the worldling who derives vanity from his family and his riches; how much less for a disciple who has proposed to himself for his goal to discover the path of liberation ! ~ Fo -shu-hing-tsan-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
46:Disciple: Lucky indeed are those who receive ur blessings now. Those who come later on cannot have this rare opportunity. MOTHER : What do u mean? Do u mean to say they will not succeed? God exists always everywhere. The Master is always present. They will succeed thro His grac ~ THE GOSPEL OF THE HOLY MOTHER, #KEYS
47:The Guru must deal with each disciple according to his separate nature and accordingly guide his sadhana; even if it is the same line of sadhana for all, yet at every point for each it differs. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram, General Rules and Individual Natures, #KEYS
48:Lying words are unworthy of a disciple, for his aspiration should be sincere and straightforward and knavish and flattering words are kin to witchcraft. The man who occupies himself with spiritual questions, ought not to proffer any such utterances. ~ Fo-sho-tsan-kiug, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
49:he disciple should think that all things in this world are subject to a constant transformation...that all things in the past are like a dream, that all in the present are like a flash of lightning and all in the future like images that arrive spontaneously into existence. ~ Awaghosha, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
50:Warriors I we call ourselves warriors? But of what fashion of warriors, tell me then, are we? We battle, O disciple, that is why we are called warriors. Why do we battle, O Master? For lofty virtue, for high discernment, for sublime wisdom,-that is why we are called warriors. ~ Anguttara Nikaya, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
51:The disciple will probably be visited at night by his Teacher, who will come in a superphysical body. [...] If he has not developed his spiritual nature by right living, right thinking and right feeling during his probation as a student, he will be unable to recognize the Master when he comes. ~ Manly P Hall, What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples, #KEYS
52:As the servant and disciple of the Master has no business with pride or egoism because all is done for him from above, so also he has no right to despond because of his personal deficiencies or the stumblings of his nature. For the Force that works in him is impersonal -- or superpersonal-and infinite.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Four Aids, 61,#KEYS
53:When will I have vision of God ?" asked an ardent disciple of the Master. The Master took him to the sea shore and held him completely immersed in water for a while. "How did that feel ?" asked the Master. 'I thought I would die without air to breathe' replied the disciple.
Such a quest of God would reveal Him immediately' is the answer of the Master. ~ Sri Ramakrishna,#KEYS
54:The Divine Grace alone has the power to intervene and change the course of Universal Justice. The great work of the Avatar is to manifest the Divine Grace upon earth. To be a disciple of the Avatar is to become an instrument of the Divine Grace. The Mother is the great dispensatrix-through identity-of the Divine Grace, with a perfect knowledge-through identity-of the absolute mechanism of Universal Justice.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
55:What is the path that leads to the Eternal? When a disciple pours over the whole world the light of a heart overflowing with love, in all directions, on high, below, to the four quarters, with a thought of love, large, profound, boundless, void of wrath and hate, and when thereafter he pours over the whole world the light of a thought of profound serenity, then the disciple is on the path that leads to the Eternal. ~ Auguttara Nikaya, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
56:The saintly disciple who applies himself in silence to right meditation, has surmounted covetousness, negligence, wrath, the inquietude of speculation and doubt; he contemplates and enlightens all beings friendly or hostile, with a limitless compassion, a limitless sympathy, a limitless serenity. He recognises that all internal phenomena are impermanent, subjected to sorrow and without substantial reality, and turning from these things he concentrates his mind on the permanent. ~ Buddhist Texts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
57:When the disciple regarding his ideas sees appear in him bad and unwholesome thoughts, thoughts of covetousness, hatred, error, he should either turn his mind from them and concentrate on a healthy idea, or examine the fatal nature of the thought, or else he should analyse it and decompose it into its different elements, or calling up all his strength and applying the greatest energy suppress it from his mind: so bad and unwholesome thoughts withdraw and disappear, and the mind becomes firm, calm, unified, vigorous. ~ Buddhist Maxims, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
58:When the disciple considering an idea sees rise in him bad or unhealthy thoughts, thoughts of covetousness, hatred or error, he should either turn his mind away from that idea or concentrate it upon a healthy thought, or else examine the fatal nature of the idea, or analyse it and decompose it into its different elements, or, making appeal to all his strength and applying the greatest energy, suppress it from his mind; thus are removed and disappear these bad and unhealthy ideas and the mind becomes firm, calm, unified, full of vigour. ~ Mahayana; the Book of the Faith, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
59:A disciple asked his teacher, 'Sir, please tell me how I can see God.' Come with me,' said the guru, 'and I shall show you.' He took the disciple to a lake, and both of them got into the water. Suddenly the teacher pressed the disciple's head under the water. After a few moments he released him and the disciple raised his head and stood up. The guru asked him, 'How did you feel?' The disciple said, 'Oh! I thought I should die; I was panting for breath.' The teacher said, 'When you feel like that for God, then you will know you haven't long to wait for His vision.'
Let me tell you something. What will you gain by floating on the surface? Dive a little under the water. The gems lie deep under the water; so what is the good of throwing your arms and legs about on the surface? A real gem is heavy. It doesn't float; it sinks to the bottom. To get the real gem you must dive deep. ~ Sri Ramakrishna,#KEYS
60:DISCIPLE: It is said that the psychic is a spark of the Divine.
SRI AUROBINDO: Yes.
DISCIPLE: Then it seems that the function of the psychic being is the same as that of Vedic Agni, who is the leader of the journey?
SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. Agni is the God of the Psychic and, among the other things it does, it leads the upward journey.
DISCIPLE: How does the psychic carry the personalities formed in this life into another life?
SRI AUROBINDO: After death, it gathers its elements and carries them onward to another birth. But it is not the same personality that is born. People easily misunderstand these things, specially when they are put in terms of the mind. The past personality is taken only as the basis but a new personality is put forward. If it was the same personality, then it would act exactly in the same manner and there would be no meaning in that. ~ Sri Aurobindo, EVENING TALKS WITH SRI AUROBINDO, RECORDED BY A B PURANI (page no 665-666),#KEYS
61:Influence is more important than example. Influence is not the outward authority of the Teacher over his disciple, but the power of his contact, of his presence, of the nearness of his soul to the soul of another, infusing into it, even though in silence, that which he himself is and possesses. This is the supreme sign of the Master. For the greatest Master is much less a Teacher than a Presence pouring the divine consciousness and its constituting light and power and purity and bliss into all who are receptive around him.
And it shall also be a sign of the teacher of the integral Yoga that he does not arrogate to himself Guruhood in a humanly vain and self-exalting spirit. His work, if he has one, is a trust from above, he himself a channel, a vessel or a representative. He is a man helping his brothers, a child leading children, a Light kindling other lights, an awakened Soul awakening souls, at highest a Power or Presence of the Divine calling to him other ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#KEYS
62:The Teacher of the integral Yoga will follow as far as he may the method of the Teacher within us. He will lead the disciple through the nature of the disciple. Teaching, example, influence, - these are the three instruments of the Guru. But the wise Teacher will not seek to impose himself or his opinions on the passive acceptance of the receptive mind; he will throw in only what is productive and sure as a seed which will grow under the divine fostering within. He will seek to awaken much more than to instruct; he will aim at the growth of the faculties and the experiences by a natural process and free expansion. He will give a method as an aid, as a utilisable device, not as an imperative formula or a fixed routine. And he will be on his guard against any turning of the means into a limitation, against the mechanising of process. His whole business is to awaken the divine light and set working the divine force of which he himself is only a means and an aid, a body or a channel. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, #KEYS
63:In ancient times the disciple had to undergo severe tests to prove his ability for initiation. Here we do not follow that method. Apparently there is no test and no trial. But if you see the truth, you will find that here it is much more difficult. There the disciple knew that he was undergoing a period of trial and after he had passed through some outward tests, he was taken in. But here you have to face life and you are watched at every moment. It is not only your outer actions that count. Each and every thought and inner movement is seen, every reaction is noticed. It is not what you do in the solitude of the forest, but what you do in the thick of the battle of life that is important.
Are you ready to submit yourself for such tests? Are you ready to change yourself completely? You will have to throw off your ideas, ideals, values, interests and opinions. Everything will have to be learnt anew. If you are ready for all this, then take a plunge; otherwise don't try to step in. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
64:The tide of materialistic thoughts is always on the watch, waiting for the least weakness, and if we relax but one moment from our vigilance, if we are even slightly negligent, it rushes in and invades us from all sides, submerging under its heavy flood the result sometimes of numberless efforts. Then the being enters a sort of torpor, its physical needs of food and sleep increase, its intelligence is clouded, its inner vision veiled, and in spite of the little interest it really finds in such superficial activities, they occupy it almost exclusively. This state is extremely painful and tiring, for nothing is more tiring then materialistic thoughts, and the mind, worn out, suffers like a caged bird which cannot spread its wings and yet longs to be able to soar freely.
But perhaps this state has its own use which I do not see.... In any case, I do not struggle; and like a child in its mother's arms, like a fervent disciple at the feet of his master, I trust myself to Thee and surrender to Thy guidance, sure of Thy victory.
~ The Mother, Prayers And Meditations, January 4th, 1914,#KEYS
65:Instruction about Sadhana to a disciple:
Disciple: What is the nature of realisation in this yoga?
Sri Aurobindo: In this yoga we want to bring down the Truth-consciousness into the whole being - no part being left out. This can be done by the Higher Power itself. What you have to do is to open yourself to it.
Disciple: As the Higher Power is there why does it not work in all men - consciously?
Sri Aurobindo: Because man, at present, is shut up in his mental being, his vital nature and physical consciousness and their limitations. You have to open yourself. By an opening I mean an aspiration in the heart for the coming down of the Power that is above, and a will in the Mind, or above the Mind, open to it.
The first thing this working of the Higher Power does is to establish Shanti - peace - in all the parts of the being and an opening above. This peace is not mere mental Shanti, it is full of power and, whatever action takes place in it, Samata, equality, is its basis and the Shanti and Samata are never disturbed. What comes from Above is peace, power and joy. It also brings about changes in various parts of our nature so that they can bear the pressure of the Higher Power.
Knowledge also progressively develops showing all in our being that is to be thrown out and what is to be retained. In fact, knowledge and guidance both come and you have constantly to consent to the guidance. The progress may be more in one direction than in another. But it is the Higher Power that works. The rest is a matter of experience and the movement of the Shakti. ~ Sri Aurobindo, EVENING TALKS WITH SRI AUROBINDO, RECORDED BY A B PURANI (28-09-1923),#KEYS
66:Disciple: If the Asuras represent the dark side of God on the vital plane - does this dark side exist on every plane? If so, are there beings on the mental plane which correspond to the dark side?
Sri Aurobindo: The Asura is really the dark side of God on the mental plane. Mind is the very field of the Asura. His characteristic is egoistic strength, which refuses the Higher Law. The Asura has got Self-control, Tapas, intelligence, only, all that is for his ego.
On the vital plane the corresponding forces we call the Rakshashas which represent violent passions and impulses. There are other beings on the vital plane which we call pramatta and piśacha and these; manifest, more or less, on the physico-vital plane.
Distiple: What is the corresponding being on the higher plane?
Sri Aurobindo: On the higher plane there are no Asuras - there the Truth prevails. There are "Asuras" there in the Vedic sense,- "beings with divine powers". The mental Asura is only a deviation of that power.
The work of the Asura has all the characteristics of mind in it. It is mind refusing to submit to the Higher Law; it is the mind in revolt. It works on the basis of ego and ignorance.
Disciple: What are the forces that correspond to the dark side of God on the physical plane?
Sri Aurobindo: They are what may be called the "elemental beings", or rather, obscure elemental forces - they are more "forces" than "beings". It is these that the Theosophists call the "Elementals". They are not individualised beings like the Asura and the Rakshasas, they are ignorant forces working oh the subtle physical plane.
Disciple: What is the word for them in Sanskrit;?
Sri Aurobindo: What are called bhūtas seem most nearly to correspond to them.
Disciple: The term "Elemental" means that these work through the elements.
Sri Aurobindo: There are two kinds of "elementals": one mischievous and the other innocent. What the Europeans call the gnomes come under this category. ~ A B Purani, EVENING TALKS WITH SRI AUROBINDO, 15-06-1926,#KEYS
67:Disciple : What part does breathing exercise - Pranayama - play in bringing about the higher consciousness?
Sri Aurobindo : It sets the Pranic - vital - currents free and removes dullness of the brain so that the higher consciousness can come down. Pranayama does not bring dullness in the brain. My own experience, on the contrary, is that brain becomes illumined. When I was practising Pranayama at Baroda, I used to do it for about five hours in the day, - three hours in the morning and two in the evening. I found that the mind began to work with great illumination and power. I used to write poetry in those days. Before the Pranayama practice, usually I wrote five to eight lines per day; and about two hundred lines in a month. After the practice I could write 200 lines within half an hour. That was not the only result. Formerly my memory was dull. But after this practice I found that when the inspiration came I could remember all the lines in their order and write them down correctly at any time. Along with these enhanced functionings I could see an electrical activity all round the brain, and I could feel that it was made up of a subtle substance. I could feel everything as the working of that substance. That was far from your carbon-dioxide!
Disciple : How is it that Pranayama develops mental capacities? What part does it play in bringing about the higher consciousness?
Sri Aurobindo : It is the Pranic - vital - currents which sustain mental activity. When these currents are changed by Pranayama, they bring about a change in the brain. The cause of dullness of the brain is some obstruction in it which does not allow the higher thought to be communicated to it. When this obstruction is removed the higher mental being is able to communicate its action easily to the brain. When the higher consciousness is attained the brain does not become dull. My experience is that it becomes illumined.
~ Sri Aurobindo, A B Purani, Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, 19-9-1926,#KEYS
68:"Will it take long for the Supermind which is involved in material Nature to emerge into the outer consciousness and bring visible results?"
That depends on the state of consciousness from which one answers, for... For the human consciousness, obviously, I think it will take quite a long time. For another consciousness it will be relatively very fast, and for yet another consciousness, it is already accomplished. It is an accomplished fact. But in order to become aware of this, one must be able to enter into another state of consciousness than the ordinary physical consciousness.
Sri Aurobindo has spoken - I believe I have read it to you, I think it's in The Synthesis of Yoga - of the true mind, the true vital and the true physical or subtle physical, and he has said that they co-exist with the ordinary mind, vital and physical, and that in certain conditions one may enter into contact with them, and then one becomes aware of the difference between what really is and the appearances of things.
Well, for a developed consciousness, the Supermind is already realised somewhere in a domain of the subtle physical, it already exists there visible, concrete, and expresses itself in forms and activities. And when one is in tune with this domain, when one lives there, one has a very strong feeling that this world would only have to be condensed, so to say, for it to become visible to all. What would then be interesting would be to develop this inner perception which would put you into contact with the supramental truth which is already manifested, and is veiled for you only for want of appropriate organs to enter into relation with it.
It is possible that those who are conscious of their dreams may have dreams of a new kind which put them into contact with that world, for it is accessible to the subtle physical of all those who have the corresponding organs in themselves. And there is necessarily a subtle influence of this physical on outer matter, if one is ready to receive impressions from it and admit them into one's consciousness. That's all.
Now, if nobody has any questions to ask, well, we shall remain silent.
Something to say, over there? (Mother looks at a disciple.) Oh! he is burning to speak! ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1956,#KEYS
69:But now thou askest me how thou mayest destroy this naked knowing and feeling of thine own being. For peradventure thou thinkest that if it were destroyed, all other hindrances were destroyed ; and if thou thinkest thus, thou thinkest right truly. But to this I answer thee and I say, that without a full special grace full freely given by God, and also a full according ableness on thy part to receive this grace, this naked knowing and feeling of thy being may in nowise be destroyed. And this ableness is nought else but a strong and a deep ghostly sorrow. ... All men have matter of sorrow; but most specially he feeleth matter of sorrow that knoweth and feeleth that he is. All other sorrows in comparison to this be but as it were game to earnest. For he may make sorrow earnestly that knoweth and feeleth not only what he is, but that he is. And whoso felt never this sorrow, let him make sorrow; for he hath never yet felt perfect sorrow. This sorrow, when it is had, cleanseth the soul, not only of sin, but also of pain that it hath deserved for sin ; and also it maketh a soul able to receive that joy, the which reave th from a man all knowing and feeling of his being. This sorrow, if it be truly conceived, is full of holy desire; and else a man might never in this life abide it or bear it. For were it not that a soul were somewhat fed with a manner of comfort by his right working, he should not be able to bear that pain that he hath by the knowing and feeling of his being. For as oft as he would have a true knowing and a feeling of his God in purity of spirit (as it may be here), and then feeleth that he may not for he findeth evermore his knowing and his feeling as it were occupied and filled with a foul stinking lump of himself, the which must always be hated and despised and forsaken, if he shall be God's perfect disciple, taught by Himself in the mount of perfection so oft he goeth nigh mad for sorrow. . . . This sorrow and this desire must every soul have and feel in itself (either in this manner or in another), as God vouchsafed! to teach his ghostly disciples according to his good will and their according ableness in body and in soul, in degree and disposition, ere the time be that they may perfectly be oned unto God in perfect charity such as may be had here, if God vouchsafed!.
~ Anonymous, The Cloud Of Unknowing,#KEYS
70:He continuously reflected on her image and attributes, day and night. His bhakti was such that he could not stop thinking of her. Eventually, he saw her everywhere and in everything. This was his path to illumination.
He was often asked by people: what is the way to the supreme? His answer was sharp and definite: bhakti yoga. He said time and time again that bhakti yoga is the best sadhana for the Kali Yuga (Dark Age) of the present.
His bhakti is illustrated by the following statement he made to a disciple:
To my divine mother I prayed only for pure love.
At her lotus feet I offered a few flowers and I prayed:
Mother! here is virtue and here is vice;
Take them both from me.
Grant me only love, pure love for Thee.
Mother! here is knowledge and here is ignorance;
Take them both from me.
Grant me only love, pure love for Thee.
Mother! here is purity and impurity;
Take them both from me.
Grant me only love, pure love for Thee.
Ramakrishna, like Kabir, was a practical man.
He said: "So long as passions are directed towards the world and its objects, they are enemies. But when they are directed towards a deity, then they become the best of friends to man, for they take him to illumination. The desire for worldly things must be changed into longing for the supreme; the anger which you feel for fellow man must be directed towards the supreme for not manifesting himself to you . . . and so on, with all other emotions. The passions cannot be eradicated, but they can be turned into new directions."
A disciple once asked him: "How can one conquer the weaknesses within us?" He answered: "When the fruit grows out of the flower, the petals drop off themselves. So when divinity in you increases, the weaknesses of human nature will vanish of their own accord." He emphasized that the aspirant should not give up his practices. "If a single dive into the sea does not bring you a pearl, do not conclude that there are no pearls in the sea. There are countless pearls hidden in the sea.
So if you fail to merge with the supreme during devotional practices, do not lose heart. Go on patiently with the practices, and in time you will invoke divine grace." It does not matter what form you care to worship. He said: "Many are the names of the supreme and infinite are the forms through which he may be approached. In whatever name and form you choose to worship him, through that he will be realized by you." He indicated the importance of surrender on the path of bhakti when he said:
~ Swami Satyananda Saraswati, A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya,#KEYS
71:Disciple: What are the conditions of success in this yoga?
Sri Aurobindo: I have often told of them. Those go through who have the central sincerity. It does not mean that the sincerity is there in all the parts of the being. In that sense no one is entirely ready. But if the central sincerity is there it is possible to establish it in all the parts of the being.
The second thing necessary is a certain receptivity in the being, what we call, the "opening" up of all the planes to the Higher Power.
The third thing required is the power of holding the higher Force, a certain ghanatwa - mass - that can hold the Power when it comes down.
And about the thing that pushes there are two things that generally push: One is the Central Being. The other is destiny. If the Central Being wants to do something it pushes the man. Even when the man goes off the line he is pushed back again to the path. Of course, the Central Being may push through the mind or any other part of the being. Also, if the man is destined he is pushed to the path either to go through or to get broken,
Disciple: There are some people who think they are destined or chosen and we see that they are not "chosen".
Sri Aurobindo: Of course, plenty of people think that they are specially "chosen" and that they are the first and the "elect" and so on. All that is nothing.
Disciple: Then, can you. say who is fit out of all those that have come?
Sri Aurobindo: It is very difficult to say. But this can be said that everyone of those who have come in has some chance to go through if he can hold on to it.
Disciple: There is also a chance of failure.
Sri Aurobindo: Of course, and besides, the whole universe is a play of forces and one can't always wait till all the conditions of success have been fulfilled. One has to take risks and take his chance.
Disciple: What is meant by "chance"? Does it mean that it is only one possibility out of many others, or does it mean that one would be able to succeed in yoga?
Sri Aurobindo: It means only that he can succeed if he takes his chance properly. For instance, X had his chance.
Disciple: Those who fall on the path or slip, do they go down in their evolution?
Sri Aurobindo: That depends. Ultimately, the Yoga may be lost to him.
Disciple: The Gita says: Na hi kalyānkṛt - nothing that is beneficial - comes to a bad end.
Sri Aurobindo: That is from another standpoint. You must note the word is kalyān kṛt - it is an important addition.
~ Sri Aurobindo, EVENING TALKS WITH SRI AUROBINDO, RECORDED BY A B PURANI (20-09-1926),#KEYS
72:The Teacher of the integral Yoga will follow as far as he may the method of the Teacher within us. He will lead the disciple through the nature of the disciple. Teaching, example, influence, - these are the three instruments of the Guru. But the wise Teacher will not seek to impose himself or his opinions on the passive acceptance of the receptive mind; he will throw in only what is productive and sure as a seed which will grow under the divine fostering within. He will seek to awaken much more than to instruct; he will aim at the growth of the faculties and the experiences by a natural process and free expansion. He will give a method as an aid, as a utilisable device, not as an imperative formula or a fixed routine. And he will be on his guard against any turning of the means into a limitation, against the mechanising of process. His whole business is to awaken the divine light and set working the divine force of which he himself is only a means and an aid, a body or a channel.
The example is more powerful than the instruction; but it is not the example of the outward acts nor that of the personal character which is of most importance. These have their place and their utility; but what will most stimulate aspiration in others is the central fact of the divine realisation within him governing his whole life and inner state and all his activities. This is the universal and essential element; the rest belongs to individual person and circumstance. It is this dynamic realisation that the sadhaka must feel and reproduce in himself according to his own nature; he need not strive after an imitation from outside which may well be sterilising rather than productive of right and natural fruits.
Influence is more important than example. Influence is not the outward authority of the Teacher over his disciple, but the power of his contact, of his presence, of the nearness of his soul to the soul of another, infusing into it, even though in silence, that which he himself is and possesses. This is the supreme sign of the Master. For the greatest Master is much less a Teacher than a Presence pouring the divine consciousness and its constituting light and power and purity and bliss into all who are receptive around him.
And it shall also be a sign of the teacher of the integral Yoga that he does not arrogate to himself Guruhood in a humanly vain and self-exalting spirit. His work, if he has one, is a trust from above, he himself a channel, a vessel or a representative. He is a man helping his brothers, a child leading children, a Light kindling other lights, an awakened Soul awakening souls, at highest a Power or Presence of the Divine calling to him other powers of the Divine. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga,#KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:Only a disciple can make a disciple. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 2:Humility is the mark of a genuine disciple. ~ denis-diderot, @wisdomtrove 3:Humility is the mark of a genuine disciple. ~ thomas-aquinas, @wisdomtrove 4:I have no disciple. I am the servant of the servant of Rama . ~ sri-ramakrishna, @wisdomtrove 5:For a true disciple, the repetition of the mantra is like food. ~ mata-amritanandamayi, @wisdomtrove 6:A true disciple shows his appreciation by reaching further than his teacher. ~ aristotle, @wisdomtrove 7:Science is not only a disciple of reason but, also, one of romance and passion. ~ stephen-hawking, @wisdomtrove 8:A disciple having asked for a definition of charity, the Master said LOVE ONE ANOTHER. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 9:A disciple asked, "Who is a Master?" The Master replied, "Anyone to whom it is given to let go of the ego. Such a person's life is then a masterpiece. ~ anthony-de-mello, @wisdomtrove 10:What is my identity ?" "Nothing," said the Master. "You mean that I am an emptiness and a void?" said the incredulous disciple. "Nothing that can be labeled." said the Master. ~ anthony-de-mello, @wisdomtrove 11:Seek other people's advice, but don't take orders. And don't take 100% of anyone's advice. Make sure every decision you make is a product of your own conclusion. Be a student, not a disciple. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 12:If I am a Pariah, I will be all the more glad, for I am the disciple of a man, who - the Brahmin of Brahmins - wanted to cleanse the house of a Pariah. (here "the man" means Ramakrishna) ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 13:The disciple must have great power of endurance. Bear all evil and misery without one thought of unhappiness, resistance, remedy, or retaliation. That is true endurance, and that you must acquire. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 14:If you have this extraordinary thing going in your life, then it is everything; then you become the teacher, the disciple, the neighbour, the beauty of the cloud - you are all that, and that is love. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 15:Q: When both the disciple and his teacher are inadequate, what will happen? M: In the long run all will be well. After all, the real Self of both is not affected by the comedy they play for a time. ~ sri-nisargadatta-maharaj, @wisdomtrove 16:A disciple said to him, "I am ready, in the quest for God , to give up anything: wealth, friends, family, country, life itself. What else can a person give up?" The Master calmly replied, "One's beliefs about God. ~ anthony-de-mello, @wisdomtrove 17:A disciple, in his reverence for the Master, looked upon him as God incarnate. "Tell me, O Master," he said, "why you have come into this world." "To teach fools like you to stop wasting their time worshiping Masters. ~ anthony-de-mello, @wisdomtrove 18:One may have many teachers, but only one guru, who remains as one's guru even in many different lives, until the disciple reaches the final goal of emancipation in God. You must remember this, once that relationship is formed. ~ paramahansa-yogananda, @wisdomtrove 19:I was talking to a Zen master the other day and he said, "You shall be my disciple."I looked at him and said, "Who was Buddha's teacher?" He looked at me in a very odd way for a moment and then he burst into laughter and handed me a piece of clover. ~ alan-watts, @wisdomtrove 20:Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect ... Your have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 21:In reality, the disciple is not different from the Guru. He is the same dimensionless centre of perception and love in action. It is only his imagination and self-identification with the imagined, that encloses him and converts him into a person. ~ sri-nisargadatta-maharaj, @wisdomtrove 22:A disciple was one day recalling how Buddha , Jesus , Mohammed were branded as rebels and heretics by their contemporaries. Said the Master, Nobody can be said to have attained the pinnacle of Truth until a thousand sincere people have denounced him for blasphemy . ~ anthony-de-mello, @wisdomtrove 23:So you have to be your own teacher and your own disciple, and there is no teacher outside, no saviour, no master; you yourself have to change, and therefore you have to learn to observe, to know yourself. This learning about yourself is a fascinating and joyous business. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 24:All authority of any kind, especially in the field of thought and understanding, is the most destructive, evil thing. Leaders destroy the followers and followers destroy the leaders. You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 25:A disciple came to the celebrated Master of the Good Name with a question. Rabbi, how are we to distinguish between a true master and a fake? And the master of the good name said, When you meet a person who poses as a master, ask him a question: whether he knows how to purify your thoughts. If he says that he knows, then he is a fake. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 26:I could not but smile to think in what out-of-the-way corners genius produces her bantlings! And the Muses, those capricious dames, who, forsooth, so often refuse to visit palaces, and deny a single smile to votaries in splendid studies, and gilded drawing-rooms& 27:Liberation does not concern the person, for liberation is freedom from the person. Basically the disciple and teacher are identical. Both are the timeless axis of all action and preception. The only difference is that one & 28:With the exception of very few who have gained higher spiritual tendencies in prior lives, Self-realization is not possible for anyone without the blessings of a guru. Think of the guru as the manifestation of God in this world. Take even the most insignificant word of the guru as an order and obey it. That is the real service to the guru. There is no greater austerity. The guru's blessings flow automatically to any obedient disciple. That is the real service to the guru. ~ mata-amritanandamayi, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:Street's disciple, my raps are trifle. ~ Nas, #NFDB
2:A disciple is a disciple maker. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
3:Disciple: That is what we see. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
4:Dromtönpa, Atiśa’s chief disciple, ~ Thupten Jinpa, #NFDB
5:Disciple : But extension is a property of Matter. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
6:Humility is the mark of a genuine disciple. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #NFDB
7:Humility is the mark of a genuine disciple. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #NFDB
8:I'm a disciple of the Tao of Peter Parker, obviously, ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
9:He who submits to discipline is a DISCIPLE. ~ Chinmayananda Saraswati, #NFDB
10:Disciple : "I think" "I feel" – that is consciousness. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
11:Disciple : Then it is dangerous to worship these gods. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
12:To be a disciple of Jesus is to make disciples of Jesus. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
13:Disciple : It seems that the Devil is powerful in life. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
14:There is no Guru, no disciple. Realize who you are. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
15:I will learn from everyone and be no one's disciple. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
16:A Master who cannot bow to a disciple cannot bow to Buddha. ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #NFDB
17:Disciple : The gods do not care whether man is killed or not. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
18:Without the Lord, the disciple no longer knows who he is. ~ Adrienne von Speyr, #NFDB
19:Du Disciple Soutenant Son Maître Contre Les
Détracteurs
~ Clement Marot,#NFDB
20:I have no disciple. I am the servant of the servant of Rama . ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
21:Disciple : I find that my experience is, perhaps, not encouraging. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
22:I don't believe in morality . I'm a disciple of Bernard Shaw. ~ George Bernard Shaw, #NFDB
23:The disciple is rich not in possessions, but in personal identity. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
24:To be truly a good wife is almost as difficult as to be a true disciple. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
25:Unholy soldier, disciple of sin, what kind of mind are you living in? ~ Ozzy Osbourne, #NFDB
26:A persistently fruitless hearer of the Word cannot be a disciple of Jesus ~ John Piper, #NFDB
27:For a true disciple, the repetition of the mantra is like food. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi, #NFDB
28:A persistently fruitless hearer of the Word cannot be a disciple of Jesus. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
29:The true disciple should aim to live for the gospel, rather than to die for it. ~ Saadi, #NFDB
30:A true disciple shows his appreciation by reaching further than his teacher. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
31:Let him repulse lust and coveting, the disciple who would lead a holy life. ~ Dhammapada, #NFDB
32:I'm out to take the Bible, create disciples who make disciples, disciple cycles. ~ LeCrae, #NFDB
33:There is no Guru, no disciple. Realize who you are.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5], #index,#NFDB
34:When Peter would prove himself no disciple of Christ, he cursed and swore. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
35:Disciple : There are times when one cannot do work that is expected of one. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
36:Whoever does not r bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
37:A disciple is an asshole looking for a human being to attach itself to. ~ Robert Anton Wilson, #NFDB
38:But after a famous leader became his disciple there has been a change in him. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
39:Disciple : I find that it is not possible to put forth energy in the old way. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
40:When we heed God's Word, we are rejecting how the world tries to disciple us. ~ Matt Chandler, #NFDB
41:Disciple : One can go back in space but one can't go back in time, physically. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
42:Jung viewed Freud as a mentor, but he never wanted to be anybody's disciple. ~ Viggo Mortensen, #NFDB
43:I found out the hard way that if we don't disciple people, the culture sure will. ~ Alan Hirsch, #NFDB
44:Take from others what you want, but never be a disciple of anyone. ~ Alexander Sutherland Neill, #NFDB
45:The word discipline comes from disciple, someone who is in a position to learn. ~ Jon Kabat Zinn, #NFDB
46:One who delights in the ending of craving Is a disciple of the Fully Awakened One. ~ Gil Fronsdal, #NFDB
47:Science is not only a disciple of reason but, also, one of romance and passion. ~ Stephen Hawking, #NFDB
48:The church is not an audience of spectators; we are a fellowship of disciple-makers ~ David Platt, #NFDB
49:A disciple having asked for a definition of charity, the Master said LOVE ONE ANOTHER. ~ Confucius, #NFDB
50:Disciple : The idea is that there must be Aishwarya – power of God – in an Avatar. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
51:Smartass Disciple: Does stupidity a sin?
Master of Stupidity: No stupidity, no sin. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
52:To avoid causing terror to living beings, let the disciple refrain from eating meat. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
53:chapter. To be disciplined is literally to be a “disciple” to something bigger than you. ~ Mark Divine, #NFDB
54:The teacher is as a needle, the disciple is as thread. You must practice constantly. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #NFDB
55:Disciple : But that is not my consciousness; it is only the reaction of anger, not myself. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
56:Just as Dr. King was a disciple of Gandhi and Christ, we must now be Dr. King's disciples. ~ Cesar Chavez, #NFDB
57:The spiritual master can instruct the disciple though many different formats. ~ Bhaktisvarupa Damodar Swami, #NFDB
58:Be disciplined and disciple to thrive in every situation and keep cleaved to your plans. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
59:Jesus ... HIS sheep, they know His voice and they follow Him whether you disciple them or not! ~ Paul Washer, #NFDB
60:No matter what the disciple’s problem, the guru advised Kriya Yoga for its solution. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
61:Disciple : It was probably because of this that they went against the use of spiritual power. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
62:It is impossible to conduct your life as a disciple without definite times of secret prayer ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
63:And so it is that Simon—whom Jesus renames Peter, meaning “rock”—becomes Jesus’s first disciple. ~ Bill O Reilly, #NFDB
64:this: I lost Jesus in there. It seemed one could be a Christian without being a disciple of Jesus. ~ Sarah Bessey, #NFDB
65:Spoken words are of no use whatsoever if the eyes of the Guru meet the eyes of the disciple. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
66:Being a disciple of Jesus entails not only doing what Jesus did but also believing what Jesus believed. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
67:Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man. ~ Dwight L Moody, #NFDB
68:It’s our responsibility to find people we can disciple, and it’s our responsibility to be discipled. ~ Matt Chandler, #NFDB
69:Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death. The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
70:I am a disciple of the philosopher Dionysus, and I would prefer to be even a satyr than a saint. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
71:It’s absolutely absurd to say you are a disciple of Jesus Christ yet not bear the fruit of Jesus Christ. ~ Paul Washer, #NFDB
72:Do not become a disciple of one who praises himself, in case you learn pride instead of humility. ~ Mark the Evangelist, #NFDB
73:He is not a man of religion who does ill to another. He is not a disciple who causes suffering to another. ~ Dhammapada, #NFDB
74:The disciple of philosophy must present itself, first as a way of thinking and then as a way of life. ~ Peter Sloterdijk, #NFDB
75:Smartass Disciple: Why we shouldn’t judge others?
Master of Stupidity: Don’t! Unless you are paid for it. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
76:But the final step in becoming a disciple is decision. We become a life student of Jesus by deciding. When ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
77:Disciple : Huxley suggests that you must have "non-attached men" who must "practise virtue disinterestedly". ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
78:He lived in her, his disciple. For her to think, now, as he would have done. And to act always thereafter. ~ Dorothy Dunnett, #NFDB
79:Our work begins where God's grace has laid the foundation; we are not to save souls, but to disciple them. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
80:Smartass Disciple: But, you said that it's the truth??
Master of Stupidity: O Yes. That is yesterday's truth. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
81:The real guru is the pure intellect within; and the purified, deeply aspiring mind is the disciple. ~ Chinmayananda Saraswati, #NFDB
82:if we have put our hope and trust in Jesus, we have become a disciple of Jesus. That is part of our true identity. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
83:Karol Wojtyła, the disciple who was a product of the Church in the modern world, not of the Roman bureaucracy. ~ George Weigel, #NFDB
84:Sri Aurobindo : How do you know ? And what is space?Disciple: Space is the point of intersection of two points. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
85:automatically agreeing with everything a teacher says puts the disciple in a bad position with the God they worship. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
86:For the disciple of Jesus, being like a child means accepting oneself as being of little account, unimportant. ~ Brennan Manning, #NFDB
87:Smartass Disciple: How the hell do we find the truth ?
Master of Stupidity: Just seek it with hope it’ll find you. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
88:The guru is always ready to give what can be given, if the disciple can receive. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, The Guru, #NFDB
89:A disciple serves the spiritual master with the sole purpose of getting instructions from him. ~ A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, #NFDB
90:Guru Nanak named as his successor a disciple, Lehna, a Khatri of the Trehan clan, who became known as Guru Angad. ~ Rajmohan Gandhi, #NFDB
91:No doubt the artist is the child of his time; but woe to him if he is also its disciple, or even its favorite. ~ Friedrich Schiller, #NFDB
92:No one whose first concern is feeling good can be a disciple. We are called to carry a cross and to glorify God. ~ Elisabeth Elliot, #NFDB
93:The purpose of prayer is not for the disciple to give information to God. The purpose of prayer is intimacy with God. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
94:In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not say good-bye to c all his possessions d cannot be My disciple. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
95:Sri Aurobindo : Why should it be material ?Disciple : Only matter occupies space, consciousness cannot occupy space. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
96:It never cost a disciple anything to follow Jesus; to talk about cost when you are in love with anyone is an insult. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
97:Smartass Disciple: Please teach me about the truth, master.
Master of Stupidity: Hmmm...tell me about your sexperience! ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
98:Every master has but one disciple, and that one becomes unfaithful to him, for he too is destined for master-ship. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
99:Without stick or sword, filled with sympathy and benevolence, let the disciple show to all beings love and compassion. ~ Magghima Nikaya, #NFDB
100:The Scarlet Pimpernel is the most over-rated human being since Judas Iscariot won the A.D.31 'Best Disciple' competition. ~ Rowan Atkinson, #NFDB
101:You become a disciple in the biblical sense only when you are totally and completely committed to Jesus Christ and His Word. ~ Greg Laurie, #NFDB
102:All these distinctions made between the 'I' and 'you', Master and disciple etc. are merely a sign of one's ignorance. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
103:Slay thy desires, O disciple, make powerless thy vices, before thou takest the first step of that solemn journey. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, #NFDB
104:Smartass Disciple: Master, what did you do to earn wisdom ?
Master of Stupidity: Well, I forget. Shit happened, life goes on. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
105:A divided nature is the worst possible condition for this path. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram, Acceptance as a Disciple, #NFDB
106:But making disciples is far more than a program. It is the mission of our lives. It defines us. A disciple is a disciple maker. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
107:He whose senses are not attached to name and form who is no longer troubled by transient things; can be really called a disciple. ~ Dhammapada, #NFDB
108:I am proud to be a Sikh and am a true disciple of Guru Gobind Singh, who sacrificed his entire family for the Sikh religion. ~ Harbhajan Singh, #NFDB
109:[I] grew up as a disciple of science. I know its fascination. I have felt the godlike power man derives from his machines. ~ Charles Lindbergh, #NFDB
110:The stillness of prayer is the most essential condition for fruitful action. Before all else, the disciple kneels down. ~ Gianna Beretta Molla, #NFDB
111:It will always be true that the wisest course for the disciple is...to abide solely by the Word of God in all simplicity. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
112:Smartass Disciple: Which one was first created, time or things?
Master of Stupidity: No things, no changes. No changes, no time. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
113:Smartass Disciple: Master, what do say about the truth itself ?
Master of Stupidity: Like sex, no fun anymore if all is revealed. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
114:Smartass Disciple: Where were all things before the time began?
Master of Stupidity: What was the time before all things created? ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
115:Adi Shankaracharya smiled at his disciple and answered, “The rituals are not for the dead but for the loved ones left behind. ~ Anand Neelakantan, #NFDB
116:Disciple making is not a call for others to come to us to hear the gospel but a command for us to go to others to share the gospel. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
117:It is one thing being disciplined to plan and it is another thing being a disciple of great work. Be your own disciplinarian. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
118:Smartass Disciple: Master, how do you heal the broken heart?
Master of Stupidity: It isn’t a disease need to be healed. It’s life. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
119:The word disciple is the root word in discipline, so in a completely literal sense to discipline our children means to disciple them. ~ L R Knost, #NFDB
120:Becoming a disciple of Jesus involves far more than mere intellectual belief in him. But it certainly doesn't involve anything less. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
121:Smartass Disciple: Master, I’m going to change the whole world.
Master of Stupidity: It changes within you. It changes without you. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
122:Smartass Disciple: Master, why should people love each other ?
Master of Stupidity: Well, orgasm is felt better than kill each other. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
123:Being a disciple of Jesus means that we are being transformed into His image. God wants to change us so much that it intrigues others. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
124:Even in heavenly pleasures he finds no satisfaction, the disciple who is fully awakened delights only in the destruction of all desires. ~ Max Muller, #NFDB
125:One can be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ without denying the flickers of the sacred in followers of Yahweh, or Kali, or Krishna ~ Leonard Sweet, #NFDB
126:a lifelong disciple of Lord Chesterfield’s maxim that a gentleman was free to do anything he pleased as long as he did it with style. ~ Joseph J Ellis, #NFDB
127:I'm a disciple of Raymond Chandler, who said in his essays that there's a quality of redemption in anything that can be called art. ~ Michael Connelly, #NFDB
128:It is biblically, spiritually, and practically impossible to be a disciple of Christ apart from total devotion to a family of Christians. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
129:Said a disciple, 'I don't trade my love for money.'
Said the Master, 'isn't itas bad - or worse - that you trade it for love? ~ Anthony de Mello,#NFDB
130:That he may vanquish hate, let the disciple live with a soul delivered from all hate and show towards all beings love and compassion. ~ Magghima Nikaya, #NFDB
131:We have moved so far away from Jesus’s command that many Christians don’t have a frame of reference for what disciple making looks like. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
132:His teachings, said his disciple Musaeus, had one simple theme: 'Everything comes into being from the One and is resolved into the One again. ~ Ann Wroe, #NFDB
133:Satguru knows that there is no death to the disciple. Atma never dies. Even after death he continues to get direction on the path ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, #NFDB
134:Smartass Disciple: What were said for things before the time exist?
Master of Stupidity: No words to be said by no man at no time at all. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
135:the person with an abiding spirit of gratitude is the one who trusts God. The foremost quality of a trusting disciple is gratefulness. ~ Brennan Manning, #NFDB
136:A man shows himself a true disciple of Christ by carrying the cross in his turn every day in the activity that he is called to perform. ~ Pope John Paul II, #NFDB
137:The difficulties which come to birth in the disciple, are ignorance, egoism, desire, aversion and a tenacious will to existence upon the earth. ~ Patanjali, #NFDB
138:Let the disciple consecrate himself to love, not in order to seek for his own happiness, but let him take pleasure in love for the love of love. ~ Jatakamala, #NFDB
139:Smartass Disciple: Master, tell me what is it beyond this universe ?
Master of Stupidity: No 'space' in no 'gravity'. No 'thing' in spaceless. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
140:Smartass Disciple: Master, why do some people so stubborn and unruly ?
Master of Stupidity: Only when you want them do according to your wish. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
141:You are only a disciple because your eyes are closed. The day you open them you will see there is nothing you can learn from me or anyone. ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
142:Disciple : But the radio and telephone are a great success in Japan and in Europe; one can listen to the best musicians for four to six hours. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
143:Smartass Disciple: Master, do you really believe in the second chance?
Master of Stupidity: That supports the basis of lost-then-found concept. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
144:Smartass Disciple: Master, where is exactly the edge of this universe ?
Master of Stupidity: Edge is wherever the absence of universal gravity. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
145:Smartass Disciple: My master, please show me how to be a wise man!
Master of Stupidity: I can't. But I can show you how to do something wisely. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
146:The guru is not as important as the disciple himself. If one worships with utmost devotion, even a stone would become the Supreme Lord. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
147:A true disciple of Jesus will always go to where people are feeling weak, broken, sick, in pain, poor, lonely, forgotten, anxious, and lost. ~ Henri J M Nouwen, #NFDB
148:Nothing avails: every master has but one disciple, and that one becomes unfaithful to him, for he too is destined for mastership. [408] ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
149:Smartass Disciple: Master, I feel really really confused about the truth.
Master of Stupidity: Only confused? Walk in my shoes then you tell me. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
150:Smartass Disciple: Why do arrogant people like to say complex words ?
Master of Stupidity: Ask them straight! You'll get a simple scary version. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
151:No seventeenth-century pedagogue would have publicly advised his disciple, as did Erasmus in his Dialogues, on the choice of a good prostitute. ~ Michel Foucault, #NFDB
152:Smartass Disciple: Master, that guy’s teaching is somehow annoying me.
Master of Stupidity: Only as long as you stay tuned for pissed-off channel. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
153:Smartass Disciple: Master, why God let human did sins in the beginning?
Master of Stupidity: If the saviour must come, why should He prevent that? ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
154:Too often we forget that discipline really means to teach, not to punish. A disciple is a student, not a recipient of behavioural consequences. ~ Daniel J Siegel, #NFDB
155:Cobden was the greatest statesman and prophet of the century. His speeches are an inspiration. A man whose disciple I am willing to confess I am. ~ Richard Cobden, #NFDB
156:Smartass Disciple: Master, please show me the way to the enlightenment.
Master of Stupidity: Walk with me! [but I won't let you try to surpass me]. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
157:Smartass Disciple: Master, what is the secret recipe of your happiness?
Master of Stupidity: If I tell you, there is nobody left to be made fun of. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
158:Even a pandit comes to grief by giving instruction to a foolish disciple, by maintaining a wicked wife, and by excessive familiarity with the miserable. ~ Chanakya, #NFDB
159:The purpose of prayer is not for the disciple to bring information to God; the purpose of prayer is for the disciple to experience intimacy with God. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
160:He was intelligent, and just sufficiently educated to think himself a disciple of Epicurus; while he was, in reality, only a product of Pigault-Lebrun. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
161:If you want to learn the craft of war, ponder over this book. The teacher is as a needle, the disciple is as thread. You must practice constantly. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #NFDB
162:Smartass Disciple: If you are really a master, then make me see miracles!
Master of Stupidity: Go to sleep and dream, then wake up thirty years later! ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
163:The mentor-mentee relationship is ideally like that of the guru and disciple: motivated by the desire of the guru to impart knowledge to the disciple. ~ Vivek Wadhwa, #NFDB
164:There are two things that we should avoid, oh disciple! A life of pleasures, that is low and vain. A life of mortification, that is useless and vain. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
165:There is only one difference between teacher and disciple: the former is slightly less afraid than the latter.” ~Deidre O’Neill, known as Edde (p. 213) ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
166:Now I begin to be a disciple. Let fire and cross, flocks of beasts, broken bones, dismemberment come upon me, so long as I attain to Jesus Christ. ~ Ignatius of Antioch, #NFDB
167:Smartass Disciple: Master, why heaven is up there and hell is down there ?
Master of Stupidity: If otherwise, it wouldn't be celebrated as ascension day. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
168:A disciple asked, "Who is a Master?" The Master replied, "Anyone to whom it is given to let go of the ego. Such a person's life is then a masterpiece. ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
169:Disciple : But I suppose these two things : the inner spiritual consciousness of the Divine and the Aishwarya – the powers of God – are not incompatible. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
170:Smartass Disciple: Master, I believe that the truth will prevail at the end.
Master of Stupidity: No 'the end' for the truth. 'Prevail' is something else. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
171:Smartass Disciple: If there were two masters, which one should I listen to?
Master of Stupidity: Use the ears to the one who looks so stupid, eyes to else. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
172:Smartass Disciple: Master, how do I know that I am not dreaming right now ?
Master of Stupidity: You don’t. Only those who see you're dreaming can tell it. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
173:Smartass Disciple: Master, you keep preaching the truth. They don't listen.
Master of Stupidity: Oh that's not bad. That attitude keeps us in the business. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
174:When a fully qualified Mahayana disciple relies completely upon a fully qualified Mahayana Spiritual Guide the attainment of enlightenment is easy. ~ Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, #NFDB
175:Why must we “stop judging” others? For one thing, our authority is limited. The disciple James reminds us: “One there is that is lawgiver and judge”—Jehovah. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
176:O disciple, that which was not created dwells in thee. If thou wish to attain to it,...thou must strip thyself of thy dark robes of illusion. ~ The Book of Golden Precepts, #NFDB
177:Here the ways of men divide. If you wish to strive for peace of soul and happiness, then believe; if you wish to be a disciple of truth, then inquire. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
178:Smartass Disciple: Master, I want to be the better me by forgetting my past.
Master of Stupidity: If you just forget it, how would you measure you're better? ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
179:Smartass Disciple: Master, where will you go after your soul leaves your body?
Master of Stupidity: What makes you think a soul will go elsewhere physically? ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
180:Smartass Disciple: Master, can you trust this bank to keep your money safe?
Master of Stupidity: Well, I can put a bit less distrust on this bank than others. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
181:Smartass Disciple: Master, I want to eradicate all corruptions in this world.
Master of Stupidity: Let it be a bit! Otherwise you'll make us jobless for good. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
182:Smartass Disciple: Master, why there was no second chance in garden of eden?
Master of Stupidity: Of course. Perhaps, human can only enjoy one-time virginity. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
183:That your art, as best it can, also follows Divine Intellect, as the disciple follows the master; So in reality, your art is, as it were, God's grandchild. ~ Dante Alighieri, #NFDB
184:Or, as David Platt says, the goal is not to disinfect Christians and separate them from the world but to disciple them and send them back into the world: Whereas ~ J D Greear, #NFDB
185:Smartass Disciple: I've been searching for so long.I still can't find the truth.
Master of Stupidity: Until you've lost and felt desperate, you won't be found. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
186:That is the most logical conclusion unless you admit, like the materialists, that everything comes from matter.Disciple : Well, the conventional idea is that. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
187:For the big donors, Ryan was a superstar, a square-jawed, blue-eyed, earnest young Ayn Rand disciple described as “wonky” so often it seemed affixed to his title. ~ Jane Mayer, #NFDB
188:Smartass Disciple: Master, we should not spend our time to low life like them.
Master of Stupidity: If I don’t, then how should I lead men like you to be wiser? ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
189:Smartass Disciple: Master, what are you talking about? None of us understand!
Master of Stupidity: Be patient! It is not ended yet. The end justifies the means. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
190:Smartass Disciple: Master, you should teach people not to do war to each other.
Master of Stupidity: I should teach people how to win their minds of their wars. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
191:Smartass Disciple: What were you thinking when the truth is revealed unto you?
Master of Stupidity: I wasn't thinking. I was having sex when it came to my mind. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
192:The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in his motives, having been made good by the supernatural grace of God. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
193:If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
194:Smartass Disciple: Master, how could I know that you’ve told me the whole truth?
Master of Stupidity: Someday. [Never on earth. Otherwise I’d lose you and my job] ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
195:Smartass Disciple : Master, why you keep telling about the truth? Nobody hears.
Master of Stupidity : O Yea. They hear but don't listen. Anyway, no fun in silent. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
196:This is a great error to imagine that men can have a lofty spiritual life when the body remains in luxury and idleness. The body is ever the first disciple of the soul. ~ Thoreạu, #NFDB
197:all which isn't singing is merely talking
and all talking's talking to oneself
(whether that oneself be sought or seeking
master or disciple sheep or wolf) ~ E E Cummings,#NFDB
198:Look at Ignatius cheerfully travelling to the place where he was to be devoured by lions, and saying as he went, “Now do I begin to be a disciple of my Master, Christ. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
199:Next on the programme was ‘A wife Eats Husks’, from ‘The Story of the Lute’, followed by ‘Bodhidharma and his Disciple Crossing the River’, from ‘The Pilgrim’s Path’. ~ Cao Xueqin, #NFDB
200:There is only one difference between teacher and disciple: the former is slightly less afraid than the latter.” ~ Paulo CoelhoDeidre O’Neill, known as Edde (p. 213) ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
201:Smartass Disciple: Master, what will happen to the men right after their death ?
Master of Stupidity: They live with a same or different part of their consciousness. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
202:There is a stupid humility that is quite common and when a person is afflicted with it, he is once and for all disqualified for being a disciple of knowledge. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
203:ACT9.36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
204:Religion itself is nothing else but Love to God and Man. He that lives in Love lives in God, says the Beloved Disciple: And to be sure a Man can live no where better. ~ William Penn, #NFDB
205:If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
206:Smartass Disciple: Three years! I've listened you preaching just for this silly truth?
Master of Stupidity: Who said I was preaching? Who said anything about the truth? ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
207:Smartass Disciple: Why men don't ready yet to join the intergalactic confederation?
Master of Stupidity: Men could make them laugh to death. It'd be too risky for them. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
208:The disciple is not hankering for knowledge; he wants to see, not to know. He wants to be. He is no longer interested in having more knowledge; he wants to have more being. ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
209:We have entered the nineteenth century; we do not need to be a disciple of Mrs Wollstonecraft to feel that women should not be denied a voice in matters that concern them. ~ P D James, #NFDB
210:Irenaeus, very disciple of the apostle John, wrote: “The glory of God is the human being fully alive and the life of the human consists in beholding God” (emphasis added). ~ Ann Voskamp, #NFDB
211:The disposition to give a cup of cold water to a disciple is a far nobler property than the finest intellect. Satan has a fine intellect, but not the image of God. ~ William Dean Howells, #NFDB
212:A disciple does not ask, "How much can I keep?" but, "How much more can I give?" Whenever we start to get comfortable with our level of giving, it's time to raise it again. ~ Randy Alcorn, #NFDB
213:disciple of that school of trainers of the young idea which holds that childhood, like money, must be shaken and rattled and jostled about a good deal to keep it bright. ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
214:Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple is not above his master. Following Christ means passio passiva, suffering because we have to suffer. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
215:Wherever you go," said the Patriarch, "I'm convinced you'll come to no good. So remember, when you get into trouble, I absolutely forbid you to say that you are my disciple. ~ Wu Cheng en, #NFDB
216:The disciple is one who, intent upon becoming Christ-like and so dwelling in his “faith and practice,” systematically and progressively rearranges his affairs to that end. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
217:Smartass Disciple: Master, I don’t need a fairytale.I need you to tell me the truth.
Master of Stupidity: It is not funny if you just found it. No drama if no lost at first. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
218:The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail…. Whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. ~ Mark Nepo, #NFDB
219:A man must be himself convinced if he is to convince others. The prophet must be his own disciple, or he will make none. Enthusiasm is contagious: belief creates belief. ~ George Henry Lewes, #NFDB
220:The disciple has rejected indolence and indolence conquers him not; loving the light, intelligent, clearly conscient, he purifies his heart of all laxness and all lassitude. ~ Buddhist Texts, #NFDB
221:If any have more of the government of thee than Christ, or if thou hadst rather live after any other laws than his, if it were at thy choice, thou art not his disciple (331). ~ Richard Baxter, #NFDB
222:If Jesus had to suffer, why would we think ourselves exempt? After all, as He explained, “a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). ~ David Jeremiah, #NFDB
223:Now I begin to be a disciple. . . . Let fire and cross, flocks of beasts, broken bones, dismemberment, come upon me, so long as I attain to Jesus Christ. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH ~ Justo L Gonz lez, #NFDB
224:52 Then he added, “Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
225:A disciple described Morihei like this: “The Great Master is like Mount Fuji. So majestic and beautiful from a distance, so steep and dangerous to ascend when you get up close. ~ Morihei Ueshiba, #NFDB
226:What is my identity ?" "Nothing," said the Master. "You mean that I am an emptiness and a void?" said the incredulous disciple. "Nothing that can be labeled." said the Master. ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
227:Musashi could teach his techniques and give advice, but in the end each disciple was required to assess his own strength, find his own Way, and make that Way truly his own. ~ William Scott Wilson, #NFDB
228:You can't find a YouTube clip to become a craftsman, friend, parent - or disciple of Christ. It's all of grace. And to grow in that grace, you need two things: time and community. ~ Michael Horton, #NFDB
229:Seek other people's advice, but don't take orders. And don't take 100% of anyone's advice. Make sure every decision you make is a product of your own conclusion. Be a student, not a disciple. ~ Jim Rohn, #NFDB
230:Just as Christ is Christ only in virtue of his suffering and rejection, so the disciple is a disciple only in so far as he shares his Lord's suffering and rejection and crucifixion. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
231:Slave. Minion. Fiend. The others who have come before me have been called such things, but I prefer to think of myself as a disciple; a devout follower of my voluptuous mistress. ~ Charlotte Featherstone, #NFDB
232:The Jesus Creed teaches us that a disciple’s responsibility is to love God by following Jesus. You only follow someone else when your own lights or sense of direction are not good enough. ~ Scot McKnight, #NFDB
233:The goal of the disciple of Jesus, then, is not to answer the question, “What is God’s will for my life?” The goal, instead, is to walk in God’s will on a moment-by-moment, day-by-day basis. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
234:Discipline yourself to be a disciple of great works and to do that excellently, you have to wave "bye-bye" to some things and then switch off your inner person not to go near them again! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
235:If I am a Pariah, I will be all the more glad, for I am the disciple of a man, who - the Brahmin of Brahmins - wanted to cleanse the house of a Pariah. (here "the man" means Ramakrishna) ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
236:The disciple lives as a reconciler of those that are divided, uniting more closely those that are friends, establishing peace, preparing peace, rich in peace, pronouncing always words of peace ~ Metta Sutta, #NFDB
237:Being a disciple means being constantly ready to bring the love of Jesus to others, and this can happen unexpectedly and in any place: on the street, in a city square, during work, on a journey. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
238:Loving God more than anyone or anything else is the very foundation of being a disciple. If you want to live your Christian life to its fullest, then love Jesus more than anyone or anything else. ~ Greg Laurie, #NFDB
239:Of course, they want to use it for an educative purpose. They may relay good music but the question is whether people appreciate and understand it.Disciple : Radios are better than gramophones. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
240:Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been acalled of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life. ~ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, #NFDB
241:At the back of it there lies the central citadel of obstinacy: I will not give up my right to myself--the thing God intends you to give up if ever you are going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
242:I do not consider anyone to be my disciple. I have never sought upadesh from anyone nor do I give ceremonial upadesh. If the people call themselves my disciples I do not approve or disapprove. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
243:The true disciple rejects enervation and idleness; he is delivered from caieless lassitude. Loving the light, intelligent and clear of vision he purifies his heart of all carelessness and idleness. ~ Majjhima Sntta, #NFDB
244:The disciple must have great power of endurance. Bear all evil and misery without one thought of unhappiness, resistance, remedy, or retaliation. That is true endurance, and that you must acquire. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
245:Smartass Disciple: Master, if you are so good, can you drive a car with your eyes closed?
Master of Stupidity: Thou shall not break the rules of drive safely.
Thou shall not tempt the police as well. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
246:if a person wishes to achieve peace of mind and happiness then they should acquire faith, but if they want to be a disciple of truth, which can be "frightening and ugly,” then they need to search. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
247:The yogi is greater than body-disciplining ascetics, greater even than the followers of the path of wisdom (jnana yoga), or of the path of action (karma yoga); be thou, O disciple Arjuna, a yogi! ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
248:And so I think what miracle it would be if this miracle which man attends eternally should turn out to be nothing more than these two enormous turds which the faithful disciple dropped in the bidet. ~ Henry Miller, #NFDB
249:If you have this extraordinary thing going in your life, then it is everything; then you become the teacher, the disciple, the neighbour, the beauty of the cloud - you are all that, and that is love. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
250:Is not prayer the intensely personal struggle within each disciple, and among us collectively, to resist the despair and distractions that cause us to practice unbelief, to abandon or avoid the way of Jesus? ~ Ched Myers, #NFDB
251:The Lord Buddha was once asked by a disciple to sum up the whole of His teaching in one verse. He replied: Cease to do evil; Learn to do well; Cleanse your own heart; This is the religion of the Buddha. ~ Arthur E Powell, #NFDB
252:if a person wishes to achieve peace of mind and happiness then they should acquire faith, but if they want to be a disciple of truth, which can be "frightening and ugly,” then they need to
search. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche,#NFDB
253:To destroy the need to learn, this is the best thing to do: to gone feeling that you already know. Then there's no question of learning, no need to become a disciple. You are satisfied, in your grave. You are dead. ~ Osho, #NFDB
254:A disciple once complained, "You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us." The master replied, "How would you like it if someone offered you fruit and chewed it up for you before giving it to you? ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
255:If after having traversed the hall of wisdom, thou wouldst reach the valley of Beatitude, close, O disciple, thy senses to the great and cruel heresy of the separation which severs thee from the rest. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, #NFDB
256:a living Gospel, breathed in living faces, preached by a thousand unconscious acts of love and good will, which, like the cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple, shall never lose their reward. ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe, #NFDB
257:Good is the mastery of the body, good the mastery of the speech, good too the mastery of the mind, good the perfect self-mastery. The disciple who is the master of himself, shall deliver his soul from every sorrow. ~ Dhammapada, #NFDB
258:The disciple living by grace rather than law has undergone a decisive conversion—a turning from mistrust to trust. The foremost characteristic of living by grace is trust in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. ~ Brennan Manning, #NFDB
259:To live outcast from your own kind, laughed at and mocked by most mortals. Living in a hovel, barely scraping by. Spurning wealth and fame. Why do you do it?” “I’m a disciple of the Tao of Peter Parker, obviously, ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
260:Let the disciple cultivate love without measure towards all beings. Let him cultivate towards the whole world, above, below, around, a heart of love unstinted....For in all the world this state of heart is best. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
261:A true occultist, be he student, disciple, or initiate, never discloses his position to any except those equally interested and equally sincere along similar lines. ~ Manly P Hall, What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples, #NFDB
262:To a visitor who asked to become his disciple the Master said, "You may live with me, but don't become my follower." "Whom, then, shall I follow?" "No one. The day you follow someone you cease to follow Truth . ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
263:Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus....I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
264:Discovering himself everywhere and in all things, the disciple embraces the entire world in a sentiment of peace, of compassion, of love-large, profound and without limits, delivered from all wrath and all hatred. ~ Magghima Nikaya, #NFDB
265:If the devotee practices spiritual discipline a little, the Guru explains everything to him. Then the disciple understands for himself what is real and what is unreal. God alone is real, and the world is illusory. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
266:A disciple said to him, "I am ready, in the quest for God , to give up anything: wealth, friends, family, country, life itself. What else can a person give up?" The Master calmly replied, "One's beliefs about God. ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
267:Carelessness is not proper even for the worldling who derives vanity from his family and his riches; how much less for a disciple who has proposed to himself for his goal to discover the path of liberation ! ~ Fo -shu-hing-tsan-king, #NFDB
268:This is a gathering of Lovers.
In this gathering
there is no high, no low,
no smart, no ignorant,
no special assembly,
no grand discourse,
no proper schooling required.
There is no master,
no disciple. ~ Rumi,#NFDB
269:It must be noted that it is often the colleague or direct disciple of a new thinker who gets stuck in literal interpretations of the work, tending to freeze the new ideas and language into an inflexible, static condition. ~ Uta Hagen, #NFDB
270:Sri Aurobindo : That is due to Tamas — inertia. The question is not of Tamas coming up. Even if Tamas came, why should the energy be absent?Disciple : There are times when one can't put forth energy as one used to do. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
271:Jesus will not accept the common distinction between righteous indignation and unjustifiable anger. The disciple must be entirely innocent of anger, because anger is an offence against both God and his neighbour. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
272:And Pythagoras is reported to have been a disciple of Sonches the Egyptian arch-prophet; and Plato, of Sechnuphis of Heliopolis; and Eudoxus, of Cnidius of Konuphis, who was also an Egyptian.
[Stromata, 1.15] ~ Clement of Alexandria,#NFDB
273:Discipline derives from disciple—disciple to a philosophy, disciple to a set of principles, disciple to a set of values, disciple to an overriding purpose, to a superordinate goal or a person who represents that goal. ~ Stephen R Covey, #NFDB
274:A disciple, in his reverence for the Master, looked upon him as God incarnate. "Tell me, O Master," he said, "why you have come into this world." "To teach fools like you to stop wasting their time worshiping Masters. ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
275:Disciple: I suppose men admire them because they find in them the realisation of their own potential greatness. ~ Sri Aurobindo: Of course. Huxley speaks of Caesar and Napoleon as if they were the first dictators the world had ever seen, #NFDB
276:How we use our money is the clearest outside indicator of what we really believe. ... If someone is a true disciple of Jesus Christ, the evidence will be found in that person's everyday life - including his or her use of money. ~ Larry Burkett, #NFDB
277:You are only a disciple because your eyes are closed. The day you open them you will see there is nothing you can learn from me or anyone. What then is a Master for? To make you see the uselessness of having one. Anthony de Mello ~ Jed McKenna, #NFDB
278:A disciple...can never imitate his guide's steps. You have your own way of living your life, of dealing with problems, and of winning. Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
279:Rabbi Aviner, an early Kook disciple wrote, Israel was called “to be holy, not moral, and the general principles of morality, customary for all mankind, do not bind the people of Israel, because it has been chosen to be above them. ~ Max Blumenthal, #NFDB
280:One may have many teachers, but only one guru, who remains as one's guru even in many different lives, until the disciple reaches the final goal of emancipation in God. You must remember this, once that relationship is formed. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
281:We deal five minutes with a person and their conversion and then we spend the next fifty years trying to disciple a goat into a sheep. I'm not saying this because I'm angry. I'm saying this because countless people are being deceived. ~ Paul Washer, #NFDB
282:Exchanging blows generously, which is not uncommon in some other martial arts, is unthinkable in Shaolin philosophy, because a Shaolin disciple always assumes that an opponent is competent and able to inflict damage with just one blow. ~ Wong Kiew Kit, #NFDB
283:Texaco's unusual situation can be summarized in one sentence, often repeated by Graham and Dodd disciple Warren Buffett: A great investment opportunity occurs when a marvelous business encounters a onetime huge, but solvable, problem. ~ Benjamin Graham, #NFDB
284:teach them how to know God." "Why?" "So that they will be saved. Because it was Christ's command that His disciples should give the message. I am His disciple, so I have to tell the message." "Was there any special stipulation as ~ Grace Livingston Hill, #NFDB
285:The ninth disciple is called James the son of Alphaeus. This is the quality of discernment, A clear and ordered mind is the voice which calls this disciple into being. This faculty perceives that which is not revealed to the eye of man. ~ Neville Goddard, #NFDB
286:I wonder if Peter was chosen not for being the most perfect among the disciples (John is the beloved disciple to whom Christ entrusts his own mother) but for being the one who was most willing to bring his imperfections to God for correction. ~ Leah Libresco, #NFDB
287:The seeker says, "I do not know." That takes honesty. The master says, "I do not know." That takes a mystic's mind that knows things through non-knowing. The disciple says, "I know." That takes ignorance, in the form of borrowed knowledge. ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
288:we reduce discipleship to a canned program, and so many in the church end up sidelined in a spectator mentality that delegates disciple making to pastors and professionals, ministers and missionaries. But this is not the way it’s supposed to be. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
289:We’ve invented a thousand shades of gray, devising a comfortable Christian existence we can all live with—super awesome, except the Bible doesn’t support it. According to Scripture, no real disciple serves God while addicted to the dollar. There ~ Jen Hatmaker, #NFDB
290:Jesus—for example, his categorical rejection of divorce, or his statement that “if anyone does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26)? ~ Elaine Pagels, #NFDB
291:I was talking to a Zen master the other day and he said, "You shall be my disciple."I looked at him and said, "Who was Buddha's teacher?" He looked at me in a very odd way for a moment and then he burst into laughter and handed me a piece of clover. ~ Alan Watts, #NFDB
292:If the heart is devoted to the mirage of the world, to the creature instead of the Creator, the disciple is lost... However urgently Jesus may call us, His call fails to find access to our hearts... for they have already been given to another. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
293:A man is born gentle and weak. At death, he is hard and stiff. Green plants are tender and filled with sap. At death, they are withered and dry. Therefore, the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death, and the gentle and yielding is the disciple of life. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
294:It’s impossible to be a disciple or a follower of someone and not end up like that person. Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). That’s the whole point of being a ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
295:Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect ... Your have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
296:I am part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed... My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is in God's hands... I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till he comes, give until I drop, speak out until all know, and work until he stops me. ~ Patrick Madrid, #NFDB
297:If true religion is to beam upon us, our principle must be, that it is necessary to begin with heavenly teaching, and that it is impossible for any man to obtain even the minutest portion of right and sound doctrine without being a disciple of Scripture. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
298:Lying words are unworthy of a disciple, for his aspiration should be sincere and straightforward and knavish and flattering words are kin to witchcraft. The man who occupies himself with spiritual questions, ought not to proffer any such utterances. ~ Fo-sho-tsan-kiug, #NFDB
299:For what is a disciple? He is one who seeks to learn a new rhythm, to enter a new field of experience, and to follow the steps of that advanced humanity who have trodden ahead of him the path, leading from darkness to light, from the unreal to the real. ~ Alice A Bailey, #NFDB
300:A disciple: I am worried about human suffering all over the world. What is the solution?Spiritual leader: The solution to our miseries lie within central atom of our being, ‘I’. Once this central atom transcends to ‘WE’, human sufferings can be resolved. ~ Santosh Kalwar, #NFDB
301:Only by walking with God can we hope to find the path that leads to life. That is what it means to be a disciple. After all -- aren't we 'followers of Christ'? Then by all means, let's actually follow him. Not ideas about him. Not just his principles. Him. ~ John Eldredge, #NFDB
302:This extremely shocking and utterly revolutionary call is the essence of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus: we are not called to simply believe certain points or observe certain practices, but ultimately to cling to the person of Christ as life itself. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
303:When obedience to the Divine precepts keeps pace with knowledge, in the mind of any man, that man is a Christian; and when the fruits of Christianity are produced, that man is a disciple of our blessed Lord, let his profession of religion be what it may. ~ Joseph Lancaster, #NFDB
304:A missional theology...appl ies to the whole of life of every believer. Every disciple is to be an agent of the kingdom of God, and every disciple is to carry the mission of God into every sphere of life. We are all missionaries sent into a non-Christian culture. ~ Alan Hirsch, #NFDB
305:[Hearing God] is for the disciple of Jesus Christ who has no higher preference than to be like him. Perhaps we do not hear the voice because we do not expect to hear it. Perhaps we do not expect it because we know we fully intend to run our lives on our own... ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
306:Now, stopping thought is only the beginning. As Brahmananda, who was a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, once remarked: The inner life begins with samadhi. This is an awesome thought, I realize, for the average person who meditates, that it could begin with samadhi. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
307:Sri Aurobindo: What do you mean by that?Disciple: It is very difficult to imagine two dimensions of time. ~ Sri Aurobindo: You can say that on a plane higher than the mind time becomes static, – that the past, present and future appear in a line (without a break) and are static, #NFDB
308:The Guru and Disciple relationship is where the person has a 100% belief in the Guru and that way you put your trust in the Guru, that he's going to get you out of this mess. If you are a Christian, then Christ is your Guru, and they're all disciples of Christ. ~ George Harrison, #NFDB
309:Describing Francis as the truly humble person, Bonaventure writes: “As Christ’s disciple he strove to regard himself as worthless in his own eyes and those of others. He used to make this statement frequently: ‘What a person is before God, that he is and no more.’”34 ~ Ilia Delio, #NFDB
310:There is a vast difference between devotion to a person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause- He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself. To be a disciple is to be a devoted bondservant motivated by love for the Lord Jesus. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
311:We will be arguing that structures don’t grow ministry any more than trellises grow vines, and that most churches need to make a conscious shift—away from erecting and maintaining structures, and towards growing people who are disciple-making disciples of Christ. ~ Colin Marshall, #NFDB
312:...if a person remains in a state of unforgiveness the Spirit of the Lord will allow tormentors to enter him. That's what Christ told Peter when the disciple asked, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" (Matt. 18:21). ~ Benny Hinn, #NFDB
313:The Guru must deal with each disciple according to his separate nature and accordingly guide his sadhana; even if it is the same line of sadhana for all, yet at every point for each it differs. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram, General Rules and Individual Natures, #NFDB
314:A disciple was one day recalling how Buddha , Jesus , Mohammed were branded as rebels and heretics by their contemporaries. Said the Master, Nobody can be said to have attained the pinnacle of Truth until a thousand sincere people have denounced him for blasphemy . ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
315:After he has been following Christ for a long time, the disciple of Jesus will be asked, "Lacked ye anything?" and he will answer "Nothing, Lord." How could he when he knows that despite hunger and nakedness, persecution and danger, the Lord is always at his side? ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
316:Indiana was such a devout disciple of Shakti that she had once considered taking her name until her father, Blake Jackson, managed to convince her that a Hindu goddess's name was not appropriate for a tall, voluptuous blond American with the looks of an inflatable doll. ~ Isabel Allende, #NFDB
317:The disciple should think that all things in this world are subject to a constant transformation...that all things in the past are like a dream, that all in the present are like a flash of lightning and all in the future like images that arrive spontaneously into existence. ~ Aҫwaghosha, #NFDB
318:Any ironic or irreverent disciple of Voltaire will find it difficult to resist making the obvious remark that, things being what they are, purity can be maintained only so long as there are innocent creatures to sacrifice in this world, whether turtledoves, lambs, or others. ~ Jos Saramago, #NFDB
319:So you have to be your own teacher and your own disciple, and there is no teacher outside, no saviour, no master; you yourself have to change, and therefore you have to learn to observe, to know yourself. This learning about yourself is a fascinating and joyous business. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
320:meekness and lowliness of heart are to be the distinguishing feature of the disciple, just as they were of the Master. And further, that this humility is not something that will come of itself, but that it must be made the object of special desire, prayer, faith, and practice. ~ Andrew Murray, #NFDB
321:To be a disciple means forsaking everything to follow Jesus, unconditionally, putting our lives completely in His hands. When we say that we want to be His disciple, yet attach a list of conditions, Jesus refuses to accept our terms. His terms involve unconditional surrender. ~ Richard Stearns, #NFDB
322:When we look at what we have to offer—our skills, gifts, and desires—before asking what is needed of us, we are putting the cart before the horse, or the gifts before the call. The question a disciple must first ask is not, "What am I good at?" but rather, "What is required of me? ~ Jeff Goins, #NFDB
323:Warriors I we call ourselves warriors? But of what fashion of warriors, tell me then, are we? We battle, O disciple, that is why we are called warriors. Why do we battle, O Master? For lofty virtue, for high discernment, for sublime wisdom,—that is why we are called warriors. ~ Anguttara Nikaya, #NFDB
324:If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and [joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me].” (Mark 8:34 AMP) ~ John Bevere, #NFDB
325:EAT YOUR OWN FRUIT A disciple once complained, “You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us.” Said the master, “How would you like it if someone offered you fruit and masticated it before giving it to you?” No one can find your meaning for you. Not even the master. ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
326:Devotion has its own strange ways. It is not something rational, logical, something that can be explained to you. But it is something, if you go on growing from a student into a disciple, from a disciple into a devotee, and you come so close to the master that there is no distinction at all. ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
327:May I not safely credit her assertions? Will it not be easy for me to forget her sex, and still consider her as my Friend and my disciple? Surely her love is as pure as She describes. Had it been the offspring of mere licentiousness, would She so long have concealed it in her own bosom? ~ Matthew Lewis, #NFDB
328:Jesus didn't really die-someone gave him a long drug that made him look like dead, and he revived in the tomb. Answer: Roman soldiers knew how to kill people, and no disciple would have been fooled by a half-drugged, beat-up Jesus into thinking he'd defeated death and inaugurated the kingdom. ~ N T Wright, #NFDB
329:In twenty cities, or about that number, the godly [Huguenots] have been slaughtered by raging mobs,” Calvin noted grimly to his chief disciple, Théodore Beza, in a letter written in May 1561. In Provence, enraged Protestants ransacked Catholic churches and destroyed relics in retaliation. ~ Nancy Goldstone, #NFDB
330:Too often we forget that “discipline” really means “to teach”—not “to punish.” A disciple is a student, not a recipient of behavioral consequences. When we teach mindsight, we take moments of conflict and transform them into opportunities for learning, skill building, and brain development. ~ Daniel J Siegel, #NFDB
331:Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? ~ Melanie Dickerson, #NFDB
332:And he has the teacher's fear of being surpassed by the student, the master's dread of having the disciple discredit his work. (Not that I am in any real sense Nemur's student or disciple as Burt is.) I guess Nemur's fear of being revealed as a man walking on stilts among giants is understandable. ~ Daniel Keyes, #NFDB
333:Listen, friends," said the disciple confidently, " [...] I didn't have a friend in the world. Do you know what it's like not to have a friend in the world?"
"It ain't no worsen havinum that would put a knife in your back when you wasn't looking," the older man said, barely parting his lips. ~ Flannery O Connor,#NFDB
334:The disciple simply burns his boats and goes ahead. He is called out... The old life is left behind, and completely surrendered. The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity... out of the realm of the finite...into the realm of infinite possibilities. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
335:Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
336:For at least several decades the churches of the Western world have not made discipleship a condition of being a Christian. One is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress toward or in discipleship. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
337:Men are born soft and supple; dead they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail. ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
338:There is no satisfying the senses, not even with a shower of money. "The senses are of slight pleasure and really suffering." When a wise man has realised this, he takes no pleasure, as a disciple of the Buddhas, even in the pleasures of heaven. Instead he takes pleasure in the elimination of craving. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
339:Bonhoeffer’s interest was not only in teaching them as a university lecturer. He wished to “disciple” them in the true life of the Christian. This ran the gamut, from understanding current events through a biblical lens to reading the Bible not just as a theology student but as a disciple of Jesus Christ. ~ Eric Metaxas, #NFDB
340:As Christ is Christ only as the suffering and rejected one, so the disciple is a disciple only as one who suffers and is rejected, as one crucified with Jesus. Discipleship, understood as being bound to the person of Jesus Christ, places the disciple under the law of Christ, that is, under the cross. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
341:If you are an effective manager of your self, your discipline comes from within; it is a function of your independent will. You are a disciple, a follower, of your own deep values and their source. And you have the will, the integrity, to subordinate your feelings, your impulses, your moods to those values. ~ Stephen Covey, #NFDB
342:if you are an effective manager of yourself, your discipline comes from within; it is a function of your independent will. You are a disciple, a follower, of your own deep values and their source. And you have the will, the integrity, to subordinate your feelings, your impulses, your moods to those values. ~ Stephen R Covey, #NFDB
343:She may have played her role, but you, what role did you play? Were you, and I, so different from her? Did you see her? Or did you, instead, see only prey--a disciple, a plowland for your thoughts, a successor? Or perhaps, like me, you saw beauty, youth a satin pillow, a vessel into which to drain your lust. ~ Irvin D Yalom, #NFDB
344:If the civil magistrate be a Christian, a disciple or follower of the meek Lamb of God, he is bound to be far from destroying the bodies of men for refusing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ: for otherwise he would be ignorant of the sweet end of Christ's coming, which was to save the bodies and souls of men. ~ Roger Williams, #NFDB
345:It is pleasant to spend time with Him, to lie close to His breast like the Beloved Disciple and to feel the infinite love present in His Heart....how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time in spiritual converse, in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament? ~ Pope John Paul II, #NFDB
346:It is impossible to live the life of a disciple without definite times of secret prayer. You will find that the place to enter in is in your business, as you walk along the streets, in the ordinary ways of life, when no one dreams you are praying, and the reward comes openly, a revival here, a blessing there. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
347:Love, like individuals, is tested by the flame of adversity. If we are faithful and determined, it will temper and refine us, but it will not consume us. Enjoy what you now have. Be a disciple of Christ. Live worthily of marriage even if it doesn't come soon. And cherish it with all your heart when it does. ~ Jeffrey R Holland, #NFDB
348:There are some people that say I need to be more academic in my teaching, I need to be more disciple developing focus, probably true. But where my heart is, is with people who are just passing through difficult time. I want to put literature in a form that is accessible for people who don't particularly read books. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
349:To him who obeys, and thus opens the door of his heart to receive the eternal gift, God gives the Spirit of His Son, the Spirit of Himself, to be in him, and lead him to the understanding of all truth…. The true disciple shall thus always know what he ought to do, though not necessarily what another ought to do. ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
350:Equating discipline with punishment is an unfortunate, but common misconception. The root word in discipline is actually disciple which in the verb form means to guide, lead, teach, model, and encourage. In the noun form disciple means one who embraces the teaching of, follows the example of, and models their life after. ~ L R Knost, #NFDB
351:When an alluring woman comes in at the door," warningly traced the austere Kien-fi on the margin of his well-known essay, "discretion may be found up the chimney". It is incredible that beneath this ever-timely reminder an obscure disciple should have added the words: "The wiser the sage, the more profound the folly. ~ Ernest Bramah, #NFDB
352:Our Lord’s making of a disciple is supernatural. He does not build on any natural capacity of ours at all. God does not ask us to do the things that are naturally easy for us- He only asks us to do the things that we are perfectly fit to do through His grace, and that is where the cross we must bear will always come. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
353:There are great truths at the foundation of Freemasonry, truths which it is its mission to teach and which is constituting the very essence of, that sublime system which gives the venerable institution its peculiar identity as a science of morality, and it behooves every disciple diligently to ponder and inwardly digest. ~ Albert Pike, #NFDB
354:We ask Mary that, as the first disciple, she teach us to remain watching, that she accompany us in patience, strengthen us in hope; we ask that she lead us towards the meeting with her Risen Son; that she free us from fear, so that we cans hear the announcement of the angel... to announce it to others who need it so much. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
355:All authority of any kind, especially in the field of thought and understanding, is the most destructive, evil thing. Leaders destroy the followers and followers destroy the leaders. You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
356:Arrogance is someone claiming to have come to Christ, but they won't spend more than five minutes listening to your journey because they are more concerned about their own well being, rather than being a true disciple of Christ. Blessed is the person that takes the time to heal and hear another person so they can move on. ~ Shannon L Alder, #NFDB
357:Every true faith is infallible. It performs what the believing person hopes to find in it. But it does not offer the least support for the establishing of an objective truth. Here the ways of men divide. If you want to achieve peace of mind and happiness, have faith. If you want to be a disciple of truth, then search. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
358:Saint Paul asks his disciple Timothy to "aim at faith" (2 Tim 2:22) with the same constancy as when he was a boy (cf. 2 Tim 3:15). This invitation is directed to each of us, that none of us grow lazy in the faith. It is the lifelong companion that makes it possible to perceive, ever anew, the marvels that God works for us. ~ Pope Benedict XVI, #NFDB
359:The difference between great philosophers who disagree is perhaps less considerable than that which separates them from their followers. Members of philosophic schools or coteries live on what others have seen, and the disciple usually applies his master's insights with a confidence which, most of the time, the master lacked. ~ Walter Kaufmann, #NFDB
360:The most comforting people in the world are those who have been comforted; the most understanding people are those who have been understood; and the most loving people, those who have been loved. The disciple whom Jesus loved the most (John 21:20) unsurprisingly became known as the apostle of love. What he received, he later gave. ~ Henry Cloud, #NFDB
361:It is related that Sakyamuni [the historical Buddha] once dismissed as of small consequence a feat of levitation on the part of a disciple, and cried out in pity for a yogin by the river who had spent twenty years of his human existence learning to walk on water, when the ferryman might have taken him across for a small coin. ~ Peter Matthiessen, #NFDB
362:We were partners in sewing. And partners in luck-hunting: four-leaf clovers, sand-dollar birds, red sea glass, clouds shaped like hearts, the first daffodils of spring, ladybugs, ladies in oversized hats. Best to bet on all the horses, dear, she’d say. Quick, make a wish, she’d say. I bet. I wished. I was her disciple. I still am. ~ Jandy Nelson, #NFDB
363:Discipleship is rooted in a deep belief in the universal reign of God through Christ. To be a disciple is to acknowledge that reign and to embrace the lifelong journey of submitting more and more of every aspect of your life to His good, just, and peaceable reign, as well as alerting others to God's kingship by both word and deed. ~ Michael Frost, #NFDB
364:Other than a little training in commercial math at what was known as an “abacus school,” Leonardo was mainly self-taught. He often seemed defensive about being an “unlettered man,” as he dubbed himself with some irony. But he also took pride that his lack of formal schooling led him to be a disciple of experience and experiment. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
365:To obtain the pure silence necessary for the disciple, the heart and emotions, the brain and its intellectualisms, have to be put aside. Both are but mechanisms, which will perish with the span of man's life. It is the essence beyond, that which is the motive power, and makes man live, that is now compelled to rouse itself and act. ~ Mabel Collins, #NFDB
366:And morning came… It still comes. Our God is here, Emmanuel, among us, always coming towards us, always standing behind us, always standing up for us, always standing with us in solidarity in communion asking us to come with Him now as disciple, as follower, as believer, as a friend, as intimate beloved child of God, now and forever. ~ Megan McKenna, #NFDB
367:by the cross of Jesus were His mother, His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and •Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple He loved standing there, He said to His mother, “•Woman, here is your son.” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
368:It's paradoxical that an ordinary man like Nemur presumes to devote himself to making other people geniuses. He would like to be thought of as the discoverer of new laws of learning—the Einstein of psychology. And he has the teacher's fear of being surpassed by the student, the master's dread of having the disciple discredit his work. ~ Daniel Keyes, #NFDB
369:Roger Bacon, a disciple of the Arabs, also insisted on the primary necessity of Mathematics, without which no other science can be known; yet by Mathematics it is clear that he meant something very different from what we mean, including under that head even dancing, singing, gesticulation, and performance on musical instruments. ~ George Henry Lewes, #NFDB
370:You are the way and you are the goal, and there is no distance between you and the goal. You are the seeker and you are the sought; there is no distance between the seeker and the sought. You are the worshipper and you are the worshipped. You are the disciple and you are the master. You are the means and you are the end: this is the great way. ~ Osho, #NFDB
371:A disciple came to the celebrated Master of the Good Name with a question. “Rabbi, how are we to distinguish between a true master and a fake?” And the master of the good name said, “When you meet a person who poses as a master, ask him a question: whether he knows how to purify your thoughts. If he says that he knows, then he is a fake. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
372:Do you think the businessman who found the pearl was sweating over its cost? An obviously ridiculous question! What about the one who found the treasure in the field—perhaps crude oil or gold? No. Of course not. The only thing these people were sweating about was whether they would “get the deal.” Now that is the soul of the disciple. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
373:Now do I begin to be a disciple of Christ, and care for nothing in this world, that so I may find Jesus. Let fire, or the cross, or wild beasts, or the breaking of my bones, or the cutting of me to pieces, or the shattering of my whole body, yea, all the tortures of the devil - let them all come upon me, only let me enjoy my God. ~ Ignatius of Antioch, #NFDB
374:When Simon by his works proves himself to be a true and faithful disciple then he receives the surname of Peter or the rock, the unmoved disciple, the one who cannot be bribed or coerced by any visitor. He is called by his Lord Simon Peter, the one who faithfully hears the commands of his Lord and besides which commands he hears not. ~ Neville Goddard, #NFDB
375:The call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is open to everyone, but we don’t get to write our own job description. If Jesus is Lord, then He sets the agenda. If Jesus Christ is Lord, then your life belongs to Him. He has a plan, agenda, and calling for you. You don’t get to tell Him what you’ll be doing today or for the rest of your life. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
376:A disciple once complained, "You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us." The master replied, "How would you like it if someone offered you fruit and then chewed it up for you before giving it to you?" If your heart is straight with God, then every creature will be to you a mirror of life and a book of holy doctrine. ~ Thomas a Kempis, #NFDB
377:Baptism is rich in meaning. It suggests cleansing. When you are a disciple, you understand that you are cleansed by Christ. You understand that Christ died in your place on the cross, paying for your sins, fully forgiving you for all your wrongs. You are cleansed from guilt, and you are becoming a cleaner, healthier, more whole person. ~ Brian D McLaren, #NFDB
378:The Perfect Man is he for whom individuality is merely an external form, but whose inward reality conforms to the universe itself. He is “the copy of God,” in the words of al-Arabi’s greatest disciple, Abdul Karim al-Jili: he is the mirror in which the divine attributes are perfectly reflected; the medium through which God is made manifest. ~ Reza Aslan, #NFDB
379:As if this were not enough, Jesus finished his seeker-sensitive plea with a pull-at-your-heartstrings conclusion. “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”8 Give up everything you have, carry a cross, and hate your family. This sounds a lot different than “Admit, believe, confess, and pray a prayer after me. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
380:Now I begin to be a disciple. I care for nothing, of visible or invisible things, so that I may but win Christ. Let fire and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let breaking of bones and tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body, and all the malice of the devil, come upon me; be it so, only may I win Christ Jesus! ~ Ignatius of Antioch, #NFDB
381:When I am engaging with people of other religious faiths, I find myself unable to commit to their conclusions or agree with their assessments. Yet at the same time I come away encouraged by spiritual truths found in their traditions, thrilled by new insights into my own faith, and more passionate than ever about being a disciple of Christ. ~ Leonard Sweet, #NFDB
382:Who, among Christians today, is a disciple of Jesus, in any substantive sense of the word “disciple”? A disciple is a learner, a student, an apprentice—a practitioner, even if only a beginner. The New Testament literature, which must be allowed to define our terms if we are ever to get our bearings in the Way with Christ, makes this clear. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
383:The disciple will probably be visited at night by his Teacher, who will come in a superphysical body. [...] If he has not developed his spiritual nature by right living, right thinking and right feeling during his probation as a student, he will be unable to recognize the Master when he comes. ~ Manly P Hall, What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples, #NFDB
384:Guided by His wisdom, strong in His strength, there maybe for you struggle and suffering, the darkness and the storm. "The disciple is not above His Master." There may be weeping that shall endure for a night, but joy shall come in the morning. If the night cometh, so also the morning, "a morning without clouds," the morning of an eternal day. ~ Mark Hopkins, #NFDB
385:It’s impossible to be a disciple or a follower of someone and not end up like that person. Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). That’s the whole point of being a disciple of Jesus: we imitate Him, carry on His ministry, and become like Him in the process. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
386:The disciple will probably be visited at night by his Teacher, who will come in a superphysical body. [...] If he has not developed his spiritual nature by right living, right thinking and right feeling during his probation as a student, he will be unable to recognize the Master when he comes. ~ Manly P Hall, What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples, #NFDB
387:The story of Mary of Magdalene reminds us all of a fundamental truth...A disciple of Christ is one who, in the experience of human weakness, has had the humility to ask for his help, has been healed by him and has set out following closely after him, becoming a witness of the power of his merciful love that is stronger than sin and death. ~ Pope Benedict XVI, #NFDB
388:As the servant and disciple of the Master has no business with pride or egoism because all is done for him from above, so also he has no right to despond because of his personal deficiencies or the stumblings of his nature. For the Force that works in him is impersonal -- or superpersonal-and infinite.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Four Aids, 61,#NFDB
389:it was the duty of every thinking man to expose himself to a great range of characters, situations, and points of view. He had read extensively, and although he favored the Romantics above all others, and never tired of discussing the properties of the sublime, he was by no means a strict disciple of that school, or indeed, of any school at all. ~ Eleanor Catton, #NFDB
390:I could not but smile to think in what out-of-the-way corners genius produces her bantlings! And the Muses, those capricious dames, who, forsooth, so often refuse to visit palaces, and deny a single smile to votaries in splendid studies, and gilded drawing-rooms--what holes and burrows will they frequent to lavish their favors on some ragged disciple! ~ Washington Irving, #NFDB
391:The Scriptures teach that, prior to conversion, a man cannot come to God because he loves evil, disdains righteousness, and fears that his evil deeds will be exposed.18 Similarly, fallen man will not seek out fellowship with a genuine disciple of Christ because he disdains the righteousness of his life and proclamation and dreads being exposed by them. ~ Paul David Washer, #NFDB
392:Many, many of the people who are identified as Christians have never been invited to become a disciple of Jesus. We don’t have discipleship evangelism, but we need to have it because of the multitudes of people who are ready to go, who just need to understand and see and have the invitation to become disciples of Jesus. That’s the way we have to go forward. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
393:Thaddaeus, the tenth, is the disciple of praise, a quality in which the undisciplined man is woefully lacking. When this quality of praise and thanksgiving is awake within man, he walks with the words, “Thank you, Father,” ever on his lips. He knows that his thanks for things not seen opens the windows of heaven and permits gifts beyond his capacity to receive ~ Neville Goddard, #NFDB
394:Liberation does not concern the person, for liberation is freedom from the person. Basically the disciple and teacher are identical. Both are the timeless axis of all action and preception. The only difference is that one 'knows' himself for what he is while the other does not. The idea of being a person, an ego, is nothing other than an image held together by memory. ~ Jean Klein, #NFDB
395:I remind you that no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ," said President Hinckley. "How can any man holding the Melchizedek Priesthood arrogantly assume that he is eligible for the priesthood whereas another who lives a righteous life but whose skin is of a different color, is ineligible? ~ Gordon B Hinckley, #NFDB
396:Jesus is challenging that when addressing "who is your neighbor" and he has a lot of hard things to say about family, "unless you hate your own family you are not going to be a disciple." He is challenging the limits of our compassion and our love as if someone's kid suffers it should be as devastating to us as if it were our own kid. That is what the early church said. ~ Shane Claiborne, #NFDB
397:Jesus was a rabbi, schooled by rabbis, who thought like rabbis. Rabbis, upon being asked a question by a disciple, usually answer with a paradoxical inquiry or a story. This can be annoying and time-consuming for those of us looking for neat, simple answers. But truth is too wild and complex to be contained in one answer, so Jesus often responded with a question or a parable. ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
398:Receptivity is the first requisite of the disciple, and of anyone who wants to learn anything. We can be anything else we like: we can be wicked, we can be stupid, we can be full of faults, we can backslide. In a sense, it doesn’t matter. But we must be spiritually receptive; we have to be willing and ready to learn. When we know that we do not know, everything is possible. ~ Sangharakshita, #NFDB
399:A man who visits a barber to be shaved, or who orders a suit from a tailor, is not a disciple, but a customer. So one who comes to the Savior only to be saved is the Savior’s customer, not His disciple. A disciple is one who says to Christ, ‘How I long to do work like Yours! To go from place to place taking away fear; bringing instead joy, truth, comfort, and life eternal! ~ Richard Wurmbrand, #NFDB
400:The love for our enemies takes us along the way of the cross and into fellowship with the Crucified. The more we are driven along this road, the more certain is the victory of love over the enemy's hatred. For then it is not the disciple's own love, but the love of Jesus Christ alone, who for the sake of his enemies went to the cross and prayed for them as he hung there. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
401:Liberation from ego is what we shramanas are seeking, O Exalted One. If I were your disciple, O Venerable One, I'm afraid it might befall me that my ego would be pacified and liberated only seemingly, only illusorily, that in reality it would survive and grow great, for then I would make the teaching, my discipleship, my love for you, and the community of the monks into my ego! ~ Hermann Hesse, #NFDB
402:The disciple of Jesus gives up all he has, all his goods, because he has found in him the greatest Good from which every other good receives its full value and meaning: family bonds, other relationships, work, cultural and economic goods and so on... The Christian detaches himself from everything and rediscovers all of it in the logic of the Gospel, the logic of love and service. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
403:34Jesus called the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and etake up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
404:Making disciples is more about intentionality than technique: Discipleship means teaching others to read the Bible the way you read it, pray the way you pray, and tell people about Jesus the way you do. If you have Christian habits in your life worth imitating, you can be a disciple-maker. It doesn’t require years of training. You just teach others to follow Christ as you follow him. ~ J D Greear, #NFDB
405:Disciple making also involves teaching people to obey all that Christ has commanded us. Now some might say, "Isn't that what preachers are supposed to do?" And in one sense, the answer to this question is yes. God has clearly called and gifted some people in the church to teach his Word formally. At the same time, he has commanded every follower of Jesus to teach his Word relationally. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
406:Disciple making also involves teaching people to obey all that Christ has commanded us. Now some might say, “Isn’t that what preachers are supposed to do?” And in one sense, the answer to this question is yes. God has clearly called and gifted some people in the church to teach his Word formally. At the same time, he has commanded every follower of Jesus to teach his Word relationally. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
407:We’ve been called to share Jesus with the lost and give our testimonies anytime we have the opportunity to tell another person of our hope. We’ve been called to pray. We’ve been called to disciple others, teaching God’s Word and ways. We’ve been called to resist the devil as Christ did, with the spoken Word of God. We’ve even been called to speak to some mountains and tell them to move! ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
408:A man who has been assiduous in acquiring the fruits of love will not cease loving even if he suffers a thousand calamities. Let Stephen, the disciple of Christ, and others like him persuade you of the truth of this (cf. Acts 7:60). Our Lord Himself prayed for His murderers and asked the Father to forgive them because they did not know what they were doing (cf. Luke 23:34). ~ Saint Maximus the Confessor, #NFDB
409:A disciple is one who is ready to learn; a disciple is one who is open, receptive; a disciple is one who is ready to become a wob. He is not antagonistic, he is not fighting and arguing. He is trying to understand, and when you try to understand, the head stops functioning. Because the head can do two things: it can either fight or it can follow. It can either be a BLIND follower or a BLIND enemy. ~ Osho, #NFDB
410:Pour moi comme pour plusieurs de mes condisciples, la relation du maître et du disciple était chose morte ; ne serait-ce que parce que nous avions d’autres idées que nos maîtres, qui n’avaient que leurs conceptions scientifiques d’avant-guerre ; nous étions sûrs de notre supériorité sur la génération précédente (ce qui vaut mieux que de gémir sur la décadence et de maudire son époque [...]). ~ Paul Veyne, #NFDB
411:We are in China in obedience to the command of our Lord; and the purpose of our Mission is to disciple and make Christians of this great nation.. . This is a great spiritual work, and to secure success in it we need the abiding presence of the Spirit, and through the Spirit such a full baptism of power as will perfectly fit each one of us for the special work which God has given him to do. ~ Griffith John, #NFDB
412:the doves, as we know, must be killed according to the law before Mary’s purification can be acknowledged and ratified. Any ironic or irreverent disciple of Voltaire will find it difficult to resist making the obvious remark that, things being what they are, purity can be maintained only so long as there are innocent creatures to sacrifice in this world, whether turtledoves, lambs, or others. ~ Jos Saramago, #NFDB
413:When you become a Christian—a disciple of Jesus—you do not become his helper. He becomes your helper. You do not become his benefactor. He becomes your benefactor. You do not become his servant. He becomes your servant. Jesus does not need your help; he commands your obedience and offers his help. Christmas. He came to serve, not to be served. He came to help us do everything he calls us to do. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
414:A zealous disciple expressed a desire to teach others the Truth and asked the Master what he thought about this. The Master said, "Wait." Each year the disciple would return with the same request and each time the Master would give him the same reply: "Wait." One day he said to the Master, "When will I be ready to teach?" Said the Master, "When your excessive eagerness to teach has left you. ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
415:A master bestows the divine experience of cosmic consciousness when his disciple, by meditation, has strengthened his mind to a degree where the vast vistas would not overwhelm him. Mere intellectual willingness or open-mindedness is not enough. Only adequate enlargement of consciousness by yoga practice and devotional bhakti can prepare one to absorb the liberating shock of omnipresence. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
416:So may there be grace and kindness, gentleness and love in our hearts, especially for the ones who we believe are profoundly wrong. The Good News is proclaimed when we love each other. I pray for unity beyond conformity, because loving-kindness preaches the gospel more beautifully and truthfully than any satirical blog post or point-by-point dismantling of another disciple's reputation and teaching. ~ Sarah Bessey, #NFDB
417:So may there be grace and kindness, gentleness and love in our hearts, especially for the ones who we believe are profoundly wrong. The Good News is proclaimed when we love each other. I pray for unity beyond conformity, because loving-kindness preaches the gospel more beautifully and truthfully than any satirical blog post or point-by-point dismantling of another disciple’s reputation and teaching. ~ Sarah Bessey, #NFDB
418:Individually the disciple and friend of Jesus who has learned to work shoulder to shoulder with his or her Lord stands in this world as a point of contact between heaven and earth, a kind of Jacob’s ladder by which the angels of God may ascend from and descend into human life. Thus the disciple stands as an envoy or a receiver by which the kingdom of God is conveyed into every quarter of human affairs. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
419:No man," he declares, "can have the least knowledge of true and sound, doctrine, without having been a disciple of the Scripture. Hence originates all true wisdom, when we embrace with reverence the testimony which God hath been pleased therein to deliver concerning himself. For obedience is the source, not only of an absolutely perfect and complete faith, but of all right knowledge of God" (Inst. 1, 6, 2). In ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
420:The supreme contemporary example of such an inability to feel evil is of course Walt Whitman. "His favorite occupation," writes his disciple, Dr. Bucke "seemed to be strolling or sauntering about outdoors by himself, looking at the grass, the trees, the flowers, the vistas of light, the varying aspects of the sky, and listening to the birds, the crickets, the tree frogs, and all the hundreds of natural sounds. ~ William James, #NFDB
421:One of the most mendacious fantasies that pervades Keynesian economic thought is the idea that the national debt “does not matter, since we owe it to ourselves.” Only a high‐time‐preference disciple of Keynes could fail to understand that this “ourselves” is not one homogeneous blob but is differentiated into several generations—namely, the current ones which consume recklessly at the expense of future ones. ~ Saifedean Ammous, #NFDB
422:how can true salt stop being salt? When asked what to do with unsalty salt, a later rabbi advised, “Salt it with the afterbirth of a mule.” Mules are sterile and thus lack afterbirth; his point was that the question was stupid. If salt could lose its saltiness, what would it be useful for? Jesus compares a disciple who does not live out the values of the kingdom with unsalty salt—salt that cannot fulfill its purpose. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
423:And for a disciple thus freed, in whose heart dwells peace, there is nothing to be added to what has been done, and naught more remains for him to do. Just as a rock of one solid mass remains unshaken by the wind, even so, neither forms, nor sounds, nor odors, nor tastes, nor contacts of any kind, neither the desired, nor the undesired, can cause such an one to waver. Steadfast is his mind, gained is deliverance. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
424:What is the path that leads to the Eternal? When a disciple pours over the whole world the light of a heart overflowing with love, in all directions, on high, below, to the four quarters, with a thought of love, large, profound, boundless, void of wrath and hate, and when thereafter he pours over the whole world the light of a thought of profound serenity, then the disciple is on the path that leads to the Eternal. ~ Auguttara Nikaya, #NFDB
425:One can be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ without denying the flickers of the sacred in followers of Yahweh, or Kali, or Krishna. A globalization of evangelism 'in connection' with others, and a globally 'in-formed' gospel, is capable of talking across the fence with Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Muslim - people from other so called 'new' religious traditions ('new' only to us) - without assumption of superiority and power ~ Leonard Sweet, #NFDB
426:The Christian who is not diligently involved in a serious study of Scripture is simply inadequate as a disciple of Christ. To be an adequate Christian and competent in the things of God we must do more than attend “sharing sessions” and “bless me parties.” We cannot learn competency by osmosis. Biblically illiterate Christians are not only inadequate but unequipped. In fact, they are inadequate because they are not equipped. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
427:You can’t serve God and Mammon.” When Jesus used the word “Mammon,” he used it almost synonymously with pleasure. So Jesus was saying that you can’t serve God and Mammon at the same time. If you want to be his disciple, you have to leave Mammon. It’s not that you shouldn’t be comfortable; it’s not about having comfort or not, but if you’re seeking comfort, forget it. This path is definitely not yours. What he said is very true. ~ Sadhguru, #NFDB
428:A disciple asked, "How can intuition be developed?"
Yogananda: "The best way is, every time you meditate, to sit calmly for a long time after doing the techniques. It is during this period that you will be able to deepen your awareness of God's presence within you. Go ever deeper in your enjoyment of that presence.
"The longer and more deeply you enjoy the peace within, the more quickly will your intuition develop. ~ Swami Kriyananda,#NFDB
429:Here’s the thing, effective parenting and, more specifically, effective discipline, don’t require punishment. Equating discipline with punishment is an unfortunate, but common misconception. The root word in discipline is actually disciple which in the verb form means to guide, lead, teach, model, and encourage. In the noun form disciple means one who embraces the teaching of, follows the example of, and models their life after. ~ L R Knost, #NFDB
430:This psychology crap? I can guess where you're going with this tantrum, and in the interest of saving time — which seems to be an imperative for you — I would say that what is bullshit to you is a field of disciple that I've got a PhD is and will spend the rest of my life further researching, participating in, and advocating for. So if you're looking to persuade me that there isn't value in what I do, you're pushing water uphill. ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
431:How do we “abide” in the love of God? We dwell no further from His side than the place we are most keenly aware of His great affection. Was it not the disciple who reclined against Christ Jesus who saw himself as the “beloved disciple”? Place your ear against the chest of the Savior so that, when troubled times come, you may not know what will befall you, but you can hear the steady pulse of the boundless love of Him who holds you. ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
432:. . . just as God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, as we become more like Him, neither can we. The best people have a heightened awareness of what little of the worst is still in them! Indeed, the divine discontent, the justifiable spiritual restlessness that we feel, is a natural follow-on feeling in the disciple who has taken the Lord's counsel to "make you a new heart and a new spirit." (Ezekiel 18:31.) ~ Neal A Maxwell, #NFDB
433:The Divine Grace alone has the power to intervene and change the course of Universal Justice. The great work of the Avatar is to manifest the Divine Grace upon earth. To be a disciple of the Avatar is to become an instrument of the Divine Grace. The Mother is the great dispensatrix-through identity-of the Divine Grace, with a perfect knowledge-through identity-of the absolute mechanism of Universal Justice.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
434:But I know, with all the certainty of my being, that Jesus has no interest in my doing this. To just say, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, I'm your biggest fan," causes him to stare at his watch, tap his feet, and order a double Glenlivet on the rocks with a twist. Fandom is of no interest to Jesus. What matters to him is the authentic following of a disciple. We all settle for saying, "Jesus," but Jesus wants us to be in the world who he is. ~ Gregory Boyle, #NFDB
435:The rock, when one came to think of it, was the utmost expression of human need;even mere feeling yearned for it; it was the highest comparison of loyalty and friendship. Christ himself had used that comparison for the disciple he gave the keys to the church. And the Hebrews of the Old Testament, always being carried captive into foreign lands,--their rock was an idea of God, the only thing their conquerors could not take from them. ~ Willa Cather, #NFDB
436:A disciple is someone who is learning by going through the process of change. All the things that we moan about and talk on and on about, such as pornography, divorce and drugs, are things that can be dealt with effectively only by bringing change into the mind and the spirit, into the will, into the body and into the fellowship of the person. Then people come out saying, “Who needs that stuff? I’ve got something much better than that. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
437:The reality is just the opposite: the master does nothing. It is in your becoming a disciple that the whole mystery lies. It is in your surrender of the ego that the whole search comes to an authentic point. It is in putting your mind aside. That is what sannyas is: an authentic discipleship. It means putting your mind aside. You have lived according to your mind up to now. If that is fulfilling, then there is no need for anybody to become a sannyasin. ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
438:Pandit, you've got it wrong.
There's no creator or creation there,
no gross or fine, no wind or fire,
no sun, moon, earth or water,
no radiant form, no time there,
no word, no flesh, no faith,
no cause and effect, nor any thought
of the Veda. No Hari or Brahma,
no Shiva or Shakti, no pilgrimage
and no rituals. No mother, father
or guru there. Is it two or one?
Kabir says, if you understand now,
you're guru, I'm disciple. ~ Kabir,#NFDB
439:The rock, when one came to think of it, was the utmost expression of human need; even mere feeling yearned for it; it was the highest comparison of loyalty in love and friendship. Christ Himself had used that comparison for the disciple to whom He gave the keys of His Church. And the Hebrews of the Old Testament, always being carried captive into foreign lands,--their rock was an idea of God, the only thing their conquerors could not take from them. ~ Willa Cather, #NFDB
440:Thus perceiving, monks, the learned noble disciple feels loathing for the body, for feeling, for perception, for the aggregates, for consciousness. Feeling disgust, he becomes free from passion, through freedom from passion he is emancipated, and in the emancipated one arises the knowledge of his emancipation. He understands that rebirth is destroyed, the religious life has been led, done is what was to be done, there is nothing beyond this world. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
441:The disciple James, symbol of a disciplined judgment, must when raised to the high office of a supreme judge be blindfolded that he may not be influenced by the flesh nor judge after the appearances of being. Disciplined judgment is administered by one who is not influenced by appearances. The one who has called these brothers to discipleship continues faithful to his command to hear only that which he has been commanded to hear, namely, the Good. ~ Neville Goddard, #NFDB
442:The eleventh quality called is Simon of Canaan. A good key phrase for this disciple is “Hearing good news.” Simon of Canaan, or Simon from the land of milk and honey, when called to discipleship, is proof that the one who calls this faculty into being has become conscious of the abundant life. He can say with the Psalmist David, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. ~ Neville Goddard, #NFDB
443:The Church is in the world, it is part of the suffering in the world, and though Christ condemned the disciple who struck off the ear of the high priest's servant, our hearts go out in sympathy to all who are moved to violence by the suffering of others. The Church condemns violence, but it condemns indifference more harshly. Violence can be the expression of love, indifference never. One is an imperfection of charity, the other the perfection of egoism. ~ Graham Greene, #NFDB
444:Foucault. The seemingly disturbing, even Nietzschean claim that “power is knowledge” should push us to realize what MTV learned long ago: (a) the cultural power of formation and discipline, and hence (b) the necessity of the church to enact counterformation by counterdisciplines. In other words, we need to think about discipline as a creational structure that needs proper direction. Foucault has something to tell us about what it means to be a disciple. ~ James K A Smith, #NFDB
445:One of the previous possessors of the stone was Chuang Tzu. He had a disciple who spent seven years studying universal energy and then demonstrated his wisdom by walking across the surface of a river and back again, and Chuang Tzu broke into tears. ‘Oh, my boy!’ he sobbed. ‘My poor, poor, boy! You spent seven years of your life learning to do that, and all the while old Meng has been running a ferry not two miles from here, and he only charges two copper coins. ~ Barry Hughart, #NFDB
446:The Christian life is stamped by 'moral spontaneous originality,' consequently the disciple is open to the same charge that Jesus Christ was, viz., that of inconsistency. But Jesus Christ was always consistent to God, and the Christian must be consistent to the life of the Son of God in him, not consistent to hard and fast creeds. Men pour themselves into creeds, and God has to blast them out of their prejudices before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
447:Ibn Arabi was above all the disciple of Khidr ( Khidr). We shall attempt further on to indicate what it signifies and implies to be "the disciple of Khidr." In any event such a relationship with a hidden spiritual master lends the disciple an essentially "transhistorical" dimension and presupposes an ability to experience events which are enacted in a reality other than the physical reality of daily life, events which spontaneously transmute themselves into symbols. ~ Henry Corbin, #NFDB
448:An instruction to the disciple to notice that
the moon lies above the steeple point is thus metaphorically an instruction to
understand that the institution of the church is less important than the divine.
Looking just at the church, without noticing its relation to the moon, would be a
mistake; and focusing on the institution of the church, without concentrating on its
relation to the divine, would be the wrong way to understand religious truth. ~ George Lakoff,#NFDB
449:I'Ve Just Had An Affair
Hey, I've just had an affair with my darling,
Don't care what the neighbourhood girls say;
Just had an affair with my darling.
Oh, his beautiful face, charming like an idol,
I've just made a place in the bottom of his heart.
I, Khusrau, give my life to Nizamuddin in sacrifice,
I've just had him call me his most favourite disciple;
Don't care what the neighbourhood girls say,
Just had an affair with my darling.
~ Amir Khusro,#NFDB
450:Isaiah 1:16–17 says, “Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!” To learn how to keep my cart from ending up in the ditches, I had to learn to do right! I'm still learning, but thank goodness my cart is staying on the path far more consistently these days. Doing right is a learned behavior that comes from being taught. The word disciple means “pupil” or “learner.” We will never cease to be God's children, but when we cease learning and being teachable, we are no longer disciples. ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
451:So, friend, if you are a church planter, give your time and energy to preaching and teaching God’s Word with excellence. I’m not saying you should write a full sermon and preach it if there’s no one to whom to preach. I’m not saying you should rock a fortyfive-minute monologue with three other people in a living room. I’m simply saying to teach God’s Word. Evangelize using God’s Word. Disciple people using God’s Word. And then, when you launch a public service, preach God’s Word. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
452:A true missionary … never ceases to be a disciple, knows that Jesus walks with him, speaks to him, breathes with him, works with him. He senses Jesus alive with him in the midst of the missionary enterprise. Unless we see him present at the heart of our missionary commitment, our enthusiasm soon wanes and we are no longer sure of what it is that we are handing on; we lack vigor and passion. A person who is not convinced, enthusiastic, certain and in love, will convince nobody” (266 ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
453:The saintly disciple who applies himself in silence to right meditation, has surmounted covetousness, negligence, wrath, the inquietude of speculation and doubt; he contemplates and enlightens all beings friendly or hostile, with a limitless compassion, a limitless sympathy, a limitless serenity. He recognises that all internal phenomena are impermanent, subjected to sorrow and without substantial reality, and turning from these things he concentrates his mind on the permanent. ~ Buddhist Texts, #NFDB
454:With the exception of very few who have gained higher spiritual tendencies in prior lives, Self-realization is not possible for anyone without the blessings of a guru. Think of the guru as the manifestation of God in this world. Take even the most insignificant word of the guru as an order and obey it. That is the real service to the guru. There is no greater austerity. The guru's blessings flow automatically to any obedient disciple. That is the real service to the guru. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi, #NFDB
455:Being a disciple of Jesus is not primarily a matter of getting the right ideas and doctrines and beliefs into your head in order to guarantee proper behavior; rather, it's a matter of being the kind of person who loves rightly--who loves God and neighbor and is oriented to the world by the primacy of that love. We are made to be such people by our immersion in the material practices of Christian worship--through affective impact, over time, of sights and smell in water and wine. ~ James K A Smith, #NFDB
456:Drop jealousy and love wells up. Jealousy means that I am the owner. It is an ego trip, and wherever there is ego there is poison, and the poison kills the very source of love. One has to become aware of just these few things and discard them and one's life becomes a lotus of love. And then there is no need to go in any search of god, god will come in search of you. This is my observation, that god always comes seeking the true seeker. Whenever the disciple is ready the master appears. ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
457:There are three main ways in which God comes before the mind, where we can lose ourselves in love of him. These are, of course, also ways in which we may present God to others, as well as ways by which we individually may seek to fill our minds with him. Through them, the lovely God wins the love of the disciple. He comes to us (1) through his creation, (2) through his public acts on the scene of human history, and (3) through individual experiences of him by ourselves and others.8 ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
458:We are all captive to our traditions and influenced by them more than we realize. And the effect of tradition and long practice is not always that some terrible error becomes entrenched; more often it is that our focus shifts away from our main task and agenda, which is disciple-making. We become so used to doing things one way (often for good reason at first) that important elements are neglected and forgotten, to our cost. We become imbalanced, and then wonder why we go in circles. ~ Colin Marshall, #NFDB
459:22:47 approached Jesus to kiss him. Using a disciple to approach the group would delay resistance or flight and allow the leaders to identify Jesus quickly despite the cover of night. kiss. Kisses were used in friendly greetings, including respectful greetings to one’s teacher. Betrayal with a kiss (v. 48) was thus particularly heinous (2Sa 20:9–10; Pr 27:6). Typical kisses of greeting were light kisses on the lips, although for superiors one could kiss the cheek or even their finger ring. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
460:The essence of becoming a disciple is, to put it colloquially, becoming like the people we hang out with the most. Just as the single most formative experience in our lives is our membership in a nuclear family, so the main way we grow in grace and holiness is through deep involvement in the family of God. Christian community is more than just a supportive fellowship; it is an alternate society. And it is through this alternate human society that God shapes us into who and what we are. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
461:YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT PATH. Listen more to Me, and less to your doubts. I am leading you along the way I designed just for you. Therefore, it is a lonely way, humanly speaking. But I go before you as well as alongside you, so you are never alone. Do not expect anyone to understand fully My ways with you, any more than you can comprehend My dealings with others. I am revealing to you the path of Life day by day, and moment by moment. As I said to My disciple Peter, so I repeat to you: Follow Me. ~ Sarah Young, #NFDB
462:Miron said, “Strange that men who wrote with what seemed deep Christian faith should turn traitor so easily!” Perhaps the answer was that in their writings Daianu and Ghinda praised Christ for the gifts He gives us—peace, love, salvation. A real disciple does not seek gifts but Christ Himself, and so is ready for self-sacrifice to the end. They were not followers of Jesus, but customers; when the Communists opened a shop next door with goods at lower prices, they took their business there. ~ Richard Wurmbrand, #NFDB
463:Now is the time to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, which means accepting His invitation to 'come, follow me' (Luke 18:22). This is the decision we made in our premortal lives. Now we must make it again here in mortality, every day, in every situation by taking the Savior's name upon us, remembering His atoning sacrifice, and keeping His commandments. This we covenanted to do when we were baptized, and we have the opportunity to renew those covenants each week as we partake of the sacrament. ~ Robert D Hales, #NFDB
464:To a disciple who lamented in a poem that he sought to become an eagle in the sky, but only managed to become a hen looking up to the eagle, pat came the reply: The hen that you are, how will you know what deceptive ways Grace will descend. It is Grace that brought you here and it is Grace that will deliver: I prefer the hen that looks up to the sky than an eagle that flies but always looking down. How high is not the question, but how intense is your longing for the sky. May you always be in Grace. ~ Sadhguru, #NFDB
465:To avoid causing terror to living beings, let the disciple refrain from eating meat... the food of the wise is that which is consumed by the sadhus [holymen]; it does not consist of meat... There may be some foolish people in the future who will say that I permitted meat-eating and that I partook of meat myself, but... meat-eating I have not permitted to anyone, I do not permit, I will not permit meat-eating in any form, in any manner and in any place; it is unconditionally prohibited for all. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
466:Similar teaching, training, and guidance must be given with reference to the other aspects of the disciples’ lives: body, love and sexuality, marriage and children, success with work and jobs. The object in each case is to enable the disciple to be thankful for who they are and what they have. And much the same progression will be required: from honesty to acceptance to compassion and forgiveness and then on to thankfulness to God and the honoring of our lives in all of the aspects indicated. And ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
467:Men, your primary responsibility in your home, after your wife, is you to disciple your own children. And if you don't do it, you're in sin; you are in sin. And if you turn it over to a Sunday school teacher, you are in sin. And you are to be teaching these children more than just stories about animals that went into Noah's ark. You're to be teaching them about God, about radical depravity, about blood atonement, about propitiation, expiation, justification, sanctification; you are to teach your children! ~ Paul Washer, #NFDB
468:When the disciple regarding his ideas sees appear in him bad and unwholesome thoughts, thoughts of covetousness, hatred, error, he should either turn his mind from them and concentrate on a healthy idea, or examine the fatal nature of the thought, or else he should analyse it and decompose it into its different elements, or calling up all his strength and applying the greatest energy suppress it from his mind: so bad and unwholesome thoughts withdraw and disappear, and the mind becomes firm, calm, unified, vigorous. ~ Buddhist Maxims, #NFDB
469:The twelfth and last of the disciplined qualities of the mind is called Judas. When this quality is awake man knows that he must die to that which he is before he can become that which he desires to be. So it is said of this disciple that he committed suicide, which is the mystic’s way of telling the initiated that Judas is the disciplined aspect of detachment. This one knows that his I AM or consciousness is his savior, so he lets all other saviors go. This quality — when disciplined — gives one the strength to let go. ~ Neville Goddard, #NFDB
470:And as a disciple of Jesus I am with him, by choice and by grace, learning from him how to live in the kingdom of God. This is the crucial idea. That means, we recall, how to live within the range of God’s effective will, his life flowing through mine. Another important way of putting this is to say that I am learning from Jesus to live my life as he would live my life if he were I. I am not necessarily learning to do everything he did, but I am learning how to do everything I do in the manner that he did all that he did. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
471:Someone once said that Stephen Austin didn't like preachers at all. He swore that "one preacher could stir up more trouble than a dozen horse thieves." Matthew's Gospel reminds us that it is the role of a disciple of Jesus to stir up trouble by playing an active, resistant role in the struggle of good and evil, by resisting the ways of the world and its power bases – economic, religious, nationalistic, politic, military – which are most often in direct opposition to the ways of the Kingdom of God and the way of discipleship. ~ Megan McKenna, #NFDB
472:So it is no surprise that Jewish teaching includes frequent reminders of the importance of a broken-open heart, as in this Hasidic tale: A disciple asks the rebbe: “Why does Torah tell us to ‘place these words upon your hearts’? Why does it not tell us to place these holy words in our hearts?” The rebbe answers: “It is because as we are, our hearts are closed, and we cannot place the holy words in our hearts. So we place them on top of our hearts. And there they stay until, one day, the heart breaks and the words fall in.”38 ~ Parker J Palmer, #NFDB
473:Christ wants no disciple who is forced to follow Him, but that is the way Satan would love to get disciples. While Lucifer has great power, and coercion is Satan’s preferred approach to getting followers, even he cannot force us. He resorts to deception to get us to follow him. He has to because his plan for happiness is a lie. We must recognize that being deceived is our choice-- Satan cannot force it. Lasting peace becomes impossible for one who is deceived. Piercing through that deception is the challenge of every mortal. ~ David Wright, #NFDB
474:Zen is to religion what a Japanese "rock garden" is to a garden. Zen knows no god, no afterlife, no good and no evil, as the rock-garden knows no flowers, herbs or shrubs. It has no doctrine or holy writ: its teaching is transmitted mainly in the form of parables as ambiguous as the pebbles in the rock-garden which symbolise now a mountain, now a fleeting tiger. When a disciple asks "What is Zen?", the master's traditional answer is "Three pounds of flax" or "A decaying noodle" or "A toilet stick" or a whack on the pupil's head. ~ Arthur Koestler, #NFDB
475:He was a physicist, more precisely an astrophysicist, diligent and eager but without illusions: the Truth lay beyond, inaccessible to our telescopes, accessible to the initiates. This was a long road which he was traveling with effort, wonderment, and profound joy. Physics was prose: elegant gymnastics for the mind, mirror of Creation, the key to man's dominion over the planet; but what is the stature of Creation, of man and the planet? His road was long and he had barely started up it, but I was his disciple: did I want to follow him? ~ Primo Levi, #NFDB
476:I realized too how my pain caused me to focus my attention upon myself. Pain constricts one’s vision, yet in spite of the excruciating pain Jesus must have felt, He was always aware of those around Him. He rewarded Veronica for her act of kindness by leaving an imprint of His face on her veil. He comforted the women of Jerusalem along the road to Calvary, He prayed for forgiveness for those who crucified Him, He assured the thief dying next to Him that he would be with Him in paradise and He entrusted His own mother into the care of His disciple. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
477:What kind of authority can there be for an 'Apostle' who, unlike the other Apostles, had never been prepared for the Apostolic office in Jesus' own school but had only later dared to claim the Apostolic office on the basis of his own authority? The only question comes to be how the apostle Paul appears in his Epistles to be so indifferent to the historical facts of the life of Jesus....He bears himself but little like a disciple who has received the doctrines and the principles which he preaches from the Master whose name he bears. ~ Ferdinand Christian Baur, #NFDB
478:Love and mercy and righteousness are His, and holiness so ineffable that no comparisons or figures will avail to express it. Only fire can give even a remote conception of it. In fire He appeared at the burning bush; in the pillar of fire He dwelt through all the long wilderness journey. The fire that glowed between the wings of the cherubim in the holy place was called the “shekinah,” the Presence, through the years of Israel’s glory, and when the Old had given place to the New, He came at Pentecost as a fiery flame and rested upon each disciple. ~ A W Tozer, #NFDB
479:His predecessor didn’t have it . . . his predecessor also didn’t have nearly the power. I mean, Nehitimar’s worship has been strong in Arcadia almost since the country’s founding. It was a rallying point after the Decline. But when this Grand Disciple took over, there was something different . . . a different feel to him that caused people to flock to him in a way never felt before. I feel it sometimes, especially when he’s carrying the staff. It’s this overwhelming feeling of the god’s glory and power. It makes it very difficult to oppose him. ~ Richelle Mead, #NFDB
480:Every disciple of Jesus has been called, loved, created, and saved to make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus until the grace of God is enjoyed and the glory of God is exalted among every people group on the planet. And on that day, every disciple of Jesus—every follower of Christ and fisher of men—will see the Savior’s face and behold the Father’s splendor in a scene of indescribable beauty and everlasting bliss that will never, ever fade away. This is a call worth dying for. This is a King worth living for. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
481:If any man would come after me, let him deny himself." The disciple must say to himself the same words Peter said of Christ when he denied him: "I know not this man." Self-denial is never just a series of isolated acts of mortification or asceticism. It is not suicide, for there is an element of self-will even in that. To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. Once more, all that self denial can say is: "He leads the way, keep close to him. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
482:You and all the members of your church, Christian, are finally responsible before God for what your church becomes, not your pastors and other leaders - you. Your pastors will stand before God and give an account for how they have led your congregation (Heb. 13:17). But every single one of us who is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ will give an account for whether or not we have gathered together regularly with the church, spurred the church on to love and good deeds, and fought to maintain a right teaching of the hope of the gospel (Heb. 10:23-25). ~ Mark Dever, #NFDB
483:Matthew, the eighth, is the gift of God. This quality of the mind reveals man’s desires as gifts of God. The man who has called this disciple into being knows that every desire of his heart is a gift from heaven and that it contains both the power and the plan of its self-expression. Such a man never questions the manner of its expression. He knows that the plan of expression is never revealed to man for God’s ways are past finding out. He fully accepts his desires as gifts already received and goes his way in peace confident that they shall appear. ~ Neville Goddard, #NFDB
484:When the disciple considering an idea sees rise in him bad or unhealthy thoughts, thoughts of covetousness, hatred or error, he should either turn his mind away from that idea or concentrate it upon a healthy thought, or else examine the fatal nature of the idea, or analyse it and decompose it into its different elements, or, making appeal to all his strength and applying the greatest energy, suppress it from his mind; thus are removed and disappear these bad and unhealthy ideas and the mind becomes firm, calm, unified, full of vigour. ~ Mahayana; the Book of the Faith, #NFDB
485:The sixth disciple is called Bartholomew. This quality is the imaginative faculty, which quality of the mind when once awake distinguishes one from the masses. An awakened imagination places the one so awakened head and shoulders above the average man, giving him the appearance of a beacon light in a world of darkness. No quality so separates man from man. as does the disciplined imagination This is the separation of the wheat from the chaff. Those who have given most to society are our artists, scientists, inventors and others with vivid imaginations. ~ Neville Goddard, #NFDB
486:When people are calculating how much to give, and how much to hold back – like Jesus said, “You can’t serve me and Mammon at the same time.” When Jesus used the word ‘Mammon,’ he used it to be almost synonymous with pleasure. So Jesus said, “You can’t serve me and Mammon at the same time. If you want to be my disciple, you have to leave Mammon.” If you’re seeking comfort – it’s not that you shouldn’t be comfortable; it’s not about having comfort or not, but if you’re seeking comfort, forget it. This path is definitely not yours. What he said is very true. The ~ Sadhguru, #NFDB
487:It would not do for the consumer to know that the hamburger she is eating came from a steer who spent much of his life standing deep in his own excrement in a feedlot, helping to pollute the local streams. Or that the calf that yielded the veal cutlet on her plate spent its life in a box in which it did not have room to turn around. Wendell Berry, "The Pleasures of Eating," What Are People For?, 1989 Jesus pioneered a relationship ethic based on compassion. Being a disciple means building relationships - with the Creator and with all creation and creatures. ~ Leonard Sweet, #NFDB
488:But what kind of love is this that is so unaware of itself that it can be hidden until the day of judgement? The answer is obvious. Because love is hidden it cannot be a visible virtue or a habit which can be acquired. Take heed, it says, that you do not exchange true love for an amiable virtuousness, a human "quality." Genuine love is always self-forgetful in the true sense of the word. But if we are to have it, our old man must die with all his virtues and qualities, and this can only be done where the disciple forgets self and clings solely to Christ. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
489:But the disciple had the advantage over the Pharisee in that his doing of the law is in fact perfect. How is such a thing possible? Because between the disciples and the law stands one who has perfectly fulfilled it, on with whom they live in communion...Jesus not only possesses this righteousness, but is himself the personal embodiment of it. He is the righteousness of the disciples...This is where the righteousness of the disciple exceeds that of the Pharisees; it is grounded solely upon the call to fellowship with him who alone fulfills the law. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
490:Brother, I've seen some
Astonishing sights:
A lion keeping watch
Over pasturing cows;
A mother delivered
After her son was;
A guru prostrated
Before his disciple;
Fish spawning
On treetops;
A cat carrying away
A dog;
A gunny-sack
Driving a bullock-cart;
A buffalo going out to graze,
Sitting on a horse;
A tree with its branches in the earth,
Its roots in the sky;
A tree with flowering roots.
This verse, says Kabir,
Is your key to the universe.
If you can figure it out.
~ Kabir, Brother, I've Seen Some
,#NFDB
491:I listen with the air of an eager disciple as he propounds things that I have thought ever since I began my studies. Now he is glancing into books that I have read and hidden for my own safety, and he tells me the things that strike him as if they are a great novelty and I should learn them from him. Little Lady Jane Grey knows these opinions, Princess Elizabeth has read them; I taught them both myself. But now I sit beside the king and exclaim when he describes the blindingly obvious, I admire his discovery of the widely known, and I remark on his perception. ~ Philippa Gregory, #NFDB
492:Maimonides was a zealous disciple of Aristotle, although the theory of the Kalām might seem to have been more congenial to Jewish thought and belief. The Kalām upheld the theory of God’s Existence, Incorporeality, and Unity, together with the creatio ex nihilo. Maimonides nevertheless opposed the Kalām, and, anticipating the question, why preference should be given to the system of Aristotle, which included the theory of the Eternity of the Universe, a theory contrary to the fundamental teaching of the Scriptures, he exposed the weakness of the Kalām and its fallacies. ~ Maim nides, #NFDB
493:Jesus had disciples whose names are cited in the Gospels, though not always with consistency .. Luke refers to a tax collector called Levi (5:27-9). Mark identifies the same man as Levi the son of Alphaeus (2:13-14). In Matthew, the tax collector is called Matthew (9:9, 10:3), a name which is given by Mark (3:18) and Luke (6:15) to another disciple. Matthew (16:17) and John (1:42) identify Simon as Bar-Jona, or 'the son of Jona', when they relate how Simon came to be surnamed Cephas, or Peter; however John (21:15) calls the disciple 'Simon Jona', as if Jona was his surname. ~ Kamal Salibi, #NFDB
494:the really good news here is that the power of habit can be broken. Habits can be changed. And God will help us to change them—though he will not do it for us—because he has a vital interest in who we become. If, for example, you have decided not to let anger or lusting govern you, you can train yourself (and certainly you can do so given the help of experienced disciple trainers) to use the very “cues” that until now have served to activate habits of anger and lusting to activate thoughts, feelings, and actions that will rule them out. Multitudes have found this to be so. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
495:Small Groups LOLMD (Journey) Groups Knowledge transfer Life transformation Leader prepares Everyone prepares Low commitment, low cost High commitment, high cost Members sign up Leader selects members Teach, Pray, Care, Share Truth, Equipping, Accountability, Mission, Supplication Size: 8 – 25 Size: 4 – 10 Produces community Produces mature and equipped followers of Christ Non-Christians and Christians Christians Mixed-gender group Men with men Women with women Leader is a teacher Leader is a disciple, coach, mentor Missional hope Missional experience Fellowship Leader development ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
496:There were leaders here and elsewhere who agreed with the woman, he knew, including an Ohio sheriff who'd recently proposed taking naloxone away from his deputies, claiming that repeated overdose reversals were "sucking the taxpayers dry." Lloyd thought immediately of the answer Jesus gave when his disciple asked him to enumerate the concept of forgiveness. Should it be granted seven times, Peter wanted to know, or should a sinner be forgiven as many as seventy times? In the shadow of the church steeples, Lloyd let Jesus answer the woman's question: "Seventy times seven," he said. ~ Beth Macy, #NFDB
497:I have been writing & speaking what were once called novelties, for twenty five or thirty years, & have not now one disciple. Why? Not that what I said was not true; not that it has not found intelligent receivers but because it did not go from any wish in me to bring men to me, but to themselves. I delight in driving them from me. What could I do, if they came to me? — they would interrupt and encumber me. This is my boast that I have no school & no follower. I should account it a measure of the impurity of insight, if it did not create independence. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals (1822–1863), #NFDB
498:There is no such thing as passive receiving of Tradition. He who receives, the disciple, is always — must always be — the scene of a creation. To receive is to create, to innovate! 'The petrification of acquired knowledge — the freezing of spiritual things — allowing itself to be placed like an inert content in the mind and to be handed on, frozen, from one generation to another, is not real transmission….' Handing on is 'resumption, life, invention and renewal, a mode without which revealed thinking, that is to say, thinking which is authentically thought, is not possible. ~ Marc Alain Ouaknin, #NFDB
499:We think that we have to take what’s broken and make it perfect in order to be used by God and bless others. But God thinks in a completely different way. He took what was perfect, his Son, and made him broken in order to bring us healing. So if you’re sitting there wondering if God can use you because your life is not as it should be, and your heart is aching—know that your greatest hurt will probably be your greatest ministry. Like the disciple Thomas who doubted until he touched the scars of Jesus, some people in your life need to see your broken places more than your victories. ~ Holley Gerth, #NFDB
500:The Lord gave the wonderful promise of the free use of His Name with the Father in conjunction with doing His works. The disciple who lives only for Jesus' work and Kingdom, for His will and honor, will be given the power to appropriate the promise. Anyone grasping the promise only when he wants something very special for himself will be disappointed, because he is making Jesus the servant of his own comfort. But whoever wants to pray the effective prayer of faith because he needs it for the work of the Master will learn it, because he has made himself the servant of his Lord's interests. ~ Andrew Murray, #NFDB
501:Love, its power and authority, always gets there first, comes to believe first, and always waits for the others, especially the leaders, to catch up! This is the reality of what happened among the disciples and the community of the Beloved Disciple, John, and those closest to Jesus, called His friends. They mature and develop differently from other disciples, and the community of the Church has to struggle with the fact that the last one anyone thought would be the leader was the one who betrayed Him and contributed to the dissolution of the disciples when Jesus was arrested and crucified. ~ Megan McKenna, #NFDB
502:To serve means to minister, to love and care for others, and to recognize in them the heart of God. A true disciple of Jesus will always go to where people are feeling weak, broken, sick, in pain, poor, lonely, forgotten, anxious, and lost. It is often hard to go to places of weakness and rejection to offer consolation and comfort. It is possible only when we discover the presence of Jesus among the poor and weak and realize the many gifts they have to offer. Therefore, spiritual formation always includes responding from the heart to the needs of the poor in a spirit of true compassion. ~ Henri J M Nouwen, #NFDB
503:Our work is not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God's sovereign grace, and our work as His disciples is to disciple others' lives until they are totally yielded to God. One life totally devoted to God is of more value to Him than one hundred lives which have been simply awakened by His Spirit. As workers for God, we must reproduce our own kind spiritually, and those lives will be God's testimony to us as His workers. God brings us up to a standard of life through His grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that same standard in others. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
504:We've invented a thousand shades of gray, devising a comfortable Christian existence we can all live with—super awesome, except the Bible doesn't support it. According to Scripture, no real disciple serves God while addicted to the dollar. There is no sheep/goat hybrid. There is no middle road. There is no true believer who hates his brother. Grayed-down discipleship is an easier sell, but it created pretend Christians, obsessing over Scriptures we like while conspicuously ignoring the rest. Until God asks for everything and we answer, "It's yours," we don't yet have ears to hear or eyes to see. ~ Jen Hatmaker, #NFDB
505:L’orgueil, c’est se prendre pour ce qu’on n’est pas et rabaisser les autres; la fierté, c’est savoir ce qu’on est et ne pas se laisser abaisser. La fierté n’empêche pas l’homme de s’abaisser devant ce qui le dépasse; elle est loin d’être contraire à l’humilité vraie, quoi qu’en disent les moralistes les plus superficiels.
A la question : « Croyez-vous en Dieu? » Jeanne d’Arc répondit : « Mieux que vous! » —
Un autre exemple d’humble fierté est cette réponse d’un guru hindou à un voyageur mondain : « Je ne suis pas digne d’être votre maître, et vous n’êtes pas digne d’être mon disciple. » ~ Frithjof Schuon,#NFDB
506:Earthly goods are given to be used, not to be collected. In the wilderness God gave Israel the manna every day, and they had no need to worry about food and drink. Indeed, if they kept any of the manna over until the next day, it went bad. In the same way, the disciple must receive his portion from God every day. If he stores it up as a permanent possession, he spoils not only the gift, but himself as well, for he sets his heart on accumulated wealth, and makes it a barrier between himself and God. Where our treasure is, there is our trust, our security, our consolation and our God. Hoarding is idolatry. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
507:The general tendency in Emergence Christian theology is to question with real vigor and precision whether or not the connection between faith and doctrinal precision is essential to the soul’s salvation. Dogma, yes, but doctrine, not so much. That is, do one’s brainwaves and verbal utterances actually make one’s faith? Emergence Christians can often take this even a step further and reference those places of spiritual primacy where Jesus taught (as in his judgment of the nations as told in the Gospel of Matthew, for example) that a life is what constitutes and demonstrates a disciple, rather than a mind-set. ~ Phyllis A Tickle, #NFDB
508:Orthodox Jews and Christians insist that a chasm separates humanity from its creator: God is wholly other. But some of the gnostics who wrote these gospels contradict this: self-knowledge is knowledge of God; the self and the divine are identical. Second, the “living Jesus” of these texts speaks of illusion and enlightenment, not of sin and repentance, like the Jesus of the New Testament. Instead of coming to save us from sin, he comes as a guide who opens access to spiritual understanding. But when the disciple attains enlightenment, Jesus no longer serves as his spiritual master: the two have become equal—even identical. ~ Elaine Pagels, #NFDB
509:If you turn back time and look, 5100 years ago in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna did the same thing. He has been the first HR manager India knows. When Arjuna was so depressed and was not ready to do his job, Lord Krishna was with him in the battlefield, and told him all sorts of things. First, He warned Arjuna that people would blame him for sure. Then He incited Arjuna's ego and tried to wake him up. And then He offered His disciple different incentives, saying, "If you win, you will have the kingdom. If you lose, you will enjoy Heaven. Come on, fight." In many ways, Lord Krishna lifted Arjuna out of that depression. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, #NFDB
510:it's going great. Two months in, and I've created three apps."
"Apps?"
"For people who buy my book as an e-book --which will be everybody. The first is called Don't Look. It's for the overly sensitive. It blurs and turns the type red when a dog dies or a baby is born with a birth defect. Stuff like that. My second is It's Not Okay When You Say It, and it delivers an electrical zap if the reader laughs at a racial slur. My third is Jesus Thesaurus, which replaces explicit sexual language with church words. So, when one of my characters 'saints' a guy's 'disciple', He'll beg her to 'cavalry' his 'Baptists' and 'shout amen'. ~ Helen Ellis,#NFDB
511:The Master, addressing a new disciple: "What keeps the earth from shooting out into space, away from the sun?"
"The sun's gravitational pull, Sir," replied the disciple.
"Then what keeps the earth from being drawn back into the sun?"
"The earth's centrifugal force, which pulls it constantly outward, away from that center."
The Master, with an inward smile, dropped the subject. Months later, the disciple realized that his guru had been speaking metaphorically of God as the sun, Who draws all things back to Himself, and of man as the earth, ever trying to escape the pull of God's love while chasing after worldly desires. ~ Swami Kriyananda,#NFDB
512:When I say “trust,” I am not asking for your loyalty. There has always been a tremendous amount of stress in the tradition on the Guru-shishya relationship; the Master-disciple relationship has been stressed upon in so many ways. This stress, when used by the wrong person, becomes a means of exploitation. This stress could be laid by a certain person because he wants to secure things for himself. This stress could be laid by a person out of his own insecurity, because he needs the support, he wants the loyalty. If somebody is asking for loyalty, there is nothing spiritual about that place or that person, because a spiritual person doesn’t need loyalty. ~ Sadhguru, #NFDB
513:Disciple
My father: younger, handsome, downright square,
eyes like brown buttons fastening his face
over his soul, mouth not too straight to swear,
to say, man, sonny stitt's ass trashed the place,
hymning his saxophonist small-g god,
enlisted arms push-up strong, lips curled less
and less around cigarettes (in an odd
reversal of what the army did best:
march men to foul habits) and more around
his mouthpiece, in search of pure embouchure:
not square: hell-bent on welling a full sound
from his horn: a liquid literature
with biblical phrasing, an interlude
of stimulants unchemical to blood.
~ Evie Shockley,#NFDB
514:For Chuang Tzu, the truly great man is therefore not the man who has, by a lifetime of study and practice, accumulated a great fund of virtue and merit, but the man in whom “Tao acts without impediment,” the “man of Tao.” Several of the texts in this present book describe the “man of Tao.” Others tell us what he is not. One of the most instructive, in this respect, is the long and delightful story of the anxiety-ridden, perfectionistic disciple of Keng Sang Chu, who is sent to Lao Tzu to learn the “elements.” He is told that “if you persist in trying to attain what is never attained … in reasoning about what cannot be understood, you will be destroyed. ~ Thomas Merton, #NFDB
515:He told them therefore that He was not a Teacher asking for a disciple who would parrot His sayings; He was a Saviour Who first disturbed a conscience and then purified it. But many would never get beyond hating the disturber. The Light is no boon, except to those who are men of good will; their lives may be evil, but at least they want to be good. His Presence, He said, was a threat to sensuality, avarice, and lust. When a man has lived in a dark cave for years, his eyes cannot stand the light of the sun; so the man who refuses to repent turns against mercy. No one can prevent the sun from shining, but every man can pull down the blinds and shut it out. ~ Fulton J Sheen, #NFDB
516:If you add up all the Christian missionaries from all denominations and missions agencies in the 10/40 window, there are about 40,000 “missionaries.” The number of Americans working in secular employment in the 10/40 window is 2 million.6 Assuming that the faith of Americans working overseas resembles that of Americans living at home, about 35 percent of them identify as born-again with some semblance of engagement in the faith, such as church attendance. If even one-third of that number were effective disciple-makers, that would increase the number of Christian evangelists on the front lines from 40,000 to 240,000, all without costing mission agencies another dime. ~ J D Greear, #NFDB
517:The drum with no drumhead beats; clouds thunder without the monsoon; rain falls without clouds. Can anyone guess this riddle? I have met Ram the beautiful, and I too have become beautiful. The philosopher's stone turns lead into gold; costly rubies I string with my words and thoughts. I discovered real love; doubts, fears have left me. I found comfort in what my guru taught me. A pitcher will fill when plunged in water, so Ram is the One in all. The guru's heart and the disciple's heart are one. Thus has the slave Namdeva perceived Truth. [2184.jpg] -- from Songs of the Saints from the Adi Granth, Translated by Nirmal Dass
~ Namdev, The drum with no drumhead beats
,#NFDB
518:This vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us. It's not cheap. It's free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the Orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility. Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot cover. Grace is enough. He is enough. Jesus is enough.
John, the disciple Jesus loved, ended his first letter with this line: "Children, be on your guard against false gods." In other words, steer clear of any God you can comprehend. Abba will's love cannot be comprehended. I'll say it again: Abba's love cannot be comprehended. ~ Brennan Manning,#NFDB
519:YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT PATH. Listen more to Me, and less to your doubts. I am leading you along the way I designed just for you. Therefore, it is a lonely way, humanly speaking. But I go before you as well as alongside you, so you are never alone. Do not expect anyone to understand fully My ways with you, any more than you can comprehend My dealings with others. I am revealing to you the path of Life day by day, and moment by moment. As I said to My disciple Peter, so I repeat to you: Follow Me. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. PSALM 119 : 105 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” JOHN 21 : 22 ~ Sarah Young, #NFDB
520:When our Lord is about to fashion a vessel unto honour, meet for His use, whether it be of gold and silver, or of wood and earth, He has to establish His absolute authority and right to command. There can be no parleying or argument, no hesitancy or holding back. Spirit, soul, and body must be absolutely submitted to Him, at whatever cost. The disciple must leave all and follow Him. Just as He was prepared to suffer obediently even unto death, so He requires of those whom He takes into the sacred circle of inward companionship that they should arm themselves with the same mind, so that they should no longer live the rest of their time to the will of the flesh, but to the will of God. ~ F B Meyer, #NFDB
521:It's a curious thing that the mental life seems to flourish with its roots in spite, ineffable and fathomless spite. Always has been so! Look at Socrates, in Plato, and his bunch round him! The sheer spite of it all, just sheer joy in pulling somebody else to bits...Protagoras, or whoever it was! And Alcibiades, and all the other little disciple dogs joining in the fray! I must say it makes one prefer Buddha, quietly sitting under a bo-tree, or Jesus, telling his disciples little Sunday stories, peacefully, and without any mental fireworks. No, there's something wrong with the mental life, radically. It's rooted in spite and envy, envy and spite. Ye shall know the tree by its fruit. ~ D H Lawrence, #NFDB
522:While it is in one sense a result of God’s presence within us, the New Testament also describes a process involved in our “putting on” the Lord Jesus Christ. It is repeatedly discussed in the Bible under three essential aspects, each inseparable from the other, all interrelated. This process could be presented in a “golden triangle” of spiritual transformation, for it is as precious as gold to the disciple, and each of its aspects is as essential to the whole process as three sides are to a triangle. One aspect or side of our triangle is the faithful acceptance of everyday problems. By enduring trials with patience, we can reach an assurance of the fullness of heaven’s rule in our lives. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
523:You Marpa, the translator from Tibet!
Do not make the eight worldly dharmas the goal of your life.
Do not create the bias of self and other, grasping and fixation.
Do not slander friends or enemies.
Do not distort the ways of others.
Learning and contemplation are the torch that illumines the darkness.
Do not be ambushed on the supreme path of liberation.
Previously, we have been guru and disciple;
Keep this with you in the future; do not give this up.
This precious jewel of your mind,
Do not throw it in the river like an idiot.
Guard it carefully with undistracted attention,
And you will accomplish all needs, desires, and intentions.
~ Naropa, Advice to Marpa Lotsawa
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524:disputing about those already made. I therefore never answered M. Nollet, and the event gave me no cause to repent my silence; for my friend M. le Roy, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, took up my cause and refuted him; my book was translated into the Italian, German, and Latin languages; and the doctrine it contain'd was by degrees universally adopted by the philosophers of Europe, in preference to that of the abbe; so that he lived to see himself the last of his sect, except Monsieur B----, of Paris, his eleve and immediate disciple. What gave my book the more sudden and general celebrity, was the success of one of its proposed experiments, made by Messrs. Dalibard and De Lor at Marly, for drawing ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
525:the soul has also to relinquish not only its tie and its gain through contact with the personal self, but it has [105] most definitely to relinquish its tie with other personal selves. It must learn to know and to meet other people only on the plane of the soul. In this lies for many a disciple a hard lesson. They may care little for themselves and may have learnt much personal detachment. Little may they cherish the gain of contact with the lower personal self. They are learning to transcend all that, and may have transcended to a great degree, but their love for their children, their family, their friends and intimates is for them of supreme importance and that love holds them prisoners in the lower worlds. ~ Alice A Bailey, #NFDB
526:The drone told him one in ten of the people he passed on the street would be treated for mental illness at some point in their lives. The figure was higher for males than for apices, and higher for females than either. The same applied to the rates of suicide, which was illegal. Flere-Imsaho directed him to a hospital. It was typical, the drone said. Like the whole area, it was about average for the greater city. The hospital was run by a charity, and many of the people working there were unpaid. The drone told him everybody would assume he was a disciple there to see one of his flock, but anyway the staff were too busy to stop and quiz everybody they saw in the place. Gurgeh walked through the hospital in a daze. ~ Iain M Banks, #NFDB
527:If we read the text alone, assuming that the word 'cross' can only derive its meaning from the later death of Jesus, then its appearance in the text must be an anachronism read back into the story after the crucifixion. This conclusion becomes unnecessary if the cross, being the standard punishment for insurrection or for the refusal to confess Caesar's lordship, already had a clear definition in the listener's awareness. 'Take up your cross' may even have been a standard phrase of Zealot recruiting. The disciple's cross is not a metaphor for self-mortification or even generally innocent suffering; 'if you follow me, your fate will be like mine, the fate of a revolutionary. You cannot follow me without facing that fate. ~ John Howard Yoder, #NFDB
528:It was immediately obvious what the Church would have objected to. Peter, according to Jesus in the canonical Gospels, was the rock on which the Church was built. The two hundred and sixty-five men who’ve served as the head of the Catholic Church over the centuries all trace their lineage back to Peter, the first Pope whose authority was ordained by God. That line of papal succession, Alex knew, was based on Matthew 16:18. “The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ he says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.’” But here was a very different version of events, a suppressed version that had Jesus anointing a different disciple: his brother, James, as his earthly successor. ~ Dan Eaton, #NFDB
529:This has everything to do with parenting, because the kind of disciple I am dictates the kind of mother I am. I am a mom who is passionate about the work of God, or I’m not. My kids will surely know the difference. I’ll teach my children to elevate themselves or I’ll teach them to love the kingdom; those are mutually exclusive. If I truly believe, then my kids belong to Christ and my highest calling is to see them into his good care. My work is to present them to Jesus as single-minded disciples, prepared and equipped to live out their mission. If I believe, I create a house of grace. If I believe, my children will see me forgive and ask forgiveness. If I believe, my kids will care about this troubled planet Jesus was willing to die for. ~ Jen Hatmaker, #NFDB
530:The devil is a wicked and angry spirit. He will not and cannot stand seeing a man enter the kingdom of God. And if the man undertakes to do so, he blocks the way himself, arousing and attempting every kind of opposition he can summon. If you want to be God's child, therefore, prepare yourself for persecution, as the wise man says. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12, 'All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.' And Christ Himself says (John 15:20): 'The disciple should not be better off than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.' There is no way out, and therefore the statement is: 'Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of the kingdom of heaven,' to let us know how to console ourselves. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
531:DO YOU believe,” the disciple asked the rabbi, “that God created everything for a purpose?”
“I do,” replied the rabbi.
“Well,” asked the disciple, “why did God create atheists?”
The rabbi paused before giving an answer, and when he spoke his voice was soft and intense. “Sometimes we who believe, believe too much. We see the cruelty, the suffering, the injustice in the world and we say: ‘This is the will of God.’ We accept what we should not accept. That is when God sends us atheists to remind us that what passes for religion is not always religion. Sometimes what we accept in the name of God is what we should be fighting against in the name of God.”
-Chief Rabbi Emeritus [of the United Synagogues of the British Commonwealth] Jonathan Sacks ~ Jonathan Sacks,#NFDB
532:That’s your project,” he said. “You can do something no one has done: you can examine Mormonism not just as a religious movement, but as an intellectual one.” I began to reread the letters of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. As a child I’d read those letters as an act of worship; now I read them with different eyes, not the eyes of a critic, but also not the eyes of a disciple. I examined polygamy, not as a doctrine but as a social policy. I measured it against its own aims, as well as against other movements and theories from the same period. It felt like a radical act. My friends in Cambridge had become a kind of family, and I felt a sense of belonging with them that, for many years, had been absent on Buck’s Peak. Sometimes I felt damned for those feelings. ~ Tara Westover, #NFDB
533:Further, Mahānāma, a noble disciple recollects his own generosity thus: ‘It is a gain for me, it is well gained by me, that in a population obsessed by the stain of stinginess, I dwell at home with a mind devoid of the stain of stinginess, freely generous, open-handed, delighting in relinquishment, one devoted to charity, delighting in giving and sharing. ’ When a noble disciple recollects his own generosity thus, on that occasion his mind is not obsessed by lust, hatred, or delusion; his mind is straight, with generosity as its object.… This is called a noble disciple who dwells evenly amid an uneven population, who dwells without affliction amid an afflicted population, who has entered upon the stream of the Dhamma and develops recollection of generosity. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
534:There is no faith relation with Christ free of doctrinal content. The knower must have some knowledge of the known, or no relation exists. That seemingly redundant and self-evident statement should underline the issue. Jesus Christ and our knowledge of Him are not in any sense coextensive. But one cannot have a relation with Him without knowledge, and that knowledge represents incipient doctrine… If one does not believe the truths concerning the Christ as revealed in Holy Scripture, one cannot have any authentic relationship with Him. Doctrine, we eagerly concede, does not in itself save…But, on the other hand, one cannot truly worship Christ and seek to live as an authentic disciple and deny, denigrate, or neglect in any sense the biblical teachings concerning Him.13 ~ D A Carson, #NFDB
535:I'M Going To Start Living Like A Mystic
Today I am pulling on a green wool sweater
and walking across the park in a dusky snowfall.
The trees stand like twenty-seven prophets in a field,
each a station in a pilgrimage—silent, pondering.
Blue flakes of light falling across their bodies
are the ciphers of a secret, an occultation.
I will examine their leaves as pages in a text
and consider the bookish pigeons, students of winter.
I will kneel on the track of a vanquished squirrel
and stare into a blank pond for the figure of Sophia.
I shall begin scouring the sky for signs
as if my whole future were constellated upon it.
I will walk home alone with the deep alone,
a disciple of shadows, in praise of the mysteries.
~ Edward Hirsch,#NFDB
536:Through this constant communion with his Lord and Master he gains much wisdom and understanding; he learns that true riches are of the spirit and are accessible to all. He knows as few of us do that a wholehearted response to the message of the Gospel is the only one that makes sense and satisfies the very core of our being. He knows that to give God one’s all means in the truest sense to gain all. He knows that the cost of discipleship will never begin to measure up to the rewards which await the faithful disciple who does the will of the Father, both here and hereafter. He knows the secret of interior freedom and what it means to have one’s hunger and thirst satisfied. He knows the beauty of each creature. He knows the deep, abiding joy and peace which surpass all understanding. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
537:It was the first time that ever George had sat down on equal terms at any white man’s table; and he sat down, at first, with some constraint and awkwardness; but they all exhaled and went off like fog, in the genial morning rays of this simple, overflowing kindness. This, indeed, was a home,—home,—a word that George had never yet known a meaning for; and a belief in God, and trust in his providence, began to encircle his heart, as, with a golden cloud of protection and confidence, dark, misanthropic, pining atheistic doubts, and fierce despair, melted away before the light of a living Gospel, breathed in living faces, preached by a thousand unconscious acts of love and good will, which, like the cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple, shall never lose their reward. ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe, #NFDB
538:The heavier the load, the greater his joy, for he [the Student] was doing good. All this and other things the Master saw. But the student did not see the Teacher, for the sweat from the laborer's brow ran down into his eyes and blinded him. The Master stepped over to the student, saying, "Leave now your labors and follow me." The vineyard vanished, the dirt fell from the hands of the worker, and for a moment he dwelt in space, while before him was the shining figure of his Master. He sank on his knees at the feet of the Master and kissed the hem of his robe. Again the Master spoke: "You are my disciple. You have not chosen me; I have chosen you. You have been faithful unto a few things; now you shall have power over more and greater things." ~ Manly P Hall, What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples, #NFDB
539:And what is your assessment?” “The Nazarene seems to have power to sway the masses with delusion, make them believe his magic tricks. He speaks of the visitation of Yahweh, the Day of the Lord and coming judgment. But he does not tolerate violence, and prepares no arms.” “Does he claim to be Messiah?” Demas said, “Yes and no. He gives many hints that it is so. But he will not come out and claim it in public.” Barabbas was not comforted by the assurance. He still appeared agitated. “And what of Simon?” “He did not speak a single ill word of you when we were with him. He does not seem to be against you.” Gestas added, “Jesus teaches, ‘He that is not against you is for you.’ I heard him say that if anyone wanted to be his disciple, they must deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow him. ~ Brian Godawa, #NFDB
540:It was the first time that ever George had sat down on equal terms at any white man's table; and he sat down, at first, with some constraint, and awkwardness; but they all exhaled and went off like fog, in the genial morning rays of this simple overflowing kindness.
This indeed, was a home, - home, -a word that George had never yet known a meaning for; and a belief in God, and trust in His providence, began to encircle his heart, as, with a golden cloud of protection and confidence, dark, misanthropic, pining, atheistic doubts, and fierce despair, melted away before the light of a living Gospel, breathed in living faces, preached by a thousand unconscious acts of love and good-will, which, like the cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple, shall never lose their reward. ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe,#NFDB
541:To understand antiquity’s idea of man, we must examine its gods and heroes, myths and legends. In these we find the classical prototype of genuine man. ... the will to greatness, wealth, power and fame. Anything opposed to it falls short of the authentically human. ...
What a world of difference between this conception and that to which Christ has led us! ...
Jesus’ friends are in no way remarkable for their talent or character. He who considers the apostles or disciples great from a human or religious point of view raises the suspicion that he is unacquainted with true greatness. Moreover, he is confusing standards, for the apostle and disciple have nothing to do with such greatness. Their uniqueness consists of their being sent, of their God-given role of pillars for the coming salvation. ~ Romano Guardini,#NFDB
542:When in the soul of the serene disciple With no more Fathers to imitate Poverty is a success, It is a small thing to say the roof is gone: He has not even a house. Stars, as well as friends, Are angry with the noble ruin. Saints depart in several directions. Be still: There is no longer any need of comment. It was a lucky wind That blew away his halo with his cares, A lucky sea that drowned his reputation. Here you will find Neither a proverb nor a memorandum. There are no ways, No methods to admire Where poverty is no achievement. His God lives in his emptiness like an affliction. What choice remains? Well, to be ordinary is not a choice: It is the usual freedom Of men without visions. [1499.jpg] -- from Selected Poems of Thomas Merton, by Thomas Merton
~ Thomas Merton, When in the soul of the serene disciple
,#NFDB
543:Elder Maxwell on Wintry Doctrines
Elder Maxwell said that “if we are serious about our discipleship Jesus will eventually request each of us to do those very things which are most difficult for us to do.”
This was what he came to call the wintry doctrine at the funeral of a young father in 1996 he put it this way “There are in the gospel warm and cuddly doctrines and then there are some that are just outright wintry doctrines… one of them frankly is that we cannot approach real consecration without passing through appropriate clinical experiences because we don’t achieve consecration in the abstract. … sometimes therefore the best people have the worst experiences… because they are the most ready to learn.” (Bruce C. Hafen, The Story of A Disciple’s Life: Preparing the Biography of Neal A. Maxwell, p. 14) ~ Neal A Maxwell,#NFDB
544:When In The Soul Of The Serene Disciple
When in the soul of the serene disciple
With no more Fathers to imitate
Poverty is a success,
It is a small thing to say the roof is gone:
He has not even a house.
Stars, as well as friends,
Are angry with the noble ruin.
Saints depart in several directions.
Be still:
There is no longer any need of comment.
It was a lucky wind
That blew away his halo with his cares,
A lucky sea that drowned his reputation.
Here you will find
Neither a proverb nor a memorandum.
There are no ways,
No methods to admire
Where poverty is no achievement.
His God lives in his emptiness like an affliction.
What choice remains?
Well, to be ordinary is not a choice:
It is the usual freedom
Of men without visions. ~ Thomas Merton,#NFDB
545:Lovers of God possess intense concentration. In prayer their attention rivets itself so completely onto God that nothing can tear it away. Even a suggestion of the divine may draw them into a higher state of consciousness. Occasionally this can be somewhat inconvenient. Sri Ramakrishna once went to see a religious drama produced by his disciple. The curtain went up and a character started singing the praises of the Lord. Sri Ramakrishna immediately began to enter the supreme state of consciousness. The stage faded; the actors and actresses faded. As only a great mystic can, he uttered a protest: "I come here, Lord, to see a play staged by my disciple, and you send me into ecstasy. I won't let it happen!" And he started saying over and over, "Money... money...money," so as to keep some awareness of the temporal world. ~ Eknath Easwaran, #NFDB
546:We see here that Christ was appointed by God to be the heir of all things. When Christ sent out his apostles to disciple the nations, it was based upon this inheritance, an inheritance already given and established. Christ owns it all already. Understanding this makes a great difference in our preaching—is the tone of our message one of begging or declaring? We are commissioned to declare to the world an accomplished fact. Christ is King. This is not a campaign to get everyone to vote for him so that he might become president at some future date. This is a word already spoken from heaven. All authority in heaven and on earth is in the palm of Jesus Christ. This means his inheritance includes Saudi Arabia, Israel, Canada, the United States, China, and Argentina. It all belongs to him already—he bought it with his blood. Why ~ Douglas Wilson, #NFDB
547:Under Janet, Gibbie was saved the thousand agonies that befall the conscientious disciple, from the forcing upon him, as the thoughts and will of the eternal Father of our spirits, of the ill expressed and worse understood experiences, the crude conjectures, the vulgar imaginations of would-be teachers of the multitude. Containing truth enough to save those of sufficiently low development to receive such teaching without disgust, it contains falsehood enough, but for the Spirit of God, to ruin all nobler—I mean all childlike natures, utterly; and many such it has gone far to ruin, driving them even to a madness in which they have died. Jesus alone knows the Father, and can reveal him. Janet studied only Jesus, and as a man knows his friend, so she, only infinitely better, knew her more than friend—her Lord and her God. Do ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
548:You and she work well together, no surprise since you're meant for each other - and I don't just mean the romantic way you keep botching up. You're a team, a good one. You watch out for each other, and that's good. But that doesn't mean you have to do every single little thing together. Yes, you have a shared destiny, but you also have an individual one, and so does she. The reason you couldn't think of anything sooner to help her is because that wasn't your task. That was hers, and she found something and acted. Your task was to uncover the Grand Disciple's conspiracy and bring these people to Odin. Be content with the knowledge that you're both fulfilling the duties you're supposed to."
"It's hard to feel content when mostly I'm worried I'll never see her again," said Justin. "I don't know how I could get by without her. ~ Richelle Mead,#NFDB
549:The Crucified says, “Take up your cross not annually, but daily. Forgive those who hate you or hurt you, cheat you or scorn you. Reject the world-wisdom that fastens your identity on money, pleasure, power, and the psychological insights of the social sciences; find your true self in the faith-wisdom of my servant Paul: ‘Christ loved us and gave himself up for us’ (Ephesians 5:2).” Is such power and wisdom within the reach of an ordinary disciple? Yes! But only if we realize that what Jesus commands, he empowers us to do. We can live the crucified lifestyle, not because we are Supermen or Wonder Women, but only because he lives in us. “I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me” (Galatians 2:20, NJB). Jesus Christ nailed to the cross is the power and wisdom of God. He is ours as well. ~ Brennan Manning, #NFDB
550:Still, it is also characteristic of a true disciple of Jesus that he is not afraid of the world. Matthew 10:28: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” There’s no reason to be afraid, because, as a follower of Jesus, you know you will happily trade whatever perils you face in this world for the riches of your reward in the eternal world to come. Disciples joyfully “speak in the light” and “preach on the housetops” (v. 27), untroubled by any rebuke or threat. Furthermore, there’s no reason to fear what happens here, because not even a sparrow falls (actually the word means “hops”) to the ground outside of God’s will. “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (w. 30-31). ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
551:WHERE ARE THE FATHERS? I have seen this cry in countless men and women in the body of Christ. Most of them are young and with a strong call of God on their lives. They cry out for a father, a man to disciple, love, support, and encourage them. This is why God said He would “turn the hearts of the fathers [leaders] to the children [people], and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Mal. 4:6). Our nation lost its fathers (dads, leaders, or ministers) in the 1940s and 1950s, and today our condition is getting worse. Not unlike Saul, many leaders in our homes, corporations, and churches are more concerned with their goals than with their offspring. Because of this attitude, these leaders view God’s people as resources to serve their vision instead of seeing the vision as the vehicle to serve the people. ~ John Bevere, #NFDB
552:tahiya hote pavan nahin pani, tahiya srishti kown utpati;
tahiya hote kali nahin phula, tahiya hote garbh nahi mula;
tahiya hote vidya nahin Veda, tahiya hote shabd nahin swada;
tahiya hote pind nahin basu,
nahin dhar dharni na pavan akasu;
tahiya hote guru nahin chela, gamya agamya na panth duhela.
Sakhi: avigati ki gati ka kahown, jake gawn na thawn
gun bihuna pekhana, ka kahi lijai nawn
In that state there is no air or water, and no creation or creator; There is no bud or flower, and no fetus or semen; There is no education or Vedas, and no word or taste; There is no body or settlement, and no earth, air or space; There is no guru or disciple, and no easy or difficult path.
Sakhi: That state is very strange. I cannot explain it. It has no village or resting place. That state is without gunas (qualities). What name can on give it? ~ Kabir,#NFDB
553:tahiya hote pavan nahin pani, tahiya srishti kown utpati;
tahiya hote kali nahin phula, tahiya hote garbh nahi mula;
tahiya hote vidya nahin Veda, tahiya hote shabd nahin swada;
tahiya hote pind nahin basu,
nahin dhar dharni na pavan akasu;
tahiya hote guru nahin chela, gamya agamya na panth duhela.
Sakhi: avigati ki gati ka kahown, jake gawn na thawn
gun bihuna pekhana, ka kahi lijai nawn
In that state there is no air or water, and no creation or creator; There is no bud or flower, and no fetus or semen; There is no education or Vedas, and no word or taste; There is no body or settlement, and no earth, air or space; There is no guru or disciple, and no easy or difficult path.
Sakhi: That state is very strange. I cannot explain it. It has no village or resting place. That state is without gunas (qualities). What name can on give it? ~ Kabir,#NFDB
554:A disciple asked his teacher, 'Sir, please tell me how I can see God.' Come with me,' said the guru, 'and I shall show you.' He took the disciple to a lake, and both of them got into the water. Suddenly the teacher pressed the disciple's head under the water. After a few moments he released him and the disciple raised his head and stood up. The guru asked him, 'How did you feel?' The disciple said, 'Oh! I thought I should die; I was panting for breath.' The teacher said, 'When you feel like that for God, then you will know you haven't long to wait for His vision.'
Let me tell you something. What will you gain by floating on the surface? Dive a little under the water. The gems lie deep under the water; so what is the good of throwing your arms and legs about on the surface? A real gem is heavy. It doesn't float; it sinks to the bottom. To get the real gem you must dive deep. ~ Sri Ramakrishna,#NFDB
555:The newly created Darth Vader flexes his Force-muscle as the Emperor's enforcer to maintain order and obedience in a galaxy reeling from civil war and the destruction of the Jedi Order. To the galaxy at large, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker - the Chosen One - died on Coruscant during the siege of the Jedi Temple. And, to some extent, the was true - Anakin was dead. But from the site of Anakin Skywalker's last stand - on the molten surface of the planet Mustafa, where he sought to destroy his friend and former master, Obi-Wan Kanobi - a fearsome spectre in black has risen. Once the most powerful Knight ever known to the Jedi order he is not a disciple of the dark side, a lord of the dreaded Sith, and the avenging right hand of the galaxy's ruthless new Emperor. Seduced, deranged and destroyed by the machinations of the Dark Lord Sidious, Anakin Skywalker is dead ... and Darth Vader lives ... ~ James Luceno, #NFDB
556:God is dead,” wrote Mainländer, “and His death was the life of the world.” Once the
great individuation had been accomplished, the momentum of its creator’s selfannihilation would continue in a piecemeal fashion until nothing remained standing. And those who committed suicide, as did Mainländer, would only be following God’s example. Furthermore, the Will-to-live that Schopenhauer argued activates the world—a concept logically developed but only within a mythological framework—was revised by his disciple Mainländer as evidence not of a movement of a tortured life within beings, but as a deceptive cover for an underlying death wish in all things to burn themselves out as hastily as possible in the fires of becoming . . . or begoing, as it were. In this light, the raging of human progress is thus shown to be a mightily apparent symptom of a downfall into extinction that has just gotten underway. ~ Thomas Ligotti,#NFDB
557:How terribly, then, have the theologians misrepresented God in the measures of the low and showy, not the lofty and simple humanities! Nearly all of them represent him as a great King on a grand throne, thinking how grand he is, and making it the business of his being and the end of his universe to keep up his glory, wielding the bolts of a Jupiter against them that take his name in vain. They would not allow this, but follow out what they say, and it comes much to this. Brothers, have you found our king? There he is, kissing little children and saying they are like God. There he is at table with the head of a fisherman lying on his bosom, and somewhat heavy at heart that even he, the beloved disciple, cannot yet understand him well. The simplest peasant who loves his children and his sheep were - no, not a truer, for the other is false, but - a true type of our God beside that monstrosity of a monarch. ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
558:These... things, householder, are welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world:
Long life is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world.
Beauty is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world.
Happiness is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world.
Status is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world.
...Now, I tell you, these... things are not to be obtained by reason of prayers or wishes. If they were to be obtained by reason of prayers or wishes, who here would lack them? It's not fitting for the disciple of the noble ones who desires long life to pray for it or to delight in doing so. Instead, the disciple of the noble ones who desires long life should follow the path of practice leading to long life. In so doing, he will attain long life...
[Ittha Sutta, AN 5.43] ~ Gautama Buddha,#NFDB
559:DISCIPLE: It is said that the psychic is a spark of the Divine.
SRI AUROBINDO: Yes.
DISCIPLE: Then it seems that the function of the psychic being is the same as that of Vedic Agni, who is the leader of the journey?
SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. Agni is the God of the Psychic and, among the other things it does, it leads the upward journey.
DISCIPLE: How does the psychic carry the personalities formed in this life into another life?
SRI AUROBINDO: After death, it gathers its elements and carries them onward to another birth. But it is not the same personality that is born. People easily misunderstand these things, specially when they are put in terms of the mind. The past personality is taken only as the basis but a new personality is put forward. If it was the same personality, then it would act exactly in the same manner and there would be no meaning in that. ~ Sri Aurobindo, EVENING TALKS WITH SRI AUROBINDO, RECORDED BY A B PURANI (page no 665-666),#NFDB
560:The real Tradition is this: the teacher never tells the disciple what he or she should do. They are merely travelling companions, sharing the same uncomfortable
feeling of 'estrangement' when confronted by ever-changing perceptions, broadening horizons, closing doors, rivers that sometimes seem to block their path and which, in fact, should never be crossed, but followed.
There is only one difference between teacher and disciple: the former is slightly less afraid than the latter. Then, when they sit down at a table or in front of a fire to talk, the more experienced person might say: 'Why don't you do that?' But he or she never says: 'Go there and you'll arrive where I did', because every path and every destination are unique to the individual. The true teacher gives the disciple the courage to throw his or her world off balance, even though the disciple is afraid of things already encountered and more afraid still of what might be around the next corner. ~ Paulo Coelho,#NFDB
561:Not a believer inside the mosque, am I Nor a pagan disciple of false rites Not the pure amongst the impure Neither Moses, nor the Pharaoh Bulleh! to me, I am not known Not in the holy Vedas, am I Nor in opium, neither in wine Not in the drunkard`s intoxicated craze Neither awake, nor in a sleeping daze Bulleh! to me, I am not known In happiness nor in sorrow, am I Neither clean, nor a filthy mire Not from water, nor from earth Neither fire, nor from air, is my birth Bulleh! to me, I am not known Not an Arab, nor Lahori Neither Hindi, nor Nagauri Hindu, Turk, nor Peshawari Nor do I live in Nadaun Bulleh! to me, I am not known Secrets of religion, I have not known From Adam and Eve, I am not born I am not the name I assume Not in stillness, nor on the move Bulleh! to me, I am not known I am the first, I am the last None other, have I ever known I am the wisest of them all Bulleh! do I stand alone? Bulleh! to me, I am not known
~ Bulleh Shah, Bulleh! to me, I am not known
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562:The founder of a religion must be able to turn water into wine -- cure with a word the blind and lame, and raise with a simple touch the dead to life. It was necessary for him to demonstrate to the satisfaction of his barbarian disciple, that he was superior to nature. In times of ignorance this was easy to do. The credulity of the savage was almost boundless. To him the marvelous was the beautiful, the mysterious was the sublime. Consequently, every religion has for its foundation a miracle -- that is to say, a violation of nature -- that is to say, a falsehood.
No one, in the world's whole history, ever attempted to substantiate a truth by a miracle. Truth scorns the assistance of a miracle. Nothing but falsehood ever attested itself by signs and wonders. No miracle ever was performed, and no sane man ever thought he had performed one, and until one is performed, there can be no evidence of the existence of any power superior to, and independent of, nature. ~ Robert G Ingersoll,#NFDB
563:Influence is more important than example. Influence is not the outward authority of the Teacher over his disciple, but the power of his contact, of his presence, of the nearness of his soul to the soul of another, infusing into it, even though in silence, that which he himself is and possesses. This is the supreme sign of the Master. For the greatest Master is much less a Teacher than a Presence pouring the divine consciousness and its constituting light and power and purity and bliss into all who are receptive around him.
And it shall also be a sign of the teacher of the integral Yoga that he does not arrogate to himself Guruhood in a humanly vain and self-exalting spirit. His work, if he has one, is a trust from above, he himself a channel, a vessel or a representative. He is a man helping his brothers, a child leading children, a Light kindling other lights, an awakened Soul awakening souls, at highest a Power or Presence of the Divine calling to him other ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#NFDB
564:What just happened in this room, with all this light and shaking and encountering, forever changes the definition of education for me.” “This word education, it is not Greek.” John lifted his hands, and I could see his thoughts racing ahead of mine. “What does it mean?” “It comes from the Latin educare or maybe educere.” “What does educare mean?” he asked, rising to his feet. I could see that detective look in his eyes. “It means ‘to draw out,’ to draw out that which is within,” I submitted, aware that out of my mouth had again come way more than I knew. “As I suspected, my son,” he said quietly, “as I suspected. In the great hour three times Peter was asked if he was a disciple of Jesus; twice he denied our Lord with the very words ‘I am not.’ I took note of that, such a sharp contrast with our Lord’s ‘I Am.’ In time I realized that Peter’s terrible ‘I am not’ was healed by Jesus’s ‘I Am.’ I saw it with my own eyes, but I could not understand what Jesus was doing. It is the way for us all.” I ~ C Baxter Kruger, #NFDB
565:The Teacher of the integral Yoga will follow as far as he may the method of the Teacher within us. He will lead the disciple through the nature of the disciple. Teaching, example, influence, - these are the three instruments of the Guru. But the wise Teacher will not seek to impose himself or his opinions on the passive acceptance of the receptive mind; he will throw in only what is productive and sure as a seed which will grow under the divine fostering within. He will seek to awaken much more than to instruct; he will aim at the growth of the faculties and the experiences by a natural process and free expansion. He will give a method as an aid, as a utilisable device, not as an imperative formula or a fixed routine. And he will be on his guard against any turning of the means into a limitation, against the mechanising of process. His whole business is to awaken the divine light and set working the divine force of which he himself is only a means and an aid, a body or a channel. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, #NFDB
566:Discipleship is not limited to what you can comprehend--it must transcend all comprehension. Plunge into the deep waters beyond your own comprehension, and I will help you to comprehend even as I do. Bewilderment is the true comprehension. Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge. My comprehension transcends yours. Thus Abraham went forth from his father and not knowing whither he went. He trusted himself to my knowledge, and cared not for his own, and thus he took the right road and came to his journey's end. Behold, that is the way of the cross. You cannot find it yourself, so you must let me lead you as though you were a blind man. Wherefore it is not you, no man, no living creature, but I myself, who instruct you by my word and Spirit in the way you should go. Not the work which you choose, not the suffering you devise, but the road which is clean contrary to all that you choose or contrive or desire--that is the road you must take. To that I call you and in that you must be my disciple. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
567:My son was something of a disciple of flying things. On his bedroom wall were posters of fighter planes and wild birds. A model of a helicopter was chandeliered to his ceiling. His birthday cake, which sat before me on the picnic table, was decorated with a picture of a rocket ship - a silver-white missile with discharging thrusters. I had been hoping that the baker would place a few stars in the frosting as well (the cake in the catalog was dotted with yellow candy sequins), but when I opened the box I found that they were missing. So this is what I did: as Joshua stood beneath the swing set, fishing for something in his pocket, I planted his birthday candles deep in the cake. I pushed them in until each wick was surrounded by only a shallow bracelet of wax. Then I called the children over from the swing set. They came, tearing up divots in the grass.
We sang happy birthday as I held a match to the candles.
Joshua closed his eyes.
"Blow out the stars," I said, and his cheeks rounded with air. ~ Kevin Brockmeier,#NFDB
568:In ancient times the disciple had to undergo severe tests to prove his ability for initiation. Here we do not follow that method. Apparently there is no test and no trial. But if you see the truth, you will find that here it is much more difficult. There the disciple knew that he was undergoing a period of trial and after he had passed through some outward tests, he was taken in. But here you have to face life and you are watched at every moment. It is not only your outer actions that count. Each and every thought and inner movement is seen, every reaction is noticed. It is not what you do in the solitude of the forest, but what you do in the thick of the battle of life that is important.
Are you ready to submit yourself for such tests? Are you ready to change yourself completely? You will have to throw off your ideas, ideals, values, interests and opinions. Everything will have to be learnt anew. If you are ready for all this, then take a plunge; otherwise don't try to step in. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
569:/Farsi O Saghi, pass around that cup of wine, then bring it to me. Love seemed easy at first, but grew so complicated later. The sabaa, unravels her braided tresses, spreading the musky scent of her black curls, How our hearts pound with this onrush of blood! How can there be in the house of the Beloved any assurance of settled comfort and pleasure, When at any moment the caravan bells can command us to pack up and leave? Even if the Master tells you to colour your prayer rug red with wine, As a disciple heed what the Tradition asks of you. Dark night ,frightening waves, terrifying whirlpools How could they know our state, those unaffected ones, sticking to the shore? All my selfish deeds finally led to this bad reputation How can that which people discuss openly be kept a secret? Hafiz, if you desire His presence, do not withhold yourself When you fulfill your deepest desire, when you encounter your Beloved, you relinquish every worldly thing.
~ Hafiz, O Saghi, pass around that cup of wine, then bring it to me
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570:Miserable man that I am, what fellowship hath my perverseness with Thy uprightness ? Thou art truly good, I wicked; Thou full of compassion, I impious; Thou holy, I miserable; Thou just, I unjust; Thou art light, lam blind; Thou art life, and I am dead; Thou art medicine, I am sick; Thou supreme truth, and I utter vanity.’ It is, therefore, supreme ignorance for anyone to think that he can ever attain to the high estate of union with God before he casts away from him the desire of natural things, and of supernatural also, so far as it concerns self-love, because the distance between them and the state of perfection is the very greatest. For Christ our Lord hath said, ‘ Every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be My disciple.’ The doctrine of Christ which He came into the world to teach, is contempt of all things, that we may thereby have power to receive the reward of the Spirit of God. For he who does not withdraw himself from the things of the world, is not qualified to receive the Spirit of God in the pure transformation. ~ Juan de la Cruz, #NFDB
571:The tide of materialistic thoughts is always on the watch, waiting for the least weakness, and if we relax but one moment from our vigilance, if we are even slightly negligent, it rushes in and invades us from all sides, submerging under its heavy flood the result sometimes of numberless efforts. Then the being enters a sort of torpor, its physical needs of food and sleep increase, its intelligence is clouded, its inner vision veiled, and in spite of the little interest it really finds in such superficial activities, they occupy it almost exclusively. This state is extremely painful and tiring, for nothing is more tiring then materialistic thoughts, and the mind, worn out, suffers like a caged bird which cannot spread its wings and yet longs to be able to soar freely.
But perhaps this state has its own use which I do not see.... In any case, I do not struggle; and like a child in its mother's arms, like a fervent disciple at the feet of his master, I trust myself to Thee and surrender to Thy guidance, sure of Thy victory.
~ The Mother, Prayers And Meditations, January 4th, 1914,#NFDB
572:Nor are his purely intellectual merits by any means to be despised. He has, in many respects, clarified Plato's teaching; he has developed, with as much consistency as possible, the type of theory advocated by him in common with many others. His arguments against materialism are good, and his whole conception of the relation of soul and body is clearer than that of Plato or Aristotle. Like Spinoza, he has a certain kind of moral purity and loftiness, which is very impressive. He is always sincere, never shrill or censorious, invariably concerned to tell the reader, as simply as he can, what he believes to be important. Whatever one may think of him as a theoretical philosopher, it is impossible not to love him as a man. The life of Plotinus is known, so far as it is known, through the biography written by his friend and disciple Porphyry, a Semite whose real name was Malchus. There are, however, miraculous elements in this account, which make it difficult to place a complete reliance upon its more credible portions. Plotinus considered his spatio-temporal appearance ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
573:While on earth, Jesus spoke most often about the kingdom of God. There is a lot of confusion about what this term means but at its heart it is about the rule and reign of Jesus in the hearts of his followers. When you have a growing number of Jesus followers in a particular people group or region faithfully making disciples and planting churches, it begins to have a transformative effect on all aspects of life and society. It brings about human flourishing under the Lordship of Jesus. We refer to this as a kingdom breakthrough. Overcoming the barriers to these kingdom breakthroughs and learning how to establish them in every unreached people group is our highest strategic priority as an organization. If these kingdom breakthroughs are to develop and have their full potential impact, the body of Christ must learn how to make disciples who disciple others and establish reproducing churches within every people. It is only with this type of exponential multiplication of disciples and churches that everyone within every people group will have access to the gospel and God’s glory will be made known in all the earth. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
574:Blessed Lord! I adore the love with which Thou didst teach a woman, who had refused Thee a cup of water, what the worship of God must be. I rejoice in the assurance that Thou wilt no less now instruct Thy disciple, who comes to Thee with a heart that longs to pray in spirit and in truth. O my Holy Master! do teach me this blessed secret. Teach me that the worship in spirit and truth is not of man, but only comes from Thee; that it is not only a thing of times and seasons, but the outflowing of a life in Thee. Teach me to draw near to God in prayer under the deep impression of my ignorance and my having nothing in myself to offer Him, and at the same time of the provision Thou, my Saviour, makest for the Spirit's breathing in my childlike stammerings. I do bless Thee that in Thee I am a child, and have a child's liberty of access; that in Thee I have the spirit of Sonship and of worship of truth. Teach me, above all, Blessed Son of the Father, how it is the revelation of the Father that gives confidence in prayer; and let the infinite Fatherliness of God's Heart be my joy and strength for a life of prayer and of worship. Amen. ~ Andrew Murray, #NFDB
575:They have not come to that sense. They have taken it very easily: “Let Lord Jesus Christ suffer, and we’ll do all nonsense.” Is it not? Bob: It is so. Śrīla Prabhupāda: They should have been ashamed: “Lord Jesus Christ suffered for us, but we are continuing the sinful activities.” He told everyone, “Thou shalt not kill,” but they are indulging in killing, thinking, “Lord Jesus Christ will excuse us and take all the sinful reactions.” This is going on. We should be very cautious: “For my sinful actions my spiritual master will suffer, so I’ll not commit even a pinch of sinful activities.” That is the duty of the disciple. After initiation, all sinful reaction is finished. Now if he again commits sinful activities, his spiritual master has to suffer. A disciple should be sympathetic and consider that for his sinful activities his spiritual master will suffer. If the spiritual master is attacked by some disease, it is due to the sinful activities of others. Therefore the injunction is “Don’t make many disciples.” But we do it because we are preaching. Never mind, let us suffer; still we shall accept these disciples. ~ A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhup da, #NFDB
576:The ability of the Mystery Schools to communicate with the invisible worlds is the basis of their power; for all the creative hierarchies dwell in the unseen worlds, and there the disciple must go in order to consult them. The reason for this is that the human race is the only one in our scheme of things that is equipped with both a physical and a mental body. The gods, so-called, have never descended into physical substance. Consequently, having no body composed of dense chemical elements, they are incapable of manifesting here. In order to communicate with them, man must, therefore, learn to function consciously in his own invisible bodies. When he is capable of doing this, he can communicate with the spiritual beings who dwell in similar superphysical substances. Thus, while religion deals only with fancies, theorems, and beliefs, the initiates of the Ancient Wisdom go straight to the fountainhead of wisdom and, learning the will of the gods, make that will the law of their lives. The initiate does not guess, wonder or soliloquize; he labors with facts for he is one with the truths of Nature. ~ Manly P Hall, What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples, #NFDB
577:When things are serious and either Amy Eleni or I need to beat our personal hysteric, the informal code is to seize your head and twist coils of your hair around your fingers and groan, "I'm not mad! I'm not mad! I don't want to die!" And if you have a friend who knows, then the friend grabs her head too and replies, "There's someone inside of me, and she says I must die!" That way it is stupid, and funny, and serious.
Our hysteric is the revelation that we refuse to be consoled for all this noise, for all this noise and for the attacks on our softnesses, the loss of sensitivity to my scalp with every batch of box braids. Sometimes we cannot see or hear or breathe because of our fright that this is all our bodies will know. We're scared by the happy, hollow disciple that lines our brains and stomachs if we manage to stop after one biscuit. We need some kind of answer. We need to know what that biscuit-tin discipline is, where it comes from. We need to know whether it's a sign that our bones are turning against the rest of us, whether anyone will help us if our bones win out, or whether the people who should help us will say "You look wonderful!" instead. ~ Helen Oyeyemi,#NFDB
578:In truth, Thomas was being a faithful disciple of Jesus, who warned His disciples that “many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray” (Matt. 24:5). Indeed, Jesus affirms those who believe without seeing because such belief takes great faith. But that in no way suggests we should ignore evidence when it is available, as though doing so makes us more faithful. This impulse, combined with an often uncritical biblicism, not only neglects God’s command to love him with our minds, but leads us into unnecessary divisiveness and shallow literalism that blinds us to the deeper truth of Scripture. Therefore, during this process of self-emptying, we must be aware of and honest with our uncertainties. While we should never throw around our doubt with rebellious defiance, neither should we view our genuine questions and uncertainties as liabilities. Sometimes allowing ourselves to question deeply held beliefs opens us up to discovering that we were, in fact, in error, offering us the opportunity for more faithful understanding. Other times we discover that our fears are unfounded, returning to our former beliefs without doubt, yet stronger for it. ~ Jamie Arpin Ricci, #NFDB
579:The great danger . . . lies precisely in his constant contact with divine things.” What is the danger? It is that familiarity with the things of God will cause you to lose your awe. You’ve spent so much time in Scripture that its grand redemptive narrative, with its expansive wisdom, doesn’t excite you anymore. You’ve spent so much time exegeting the atonement that you can stand at the foot of the cross with little weeping and scant rejoicing. You’ve spent so much time discipling others that you are no longer amazed at the reality of having been chosen to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. You’ve spent so much time unpacking the theology of Scripture that you’ve forgotten that its end game is personal holiness. You’ve spent so much time in strategic, local-church ministry planning that you’ve lost your wonder at the sovereign Planner that guides your every moment. You’ve spent so much time meditating on what it means to lead others in worship, but you have little private awe. It’s all become so regular and normal that it fails to move you anymore; in fact, there are sad moments when the wonder of grace can barely get your attention in the midst of your busy ministry schedule. Artists ~ Paul David Tripp, #NFDB
580:There is a current misconception which sees in Jung an early disciple of Freud who subsequently deserted his master. Nothing could be more misleading. From the very beginning there were differences of procedure and of outlook that were bound to lead to divergent results. Freud's work is based on a scientific method restricted to the principle of causality: that is to say, it is assumed that everything that happens has an explanation in prior causes, and is merely the result of those causes. The world is a mechanism that can be taken to pieces and we can only understand how it works if we know how to dismantle and reassemble its constituent parts. Jung does not deny this causal principle, but he says it is inadequate to explain all the facts. In his view, we live and work, day by day, according to the principle of directed aim or purpose, as well as by the principle of causality. We are drawn onwards and our actions are significant for a future we cannot foresee, and will only be explicable when the final effect of the impulse becomes evident. In other words, life has a meaning as well as an explanation; a meaning, moreover, that we can never finally discover, for it is being extended all the time by the process of evolution. ~ Herbert Read, #NFDB
581:The view that external things like rank, money, and honors bring happiness has frequently been criticized, but it is not necessarily incorrect. After all, these things belong, as Aquinas would have it, among the "accidents."
Accidens is the unessential, which includes the body. If one manages to separate essence from flesh, if one manages, that is, to gain distance from oneself, then one climbs the first step toward spiritual power. Many exercises are geared to this--from the soldier's drill to the hermit's meditation.
However, once the self has been successfully distanced, the essential can be brought back to the accidental. This process, resembling a vaccination with one's own blood, is initially manifested as a reanimation of the body. The physiognomy takes on the kind of features seen in paintings by old masters. They added something of their own. They blended it into the pigments.
This also applies to objects; they were meaningful, now they gain a sense. A new light shines on things, they glow. Anyone can manage this; I heard the following from a disciple of Bruno's: "The world seemed hollow to me because my head was hollow." But the head, too, can be filled. First we must forget what we have learned. ~ Ernst J nger,#NFDB
582:Committing myself to the task of becoming fully human is saving my life now...to become fully human is something extra, a conscious choice that not everyone makes. Based on my limited wisdom and experience, there is more than one way to do this. If I were a Buddhist, I might do it by taking the bodhisattva vow, and if I were a Jew, I might do it by following Torah. Because I am a Christian, I do it by imitating Christ, although i will be the first to admit that I want to stop about a day short of following him all the way.
In Luke's gospel, there comes a point when he turns around and says to the large crowd of those trailing after him, "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple" (14:26). Make of that what you will, but I think it was his way of telling them to go home. He did not need people to go to Jerusalem to die with him. He needed people to go back where they came from and live the kinds of lives that he had risked his own life to show them: lives of resisting the powers of death, of standing up for the little and the least, of turning cheeks and washing feet, of praying for enemies and loving the unlovable. ~ Barbara Brown Taylor,#NFDB
583:When I was in high school, I seriously considered joining the Marines; this was when they first came out with commercials for “the few, the proud, the Marines.” What turned me off was that in those advertisements, everyone was always running. Always. And I hate running. But you know what? I didn’t bother to ask if they would modify the rules for me so I could run less, and maybe also do fewer push-ups. That would’ve been pointless and stupid, and I knew it. Everyone knows that if you sign up for the Marines, you have to do whatever they tell you. They own you. Somehow this realization does not cross over to our thinking about the Christian life. Jesus didn’t say that if you wanted to follow Him you could do it in a lukewarm manner. He said, “Take up your cross and follow Me.” He also said, Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. —Luke 14:31–33 Jesus asks for everything. But ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
584:When the world is hostile and persecuting, when the world moves against him and ostracizes or alienates him, a true disciple is not afraid, because he has utterly and totally given himself over to the lordship of Christ, confident in His care no matter what, even against the hostility of the world. Another characteristic of discipleship is that a true disciple is loyal to his Lord. In verse 32 Jesus told us, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.” When the heat is on, when the pressure and the persecution are bearing down and the world is attacking, the true believer will openly confess Christ. He won’t bail out. He won’t deny his faith. He won’t recant. He’ll stand up and proclaim Christ, no matter what the circumstances. He’ll go to prison and even face execution before he will deny his Lord. Someone will say, “What about Peter? He was a real disciple, but he denied his Lord.” It’s true. He did. But it was before the Holy Spirit came to live in him. After that, he never again was disloyal. He died for being loyal to Christ: crucified upside down, as he requested, because he said he was not worthy to die like his Lord. Such loyalty marks the ones whom Christ will confess belong to Him. ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
585:The Devil One evening after my brother disciple and I had walked thirty miles in the mountains, we stopped to rest two miles beyond Kedarnath. I was very tired and soon fell asleep, but my sleep was restless because of my extreme fatigue. It was cold and I did not have a blanket to wrap around me, so I put my hands around my neck to keep warm. I rarely dream. I had dreamt only three or four times in my life, and all of my dreams had come true. That night I dreamt that the devil was choking my throat with strong hands. I felt as though I were suffocating. When my brother disciple saw my breath rhythm change and realized that I was experiencing considerable discomfort, he came to me and woke me up. I said, “Somebody was choking my throat!” Then he told me that my own hands were choking my throat. That which you call the devil is part of you. The myth of the devil and of evil is imposed on us by our ignorance. The human mind is a great wonder and magician. It can assume the form of both a devil and a divine being any time it wishes. It can be a great enemy or a great friend, creating either hell or heaven for us. There are many tendencies hidden in the unconscious mind which must be uncovered, faced, and transcended before one intends to tread the path of enlightenment. ~ Swami Rama, #NFDB
586:Matchevici answered, “I don’t wish to remain alive and be ashamed to look in a mirror, because I will see the face of a traitor. I cannot accept such a condition. I prefer to die.” The officer of the secret police shook Matchevici’s hand and said, “I congratulate you. I didn’t expect any other answer from you. But I would like to make another proposal. Some of the prisoners have become our informers. They claim to be Communist and they are denouncing you. They play a double role. We have no confidence in them. We would like to know in what measure they are sincere. Toward you they are traitors who are doing you much harm, informing us about your words and deeds. I understand that you don’t want to betray your comrades. But give us information about those who oppose you so you will save your life!” Matchevici answered, as promptly as the first time, “I am a disciple of Christ and He has taught us to love even our enemies. The men who betray us do us much harm but I cannot reward evil with evil. I cannot give information even against them. I pity them. I pray for them. I don’t wish to have any connection with the Communists.” Matchevici came back from the discussion with the political officer and died in the same cell I was in. I saw him die—he was praising God. Love ~ Richard Wurmbrand, #NFDB
587:He is eternal, which means that He antedates time and is wholly independent of it. Time began in Him and will end in Him. To it He pays no tribute and from it He suffers no change. He is immutable, which means that He has never changed and can never change in any smallest measure. To change He would need to go from better to worse or from worse to better. He cannot do either, for being perfect He cannot become more perfect, and if He were to become less perfect He would be less than God. He is omniscient, which means that He knows in one free and effortless act all matter, all spirit, all relationships, all events. He has no past and He has no future. He is, and none of the limiting and qualifying terms used of creatures can apply to Him. Love and mercy and righteousness are His, and holiness so ineffable that no comparisons or figures will avail to express it. Only fire can give even a remote conception of it. In fire He appeared at the burning bush; in the pillar of fire He dwelt through all the long wilderness journey. The fire that glowed between the wings of the cherubim in the holy place was called the "shekinah," the Presence, through the years of Israel's glory, and when the Old had given place to the New, He came at Pentecost as a fiery flame and rested upon each disciple. ~ A W Tozer, #NFDB
588:EDITION FOR at least twenty years, a new translation of the works of St. John of the Cross has been an urgent necessity. The translations of the individual prose works now in general use go back in their original form to the eighteen-sixties, and, though the later editions of some of them have been submitted to a certain degree of revision, nothing but a complete retranslation of the works from their original Spanish could be satisfactory. For this there are two reasons. First, the existing translations were never very exact renderings of the original Spanish text even in the form which held the field when they were first published. Their great merit was extreme readableness: many a disciple of the Spanish mystics, who is unacquainted with the language in which they wrote, owes to these translations the comparative ease with which he has mastered the main lines of St. John of the Cross's teaching. Thus for the general reader they were of great utility; for the student, on the other hand, they have never been entirely adequate. They paraphrase difficult expressions, omit or add to parts of individual sentences in order (as it seems) to facilitate comprehension of the general drift of the passages in which these occur, and frequently retranslate from the Vulgate the Saint's Spanish ~ Juan de la Cruz, #NFDB
589:To pastors and teachers
If all who laboured for the conversion of others were to introduce them immediately into Prayer and the Interior Life, and make it their main design to gain and win over the heart, numberless as well as permanent conversions would certainly ensue. On the contrary, few and transient fruits must attend that labour which is confined to outward matters; such as burdening the disciple with a thousand precepts for external exercises, instead of leaving the soul to Christ by the occupation of the heart in him . . .
O when once the heart is gained, how easily is all moral evil corrected! It is, therefore, that God above all things requires the heart. It is the conquest of the heart alone that can extirpate those dreadful vices which are so predominant, such as drunkenness, blasphemy, lewdness,envy, and theft. Jesus Christ would become the universal and peaceful Sovereign, and the face of the church would be wholly renewed.
The decay of internal piety is unquestionably the source of the various errors that have arisen in the church, all which would would speedily be sapped and overthrown should inward religion be reestablished . . .
O how inexpressibly great is the loss sustained by mankind from the neglect of the Interior Life! ~ Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon,#NFDB
590:Matchevici answered, “I don’t wish to remain alive and be ashamed to look in a mirror, because I will see the face of a traitor. I cannot accept such a condition. I prefer to die.” The officer of the secret police shook Matchevici’s hand and said, “I congratulate you. I didn’t expect any other answer from you. But I would like to make another proposal. Some of the prisoners have become our informers. They claim to be Communist and they are denouncing you. They play a double role. We have no confidence in them. We would like to know in what measure they are sincere. Toward you they are traitors who are doing you much harm, informing us about your words and deeds. I understand that you don’t want to betray your comrades. But give us information about those who oppose you so you will save your life!” Matchevici answered, as promptly as the first time, “I am a disciple of Christ and He has taught us to love even our enemies. The men who betray us do us much harm but I cannot reward evil with evil. I cannot give information even against them. I pity them. I pray for them. I don’t wish to have any connection with the Communists.” Matchevici came back from the discussion with the political officer and died in the same cell I was in. I saw him die—he was praising God. Love conquered even the natural thirst for life. ~ Richard Wurmbrand, #NFDB
591:What the disciple is to notice principally are relationships between the church
and the divine: he is to notice that the moon is above the steeple, and tilted; he is to
notice that the lines of the steeple rise up and embrace the moon, that they flank it,
contain it, and guard it; he is to notice that the moon lies in the protecting lines.
He is to notice that while the weight of the edifice presses downward, the jasmine
lightness of the moon remains above. All of this concerns relationships. He is to
notice only to a lesser degree the colors of the scene: the shell-pink of the moon,
the turquoise color of the sky, the way the brown-stone and slate become orange
and dark blue. But the poet points out that, though less important, the colors are
still there to be noticed: “It is true: / in the light colors / of morning / brownstone
and slate / shine orange and dark blue.” What sort of colors is the disciple to no-
tice, if he is to notice them at all? He is to notice the pink of a shell, the blue of a
turquoise, the orange of the sun, and the dark blue of the sky, that is, colors of
things naturally occuring in the real, imperfect world. He is to notice that the colors
of manufactured things—the cut brown-stone and slate building materials—are
transformed in the scene into natural colors. ~ George Lakoff,#NFDB
592:John sums up the matter bluntly. “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars” (1 John 4:20). To truly love God includes loving others with the same love God has for us and the same love God has for them. This is part of what it means to be a participant in the divine nature. It is, in fact, what it means to be Christian (Christ-like). “Whoever does not love,” John wrote, “does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). Our capacity to love—to fulfill the greatest two commandments—is the definitive evidence that we are in fact abiding in Christ and participating in the perfect love of the triune God. Christians sometimes try to assess how they or others are doing on the basis of such things as how successfully they conquer a particular sin, how much prayer and Bible study they do, how regularly they attend and give to church, and so forth. But rarely do we honestly ask the question that Scripture places at the center of everything: Are we growing in our capacity to love all people? Do we have an increasing love for our sisters and brothers in Christ as well as for those for whom Christ died who are yet outside the church? Are we increasing in our capacity to ascribe unsurpassable worth to people whom society judges to have no worth? If there is any distinguishing mark of the true disciple from a biblical perspective, this is it! ~ Gregory A Boyd, #NFDB
593:The last instruction to the disciple is, “Observe / the jasmine lightness / of the
moon.” This instruction embodies all the instructions. The word “observe” has two
meanings: “to look at” and “to conform to,” as in a ritual. It is at once an instruc-
tion for looking at the church, an instruction for understanding the true nature of
religion, and, most important, an instruction for practicing that understanding.
“Jasmine” and “moon” recall the image of the flower superimposed on the
moon—metaphorically the essence of the divine which is above the institution of
the church. A color mapping reinforces the superimposition of the flower on the
moon: the “lightness” of the moon is the color of the jasmine flower. “Lightness”
is also buoyancy; it suggests an upward motion like the scent of jasmine rising
from the ground, in opposition to the oppressive weight of the institutional church.
The lightness recalls the upward force of the lines escaping.
The ultimate instruction to the disciple is to transcend, to rise above, the insti-
tution. This is conveyed metaphorically in the central image of the poem in which
the lines rise above the steeple that is ordinarily seen as “containing” them. Tran-
scendence, motion beyond the ordinary limits, is also conveyed in the very struc-
ture of the sentence that describes the image of transcendence. ~ George Lakoff,#NFDB
594:It’s pretty overwhelming to grasp that God has used a frail, human, clay pot as His means of saving others. But the reward goes even beyond that. Look at Matthew 10:41: “He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.” That’s a tremendous divine principle. By the way, a prophet is what he says, and a righteous man is what he is, so the two really speak of the same individual. A true disciple lives what he says. He speaks the gospel truth, and he lives righteously. When you go out representing God by your life and your lips, by your speaking and your living, those who receive you will receive the reward that you receive. This could be true of a pastor, a teacher, a missionary, an evangelist, or anyone who represents Christ; the one who receives that one will share that one’s reward. If the Lord gives me a reward for proclaiming to you, He’ll give you the same reward for receiving what I proclaim. We all share. You want to be a blessing in the world? Then confess Christ before men! Stand up boldly, and don’t mitigate your testimony; don’t be ashamed of Christ. Don’t water down the truth. And let your life become the source of their reward. Then a disciple is a person who determines destiny. Even the least of us shares with the greatest of us in what God does in blessing us. ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
595:A Word Before All Is Grace was written in a certain frame of mind—that of a ragamuffin. Therefore, This book is by the one who thought he’d be farther along by now, but he’s not. It is by the inmate who promised the parole board he’d be good, but he wasn’t. It is by the dim-eyed who showed the path to others but kept losing his way. It is by the wet-brained who believed if a little wine is good for the stomach, then a lot is great. It is by the liar, tramp, and thief; otherwise known as the priest, speaker, and author. It is by the disciple whose cheese slid off his cracker so many times he said “to hell with cheese ’n’ crackers.” It is by the young at heart but old of bone who is led these days in a way he’d rather not go. But, This book is also for the gentle ones who’ve lived among wolves. It is for those who’ve broken free of collar to romp in fields of love and marriage and divorce. It is for those who mourn, who’ve been mourning most of their lives, yet they hang on to shall be comforted. It is for those who’ve dreamed of entertaining angels but found instead a few friends of great price. It is for the younger and elder prodigals who’ve come to their senses again, and again, and again, and again. It is for those who strain at pious piffle because they’ve been swallowed by Mercy itself. This book is for myself and those who have been around the block enough times that we dare to whisper the ragamuffin’s rumor— all is grace. ~ Brennan Manning, #NFDB
596:They taught that men have two souls, of separate and quite different natures: the one perishable--the Astral Soul, or the inner, fluidic body--the other incorruptible and immortal--the Augoeides, or portion of the Divine Spirit; that the mortal or Astral Soul perishes at each gradual change at the threshold of every new sphere, becoming with every transmigration more purified. The astral man, intangible and invisible as he might be to our mortal, earthly senses, is still constituted of matter, though sublimated. Aristotle, notwithstanding that for political reasons of his own he maintained a prudent silence as to certain esoteric matters, expressed very clearly his opinion on the subject. It was his belief that human souls are emanations of God, that are finally re-absorbed into Divinity. Zeno, the founder of the Stoics, taught that there are "two eternal qualities throughout nature: the one active, or male; the other passive, or female: that the former is pure, subtile ether, or Divine Spirit; the other entirely inert in itself till united with the active principle. That the Divine Spirit acting upon matter produced fire, water, earth, and air; and that it is the sole efficient principle by which all nature is moved. The Stoics, like the Hindu sages, believed in the final absorption. St. Justin believed in the emanation of these souls from Divinity, and Tatian, the Assyrian, his disciple, declared that "man was as immortal as God himself." * ~ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, #NFDB
597:Tad Niskala 'That I Am Not'
Om. I am neither the mind,
Intelligence, ego, nor ’chitta’,
Neither the ears, nor the tongue,
Nor the senses of smell and sight,
Neither ether, nor air,
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I am neither the ’prana’,
Nor the five vital breaths,
Neither the seven elements of the body,
Nor its five sheaths,
Nor hands, nor feet,
Nor other organs of action.
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
Neither fear, greed, nor delusion,
Loathing, nor liking have I,
Nothing of pride, of ego,
Of ’dharma’ or Liberation,
Neither desire of the mind,
Nor object for its desiring.
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
Nothing of pleasure and pain,
Of virtue and vice, do I know,
Of mantra, of sacred place,
Of Vedas or Sacrifice,
Neither I am the eater,
The food or the act of eating,
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
Death or fear, I have none,
Nor any distinction of ’caste’,
Neither Father, nor Mother,
Nor even a birth, have I,
20
Neither friend, nor comrade,
Neither disciple, nor Guru.
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I have no form or fancy,
the All-pervading am I,
Everywhere I exist,
And yet I am beyond the senses,
Neither salvation am I,
Nor anything to be known.
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
~ Adi Shankaracharya,#NFDB
598:The aspiring child is often checked by the dull disciple who has learned his lessons so imperfectly that he has never got beyond his school-books. Full of fragmentary rules, he has perceived the principle of none of them. The child draws near to him with some outburst of unusual feeling, some scintillation of a lively hope, some wide-reaching imagination that draws into the circle of religious theory the world of nature, and the yet wider world of humanity, for to the child the doings of the Father fill the spaces; he has not yet learned to divide between God and nature, between Providence and grace, between love and benevolence;—the child comes, I say, with his heart full, and the answer he receives from the dull disciple is—" God has said nothing about that in his word, therefore we have no right to believe anything about it. It is better not to speculate on such matters. However desirable it may seem to us, we have nothing to do with it. It is not revealed." For such a man is incapable of suspecting, that what has remained hidden from him may have been revealed to the babe. With the authority, therefore, of years and ignorance, he forbids the child, for he believes in no revelation but the Bible, and in the word of that alone. For him all revelation has ceased with and been buried in the Bible, to be with difficulty exhumed, and, with much questioning of the decayed form, re-united into a rigid skeleton of metaphysical and legal contrivance for letting the love of God have its way unchecked by the other perfections of his being. ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
599:THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
I. Suffering does exist.
II. Suffering arises from "attachment" to desires.
III. Suffering ceases when "attachment" to desire ceases.
IV. Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the eightfold path:
1. Right understanding (view).
2. Right intention (thought).
3. Right speach.
4. Right action.
5. Right livelihood.
6. Right effort.
7. Right mindfulness.
8. Rght meditation (concentration).
Buddha's fourfold consolation:
With a mind free from greed and unfriendliness, incorruptible, and purified, the noble disciple is already during this lifetime assure of a fourfold consolation:
“If there is another world (heaven), and a cause and effect (Karma) of good and bad actions, then it may be that, at the dissolution of the body, after death, I shall be reborn in a happy realm, a heavenly world.” Of this first consolation (s)he is assured.
“And if there is no other world, no reward and no punishment of good and bad actions, then I live at least here, in this world, an untroubled and happy life, free from hate and unfriendliness.” Of this second consolation (s)he is assured.
“And if bad things happen to bad people, but I do not do anything bad (or have unfriendliness against anyone), how can I, who am doing no bad things, meet with bad things?” Of this third consolation (s)he is assured.
“And if no bad things happen to bad people, then I know myself in both ways pure.” Of this fourth consolation (s)he is assured. ~ Gautama Buddha,#NFDB
600:When you were born in this world
Everyone laughed while you cried
Conduct NOT yourself in manner such
That they laugh when you are gone
Kabir's mind got cleansed like the holy Ganges water
Now everyone follows, saying Kabir Kabir
Guru the washer man, disciple is the cloth
The name of God liken to the soap
Wash the mind on foundation firm
To realize the glow of Truth
Alive one sees, alive one knows
Thus crave for salvation when full of life
Alive you did not cut the noose of binding actions
Hoping liberation with death!
Inexpressible is the story of Love
It cannot be revealed by words
Like the dumb eating sweet-meat
Only smiles, the sweetness he cannot tell
Worry is the bandit that eats into one's heart
What the doctor can do, what remedy to impart?
Says Kabir
Don't be so proud and vain
Looking at your high mansion
Death makes one lie on bare land
And grass will grow thereon
Says Kabir
Don't be so proud and vain
The clutches of Time are dark
Who knows where shall it kill
Whether at home or abroad
Says Kabir
By my doing nothing happens
What I don't does come to pass
If anything happens as if my doing
Then truly it is done by someone else
Like the pupil in the eyes
The Lord resides inside
Ignorant do not know this fact
They search Him outside
First the pangs of separation
Next grows the thirst for Love
Says Kabir then only hope
The union to materialize
~ Kabir, When You Were Born In This World - Dohas Ii
,#NFDB
601:Who I Am in Christ I am accepted . . . John 1:12 I am God’s child. John 15:15 I am a friend of Jesus Christ, as His disciple. Romans 5:1 I have been justified. 1 Corinthians 6:17 I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 I have been bought with a price and I belong to God. 1 Corinthians 12:27 I am a member of Christ’s body. Ephesians 1:3–8 I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child. Hebrews 4:14–16 I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ. I am secure . . . Romans 8:1–2 I am free from condemnation. Romans 8:28 I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances. Romans 8:31–39 I am free from condemnation. I cannot be separated from God’s love. 2 Corinthians 1:21–22 I have been established, anointed, and sealed by God. Philippians 1:6 I am confident God will complete the good work He started in me. Philippians 3:20 I am a citizen of heaven. Colossians 3:1–4 I am hidden with Christ in God. 2 Timothy 1:7 I have been given a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. 1 John 5:18 I am born of God, and the evil one cannot touch me. I am significant . . . John 15:5 I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the true vine, and a channel of His life. John 15:16 I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit. 1 Corinthians 3:16 I am God’s temple. 2 Corinthians 5:17–21 I am a minister of reconciliation for God. Ephesians 2:6 I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm. Ephesians 2:10 I am God’s workmanship. Ephesians 3:12 I may approach God with freedom and confidence. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. ~ Renee Swope, #NFDB
602:DAY 25: What specific instructions did Paul give Timothy that would apply to a young person? A young person seeking to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ can find essential guidelines in 4:12–16, where Paul listed five areas (verse 12) in which Timothy was to be an example to the church: 1. In “word” or speech—see also Matthew 12:34–37; Ephesians 4:25, 29, 31. 2. In “conduct” or righteous living—see also Titus 2:10; 1 Peter 1:15; 2:12; 3:16. 3. In “love” or self-sacrificial service for others—see also John 15:13. 4. In “faith” or faithfulness or commitment, not belief—see also 1 Corinthians 4:2. 5. In “purity” and particularly sexual purity—see also 4:2. The verses that follow hold several other building blocks to a life of discipleship: 1. Timothy was to be involved in the public reading, study, and application of Scripture (v. 13). 2. Timothy was to diligently use his spiritual gift that others had confirmed and affirmed in a public way (v. 14). 3. Timothy was to be committed to a process of progress in his walk with Christ (v. 15). 4. Timothy was to “take heed” to pay careful attention to “yourself and to the doctrine” (v. 16). The priorities of a godly leader should be summed up in Timothy’s personal holiness and public teaching. All of Paul’s exhortations in vv. 6–16 fit into one or the other of those two categories. By careful attention to his own godly life and faithful preaching of the Word, Timothy would continue to be the human instrument God would use to bring the gospel and to save some who heard him. Though salvation is God’s work, it is His pleasure to do it through human instruments. ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
603:Instruction about Sadhana to a disciple:
Disciple: What is the nature of realisation in this yoga?
Sri Aurobindo: In this yoga we want to bring down the Truth-consciousness into the whole being - no part being left out. This can be done by the Higher Power itself. What you have to do is to open yourself to it.
Disciple: As the Higher Power is there why does it not work in all men - consciously?
Sri Aurobindo: Because man, at present, is shut up in his mental being, his vital nature and physical consciousness and their limitations. You have to open yourself. By an opening I mean an aspiration in the heart for the coming down of the Power that is above, and a will in the Mind, or above the Mind, open to it.
The first thing this working of the Higher Power does is to establish Shanti - peace - in all the parts of the being and an opening above. This peace is not mere mental Shanti, it is full of power and, whatever action takes place in it, Samata, equality, is its basis and the Shanti and Samata are never disturbed. What comes from Above is peace, power and joy. It also brings about changes in various parts of our nature so that they can bear the pressure of the Higher Power.
Knowledge also progressively develops showing all in our being that is to be thrown out and what is to be retained. In fact, knowledge and guidance both come and you have constantly to consent to the guidance. The progress may be more in one direction than in anotheR But it is the Higher Power that works. The rest is a matter of experience and the movement of the Shakti. ~ Sri Aurobindo, EVENING TALKS WITH SRI AUROBINDO, RECORDED BY A B PURANI (28-09-1923),#NFDB
604:One word that has been poorly defined by dictionaries and priests is the word 'meek'. The word has been defined in several ways: righteous, humble, teachable, and patient under suffering, long suffering willing to follow gospel teachings; an attribute of a true disciple. This is not completely true. There is a secret a person with great knowledge discovers along the path to truth. That is, the more doors you open to the mysteries, or sacred knowledge, the smaller you feel. And because you begin to feel smaller and smaller until your ego disappears, the more humble you become. Therefore, any man who behaves arrogantly with what little he knows, or claims to know all, only reveals to all that he really knows nothing. Real greatness does not reside inside those who feel large. The truly wise are meek. Yet being small and meek do not make one weak. Arming oneself with true knowledge generates strong confidence and a bold spirit that makes you a lion of God. The Creator does not want you to suffer, yet we are being conditioned by society to accept suffering, weak and passive dispositions under the belief that such conditions are favorable by God. Weakness is not a virtue praised by God. How could he desire for you to be weak if he tells us to stand by our conscience? Doing so requires strength. However, there is a difference between arrogance when inflating your ego, and confidence when one truly gets closer to God. One feels large, while the other feels small. Why? Because a man of wisdom understands that he is just a small pea in a sea of infinite atoms, and that in the end — we are all connected. And did you not know that the smaller a creature is, the bolder its spirit? ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
605:L'engagement du disciple dans la voie initiatique consiste à prendre progressivement conscience du « Regard » divin qui transcende celui des hommes. Bien au-delà des rôles sociaux, ce Regard se pose sur la vie intérieure de l'homme. « Dieu ne regarde pas vos formes ni vos actes, mais Il regarde ce qui se trouve dans vos cœurs », dit un hadith attribué au Prophète Muhammad. C'est dans la mesure où l'homme agit pour Dieu, c'est-à-dire conformément à sa nature véritable, et non pas seulement en vue d'un effet attendu chez les autres, qu'il devient intérieurement monothéiste et évite le polythéisme caché qui consiste à associer au Regard de Dieu celui des autres humains. C'est par la grâce de ce Regard auquel rien n'échappe que le disciple revient vers son propre moi et apprend à se connaître avec toujours plus de finesse et de discernement. Le Regard de Dieu n'est pas seulement celui qui dévoile, il est aussi celui qui transforme. C'est par la grâce de ce Regard se posant sur l'âme du disciple que celle-ci pourra être libérée de l'illusion des ténèbres dans laquelle elle se trouve, puis entrer dans un monde de lumière, celui de l'amour et de la connaissance. « L'Amour divin est comme une flamme, disait Rûmî, lorsqu'il entre dans le cœur du disciple, il brûle tout et Dieu seul reste. » Celui qui a goûté à cet Amour ne peut plus l'oublier et n'a de cesse de le retrouver. Cette flamme sacrée constitue un mystère si profond que personne ne peut en parler sans le galvauder. En fait, on ne peut évoquer que des conditions ou des effets de l'Amour, mas nul ne peut parler de sa réalité, car il est justement au-delà de toute parole : il ne peut être qu'une expérience, une saveur, un vécu. ~ Faouzi Skali, #NFDB
606:Then Was My Neophyte
Then was my neophyte,
Child in white blood bent on its knees
Under the bell of rocks,
Ducked in the twelve, disciple seas
The winder of the water-clocks
Calls a green day and night.
My sea hermaphrodite,
Snail of man in His ship of fires
That burn the bitten decks,
Knew all His horrible desires
The climber of the water sex
Calls the green rock of light.
Who in these labyrinths,
This tidethread and the lane of scales,
Twine in a moon-blown shell,
Escapes to the flat cities' sails
Furled on the fishes' house and hell,
Nor falls to His green myths?
Stretch the salt photographs,
The landscape grief, love in His oils
Mirror from man to whale
That the green child see like a grail
Through veil and fin and fire and coil
Time on the canvas paths.
He films my vanity.
Shot in the wind, by tilted arcs,
Over the water come
Children from homes and children's parks
Who speak on a finger and thumb,
And the masked, headless boy.
His reels and mystery
The winder of the clockwise scene
Wound like a ball of lakes
Then threw on that tide-hoisted screen
Love's image till my heartbone breaks
By a dramatic sea.
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Who kills my history?
The year-hedged row is lame with flint,
Blunt scythe and water blade.
'Who could snap off the shapeless print
From your to-morrow-treading shade
With oracle for eye?'
Time kills me terribly.
'Time shall not murder you,' He said,
'Nor the green nought be hurt;
Who could hack out your unsucked heart,
O green and unborn and undead?'
I saw time murder me.
~ Dylan Thomas,#NFDB
607:The phrase "son of God" marks a frame or inclusio around the entire gospel, and provides another large example of Mark's use of irony. Mark 1:1 tells us that Jesus is God's son. In the course of the gospel, demons recognize Him as the "son of God" (3:11; 5:7; cf. 1:34), but as soon as they say it, Jesus silences them. The disciples don't confess that Jesus is Son of God, not even Peter, who says only that Jesus is the "Christ" (8:29). As readers, we know from the first verse that Jesus is the "Son of God"; we see that the demons know who Jesus is. As we read along, we hope that one of the disciples will catch on. Finally, just as Jesus dies, and because of the way He dies, the person confessing Jesus as the Son is not a disciple, but a Roman centurion (15:33–39). Though no other human being confesses Jesus as the "son of God," God the Father uses this title in a few places. The first is at the beginning of the gospel in the baptism scene. Jesus is baptized and called the "beloved Son." In the same passage, Mark tells us that the heavens are "opened." The Greek word here is schizo, and the use of this word to describe the opening of the heavens at the baptism is unique to Mark. It is used regularly in the Old Testament to describe the Lord's coming by rending the heavens (Is. 64:1; Ps. 18:9). At the baptism, the Father shows that He has torn open the sky to come to deliver His people. Jesus' arrival is the sign that the heavens have been opened. Later, Mark uses the same verb for the rending of the temple veil (15:38), just before the centurion confesses Jesus. Heavens rent, and the Father identifies His Son; the temple curtain is divided, and a Gentile echoes the Father's words. ~ Peter J Leithart, #NFDB
608:Les Tantras, dans cette optique, estiment que le lien du secret, qui s’imposait autrefois pour les doctrines et les pratiques de la « Voie de la Main Gauche » à cause de leur caractère périlleux et de la possibilité d’abus, d’aberrations et de déformations, est périmé.
Le principe fondamental de l’enseignement secret, commun tant aux Tantras hindouistes qu’aux Tantras bouddhiques (ceux-ci définissant essentiellement le Vajrayâna), c’est la nature transformable du poison en remède ou « nectar » ; c’est l’emploi, à des fins de libération, des forces mêmes qui ont conduit ou qui peuvent conduire à la chute et à la perdition. Il est précisément affirmé qu’il faut adopter « le poison comme antidote du poison ». Un autre principe tantrique, c’est que « fruition » et « libération » (ou détachement, renoncement) ne s’excluent pas nécessairement, contrairement à ce que pensent les écoles unilatéralement ascétiques. On se propose comme but de réaliser les deux choses à la fois, donc de pouvoir alimenter la passion et le désir tout en restant libre. Un texte avait précisé qu’il s’agit d’une voie « aussi difficile que le fait de marcher sur le fil de l’épée ou de tenir en bride un tigre ».
(…)
De toute façon, à ceux qui penseraient que le tantrisme offre un commode alibi spirituel pour s’abandonner à ses instincts et à ses sens, il faudrait rappeler que tous ces courants supposent une consécration et une initiation préliminaires, le rattachement à une communauté ou chaîne (kula) d’où tirer une force protectrice, dans tous les cas une ascèse sui generis, une disciple énergique de maîtrise de soi chez celui qui entend se livre aux pratiques dont nous allons parler."
"Métaphysique du sexe", pp. 303-304 ~ Julius Evola,#NFDB
609:The triad, being the fundamental principle of the whole Kabalah, or Sacred Tradition of our fathers, was necessarily the fundamental dogma of Christianity, the apparent dualism of which it explains by the intervention of a harmonious and all-powerful unity. Christ did not put His teaching into writing, and only revealed it in secret to His favored disciple, the one Kabalist, and he a great Kabalist, among the apostles. So is the Apocalypse the book of the Gnosis or Secret Doctrine of the first Christians, and the key of this doctrine is indicated by an occult versicle of the Lord's Prayer, which the Vulgate leaves untranslated, while in the Greek Rite, the priests only are permitted to pronounce it. This versicle, completely kabalistic, is found in the Greek text of the Gospel according to St Matthew, and in several Hebrew copies, as follows:
Ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εις τοὺς αἰῶνας. ἀμήν.
The sacred word MALKUTH substituted for KETHER, which is its kabalistic correspondent, and the equipoise of GEBURAH and CHESED, repeating itself in the circles of heavens called eons by the Gnostics, provided the keystone of the whole Christian Temple in the occult versicle. It has been retained by Protestants in their New Testament, but they have failed to discern its lofty and wonderful meaning, which would have unveiled to them all the Mysteries of the Apocalypse. There is, however, a tradition in the Church that the manifestation of this mysteries is reserved till the last times. ~ liphas L vi,#NFDB
610:One Sufi mystic who had remained happy his whole life—no one had ever seen him unhappy—he was always laughing. He was laughter, his whole being was a perfume of celebration. In his old age, when he was dying—he was on his deathbed, and still enjoying death, laughing hilariously—a disciple asked, “You puzzle us. Now you are dying. Why are you laughing? What is there funny about it? We are feeling so sad. We wanted to ask you many times in your life why you are never sad. But now, confronting death, at least one should be sad. You are still laughing! How are you managing it?” And the old man said, “It is a simple clue. I had asked my master. I had gone to my master as a young man; I was only seventeen, and already miserable. And my master was old, seventy, and he was sitting under a tree, laughing for no reason at all. There was nobody else, nothing had happened, nobody had cracked a joke or anything. And he was simply laughing, holding his belly. And I asked him, ‘What is the matter with you? Are you mad or something?’ “He said, ‘One day I was also as sad as you are. Then it dawned on me that it is my choice, it is my life. Since that day, every morning when I get up, the first thing I decide is, before I open my eyes, I say to myself, “Abdullah”—that was his name—‘what do you want? Misery? Blissfulness? What are you going to choose today? And it happens that I always choose blissfulness.’” It is a choice. Try it. The first moment in the morning when you become aware that sleep has left, ask yourself, “Abdullah, another day! What is your idea? Do you choose misery or blissfulness?” And who would choose misery? And why? It is so unnatural—unless one feels blissful in misery, but then too you are choosing bliss, not misery. ~ Osho, #NFDB
611:The Silence In The Church
“The congregation shall be desired, secretly in their prayers, to make their
humble
supplications to God . . . .
for the which prayers there shall be silence kept for a
space.”
(No. 1.)
O Holy spirit, we entreat,
Send down Thy quickening fire;
Let Thine own presence, dread and sweet,
These waiting hearts inspire.
In every thought and word and deed,
Breathe Thou the breath of life—
The fulness of the grace they need
For their appointed strife.
Help them to hold, in clasp of prayer,
The rod and staff of God;
And lead them safely, surely, where
The Christ Himself hath trod.
Give power to speak Thy message, Lord,
To every feeble voice;
May they the true seed cast abroad
Till desert wastes rejoice.
Make strong the toiling hearts and hands,
Keep watching eyes from sleep,
That golden harvests crown the lands
When angels come to reap.
(No. 2.)
POUR now, O Lord, all gifts of grace
From Thy most holy dwelling-place;
And let the living flame be shed
On each disciple's bended head.
266
Light up his soul with light divine,—
A star of heaven on earth to shine,
A beacon on life's stormy sea,
To guide the wandering bark to Thee.
Lord, clothe him now in white complete,
In Thine own spirit, pure and sweet;
Let him go forth to labour well,
In truth and strength invincible.
May his calm lips, that whisper now
The yearning prayer, the solemn vow,
Be ready, in the judgment-day,
The faithful servant's words to say—
“Lord, I have tried, in faithful strife,
To win Thy lambs to light and life;
Lord, I have truly kept for Thee
The awful charge Thou gavest me.”
~ Ada Cambridge,#NFDB
612:I was honored as a national distinguished guest
and wore out ten thousand books in reading,
My brush was always inspired by gods,
my rhymed essays rivaled those of Yang Xiong,1
my poems were kin with those of Cao Zijian.2
Li Yong looked for a chance to meet me,
and even Wang Han3 wanted to be my neighbor.
I thought I was an outstanding person,
positioned at a key ferryboat route
and would assist an emperor like Yao or Shun,4
and make folk customs honest and simple again.
In the end this ambition withered.
I became a bard instead of a hermit,
and spent thirty years traveling on a donkey,
ate traveler's rations in the luxury of the capital,
knocked on the door of the rich in the morning,
walked in the dust of fat horses in the evening,
ate leftover dishes and half-finished wine.
Wherever I went, I found misery hiding beneath.
When the emperor summoned me,
I was excited at this chance to stretch myself .
I saw blue sky but my wings just hung.
I was set back, had no scales to swim far.
I feel unworthy of your kindness,
and I know your sincerity:
in the presence of one hundred officials,
you read my best poems.
I am as happy as Gong Gong.5
Since it's hard to imitate Confucius disciple Yuan Xian6
How can I feel unhappy about anything,
though my feet still drag as usual?
Now I plan to move east to the sea,
and leave the capital behind me in the west.
But I still feel attached to the Zhongnan Mountain,
72
and turn my head to look at the Wei River.
I think about my gratitude for one meal7
as I take departure from you, Prime Minister.
This white gull is lost in the waves.
Who can tame him in his journey of ten thousand miles?
~ Du Fu,#NFDB
613:The ravings which my enemy uttered I heard within my heart;
the secret thoughts he harbored against me I also perceived.
His dog bit my foot, he showed me much injustice; I do not
bite him like a dog, I have bitten my own lip.
Since I have penetrated into the secrets of individuals like men
of God, why should I take glory in having penetrated his secret?
I reproach myself that through my doubtings it so happened
that purposely I drew a scorpion towards my own foot.
Like Eblis who saw nothing of Adam except his fire, by God I
was invisible to his insignificant Eblis.
Convey to my friends why I am afflicted in mind; when the
snake bit my thigh I started away from the black rope.
The blessed silent ones, their lips and eyes closed -by a way
unknown to any man, I ran into their thoughts;
Since there is a secret and perfect way from heart to heart, I
gathered gold and silver from the treasuries of hearts.
Into the thought that was like a brazen stove I flung the dead
dog; out of the thought that was like a rose bower I plucked roses
and jasmine.
If I have hinted at the evil and good of my friends, I have spun
flax like a weaver as the choicest veil.
When my heart rushed suddenly to a heart mighty and aware,
out of awe for his heart I fluttered like the heart.
As you are happy with your own state, how did you fall in with
me? Attend to your own business, for I am neither shaikh nor
disciple.
As far as you are concerned, brother, I am neither copper nor
red gold; drive me from your door, for I am neither lock nor key.
Take it as if I had not ever spoken these words; if you had been
in my mind, by God I would not have quarreled.
~ Jalaluddin Rumi, The Ravings Which My Enemy Uttered I Heard Within My Heart
,#NFDB
614:And what does the text inform us about the content of discipleship? Follow me, run along behind me! That is all. To follow in his steps is something which is void of all content. It gives us no intelligible programme for a way of life, no goal or ideal to strive after. It is not a cause which human calculation might deem worthy of our devotion, even the devotion of ourselves. What happens? At the call, Levi leaves all that he has--but not because he thinks that he might be doing something worth while, but simply for the sake of the call. Otherwise he cannot follow in the steps of Jesus. This act on Levi's part has not the slightest value in itself, it is quite devoid of significance and unworthy of consideration. This disciple simply burns his boats and goes ahead. He is called out, and has to forsake his old life in order that he may "exist" in the strictest sense of the word. The old life is left behind, and completely surrendered. The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity (that is, in truth, into the absolute security and safety of the fellowship of Jesus), from a life which is observable and calculable (it is, in fact, quite incalculable) into a life where everything is unobservable and fortuitous (that is, into one which is necessary and calculable), out of the realm of finite (which is in truth the infinite) into the realm of infinite possibilities (which is the one liberating reality). Again it is no universal law. Rather is it the exact opposite of all legality. It is nothing else than bondage to Jesus Christ alone, completely breaking through every programme, every ideal, every set of laws. No other significance is possible, since Jesus is the only significance. Beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
615:Ud Jayega Huns Akela,
Jug Darshan Ka Mela
Jaise Paat Gire Taruvar Se,
Milna Bahut Duhela
Naa Jane Kidhar Girega,
Lageya Pawan Ka Rela
Jub Howe Umur Puri,
Jab Chute Ga Hukum Huzuri
Jum Ke Doot Bade Mazboot,
Jum Se Pada Jhamela
Das Kabir Har Ke Gun Gawe,
Wah Har Ko Paran Pawe
Guru Ki Karni Guru Jayega,
Chele Ki Karni Chela
*English Translation*
The Swan Will Fly Away All Alone,
Spectacle of the World Will Be a Mere Fair
As the Leaf Falls from the Tree
Is Difficult to Find
Who Knows Where it Will Fall
Once it is Struck with a Gust Of Wind
When Life Span is Complete
Then Listening to Orders, Following Others, Will Be Over
The Messengers of Yama are Very Strong
It's an Entanglement with the Yama
Servant Kabir Praises the Attributes of the Lord
He Finds the Lord Soon
Guru Will Go According to His Doings
The Disciple According to His!
Kabir reminds us that we are much like a leaf if when severed from the universal spirit (the tree) is liable to be blown away by the gust of unfulfilled desires. In such a state it is difficult to predict where the leaf (spirit) will finally land on getting dismembered from the tree of universal oneness.
All through our physical life we are listening to either orders of others or are ordered by our own desires. When death comes nobody is really with us and we finally realize that the obeying and following others is not as meaningful as following our inner voice. "Kala" (Yama) or time, is relentless even in the wake of our last-minute realizations and feeling unfulfilled.
Finally Kabir reinforces that a continuous dedication to God yields instantaneous results. But warns that its our own effort that bear fruits and everybody (both Guru and Disciple) progresses according to their own actions.
~ Kabir, The Swan flies away
,#NFDB
616:March 24 MORNING “He was heard in that he feared.” — Hebrews 5:7 DID this fear arise from the infernal suggestion that He was utterly forsaken? There may be sterner trials than this, but surely it is one of the worst to be utterly forsaken? “See,” said Satan, “thou hast a friend nowhere! Thy Father hath shut up the bowels of His compassion against thee. Not an angel in His courts will stretch out his hand to help thee. All heaven is alienated from Thee; Thou art left alone. See the companions with whom Thou hast taken sweet counsel, what are they worth? Son of Mary, see there Thy brother James, see there Thy loved disciple John, and Thy bold apostle Peter, how the cowards sleep when Thou art in Thy sufferings! Lo! Thou hast no friend left in heaven or earth. All hell is against Thee. I have stirred up mine infernal den. I have sent my missives throughout all regions summoning every prince of darkness to set upon Thee this night, and we will spare no arrows, we will use all our infernal might to overwhelm Thee: and what wilt Thou do, Thou solitary one?” It may be, this was the temptation; we think it was, because the appearance of an angel unto Him strengthening Him removed that fear. He was heard in that He feared; He was no more alone, but heaven was with Him. It may be that this is the reason of His coming three times to His disciples — as Hart puts it — “Backwards and forwards thrice He ran, As if He sought some help from man.” He would see for Himself whether it were really true that all men had forsaken Him; He found them all asleep; but perhaps He gained some faint comfort from the thought that they were sleeping, not from treachery, but from sorrow, the spirit indeed was willing, but the flesh was weak. At any rate, He was heard in that He feared. Jesus was heard in His deepest woe; my soul, thou shalt be heard also. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
617:A second way of sharing in these meanings belongs to those who so highly esteem what is disclosed to them of the attributes of majesty that their high regard releases a longing to possess this attribute in every way possible to them, so that they may grow closer to the Truth-in quality not in place; and with the possession of such characteristics they become similar to the angels, who have been brought near to God-great and glorious. Moreover, it is inconceivable that a heart be filled with high regard for such an attribute and be illuminated by it without a longing for this attribute following upon it, as well as a passionate love for that perfection and majesty, intent upon being adorned with that attribute in its totality-inasmuch as that is possible to one who so esteems it. And if not in its totality, the esteem for this attribute will necessarily provoke in him the longing for as much of it as he can assimilate.
No-one will lack this longing except for one of two reasons: either from inadequate knowledge and certainty that the attribute in question is one of the attributes of majesty and perfection, or from the fact that one's heart is filled with another longing and absorbed by it. For when a disciple observes the perfection of his master in knowledge, longing will be triggered in him to be like him and to follow his example-unless he be filled with hunger, for example, so that the preoccupation of his innards for food could prevent the longing for knowledge from arising in him. So it is necessary for the one who would contemplate the attributes of God most high to have emptied his heart of desiring anything except God- great and glorious. For knowledge is the seed of longing, but only to the extent that it encounters a heart freed from the thorns of the passions, for unless the heart be empty the seed will not bear fruit. ~ Abu Hamid al-Ghazali,#NFDB
618:April 6 MORNING “Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp.” — Hebrews 13:13 JESUS, bearing His cross, went forth to suffer without the gate. The Christian’s reason for leaving the camp of the world’s sin and religion is not because he loves to be singular, but because Jesus did so; and the disciple must follow his Master. Christ was “not of the world:” His life and His testimony were a constant protest against conformity with the world. Never was such overflowing affection for men as you find in Him; but still He was separate from sinners. In like manner Christ’s people must “go forth unto Him.” They must take their position “without the camp,” as witness-bearers for the truth. They must be prepared to tread the straight and narrow path. They must have bold, unflinching, lion-like hearts, loving Christ first, and His truth next, and Christ and His truth beyond all the world. Jesus would have His people “go forth without the camp” for their own sanctification. You cannot grow in grace to any high degree while you are conformed to the world. The life of separation may be a path of sorrow, but it is the highway of safety; and though the separated life may cost you many pangs, and make every day a battle, yet it is a happy life after all. No joy can excel that of the soldier of Christ: Jesus reveals Himself so graciously, and gives such sweet refreshment, that the warrior feels more calm and peace in his daily strife than others in their hours of rest. The highway of holiness is the highway of communion. It is thus we shall hope to win the crown if we are enabled by divine grace faithfully to follow Christ “without the camp.” The crown of glory will follow the cross of separation. A moment’s shame will be well recompensed by eternal honour; a little while of witness-bearing will seem nothing when we are “for ever with the Lord. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
619:26“So have no fear of them, i for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on j the housetops. 28And k do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him l who can destroy both soul and body in hell. [7] 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? [8] And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30But m even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31Fear not, therefore; n you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 o So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33but p whoever denies me before men, q I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Not Peace, but a Sword 34 r “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. s I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 r For I have come t to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 u And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 v Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38And w whoever does not take his cross and x follow me is not worthy of me. 39 y Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Rewards 40 z “Whoever receives you receives me, and a whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41 b The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42And c whoever gives one of d these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
620:Jesus never concealed the fact that his religion included a demand as well as an offer. Indeed, the demand was as total as the offer was free. If he offered men his salvation, he also demanded their submission. He gave no encouragement whatever to thoughtless applicants for discipleship. He brought no pressure to bear on any inquirer. He sent irresponsible enthusiasts away empty. Luke tells of three men who either volunteered, or were invited, to follow Jesus; but no one passed the Lord’s test. The rich young ruler, too, moral, earnest and attractive, who wanted eternal life on his own terms, went away sorrowful, with his riches intact but with neither life nor Christ as his possession…The Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half built towers—the ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. For thousands of people still ignore Christ’s warning and undertake to follow him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so. The result is the great scandal of Christendom today, so called “nominal Christianity.” In countries to which Christian civilization has spread, large numbers of people have covered themselves with a decent, but thin, veneer of Christianity. They have allowed themselves to become somewhat involved, enough to be respectable but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great, soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life, while changing its place and shape to suit their convenience. No wonder the cynics speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism…The message of Jesus was very different. He never lowered his standards or modified his conditions to make his call more readily acceptable. He asked his first disciples, and he has asked every disciple since, to give him their thoughtful and total commitment. Nothing less than this will do ~ John R W Stott, #NFDB
621:Composers do not remember this lost fatherland, but each of them remains all his life unconsciously attuned to it; he is delirious with joy when he sings in harmony with his native land, betrays it at times with his thirst for fame, but then, in seeking fame, turns his back on it, and it is only by scorning fame that he finds it when he breaks out into that distinctive strain the sameness of which—for whatever its subject it remains identical with itself—proves the permanence of the elements that compose his soul. But in that case is it not true that those elements—all the residuum of reality which we are obliged to keep to ourselves, which cannot be transmitted in talk, even from friend to friend, from master to disciple, from lover to mistress, that ineffable something which differentiates qualitatively what each of us has felt and what he is obliged to leave behind at the threshold of the phrases in which he can communicate with others only by limiting himself to externals, common to all and of no interest—are brought out by art, the art of a Vinteuil like that of an Elstir, which exteriorises in the colours of the spectrum the intimate composition of those worlds which we call individuals and which, but for art, we should never know? A pair of wings, a different respiratory system, which enabled us to travel through space, would in no way help us, for if we visited Mars or Venus while keeping the same senses, they would clothe everything we could see in the same aspect as the things of Earth. The only true voyage, the only bath in the Fountain of Youth, would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to see the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to see the hundred universes that each of them sees, that each of them is; and this we can do with an Elstir, with a Vinteuil; with men like these we do really fly from star to star. ~ Marcel Proust, #NFDB
622:Keng's Disciple
The disciple: "When I don't know people treat me like a fool.
When I do know, the knowledge gets me into trouble.
When I fail to do good. I hurt others.
When I do good, I hurt myself.
If I avoid my duty, I am remiss,
But if I do it, I am ruined.
How can I get out of these contradictions?
This is what I came to ask you."
". . . .You are trying to sound
The middle of the ocean
With a six-foot pole.
You have got lost and are trying
To find your way back
To your own true self.
You find nothing
But illegible signposts
Pointing in all directions.
I pity you."
The disciple asked for admittance,
Took a cell, and there
Meditated,
Trying to cultivate qualities
He thought desirable
And get rid of others
Which he disliked.
Ten days of that!
Despair!
". . . Do not try
To hold on to Tao -
Just hope that Tao
Will keep hold of you!"
". . . You want the first elements?
The infant has them.
Free from care, unaware of self,
He acts without reflection,
Stays where he is put, does not know why,
Does not figure things out,
Just goes along with them,
Is part of the current.
These are the first elements!"
The disciple asked:
Is this perfection?
Lao replied: "Not at all.
It is only the beginning.
This melts the ice.
This enables you
To unlearn,
So that you can be led by Tao,
Be a child of Tao
If you persist in trying
To attain what is never attained
(It is Tao's gift!)
If you persist in making effort
To obtain what effort cannot get;
If you persist in reasoning
About what cannot be understood,
You will be destroyed
By the very thing you seek.
To know when to stop to know
When you can get no further
By your own action,
This is the right beginning! ~ Thomas Merton,#NFDB
623:Disciple : What part does breathing exercise - Pranayama - play in bringing about the higher consciousness?
Sri Aurobindo : It sets the Pranic - vital - currents free and removes dullness of the brain so that the higher consciousness can come down. Pranayama does not bring dullness in the brain. My own experience, on the contrary, is that brain becomes illumined. When I was practising Pranayama at Baroda, I used to do it for about five hours in the day, - three hours in the morning and two in the evening. I found that the mind began to work with great illumination and power. I used to write poetry in those days. Before the Pranayama practice, usually I wrote five to eight lines per day; and about two hundred lines in a month. After the practice I could write 200 lines within half an hour. That was not the only result. Formerly my memory was dull. But after this practice I found that when the inspiration came I could remember all the lines in their order and write them down correctly at any time. Along with these enhanced functionings I could see an electrical activity all round the brain, and I could feel that it was made up of a subtle substance. I could feel everything as the working of that substance. That was far from your carbon-dioxide!
Disciple : How is it that Pranayama develops mental capacities? What part does it play in bringing about the higher consciousness?
Sri Aurobindo : It is the Pranic - vital - currents which sustain mental activity. When these currents are changed by Pranayama, they bring about a change in the brain. The cause of dullness of the brain is some obstruction in it which does not allow the higher thought to be communicated to it. When this obstruction is removed the higher mental being is able to communicate its action easily to the brain. When the higher consciousness is attained the brain does not become dull. My experience is that it becomes illumined.
~ Sri Aurobindo, A B Purani, Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, 19-9-1926,#NFDB
624:Disciple: If the Asuras represent the dark side of God on the vital plane - does this dark side exist on every plane? If so, are there beings on the mental plane which correspond to the dark side?
Sri Aurobindo: The Asura is really the dark side of God on the mental plane. Mind is the very field of the Asura. His characteristic is egoistic strength, which refuses the Higher Law. The Asura has got Self-control, Tapas, intelligence, only, all that is for his ego.
On the vital plane the corresponding forces we call the Rakshashas which represent violent passions and impulses. There are other beings on the vital plane which we call pramatta and piśacha and these; manifest, more or less, on the physico-vital plane.
Distiple: What is the corresponding being on the higher plane?
Sri Aurobindo: On the higher plane there are no Asuras - there the Truth prevails. There are "Asuras" there in the Vedic sense,- "beings with divine powers". The mental Asura is only a deviation of that power.
The work of the Asura has all the characteristics of mind in it. It is mind refusing to submit to the Higher Law; it is the mind in revolt. It works on the basis of ego and ignorance.
Disciple: What are the forces that correspond to the dark side of God on the physical plane?
Sri Aurobindo: They are what may be called the "elemental beings", or rather, obscure elemental forces - they are more "forces" than "beings". It is these that the Theosophists call the "Elementals". They are not individualised beings like the Asura and the Rakshasas, they are ignorant forces working oh the subtle physical plane.
Disciple: What is the word for them in Sanskrit;?
Sri Aurobindo: What are called bhūtas seem most nearly to correspond to them.
Disciple: The term "Elemental" means that these work through the elements.
Sri Aurobindo: There are two kinds of "elementals": one mischievous and the other innocent. What the Europeans call the gnomes come under this category. ~ A B Purani, EVENING TALKS WITH SRI AUROBINDO, 15-06-1926,#NFDB
625:And one of the things that has most obstructed the path of discipleship in our Christian culture today is this idea that it will be a terribly difficult thing that will certainly ruin your life. A typical and often-told story in Christian circles is of those who have refused to surrender their lives to God for fear he would “send them to Africa as missionaries.” And here is the whole point of the much misunderstood teachings of Luke 14. There Jesus famously says one must “hate” all their family members and their own life also, must take their cross, and must forsake all they own, or they “cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26–27, 33). The entire point of this passage is that as long as one thinks anything may really be more valuable than fellowship with Jesus in his kingdom, one cannot learn from him. People who have not gotten the basic facts about their life straight will therefore not do the things that make learning from Jesus possible and will never be able to understand the basic points in the lessons to be learned. It is like a mathematics teacher in high school who might say to a student, “Verily, verily I say unto thee, except thou canst do decimals and fractions, thou canst in no wise do algebra.” It is not that the teacher will not allow you to do algebra because you are a bad person; you just won’t be able to do basic algebra if you are not in command of decimals and fractions. So this counting of the cost is not a moaning and groaning session. “Oh how terrible it is that I have to value all of my ‘wonderful’ things (which are probably making life miserable and hopeless anyway) less than I do living in the kingdom! How terrible that I must be prepared to actually surrender them should that be called for!” The counting of the cost is to bring us to the point of clarity and decisiveness. It is to help us to see. Counting the cost is precisely what the man with the pearl and the hidden treasure did. Out of it came their decisiveness and joy. It is decisiveness and joy that are the outcomes of the counting. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
626:Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?...
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer,#NFDB
627:The Gates of Eden,” as he called it that night, took us furthest out into the realm of the imagination, to a point beyond logic and reason. Like “It’s Alright, Ma,” the song mentions a book title in its first line, but the song is more reminiscent of the poems of William Blake (and, perhaps, of Blake’s disciple Ginsberg) than it is of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, vaunting the truth that lies in surreal imagery. After an almost impenetrable first verse, the song approaches themes that were becoming familiar to Dylan’s listeners. In Genesis, Eden is the paradise where Adam and Eve had direct communication with God. According to “Gates of Eden,” it is where truth resides, without bewitching illusions. And the song is basically a list, verse after verse, of the corrosive illusions that Dylan would sing about constantly from the mid-1960s on: illusions about obedience to authority; about false religions and idols (the “utopian hermit monks” riding on the golden calf); about possessions and desire; about sexual repression and conformity (embodied by “the gray flannel dwarf”); about high-toned intellectualism. None of these count for much or even exist inside the gates of Eden. The kicker comes in the final verse, where the singer talks of his lover telling him of her dreams without any attempt at interpretation—and that at times, the singer thinks that the only truth is that there is no truth outside the gates of Eden. It’s a familiar conundrum: If there is no truth, isn’t saying as much really an illusion, too, unless we are all in Eden? (“All Cretans are liars,” says the Cretan.) What makes that one truth so special? But the point, as the lover knows, is that outside of paradise, interpretation is futile. Don’t try to figure out what the song, or what any work of art, “really” means; the meaning is in the imagery itself; attempting to define it is to succumb to the illusion that truth can be reached through human logic. So Dylan’s song told us, as he took the measure in his lyrics of what had begun as the “New Vision,” two and a half miles up Broadway from Lincoln Center at Columbia, in the mid-1940s. Apart from Dylan, Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso may have been the only people in Philharmonic Hall who got it. I ~ Sean Wilentz, #NFDB
628:"Will it take long for the Supermind which is involved in material Nature to emerge into the outer consciousness and bring visible results?"
That depends on the state of consciousness from which one answers, for... For the human consciousness, obviously, I think it will take quite a long time. For another consciousness it will be relatively very fast, and for yet another consciousness, it is already accomplished. It is an accomplished fact. But in order to become aware of this, one must be able to enter into another state of consciousness than the ordinary physical consciousness.
Sri Aurobindo has spoken - I believe I have read it to you, I think it's in The Synthesis of Yoga - of the true mind, the true vital and the true physical or subtle physical, and he has said that they co-exist with the ordinary mind, vital and physical, and that in certain conditions one may enter into contact with them, and then one becomes aware of the difference between what really is and the appearances of things.
Well, for a developed consciousness, the Supermind is already realised somewhere in a domain of the subtle physical, it already exists there visible, concrete, and expresses itself in forms and activities. And when one is in tune with this domain, when one lives there, one has a very strong feeling that this world would only have to be condensed, so to say, for it to become visible to all. What would then be interesting would be to develop this inner perception which would put you into contact with the supramental truth which is already manifested, and is veiled for you only for want of appropriate organs to enter into relation with it.
It is possible that those who are conscious of their dreams may have dreams of a new kind which put them into contact with that world, for it is accessible to the subtle physical of all those who have the corresponding organs in themselves. And there is necessarily a subtle influence of this physical on outer matter, if one is ready to receive impressions from it and admit them into one's consciousness. That's all.
Now, if nobody has any questions to ask, well, we shall remain silent.
Something to say, over there? (Mother looks at a disciple.) Oh! he is burning to speak! ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1956,#NFDB
629:But now thou askest me how thou mayest destroy this naked knowing and feeling of thine own being. For peradventure thou thinkest that if it were destroyed, all other hindrances were destroyed ; and if thou thinkest thus, thou thinkest right truly. But to this I answer thee and I say, that without a full special grace full freely given by God, and also a full according ableness on thy part to receive this grace, this naked knowing and feeling of thy being may in nowise be destroyed. And this ableness is nought else but a strong and a deep ghostly sorrow. ... All men have matter of sorrow; but most specially he feeleth matter of sorrow that knoweth and feeleth that he is. All other sorrows in comparison to this be but as it were game to earnest. For he may make sorrow earnestly that knoweth and feeleth not only what he is, but that he is. And whoso felt never this sorrow, let him make sorrow; for he hath never yet felt perfect sorrow. This sorrow, when it is had, cleanseth the soul, not only of sin, but also of pain that it hath deserved for sin ; and also it maketh a soul able to receive that joy, the which reave th from a man all knowing and feeling of his being. This sorrow, if it be truly conceived, is full of holy desire; and else a man might never in this life abide it or bear it. For were it not that a soul were somewhat fed with a manner of comfort by his right working, he should not be able to bear that pain that he hath by the knowing and feeling of his being. For as oft as he would have a true knowing and a feeling of his God in purity of spirit (as it may be here), and then feeleth that he may not for he findeth evermore his knowing and his feeling as it were occupied and filled with a foul stinking lump of himself, the which must always be hated and despised and forsaken, if he shall be God's perfect disciple, taught by Himself in the mount of perfection so oft he goeth nigh mad for sorrow. . . . This sorrow and this desire must every soul have and feel in itself (either in this manner or in another), as God vouchsafed! to teach his ghostly disciples according to his good will and their according ableness in body and in soul, in degree and disposition, ere the time be that they may perfectly be oned unto God in perfect charity such as may be had here, if God vouchsafed!.
~ Anonymous, The Cloud Of Unknowing,#NFDB
630:Nirvana Shatakam
1)
I am not mind, nor intellect, nor ego,
nor the reflections of inner self (chitta).
I am not the five senses.
I am beyond that.
I am not the ether, nor the earth,
nor the fire, nor the wind (the five elements).
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
2)
Neither can I be termed as energy (prana),
nor five types of breath (vayus),
nor the seven material essences,
nor the five coverings (pancha-kosha).
Neither am I the five instruments of elimination,
procreation, motion, grasping, or speaking.
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
3)
I have no hatred or dislike,
nor affiliation or liking,
nor greed,
nor delusion,
nor pride or haughtiness,
nor feelings of envy or jealousy.
I have no duty (dharma),
nor any money,
nor any desire (kama),
nor even liberation (moksha).
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
4)
I have neither merit (virtue),
16
I
nor demerit (vice).
do not commit sins or good deeds,
nor have happiness or sorrow,
pain or pleasure.
do not need mantras, holy places,
scriptures (Vedas), rituals or sacrifices (yagnas).
am none of the triad of
the observer or one who experiences,
the process of observing or experiencing,
or any object being observed or experienced.
am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
5)
I do not have fear of death,
as I do not have death.
I have no separation from my true self,
no doubt about my existence,
nor have I discrimination on the basis of birth.
I have no father or mother,
nor did I have a birth.
I am not the relative,
nor the friend,
nor the guru,
nor the disciple.
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
6)
I am all pervasive.
I am without any attributes,
and without any form.
I have neither attachment to the world,
nor to liberation (mukti).
I have no wishes for anything
because I am everything,
everywhere,
every time,
always in equilibrium.
I am indeed,
17
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
~ Adi Shankaracharya,#NFDB
631:When those who have been placed in my life to lead me and train me betray me and turn against me, as Saul turned against David, I will follow the example of David and refuse to let hope die in my heart. Holy Spirit, empower me to be a spiritual father or mother to those who need me to disciple, love, support, and encourage them. Father, raise up spiritual leaders in our land who can lead others with justice, mercy, integrity, and love. Allow me to be one of these leaders. When I am cut off from my father [physical or spiritual] through his insecurity, jealousy, or pride, cause me to recognize that as You did with David, You want to complete Your work in my life. Holy Spirit, release me from tormenting thoughts or self-blame and striving for acceptance. Cause me to seek only Your acceptance and restoration. I refuse to allow the enemy to cause me to seek revenge against those who have wronged me. I will not raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed or seek to avenge myself. I will leave justice to You. Father, cause my heart to be pure as David’s was pure. Through Your power, O Lord, I will refuse to attack my enemies with my tongue, for I will never forget that both death and life are in the power of the tongue (Prov. 18:21). I will never seek to sow discord or separation between myself and my Christian brothers and sisters, for it is an abomination to my Lord. I will remain loyal to my spiritual leaders even when they have rejected me or wronged me. I choose to be a man [or woman] after the heart of God, not one who seeks to avenge myself. Holy Spirit, like David I will lead my Christian brother and sister to honor our spiritual leaders even in the face of betrayal. I refuse to sow discord among brethren. I will show kindness to others who are in relationship with the ones who have wronged me. Like David I will find ways to honor them and will not allow offense to cause me to disrespect them. Father, only You are worthy to judge the intents and actions of myself or of those around me. I praise You for Your wisdom, and I submit to Your leading. Lord, I choose to remain loyal to those in a position of authority over me. I choose to focus on the calling You have placed on my life and to refuse to be diverted by the actions of others, even when they have treated me wrongly. Father, may You be able to examine my life and know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my heart toward others (1 Sam.24:11). ~ John Bevere, #NFDB
632:Mandana Misra was a great scholar and authority on the Vedas and Mimasa. He led a householder’s life (grihastha), with his scholar-philosopher wife, Ubhaya Bharati, in the town of Mahishi, in what is present-day northern Bihar. Husband and wife would have great debates on the veracity of the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita and other philosophical works. Scholars from all over Bharatavarsha came to debate and understand the Shastras with them. It is said that even the parrots in Mandana’s home debated the divinity, or its lack, in the Vedas and Upanishads. Mandana was a staunch believer in rituals. One day, while he was performing Pitru Karma (rituals for deceased ancestors), Adi Shankaracharya arrived at his home and demanded a debate on Advaita. Mandana was angry at the rude intrusion and asked the Acharya whether he was not aware, as a Brahmin, that it was inauspicious to come to another Brahmin’s home uninvited when Pitru Karma was being done? In reply, Adi Shankara asked Mandana whether he was sure of the value of such rituals. This enraged Mandana and the other Brahmins present. Thus began one of the most celebrated debates in Hindu thought. It raged for weeks between the two great scholars. As the only other person of equal intellect to Shankara and Mandana was Mandana’s wife, Ubhaya Bharati, she was appointed the adjudicator. Among other things, Shankara convinced Mandana that the rituals for the dead had little value to the dead. Mandana became Adi Shankara’s disciple (and later the first Shankaracharya of the Sringeri Math in Karnataka). When the priest related this story to me, I was shocked. He was not giving me the answer I had expected. Annoyed, I asked him what he meant by the story if Adi Shankara himself said such rituals were of no use to the dead. The priest replied, “Son, the story has not ended.” And he continued... A few years later, Adi Shankara was compiling the rituals for the dead, to standardize them for people across Bharatavarsha. Mandana, upset with his Guru’s action, asked Adi Shankara why he was involved with such a useless thing. After all, the Guru had convinced him of the uselessness of such rituals (Lord Krishna also mentions the inferiority of Vedic sacrifice to other paths, in the Gita. Pitru karma has no vedic base either). Why then was the Jagad Guru taking such a retrograde step? Adi Shankaracharya smiled at his disciple and answered, “The rituals are not for the dead but for the loved ones left behind. ~ Anand Neelakantan, #NFDB
633:Disciple: What are the conditions of success in this yoga?
Sri Aurobindo: I have often told of them. Those go through who have the central sincerity. It does not mean that the sincerity is there in all the parts of the being. In that sense no one is entirely ready. But if the central sincerity is there it is possible to establish it in all the parts of the being.
The second thing necessary is a certain receptivity in the being, what we call, the "opening" up of all the planes to the Higher Power.
The third thing required is the power of holding the higher Force, a certain ghanatwa - mass - that can hold the Power when it comes down.
And about the thing that pushes there are two things that generally push: One is the Central Being. The other is destiny. If the Central Being wants to do something it pushes the man. Even when the man goes off the line he is pushed back again to the path. Of course, the Central Being may push through the mind or any other part of the being. Also, if the man is destined he is pushed to the path either to go through or to get broken,
Disciple: There are some people who think they are destined or chosen and we see that they are not "chosen".
Sri Aurobindo: Of course, plenty of people think that they are specially "chosen" and that they are the first and the "elect" and so on. All that is nothing.
Disciple: Then, can you. say who is fit out of all those that have come?
Sri Aurobindo: It is very difficult to say. But this can be said that everyone of those who have come in has some chance to go through if he can hold on to it.
Disciple: There is also a chance of failure.
Sri Aurobindo: Of course, and besides, the whole universe is a play of forces and one can't always wait till all the conditions of success have been fulfilled. One has to take risks and take his chance.
Disciple: What is meant by "chance"? Does it mean that it is only one possibility out of many others, or does it mean that one would be able to succeed in yoga?
Sri Aurobindo: It means only that he can succeed if he takes his chance properly. For instance, X had his chance.
Disciple: Those who fall on the path or slip, do they go down in their evolution?
Sri Aurobindo: That depends. Ultimately, the Yoga may be lost to him.
Disciple: The Gita says: Na hi kalyānkṛt - nothing that is beneficial - comes to a bad end.
Sri Aurobindo: That is from another standpoint. You must note the word is kalyān kṛt - it is an important addition.
~ Sri Aurobindo, EVENING TALKS WITH SRI AUROBINDO, RECORDED BY A B PURANI (20-09-1926),#NFDB
634:He continuously reflected on her image and attributes, day and night. His bhakti was such that he could not stop thinking of her. Eventually, he saw her everywhere and in everything. This was his path to illumination.
He was often asked by people: what is the way to the supreme? His answer was sharp and definite: bhakti yoga. He said time and time again that bhakti yoga is the best sadhana for the Kali Yuga (Dark Age) of the present.
His bhakti is illustrated by the following statement he made to a disciple:
To my divine mother I prayed only for pure love.
At her lotus feet I offered a few flowers and I prayed:
Mother! here is virtue and here is vice;
Take them both from me.
Grant me only love, pure love for Thee.
Mother! here is knowledge and here is ignorance;
Take them both from me.
Grant me only love, pure love for Thee.
Mother! here is purity and impurity;
Take them both from me.
Grant me only love, pure love for Thee.
Ramakrishna, like Kabir, was a practical man.
He said: "So long as passions are directed towards the world and its objects, they are enemies. But when they are directed towards a deity, then they become the best of friends to man, for they take him to illumination. The desire for worldly things must be changed into longing for the supreme; the anger which you feel for fellow man must be directed towards the supreme for not manifesting himself to you . . . and so on, with all other emotions. The passions cannot be eradicated, but they can be turned into new directions."
A disciple once asked him: "How can one conquer the weaknesses within us?" He answered: "When the fruit grows out of the flower, the petals drop off themselves. So when divinity in you increases, the weaknesses of human nature will vanish of their own accord." He emphasized that the aspirant should not give up his practices. "If a single dive into the sea does not bring you a pearl, do not conclude that there are no pearls in the sea. There are countless pearls hidden in the sea.
So if you fail to merge with the supreme during devotional practices, do not lose heart. Go on patiently with the practices, and in time you will invoke divine grace." It does not matter what form you care to worship. He said: "Many are the names of the supreme and infinite are the forms through which he may be approached. In whatever name and form you choose to worship him, through that he will be realized by you." He indicated the importance of surrender on the path of bhakti when he said:
~ Swami Satyananda Saraswati, A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya,#NFDB
635:The Teacher of the integral Yoga will follow as far as he may the method of the Teacher within us. He will lead the disciple through the nature of the disciple. Teaching, example, influence, - these are the three instruments of the Guru. But the wise Teacher will not seek to impose himself or his opinions on the passive acceptance of the receptive mind; he will throw in only what is productive and sure as a seed which will grow under the divine fostering within. He will seek to awaken much more than to instruct; he will aim at the growth of the faculties and the experiences by a natural process and free expansion. He will give a method as an aid, as a utilisable device, not as an imperative formula or a fixed routine. And he will be on his guard against any turning of the means into a limitation, against the mechanising of process. His whole business is to awaken the divine light and set working the divine force of which he himself is only a means and an aid, a body or a channel.
The example is more powerful than the instruction; but it is not the example of the outward acts nor that of the personal character which is of most importance. These have their place and their utility; but what will most stimulate aspiration in others is the central fact of the divine realisation within him governing his whole life and inner state and all his activities. This is the universal and essential element; the rest belongs to individual person and circumstance. It is this dynamic realisation that the sadhaka must feel and reproduce in himself according to his own nature; he need not strive after an imitation from outside which may well be sterilising rather than productive of right and natural fruits.
Influence is more important than example. Influence is not the outward authority of the Teacher over his disciple, but the power of his contact, of his presence, of the nearness of his soul to the soul of another, infusing into it, even though in silence, that which he himself is and possesses. This is the supreme sign of the Master. For the greatest Master is much less a Teacher than a Presence pouring the divine consciousness and its constituting light and power and purity and bliss into all who are receptive around him.
And it shall also be a sign of the teacher of the integral Yoga that he does not arrogate to himself Guruhood in a humanly vain and self-exalting spirit. His work, if he has one, is a trust from above, he himself a channel, a vessel or a representative. He is a man helping his brothers, a child leading children, a Light kindling other lights, an awakened Soul awakening souls, at highest a Power or Presence of the Divine calling to him other powers of the Divine. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga,#NFDB
636:And so when the generation, which itself desired to level and to be emancipated, to destroy authority and at the same time itself, has, through the scepticism of the principle association, started the hopeless forest fire of abstraction; when as a result of levelling with this scepticism, the generation has rid itself of the individual and of everything organic and concrete, and put in its place 'humanity' and the numerical equality of man and man: when the generation has, for a moment, delighted in this unlimited panorama of abstract infinity, unrelieved by even the smallest eminence, undisturbed by even the slightest interest, a sea of desert; then the time has come for work to begin, for every individual must work for himself, each for himself. No longer can the individual, as in former times, turn to the great for help when he grows confused. That is past; he is either lost in the dizziness of unending abstraction or saved for ever in the reality of religion. Perhaps very many will cry out in despair, but it will not help them--already it is too late...Nor shall any of the unrecognizable presume to help directly or to speak directly or to teach directly at the head of the masses, in order to direct their decisions, instead of giving his negative support and so helping the individual to make the decision which he himself has reached; any other course would be the end of him, because he would be indulging in the short-sighted compassion of man, instead of obeying the order of divinity, of an angry, yet so merciful, divinity. For the development is, in spite of everything, a progress because all the individuals who are saved will receive the specific weight of religion, its essence at first hand, from God himself. Then it will be said: 'behold, all is in readiness, see how the cruelty of abstraction makes the true form of worldliness only too evident, the abyss of eternity opens before you, the sharp scythe of the leveller makes it possible for every one individually to leap over the blade--and behold, it is God who waits. Leap, then, into the arms of God'. But the 'unrecognizable' neither can nor dares help man, not even his most faithful disciple, his mother, or the girl for whom he would gladly give his life: they must make the leap themselves, for God's love is not a second-hand gift. And yet the 'unrecognizable' neither can nor dares help man, not even his most faithful disciple, his mother, or the girl for whom he would gladly give his life: they must make the leap themselves, for God's love is not a second-hand gift. And yet the 'unrecognizable' (according to his degree) will have a double work compared with the 'outstanding' man (of the same degree), because he will not only have to work continuously, but at the same time labour to conceal his work. ~ S ren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
637:Now everyone knows that to try to say something in the mainstream Western media that is critical of U.S. policy or Israel is extremely difficult; conversely, to say things that are hostile to the Arabs as a people and culture, or Islam as a religion, is laughably easy. For in effect there is a cultural war between spokespersons for the West and those of the Muslim and Arab world. In so inflamed a situation, the hardest thing to do as an intellectual is to be critical, to refuse to adopt a rhetorical style that is the verbal equivalent of carpet-bombing, and to focus instead on those issues like U.S. support for unpopular client regimes, which for a person writing in the U.S. are somewhat more likely to be affected by critical discussion.
Of course, on the other hand, there is a virtual certainty of getting an audience if as an Arab intellectual you passionately, even slavishly support U.S. policy, you attack its critics, and if they happen to be Arabs, you invent evidence to show their villainy; if they are American you confect stories and situations that prove their duplicity; you spin out stories concerning Arabs and Muslims that have the effect of defaming their tradition, defacing their history, accentuating their weaknesses, of which of course there are plenty. Above all, you attack the officially ap proved enemies-Saddam Hussein, Baathism, Arab nationalism, the Palestinian movement, Arab views of Israel. And of course this earns you the expected accolades: you are characterized as courageous, you are outspoken and passionate, and on and on. The new god of course is the West. Arabs, you say, should try to be more like the West, should regard the West as a source and a reference point. · Gone is the history of what the West actually did. Gone are the Gulf War's destructive results. We Arabs and Muslims are the sick ones, our problems are our own, totally self-inflicted.
A number of things stand out about these kinds of performance. In the first place, there is no universalism here at all. Because you serve a god uncritically, all the devils are always on the other side: this was as true when you were a Trotskyist as it i's now when you are a recanting former Trotskyist. You do not think of politics in terms of interrelationships or of common histories such as, for instance, the long and complicated dynamic that has bound the Arabs and Muslims to the West and vice versa. Real intellectual analysis forbids calling one side innocent, the other evil. Indeed the notion of a side is, where cultures are at issue, highly problematic, since most cultures aren't watertight little packages, all homogenous, and all either good or evil. But if your eye is on your patron, you cannot think as an intellectual, but only as a disciple or acolyte. In the back of your mind there is the thought that you must please and not displease. ~ Edward W Said,#NFDB
638:[...] Pourtant, s’il n’existe pas de moyen infaillible pour permettre au futur disciple d’identifier un Maître authentique par une procédure mentale uniquement, il existe néanmoins cette maxime ésotérique universelle (127) que tout aspirant trouvera un guide authentique s’il le mérite. De même que cette autre maxime qu’en réalité, et en dépit des apparences, ce n’est pas celui qui cherche qui choisit la voie, mais la voie qui le choisit. En d’autres termes, puisque le Maître incarne la voie, il a, mystérieusement et providentiellement, une fonction active à l’égard de celui qui cherche, avant même que l’initiation établisse la relation maître-disciple. Ce qui permet de comprendre l’anecdote suivante, racontée par le Shaykh marocain al-’Arabî ad-Darqâwî (mort en 1823), l’un des plus grands Maîtres soufis de ces derniers siècles. Au moment en question, il était un jeune homme, mais qui représentait déjà son propre Shaykh, ’Alî al-Jamal, à qui il se plaignit un jour de devoir aller dans tel endroit où il craignait de ne trouver aucune compagnie spirituelle. Son Shaykh lui coupa la parole : « Engendre celui qu’il te faut! » Et un peu plus tard, il lui réitéra le même ordre, au pluriel : « Engendre-les! »(128) Nous avons vu que le premier pas dans la voie spirituelle est de « renaître »; et toutes ces considérations laissent entendre que nul ne « mérite » un Maître sans avoir éprouvé une certaine conscience d’« inexistence » ou de vide, avant-goût de la pauvreté spirituelle (faqr) d’où le faqîr tire son nom. La porte ouverte est une image de cet état, et le Shaykh ad-Darqâwî déclare que l’un des moyens les plus puissants pour obtenir la solution à un problème spirituel est de tenir ouverte « la porte de la nécessité »(129) et de prendre garde qu’elle ne se referme. On peut ainsi en déduire que ce « mérite » se mesurera au degré d’acuité du sens de la nécessité chez celui qui cherche un Maître, ou au degré de vacuité de son âme, qui doit être en effet suffisamment vide pour précipiter l’avènement de ce qui lui est nécessaire. Et soulignons pour terminer que cette « passivité » n’est pas incompatible avec l’attitude plus active prescrite par le Christ : « Cherchez et vous trouverez; frappez et l’on vous ouvrira », puisque la manière la plus efficace de « frapper » est de prier, et que supplier est la preuve d’un vide et l’aveu d’un dénuement, d’une « nécessité » justement. En un mot, le futur disciple a, aussi bien que le Maître, des qualifications à actualiser.
127. Voir, dans le Treasury of Traditional Wisdom de Whitall Perry, à la section réservée au Maître spirituel, pp. 288-95, les citations sur ce point particulier, de même que sur d’autres en rapport avec cet appendice.
128. Lettres d'un Maître soufi, pp. 27-28.
129. Ibid., p. 20. - Le texte dit : « porte de la droiture », erreur de traduction corrigée par l’auteur, le terme arabe ayant bien le sens de « nécessité », et même de « besoin urgent ». (NdT) ~ Martin Lings,#NFDB
639:Jab Tun Aaya Jagat Mein, Log Hanse Tu Roye
Aise Karni Na Kari, Pache Hanse Sab Koye
[When you were born in this world
Everyone laughed while you cried
Conduct NOT yourself in manner such
That they laugh when you are gone]
**
Kabir Man Nirmal Bhaya, Jaise Ganga Neer
Pache Pache Har Phire, Kahat Kabir Kabir
[Kabir's mind got cleansed like the holy Ganges water
Now everyone follows, saying Kabir Kabir]
**
Gur Dhobi Sikh Kapda, Saboo Sirjan Har
Surti Sila Pur Dhoiye, Nikse Jyoti Apaar
[Guru the washer man, disciple is the cloth
The name of God liken to the soap
Wash the mind on foundation firm
To realize the glow of Truth]
**
Jeevat Samjhe Jeevat Bujhe, Jeevat He Karo Aas
Jeevat Karam Ki Fansi Na Kaati, Mue Mukti Ki Aas
[Alive one sees, alive one knows
Thus crave for salvation when full of life
Alive you did not cut the noose of binding actions
Hoping liberation with death!]
**
Akath Kahani Prem Ki, Kutch Kahi Na Jaye
Goonge Keri Sarkara, Baithe Muskae
[Inexpressible is the story of Love
It cannot be revealed by words
Like the dumb eating sweet-meat
Only smiles, the sweetness he cannot tell]
**
Chinta Aisee Dakini, Kat Kaleja Khaye
Vaid Bichara Kya Kare, Kahan Tak Dawa Lagaye
[Worry is the bandit that eats into one's heart
What the doctor can do, what remedy to impart?]
**
Kabira Garv Na Keejiye, Uncha Dekh Aavaas
Kaal Paron Bhuin Letna, Ooper Jamsi Ghaas
[Says Kabir
Don't be so proud and vain
Looking at your high mansion
Death makes one lie on bare land
And grass will grow thereon]
**
{2}Kabira Garv Na Keejiye, Kaal Gahe Kar Kes
Na Jaane Kit Mare Hai, Kya Des Kya Pardesh
[Says Kabir
Don't be so proud and vain
The clutches of Time are dark
Who knows where shall it kill
Whether at home or abroad]
**
Kabira Kiya Kutch Na Hote Hai, Ankiya Sab Hoye
Jo Kiya Kutch Hote Hai, Karta Aur Koye
[Says Kabir
By my doing nothing happens
What I don't does come to pass
If anything happens as if my doing
Then truly it is done by someone else]
**
Jyon Naino Mein Putli, Tyon Maalik Ghat Mahin
Moorakh Log Na Janhin, Baahar Dhudhan Jahin
[Like the pupil in the eyes
The Lord resides inside
Ignorant do not know this fact
They search Him outside]
**
Pehle Agan Birha Ki, Pachhe Prem Ki Pyas
Kahe Kabir Tub Janiye, Naam Milan Ki Aaas
[First the pangs of separation
Next grows the thirst for Love
Says Kabir then only hope
The union to materialize]
**
Jo toko kaata boien tahi boin tu phool,
tooko phool ke phool hain, vaako hain tirshul
[Lay flowers in the path of those who lay thorns in yours,
For you those flowers are flowers, but for them the flowers are tridents]
**
Bada hua to kya hua jaise ped khajoor,
Panthi ko chaya nahi, fal lage ati door.
[What is the use of being big and rich like a palm tree,
it doesn't provide shade to travellers and it's fruit is too far to eat]
~ Kabir, Dohas II (with translation)
,#NFDB
640:The monstrous thing is not that men have created roses out of this dung heap, but that, for some reason or other, they should want roses. For some reason or other man looks for the miracle, and to accomplish it he will wade through blood. He will debauch himself with ideas, he will reduce himself to a shadow if for only one second of his life he can close his eyes to the hideousness of reality. Everything is endured – disgrace, humiliation, poverty, war, crime, ennui – in the belief that overnight something will occur, a miracle, which will render life tolerable. And all the while a meter is running inside and there is no hand that can reach in there and shut it off. All the while someone is eating the bread of life and drinking the wine, some dirty fat cockroach of a priest who hides away in the cellar guzzling it, while up above in the light of the street a phantom host touches the lips and the blood is pale as water. And out of the endless torment and misery no miracle comes forth, no microscopic vestige of relief. Only ideas, pale, attenuated ideas which have to be fattened by slaughter; ideas which come forth like bile, like the guts of a pig when the carcass is ripped open.
And so I think what a miracle it would be if this miracle which man attends eternally should turn out to be nothing more than these two enormous turds which the faithful disciple dropped in the bidet. What if at the last moment, when the banquet table is set and the cymbals clash, there should appear suddenly,
and wholly without warning, a silver platter on which even the blind could see that there is nothing more, and nothing less, than two enormous lumps of shit. That, I believe would be more miraculous than anything which man has looked forward to. It would be miraculous because it would be undreamed of.
It would be more miraculous than even the wildest dream because anybody could imagine the possibility but nobody ever has, and probably nobody ever again will.
Somehow the realization that nothing was to be hoped for had a salutary effect upon me. For weeks and months, for years, in fact, all my life I had been looking forward to something happening, some intrinsic event that would alter my life, and now suddenly, inspired by the absolute hopelessness of
everything, I felt relieved, felt as though a great burden had been lifted from my shoulders.
At dawn I parted company with the young Hindu, after touching him for a few francs, enough for a room. Walking toward Montparnasse I decided to let
myself drift with the tide, to make not the least resistance to fate, no matter in what form it presented itself. Nothing that had happened to me thus far had been sufficient to destroy me; nothing had been destroyed except my illusions. I myself
was intact. The world was intact. Tomorrow there might be a revolution, a plague, an earthquake; tomorrow there might not be left a single soul to whom one could turn for sympathy, for aid, for faith. It seemed to me that the great calamity had already manifested itself, that I could be no more truly alone
than at this very moment. ~ Henry Miller,#NFDB
641:Mother of the Fair Delight,
Thou handmaid perfect in God's sight,
Now sitting fourth beside the Three,
Thyself a woman-Trinity,—
Being a daughter born to God,
Mother of Christ from stall to rood,
And wife unto the Holy Ghost:—
Oh when our need is uttermost,
Think that to such as death may strike
Thou once wert sister sisterlike!
Thou headstone of humanity,
Groundstone of the great Mystery,
Fashioned like us, yet more than we!
Mind'st thou not (when June's heavy breath
Warmed the long days in Nazareth,)
That eve thou didst go forth to give
Thy flowers some drink that they might live
One faint night more amid the sands?
Far off the trees were as pale wands
Against the fervid sky: the sea
Sighed further off eternally
As human sorrow sighs in sleep.
Then suddenly the awe grew deep,
As of a day to which all days
Were footsteps in God's secret ways:
Until a folding sense, like prayer,
Which is, as God is, everywhere,
Gathered about thee; and a voice
Spake to thee without any noise,
Being of the silence:—“Hail,” it said,
“Thou that art highly favourèd;
The Lord is with thee here and now;
Blessed among all women thou.”
Ah! knew'st thou of the end, when first
That Babe was on thy bosom nurs'd?—
Or when He tottered round thy knee
Did thy great sorrow dawn on thee?—
And through His boyhood, year by year
Eating with Him the Passover,
51
Didst thou discern confusedly
That holier sacrament, when He,
The bitter cup about to quaff,
Should break the bread and eat thereof?—
Or came not yet the knowledge, even
Till on some day forecast in Heaven
His feet passed through thy door to press
Upon His Father's business?—
Or still was God's high secret kept?
Nay, but I think the whisper crept
Like growth through childhood. Work and play,
Things common to the course of day,
Awed thee with meanings unfulfill'd;
And all through girlhood, something still'd
Thy senses like the birth of light,
When thou hast trimmed thy lamp at night
Or washed thy garments in the stream;
To whose white bed had come the dream
That He was thine and thou wast His
Who feeds among the field-lilies.
O solemn shadow of the end
In that wise spirit long contain'd!
O awful end! and those unsaid
Long years when It was Finishèd!
Mind'st thou not (when the twilight gone
Left darkness in the house of John,)
Between the naked window-bars
That spacious vigil of the stars?—
For thou, a watcher even as they,
Wouldst rise from where throughout the day
Thou wroughtest raiment for His poor;
And, finding the fixed terms endure
Of day and night which never brought
Sounds of His coming chariot,
Wouldst lift through cloud-waste unexplor'd
Those eyes which said, “How long, O Lord?”
Then that disciple whom He loved,
Well heeding, haply would be moved
To ask thy blessing in His name;
And that one thought in both, the same
Though silent, then would clasp ye round
To weep together,—tears long bound,
52
Sick tears of patience, dumb and slow.
Yet, “Surely I come quickly,”—so
He said, from life and death gone home.
Amen: even so, Lord Jesus, come!
But oh! what human tongue can speak
That day when Michael came to break
From the tir'd spirit, like a veil,
Its covenant with Gabriel
Endured at length unto the end?
What human thought can apprehend
That mystery of motherhood
When thy Beloved at length renew'd
The sweet communion severèd,—
His left hand underneath thine head
And His right hand embracing thee?—
Lo! He was thine, and this is He!
Soul, is it Faith, or Love, or Hope,
That lets me see her standing up
Where the light of the Throne is bright?
Unto the left, unto the right,
The cherubim, succinct, conjoint,
Float inward to a golden point,
And from between the seraphim
The glory issues for a hymn.
O Mary Mother, be not loth
To listen,—thou whom the stars clothe,
Who seëst and mayst not be seen!
Hear us at last, O Mary Queen!
Into our shadow bend thy face,
Bowing thee from the secret place,
O Mary Virgin, full of grace!
~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti,#NFDB
642:The Angel In The House. Book Ii. Canto I.
Preludes.
I The Song of Songs
The pulse of War, whose bloody heats
Sane purposes insanely work,
Now with fraternal frenzy beats,
And binds the Christian to the Turk,
And shrieking fifes and braggart flags,
Through quiet England, teach our breath
The courage corporate that drags
The coward to heroic death.
Too late for song! Who henceforth sings,
Must fledge his heavenly flight with more
Song-worthy and heroic things
Than hasty, home-destroying war.
While might and right are not agreed,
And battle thus is yet to wage,
So long let laurels be the meed
Of soldier as of poet sage;
But men expect the Tale of Love,
And weary of the Tale of Hate;
Lift me, O Muse, myself above,
And let the world no longer wait!
II The Kites
I saw three Cupids (so I dream'd),
Who made three kites, on which were drawn,
In letters that like roses gleam'd,
‘Plato,’ ‘Anacreon,’ and ‘Vaughan.’
The boy who held by Plato tried
His airy venture first; all sail,
It heav'nward rush'd till scarce descried,
Then pitch'd and dropp'd, for want of tail.
Anacreon's Love, with shouts of mirth
That pride of spirit thus should fall,
To his kite link'd a lump of earth,
And, lo, it would not soar at all.
Last, my disciple freighted his
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With a long streamer made of flowers,
The children of the sod, and this
Rose in the sun, and flew for hours.
III Orpheus
The music of the Sirens found
Ulysses weak, though cords were strong;
But happier Orpheus stood unbound,
And shamed it with a sweeter song.
His mode be mine. Of Heav'n I ask,
May I, with heart-persuading might,
Pursue the Poet's sacred task
Of superseding faith by sight,
Till ev'n the witless Gadarene,
Preferring Christ to swine, shall know
That life is sweetest when it's clean.
To prouder folly let me show
Earth by divine light made divine;
And let the saints, who hear my word,
Say, ‘Lo, the clouds begin to shine
‘About the coming of the Lord!’
IV Nearest the Dearest
Till Eve was brought to Adam, he
A solitary desert trod,
Though in the great society
Of nature, angels, and of God.
If one slight column counterweighs
The ocean, 'tis the Maker's law,
Who deems obedience better praise
Than sacrifice of erring awe.
V Perspective
What seems to us for us is true.
The planet has no proper light,
And yet, when Venus is in view,
No primal star is half so bright.
Accepted.
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I
What fortune did my heart foretell?
What shook my spirit, as I woke,
Like the vibration of a bell
Of which I had not heard the stroke?
Was it some happy vision shut
From memory by the sun's fresh ray?
Was it that linnet's song; or but
A natural gratitude for day?
Or the mere joy the senses weave,
A wayward ecstasy of life?
Then I remember'd, yester-eve
I won Honoria for my Wife.
II
Forth riding, while as yet the day
Was dewy, watching Sarum Spire,
Still beckoning me along my way,
And growing every minute higher,
I reach'd the Dean's. One blind was down,
Though nine then struck. My bride to be!
And had she rested ill, my own,
With thinking (oh, my heart!) of me?
I paced the streets; a pistol chose,
To guard my now important life
When riding late from Sarum Close;
At noon return'd. Good Mrs. Fife,
To my, ‘The Dean, is he at home?’
Said, ‘No, Sir; but Miss Honor is;’
And straight, not asking if I'd come,
Announced me, ‘Mr. Felix, Miss,’
To Mildred, in the Study. There
We talk'd, she working. We agreed
The day was fine; the Fancy-Fair
Successful; ‘Did I ever read
‘De Genlis?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Do! She heard
‘I was engaged.’ ‘To whom?’ ‘Miss Fry.’
‘Was it the fact?’ ‘No!’ ‘On my word?’
‘What scandal people talk'd!’ ‘Would I
‘Hold out this skein of silk.’ So pass'd
I knew not how much time away.
‘How were her sisters?’ ‘Well.’ At last
126
I summon'd heart enough to say,
‘I hoped to see Miss Churchill too.’
‘Miss Churchill, Felix! What is this?
‘I said, and now I find 'tis true,
‘Last night you quarrell'd! Here she is.’
III
She came, and seem'd a morning rose
When ruffling rain has paled its blush;
Her crown once more was on her brows;
And, with a faint, indignant flush,
And fainter smile, she gave her hand,
But not her eyes, then sate apart,
As if to make me understand
The honour of her vanquish'd heart.
But I drew humbly to her side;
And she, well pleased, perceiving me
Liege ever to the noble pride
Of her unconquer'd majesty,
Once and for all put it away;
The faint flush pass'd; and, thereupon,
Her loveliness, which rather lay
In light than colour, smiled and shone,
Till sick was all my soul with bliss;
Or was it with remorse and ire
Of such a sanctity as this
Subdued by love to my desire?
~ Coventry Patmore,#NFDB
643: ON
POETS
"Since I have come to know the body better," Zarathustra said to one of his disciples, "the spirit is to me
only quasi-spirit; and all that is 'permanent is also a
mere parable."
"I have heard you say that once before," the disciple
replied; "and at that time you added, 'But the poets lie
too much.' Why did you say that the poets lie too
much?"
"Why?" said Zarathustra. "You ask, why? I am not
one of those whom one may ask about their why. Is my
experience but of yesterday? It was long ago that I
127
experienced the reasons for my opinions. Would I not
have to be a barrel of memory if I wanted to carry my
reasons around with me? It is already too much for me
to remember my own opinions; and many a bird flies
away. And now and then I also find a stray in my dovecot that is strange to me and trembles when I place my
hand on it. But what was it that Zarathustra once said to
you? That the poets lie too much? But Zarathustra too
is a poet. Do you now believe that he spoke the truth
here? Why do you believe that?"
The disciple answered, "I believe in Zarathustra.'
But Zarathustra shook his head and smiled.
"Faith does not make me blessed," he said, 'especially
not faith in me. But suppose somebody said in all seriousness, the poets lie too much: he would be right; we
do lie too much. We also know too little and we are
bad learners; so we simply have to lie. And who among
us poets has not adulterated his wine? Many a poisonous
hodgepodge has been contrived in our cellars; much
that is indescribable was accomplished there. And because we know so little, the poor in spirit please us
heartily, particularly when they are young females. And
we are covetous even of those things which the old
females tell each other in the evening. That is what we
ourselves call the Eternal-Feminine in us. And, as if
there were a special secret access to knowledge, buried
for those who learn something, we believe in the people
and their 'wisdom.'
"This, however, all poets believe: that whoever
pricks up his ears as he lies in the grass or on lonely
slopes will find out something about those things that
are between heaven and earth. And when they feel
tender sentiments stirring, the poets always fancy that
nature herself is in love with them; and that she is
128
creeping to their ears to tell them secrets and amorous
flatteries; and of this they brag and boast before all
mortals.
'Alas, there are so many things between heaven and
earth of which only the poets have dreamed.
"And especially above the heavens: for all gods are
poets' parables, poets' prevarications. Verily, it always
lifts us higher-specifically, to the realm of the clouds:
upon these we place our motley bastards and call them
gods and overmen. For they are just light enough for
these chairs-all these gods and overmen. Ah, how
weary I am of all the imperfection which must at all
costs become events Ah, how weary I am of poets!"
When Zarathustra spoke thus, his disciple was angry
with him, but he remained silent. And Zarathustra too
remained silent; and his eye had turned inward as if he
were gazing into vast distances. At last he sighed and
drew a deep breath.
"I am of today and before," he said then, "but there
is something in me that is of tomorrow and the day after
tomorrow and time to come. I have grown weary of the
poets, the old and the new: superficial they all seem to
me, and shallow seas. Their thoughts have not penetrated deeply enough; therefore their feelings did not
touch bottom.
"Some lust and some boredom: that has so far been
their best reflection. All their harp jingling is to me the
breathing and flitting of ghosts; what have they ever
known of the fervor of tones?
"Nor are they clean enough for me: they all muddy
their waters to make them appear deep. And they like
to pose as reconcilers: but mediators and mixers they
remain for me, and half-and-half and unclean.
"Alas, I cast my net into their seas and wanted to
catch good fish; but I always pulled up the head of
129
some old god. Thus the sea gave him who was hungry a
stone. And they themselves may well have come from
the sea. Certainly, pearls are found in them: they are
that much more similar to hard shellfish. And instead
of a soul I often found salted slime in them.
"From the sea they learned even its vanity: is not the
sea the peacock of peacocks? Even before the ugliest
buffalo it still spreads out its tail, and never wearies of
its lace fan of silver and silk. Sulky, the buffalo stares
back, close to the sand in his soul, closer still to the
thicket, closest of all to the swamp. What are beauty
and sea and peacock's finery to him? This parable I
offer the poets. Verily, their spirit itself is the peacock of
peacocks and a sea of vanity! The spirit of the poet
craves spectators-even if only buffaloes.
"But I have grown weary of this spirit; and I foresee
that it will grow weary of itself. I have already seen thepoets changed, with their glances turned back on themselves. I saw ascetics of the spirit approach; they grew
out of the poets."
Thus spoke Zarathustra.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, ON POETS
,#NFDB
644:THE SOOTHSAYER
"-And I saw a great sadness descend upon mankind.
The best grew weary of their works. A doctrine appeared, accompanied by a faith: 'All is empty, all is the
same, all has been!' And from all the hills it echoed:
'All is empty, all is the same, all has been' Indeed we
have harvested: but why did all our fruit turn rotten
and brown? What fell down from the evil moon last
night? In vain was all our work; our wine has turned to
poison; an evil eye has seared our fields and hearts. We
have all become dry; and if fire should descend on us,
we should turn to ashes; indeed, we have wearied the
fire itself. All our wells have dried up; even the sea
has withdrawn. All the soil would crack, but the depth
refuses to devour. 'Alas, where is there still a sea in
which one might drown?' thus are we wailing across
shallow swamps. Verily, we have become too weary
even to die. We are still waking and living on-in
tombs."
Thus Zarathustra heard a soothsayer speak, and the
134
prophecy touched his heart and changed him. He
walked about sad and weary; and he became like those
of whom the soothsayer had spoken.
"Verily," he said to his disciples, "little is lacking and
this long twilight will come. Alas, how shall I save my
light through it? It must not suffocate in this sadness.
For it shall be a light for distant worlds and even more
distant nights."
Thus grieved in his heart, Zarathustra walked about;
and for three days he took neither food nor drink, had
no rest, and lost his speech. At last he fell into a deep
sleep. But his disciples sat around him in long night
watches and waited with great concern for him to wake
and speak again and recover from his melancholy.
And this is the speech of Zarathustra when he awoke;
but his voice came to his disciples as if from a great
distance:
"Listen to the dream which I dreamed, my friends,
and help me guess its meaning. This dream is still a
riddle to me; its meaning is concealed in it and imprisoned and does not yet soar above it with unfettered
wings.
"I had turned my back on all life, thus I dreamed. I
had become a night watchman and a guardian of tombs
upon the lonely mountain castle of death. Up there I
guarded his coffins: the musty vaults were full of such
marks of triumph. Life that had been overcome, looked
at me out of glass coffins. I breathed the odor of dusty
eternities: sultry and dusty lay my soul. And who could
have aired his soul there?
"The brightness of midnight was always about me;
loneliness crouched next to it; and as a third, death-rattle silence, the worst of my friends. I had keys, the
rustiest of all keys; and I knew how to use them to
open the most creaking of all gates. Like a wickedly
135
angry croaking, the sound ran through the long corridors
when the gate's wings moved: fiendishly cried this bird,
ferocious at being awakened. Yet still more terrible and
heart-constricting was the moment when silence returned and it grew quiet about me, and I sat alone in
this treacherous silence.
"Thus time passed and crawled, if time still existedhow should I know? But eventually that happened
which awakened me. Thrice, strokes struck at the gate
like thunder; the vaults echoed and howled thrice; then
I went to the gate. 'Alpa,' I cried, 'who is carrying his
ashes up the mountain? Alpal Alpal Who is carrying his
ashes up the mountain?' And I pressed the key and
tried to lift the gate and exerted myself; but still it did
not give an inch. Then a roaring wind tore its wings
apart; whistling, shrilling, and piercing, it cast up a
black coffin before me.
"And amid the roaring and whistling and shrilling the
coffin burst and spewed out a thousandfold laughter.
And from a thousand grimaces of children, angels, owls,
fools, and butterflies as big as children, it laughed and
mocked and roared at me. Then I was terribly frightened; it threw me to the ground. And I cried in horror
as I have never cried. And my own cry awakened meand I came to my senses."
Thus Zarathustra told his dream and then became
silent; for as yet he did not know the interpretation of
his dream. But the disciple whom he loved most rose
quickly, took Zarathustra's hand, and said:
"Your life itself interprets this dream for us, 0 Zarathustra. Are you not yourself the wind with the shrill
whistling that tears open the gates of the castles of
death? Are you not yourself the coffin full of colorful
sarcasms and the angelic grimaces of life? Verily, like
a thousandfold children's laughter Zarathustra enters
136
all death chambers, laughing at all the night watchmen
and guardians of tombs and at whoever else is rattling
with gloomy keys. You will frighten and prostrate them
with your laughter; and your power over them will
make them faint and wake them. And even when the
long twilight and the weariness of death come, you will
not set in our sky, you advocate of life. New stars you
have let us see, and new wonders of the night; verily,
laughter itself you have spread over us like a colorful
tent. Henceforth children's laughter will well forth from
all coffins; henceforth a strong wind will come triumphantly to all weariness of death: of this you yourself
are our surety and soothsayer. Verily, this is what you
dreamed of: your enemies. That was your hardest
dream. But as you woke from them and came to your
senses, thus they shall awaken from themselves-and
come to you."
Thus spoke the disciple; and all the others crowded
around Zarathustra and took hold of his hands and
wanted to persuade him to leave his bed and his sadness
and to return to them. But Zarathustra sat erect on his
resting place with a strange look in his eyes. Like one
coming home from a long sojourn in strange lands, he
looked at his disciples and examined their faces; and
as yet he did not recognize them. But when they lifted
him up and put him on his feet, behold, his eyes suddenly changed; he comprehended all that had happened, stroked his beard, and said in a strong voice:
"Now then, there is a time for this too. But see to it,
my disciples, that we shall have a good meal, and soon.
Thus I plan to atone for bad dreams. The soothsayer,
however, shall eat and drink by my side; and verily, I
shall show him a sea in which he can drown."
Thus spoke Zarathustra. But then he looked a long
137
time into the face of the disciple who had played the
dream interpreter and he shook his head.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, THE SOOTHSAYER
,#NFDB
645:Requiem
Not under foreign skies
Nor under foreign wings protected I shared all this with my own people
There, where misfortune had abandoned us.
[1961]
INSTEAD OF A PREFACE
During the frightening years of the Yezhov terror, I
spent seventeen months waiting in prison queues in
Leningrad. One day, somehow, someone 'picked me out'.
On that occasion there was a woman standing behind me,
her lips blue with cold, who, of course, had never in
her life heard my name. Jolted out of the torpor
characteristic of all of us, she said into my ear
(everyone whispered there) - 'Could one ever describe
this?' And I answered - 'I can.' It was then that
something like a smile slid across what had previously
been just a face.
[The 1st of April in the year 1957. Leningrad]
DEDICATION
Mountains fall before this grief,
A mighty river stops its flow,
But prison doors stay firmly bolted
Shutting off the convict burrows
And an anguish close to death.
Fresh winds softly blow for someone,
Gentle sunsets warm them through; we don't know this,
We are everywhere the same, listening
To the scrape and turn of hateful keys
And the heavy tread of marching soldiers.
Waking early, as if for early mass,
Walking through the capital run wild, gone to seed,
We'd meet - the dead, lifeless; the sun,
Lower every day; the Neva, mistier:
But hope still sings forever in the distance.
The verdict. Immediately a flood of tears,
62
Followed by a total isolation,
As if a beating heart is painfully ripped out, or,
Thumped, she lies there brutally laid out,
But she still manages to walk, hesitantly, alone.
Where are you, my unwilling friends,
Captives of my two satanic years?
What miracle do you see in a Siberian blizzard?
What shimmering mirage around the circle of the moon?
I send each one of you my salutation, and farewell.
[March 1940]
INTRODUCTION
[PRELUDE]
It happened like this when only the dead
Were smiling, glad of their release,
That Leningrad hung around its prisons
Like a worthless emblem, flapping its piece.
Shrill and sharp, the steam-whistles sang
Short songs of farewell
To the ranks of convicted, demented by suffering,
As they, in regiments, walked along Stars of death stood over us
As innocent Russia squirmed
Under the blood-spattered boots and tyres
Of the black marias.
You were taken away at dawn. I followed you
As one does when a corpse is being removed.
Children were crying in the darkened house.
A candle flared, illuminating the Mother of God. . .
The cold of an icon was on your lips, a death-cold
sweat
On your brow - I will never forget this; I will gather
To wail with the wives of the murdered streltsy (1)
Inconsolably, beneath the Kremlin towers.
[1935. Autumn. Moscow]
II
63
Silent flows the river Don
A yellow moon looks quietly on
Swanking about, with cap askew
It sees through the window a shadow of you
Gravely ill, all alone
The moon sees a woman lying at home
Her son is in jail, her husband is dead
Say a prayer for her instead.
III
It isn't me, someone else is suffering. I couldn't.
Not like this. Everything that has happened,
Cover it with a black cloth,
Then let the torches be removed. . .
Night.
IV
Giggling, poking fun, everyone's darling,
The carefree sinner of Tsarskoye Selo (2)
If only you could have foreseen
What life would do with you That you would stand, parcel in hand,
Beneath the Crosses (3), three hundredth in
line,
Burning the new year's ice
With your hot tears.
Back and forth the prison poplar sways
With not a sound - how many innocent
Blameless lives are being taken away. . .
[1938]
For seventeen months I have been screaming,
Calling you home.
I've thrown myself at the feet of butchers
For you, my son and my horror.
Everything has become muddled forever I can no longer distinguish
64
Who is an animal, who a person, and how long
The wait can be for an execution.
There are now only dusty flowers,
The chinking of the thurible,
Tracks from somewhere into nowhere
And, staring me in the face
And threatening me with swift annihilation,
An enormous star.
[1939]
VI
Weeks fly lightly by. Even so,
I cannot understand what has arisen,
How, my son, into your prison
White nights stare so brilliantly.
Now once more they burn,
Eyes that focus like a hawk,
And, upon your cross, the talk
Is again of death.
[1939. Spring]
VII
THE VERDICT
The word landed with a stony thud
Onto my still-beating breast.
Nevermind, I was prepared,
I will manage with the rest.
I have a lot of work to do today;
I need to slaughter memory,
Turn my living soul to stone
Then teach myself to live again. . .
But how. The hot summer rustles
Like a carnival outside my window;
I have long had this premonition
Of a bright day and a deserted house.
[22 June 1939. Summer. Fontannyi Dom (4)]
VIII
65
TO DEATH
You will come anyway - so why not now?
I wait for you; things have become too hard.
I have turned out the lights and opened the door
For you, so simple and so wonderful.
Assume whatever shape you wish. Burst in
Like a shell of noxious gas. Creep up on me
Like a practised bandit with a heavy weapon.
Poison me, if you want, with a typhoid exhalation,
Or, with a simple tale prepared by you
(And known by all to the point of nausea), take me
Before the commander of the blue caps and let me
glimpse
The house administrator's terrified white face.
I don't care anymore. The river Yenisey
Swirls on. The Pole star blazes.
The blue sparks of those much-loved eyes
Close over and cover the final horror.
[19 August 1939. Fontannyi Dom]
IX
Madness with its wings
Has covered half my soul
It feeds me fiery wine
And lures me into the abyss.
That's when I understood
While listening to my alien delirium
That I must hand the victory
To it.
However much I nag
However much I beg
It will not let me take
One single thing away:
Not my son's frightening eyes A suffering set in stone,
Or prison visiting hours
Or days that end in storms
66
Nor the sweet coolness of a hand
The anxious shade of lime trees
Nor the light distant sound
Of final comforting words.
[14 May 1940. Fontannyi Dom]
CRUCIFIXION
Weep not for me, mother.
I am alive in my grave.
1.
A choir of angels glorified the greatest hour,
The heavens melted into flames.
To his father he said, 'Why hast thou forsaken me!'
But to his mother, 'Weep not for me. . .'
[1940. Fontannyi Dom]
2.
Magdalena smote herself and wept,
The favourite disciple turned to stone,
But there, where the mother stood silent,
Not one person dared to look.
[1943. Tashkent]
EPILOGUE
1.
I have learned how faces fall,
How terror can escape from lowered eyes,
How suffering can etch cruel pages
Of cuneiform-like marks upon the cheeks.
I know how dark or ash-blond strands of hair
Can suddenly turn white. I've learned to recognise
The fading smiles upon submissive lips,
The trembling fear inside a hollow laugh.
That's why I pray not for myself
But all of you who stood there with me
Through fiercest cold and scorching July heat
Under a towering, completely blind red wall.
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2.
The hour has come to remember the dead.
I see you, I hear you, I feel you:
The one who resisted the long drag to the open window;
The one who could no longer feel the kick of familiar
soil beneath her feet;
The one who, with a sudden flick of her head, replied,
'I arrive here as if I've come home!'
I'd like to name you all by name, but the list
Has been removed and there is nowhere else to look.
So,
I have woven you this wide shroud out of the humble
words
I overheard you use. Everywhere, forever and always,
I will never forget one single thing. Even in new
grief.
Even if they clamp shut my tormented mouth
Through which one hundred million people scream;
That's how I wish them to remember me when I am dead
On the eve of my remembrance day.
If someone someday in this country
Decides to raise a memorial to me,
I give my consent to this festivity
But only on this condition - do not build it
By the sea where I was born,
I have severed my last ties with the sea;
Nor in the Tsar's Park by the hallowed stump
Where an inconsolable shadow looks for me;
Build it here where I stood for three hundred hours
And no-one slid open the bolt.
Listen, even in blissful death I fear
That I will forget the Black Marias,
Forget how hatefully the door slammed and an old woman
Howled like a wounded beast.
Let the thawing ice flow like tears
From my immovable bronze eyelids
And let the prison dove coo in the distance
While ships sail quietly along the river.
[March 1940. Fontannyi Dom]
68
FOOTNOTES
1 An elite guard which rose up in rebellion
against Peter the Great in 1698. Most were either
executed or exiled.
2 The imperial summer residence outside St
Petersburg where Ahmatova spent her early years.
3 A prison complex in central Leningrad near the
Finland Station, called The Crosses because of the
shape of two of the buildings.
4 The Leningrad house in which Ahmatova lived.
~ Anna Akhmatova,#NFDB
646:A Soul In Prison
(The Doubter lays aside his book.)
"Answered a score of times." Oh, looked for teacher,
is this all you will teach me? I in the dark
reaching my hand for you to help me forth
to the happy sunshine where you stand, "Oh shame,
to be in the dark there, prisoned!" answer you;
"there are ledges somewhere there by which strong feet
might scale to daylight: I would lift you out
with just a touch, but that your need's so slight;
for there are ledges." And I grope and strain,
think I've found footing, and slip baffled back,
slip, maybe, deeper downwards. "Oh, my guide,
I find no ledges: help me: say at least
where they are placed, that I may know to seek."
But you in anger, "Nay, wild wilful soul,
thou will rot in the dark, God's sunshine here
at thy prison's very lip: blame not the guide;
have I not told thee there is footing for thee?"
and so you leave me, and with even tread
guide men along the highway ... where, I think,
they need you less.
Say 'twas my wanton haste,
or my drowsed languor, my too earthward eyes
watching for hedge flowers, or my too rapt gaze
it the mock sunshine of a sky-born cloud,
that led me, blindling, here: say the black walls
grew round me while I slept, or that I built
with ignorant hands a temple for my soul
to pray in to herself, and that, for want
of a window heavenwards, a loathsome night
of mildew and decay festered upon it,
till the rotted pillars fell and tombed me in:
let it so be my fault, whichever way,
must I be left to die? A murderer
is helped by holy hands to the byway road
that comes at God through shame; a thief is helped;
A harlot; a sleek cozener that prays,
36
swindles his customers, and gives God thanks,
and so to bed with prayers. Let them repent,
lay let them not repent, you'll say "These souls
may yet be saved, and make a joy in heaven:"
you are thankful you have found them, you whose charge
is healing sin. But I, hundreds as I,
whose sorrow 'tis only to long to know,
and know too plainly that we know not yet,
we are beyond your mercies. You pass by
and note the moral of our fate: 'twill point
a Sunday's sermon ... for we have our use,
boggarts to placid Christians in their pews-"Question not, prove not, lest you grow like these:"
and then you tell them how we daze ourselves
on problems now so many times resolved
that you'll not re-resolve them, how we crave
new proofs, as once an evil race desired
new signs and could not see, for stubbornness,
signs given already.
Proofs enough, you say,
quote precedent, "Hear Moses and the prophets."
I know the answer given across the gulf,
but I know too what Christ did: there were proofs,
enough for John and Peter, yet He taught
new proofs and meanings to those doubting two
who sorrowing walked forth to Emmaus
and came back joyful.
"They," you'd answer me,
if you owned my instance, "sorrowed in their doubt,
and did not wholly doubt, and loved."
Oh, men
who read the age's heart in library books
writ by our fathers, this is how you know it!
Do we say "The old faith is obsolete,
the world wags all the better, let us laugh,"
we of to-day? Why will you not divine
the fathomless sorrow of doubt? why not divine
the yearning to be lost from it in love?
And who doubts wholly? That were not to doubt.
37
Doubt's to be ignorant, not to deny:
doubt's to be wistful after perfect faith.
You will not think that: you come not to us
to ask of us, who know doubt, what doubt is,
but one by one you pass the echoes on,
each of his own pulpit, each of all the pulpits,
and in the swelling sound can never catch
the tremulous voice of doubt that wails in the cold:
you make sham thunder for it, to outpeal
with your own better thunders.
You wise man
and worthy, utter honest in your will,
I love you and I trust you: so I thought
"Here's one whose love keeps measure to belief
with onward vigorous feet, one quick of sight
to catch the clue in scholars' puzzle-knots,
deft to unweave the coil to one straight thread,
one strong to grapple vague Protean faith
and keep her to his heart in one fixed shape
and living; he comes forward in his strength,
as to a battlefield to answer challenge,
as in a storm to buffet with the waves
for shipwrecked men clutching the frothy crests
and sinking; he is stalwart on my side-mine, who, untrained and weaponless, have warred
at the powers of unbelief, and am borne down-mine, who am struggling in the sea for breath."
I looked to you as the sick man in his pain
looks to the doctor whose sharp medicines
have the taste of health behind them, looked to you
for--well, for a boon different from this.
My doctor tells me "Why, quite long ago
they knew your fever (or one very like);
and they knew remedies, you'll find them named
in many ancient writers, let those serve:"
and "Thick on the commons, by the daily roads,
the herbs are growing that give instant strength
to palsied limbs like yours, clear such filmed sight:
you need but eyes to spy them, hands to uproot,
that's all."
38
All, truly.
Strong accustomed eyes,
strong tutored hands, see for me, reach for me!
But there's a cry like mine rings through the world,
and no help comes. And with slow severing rasp
at our very heart-roots the toothed question grates,
"Do these, who know most, not know anything?"
Oh, teachers, will you teach us? Growing, growing,
like the great river made of little brooks,
our once unrest swells to a smooth despair:
stop us those little brooks; you say you can.
Oh, teachers, teach us, you who have been taught;
learn for us, you who have learned how to learn:
we, jostling, jostled, through the market world
where our work lies, lack breathing space, lack calm,
lack skill, lack tools, lack heart, lack everything,
for your work of the studies. Such roughed minds
we bring to it as when the ploughman tries
his hard unpliant fingers at the pen;
so toil and smudge, then put the blurred scrawl by,
unfinished, till next holiday comes round.
Thus maybe I shall die and the blurred scrawl
be still unfinished, where I try to write
some clear belief, enough to get by heart.
Die still in the dark! Die having lived in the dark!
there's a sort of creeping horror thinking that.
'Tis hard too, for I yearned for light, grew dazed,
not by my sight's unuse and choice of gloom,
but by too bold a gaze at the sun,
thinking to apprehend his perfect light
not darkly through a glass.
Too bold, too bold.
Would I had been appeased with the earth's wont
of helpful daily sunbeams bringing down
only so much heaven's light as may be borne-heaven's light enough for many a better man
to see his God by. Well, but it is done:
never in any day shall I now be
39
as if I had not gazed and seen strange lights
swim amid darknesses against the sky.
Never: and, when I dream as if I saw,
'tis dreaming of the sun, and, when I yearn
in agony to see, still do I yearn,
not for the sight I had in happier days,
but for the eagle's strong gaze at the sun.
Ah, well! that's after death, if all be true.
Nay, but for me, never, if all be true:
I love not God, because I know Him not,
I do but long to love Him--long and long
with an ineffable great pain of void;
I cannot say I love Him: that not said,
they of the creeds all tell me I am barred
from the very hope of knowing.
Maybe so;
for daily I know less. 'Tis the old tale
of men lost in the mouldy vaults of mines
or dank crypt cemeteries--lamp puffed out,
guides, comrades, out of hearing, on and on
groping and pushing he makes farther way
from his goal of open daylight. Best to wait
till some one come to seek him. But the strain
of such a patience!--and "If no one comes!"
He cannot wait.
If one could hear a voice,
"Not yet, not yet: myself have still to find
what way to guide you forth, but I seek well,
I have the lamp you lack, I have a chart:
not yet; but hope." So might one strongly bear
through the long night, attend with hearkening breath
for the next word, stir not but as it bade.
Who will so cry to us?
Or is it true
you could come to us, guide us, but you will not?
You say it, and not we, teachers of faith;
must we believe you? Shall we not more think
our doubt is consciousness of ignorance,
40
your faith unconsciousness of ignorance;
so you know less than we?
My author here,
honest at heart, but has your mind a warp-the zealot's warp, who takes believed for proved;
the disciple's warp, who takes all heard for proved;
the teacher's warp, who takes all taught for proved,
and cannot think "I know not"? Do you move
one stumbling-block that bars out souls from Heaven?
your back to it, you say, "I see no stone;
'tis a fool's dream, an enemy's false tale
to hinder passengers." And I who lean
broken against the stone?
Well, learned man,
I thank you for your book. 'Tis eloquent,
'tis subtle, resolute; I like the roar
of the big battling phrases, like those frets
of hissing irony--a book to read.
It helps one too--a sort of evidence-to see so strong a mind so strongly clasped
to creeds whose truth one hopes. What would I more?
'tis a dark world, and no man lights another:
'tis a dark world, and no man sees so plain
as he believes he sees ... excepting those
who are mere blind and know it.
Here's a man
thinks his eyes' stretch can plainly scan out God,
and cannot plainly scan his neighbour's face-he'll make you a hobgoblin, hoofs and horns,
of a poor cripple shivering at his door
begging a bit of food.
We get no food;
stones, stones: but then he but half sees, he trows
'tis honest bread he gives us.
A blind world.
Light! light! oh God, whose other name is Light,
if--
41
Ay, ay, always if: thought's cursed with ifs.
Well, where's my book?--No "ifs" in that, I think;
a readable shrewd book; 'twill win the critics.
~ Augusta Davies Webster,#NFDB
647:An Epistle
I.
Master and Sage, greetings and health to thee,
From thy most meek disciple! Deign once more
Endure me at thy feet, enlighten me,
As when upon my boyish head of yore,
Midst the rapt circle gathered round thy knee
Thy sacred vials of learning thou didst pour.
By the large lustre of thy wisdom orbed
Be my black doubts illumined and absorbed.
II.
Oft I recall that golden time when thou,
Born for no second station, heldst with us
The Rabbi's chair, who art priest and bishop now;
And we, the youth of Israel, curious,
Hung on thy counsels, lifted reverent brow
Unto thy sanctity, would fain discuss
With thee our Talmud problems good and evil,
Till startled by the risen stars o'er Seville.
III.
For on the Synagogue's high-pillared porch
Thou didst hold session, till the sudden sun
Beyond day's purple limit dropped his torch.
Then we, as dreamers, woke, to find outrun
Time's rapid sands. The flame that may not scorch,
Our hearts caught from thine eyes, thou Shining One.
I scent not yet sweet lemon-groves in flower,
But I re-breathe the peace of that deep hour.
IV.
We kissed the sacred borders of thy gown,
29
Brow-aureoled with thy blessing, we went forth
Through the hushed byways of the twilight town.
Then in all life but one thing seemed of worth,
To seek, find, love the Truth. She set her crown
Upon thy head, our Master, at thy birth;
She bade thy lips drop honey, fired thine eyes
With the unclouded glow of sun-steeped skies.
V.
Forgive me, if I dwell on that which, viewed
From thy new vantage-ground, must seem a mist
Of error, by auroral youth endued
With alien lustre. Still in me subsist
Those reeking vapors; faith and gratitude
Still lead me to the hand my boy-lips kissed
For benison and guidance. Not in wrath,
Master, but in wise patience, point my path.
VI.
For I, thy servant, gather in one sheaf
The venomed shafts of slander, which thy word
Shall shrivel to small dust. If haply grief,
Or momentary pain, I deal, my Lord
Blame not thy servant's zeal, nor be thou deaf
Unto my soul's blind cry for light. AccordPitying my love, if too superb to care
For hate-soiled name-an answer to my prayer.
VII.
To me, who, vine to stone, clung close to thee,
The very base of life appeared to quake
When first I knew thee fallen from us, to be
A tower of strength among our foes, to make
'Twixt Jew and Jew deep-cloven enmity.
I have wept gall and blood for thy dear sake.
But now with temperate soul I calmly search
30
Motive and cause that bound thee to the Church.
VIII.
Four motives possible therefor I reachAmbition, doubt, fear, or mayhap-conviction.
I hear in turn ascribed thee all and each
By ignorant folk who part not truth from fiction.
But I, whom even thyself didst stoop to teach,
May poise the scales, weigh this with that confliction,
Yea, sift the hid grain motive from the dense,
Dusty, eye-blinding chaff of consequence.
IX.
Ambition first! I find no fleck thereof
In all thy clean soul. What! could glory, gold,
Or sated senses lure thy lofty love?
No purple cloak to shield thee from the cold,
No jeweled sign to flicker thereabove,
And dazzle men to homage-joys untold
Of spiritual treasure, grace divine,
Alone (so saidst thou) coveting for thine!
X.
I saw thee mount with deprecating air,
Step after step, unto our Jewish throne
Of supreme dignity, the Rabbi's chair;
Shrinking from public honors thrust upon
Thy meek desert, regretting even there
The placid habit of thy life foregone;
Silence obscure, vast peace and austere days
Passed in wise contemplation, prayer, and praise.
XI.
One less than thou had ne'er known such regret.
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How must thou suffer, who so lov'st the shade,
In Fame's full glare, whom one stride more shall set
Upon the Papal seat! I stand dismayed,
Familiar with thy fearful soul, and yet
Half glad, perceiving modest worth repaid
Even by the Christians! Could thy soul deflect?
No, no, thrice no! Ambition I reject!
XII.
Next doubt. Could doubt have swayed thee, then I ask,
How enters doubt within the soul of man?
Is it a door that opens, or a mask
That falls? and Truth's resplendent face we scan.
Nay, 't is a creeping, small, blind worm, whose task
Is gnawing at Faith's base; the whole vast plan
Rots, crumbles, eaten inch by inch within,
And on its ruins falsehood springs and sin.
XIII.
But thee no doubt confused, no problems vexed.
Thy father's faith for thee proved bright and sweet.
Thou foundst no rite superfluous, no text
Obscure; the path was straight before thy feet.
Till thy baptismal day, thou, unperplexed
By foreign dogma, didst our prayers repeat,
Honor the God of Israel, fast and feast,
Even as thy people's wont, from first to least.
XIV.
Yes, Doubt I likewise must discard. Not sleek,
Full-faced, erect of head, men walk, when doubt
Writhes at their entrails; pinched and lean of cheek,
With brow pain-branded, thou hadst strayed about
As midst live men a ghost condemned to seek
That soul he may nor live nor die without.
No doubts the font washed from thee, thou didst glide
32
From creed to creed, complete, sane-souled, clear-eyed.
XV.
Thy pardon, Master, if I dare sustain
The thesis thou couldst entertain a fear.
I would but rout thine enemies, who feign
Ignoble impulse prompted thy career.
I will but weigh the chances and make plain
To Envy's self the monstrous jest appear.
Though time, place, circumstance confirmed in seeming,
One word from thee should frustrate all their scheming.
XVI.
Was Israel glad in Seville on the day
Thou didst renounce him? Then mightst thou indeed
Snap finger at whate'er thy slanderers say.
Lothly must I admit, just then the seed
Of Jacob chanced upon a grievous way.
Still from the wounds of that red year we bleed.
The curse had fallen upon our heads-the sword
Was whetted for the chosen of the Lord.
XVII.
There where we flourished like a fruitful palm,
We were uprooted, spoiled, lopped limb from limb.
A bolt undreamed of out of heavens calm,
So cracked our doom. We were destroyed by him
Whose hand since childhood we had clasped. With balm
Our head had been anointed, at the brim
Our cup ran over-now our day was done,
Our blood flowed free as water in the sun.
XVIII.
Midst the four thousand of our tribe who held
33
Glad homes in Seville, never a one was spared,
Some slaughtered at their hearthstones, some expelled
To Moorish slavery. Cunningly ensnared,
Baited and trapped were we; their fierce monks yelled
And thundered from our Synagogues, while flared
The Cross above the Ark. Ah, happiest they
Who fell unconquered martyrs on that day!
XIX.
For some (I write it with flushed cheek, bowed head),
Given free choice 'twixt death and shame, chose shame,
Denied the God who visibly had led
Their fathers, pillared in a cloud of flame,
Bathed in baptismal waters, ate the bread
Which is their new Lord's body, took the name
Marranos the Accursed, whom equally
Jew, Moor, and Christian hate, despise, and flee.
XX.
Even one no less than an Abarbanel
Prized miserable length of days, above
Integrity of soul. Midst such who fell,
Far be it, however, from my duteous love,
Master, to reckon thee. Thine own lips tell
How fear nor torture thy firm will could move.
How thou midst panic nowise disconcerted,
By Thomas of Aquinas wast converted!
XXI.
Truly I know no more convincing way
To read so wise an author, than was thine.
When burning Synagogues changed night to day,
And red swords underscored each word and line.
That was a light to read by! Who'd gainsay
Authority so clearly stamped divine?
On this side, death and torture, flame and slaughter,
34
On that, a harmless wafer and clean water.
XXII.
Thou couldst not fear extinction for our race;
Though Christian sword and fire from town to town
Flash double bladed lightning to efface
Israel's image-though we bleed, burn, drown
Through Christendom-'t is but a scanty space.
Still are the Asian hills and plains our own,
Still are we lords in Syria, still are free,
Nor doomed to be abolished utterly.
XXIII.
One sole conclusion hence at last I find,
Thou whom ambition, doubt, nor fear could swerve,
Perforce hast been persuaded through the mind,
Proved, tested the new dogmas, found them serve
Thy spirit's needs, left flesh and sense behind,
Accepted without shrinking or reserve,
The trans-substantial bread and wine, the Christ
At whose shrine thine own kin were sacrificed.
XXIV.
Here then the moment comes when I crave light.
All's dark to me. Master, if I be blind,
Thou shalt unseal my lids and bless with sight,
Or groping in the shadows, I shall find
Whether within me or without, dwell night.
Oh cast upon my doubt-bewildered mind
One ray from thy clear heaven of sun-bright faith,
Grieving, not wroth, at what thy servant saith.
XXV.
Where are the signs fulfilled whereby all men
35
Should know the Christ? Where is the wide-winged peace
Shielding the lamb within the lion's den?
The freedom broadening with the wars that cease?
Do foes clasp hands in brotherhood again?
Where is the promised garden of increase,
When like a rose the wilderness should bloom?
Earth is a battlefield and Spain a tomb.
XXVI.
Our God of Sabaoth is an awful God
Of lightnings and of vengeance,-Christians say.
Earth trembled, nations perished at his nod;
His Law has yielded to a milder sway.
Theirs is the God of Love whose feet have trod
Our common earth-draw near to him and pray,
Meek-faced, dove-eyed, pure-browed, the Lord of life,
Know him and kneel, else at your throat the knife!
XXVII.
This is the God of Love, whose altars reek
With human blood, who teaches men to hate;
Torture past words, or sins we may not speak
Wrought by his priests behind the convent-grate.
Are his priests false? or are his doctrines weak
That none obeys him? State at war with state,
Church against church-yea, Pope at feud with Pope
In these tossed seas what anchorage for hope?
XXVIII.
Not only for the sheep without the fold
Is the knife whetted, who refuse to share
Blessings the shepherd wise doth not withhold
Even from the least among his flock-but there
Midmost the pale, dissensions manifold,
Lamb flaying lamb, fierce sheep that rend and tear.
Master, if thou to thy pride's goal should come,
36
Where wouldst thou throne-at Avignon or Rome?
XXIX.
I handle burning questions, good my lord,
Such as may kindle fagots, well I wis.
Your Gospel not denies our older Word,
But in a way completes and betters this.
The Law of Love shall supersede the sword,
So runs the promise, but the facts I miss.
Already needs this wretched generation,
A voice divine-a new, third revelation.
XXX.
Two Popes and their adherents fulminate
Ban against ban, and to the nether hell
Condemn each other, while the nations wait
Their Christ to thunder forth from Heaven, and tell
Who is his rightful Vicar, reinstate
His throne, the hideous discord to dispel.
Where shall I seek, master, while such things be,
Celestial truth, revealed certainty!
XXXI.
Not miracles I doubt, for how dare man,
Chief miracle of life's mystery, say HE KNOWS?
How may he closely secret causes scan,
Who learns not whence he comes nor where he goes?
Like one who walks in sleep a doubtful span
He gropes through all his days, till Death unclose
His cheated eyes and in one blinding gleam,
Wakes, to discern the substance from the dream.
XXXII.
I say not therefore I deny the birth,
37
The Virgin's motherhood, the resurrection,
Who know not how mine own soul came to earth,
Nor what shall follow death. Man's imperfection
May bound not even in thought the height and girth
Of God's omnipotence; neath his direction
We may approach his essence, but that He
Should dwarf Himself to us-it cannot be!
XXXIII.
The God who balances the clouds, who spread
The sky above us like a molten glass,
The God who shut the sea with doors, who laid
The corner-stone of earth, who caused the grass
Spring forth upon the wilderness, and made
The darkness scatter and the night to passThat He should clothe Himself with flesh, and move
Midst worms a worm-this, sun, moon, stars disprove.
XXXIV.
Help me, O thou who wast my boyhood's guide,
I bend my exile-weary feet to thee,
Teach me the indivisible to divide,
Show me how three are one and One is three!
How Christ to save all men was crucified,
Yet I and mine are damned eternally.
Instruct me, Sage, why Virtue starves alone,
While falsehood step by step ascends the throne.
~ Emma Lazarus,#NFDB
648:L'Aveugle
'Dieu dont l'arc est d'argent, dieu de Claros, écoute;
O Sminthée-Apollon, je périrai sans doute,
Si tu ne sers de guide à cet aveugle errant.'
C'est ainsi qu'achevait l'aveugle en soupirant,
Et près des bois marchait, faible, et sur une pierre
S'asseyait. Trois pasteurs, enfants de cette terre,
Le suivaient, accourus aux abois turbulents
Des molosses, gardiens de leurs troupeaux bêlants.
Ils avaient, retenant leur fureur indiscrète,
Protégé du vieillard la faiblesse inquiète;
Ils l'écoutaient de loin, et s'approchant de lui:
Quel est ce vieillard blanc, aveugle et sans appui?
Serait-ce un habitant de l'empire céleste?
Ses traits sont grands et fiers; de sa ceinture agreste
Pend une lyre informe; et les sons de sa voix
Émeuvent l'air et l'onde, et le ciel et les bois.'
Mais il entend leurs pas, prête l'oreille, espère,
Se trouble, et tend déjà les mains à la prière.
'Ne crains point, disent-ils, malheureux étranger,
Si plutôt, sous un corps terrestre et passager,
Tu n'es point quelque dieu protecteur de la Grèce,
Tant une grâce auguste ennoblit ta vieillesse!
Si tu n'es qu'un mortel, vieillard infortuné,
Les humains près de qui les flots t'ont amené
Aux mortels malheureux n'apportent point d'injures.
Les destins n'ont jamais de faveurs qui soient pures.
Ta voix noble et touchante est un bienfait des dieux;
Mais aux clartés du jour ils ont fermé tes yeux.
--Enfants, car votre voix est enfantine et tendre,
Vos discours sont prudents plus qu'on n'eût dû l'attendre;
Mais, toujours soupçonneux, l'indigent étranger
Croit qu'on rit de ses maux et qu'on veut l'outrager.
Ne me comparez point à la troupe immortelle:
Ces rides, ces cheveux, cette nuit éternelle,
Voyez, est-ce le front d'un habitant des cieux?
Je ne suis qu'un mortel, un des plus malheureux!
96
Si vous en savez un, pauvre, errant, misérable,
C'est à celui-là seul que je suis comparable;
Et pourtant je n'ai point, comme fit Thamyris,
Des chansons à Phoebus voulu ravir le prix;
Ni, livré comme Oedipe à la noire Euménide,
Je n'ai puni sur moi l'inceste parricide;
Mais les dieux tout-puissants gardaient à mon déclin
Les ténèbres, l'exil, l'indigence et la faim.
--Prends, et puisse bientôt changer ta destinée!'
Disent-ils. Et tirant ce que, pour leur journée,
Tient la peau d'une chèvre aux crins noirs et luisants,
Ils versent à l'envi, sur ses genoux pesants,
Le pain de pur froment, les olives huileuses,
Le fromage et l'amande et les figues mielleuses;
Et du pain à son chien entre ses pieds gisant,
Tout hors d'haleine encore, humide et languissant,
Qui, malgré les rameurs, se lançant à la nage,
L'avait loin du vaisseau rejoint sur le rivage.
'Le sort, dit le vieillard, n'est pas toujours de fer;
Je vous salue, enfants venus de Jupiter;
Heureux sont les parents qui tels vous firent naître!
Mais venez, que mes mains cherchent à vous connaître;
Je crois avoir des yeux. Vous êtes beaux tous trois.
Vos visages sont doux, car douce est votre voix.
Qu'aimable est la vertu que la grâce environne!
Croissez, comme j'ai vu ce palmier de Latone,
Alors qu'ayant des yeux je traversai les flots;
Car jadis, abordant à la sainte Délos,
Je vis près d'Apollon, à son autel de pierre,
Un palmier, don du ciel, merveille de la terre.
Vous croîtrez, comme lui, grands, féconds, révérés,
Puisque les malheureux sont par vous honorés.
Le plus âgé de vous aura vu treize années:
A peine, mes enfants, vos mères étaient nées,
Que j'étais presque vieux. Assieds-toi près de moi,
Toi, le plus grand de tous; je me confie à toi.
Prends soin du vieil aveugle.--O sage magnanime!
Comment, et d'où viens-tu? car l'onde maritime
Mugit de toutes parts sur nos bords orageux.
97
--Des marchands de Cymé m'avaient pris avec eux.
J'allais voir, m'éloignant des rives de Carie,
Si la Grèce pour moi n'aurait point de patrie,
Et des dieux moins jaloux, et de moins tristes jours;
Car jusques à la mort nous espérons toujours.
Mais pauvre et n'ayant rien pour payer mon passage,
Ils m'ont, je ne sais où, jeté sur le rivage.
--Harmonieux vieillard, tu n'as donc point chanté?
Quelques sons de ta voix auraient tout acheté.
--Enfants! du rossignol la voix pure et légère
N'a jamais apaisé le vautour sanguinaire;
Et les riches, grossiers, avares, insolents,
N'ont pas une âme ouverte à sentir les talents.
Guidé par ce bâton, sur l'arène glissante,
Seul, en silence, au bord de l'onde mugissante,
J'allais, et j'écoutais le bêlement lointain
De troupeaux agitant leurs sonnettes d'airain.
Puis j'ai pris cette lyre, et les cordes mobiles
Ont encor résonné sous mes vieux doigts débiles
Je voulais des grands dieux implorer la bonté,
Et surtout Jupiter, dieu d'hospitalité,
Lorsque d'énormes chiens à la voix formidable
Sont venus m'assaillir; et j'étais misérable,
Si vous (car c'était vous), avant qu'ils m'eussent pris,
N'eussiez armé pour moi les pierres et les cris.
--Mon père, il est donc vrai: tout est devenu pire,
Car jadis, aux accents d'une éloquente lyre,
Les tigres et les loups, vaincus, humiliés,
D'un chanteur comme toi vinrent baiser les pieds.
--Les barbares! J'étais assis près de la poupe.
'Aveugle vagabond, dit l'insolente troupe,
Chante, si ton esprit n'est point comme tes yeux,
Amuse notre ennui; tu rendras grâce aux dieux.'
J'ai fait taire mon coeur qui voulait les confondre:
Ma bouche ne s'est point ouverte à leur répondre;
Ils n'ont pas entendu ma voix, et sous ma main
J'ai retenu le dieu courroucé dans mon sein.
98
Cymé, puisque tes fils dédaignent Mnémosyne,
Puisqu'ils ont fait outrage à la muse divine,
Que leur vie et leur mort s'éteignent dans l'oubli,
Que ton nom dans la nuit demeure enseveli!
--Viens, suis-nous à la ville; elle est toute voisine,
Et chérit les amis de la muse divine.
Un siège aux clous d'argent te place à nos festins;
Et là les mets choisis, le miel et les bons vins,
Sous la colonne où pend une lyre d'ivoire,
Te feront de tes maux oublier la mémoire.
Et si, dans le chemin, rapsode ingénieux,
Ta veux nous accorder tes chants dignes des cieux,
Nous dirons qu'Apollon, pour charmer les oreilles,
T'a lui-même dicté de si douces merveilles.
--Oui, je le veux; marchons. Mais où m'entraînez-vous?
Enfants du vieil aveugle, en quel lieu sommes-nous?
--Syros est l'île heureuse où nous vivons, mon père.
--Salut, belle Syros, deux fois hospitalière!
Car sur ses bords heureux je suis déjà venu:
Amis, je la connais. Vos pères m'ont connu.
Ils croissaient comme vous; mes yeux s'ouvraient encore
Au soleil, au printemps, aux roses de l'aurore;
J'étais jeune et vaillant. Aux danses des guerriers,
A la course, aux combats, j'ai paru des premiers.
J'ai vu Corinthe, Argos, et Crète et les cent villes,
Et du fleuve Egyptus les rivages fertiles;
Mais la terre et la mer, et l'âge et les malheurs,
Ont épuisé ce corps fatigué de douleurs.
La voix me reste. Ainsi la cigale innocente,
Sur un arbuste assise, et se console et chante.
Commençons par les dieux: 'Souverain Jupiter,
Soleil qui vois, entends, connais tout, et toi, mer,
Fleuves, terre, et noirs dieux des vengeances trop lentes,
Salut! Venez à moi, de l'Olympe habitantes,
Muses! vous savez tout, vous, déesses, et nous,
Mortels, ne savons rien qui ne vienne de vous.''
Il poursuit; et déjà les antiques ombrages
99
Mollement en cadence inclinaient leurs feuillages;
Et pâtres oubliant leur troupeau délaissé,
Et voyageurs quittant leur chemin commencé,
Couraient. Il les entend près de son jeune guide,
L'un sur l'autre pressés, tendre une oreille avide;
Et nymphes et sylvains sortaient pour l'admirer,
Et l'écoutaient en foule, et n'osaient respirer,
Car en de longs détours de chansons vagabondes
Il enchaînait de tout les semences fécondes,
Les principes du feu, les eaux, la terre et l'air,
Les fleuves descendus du sein de Jupiter,
Les oracles, les arts, les cités fraternelles,
Et depuis le chaos les amours immortelles;
D'abord le roi divin, et l'Olympe, et les cieux,
Et le monde ébranlé d'un signe de ses yeux,
Et les dieux partagés en une immense guerre,
Et le sang plus qu'humain venant rougir la terre,
Et les rois assemblés, et sous les pieds guerriers
Une nuit de poussière, et les chars meurtriers,
Et les héros armés, brillant dans les campagnes
Comme un vaste incendie aux cimes des montagnes,
Les coursiers hérissant leur crinière à longs flots,
Et d'une voix humaine excitant les héros;
De là, portant ses pas dans les paisibles villes,
Les lois, les orateurs, les récoltes fertiles;
Mais bientôt de soldats les remparts entourés,
Les victimes tombant dans les parvis sacrés,
Et les assauts mortels aux épouses plaintives,
Et les mères en deuil, et les filles captives;
Puis aussi les moissons joyeuses, les troupeaux
Bêlants ou mugissants, les rustiques pipeaux,
Les chansons, les festins, les vendanges bruyantes,
Et la flûte et la lyre, et les noces dansantes.
Puis, déchaînant les vents à soulever les mers,
Il perdait les rochers sur les gouffres amers;
De là, dans le sein frais d'une roche azurée,
En foule il appelait les filles de Nérée,
Qui, bientôt à ses cris s'élevant sur les eaux,
Aux rivages troyens parcouraient les vaisseaux.
Puis il ouvrait du Styx la rive criminelle,
Et puis les demi-dieux et les champs d'asphodèle,
Et la foule des morts: vieillards seuls et souffrants,
100
Jeunes gens emportés aux yeux de leurs parents,
Enfants dont au berceau la vie est terminée,
Vierges dont le trépas suspendit l'hyménée.
Mais, ô bois, ô ruisseaux, ô monts, ô durs cailloux!
Quels doux frémissements vous agitèrent tous,
Quand bientôt à Lemnos, sur l'enclume divine,
Il forgeait cette trame irrésistible et fine
Autant que d'Arachné les pièges inconnus,
Et dans ce fer mobile emprisonnait Vénus,
Et quand il revêtait d'une pierre soudaine
La fière Niobé, cette mère thébaine;
Et quand il répétait en accents de douleur
De la triste Aédon l'imprudence et les pleurs,
Qui d'un fils méconnu marâtre involontaire,
Vola, doux rossignol, sous le bois solitaire!
Ensuite, avec le vin, il versait aux héros
Le puissant népenthès, oubli de tous les maux;
Il cueillait le moly, fleur qui rend l'homme sage;
Du paisible lotos il mêlait le breuvage:
Les mortels oubliaient, à ce philtre charmés,
Et la douce patrie et les parents aimés.
Enfin l'Ossa, l'Olympe et les bois du Pénée
Voyaient ensanglanter les banquets d'hyménée,
Quand Thésée, au milieu de la joie et du vin,
La nuit où son ami reçut à son festin
Le peuple monstrueux des enfants de la nue,
Fut contraint d'arracher l'épouse demi-nue
Au bras ivre et nerveux du sauvage Eurytus.
Soudain, le glaive en main, l'ardent Pirithoüs:
'Attends; il faut ici que mon affront s'expie,
Traître!' Mais avant lui, sur le centaure impie
Dryas a fait tomber, avec tous ses rameaux,
Un long arbre de fer hérissé de flambeaux.
L'insolent quadrupède en vain s'écrie; il tombe,
Et son pied bat le sol qui doit être sa tombe.
Sous l'effort de Nessus, la table du repas
Roule, écrase Cymèle, Évagre, Périphas.
Pirithoüs égorge Antimaque et Pétrée,
Et Cyllare aux pieds blancs, et le noir Macarée,
Qui de trois fiers lions, dépouillés par sa main,
Couvrait ses quatre flancs, armait son double sein.
101
Courbé, levant un roc choisi pour leur vengeance,
Tout à coup, sous l'airain d'un vase antique, immense,
L'imprudent Bianor, par Hercule surpris,
Sent de sa tête énorme éclater les débris.
Hercule et la massue entassent en trophée
Clanis, Démoléon, Lycotas, et Riphée
Qui portait sur ses crins, de taches colorés,
L'héréditaire éclat des nuages dorés.
Mais d'un double combat Eurynome est avide,
Car ses pieds, agités en un cercle rapide,
Battent à coups pressés l'armure de Nestor;
Le quadrupède Hélops fuit; l'agile Crantor,
Le bras levé, l'atteint; Eurynome l'arrête;
D'un érable noueux il va fendre sa tête,
Lorsque le fils d'Égée, invincible, sanglant,
L'aperçoit, à l'autel prend un chêne brûlant,
Sur sa croupe indomptée, avec un cri terrible,
S'élance, va saisir sa chevelure horrible,
L'entraîne, et, quand sa bouche, ouverte avec effort,
Crie, il y plonge ensemble et la flamme et la mort.
L'autel est dépouillé. Tous vont s'armer de flamme,
Et le bois porte au loin des hurlements de femme,
L'ongle frappant la terre, et les guerriers meurtris,
Et les vases brisés, et l'injure, et les cris.
Ainsi le grand vieillard, en images hardies,
Déployait le tissu des saintes mélodies.
Les trois enfants émus, à son auguste aspect,
Admiraient, d'un regard de joie et de respect,
De sa bouche abonder les paroles divines,
Comme en hiver la neige aux sommets des collines.
Et, partout accourus, dansant sur son chemin,
Hommes, femmes, enfants, les rameaux à la main,
Et vierges et guerriers, jeunes fleurs de la ville,
Chantaient: 'Viens dans nos murs, viens habiter notre île;
Viens, prophète éloquent, aveugle harmonieux,
Convive du nectar, disciple aimé des dieux;
Des jeux, tous les cinq ans, rendront saint et prospère
Le jour où nous avons reçu le grand HOMÈRE.'
~ Andre Marie de Chenier,#NFDB
649:I - NIGHT
(A lofty-arched, narrow, Gothic chamber. FAUST, in a chair at his
desk, restless.)
FAUST
I've studied now Philosophy
And Jurisprudence, Medicine,
And even, alas! Theology,
From end to end, with labor keen;
And here, poor fool! with all my lore
I stand, no wiser than before:
I'm Magisteryea, Doctorhight,
And straight or cross-wise, wrong or right,
These ten years long, with many woes,
I've led my scholars by the nose,
And see, that nothing can be known!
That knowledge cuts me to the bone.
I'm cleverer, true, than those fops of teachers,
Doctors and Magisters, Scribes and Preachers;
Neither scruples nor doubts come now to smite me,
Nor Hell nor Devil can longer affright me.
For this, all pleasure am I foregoing;
I do not pretend to aught worth knowing,
I do not pretend I could be a teacher
To help or convert a fellow-creature.
Then, too, I've neither lands nor gold,
Nor the world's least pomp or honor hold
No dog would endure such a curst existence!
Wherefore, from Magic I seek assistance,
That many a secret perchance I reach
Through spirit-power and spirit-speech,
And thus the bitter task forego
Of saying the things I do not know,
That I may detect the inmost force
Which binds the world, and guides its course;
Its germs, productive powers explore,
And rummage in empty words no more!
O full and splendid Moon, whom I
Have, from this desk, seen climb the sky
So many a midnight,would thy glow
For the last time beheld my woe!
Ever thine eye, most mournful friend,
O'er books and papers saw me bend;
But would that I, on mountains grand,
Amid thy blessed light could stand,
With spirits through mountain-caverns hover,
Float in thy twilight the meadows over,
And, freed from the fumes of lore that swa the me,
To health in thy dewy fountains ba the me!
Ah, me! this dungeon still I see.
This drear, accursed masonry,
Where even the welcome daylight strains
But duskly through the painted panes.
Hemmed in by many a toppling heap
Of books worm-eaten, gray with dust,
Which to the vaulted ceiling creep,
Against the smoky paper thrust,
With glasses, boxes, round me stacked,
And instruments together hurled,
Ancestral lumber, stuffed and packed
Such is my world: and what a world!
And do I ask, wherefore my heart
Falters, oppressed with unknown needs?
Why some inexplicable smart
All movement of my life impedes?
Alas! in living Nature's stead,
Where God His human creature set,
In smoke and mould the fleshless dead
And bones of beasts surround me yet!
Fly! Up, and seek the broad, free land!
And this one Book of Mystery
From Nostradamus' very hand,
Is't not sufficient company?
When I the starry courses know,
And Nature's wise instruction seek,
With light of power my soul shall glow,
As when to spirits spirits speak.
Tis vain, this empty brooding here,
Though guessed the holy symbols be:
Ye, Spirits, comeye hover near
Oh, if you hear me, answer me!
(He opens the Book, and perceives the sign of the Macrocosm.)
Ha! what a sudden rapture leaps from this
I view, through all my senses swiftly flowing!
I feel a youthful, holy, vital bliss
In every vein and fibre newly glowing.
Was it a God, who traced this sign,
With calm across my tumult stealing,
My troubled heart to joy unsealing,
With impulse, mystic and divine,
The powers of Nature here, around my path, revealing?
Am I a God?so clear mine eyes!
In these pure features I behold
Creative Nature to my soul unfold.
What says the sage, now first I recognize:
"The spirit-world no closures fasten;
Thy sense is shut, thy heart is dead:
Disciple, up! untiring, hasten
To ba the thy breast in morning-red!"
(He contemplates the sign.)
How each the Whole its substance gives,
Each in the other works and lives!
Like heavenly forces rising and descending,
Their golden urns reciprocally lending,
With wings that winnow blessing
From Heaven through Earth I see them pressing,
Filling the All with harmony unceasing!
How grand a show! but, ah! a show alone.
Thee, boundless Nature, how make thee my own?
Where you, ye beasts? Founts of all Being, shining,
Whereon hang Heaven's and Earth's desire,
Whereto our withered hearts aspire,
Ye flow, ye feed: and am I vainly pining?
(He turns the leaves impatiently, and perceives the sign of the
Earth-Spirit.)
How otherwise upon me works this sign!
Thou, Spirit of the Earth, art nearer:
Even now my powers are loftier, clearer;
I glow, as drunk with new-made wine:
New strength and heart to meet the world incite me,
The woe of earth, the bliss of earth, invite me,
And though the shock of storms may smite me,
No crash of shipwreck shall have power to fright me!
Clouds gather over me
The moon conceals her light
The lamp's extinguished!
Mists rise,red, angry rays are darting
Around my head!There falls
A horror from the vaulted roof,
And seizes me!
I feel thy presence, Spirit I invoke!
Reveal thyself!
Ha! in my heart what rending stroke!
With new impulsion
My senses heave in this convulsion!
I feel thee draw my heart, absorb, exhaust me:
Thou must! thou must! and though my life it cost me!
(He seizes the book, and mysteriously pronounces the sign of
the Spirit. A ruddy flame flashes: the Spirit appears in
the flame.)
SPIRIT
Who calls me?
FAUST (with averted head)
Terrible to see!
SPIRIT
Me hast thou long with might attracted,
Long from my sphere thy food exacted,
And now
FAUST
Woe! I endure not thee!
SPIRIT
To view me is thine aspiration,
My voice to hear, my countenance to see;
Thy powerful yearning moveth me,
Here am I!what mean perturbation
Thee, superhuman, shakes? Thy soul's high calling, where?
Where is the breast, which from itself a world did bear,
And shaped and cherishedwhich with joy expanded,
To be our peer, with us, the Spirits, banded?
Where art thou, Faust, whose voice has pierced to me,
Who towards me pressed with all thine energy?
He art thou, who, my presence breathing, seeing,
Trembles through all the depths of being,
A writhing worm, a terror-stricken form?
FAUST
Thee, form of flame, shall I then fear?
Yes, I am Faust: I am thy peer!
SPIRIT
In the tides of Life, in Action's storm,
A fluctuant wave,
A shuttle free,
Birth and the Grave,
An eternal sea,
A weaving, flowing
Life, all-glowing,
Thus at Time's humming loom 'tis my hand prepares
The garment of Life which the Deity wears!
FAUST
Thou, who around the wide world wendest,
Thou busy Spirit, how near I feel to thee!
SPIRIT
Thou'rt like the Spirit which thou comprehendest,
Not me!
(Disappears.)
FAUST (overwhelmed)
Not thee!
Whom then?
I, image of the Godhead!
Not even like thee!
(A knock).
O Death!I know it'tis my Famulus!
My fairest luck finds no fruition:
In all the fullness of my vision
The soulless sneak disturbs me thus!
(Enter WAGNER, in dressing-gown and night-cap, a lamp in
his hand. FAUST turns impatiently.)
WAGNER
Pardon, I heard your declamation;
'Twas sure an old Greek tragedy you read?
In such an art I crave some preparation,
Since now it stands one in good stead.
I've often heard it said, a preacher
Might learn, with a comedian for a teacher.
FAUST
Yes, when the priest comedian is by nature,
As haply now and then the case may be.
WAGNER
Ah, when one studies thus, a prisoned creature,
That scarce the world on holidays can see,
Scarce through a glass, by rare occasion,
How shall one lead it by persuasion?
FAUST
You'll ne'er attain it, save you know the feeling,
Save from the soul it rises clear,
Serene in primal strength, compelling
The hearts and minds of all who hear.
You sit forever gluing, patching;
You cook the scraps from others' fare;
And from your heap of ashes hatching
A starveling flame, ye blow it bare!
Take children's, monkeys' gaze admiring,
If such your taste, and be content;
But ne'er from heart to heart you'll speak inspiring,
Save your own heart is eloquent!
WAGNER
Yet through delivery orators succeed;
I feel that I am far behind, indeed.
FAUST
Seek thou the honest recompense!
Beware, a tinkling fool to be!
With little art, clear wit and sense
Suggest their own delivery;
And if thou'rt moved to speak in earnest,
What need, that after words thou yearnest?
Yes, your discourses, with their glittering show,
Where ye for men twist shredded thought like paper,
Are unrefreshing as the winds that blow
The rustling leaves through chill autumnal vapor!
WAGNER
Ah, God! but Art is long,
And Life, alas! is fleeting.
And oft, with zeal my critic-duties meeting,
In head and breast there's something wrong.
How hard it is to compass the assistance
Whereby one rises to the source!
And, haply, ere one travels half the course
Must the poor devil quit existence.
FAUST
Is parchment, then, the holy fount before thee,
A draught wherefrom thy thirst forever slakes?
No true refreshment can restore thee,
Save what from thine own soul spontaneous breaks.
WAGNER
Pardon! a great delight is granted
When, in the spirit of the ages planted,
We mark how, ere our times, a sage has thought,
And then, how far his work, and grandly, we have brought.
FAUST
O yes, up to the stars at last!
Listen, my friend: the ages that are past
Are now a book with seven seals protected:
What you the Spirit of the Ages call
Is nothing but the spirit of you all,
Wherein the Ages are reflected.
So, oftentimes, you miserably mar it!
At the first glance who sees it runs away.
An offal-barrel and a lumber-garret,
Or, at the best, a Punch-and-Judy play,
With maxims most pragmatical and hitting,
As in the mouths of puppets are befitting!
WAGNER
But then, the world the human heart and brain!
Of these one covets some slight apprehension.
FAUST
Yes, of the kind which men attain!
Who dares the child's true name in public mention?
The few, who thereof something really learned,
Unwisely frank, with hearts that spurned concealing,
And to the mob laid bare each thought and feeling,
Have evermore been crucified and burned.
I pray you, Friend, 'tis now the dead of night;
Our converse here must be suspended.
WAGNER
I would have shared your watches with delight,
That so our learned talk might be extended.
To-morrow, though, I'll ask, in Easter leisure,
This and the other question, at your pleasure.
Most zealously I seek for erudition:
Much do I know but to know all is my ambition.
[Exit.
FAUST (solus)
That brain, alone, not loses hope, whose choice is
To stick in shallow trash forevermore,
Which digs with eager hand for buried ore,
And, when it finds an angle-worm, rejoices!
Dare such a human voice disturb the flow,
Around me here, of spirit-presence fullest?
And yet, this once my thanks I owe
To thee, of all earth's sons the poorest, dullest!
For thou hast torn me from that desperate state
Which threatened soon to overwhelm my senses:
The apparition was so giant-great,
It dwarfed and withered all my soul's pretences!
I, image of the Godhead, who began
Deeming Eternal Truth secure in nearness
Ye choirs, have ye begun the sweet, consoling chant,
Which, through the night of Death, the angels ministrant
Sang, God's new Covenant repeating?
CHORUS OF WOMEN
With spices and precious
Balm, we arrayed him;
Faithful and gracious,
We tenderly laid him:
Linen to bind him
Cleanlily wound we:
Ah! when we would find him,
Christ no more found we!
CHORUS OF ANGELS
Christ is ascended!
Bliss hath invested him,
Woes that molested him,
Trials that tested him,
Gloriously ended!
FAUST
Why, here in dust, entice me with your spell,
Ye gentle, powerful sounds of Heaven?
Peal rather there, where tender natures dwell.
Your messages I hear, but faith has not been given;
The dearest child of Faith is Miracle.
I venture not to soar to yonder regions
Whence the glad tidings hither float;
And yet, from childhood up familiar with the note,
To Life it now renews the old allegiance.
Once Heavenly Love sent down a burning kiss
Upon my brow, in Sabbath silence holy;
And, filled with mystic presage, chimed the church-bell slowly,
And prayer dissolved me in a fervent bliss.
A sweet, uncomprehended yearning
Drove forth my feet through woods and meadows free,
And while a thousand tears were burning,
I felt a world arise for me.
These chants, to youth and all its sports appealing,
Proclaimed the Spring's rejoicing holiday;
And Memory holds me now, with childish feeling,
Back from the last, the solemn way.
Sound on, ye hymns of Heaven, so sweet and mild!
My tears gush forth: the Earth takes back her child!
CHORUS OF DISCIPLES
Has He, victoriously,
Burst from the vaulted
Grave, and all-gloriously
Now sits exalted?
Is He, in glow of birth,
Rapture creative near?
Ah! to the woe of earth
Still are we native here.
We, his aspiring
Followers, Him we miss;
Weeping, desiring,
Master, Thy bliss!
CHORUS OF ANGELS
Christ is arisen,
Out of Corruption's womb:
Burst ye the prison,
Break from your gloom!
Praising and pleading him,
Lovingly needing him,
Brotherly feeding him,
Preaching and speeding him,
Blessing, succeeding Him,
Thus is the Master near,
Thus is He here!
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, NIGHT
,#NFDB
650:Love in a hut, with water and a crust,
IsLove, forgive us!cinders, ashes, dust;
Love in a palace is perhaps at last
More grievous torment than a hermits fast:
That is a doubtful tale from faery land,
Hard for the non-elect to understand.
Had Lycius livd to hand his story down,
He might have given the moral a fresh frown,
Or clenchd it quite: but too short was their bliss
To breed distrust and hate, that make the soft voice hiss.
Besides, there, nightly, with terrific glare,
Love, jealous grown of so complete a pair,
Hoverd and buzzd his wings, with fearful roar,
Above the lintel of their chamber door,
And down the passage cast a glow upon the floor.
For all this came a ruin: side by side
They were enthroned, in the even tide,
Upon a couch, near to a curtaining
Whose airy texture, from a golden string,
Floated into the room, and let appear
Unveild the summer heaven, blue and clear,
Betwixt two marble shafts:there they reposed,
Where use had made it sweet, with eyelids closed,
Saving a tythe which love still open kept,
That they might see each other while they almost slept;
When from the slope side of a suburb hill,
Deafening the swallows twitter, came a thrill
Of trumpetsLycius startedthe sounds fled,
But left a thought, a buzzing in his head.
For the first time, since first he harbourd in
That purple-lined palace of sweet sin,
His spirit passd beyond its golden bourn
Into the noisy world almost forsworn.
The lady, ever watchful, penetrant,
Saw this with pain, so arguing a want
Of something more, more than her empery
Of joys; and she began to moan and sigh
Because he mused beyond her, knowing well
That but a moments thought is passions passing bell.
Why do you sigh, fair creature? whisperd he:
Why do you think? returnd she tenderly:
You have deserted me;where am I now?
Not in your heart while care weighs on your brow:
No, no, you have dismissd me; and I go
From your breast houseless: ay, it must be so.
He answerd, bending to her open eyes,
Where he was mirrord small in paradise,
My silver planet, both of eve and morn!
Why will you plead yourself so sad forlorn,
While I am striving how to fill my heart
With deeper crimson, and a double smart?
How to entangle, trammel up and snare
Your soul in mine, and labyrinth you there
Like the hid scent in an unbudded rose?
Ay, a sweet kissyou see your mighty woes.
My thoughts! shall I unveil them? Listen then!
What mortal hath a prize, that other men
May be confounded and abashd withal,
But lets it sometimes pace abroad majestical,
And triumph, as in thee I should rejoice
Amid the hoarse alarm of Corinths voice.
Let my foes choke, and my friends shout afar,
While through the thronged streets your bridal car
Wheels round its dazzling spokes.The ladys cheek
Trembled; she nothing said, but, pale and meek,
Arose and knelt before him, wept a rain
Of sorrows at his words; at last with pain
Beseeching him, the while his hand she wrung,
To change his purpose. He thereat was stung,
Perverse, with stronger fancy to reclaim
Her wild and timid nature to his aim:
Besides, for all his love, in self despite,
Against his better self, he took delight
Luxurious in her sorrows, soft and new.
His passion, cruel grown, took on a hue
Fierce and sanguineous as twas possible
In one whose brow had no dark veins to swell.
Fine was the mitigated fury, like
Apollos presence when in act to strike
The serpentHa, the serpent! certes, she
Was none. She burnt, she lovd the tyranny,
And, all subdued, consented to the hour
When to the bridal he should lead his paramour.
Whispering in midnight silence, said the youth,
Sure some sweet name thou hast, though, by my truth,
I have not askd it, ever thinking thee
Not mortal, but of heavenly progeny,
As still I do. Hast any mortal name,
Fit appellation for this dazzling frame?
Or friends or kinsfolk on the citied earth,
To share our marriage feast and nuptial mirth?
I have no friends, said Lamia, no, not one;
My presence in wide Corinth hardly known:
My parents bones are in their dusty urns
Sepulchred, where no kindled incense burns,
Seeing all their luckless race are dead, save me,
And I neglect the holy rite for thee.
Even as you list invite your many guests;
But if, as now it seems, your vision rests
With any pleasure on me, do not bid
Old Apolloniusfrom him keep me hid.
Lycius, perplexd at words so blind and blank,
Made close inquiry; from whose touch she shrank,
Feigning a sleep; and he to the dull shade
Of deep sleep in a moment was betrayd.
It was the custom then to bring away
The bride from home at blushing shut of day,
Veild, in a chariot, heralded along
By strewn flowers, torches, and a marriage song,
With other pageants: but this fair unknown
Had not a friend. So being left alone,
(Lycius was gone to summon all his kin)
And knowing surely she could never win
His foolish heart from its mad pompousness,
She set herself, high-thoughted, how to dress
The misery in fit magnificence.
She did so, but tis doubtful how and whence
Came, and who were her subtle servitors.
About the halls, and to and from the doors,
There was a noise of wings, till in short space
The glowing banquet-room shone with wide-arched grace.
A haunting music, sole perhaps and lone
Supportress of the faery-roof, made moan
Throughout, as fearful the whole charm might fade.
Fresh carved cedar, mimicking a glade
Of palm and plantain, met from either side,
High in the midst, in honour of the bride:
Two palms and then two plantains, and so on,
From either side their stems branchd one to one
All down the aisled place; and beneath all
There ran a stream of lamps straight on from wall to wall.
So canopied, lay an untasted feast
Teeming with odours. Lamia, regal drest,
Silently paced about, and as she went,
In pale contented sort of discontent,
Missiond her viewless servants to enrich
The fretted splendour of each nook and niche.
Between the tree-stems, marbled plain at first,
Came jasper pannels; then, anon, there burst
Forth creeping imagery of slighter trees,
And with the larger wove in small intricacies.
Approving all, she faded at self-will,
And shut the chamber up, close, hushd and still,
Complete and ready for the revels rude,
When dreadful guests would come to spoil her solitude.
The day appeard, and all the gossip rout.
O senseless Lycius! Madman! wherefore flout
The silent-blessing fate, warm cloisterd hours,
And show to common eyes these secret bowers?
The herd approachd; each guest, with busy brain,
Arriving at the portal, gazd amain,
And enterd marveling: for they knew the street,
Rememberd it from childhood all complete
Without a gap, yet neer before had seen
That royal porch, that high-built fair demesne;
So in they hurried all, mazd, curious and keen:
Save one, who lookd thereon with eye severe,
And with calm-planted steps walkd in austere;
Twas Apollonius: something too he laughd,
As though some knotty problem, that had daft
His patient thought, had now begun to thaw,
And solve and melt:twas just as he foresaw.
He met within the murmurous vestibule
His young disciple. Tis no common rule,
Lycius, said he, for uninvited guest
To force himself upon you, and infest
With an unbidden presence the bright throng
Of younger friends; yet must I do this wrong,
And you forgive me. Lycius blushd, and led
The old man through the inner doors broad-spread;
With reconciling words and courteous mien
Turning into sweet milk the sophists spleen.
Of wealthy lustre was the banquet-room,
Filld with pervading brilliance and perfume:
Before each lucid pannel fuming stood
A censer fed with myrrh and spiced wood,
Each by a sacred tripod held aloft,
Whose slender feet wide-swervd upon the soft
Wool-woofed carpets: fifty wreaths of smoke
From fifty censers their light voyage took
To the high roof, still mimickd as they rose
Along the mirrord walls by twin-clouds odorous.
Twelve sphered tables, by silk seats insphered,
High as the level of a mans breast reard
On libbards paws, upheld the heavy gold
Of cups and goblets, and the store thrice told
Of Ceres horn, and, in huge vessels, wine
Came from the gloomy tun with merry shine.
Thus loaded with a feast the tables stood,
Each shrining in the midst the image of a God.
When in an antichamber every guest
Had felt the cold full sponge to pleasure pressd,
By ministring slaves, upon his hands and feet,
And fragrant oils with ceremony meet
Pourd on his hair, they all movd to the feast
In white robes, and themselves in order placed
Around the silken couches, wondering
Whence all this mighty cost and blaze of wealth could spring.
Soft went the music the soft air along,
While fluent Greek a voweld undersong
Kept up among the guests discoursing low
At first, for scarcely was the wine at flow;
But when the happy vintage touchd their brains,
Louder they talk, and louder come the strains
Of powerful instruments:the gorgeous dyes,
The space, the splendour of the draperies,
The roof of awful richness, nectarous cheer,
Beautiful slaves, and Lamias self, appear,
Now, when the wine has done its rosy deed,
And every soul from human trammels freed,
No more so strange; for merry wine, sweet wine,
Will make Elysian shades not too fair, too divine.
Soon was God Bacchus at meridian height;
Flushd were their cheeks, and bright eyes double bright:
Garlands of every green, and every scent
From vales deflowerd, or forest-trees branch rent,
In baskets of bright osierd gold were brought
High as the handles heapd, to suit the thought
Of every guest; that each, as he did please,
Might fancy-fit his brows, silk-pillowd at his ease.
What wreath for Lamia? What for Lycius?
What for the sage, old Apollonius?
Upon her aching forehead be there hung
The leaves of willow and of adders tongue;
And for the youth, quick, let us strip for him
The thyrsus, that his watching eyes may swim
Into forgetfulness; and, for the sage,
Let spear-grass and the spiteful thistle wage
War on his temples. Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven:
We know her woof, her texture; she is given
In the dull catalogue of common things.
Philosophy will clip an Angels wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine
Unweave a rainbow, as it erewhile made
The tender-persond Lamia melt into a shade.
By her glad Lycius sitting, in chief place,
Scarce saw in all the room another face,
Till, checking his love trance, a cup he took
Full brimmd, and opposite sent forth a look
Cross the broad table, to beseech a glance
From his old teachers wrinkled countenance,
And pledge him. The bald-head philosopher
Had fixd his eye, without a twinkle or stir
Full on the alarmed beauty of the bride,
Brow-beating her fair form, and troubling her sweet pride.
Lycius then pressd her hand, with devout touch,
As pale it lay upon the rosy couch:
Twas icy, and the cold ran through his veins;
Then sudden it grew hot, and all the pains
Of an unnatural heat shot to his heart.
Lamia, what means this? Wherefore dost thou start?
Knowst thou that man? Poor Lamia answerd not.
He gazd into her eyes, and not a jot
Ownd they the lovelorn piteous appeal:
More, more he gazd: his human senses reel:
Some hungry spell that loveliness absorbs;
There was no recognition in those orbs.
Lamia! he criedand no soft-toned reply.
The many heard, and the loud revelry
Grew hush; the stately music no more breathes;
The myrtle sickend in a thousand wreaths.
By faint degrees, voice, lute, and pleasure ceased;
A deadly silence step by step increased,
Until it seemd a horrid presence there,
And not a man but felt the terror in his hair.
Lamia! he shriekd; and nothing but the shriek
With its sad echo did the silence break.
Begone, foul dream! he cried, gazing again
In the brides face, where now no azure vein
Wanderd on fair-spaced temples; no soft bloom
Misted the cheek; no passion to illume
The deep-recessed vision:all was blight;
Lamia, no longer fair, there sat a deadly white.
Shut, shut those juggling eyes, thou ruthless man!
Turn them aside, wretch! or the righteous ban
Of all the Gods, whose dreadful images
Here represent their shadowy presences,
May pierce them on the sudden with the thorn
Of painful blindness; leaving thee forlorn,
In trembling dotage to the feeblest fright
Of conscience, for their long offended might,
For all thine impious proud-heart sophistries,
Unlawful magic, and enticing lies.
Corinthians! look upon that gray-beard wretch!
Mark how, possessd, his lashless eyelids stretch
Around his demon eyes! Corinthians, see!
My sweet bride withers at their potency.
Fool! said the sophist, in an under-tone
Gruff with contempt; which a death-nighing moan
From Lycius answerd, as heart-struck and lost,
He sank supine beside the aching ghost.
Fool! Fool! repeated he, while his eyes still
Relented not, nor movd; from every ill
Of life have I preservd thee to this day,
And shall I see thee made a serpents prey?
Then Lamia breathd death breath; the sophists eye,
Like a sharp spear, went through her utterly,
Keen, cruel, perceant, stinging: she, as well
As her weak hand could any meaning tell,
Motiond him to be silent; vainly so,
He lookd and lookd again a level--No!
A Serpent! echoed he; no sooner said,
Than with a frightful scream she vanished:
And Lycius arms were empty of delight,
As were his limbs of life, from that same night.
On the high couch he lay!his friends came round--
Supported himno pulse, or breath they found,
And, in its marriage robe, the heavy body wound.
(line 50): Keats adopted here, in the manuscript, a pointing notice before: he placed the note of interrogation at the end of this line, a semi-colon at the end of line 51, and a full-stop at the end of line 54. The pointing of the text is from the first edition.
(lines 124-6): Leigh Hunt notes - "This is the very quintessence of the romantic."
(line 140): Rejected reading, "wainscoated" for "marbled plain."
(line 239): In the Autobiography of Haydon, as edited by the late Mr. Tom Taylor, we read at page 354 of Volume 1 (edition of 1853) that Keats and Lamb, at one of the meetings at Haydon's house, agreed that Newton "had destroyed all the poetry of the rainbow, by reducing it to the prismatic colours." This meeting was what Haydon calls "the immortal dinner" of the 28th of December 1817; so that the idea appears to have persisted in Keats's mind.
Last line: The following extract is appended in Keats's edition as a note to the last line of Lamia:--
"Philostratus, in his fourth book 'de Vita Apollonii', hath a memorable instance in this kind, which I may not omit, of one Menippus Lycius, a young man twenty-five years of age, that going betwixt Cenchreas and Corinth, met such a phantasm in the habit of a fair gentlewoman, which taking him by the hand, carried him home to her house, in the suburbs of Corinth, and told him she was a Phoenician by birth, and if he would tarry with her, he should hear her sing and play, and drink such wine as never any drank, and no man should molest him; but she, being fair and lovely, would live and die with him, that was fair and lovely to behold. The young man, a philosopher, otherwise staid and discreet, able to moderate his passions, though not this of love, tarried with her a while to his great content, and at last married her, to whose wedding, amongst other guests, came Apollonius; who, by some probable conjectures, found her out to be a serpent, a lamia; and that all her furniture was, like Tantalus' gold, descried by Homer, no substance but mere illusions. When she saw herself descried, she wept, and desired Apollonius to be silent, but he would not be moved, and thereupon she, plate, house, and all that was in it, vanished in an instant: many thousands took notice of this fact, for it was done in the midst of Greece." ~ John Keats, Lamia. Part II
,#NFDB
651:Karshish, the picker-up of learning's crumbs,
The not-incurious in God's handiwork
(This man's-flesh he hath admirably made,
Blown like a bubble, kneaded like a paste,
To coop up and keep down on earth a space
That puff of vapour from his mouth, man's soul)
To Abib, all-sagacious in our art,
Breeder in me of what poor skill I boast,
Like me inquisitive how pricks and cracks
Befall the flesh through too much stress and strain,
Whereby the wily vapour fain would slip
Back and rejoin its source before the term,
And aptest in contrivance (under God)
To baffle it by deftly stopping such:
The vagrant Scholar to his Sage at home
Sends greeting (health and knowledge, fame with peace)
Three samples of true snakestonerarer still,
One of the other sort, the melon-shaped,
(But fitter, pounded fine, for charms than drugs)
And writeth now the twenty-second time.
My journeyings were brought to Jericho;
Thus I resume. Who studious in our art
Shall count a little labour unrepaid?
I have shed sweat enough, left flesh and bone
On many a flinty furlong of this land.
Also, the country-side is all on fire
With rumours of a marching hitherward:
Some say Vespasian cometh, some, his son.
A black lynx snarled and pricked a tufted ear;
Lust of my blood inflamed his yellow balls:
I cried and threw my staff and he was gone.
Twice have the robbers stripped and beaten me,
And once a town declared me for a spy;
But at the end, I reach Jerusalem,
Since this poor covert where I pass the night,
This Bethany, lies scarce the distance thence
A man with plague-sores at the third degree
Runs till he drops down dead. Thou laughest here!
'Sooth, it elates me, thus reposed and safe,
To void the stuffing of my travel-scrip
And share with thee whatever Jewry yields
A viscid choler is observable
In tertians, I was nearly bold to say;
And falling-sickness hath a happier cure
Than our school wots of: there's a spider here
Weaves no web, watches on the ledge of tombs,
Sprinkled with mottles on an ash-grey back;
Take five and drop them . . . but who knows his mind,
The Syrian runagate I trust this to?
His service payeth me a sublimate
Blown up his nose to help the ailing eye.
Best wait: I reach Jerusalem at morn,
There set in order my experiences,
Gather what most deserves, and give thee all
Or I might add, Judea's gum-tragacanth
Scales off in purer flakes, shines clearer-grained,
Cracks 'twixt the pestle and the porphyry,
In fine exceeds our produce. Scalp-disease
Confounds me, crossing so with leprosy
Thou hadst admired one sort I gained at Zoar
But zeal outruns discretion. Here I end.
Yet stay: my Syrian blinketh gratefully,
Protesteth his devotion is my price
Suppose I write what harms not, though he steal?
I half resolve to tell thee, yet I blush,
What set me off a-writing first of all.
An itch I had, a sting to write, a tang!
For, be it this town's barrennessor else
The Man had something in the look of him
His case has struck me far more than 'tis worth.
So, pardon if(lest presently I lose
In the great press of novelty at hand
The care and pains this somehow stole from me)
I bid thee take the thing while fresh in mind,
Almost in sightfor, wilt thou have the truth?
The very man is gone from me but now,
Whose ailment is the subject of discourse.
Thus then, and let thy better wit help all!
'Tis but a case of maniasubinduced
By epilepsy, at the turning-point
Of trance prolonged unduly some three days:
When, by the exhibition of some drug
Or spell, exorcization, stroke of art
Unknown to me and which 'twere well to know,
The evil thing out-breaking all at once
Left the man whole and sound of body indeed,
But, flinging (so to speak) life's gates too wide,
Making a clear house of it too suddenly,
The first conceit that entered might inscribe
Whatever it was minded on the wall
So plainly at that vantage, as it were,
(First come, first served) that nothing subsequent
Attaineth to erase those fancy-scrawls
The just-returned and new-established soul
Hath gotten now so thoroughly by heart
That henceforth she will read or these or none.
And firstthe man's own firm conviction rests
That he was dead (in fact they buried him)
That he was dead and then restored to life
By a Nazarene physician of his tribe:
'Sayeth, the same bade "Rise," and he did rise.
"Such cases are diurnal," thou wilt cry.
Not so this figment!not, that such a fume,
Instead of giving way to time and health,
Should eat itself into the life of life,
As saffron tingeth flesh, blood, bones and all!
For see, how he takes up the after-life.
The manit is one Lazarus a Jew,
Sanguine, proportioned, fifty years of age,
The body's habit wholly laudable,
As much, indeed, beyond the common health
As he were made and put aside to show.
Think, could we penetrate by any drug
And bathe the wearied soul and worried flesh,
And bring it clear and fair, by three days' sleep!
Whence has the man the balm that brightens all?
This grown man eyes the world now like a child.
Some elders of his tribe, I should premise,
Led in their friend, obedient as a sheep,
To bear my inquisition. While they spoke,
Now sharply, now with sorrow,told the case,
He listened not except I spoke to him,
But folded his two hands and let them talk,
Watching the flies that buzzed: and yet no fool.
And that's a sample how his years must go.
Look, if a beggar, in fixed middle-life,
Should find a treasure,can he use the same
With straitened habits and with tastes starved small,
And take at once to his impoverished brain
The sudden element that changes things,
That sets the undreamed-of rapture at his hand
And puts the cheap old joy in the scorned dust?
Is he not such an one as moves to mirth
Warily parsimonious, when no need,
Wasteful as drunkenness at undue times?
All prudent counsel as to what befits
The golden mean, is lost on such an one
The man's fantastic will is the man's law.
So herewe call the treasure knowledge, say,
Increased beyond the fleshly faculty
Heaven opened to a soul while yet on earth,
Earth forced on a soul's use while seeing heaven:
The man is witless of the size, the sum,
The value in proportion of all things,
Or whether it be little or be much.
Discourse to him of prodigious armaments
Assembled to besiege his city now,
And of the passing of a mule with gourds
'Tis one! Then take it on the other side,
Speak of some trifling facthe will gaze rapt
With stupor at its very littleness,
(Far as I see) as if in that indeed
He caught prodigious import, whole results;
And so will turn to us the bystanders
In ever the same stupor (note this point)
That we too see not with his opened eyes.
Wonder and doubt come wrongly into play,
Preposterously, at cross purposes.
Should his child sicken unto death,why, look
For scarce abatement of his cheerfulness,
Or pretermission of the daily craft!
While a word, gesture, glance, from that same child
At play or in the school or laid asleep,
Will startle him to an agony of fear,
Exasperation, just as like. Demand
The reason why" `tis but a word," object
"A gesture"he regards thee as our lord
Who lived there in the pyramid alone
Looked at us (dost thou mind?) when, being young,
We both would unadvisedly recite
Some charm's beginning, from that book of his,
Able to bid the sun throb wide and burst
All into stars, as suns grown old are wont.
Thou and the child have each a veil alike
Thrown o'er your heads, from under which ye both
Stretch your blind hands and trifle with a match
Over a mine of Greek fire, did ye know!
He holds on firmly to some thread of life
(It is the life to lead perforcedly)
Which runs across some vast distracting orb
Of glory on either side that meagre thread,
Which, conscious of, he must not enter yet
The spiritual life around the earthly life:
The law of that is known to him as this,
His heart and brain move there, his feet stay here.
So is the man perplext with impulses
Sudden to start off crosswise, not straight on,
Proclaiming what is right and wrong across,
And not along, this black thread through the blaze
"It should be" baulked by "here it cannot be."
And oft the man's soul springs into his face
As if he saw again and heard again
His sage that bade him "Rise" and he did rise.
Something, a word, a tick of the blood within
Admonishes: then back he sinks at once
To ashes, who was very fire before,
In sedulous recurrence to his trade
Whereby he earneth him the daily bread;
And studiously the humbler for that pride,
Professedly the faultier that he knows
God's secret, while he holds the thread of life.
Indeed the especial marking of the man
Is prone submission to the heavenly will
Seeing it, what it is, and why it is.
'Sayeth, he will wait patient to the last
For that same death which must restore his being
To equilibrium, body loosening soul
Divorced even now by premature full growth:
He will live, nay, it pleaseth him to live
So long as God please, and just how God please.
He even seeketh not to please God more
(Which meaneth, otherwise) than as God please.
Hence, I perceive not he affects to preach
The doctrine of his sect whate'er it be,
Make proselytes as madmen thirst to do:
How can he give his neighbour the real ground,
His own conviction? Ardent as he is
Call his great truth a lie, why, still the old
"Be it as God please" reassureth him.
I probed the sore as thy disciple should:
"How, beast," said I, "this stolid carelessness
Sufficeth thee, when Rome is on her march
To stamp out like a little spark thy town,
Thy tribe, thy crazy tale and thee at once?"
He merely looked with his large eyes on me.
The man is apathetic, you deduce?
Contrariwise, he loves both old and young,
Able and weak, affects the very brutes
And birdshow say I? flowers of the field
As a wise workman recognizes tools
In a master's workshop, loving what they make.
Thus is the man as harmless as a lamb:
Only impatient, let him do his best,
At ignorance and carelessness and sin
An indignation which is promptly curbed:
As when in certain travels I have feigned
To be an ignoramus in our art
According to some preconceived design,
And happed to hear the land's practitioners,
Steeped in conceit sublimed by ignorance,
Prattle fantastically on disease,
Its cause and cureand I must hold my peace!
Thou wilt objectwhy have I not ere this
Sought out the sage himself, the Nazarene
Who wrought this cure, inquiring at the source,
Conferring with the frankness that befits?
Alas! it grieveth me, the learned leech
Perished in a tumult many years ago,
Accused,our learning's fate,of wizardry,
Rebellion, to the setting up a rule
And creed prodigious as described to me.
His death, which happened when the earthquake fell
(Prefiguring, as soon appeared, the loss
To occult learning in our lord the sage
Who lived there in the pyramid alone)
Was wrought by the mad peoplethat's their wont!
On vain recourse, as I conjecture it,
To his tried virtue, for miraculous help
How could he stop the earthquake? That's their way!
The other imputations must be lies:
But take one, though I loathe to give it thee,
In mere respect for any good man's fame.
(And after all, our patient Lazarus
Is stark mad; should we count on what he says?
Perhaps not: though in writing to a leech
'Tis well to keep back nothing of a case.)
This man so cured regards the curer, then
AsGod forgive me! who but God himself,
Creator and sustainer of the world,
That came and dwelt in flesh on 't awhile!
'Sayeth that such an one was born and lived,
Taught, healed the sick, broke bread at his own house,
Then died, with Lazarus by, for aught I know,
And yet was . . . what I said nor choose repeat,
And must have so avouched himself, in fact,
In hearing of this very Lazarus
Who saithbut why all this of what he saith?
Why write of trivial matters, things of price
Calling at every moment for remark?
I noticed on the margin of a pool
Blue-flowering borage, the Aleppo sort,
Aboundeth, very nitrous. It is strange!
Thy pardon for this long and tedious case,
Which, now that I review it, needs must seem
Unduly dwelt on, prolixly set forth!
Nor I myself discern in what is writ
Good cause for the peculiar interest
And awe indeed this man has touched me with.
Perhaps the journey's end, the weariness
Had wrought upon me first. I met him thus:
I crossed a ridge of short sharp broken hills
Like an old lion's cheek teeth. Out there came
A moon made like a face with certain spots
Multiform, manifold, and menacing:
Then a wind rose behind me. So we met
In this old sleepy town at unaware,
The man and I. I send thee what is writ.
Regard it as a chance, a matter risked
To this ambiguous Syrianhe may lose,
Or steal, or give it thee with equal good.
Jerusalem's repose shall make amends
For time this letter wastes, thy time and mine;
Till when, once more thy pardon and farewell!
The very God! think, Abib; dost thou think?
So, the All-Great, were the All-Loving too
So, through the thunder comes a human voice
Saying, "O heart I made, a heart beats here!
Face, my hands fashioned, see it in myself!
Thou hast no power nor mayst conceive of mine,
But love I gave thee, with myself to love,
And thou must love me who have died for thee!"
The madman saith He said so: it is strange.
NOTES
Form:
unrhyming
1.
Karshish, the Arab physician, and his friend
Abib are the creatures of the poet's imagination\; the time
is some forty years after the raising of Lazarus (see note
on line 28 below). For the story of Lazarus, see John 11: 1--44.
The meaning of Karshish's name in Arabic is paraphrased
in "picker-up of learning's crumbs."
20-1.
Karshish numbers his regular letters to Abib to provide
a check on their arrival. This letter is the twenty-second\; in the
twenty-first he had brought the account of his journeyings up
to his arrival at Jericho.
28.
It was Titus who besieged and captured Jernsalem in
A.D. 70\; he was emperor, 79-81\; Vespasian, his father, was
emperor, 70-79 A.D.
36.
Bethany: "Bethany, the town of Mary and his sister Martha"
(John 11: 1).
42.
choler: in its original sense, bile. Browning has Karshish
think in terms of the old physiology of "humours." Karshish
hopes that he may have found a way of diagnosing fever from
the consistency of the blood when he phlebotomises the patient.
43.
tertians: fevers which recur every other day\; i.e. on every third
day in the inclusive Roman way of counting.
50.
sublimate: in old-fashioned chemistry, the name for compounds
made by heating bodies to a vapour and then allowing this to condense.
55.
gum-tragacanth: a gum produced by certain thorny shrubs in
Asia Minor and Persia.
57.
Porphyry: a sort of stone used for the manufacture of vases, etc.\;
here used by metonymy for the mortar made out of it.
58.
scalp-disease: undoubtedly alopicia (from which Chaucer's
Pardoner suffered), which has a connection with leprosy.
82.
Exhibition is the old term for "administration" of a remedy.
89.
conceit: here used in the early sense of "idea, concept, fancy."
96.
The whole passage from line 79 is Karshish's attempt to find an
explanation in terms of a mechanist psychology for the fixed idea in Lazarus' mind.
100.
Nazarene: Christ: see Matthew 2: 23.
103.
fume: used here as a derogatory term for Lazarus' idea that he has
been restored to life.
106.
saffron: a drug derived from a plant of the same name (Crocus
sativus), formerly much used both as a medicine and as a dye.
109.
sanguine: again part of the terminology of humours. The "sanguine"
type was not, like the "melancholic," given to delusions and attacks of
fancy--this makes Lazarus' case still more strange.
110.
laudable: another technical medical term here, suggesting perfect health.
146-47.
See lines 26-28 above and note.
177.
Greek fire: an explosive compound, the nearest approach to
gunpowder known to the ancients.
184.
To Lazarus, who now sees with a knowledge far beyond the human,
the spiritual or moral law is as clear and certain as the physical.
Compare A Death in the Desert, 251-298.
228.
affects: in the sense of "shows affection for."
251.
Karshish uses "prodigious" here in a derogatory sense.
252.
when the earthquake fell. "And behold the veil of the temple was
rent in twain from the top to the bottom\; and the earth did quake, and
the rocks were rent" (Matthew 27: 51).
265.
leech: old-fashioned word for physician.
304-11.
Compare the passage in Saul, 300-12.
~ Robert Browning, An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Kar
,#NFDB
652:Ballad Of Jesus Of Nazareth
I.
It matters not what place he drew
At first life's mortal breath,
Some say it was in Bethlehem,
And some in Nazareth.
But shame and sorrow were his lot
And shameful was his death.
The angels sang, and o'er the barn
Wherein the infant lay,
They hung a star, for they foresaw
The sad world's better day,
But well God knew what thyme and rue
Were planted by his way.
The children of the Pharisees
In hymn and orison
Worshipped the prophets, whom their sires
To cruel death had done,
And said, 'had we been there their death
We had not looked upon.'
While the star shone the angels saw
The tombs these children built
For those the world had driven out,
And smitten to the hilt,
God knew these wretched sons would bear
The self-same bloody guilt.
Always had he who strives for men
But done some other thing,
If he had not led a hermit life,
Or had not had his fling,
We would have followed him, they say,
And made him lord and King.
For John was clothed in camel's hair
And lived among the brutes;
26
But Jesus fared where the feast was spread
To the sound of shawms and lutes,
Where gathered knaves and publicans
And hapless prostitutes.
Like children in the market place
Who sullen sat and heard,
With John they would not mourn, nor yet
Rejoice at Jesus' word;
Had Jesus mourned, or John rejoiced,
He had been King and lord.
II.
From Bethlehem until the day
He came up to the feast
We hear no word, we only know
In wisdom he increased,
We know the marvelous boy did awe
The Pharisee and priest.
For wearied men wake to admire
A genius in the bud;
Before the passion of the world
Flows through him like a flood;
Ere he becomes a scourge to those
Who drink of mankind's blood.
Perhaps in him they saw an arm
To keep the people still;
And fool the meek and slay the weak
And give the King his will;
And put a wall for armZd men
'Round every pleasant hill.
And this is why in after years
The Galilean wept;
The cup of youth was sweet with truth
But a green worm in it crept;
And that was dullness clothed in power,
And hate which never slept.
27
Through twenty years he drove the plane,
And shaped with ax and saw;
And dreamed upon the Hebrew writ
Unto a day of awe,
When he felt the world fit to his grasp
As by a mighty law.
He looked upon the sunny sky,
And 'round the flowering earth;
He heard the poor man's groan of woe,
And the prince's song of mirth;
Then Jesus vowed the life of man
Should have another birth.
And this is why the Son of Man
Wept when he knew the loss,
The toil and sacrifice to cleanse
A little earthly dross;
And that a god to save twelve men
Must die upon the cross.
III.
'Twas on a pleasant day in June
Beneath an azure sky
That 'round him stood the multitude
And saw within his eye
The light that from nor sun nor star
Ever was known to fly.
And some came out to scoff and laugh,
And some to lay a snare;
The rhetorician gaped to see:
The learnZd carpenter.
The money changer, judge and priest,
And statesman all were there.
Some thought the Galilean mad;
Some asked, is he sincere?
Some said he played the demagogue
To gain the people's ear,
And raise a foe against the law
28
That lawful men should fear.
But all the while did C¾sar's might
Grow big with blood and lust;
And no one brooked his tyrant arm,
For the statesman said the crust
That paupers gnaw is by the law,
And that the law is just.
From hunger's hovel, from the streets;
From horror's blackened niche
Earth's mourners came and hands were stretched
To touch him from the ditch.
Then rose a Scribe and said he turned
The poor against the rich.
And those who hated C¾sar's rule,
Albeit sowed the lie
That Jesus stirred sedition up
That he might profit by
A revolution, which should clothe
Himself in monarchy.
Through twice a thousand years the world
Has missed the words he taught;
To forms and creeds and empty show
Christ never gave a thought,
But wrongs that men do unto men
They were the wrongs he fought.
He did not eat with washen hands,
Nor keep the Sabbath day;
He did not to the Synagogue
Repair to sing and pray.
Nor for to-morrow take a thought,
To mar life's pleasant way.
He saw that all of human woe
Takes root in hate and greed;
He saw until men love their kind
The human heart must bleed.
And that nor hymn nor sacrifice
29
Meets any human need.
And this is why he scourged the rich
And lashed the Pharisee,
And stripped from every pious face
The mask hypocrisy;
And so laced Mary Magdalene,
Caught in adultery.
And this is why with grievous fire
He smote the lawyer's lore.
And every wile of cunning guile
Which made the burden more
Upon the backs of wretched men,
Who heavy burdens bore.
Therefore when that the hour was come
For him to die, they blent
Of many things a lying charge,
But at last the argument
They killed him with was that he stirred
The people's discontent.
From thence the world has gone its way
Of this truth, deaf and blind,
And every man who struck the law
Has felt the halter bind,
Until his words were choked in death
Uttered for human kind.
Now did the dreams of Galilee
Awake as from a sleep,
Fly up from earth, and Life unmasked
Life's promise did not keep,
And Jesus saw the face of Life,
And all who see it weep.
God's spirit fled the damnZd earth
And left the earth forlorn.
No more did Jesus walk the fields,
And pluck the ripened corn;
Nor muse beside the silent sea,
30
Upon a summer's morn.
Before the heart of Christ was pierced
With agony divine,
He sat him down in a merry mood
With loving friends to dine.
And once in Cana he did turn
The water into wine.
Now put from shore, swept far to sea
His shallop caught the tide,
Arched o'er him was eternity
'Twixt starless wastes and wide.
God's spirit seemed withdrawn that once
Walked hourly at his side.
IV.
Gladly the common people heard
And called upon his name.
But yet he knew what they would do,
Christ Jesus knew their frame,
And that he should be left alone
Upon a day of shame.
Sharper than thorns upon the brow,
Or nails spiked through the hand
Is when the people fly for fear
And cannot understand;
And let their saviors die the death
As creatures contraband.
For wrongs that flourish by a lie
Are hard enough to bear;
But wrongs that take their root in truth
Shade every brow with care;
And this is why Gethsemane
Was shadowed with despair.
In dark and drear Gethsemane
Hell's devils laughed and raved,
When Jesus torn by fear and doubt
31
Reprieve from sorrow craved;
For who would lose his life, unless
Another's life he saved?
V.
In youth when all the world appeared
As fresh as any flower,
Satan besought the Son of Man,
New-clothed in godly power,
And took him to behold the world
Upon a lofty tower.
To every man of god-like might
Comes Satan once to give
The crown, the crosier and the sword
And bid him laugh and live,
While Hope hides in the wilderness,
A hunted fugitive.
But neither gold nor kingly crown
Tempted the Son of Man
He hoped as many souls have hoped,
Ever since time began,
That love itself can overcome,
Hate's foul leviathan
Some fix their faith to heaven's grace,
And some to saintly bones;
Some think that water doth contain
A virtue which atones;
And some believe that men are saved
By penitential groans.
But of all faith that ever fired
A spirit with its glow
That is supreme which thinks that truth
No power can overthrow;
And he believes who takes and cleaves
To the thorny way of woe!
For life is sweet, and sweet it is
32
With jeweled sandals shod
To trip where happy blossoms shoot
Up from the fragrant sod;
And what sustains the souls that pass
Alway beneath the rod?
The book of worldly lore he closed
And bound it with a hasp;
And in the hour of danger came
No king with friendly clasp.
It was the hand of love against
The anger of the asp.
Since Jesus died the lust of kings
Has linked the cross and crown;
And slaughtered millions whom to save
From heaven he came down;
And all to tame the mind of man
To his divine renown.
But whether he were man or god
This thing at least is true;
He hated with a lordly hate
The Gentile and the Jew,
Who robbed the poor and wronged the weak,
And kept the widow's due.
And those all clothed in raiment soft,
Who in kings' houses dwell;
And those who compass sea and land
Their proselytes to swell;
And when they make one he is made
Two-fold the child of hell.
And those who tithe of anise give,
But sharpen beak and claw;
And those who plait the web of hate
The heart of man to flaw;
And hungry lawyers who pile up
The burdens of the law.
I wonder not they slew the Christ
33
And put upon his brow
The cruel crown of thorns, I know
The world would do it now;
And none shall live who on himself
Shall take the self-same vow.
And none shall live who tries to balk
The heavy hand of greed;
And he who hopes for human help
Against his hour of need
Will find the souls he tried to save
Ready to make him bleed.
For he who flays the hypocrite,
And scourges with a thong
The money changer, soon will find
The money changer strong;
And even the people will incline
To think his mission wrong.
And pious souls will say he is
At best a castaway;
Some will remember he blasphemed
And broke the Sabbath day.
And the coward friend will fool his heart
And then he will betray.
At last the Scribe and Pharisee
No longer could abide
The tumult which his words stirred up
In every country side;
And so they made a sign, which meant
He must be crucified.
For him no sword was raised, no king
Came forward for his sake;
And every son of mammon laughed
To see death overtake
The fool who fastened to the truth
And made his life the stake.
VI.
34
Upon a day when Jesus' soul
Like an angel's voice did quire,
The heart of all the people burned
With a white and holy fire;
And they did sweep to make him king
Over the world's empire.
His kingdom was not of this world,
But this they would not own;
And he to save themselves did go
To a mountain place alone,
And there did pray that holy Truth
Might find somewhere a throne.
When Henry was by Francis sought
To make him emperor,
They walked upon a cloth of gold,
As sovereign lords of war.
And trumpets blew and banners flew
About the royal car.
When Caesar back to Rome returned
With all the world subdued,
The soldiers and the priests did shout,
And cried the multitude;
For he had slain his country's foes,
And drenched their land with blood.
But all the triumph of the Christ
That ever came to pass
Was when he rode amidst a mob
Upon a borrowed ass;
And this is all the worldly pomp
A genius ever has.
His cloth of gold were branches cut
And strewn upon the ground;
And every money-changer laughed,
And the judges looked and frowned;
But no one saw a flag unfurled,
Or heard a bugle sound.
35
To-day whene'er a coxcomb king
Visits a foreign shore,
The simple people deck themselves
And all the cannon roar.
But it would not do such grace to show
To a soul of lordly lore.
VII.
Of all sad suppers ever spread
For broken hearts to eat,
That was the saddest where the Christ
Did serve the bread and meat;
And, ere he served them, washed with care
Each worn disciple's feet.
And who would hold in memory
That supper, let him call
His loved friends about his board
And serve them one and all;
And with a loving spirit crown
The simple festival.
For this I hold to be the truth,
And Jesus said the same;
That men who meet as brothers, they
Are gathered in his name;
And only for its evil deeds
A soul he will disclaim.
Through climes of sun and climes of snow
Full many a wretched knight,
The holy grail, without avail
Did make his life's delight,
And lo! the thing it symbolized
Was ever in their sight.
The cup whereof Christ Jesus drank
Was wholly without grace;
And whether made of stone or wood
Was lost or broke apace.
36
And no one thought to keep a cup
While looking in his face.
They kept no cup, their only thought
Was for the morrow morn.
And as he passed the wine and bread
With pallid hands and worn,
Peter did swear he would not leave
His stricken lord forlorn.
John, the beloved, on his breast,
Wept while the hour did pass.
Judas did groan when Jesus struck
Behind his soul's arras.
All trembled for the bitter hate,
And power of Caiaphas.
But for that simple, farewell feast
In Holland, France and Spain,
Ten million men as true as John
Were racked and burnt and slain,
As if they held remembrance of
The farewell feast of Cain.
Had Jesus known what fratricide
Over his words would fall
I think he would have gone straightway
Up to the judgment hall,
And never broken bread or drunk
The cup his friends withal.
Though a good tree brings forth good fruit,
What good bears naught but good?
What sum of saintly life contains
No grain of devil's food?
What purest truth when past its youth
Is not its own falsehood?
And every rod wherewith the wise
Have cleft each barrier sea,
That men might walk across and reach
The land of liberty,
37
In hands of kings were snakes whose stings
Were worse than slavery.
VIII.
The rulers thought it best to wait
Till Jesus were alone;
They had forgot the coward crowd
Never protects its own,
But leaves its leaders to the whim
Of wrong upon a throne.
Had malcontents for Pilate sought
To do a treasonous thing,
Ten thousand loyal fishermen
Had made the traitors swing;
For they are taught they cannot live
Unless they have a king.
But soldiers came with swords and staves
To sieze one helpless man.
And only Peter had a sword
To smite the craven clan
And only Peter stood his ground,
And all the people ran.
I wish, since Jesus by the world
Is held to be divine,
That he had lived to give to men
A perfect anodyne,
And raise to human liberty
A world compelling shrine.
A shrine 'round which should lie to-day
The world's discarded crowns,
And swords and guns and gilded gawds
And monkish beads and gowns;
But, as it is, upon these things,
They say, he never frowns.
And only by an argument
Can any being show
38
That Jesus would chop out and burn
These monstrous roots of woe.
And so these roots are living yet,
And still the roots do grow.
Unto this day in divers lands
Pilate is singled out
For curses that he did not save
Christ from the rabble's shout;
But they forget he was a judge,
And had a judge's doubt.
The sickly fear of the rulers' sneer
Clutches the judge's heart.
And to hide behind a hoary lie
Is the judge's highest art;
And the judgment hall has a door that leads
To the room of the money mart.
The laws wherewith men murder men
Are dark with skeptic slime;
They are not stars that point the way
To truth in every clime.
Wherefore was Jesus crucified,
For what was not a crime.
When Pilate questioned what is truth
He did not mean to jest;
He meant to show when life's at stake
How difficult the quest
Through hollow rules and empty forms
To truth's ingenuous test.
And Pilate might have pardoned him
Had not the lawyers said,
The Galilean strove to put
A crown upon his head.
And how could Jesus be a king,
Who blood had never shed?
The trial of Jesus long ago
Was cursed in solemn rhyme;
39
For the judgment hall was but farcical
And the trial a pantomime.
Save that it led to a felon's death
For what was not a crime.
The common people on that day
Had enough black-bread to eat.
And what to them was another's woe
Before the judgment seat?
They were content that day to keep
From pit-falls their own feet.
Had Herod stood, whate'er the charge,
Before the people's bar
The sophists would have cut it down
With reason's scimitar,
And called the peasants to enforce
The judgment near and far.
And had they failed to save their king
From every foul mischance
The banded Anarchs of the world
Had held them in durance,
As afterward the crownZd heads
Did punish recreant France.
IX.
So it fell out amid the rout
Of captain, lord and priest,
They bound his hands with felon bands
And they flogged him like a beast.
And Pilate washed his hands, and then
For them a thief released.
And only women solaced him,
And one mad courtesan,
'Save thou thyself,' the elders cried,
'Who came to rescue man.'
Where were the common people then?
The common people ran.
40
Between two thieves upon a hill
The terror to proclaim
They racked his body on a cross
Till his thirst was like a flame;
And they mocked his woe and they wagged their heads,
And they spat upon his name.
God thought a picture like to this,
Fire-limned against the sky,
Once seen, would never fade away
From the world's careless eye;
And that the lesson that it taught
No soul could wander by.
God thought the shadow of this cross,
Athwart the mad world's ken,
Would stay with shame the hands that kill
The men who die for men,
And that no soul for love of truth
Need ever die again.
Many a man the valley of death
With fearless step hath trod;
The prophet is a phoenix soul,
And the wretch is a sullen clod.
But Jesus in his death became
Liker unto a god
Liker unto a god he grew
Who walked through heaven and hell;
He died as he forgave the mob
That 'round the cross did yell.
They knew not what they did, and this
Jesus, the god, knew well.
For hate is spawned of ignorance
And ignorance of hate.
And all the fangZd shapes that creep
From their incestuous state
Enter the gardens of the world,
And cursZd keep their fate.
41
Near Gadara did Jesus drive
By an occult power and sign
The unclean devils from a loon
Into a herd of swine.
But the swinish devils entered the Scribes,
And slew a soul divine.
Christ healed the blind, but could not ope
The eyes of ignorance,
Nor turn to wands of peace and love
Hate's bloody sword and lance;
But the swinish fiends who took his life
Received a pardoning glance.
And Jesus raised the dead to life,
And he cured the lame and halt
But he could not heal a hateful soul,
And keep it free from fault;
Nor bring the savour back again
To the world's trampled salt.
X.
After his death the rulers slept,
And the judges were at ease;
For they had killed a rebel soul
And strewed his devotees;
But the imp of time is a thing perverse,
And laughs at men's decrees.
For it is vain to kill a man,
His life to stigmatize;
Herein the wisdom of the world
Is folly to the wise;
For those the world doth kill, the world
Will surely canonize.
To look upon a lovZd face
By the Gorgon Death made stone,
Will make the heart leap up with fear
And the soul with sorrow groan;
42
Alas! who knows what thing he knew
Ere the light of life was flown?
Who knows what tears did start to well,
But were frozen at their source?
Who knows his ashen grief who felt
That iron hand of force?
Or what black thing he saw before
He grew a lifeless corse?
And, much of hope, but more of woe
Falls with the chastening rod,
As the living think of an orphan soul
That the spectral ways may trod,
And how that orphan soul must cry
In its new world after God.
So the fisherman did sigh at night,
For a dream-face haunted them.
By day they hid as branded men
Within Jerusalem.
And the common people, safe at home,
Did breathe a requiem.
But where he lay, one fearless soul,
Mad Magdalene, from whom
Christ cast the seven devils out,
Came in the morning's gloom,
And thence arose the burning faith
That Christ rose from the tomb
But all do know the mind of man
Mixes the false and true,
And deifies each Son of God
That ever hatred slew;
And weaves him magic tales to tell
Of what the man could do.
The legends grow, as grow they must
The wonder to equip.
And ere they write the legends out,
They pass from lip to lip,
43
Till a simple life becomes a theme
For studied scholarship.
But this I know that after Christ
Did die on Calvary,
He never more did preach to men,
Nor scourge the Pharisee;
Else it was vain to still his voice
And nail him to a tree.
Nor scribe nor priest were ever more
By him disquieted.
And little did it mean to them
That he rose from the dead.
For greed can sleep when it has killed
The thing that it did dread.
And never a king or satrap knew
That Christ the tomb had rent;
He might have lived a second life,
With every lord's consent,
If never more he sought to stir
The people's discontent.
He might have risen from the dead
And gone to Galilee;
And there paced out a hundred years
In a sorrowed revery,
If he but never preached again
The creed humanity.
XI.
To distant lands did Jesus' words,
Like sparks that burst in flame,
Fly forth to light the ways of dole,
And blind the eyes of shame,
Till subtle kings, to staunch their wounds,
Did conjure with his name.
When kings did pilfer Jesus' might,
His words of love were turned
44
To swords and goads and heavy loads,
And rods and brands that burned;
And never had the world before
So piteously mourned.
Of peasant Mary they did make
A statue all of gold;
And placed a crown upon her head
With jewels manifold.
And Jesus' words were strained and drawn
This horror to uphold.
They robed a rebel royally,
And placed within his hand
A scepter, that himself should be
One of their murderous band.
And it is tragical that men
Can never understand.
For Herod crowned the carpenter
With woven thorns of hate.
And put a reed within his hand
A king to imitate.
Now kings have made a rebel soul
The patron of the state.
And kingcraft never hatched a lie,
This falsehood to surpass.
For Jesus' only hour of pomp
Was what a genius has;
He rode amidst a howling mob
Upon a borrowed ass.
Though his cloth of gold were branches cut
And strewed upon the ground;
And though the money-changers laughed,
While the judges looked and frowned;
To-day for him the flag is flown,
And all the bugles sound.
To-day where'er the treacherous sword
Takes lord-ship in the world,
45
The bloody rag they call the flag,
In his name is unfurled.
And round the standard of the cross
Is greed, the python, curled.
For wrongs that have the show of truth
Are hard enough to bear,
But wrongs that flourish by a lie,
Shade wisdom's brow with care.
And still in dark Gethsemane
There lurks the fiend Despair.
And still in drear Gethsemane,
Hell's devils laugh and rave,
Because the Prince of Peace hath failed
The wayward world to save.
For every word he spoke is made
A shackle to enslave.
Man's wingd hopes are white at dawn,
But the hand of malice smuts.
O, angel voices drowned and lost
Amid the growl of guts!
O spirit hands that strain to draw
A dead world from the ruts!
God made a stage of Palestine,
And the drama played was Life;
And the Eye of Heaven sat and watched
The true and false at strife;
While a masque o' the World did play the pimp,
And take a whore to wife.
I wonder not they slew the Christ,
And put upon his brow
A mocking crown of thorns, I know
The world would do it now;
And none shall live who on himself
Shall take the self-same vow.
And none shall live who tries to balk
The heavy hand of greed.
46
And who betakes him to the task,
That heart will surely bleed.
But a little truth, somehow is saved
Out of each dead man's creed.
Out of the life of him who scourged
The Scribe and Pharisee,
A willing world can take to heart
The creed humanity;
And all the wonder tales of Christ
Are naught to you and me.
And it matters not what place he drew,
At first life's mortal breath,
Nor how it was his spirit rose
And triumphed over death,
But good it is to hear and do
The word that Jesus saith.
Until the perfect truth shall lie
Treasured and set apart;
One whole, harmonious truth to set
A seal upon each heart;
And none may ever from that truth
In any wise depart.
~ Edgar Lee Masters,#NFDB
653:Scene. Colmar in Alsatia: an Inn. 1528.
Paracelsus, Festus.
Paracelsus
[to Johannes Oporinus, his Secretary].
Sic itur ad astra! Dear Von Visenburg
Is scandalized, and poor Torinus paralysed,
And every honest soul that Basil holds
Aghast; and yet we live, as one may say,
Just as though Liechtenfels had never set
So true a value on his sorry carcass,
And learned Ptter had not frowned us dumb.
We live; and shall as surely start to morrow
For Nuremberg, as we drink speedy scathe
To Basil in this mantling wine, suffused
A delicate blush, no fainter tinge is born
I' the shut heart of a bud. Pledge me, good John
"Basil; a hot plague ravage it, and Ptter
"Oppose the plague!" Even so? Do you too share
Their panic, the reptiles? Ha, ha; faint through these,
Desist for these! They manage matters so
At Basil, 't is like: but others may find means
To bring the stoutest braggart of the tribe
Once more to crouch in silencemeans to breed
A stupid wonder in each fool again,
Now big with admiration at the skill
Which stript a vain pretender of his plumes:
And, that done,means to brand each slavish brow
So deeply, surely, ineffaceably,
That henceforth flattery shall not pucker it
Out of the furrow; there that stamp shall stay
To show the next they fawn on, what they are,
This Basil with its magnates,fill my cup,
Whom I curse soul and limb. And now despatch,
Despatch, my trusty John; and what remains
To do, whate'er arrangements for our trip
Are yet to be completed, see you hasten
This night; we'll weather the storm at least: to-morrow
For Nuremberg! Now leave us; this grave clerk
Has divers weighty matters for my ear:
[Oporinus goes out.
And spare my lungs. At last, my gallant Festus,
I am rid of this arch-knave that dogs my heels
As a gaunt crow a gasping sheep; at last
May give a loose to my delight. How kind,
How very kind, my first best only friend!
Why, this looks like fidelity. Embrace me!
Not a hair silvered yet? Right! you shall live
Till I am worth your love; you shall be pround,
And Ibut let time show! Did you not wonder?
I sent to you because our compact weighed
Upon my conscience(you recall the night
At Basil, which the gods confound!)because
Once more I aspire. I call you to my side:
You come. You thought my message strange?
Festus.
So strange
That I must hope, indeed, your messenger
Has mingled his own fancies with the words
Purporting to be yours.
Paracelsus.
He said no more,
'T is probable, than the precious folk I leave
Said fiftyfold more roughly. Well-a-day,
'T is true! poor Paracelsus is exposed
At last; a most egregious quack he proves:
And those he overreached must spit their hate
On one who, utterly beneath contempt,
Could yet deceive their topping wits. You heard
Bare truth; and at my bidding you come here
To speed me on my enterprise, as once
Your lavish wishes sped me, my own friend!
Festus.
What is your purpose, Aureole?
Paracelsus.
Oh, for purpose,
There is no lack of precedents in a case
Like mine; at least, if not precisely mine,
The case of men cast off by those they sought
To benefit.
Festus.
They really cast you off?
I only heard a vague tale of some priest,
Cured by your skill, who wrangled at your claim,
Knowing his life's worth best; and how the judge
The matter was referred to, saw no cause
To interfere, nor you to hide your full
Contempt of him; nor he, again, to smother
His wrath thereat, which raised so fierce a flame
That Basil soon was made no place for you.
Paracelsus.
The affair of Liechtenfels? the shallowest fable,
The last and silliest outragemere pretence!
I knew it, I foretold it from the first,
How soon the stupid wonder you mistook
For genuine loyaltya cheering promise
Of better things to comewould pall and pass;
And every word comes true. Saul is among
The prophets! Just so long as I was pleased
To play off the mere antics of my art,
Fantastic gambols leading to no end,
I got huge praise: but one can ne'er keep down
Our foolish nature's weakness. There they flocked,
Poor devils, jostling, swearing and perspiring,
Till the walls rang again; and all for me!
I had a kindness for them, which was right;
But then I stopped not till I tacked to that
A trust in them and a respecta sort
Of sympathy for them; I must needs begin
To teach them, not amaze them, "to impart
"The spirit which should instigate the search
"Of truth," just what you bade me! I spoke out.
Forthwith a mighty squadron, in disgust,
Filed off"the sifted chaff of the sack," I said,
Redoubling my endeavours to secure
The rest. When lo! one man had tarried so long
Only to ascertain if I supported
This tenet of his, or that; another loved
To hear impartially before he judged,
And having heard, now judged; this bland disciple
Passed for my dupe, but all along, it seems,
Spied error where his neighbours marvelled most;
That fiery doctor who had hailed me friend,
Did it because my by-paths, once proved wrong
And beaconed properly, would commend again
The good old ways our sires jogged safely o'er,
Though not their squeamish sons; the other worthy
Discovered divers verses of St. John,
Which, read successively, refreshed the soul,
But, muttered backwards, cured the gout, the stone,
The colic and what not. Quid multa? The end
Was a clear class-room, and a quiet leer
From grave folk, and a sour reproachful glance
From those in chief who, cap in hand, installed
The new professor scarce a year before;
And a vast flourish about patient merit
Obscured awhile by flashy tricks, but sure
Sooner or later to emerge in splendour
Of which the example was some luckless wight
Whom my arrival had discomfited,
But now, it seems, the general voice recalled
To fill my chair and so efface the stain
Basil had long incurred. I sought no better,
Only a quiet dismissal from my post,
And from my heart I wished them better suited
And better served. Good night to Basil, then!
But fast as I proposed to rid the tribe
Of my obnoxious back, I could not spare them
The pleasure of a parting kick.
Festus.
You smile:
Despise them as they merit!
Paracelsus.
If I smile,
'T is with as very contempt as ever turned
Flesh into stone. This courteous recompense,
This grateful . . . Festus, were your nature fit
To be defiled, your eyes the eyes to ache
At gangrene-blotches, eating poison-blains,
The ulcerous barky scurf of leprosy
Which findsa man, and leavesa hideous thing
That cannot but be mended by hell fire,
I would lay bare to you the human heart
Which God cursed long ago, and devils make since
Their pet nest and their never-tiring home.
Oh, sages have discovered we are born
For various endsto love, to know: has ever
One stumbled, in his search, on any signs
Of a nature in us formed to hate? To hate?
If that be our true object which evokes
Our powers in fullest strength, be sure 't is hate!
Yet men have doubted if the best and bravest
Of spirits can nourish him with hate alone.
I had not the monopoly of fools,
It seems, at Basil.
Festus.
But your plans, your plans!
I have yet to learn your purpose, Aureole!
Paracelsus.
Whether to sink beneath such ponderous shame,
To shrink up like a crushed snail, undergo
In silence and desist from further toil,
and so subside into a monument
Of one their censure blasted? or to bow
Cheerfully as submissively, to lower
My old pretensions even as Basil dictates,
To drop into the rank her wits assign me
And live as they prescribe, and make that use
Of my poor knowledge which their rules allow,
Proud to be patted now and then, and careful
To practise the true posture for receiving
The amplest benefit from their hoofs' appliance
When they shall condescend to tutor me?
Then, one may feel resentment like a flame
Within, and deck false systems in truth's garb,
And tangle and entwine mankind with error,
And give them darkness for a dower and falsehood
For a possession, ages: or one may mope
Into a shade through thinking, or else drowse
Into a dreamless sleep and so die off.
But I,now Festus shall divine!but I
Am merely setting out once more, embracing
My earliest aims again! What thinks he now?
Festus.
Your aims? the aims?to Know? and where is found
The early trust . . .
Paracelsus.
Nay, not so fast; I say,
The aimsnot the old means. You know they made me
A laughing-stock; I was a fool; you know
The when and the how: hardly those means again!
Not but they had their beauty; who should know
Their passing beauty, if not I? Still, dreams
They were, so let them vanish, yet in beauty
If that may be. Stay: thus they pass in song!
[He sings.
Heap cassia, sandal-buds and stripes
Of labdanum, and aloe-balls,
Smeared with dull nard an Indian wipes
From out her hair: such balsam falls
Down sea-side mountain pedestals,
From tree-tops where tired winds are fain,
Spent with the vast and howling main,
To treasure half their island-gain.
And strew faint sweetness from some old
Egyptian's fine worm-eaten shroud
Which breaks to dust when once unrolled;
Or shredded perfume, like a cloud
From closet long to quiet vowed,
With mothed and dropping arras hung,
Mouldering her lute and books among,
As when a queen, long dead, was young.
Mine, every word! And on such pile shall die
My lovely fancies, with fair perished things,
Themselves fair and forgotten; yes, forgotten,
Or why abjure them? So, I made this rhyme
That fitting dignity might be preserved;
No little proud was I; though the list of drugs
Smacks of my old vocation, and the verse
Halts like the best of Luther's psalms.
Festus.
But, Aureole,
Talk not thus wildly and madly. I am here
Did you know all! I have travelled far, indeed,
To learn your wishes. Be yourself again!
For in this mood I recognize you less
Than in the horrible despondency
I witnessed last. You may account this, joy;
But rather let me gaze on that despair
Than hear these incoherent words and see
This flushed cheek and intensely-sparkling eye.
Paracelsus.
Why, man, I was light-hearted in my prime
I am light-hearted now; what would you have?
Aprile was a poet, I make songs
'T is the very augury of success I want!
Why should I not be joyous now as then?
Festus.
Joyous! and how? and what remains for joy?
You have declared the ends (which I am sick
Of naming) are impracticable.
Paracelsus.
Ay,
Pursued as I pursued themthe arch-fool!
Listen: my plan will please you not, 't is like,
But you are little versed in the world's ways.
This is my plan(first drinking its good luck)
I will accept all helps; all I despised
So rashly at the outset, equally
With early impulses, late years have quenched:
I have tried each way singly: now for both!
All helps! no one sort shall exclude the rest.
I seek to know and to enjoy at once,
Not one without the other as before.
Suppose my labour should seem God's own cause
Once more, as first I dreamed,it shall not baulk me
Of the meanest earthliest sensualest delight
That may be snatched; for every joy is gain,
And gain is gain, however small. My soul
Can die then, nor be taunted"what was gained?"
Nor, on the other hand, should pleasure follow
As though I had not spurned her hitherto,
Shall she o'ercloud my spirit's rapt communion
With the tumultuous past, the teeming future,
Glorious with visions of a full success.
Festus.
Success!
Paracelsus.
And wherefore not? Why not prefer
Results obtained in my best state of being,
To those derived alone from seasons dark
As the thoughts they bred? When I was best, my youth
Unwasted, seemed success not surest too?
It is the nature of darkness to obscure.
I am a wanderer: I remember well
One journey, how I feared the track was missed,
So long the city I desired to reach
Lay hid; when suddenly its spires afar
Flashed through the circling clouds; you may conceive
My transport. Soon the vapours closed again,
But I had seen the city, and one such glance
No darkness could obscure: nor shall the present
A few dull hours, a passing shame or two,
Destroy the vivid memories of the past.
I will fight the battle out; a little spent
Perhaps, but still an able combatant.
You look at my grey hair and furrowed brow?
But I can turn even weakness to account:
Of many tricks I know, 't is not the least
To push the ruins of my frame, whereon
The fire of vigour trembles scarce alive,
Into a heap, and send the flame aloft.
What should I do with age? So, sickness lends
An aid; it being, I fear, the source of all
We boast of: mind is nothing but disease,
And natural health is ignorance.
Festus.
I see
But one good symptom in this notable scheme.
I feared your sudden journey had in view
To wreak immediate vengeance on your foes
'T is not so: I am glad.
Paracelsus.
And if I please
To spit on them, to trample them, what then?
'T is sorry warfare truly, but the fools
Provoke it. I would spare their self-conceit
But if they must provoke me, cannot suffer
Forbearance on my part, if I may keep
No quality in the shade, must needs put forth
Power to match power, my strength against their strength,
And teach them their own game with their own arms
Why, be it so and let them take their chance!
I am above them like a god, there's no
Hiding the fact: what idle scruples, then,
Were those that ever bade me soften it,
Communicate it gently to the world,
Instead of proving my supremacy,
Taking my natural station o'er their head,
Then owning all the glory was a man's!
And in my elevation man's would be.
But live and learn, though life's short, learning, hard!
And therefore, though the wreck of my past self,
I fear, dear Ptter, that your lecture-room
Must wait awhile for its best ornament,
The penitent empiric, who set up
For somebody, but soon was taught his place;
Now, but too happy to be let confess
His error, snuff the candles, and illustrate
(Fiat experientia corpore vili)
Your medicine's soundness in his person. Wait,
Good Ptter!
Festus.
He who sneers thus, is a god!
Paracelsus.
Ay, ay, laugh at me! I am very glad
You are not gulled by all this swaggering; you
Can see the root of the matter!how I strive
To put a good face on the overthrow
I have experienced, and to bury and hide
My degradation in its length and breadth;
How the mean motives I would make you think
Just mingle as is due with nobler aims,
The appetites I modestly allow
May influence me as being mortal still
Do goad me, drive me on, and fast supplant
My youth's desires. You are no stupid dupe:
You find me out! Yes, I had sent for you
To palm these childish lies upon you, Festus!
Laughyou shall laugh at me!
Festus.
The past, then, Aureole,
Proves nothing? Is our interchange of love
Yet to begin? Have I to swear I mean
No flattery in this speech or that? For you,
Whate'er you say, there is no degradation;
These low thoughts are no inmates of your mind,
Or wherefore this disorder? You are vexed
As much by the intrusion of base views,
Familiar to your adversaries, as they
Were troubled should your qualities alight
Amid their murky souls; not otherwise,
A stray wolf which the winter forces down
From our bleak hills, suffices to affright
A village in the valeswhile foresters
Sleep calm, though all night long the famished troop
Snuff round and scratch against their crazy huts.
These evil thoughts are monsters, and will flee.
Paracelsus.
May you be happy, Festus, my own friend!
Festus.
Nay, further; the delights you fain would think
The superseders of your nobler aims,
Though ordinary and harmless stimulants,
Will ne'er content you. . . .
Paracelsus.
Hush! I once despised them,
But that soon passes. We are high at first
In our demand, nor will abate a jot
Of toil's strict value; but time passes o'er,
And humbler spirits accept what we refuse:
In short, when some such comfort is doled out
As these delights, we cannot long retain
Bitter contempt which urges us at first
To hurl it back, but hug it to our breast
And thankfully retire. This life of mine
Must be lived out and a grave thoroughly earned:
I am just fit for that and nought beside.
I told you once, I cannot now enjoy,
Unless I deem my knowledge gains through joy;
Nor can I know, but straight warm tears reveal
My need of linking also joy to knowledge:
So, on I drive, enjoying all I can,
And knowing all I can. I speak, of course,
Confusedly; this will better explainfeel here!
Quick beating, is it not?a fire of the heart
To work off some way, this as well as any.
So, Festus sees me fairly launched; his calm
Compassionate look might have disturbed me once,
But now, far from rejecting, I invite
What bids me press the closer, lay myself
Open before him, and be soothed with pity;
I hope, if he command hope, and believe
As he directs mesatiating myself
With his enduring love. And Festus quits me
To give place to some credulous disciple
Who holds that God is wise, but Paracelsus
Has his peculiar merits: I suck in
That homage, chuckle o'er that admiration,
And then dismiss the fool; for night is come.
And I betake myself to study again,
Till patient searchings after hidden lore
Half wring some bright truth from its prison; my frame
Trembles, my forehead's veins swell out, my hair
Tingles for triumph. Slow and sure the morn
Shall break on my pent room and dwindling lamp
And furnace dead, and scattered earths and ores;
When, with a failing heart and throbbing brow,
I must review my captured truth, sum up
Its value, trace what ends to what begins,
Its present power with its eventual bearings,
Latent affinities, the views it opens,
And its full length in perfecting my scheme.
I view it sternly circumscribed, cast down
From the high place my fond hopes yielded it,
Proved worthlesswhich, in getting, yet had cost
Another wrench to this fast-falling frame.
Then, quick, the cup to quaff, that chases sorrow!
I lapse back into youth, and take again
My fluttering pulse for evidence that God
Means good to me, will make my cause his own.
See! I have cast off this remorseless care
Which clogged a spirit born to soar so free,
And my dim chamber has become a tent,
Festus is sitting by me, and his Michal . . .
Why do you start? I say, she listening here,
(For yonderWrzburg through the orchard-bough!)
Motions as though such ardent words should find
No echo in a maiden's quiet soul,
But her pure bosom heaves, her eyes fill fast
With tears, her sweet lips tremble all the while!
Ha, ha!
Festus.
It seems, then, you expect to reap
No unreal joy from this your present course,
But rather . . .
Paracelsus.
Death! To die! I owe that much
To what, at least, I was. I should be sad
To live contented after such a fall,
To thrive and fatten after such reverse!
The whole plan is a makeshift, but will last
My time.
Festus.
And you have never mused and said,
"I had a noble purpose, and the strength
"To compass it; but I have stopped half-way,
"And wrongly given the first-fruits of my toil
"To objects little worthy of the gift.
"Why linger round them still? why clench my fault?
"Why seek for consolation in defeat,
"In vain endeavours to derive a beauty
"From ugliness? why seek to make the most
"Of what no power can change, nor strive instead
"With mighty effort to redeem the past
"And, gathering up the treasures thus cast down,
"To hold a steadfast course till I arrive
"At their fit destination and my own?"
You have never pondered thus?
Paracelsus.
Have I, you ask?
Often at midnight, when most fancies come,
Would some such airy project visit me:
But ever at the end . . . or will you hear
The same thing in a tale, a parable?
You and I, wandering over the world wide,
Chance to set foot upon a desert coast.
Just as we cry, "No human voice before
"Broke the inveterate silence of these rocks!"
Their querulous echo startles us; we turn:
What ravaged structure still looks o'er the sea?
Some characters remain, too! While we read,
The sharp salt wind, impatient for the last
Of even this record, wistfully comes and goes,
Or sings what we recover, mocking it.
This is the record; and my voice, the wind's.
[He sings.
Over the sea our galleys went,
With cleaving prows in order brave
To a speeding wind and a bounding wave,
A gallant armament:
Each bark built out of a forest-tree
Left leafy and rough as first it grew,
And nailed all over the gaping sides,
Within and without, with black bull-hides,
Seethed in fat and suppled in flame,
To bear the playful billows' game:
So, each good ship was rude to see,
Rude and bare to the outward view,
But each upbore a stately tent
Where cedar pales in scented row
Kept out the flakes of the dancing brine,
And an awning drooped the mast below,
In fold on fold of the purple fine,
That neither noontide nor starshine
Nor moonlight cold which maketh mad,
Might pierce the regal tenement.
When the sun dawned, oh, gay and glad
We set the sail and plied the oar;
But when the night-wind blew like breath,
For joy of one day's voyage more,
We sang together on the wide sea,
Like men at peace on a peaceful shore;
Each sail was loosed to the wind so free,
Each helm made sure by the twilight star,
And in a sleep as calm as death,
We, the voyagers from afar,
Lay stretched along, each weary crew
In a circle round its wondrous tent
Whence gleamed soft light and curled rich scent,
And with light and perfume, music too:
So the stars wheeled round, and the darkness past,
And at morn we started beside the mast,
And still each ship was sailing fast.
Now, one morn, land appeareda speck
Dim trembling betwixt sea and sky:
"Avoid it," cried our pilot, "check
"The shout, restrain the eager eye!"
But the heaving sea was black behind
For many a night and many a day,
And land, though but a rock, drew nigh;
So, we broke the cedar pales away,
Let the purple awning flap in the wind,
And a statute bright was on every deck!
We shouted, every man of us,
And steered right into the harbour thus,
With pomp and pan glorious.
A hundred shapes of lucid stone!
All day we built its shrine for each,
A shrine of rock for every one,
Nor paused till in the westering sun
We sat together on the beach
To sing because our task was done.
When lo! what shouts and merry songs!
What laughter all the distance stirs!
A loaded raft with happy throngs
Of gentle islanders!
"Our isles are just at hand," they cried,
"Like cloudlets faint in even sleeping
"Our temple-gates are opened wide,
"Our olive-groves thick shade are keeping
"For these majestic forms"they cried.
Oh, then we awoke with sudden start
From our deep dream, and knew, too late,
How bare the rock, how desolate,
Which had received our precious freight:
Yet we called out"Depart!
"Our gifts, once given, must here abide.
"Our work is done; we have no heart
"To mar our work,"we cried.
Festus.
In truth?
Paracelsus.
Nay, wait: all this in tracings faint
On rugged stones strewn here and there, but piled
In order once: then followsmark what follows!
"The sad rhyme of the men who proudly clung
"To their first fault, and withered in their pride."
Festus.
Come back then, Aureole; as you fear God, come!
This is foul sin; come back! Renounce the past,
Forswear the future; look for joy no more,
But wait death's summons amid holy sights,
And trust me for the eventpeace, if not joy.
Return with me to Einsiedeln, dear Aureole!
Paracelsus.
No way, no way! it would not turn to good.
A spotless child sleeps on the flowering moss
'T is well for him; but when a sinful man,
Envying such slumber, may desire to put
His guilt away, shall he return at once
To rest by lying there? Our sires knew well
(Spite of the grave discoveries of their sons)
The fitting course for such: dark cells, dim lamps,
A stone floor one may writhe on like a worm:
No mossy pillow blue with violets!
Festus.
I see no symptom of these absolute
And tyrannous passions. You are calmer now.
This verse-making can purge you well enough
Without the terrible penance you describe.
You love me still: the lusts you fear will never
Outrage your friend. To Einsiedeln, once more!
Say but the word!
Paracelsus.
No, no; those lusts forbid:
They crouch, I know, cowering with half-shut eye
Beside you; 't is their nature. Thrust yourself
Between them and their prey; let some fool style me
Or king or quack, it matters notthen try
Your wisdom, urge them to forego their treat!
No, no; learn better and look deeper, Festus!
If you knew how a devil sneers within me
While you are talking now of this, now that,
As though we differed scarcely save in trifles!
Festus.
Do we so differ? True, change must proceed,
Whether for good or ill; keep from me, which!
Do not confide all secrets: I was born
To hope, and you . . .
Paracelsus.
To trust: you know the fruits!
Festus.
Listen: I do believe, what you call trust
Was self-delusion at the best: for, see!
So long as God would kindly pioneer
A path for you, and screen you from the world,
Procure you full exemption from man's lot,
Man's common hopes and fears, on the mere pretext
Of your engagement in his serviceyield you
A limitless licence, make you God, in fact,
And turn your slaveyou were content to say
Most courtly praises! What is it, at last,
But selfishness without example? None
Could trace God's will so plain as you, while yours
Remained implied in it; but now you fail,
And we, who prate about that will, are fools!
In short, God's service is established here
As he determines fit, and not your way,
And this you cannot brook. Such discontent
Is weak. Renounce all creatureship at once!
Affirm an absolute right to have and use
Your energies; as though the rivers should say
"We rush to the ocean; what have we to do
"With feeding streamlets, lingering in the vales,
"Sleeping in lazy pools?" Set up that plea,
That will be bold at least!
Paracelsus.
'T is like enough.
The serviceable spirits are those, no doubt,
The East produces: lo, the master bids,
They wake, raise terraces and garden-grounds
In one night's space; and, this done, straight begin
Another century's sleep, to the great praise
Of him that framed them wise and beautiful,
Till a lamp's rubbing, or some chance akin,
Wake them again. I am of different mould.
I would have soothed my lord, and slaved for him
And done him service past my narrow bond,
And thus I get rewarded for my pains!
Beside, 't is vain to talk of forwarding
God's glory otherwise; this is alone
The sphere of its increase, as far as men
Increase it; why, then, look beyond this sphere?
We are his glory; and if we be glorious,
Is not the thing achieved?
Festus.
Shall one like me
Judge hearts like yours? Though years have changed you much,
And you have left your first love, and retain
Its empty shade to veil your crooked ways,
Yet I still hold that you have honoured God.
And who shall call your course without reward?
For, wherefore this repining at defeat
Had triumph ne'er inured you to high hopes?
I urge you to forsake the life you curse,
And what success attends me?simply talk
Of passion, weakness and remorse; in short,
Anything but the naked truthyou choose
This so-despised career, and cheaply hold
My happiness, or rather other men's.
Once more, return!
Paracelsus.
And quickly. John the thief
Has pilfered half my secrets by this time:
And we depart by daybreak. I am weary,
I know not how; not even the wine-cup soothes
My brain to-night . . .
Do you not thoroughly despise me, Festus?
No flattery! One like you needs not be told
We live and breathe deceiving and deceived.
Do you not scorn me from your heart of hearts,
Me and my cant, each petty subterfuge,
My rhymes and all this frothy shower of words,
My glozing self-deceit, my outward crust
Of lies which wrap, as tetter, morphew, furfair
Wrapt the sound flesh?so, see you flatter not!
Even God flatters: but my friend, at least,
Is true. I would depart, secure henceforth
Against all further insult, hate and wrong
From puny foes; my one friend's scorn shall brand me:
No fear of sinking deeper!
Festus.
No, dear Aureole!
No, no; I came to counsel faithfully.
There are old rules, made long ere we were born,
By which I judge you. I, so fallible,
So infinitely low beside your mighty
Majestic spirit!even I can see
You own some higher law than ours which call
Sin, what is no sinweakness, what is strength.
But I have only these, such as they are,
To guide me; and I blame you where they bid,
Only so long as blaming promises
To win peace for your soul: the more, that sorrow
Has fallen on me of late, and they have helped me
So that I faint not under my distress.
But wherefore should I scruple to avow
In spite of all, as brother judging brother,
Your fate is most inexplicable to me?
And should you perish without recompense
And satisfaction yettoo hastily
I have relied on love: you may have sinned,
But you have loved. As a mere human matter
As I would have God deal with fragile men
In the endI say that you will triumph yet!
Paracelsus.
Have you felt sorrow, Festus?'t is because
You love me. Sorrow, and sweet Michal yours!
Well thought on: never let her know this last
Dull winding-up of all: these miscreants dared
Insult meme she loved:so, grieve her not!
Festus.
Your ill success can little grieve her now.
Paracelsus.
Michal is dead! pray Christ we do not craze!
Festus.
Aureole, dear Aureole, look not on me thus!
Fool, fool! this is the heart grown sorrow-proof
I cannot bear those eyes.
Paracelsus.
Nay, really dead?
Festus.
'T is scarce a month.
Paracelsus.
Stone dead!then you have laid her
Among the flowers ere this. Now, do you know,
I can reveal a secret which shall comfort
Even you. I have no julep, as men think,
To cheat the grave; but a far better secret.
Know, then, you did not ill to trust your love
To the cold earth: I have thought much of it:
For I believe we do not wholly die.
Festus.
Aureole!
Paracelsus.
Nay, do not laugh; there is a reason
For what I say: I think the soul can never
Taste death. I am, just now, as you may see,
Very unfit to put so strange a thought
In an intelligible dress of words;
But take it as my trust, she is not dead.
Festus.
But not on this account alone? you surely,
Aureole, you have believed this all along?
Paracelsus.
And Michal sleeps among the roots and dews,
While I am moved at Basil, and full of schemes
For Nuremberg, and hoping and despairing,
As though it mattered how the farce plays out,
So it be quickly played. Away, away!
Have your will, rabble! while we fight the prize,
Troop you in safety to the snug back-seats
And leave a clear arena for the brave
About to perish for your sport!Behold!
~ Robert Browning, Paracelsus - Part IV - Paracelsus Aspires
,#NFDB
654:And the font took them: let our laurels lie!
Braid moonfern now with mystic trifoly
Because once more Goito gets, once more,
Sordello to itself! A dream is o'er,
And the suspended life begins anew;
Quiet those throbbing temples, then, subdue
That cheek's distortion! Nature's strict embrace,
Putting aside the past, shall soon efface
Its print as wellfactitious humours grown
Over the trueloves, hatreds not his own
And turn him pure as some forgotten vest
Woven of painted byssus, silkiest
Tufting the Tyrrhene whelk's pearl-sheeted lip,
Left welter where a trireme let it slip
I' the sea, and vexed a satrap; so the stain
O' the world forsakes Sordello, with its pain,
Its pleasure: how the tinct loosening escapes,
Cloud after cloud! Mantua's familiar shapes
Die, fair and foul die, fading as they flit,
Men, women, and the pathos and the wit,
Wise speech and foolish, deeds to smile or sigh
For, good, bad, seemly or ignoble, die.
The last face glances through the eglantines,
The last voice murmurs, 'twixt the blossomed vines,
Of Men, of that machine supplied by thought
To compass self-perception with, he sought
By forcing half himselfan insane pulse
Of a god's blood, on clay it could convulse,
Never transmuteon human sights and sounds,
To watch the other half with; irksome bounds
It ebbs from to its source, a fountain sealed
Forever. Better sure be unrevealed
Than part revealed: Sordello well or ill
Is finished: then what further use of Will,
Point in the prime idea not realized,
An oversight? inordinately prized,
No less, and pampered with enough of each
Delight to prove the whole above its reach.
"To need become all natures, yet retain
"The law of my own natureto remain
"Myself, yet yearn . . . as if that chestnut, think,
"Should yearn for this first larch-bloom crisp and pink,
"Or those pale fragrant tears where zephyrs stanch
"March wounds along the fretted pine-tree branch!
"Will and the means to show will, great and small,
"Material, spiritual,abjure them all
"Save any so distinct, they may be left
"To amuse, not tempt become! and, thus bereft,
"Just as I first was fashioned would I be!
"Nor, moon, is it Apollo now, but me
"Thou visitest to comfort and befriend!
"Swim thou into my heart, and there an end,
"Since I possess thee!nay, thus shut mine eyes
"And know, quite know, by this heart's fall and rise,
"When thou dost bury thee in clouds, and when
"Out-standest: wherefore practise upon men
"To make that plainer to myself?"
Slide here
Over a sweet and solitary year
Wasted; or simply notice change in him
How eyes, once with exploring bright, grew dim
And satiate with receiving. Some distress
Was caused, too, by a sort of consciousness
Under the imbecility,nought kept
That down; he slept, but was aware he slept,
So, frustrated: as who brainsick made pact
Erst with the overhanging cataract
To deafen him, yet still distinguished plain
His own blood's measured clicking at his brain.
To finish. One declining Autumn day
Few birds about the heaven chill and grey,
No wind that cared trouble the tacit woods
He sauntered home complacently, their moods
According, his and nature's. Every spark
Of Mantua life was trodden out; so dark
The embers, that the Troubadour, who sung
Hundreds of songs, forgot, its trick his tongue,
Its craft his brain, how either brought to pass
Singing at all; that faculty might class
With any of Apollo's now. The year
Began to find its early promise sere
As well. Thus beauty vanishes; thus stone
Outlingers flesh: nature's and his youth gone,
They left the world to you, and wished you joy.
When, stopping his benevolent employ,
A presage shuddered through the welkin; harsh
The earth's remonstrance followed. 'T was the marsh
Gone of a sudden. Mincio, in its place,
Laughed, a broad water, in next morning's face,
And, where the mists broke up immense and white
I' the steady wind, burned like a spilth of light
Out of the crashing of a myriad stars.
And here was nature, bound by the same bars
Of fate with him!
"No! youth once gone is gone:
"Deeds, let escape, are never to be done.
"Leaf-fall and grass-spring for the year; for us
"Oh forfeit I unalterably thus
"My chance? nor two lives wait me, this to spend,
"Learning save that? Nature has time, may mend
"Mistake, she knows occasion will recur;
"Landslip or seabreach, how affects it her
"With her magnificent resources?I
"Must perish once and perish utterly.
"Not any strollings now at even-close
"Down the field-path, Sordello! by thorn-rows
"Alive with lamp-flies, swimming spots of fire
"And dew, outlining the black cypress' spire
"She waits you at, Elys, who heard you first
"Woo her, the snow-month through, but ere she durst
"Answer 't was April. Linden-flower-time-long
"Her eyes were on the ground; 't is July, strong
"Now; and because white dust-clouds overwhelm
"The woodside, here or by the village elm
"That holds the moon, she meets you, somewhat pale,
"But letting you lift up her coarse flax veil
"And whisper (the damp little hand in yours)
"Of love, heart's love, your heart's love that endures
"Till death. Tush! No mad mixing with the rout
"Of haggard ribalds wandering about
"The hot torchlit wine-scented island-house
"Where Friedrich holds his wickedest carouse,
"Parading,to the gay Palermitans,
"Soft Messinese, dusk Saracenic clans
"Nuocera holds,those tall grave dazzling Norse,
"High-cheeked, lank-haired, toothed whiter than the morse,
"Queens of the caves of jet stalactites,
"He sent his barks to fetch through icy seas,
"The blind night seas without a saving star,
"And here in snowy birdskin robes they are,
"Sordello!here, mollitious alcoves gilt
"Superb as Byzant domes that devils built!
"Ah, Byzant, there again! no chance to go
"Ever like august cheery Dandolo,
"Worshipping hearts about him for a wall,
"Conducted, blind eyes, hundred years and all,
"Through vanquished Byzant where friends note for him
"What pillar, marble massive, sardius slim,
"'T were fittest he transport to Venice' Square
"Flattered and promised life to touch them there
"Soon, by those fervid sons of senators!
"No more lifes, deaths, loves, hatreds, peaces, wars!
"Ah, fragments of a whole ordained to be,
"Points in the life I waited! what are ye
"But roundels of a ladder which appeared
"Awhile the very platform it was reared
"To lift me on?that happiness I find
"Proofs of my faith in, even in the blind
"Instinct which bade forego you all unless
"Ye led me past yourselves. Ay, happiness
"Awaited me; the way life should be used
"Was to acquire, and deeds like you conduced
"To teach it by a self-revealment, deemed
"Life's very use, so long! Whatever seemed
"Progress to that, was pleasure; aught that stayed
"My reaching itno pleasure. I have laid
"The ladder down; I climb not; still, aloft
"The platform stretches! Blisses strong and soft,
"I dared not entertain, elude me; yet
"Never of what they promised could I get
"A glimpse till now! The common sort, the crowd,
"Exist, perceive; with Being are endowed,
"However slight, distinct from what they See,
"However bounded; Happiness must be,
"To feed the first by gleanings from the last,
"Attain its qualities, and slow or fast
"Become what they behold; such peace-in-strife,
"By transmutation, is the Use of Life,
"The Alien turning Native to the soul
"Or bodywhich instructs me; I am whole
"There and demand a Palma; had the world
"Been from my soul to a like distance hurled,
"'T were Happiness to make it one with me:
"Whereas I must, ere I begin to Be,
"Include a world, in flesh, I comprehend
"In spirit now; and this done, what 's to blend
"With? Nought is Alien in the worldmy Will
"Owns all already; yet can turn itstill
"LessNative, since my Means to correspond
"With Will are so unworthy, 't was my bond
"To tread the very joys that tantalize
"Most now, into a grave, never to rise.
"I die then! Will the rest agree to die?
"Next Age or no? Shall its Sordello try
"Clue after clue, and catch at last the clue
"I miss?that 's underneath my finger too,
"Twice, thrice a day, perhaps,some yearning traced
"Deeper, some petty consequence embraced
"Closer! Why fled I Mantua, then?complained
"So much my Will was fettered, yet remained
"Content within a tether half the range
"I could assign it?able to exchange
"My ignorance (I felt) for knowledge, and
"Idle because I could thus understand
"Could e'en have penetrated to its core
"Our mortal mystery, yetfoolforbore,
"Preferred elaborating in the dark
"My casual stuff, by any wretched spark
"Born of my predecessors, though one stroke
"Of mine had brought the flame forth! Mantua's yoke,
"My minstrel's-trade, was to behold mankind,
"My own concern was just to bring my mind
"Behold, just extricate, for my acquist,
"Each object suffered stifle in the mist
"Which hazard, custom, blindness interpose
"Betwixt things and myself."
Whereat he rose.
The level wind carried above the firs
Clouds, the irrevocable travellers,
Onward.
"Pushed thus into a drowsy copse,
"Arms twine about my neck, each eyelid drops
"Under a humid finger; while there fleets,
"Outside the screen, a pageant time repeats
"Never again! To be deposed, immured
"Clandestinelystill petted, still assured
"To govern were fatiguing workthe Sight
"Fleeting meanwhile! 'T is noontide: wreak ere night
"Somehow my will upon it, rather! Slake
"This thirst somehow, the poorest impress take
"That serves! A blasted bud displays you, torn,
"Faint rudiments of the full flower unborn;
"But who divines what glory coats o'erclasp
"Of the bulb dormant in the mummy's grasp
"Taurello sent?" . . .
"Taurello? Palma sent
"Your Trouvere," (Naddo interposing leant
Over the lost bard's shoulder)"and, believe,
"You cannot more reluctantly receive
"Than I pronounce her message: we depart
"Together. What avail a poet's heart
"Verona's pomps and gauds? five blades of grass
"Suffice him. News? Why, where your marish was,
"On its mud-banks smoke rises after smoke
"I' the valley, like a spout of hell new-broke.
"Oh, the world's tidings! small your thanks, I guess,
"For them. The father of our Patroness,
"Has played Taurello an astounding trick,
"Parts between Ecelin and Alberic
"His wealth and goes into a convent: both
"Wed Guelfs: the Count and Palma plighted troth
"A week since at Verona: and they want
"You doubtless to contrive the marriage-chant
"Ere Richard storms Ferrara." Then was told
The tale from the beginninghow, made bold
By Salinguerra's absence, Guelfs had burned
And pillaged till he unawares returned
To take revenge: how Azzo and his friend
Were doing their endeavour, how the end
O' the siege was nigh, and how the Count, released
From further care, would with his marriage-feast
Inaugurate a new and better rule,
Absorbing thus Romano.
"Shall I school
"My master," added Naddo, "and suggest
"How you may clothe in a poetic vest
"These doings, at Verona? Your response
"To Palma! Wherefore jest? 'Depart at once?
"A good resolve! In truth, I hardly hoped
"So prompt an acquiescence. Have you groped
"Out wisdom in the wilds here?thoughts may be
"Over-poetical for poetry.
"Pearl-white, you poets liken Palma's neck;
"And yet what spoils an orient like some speck
"Of genuine white, turning its own white grey?
"You take me? Curse the cicala!"
One more day,
One eveappears Verona! Many a group,
(You mind) instructed of the osprey's swoop
On lynx and ounce, was gatheringChristendom
Sure to receive, whate'er the end was, from
The evening's purpose cheer or detriment,
Since Friedrich only waited some event
Like this, of Ghibellins establishing
Themselves within Ferrara, ere, as King
Of Lombardy, he 'd glad descend there, wage
Old warfare with the Pontiff, disengage
His barons from the burghers, and restore
The rule of Charlemagne, broken of yore
By Hildebrand.
I' the palace, each by each,
Sordello sat and Palma: little speech
At first in that dim closet, face with face
(Despite the tumult in the market-place)
Exchanging quick low laughters: now would rush
Word upon word to meet a sudden flush,
A look left off, a shifting lips' surmise
But for the most part their two histories
Ran best thro' the locked fingers and linked arms.
And so the night flew on with its alarms
Till in burst one of Palma's retinue;
"Now, Lady!" gasped he. Then arose the two
And leaned into Verona's air, dead-still.
A balcony lay black beneath until
Out, 'mid a gush of torchfire, grey-haired men
Came on it and harangued the people: then
Sea-like that people surging to and fro
Shouted, "Hale forth the carrochtrumpets, ho,
"A flourish! Run it in the ancient grooves!
"Back from the bell! Hammerthat whom behoves
"May hear the League is up! Peallearn who list,
"Verona means not first of towns break tryst
"To-morrow with the League!"
Enough. Now turn
Over the eastern cypresses: discern!
Is any beacon set a-glimmer?
Rang
The air with shouts that overpowered the clang
Of the incessant carroch, even: "Haste
"The candle 's at the gateway! ere it waste,
"Each soldier stand beside it, armed to march
"With Tiso Sampier through the eastern arch!"
Ferrara's succoured, Palma!
Once again
They sat together; some strange thing in train
To say, so difficult was Palma's place
In taking, with a coy fastidious grace
Like the bird's flutter ere it fix and feed.
But when she felt she held her friend indeed
Safe, she threw back her curls, began implant
Her lessons; telling of another want
Goito's quiet nourished than his own;
Palmato serve himto be served, alone
Importing; Agnes' milk so neutralized
The blood of Ecelin. Nor be surprised
If, while Sordello fain had captive led
Nature, in dream was Palma subjected
To some out-soul, which dawned not though she pined
Delaying, till its advent, heart and mind
Their life. "How dared I let expand the force
"Within me, till some out-soul, whose resource
"It grew for, should direct it? Every law
"Of life, its every fitness, every flaw,
"Must One determine whose corporeal shape
"Would be no other than the prime escape
"And revelation to me of a Will
"Orb-like o'ershrouded and inscrutable
"Above, save at the point which, I should know,
"Shone that myself, my powers, might overflow
"So far, so much; as now it signified
"Which earthly shape it henceforth chose my guide,
"Whose mortal lip selected to declare
"Its oracles, what fleshly garb would wear
"The first of intimations, whom to love;
"The next, how love him. Seemed that orb, above
"The castle-covert and the mountain-close,
"Slow in appearing?if beneath it rose
"Cravings, aversions,did our green precinct
"Take pride in me, at unawares distinct
"With this or that endowment,how, repressed
"At once, such jetting power shrank to the rest!
"Was I to have a chance touch spoil me, leave
"My spirit thence unfitted to receive
"The consummating spell?that spell so near
"Moreover! 'Waits he not the waking year?
"'His almond-blossoms must be honey-ripe
"'By this; to welcome him, fresh runnels stripe
"'The thawed ravines; because of him, the wind
"'Walks like a herald. I shall surely find
"'Him now!'
"And chief, that earnest April morn
"Of Richard's Love-court, was it time, so worn
"And white my cheek, so idly my blood beat,
"Sitting that morn beside the Lady's feet
"And saying as she prompted; till outburst
"One face from all the faces. Not then first
"I knew it; where in maple chamber glooms,
"Crowned with what sanguine-heart pomegranate blooms,
"Advanced it ever? Men's acknowledgment
"Sanctioned my own: 't was taken, Palma's bent,
"Sordello,recognized, accepted.
"Dumb
"Sat she still scheming. Ecelin would come
"Gaunt, scared, 'Cesano baffles me,' he 'd say:
"'Better I fought it out, my father's way!
"'Strangle Ferrara in its drowning flats,
"'And you and your Taurello yonder!what's
"'Romano's business there?' An hour's concern
"To cure the froward Chief!induce return
"As heartened from those overmeaning eyes,
"Wound up to persevere,his enterprise
"Marked out anew, its exigent of wit
"Apportioned,she at liberty to sit
"And scheme against the next emergence, I
"To covet her Taurello-sprite, made fly
"Or fold the wingto con your horoscope
"For leave command those steely shafts shoot ope,
"Or straight assuage their blinding eagerness
"In blank smooth snow What semblance of success
"To any of my plans for making you
"Mine and Romano's? Break the first wall through,
"Tread o'er the ruins of the Chief, supplant
"His sons beside, still, vainest were the vaunt:
"There, Salinguerra would obstruct me sheer,
"And the insuperable Tuscan, here,
"Stay me! But one wild eve that Lady died
"In her lone chamber: only I beside:
"Taurello far at Naples, and my sire
"At Padua, Ecelin away in ire
"With Alberic. She held me thusa clutch
"To make our spirits as our bodies touch
"And so began flinging the past up heaps
"Of uncouth treasure from their sunless sleeps
"Within her soul; deeds rose along with dreams,
"Fragments of many miserable schemes,
"Secrets, more secrets, thenno, not the last
"'Mongst others, like a casual trick o' the past,
"How . . . ay, she told me, gathering up her face,
"All left of it, into one arch-grimace
"To die with . . .
"Friend, 't is gone! but not the fear
"Of that fell laughing, heard as now I hear.
"Nor faltered voice, nor seemed her heart grow weak
"When i' the midst abrupt she ceased to speak
"Dead, as to serve a purpose, mark!for in
"Rushed o' the very instant Ecelin
"(How summoned, who divines?)looking as if
"He understood why Adelaide lay stiff
"Already in my arms; for 'Girl, how must
"'I manage Este in the matter thrust
"'Upon me, how unravel your bad coil?
"'Since' (he declared) ''t is on your browa soil
"'Like hers there!' then in the same breath, 'he lacked
"'No counsel after all, had signed no pact
"'With devils, nor was treason here or there,
"'Goito or Vicenza, his affair:
"'He buried it in Adelaide's deep grave,
"'Would begin life afresh, now,would not slave
"'For any Friedrich's nor Taurello's sake!
"'What booted him to meddle or to make
"'In Lombardy?' And afterward I knew
"The meaning of his promise to undo
"All she had donewhy marriages were made,
"New friendships entered on, old followers paid
"With curses for their pains,new friends' amaze
"At height, when, passing out by Gate St. Blaise,
"He stopped short in Vicenza, bent his head
"Over a friar's neck,'had vowed,' he said,
"'Long since, nigh thirty years, because his wife
"'And child were saved there, to bestow his life
"'On God, his gettings on the Church.'
"Exiled
"Within Goito, still one dream beguiled
"My days and nights; 't was found, the orb I sought
"To serve, those glimpses came of Fomalhaut,
"No other: but how serve it?authorize
"You and Romano mingle destinies?
"And straight Romano's angel stood beside
"Me who had else been Boniface's bride,
"For Salinguerra 't was, with neck low bent,
"And voice lightened to music, (as he meant
"To learn, not teach me,) who withdrew the pall
"From the dead past and straight revived it all,
"Making me see how first Romano waxed,
"Wherefore he waned now, why, if I relaxed
"My grasp (even I!) would drop a thing effete,
"Frayed by itself, unequal to complete
"Its course, and counting every step astray
"A gain so much. Romano, every way
"Stable, a Lombard House nowwhy start back
"Into the very outset of its track?
"This patching principle which late allied
"Our House with other Houseswhat beside
"Concerned the apparition, the first Knight
"Who followed Conrad hither in such plight
"His utmost wealth was summed in his one steed?
"For Ecelo, that prowler, was decreed
"A task, in the beginning hazardous
"To him as ever task can be to us;
"But did the weather-beaten thief despair
"When first our crystal cincture of warm air
"That binds the Trevisan,as its spice-belt
"(Crusaders say) the tract where Jesus dwelt,
"Furtive he pierced, and Este was to face
"Despaired Saponian strength of Lombard grace?
"Tried he at making surer aught made sure,
"Maturing what already was mature?
"No; his heart prompted Ecelo, 'Confront
"'Este, inspect yourself. What 's nature? Wont.
"'Discard three-parts your nature, and adopt
"'The rest as an advantage!' Old strength propped
"The man who first grew Podest among
"The Vicentines, no less than, while there sprung
"His palace up in Padua like a threat,
"Their noblest spied a grace, unnoticed yet
"In Conrad's crew. Thus far the object gained,
"Romano was establishedhas remained
"'For are you not Italian, truly peers
"'With Este? Azzo better soothes our ears
"'Than Alberic? or is this lion's-crine
"'From over-mounts' (this yellow hair of mine)
"'So weak a graft on Agnes Este's stock?'
"(Thus went he on with something of a mock)
"'Wherefore recoil, then, from the very fate
"'Conceded you, refuse to imitate
"'Your model farther? Este long since left
"'Being mere Este: as a blade its heft,
"'Este required the Pope to further him:
"'And you, the Kaiserwhom your father's whim
"'Foregoes or, better, never shall forego
"'If Palma dare pursue what Ecelo
"'Commenced, but Ecelin desists from: just
"'As Adelaide of Susa could intrust
"'Her donative,her Piedmont given the Pope,
"'Her Alpine-pass for him to shut or ope
"''Twixt France and Italy,to the superb
"'Matilda's perfecting,so, lest aught curb
"'Our Adelaide's great counter-project for
"'Giving her Trentine to the Emperor
"'With passage here from Germany,shall you
"'Take it,my slender plodding talent, too!'
"Urged me Taurello with his half-smile
"He
"As Patron of the scattered family
"Conveyed me to his Mantua, kept in bruit
"Azzo's alliances and Richard's suit
"Until, the Kaiser excommunicate,
"'Nothing remains,' Taurello said, 'but wait
"'Some rash procedure: Palma was the link,
"'As Agnes' child, between us, and they shrink
"'From losing Palma: judge if we advance,
"'Your father's method, your inheritance!'
"The day I was betrothed to Boniface
"At Padua by Taurello's self, took place
"The outrage of the Ferrarese: again,
"The day I sought Verona with the train
"Agreed for,by Taurello's policy
"Convicting Richard of the fault, since we
"Were present to annul or to confirm,
"Richard, whose patience had outstayed its term,
"Quitted Verona for the siege.
"And now
"What glory may engird Sordello's brow
"Through this? A month since at Oliero slunk
"All that was Ecelin into a monk;
"But how could Salinguerra so forget
"His liege of thirty years as grudge even yet
"One effort to recover him? He sent
"Forthwith the tidings of this last event
"To Ecelindeclared that he, despite
"The recent folly, recognized his right
"To order Salinguerra: 'Should he wring
"'Its uttermost advantage out, or fling
"'This chance away? Or were his sons now Head
"'O' the House?' Through me Taurello's missive sped;
"My father's answer will by me return.
"Behold! 'For him,' he writes, 'no more concern
"'With strife than, for his children, with fresh plots
"'Of Friedrich. Old engagements out he blots
"'For aye: Taurello shall no more subserve,
"'Nor Ecelin impose.' Lest this unnerve
"Taurello at this juncture, slack his grip
"Of Richard, suffer the occasion slip,
"I, in his sons' default (who, mating with
"Este, forsake Romano as the frith
"Its mainsea for that firmland, sea makes head
"Against) I stand, Romano,in their stead
"Assume the station they desert, and give
"Still, as the Kaiser's representative,
"Taurello licence he demands. Midnight
"Morningby noon to-morrow, making light
"Of the League's issue, we, in some gay weed
"Like yours, disguised together, may precede
"The arbitrators to Ferrara: reach
"Him, let Taurello's noble accents teach
"The rest! Then say if I have misconceived
"Your destiny, too readily believed
"The Kaiser's cause your own!"
And Palma's fled.
Though no affirmative disturbs the head,
A dying lamp-flame sinks and rises o'er,
Like the alighted planet Pollux wore,
Until, morn breaking, he resolves to be
Gate-vein of this heart's blood of Lombardy,
Soul of this bodyto wield this aggregate
Of souls and bodies, and so conquer fate
Though he should livea centre of disgust
Evenapart, core of the outward crust
He vivifies, assimilates. For thus
I bring Sordello to the rapturous
Exclaim at the crowd's cry, because one round
Of life was quite accomplished; and he found
Not only that a soul, whate'er its might,
Is insufficient to its own delight,
Both in corporeal organs and in skill
By means of such to body forth its Will
And, after, insufficient to apprise
Men of that Will, oblige them recognize
The Hid by the Revealedbut that,the last
Nor lightest of the struggles overpast,
Will, he bade abdicate, which would not void
The throne, might sit there, suffer he enjoyed
Mankind, a varied and divine array
Incapable of homage, the first way,
Nor fit to render incidentally
Tribute connived at, taken by the by,
In joys. If thus with warrant to rescind
The ignominious exile of mankind
Whose proper service, ascertained intact
As yet, (to be by him themselves made act,
Not watch Sordello acting each of them)
Was to secureif the true diadem
Seemed imminent while our Sordello drank
The wisdom of that golden Palma,thank
Verona's Lady in her citadel
Founded by Gaulish Brennus, legends tell:
And truly when she left him, the sun reared
A head like the first clamberer's who peered
A-top the Capitol, his face on flame
With triumph, triumphing till Manlius came.
Nor slight too much my rhymesthat spring, dispread,
Dispart, disperse, lingering over head
Like an escape of angels! Rather say,
My transcendental platan! mounting gay
(An archimage so courts a novice-queen)
With tremulous silvered trunk, whence branches sheen
Laugh out, thick-foliaged next, a-shiver soon
With coloured buds, then glowing like the moon
One mild flame,last a pause, a burst, and all
Her ivory limbs are smothered by a fall,
Bloom-flinders and fruit-sparkles and leaf-dust,
Ending the weird work prosecuted just
For her amusement; he decrepit, stark,
Dozes; her uncontrolled delight may mark
Apart
Yet not so, surely never so
Only, as good my soul were suffered go
O'er the lagune: forth fare thee, put aside
Entrance thy synod, as a god may glide
Out of the world he fills, and leave it mute
For myriad ages as we men compute,
Returning into it without a break
O' the consciousness! They sleep, and I awake
O'er the lagune, being at Venice.
Note,
In just such songs as Eglamor (say) wrote
With heart and soul and strength, for he believed
Himself achieving all to be achieved
By singerin such songs you find alone
Completeness, judge the song and singer one,
And either purpose answered, his in it
Or its in him: while from true works (to wit
Sordello's dream-performances that will
Never be more than dreamed) escapes there still
Some proof, the singer's proper life was 'neath
The life his song exhibits, this a sheath
To that; a passion and a knowledge far
Transcending these, majestic as they are,
Smouldered; his lay was but an episode
In the bard's life: which evidence you owed
To some slight weariness, some looking-off
Or start-away. The childish skit or scoff
In "Charlemagne," (his poem, dreamed divine
In every point except one silly line
About the restiff daughters)what may lurk
In that? "My life commenced before this work,"
(So I interpret the significance
Of the bard's start aside and look askance)
"My life continues after: on I fare
"With no more stopping, possibly, no care
"To note the undercurrent, the why and how,
"Where, when, o' the deeper life, as thus just now.
"But, silent, shall I cease to live? Alas
"For you! who sigh, 'When shall it come to pass
"'We read that story? How will he compress
"'The future gains, his life's true business,
"'Into the better lay whichthat one flout,
"'Howe'er inopportune it be, lets out
"'Engrosses him already, though professed
"'To meditate with us eternal rest,
"'And partnership in all his life has found?'"
'T is but a sailor's promise, weather-bound:
"Strike sail, slip cable, here the bark be moored
"For once, the awning stretched, the poles assured!
"Noontide above; except the wave's crisp dash,
"Or buzz of colibri, or tortoise' splash,
"The margin 's silent: out with every spoil
"Made in our tracking, coil by mighty coil,
"This serpent of a river to his head
"I' the midst! Admire each treasure, as we spread
"The bank, to help us tell our history
"Aright: give ear, endeavour to descry
"The groves of giant rushes, how they grew
"Like demons' endlong tresses we sailed through,
"What mountains yawned, forests to give us vent
"Opened, each doleful side, yet on we went
"Till . . . may that beetle (shake your cap) attest
"The springing of a land-wind from the West!"
Wherefore? Ah yes, you frolic it to-day!
To-morrow, and, the pageant moved away
Down to the poorest tent-pole, we and you
Part company: no other may pursue
Eastward your voyage, be informed what fate
Intends, if triumph or decline await
The tempter of the everlasting steppe.
I muse this on a ruined palace-step
At Venice: why should I break off, nor sit
Longer upon my step, exhaust the fit
England gave birth to? Who 's adorable
Enough reclaim a - no Sordello's Will
Alack!be queen to me? That Bassanese
Busied among her smoking fruit-boats? These
Perhaps from our delicious Asolo
Who twinkle, pigeons o'er the portico
Not prettier, bind June lilies into sheaves
To deck the bridge-side chapel, dropping leaves
Soiled by their own loose gold-meal? Ah, beneath
The cool arch stoops she, brownest cheek! Her wreath
Endures a montha half-monthif I make
A queen of her, continue for her sake
Sordello's story? Nay, that Paduan girl
Splashes with barer legs where a live whirl
In the dead black Giudecca proves sea-weed
Drifting has sucked down three, four, all indeed
Save one pale-red striped, pale-blue turbaned post
For gondolas.
You sad dishevelled ghost
That pluck at me and point, are you advised
I breathe? Let stay those girls (e'en her disguised
Jewels i' the locks that love no crownet like
Their native field-buds and the green wheat-spike,
So fair!who left this end of June's turmoil,
Shook off, as might a lily its gold soil,
Pomp, save a foolish gem or two, and free
In dream, came join the peasants o'er the sea.)
Look they too happy, too tricked out? Confess
There is such ****rd stock of happiness
To share, that, do one's uttermost, dear wretch,
One labours ineffectually to stretch
It o'er you so that mother and children, both
May equitably flaunt the sumpter-cloth!
Divide the robe yet farther: be content
With seeing just a score pre-eminent
Through shreds of it, acknowledged happy wights,
Engrossing what should furnish all, by rights!
For, these in evidence, you clearlier claim
A like garb for the rest,grace all, the same
As these my peasants. I ask youth and strength
And health for each of you, not moreat length
Grown wise, who asked at home that the whole race
Might add the spirit's to the body's grace,
And all be dizened out as chiefs and bards.
But in this magic weather one discards
Much old requirement. Venice seems a type
Of Life'twixt blue and blue extends, a stripe,
As Life, the somewhat, hangs 'twixt nought and nought:
'T is Venice, and 't is Lifeas good you sought
To spare me the Piazza's slippery stone
Or keep me to the unchoked canals alone,
As hinder Life the evil with the good
Which make up Living, rightly understood.
Only, do finish something! Peasants, queens,
Take them, made happy by whatever means,
Parade them for the common credit, vouch
That a luckless residue, we send to crouch
In corners out of sight, was just as framed
For happiness, its portion might have claimed
As well, and so, obtaining joy, had stalked
Fastuous as any!such my project, baulked
Already; I hardly venture to adjust
The first rags, when you find me. To mistrust
Me!nor unreasonably. You, no doubt,
Have the true knack of tiring suitors out
With those thin lips on tremble, lashless eyes
Inveterately tear-shot: there, be wise,
Mistress of mine, there, there, as if I meant
You insult!shall your friend (not slave) be shent
For speaking home? Beside, care-bit erased
Broken-up beauties ever took my taste
Supremely; and I love you more, far more
Than her I looked should foot Life's temple-floor.
Years ago, leagues at distance, when and where
A whisper came, "Let others seek!thy care
"Is found, thy life's provision; if thy race
"Should be thy mistress, and into one face
"The many faces crowd?" Ah, had I, judge,
Or no, your secret? Rough apparelgrudge
All ornaments save tag or tassel worn
To hint we are not thoroughly forlorn
Slouch bonnet, unloop mantle, careless go
Alone (that's saddest, but it must be so)
Through Venice, sing now and now glance aside,
Aught desultory or undignified,
Then, ravishingest lady, will you pass
Or not each formidable group, the mass
Before the Basilic (that feast gone by,
God's great day of the Corpus Domini)
And, wistfully foregoing proper men,
Come timid up to me for alms? And then
The luxury to hesitate, feign do
Some unexampled grace!when, whom but you
Dare I bestow your own upon? And hear
Further before you say, it is to sneer
I call you ravishing; for I regret
Little that she, whose early foot was set
Forth as she 'd plant it on a pedestal,
Now, i' the silent city, seems to fall
Toward meno wreath, only a lip's unrest
To quiet, surcharged eyelids to be pressed
Dry of their tears upon my bosom. Strange
Such sad chance should produce in thee such change,
My love! Warped souls and bodies! yet God spoke
Of right-hand, foot and eyeselects our yoke,
Sordello, as your poetship may find!
So, sleep upon my shoulder, child, nor mind
Their foolish talk; we 'll manage reinstate
Your old worth; ask moreover, when they prate
Of evil men past hope, "Don't each contrive,
"Despite the evil you abuse, to live?
"Keeping, each losel, through a maze of lies,
"His own conceit of truth? to which he hies
"By obscure windings, tortuous, if you will,
"But to himself not inaccessible;
"He sees truth, and his lies are for the crowd
"Who cannot see; some fancied right allowed
"His vilest wrong, empowered the losel clutch
"One pleasure from a multitude of such
"Denied him." Then assert, "All men appear
"To think all better than themselves, by here
"Trusting a crowd they wrong; but really," say,
"All men think all men stupider than they,
"Since, save themselves, no other comprehends
"The complicated scheme to make amends
"Evil, the scheme by which, thro' Ignorance,
"Good labours to exist." A slight advance,
Merely to find the sickness you die through,
And nought beside! but if one can't eschew
One's portion in the common lot, at least
One can avoid an ignorance increased
Tenfold by dealing out hint after hint
How nought were like dispensing without stint
The water of lifeso easy to dispense
Beside, when one has probed the centre whence
Commotion 's borncould tell you of it all!
"Meantime, just meditate my madrigal
"O' the mugwort that conceals a dewdrop safe!"
What, dullard? we and you in smothery chafe,
Babes, baldheads, stumbled thus far into Zin
The Horrid, getting neither out nor in,
A hungry sun above us, sands that bung
Our throats,each dromedary lolls a tongue,
Each camel churns a sick and frothy chap,
And you, 'twixt tales of Potiphar's mishap,
And sonnets on the earliest **** that spoke,
Remark, you wonder any one needs choke
With founts about! Potsherd him, Gibeonites!
While awkwardly enough your Moses smites
The rock, though he forego his Promised Land
Thereby, have Satan claim his carcass, and
Figure as Metaphysic Poet . . . ah,
Mark ye the dim first oozings? Meribah!
Then, quaffing at the fount my courage gained,
Recallnot that I prompt yewho explained . . .
"Presumptuous!" interrupts one. You, not I
'T is brother, marvel at and magnify
Such office: "office," quotha? can we get
To the beginning of the office yet?
What do we here? simply experiment
Each on the other's power and its intent
When elsewhere tasked,if this of mine were trucked
For yours to either's good,we watch construct,
In short, an engine: with a finished one,
What it can do, is all,nought, how 't is done.
But this of ours yet in probation, dusk
A kernel of strange wheelwork through its husk
Grows into shape by quarters and by halves;
Remark this tooth's spring, wonder what that valve's
Fall bodes, presume each faculty's device,
Make out each other more or less precise
The scope of the whole engine 's to be proved;
We die: which means to say, the whole 's removed,
Dismounted wheel by wheel, this complex gin,
To be set up anew elsewhere, begin
A task indeed, but with a clearer clime
Than the murk lodgment of our building-time.
And then, I grant you, it behoves forget
How 't is doneall that must amuse us yet
So long: and, while you turn upon your heel,
Pray that I be not busy slitting steel
Or shredding brass, camped on some virgin shore
Under a cluster of fresh stars, before
I name a tithe o' the wheels I trust to do!
So occupied, then, are we: hitherto,
At present, and a weary while to come,
The office of ourselves,nor blind nor dumb,
And seeing somewhat of man's state,has been,
For the worst of us, to say they so have seen;
For the better, what it was they saw; the best
Impart the gift of seeing to the rest:
"So that I glance," says such an one, "around,
"And there 's no face but I can read profound
"Disclosures in; this stands for hope, thatfear,
"And for a speech, a deed in proof, look here!
"'Stoop, else the strings of blossom, where the nuts
"'O'erarch, will blind thee! Said I not? She shuts
"'Both eyes this time, so close the hazels meet!
"'Thus, prisoned in the Piombi, I repeat
"'Events one rove occasioned, o'er and o'er,
"'Putting 'twixt me and madness evermore
"'Thy sweet shape, Zanze! Therefore stoop!'
"'That's truth!'
"(Adjudge you) 'the incarcerated youth
"'Would say that!'
"Youth? Plara the bard? Set down
"That Plara spent his youth in a grim town
"Whose cramped ill-featured streets huddled about
"The minster for protection, never out
"Of its black belfry's shade and its bells' roar.
"The brighter shone the suburb,all the more
"Ugly and absolute that shade's reproof
"Of any chance escape of joy,some roof,
"Taller than they, allowed the rest detect,
"Before the sole permitted laugh (suspect
"Who could, 't was meant for laughter, that ploughed cheek's
"Repulsive gleam!) when the sun stopped both peaks
"Of the cleft belfry like a fiery wedge,
"Then sank, a huge flame on its socket edge,
"With leavings on the grey glass oriel-pane
"Ghastly some minutes more. No fear of rain
"The minster minded that! in heaps the dust
"Lay everywhere. This town, the minster's trust,
"Held Plara; who, its denizen, bade hail
"In twice twelve sonnets, Tempe's dewy vale."
"'Exact the town, the minster and the street!'"
"As all mirth triumphs, sadness means defeat:
"Lust triumphs and is gay, Love 's triumphed o'er
"And sad: but Lucio 's sad. I said before,
"Love's sad, not Lucio; one who loves may be
"As gay his love has leave to hope, as he
"Downcast that lusts' desire escapes the springe:
"'T is of the mood itself I speak, what tinge
"Determines it, else colourless,or mirth,
"Or melancholy, as from heaven or earth."
"'Ay, that 's the variation's gist!'
"Indeed?
"Thus far advanced in safety then, proceed!
"And having seen too what I saw, be bold
"And next encounter what I do behold
"(That's sure) but bid you take on trust!"
Attack
The use and purpose of such sights! Alack,
Not so unwisely does the crowd dispense
On Salinguerras praise in preference
To the Sordellos: men of action, these!
Who, seeing just as little as you please,
Yet turn that little to account,engage
With, do not gaze at,carry on, a stage,
The work o' the world, not merely make report
The work existed ere their day! In short,
When at some future no-time a brave band
Sees, using what it sees, then shake my hand
In heaven, my brother! Meanwhile where's the hurt
Of keeping the Makers-see on the alert,
At whose defection mortals stare aghast
As though heaven's bounteous windows were slammed fast
Incontinent? Whereas all you, beneath,
Should scowl at, bruise their lips and break their teeth
Who ply the pullies, for neglecting you:
And therefore have I moulded, made anew
A Man, and give him to be turned and tried,
Be angry with or pleased at. On your side,
Have ye times, places, actors of your own?
Try them upon Sordello when full-grown,
And thenah then! If Hercules first parched
His foot in Egypt only to be marched
A sacrifice for Jove with pomp to suit,
What chance have I? The demigod was mute
Till, at the altar, where time out of mind
Such guests became oblations, chaplets twined
His forehead long enough, and he began
Slaying the slayers, nor escaped a man.
Take not affront, my gentle audience! whom
No Hercules shall make his hecatomb,
Believe, nor from his brows your chaplet rend
That's your kind suffrage, yours, my patron-friend,
Whose great verse blares unintermittent on
Like your own trumpeter at Marathon,
You who, Plata and Salamis being scant,
Put up with tna for a stimulant
And did well, I acknowledged, as he loomed
Over the midland sea last month, presumed
Long, lay demolished in the blazing West
At eve, while towards him tilting cloudlets pressed
Like Persian ships at Salamis. Friend, wear
A crest proud as desert while I declare
Had I a flawless ruby fit to wring
Tears of its colour from that painted king
Who lost it, I would, for that smile which went
To my heart, fling it in the sea, content,
Wearing your verse in place, an amulet
Sovereign against all passion, wear and fret!
My English Eyebright, if you are not glad
That, as I stopped my task awhile, the sad
Dishevelled form, wherein I put mankind
To come at times and keep my pact in mind,
Renewed me,hear no crickets in the hedge,
Nor let a glowworm spot the river's edge
At home, and may the summer showers gush
Without a warning from the missel thrush!
So, to our business, nowthe fate of such
As find our common natureovermuch
Despised because restricted and unfit
To bear the burthen they impose on it
Cling when they would discard it; craving strength
To leap from the allotted world, at length
They do leap,flounder on without a term,
Each a god's germ, doomed to remain a germ
In unexpanded infancy, unless . . .
But that 's the storydull enough, confess!
There might be fitter subjects to allure;
Still, neither misconceive my portraiture
Nor undervalue its adornments quaint:
What seems a fiend perchance may prove a saint.
Ponder a story ancient pens transmit,
Then say if you condemn me or acquit.
John the Beloved, banished Antioch
For Patmos, bade collectively his flock
Farewell, but set apart the closing eve
To comfort those his exile most would grieve,
He knew: a touching spectacle, that house
In motion to receive him! Xanthus' spouse
You missed, made panther's meat a month since; but
Xanthus himself (his nephew 't was, they shut
'Twixt boards and sawed asunder) Polycarp,
Soft Charicle, next year no wheel could warp
To swear by Csar's fortune, with the rest
Were ranged; thro' whom the grey disciple pressed,
Busily blessing right and left, just stopped
To pat one infant's curls, the hangman cropped
Soon after, reached the portal. On its hinge
The door turns and he enters: what quick twinge
Ruins the smiling mouth, those wide eyes fix
Whereon, why like some spectral candlestick's
Branch the disciple's arms? Dead swooned he, woke
Anon, heaved sigh, made shift to gasp, heart-broke,
"Get thee behind me, Satan! Have I toiled
"To no more purpose? Is the gospel foiled
"Here too, and o'er my son's, my Xanthus' hearth,
"Portrayed with sooty garb and features swarth
"Ah Xanthus, am I to thy roof beguiled
"To see thethethe Devil domiciled?"
Whereto sobbed Xanthus, "Father, 't is yourself
"Installed, a limning which our utmost pelf
"Went to procure against to-morrow's loss;
"And that's no twy-prong, but a pastoral cross,
"You 're painted with!"
His puckered brows unfold
And you shall hear Sordello's story told.
~ Robert Browning, Sordello - Book the Third
,#NFDB
451 Integral Yoga
55 Yoga
34 Occultism
33 Philosophy
29 Christianity
28 Poetry
10 Psychology
7 Buddhism
4 Sufism
4 Mysticism
4 Fiction
3 Islam
2 Theosophy
2 Education
2 Cybernetics
2 Baha i Faith
1 Thelema
1 Integral Theory
1 Hinduism
1 Alchemy
329 The Mother
276 Satprem
70 Sri Aurobindo
50 Sri Ramakrishna
43 Nolini Kanta Gupta
28 A B Purani
18 Aleister Crowley
13 Saint Augustine of Hippo
13 Nirodbaran
12 Friedrich Nietzsche
12 Carl Jung
10 Plato
9 Saint John of Climacus
8 Aldous Huxley
6 Sri Ramana Maharshi
5 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
5 George Van Vrekhem
5 Bokar Rinpoche
4 Kabir
3 Robert Browning
3 Plotinus
3 Muhammad
3 James George Frazer
3 H P Lovecraft
3 Franz Bardon
2 Thubten Chodron
2 Swami Vivekananda
2 Swami Krishnananda
2 Saint Teresa of Avila
2 Rudolf Steiner
2 Norbert Wiener
2 Mahendranath Gupta
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 Jordan Peterson
2 Baha u llah
2 Anonymous
49 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
43 Agenda Vol 01
40 Agenda Vol 08
28 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
21 Questions And Answers 1956
21 Agenda Vol 05
20 Agenda Vol 10
20 Agenda Vol 02
18 Agenda Vol 12
17 Agenda Vol 11
17 Agenda Vol 09
17 Agenda Vol 07
14 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
14 Agenda Vol 06
14 Agenda Vol 04
13 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
12 Letters On Yoga II
12 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
12 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
11 City of God
11 Agenda Vol 13
10 Questions And Answers 1950-1951
10 Magick Without Tears
10 Essays On The Gita
10 Agenda Vol 03
9 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
9 Talks
8 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
8 The Perennial Philosophy
7 The Synthesis Of Yoga
7 The Bible
7 Questions And Answers 1953
7 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
7 Liber ABA
6 Mysterium Coniunctionis
5 The Secret Doctrine
5 Tara - The Feminine Divine
5 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
5 Preparing for the Miraculous
5 On Thoughts And Aphorisms
5 Letters On Yoga IV
5 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
4 Words Of The Mother II
4 Words Of Long Ago
4 Twilight of the Idols
4 Songs of Kabir
4 Questions And Answers 1954
4 Hymn of the Universe
4 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
4 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
4 Aion
3 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
3 The Lotus Sutra
3 The Golden Bough
3 The Divine Comedy
3 Quran
3 Lovecraft - Poems
3 Letters On Yoga I
3 Kena and Other Upanishads
3 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06
3 Browning - Poems
3 Agenda Vol 1
3 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
2 The Way of Perfection
2 The Study and Practice of Yoga
2 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
2 The Book of Certitude
2 The Blue Cliff Records
2 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
2 Some Answers From The Mother
2 Record of Yoga
2 On Education
2 Maps of Meaning
2 Isha Upanishad
2 Initiation Into Hermetics
2 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
2 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
2 Essays Divine And Human
2 Cybernetics
2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
2 Bhakti-Yoga
0 0.01 - Introduction, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
She spoke to deaf ears. She was very alone in this 'ashram.' Little by little, the disciples fill up the place, then they say: it is ours. It is 'the Ashram.' We are 'the disciples.' In Pondicherry as in Rome as in Mecca. 'I do not want a religion! An end to religions!' She exclaimed. She struggled and fought in their midst - was She therefore to leave this Earth like one more saint or yogi, buried beneath haloes, the 'continuatrice' of a great spiritual lineage? She was seventy-six years old when we landed there, a knife in our belt and a ready curse on our lips.
She adored defiance and did not detest irreverence.
0 0.02 - Topographical Note, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
French disciples, on the second floor of the main Ashram building, on some pretext of work or other. She listened to our queries, spoke to us at length of yoga, occultism, her past experiences in
Algeria and in France or of her current experiences; and gradually, She opened the mind of the rebellious and materialistic Westerner that we were and made us understand the laws of the worlds, the play of forces, the working of past lives - especially this latter, which was an important factor in the difficulties with which we were struggling at that time and which periodically made us abscond.
--
From 1960, the Agenda took its final shape arid grew for thirteen years, until May 1973, filling thirteen volumes in all (some six thousand pages), with a change of setting in March 1962 at the time of the Great Turning in Mother's yoga when She permanently retired to her room upstairs, as had Sri Aurobindo in 1926. The interviews then took place high up in this large room carpeted in golden wool, like a ship's stateroom, amidst the rustling of the Copper Pod tree and the cawing of crows. Mother would sit in a low rosewood chair, her face turned towards Sri Aurobindo's tomb, as though She were wearing down the distance separating that world from our own. Her voice had become like that of a child, one could hear her laughter. She always laughed, this Mother. And then her long silences. Until the day the disciples closed her door on us. It was May 19, 1973. We did not want to believe it. She was alone, just as we were suddenly alone. Slowly, painfully, we had to discover the why of this rupture. We understood nothing of the jealousies of the old species, we did not yet realize that they were becoming the 'owners' of Mother - of the Ashram, of Auroville, of
Sri Aurobindo, of everything - and that the new world was going to be denatured into a new
0 0.03 - 1951-1957. Notes and Fragments, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The lack of the earth's receptivity and the behavior of Sri Aurobindo's disciples 1 are largely responsible for what happened to his body. But one thing is certain: the great misfortune that has just beset us in no way affects the truth of his teaching. All he said is perfectly true and remains so.
Time and the course of events will make this abundantly clear.
0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
MONASTIC discipleS
LATU
--
Thus the insane priest was by verdict of the great scholars of the day proclaimed a Divine Incarnation. His visions were not the result of an over-heated brain; they had precedent in spiritual history. And how did the proclamation affect Sri Ramakrishna himself? He remained the simple child of the Mother that he had been since the first day of his life. Years later, when two of his householder disciples openly spoke of him as a Divine Incarnation and the matter was reported to him, he said with a touch of sarcasm: "Do they think they will enhance my glory that way? One of them is an actor on the stage and the other a physician. What do they know about Incarnations? Why, years ago pundits like Gauri and Vaishnavcharan declared me to be an Avatar. They were great scholars and knew what they said. But that did not make any change in my mind."
Sri Ramakrishna was a learner all his life. He often used to quote a proverb to his disciples: "Friend, the more I live the more I learn." When the excitement created by the Brahmani's declaration was over, he set himself to the task of practising spiritual disciplines according to the traditional methods laid down in the Tantra and Vaishnava scriptures. Hitherto he had pursued his spiritual ideal according to the promptings of his own mind and heart. Now he accepted the Brahmani as his guru and set foot on the traditional highways.
--- TANTRA
--
But the most remarkable experience during this period was the awakening of the Kundalini Sakti, the "Serpent Power". He actually saw the Power, at first lying asleep at the bottom of the spinal column, then waking up and ascending along the mystic Sushumna canal and through its six centres, or lotuses, to the Sahasrara, the thousand-petalled lotus in the top of the head. He further saw that as the Kundalini went upward the different lotuses bloomed. And this phenomenon was accompanied by visions and trances. Later on he described to his disciples and devotees the various movements of the Kundalini: the fishlike, birdlike, monkeylike, and so on. The awaken- ing of the Kundalini is the beginning of spiritual consciousness, and its union with Siva in the Sahasrara, ending in samadhi, is the consummation of the Tantrik disciplines.
About this time it was revealed to him that in a short while many devotees would seek his guidance.
--
In the burning flame before him Sri Ramakrishna performed the rituals of destroying his attachment to relatives, friends, body, mind, sense-organs, ego, and the world. The leaping flame swallowed it all, making the initiate free and pure. The sacred thread and the tuft of hair were consigned to the fire, completing his severance from caste, sex, and society. Last of all he burnt in that fire, with all that is holy as his witness, his desire for enjoyment here and hereafter. He uttered the sacred mantras giving assurance of safety and fearlessness to all beings, who were only manifestations of his own Self. The rites completed, the disciple received from the guru the loin-cloth and ochre robe, the emblems of his new life.
The teacher and the disciple repaired to the meditation room near by. Totapuri began to impart to Sri Ramakrishna the great truths of Vedanta.
"Brahman", he said, "is the only Reality, ever pure, ever illumined, ever free, beyond the limits of time, space, and causation. Though apparently divided by names and forms through the inscrutable power of maya, that enchantress who makes the impossible possible, Brahman is really One and undivided. When a seeker merges in the beatitude of samadhi, he does not perceive time and space or name and form, the offspring of maya. Whatever is within the domain of maya is unreal. Give it up. Destroy the prison-house of name and form and rush out of it with the strength of a lion. Dive deep in search of the Self and realize It through samadhi. You will find the world of name and form vanishing into void, and the puny ego dissolving in Brahman-Consciousness. You will realize your identity with Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute." Quoting the Upanishad, Totapuri said: "That knowledge is shallow by which one sees or hears or knows another
--
Totapuri asked the disciple to withdraw his mind from all objects of the relative world, including the gods and goddesses, and to concentrate on the Absolute. But the task was not easy even for Sri Ramakrishna. He found it impossible to take his mind beyond Kali, the Divine Mother of the Universe. "After the initiation", Sri Ramakrishna once said, describing the event, "Nangta began to teach me the various conclusions of the Advaita Vedanta and asked me to withdraw the mind completely from all objects and dive deep into the Atman. But in spite of all my attempts I could not altogether cross the realm of name and form and bring my mind to the unconditioned state. I had no difficulty in taking the mind from all the objects of the world. But the radiant and too familiar figure of the Blissful Mother, the Embodiment of the essence of Pure Consciousness, appeared before me as a living reality. Her bewitching smile prevented me from passing into the Great Beyond. Again and again I tried, but She stood in my way every time. In despair I said to Nangta: 'It is hopeless. I cannot raise my mind to the unconditioned state and come face to face with Atman.' He grew excited and sharply said: 'What? You can't do it? But you have to.' He cast his eyes around. Finding a piece of glass he took it up and stuck it between my eyebrows. 'Concentrate the mind on this point!' he thundered. Then with stern determination I again sat to meditate. As soon as the gracious form of the Divine Mother appeared before me, I used my discrimination as a sword and with it clove Her in two. The last barrier fell. My spirit at once soared beyond the relative plane and I lost myself in samadhi."
Sri Ramakrishna remained completely absorbed in samadhi for three days. "Is it really true?" Totapuri cried out in astonishment. "Is it possible that he has attained in a single day what it took me forty years of strenuous practice to achieve? Great God! It is nothing short of a miracle!" With the help of Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna's mind finally came down to the relative plane.
--
One day, when guru and disciple were engaged in an animated discussion about Vedanta, a servant of the temple garden came there and took a coal from the sacred fire that had been lighted by the great ascetic. He wanted it to light his tobacco. Totapuri flew into a rage and was about to beat the man. Sri Ramakrishna rocked with laughter. "What a shame!" he cried. "You are explaining to me the reality of Brahman and the illusoriness of the world; yet now you have so far forgotten yourself as to be about to beat a man in a fit of passion. The power of maya is indeed inscrutable!" Totapuri was embarrassed.
About this time Totapuri was suddenly laid up with a severe attack of dysentery. On account of this miserable illness he found it impossible to meditate. One night the pain became excruciating. He could no longer concentrate on Brahman. The body stood in the way. He became incensed with its demands. A free soul, he did not at all care for the body. So he determined to drown it in the Ganges. Thereupon he walked into the river. But, lo! He walks to the other bank." (This version of the incident is taken from the biography of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Saradananda, one of the Master's direct disciples.) Is there not enough water in the Ganges? Standing dumbfounded on the other bank he looks back across the water. The trees, the temples, the houses, are silhouetted against the sky. Suddenly, in one dazzling moment, he sees on all sides the presence of the Divine Mother. She is in everything; She is everything. She is in the water; She is on land. She is the body; She is the mind. She is pain; She is comfort. She is knowledge; She is ignorance. She is life; She is death. She is everything that one sees, hears, or imagines. She turns "yea" into "nay", and "nay" into "yea". Without Her grace no embodied being can go beyond Her realm. Man has no free will. He is not even free to die. Yet, again, beyond the body and mind She resides in Her Transcendental, Absolute aspect. She is the Brahman that Totapuri had been worshipping all his life.
Totapuri returned to Dakshineswar and spent the remaining hours of the night meditating on the Divine Mother. In the morning he went to the Kali temple with Sri Ramakrishna and prostrated himself before the image of the Mother. He now realized why he had spent eleven months at Dakshineswar. Bidding farewell to the disciple, he continued on his way, enlightened.
Sri Ramakrishna later described the significance of Totapuri's lessons:
--
From now on Sri Ramakrishna began to seek the company of devotees and holy men. He had gone through the storm and stress of spiritual disciplines and visions. Now he realized an inner calmness and appeared to others as a normal person. But he could not bear the company of worldly people or listen to their talk. Fortunately the holy atmosphere of Dakshineswar and the liberality of Mathur attracted monks and holy men from all parts of the country. Sadhus of all denominations — monists and dualists, Vaishnavas and Vedantists, Saktas and worshippers of Rama — flocked there in ever increasing numbers. Ascetics and visionaries came to seek Sri Ramakrishna's advice. Vaishnavas had come during the period of his Vaishnava sadhana, and Tantriks when he practised the disciplines of Tantra. Vedantists began to arrive after the departure of Totapuri. In the room of Sri Ramakrishna, who was then in bed with dysentery, the Vedantists engaged in scriptural discussions, and, forgetting his own physical suffering, he solved their doubts by referring directly to his own experiences. Many of the visitors were genuine spiritual souls, the unseen pillars of Hinduism, and their spiritual lives were quickened in no small measure by the sage of Dakshineswar. Sri Ramakrishna in turn learnt from them anecdotes concerning the ways and the conduct of holy men, which he subsequently narrated to his devotees and disciples. At his request Mathur provided him with large stores of food-stuffs, clothes, and so forth, for distribution among the wandering monks.
"Sri Ramakrishna had not read books, yet he possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of religions and religious philosophies. This he acquired from his contacts with innumerable holy men and scholars. He had a unique power of assimilation; through meditation he made this knowledge a part of his being. Once, when he was asked by a disciple about the source of his seemingly inexhaustible knowledge, he replied; "I have not read; but I have heard the learned. I have made a garland of their knowledge, wearing it round my neck, and I have given it as an offering at the feet of the Mother."
Sri Ramakrishna used to say that when the flower blooms the bees come to it for honey of their own accord. Now many souls began to visit Dakshineswar to satisfy their spiritual hunger. He, the devotee and aspirant, became the Master. Gauri, the great scholar who had been one of the first to proclaim Sri Ramakrishna an Incarnation of God, paid the Master a visit in 1870 and with the Master's blessings renounced the world. Narayan Shastri, another great pundit, who had mastered the six systems of Hindu philosophy and had been offered a lucrative post by the Maharaja of Jaipur, met the Master and recognized in him one who had realized in life those ideals which he himself had encountered merely in books. Sri Ramakrishna initiated Narayan Shastri, at his earnest request, into the life of sannyas. Pundit Padmalochan, the court pundit of the Maharaja of Burdwan, well known for his scholarship in both the Vedanta and the Nyaya systems of philosophy, accepted the Master as an Incarnation of God. Krishnakishore, a Vedantist scholar, became devoted to the Master. And there arrived Viswanath Upadhyaya, who was to become a favourite devotee; Sri Ramakrishna always addressed him as "Captain". He was a high officer of the King of Nepal and had received the title of Colonel in recognition of his merit. A scholar of the Gita, the Bhagavata, and the Vedanta philosophy, he daily performed the worship of his Chosen Deity with great devotion. "I have read the Vedas and the other scriptures", he said. "I have also met a good many monks and devotees in different places. But it is in Sri Ramakrishna's presence that my spiritual yearnings have been fulfilled. To me he seems to be the embodiment of the truths of the scriptures."
--
In 1867 Sri Ramakrishna returned to Kamarpukur to recuperate from the effect of his austerities. The peaceful countryside, the simple and artless companions of his boyhood, and the pure air did him much good. The villagers were happy to get back their playful, frank, witty, kind-hearted, and truthful Gadadhar, though they did not fail to notice the great change that had come over him during his years in Calcutta. His wife, Sarada Devi, now fourteen years old, soon arrived at Kamarpukur. Her spiritual development was much beyond her age and she was able to understand immediately her husband's state of mind. She became eager to learn from him about God and to live with him as his attendant. The Master accepted her cheerfully both as his disciple and as his spiritual companion. Referring to the experiences of these few days, she once said: "I used to feel always as if a pitcher full of bliss were placed in my heart. The joy was indescribable."
--- PILGRIMAGE
--
Keshab Chandra Sen and Sri Ramakrishna met for the first time in the garden house of Jaygopal Sen at Belgharia, a few miles from Dakshineswar, where the great Brahmo leader was staying with some of his disciples. In many respects the two were poles apart, though an irresistible inner attraction was to make them intimate friends. The Master had realized God as Pure Spirit and Consciousness, but he believed in the various forms of God as well. Keshab, on the other hand, regarded image worship as idolatry and gave allegorical explanations of the Hindu deities. Keshab was an orator and a writer of books and magazine articles; Sri Ramakrishna had a horror of lecturing and hardly knew how to write his own name, Keshab's fame spread far and wide, even reaching the distant shores of England; the Master still led a secluded life in the village of Dakshineswar. Keshab emphasized social reforms for India's regeneration; to Sri Ramakrishna God-realization was the only goal of life. Keshab considered himself a disciple of Christ and accepted in a diluted form the Christian sacraments and Trinity; Sri Ramakrishna was the simple child of Kali, the Divine Mother, though he too, in a different way, acknowledged Christ's divinity. Keshab was a householder holder and took a real interest in the welfare of his children, whereas Sri Ramakrishna was a paramahamsa and completely indifferent to the life of the world. Yet, as their acquaintance ripened into friendship, Sri Ramakrishna and Keshab held each other in great love and respect. Years later, at the news of Keshab's death, the Master felt as if half his body had become paralyzed. Keshab's concepts of the harmony of religions and the Motherhood of God were deepened and enriched by his contact with Sri Ramakrishna.
Sri Ramakrishna, dressed in a red-bordered dhoti, one end of which was carelessly thrown over his left shoulder, came to Jaygopal's garden house accompanied by Hriday. No one took notice of the unostentatious visitor. Finally the Master said to Keshab, "People tell me you have seen God; so I have come to hear from you about God." A magnificent conversation followed. The Master sang a thrilling song about Kali and forthwith went into samadhi. When Hriday uttered the sacred "Om" in his ears, he gradually came back to consciousness of the world, his face still radiating a divine brilliance. Keshab and his followers were amazed. The contrast between Sri Ramakrishna and the Brahmo devotees was very interesting. There sat this small man, thin and extremely delicate. His eyes were illumined with an inner light. Good humour gleamed in his eyes and lurked in the corners of his mouth. His speech was Bengali of a homely kind with a slight, delightful stammer, and his words held men enthralled by their wealth of spiritual experience, their inexhaustible store of simile and metaphor, their power of observation, their bright and subtle humour, their wonderful catholicity, their ceaseless flow of wisdom. And around him now were the sophisticated men of Bengal, the best products of Western education, with Keshab, the idol of young Bengal, as their leader.
--
Sri Ramakrishna never taught his disciples to hate any woman, or womankind in general. This can be seen clearly by going through all his teachings under this head and judging them collectively. The Master looked on all women as so many images of the Divine Mother of the Universe. He paid the highest homage to womankind by accepting a woman as his guide while practising the very profound spiritual disciplines of Tantra. His wife, known and revered as the Holy Mother, was his constant companion and first disciple. At the end of his spiritual practice he literally worshipped his wife as the embodiment of the Goddess Kali, the Divine Mother. After his passing away the Holy Mother became the spiritual guide not only of a large number of householders, but also of many monastic members of the Ramakrishna Order.
--- THE MASTER'S YEARNING FOR HIS OWN DEVOTEES
--
In the year 1879 occasional writings about Sri Ramakrishna by the Brahmos, in the Brahmo magazines, began to attract his future disciples from the educated middle-class Bengalis, and they continued to come till 1884. But others, too, came, feeling the subtle power of his attraction. They were an ever shifting crowd of people of all castes and creeds: Hindus and Brahmos, Vaishnavas and Saktas, the educated with university degrees and the illiterate, old and young, maharajas and beggars, journalists and artists, pundits and devotees, philosophers and the worldly-minded, jnanis and yogis, men of action and men of faith, virtuous women and prostitutes, office-holders and vagabonds, philanthropists and self-seekers, dramatists and drunkards, builders-up and pullers-down. He gave to them all, without stint, from his illimitable store of realization. No one went away empty-handed. He taught them the lofty .knowledge of the Vedanta and the soul
-melting love of the Purana. Twenty hours out of twenty-four he would speak without out rest or respite. He gave to all his sympathy and enlightenment, and he touched them with that strange power of the soul which could not but melt even the most hardened. And people understood him according to their powers of comprehension.
--
But he remained as ever the willing instrument in the hand of God, the child of the Divine Mother, totally untouched by the idea of being a teacher. He used to say that three ideas — that he was a guru, a father, and a master — pricked his flesh like thorns. Yet he was an extraordinary teacher. He stirred his disciples' hearts more by a subtle influence than by actions or words. He never claimed to be the founder of a religion or the organizer of a sect. Yet he was a religious dynamo. He was the verifier of all religions and creeds. He was like an expert gardener, who prepares the soil and removes the weeds, knowing that the plants will grow because of the inherent power of the seeds, producing each its appropriate flowers and fruits. He never thrust his ideas on anybody. He understood people's limitations and worked on the principle that what is good for one may be bad for another. He had the unusual power of knowing the devotees' minds, even their inmost souls, at the first sight. He accepted disciples with the full knowledge of their past tendencies and future possibilities. The life of evil did not frighten him, nor did religious squeamishness raise anybody in his estimation. He saw in everything the unerring finger of the Divine Mother. Even the light that leads astray was to him the light from God.
To those who became his intimate disciples the Master was a friend, companion, and playmate. Even the chores of religious discipline would be lightened in his presence. The devotees would be so inebriated with pure joy in his company that they would have no time to ask themselves whether he was an Incarnation, a perfect soul, or a yogi. His very presence was a great teaching; words were superfluous. In later years his disciples remarked that while they were with him they would regard him as a comrade, but afterwards would tremble to think of their frivolities in the presence of such a great person. They had convincing proof that the Master could, by his mere wish, kindle in their hearts the love of God and give them His vision.
Through all this fun and frolic, this merriment and frivolity, he always kept before them the shining ideal of God-Consciousness and the path of renunciation. He prescribed ascents steep or graded according to the powers of the climber. He permitted no compromise with the basic principles of purity. An aspirant had to keep his body, mind, senses, and soul unspotted; had to have a sincere love for God and an ever mounting spirit of yearning. The rest would be done by the Mother.
His disciples were of two kinds: the householders, and the young men, some of whom were later to become monks. There was also a small group of women devotees.
--- HOUSEHOLDER DEVOTEES
--
The first two householder devotees to come to Dakshineswar were Ramchandra Dutta and Manomohan Mitra. A medical practitioner and chemist, Ram was sceptical about God and religion and never enjoyed peace of soul. He wanted tangible proof of God's existence. The Master said to him: "God really" exists. You don't see the stars in the day-time, but that doesn't mean that the stars do not exist. There is butter in milk. But can anybody see it by merely looking at the milk? To get butter you must churn milk in a quiet and cool place. You cannot realize God by a mere wish; you must go through some mental disciplines." By degrees the Master awakened Ram's spirituality and the latter became one of his foremost lay disciples. It was Ram who introduced Narendranath to Sri Ramakrishna. Narendra was a relative of Ram.
Manomohan at first met with considerable opposition from his wife and other relatives, who resented his visits to Dakshineswar. But in the end the unselfish love of the Master triumphed over worldly affection. It was Manomohan who brought Rakhal to the Master.
--
Suresh Mitra, a beloved disciple whom the Master often addressed as Surendra, had received an English education and held an important post in an English firm. Like many other educated young men of the time, he prided himself on his atheism and led a Bohemian life. He was addicted to drinking. He cherished an exaggerated notion about man's free will. A victim of mental depression, he was brought to Sri Ramakrishna by Ramchandra chandra Dutta. When he heard the Master asking a disciple to practise the virtue of self-surrender to God, he was impressed. But though he tried thenceforth to do so, he was unable to give up his old associates and his drinking. One day the Master said in his presence, "Well, when a man goes to an undesirable place, why doesn't he take the Divine Mother with him?" And to Surendra himself Sri Ramakrishna said: "Why should you drink wine as wine? Offer it to Kali, and then take it as Her prasad, as consecrated drink
. But see that you don't become intoxicated; you must not reel and your thoughts must not wander. At first you will feel ordinary excitement, but soon you will experience spiritual exaltation." Gradually Surendra's entire life was changed. The Master designated him as one of those commissioned by the Divine Mother to defray a great part of his expenses. Surendra's purse was always open for the Master's comfort.
--
Balaram Bose came of a wealthy Vaishnava family. From his youth he had shown a deep religious temperament and had devoted his time to meditation, prayer, and the study of the Vaishnava scriptures. He was very much impressed by Sri Ramakrishna even at their first meeting. He asked Sri Ramakrishna whether God really existed and, if so, whether a man could realize Him. The Master said: "God reveals Himself to the devotee who thinks of Him as his nearest and dearest. Because you do not draw response by praying to Him once, you must not conclude that He does not exist. Pray to God, thinking of Him as dearer than your very self. He is much attached to His devotees. He comes to a man even before He is sought. There is none more intimate and affectionate than God." Balaram had never before heard God spoken of in such forceful words; every one of the words seemed true to him. Under the Master's influence he outgrew the conventions of the Vaishnava worship and became one of the most beloved of the disciples. It was at his home that the Master slept whenever he spent a night in Calcutta.
--- MAHENDRA OR M.
Mahendranath Gupta, better known as "M.", arrived at Dakshineswar in March 1882. He belonged to the Brahmo Samaj and was headmaster of the Vidyasagar High School at Syambazar, Calcutta. At the very first sight the Master recognized him as one of his "marked" disciples. Mahendra recorded in his diary Sri Ramakrishna's conversations with his devotees. These are the first directly recorded words, in the spiritual history of the world, of a man recognized as belonging in the class of Buddha and Christ. The present volume is a translation of this diary. Mahendra was instrumental, through his personal contacts, in spreading the Master's message among many young and aspiring souls.
--- NAG MAHASHAY
Durgacharan Nag, also known as Nag Mahashay, was the ideal householder among the lay disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. He was the embodiment of the Master's ideal of life in the world, unstained by worldliness. In spite of his intense desire to become a sannyasi, Sri Ramakrishna asked him to live in the world in the spirit of a monk, and the disciple truly carried out this injunction. He was born of a poor family and even during his boyhood often sacrificed everything to lessen the sufferings of the needy. He had married at an early age and after his wife's death had married a second time to obey his father's command. But he once said to his wife: "Love on the physical level never lasts. He is indeed blessed who can give his love to God with his whole heart. Even a little attachment to the body endures for several births. So do not be attached to this cage of bone and flesh. Take shelter at the feet of the Mother and think of Her alone. Thus your life here and hereafter will be ennobled." The Master spoke of him as a "blazing light". He received every word of Sri Ramakrishna in dead earnest. One day he heard the Master saying that it was difficult for doctors, lawyers, and brokers to make much progress in spirituality. Of doctors he said, "If the mind clings to the tiny drops of medicine, how can it conceive of the Infinite?" That was the end of Durgacharan's medical practice and he threw his chest of medicines into the Ganges. Sri Ramakrishna assured him that he would not lack simple food and clothing. He bade him serve holy men. On being asked where he would find real holy men, the Master said that the sadhus themselves would seek his company. No sannyasi could have lived a more austere life than Durgacharan.
--- GIRISH GHOSH
--
As time passed, Girish began to learn that the guru is the one who silently unfolds the disciple's inner life. He became a steadfast devotee of the Master. He often loaded the Master with insults, drank in his presence, and took liberties which astounded the other devotees. But the Master knew that at heart Girish was tender, faithful, and sincere. He would not allow Girish to give up the theatre. And when a devotee asked him to tell Girish to give up drinking, he sternly replied: "That is none of your business. He who has taken charge of him will look after him. Girish is a devotee of heroic type. I tell you, drinking will not affect him." The Master knew that mere words could not induce a man to break deep-rooted habits, but that the silent influence of love worked miracles. Therefore he never asked him to give up alcohol, with the result that Girish himself eventually broke the habit. Sri Ramakrishna had strengthened Girish's resolution by allowing him to feel that he was absolutely free.
One day Girish felt depressed because he was unable to submit to any routine of spiritual discipline. In an exalted mood the Master said to him: "All right, give me your power of attorney. Henceforth I assume responsibility for you. You need not do anything." Girish heaved a sigh of relief. He felt happy to think that Sri Ramakrishna had assumed his spiritual responsibilities. But poor Girish could not then realize that He also, on his part, had to give up his freedom and make of himself a puppet in Sri Ramakrishna's hands. The Master began to discipline him according to this new attitude. One day Girish said about a trifling matter, "Yes, I shall do this." "No, no!" the Master corrected him. "You must not speak in that egotistic manner. You should say, 'God willing, I shall do it.'" Girish understood. Thenceforth he tried to give up all idea of personal responsibility and surrender himself to the Divine Will. His mind began to dwell constantly on Sri Ramakrishna. This unconscious meditation in time chastened his turbulent spirit.
--
Mahimacharan and Pratap Hazra were two devotees outstanding for their pretentiousness and idiosyncrasies. But the Master showed them his unfailing love and kindness, though he was aware of their shortcomings. Mahimacharan Chakravarty had met the Master long before the arrival of the other disciples. He had had the intention of leading a spiritual life, but a strong desire to acquire name and fame was his weakness. He claimed to have been initiated by Totapuri and used to say that he had been following the path of knowledge according to his guru's instructions. He possessed a large library of English and Sanskrit books. But though he pretended to have read them, most of the leaves were uncut. The Master knew all his limitations, yet enjoyed listening to him recite from the Vedas and other scriptures. He would always exhort Mahima to meditate on the meaning of the scriptural texts and to practise spiritual discipline.
Pratap Hazra, a middle-aged man, hailed from a village near Kamarpukur. He was not altogether unresponsive to religious feelings. On a moment's impulse he had left his home, aged mother, wife, and children, and had found shelter in the temple garden at Dakshineswar, where he intended to lead a spiritual life. He loved to argue, and the Master often pointed him out as an example of barren argumentation. He was hypercritical of others and cherished an exaggerated notion of his own spiritual advancement. He was mischievous and often tried to upset the minds of the Master's young disciples, criticizing them for their happy and joyous life and asking them to devote their time to meditation. The Master teasingly compared Hazra to Jatila and Kutila, the two women who always created obstructions in Krishna's sport with the gopis, and said that Hazra lived at Dakshineswar to "thicken the plot" by adding complications.
--- SOME NOTED MEN
--
--- MONASTIC discipleS
The disciples whom the Master trained for monastic life were the following:
Narendranath Dutta (Swami Vivekananda)
--
Even before Rakhal's coming to Dakshineswar, the Master had had visions of him as his spiritual son and as a playmate of Krishna at Vrindavan. Rakhal was born of wealthy parents. During his childhood he developed wonderful spiritual traits and used to play at worshipping gods and goddesses. In his teens he was married to a sister of Manomohan Mitra, from whom he first heard of the Master. His father objected to his association with Sri Ramakrishna but afterwards was reassured to find that many celebrated people were visitors at Dakshineswar. The relationship between the Master and this beloved disciple was that of mother and child. Sri Ramakrishna allowed Rakhal many liberties denied to others. But he would not hesitate to chastise the boy for improper actions. At one time Rakhal felt a childlike jealousy because he found that other boys were receiving the Master's affection. He soon got over it and realized his guru as the Guru of the whole universe. The Master was worried to hear of his marriage, but was relieved to find that his wife was a spiritual soul who would not be a hindrance to his progress.
--- THE ELDER GOPAL
Gopal Sur of Sinthi came to Dakshineswar at a rather advanced age and was called the elder Gopal. He had lost his wife, and the Master assuaged his grief. Soon he renounced the world and devoted himself fully to meditation and prayer. Some years later Gopal gave the Master the ochre cloths with which the latter initiated several of his disciples into monastic life.
--- NARENDRA
--
Narendra began to talk of his doubt of the very existence of God. His friends thought he had become an atheist, and piously circulated gossip adducing unmentionable motives for his unbelief. His moral character was maligned. Even some of the Master's disciples partly believed the gossip, and Narendra told these to their faces that only a coward believed in God through fear of suffering or hell. But he was distressed to think that Sri Ramakrishna, too, might believe these false reports. His pride revolted. He said to himself: "What does it matter? If a man's good name rests on such slender foundations, I don't care." But later on he was amazed to learn that the Master had never lost faith in him. To a disciple who complained about Narendra's degradation, Sri Ramakrishna replied: "Hush, you fool! The Mother has told me it can never be so. I won't look at you if you speak that way again."
The moment came when Narendra's distress reached its climax. He had gone the whole day without food. As he was returning home in the evening he could hardly lift his tired limbs. He sat down in front of a house in sheer exhaustion, too weak even to think. His mind began to wander. Then, suddenly, a divine power lifted the veil over his soul. He found the solution of the problem of the coexistence of divine justice and misery, the presence of suffering in the creation of a blissful Providence. He felt bodily refreshed, his soul was bathed in peace, and he slept serenely.
--
Others destined to be monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna came to Dakshineswar. Taraknath Ghoshal had felt from his boyhood the noble desire to realize God. Keshab and the Brahmo Samaj had attracted him but proved inadequate. In 1882 he first met the Master at Ramchandra's house and was astonished to hear him talk about samadhi, a subject which always fascinated his mind. And that evening he actually saw a manifestation of that superconscious state in the Master. Tarak became a frequent visitor at Dakshineswar and received the Master's grace in abundance. The young boy often felt ecstatic fervour in meditation. He also wept profusely while meditating on God. Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "God favours those who can weep for Him. Tears shed for God wash away the sins of former births."
--- BABURAM
--
Nitya Niranjan Sen was a disciple of heroic type. He came to the Master when he was eighteen years old. He was a medium for a group of spiritualists. During his first visit the Master said to him: "My boy, if you think always of ghosts you will become a ghost, and if you think of God you will become God. Now, which do you prefer?" Niranjan severed all connexions with the spiritualists. During his second visit the Master embraced him and said warmly: "Niranjan, my boy, the days are flitting away. When will you realize God? This life will be in vain if you do not realize Him. When will you devote your mind wholly to God?" Niranjan was surprised to see the Master's great anxiety for his spiritual welfare. He was a young man endowed with unusual spiritual parts. He felt disdain for worldly pleasures and was totally guileless, like a child. But he had a violent temper. One day, as he was coming in a country boat to Dakshineswar, some of his fellow passengers began to speak ill of the Master. Finding his protest futile, Niranjan began to rock the boat, threatening to sink it in mid stream. That silenced the offenders. When he reported the incident to the Master, he was rebuked for his inability to curb his anger.
--- JOGINDRA
--
Sri Ramakrishna employed a ruse to bring Jogindra to him. As soon as the disciple entered the room, the Master rushed forward to meet the young man. Catching hold of the disciple's hand, he said: "What if you have married? Haven't I too married? What is there to be afraid of in that?" Touching his own chest he said: "If this [meaning himself] is propitious, then even a hundred thousand marriages cannot injure you. If you desire to lead a householder's life, then bring your wife here one day, and I shall see that she becomes a real companion in your spiritual progress. But if you want to lead a monastic life, then I shall eat up your attachment to the world." Jogin was dumbfounded at these words. He received new strength, and his spirit of renunciation was re-established.
--- SASHI AND SARAT
--
The Master knew Hari's passion for Vedanta. But he did not wish any of his disciples to become a dry ascetic or a mere bookworm. So he asked Hari to practise Vedanta in life by giving up the unreal and following the Real. "But it is not so easy", Sri Ramakrishna said, "to realize the illusoriness of the world. Study alone does not help one very much. The grace of God is required. Mere personal effort is futile. A man is a tiny creature after all, with very limited powers. But he can achieve the impossible if he prays to God for His grace." Whereupon the Master sang a song in praise of grace. Hari was profoundly moved and shed tears. Later in life Hari achieved a wonderful synthesis of the ideals of the Personal God and the Impersonal Truth.
--- GANGADHAR
--
Kaliprasad visited the Master toward the end of 1883. Given to the practice of meditation and the study of the scriptures. Kali was particularly interested in yoga. Feeling the need of a guru in spiritual life, he came to the Master and was accepted as a disciple. The young boy possessed a rational mind and often felt sceptical about the Personal God. The Master said to him: "Your doubts will soon disappear. Others, too, have passed through such a state of mind. Look at Naren. He now weeps at the names of Radha and Krishna." Kali began to see visions of gods and goddesses. Very soon these disappeared and in meditation he experienced vastness, infinity, and the other attributes of the Impersonal Brahman.
--- SUBODH
--
Two more young men, Sarada Prasanna and Tulasi, complete the small band of the Master's disciples later to embrace the life of the wandering monk. With the exception of the elder Gopal, all of them were in their teens or slightly over. They came from middle-class Bengali families, and most of them were students in school or college. Their parents and relatives had envisaged for them bright worldly careers. They came to Sri Ramakrishna with pure bodies, vigorous minds, and uncontaminated souls. All were born with unusual spiritual attributes. Sri Ramakrishna accepted them, even at first sight, as his children, relatives, friends, and companions. His magic touch unfolded them. And later each according to his measure reflected the life of the Master, becoming a torch-bearer of his message across land and sea.
--- WOMAN DEVOTEES
--
The young disciples destined to be monks, Sri Ramakrishna invited on week-days, when the householders were not present. The training of the householders and of the future monks had to proceed along entirely different lines. Since M. generally visited the Master on week-ends, the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna does not contain much mention of the future monastic disciples.
Finally, there was a handful of fortunate disciples, householders as well as youngsters, who were privileged to spend nights with the Master in his room. They would see him get up early in the morning and walk up and down the room, singing in his sweet voice and tenderly communing with the Mother.
--- INJURY TO THE MASTER'S ARM
--
In April 1885 the Master's throat became inflamed. Prolonged conversation or absorption in samadhi, making the blood flow into the throat, would aggravate the pain. Yet when the annual Vaishnava festival was celebrated at Panihati, Sri Ramakrishna attended it against the doctor's advice. With a group of disciples he spent himself in music, dance, and ecstasy. The illness took a turn for the worse and was diagnosed as "clergyman's sore throat". The patient was cautioned against conversation and ecstasies. Though he followed the physician's directions regarding medicine and diet, he could neither control his trances nor withhold from seekers the solace of his advice. Sometimes, like a sulky child, he would complain to the Mother about the crowds, who gave him no rest day or night. He was overheard to say to Her; "Why do You bring here all these worthless people, who are like milk diluted with five times its own quantity of water? My eyes are almost destroyed with blowing the fire to dry up the water. My health is gone. It is beyond my strength. Do it Yourself, if You want it done. This (pointing to his own body) is but a perforated drum, and if you go on beating it day in and day out, how long will it last?"
But his large heart never turned anyone away. He said, "Let me be condemned to be born over and over again, even in the form of a dog, if I can be of help to a single soul." And he bore the pain, singing cheerfully, "Let the body be preoccupied with illness, but, O mind, dwell for ever in God's Bliss!"
One night he had a hemorrhage of the throat. The doctor now diagnosed the illness as cancer. Narendra was the first to break this heart-rending news to the disciples. Within three days the Master was removed to Calcutta for better treatment. At Balaram's house he remained a week until a suitable place could be found at Syampukur, in the northern section of Calcutta. During this week he dedicated himself practically without respite to the instruction of those beloved devotees who had been unable to visit him oftener at Dakshineswar. Discourses incessantly flowed from his tongue, and he often went into samadhi. Dr. Mahendra Sarkar, the celebrated homeopath of Calcutta, was invited to undertake his treatment.
--- SYAMPUKUR
In the beginning of September 1885 Sri Ramakrishna was moved to Syampukur. Here Narendra organized the young disciples to attend the Master day and night. At first they concealed the Master's illness from their guardians; but when it became more serious they remained with him almost constantly, sweeping aside the objections of their relatives and devoting themselves whole-heartedly to the nursing of their beloved guru. These young men, under the watchful eyes of the Master and the leadership of Narendra, became the antaranga bhaktas, the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna's inner circle. They were privileged to witness many manifestations of the Master's divine powers. Narendra received instructions regarding the propagation of his message after his death.
The Holy Mother — so Sarada Devi had come to be affectionately known by Sri Ramakrishna's devotees — was brought from Dakshineswar to look after the general cooking and to prepare the special diet of the patient. The dwelling space being extremely limited, she had to adapt herself to cramped conditions. At three o'clock in the morning she would finish her bath in the Ganges and then enter a small covered place on the roof, where she spent the whole day cooking and praying. After eleven at night, when the visitors went away, she would come down to her small bedroom on the first floor to enjoy a few hours' sleep. Thus she spent three months, working hard, sleeping little, and praying constantly for the Master's recovery.
--
It took the group only a few days to become adjusted to the new environment. The Holy Mother, assisted by Sri Ramakrishna's niece, Lakshmi Devi, and a few woman devotees, took charge of the cooking for the Master and his attendants. Surendra willingly bore the major portion of the expenses, other householders contributing according to their means. Twelve disciples were constant attendants of the Master: Narendra, Rakhal, Baburam, Niranjan, Jogin, Latu, Tarak, the-elder Gopal, Kali, Sashi, Sarat, and the younger Gopal. Sarada, Harish, Hari, Gangadhar, and Tulasi visited the Master from time to time and practised sadhana at home. Narendra, preparing for his law examination, brought his books to the garden house in order to continue his studies during the infrequent spare moments. He encouraged his brother disciples to intensify their meditation, scriptural studies, and other spiritual disciplines. They all forgot their relatives and their
worldly duties.
--
Pundit Shashadhar one day suggested to the Master that the latter could remove the illness by concentrating his mind on the throat, the scriptures having declared that yogis had power to cure themselves in that way. The Master rebuked the pundit. "For a scholar like you to make such a proposal!" he said. "How can I withdraw the mind from the Lotus Feet of God and turn it to this worthless cage of flesh and blood?" "For our sake at least", begged Narendra and the other disciples. "But", replied Sri Ramakrishna, do you think I enjoy this suffering? I wish to recover, but that depends on the Mother."
NARENDRA: "Then please pray to Her. She must listen to you."
--
"I shall make the whole thing public before I go", the Master had said some time before. On January 1, 1886, he felt better and came down to the garden for a little stroll. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon. Some thirty lay disciples were in the hall or sitting about under the trees. Sri Ramakrishna said to Girish, "Well, Girish, what have you seen in me, that you proclaim me before everybody as an Incarnation of God?" Girish was not the man to be taken by surprise. He knelt before the Master and said, with folded hands, "What can an insignificant person like myself say about the One whose glory even sages like Vyasa and Valmiki could not adequately measure?" The Master was profoundly moved. He said: "What more shall I say? I bless you all. Be illumined!" He fell into a spiritual mood. Hearing these words the devotees, one and all, became overwhelmed with emotion. They rushed to him and fell at his feet. He touched them all, and each received an appropriate benediction. Each of them, at the touch of the Master, experienced ineffable bliss. Some laughed, some wept, some sat down to meditate, some began to pray. Some saw light, some had visions of their Chosen Ideals, and some felt within their bodies the rush of spiritual power.
Narendra, consumed with a terrific fever for realization, complained to the Master that all the others had attained peace and that he alone was dissatisfied. The Master asked what he wanted. Narendra begged for samadhi, so that he might altogether forget the world for three or four days at a time. "You are a fool", the Master rebuked him. "There is a state even higher than that. Isn't it you who sing, 'All that exists art Thou'? First of all settle your family affairs and then come to me. You will experience a state even higher than samadhi."
--
Sri Ramakrishna was sinking day by day. His diet was reduced to a minimum and he found it almost impossible to swallow. He whispered to M.: "I am bearing all this cheerfully, for otherwise you would be weeping. If you all say that it is better that the body should go rather than suffer this torture, I am willing." The next morning he said to his depressed disciples seated near the bed: "Do you know what I see? I see that God alone has become everything. Men and animals are only frameworks covered with skin, and it is He who is moving through their heads and limbs. I see that it is God Himself who has become the block, the executioner, and the victim for the sacrifice.' He fainted with emotion. Regaining partial consciousness, he said: "Now I have no pain. I am very well." Looking at Latu he said: "There sits Latu resting his head on the palm of his hand. To me it is the Lord who is seated in that posture."
The words were tender and touching. Like a mother he caressed Narendra and Rakhal, gently stroking their faces. He said in a half whisper to M., "Had this body been allowed to last a little longer, many more souls would have been illumined." He paused a moment and then said: "But Mother has ordained otherwise. She will take me away lest, finding me guileless and foolish, people should take advantage of me and persuade me to bestow on them the rare gifts of spirituality." A few minutes later he touched his chest and said: "Here are two beings. One is She and the other is Her devotee. It is the latter who broke his arm, and it is he again who is now ill. Do you understand me?" After a pause he added: "Alas! To whom shall I tell all this? Who will understand me?" "Pain", he consoled them again, 'is unavoidable as long as there is a body. The Lord takes on the body for the sake of His devotees."
--
Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "Today I have given you my all and I am now only a poor fakir, possessing nothing. By this power you will do immense good in the world, and not until it is accomplished will you return." Henceforth the Master lived in the disciple.
Doubt, however, dies hard. After one or two days Narendra said to himself, "If in the midst of this racking physical pain he declares his Godhead, then only shall I accept him as an Incarnation of God." He was alone by the bedside of the Master. It was a passing thought, but the Master smiled. Gathering his remaining strength, he distinctly said, "He who was Rama and Krishna is now, in this body, Ramakrishna — but not in your Vedantic sense." Narendra was stricken with shame.
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
But those disciples nearest to him wept, seeing the
Universal Sorrow.
--
Below these certain disciples wept.
Then certain laughed.
--
with Amrita, and in the last paragraph the disciple is
charged to let it have its own way. It has a will of its
--
The Master urges his disciples to a certain holy
stealth, a concealment of the real purpose of their lives;
--
Thus the disciples that watched found a dead body
kneeling at the altar. Amen!
0.00 - THE GOSPEL PREFACE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
By Mahendranath Gupta ("M"), His disciple
Translated from the Bengali by Swami Nikhilananda
--
But, all doctrinal writing is in some measure formal and impersonal, while the autobiographer tends to omit what he regards as trifling matters and suffers from the further disadvantage of being unable to say how he strikes other people and in what way he affects their lives. Moreover, most saints have left neither writings nor self-portraits, and for knowledge of their lives, their characters and their teachings, we are forced to rely upon the records made by their disciples who, in most cases, have proved themselves singularly incompetent as reporters and biographers. Hence the special interest attaching to this enormously detailed account of the daily life and conversations of Sri Ramakrishna.
"M", as the author modestly styles himself, was peculiarly qualified for his task. To a reverent love for his master, to a deep and experiential knowledge of that master's teaching, he added a prodigious memory for the small happenings of each day and a happy gift for recording them in an interesting and realistic way. Making good use of his natural gifts and of the circumstances in which he found himself, "M" produced a book unique, so far as my knowledge goes, in the literature of hagiography. No other saint has had so able and indefatigable a Boswell. Never have the small events of a contemplative's daily life been described with such a wealth of intimate detail. Never have the casual and unstudied utterances of a great religious teacher been set down with so minute a fidelity. To Western readers, it is true, this fidelity and this wealth of detail are sometimes a trifle disconcerting; for the social, religious and intellectual frames of reference within which Sri Ramakrishna did his thinking and expressed his feelings were entirely Indian. But after the first few surprises and bewilderments, we begin to find something peculiarly stimulating and instructive about the very strangeness and, to our eyes, the eccentricity of the man revealed to us in "M's" narrative. What a scholastic philosopher would call the "accidents" of Ramakrishna's life were intensely Hindu and therefore, so far as we in the West are concerned, unfamiliar and hard to understand; its "essence", however, was intensely mystical and therefore universal. To read through these conversations in which mystical doctrine alternates with an unfamiliar kind of humour, and where discussions of the oddest aspects of Hindu mythology give place to the most profound and subtle utterances about the nature of Ultimate Reality, is in itself a liberal, education in humility, tolerance and suspense of judgment. We must be grateful to the translator for his excellent version of a book so curious and delightful as a biographical document, so precious, at the same time, for what it teaches us of the life of the spirit.
--
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is the English translation of the Sri Sri Rmakrishna Kathmrita, the conversations of Sri Ramakrishna with his disciples, devotees, and visitors, recorded by Mahendranth Gupta, who wrote the book under the pseudonym of "M." The conversations in Bengali fill five volumes, the first of which was published in 1897 and the last shortly after M.'s death in 1932. Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, has published in two volumes an English translation of selected chapters from the monumental Bengali work. I have consulted these while preparing my translation.
M., one of the intimate disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, was present during all the conversations recorded in the main body of the book and noted them down in his diary.
They therefore have the value of almost stenographic records. In Appendix A are given several conversations which took place in the absence of M., but of which he received a first-hand record from persons concerned. The conversations will bring before the reader's mind an intimate picture of the Master's eventful life from March 1882 to April 24, 1886, only a few months before his passing away. During this period he came in contact chiefly with English-educated Benglis; from among them he selected his disciples and the bearers of his message, and with them he shared his rich spiritual experiences.
I have made a literal translation, omitting only a few pages of no particular interest to English-speaking readers. Often literary grace has been sacrificed for the sake of literal translation. No translation can do full justice to the original. This difficulty is all the more felt in the present work, whose contents are of a deep mystical nature and describe the inner experiences of a great seer. Human language is an altogether inadequate vehicle to express supersensuous perception. Sri Ramakrishna was almost illiterate. He never clothed his thoughts in formal language. His words sought to convey his direct realization of Truth. His conversation was in a village patois. Therein lies its charm. In order to explain to his listeners an abstruse philosophy, he, like Christ before him, used with telling effect homely parables and illustrations, culled from his observation of the daily life around him.
--
The life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna have redirected the thoughts of the denationalized Hindus to the spiritual ideals of their forefa thers. During the latter part of the nineteenth century his was the time-honoured role of the Saviour of the Eternal Religion of the Hindus. His teachings played an important part in liberalizing the minds of orthodox pundits and hermits. Even now he is the silent force that is moulding the spiritual destiny of India. His great disciple, Swami Vivekananda, was the first Hindu missionary to preach the message of Indian culture to the enlightened minds of Europe and America. The full consequence of Swami Vivekn and work is still in the womb of the future.
May this translation of the first book of its kind in the religious history of the world, being the record of the direct words of a prophet, help stricken humanity to come nearer to the Eternal Verity of life and remove dissension and quarrel from among the different faiths!
--
This epoch-making event of his life came about in a very strange way. M. belonged to a joint family with several collateral members. Some ten years after he began his career as an educationist, bitter quarrels broke out among the members of the family, driving the sensitive M. to despair and utter despondency. He lost all interest in life and left home one night to go into the wide world with the idea of ending his life. At dead of night he took rest in his sister's house at Baranagar, and in the morning, accompanied by a nephew Siddheswar, he wandered from one garden to another in Calcutta until Siddheswar brought him to the Temple Garden of Dakshineswar where Sri Ramakrishna was then living. After spending some time in the beautiful rose gardens there, he was directed to the room of the Paramahamsa, where the eventful meeting of the Master and the disciple took place on a blessed evening (the exact date is not on record) on a Sunday in March 1882. As regards what took place on the occasion, the reader is referred to the opening section of the first chapter of the Gospel.
The Master, who divined the mood of desperation in M, his resolve to take leave of this 'play-field of deception', put new faith and hope into him by his gracious words of assurance: "God forbid! Why should you take leave of this world? Do you not feel blessed by discovering your Guru? By His grace, what is beyond all imagination or dreams can be easily achieved!" At these words the clouds of despair moved away from the horizon of M.'s mind, and the sunshine of a new hope revealed to him fresh vistas of meaning in life. Referring to this phase of his life, M. used to say, "Behold! where is the resolve to end life, and where, the discovery of God! That is, sorrow should be looked upon as a friend of man. God is all good." ( Ibid P.33.)
--
It did not take much time for M. to become very intimate with the Master, or for the Master to recognise in this disciple a divinely commissioned partner in the fulfilment of his spiritual mission. When M. was reading out the Chaitanya Bhagavata, the Master discovered that he had been, in a previous birth, a disciple and companion of the great Vaishnava Teacher, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and the Master even saw him 'with his naked eye' participating in the ecstatic mass-singing of the Lord's name under the leadership of that Divine personality. So the Master told M, "You are my own, of the same substance as the father and the son," indicating thereby that M. was one of the chosen few and a part and parcel of his Divine mission.
There was an urge in M. to abandon the household life and become a Sannysin. When he communicated this idea to the Master, he forbade him saying," Mother has told me that you have to do a little of Her work you will have to teach Bhagavata, the word of God to humanity. The Mother keeps a Bhagavata Pandit with a bondage in the world!"
--
Sri Ramakrishna was a teacher for both the Orders of mankind, Sannysins and householders. His own life offered an ideal example for both, and he left behind disciples who followed the highest traditions he had set in respect of both these ways of life. M., along with Nag Mahashay, exemplified how a householder can rise to the highest level of sagehood. M. was married to Nikunja Devi, a distant relative of Keshab Chander Sen, even when he was reading at College, and he had four children, two sons and two daughters. The responsibility of the family, no doubt, made him dependent on his professional income, but the great devotee that he was, he never compromised with ideals and principles for this reason. Once when he was working as the headmaster in a school managed by the great Vidysgar, the results of the school at the public examination happened to be rather poor, and Vidysgar attri buted it to M's preoccupation with the Master and his consequent failure to attend adequately to the school work. M. at once resigned his post without any thought of the morrow. Within a fortnight the family was in poverty, and M. was one day pacing up and down the verandah of his house, musing how he would feed his children the next day. Just then a man came with a letter addressed to 'Mahendra Babu', and on opening it, M. found that it was a letter from his friend Sri Surendra Nath Banerjee, asking whether he would like to take up a professorship in the Ripon College. In this way three or four times he gave up the job that gave him the wherewithal to support the family, either for upholding principles or for practising spiritual Sadhanas in holy places, without any consideration of the possible dire worldly consequences; but he was always able to get over these difficulties somehow, and the interests of his family never suffered. In spite of his disregard for worldly goods, he was, towards the latter part of his life, in a fairly flourishing condition as the proprietor of the Morton School which he developed into a noted educational institution in the city. The Lord has said in the Bhagavad Git that in the case of those who think of nothing except Him, He Himself would take up all their material and spiritual responsibilities. M. was an example of the truth of the Lord's promise.
Though his children received proper attention from him, his real family, both during the Master's lifetime and after, consisted of saints, devotees, Sannysins and spiritual aspirants. His life exemplifies the Master's teaching that an ideal householder must be like a good maidservant of a family, loving and caring properly for the children of the house, but knowing always that her real home and children are elsewhere. During the Master's lifetime he spent all his Sundays and other holidays with him and his devotees, and besides listening to the holy talks and devotional music, practised meditation both on the Personal and the Impersonal aspects of God under the direct guidance of the Master. In the pages of the Gospel the reader gets a picture of M.'s spiritual relationship with the Master how from a hazy belief in the Impersonal God of the Brahmos, he was step by step brought to accept both Personality and Impersonality as the two aspects of the same Non-dual Being, how he was convinced of the manifestation of that Being as Gods, Goddesses and as Incarnations, and how he was established in a life that was both of a Jnni and of a Bhakta. This Jnni-Bhakta outlook and way of living became so dominant a feature of his life that Swami Raghavananda, who was very closely associated with him during his last six years, remarks: "Among those who lived with M. in latter days, some felt that he always lived in this constant and conscious union with God even with open eyes (i.e., even in waking consciousness)." (Swami Raghavananda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXXVII. P. 442.)
--
He was one of the earliest of the disciples to visit Kamarpukur, the birthplace of the Master, in the latter's lifetime itself; for he wished to practise contemplation on the Master's early life in its true original setting. His experience there is described as follows by Swami Nityatmananda: "By the grace of the Master, he saw the entire Kamarpukur as a holy place bathed in an effulgent Light. Trees and creepers, beasts and birds and men all were made of effulgence. So he prostrated to all on the road. He saw a torn cat, which appeared to him luminous with the Light of Consciousness. Immediately he fell to the ground and saluted it" (M The Apostle and the Evangelist by Swami Nityatmananda vol. I. P. 40.) He had similar experience in Dakshineswar also. At the instance of the Master he also visited Puri, and in the words of Swami Nityatmananda, "with indomitable courage, M. embraced the image of Jagannath out of season."
The life of Sdhan and holy association that he started on at the feet of the Master, he continued all through his life. He has for this reason been most appropriately described as a Grihastha-Sannysi (householder-Sannysin). Though he was forbidden by the Master to become a Sannysin, his reverence for the Sannysa ideal was whole-hearted and was without any reservation. So after Sri Ramakrishna's passing away, while several of the Master's householder devotees considered the young Sannysin disciples of the Master as inexperienced and inconsequential, M. stood by them with the firm faith that the Master's life and message were going to be perpetuated only through them. Swami Vivekananda wrote from America in a letter to the inmates of the Math: "When Sri Thkur (Master) left the body, every one gave us up as a few unripe urchins. But M. and a few others did not leave us in the lurch. We cannot repay our debt to them." (Swami Raghavananda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXX P. 442.)
M. spent his weekends and holidays with the monastic brethren who, after the Master's demise, had formed themselves into an Order with a Math at Baranagore, and participated in the intense life of devotion and meditation that they followed. At other times he would retire to Dakshineswar or some garden in the city and spend several days in spiritual practice taking simple self-cooked food. In order to feel that he was one with all mankind he often used to go out of his home at dead of night, and like a wandering Sannysin, sleep with the waifs on some open verandah or footpath on the road.
--
Besides the prompting of his inherent instinct, the main inducement for M. to keep this diary of his experiences at Dakshineswar was his desire to provide himself with a means for living in holy company at all times. Being a school teacher, he could be with the Master only on Sundays and other holidays, and it was on his diary that he depended for 'holy company' on other days. The devotional scriptures like the Bhagavata say that holy company is the first and most important means for the generation and growth of devotion. For, in such company man could hear talks on spiritual matters and listen to the glorification of Divine attri butes, charged with the fervour and conviction emanating from the hearts of great lovers of God. Such company is therefore the one certain means through which Sraddha (Faith), Rati (attachment to God) and Bhakti (loving devotion) are generated. The diary of his visits to Dakshineswar provided M. with material for re-living, through reading and contemplation, the holy company he had had earlier, even on days when he was not able to visit Dakshineswar. The wealth of details and the vivid description of men and things in the midst of which the sublime conversations are set, provide excellent material to re-live those experiences for any one with imaginative powers. It was observed by M.'s disciples and admirers that in later life also whenever he was free or alone, he would be pouring over his diary, transporting himself on the wings of imagination to the glorious days he spent at the feet of the Master.
During the Master's lifetime M. does not seem to have revealed the contents of his diary to any one. There is an unconfirmed tradition that when the Master saw him taking notes, he expressed apprehension at the possibility of his utilising these to publicise him like Keshab Sen; for the Great Master was so full of the spirit of renunciation and humility that he disliked being lionised. It must be for this reason that no one knew about this precious diary of M. for a decade until he brought out selections from it as a pamphlet in English in 1897 with the Holy Mother's blessings and permission. The Holy Mother, being very much pleased to hear parts of the diary read to her in Bengali, wrote to M.: "When I heard the Kathmrita, (Bengali name of the book) I felt as if it was he, the Master, who was saying all that." ( Ibid Part I. P 37.)
--
It looks as if M. was brought to the world by the Great Master to record his words and transmit them to posterity. Swami Sivananda, a direct disciple of the Master and the second President of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, says on this topic: "Whenever there was an interesting talk, the Master would call Master Mahashay if he was not in the room, and then draw his attention to the holy words spoken. We did not know then why the Master did so. Now we can realise that this action of the Master had an important significance, for it was reserved for Master Mahashay to give to the world at large the sayings of the Master." ( Vednta Kesari Vol. XIX P 141.) Thanks to M., we get, unlike in the case of the great teachers of the past, a faithful record with date, time, exact report of conversations, description of concerned men and places, references to contemporary events and personalities and a hundred other details for the last four years of the Master's life (1882-'86), so that no one can doubt the historicity of the Master and his teachings at any time in the future.
M. was, in every respect, a true missionary of Sri Ramakrishna right from his first acquaintance with him in 1882. As a school teacher, it was a practice with him to direct to the Master such of his students as had a true spiritual disposition. Though himself prohibited by the Master to take to monastic life, he encouraged all spiritually inclined young men he came across in his later life to join the monastic Order. Swami Vijnanananda, a direct Sannysin disciple of the Master and a President of the Ramakrishna Order, once remarked to M.: "By enquiry, I have come to the conclusion that eighty percent and more of the Sannysins have embraced the monastic life after reading the Kathmrita (Bengali name of the book) and coming in contact with you." ( M
The Apostle and the Evangelist by Swami Nityatmananda Part I, P 37.)
0.01 - I - Sri Aurobindos personality, his outer retirement - outside contacts after 1910 - spiritual personalities- Vibhutis and Avatars - transformtion of human personality, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
One feels that he was describing the feeling of some of us, his disciples, with regard to him in his inimitable way.
This transformation of the human personality into the Divine perhaps even the mere connection of the human with the Divine is probably regarded as a chimera by the modern mind. To the modern mind it would appear as the apotheosis of a human personality which is against its idea of equality of men. Its difficulty is partly due to the notion that the Divine is unlimited and illimitable while a 'personality', however high and grand, seems to demand imposition, or assumption, of limitation. In this connection Sri Aurobindo said during an evening talk that no human manifestation can be illimitable and unlimited, but the manifestation in the limited should reflect the unlimited, the Transcendent Beyond.
0.01 - Letters from the Mother to Her Son, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Aurobindo and myself, as well as five of the closest disciples.
We have joined the houses together with openings in some
--
(Sri Aurobindo's disciples living in Pondicherry) varies between
eighty-five and a hundred. Five cars, twelve bicycles, four sewing
0.02 - II - The Home of the Guru, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
The Master, the Guru, set at rest the puzzled human mind by his illuminating answers, perhaps even more by his silent consciousness, so that it might be able to pursue unhampered the path of realisation of the Truth. Those ancient discourses answer the mind of man today even across the ages. They have rightly acquired as everything of the past does a certain sanctity. But sometimes that very reverence prevents men from properly evaluating, and living in, the present. This happens when the mind instead of seeking the Spirit looks at the form. For instance, it is not necessary for such discourses that they take place in forest-groves in order to be highly spiritual. Wherever the Master is, there is Light. And guru-griha the house of the Master can be his private dwelling place. So much was this feeling a part of Sri Aurobindo's nature and so particular was he to maintain the personal character of his work that during the first few years after 1923 he did not like his house to be called an 'Ashram', as the word had acquired the sense of a public institution to the modern mind. But there was no doubt that the flower of Divinity had blossomed in him; and disciples, like bees seeking honey, came to him. It is no exaggeration to say that these Evening Talks were to the small company of disciples what the Aranyakas were to the ancient seekers. Seeking the Light, they came to the dwelling place of their Guru, the greatest seer of the age, and found it their spiritual home the home of their parents, for the Mother, his companion in the great mission, had come. And these spiritual parents bestowed upon the disciples freely of their Light, their Consciousness, their Power and their Grace. The modern reader may find that the form of these discourses differs from those of the past but it was bound to be so for the simple reason that the times have changed and the problems that puzzle the modern mind are so different. Even though the disciples may be very imperfect representations of what he aimed at in them, still they are his creations. It is in order to repay, in however infinitesimal a degree, the debt which we owe to him that the effort is made to partake of the joy of his company the Evening Talks with a larger public.
***
0.03 - III - The Evening Sittings, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
When Sri Aurobindo and the Mother moved to No. 9 Rue de la Marine in 1922 the same routine of informal evening sittings after meditation continued. I came to Pondicherry for Sadhana in the beginning of 1923. I kept notes of the important talks I had with the four or five disciples who were already there. Besides, I used to take detailed notes of the Evening Talks which we all had with the Master. They were not intended by him to be noted down. I took them down because of the importance I felt about everything connected with him, no matter how insignificant to the outer view. I also felt that everything he did would acquire for those who would come to know his mission a very great significance.
As years passed the evening sittings went on changing their time and often those disciples who came from outside for a temporary stay for Sadhana were allowed to join them. And, as the number of sadhaks practising the Yoga increased, the evening sittings also became more full, and the small verandah upstairs in the main building was found insufficient. Members of the household would gather every day at the fixed time with some sense of expectancy and start chatting in low tones. Sri Aurobindo used to come last and it was after his coming that the session would really commence.
He came dressed as usual in dhoti, part of which was used by him to cover the upper part of his body. Very rarely he came out with chaddar or shawl and then it was "in deference to the climate" as he sometimes put it. At times for minutes he would be gazing at the sky from a small opening at the top of the grass-curtains that covered the verandah upstairs in No. 9, Rue de la Marine. How much were these sittings dependent on him may be gathered from the fact that there were days when more than three-fourths of the time passed in complete silence without any outer suggestion from him, or there was only an abrupt "Yes" or "No" to all attempts at drawing him out in conversation. And even when he participated in the talk one always felt that his voice was that of one who does not let his whole being flow into his words; there was a reserve and what was left unsaid was perhaps more than what was spoken. What was spoken was what he felt necessary to speak.
Very often some news-item in the daily newspaper, town-gossip, or some interesting letter received either by him or by a disciple, or a question from one of the gathering, occasionally some remark or query from himself would set the ball rolling for the talk. The whole thing was so informal that one could never predict the turn the conversation would take. The whole house therefore was in a mood to enjoy the freshness and the delight of meeting the unexpected. There were peals of laughter and light talk, jokes and criticism which might be called personal, there was seriousness and earnestness in abundance.
These sittings, in fact, furnished Sri Aurobindo with an occasion to admit and feel the outer atmosphere and that of the group living with him. It brought to him the much-needed direct contact of the mental and vital make-up of the disciples, enabling him to act on the atmosphere in general and on the individual in particular. He could thus help to remould their mental make-up by removing the limitations of their minds and opinions, and correct temperamental tendencies and formations. Thus, these sittings contributed at least partly to the creation of an atmosphere amenable to the working of the Higher Consciousness. Far more important than the actual talk and its content was the personal contact, the influence of the Master, and the divine atmosphere he emanated; for through his outer personality it was the Divine Consciousness that he allowed to act. All along behind the outer manifestation that appeared human, there was the influence and presence of the Divine.
What was talked in the small group informally was not intended by Sri Aurobindo to be the independent expression of his views on the subjects, events or the persons discussed. Very often what he said was in answer to the spiritual need of the individual or of the collective atmosphere. It was like a spiritual remedy meant to produce certain spiritual results, not a philosophical or metaphysical pronouncement on questions, events or movements. The net result of some talks very often was to point out to the disciple the inherent incapacity of the human intellect and its secondary place in the search for the ultimate Reality.
But there were occasions when he did give his independent, personal views on some problems, on events or other subjects. Even then it was never an authoritarian pronouncement. Most often it appeared to be a logically worked out and almost inevitable conclusion expressed quite impersonally though with firm and sincere conviction. This impersonality was such a prominent trait of his personality! Even in such matters as dispatching a letter or a telegram it would not be a command from him to a disciple to carry out the task. Most often during his usual passage to the dining room he would stop on the way, drop in on the company of four or five disciples and, holding out the letter or the telegram, would say in the most amiable and yet the most impersonal way: "I suppose this has to be sent." And it would be for someone in the group instantly to volunteer and take it. The expression he very often used was "It was done" or "It happened", not "I did."
From 1918 to 1922, we gathered at No. 41, Rue Franois Martin, called the Guest House, upstairs, on a broad verandah into which four rooms opened and whose main piece of furniture was a small table 3' x 1' covered with a blue cotton cloth. That is where Sri Aurobindo used to sit in a hard wooden chair behind the table with a few chairs in front for the visitors or for the disciples.
From 1922 to 1926, No. 9, Rue de la Marine, where he and the Mother had shifted, was the place where the sittings were held. There, also upstairs, was a less broad verandah than at the Guest House, a little bigger table in front of the central door out of three, and a broad Japanese chair, the table covered with a better cloth than the one in the Guest House, a small flower vase, an ash-tray, a block calendar indicating the date and an ordinary time-piece, and a number of chairs in front in a line. The evening sittings used to be after meditation at 4 or 4.30 p.m. After 24 November 1926, the sittings began to get later and later, till the limit of 1 o'clock at night was reached. Then the curtain fell. Sri Aurobindo retired completely after December 1926, and the evening sittings came to a close.
0.03 - The Threefold Life, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The schools of Indian Yoga lent themselves to the compromise. Individual perfection or liberation was made the aim, seclusion of some kind from the ordinary activities the condition, the renunciation of life the culmination. The teacher gave his knowledge only to a small circle of disciples. Or if a wider movement was attempted, it was still the release of the individual soul that remained the aim. The pact with an immobile society was, for the most part, observed.
The utility of the compromise in the then actual state of the world cannot be doubted. It secured in India a society which lent itself to the preservation and the worship of spirituality, a country apart in which as in a fortress the highest spiritual ideal could maintain itself in its most absolute purity unoverpowered by the siege of the forces around it. But it was a compromise, not an absolute victory. The material life lost the divine impulse to growth, the spiritual preserved by isolation its height and purity, but sacrificed its full power and serviceableness to the world. Therefore, in the divine Providence the country of the Yogins and the Sannyasins has been forced into a strict and imperative contact with the very element it had rejected, the element of the progressive Mind, so that it might recover what was now wanting to it.
0.11 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
of the disciples of the Ashram all belong to the same family. In spite of this, there is often a lack of collaboration
among us. Why is that, Mother?
--
The disciples of the Ashram have a sure and easy way to
put their money at the disposal of the Divine: they offer
--
good Guru and what a good disciple!
Speed is not necessarily a sign of superiority.
0 1954-08-25 - what is this personality? and when will she come?, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The following text is an extract from a 'Wednesday Class,' when every Wednesday Mother would answer questions raised by the disciples and children at the Ashram Playground.
(Mother reads to the disciples an excerpt from Sri Aurobindos THE MOTHER, in which he describes the different aspects of the Creative Powerwhat is India is called the Shakti, or the Motherwhich have presided over universal evolution.)
There are other great Personalities of the Divine Mother, but they were more difficult to bring down and have not stood out in front with so much prominence in the evolution of the earth-spirit. There are among them Presences indispensable for the supramental realization,most of all one who is her Personality of that mysterious and powerful ecstasy and Ananda1 which flows from a supreme divine Love, the Ananda that alone can heal the gulf between the highest heights of the supramental spirit and the lowest abysses of Matter, the Ananda that holds the key of a wonderful divines Life and even now supports from its secrecies the work of all the other Powers of the universe.
--
(A disciple:) Sweet Mother, what is this Personality and when will It manifest?
My answer is ready.
--
What? (the disciple repeats his question) Oh! You can always try!
The world is recreated from minute to minute. If you knew how I mean if you could change your natureyou could recreate a new world this very minute!
--
But as I said, bit by bit things changed. However, this had one advantage: we were too much outside of life. So there were a number of problems which had never arisen but which would have suddenly surged up the moment we wanted a complete manifestation. We took on all these problems a little prematurely, but it gave us the opportunity to solve them. In this way we learned many things and surmounted many difficulties, only it complicated things considerably. And in the present situation, given such a large number of elements who havent even the slightest idea why theyre here (!) well, it demands a far greater effort on the disciples part than before.
Before, when there were we started with 35 or 36 people but even when it got up to 150, even with 150it was as if they were all nestled in a cocoon in my consciousness: they were so near to me that I could constantly guide ALL their inner or outer movements. Day and night, at each moment, everything was totally under my control. And naturally, I think they made a great deal of progress at that time: it is a fact that I was CONSTANTLY doing the sadhana2 for them. But then, with this baby boom The sadhana cant be done for little sprouts who are 3 or 4 or 5 years old! Its out of the question. The only thing I can do is wrap them in the Consciousness and try to see that they grow up in the best of all possible conditions. However, the one advantage to all this is that instead of there being such a COMPLETE and PASSIVE dependence on the disciples part, each one has to make his own little effort. Truly, thats excellent.
I dont know to whom I was mentioning this today (I think it was for a Birthday3 No, I dont know now. It was to someone who told me he was 18 years old. I said that between the ages of 18 and 20, I had attained a constant and conscious union with the Divine Presence and that I had done this ALL ALONE, without ANYONES help, not even books. When a little later I chanced upon Vivekanandas Raja Yoga, it really seemed so wonderful to me that someone could explain something to me! And it helped me realize in only a few months what would have otherwise taken years.
--
(To the disciple handling the microphone:) Its over now.
(Mother gets up to go, but while leaving, She says to the children around her:) If you had made just one little decision to try to feel your psychic being, my time would not have been wasted.
--
Mother received each disciple individually on his birthday.
The Mother of Ananda, or the Creative Power's aspect of Joy.
0 1955-04-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Every evening at the Playground, the disciples passed before Mother one by one to receive symbolically some food.
In the Himalayas.
0 1956-03-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Note written by Mother in French. At this period, Mother's back was already bent. This straightening of her back seems to be the first physiological effect of the 'Supramental Manifestation' of February 29, which is perhaps the reason why Mother noted down the experience under the name 'Agenda of the Supramental Action on Earth.' It was the first time Mother gave a title to what would become this fabulous document of 13 volumes. The experience took place during a 'translation class' when, twice a week, Mother would translate the works of Sri Aurobindo into French before a group of disciples.
AGENDA OF THE SUPRAMENTAL ACTION ON EARTH
0 1956-03-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother appeared on her balcony daily at about 6 a.m. to give a few moments of meditation to her disciples before the beginning of the day's work.
***
0 1956-05-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The number of disciples is increasing now day by day. What does this indicate?
But inevitablyit will increase more and more! Which is why I cannot do what I used to do when there were one hundred and fifty people in the Ashram. If they had just a little bit of common sense, they would understand that I cannot have the same relationship with people now (just imagine, 1,800 people these last days!), so I cannot have the same relationship with 1,845 people (exactly, I believe) as with thirty or even a hundred. That seems an easy enough logic to understand.
--
(Turning to the disciple) So you may tell them this: be sincere and you will be helped.
Mother, very recently a text has been circulating which says, What has just now happened, with this Victory, is not a descent but a manifestation. And it is no longer merely an individual event: the Supermind has sprung forth into the universal play.
0 1956-08-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In fact, following the 'Supramental Manifestation' of February 29, 1956, all of Mother's physical difficulties increased, as though all the obscurities in the physical consciousness were surging forth beneath the pressure of the new light. The same observation applies to the disciples who were around Mother and undoubtedly to the world as a whole. A strange 'mysterious acceleration' was beginning to take hold of the world.
***
0 1956-09-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This text was noted down by a disciple from memory. On the original manuscript submitted for her approval, Mother wrote, 'This account is quite correct,' and She signed the text. Words added or corrected by Mother are in italics.
(During the Wednesday class)
0 1956-09-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
A former disciple who left the Ashram, and subsequently committed suicide.
***
0 1957-04-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Thus I am so tense that I do not even want to close my eyes to meditate for fear of yielding. And I fall into all kinds of errors that horrify me, simply because the pressure is too strong at times, and I literally suffocate. Mother, I am not cut out to be a disciple.
I realize that all the progress I was able to make during the first two years has been lost and I am just as before, worse than beforeas if all my strength were in ruin, all faith in myself undoneso much so that at times I curse myself for having come here at all.
0 1958-05-11 - the ship that said OM, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother is referring to her 'Darshan' when four times a year She appeared on her balcony high above the assembled mass of disciples and visitors on the street below. The 'darshan days' were February 21, April 24, August 15 and November 24.
Tamas: in Indian psychology, inertia and obscurity.
0 1958-07-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The room where, on the first of each month, Mother distributed to the disciples their needs for the month.
Asuras: the demons or dark forces of the mental plane.
0 1958-08-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
[The disciple who managed the Ashram 'Atelier': mechanical workshop, maintenance garage, automobile service, etc.]
It was just at four oclock in the morning, and it woke me up. It was exactly like this I was apparently in my bathroom, and I had to open the door between the bathroom and Sri Aurobindos room; the moment I put my hand on the doorknob, I knew with an absolute certainty that destruction was awaiting me behind the door. It had the form or image of those great invaders of India, those who had swooped down upon India and destroyed everything in their wake But it was only an impression.
--
A young disciple who worked in the Atelier.
***
0 1958-10-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When the disciple became a Sannyasi and travelled in the Himalayas with the tantric Swami
In this vision, the d. ceased tantric guru of the guru who initiated Satprem appeared to Mother in a dark blue light and 'imposed' himself on her to tell her certain things.
The disciple's tantric guru.
We believe that Mother used the word 'qualified' in the sense of restrict, limit Or modifya limitless Power.
0 1958-10-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(The disciple complains of his difficulties)
Difficulties are sent to us exclusively to make the realization more perfect.
0 1958-10-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(The disciple asks to know what he must do and what his place is in the universal manifestation)
In all religious and especially occult initiations, the ritual of the different ceremonies is prescribed in every detail; all the words pronounced, all the gestures made have their importance, and the least infraction of the rule, the least fault committed can have fatal consequences. It is the same in material lifeif one had the initiation into the true way of living, one could transform physical existence.
0 1958-10-25 - to go out of your body, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Concerning the disciple's tantric guru)
When X does his puja, I clearly see the particular form of the Mother he is invoking I see her descending.
0 1958-11-04 - Myths are True and Gods exist - mental formation and occult faculties - exteriorization - work in dreams, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Shortly afterwards, the disciple again brings up the topic of August 9, where Mother had said that the gods are a good deal worse than human beings)
It should be said that we are speaking of the Puranic gods, because the Christians, for example, do not understand what this can mean. They have an entirely different conception of the gods.
--
(Later, the disciple asks Mother for some clarification on the essential difference between the occult reality and mental formations)
Once you have worked in this field, you realize that when you have studied a subject, when you have mentally understood something, it gives a special tonality to the experience. The experience may be quite spontaneous and sincere, but the simple fact of having known this subject and of having studied it gives a particular tonality; on the other hand, if you have learned nothing of the subject, if you know nothing at all, well, when the experience comes, the notation of it is entirely spontaneous and sincere. It can be more or less adequate, but it is not the result of a former mental formation.
--
(Then the disciple asks for details on going out of each successive body into the next, more subtle one)
There are subtle bodies and subtle worlds that correspond to these bodies; it is what the psychological method calls states of consciousness, but these states of consciousness really correspond to worlds. The occult process consists in becoming aware of these various inner states of being, or subtle bodies, and of mastering them sufficiently to be able to make one come out of the other, successively. For there is a whole hierarchy of increasing subtletiesor decreasing, depending upon the direction and the occult process consists in making a more subtle body come out from a denser body, and so forth, right to the most ethereal regions. You go out through successive exteriorizations into more and more subtle bodies or worlds. Each time it is rather like passing into another dimension. In fact, the fourth dimension of the physicists is only the scientific transcription of an occult knowledge.
0 1958-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Concerning an experience Mother had on November 13 in regard to the disciple's difficulties)
Truly speaking, perhaps one is never rid of the hostile forces as long as one has not permanently emerged into the Light, above the lower hemisphere. There, the term hostile forces loses its meaning; they become only forces of progress, they force you to progress. But to see things in this way, you have to get out of the lower hemisphere, for below, they are very real in their opposition to the divine plan.
0 1958-11-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mother tries to find the origin of the disciple's difficulties)
I dont have all the information, otherwise certainly Two things made me see I saw them the other day. First of all, when you didnt understand my letter, for I wrote it to a part of you that without any doubt should have understood; I was referring to something other than what is seen and known by this part of you which is this center, this knot of revolt that seems to resist everything, that really remains knotted, in spite of your experiences and the strides you have made, as well as your openings. And what made me see is especially the fact that it resists experiences, it is not touched by experiences; this was the point that did not understand what I wrote. Because the part of you that had the experience must necessarily understand what I wrote, without the shadow of a doubt.
0 1958-11-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The first tantric guru whom the disciple joined in Ceylon and with whom he travelled in the Himalayas.
Original English.
--
The disciple wanted to leave for the forest, the Congo, to do the most unlikely things there.
***
0 1958-11-27 - Intermediaries and Immediacy, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Concerning the disciple's karma and the tantric discipline that he is following to dissolve this karma, Mother wonders why She herself had not been able to dissolve it directly and why it was necessary to resort to intermediaries)
I am used to seeing the process or the working of things more from a spiritual point of view, something more universal, whereas this needs to be seen from a detailed, occult point of view.
--
The disciple's tantric guru.
The deceased guru of the disciple's guru.
A few days later, the disciple left on a journey, then Mother fell 'ill.' It was to be the first great turning in her yoga: the beginning of the yoga of the cells.
***
0 1958 12 - Floor 1, young girl, we shall kill the young princess - black tent, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
A disciple
***
0 1959-03-10 - vital dagger, vital mass, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(The disciple returned to the Ashram, but as he was very quickly seized again by his mania for the road, the Agenda of 1959, alas, is strewn with great gaps and is almost nonexistent. The following conversation is in regard to one of Mother's commentaries on the Dhammapada: 'Evil')
I spent a nighta night of battlewhen, for some reason or other, a multitude of vital formations of all kinds entered into the room: beings, things, embryos of beings, residues of beingsall kinds of things And it was a frightful assault, absolutely disgusting.
0 1959-05-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The disciple's tantric guru.
***
0 1959-06-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Regarding me, this is more or less what he said: First of all, I want an agreement from you so that under any circumstances you never leave the Ashram. Whatever happens, even if Yama1 comes to dance at your door, you should never leave the Ashram. At the critical moment, when the attack is the strongest, you should throw everything into His hands, then and then only the thing can be removed (I no longer know whether he said removed or destroyed ). It is the only way. SARVAM MAMA BRAHMAN [Thou art my sole refuge]. Here in Rameswaram, we are going to meditate together for 45 days, and the Asuric-Shakti may come with full strength to attack, and I shall try my best not only to protect but to destroy, but for that, I need your determination. It is only by your own determination that I can get strength. If the force comes to make suggestions: lack of adventure, lack of Nature, lack of love, then think that I am the forest, think that I am the sea, think that I am the wife (!!) Meanwhile, X has nearly doubled the number of repetitions of the mantra that I have to say every day (it is the same mantra he gave me in Pondicherry). X repeated to me again and again that I am not merely a disciple to him, like the others, but as if his son.
This was a first, hasty conversation, and we did not discuss things at length. I said nothing. I have no confidence in my reactions when I am in the midst of my crises of complete negation. And truly speaking, at the time of my last crisis in Pondicherry, I do not know if it was really Xs occult working that set things right, for personally (but perhaps it is an ignorant impression), I felt that it was thanks to Sujata and her childlike simplicity that I was able to get out of it.
0 1959-06-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
2) X gave me certain details about his powers of prediction, but perhaps it would be better not to speak of this in a letter. On that occasion, he told me that he did not want to keep any secrets from me: I want you to know everything. I want you to be chief disciple in my tradition. When the time comes, you will understand what I mean. With you I have full connection, not only connection in my mind, but in my blood and body.
On another occasion, he said to me, I am ALWAYS taking care of you. And when I asked him why he was taking such trouble for me, he replied, Because I have orders. This attention that comes to me from you and him surprises me, for I do not feel that I am good, and upon the least occasion I know that I am seriously prepared to quit everything because something in me is profoundly revolted by this excess of suffering, by a lack of love and flowering, by an excess of solitude. Yesterday evening, it was still fully there, with all my approval, and at such a time no one in the world can hold me back. It is this POINT OF SUFFERING that makes me want to turn my back on everything. Not to commit suicide: to turn my back.
0 1959-06-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I had said nothing to X about these various dreams before he told me the story of my last three existences: three times I committed suicide the first by fire, the second by hanging, and the third by throwing myself into the void. During the first of these last three existences, I was married to a very good woman, but for some reason I abandoned my wife and I was wandering here and there in search of something. Then I met a sannyasi who wanted to make me his disciple, but I could not make up my mind, I was neither this side nor that side, whereupon my wife came to me and pleaded with me to take her back. Apparently I rejected herso she threw herself into the fire. Horror-stricken, I followed her, throwing myself into the fire in turn. That was when I created a connection with certain beings [of the other worlds] and I fell under their power. For two other lives, under the influence of these beings, the same drama was repeated with a few variations.
During the second of these last three existences, I was married to the same woman whom I again abandoned under the influence of the same monk, and I again remained between two worlds wandering here and there. Again my wife came to plead with me and again I pushed her away. She hung herself, and I hung myself in turn.
0 1960-01-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
'It wants to live only to conquer.' Then the next day, Mother sent the following note to the disciple: 'Friday, 1.29.60yesterday, when I left you, the experience was there, but in my hurry to leave, the words did not come correctly, or rather they were incomplete (I had said, 'to live only to conquer'). What my body was experiencing was, 'Live to win the Lord's Victory.'
***
0 1960-01-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Letter from Mother to the disciple concerning her former commentaries on the 'Dhammapada' at the Playground)
When I began the readings from the Dhammapada, I had hoped that my listeners would take enough interest in the practical spiritual side for me to read only one verse at a time. But quite quickly, I saw they found this very boring and were making no effort to benefit from the meditation. The only solution then was to treat the matter as an intellectual study, which is why I started reading chapter by chapter.
0 1960-03-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
On this first anniversary of the Supramental Manifestation, Mother distributed medals commemorating the occasion to the disciples filing past.
***
0 1960-05-21 - true purity - you have to be the Divine to overcome hostile forces, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Formations, in occult language, refer to all the psychological movements and impulses, conscious or unconscious, constantly emanating from the disciples and others, and which leave an imprint in the subtle atmosphere or a wandering entity seeking to fulfill itself.
***
0 1960-06-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(The disciple complains of his bad nights)
If you wake up tired in the morning, it is due to tamas, nothing elsea dreadful mass of tamas. I became aware of this when I started doing the yoga of the body. And its inevitable as long as the body is not transformed.
0 1960-06-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(the disciple grimaces)
Are you sure? Believe it or not, but Im not so sure.
--
So then I thought, This surely must have had some effect (on the disciple). What has happened? I am I was literally in peace.
And thats really how it was Hmm, maybe thats what its like for an infant shut up in his mothers womb, so he kicks about in every direction and for a long time. Hes had enough of being shut in.
--
(Mother looks at the disciple)
Good.
--
The disciple is still complaining about his nights.
The disciple means in meditationto imagine Mother in her physical form or to use her physical form as an 'object' of meditation. In fact, he was very afraid of getting caught.
***
0 1960-07-23 - The Flood and the race - turning back to guide and save amongst the torrents - sadhana vs tamas and destruction - power of giving and offering - Japa, 7 lakhs, 140000 per day, 1 crore takes 20 years, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The disciple was doing about five hours of japa a day at this time, then later seven hoursuntil it cracked.
One crore = 10,000,000.
0 1960-08-10 - questions from center of Education - reading Sri Aurobindo, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
And finally, Sweet Mother, what I would really like to know is the purpose of our Center of Education. Is it to teach the works of Sri Aurobindo? And only these? All the works or some only? Or is it to prepare the students to read the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother? Is it to prepare them for the Ashram life or for outside occupations as well? So many opinions are floating in the air, and even the old disciples from whom we expect some knowledge make so many contradictory statements
(Laughing, to Pavitra:) I suppose thats for you!
0 1960-08-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Getting up to leave, Mother holds in her hands the first copy of LOrpailleur which the disciple has just received from France and offered to Her)
Shall I take your book or ? Dont you want it?
--
(Just at the doorstep, as She is leaving, Mother tells the disciple that She had seen three books, a trilogy, and the third one would be about Her. And She adds:)
Sri Aurobindo came during my japa to tell me, I will help him all through.
0 1960-09-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
New Horizon Sugar Mills, which belongs to a disciple. The inauguration was on September 15.
Original English.
The disciple who manages the sugar factory.
***
0 1960-10-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
What about you, is your health better? (the disciple had not been well)
When you have to slip in seven hours of japa a day, it makes your life a bit strange!
--
The disciple's tantric guru.
In occult language, a 'formation' is a concentration of power towards a specific end. In this case, the tantric guru's formation to save the nephew.
0 1960-10-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(After a meditation with Mother on the occasion of the disciple's birthday. At the outset of the conversation, Mother had given the disciple a small leather wallet with an Egyptian fresco depicted on it.)
Let me see the wallet (Mother looks at it) Ah, so that has nothing to do with it!
--
(Mother gives the disciple a carnation, named by her Collaboration)
So, I wont see you again? No, too many people come in the afternoon, its not pleasant
0 1960-11-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(After a conversation with Z, a distant ' disciple' reputed for his loose morals and the object of numerous 'moralistic' or even so-called 'yogic' criticisms among the 'true disciples' in the Ashram)
He lives in a region which is largely a kind of vital vibration which penetrates the mind and makes use of the imagination (essentially its the same region most so-called cultured men live in). I dont mean to be severe or critical, but its a world that likes to play to itself. Its not really what we could call histrionics, not thatits rather a need to dramatize to oneself. So it can be an heroic drama, it can be a musical drama, it can be a tragic drama, or quite simply a poetic drama and ninety-nine times out of a hundred, its a romantic drama. And then, these soul states (!) come replete with certain spoken expressions (laughing) Im holding myself back from saying certain things!You know, its like a theatricals store where you rent scenery and costumes. Its all ready and waitinga little call, and there it comes, ready-made. For a particular occasion, they say, Youre the woman of my life (to be repeated as often as necessary), and for another they say Its a whole world, a whole mode of human life which I suddenly felt I was holding in my arms. Yes, like a decoration, an ornament, a nicetyan ornament of existence, to keep it from being flat and dull and the best means the human mind has found to get out of its tamas. Its a kind of artifice.
--
The most senior disciple in the Ashram.
***
0 1960-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Conversation of November 8, the 'artist' disciple with loose morals.
***
0 1960-12-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mother gives the disciple a cadamba flower which she has named 'Supramental Sun'a striking orange ball consisting of innumerable stamens)
Its beautiful, isnt it? Its all together, but its innumerable. Its ONE thing going in all directions. And what a color! The tree is glorious.
0 1960-12-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The room where Mother distributed to the disciples their needs (soap, paper, etc.) on the first of each month.
Mother later discovered that this world of complications is the symbol of the physical mind.
0 1961-01-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The notebook in which a young woman disciple asked questions on Sri Aurobindo's Thoughts and Aphorisms. Later, Mother preferred answering verbally Satprem's questions on the aphorisms. This allowed her to speak of her experiences freely without the restrictions imposed by a written reply. These 'Commentaries on the Aphorisms' were later partially published in the Bulletin under the title Propos. Here they are republished chronologically in their unabridged form.
Where Sri Aurobindo's body lies, in the Ashram courtyard.
0 1961-01-10, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Twice a week, during the period of the Playground Talks, Mother would publicly reply to questions put to her by the disciples assembled at the Ashram Playground.
World Uniona 'movement' launched through the personal initiative of a disciple.
***
0 1961-01-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Saraswati represents the universal Mother's aspect of Knowledge and artistic creativity. On this occasion, Mother would go down to the Meditation Hall and the disciples would silently pass in front of her to receive a message. This year they would receive a folder containing five photographs of Mother.
Savitri, Vol. 29, XI.I.702.
0 1961-01-22, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
On the previous day, January 21, Saraswati Puja, Mother had given a message and photos to each disciple.
Later, on the 27th, Mother remarked: 'I was reading about this very thing yesterday in The Secret of the Veda, in the first hymn translated by Sri Aurobindo (the reference is to the colloquy between Indra and Agastya, Rig Veda I.170cf. The Secret of the Veda, Cent. Ed., X.241 ff.), and it helped me put my finger on the problem. In this hymn there is a dispute between Indra and the Rishi because the Rishi wants to progress too quickly without first passing through Indra [the god of the Mind], and Indra stops him; finally they reach an agreement. Sri Aurobindo's commentary is quite interesting: when one has the INDIVIDUAL power to go directly, but neglects the steps which are still necessary for the whole, for the universal movement, then one is stopped short. That is absolutely my experience.'
0 1961-01-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Balcony-darshan: up to 1962, Mother appeared every morning on the first-floor balcony to be seen by the disciples assembled on the street below.
***
0 1961-02-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And do you know how he received me when I arrived there? It was the first time in my life I had traveled alone and the first time I had crossed the Mediterranean. Then there was a fairly long train ride between Oran and Tlemcenanyway, I managed rather well: I got there. He met me at the station and we set off for his place by car (it was rather far away). Finally we reached his estatea wonder! It spread across the hillside overlooking the whole valley of Tlemcen. We arrived from below and had to climb up some wide pathways. I said nothingit was truly an experience from a material standpoint. When we came in sight of the house, he stopped: Thats my house. It was red! Painted red! And he added, When Barley came here, he asked me, Why did you paint your house red? (Barley was a French occultist who put Theon in touch with France and was his first disciple.) There was a mischievous gleam in Theons eyes and he smiled sardonically: I told Barley, Because red goes well with green! With that, I began to understand the gentleman. We continued on our way uphill when suddenly, without warning, he spun around, planted himself in front of me, and said, Now you are at my mercy. Arent you afraid? Just like that. So I looked at him, smiled and replied, Im never afraid. I have the Divine here. (Mother touches her heart.)
Well, he really went pale.
0 1961-02-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother reads the following letter aloud in English, before sending it to a disciple.)
You ask me what you must do. It would be better to ask what you must be, because the circumstances and activities in life have not much importance. What is important is our way of reacting towards them.
0 1961-02-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Last night I had a dream about you that made a vivid impression on me. Its probably absurd, but it was so real! You had called me because you were going to leave your body: you had decided to leave and you wanted somehow to say good-bye. It was so real! I came to you and for a moment you placed my head on your knees, and I was filled with light; it was very tender. But at the same time, I knew you were saying good-bye, you were going to leave your body, and I wept in my dream. Then I went to sit in a corner because there were other people who probably had come to see you as well. I remained in that corner, strickenit seemed so real, you understand! Just then, aman I didnt know entered the room (I knew he was French), a stranger dressed all in black, and he started making a loud commotion. He was smoking a pipe,2 a very coarse man, and he wanted to make all the people there, the disciples, get out of the room .3 It was so real! I awoke with a start and almost cried aloud, Ah, its a dream! Its only a dream!
Oh, it was that real!
0 1961-02-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Note that a few days earlier [the night of February 12], a disciple had a very symbolic dream in which she saw all the disciples gathered near the Ashram's main gate with an air of consternation, as though something had happened to Mother.
In the subconscient.
--
A long-time disciple (Suzanne Karpeles) and a member of the cole Franaise d'Extrme Orient.
A monthly review published by the Ashram.
On the Sunday preceding each Darshan (this February 21st, Mother would be 84), Mother used to distribute saris, napkins or handkerchiefs to the disciples.
***
0 1961-03-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Oh, its dreadful, each one (Mother is referring to the disciples). Well, never mind.
Im not so late today.
--
A movement launched by some disciples for 'the unification of the world.'
Sadhana: spiritual quest and discipline.
A politician, disciple of Sri Aurobindo and friend of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Nehru.
0 1961-03-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Until 1958, Mother went daily to the Ashram Playground, from 5 p.m. to 9 or 10 in the evening, to see people and give her direct spiritual help to some 2,000 disciples who passed before her one by one.
Mother is referring to the movements of consciousness, both good and bad, of those whom she has accepted as disciples and taken into her consciousness.
Mother was already seeking the 'new food.'
0 1961-03-21, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Satprem was trying to patch up some French translations of Sri Aurobindo done by well-meaning but not very gifted disciples, who of course wanted 'to publish' at all costs.
This 'massive immobility' Mother spoke of earlier.
0 1961-04-08, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Later, concerning the disciples very traditionalist guru who falls ill each time he comes to the Ashram:)
He seems to understand better. In his own way, he is progressiveunfortunately, it always makes him sick! The Force is too great for his body to bear.
0 1961-04-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The disciple asks for permission to poison some cats who have been disturbing him every night. Mother replies:)
I once had a cat with almost a childs consciousness, and someone poisoned it. And when he came back poisoned, dying, I cursed all people who poison cats. And thats serious, so you mustnt do it. It was a real curse I was with Sri Aurobindo, so it was seriousso dont do it.
0 1961-04-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But these people just cant get out of their education! Here is a lady [A. Bailey], quite renowned, it seems (shes dead now), who became the disciple of a Tibetan lama and she still speaks of Christ as the sole Avatar! She just cant get out of it!
And each one has the absolute Truth!
--
The first thing I did this morning was to open this book by Alice Bailey (Ive had it for several days, I had to have a look at it). So I looked Ah, I saidwell, well! Heres a person whos dead now, but she was the disciple of a Tibetan Buddhist lama and considered a very great spiritual leader, and she writes, Christ is the incarnation of divine love on earth. And thats that. And the world will be transformed when Christ is reborn, when he comes back to earth. But why the devil does she put Christ? Because she was born Christian? Its deplorable.
And such a mixture of everythingeverything! Instead of making a synthesis, they make a pot-pourri. They scoop it all up, toss it together, whip it up a little, use a bunch of words that have nothing to do with one another, and then serve it to you!
--
After this, I received the draft of the Sri Aurobindo Societys brochure to be distributed among all disciples, all society members, in order to encourage them. Well, that was the last straw! Oh, the most asinine propaganda! And plump in the middle of a bunch of other things (which had nothing to do with me), I come across this: We have the great fortune to have the Mother among us, and we propose to be the intermediary for all who wish to come into direct contact with her! They wanted to print this and distribute it, just like that! So I took my brightest red ink and wrote: I do not accept this responsibility, you cannot make this promise. And that was that. I cut it. And now heres A., doing the same thing!
(silence)
--
Already, with all the people here. (But I never told them they were my disciples, I told them they were my children and with children, to begin with, theres no need to do everything they want!) I already waste all my time answering their letters, which are worse than stupid. What questions they askquestions already answered at least fifty timessimply for the pleasure of writing! So now Ive stopped answering. I write one or two words, and thats it.
No, its disgusting!
--
Well, his jaw dropped! People imagine that by the simple fact of being here they become disciples and apprentice yogis! But its not true.
So, now Im not angry any more!
0 1961-05-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The notebook of a disciple who asks questions on the Aphorisms which Mother 'must' answer regularly.
***
0 1961-06-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
We have a disciple here who returns to his birthplace from time to time, and after the first year X began to do his puja to get people interested in the Ashram, he said it was extraordinary. He had previously been looked at askance and had to argue with people, but now everyone came to call on him as soon as he arrived! He wrote that he was completely astonished (he wasnt aware of Xs work); hundreds of people came to ask him to hold huge meetings; sadhus, monks and priests came to him for information on the Ashram. Things have developed so rapidly and completely that they now have some land where they have built a center and hold meetings.
And its like that almost everywhere.
--
Among Mother's papers we have found the following, which indicates that a state of dispersion after death is rather frequent (it concerns a disciple's mother who did not herself live at the Ashram): 'She has left her body without being at all prepared for the change of condition and has found herself disoriented and rather dispersed. She will need some time to recover from this dispersion before anything useful can be done for her.'
May 17, 1959.
0 1961-08-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
From 1926, Sri Aurobindo officially introduced Mother to the disciples as the 'Mother'; previously he often called her 'Mirra.'
Evening Talks, noted by A.B. Purani.
0 1961-11-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then a strange thing happened. When we were in the Vital, my body suddenly became young again, as it had been when I was eighteen years old! There was a young man named Pearson, a disciple of Tagore, who had lived with me in Japan for four years; he returned to India, and when he came to see me in Pondicherry, he was stupefied.4 What has happened to you! he exclaimed. He hardly recognized me. During that same period (it didnt last very long, only a few months), I received some old photographs from France and Sri Aurobindo saw one of me at the age of eighteen. There! he said, Thats how you are now! I wore my hair differently, but otherwise I was eighteen all over again.
This lasted for a few months. Then we descended into the Physical and all the trouble began.5 But we didnt stay in the Physical, we descended into the Subconscient and from the Subconscient to the Inconscient. That was how we worked. And it was only when I descended into the Inconscient that I found the Divine Presence there, in the midst of Darkness.
0 1961-12-16, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then Mother thought that this message might not be too comforting and she put it aside (after asking the opinion of two disciples). Finally she chose the text of the experience which is the subject of this conversation. But the coming year, 1962, would be marked by the first great turning-point in Mother's yoga and a rather calamitous ordeal for the body.
***
0 1962-01-09, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Up to March 1962, Mother came out every morning on the first floor balcony. The disciples were assembled on the street below.
Mother frequently addressed Satprem as "mon petit" or "petit," terms of endearment she used for very few other people, which can be approximately rendered as "my little one" or "my child." Since no English phrase can capture the nuances of Mother's simple "petit" and "mon petit," we have decided to leave them in the original French wherever they occur.
0 1962-02-09, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Concerning a European disciple who praises the merits of a certain pseudo-spiritual book, which Mother calls "spiritual romanticism":)
Its very European theyre like that.
0 1962-05-22, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The beginning of this conversation, unfortunately not kept, dealt with certain instances of human ugliness. The topic, in fact, was Satprem's break with X who had been his guru for the past few years. The reasons for this rupture may one day be told, but it should be stressed right now that the fault did not really lie with X, whom Satprem continued to respect, but with a group of schemers at the Ashram who fastened onto X in the hope of god knows what "powers." It is perhaps just as well that the human "ugliness" here in question has vanished from Satprem's records, foralthough it did come up again immediately after Mother's departureit concerned only the Ashram disciples. All the details and all Mother's reflections on the subject have thus been lost, with the exception of this last fragment:)
What a world!
--
Theres such a wonderful passage in The Synthesis of Yoga (The Yoga of Self-Perfection), where he mentions four things (you surely remember this), four things the disciple needs (I have just translated it). I knew this, of course, but the passage is especially timely nowparticularly after that last experience, which is a jolt for a physical being. The fourth thing is wonderful. The first three we know: equality, peace and (a hard one) a spiritual ease in all circumstances. He added the word spiritual so people wouldnt think only of material easeits an ease in feelings, in sensations, in everything. But when you have a lot of pain its obviously not so easy! When physical pain keeps you from sleeping and eating, when you are plagued by constant physical painor rather by a whole host of physical pains!well, that bodily ease becomes difficult. Its the one thing thathas seemed difficult to me; but anyway, its being investigated I think it was sent for me to investigate.
But the last thing he mentions is a marvel the joy and laughter of the soul. And its so true, so true! Always, all the time, no matter what happens, even when this body is in dreadful pain, the soul is laughing joyously within. Always, always, always.
0 1962-06-12, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Unexpectedly, this conversation led into the subject of Satprem's break with X, who had been his guru for the past few years. Here then, briefly, is the story behind the rupture: No sooner had Satprem brought X to the Ashram than a swarm of disciples threw themselves at him. Conspicuous among these were the moneymen, the same wheelerdealers who, eleven years later, after Mother's departure, were to reveal their ambitions in Auroville as well as Pondicherry. Satprem's somewhat straightforward manner soon got in the way of their schemes. He had a deep affection for X and when he repeatedly saw that these peoplespiritual scoundrels is the only word for themwere, in the hope of sowing confusion (for they always prosper best in confusion), bringing false reports to Mother of things X had supposedly said, he tried in all innocence to put X on his guard against the false reports and dishonest people who were wronging him. But instead of listening to Satprem and understanding that he spoke out of love, Xwith all his Tantric power behindflew into a violent rage against him, as if he had been casting a slur on X's prestige. Satprem then broke with X, but not without sorrow.)
Anything new?
0 1962-07-21, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I know very well that Bengal is not really ready. The spiritual flood which has come is for the most part a new form of the old. It is not the real transformation. However this too was needed. Bengal has been awakening in itself the old yogas and exhausting their samskaras [old habitual tendencies], extracting their essence and with it fertilizing the soil. At first it was the time of VedantaAdwaita, Sannyasa, Shankaras Maya and the rest. It is now the turn of Vaishnava DharmaLila, love, the intoxication of emotional experience. All this is very old, unfitted for the new age and will not endure for such excitement has no capacity to last. But the merit of the Vaishnava Bhava [emotional enthusiasm] is that it keeps a connexion between God and the world and gives a meaning to life; but since it is a partial bhava the whole connexion, the full meaning is not there. The tendency to create sects which you have noticed was inevitable. The nature of the mind is to take a part and call it the whole and exclude all other parts. The Siddha [illuminated being] who brings the bhava, although he leans on its partial aspect, yet keeps some knowledge of the integral whole, even though he may not be able to give it form. But his disciples do not get that knowledge precisely because it is not in a form. They are tying up their little bundles, let them. The bundles will open of themselves when God manifests himself fully. These things are the signs of incompleteness and immaturity. I am not disturbed by them. Let the force of spirituality play in the country in whatever way and in as many sects as may be. Afterwards we shall see. This is the infancy or the embryonic condition of the new age. It is a first hint, not even the beginning.
The peculiarity of this yoga is that until there is siddhi above the foundation does not become perfect. Those who have been following my course had kept many of the old samskaras; some of them have dropped away, but others still remain. There was the samskara of Sannyasa, even the wish to create an Aravinda Math [Sri Aurobindo monastery]. Now the intellect has recognized that Sannyasa is not what is wanted, but the stamp of the old idea has not yet been effaced from the prana [breath, life energy]. And so there was next this talk of remaining in the midst of the world, as a man of worldly activities and yet a man of renunciation. The necessity of renouncing desire has been understood, but the harmony of renunciation of desire with enjoyment of Ananda has not been rightly seized by the mind. And they took up my Yoga because it was very natural to the Bengali temperament, not so much from the side of Knowledge as from the side of Bhakti and Karma [Works]. A little knowledge has come in, but the greater part has escaped; the mist of sentimentalism has not been dissipated, the groove of the sattwic bhava [religious fervor] has not been broken. There is still the ego. I am not in haste, I allow each to develop according to his nature. I do not want to fashion all in the same mould. That which is fundamental will indeed be one in all, but it will express itself in many forms. Everybody grows, forms from within. I do not want to build from outside. The basis is there, the rest will come.
--
You say that what is needed is maddening enthusiasm, to fill the country with emotional excitement. In the time of the Swadeshi [fight for independence, boycott of English goods] we did all that in the field of politics, but what we did is all now in the dust. Will there be a more favorable result in the spiritual field? I do not say there has been no result. There has been. Any movement will produce some result, but for the most part in terms of an increase of possibility. This is not the right method, however, to steadily actualize the thing. Therefore I no longer wish to make emotional excitement or any intoxication of the mind the base. I wish to make a large and strong equanimity the foundation of the yoga. I want established on that equality a full, firm and undisturbed Shakti in the system and in all its movements. I want the wide display of the light of Knowledge in the ocean of Shakti. And I want in that luminous vastness the tranquil ecstasy of infinite Love, Delight and Oneness. I do not want hundreds of thousands of disciples. It will be enough if I can get a hundred complete men, purified of petty egoism, who will be the instruments of God. I have no faith in the customary trade of the guru. I do not wish to be a guru. If anybody wakes and manifests from within his slumbering godhead and gets the divine lifebe it at my touch or at anothersthis is what I want. It is such men that will raise the country.
You must not think from all this lecture that I despair of the future of Bengal. I too hope, as they say, that this time a great light will manifest itself in Bengal. Still I have tried to show the other side of the shield, where the fault is, the error, the deficiency. If these remain, the light will not be a great light and it will not be permanent.
0 1962-09-08, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Theres another man whose disciples say has been living for a hundred and fifty-four years; Ill show you his photo (Mother goes to look for the photo). D. goes to see him twice a month, and yesterday or the day before, he said to D., You know, the greatest miracle I know of is having been able to gather more than a thousand people together for a spiritual undertaking! (Mother laughs wholeheartedly) Its funny! One thousand two hundred people is the Ashrams official figure. Having been able to draw together a group of more than one thousand two hundred people for a spiritual undertaking!
He said he would come here when I called for him; I sent him word that I wouldnt call himbecause I cant disturb such an old man and not even be able to see him!
0 1962-10-24, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother told another disciple about a vision in which she saw a city (symbolic of a country) attacked by two bolts of lightning at once, one from the East and one from the West.
***
0 1962-10-30, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A Chinese disciple who translates Sri Aurobindo into Chinese.
Probably in March 1920, at the time Mao Tse-tung was writing The Great Union of the Popular Masses.
0 1962-12-19, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(A few days earlier, Mother inaugurated the new music room built on the terrace near her room. Without informing her, the disciples had also built a balcony, in the hope that Mother would start giving "morning darshans" again, as she used to in the past.)
How are you feeling? Better or not?
0 1962-12-28, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This cleansing of the middle ground is the whole story of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother I had been dredging, dredging, dredging the mire of the subconscious. The supramental light was coming down before November,2 but afterwards all the mud arose and it stopped.3 Once again Sri Aurobindo verified, not individually this time but collectively, that if one pulls down too strong a light, the violated darkness below is made to moan. It is noteworthy that each time Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had some new experience marking a progress in the transformation, this progress automatically materialized in the consciousness of the disciples, without their even knowing anything about it, as a period of increased difficulties, sometimes even revolts or illnesses, as though everything were grating and grinding. But then, one begins to understand the mechanism. If a pygmy were abruptly subjected to the simple mental light of a cultivated man, we would probably see the poor fellow traumatized and driven mad by the subterranean revolutions within him. There is still too much jungle beneath the surface. The world is still full of jungle, thats the crux of the matter in a word; our mental colonization is a minuscule crust plastered over a barely dry quaternary. And the battle seems endless; one digs and digs, said the Rishis, and the deeper one digs, the more the bottom seems to recede: I have been digging, digging. Many autumns have I been toiling night and day, the dawns aging me. Age is diminishing the glory of our bodies. Thus, thousands of years ago, lamented Lopamudra, wife of Rishi Agastya, who was also seeking transformation. But Agastya doesnt lose heart, and his reply is magnificently characteristic of the conquerors the Rishis were: Not in vain is the labor which the gods protect. Let us relish all the contesting forces, let us conquer indeed even here, let us run this battle race of a hundred leadings.
(Rig-Veda I.179)
0 1963-01-12, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
An old disciple who has just died.
Before the cremation, so as to give the consciousness time to come out.
0 1963-02-23, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
For the first time in a year, Mother appeared on the new balcony above all the assembled disciples.
This far less physical vision was more accurate IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD.
0 1963-03-09, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In the following conversation, Mother gave a very recent example of someone cured by the supramental force acting in the material mind: "After three warnings which he didn't heed, A. [a Paris disciple], one morning, found himself half-paralyzed. And the next day, it started spreading to the other side, the left side. At that point, he gave a callit struck him to see one side completely paralyzed and the other following suit, he saw himself going down, so he gave a call. And he says that inside a few minutes, a stupendous Force came into him and that Force said, "No!" And almost automatically, everything came to a stop. Nothing came over the left side, and the right side started to improve. And when I received the first telegram informing me that A. had to take to his bed because of an 'attack' (a 'heart attack,' they said, but it wasn't the heart, it was an embolism in the brain), with the telegram in my hands, I saw, written OVER the telegram's words: 'It's nothing, no need to worry'! So I said coolly, 'Oh' it's nothing, no need to worry.' (Mother laughs) Then the letter came with all the details: thrombosis, and so on. But he says he feels a Force [near Mother] that's not in his ordinary little life over there, he finds it makes all the differenceit's something which gives a LIFE that's not in his ordinary little life in France. Anyhow, this is something like a miracle."
Just what presides over the "inevitability" of accidents, including gravitation, illness and death.
0 1963-05-11, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother helps a disciple, a painter, to illustrate some passages from Savitri.
Mahalakshmi's music.
0 1963-05-18, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother asks for a box of paints to demonstrate practically the gradation of colors of the levels of consciousness, from the most material Nature to the Supreme. The point is to illustrate the symbol of Infinity, the figure 8, which Mother explained in the conversation of May 11: the infinite play of the Supreme reaching down to Nature and Nature rising toward the Supreme. Mother speaks in English in the presence of a disciple, who is a painter, so that he may convey her explanations to H., the disciple who is preparing illustrations for "Savitri".)
Of course, all these things are lights, so you cant reproduce them. But still, it must be a violet that is not dull and not dark (Mother starts from the most material Nature). What she has put is too red, but if its too blue, it wont be good eitheryou understand the difficulty? Then after violet there is blue, which must be truly blue, not too light, but it must be a bright blue. Not too light because there are three consecutive blues: there is the blue of the Mind, and then comes the Higher Mind, which is paler, and then the Illumined Mind, which is the color of the flag [Mothers flag], a silver blue, but naturally paler than that. And after this comes yellow, a yellow that is the yellow of the Intuitive Mind; it must not be golden, it must be the color of cadmium. Then after this yellow, which is pale, we have the Overmind with all the colors they must all be bright colors, not dark: blue, red, green, violet, purple, yellow, all of them, all the colors. And after that, we then have all the golds of the Supermind, with its three layers. And then, after that, there is one layer of golden whiteit is white, but a golden white. After this golden white, there is silver whitesilver white: how can I explain that? (H. has sent me some ridiculous pictures of a sun shining on waterit has nothing to do with that.) If you put silver, silver gray (Mother shows a silver box nearby shining brilliantly in the sun), silver gray together with white that is, it is white, but if you put the four whites together you see the difference. There is a white white, then there is a white with a touch of pink, then a silvery white and a golden white. It makes four worlds.
0 1963-06-15, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
That person lives in Switzerland, hes a Russian named B.M. He has a center with disciples. I asked for his photograph and Id like you to help me understand what type of man he is.
(Mother studies the photo) He is an intellectual, at any rateclearly not a spiritual man. He may have some vital powers (thats generally what gets hold of people). Yes, an intellectual, an idealist.
0 1963-06-19, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother often said that each of the Ashram disciples was the symbol of a particular difficulty to be conquered.
***
0 1963-07-27, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother first comments on the death of a disciple, M.)
How they treat those poor dead!
0 1963-08-10, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But what I was shown clearly and what I saw was (I have difficulty talking because it all came to me in English: Sri Aurobindo was there and it was in English), it was the stupidity and carelessness, really, the ignorance the stupid ignorance and I-couldnt-care-less attitude the living have towards the dead. Thats something frightful. Frightful. Frightful. Ive heard stories from everywhere, all sorts of appalling things. For instance, one of the stories (it took place while Sri Aurobindo was here): there was a disciple whose son died (or at least they thought him dead), and as they werent Hindus, they didnt burn him: they buried him. Then at night, his son came to him and told him you see, he saw his son at the window, knocking at the window and telling him, But why did you bury me alive? (I dont know in what language, but anyway) And that idiot of a father thought, Im dreaming!! Then the next day, long afterwards, he had second thoughts and asked himself, What if we took a look? And they found him turned over in his coffin.
When the man told me the story and how he found it quite natural to think, I am dreaming, I cant find words to tell my indignation at that moment, when I saw that you know, its such a crass, such an inert stupidity! It didnt even occur to him how he would have felt if the thing had happened to HIM. It didnt even occur to him!
0 1963-08-13a, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding an old "Playground Talk" of 1950 and noted from memory by a disciple, which Mother asks Satprem to scrap. The subject was Nirvana, which one was to reachor so the notation saidby withdrawing all one's energies into the psychic being or soul.)
None of that is true!
0 1963-08-24, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Let us recall in this connection the experience of many disciples who in their "dreams" see Mother much taller than she is apparently.
***
0 1963-08-28, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I see the letters we receive from those who are convinced not only that they seek but also that theyve found. Letters from would-be disciples of Sri Aurobindo coming from over there, from France, Germany, Englanddont understand, they dont understand!
Anyhow, that doesnt matter, it will be for later.
0 1963-09-25, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Before Satprem leaves, Mother gives him the latest issue of World-Union, a magazine launched by some Ashram disciples.)
It makes me uneasy.
0 1963-12-03, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding the difficulties of certain disciples)
But anyway, its settling downwe are in the years of settling down. Everyone is caught by his own illusionits always the mirage of an illusion. She [Y.] is convinced, it is her very deep belief, that she is causing the Supermind to descend upon earth. And many, many people among those I know are caught by that illusion; so they go off at a tangent far away from the Truth, towards a fabulous realization.
0 1964-01-18, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But the idea has been taken up again through Khrushchev and he continues to be quite enthusiastic.2 It seems (I dont know if its quite true, because its Z [a Russian disciple] who says so) but Z sent him my article A Dream,3 on the possibility of creating a small international center (I dont like the word international, but never mind), and Khrushchev answered, This idea is excellent, the entire world should make it a reality. Well, I dont know whether its correct, but anyway the gentleman seems to be well-disposed. And this S.G. is very intimate with the U.S. ambassador in Delhi. In brief, S.G. has sent me the new proposal the first one, I had approved it, I had even put my blessings on it, and he had gone to see Nehru: Nehru immediately called both ambassadors for a conference.4 At the time, I worked a good deal and things were moving. Now, it seems that the new president [Johnson] is, for the time being, continuing what the other did: he wont upset the apple cart. Well see.
If it succeeds, it will give some concrete expression to the effort of transformation without violence.
--
A little later, regarding a new American disciple
Oh, are they conceited! And puffed up with their superior realization they were born to HELP the earth. They have such goodwill! They want to help the whole earth, (in an ironic tone) help the earth. They come here, but instead of asking themselves what they can learn, they come TO HELP; they come to bring some order (theres no order!), to set right the things that are wrong, to bring some practical sense into these nebulous minds!
0 1964-01-22, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother receives certain disciples on their birthdays.
***
0 1964-01-28, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The following conversation between Mother and a Bengali disciple, B., was not tape-recorded but only noted from memory in English:)
(B.) I am going to Calcutta. There they will ask me one question regarding the present situationcommunal riots.1 What is the solution?
0 1964-03-11, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All our endeavour is to make this consciousness and this will govern our lives and action and organise all our activities. It is the way in which the Ashram has been created. Since 1926 when Sri Aurobindo retired and gave me full charge of it (at that time there were only two rented houses and a handful of disciples) all has grown up and developed like the growth of a forest, and each service was created not by any artificial planning but by a living and dynamic need. This is the secret of constant growth and endless progress. The present difficulties come chiefly from psychological resistances in the disciples who have not been able to follow the rather rapid pace of the sadhana and the yielding to the intrusion of mental methods which have corrupted the initial working.
A growth and purification of the consciousness is the only remedy.
0 1964-03-18, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother makes some remarks on the disciples understanding, then adds:)
Do you know the story?
0 1964-03-28, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This very morning, I was following the movement, observing the control this Vibration of Truth has in the body in the presence of certain disorders (very small things in the body, you know: discomforts, disorders), I was observing how this Vibration of Truth abolishes those disorders and discomforts. It was very clear, very obvious, and ABSOLUTELY REMOVED from any spiritual notion, from any religious notion, from any psychological notion, so that the person who possessed this knowledge of opposition of one vibration to the other very clearly didnt in any way need to be a disciple or someone with philosophical knowledge or anything at all: he only had to have mastered this in order to realize a perfectly harmonious existence.
It was absolutely concrete and irrefutable. It was a lived, absolute experience.
0 1964-06-04, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A charming Buddhist and a disciple of Mother, a specialist in Pali and member of the French School of the Far East: Suzanne Karpels.
***
0 1964-07-15, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother reads an answer she wrote in English to a disciple, in which she says in particular:)
to be grateful, never to forget this wonderful Grace of the Supreme who leads each one to his divine goal by the shortest ways, in spite of himself, his ignorance and misunderstanding, in spite of the ego, its protests and its revolts.
0 1964-07-22, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I will tell you the second experience first, because its a phenomenon of daily experience, a daily observation. And its one of the chief reasons why its impossible for ordinary human beings to understand a being who acts from what we could call divine impulse. Because all human activity is based on reactions, which are themselves the result of feelings and sensations, and, for people who are considered superior and who act according to reason, is based on principles of actioneveryone has his range of principles on which he bases his action (this is so well known that theres not much point in talking about it). But the other fact is interesting: for instance, when a human being loves someone (what he calls love) or doesnt love someone, his reactions to the SAME phenomenon the SAME phenomenonare, not always opposite, but extremely different, to such an extent that ordinary human judgment is based on those reactions. It would be better to take a very precise example: that of disciples and Master. The disciples almost never understand the Master, but they have opinions of him and of his ways of acting; they see and they say, The Master did such and such a thing, he acts with this person in such and such a way and with that other person in such and such other way, therefore he loves this person and doesnt love that one. I am putting it very bluntly, but thats the way it is.
All this is based on experiences of every minute, here.
--
It was so clear! And such a constant, constantly repeated experience that its really very interesting. Its very clear that its impossible for the disciples to understand; even if they are told, What is done is done because of each beings dharma, for them its just words; it doesnt correspond to a living experience, they cant feel it.
So once and for all, Ive given up all hope of anyone at all understanding why and how I act. Because its true, now I can say (it has come about progressively), I can say in an absolute way, after looking at it for several months, that my actions are not the result of a reactionnei ther an intellectual reaction nor a mental reaction, nor a vital reaction, nor, of course, an emotional reaction, nor even a physical reaction. Now, even the body instantly refers all that comes to it to the Supreme, automatically.
0 1964-07-31, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Soon afterwards, Satprem comes upon another note, the draft of a letter Mother wrote to a disciple, but never sent:)
There are too many guides, founders of sects, heads of temples or monasteries, sadhus or saints who intervene between humanity and the supreme Lord under the pretext that they are intermediaries, and who keep for their glorified little persons the waves of gratitude that should go straight, straight to their true goal: the supreme Lord. I always refrain from having anything to do with those people, whether they are on earth or in the subtle world. Whatever the Lord wills for us He will always give us, and I prefer to receive it directly rather than through intermediaries, however great they may be.
0 1964-08-05, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(D., a disciple, sent Mother an eighteenth-century account by a Japanese monk of the Zen Buddhist sect describing a method called "Introspection," which enables one to overcome cold and hunger and attain physical immortality. Mother reads a few pages, then gives up.)
[Herms magazine, Spring 1963.]
0 1964-08-11, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A woman disciple of Polish origin, who was a painter.
***
0 1964-08-19, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
On the occasion of August 15, various groups of disciples met in Pondicherry.
***
0 1964-09-16, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The first movement is indeed like this: At last, to find the place where I can concentrate, find myself, live truly without having to bother about material things. This is the first aspiration (its even on this basis that the disciplesat least in the beginningwere chosen), but it doesnt last! Things become easy, so you let yourself go. There are no moral restraints, so you do stupid things.
But it cannot even be said it was a mistake in recruitingit would be tempting to believe this, but its not true, because the recruiting was done on the basis of a rather precise and clear inner sign. Its probably the difficulty of keeping the inner attitude unalloyed. Thats exactly what Sri Aurobindo wanted and attempted; he used to say, If I can find a hundred people, it will be enough for my purpose.
0 1964-09-23, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding a disciple who is following a Tantric discipline:)
He has completely stupefied him. He has to do six to seven hours of japa a day.
0 1964-09-26, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Towards the end of the conversation, an urgent letter from a disciple is brought to Mother. Mother laughs and, without reading the letter, scribbles her answer:)
She already wrote to me the other day, shes upset because I cant read anymore! (I used to read Savitri aloud and she wanted to record me.) I told her, I cant read anymore, its not possible. So she wrote to me that I must make use of my Grace in order to cure my eyes!
0 1964-10-14, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Here Mother hands Satprem a letter of explanation from the author of the poster. The letter gives the references of Mothers quotation: a personal letter from Mother to a disciple written ten years earlier.)
Thats it! A totally private letter! What right do they have to display it?
0 1964-10-17, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding the cards Mother sends the disciples on their birthdays. Those cards generally contain an indication of the effort or realization to be achieved during the new year.)
What a work it is, you know!
0 1964-11-28, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have decided not to play this year for January 1st. Even last year, I very much hesitated to play because I was absolutely conscious of the inadequacy the poorness and inadequacyof the physical instrument; but there was a sort of reasonable wisdom which knew how a refusal to play would be interpreted [by the disciples], so I playedwithout satisfaction, and it wasnt worth much. But the music I heard yesterday was so much THAT, SO much what I would like to play, that I said to myself, Well, now it would be unreasonable to want to keep in a personal manifestation something that has a much better means of expression [Sunil]. So I have decided to say No for January 1st. But I will see if Sunil couldnt prepare something on the theme of next years message, something that would be recorded and played for everyone, in an anonymous wayno need to say, Its by this or that person, its music, thats all.
You know that they are printing two calendars, one here and one in Calcutta. In the Calcutta calendar, I look happy and I greet with folded hands; so I wrote underneath, Salut Toi, Vrit [Salute to you, O Truth]. In English (theyre a bit slow, you know!), they wanted something more explicit, so I wrote, Salute to the advent of the Truth. I am going to give the subject to Sunil: Make some music on this.
0 1964-12-02, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother picks up at random a letter from a Western disciple who asks to change her work or stop her external work, because, she says, it doesnt correspond to her nature. She also complains about her relationship with others and their hostility. She feels the need for a new way of being and acting.)
She is struggling much more with her old personality than with others. She had a certain kind of extremely personal and superficial relationship with others, and slowly, slowly she is emerging from it, but with the impression that its others who are hostile to her, while she is truly trying to do her best.
0 1964-12-07, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(This conversation took place in the music room. Mother had asked Sunil, the musician disciple, and Sujata to come.)
Can anybody play the harmonica? (laughter) Ive just been given a harmonica! It comes from Germany. (To Sunil:) Dont you know how to play it? No?
0 1965-02-24, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Satprem remembers that several years earlier, Madame A. David-Neel had in a letter already advised Mother to leave Pondicherry (it was Mother herself who told this to Satprem around or a little before 1960), because, she predicted, Mother would be "assassinated by her own disciples." That letter must still exist in the Ashram's archives.
February 21: Above all the complications of the so-called human wisdom stands the luminous simplicity of the Divine's Grace, ready to act if we allow It to do so.
0 1965-03-10, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Indications for Mother's work or of the general situation or that of the Ashram and the disciples.
***
0 1965-06-05, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother shows the text of a letter she has sent in answer to a disciple:
She speaks like a child, and it has the charm of the child. She told me, Oh, I beg you, ask the Lord to be quick and sort things out! (Mother laughs) So I answered:
--
World-Union: a group for the union of the world, launched by a few disunited disciples.
***
0 1965-06-12, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Regarding a letter Mother wrote to a disciple:
There are all kinds! Complications, lots of complications; there are all kinds of ill will, at least of people who go round in circles instead of going forward. And stupid inventions. The other night Because the head is always still, like this (gesture to the forehead, palms open to the Light from above); I give thanks to the Lord for that, and its always like that; so I dont decide whats to be done, I dont decide whats to be answerednothing: when it comes, it comes. And some people had played a really nasty trick ([laughing] I couldnt care less!) and I wasnt budging. And as it happens, in the middle of the night, a force comes, takes hold of me and tells me, Heres the answer, here is what you must say. I say, Very well (I was lying in bed, of course) and I dont budge. (Mother puts on a more imperative tone:) Here is what you must say.Oh, very well! And I still dont budge. (In a still more imperious tone:) Here is what you must say. (Mother laughs)
0 1965-06-14, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother looks for a card to reply to a disciple on. One card is illustrated with a big fish.)
Whats the fish a symbol of?
--
I must tell you that I was born in a family in which nobody smoked: my father had never smoked and neither had his brothersanyway, no one smoked. So since my early childhood, I hadnt been used to others smoking. Later, when I lived with artists Artists smoke, of course (it seems it gives them inspiration!), but I detested the smell. I didnt say anything because I didnt want to be unpleasant, but I detested it. Then I came hereSri Aurobindo smoked. He smoked deliberately, he smoked in order to say: one can do the yoga while smoking, I say one can smoke and do the yoga, and I smoke. And he smoked. And naturally all the disciples smoked, since Sri Aurobindo smoked. For some time, I even gave them pocket money so they could buy cigars (they smoked cigarsit was ghastly!). Then I came to live in Sri Aurobindos house, we spoke freely, and one day I told him, How awful the smell of smoke is! (laughing) Its disgusting! So he said to me, Oh, you dont like the smell? Oh, no! I said, Not only that, but I had to make a yogic effort to stop it from making me feel sick! The next day, he had stopped. It was over, he never smoked again. That was kind. It wasnt on principle, it was because he didnt want to impose the smell on me. But I had never said anything: it was simply because he asked me just like that, while talking, so I told him. And when he stopped smoking, everyone had to stop toosmoking wasnt allowed anymore, since he didnt smoke anymore.
No, for those who dont smoke (laughing), others smoke is very
0 1965-06-18 - supramental ship, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One is wondering if, really, it wont be necessary to have an American occupation here, which would have the double effect of converting the Americans and making the Indians make some progress. Practical progress is what they would make, as the Japanese did. And the Americans are now the disciples of the Japanese: from the point of view of Beauty they have made wonderful and absolutely unexpected progress. If the Americans came here, they would be converted, they would become oh, they would understand spiritual life. Only, of course, it wouldnt be too pleasant (!) But its the surest methodits always the dominator that learns the lesson from the dominated. The Americans might become the most militant spiritualists in the world if they occupied India. Only, the Indians would have a bad time. But they would become very practical, they would learn to put order in what they dowhich they quite lack (just see, I didnt make you say that for that typewriter).
Its troublesome. Its something in suspense [the American occupation]. In my active consciousness, I dont want it. First, it would take a long timeit always takes a long time. A lot of time wasted, a lot of suffering, a lot of humiliation. But its a very radical method.
0 1965-06-23, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You mean the disciples will remain here.
Ah, the Ashram remains here the Ashram stays here, I stay here, thats quite clear: Auroville is
--
In the old formation I had made, there had to be a hill and a river. A hill was necessary because Sri Aurobindos house was on top of the hill. But Sri Aurobindo was there, in the center. It was arranged according to the plan of my symbol, that is to say, a central point with Sri Aurobindo and all that concerns Sri Aurobindos life, then four large petals (which werent the same as in this drawing, they were something different), then twelve petals around (the city proper), then around that, there were the disciples residential quarters (you know my symbol: instead of [partition] lines, there are strips; well, the last circular strip formed the residential place of the disciples), and everyone had his house and his garden: a little house and a garden for everyone. And there were means of communication; I wasnt sure if it was individual transportation or collective transportation (like those small open trams in the mountains, you know) that crossed the city in all directions to bring the disciples back to the center of the city. And around all that, there was a wall with entrance gates and guards at each gate, so people entered only with permission. And there was no money: within the walls, no money; at the various entrance gates, people found banks and counters where they deposited their money and received in exchange tickets with which they could have lodging, food, this and that. But no money. And inside, absolutely nothing, no one had any money the tickets were only for visitors, who entered only with a permit. It was a fantastic organization. No money, I didnt want money!
Oh, Ive forgotten one thing in my plan: I wanted to build a workers housing estate. But it should be part of the industrial section (perhaps an extension on the edge of the industrial section).
0 1965-08-18, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Two Americans have brought Mother photos of a former disciple who left for the United States:)
Do you remember C.? He has become a great guru there, with a group, and it seems he hypnotizes people. And two Americans have come here (very nice people, one is a painter, the other is a sculptor); one was in C.s clutches and its the other who saved him by keeping him, almost brutally, materially far from C. for three days the third day, he was free (which does seem to prove that he has a hypnotic influence)and by telling him, Were leaving for Pondicherry, you dont need an intermediary between the Mother and you. Because C. plays the great intermediary between Sri Aurobindo and the poor public.
0 1965-10-16, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Soon afterwards, about a new disciple in France who asks for a photograph of Sri Aurobindo.)
We are going to send him a good photo of Sri Aurobindo.
--
That bust was made by a German woman (Else Fraenkel) and installed in Sri Aurobindo's room in 1958 at the disciples' instance. (One wonders why a bust, with golden illumination, was needed in this room.)
***
0 1965-11-03, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Before going into the music room where Mother will play the organ for the birthday of Sunil, a disciple who is a musician.)
The other day I told you about that comet, and something amusing has happened. Just for fun I said to myself, Oh, it would be quite interesting to see this comet as it can be seen through the most powerful telescope ever invented. And barely had the thought come (it was last night) when I heard, Look. So I opened my eyes, and I saw the comet, big like this, very big, as it could be seen with the most powerful telescope, quite bright, with its tail! And the interesting thing was that just beside it (not like the comets tail, but just next to it), there was a star, a sort of star, but quite small, and very bright, which seemed to me of a very peculiar interest.
0 1965-11-06, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A disciple who was a friend of Satprem's; he had died insane seven or eight years earlier and Satprem had assisted him in a Japanese mental hospital.
***
0 1965-11-20, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Later, about a disciple who is very talkative but full of ironic witBharatidi.)
She kept me almost an hour! She told me, The next time, I wont chatter. So this time it was only half an hour! But she has a very pleasant way of saying things. And there is a strange phenomenon, which took place some two or three years ago, I dont remember now. It was after the consciousness had entirely spread all over the world (all over the earth, in reality), but as if progressively, in the sense that its more intense close at hand and less intense farther away. But then, with Bharatidi, its not just a physical closeness: its a sort of closeness of vibration in a certain domain; and in her, the closeness lay in a certain ironically benevolent observation. And while talking with someone, I dont know how many times I have caught myself having Bharatidis voice and using her words! And in my ingenuousness, I told her, Do you know, we have such an intimate relationship that at timesvery oftenwhen I speak I have your intonation and use your words. Ah, mon petit, since then But she isnt a bore! You can spend an hour with her without getting bored, which is remarkable.
0 1965-11-27, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There was the whole humanity that isnt quite animal anymore, that has benefited from mental development and created a certain harmony in its lifea vital, artistic, literary harmony and the vast majority of which live satisfied with life. They have caught a sort of harmony and live in it a life as it exists in a civilized milieu, that is to say, somewhat cultured, with refinement in taste, refinement in habits. And this whole life has a sort of harmony in which they find themselves at ease, and unless something catastrophic happens to them, they live happy and content, satisfied with life. Those may be attracted (because they have taste, they are intellectually developed), they may be attracted to the new forces, the new things, the future life; for instance, they may mentally, intellectually become disciples of Sri Aurobindo. But they dont at all feel the need to change materially, and if they were to be forced to, it would be first of all premature and unjust, and it would quite simply create a great disorder and would upset their lives quite unnecessarily.
It was very clear.
0 1965-12-28, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A charming old disciple who passed away recently (on December 11, 1965). He was the author of Evening Talks.
For Mother, fifteen days = six months. It was on June 18, 1965 (see the conversation of that date).
0 1966-01-22, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Purani, a charming old disciple, who passed away on December 11, 1965. See Agenda VI, conversation of December 28, 1965, p. 341
***
0 1966-01-26, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Ironically) Its a pity we cant make pictures of those things, because Purani had lots of admirers and disciples, plenty in America, and so if I could send them a picture of Purani as I saw him, blue and pink (laughing), that would be charming!
(long silence)
--
It was about those big shrimps that are called jumbo prawns here: they are as big as crayfish. Someone (a disciple here), who died rather a long time ago, came and brought me prawns; that is to say, I met him in the rooms downstairs There are rooms that are reproduced somewhere, in a sort of subconscient, in fact the subconscient that has to be transformed, organized and so on, and there exists a sort of reproduction of the rooms downstairs [below Mothers room], but not exactly the same (yet with the same layout), and a certain category of activities takes place there. Thats where we were together once, I told you: you were trying to clarify peoples ideas (!) Its the same place. Its not physical here, its in the subconscient. So then, there was that tall fellow who watched over the Samadhi for a long time, Haradhan; he was there. And when he saw me arrive, he told me, I have brought something for you. And in a sort of dark-blue cloth, he had wrapped two big prawns, which he gave me! There were already cooked, ready to be eaten. The cloth wasnt very much to my liking! So I thought, How can I make them a little cleaner before eating them? (Laughing) You know, its a farcea farce to make you understand your stupidity. I began by removing the (what is it called?), its not skin Oh, here too the word hasnt come, but on a tangent came cuirass! (Laughing) Cuirass and cartilage! Anyway I removed that, and as soon as I had removed it, I said to myself, You fool! Now its even more exposed than before! I looked for a way, and I ran to a corner (in the place of Pavitras laboratory), found a water tap and put my prawn under the tap. Immediately someone told me (not someone, the inner voice told me [laughing]), Your water is even dirtier than the cloth! So the consciousness came along with the light, and I was shown with such a clear vision the relativity of the measures we take, which are all preconceived ideas, based on no true knowledge. And finally he told me, Come on, eat, thats the best you can do! So I ate my prawn, and it was very good!
You know, we could write a farce. And scenes of such buffoonery!
0 1966-03-26, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
At the beginning of the conversation, Mother had remarked about a sick disciple: "She is extremely nervous and excited. I told her to take sedatives, I told her her whole trouble was physicalshe says she is the victim of terrible Asuras! It's ridiculous! It's a physical disturbance and she need not go and trouble the Asuras!"
But when the hour of the Divine draws near, The Mighty Mother shall take birth in Time and God be born into the human clay...
0 1966-04-13, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Soon afterwards, Mother files an answer she has just sent to a disciple.)
She is a girl who has written to me several times (there are several like her), who has a well-built body, who should be quite solid and healthy, but she has an emotive and sentimental vital, and (somewhat ironically) they arent loved as they would like to be loved. Result: one has a pain in her stomach, another has a pain elsewhere. Finally they write to ask me, Whats going on? And the other day, I said to myself, Why dont I tell them? So I wrote:
0 1966-04-20, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The conversation is cut short at that point by a disciple who comes in to announce his friend Anousuyas death.)
At what time?
0 1966-04-30, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding very generous disciples who send soup packets to Mother, who in turn gives them to Satprem:)
They are two old ladies, of German origin, but Jewish. In Germany, they still arent kind at all; Hitlers influence has been disastrous, the Jews are still treated with contemptits disgusting, utterly disgusting. So these ladies went to Israel. They are very generous. But some people still have prejudices, you know!
0 1966-05-14, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A disciple's peacock had escaped and spent the whole day in the tree above the Samadhi and on the Ashram's terraces. (The peacock is the symbol of victory.)
***
0 1966-06-25, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Soon afterwards, regarding a European disciple who asks to help the Ashrams cottage industry. This fragment of conversation, though rather prosaic, was preserved, as it is quite illustrative.)
This cottage industry produces things that arent very pretty. So she would like to know if you want her to go and work there or to do something on her own. I feel she has a capacity for handicraft that could be used.
0 1966-08-06, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
V. is a young disciple who came to the Ashram as a child and never left it.
***
0 1966-08-27, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother shows the text of a note she has written for the disciples:)
Every time you act under the impulse of Falsehood, it acts as a blow on my body.
0 1966-10-08, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Soon afterwards, the conversation turns to a question asked by a young disciple about the description of Sri Aurobindos life in The Adventure of Consciousness, when Sri Aurobindo was agnostic and began yoga for the liberation of his country.)
Its a chapter entitled The End of the Intellect, in which I wrote that in the beginning Sri Aurobindo was an agnostic and had mainly cultivated the intellect. So V. has made a summary of this chapter, and in the end he asks: How can one practice yogic disciplines without believing in God or in the Divine?
0 1966-10-29, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A Bengali disciple who is a musician.
***
0 1966-11-19, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I should also say that ever since financial affairs started being none too bright, all manner of things have been reaching my ears. There are big difficulties. I am obliged to tell people that I cant pay and they shouldnt spend needlessly, and on the other hand, I am looking, trying to find where the obstacle is. Because the power to attract money remains as it has always been (and its considerable), so there should be no difficulties. So I wrote this note because I see clearly in peoples thought, they all keep saying, Oh, we should do this, oh, we shouldnt do that, oh, if Mother did this, oh, if Mother didnt do that. Some are bold enough to say it, others arent but think that waythere are very few who dont think that way. And still fewer say to themselves, Id better not be concerned with it because I dont understand the first thing about it. So I was as if compelled to take the pen and write that down: They know what should be done, they know (Mother makes a gesture of hammering the disciples heads). And it has done a lot of good.
Did I tell you last time that in Bihar, the rain started that very evening? I found out how it occurred. Its P. who flew over Bihar, and he saw a desert, devastation: dry, dry, dry, nothing growing, cracked earth. Then he remembered certain experiences here.3 When he reached the airport, he was received officially and said, I would like to see the Chief Minister in private, without anyone else. He saw him and told him an experience he had had and had witnessed here [at Pondicherry]. And he said, Why dont you ask Mother? The other answered quite spontaneously, It would be better if you asked for us! Then he sent his telegram. The same evening it started raining. He wrote, saying, This first rain has been like divine nectar to me. He said that people there were entirely trusting and as well-disposed as could be. And he saw a relation between those droughts, those natural catastrophes, and the forces that stop money from coming; he saw they were affected by that experience of unexpected rain. For example, at the same time (a day or two later), he met some people who arent rich (the husb and has a good position, but they arent rich: they have a family, children). For some reason or other the husb and had been given a compensation of 10,000 rupees by the government, and quite spontaneously and naturally they went and saw P. and said to him, You must give this to Mother. He asked the lady, But why do you give all this? She spontaneously answered, But what would I do with this money? I dont need it. In other words, the true attitude. So it immediately made P. think that something is on the move.
0 1966-11-23, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Several disciples close to Mother are ill, in particular her close attendant.
***
0 1966-11-30, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Soon afterwards, regarding the difficulties of a blind disciple. The following fragment was noted from memory, the tape recorder having failed.)
In my case, strangely, I seem to see through a thick veil, that is to say, everything is blurred. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason, I see an object, some thing or other, clearly, so clearly, precisely, with a detailed accuracy, as if it were shown to me. Or else when reading a letter, for instance, if I read it without paying attention to anything else, I see perfectly well, but if I start thinking of an answer or concentrate, if the consciousness starts working, everything disappears and I cant see anything anymore the next minute, the words become clear again. Which means it doesnt depend on a defect of the sight or the material organ: its something else something else that one wants me to learn. Because it constantly comes back as if to show me something. But theres so much work and so many people that I dont always have the time to stop and concentrate to see what it is. I would have to catch the exact point when the sight comes and when it goes, and follow the conditions of the consciousness at that moment. I dont have the time.
--
A disciple of Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's who is close to the Government.
***
0 1966-12-17, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
V. is a young disciple who puts questions to Mother in his "notebook."
The disciple's question was formulated thus: "When I heard in Gingy that B. had drowned in a pond, I was incapable of believing or being shocked by the news. The only question I asked in myself was, 'How could this have happened! Mother knew we were in Gingy, therefore Her protection was with each of us. So how could this have happened?'"
***
0 1966-12-28, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Regarding a sick disciple:
Shes leaving for Hong Kong for three months.
0 1967-01-14, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There will have to be some wisdom in the disciples.
Excuse me?
A little wisdom in the disciples.
Yes yes.
0 1967-01-18, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The disciple asks Mother what he should do with the text of the "instructions" of January 14 in the event of her going into a long period of trance.)
I am going to keep it. When I receive the comm and to circulate it, Ill circulate it.
0 1967-02-15, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The following conversation was noted down from memory. It occurred apropos of a young disciple who did not understand how everythingimpulsions, desires, etc.could come from "outside," from universal Nature, as Sri Aurobindo moreover declares, "I become what I see in myself.")
I told him once that he would begin to be intelligent when he could set all opposites face to face and make a synthesis.
--
A rather eccentric American disciple.
***
0 1967-02-18, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A twelve-year-old Tamil child, very dark-skinned, adopted three years earlier by a European disciple.
Thoth is an ape adopted by that same European disciple and would be, according to her, a reincarnation of the Egyptian god Thoth.
"Big S." is the child.
0 1967-02-22, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother gives the disciple the text of an answer:)
Why is the choice imperative?
0 1967-02-25, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother gives the disciple a rose the colour of fire.)
Do you think Nature will ever invent something better than this? I dont think so.
0 1967-03-04, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother will henceforth stop her "Comments on the Aphorisms," preferring to let her experience flow freely outside the artificial framework of a "commentary." In 1969, at a disciple's instance, She will briefly resume these comments and answer questions in a few written lines.
The following sentence was added by Mother afterwards.
0 1967-03-15, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The roses have opened now (Mother holds out a rose to the disciple), and isnt this one a magnificent colour! Beautiful, isnt it?
This morning I had an amusing experience with roses. There was a closed budbig, hardbig and hard, red. I took it, looked at it, then my fingers ran over the flower like that, and (gesture showing the flower opening up), one petal after another and another and yet anotherbefore my eyes. And it was completely hard and closed. I took it and said, Its a pity. I was about to put it back in water so it would open up, and I looked It was so pretty, you know, opening up, happy, as if saying to me, Oh, how happy I am!
0 1967-03-25, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The disciple reads out to Mother an "old" conversation dating from ... two weeks ago.)
Its gone. As soon as its said, its gone and away. When things are read back to me, I dont remember what I said, it comes like something new.
--
Mother received the disciple an hour late.
***
0 1967-03-29, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then Mother takes out another note she has just written to a disciple:
One is always deeply disgusted at ones own faults when one encounters them in others(!)
0 1967-04-19, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This is how Mother replied to the disciple who had sent her her study on the formation of the new child: "I have read your work with keen interestit deals with an important aspect of the problem. But a public presentation is impossible. Seeing and reading this, too many young girls would imagine they are destined to give birth to the 'solar child'that would be a disaster." Then Mother added: "In order to realize this work, one must have gone beyond all desire; and unfortunately, this is not generally the case as yet. Whereas ambition and vanity are rather widespread maladies."
***
0 1967-04-29, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And I knew a woman in Paris, who claimed to be a disciple (of Mothers), she would always bring me flowers when she came to see me, and always, always, without a single exception, the flowers had wilted. She would arrive and tell me, But they were quite fresh when I bought them! (Mother laughs) And they were absolutely finished. So in the end I told her, Its because you take all their life into yourself!
She had taken away their life.
0 1967-05-03, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother files her note on goodwill after deciding she would give it for publication in Mother India. The disciple remarks that its a pity for the Bulletin.)
Oh, (laughing) I can make you as many as you like! It comes like that something having fun.
0 1967-05-06, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There was a rather interesting phenomenon (it was yesterday or the day before), amusing little details: now the last member of the government of India has been converted, so to speak. All the members of government (the central government I dont mean the whole country, but of the centre), all the members of the central government are (what should I say?) I could almost say apprentice disciples of Sri Aurobindo, with a great goodwill to serve.
And everywhere, everywhere in the world, the signs of a CONSCIOUS goodwill awakening.
0 1967-05-13, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(A disciple asks Mother for permission to bring an orang-outan in order for it "participate in the education.")
Some have already protested against Thoth (the disciples first ape), if now theres an orang-outan theyll reproach me! Because, naturally, the servants were afraid, even the neighbours, anyway it wasnt to their liking. Once, Thoth walked into the room, so the maid started screaming; the neighbour came (luckily he has enough sense), he remained quiet and simply looked at Thoth, with some severity, probably. Then Thoth left without anything happening. But at other times, when Thoth is not happy, he tears up bed sheets or whatever. Finally the neighbour came and told me the incident (that was long ago). I said to him, You dont know the first thing about animals! Happily you have a peaceful nature, but animals are extremely sensitive to our feelings or sentiments: if you are afraid, they instantly get afraid; if you are angry, they instantly get angry; and if you are gentle, kind, affable, they become gentle, kind, affable. He understood quite well, and ever since all has been well. But he isnt alone in the house. An orang-outan is a big thing, you see!
That Thoth is really remarkable. Did I tell you what happened when I first saw him? (And I asked Y. very insistently whether she had taught him, but she hadnt said anything at all to himnei ther taught nor said anything.) He came with her, and as soon as he saw me (he was on Y.s arm), he folded his hands! And then he made a speech to me: his mouth moved; there werent any sounds, but his mouth moved. And an expression Then I complimented him, and he immediately leapt onto my knees, curled up in my arms, and went off into a semi-trancestopped moving, kept still. It lasted at least five minutes. After five minutes, I thought, He cant just stay here forever, he should go now!then he opened his eyes and went away! The receptivity is far more remarkable than in human beings. Then he looked around him, looked out of the window, well, took interest in the place. Then he again looked towards me, came back on my knees, and rested against my shoulder.
0 1967-05-26, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding the New Year message: "Men, countries, continents! The choice is imperative: Truth or the abyss." A disciple asks Mother, "What is the meaning of 'abyss' in your New Year message?" Mother's reply, in English:)
Right now there is a great tension. They have all taken positions as if to start war. It is the blind passion that men put into their international relations.
0 1967-05-27, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Do you remember S.B.? He was here. He was a man with many disciples, he had yogic powers. He came here and was thunderstruck, as it were, when he saw Sri Aurobindo: he fainted. He said afterwards it was because of the power of the revelation. He stayed here for years and years; he lived there, downstairs. Then he went away; you see, he used to receive all his disciples here, so I said, No, that wont do, its better to have a room elsewhere. Then he left. And for years and years he wasnt heard of again. Lately, he has been reappearing (I have seen him relatively often at night), and he reappears with such ardour, such enthusiasm! He has just sent this card from Riga, in Latviahe intended to go to Russia (Mother hands the card to the disciples):
Greetings. I remember your marvel. I spoke of our divine Master and of your sweetness in a great conference here. Bless me. Yours ever.
--
He was very childlike, very enthusiastic, and very boastful at the same time, but with a fervour which was rather fine. A sort of very young enthusiasm. Now he must be rather old. And I always see him in the middle of a large crowd. He knows how to comm and attention. He isnt quite indifferent. But I didnt work to send him away from here: he had quarrelled with someone or other, then started openly receiving a large number of disciples; I said, It would be better if you saw your disciples elsewhere. Then he left.
He writes a lot of books in Tamil.
0 1967-06-17, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A disciple asked Mother in March, 1963: "Mother, on 30th August 1945, you had said: 'I cannot promise you that the Divine's Will is to preserve the present human civilisation.' Can you NOW say that the Divine has decided to preserve the present human civilisation?" Mother answered: "It will be SETTLED in 1967."
Darjeeling, in the Himalayas, is near the border between Sikkim and Nepal, not far from China.
0 1967-06-21, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(A month later, a disciple sent Mother the following letter, in English, on the same subject:)
At present the working is going on with direct Supramental Force. Its immediate action on the world of selfishness, strife and disharmony is not encouraging. We see everywhere clashes; the world is going on in the old way as usual, perhaps worse. One is reminded of the old legend that the first thing that arose from the churning of the Ocean of Life was poison. Nectar came last. The action now looks to be similar. India is going on in the same old way, placating Pakistan and the Musulmans and Russians.
--
(The disciple ventures to publish here a text he wrote on June 24, 1967, despite its daring or extreme predictions, for it may hold a grain of truth that time will reveal, and above all because it is obviously influenced by Mothers vision. Thus it is not so much an exercise in prediction as food for thought.)
THE END OF THE ASURA
0 1967-06-28, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Regarding an Italian disciple who has just arrived
Her family wanted to baptize her child and they were beginning to quarrel (because I said, We do not want baptism), so they wrote to me in desperation, saying, We dont know what to do, because the whole family is against us and theyre constantly picking a quarrel with us. So I wrote: If they really want freedom, let them come and give birth to the child in Auroville! Oh, they were enthusiastic, she left right away!
0 1967-06-30, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(About an Indian disciple from South Africa who is in jail since some months in Syria under the pretext that his banknotes were counterfeit.)
They have no government to protect them. Before Indias independence they had a British passport, but now the government of South Africa doesnt recognize them, the government of India doesnt look after them, so theyre like that, neither fish nor fowl, and with no one to protect them. Its rather peculiar.
0 1967-07-15, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Then Mother listens to a reading from the notebook of a disciple who asks questions on the soul or psychic being.)
He asks: From life to life, the vibrations of the being develop, enrich and give form to the psychic personality behind the frontal personality. But then, how does the psychic, weighed down by those vibrations and memories, remain free?
0 1967-07-29, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
[See conversation of June 21, 1967. This was not a note by Mother, but the rough transcription noted by a disciple, which was published outright as being Mother's words.]
The word has so often been used as an insult.
--
A part of your atmosphere (gesture above the disciples head) is absolutely, absolutely one, like that, without any difference.
Aphorism 36: "Men are still in love with grief; when they see one who is too high for grief or joy, they curse him and cry, 'O thou insensible!' Therefore Christ still hangs on the cross in Jerusalem."
0 1967-08-02, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding a Tantric apprentice, disciple of X.)
Do you see W?
--
It should be noted that while Mother appears to be referring to her own body, these are collective difficulties in the disciples.
***
0 1967-08-26, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother listens to a reading from the notebook of a disciple who regularly asks questions.)
Sweet Mother, it is said that the good and the true always triumph, but in life, one often sees the opposite happen. The wicked win and seem to have some protection against suffering.
--
But thats not the way! You must do it HERE (Mother gestures in front of the disciples chest), and you hide behind (laughing) as I did the other day at the balcony!
What was the interval between her two visits?
0 1967-09-06, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Then Mother turns to the first Playground Talk1 intended for the next Bulletin. In that Talk of April 29, 1953, Mother, coincidentally, was speaking about religions. She said this, in particular: Otherwise, there would be no religions; there would be masters and disciples, people who have a higher teaching and an exceptional experience. That would be a very good thing. But as soon as the master is gone, what happens is that the knowledge he gave is changed into a religion. Rigid dogmas are established, religious rules come into being, and one cannot but bow down before the Tables of the Law. Yet at the beginning it was not like that. You are told, This is true, this is false, the Master has said Some time later, the master becomes a god, and you are told, God has said this.)
Should I let this pass? It will cause an uproar! (Its good anyway.)
0 1967-09-30, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And it explains the manner in which he received P. when he went there. P. (an Indian disciple), as you know, paid him a visit; he was taken there by an Italian who had come here (a very nice boy who showed him around Italy and took him to the Pope). The Pope gave him a private audience, and after talking to him, asking questions, replying (it was a whole conversation), he said to P. with a smile, And now what are you going to give me? (They spoke in French.) Then P. said, I have only one thing, which I always keep with me and is infinitely precious to me, but I will give it to you, and he gave him Prayers and Meditations. And the Pope answered, I am going to read them.
So it all fits together.
--
Anyway, about that German, its quite obviously a vital phenomenon. To be visible to the naked eye, it can only be a vital light. And he has innumerable disciples. He baptizes them for the second coming of Christ. It seems (I am not sure because it was written in German and only extracts were translated to me), but he doesnt at all seem to have a philosophical mind or conceptions: its only a kind of action to bring people into contact with that light. I heard about him from a German woman who is here (her mother is in Germany and she is a disciple of that man and she sent her the book). But her mother is a bit frightened.
There is something inexorablewhy? I dont understand. Because Christ came, on the contrary, to speak of brotherhood, goodness, charity, compassion. Yet this expression has something inexorableyes, there is no other word: thin-lipped and the mouth in a straight line like this (same blade-like gesture). It gives the appearance of a terrible nastiness, something inexorable (which found expression in the Inquisition, tortures and so on). Why is it there? But that German, for instance, the light was there when he was a baby, the day after his birthhe didnt have an inexorable mouth at that time!
--
There is also a Korean, have you seen his photo? I saw his photo, he is a hefty fellow and must be the same age, between thirty and forty. A Korean who, for his part, bluntly says that he is, not the reincarnation of Christ (I dont think he is Christian), but the new Avatar (if he knew the Indian tradition, he would say Kalki1). And it seems he has hundreds of thousands of disciples! I saw his photo I saw him Korean, you understand, that is, not universal.
But it means things are moving everywheremoving more and more.
--
But I told you he was tormented by something. When he left, when it was time for me to get up and take leave of each other, he looked at me with a sort of anxiety in his eyes, and he said to me, What will you say to your disciples about our meeting? I smiled and said, I will tell them that we were united in the love (not identical or common, I forget the words) for the supreme Lord. Then his face relaxed and he left. We were united in the same It wasnt the same it was I dont know, something expressing that both of us had been united in the love for the Supreme Lord. And I said it like that, with a smile, which means it was Sri Aurobindo who spoke with his sense of humour. His face relaxed and he left.
***
0 1967-10-04, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In the wake of the events of February 11, 1965, during which the Ashram was besieged, several disciples hurt and a few buildings burnt down, Mother issued a declaration in which she implicated the various elements responsible for that outburst of hatred. Among the very first to blame, she cited Pondicherry's Catholics: "... First, the militant Catholics, becausein spite of what the Pope declared after his visit to Indiathey are convinced that whoever is not a Catholic must be an instrument of the devil ..."
In France.
0 1967-10-07, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes. Oh, but they arent the only ones to do that. As a matter of fact, all the old things seem to be swelling up as much as they can so as not to disappear. I received today a greeting card from a former disciple. (Mother looks for the card) His name was A.C., an Israelite who was here and then went to England. In England he belonged for a long time to the Sri Aurobindo Group, then when the war between Israel and Egypt broke out (or a little before), he became fanatical, a fanatical Israelite: I want to work for Israel alone. And as he had been contacted about Auroville, he answered, Can Auroville help Israel? Things of that sort. And right now, its the New Year there, so he sent me this (Mother shows a card with seven candles illuminating the world, and wheat sheaves). In the past, he called me The Divine Mother, and Sri Aurobindo was The Lord. Then in his last letter, it was Guru (I have become the guru!), and, I want to inform you that I have left the group. And now he sends me this card: To the Mother God bless You (Mother laughs). And its the same thing, of course! Over there, few people are religious, they have a much more practical mind, but he has the religious temperament, so now it has become like this (Mother puffs out her cheeks), his Judaism is swelling up. The seven lights and the sheaves of prosperity. I found it touching: God bless You (Mother laughs).
I remember, long ago, right at the beginning (I think I had just moved into Sri Aurobindos house), someone, I forget who (did Tagore have a sister?1), she was a tall and strong woman, rather awe-inspiring, who had come to spend a day in the Ashram, and she said to me, Why dont you keep some rooms and rent them out to visitors? You would get ten rupees a day. (Mother laughs) I stared at her, I was flabbergasted (she was teaching me to be practical!). And at the end, she said, God bless you. At that point I couldnt restrain myself, and I answered her, Its already done! (Mother laughs)
0 1967-10-11, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother gives her note to the disciple) But water from the flowers fell on it, so its half erased!
The danger with all those people is that they want to codify things.
--
There was there (gesture between Mother and the disciple), like that, one of those kinds of lamp stands, like the ones they make with snakes, you know but it was high, this high (gesture about one metre fifty centimetres). It was in copper, with inlays, designs in it, and at the top was a ball that contained all the lights, as if each snakes head was a lightit was magnificent! Really magnificent. And it was burning. There were Power flowers (red hibiscus) forming garlands around the base. And then, someone said, Isnt this more beautiful than material reality?
And that was the artistic constructionmental, artisticwhich was more beautiful than reality. Thats it, the guiding idea of the person in question. Thats it you see; Isnt this more beautiful than real nature? There.
0 1967-10-14, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Soon afterwards, regarding a photo of Mother at the Playground in 1954, surrounded by children and disciples.)
That was when I declared that I wanted to be Indian, to have dual nationality. The government of India told me it was a memorable day in Indias history. I wasnt aware of it!1
0 1967-10-19, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Not this year, but it says there will be a terrible battle before the second coming of Christ. I know nothing about that myself! But a lady disciple in Holland has written a letter: it seems everyone there is terror-stricken, theres panic all over the country (!) and they say its the year of the battle. And here in India (not concertedly, of course), astrologers have said that September and October are months of a terrible battle (maybe not a war, but a battle) between Truth and Falsehood. There in Holland, it seems its like in the year 1000: they gather for meditations, entreaties, collective prayers. Well. And here, its the same thing, they are panic-stricken.
But battle there is. You cant move a finger without waging a battle.
0 1967-10-25, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Anyway, we can see this boys notebook (the notebook of a young disciple who regularly puts questions to Mother). What does he ask?
Sweet Mother, why are we, in the Ashram itself, inclined to create small groups and societies, such as World Union, New Age, etc.? What is their purpose?
0 1967-10-28, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Ah, let me show you a photo that was taken the other day, on P.s birthday (Mother holds the photo out to the disciple).
Its not me looking here: its when I give a bath of the Lord.
0 1967-10-30, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And what happened at the end ()of the first version of the Sannyasin, which the disciple rejected) was simply because the time of the final transmutation (I dont know how to explain or transformationmore than transformation), of the final transmutation hadnt yet come. It was near, but still at a tangent. Thats why. It was like that (gesture showing two lines coming closer), drawing nearer.
Thats what I kept seeing all the time.
0 1967-11-22, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Every year on December 2, all the children of the School and all the disciples taking part in sports carry out a general demonstration of physical culture.
The turning point of March 16, 1962, culminating on April 13, 1962: the great pulsations.
0 1967-11-Prayers of the Consciousness of the Cells, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(We publish here the second series of the "Prayers of the Consciousness of the Cells", dating from after 1959, as Mother gave them to the disciple in 1970, collected under this title.)
July, 1965
0 1967-12-02, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Then it is question of the conversation of November 22the turning point of 1962 the awakening of the cells consciousness that the disciple would like to publish in the forthcoming February issue of the Bulletin in A Propos.)
Its too personal.
0 1967-12-06, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
We were in the subtle physical. I saw lots of people: Purani (a departed disciple) and so on, people who are no longer on earth. It was in Sri Aurobindos not his house, but his domain. I saw and did lots of things. There were people who are on earth and people who are no longer on earth: they were all together. And at the end (for many details Sri Aurobindo was there, then he left), at the end I looked at all that, and for the first time in the subtle physical, I said, Oh, how insipid and useless and without zest your life is, when you dont think of the Divine.
The experience was so acute! So acute. Then I said (among the people there, there was Purani, and as I said people who are on earth), I told them, On earth, there is that intensity of aspiration, but here life is so easy, so easy! Look at all your activities and all that, oh, it has no zest, because there isnt that intense need to live for the Divine. And it was so strong that for hours in the morning it was like that (gesture of intense aspiration). Life anywhereanywhere, in any part of the world (of the universe) and in any conditions, even the easiest and harmonious, is not worth living without this intensity of aspiration, of the NEED to be divine.
0 1967-12-27, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding the violent agitation in South India against the imposition of Hindi, the language of the North, as the official language. This same agitation in 1965 had led to an attack against the Ashram during which disciples were injured and buildings burned down. At the time the governor had not intervened to stop the rioters from attacking the Ashram. It may be recalled that the majority of the disciples come from North India. In the last few days, trains, buses, post offices have been set on fire.)
Did you notice the police at the gate? Its the minister (a minister who came here) who sent an order to the lieutenant governor to guard the Ashram.
--
Its perfectly obvious that the higher-ups are the ones responsible, because theyre not genuine: they have neither the knowledge nor the vision nor the wisdom necessary to govern. For example, Indira, it seems, was complaining; one of her friends (her close friends), who is a very good disciple of mine, told her one day when she was complaining (she said the people and the government were in a dreadful state), she told her, But why dont you go and consult Mother? She will give you wisdom. Then Indira replied, I dare not.1
You understand, all this confusion, all this disorder seems to be intended to prepare people for one thing, which, obviously, has not so far even been imagined as being possible the recourse to a disinterested wisdom in order to govern. Theyre all caught up in If I do this, these people will be against me; if I do that, those people
0 1968-01-12, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes, its like that. So I asked him, But whatever is that occult center? He said, Yes, its an inner center for the more advanced disciples, those who are more in the know, and there is in it a sort of high priestess that was Y. [a European disciple].
Oh, its Y.
--
They say No, they go one better, they say I am Y.s disciple. Its like that, you understand, I am learning through Y., I am learning life and yoga!
I know! Ive known it for a long time. There are people here who have common sense, but had difficulty getting out of that. And they dont want to say anything because the disciples (who believe they have a fantastic power) fly into great rages and make such scenes! Of course you dont like to have scenes, so you dont say anything. You simply abstain from going there. But its been going on for a long time, more than a year.
Without mentioning names, A., G., etc. [Western disciples]. Again, its the non-Indian disciples who go there.6
Yes! Thats what this Italian said to me, and he added, That Canadian and his so-called girl, what does it all mean? When I was in the Pacific I was proposed the same sort of initiation: they leave you in a hut with a girl for three days. Is it the same thing in the Ashram?
--
Oh, it has assumed tremendous proportions, tremendous The first who told me about it was S. M.that was long ago, more than a year ago. Then there have been others. Naturally, F. was solicited and so was R. [Western disciples].
Yes, the Indians have discernment for such things.
--
No, I tell you, theyve gone one better: I am a disciple!
Never mind. Never mind, everything is seen like this (gesture from above). In reality, its the Lord having fun! (Mother laughs)
What quite disarmed me was that I had become a disciple that was delightful! After that, all you can do is laugh.
But I said to this Italian, Listen, dont worry about it, falsehood swallows itself.
0 1968-01-17, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding an old conversation of Mother's on "Savitri," noted down from memory by a young disciple.)
Theyre so happy, so enthusiastic! Everyone comes and says, Oh, how fine it is! I thought, How much must one err for people to find it fine! When one no longer errs, they no longer like it. There you are.
0 1968-02-07, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Ah, planetary, he put that in as Y.s disciple! Y. loves planetary.
2) Auroville offers itself to discover the deep sources of mans unity with the universe, of knowledge in joy and love.
0 1968-02-14, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding certain disciples, who are the very ones that will head the Ashram in the years after Mother's departure.)
But its very, very instructive. I mean, its not anything new to me, but its the wholly clear, precise, evident picture that its man who creates all his difficulties. Things would be simple and easy if there werent all these ego reactions: reactions of ambition, reactions of self-esteemnot to speak of deceit: when that comes (gesture underhand). Yes, these three things: ambition, with the need to show off, to dominate; self-esteem or vanity (being hurt when you arent appreciated at your true value: then you lose your temper, you quarrel, theres grating and friction); and, last, the thirst for money, greed, the desire to possess, cupidity: you want to make the most of the occasion I want to profit, I want to profit. With these three things, everything is muddled.
--
Yesterday I was shown the photo of a man who is the guru of many people.1 I do not know what he claims to be, but he is an Indian who went to Europe and America and has lotsthousands and thousandsof disciples, followers, believers. He says there is only one way to bring peace on earth, and that is total and complete freedom: intellectual and moral freedom, of course, but also vital and physical freedom. That is, freeing oneself from all subjections and all laws, living according to ones own impulsion. Then, he says, something (I forget what he calls it) will govern you and will make you do what must be done. Its not the individual who decides, its that. And if he is asked, But how? How do you know that is it? How do you find that?, he simply answers, Come and sit down beside me in meditation, and you will know. And he is convinced he can bring peace to earth with that.
I saw his photo yesterday. Vitally, he is extraordinarily strong. I dont know if its his own force or if its what he receives from others, because you can find that out only through physical contact.
--
Though there was Steiner who had much power over his disciples, but in his case, it was without doubt an adverse force with all the power of the Asuras.
Mahesh Yogi, whose disciples included the Beatles and a few Hollywood stars.
***
0 1968-02-28, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(From a conversation between Mother and a disciple about Auroville.)
One needs to have an absolutely transparent sincerity. Lack of sincerity is at present the cause of difficulties.
0 1968-03-02, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But here, the group of (what shall we call them?) Y.s disciples, the forward group, dont at all like divine consciousness, and the woman who translated it into German (not a direct disciple of Y.s but one of M.s) went to M. to ask for his help (moral help, probably), and the best they could find was highest consciousness. So I asked, Where is your high? Where is your low?
They didnt ask me anything, they are too sure of themselves. But their text was read out in Auroville, and some people who heard it and know German asked me, How come? Thats how I found out. How come in the German version they translated divine consciousness by highest consciousness?
0 1968-05-11, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(A disciple has written an article on the Ashram's future in which she said in particular, "The Ashram will become an occult center, a select collectivity....")
I am not at all anxious for advertisement or publicity for the Ashram. Its not necessary at all.
0 1968-07-17, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother, it is without the least reservation that I give you this name of Mother, to you who have given life back to my favorite son. His stay at the Ashram has marked an essential stage. There has been in his inmost being a radical upheaval. May I add that I myself feel your powerful and benevolent protection? I have the impression of being understood by you, and I feel I am the inheritoralong with your numerous sons, daughters and disciplesof the spiritual treasures accumulated each day by your fidelity to the mission entrusted to you. With my deep and intense gratitude, may you accept, Mother, the token of my respectful and filial piety.
Do you have this mans photo? No?
0 1968-08-28, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One night, a disciple, who usually was a very good clairvoyant, heard a voice, whose vibration was clearly hostile (a voice he felt coming from a vital world very near matter, almost a material world). That voice declared that Mother would pull through this time, but that the last battle would return in 1972.
***
0 1968-09-21, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I saw P.L. [the disciple from the Vatican] yesterday. Have you seen him?
Yes.
0 1968-10-09, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A disciple who died six years earlier, in December 1962. See the story of his death in Agenda 4, January 12, 1963.
***
0 1968-10-11, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A cook who had been dismissed went to a fakir (or Muslim Tantric) to get revenge. For several weeks in a row, at certain times of the day stones rained in the courtyard of the Guest-House: a disciple even had his arm injured. It was a condensation of vital forces. Amrita picked up some of those stones and preserved them to study them scientifically, but they were real stones, whose only peculiarity was that they were covered with moss all over. That was in 1921. Sri Aurobindo wrote a letter to Dilip on the subject (on February 2, 1943).
***
0 1968-10-26, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In a letter (see Cent. Ed., vol. 26, p. 352-353), Sri Aurobindo told the story of a yogi who could prolong his life at will (and lived for more than 200 years), but who kept the same toothache till the end, without ever being able to cure it. He was Swami Brahmananda, who, one day in the 1900s, told a disciple of his (Sardar Mazumdar), "As for the tooth, I have suffered from it since the days of Bhao Girdi," that is, since 1761.
***
0 1968-11-06, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding a visit paid by Satprem to Bharatidi, an old French disciple, at the Vellore hospital where she is to be operated on. Bharatidi, a member of France's Far East College, is well known for her sparkling wit and liveliness and her biting irony.)
So did you go and see Bharatidi?
--
(A letter from Mother to Bharatidi written about 1963, at a time when Mother was not receiving any disciple, except sometimes people about to marry. Bharatidi, then seventy-three, had written to Mother to ask her if she should marry to be entitled to see her.)
O Bharatidi, our dearest friend!
0 1968-11-09, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Bharatidi's death marked a sort of turning point in Mother's life, or the beginning of an unfortunate series: Amrita, Mother's faithful treasurer, was going to leave a few months later, in January 1969, followed by Pavitra in May 1969; then Mother's personal attendant, Vasudha, would fall gravely ill in August 1970, and finally Mother's cashier, Satyakarma, would leave in December 1970. Thus the few reliable disciples around Mother were going awaywhy this migration?... The atmosphere was going to change greatly: "I am surrounded by Falsehood.... They are all lying!... A general dishonesty," she was soon to say.)
Shes gone, Bharatidi.
0 1968-11-20, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
V. is the disciple who had a vision of a prelate repeating mantras.
A Catholic monk who has been lodging at the Ashram for about a year.
0 1968-12-04, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The disciple who had for the first time seen that mitered prelate repeating mantras.
For the reforms of the Church.
0 1969-01-01, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The disciple of the Roman Curia (see Agenda IX).
Italics denote words spoken or written by Mother in English.
Strangely, this year 1969 will be simultaneously marked by a general appeasement in international relations (few years have been so "peaceful" since World War II) and by the surfacing, around Mother, of a general wave of bad will and darkness. As though the safety valve were there. This is the year when the "haste [in the disciples] for it to be over" Mother will soon mention will begin to manifest. Nineteen sixty-nine is the dark turning point... and luminous at the same time.
0 1969-01-04, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I remember that even here, when Pavitra read it, he told me (he was quite enthusiastic), he said to me, Oh, he has made me understand something I hadnt understood! (Mother laughs) Pavitra, one of the old disciples who lived with Sri Aurobindo!
No, in France, things got off to a wrong start because of J.H., it was he who Ambition and
0 1969-01-15, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(After the visit of an "Acharya," or Jain master, who came surrounded with his disciples.)
He tried every way to make me talk! I refused. I had never seen them, with their mouths covered1it doesnt stop them from talking!
--
(Then Mother refers to an American disciple who has set up the whole Greek pantheon in his home and is very unbalanced.)
Its odd, he is receptive enough: every time I do something, there is a result but the result he attributes to his gods! So it makes a muddle in his consciousness.
--
I am going to try it on A. [the American disciple], Ill see if it makes him steady on his feet again. Hell believe its his statue of Athena! It doesnt matter. Even those who think well still think nonsense, so
This sadhu, it tried to pull him within, but when the pressure became very strong, he started talking! He couldnt [bear or contain it]. The disciple who was near him became very excited, but he controlled him.
He began with some banality about the work I am doing for humanity (some stupid remark of the sort), and when he saw it didnt work, he kept as quiet as he could, then started talking again and said what I told you that he had heard about me a lot, but As for me, I kept putting all this consciousness between the body and him.
0 1969-03-08, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
P.L.'s friend. P.L. is the disciple in the Roman Curia.
***
0 1969-03-26, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The disciple who had the vision wanted me to ask you if you happen to carry Mothers symbol or something of her around your neck? Because he saw you with this symbol around your neck. He told me that the basilica where the photo of this Msgr. Z was taken had very much the vibration of a haunted place! Poor Church. You are indeed courageous, dear P.L., and you are silently doing a great and good work for the world.
S.
0 1969-04-09, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
She is an eager disciple of Zen, so she writes that Zen says in one sentence what Sri Aurobindo says in millions of words. She says one could cut out nine tenths of Sri Aurobindos text without removing any of its substanceyou see the arrogance!2
It means she doesnt understand anything.
0 1969-04-19, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
K. is a disciple.
A Chinese disciple.
***
0 1969-05-03, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mothers comments, noted down from memory by a disciple, in English, about the teenage girls drowning in the swimming pool.)
P. spoke to the Mother in detail at 1:30 p.m. today about the findings of his inquiry of yesterdays incident. To that the Mother said:
--
See in addendum Mother's comments to a disciple regarding this "accident."
Let us note that P. and his sister are both very muscularly solid.
0 1969-05-10, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A disciple once put this question to Sri Aurobindo: "is it true that the same consciousness that took the form of Leonardo da Vinci had previously manifested as Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome? If so, will you please tell me what exactly Augustus Caesar stood for in the history of Europe and how Leonardo's work was connected with his?" Sri Aurobindo replied: "Augustus Caesar organised the life of the Roman Empire and it was this that made the framework of the first transmission of the Graeco-Roman civilisation to Europehe came for that work and the writings of Virgil and Horace and others helped greatly towards the success of his mission. After the interlude of the Middle Ages, this civilisation was reborn in a new mould in what is called the Renaissance, not in its life-aspects but in its intellectual aspects. It was therefore a supreme intellectual, Leonardo da Vinci, who took up again the work and summarised in himself the seeds of modern Europe."
(Life, Literature and Yoga, p. 6, July 29, 1937)
0 1969-05-17, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(About Pavitra's departure. Pavitra was the oldest French disciple; chemist and engineer of the cole Polytechnique, he came to the Ashram in December, 1925, after having pursued his quest all the way to Mongolia's lamaseries.)
[Pavitra left some very interesting memoirs of his conversations with Sri Aurobindo and Mother in 1925 and 1926, which unfortunately were barbarously mutilated (with whole pages torn away, almost a third of Pavitra's notebooks) by his closest collaborator, under the pretext that it would be "better left unsaid." We shudder to think what would have been the fate of this Agenda had it come into the hands of those same "collaborators." As Mother remarked in Agenda V of October 14, 1964: "They cut out and remove all that bothers them and leave only what suits them." Thus invaluable treasures disappeared.
0 1969-07-23, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Let us note that B. is a new, young disciple whose work is to keep that room downstairs clean.
Who was Sri Aurobindo's cook, and round as a barrel; she left her body seven years earlier, in September 1962.
0 1969-07-26, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Some disciples (Amrita for instance) kept them for several years.
In this connection, the reader will read with interest (when they are published) Pavitra's records of evening talks with Sri Aurobindo, in particular the talk of 12 May 1926.
0 1969-08-16, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A Chinese disciple, a painter.
The "cultural revolution."
0 1969-08-20, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The Vatican disciple has arrived in Pondicherry)
I saw PL. There are two things, first a personal one, then a more general one. He said the last time he saw you, after leaving you he went to the Samadhi, and there he suddenly had an extremely sharp pain in the lower abdomen. But he said it was very strange because it didnt feel like an ordinary pain: it didnt stop him from walking about, but it remained centered therea sharp pain.
0 1969-09-17, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But I told you that I met him twice: once before his nomination and once after. We spoke, and those conversations were really interesting. The second time, before leaving, he asked me, What will you tell your disciples? (I told you that.) Which shows he
I remember, I was struck by my own answer. I told him, I will say that we were in communion in our same love for the Supreme.2
0 1969-09-20, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yesterday, I had the visit of the Vice-President1an intellectual. I am told he is a very remarkable lawyer, a man of law, and hes read Sri Aurobindos books, he regards himself as a disciple of Sri Aurobindo. He came from Delhi with his whole family specially to see me. He came: the Consciousness didnt manifest in the very leastnothing. It was like that (impassive, outspread gesture). Like that, still, nothing, absolutely nothing Thats curious. He gave me books to sign (he had just taken or received them, I dont now), a book by Sri Aurobindo, my photo. Anyway, he behaved like a disciple, he had brought his whole family along and the whole family expressed a lot of devotion and so onnothing. I dont know if it was there, but it didnt manifest: it was like this (same impassive gesture). Its curious.
But it feels the way people are, because did I tell you what the President said while leaving?
0 1969-10-08, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
N.S. is a disciple of Mother's who accompanied Indira Gandhi during her visit of October 6, and who holds a minister's post.
***
0 1969-10-25, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The following conversation came in connection with two letters sent by the young Indian disciple who accompanied A.R., the healer, in his solitary retreat.)
October 21, 1969
0 1969-11-22, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
As unbelievable as it may appear, Mother did not dare to ask her own disciples, knowing the storms that would give rise to. Thus Satprem could never recover the notes written by Mother. Even the words changed by Mother herself were later reintroduced.
The manuscript has been in Paris for a year.
0 1969-12-13, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A letter in which a disciple said he had some spare time between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. and asked the best way to use it.
***
0 1970-01-07, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(About a disciple)
You are too good for him.
--
See Agenda X of 12 November and 24 December 1969. We may be touching here the central physical difficulty which was to become Mother's agony. It was not the "problem of the transformation," but the problem of the disciples.
***
0 1970-01-17, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
N. and Paolo realized that if Auroville or the construction of this Center is left to Aurovilles people as separate from the Ashram, it will never work: the true force will never be there, those who are there arent receptive enough to do the work. If there is that break between the Ashram and Auroville, it will never work, it will be one more construction but not something new. According to them, the only hope is for that Center to be built not by Aurovilians but by all the Ashram people, without distinction between Aurovilians and non-Aurovilians; for the whole force to be united in the construction of this Center, rather than abandon the Aurovilians to an outer break. Just as the disciples built Golconde [a guest-house at the Ashram], in the same way all the disciples should build Aurovilles Center, without outside manpower.
At Golconde there was outside manpower.
--
But thats not what he meant, he didnt mean at all a problem of construction: he meant the problem of having the disciples work with the Aurovilians. N., as an engineer, would look after the construction with the money collected, but the whole manpower would have to be provided by all the Ashram people mingling with the Aurovilians. Thats the idea.
Thats not possible. All the Ashram people young enough to work are working, they all have their occupation.
--
When they say that all the disciples here should take part in Auroville s construction, as was done for Golconde, they mean that you are the one who gives the disciples the impulse to come and participate in the work. That was the idea. But you say there should be a separation on the contraryno mixture.
(Laughing) If you knew things as they are! Auroville people bring drugs here, they bring all kinds of things.
0 1970-02-18, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Ayudh puja or "festival of arms." On a similar occasion, when Mother was seriously attacked, Sri Aurobindo had to write the disciples a letter in which he said, "The Mother has had a very severe attack and she must absolutely husb and her forces.... It is quite out of the question for her to begin seeing everybody and receiving thema single morning of that kind of thing would exhaust her altogether. You must remember that for her a physical contact of this kind with others is not a mere social or domestic meeting with a few superficial movements which make no great difference one way or the other. It means for her an interchange, a pouring out of her forces and a receiving of things good, bad and mixed from them which often involves a great labour of adjustment and elimination and in many cases, though not in all, a severe strain on the body."
(November 12, 1931, Cent. Ed., 25.315)
0 1970-03-14, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A very faithful American disciple.
On November 24, 1938.
0 1970-04-01, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Motilal Roy, a disciple from Chandernagore with whom Sri Aurobindo corresponded between 1912 and 1920.
That was the lime of the Evening Talks, between 1923 and 1926.
0 1970-04-22, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But T. [a disciple who asks questions on the Aphorisms] sends me four or five of them at one go, without space to answer each so I only answer the last one!
It would be good to say, Let our robe of virtue fall so we may be ready for the Truth.
--
Seventeen years earlier, on 20 May 1953, in the course of a talk at the Ashram's Playground in front of the gathered disciples, Mother had asked this question: "Is it possible for one body to change without something changing in those around it? What will be your relationship with other objects if you have changed so much? Or with other beings?... It seems necessary for a totality of things to change, at least in certain relative proportions, so that one may exist, go on existing...." That may well be the whole problem.
Generally, when Satprem leaves at the end of the conversation, Sujata remains alone with Mother for a few moments.
0 1970-04-29, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
An old and very faithful disciple whose body was found on the beach. This is the continuation of the series that began with Bharatidi, then Amrita, Pavitra.... Rishabhch and was the author of Sri AurobindoHis Life Unique.
Astha is nine year old.
0 1970-05-02, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A few months later (October 21), Mother gave Satprem this note written to a French disciple, which seems to fit well with the story she has just recounted: "I am told that you intend to distribute a reproduction of the portrait you did of me. It would be better not to introduce in this gathering anything personal that might suggest the atmosphere of a nascent religion."
The next time, Mother omitted the words "forms of" and simply left "all religions."
0 1970-05-09, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(a disciple comes in to repair the tape recorder which is malfunctioning)
Whats wrong?
--
"Lord, when You want the image to change into your likeness, what do You do?" The next day, the disciple to whom Mother had sent this reply wrote back: "I did not understand what you wrote yesterday." Mother replied again (on the 9th): "What Sri Aurobindo calls 'image' is the physical body. So I asked the Lord what He does when He wants to transform the physical body, and last night He answered me by giving me two visions. The one was about the liberation of the body consciousness from all conventions regarding death; and in the other. He showed me what the supramental body will be. As you can see, I did well to ask Him!"
Still, in the afternoon, the doctor did a checkup which showed a blood pressure of 120 and a pulse rate of 70.
0 1970-05-20, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindos effort has always been to free his disciples, or even his readers, from all prejudice, all conventional morality.
Its wonderful to what point it isnt this active consciousness that writes: it sounds quite foreign to me! But the day before yesterday, I wrote something, and while writing, I said to myself, Oh, this will interest Satprem. And I no longer remember either!
0 1970-06-06, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Satprem reads out to Mother a letter he has received from E, a disciple who tried hard to intrude into the conversations between Mother and Satprem, notably under the pretext of translating Savitri into French. Maneuvering was beginning to make itself felt.)
It would alter the whole character of our meetings, dont you think?
0 1970-06-13, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You remember that we gave the book to P. L. [the disciple at the Vatican] so he would give it to a publisher he knows in Paris, Robert Laffont, because I wasnt too keen it should go into the hands of my usual publisher, with whom Ive had a good deal of trouble. But it so happens that before he went to Robert Laffont, P. L. had to go and see my usual publisher to sign the agreement for the Spanish translation of The Adventure of Consciousness. And heres what happened: P. L. writes to me, At first he raised, lots of difficulties. I told him I want no favors and am ready to pay him royalties straight away and sign the agreement. At one point, he asked me, But why are you interested in the problems and doctrines of India? I replied, Churches are in a crisis; and when the ship is sinking, theres no point discussing whether one should jump on the left or on the right! The spark of friendship flew at once; he told me he is Protestant and his father-in-law is a very important pastor in Paris, who was invited to the Vatican to hold a meeting between Catholics and Protestants. Then we signed the agreement. I told him I attach a great importance to this book in the whole of Latin America. He told me that in France, too, Satprems Sri Aurobindo is selling very well, but that there is a certain misunderstanding with you. Then I told him that after I leave, I proposed to go and see Laffont, another publisher, for I had with me your latest book, The Sannyasin. And I showed it to him. No sooner did he see it than he implored me not to deprive him of its publication, not to go to Laffont, and to leave the book with him, for he desired to read it immediately! I told him I would think it over.
Its yes.
0 1970-07-22, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Not with this good man [Ramalingams Tamil disciple], not at all, but with A.1
A.?
--
First Ill read you what I wrote to T. [Ramalingams Tamil disciple]:2
The translation of Swami Ramalingams experiences was read out to Mother, and she does not doubt their au thenticity; she particularly liked the manner in which the Swami called that light Grace-Light, and she said it corresponds to her own experience. She remarked that over the ages, and even now, it is quite likely that a number of individuals, known or unknown, have had similar experiences. The only difference is that at present, instead of an individual possibility, there is a collective possibility that is precisely Sri Aurobindos and Mothers work: to establish, as a terrestrial fact and a possibility for everyone, the supramental consciousness or Grace-Light as Swami Ramalingam called it.
--
Dearest Mother, regarding certain translations of poems of Swami Ramalingam by his disciple T., you answered him through Satprem in such a way that he was led to equate Ramalingams Grace-Light and the supramental Consciousness.
Yes, I wouldnt have done that. So hes furious!
--
Through your answer, T. [Ramalingams disciple] understood that the only difference between Ramalingams supramental yoga and yours or Sri Aurobindos is that his was concerned with an individual supramentalization, whereas you and Sri Aurobindo also worked for a collective supramentalization.
T. is convinced of this and also declares that Ramalingam had attained the complete supramentalization of the body.
--
But what I can do is to correct what you said with Ramalingam s disciple.
No, its not the Supramental, but one aspect of the Supra-mental, or rather one activity of the Supramental.
--
An old disciple, author of several books about Sri Aurobindo and editor of one of the Ashram's magazines.
Satprem's letter to T. and the following letter from A. are retranslated here from the French translation.
0 1970-09-02, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You have many disciples now, dont you?
Who?1
--
Satprem heard "he has many disciples" and thought Mother was referring to this red-haired man. It never occurred to him he could have disciples!
As in 1962 and 1968.
0 1970-09-05, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Let us note that some time earlier, a disciple with noteworthy visions saw this: "Mother was descending, descending, sinking into the earth, then she was fully wrapped as if in a layer of carbon. Where she was there was light, but the thread connecting her to her Origin was very slender, a fine thread of light running through the layer of carbon. At times the contact was cut off, the thread disappeared, and Mother was in difficulty."
***
0 1970-10-14, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
If a sadhika [a female disciple] has spare time and the inclination to make up, I see no harm in that, provided she does not do it out of vanity or affectation.
What matters in sadhana is not what one does but the spirit in which one does it.
0 1970-11-07, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother answers a question put by a young disciple.)
I have read a lot and heard about past and future lives, but I strongly feel that it is in this very life that we must realise our highest aspirations, as if it were the last chance given us. For me, allusions to other lives are intangible and academic rather than a help and a hope. It is not that I do not believe in reincarnation, but that thought recurs to my mind very often. Mother, is it a narrowness of vision on my part, or what?
--
(Then the conversation turns to a Chinese disciple who has placed money with friends of the Ashram in Singapore.)
Tomorrow is illusory.
0 1971-01-01, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(On this day all the disciples filed silently past Mother, who is still unwell, sitting in her chair.)
Image 1
0 1971-01-11, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(This fragment was noted from memory by a disciple following the long physical ordeal Mother went through for nearly a month and a half.)
Physical vision requires a much more continuous concentration. The physical vision serves to stabilize. It gives continuity to things. The same with hearing. So when neither of them are there, you become conscious of the thing directly, which gives you the true knowledge of it. That is probably how the Supermind will work.
0 1971-01-16, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
For example, someone asks you why you dont have disciples of higher quality to do the work here.
(Mother laughs whole-heartedly, her laugh is so refreshing!)
0 1971-03-10, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Concerning a disciple who wanted to finish The Life of Sri Aurobindo left incomplete by Rishabhchand.)
I thought Rishabhch and had finished The Life of Sri Aurobindo.
0 1971-03-24, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Another sign of the times: The disciple who works in the Ashram post office refused to put stamps on Satprem's letterswhy, we don't know. At the time Satprem was giving all his money to Mother and possessed nothing personally. Mother is therefore forced to sign a note in her own hand so that Satprem's letters get stamped. Then she remains very interiorized during the whole interview. It was the same on March 20, at the last interview: that day, she gave Satprem the first copy of "On the Way to Supermanhood," then went within the rest of the time.)
Do you want to say anything?
0 1971-05-08, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A disciple who left for Delhi several days ago, on the 2nd.
Mother wrote only a note that was published in one of the Ashram periodicals: "The situation is serious. It is only a strong and enlightened action that can pull the country out of it."
0 1971-05-15, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It would be nice to put A disciple of Sri Aurobindo, a lover of India. But that well see.
***
0 1971-05-26, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother had asked a young Indian disciple, M., a mathematics teacher in the School, to read the English translation of "Supermanhood" and to give his opinion.)
Well then?
0 1971-07-10, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Concerning a few words of Mother's noted from memory by a disciple.)
The harmonious moments in life are not a reward granted by the Divine. If life were normally what it should be, everything would always be harmonious.
--
Let us point out that on this day Mother had an indirect contact (through the family) with a disciple stricken with cancer.
***
0 1971-07-17, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(then the conversation moves on to the disciple in the Vatican)
Z says that P.L. did not behave well at all, that he is caught up in a world of money, power, women and I dont know what that he is completely under Monsignor R.s thumb, you know, the one who is handling millions.
--
A disciple who went to Europe with her children, then came back.
***
0 1971-07-31, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Concerning a letter by Sri Aurobindo strictly forbidding sexual relations among disciples. Mother had several thousand copies of the letter printed with the following title: "Conditions for living in the Ashram and becoming a disciple.")
To master the sex-impulse,to become so much master of the sex-centre that the sexual energy would be drawn upwards, not thrown outwards and wastedit is so indeed that the force in the seed can be turned into a primal physical energy supporting all the others, retas into ojas. But no error can be more perilous than to accept the immixture of the sexual desire and some kind of subtle satisfaction of it and look on this as a part of the sadhana. It would be the most effective way to head straight towards spiritual downfall and throw into the atmosphere forces that would block the supramental descent, bringing instead the descent of adverse vital powers to disseminate disturbance and disaster. This deviation must be absolutely thrown away, should it try to occur and expunged from the consciousness, if the Truth is to be brought down and the work is to be done.
0 1971-08-25, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Approximately at that time, a former disciple, Rani Maitra, wife of the former chancellor of Benares University, was dying without Mother's knowing anything about it in her outer consciousness.
***
0 1971-10-02, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I was very touched by your note thanking me for On the Way to Supermanhood. Some fifteen years ago, in this Ashram, I was teaching French classes to the young Indian disciples, and I tried to tell them who Malraux was, whose work I admiredtoday they remember and, like me, are moved by your intervention on behalf of Bangladesh.
The problem is deeper, of course, as you well know. What is at stake at the end of the present mental cycle is the creation of a new man that is what we are trying to do here with the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Great Forces are at work here, in a humble way. And I am happy that Supermanhood did not leave you insensitive. Indeed, its cry needs you and your capacity to grasp the profound Sense of our human crisis.
0 1971-11-17, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I dont know if you knew this. One day a disciple from Germany saw a blind beggar in the street, sitting (you know how they wear a sign on their chest), and on the sign, in German, The Order of Sri Aurobindo. The order, whats the word? Not command, no: group.
You mean society?1
0 1971-11-20, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Then Mother listens to Satprem read a letter from the disciple in the Vatican.)
And what about the cardinal who was supposed to come here?
0 1971-11-24, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother tries vainly to remember. Then Satprem goes on to read several letters by Sri Aurobindo, and in particular this one, addressed to a Muslim disciple who wanted to leave the Ashram to practice his religion exclusively, taking with him and against their will his young brother, X, and his sister, Y.)
As for X and Y, you have no claim over them and no right to control their thoughts and actions. X is of an age to choose and decide; he can think and act for himself and has no need of you to think and act for him. You are not his guardian, nor Ys; you are not even the head of the family. On what ground do you claim to decide where he shall go or where he shall stay? Your pretension to have the responsibility for him or her before God is an arrogant and grotesque absurdity. Each one is responsible for himself before God unless he freely chooses to place the responsibility upon another in whom he trusts. No one has the right to impose himself on others as a religious or spiritual guide against their free will. You have no claim at all to dictate to X or Y either in their inner or their outer life. It is again the confusion and incoherence of your mind in its present state that prevents you from recognising these plain and simple facts.
0 1971-12-04, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(A little later, Mother listens to Satprem read various letters of Sri Aurobindo, then a letter she herself wrote in English during World War II about the attitude of the disciples toward Hitler and the Allies.)
May 25, 1941
0 1971-12-27, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A disciple in America had sent a cartoon published in an American newspaper showing Bangladesh (East Pakistan) bloody and gored by the horns of a furious Indian sacred cow, equipped with Soviet weapons. When the drawing was shown to Mother by Sujata, she angrily rejected it, sweeping it off her knees: Take it away. Then, a few moments later, she asked for the drawing back, took a pen and wrote across the drawing: This is disgustingly untrue, the way one performs an occult act to destroy or neutralize something.
***
0 1972-01-05, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Then Mother listens to Satprem read a letter from a disciple who had felt an especially strong descent of force and was asking if it was related to the new year.)
It is related to the year of Sri Aurobindo.
0 1972-03-10, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The architect leaves. R., an American disciple, enters.)
I could put it this way: its either progress, or death. Each and everyone must, must absolutely progress, make the required progress, or else (gesture of dissolution).
0 1972-03-25, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This "Note" is the last one Satprem ever received from the disciple to whom Mother was sending her answers. A strange wind seemed to be blowing over those who were connected with the work Mother was doing with Satprem; though not acting in collusion, they all seemed bent on obstructing that work, as will become apparent later. Perhaps this was the beginning of the "tidal wave" Satprem had seen in his dream.
Collected Poems, V.161.
0 1972-03-29b, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother was never allowed to live her experience. A few days after she left her body, in a speech before the assembled disciples, Pranab, Mother's "bodyguard," ingenuously declared: "According to the advice of Dr. Sanyal, we were to give Her about 20 to 25 ozs. of food every day. It consisted of a little vegetable soup, milk with some protein compound, paste made of almonds, mushrooms, artichokes or things like that and some fruit juice at the end.... All those who were in the courtyard below [Mother's room] must have heard how we had to fight with Her to make Her eat a little." [Original English] This fight over food (to mention only one) created a sharp conflict in Mother's body; she was torn between their suggestions"If you don't eat, you're going to die"and the thrust of the Experience.
***
0 1972-03-30, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(A conversation with R., an American disciple, then with Sujata.)
(Mother speaks in English)
0 1972-04-03, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Meeting with the American woman disciple)
Things are going fast.
0 1972-04-05, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The fourth and last person was Mothers new attendant. She is going to appear in the following conversation. I was particularly blind about her because she was young and affectionate but she was completely under Pranabs thumb and ruled by her passions. I had, of course, noticed that she was listening in on my conversations with Mother, thus subtly clouding the atmosphere, invisibly breaking in upon Mothers free expression; for, needless to say, Mother sensed all that went on in the atmosphere. How many times did she stop in the middle of a sentence, invisibly interrupted: I cant speak that was not just because she was short of breath. Hence, the atmosphere of our conversations was no longer what it had been for the last fifteen years, until 1970. But in addition, we were responsible for a new and sad turn of events. We knew that Mother frequently spoke about Auroville, or with one disciple or another, and we regretted the loss of those wordsto us each of her words seemed to have so much importance for the world, even if we were not yet fully able to understand all that she was saying. So with her approval, we managed to obtain a small, easy-to-operate cassette recorder. It had been agreed with Mother that her attendant would record all the important conversations in Mothers room, then pass them on to me to be added to the Agenda. At first, I noticed that the attendant was keeping the tapes, but an innate shyness kept me from saying anything lest I appear to monopolize things or seem pushing, and also I didnt know exactly whose instructions she was obeying. Then, gradually, the attendant stopped giving me the recordings altogether, even those of Mother with Sujata. At that point, the situation in Mothers room was so fragile that I didnt want to say anything, for fear of sparking an outburst that would have ultimately bounced on Mother. I was already feeling also the invisible barrier against Sujata, whose name was systematically crossed off the list of visitors under one pretext or another, along with those of the few young women who were the Ashrams positive and silentelements. And how could we possibly argue when Sujata was told, Mother cannot see you Mother is sick? Once, Sujata mentioned it to Mother, but when the same incident occurred three, four, ten times, there was nothing to be said. Without knowing why, I too was feeling my own meetings with Mother threatened and precarious. In fact, we were alone, facing an obscure league of opposition. Why the opposition? There is no answerexcept human pettiness, which does not understand and hates everything that exceeds it. Even Mothers own son was jealous of my place near her, not to mention the others, the liars pure and simple, as Mother used to call them, who were, and still are, directing the Ashram. Finally, much later, I discovered that the notorious cassette recorder, whose recordings I was no longer even receiving, was clandestinely used to record my own conversations with Motheron whose behalf?
That was the end. The atmosphere had become so rotten that, obviously, it could not last much longerMo ther was suffocating there. I later discovered in my own body and from direct experience that all bad thoughts are agonizing to the body, they create a sort of oppression as if you were short of air. Yet, even when they closed Mothers door on me, a year and a month later almost to the day, on May 19, 1973, I COULD NOT believe it was the end. I was convinced that this was the last stage, that Mother was finally going to shake off the old slavery to food: the last tie to the old physiology. But, as we now know, her bodyguard would not let her. In his speech on December 4, 1973, he declared, In the beginning [from May 20], She refused to take any food or drink, but somehow we persuaded Her to take them.2 She did fight as much as she could, and then. At times, I seemed to hear her faltering little voice up there: Where is Satprem? Where is Satprem? and then silence. Had I attempted to force the barrier, this Agenda would never have seen the light of day. In a way, the following conversation is therefore prophetic.
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I arrived at about five past seven [in Mothers room, the evening of November 17] and saw that Dr. Sanyal was already there examining Her. Dyumanbhai [the disciple who brought Mother her meals] also had come. I went and felt the Mothers pulse. It was still there, beating at long intervals. There was still some respiration. But slowly everything stopped. The doctor gave an external heart massage to Her. It had no effect. Then he declared that the Mother had left Her body. This was at 7:25 p.m. Then, being present and feeling my responsibility, I thought what I should do. At that time there were present Andr [Mothers son], Champaklalji [the helper], Dr. Sanyal, Dyumanbhai, Kumud [the attendant] and myself. I talked with Andr and told him that I wanted to wait for some time and then take the Mothers body down, place it in the Meditation Hall for people to see. We would keep the body in such a way that it was not disturbed, then we would decide what to do. Andr agreed to my proposal. He wanted to remain with us but as he was not well I suggested that he should go home and take rest and come the next day. He left. We remained there and discussed what to do.
Now we thought that if people immediately came to know about the Mothers passing there would be a big rush, and the crowd would all clamor to see Her. There would be noise and shouts and a tremendous confusion. So we thought of keeping the event secret for some time. Also Dr. Sanyal said that we must not disturb the body in any way for several hours. So the Mother was left as She was and after I I oclock, when the gate of the Ashram was closed, we cleaned Her body with eau de cologne, put a nice dress on Her, arranged everything and then Dyumanbhai and I went down and called Nolinida. Nolinida came up, saw everything, and asked what we were going to do. I mentioned my plans to him. He said the Mother had once told him that if it looked to us that She had left her body we should not be in a hurry, but see that Her body was properly kept, and then wait. I said, We are just about to do the same. We have cleaned Her, otherwise ants and insects would have come. We have put on Her a new dress and we shall carry Her quietly, carefully downstairs and lay Her in the Meditation Hall. After some time we shall call people. He agreed to our proposal. At about 2 oclock [in the morning] we brought the Mothers body down, placed Her on the bed, arranged everything. Then I went out, called Mona, told him to come and see me with four other boys, five of my lieutenants, so to say. When they came I explained to them what to do: to call the photographers first, then to call the [Ashram] trustees, then all those who were very close to Her. From 3 oclock the people who had been called started coming. While we were upstairs, we prepared some kind of statement that could go to the Press and to All India Radio so that no wrong information might go out. Our draft of the statement we got corrected by Nirodda and gave it to Udar to circulate. At 4:15 in the morning we opened the gate of the Ashram for people to come in and have a last Darshan.
0 1972-05-29, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother sees Sujata. On this day, thirty-four years before, Sujata decided to stay with Mother. She was twelve and a half years old, the youngest disciple in the Ashram. She had made her first visit to Pondicherry when she was nine. She gives Mother a spray of "Service" flowers. This will be the last May 29th.)
Its from your tree.
0 1972-06-28, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
What disciples we are of what a Master! I wish you had chosen or called some better stuff.
As to the disciples, I agree!Yes, but would the better stuff, supposing it to exist, be typical of humanity? To deal with a few exceptional types would hardly solve the problem. And would they consent to follow my path that is another question? And if they were put to the test, would not the common humanity suddenly reveal itself that is still another question.
August 3, 1935
0 1973-03-28, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(That day, Satprem had the inner perception that a new phase was beginning, that Mother was "withdrawing" more and more within. Effectively, a few days later, on April 7, she stopped seeing almost everybody, except the few regular disciples.)
Are you eating enough?
0 1973-05-09, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother is very late, she has Satprem and Sujata called in before the other disciples. She immediately takes Satprem's hands. It is heartrending.)
Somethings wrong. Somethings wrong. I see you.
03.02 - The Philosopher as an Artist and Philosophy as an Art, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Plato would not tolerate the poets in his ideal society since they care too much for beauty and very little for the true and good. He wanted it all to be a kingdom of philosophers. I am afraid Plato's philosopher is not true to type, the type set up by his great disciple. Plato's philosopher is no longeran artist, he has become a mystica Rishi in our language.
For we must remember that Plato himself was really more of a poet than a philosopher. Very few among the great representative souls of humanity surpassed him in the true poetic afflatus. The poet and the mysticKavi and Rishiare the same in our ancient lore. However these two, Plato and Aristotle, the mystic and the philosopher, the master and the disciple, combine to form one of these dual personalities which Nature seems to like and throws up from time to time in her evolutionary marchnot as a mere study in contrast, a token of her dialectical process, but rather as a movement of polarity making for a greater comprehensiveness and richer values. They may be taken as the symbol of a great synthesis that humanity needs and is preparing. The role of the mystic is to envisage and unveil the truth, the supernal reality which the mind cannot grasp nor all the critical apparatus of human reason demonstrate and to bring it down and present it to the understanding and apprehending consciousness. The philosopher comes at this stage: he receives and gathers all that is given to him, arranges and systematises, puts the whole thing in a frame as it were.
The poet-philosopher or the philosopher-poet, whichever way we may put it, is a new formation of the human consciousness that is coming upon us. A wide and rationalising (not rationalistic) intelligence deploying and marshalling out a deep intuitive and direct Knowledge that is the pattern of human mind developing in the new age. Bergson's was a harbinger, a definite landmark on the way. Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine arrives and opens the very portals of the marvellous temple city of a dynamic integral knowledge.
03.02 - Yogic Initiation and Aptitude, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The New Year Initiation Arjuna or the Ideal disciple
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Part ThreeYogic Initiation and Aptitude
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Needless to say that these tests and ordeals are mere externals; at any rate, they have no place in our sadhana. Such or similar virtues many people possess or may possess, but that is no indication that they have an opening to the true spiritual life, to the life divine that we seek. Just as accomplishments on the mental plane,keen intellect, wide studies, profound scholarship even in the scriptures do not entitle a man to the possession of the spirit, even so capacities on the vital plane,mere self-control, patience and forbearance or endurance and perseverance do not create a claim to spiritual realisation, let alone physical austerities. In conformity with the Upanishadic standard, one may not be an unworthy son or an unworthy disciple, one may be strong, courageous, patient, calm, self-possessed, one may even be a consummate master of the senses and be endowed with other great virtues. Yet all this is no assurance of one's success in spiritual sadhana. Even one may be, after Shankara, a mumuksu, that is to say, have an ardent yearning for liberation. Still it is doubtful if that alone can give him liberation into the divine life.
What then is the indispensable and unfailing requisite? What is it that gives you the right of entrance into the divine life? What is the element, the factor in you that acts as the open sesame, as a magic solvent?
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In the practice of Yoga the fitness or capacity that the inner being thus lends is the only real capacity that a sadhaka possesses; and the natural, spontaneous, self-sufficing initiation deriving from the inner being is the only initiation that is valid and fruitful. Initiation does not mean necessarily an external rite or ceremony, a mantra, an auspicious day or moment: all these things are useless and irrelevant once we take our stand on the au thentic self-competence of the soul. The moment the inner being has taken the decision that this time, in this life, in this very body, it will manifest itself, take possession of the body and life and mind and wait no more, at that moment itself all mantra has been uttered and all initiation taken. The disciple has made the final and definitive offering of his heart to his Guru the psychic Guruand sought refuge in him and the Guru too has definitely accepted him.
Mantra or initiation, in its essence, is nothing else than contacting the inner being. In our Path, at least, there is no other rite or rule, injunction or ceremony. The only thing needed is to awake to the consciousness of the psychic being, to hear its callto live and move and act every moment of our life under the eye of this indwelling Guide, in accordance with its direction and impulsion. Our initiation is not therefore a one-time affair only; but at every moment, at each step, it has to be taken again and again, it must be renewed, revitalised, furthered and streng thened constantly and unceasingly; for it means that at each step and at every moment we have to maintain the contact of our external consciousness with the inner being; at each step and every moment we have to undergo the test of our sincerity and loyalty the test whether we are tending to our inner being, moving in its stream or, on the contrary, walking the way of our external animal nature, whether the movements in the mind and life and body are controlled by their habitual inferior nature or are open to and unified with their hidden divine source. This recurrent and continuous initiation is at the secret basis of all spiritual disciplinein the Integral Yoga this is the one and all-important principle.
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The New Year Initiation Arjuna or the Ideal disciple
03.03 - Arjuna or the Ideal Disciple, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
object:03.03 - Arjuna or the Ideal disciple
author class:Nolini Kanta Gupta
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Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Part ThreeArjuna or the Ideal disciple
Arjuna or the Ideal disciple
What makes a true disciple? For it is not everyone that can claim or be worthy of or meet the demands of the title. disciplehood, like all great qualities, that is to say, qualities taken at their source and origin, is a function of the soul. Indeed, it is the soul itself coming up and asking for it'! native divine status; it is the call of the immortal in the mortal, the voice of the inmost being rising above the clamours and lures of the world, above the hungers and ties of one's own nature. When that rings out clear and unmistakable, the Divine reveals Himself as the Guru, the Path is shown and the initiation given. Even such a cry was Arjuna's when he said: iyaste ham sdhi mm twam prapannamit is a most poignant utterance in which the whole being bursts forth as it were, and delivers itself of all that it needs and of all that it gives. It needs the Illumination: it can no longer bear the darkness and confusion of Ignorance in which it is entangled; and it gives itself whole and entire, absolutely and without reserve, throws itself simply at the mercy of the Divine. Arjuna fulfils, as very few can so completely, the fundamental conditions the sine qua nonof discipleship.
A certain modern critic, however, demurs. He asks why Arjuna was chosen in preference to Yudhisthira and doubts the wisdom and justice of the choice (made by Sri Krishna or the author of the Gita). Is not the eldest of the Pandavas also the best? He possesses in every way a superior dhra. He has knowledge and wisdom; he is free from passions, calm and self-controlled; he always acts according to the dictates of what is right and true. He is not swayed by the impulses of the moment or by considerations relating to his personal self; serene and unruffled he seeks to fashion his conduct by the highest possible standard available to him. That is why he is called dharmarja. If such a one is not to be considered as an ideal disciple, who else can be?
To say this is to miss the whole nature of discipleship, at least as it is conceived in the Gita. A disciple is not a bundle of qualifications and attainments, however high or considerable they may be. A disciple is first and foremost an aspiring soul. He may not have high qualities to his credit; on the contrary, he may have what one calls serious defects, but even that would not matter if he possessed the one thing needful, the unescapable urge of the soul, the undying fire in the secret heart. Yudhishthira may have attained a high status of sttvic nature; but the highest spiritual status, the Gita says, lies beyond the three Gunas. He is the fittest person for this spiritual life who has abandoned all dharmasprinciples of conduct, modes of living and taken refuge in the Lord alone, made the Lord's will the sole and sufficient law of life. Even though to outward regard such a person be full of sins, the Lord promises to deliver him from all that. It is the soul's love for the Divine given unconditionally and without reserve that can best purify the dross of the inferior nature and render one worthy of the Divine Grace.
Such was Arjuna's capacity; herein lay his strength, his spiritual superiority. It was because he could be so intimate with the Divine as to call him his friend and companion and playmate and speak to him in familiar and homely termseven though he felt contrition for having in this way perhaps slighted the Lord and not paid sufficient regard towards him. Yet this turn of his soul and nature points to the straightness and simplicity and candidness that were there and it was this that helped to call in the Divine and the Divine choice to fall upon him.
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All this, however, is not to say that Arjuna was in his external human nature, built of an inferior stuff; indeed, even from the human and profane standpoint Arjuna's was a heroic nature, if ever there was one. Still what one remarks in him is his representative character, that is to say, he is an average man, only the strengths and weaknesses are perhaps stressed and intensified in him. He is a hero, to be surewe must remember also the other condition that a spiritual aspirant is to fulfil, nyamtmbalahinena labhyaha2 but that did not immune him to the normal reactions of a normal man; on the contrary, the reactions were especially strong and violent, necessary indeed to bring out the whole implication of a spiritual crisis. Arjuna's doubts and depression, misgivings and questionings (Vishada Yoga) are what more or less every aspirant has to pass through when he arrives at the crucial point of his soul's journey and has either to choose the higher curve or follow the vicious circle. And at this threshold of the spiritual journey what is required of the true aspirant, the ideal disciple, is the resolution to face the situation, to go through to the end at the comm and and under the loving guidance of the Master. On this line Arjuna stands for us all and shows, by his example how we can take courage and march out of the inferior nature into the peace and light and power of the higher divine nature.
Nor by brain-power, nor by much learning of Scripture.Katha Upanishad, 1. 2. 23.
03.04 - The Body Human, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Arjuna or the Ideal disciple Some Conceptions and Misconceptions
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Part ThreeThe Body Human
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Arjuna or the Ideal disciple Some Conceptions and Misconceptions
04.04 - Evolution of the Spiritual Consciousness, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Indeed, the tradition in the domain of spiritual discipline seems to have been always to realise once again what has already been realised by others, to rediscover what has already been discovered, to re-establish ancient truths. Others have gone before on the Path, we have only to follow. The teaching, the realisation is handed down uninterruptedly through millenniums from Master to disciple. In other words, the idea is that the fundamental spiritual realisation remains the same always and everywhere: the name and the form only vary according to the age and the surroundings. The one reality is called variously, says the Veda. Who can say when was the first dawn! The present dawn has followed the track of the infinite series that has gone by and is the first of the I infinite series that is to come. So sings Rishi Kanwa. For the core of spiritual realisation is to possess the consciousness, attain the status of the Spirit. This Spirit may be called God by the theist or Nihil by the Negativist or Brahman (the One) by the Positivist (spiritual). But the essential experience of a cosmic and transcendental reality does not differ very much. So it is declared that there is only one goal and aim, and there are, at the most, certain broad principles, clear pathways which one has to follow if one is to move in the right direction, advance smoothly and attain infallibly: but these have been well marked out, surveyed and charted and do not admit of serious alterations and deviations. The spiritual aspiration is a very definite and unitary movement and its fulfilment is also a definite and invariable status of the consciousness. The spiritual is a typal domain, one may say, there is no room here for sudden unforeseen variation or growth or evolution.
Is it so in fact? For, if one admits and accepts the evolutionary character of human nature and consciousness, the outlook becomes somewhat different. According to this view, human civilisation is seen as moving through progressive stages: man at the outset was centrally lodged in and occupied with his body consciousness, he was an annamaya purua; then he raised himself and centred in the vital consciousness and so became fundamentally a prnamaya purua; next he climbed into the mental consciousness and became a maomaya purua; from that level again he has been attempting to go further beyond. On each plane the normal life is planned according to the central character, the lawdharmaof that plane. One can have the religious or spiritual experience on each of these planes, representing various degrees of growth and evolution according to the plane to which it is attached. It is therefore that the Tantra refers to three gradations of spiritual seekers and accordingly three types or lines of spiritual discipline: the animal (pau bhva), the heroic (vra bhva) and the godly or divine (deva bhva). The classification is not merely typal but also hierarchical and evolutionary in character.
04.04 - The Quest, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Young grave disciples fashioned by their touch,
Trained to the simple act and conscious word,
04.06 - Evolution of the Spiritual Consciousness, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Indeed, the tradition in the domain of spiritual discipline seems to have been always to realise once again what has already been realised by others, to rediscover what has already been discovered, to re-establish ancient truths. Others have gone before on the Path, we have only to follow. The teaching, the realisation is handed down uninterruptedly through millenniums from Master to disciple. In other words, the idea is that the fundamental spiritual realisation remains the same always and everywhere: the name and the form only vary according to the age and the surroundings. The one Reality is called variously, says the Veda. Who can say when was the first dawn! The present dawn has followed the track of the infinite series that has gone by and is the first of the infinite series that is to come. So sings Rishi Kanwa. For the core of spiritual realisation is to possess the consciousness, attain the status of the Spirit. This Spirit may be called God by the theist or Nihil by the Negativist or Brahman (the One) by the Positivist (spiritual). But the essential experience, of a cosmic and transcendental reality, does not differ very much. So it is declared that there is only one goal and aim, and there are, at the most, certain broad principles, clear pathways which one has to follow if one is to move in the right direction, advance smoothly and attain infallibly: but these have been well marked out, surveyed and charted and do not admit of serious alterations and deviations. The spiritual aspiration is a very definite and unitary movement and its fulfilment is also a definite and invariable status of the consciousness. The spiritual is a type domain, one may say, there is no room here for sudden unforeseen variation or growth or evolution.
Is it so in fact? For if one admits and accepts the evolutionary character of human nature and consciousness, the outlook becomes somewhat different. According to this view, human civilisation is seen as moving through progressive stages: man at the outset was centrally lodged in and occupied with his body consciousness, he was an annamaya purua; then he raised himself and was centred in the vital consciousness and so became fundamentally a pramaya purua ; next the climbed into the mental consciousness and became the manomaya purua; from that level again he has been attempting to go further beyond. On each plane the normal life is planned' according to the central character, the lawdharmaof that plane. One can have the religious or spiritual experience on each of these planes, representing various degrees of grow and evolution according to the plane to which it is attached. It is therefore that the Tantra refers to three gradations of spiritual seekers and accordingly three types or lines of spiritual discipline: the animal (pau bhva) the heroic (Vra bhva) and the godly or divine (deva bhva). The classification is not merely typal but also hierarchical and evolutionary in character.
05.33 - Caesar versus the Divine, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
In reality, however, to a vision that sees behind and beyond the appearances, spirituality the force of the Spiritis ever dynamic: the spiritual soul, even when it appears passive and inert, is most active not merely in the subtle psychological domain, but also in the material field. To the gross pragmatic eye Ramakrishna, for example, appears as a less dynamic personality, a less strong and heroic, if not positively weaker character than Vivekananda. Well, that is only face-value reading. Vivekananda himself knew and felt and said that he was only one of hundreds of Vivekanandas that his simple and, modest-looking Guru could create if he chose. Even so a Ramdas. Ramdas was not merely a spiritual adviser to Shivaji, concerned chiefly with the inner salvation and development of his disciple, and only secondarily with the gross material activities, the things of Caesar. The two domains are not separate at least in this case: the spiritual here directly and dynamically affects the physical. The spiritual guide is the dynamo the matrixof the power, the power spiritual; he wields and marshals the hidden, the secret forces that are behind the outward forms and movements. And the disciple by his attitude of obeisance and receptivity becomes all the better a channel and instrument for the actual play and fulfilment of that force. A Govind Singh is another instance of spiritual power made dynamic in mundane things. And we always have the classical instance of Rajarshi Janaka.
Only, in the future a yet greater source of spiritual power is destined to be tapped and brought into play, into the plane of happenings, so that the material domain, the pattern of our actual day to day life will put on a different aspect; for a radiant consciousness will have breathed a new life into our very bodily cells.
08.09 - Spirits in Trees, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A disciple of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother
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1.001 - The Aim of Yoga, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
Yoga is not a technique of sannyasins or monks, of mystics or monastic disciples it is a technique of every living being who wishes to succeed in life. Without the employment of the technique of yoga, no effort can be successful. Even if it is a small, insignificant act like cooking food, sweeping the floor, washing vessels, whatever it is even these would be meaningless and a boredom, a drudgery and a stupid effort if the principle of yoga is not applied.
In short, I may conclude by saying that happiness, joy, success, or the discovery of the significance of things, including the significance of one's own life and the life of everyone, would not be possible of achievement if the basic structural fundamentals are missed in life and we emphasise only the outer aspects which are only the rim of the body of life whose vital soul we are unable to perceive, because we do not have the instrument to perceive the soul of life. We have the instruments, called the senses, to perceive the body of life, but the soul of life we cannot perceive, because while the senses can perceive the bodies and the things outside, the soul of things can be perceived only by the soul. It is the soul that sees the soul of things.
10.02 - Beyond Vedanta, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The relation between the Supreme (over and above the creation) and the individual in the creation representing the creation is sometimes described in human terms to give it a concrete and graphic form. This relationship characteristically indicates the fundamental nature of the Reality it deals with. Thus in the Vedantic tradition the Supreme is worshipped as the Father (pit no asi). It is also a relation of Master and disciple, the leader and the led. Ii brings out into prominence the Purusha aspect of the Reality. In the Tantra the relation is as between Mother and child. The supreme Reality is the Divine Mother holding the universe in her arms. The individual worships and adores the Supreme Prakriti as a human child does. The Vaishnava makes the relation as between the lover and the beloved, and the love depicted is intensely vital and even physical, as intense and poignant as the ordinary ignorant human passion. It is to show that the Love Divine can beat the human love on its own ground, that is to say, it can be or it is as passionately sweet and as intensely intimate as any human love. It is why Bhakta Prahlad said to his beloved Vishnu "O Lord, what ordinary men feel and enjoy in and through their physical senses, may I have the same enjoyment in and through Thee."
Still the Vaishnava love in its concrete reality is a manifestation in a subtle world, the world of an inner physical consciousness.
1.003 - Family of Imran, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
52. When Jesus sensed disbelief on their part, he said, “Who are my allies towards God?” The disciples said, “We are God’s allies; we have believed in God, and bear witness that we submit.”
53. “Our Lord, we have believed in what You have revealed, and we have followed the Messenger, so count us among the witnesses.”
1.005 - The Table, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
111. “And when I inspired the disciples: `Believe in Me and in My Messenger.' They said, `We have believed, so bear witness that We have submitted.'“
112. “And when the disciples said, 'O Jesus son of Mary, is your Lord able to bring down for us a feast from heaven?' He said, 'Fear God, if you are believers.'“
113. They said, “We wish to eat from it, so that our hearts may be reassured, and know that you have told us the truth, and be among those who witness it.”
1.009 - Perception and Reality, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
So, it would not be judicious on the part of any individual to vehemently assert that the physical perceptions of the world are all-in-all. The materialist's conception is, therefore, not correct, because this conception arises on account of a miscalculated attitude towards everything. This is the reason why, in the practice of yoga, expert guidance is called for, because we are dealing with matters that are super-intellectual, super-rational. Here our own understanding is not of much use, nor are books of any use, because we are treading on dangerous ground which the mind has not seen and cannot contemplate. We are all a wonder, says the scripture. This is a mystery, a wonder. It is a wonder because it is not capable of intellectually being analysed. The scripture proclaims that the subject is a great mystery, a great wonder and marvel; and one who teaches it is also a marvel, and the one who receives this knowledge, who understands it the disciple is also a wonder, indeed, because though the broadcasting station is powerful, the receiver-set also must be equally powerful to receive the message. The bamboo stick will not receive the message of the BBC. So the disciple is also a wonder to receive this mysterious knowledge, as the teacher himself is a wonder; and the subject is a marvel by itself.
Thus arises the need to be cautious in the adjustment of the mind and the judgement of values in life. The sutras of Patanjali that I referred to give only a hint, and do not enter into details the hint being that the vrittis or the modifications of the mind are of a twofold character, which I translated as determinate and indeterminate, and have to be gradually controlled. This control of the vrittis or the modifications of the mind is regarded as yoga: yoga citta vtti nirodha (I.2). Yoga is the control of the modifications of 'the stuff' of the mind, the very substance of psychological action. Not merely the external modifications, but the very 'stuff' of it, the very root of it, has to be controlled, and this is done in and by successive stages. We have always to move from the effect to the cause in the manner indicated in this analysis that we have made.
1.00b - Introduction, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
In reality, magic is a sacred science, it is, in the very true sense the sum of all knowledge because it teaches how to know and utilize the sovereign rules. There is no difference between magic and mystic or any other conception of the name. Wherever au thentic initiatio n is at stake, one has to proceed on the same basis, according to the same rules, irrespective of the name given by this or that creed. Considering the universal polarity rules of good and evil, active and passive, light and shadow, each science can serve good as well as bad purposes. Let us take the example of a knife, an object that virtually ought to be used for cutting bread only, which, however, can become a dangerous weapon in the hands of a murderer. All depends on the character of the individual. This principle goes just as well for all the spheres of the occult sciences. In my book I have chosen the term of magician for all of my disciples, it being a symbol of the deepest initiation and the highest wisdom.
Many of the readers will know, of course, that the word tarot does not mean a game of cards, serving mantical purposes, but a symbolic book of initiation which contains the greatest secrets in a symbolic form. The first tablet of this book introduces the magician representing him as the master of the elements and offering the key to the first Arcanum, the secret of the ineffable name of Tetragrammaton*, the quabbalistic
--
The reader will easily realize, how significant and how manifold the application of this tablet is. Not one of the books published up to date does describe the true sense of the first Tarot card so distinctly as I have done in my book. It is let it be noted born from the own practice and destined for the practical use of a lot of other people, and all my disciples have found it to be the best and most serviceable system.
*Tetragrammaton literally means the four-letter word. It was a subterfuge to avoid the sin of uttering the sacred name YHVH (Yahveh) or Jehova as it later became when the vowels of another word were combined with the consonants of YHVH.
--
Therefore only people endowed with exceptional faculties, a poor preferred minority seemed to be able to gain this sublime knowledge. Thus a great many of serious seekers of the truth had to go through piles of books just to catch one pearl of it now and again. The one, however, who is earnestly interested in his progress and does not pursue this sacred wisdom from sheer curiosity or else is yearning to satisfy his own lust, will find the right leader to initiate him in this book. No incarnate adept, however high his rank may be, can give the disciple more for his start than the present book does. If both the honest trainee and the attentive reader will find in this book all they have been searching for in vain all the years, then the book has fulfiled its purpose completely.
The Author.
1.00e - DIVISION E - MOTION ON THE PHYSICAL AND ASTRAL PLANES, #A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism
b. On the buddhic plane, where the Masters and their disciples form the forty-nine centres in the bodies of the seven Heavenly Men.
c. On the fourth etheric physical plane, where the sacred planets, the dense bodies in etheric matter of the Heavenly Men, are to be found.
1.00g - Foreword, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Crowley at first intended to call the book "ALEISTER EXPLAINS EVERYTHING", and sent the following circular to his friends and disciples asking them to suggest subjects for inclusion.
ALEISTER EXPLAINS EVERYTHING
1.00h - Foreword, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
This book is written mainly for the disciples and devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. They have been very eager to know something about the outer life of the Master, which, because of his seclusion for many years, remained behind a veil. The Mother was not so far willing to let us lift that veil. But either because of Sri Aurobindo's Centenary Year or for other reasons, when I proposed to write an account of our historic personal association with the Master during the last twelve years of his life, the Mother warmly approved of it. Not only so, she very graciously listened to the whole story.
An "outsider" may find the book filled in places with devotional outpourings, miraculous phenomena and mystical overtones. But I have tried to the best of my power to give a faithful account of what I have seen and heard and what part we played in the great drama with the Master as the principal actor. Naturally, subjective impressions could not be quite left out, for it was not my purpose to draw an entirely detached description of my experience. Yet those who are interested in having an objective picture of the most sublimely enigmatic Person of the modem age, one whom thousands have felt to be a veritable God-Man, will have, I believe, sufficient food to satisfy their seeking.
1.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Alchemy of Happiness, #Al-Ghazali, #Sufism
as Sri Aurobindo experienced them and described them to his disciples in his integral yoga, until they take us to the threshold of a new, still unknown experience that may have the power to change life itself.
For Sri Aurobindo is not only the explorer of consciousness, he is the builder of a new world. Indeed, what is the point of changing our consciousness if the world around us remains as it is? We would be like Hans Christian Andersen's emperor walking naked through the streets of his capital. Thus, after exploring the outermost frontiers of worlds that were not unknown to ancient wisdom, Sri Aurobindo discovered yet another world, not found on any map, which he called the Supermind or Supramental, and which he sought to draw down upon Earth. He invites us to draw it down a little with him and to take part in the beautiful story, if we like beautiful stories. For the Supermind, Sri Aurobindo tells us, brings a dramatic change to the 3
1.01f - Introduction, #The Lotus Sutra, #Anonymous, #Various
A bodhisattva named Varaprabha was there with his eight hundred disciples. At that time the Buddha Candrasryapradpa, having emerged from samdhi, remained sitting for sixty intermediate kalpas and revealed to Bodhisattva Varaprabha the Mahayana sutra called Saddharmapuarka, the White
Lotus of the Marvelous Law (hereafter Lotus Sutra), which was the instruction for bodhisattvas and the treasured lore of the buddhas. The assembly also sat there undisturbed in body and mind listening to the Buddhas exposition for sixty intermediate kalpas as if only a single mealtime had passed; during that time not a single person among them experienced fatigue of body or mind.
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Among the eight hundred disciples of Bodhisattva Varaprabha there was a man named Yaaskma who was attached to prot. Even though he had repeatedly recited the sutras he never became versed in them and forgot the greater part. That is why he was called Yaaskma, Fame Seeker.
But because he had also planted various roots of good merit, he was able to meet innumerable hundreds of thousands of myriads of kois of buddhas whom he rendered homage to, honored, revered, and praised.
--
Had one disciple who was lazy
And attached to fame and fortune.
This disciple ceaselessly sought these things
And amused himself from house to house.
1.01 - Foreward, #Hymns to the Mystic Fire, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The preoccupation of the Mystics was with self-knowledge and a profounder world-knowledge; they found out that in man there was a deeper self and inner being behind the surface of the outward physical man, which it was his highest business to discover and know. "Know thyself" was their great precept, just as in India to know the Self, the Atman became the great spiritual need, the highest thing for the human being. They found also a Truth, a Reality behind the outward aspects of the universe and to discover, follow, realise this Truth was their great aspiration. They discovered secrets and powers of Nature which were not those of the physical world but which could bring occult mastery over the physical world and physical things and to systematise this occult knowledge and power was also one of their strong preoccupations. But all this could only be safely done by a difficult and careful training, discipline, purification of the nature; it could not be done by the ordinary man. If men entered into these things without a severe test and training it would be dangerous to themselves and others; this knowledge, these powers could be misused, misinterpreted, turned from truth to falsehood, from good to evil. A strict secrecy was therefore maintained, the knowledge handed down behind a veil from master to disciple. A veil of symbols was created behind which these mysteries could shelter, formulas of speech also which could be understood by the initiated but were either not known by others or were taken by them in an outward sense which carefully covered their true meaning and secret. This was the substance of Mysticism everywhere.
It has been the tradition in India from the earliest times that the Rishis, the poet-seers of the Veda, were men of this type, men with a great spiritual and occult knowledge not shared by ordinary human beings, men who handed down this knowledge and their powers by a secret initiation to their descendants and chosen disciples. It is a gratuitous assumption to suppose that this tradition was wholly unfounded, a superstition that arose suddenly or slowly formed in a void, with nothing whatever to support it; some foundation there must have been however small or however swelled by legend and the accretions of centuries. But if it is true, then inevitably the poet-seers must have expressed something of their secret knowledge, their mystic lore in their writings and such an element must be present, however well-concealed by an occult language or behind a technique of symbols, and if it is there it must be to some extent discoverable.
It is true that an antique language, obsolete words, - Yaska counts more than four hundred of which he did not know the meaning, - and often a difficult and out-of-date diction helped to obscure their meaning; the loss of the sense of their symbols, the glossary of which they kept to themselves, made them unintelligible to later generations; even in the time of the Upanishads the spiritual seekers of the age had to resort to initiation and meditation to penetrate into their secret knowledge, while the scholars afterwards were at sea and had to resort to conjecture and to concentrate on a mental interpretation or to explain by myths, by the legends of the Brahmanas themselves often symbolic and obscure. But still to make this discovery will be the sole way of getting at the true sense and the true value of the Veda. We must take seriously the hint of Yaska, accept the Rishi's description of the Veda's contents as "seer-wisdoms, secret words", and look for whatever clue we can find to this ancient wisdom. Otherwise the Veda must remain for ever a sealed book; grammarians, etymologists, scholastic conjectures will not open to us the sealed chamber.
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down through initiation to disciples and at a last stage outward
and mental means had to be used for finding the sense such as
--
is only to present them in a permanent form for disciples and
those who are inclined to see more in the Vedas than a superficial
1.01 - Historical Survey, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
Qabalistic school of which we have any accurate public record was known as the School of Gerona in Spain (the twelfth century a.d.), so-called because its founder Isaac the Blind and many of his disciples were born there. Of the founder of the School practically nothing is known.
Two of his students were Rabbi Azariel and Rabbi Ezra.
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Next in succession was the School of Segovia and its disciples, among whom was one Todras Abulafia, a physi- cian and financier occupying an important and most dis- tinguished position in the Court of Sancho IV, King of
Castile. The characteristic predisposition of this School was its devotion to exegetical methods ; its disciples endeavour- ing to interpret the Bible and the Hagadah in accordance with the doctrinal Qabalah.
A contemporary School believed that Judaism of that day, taken from an exclusively philosophical standpoint, did not show the "right way to the Sanctuary", and endeavoured to combine philosophy and Qabalah, illustrating their various theorems by mathematical forms.
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Later, he hailed himself in a most enthusiastic way as the long-expected Messiah and prophesied the millenium - which failed to occur. His influence, on the whole, has been a deleterious one. A disciple of his, Joseph Gikatilla, wrote in the interests and defence of his teacher a number of treatises dealing with the several aspects of exegesis established by him.
The Zohar is the next major development. This book combining, absorbing, and synthesizing the different features and doctrines of the previous schools, made its dd but, creating a profound sensation in theological and philosophical circles by reason of its speculations concerning
1.01 - Maitreya inquires of his teacher (Parashara), #Vishnu Purana, #Vyasa, #Hinduism
[9]: The Guru, or spiritual preceptor, is said to be Kapila or Sāraswata; the latter is included in the series of teachers of the Purāṇa. Parāśara must be considered also as a disciple of Kapila, as a teacher of the Sā
khya philosophy.
[10]: Maitreya is the disciple of Parāśara, who relates the Viṣṇu Purāṇa to him; he is also one of the chief interlocutors in the Bhāgavata, and is introduced in the Mahābhārata (Vana Parva, s. 10.) as a great Ṛṣi, or sage, who denounces Duryodhana's death. In the Bhāgavata he is also termed Kauṣāravi, or the son of Kuṣarava.
[11]: One copy reads Yuga dherma, the duties peculiar to the four ages, or their characteristic properties, instead of Yugānta.
1.01 - MASTER AND DISCIPLE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
object:1.01 - MASTER AND disciple
subject class:Yoga
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MASTER AND disciple
February 1882
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"Let me tell you a story. In a forest there lived a holy man who had many disciples.
One day he taught them to see God in all beings and, knowing this, to bow low before them all. A disciple went to the forest to gather wood for the sacrificial fire. Suddenly he heard an outcry: 'Get out of the way! A mad elephant is coming!' All but the disciple of the holy man took to their heels. He reasoned that the elephant was also God in another form. Then why should he run away from it? He stood still, bowed before the animal, and began to sing its praises. The mahut of the elephant was shouting: 'Run away! Run away!' But the disciple didn't move. The animal seized him with its trunk, cast him to one side, and went on its way. Hurt and bruised, the disciple lay unconscious on the ground. Hearing what had happened, his teacher and his brother disciples came to him and carried him to the hermitage. With the help of some medicine he soon regained consciousness. Someone asked him, 'You knew the elephant was coming - why didn't you leave the place?' 'But', he said, 'our teacher has told us that God Himself has taken all these forms, of animals as well as men. Therefore, thinking it was only the elephant God that was coming, I didn't run away.' At this the teacher said: 'Yes, my child, it is true that the elephant God was coming; but the mahut God forbade you to stay there. Since all are manifestations of God, why didn't you trust the mahut's words? You should have heeded the words of the mahut God.' (Laughter) "It is said in the scriptures that water is a form of God. But some water is fit to be used for worship, some water for washing the face, and some only for washing plates or dirty linen. This last sort cannot be used for drinking or for a holy purpose. In like manner, God undoubtedly dwells in the hearts of all - holy and unholy, righteous and unrighteous; but a man should not have dealings with the unholy, the wicked, the impure. He must not be intimate with them. With some of them he may exchange words, but with others he shouldn't go even that far. He should keep aloof from such people."
How to deal with the wicked
1.01 - Newtonian and Bergsonian Time, #Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, #Norbert Wiener, #Cybernetics
ural in a disciple of Huyghens, he constructs after the model of
clockwork. Though the monads reflect one another, the reflec-
1.01 - NIGHT, #Faust, #Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #Poetry
CHORUS OF discipleS
Has He, victoriously,
--- Overview of noun disciple
The noun disciple has 1 sense (first 1 from tagged texts)
1. (1) disciple, adherent ::: (someone who believes and helps to spread the doctrine of another)
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun disciple
1 sense of disciple
Sense 1
disciple, adherent
=> follower
=> person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul
=> organism, being
=> living thing, animate thing
=> whole, unit
=> object, physical object
=> physical entity
=> entity
=> causal agent, cause, causal agency
=> physical entity
=> entity
--- Hyponyms of noun disciple
1 sense of disciple
Sense 1
disciple, adherent
=> Zen Buddhist
=> Mahayanist
=> Hinayanist
=> Lamaist
=> Tantrist
=> Jainist
=> Shintoist
=> Rastafarian, Rasta
=> Mithraist
=> Zoroastrian
=> absolutist
=> amoralist
=> animist
=> antinomian
=> Apostle
=> Aristotelian, Aristotelean, Peripatetic
=> Bahai
=> Taoist, Tao
=> clericalist
=> Donatist
=> Druze, Druse
=> dualist
=> Hussite
=> Ismaili, Ismailian
=> Lutheran
=> Mahdist
=> Manichaean, Manichean, Manichee
=> Monophysite
=> Neoplatonist
=> Satanist, diabolist
=> Sikh
=> Socinian
=> totalitarian
=> Unitarian
=> Trinitarian
=> Arminian
=> votary
HAS INSTANCE=> Baruch
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun disciple
1 sense of disciple
Sense 1
disciple, adherent
=> follower
--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun disciple
1 sense of disciple
Sense 1
disciple, adherent
-> follower
=> camp follower
=> Cartesian
=> cultist
=> cultist
=> disciple, adherent
=> fan, buff, devotee, lover
=> flatterer, adulator
=> flunky, flunkey, stooge, yes-man
=> Freudian
=> Hegelian
=> inferior
=> Jacksonian
=> janissary
=> Jeffersonian
=> Jungian
=> Keynesian
=> Lamarckian
=> leech, parasite, sponge, sponger
=> Machiavellian
=> Mendelian
=> Mohammedan, Muhammedan, Muhammadan
=> myrmidon
=> Nestorian
=> Newtonian
=> regular
=> respecter
=> satellite, planet
=> sheep
=> Skinnerian
=> Stalinist
=> submitter
=> tagalong, hanger-on
=> vassal, liege, liegeman, liege subject, feudatory
=> Wagnerian
--- Grep of noun disciple
disciple
disciples of christ
discipleship