THE EQUINOX Vol. I. No. V 1st part
June 17, 1990 e.v. key entry by Bill Heidrick, T.G. of O.T.O. with co-entry
of the second part by Rusty Sporer
--- needs proof reading
(c) O.T.O. disk 1 of 2
O.T.O.
P.O.Box 430
Fairfax, CA 94930
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Pages in the original are marked thus at the bottom: {page number}
Comments and descriptions are also set off by curly brackets {}
Comments and notes not in the original are identified with the initials of the
source: AC note = Crowley note. WEH note = Bill Heidrick note, etc.
Descriptions of illustrations are not so identified, but are simply in curly
brackets.
(Addresses and invitations below are not current but copied from the original
text of the early part of the 20th century)
************************************************************************
{Illustration to this page described:
The top 1/5th of this page has a black and white rendering of the Keheprah
scarab beetle. It shows a scarab beetle holding a sun disk between its hind
legs at top and a smaller moon disk between its front legs at the bottom. The
body of the scarab is upside-down, even though the legs are as described.
Horizontally to left and right are two wings, very stylized, with primaries,
secondaries and coverlet feathers depicted.}
THE WINGED BEETLE
By ALEISTER CROWLEY
PRIVATELY PRINTED: TO BE HAD THROUGH "THE EQUINOX"
300 copies, 10"s." net
50 copies on handmade paper, specially bound, "œ"1 1"s." net
__Å__
CONTENTS
ROSA Coeli --- Abjad-i-al'ain --- The Hermit --- The Wizard Way --- The Wings
--- The Garden of Janus --- The Two Secrets --- The Priestess of Panormita ---
The Hawk and the Babe --- The Duellists --- Athor and Asar --- After Judgment
--- The Five Adorations -- Telepathy --- The Swimmer --- The Muse --- The God
and the Girl --- Rosemary --- Au Bal --- Disappointment --- The Octopus ---
The Eyes of Dorothy --- Bathyllus --- The Mantra-Yogi --- The Poet and his
Muse --- Lilith --- Sport and Marriage --- The Twins --- The Convert --- The
Sorceress --- The Child --- Clytie --- A Slim Gilt Soul --- The Silence of
Columbine --- The Archaeologist --- The Ladder --- Belladonna --- The Poet at
Bay --- Ut --- Rosa Decidua --- The Circle and the Point --- In Memoriam ---
Ad Fidelem Infidelem --- The Sphinx --- The Jew of Fez --- The Pentagram ---
Song --- An Hymn --- Prologue to Rodin in Rime --- The Camp Fire --- Ave
Adonai --- The Wild Ass --- The Opium-Smoker --- In Manu Dominae.
Mr. Todd: a Morality.
TRANSLATIONS: L'Amour et le Crƒne --- L'Alchimie de Douleur --- Le Vampire
--- Le Balcon --- Le Gout de L'Infini --- L'H‚autontimoroumenos --- Le vin de
L'Assassin --- Woman --- Tout EntiŠre --- Le vin des Amants --- Le Revenant
--- Lola de Valence --- Le Beau Navire --- L'Invitation au Voyage --- Epilogue
to "Petits PoŠms en Prose" --- Colloque Sentimental --- En Sourdine --- The
Magician
MR. NEUBURG'S NEW VOLUME OF POEMS.
" "Imperial" 16mo, pp. 200
________________
" "Now ready. Order through" The Equinox, "or of"
""any Bookseller."
THE TRIUMPH OF PAN.
POEMS By VICTOR B. NEUBURG.
This volume, containing many poems, --- nearly all of them hitherto
unpublished --- besides THE TRIUMPH OF PAN, includes THE ROMANCE OF OLIBA
VANE.
The First Edition is limited to Two Hundred and Fifty copies: Two Hundred
and Twenty on ordinary paper, whereof less than Two Hundred are for sale; and
thirty on Japanese vellum, of which Twenty-five are for sale. These latter
copies are numbered, and signed by the Author. The binding is half-parchment
with crimson sides; the ordinary copies are bound in crimson boards, half
holland.
The price of ordinary copies is Five Shillings net; of the special copies,
One Guinea net.
EXTRACTS FROM FIRST NOTICES.
"Not everyone will care for Mr. Neuburg's tone in all the pieces, but he is
undoubtedly a poet to be reckoned with, and a volume so original as this is
should create no small stir. It is superbly produced by the publishers." ---
"Sussex Daily News."
"When one comes to the poems ... it is evident that they are written in
English.... In a certain oblique and sub-sensible sense, eloquent and
musical....Distinctly Wagnerian in their effects...." --- "Scotsman."
"It is full of 'the murmurous monotones of whispering lust,' 'the song of
young desire,' and that kind of poppycock." --- "London Opinion."
"A competent master of words and rhythms. ... His esoteric style is
unreasonably obscure from an intelligent plain poetry-lover's standpoint."
--- "Morning Leader."
"A charming volume of poems... Pagan glamour ... passion and vigour. ...
'Sigurd's Songs' are commendable for dealing with the all too largely
neglected Scandinavian Theology. ... A scholarly disciple. ... The entire
volume is eminently recommendable." --- "Jewish Chronicle."
"A gorgeous rhapsody. ... Fortunately, there are the police. ... On the
whole, we cannot help regretting that such splendid powers of imagination and
expression are flung away in such literary rioting." --- "Light."
"Sometimes of much beauty of rhythm and phrase. ..." ---"Times."
"Poets who have any originality deserve to be judged by their own standard.
... A Neo-mystic or semi-astrological pantheist. ..." --- "Liverpool Echo."
"Love-making appears to have an added halo in his eyes if it is associated
with delirium or bloodshed. ... Mr. Neuburg has a 'careless rapture' all his
own; the carelessness, indeed, is just the trouble. His versification is
remarkable, and there is something impressive in its mere fluency. ... So
luxurious, so rampant, a decadence quickly palls. ... On the whole, this book
must be pronounced a quite grievous exhibition of recklessness and folly." ---
"Manchester Guardian."
"...We began to be suspicious of him. ... Hardly the sort of person we
should care to meet on a dark night with a knobby stick in his hand. ... This
clever book." --- "Academy."
"A vivid imagination fostered by a keen and loving insight of nature, and
this allied to a command of richly adorned language ... have already assured
for the author a prominent place amongst present-day poets. ... An
enthusiastic devotion to classic song ... sustained metrical charm. From the
first to last the poet's work is an important contribution to the century's
literature." --- "Publishers' Circular."
"This [book] contains the answer to a very well-known riddle propounded by
the late Elizabeth Barrett Browning. You remember she asked in one of her
poems, 'What was he doing to Great God Pan: Down in the reeds by the River?'
Well, Mr. Victor Neuburg has discovered the answer, for he was obviously
wandering near the river if he was not hidden in the reeds. ..." --- "Robert
Ross in "The Bystander."
"There is no question about the poetic quality of much of Mr. Neuburg's
verse. ... We are given visions of love which open new amorous possibilities."
--- "Daily Chronicle."
Demy 8vo. Cloth gilt. 4s. 6d. net
__________________
ALCHEMY: Ancient and Modern.
Being a brief account of the Alchemistic Doctrines, and their relations to
Mysticism on the one hand, and to recent discoveries in Physical Science on
the other hand; together with some particulars regarding the lives and
teachings of the most noted Alchemists.
BY H. STANLEY REDGROVE.
B.Sc. (Lond.), F.C.S
AUTHOR OF "ON THE CALCULATION OF THERMO-CHEMICAL CONSTANTS,"
"MATTER, SPIRIT, AND THE COSMOS," ETC.
" "WITH SIXTEEN FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS"
" "(including Portraits of the most celebrated Alchemists)."
__________________
CONTENTS: THE MEANING OF ALCHEMY --- THE THEORY OF PHYSICAL ALCHEMY --- THE
ALCHEMISTS --- THE OUTCOME OF ALCHEMY --- THE AGE OF MODERN CHEMISTRY
--- MODERN ALCHEMY.
" ""Some Opinions of the Press."
"A thoroughly well-informed study of the subject, which has the merit of
being more sympathetic than such studies often are, and not less learned." ---
"The Scotsman."
"This book is worth reading as a study in parallelism, and it has the merit
of being written by one who is thoroughly well acquainted with both sides of
his subject." --- "The Observer."
"Mr. Redgrove gives a careful and unbiassed account of alchemy, and traces
its progress until it is absorbed by scientific chemistry. he also gives,
from the layman's point of view, perhaps the most lucid account that has yet
been rendered of the modern theories of matter and the ether." --- "The Outlook"
"This remarkable book." --- "T.P.'s Weekly."
"Exceedingly interesting book." --- "Modern Society."
"This unexpectedly arresting book. ... Some of the author's accounts of
what was done and believed by the masters in alchemy are most instructive. ...
Highly suggestive comparisons between the old men and the latter-day trend of
science." --- "Manchester City News."
_____________________________________________________________________________
" "Ready early in March. " 8 3/4 x 5 1/2 "in." 560 "pp."
_____________
DEATH: Its Causes and Phenomena.
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO IMMORTALITY.
BY HEREWARD CARRINGTON
Late Member of the Council of the American Institute for Scientific Research.
Author of "Vitality, Fasting, and Nutrition," "The Coming Science," "The
Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism," etc. etc.
AND
JOHN R. MEADER
("GRAHAM HOOD")
Member of the American Statistical Society and of the Society for Psychical
Research, Author of "The Laws of Success," etc.
______________
CONTENTS.
PREFACE. PART I. "Physiological." --- I. The Scientific Aspect of Life and
Death. II. The Signs of Death. III. Trance, Catalepsy, Suspended Animation,
etc. IV. Premature Burial. V. Burial, Cremation, Mummification. VI. The
Causes of Death. VII. Old Age; its Scientific Study. By Hereward Carrington.
VIII. My Own Theory of Death. By Hereward Carrington. IX. My Own Theory of
Death. By John R. Meader. X. On the Possible Unification of our Theories.
XI. The "Questionnaire" on Death. Answers. XII. General Conclusions.
PART II. "Historic Speculations on Death." --- I. Man's Theories about
Immortality. II. The Philosophical Aspect of Death and Immortality. III. The
Theological Aspect of Death and Immortality. IV. The Common Arguments for
Immortality.
PART III. "Scientific Attempts to Solve the Problem." --- Introductory. I.
The Moment of Death. II. Visions of the Dying. III. Death Described from
Beyond the Veil. IV. Experiments in Photographing and Weighting the Soul. V.
Death Coincidences. VI. The Testimony of Science --- Psychical Research.
VII. On the Intra-Cosmic Difficulties of Communication. VIII. Conclusions.
Appendices. Bibliography. Index.
_____________________________
The Star in the West
BY
CAPTAIN J. F. C. FULLER
"FOURTH LARGE EDITION NOW IN PREPARATION"
THROUGH THE EQUINOX AND ALL BOOKSELLERS
SIX SHILLINGS NET
-------------------------------------
A highly original study of morals and
religion by a new writer, who is as
entertaining as the average novelist is
dull. Nowadays human thought has
taken a brighter place in the creation:
our emotions are weary of bad baronets
and stolen wills; they are now only
excited by spiritual crises, catastrophes of
the reason, triumphs of the intelligence.
In these fields Captain Fuller is a master
dramatist.
-------------------------------------
"This page is reserved for Official Pronouncements by the Chancellor"
" of the A".'." A".'.]
Persons wishing for information, assistance, further
interpretation, etc., are requested to communicate with
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE A.'. A.'.
c/o THE EQUINOX,
124 Victoria Street,
S.W.
Telephone 3210 VICTORIA,
or to call at that address by appointment. A representative
will be there to meet them.
----------------------
Probationers are reminded that the object of Probations
and Ordeals is one: namely, to select Adepts. But the
method appears twofold: (i) to fortify the fit; (ii) to
eliminate the unfit.
----------------------
The Chancellor of the A.'. A.'. views without satisfaction
the practice of Probationers working together. A Probationer
should work with his Neophyte, or alone. Breach of this rule
may prove a bar to advancement.
THE EQUINOX
" "The Editor will be glad to consider"
"contributions and to return such as"
"are unacceptable if stamps are enclosed"
" for the purpose"
THE EQUINOX
THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE A.'. A.'.
THE REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC ILLUMINISM
An. VII VOL. I. NO. V. Sun in Aries
MARCH MCMXI
O.S.
"THE METHOD OF SCIENCE---THE AIM OF RELIGION"
CONTENTS
PAGE
EDITORIAL 1
LIBER HHH 5
THE BLIND PROPHET. BY ALEISTER CROWLEY 15
THE TRAINING OF THE MIND. BY ANANDA METTEYA 28
THE SABBATH. BY ETHEL RAMSAY 60
THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING 65
A NOCTURNE. BY VICTOR B. NEUBURG 121
THE VIXEN. BY FRANCIS BENDICK 125
THE PILGRIM. BY ALEISTER CROWLEY 130
MY CRAPULOUS CONTEMPORARIES, NO. IV. --- WISDOM WHILE
YOU WAITE. BY ALEISTER CROWLEY 133
X-RAYS ON EX-PROBATIONERS. BY PERDURABO 142
THE VAMPIRE. BY ETHEL ARCHER 143
THE BIG STICK 144
CORRESPONDENCE 158
"SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT"
LIBER CCCCXVIII (XXX AERUM) 1
STOP PRESS REVIEWS 177
EDITORIAL
THE price of this Magazine is now six shillings, and the size reduced. If the
whole edition is sold immediately, there should be a matter of eighteenpence
left to pay those who have toiled day and night, six months, to bring it to
perfection.
* * * * *
Readers can help us: firstly, by buying the Edition de Luxe; secondly, by
buying copies for their friends; and thirdly, by advertising with us, or
inducing others to do so.
* * * * *
After the 21st of April 1911, copies of No. II. of THE EQUINOX, of which
only a few remain, will be sold at ten shillings, instead of five as hitherto.
I should like to call attention to the immense amount of important material
that awaits publication. There is the Sepher Sephiroth, referred to in this
section of the Temple of Solomon the King; the complete writings of Dr Dee and
Sir Edward Kelly; a tremendous volume on the Tarot; du Potet's "Magic
Unveiled," translated by John Yarker, the venerable Grand Master General of
the A. and P. rite of Masonry; the Key of the Greater Mysteries, by Eliphas
{1} Levi, and many other important MSS. All this has cost untold labour to me
and my colleagues; but the difficulties of editing and publishing still
confront us.
I am therefore appealing for helpers among those who are interested in the
clear and scholarly statement of what the famous adepts of the past have
thought and handed down, either by word or pen.
* * * * *
777 is almost out of print. Less than 100 copies remain.1 A new edition
is in preparation, but will not be issued in all probability for two years at
least. Verb. sap.
* * * * *
I have been asked by Authority to say a few words on the relations which
should subsist between a Neophyte and his Probationers. Though a Neophyte is
obliged to show "zeal in service" towards his probationers, it is no part of
his duty to be continually beating the tattoo. He has his own work to do ___
very serious and important work ___ and he cannot be expected to spend all his
time in making silk purses out of pigs' ears. He is not expected to set
definite tasks, nor has he authority to do so. The Probationer is purposely
left to himself, as the object of probation is principally that those in
authority may discover the nature of the raw material. It is the duty of the
Probationer to perform the exercises recommended in his text-books, and to
submit the record of his results for criticism. If he hinds himself in a
difficulty, or if any unforeseen result occurs, he should communicate with his
Neophyte, and he should {2} remember that although he is permitted to select
the practices which appeal to him, he is expected to show considerable
acquaintance with all of them. More than acquaintance, it should be
experience; otherwise what is he to do when as a Neophyte he is consulted by
his Probationers? It is important that he should be armed at all points, and
1 WEH NOTE: This false statement by George Raffalovich led to
Crowley withdrawing the large remainder from sales and breaking
with Raffalovich.
I am authorised to say that no one will be admitted as a Neophyte unless his
year's work gives evidence of considerable attainment in the fundamental
practices, Asana, Pranayama, assumption of God-formns, vibration of divine
names, rituals of banishing and invoking, and the practices set out in
sections 5 and 6 of Liber O. Although he is not examined in any of these, the
elementary experience is necessary in order that he may intelligently assist
those who will be under him.
But let no one imagine that those in authority will urge probationers to
work hard. Those who are incapable of hard work may indeed be pushed along,
but the moment that the pressure is removed they will fall back, and it is not
the purpose of the A. A. to do anything else than to make its students
independent and free. Full instruction has been placed within the reach of
everybody; let them see to it that they make full use of that instruction.
{3}
LIBER HHH
SVB FIGVRA
CCCXLI
A.'. A.'.
Publication in Class D.
Imprimatur:
N. Fra A.'. A.'.
LIBER HHH
"Sunt duo modi per quos homo fit Deus: Tohu et Bohu.
"Mens quasi flamma surgat, aut quasi puteus aquae quiescat.
"Alteri modi sunt tres exempli, qui illis extra limine collegii sancti dati
sunt.
"In hoc primo libro sunt Aquae Contemplationis."
"Two are the methods of becoming God: the Upright and the Averse. Let the"
"Mind become as a flame, or as a well of still water."
" Of each method are three principal examples given to them that are without"
"the Threshold."
" In this first book are written the Reflexions"
"Sunt tres contemplationes quasi halitus in mente humana abysso inferni.
Prima, Nu epsilon kappa rho omicron sigma ; secunds, Pi upsilon rho alpha mu iota sigma ;
tertia Phi alpha lambda lambda omicron sigma vocatur. Et hae reflexiones aquaticae sunt
trium enthusiasmorum, Apollonis, Dionysi, Veneris.
"Tota stella est Nechesh et Messiach, nomen HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Heh HB:Aleph cum
HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod conjunctum."
"There are three contemplations as it were breaths in the human mind, that"
"is the Abyss of Hell: the first is called" Nu epsilon kappa rho omicron sigma ", the"
"second" Pi upsilon rho alpha mu iota sigma ", and the third"
"Phi alpha lambda lambda omicron sigma "."
" These are the watery reflexions of the three enthusiasms; those of Apollo,"
"Dionysys, and Aphrodite."
" The whole star is Nechesh and Messiach, the name" HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Heh HB:Aleph " joined"
"with "HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod "." {7}
LIBER HHH
SUB FIGURA CCCXLI.
CONTINET CAPITULA TRES: MMM, AAA, ET SSS.
I
M M M
"I remember a certain holy day in the dusk of the Year, in the dusk of the
Equinox of Osiris, when first I beheld thee visibly; when first the dreadful
issue was fought out; when the Ibis-headed One charmed away the strife. I
remember thy first kiss, even as a maiden should. Nor in the dark byways was
there another: thy kisses abide." --- LIBER LAPIDIS LAZULI. VII. 15, 16.
0. Be seated in thine Asana, wearing the robe of a Neophyte, the hood
drawn.
1. It is night, heavy and hot; there are no stars. Not one breath of wind
stirs the surface of the sea, that is thou. No fish play in thy depths.
2. Let a Breath rise and ruffle the waters. This also thou shalt feel
playing upon thy skin. It will disturb thy meditation twice or thrice, after
which thou shouldst have conquered this distraction. But unless thou first
feel it, that Breath hath not arisen.
3. Next, the night is riven by the lightning flash. This also shalt thou
feel in thy body, which shall shiver and leap with the shock, and that also
must both be suffered and overcome. {8}
4. After the lightning flash, resteth in the zenith a minute point of
light. And this light shall radiate until a right cone be established upon
the sea, and it is day.
With this thy body shall be rigid, automatically; and this shalt thou let
endure, withdrawing thyself into thine heart in the form of an upright Egg of
blackness; and therein shalt thou abide for a space.
5. When all this is perfectly and easily performed at will, let the
aspirant figure to himself a struggle with the whole force of the Universe.
In this he is only saved by his minuteness.
But in the end he is overthrown by Death, who covers him with a black
cross.
6. So lying, let him aspire fervently unto the Holy Guardian Angel.
7. Now let him resume his former posture.
Two and twenty times shall he figure to himself that he is bitten by a
serpent, feeling even in his body the poison thereof. And let each bite be
healed by an eagle or hawk, spreading its wings above his head, and dropping
thereupon a healing dew. But let the last bite be so terrible a pang at the
nape of the neck that he seemeth to die, and let the healing dew be of such
virtue that he leapeth to his feet.
8. Let there be now placed within his egg a red cross, then a green cross,
then a golden cross, then a silver cross; or those things which these shadow
forth. Herein is silence; for he that hath rightly performed the meditation
will understand the inner meaning hereof, and it shall serve as a test of
himself and his fellows. {9}
9. Let him now remain in the Pyramid or Cone of Light, as an Egg, but no
more of blackness.
10. Then let his body be in the position of the Hanged Man, and let him
aspire with all his force unto the Holy Guardian Angel.
11. The grace having been granted unto him, let him partake mystically of
the Eucharist of the Five Elements and let him proclaim Light in Extension;
yea, let him proclaim Light in Extension.
II
A A A
"These loosen the swathings of the corpse; these unbind the feet of Osiris,
so that the flaming God may rage through the firmament with his fantastic
spear." --- LIBER LAPIDIS LAZULI. VII. III.
0. Be seated in thine Asana, or recumbent in Shavasana, or in the position
of the dying Buddha.
1. Think of thy death; imagine the various diseases that may attack thee,
or accidents overtake thee. Picture the process of death, applying always to
thyself.
(A useful preliminary practice is to read textbooks of Pathology, and to
visit museums and dissecting-rooms.)
2. Continue this practice until death is complete; follow the corpse
through the stages of embalming, wrapping and burial.
3. Now imagine a divine breath entering thy nostrils.
4. Next, imagine a divine light enlightening the eyes.
5. Next, imagine the divine voice awakening the ears.
6. Next, imagine a divine kiss imprinted on the lips.
7. Next, imagine the divine energy informing the nerves {10} and muscles of
the body, and concentrate on the phenomenon which will already have been
observed in 3, the restoring of the circulation.
8. Last, imagine the return of the reproductive power, and employ this to
the impregnation of the Egg of light in which man is bathed.
9. Now represent to thyself that this Egg is the Disk of the Sun, setting
in the west.
10. Let it sink into blackness, borne in the bark of heaven, upon the back
of the holy cow Hathor. And it may be that thou shalt hear the moaning
thereof.
11. Let it become blacker than all blackness. And in this meditation thou
shalt be utterly without fear, for that the blankness that will appear unto
thee is a thing dreadful beyond all thy comprehension.
And it shall come to pass that if thou hast well and properly performed
this meditation that on a sudden thou shalt hear the drone and booming of a
Beetle.
12. Now then shall the Blackness pass, and with rose and gold shalt thou
arise in the East, with the cry of an Hawk resounding in thine ear. Shrill
shall it be and harsh.
13. At the end shalt thou rise and stand in the mid-heaven, a globe of
glory. And therewith shall arise the mighty Sound that holy men have likened
unto the roaring of a Lion.
14. Then shalt thou withdraw thyself from the Vision, gathering thyself into
the divine form of Osiris upon his throne.
15. Then shalt thou repeat audibly the cry of triumph of {11} the god
rearisen, as it shall have been given unto thee by thy Superior.
16. And this being accomplished, thou mayest enter again into the Vision,
that thereby shall be perfected in Thee.
17. After this shalt thou return into the body, and give thanks unto the
Most High God IAIDA, yea unto the Most High God IAIDA.
18. Mark well that this operation should be performed if it be possible in a
place set apart and consecrated to the Works of the Magick of Light. Also
that the Temple should be ceremonially open as thou hast knowledge and skill
to perform, and that at the end thereof the closing should be most carefully
accomplished. But in the preliminary practice it is enough to cleanse thyself
by ablution, by robing, and by the rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram.
0-2 should be practised at first, until some realisation is obtained; and
the practice should always be followed by a divine invocation of Apollo or of
Isis or of Jupiter or of Serapis.
Next, after a swift summary of 0-2, practise 3-7.
This being mastered, add 8.
Then add 9-13.
Then being prepared and fortified, well fitted for the work, perform the
whole meditation at one time. And let this be continued until perfect success
be attained therein. For this is a mighty meditation and holy, having power
even upon Death; yea, having power even upon Death.
(Note by Fra. O.M. At any time during this meditation, the concentration
may bring about Samadhi. This is to be feared and shunned, more than any
other breaking of control, for that it is the most tremendous of the forces
which threaten to obsess. There is also some danger of acute delirious
melancholia at point 1.) {12}
III
S S S
"Thou art a beautiful thing, whiter than a woman in the column of this
vibration.
"I shoot up vertically like an arrow, and become that Above.
"But it is death, and the flame of the pyre.
"Ascend in the flame of the pyre, O my Soul! Thy God is like the cold
emptiness of the utmost heaven, into which thou radiatest thy little light.
"When Thou shalt know me, O empty God, my flame shall utterly expire in Thy
great N.O.X." --- LIBER LAPIDIS LAZULI. I. 36-40.
0. Be seated in thine Asana, preferably the Thunderbolt.
It is essential that the spine be vertical.
1. In this practice the cavity of the brain is the Yoni; the spinal cord is
the Lingam.
2. Concentrate thy thought of adoration in the brain.
3. Now begin to awaken the spine in this manner. Concentrate thy thought
of thyself in the base of the spine, and move it gradually up a little at a
time.
By this means thou wilt become conscious of the spine, feeling each
vertebra as a separate entity. This must be achieved most fully and perfectly
before the further practice is begun.
4. Next, adore the brain as before, but figure to thyself its content as
infinite. Deem it to be the womb of Isis, or the body of Nuit.
5. Next, identify thyself with the base of the spine as before, but figure
to thyself its energy as infinite. Deem it to be the phallus of Osiris or the
being of Hadit.
6. These two concentrations 4 and 5 may be pushed to the point of Samadhi.
Yet lose not control of the will; let not Samadhi be thy master herein.
7. Now then, being conscious both of the brain and the spine, and
unconscious of all else, do thou imagine the {13} hunger of the one for the
other; the emptiness of the brain, the ache of the spine, even as the
emptiness of space and the aimlessness of Matter.
And if thou hast experience of the Eucharist in both kinds, it shall aid
thine imagination herein.
8. Let this agony grow until it be insupportable, resisting by will every
temptation. Not until thine whole body is bathed in sweat, or it may be in
sweat of blood, and until a cry of intolerable anguish is forced from thy
closed lips, shalt thou proceed.
9. Now let a current of light, deep azure flecked with scarlet, pass up and
down the spine, striking as it were upon thyself that art coiled at the base
as a serpent.
Let this be exceedingly slow and subtle; and though it be accompanied with
pleasure, resist; and though it be accompanied with pain, resist.
10. This shalt thou continue until thou art exhausted, never relaxing the
control. Until thou canst perform this one section 9 during a whole hour,
proceed not. And withdraw from the meditation by an act of will, passing into
a gentle Pranayama without Kumbhakham, and meditating on Harpocrates, the
silent and virginal God.
11. Then at last, being well-fitted in body and mind, fixed in peace,
beneath a favourable heaven of stars, at night, in calm and warm weather,
mayst thou quicken the movement of the light until it be taken up by the brain
and the spine, independently of thy will.
12. If in this hour thou shouldst die, is it not written: "Blessed are the
dead that die in the Lord"? Yea, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord!
{14}
THE BLIND PROPHET
A BALLET
BY
ALEISTER CROWLEY
THE BLIND PROPHET
A BALLET
"
"The scene is an ancient Egyptian temple, supported by two mighty pillars. Two"
"rows of marble seats form a semi-circle, cut by a gap covered by a veil"
"in the East. On the upper seats are the musicians, flutes and violins;"
"on the lower are singers and dancers. There are doors also at the North"
"and South."
" "The Prophet." Lead me to the holy place!
Trace the circle widdershins!
Light the incense! Set the pace
To the flutes and violins!
" "The Musicians." Kill! kill! Life is shrill!
Still! Still! word and will!
Flame! flame! speak the name!
Trill! trill! Thrill! thrill!
I acclaim the shame!
I have heard the word!
Fulfil the will!
" "The Prophet." Bid the virgins veil the bride!
Lead her forth, a shower of spray, {17}
A flower of foam upon the tide,
A fleece of cloud upon the day!
So my sightless eyes may see
In the transcendental trance
The virgin of eternity
Lead the demi-gods to dance.
Has the Tree of Life its root
In the soul or in the skin?
Is it God, or is it brute,
That comes mystically in
For the doves within the flute,
The eagles on the violin?
Ah! The perfume's coiling tresses
Curl like veils upon the limbs
Of the dancer that caresses
With her flying feet the hymns
That flow and ripple in the air,
Bathing all the doves of prayer!
" "The Musicians." Lingering, low, fingering slow,
The tingling bows of the violins go.
Trembling, twittering, dissembling,
The lips of the flute-players wander
Over the stops, fiercer and fonder
Than scorpions that writhe and curl
In the fiery breast of an Arab girl!
["The dancers issue from beyond the veil." {18}
" "The Prophet." Sway like the lilies, gentle girls!
Like lilies glimmer!
Furl yourselves as he lily furls
Its radiance dimmer!
Curl as the lily-petal curls,
Subtler and slimmer!
Unfold your ranks and waft yourselves apart,
That I may guess what pearl is at the heart,
What dew-drop glistens on the crown gold-wrought
Within the chalice of your coiled cohort!
" "The Musicians." the flutes coo.
It is the voice
Of love in spring,
At dawn, in dew;
And piercing through
Those low loves that rejoice,
Wails in the violin that supreme string
Of passion, that is more akin
To death than love, that shrieking sin
Whose teeth tear passion's tortured skin
And drink love's blood, and rage within
Black bowels of lust to win, to win
Some crown of thorns incarnadine,
Some cross whereof to fashion
Some newer, truer passion
Than even the agony of the violin!
" "The Prophet." Yes! like a careless breeze, the close caress
Expands with a sob; the virgins wheel; there glows {19}
In the midst a mystical rose!
["The dancers unfold, and their Queen appears."
O musical ministress
Of the dancing violin!
In an emerald spangled skin,
Hooded with harvest hair
Close-coiled, her serpent eyes
Hold ineffable sorceries!
Slender, and full, and straight is she
As an almond tree
Blest by an hermit! Her serpent eyes
Hold ineffable sorceries!
Slow she sways; her white arms ripple
From rosy finger to rosy nipple,
Ripple and flow like the melody
Of the flutes and the violins.
And! I see! I see --- she smiles on me
The heart of a million sins,
Each keener than death! Her serpent eyes
Hold ineffable sorceries.
" "The Musicians." Hush! Hush! the young feet flush,
The marble's ablush.
The music moves trilling,
Like wolves at the killing,
Moaning and shrilling,
And clear as the throb in the throat of a thrush!
Rustling they sway
Like a forest of rush
In the storm, and away! {20}
Away! Blow the blossoms
Of virgin bosoms
On the sob of the wind
Of the violins,
That bind and unbind
Their scarlet sins
On the brows of the world.
Hush! they are curled
In the rapture of reaping
The flowers that unfurled
When the gardeners were sleeping
In the breeze-swayed bowers
Of the Lord of the flowers!
Hush! Hush! the young feet flush
The marble! The temple's ablaze and ablush.
Hush! Hush! softer crush
The grape on the palate, the flower on the blossom,
The dream on the sleeper, the bride on the bosom!
" "The Prophet." Will she not deign, being drawn
Into the blush of dawn,
To yield the promise, to unveil
The Lady of bliss and bale?
I am old and blind; my vision
Hath the seer in derision.
I would set my lips between
Those rose-tipped moons, just there
Where the deciduous green
Leaves the pearly rapture bare, {21}
With its blue veins like rivulets
Jewelled with gentians and violets,
Wandering through fields of corn,
Under the first kiss of the morn
In still and shimmering air!
" "The Queen of the Dancers." No! No! the weird is woe.
The law is this, most surely this!
That who hath seen may never kiss.
The soul is at war with the flesh and the mind.
Life is dumb, and love is blind.
" "The Prophet." I am the Prophet of the Gods.
I have put these eyes out to attain
To the crown of the pallid periods
That pulse in the Almighty brain!
I have striven all my life for this;
That I might see, and still might kiss!
" "The Musicians." Vain! Vain! Time is sane.
Fain! Fain! Space is plain.
Time passes once, and is not found.
Space divides once, not heals the wound.
Knell! Knell! the shattered shell
That could not break the word of Hell.
Whirl! Whirl! the wanton girl
(Curve, and coil, and close, and curl!)
Slips the grip as the swallow avoids
The leaps of the dog; or the moon, that sails
Abeam to God's invisible gales,
The clumsy caress of the asteroids!
Love her in memory, love her in dream, {22}
Love her in hope, or love her in faith;
But all these loves are loves that seem;
The worst is a ghoul, the best is a wraith;
For to birth
On the earth
There is no power under, within, or above,
That can give thee love in truth and love.
" "The Prophet." Yet will I strive!
There is nothing but this
While I am alive
But the cancer's kiss.
If I fail in that
Let the temple be broken,
The pillars fall flat,
The word by unspoken,
The lights be extinct,
The music be dumb,
The circle unlinked,
The acolytes numb,
The altar defiled,
The sacrament trod
Under foot by the wild
Despisers of god!
" "The Musicians." No! No! Life is woe.
Thou dost not know
How ineffably great
Is the weight of Fate.
Uncreate!
Ultimate! {23}
Born of Hate!
Brother of Woe!
Despair its mate!
Thou dost not know
How giant great
Is the grasp of Fate.
" "The Dancers," Vainly Pursuing
Impossible things,
The swamp-adder wooing
The lark with her wings!
" "The Queen of the Dancers." See how I glide ---
Canst thou not hold me?
In thine arms, at thy side ---
Why not enfold me?
Wisdom, awaken!
Never, oh never,
By wile or endeavour
Am I to be taken.
Will a wish or a word
Charm the hawk from the air?
And am I a bird
To be caught in a snare?
Will a word or a wish
Bring the trout from the brook?
And am I a fish
To snap at an hook?
" "The Prophet." Ye let me to the holy place.
All ye have mocked me to my face. {24}
Now ends the age of living breath;
I am sworn henchman unto death.
Lead me to the obelisks
That support the holy Disks!
I am here; my grasp is firm,
We are come unto the term.
Temple, dancers, girls, musicians,
Augurs, acolytes, magicians ---
Ruin, ruin whelm us all!
Fall!
["He pulls down the pillars; but the temple"
" was not supported on them as in his"
" blindness he supposed; and he is himself"
" his only victim."
" "The Dancers," Twine! twine! rose and vine.
Whirl! whirl! boy and girl.
Mine! mine! maid divine.
Curl! curl! peach and pearl.
Twist! twist! the towering trances
Are not sun-kissed
Like our delicate dances.
Expanses
Of fancies,
The turn of the ankle! the wave of the wrist
Enhances
Romances!
Twine! twine! tread me a measure!
The dotard is dead that disturbed our pleasure
With his doubt
About {25}
Souls and skins,
And the quickened shoots
Of pain that he tore
From the heart's core
Of the dreadful flutes
And the terrible violins.
Joy! joy! girl and boy!
He is dead! let us laugh! let us dance! let us love!
Leave the corpse there as it lies! we shall measure
A new true dance around and above,
And taste of the treasure,
The torrent of pleasure!
Curl! curl! peach and pearl!
Mine! mine! maid divine!
Whirl! whirl! boy and girl!
Twine! twine! rose and vine.
" "The Musicians." Hush! hush! the young feet flush,
The marble's ablush,
The music moves trilling ---
Like wolves at the killing,
Moaning and shrilling,
And clear as the throb in the throat of a thrush!
Rustling they sway
Like a forest of rush
In the storm, and away!
Away! blow the blossoms
Of virgin bosoms
On the sob of the wind
Of the violins {26}
That bind and unbind
Their scarlet sins
On the brows of the world.
Hush! they are curled
In the rapture of reaping
The flowers that unfurled
When the gardeners were sleeping
In the breeze-swayed bowers
Of the Lord of the Flowers!
Hush! Hush! the young feet flush
The marble. The temple's ablaze and ablush.
Hush! hush! softer crush
The grape on the palate, the bloom on the blossom,
The dream on the sleeper, the bride on the blosom!
"The Queen of the Dancers, in her prime pose."
" (Spoken without inflection or emphasis.)"
Now do you understand the tragedy of life?
{27}
THE TRAINING OF THE MIND
THE Religion of the Buddhas is, in the most eminent sense of the word, a
Practical Philosophy. It is not a collection of dogmas which are to be
accepted and believed with an unquestioning and unintelligent faith: but a
series of statements and propositions which, in the first place, are to be
intellectually grasped and comprehended; in the second, to be applied to every
action of our daily lives, to be practised, to be lived, up to the fullest
extent of our powers. This fact of the essentially practical nature of our
Religion is again and again insisted upon in the Holy Books. Though one man
should know by heart a thousand stanzas of the Law, and not practise it, he
has not understood the Dhamma. That man who knows and "practises" one stanza of
the Law, he has understood the Dhamma, he is the true follower of the Buddha.
It is the practice of the Dhamma that constitutes the true Buddhist, not the
mere knowledge of its tenets; it is the carrying out of the Five Precepts, and
not their repetition in the Pali tongue; ti is the bringing home into our
daily lives of the Great Laws of Love and Righteousness that marks a man as
"Samma-ditthi;" and not the mere appreciation of the truth of that Dhamma as a
beautiful and poetic statement of Laws which are too hard to follow. This
Dhamma has to be lived, to be {28} acted up to, to be felt as the supreme idol
in our hearts, as the supreme motive of our lives; and he who does this to the
best of his ability is the right follower of the Master; --- not he who calls
himself "Buddhist," but whose life is empty of the love the Buddha taught.
And because our lives are very painful, because to follow the Good Law in
all our ways is very difficult, therefore we should not despair of ever being
able to walk in the way we have learned, and resign ourselves to living a life
full only of worldly desires and ways. For has not the Master said, "Let no
man think lightly of good, saying 'it will not come nigh me' --- for even by
the falling of drops, the water-jar is filled. The wise man becomes full of
Good, even if he gather it little by little"? He who does his best, he who
strives, albeit failingly, to follow what is good, to eschew what is evil,
that man will grow daily the more powerful for his striving; and every wrong
desire overcome, each loving and good impulse acted up to, will mightily
increase our power to resist evil, will ever magnify our power of living the
life that is right.
Now, the whole of this practice of Buddhism, the whole of the Good Law
which we who call ourselves "Buddhists" should strive to follow, has been
summed up by the Tathagata in one single stanza: ---
"Avoiding the performance of evil actions, gaining merit by the performance
of good acts: and he purification of all our thoughts; --- this is the
Teaching of all the Buddhas."
Therefore we that call ourselves Buddhists have so to live that we may
carry out the three rules here laid down. We all know what it is to avoid
doing evil; --- we detail the acts {29} that are ill each time we take "Panca"
"Sila." The taking of life, the taking of what does not rightly belong to us,
living a life of impurity, speaking what is not true, or what is cruel and
unkind, and indulging in drugs and drinks that undermine the mental and moral
faculties --- these are the evil actions that we must avoid. Living in peace
and love, returning good for evil, having reverence and patience and humility
--- these are some part of what we know to be good. And so we can all
understand, can all try to live up to, the first two clauses of this stanza;
we can all endeavour to put them into practice in our daily lives. But the
way to purify the thought, the way to cultivate the thoughts that are good, to
suppress and overcome the thoughts that are evil, the practices by which the
mind is to be trained and cultivated; of these things less is known; they are
less practised, and less understood.
And so the object of this paper is to set forth what is written in the
books of these methods of cultivating and purifying the mind; --- to set forth
how this third rule can be followed and lived up to; for in one way it is the
most important of all, it really includes the other two rules, and is their
crown and fruition. the avoidance of evil, the performance of good: these
things will but increase the merits of our destinies, will lead but to new
lives, happier, and so more full of temptation, than that we now enjoy. And
after that merit, thus gained, is spent and gone, the whirling of the great
Wheel of Life will bring us again to evil, and unhappy lives; --- for not by
the mere storing of merit can freedom be attained, it is not by mere merit
that we can come to the Great Peace. This merit-gaining is secondary in
importance to the purification and culture of our thought, but it is
essential, because only by {30} the practice of "Sila" comes the power of Mental
Concentration that makes us free.1
In order that we may understand how this final and principal aim of our
Buddhist Faith is to be attained, before we can see why particular practices
should thus purify the mind, it is necessary that we should first comprehend
the nature of this mind itself --- this thought that we seek to purify and to
liberate.
In the marvellous system of psychology which has been declared to us by our
Teacher, the "Citta" or thought-stuff is shewn to consist of innumerable
elements which are called "Dhamma" or "Sankh ra." If we translate "Dhamma" or
"Sankh ra" as used in this context as "Tendencies," we shall probably come
nearest to the English meaning of the word. When a given act has been
performed a number of times; when a given thought has arisen in our minds a
number of times, there is a definite tendency to the repetition of that act; a
definite tendency to the recurrence of that thought. Thus each mental Damma,
each Sankh ra, tends to produce constantly its like, and be in turn
reproduced; and so at first sight it would seem as though there were no
possibility of augmenting the states that are good. But, whilst our Master
has taught us of this tendency to reproduce that is so characteristic of all
mental states, he has also shewn us how this reproductive energy of the
Sankh ras may itself be employed to the suppression of evil states, and to the
culture {31} of the states that are good. For if a man has many and powerful
Sankh ras in his nature, which tend to make him angry or cruel, we are taught
that he can definitely overcome those evil Sankh ras by the practice of mental
concentration on Sankh ras of an opposite nature; --- in practice by devoting
a definite time each day to meditating on thoughts of pity and of love. Thus
he increases the Sankh ras in his mind that tend to make men loving and
pitiful, and because "Hatred ceaseth not by hatred at any time, hatred ceaseth
by Love alone," therefore do those evil Sankh ras of his nature, those
tendencies to anger and to cruelty, disappear before the rise of new good
tendencies of live and of pit, even as the darkness of the night fades in the
glory of the dawn. Thus we see that one way --- and the best way --- of
overcoming bad Sankh ras is the systematic cultivation, by dint of meditation,
of such qualities as are opposed to the evil tendencies we desire to
eliminate; and in the central and practical feature of the instance adduced,
the practice of definite meditation or mental concentration upon the good
Sankh ras, we have the key to the entire system of the Purification and
Culture of the mind, which constitutes the practical working basis of the
Buddhist Religion.
If we consider the action of a great and complex engine --- such a machine
as drives a steamship through the water --- we will see that there is, first
and foremost, one central and all-operationg source of energy; in this case
the steam which is generated in the boilers. This energy in itself is neither
1 Sila must then be defined as the discipline essential to Mental
Concentration, and this will vary with Race, Climate,
Individuality, etc. etc. --- A.C.
good nor bad --- it is simply "Power;" and whether that power does the useful
work of moving he ship, or the bad work of breaking loose, and destroying and
spoiling the ship, and {32} scalding men to death, and so on; all depends upon
the correct and co-ordinated operation of all the various parts of that
complex machinery. If the slide-valves of the great cylinders open a little
too soon and so admit the steam before the proper time, much power will be
lost in overcoming the resistance of the steam itself. If they remain open
too long, the expansive force of the steam will be wasted, and so again power
will be lost; and if they open too late, much of the momentum of the engine
will be used up in moving uselessly the great mass of the machinery. And so
it is with every part of the engine. In every part of the prime mover is that
concentrated expansive energy of the steam; but that energy must be applied in
each diverse piece of mechanism in exactly the right way, at exactly the right
time; otherwise, either the machine will not work at all, or much of the
energy of the steam will be wasted in overcoming its own opposing force.
so it is with this subtle machinery of the mind, --- a mechanism infinitely
more complex, capable of far more power for good or for evil, than the most
marvellous of man's mechanical achievements, than the most powerful engine
ever made by human hands. One great engine, at its worst, exploding, may
destroy a few hundred lives; at its best may carry a few thousand men, may
promote trade, and the comfort of some few hundred lives; but who can estimate
the power of one human mind, whether for good or for evil? One such mind, the
mind of a man like Jesus Christ, may bring about the tortured death of many
million men, may wreck states and religions and dynasties, and cause untold
misery and suffering; another mind, employing the same manner of energy, but
rightly using that energy for the {33} benefit of others, may, like the
Buddha, bring hope into the hopeless lives of crores upon crores of human
beings, may increase by a thousandfold the pity and love of a third of
humanity, may aid innumerable lakhs of beings to come to that Peace for which
we all crave --- that Peace the way to which is so difficult to find.
But the energy which these two minds employed is one and the same. That
energy lies hidden in every human brain, it is generated with every pulsation
of every human heart, it is the prerogative of every being, and the sole mover
in the world of men. There is no idea or thought, there is no deed, whether
good or gad, accomplished in this world, but that supreme energy, that steam-
power of our mental mechanism, is the mover and the cause. It is by use of
this energy that the child learns how to speak; it is by its power that Christ
could bring sorrow into thousands of lives; it is by this power that the
Buddha conquered the hearts of one-third of men; it is by that force that so
many have followed him on the way which he declared --- the Nirv…na Marga, the
way to the Unutterable Peace. The name of that power is Mental Concentration,
and there is nothing in this world, whether for good or for evil, but is
wrought by its application. It weaves upon the loom of Time the fabric of
men's characters and destinies. Name and Form are the twin threads with which
it blends the quick-flying shuttles of that Loom, men's good and evil thoughts
and deeds; and the pattern of that fabric is the outcome of innumerable lives.
It is by the power of this Samadhi that the baby learns to walk, it is by
its power that Newton weighed these suns {34} and worlds. It is the steam
power of this human organism, and what it does to make us great or little,
good or bad, is the result of the way in which the powers of the mind, all
these complex Sankh ras, apply and use that energy. If the Sankh ras act well
together, if their varying functions are well co-ordinated, then that man has
great power, either for good or for evil; and when you see one of weak mind
and will, you may be sure that his Sankh ras are working one against another;
and so the central power, this power of Samadhi, is wasted in one part of the
mind in overcoming its own energy in another.
If a skilful engineer, knowing well the functions of each separate part of
an engine, were to have to deal with a machine whose parts did not work in
unison, and which thus frittered away the energy supplied to it, he would take
his engine part by part, adjusting here a valve and there an eccentric; he
would observe the effect of his alterations with every subsequent movement of
the whole engine, and so, little by little, would set all that machinery to
work together, till the engine was using to the full the energy supplied to
it. And this is what we have to do with this mechanism of our minds --- each
one for himself. First, earnestly to investigate our component Sankh ras, to
see wherein we are lacking, to see wherein our mental energy is well used and
where it runs to waste; and then to keep adjusting, little by little, all
these working parts of our mind-engine, till each is brought to work in the
way that is desired, till the whole vast complex machinery of our being is all
working to one end, --- the end for which we are working, the goal which now
lies so far away, {35} yet not so far but that we may yet work for and attain
it.
But how are we thus to adjust and to alter the Sankh'aras of our natures?
If a part of our mental machinery "will" use up our energy wrongly, "will" let our
energy leak into wrong channels, how are we to cure it? Let us take another
example from the world of mechanics. There is a certain part of a locomotive
which is called the slide-valve. It is a most important part, because its
duty is to admit the steam to the working parts of the engine: and upon its
accurate performance of this work the whole efficiency of the locomotive
depends. The great difficulty with this slide-valve consists in he fact that
its face must be perfectly, almost mathematically, smooth; and no machine has
yet been devised that can cut this valve-face smooth enough. so what they do
is this: they make use of the very force of the steam itself, the very violent
action of steam, to plane down that valve-face to the necessary smoothness.
The valve, made as smooth as machinery can make it, is put in its place, and
steam is admitted; so that the valve is made to work under very great
pressure, and very quickly for a time. As it races backwards and forwards,
under this unusually heavy pressure of steam, the mere friction against the
port-face of the cylinder upon which it moves suffices to wear down the little
unevennesses that would otherwise have proved so fertile a source of leakage.
so we must do with our minds. We must take our good and useful Sankh'aras one
by one, and put them under extra and unusual pressure by special mental
concentration. And by this means those good Sankh ras will be made ten times
as {36} efficient; there will be no more leakage of energy; and out mental
mechanism will daily work more and more harmoniously and powerfully. From the
moment that the Mental Reflex2 is attained, the hindrances ("i.e.", the action
of opposing Sankh ras) are checked, the leakages (Asavas, a word commonly
translated corruptions, means literally leakages, --- "i.e.", leakages though
wrong channels of the energy of the being) are assuaged, and the mind
concentrates itself by the concentration of the neighbourhood degree.3
Now let us see how these Sankh ras, these working parts of our mental
mechanism, first come into being. Look at a child leaning how to talk. The
child hears a sound, and this sound the child learns to connect by association
with a definite idea. By the power of its mental concentration the child
seizes on that sound, by its imitative group of Sankh ras it repeats that
sound, and by another effort of concentration it impresses the idea of that
sound on some cortical cell of its brain, where it remains as a faint
Sankh ra, ready to be called up when required. Then, one time, occasion
arises which recalls the idea that sound represents --- it has need to make
that sound in order to get some desired object. The child concentrates its
mind with all its power on the memorising cortex of its brain, until that
faint Sankh ra, that manner of mind-echo of the sound that lurks in the little
brain-cell is discovered, and, like a stretched string played upon by the
wind, the cell yields up to the mind {37} a faint repetition of the sound-idea
2 The Mental Reflex or Nimitta, is the result of the practice of
certain forms of Samadhi. For a detailed account see Uisuddhi
Magga.
3 Visuddhi Magga, iv. There are two degrees of mental
concentration, termed "Neighbourhood-concentration" and
"Attainment-concentration" respectively.
which caused it. By another effort of concentration, now removed from the
memorising area and shifted to the speaking centre in the brain, the child's
vocal chords tighten in the particular way requisite to the production of that
sound; the muscles of lips and throat and tongue perform the necessary
movements; the breathing apparatus is controlled, so that just the right
quantity of air passes over the vocal chords; and as the child speaks it
repeats the word it had formerly learnt to associate with the object of its
present desire. Such is the process of the formation of a Sankh ra. The more
frequently that idea recurs to the child, the more often does it have to go
through the processes involved --- the more often, in a word, has the mind of
the child to perform mental concentration,or Samadhi, upon that particular
series of mental and muscular movements, the more powerful does the set of
Sankh'aras involved become, till the child will recall the necessary sound-
diea, will go through all those complex movements of the organs of speech,
without any appreciable new effort of mental concentration; --- in effect,
that chain of associations, that particular co-ordinated functioning of memory
and speech, will have established itself by virtue of the past mental
concentrations as a powerful Sankh ra in the being of the child, and that
Sankh ra will tend to recur whenever the needs which let to the original
Samadhi are present, so that the words will be reproduced automatically, and
without fresh special effort.
Thus we see that Sankh ras arise from any act of mental concentration. The
more powerful, or the more often repeated, is the act of Samadhi, the more
powerful the {38} Sankh ras produced; thus a word in a new language, for
instance, may become a Sankh ra, may be perfectly remembered without further
effort, either by one very considerable effort of mental concentration, or by
many repetitions of the word, with slight mental concentration.
The practical methods, then, for the culture and purification of the mind,
according to the method indicated for us by our Master, are two; first,
"Samm sati," which is the accurate reflection upon things in order to ascertain
their nature --- an investigation or analysis of the Dhammas of our own nature
in this case; and, secondly, "Samm sam dhi," or the bringing to bear upon the
mind of the powers of concentration, to the end that the good states, the good
Dhammas, may become powerful Sankh ras in our being. As to the bad states,
they are to be regarded as mere leakages of the central power; and the remedy
for them, as for the leaky locomotive slide-valve, is the powerful practice
upon the good states which are of an opposite nature. So we have first very
accurately to analyse and observe the states that are present in us by the
power of Samm sati, and then practise concentration upon the good states,
especially those that tend to overcome our particular failings. By mental
concentration is meant an intentness of the thoughts, the thinking for a
definite time of only one thought at a time. This will be found at first to
be very difficult. You sit down to meditate on love, for instance; and in
half a minute or so you find you are thinking about what someone said the day
before yesterday. so it always is at first. The Buddha likened the mind of
the man who was beginning this practice of Samadhi to a calf which had been
used to running hither and thither in the fields, {39} without any let or
hindrance, which has now been tied with a rope to a post. The rope is the
practice of meditation; the post is the particular subject selected for
meditation. At first the calf tries to break loose, he runs hither and
thither in every direction; but is always brought up sharp at a certain
distance from the post, by the rope to which he is tied. For a long time, if
he is a restless calf, this process goes on; but at last the calf becomes more
calm, he sees the futility of struggling, and lies down by the side of the
post. So it is with the mind. At first, subjected to this discipline of
concentration, the mind tries to break away, ti runs in this or that
direction; and if it is an average restless mind, it takes a long time to
realize the uselessness of trying to break away. But always, having gone a
certain distance from the post, having got a certain distance from the object
selected for meditation, the fact that you have sat down with the definite
object of meditating acts as the rope, and the mind realizes that the post was
its object, and so comes back to it. When the mind, becoming concentrated and
steady, at last lies down by the post, and no longer tries to break away from
the object of meditation,then concentration is obtained. But this takes a
long time to attain, and very hard practice; and in order that we may make
this, the most trying part of the practice, easier, various methods are
suggested. One is, that we can avail ourselves of the action of certain
Sankh ras themselves. You know how we get into "habits" of doing things,
particularly habits of doing things at a definite time of day. Thus we get
into the habit of waking up at a definite time of the morning, and we always
tend to wake up at that same hour of the day. We {40} get into a habit of
eating our dinner at seven o'clock, and we do not feel hungry till about that
time; and if we change the times of our meals, at first we always feel hungry
at seven, then, when we get no dinner, a little after seven that hunger
vanishes, and we presently get used to the new state of things. In effect the
practice of any act, the persistence of any given set of ideas, regularly
occurring at a set time of the day, forms within us a very powerful tendency
to the recurrence of those ideas, or to the practice of that act, at the same
time every day.
Now we can make use of this time-habit of the mind to assist us in our
practice of meditation. Choose a given time of day; always practise in that
same time, even if it is only for ten minutes, but always at exactly the same
time of day. In a little while the mind will have established a habit in this
respect, and you will find it much easier to concentrate the mind at your
usual time than at any other. We should also consider the effect of our
bodily actions on the mind. When we have just eaten a meal, the major part of
the spare energy in us goes to assist in the work of digestion; so at those
times the mind is sleepy and sluggish, and under these circumstances we cannot
use all our energies to concentrate with. so choose a time when the stomach
is empty --- of course the best time from this point of view is when we wake
up in the morning. Another thing that you will find very upsetting to your
concentration at first is sound --- any sudden, unexpected sound particularly.
so it is best to choose your time when people are not moving about --- when
there is as little noise as possible. Here again the early morning is
indicated, or else late at night, and, generally speaking, you {41} will find
it easiest to concentrate either just after rising, or else at night, just
before going to sleep.
Another thing very much affects these Sankh ras, and that is "place." If you
think a little, you will see how tremendously place affects the mind. The
merchant's mind may be full of trouble; but no sooner does he get to his
office or place of business, than his trouble goes, and he is all alert --- a
keen, capable business-man. The doctor may be utterly tired out, and half
asleep when he is called up at night to attend an urgent case; but no sooner
is he come to his place, the place where he is wont to exercise his
profession, the bedside of his patient, than the powerful association of the
place overcome his weariness and mental torpor, and he is very wide awake ---
all his faculties on the alert, his mind working to the full limits demanded
by his very difficult profession. So it is in all things: the merchant at his
desk, the captain on the bridge of his ship, the engineer in his engine-room,
the chemist in his laboratory --- the effect of "place" upon the mind is always
to awaken a particular set of Sankh ras, the Sankh ras associated in the mind
with place. Also there is perhaps a certain intangible yet operative
atmosphere of thought which clings to place sin which definite acts have been
done, definite thoughts constantly repeated. It is for this reason that we
have a great sense of quiet and peace when we go to a monastery. The
monastery is a place where life is protected, where men think deeply of the
great mysteries of Life and Death; it is the home of those who are devoted to
the practice of this meditation, it is the centre of the religious life of the
people. When the people want to make merry, they have "pwes" and things in
their own houses, {42} in the village; but when they feel religiously
inclined, then they go to their monastery. So the great bulk of the thoughts
which arise in a monastery are peaceful, and calm, and holy; and this
atmosphere of peach and calm and holiness seems to penetrate and suffuse the
whole place, till the walls and roof and flooring --- nay, more, the very
ground of the sacred enclosure --- seem soaked with this atmosphere of
holiness, like some faint distant perfume that can hardly be scented, and yet
that one can feel. It may be that some impalpable yet grosser portion of the
thought-stuff thus clings to the very walls of a place: we cannot tell, but
certain it is that if you blindfold a sensitive man and take him to a temple,
he will tell you that it is a peaceful and holy place; whilst if you take him
to the shambles, he will feel uncomfortable or fearful.
And so we should choose for our practice of meditation a place which is
suited to the work we have to do. It is a great aid, of course, owing to the
very specialised set of place Sankh ras so obtained, if we can have a special
place in which nothing but these practices are done, and where no one but
oneself goes; but, for a layman especially, this is very difficult to secure.
Instructions are given on this point in "Visuddhi Magga" how the priest who is
practising "Kammatthana" is to select some place a little way from the
monastery, where people do not come and walk about --- either a cave, or else
he is to make or get made a little hut, which he alone uses. But as this
perfect retirement is not easy to a layman, he must choose whatever place is
most suitable --- some place where, at the time of his practice, he will be as
little disturbed as possible, and, if he is able, this place should not be the
place where he sleeps, as the Sankh ras of such a place would tend, {43} so
soon as her tried to reduce the number of his thoughts down to one, to make
him go to sleep, which is one of the chief things to be guarded against.
Time and place being once chosen, it is important, until the faculty of
concentration is strongly established, not to alter them. Then bodily posture
is to be considered. If we stand up to meditate, then a good deal of energy
goes to maintain the standing posture. Lying down is also not good, because
it is associated in our minds with going to sleep. Therefore the sitting
posture is best. If you can sit cross-legged as Buddharupas sit, that is
best; because this position has many good Sankh ras associated with in the
minds of Buddhist people.
Now comes the all-impoortant question of what we are to meditate upon. The
subjects of meditation are classified in the books under forty heads; and in
the old days a man wishing to practise "Kammatthana" would go to some great man
who had practised long, and had so attained to great spiritual knowledge, and
by virtue of his spiritual knowledge that Arahat could tell which of the forty
categories would best suit the aspirant. Now-a-days this is hardly possible,
as so few practise this Kammatthana; and so it is next to impossible to find
anyone with this spiritual insight. So the best thing to do will be to
practise those forms of meditation which will most certainly increase the
highest qualities in us, the qualities of Love, and Pity, and Sympathy, and
Indifference to worldly life and cares; those forms of Samm sati which will
give us an accurate perception of our own nature, and the Sorrow,
Transitoriness, and soullessness of all things in the Samsara Cakka; and those
forms which {44} will best calm our minds by making us think of holy and
beautiful things, such as the Life of the Buddha, the liberating nature of the
Dhamma He taught, and the pure life which is followed by His Bhikkhus.
We have seen how a powerful Sankh ra is to be formed in one of two ways:
either by one tremendous effort of concentration, or by many slight ones. As
it is difficult for a beginner to make a tremendous effort, it will be found
simplest to take one idea which can be expressed in a few words, and repeat
those words silently over and over again. The reason for the use of a formula
of words is that, owing to the complexity of the brain-actions involved in the
production of words, very powerful Sankh ras are formed by this habit of
silent repetition: the words serve as a very powerful mechanical aid in
constantly evoking the idea they represent. In order to keep count of the
number of times the formula has been repeated, Buddhist people use a rosary of
a hundred and eight beads, and thus will be found a very convenient aid. Thus
one formulates to oneself the ideal of the Great Teacher: one reflects upon
His Love and Compassion, on all that great life of His devoted to the
spiritual assistance of all beings; one formulates in the mind the image of
the Master, trying to imagine Him as He taught that Dhamma which has brought
liberation to so many; and every time the mental image fades, one murmurs
"Buddhanussati" --- "he reflects upon the Buddha" --- each time of repetition
passing over one of the beads of the rosary. And so with the Dhamma, and the
Sangha; --- whichever one prefers to reflect upon.
But perhaps the best of all the various meditations upon the idea, are what
is known as the Four Sublime States --- {45} Cattro Brahavihara. These
meditations calm and concentrate The Citta in a very powerful and effective
way; and besides this they tend to increase in us those very qualities of the
mind which are the best. One sits down facing East, preferably; and after
reflection on the virtues of the Tri Ratna, as set forth in the formulas, "Iti
pi so Bhagava," etc., one concentrates one's thought upon ideas of Love; one
imagines a ray of Love going out from one's heart, and embracing all beings in
the Eastern Quarter of the World, and one repeats this formula: "And he lets
his mind pervade the Eastern Quarter of the World with thoughts of Love ---
with Heart of Love grown great, and mighty, and beyond all measure --- till
there is not one being in all the Eastern Quarter of the world whom he has
passed over, whom he has not suffused with thoughts of Love, with Heart of
Love grown great, and mighty,and far-reaching beyond all measure." And as you
say these words you imagine your Love going forth to the East, like a great
spreading ray of light; and first you think of all your friends, those whom
you love, and suffuse them with your thoughts of love; and then you reflect
upon all those innumerable beings in that Eastern Quarter whom you know not,
to whom you are indifferent, but whom you should love, and you suffuse them
also with the ray of your Love; and lastly you reflect upon all those who are
opposed to you, who are your enemies, who have done you wrongs, and these too,
by an effort of will you suffuse with your Love "till there is not one being
in all that Eastern Quarter of the Earth whom you have passed over, whom you
have not suffused with thoughts of Love with Heart of Love grown great, and
mighty, and beyond all measure." And then you imagine a similar {46} ray of
Love issuing from your heart in the direction of your right hand; and you
mentally repeat the same formula, substituting the word "Southern" for
"Eastern," and you go through the same series of reflections in that
direction. And so to the West, and so to the North, till all around you, in
the four directions, you have penetrated all beings with these thoughts of
Love. And then you imagine your thought as striking downwards, and embracing
and including all beings beneath you, repeating the same formula, and lastly
as going upwards, and suffusing with the warmth of your Love all beings in the
worlds above. Thus you will have meditated upon all beings with thoughts of
Love, in all the six directions of space: and you have finished the Meditation
on Love.
In the same way, using the same formula, do you proceed with the other
three Sublime States. Thinking of all beings who are involved in the Samsara
Cakka, involved in the endless sorrow of existence --- thinking especially of
those in whom at this moment sorrow is especially manifested, thinking of the
weak, the unhappy, the sick, and those who are fallen; you send out a ray of
Pity and Compassion towards them in all six directions of Space. And so
suffusing all beings with thoughts of Compassion, you pass on to the
meditation on Happiness. You meditate on all beings who are happy, from the
lowest happiness of earthly love to the highest, the Happiness of those who
are freed from all sin, the unutterable Happiness of those who have attained
the Nirv…na Dhamma. You seek to feel with all those happy ones in their
happiness, to enter into the bliss of their hearts and lives, and to augment
it; and so you pervade all six directions with thoughts of {47} happiness,
with this feeling of sympathy with all that is happy and fair and good.
Then, finally, reflecting on all that is evil and cruel and bad in the
world, reflecting on the things which tempt men away from the holy life, you
assume to all evil beings thoughts of indifference --- understanding that all
the evil in those beings arises from ignorance; from the Asavas, the leakages
of mental power into wrong channels; you understand concerning them that is is
not your duty to condemn, or revile, but only to be indifferent to them, and
when you have finished this meditation in Indifference, you have completed the
meditation on the Four Sublime States --- on Love, and Pity, and Happiness,
and Indifference. The meditation on love will overcome in you all hatred and
wrath; the meditation on Pity will overcome your Sankh'aras of cruelty and
unkindness; the meditation on Happiness will do away with all feelings of envy
and malice; and the meditation on Indifference will take from you all sympathy
with evil ways and thoughts. And if you diligently practise these four
Sublime States, you will find yourself becoming daily more and more loving,
and pitiful, and happy with the highest happiness, and indifferent to personal
misfortune and to evil. So very powerful is this method of meditation, that a
very short practice will give results --- results that you will find working
in your life and thoughts, bringing peace and happiness to you, and to all
around you.
Then there is the very important work of Samm sati, the analysis of the
nature of things that leads men to realize how all in the Samsara Cakka is
characterised by the three characteristics of Sorrow, and Transitoriness, and
Soullessness: how there is nought that is free from these three
characteristics; and how only right reflection and right meditation can free
you from them, and can open for you the way to peace. And because men are
very much involved in the affairs of the world, because so much of our lives
is made of our little hates and loves and fears; because we think so much of
our wealth, and those we love with earthly love, and of our enemies, and of
all the little concerns of our daily life, therefore is this right perception
very difficult to come by, very difficult to realise as absolute truth in the
depth of our hearts. We think we have but one life and one body; so these we
guard with very great attention and care, wasting useful mental energy upon
these ephemeral things. We think we have but one state in life; and so we
think very much of how to better our positions, how to increase our fortune.
"I have these sons, mine is this wealth" --- thus the foolish man is
thinking: "he himself hath not a self, how sons, how wealth?" But if we could
look back over the vast stairway of our innumerable lives, if we could see how
formerly we had held all various positions, had had countless fortunes,
countless children, innumerable loves and wives; if we could so look back, and
see the constant and inevitable misery of all those lives, could understand
our every-changing minds and wills, and the whole mighty phantasmagoria of the
illusion that we deem so real; if we could do this, then indeed we might
realise the utter misery and futility of all this earthly life, might
understand and grasp those three characteristics of all existent things; then
indeed would our desire to escape from this perpetual round of sorrow be
augmented, augmented so that we would work with all our power unto liberation.
{49}
To the gaining of this knowledge of past births there is a way, a practice
of meditation by which that knowledge may be obtained. This at first may seem
startling; but there is nothing really unnatural or miraculous about it: it is
simply a method of most perfectly cultivating the memory. Now, memory is
primarily a function of the material brain: we remember things because they
are stored up like little mind-pictures, in the minute nerve-cells of the grey
cortex of the brain, principally on the left frontal lobe. so it may
naturally be asked: "If memory, as is certainly the case, be stored up in the
material brain, how is it possible that we should remember, without some
miraculous faculty, things that happened before that brain existed?" The
answer is this: our brains, it is true, have not existed before this birth,
and so all our normal memories are memories of things that have happened in
this life. but what is the "cause" of the particular brain-structure that now
characterises us? Past Sankh ras. The particular and specific nature of a
given brain; that, namely, which differentiates one brain from another, which
makes one child capable of learning one thing and another child another; the
great difference of aptitude, and so on, which gives to each one of us a
different set of desires, capacities, and thought. What force has caused this
great difference between brain and brain? We say that the action of our past
Sankh ras, the whole course of the Sankh ras of our past lives, determined,
ere our birth in this life, whilst yet the brain was in process of formation,
these specific and characteristic features. And if the higher thinking levels
of our brains have thus been specialised by the acquired tendencies of all our
line of lives, {50} then every thought that we have had, every idea and wish
that has gone to help to specialise that thinking stuff, must have left its
record stamped ineffaceably, though faintly, on the structure of this present
brain, till that marvellous structure is like some ancient palimpsest --- a
piece of paper on which, as old writing faded out, another and yet another
written screen has been superimposed. By our purblind eyes only the last
record can be read, but there are ways by which all those ancient faded
writings can be made to appear; and this is how it is done. To read those
faded writings we use an eye whose sensitivity to minute shades of colour and
texture is far greater than our own; a photograph is taken of the paper, on
plates prepared so as to be specially sensitive to minute shades of colour,
and, according to the exposure given, the time the eye of the camera gazed
upon that sheet of paper, another and another writing is impressed upon the
sensitive plate used, and the sheet of paper, which to the untrained eye of
man bears but one script, yields up to successive plates those lost, ancient,
faded writings, till all are made clear and legible.
So it must be, if we think, with this memory of man; with all the multiple
attributes of that infinitely complex brain-structure.
All that the normal mental vision of man can read there is the last plain
writing, the record of this present life. But every record of each thought
and act of all our karmic ancestry, the records upon whose model this later
life, this specialised brain-structure, has been built, must lie there,
visible to the trained vision; so that, had we but this more sensitive mental
vision, that wondrous palimpsest, the tale of the innumerable {51} ages that
have gone to the composing of that marvellous document, the record of a brain,
would stand forth clear and separate, like the various pictures on the colour-
sensitive plates. Often, indeed, it happens that one, perchance the last of
all those ancient records, is given now so clearly and legibly that a child
can read some part of what was written; and so we have those strange instances
of sporadic, uninherited genius that are the puzzle and the despair of Western
Psychologists? A little child, before he can hardly walk, before he can
clearly talk, will see a piano, and crawl to it, and, untaught, his baby
fingers will begin to play; and, in a few years' time, with a very little
teaching and practice, that child will be able to execute the most difficult
pieces --- pieces of music which baffle any but the most expert players.
There have been many such children whose powers have been exhibited over the
length and breadth of Europe. There was Smeaton, again, one of our greatest
engineers. When a child (he was the son of uneducated peasant people) he
would build baby bridges over the streams in his country --- untaught --- and
his bridges would bear men and cattle. There was a child, some ten years ago,
in Japan, who, when a baby, saw one day the ink and brush with which the
Chinese and Japanese write, and, crawling with pleasure, reached out his
chubby hand for them, and began to write. By the time he was five years old
that baby, scarce able to speak correctly, could write in the Chinese
character perfectly --- that wonderful and complex script that takes an
ordinary man ten to fifteen years to master --- and this baby of five wrote it
perfectly. This child's power was exhibited all over the country, and before
the Emperor of Japan; and the question that arises is, how did all these
children get their powers? Surely, because {52} for them the last writing on
the book of their minds was yet clear and legible; because in their last birth
that one particular set of Sankh ras was so powerful that its record could
still be read.
And thus we all have, here in our present brains,the faded records of all
our interminable series of lives; a thousand, tens of thousands, crores upon
crores of records, one superimposed over another, waiting only for the eye
that can see, the eye of the trained and perfected memory to read them to
distinguish one from another as the photographic plate distinguished, and the
way so to train that mental vision is as follows: ---
You sit down in your place of meditation, and you think of yourself seated
there. Then you begin to "think backwards." You think the act of coming into
the room. You think the act of walking towards the room, and so you go on,
thinking backwards on all the acts that you have done that day. You then come
to yourself, waking up in the morning,. and perhaps you remember a few dreams,
and then there is a blank, and you remember your last thoughts as you went to
sleep the night before, what you did before retiring, and so on, back to the
time of your last meditation.
This is a very difficult practice; and so at first you must not attempt to
go beyond one day: else you will not do it well, and will omit remembering a
lot of important things. When you have practised for a little, you will find
your memory of events becoming rapidly more and more perfect; and this
practice will help you in worldly life as well, for it vastly increases the
power of memory in general. When doing a day becomes easy, then slowly
increase the time meditated upon. {53} Get into the way of doing a week at a
sitting --- here taking only the more important events --- then a month, then
a year, and so on. You will find yourself remembering all sorts of things
about your past life that you had quite forgotten; you will find yourself
penetrating further and further into the period of deep sleep; you will find
that you remember your dreams even far more accurately than you ever did
before. And so you go on, going again and again over long periods of your
life, and each time you will remember more and more of things you had
forgotten. You will remember little incidents of your child-life, remember
the tears you shed over the difficult tasks of learning how to walk and speak:
and at last, after long and hard practice, you will remember a little, right
back to the time of your birth.
If you never get any further than this, you will have done yourself an
enormous deal of good by this practice. You will have marvellously increased
your memory in every respect; and you will have gained a very clear perception
of the changing nature of your desires and mind and will, even in the few
years of this life. But to get beyond this point of birth is very difficult,
because, you see, you are no longer reading the relatively clear record of
this life, but are trying to read one of those fainter, under written records
the Sankh ras have left on your brain. All this practice has been with the
purpose of making clear your mental vision; and, as I have said, this will
without doubt be clearer far than before; but the question is, whether it is
clear enough. Time after time retracing in their order the more important
events of this life, at last, one day you will bridge over that dark space
between death and birth, when all the Sankh ras are, like the seed in the
earth, {54} breaking up to build up a new life; and one day you will suddenly
find yourself remembering your death "in your last life." This will be very
painful, but it is important to get to that stage several times, because at
the moment when a man comes very near to death, the mind automatically goes
through the very process of remembering backwards you have been practising so
long, and so you can then gather clues to all the events of hat last life.
Once this difficult point of passing from birth to death is got over, the
rest is said in the books to be easy. You can then, daily, with more and more
facility, remember the deeds and thoughts of your past lives; one after
another will open before your mental vision. You will see yourself living a
thousand lives, you will feel yourself dying a thousand deaths, you will
suffer with the suffering of a myriad existences, you will see how fleeting
were their little joys, what price you had again and again to pay for a little
happiness; --- how real and terrible were the sufferings you had to endure.
You will watch how for years you toiled to amass a little fortune, and how
bitter death was that time, because you could not take your treasure with you;
you will see the innumerable women you have thought of as the only being you
could ever love, and lakh upon lakh of beings caught like yourself in the
whirling Wheel of Life and Death; some now your father, mother, children, some
again your friends, and now your bitter enemies. You will see the good deed,
the loving thought and act, bearing rich harvest life after life, and the sad
gathering of ill weeds, the harvest of ancient wrongs. You will see the
beninningless fabric of your lives, with its every-changing pattern stretching
back, back, back into interminable vistas of past time, {55} and then at last
you will know, and will understand. You will understand how this happy life
for which we crave is never to be gained; you will realise, as no books or
monks could teach you, the sorrow and impermanence and soullessness of all
lives; and you will then be very much stirred up to make a mighty effort, now
that human birth and this knowledge is yours; --- a supreme effort to wake up
out of all this ill dream of life as a man wakes himself out of a fearful
nightmare. And this intense aspiration will, say the Holy Books, go very far
towards effecting your liberation.
There is another form of meditation which is very helpful, the more so as
it is not necessarily confined to any one particular time of the day, but can
be done always, whenever we have a moment in which our mind is not engaged.
This is the "mahasatipatthana," or great reflection. Whatever you are doing,
just observe and make a mental note of it, being careful to understand of what
you see that it is possessed of the Three Characteristics of Sorrow,
Impermanence and lack of an Immortal Principle of soul. Thin of the action
your are preforming,the thought you are thinking, the sensation you are
feeling, as relating to some exterior person;,take care not to think "I" am
doing so-and-so" but "there exists such-and-such a state of action." Thus,
take bodily actions. When you go walking, just concentrate the whole of your
attention upon what you are doing, in an impersonal kind of way. Think "now
he is raising his left foot," or, better, "there is an action of the lifting
of a left foot." "Now there is a raising of the right foot, now the body
leans a little forwards, and so advances, now it turns to the right, and now
it stands still." In this way, just practise concentrating the mind in
observing {56} all the actions that you perform, all the sensations that arise
in your body, all the thoughts that arise in your mind, and always analyse
each concentration object thus (as in the case cited above, of the bodily
action of waling). "what is it that walks?" and by accurate analysis you
reflect that there is no person or soul within the body that walks, but that
there is a particular collection of chemical elements, united and held
together by the result of certain categories of forces, as cohesion, chemical
attraction, and the like: that these acting in unison, owing to a definite
state of co-ordination, appear to walk, move this way and that, and so on,
owing to and concurrent with the occurrence of certain chemical decompositions
going on in brain and nerve and muscle and blood, etc., that this state of co-
ordination which renders such complex actions possible is the resultant of the
forces of innumerable similar states of co-ordination; that the resultant of
all these past states of co-ordination acting together constitute what is
called a living human being; that owing to certain other decompositions and
movements of the fine particles composing the brain, the idea arises, "I am
walking," but really there is no "I" to walk or go, but only an ever-changing
mass of decomposing chemical compounds;4 that such a decomposing mass of
chemical compounds has in it nothing that is permanent, but is, on the other
hand, subject to pain and grief and weariness of body and mind; that its
principal tendency is to form new sets of co-ordinated forces of a similar
nature --- new Sankh ras which in their turn will cause new similar
4 The student should remember that this is only one (illusory)
point of view. The idealistic ego-centric position is just as
true and as false. --- A.C.
combinations of chemical elements to arise, {57} thus making an endless chain
of beings subject to the miseries of birth, disease, decay, old age and death;
and that the only way of escape from the perpetual round of existences is the
following of the Noble Eightfold Path declared by the S mmasambuddha, and that
it is only by diligent practice of His Precepts that we can obtain the
necessary energy of the performance of Concentration; and that by Samm sati
and Samm sam ndi alone the final release from all this suffering is to be
obtained; and that by practising earnestly these reflections and meditations
the way to liberation will be opened for us --- even the way which leads to
Nirv…na, the State of Changeless Peace to which the Master has declared the
way. Thus do you constantly reflect, alike on the Body, Sensations, Ideas,
Sankh ras, and the Consciousness.
Such is a little part of the way of Meditation, the way whereby the mind
and heart may be purified and cultivated. And now for a few final remarks.
It must first be remembered that no amount of reading or talking about
these things is worth a single moment's practice of them. These are things to
be "done," not speculated upon; and only he who practises can obtain the fruits
of meditation.
There is one other thing to be said, and that is concerning the importance
of Sila. It has been said the Sila alone cannot conduct to the Nirv…na
Dharma; but, nevertheless, this Sila is of the most vital importance, for
there is no Samadhi without Sila. And why? Because, reverting to our simile
of the steam-engine, whilst Samadhi, mental concentration, is the steam power
of this human machine, the fire that heats the water, the fire that makes that
steam and maintains it at high pressure is the power of Sila. A {58} man who
breaks Sila is putting out his fires; and sooner or later, according to his
reserve stock of Sila fuel, he will have little or no more energy at his
disposal. And so, this Sila is of eminent importance; we must avoid evil, we
must fulfil all good, for only in this way can we obtain energy to practise
and apply our Buddhist philosophy; only in this way can we carry into effect
that third Rule of the Stanza which has been our text; only thus can we really
follow in our Master's Footsteps, and carry into effect His Rule for the
Purification of the mind. Only by this way, and by constantly bearing in mind
and living up to his final utterance --- "Athakho, Bhikkhave, amentayami vo;
Vayadhmama Sankhara, Appamadena Sampadetha."
"Lo! now, Oh Brothers, I exhort ye! Decay is inherent in all the
Tendencies, therefore deliver ye yourselves by earnest effort."
ANANDA METTEYA.
{59}
THE SABBATH
" ""To A. E. W."
OCCULT, forbidden lights
Move in the royal rites.
Diaphanous, they dance
Above the souls in trance
That have attained to their untold inheritance.
Above the mystic masque,
Like plumes upon a casque,
They wave their purple and red
Above each haggard head.
Thy are like gems snake-rooted, basilisks' bed.
Here were the tables set
For Baal and Baphomet:
Her was the altar drest
With fire and Alkahest
For many a holy host, for many a goodly guest.
Here was the veil, and here
The sword and dagger of fear.
Here was the circle traced,
And here the pillar placed
For Him the utterly unfathomably chaste. {60}
Here grew the murmur grim
Of the low-muttered hymn;
Here sound itself caught flame
From the dark drone of shame ---
The world reverberated the unutterable Name!
Astarte from her trance
Leapt loving to the dance,
Greeting as fire greets firs
Her whirling worshippers.
And all her joy was theirs, and all their madness hers!
Yea! thou and I that strove
For mastery in love,
Circling the altar stone
Maze-like, with magic moan,
Forthwith made that divinest destiny our own.
Throughout that violent vigil
We wove the stormy sigil,
Our faces ashen-lipped
From our heart's blood that dripped
On the armed talismans of that moon-vaulted crypt.
Then came the sombre spectre
From the abyss of nectar;
Yea, from the icy North
Came the great vision forth,
A giant breaking through the weary web of wrath. {61}
Then, in the midst, behold
That blaze of burnished gold
Imperishable, set
With adamant and jet;
And by the obscene head we hailed him Baphomet.
Hail to the Master, hail!
Lord of the Sabbath! Baal!
I kiss thy feet, I kiss
Thy knees --- and this --- and this ---
Till I am lifted up to the incorporeal Byss.
Till here alone exalted
I gaze beneath the vaulted
Forehead, within the eyes
Wherein such wonder lies,
The incommensurable gain, the pagan prize.
We are thy moons an suns,
Thy loyal knights and nuns,
Who tread the dance around
Thine altar, with the sound
Of death-sobs echoing through the immemorial ground.
O glee! the price to pay!
Swear but our souls away!
And we may gain the goal
That all the wise extol ---
The world, the flesh, the devil, weighed against a soul. {62}
The wind blows from the south!
Crushed to that burning mouth,
Lured by that lurid law,
We melt within that maw;
And all he fiends loose hold, and all the gods withdraw!
Upon the altar-stone
We are alone --- alone!
In vivid blackness curled
With livid lightings pearled ---
Sweat-drops upon God's brow when He creates a world!
Sister, the word is spoken!
Sister, the spell is broken.
The Sabbath torches flicker;
The Sabbath heart beats quicker;
We have drained the Sabbath cup of its austerest liquor.
Forsaken is the hall;
Finished the festival.
My witch and I are thrown
Dead on the altar stone
By the contemptuous god that made our soul his own.
Come! Come! we must begone.
Hiss the last orison!
Intone the last lament!
Take the last sacrament,
The extreme unction, Saviour when the soul is spent! {63}
Come! hurry through the night,
A trail of tortured flight!
Eagle and pelican
Become mere maid and man
Till the next Sabbath --- days each like leviathan!
Nay! lift the languid head!
Take of this wine and bread!
The vision is withdrawn;
The lake calls, and the lawn;
Our love shall walk abroad in the grey hours of dawn!
ETHEL RAMSAY.
{64}
THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON
THE KING
A.'. a.'.
Publication in Class B.
Imprimatur:
N. Fra A.'. A.'.
{Chart approximated}
Ú____Â___________________Â_______________Â_________________Â___________Â_____¿
³ VI.³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³
³Mys-³ V ³ IV. ³ III. ³ II. ³ I. ³
³itc ³ English of Col.IV.³ The Heavens ³English of Col.II³HebrewNames³ Key ³
³# of³ ³ of Assiah ³ ³ of Numbers³Scale³
³Seph³ ³ ³ ³and Letters³ ³
Å____Å___________________Å_______________Å_________________Å___________Å_____´
³ Ú³ ³ ³Nothing. ³
HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Aleph ³¿ ³
³ 0´³ ³ ³No Limit. ³ HB:Peh-final HB:Vau HB:Samekh
HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Aleph ³Ã 0 ³
³ À³ ³ ³Limitless L.V.X. ³HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Aleph
HB:Peh-final HB:Vau HB:Samekh HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Aleph ³Ù ³
³ 1 ³S. of Primum Mobile³ HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Lamed HB:Gemel HB:Lamed HB:Gemel HB:Heh
HB:Taw HB:Yod HB:Shin HB:Aleph HB:Resh ³Crown. ³ HB:Resh HB:Taw HB:Koph ³ 1 ³
³ 3 ³S. of the Zodiac ³ HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Lamed HB:Samekh HB:Mem ³Wisdom. ³
HB:Heh HB:Mem HB:Koph HB:Chet ³ 2 ³
³ 6 ³S. of Saturn ³ HB:Yod HB:Aleph HB:Taw HB:Bet HB:Shin ³Understanding. ³
HB:Heh HB:Nun HB:Yod HB:Bet ³ 3 ³
³ 10 ³S. of Jupiter ³ HB:Qof HB:Dalet HB:Tzaddi ³Mercy. ³
HB:Dalet HB:Samekh HB:Chet ³ 4 ³
³ 15 ³S. of Mars ³ HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Dalet HB:Aleph HB:Mem ³Strength. ³
HB:Heh HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Bet HB:Gemel ³ 5 ³
³ 21 ³S. of Sol ³ HB:Shin HB:Mem HB:Shin ³Beauty. ³
HB:Taw HB:Resh HB:Aleph HB:Peh HB:Taw ³ 6 ³
³ 28 ³S. of Venus ³ HB:Heh HB:Gemel HB:Vau HB:Nun ³Victory. ³
HB:Chet HB:Tzaddi HB:Nun ³ 7 ³
³ 36 ³S. of Mercury ³ HB:Bet HB:Koph HB:Vau HB:Koph ³Splendour. ³
HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Heh ³ 8 ³
³ 45 ³S. of Luna ³ HB:Heh HB:Nun HB:Bet HB:Lamed ³Foundation. ³
HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Samekh HB:Yod ³ 9 ³
³ 55 ³S. of the Elements ³ HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Samekh HB:Yod
HB:Mem-final HB:Lamed HB:Chet ³Kingdom. ³ HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Koph HB:Lamed HB:Mem ³ 10 ³
³ 66 ³Air ³ HB:Chet HB:Vau HB:Resh ³Ox. ³
HB:Peh-final HB:Lamed HB:Aleph ³11 ³
³ 78 ³Mercury ³(Planets follow³House. ³
HB:Taw HB:Yod HB:Bet ³ 12 ³
³ 91 ³Luna ³Sephiroth ³Camel. ³
HB:Lamed HB:Mem HB:Gemel ³ 13 ³
³105 ³Venus ³corresponding.)³Door. ³
HB:Taw HB:Lamed HB:Dalet ³ 14 ³
³120 ³Aries ³ HB:Heh HB:Lamed HB:Tet ³Window. ³
HB:Heh HB:Heh ³ 15³
³136 ³Taurus ³ HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Shin ³Nail. ³
HB:Vau HB:Vau ³ 16³
³153 ³Gemini ³ HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Mem HB:Vau HB:Aleph HB:Taw ³Sword.
³ HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Zain ³ 17³
³171 ³Cancer ³ HB:Nun-final HB:Tet HB:Resh HB:Samekh ³Fence. ³
HB:Taw HB:Yod HB:Chet ³ 18³
³190 ³Leo ³ HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Resh HB:Aleph ³Serpent. ³
HB:Taw HB:Yod HB:Tet ³ 19³
³210 ³Virgo ³ HB:Heh HB:Lamed HB:Vau HB:Taw HB:Bet ³Hand. ³
HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Yod ³ 20³
³231 ³Jupiter ³ ³Palm. ³
HB:Peh-final HB:Koph ³ 21 ³
³253 ³Libra ³ HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Nun HB:Zain HB:Aleph HB:Mem ³Ox Goad.
³ HB:Dalet HB:Mem HB:Lamed ³ 22³
³276 ³Water ³ HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Mem ³Water. ³
HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Mem ³23 ³
³300 ³Scorpio ³ HB:Bet HB:Resh HB:Qof HB:Ayin ³Fish. ³
HB:Nun-final HB:Vau HB:Nun ³ 24³
³325 ³Sagittarius ³ HB:Taw HB:Shin HB:Qof ³Prop. ³
HB:Koph-final HB:Mem HB:Samekh ³ 25³
³351 ³Capricornus ³ HB:Yod HB:Dalet HB:Gemel ³Eye. ³
HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Ayin ³ 26³
³378 ³Mars ³ ³Mouth. ³
HB:Heh HB:Peh ³ 27 ³
³406 ³Aquarius ³ HB:Yod HB:Lamed HB:Dalet ³Fish-hook. ³
HB:Yod HB:Dalet HB:Tzaddi ³ 28³
³435 ³Pisces ³ HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Gemel HB:Dalet ³Back of Head. ³
HB:Peh-final HB:Vau HB:Qof ³ 29³
³465 ³Sol ³ ³Head. ³
HB:Shin HB:Yod HB:Resh ³ 30 ³
³496 ³Fire ³ HB:Shin HB:Aleph ³Tooth. ³
HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Shin ³31 ³
³528 ³Saturn ³ ³Tau(as Egyptian).³
HB:Vau HB:Taw ³ 32 ³
³ ³Earth ³ HB:Tzaddi-final HB:Resh HB:Aleph ³ --- ³
HB:Vau HB:Taw ³32bis³
³ ³Spirit ³ HB:Taw HB:Aleph ³ --- ³
HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Shin ³31bis³
À____Á___________________Á_______________Á_________________Á___________Á_____Ù
{Chart approximated}
Ú______Â____________________Â________Â_______Â_________________Â_______Â_____¿
³ XV. ³ XIV. ³ XIII. ³ XII. ³ XI. ³ X. ³ ³
³Secret³ The Four Worlds ³Parts of³Secret ³The Elements and ³Letters³ ³
³Names ³ ³the Soul³Numbers³ Senses. ³of the ³ ³
³the 4 ³ ³ ³corres-³ ³ Name. ³ ³
³Worlds³ ³ ³spond'g³ ³ ³ ³
Ã______Å____________________Å________Å_______Å_________________Å_______Å_____´
³ HB:Heh HB:Mem ³Yetrirah, Formative ³ HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Resh ³ 45 ³Air
Air, Smell ³ HB:Vau ³ 11 ³
³ HB:Gemel HB:Samekh ³Briah, Creative ³ HB:Heh HB:Mem HB:Shin HB:Nun ³ 63
³Water Water, Taste ³ HB:Heh ³ 23 ³
³ HB:Bet HB:Ayin ³Atziluth, Archetypal³ HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Chet ³ 72 ³Dee
Fire, Sight ³ HB:Yod ³ 31 ³
³ HB:Nun-final HB:Bet ³Assiah, Material ³ HB:Shin HB:Peh HB:Nun ³ 52 ³Spirit
Earth, Touch ³ h ³32bis³
³ ³ ³ HB:Heh HB:Dalet HB:Yod HB:Chet HB:Yod ³ ³< Spirit,
Hearing³ HB:Shin ³31bis³
Ã______Á_________________Â__Å________Á______ÂÁ_______Â_________Á_______Å_____´
³ XVI. ³ ³ IX. ³ VIII. ³ VII. ³ ³
³ The Planets and their ³ ³Numbers printed³Value of³Hebrew Letters & ³ ³
³ Numbers. ³ ³on Tarot Trumps³Col.VII.³English Equiv. ³ | | |
