Theosophy Basics: Karma, Part 1/2

Karma, Kismet, Fate, Providence, Destiny all of these terms point to a more or less intuitive belief that in an underlying sense of justice and harmony in life and that we do not live in a nihilistic world of random, hapharzard causality. A fundamental doctrine in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, it is similar to the western term of Providence, (Greek=Pronoia), a term that was greatly discussed in ancient western philosophy.

1-Karma is the Ultimate Law

The Theosophical world view places a primordial importance on the concept of Karma, considering it the ultimate law, the one law which is pervasive throughout the manifested world:

As I have said, we consider it as the Ultimate Law of the Universe, the source, origin and fount of all other laws which exist throughout Nature. Karma is the unerring law which adjusts effect to cause, on the physical, mental and spiritual planes of being. As no cause remains without its due effect from greatest to least, from a cosmic disturbance down to the movement of your hand, and as like produces like, Karma is that unseen and unknown law which adjusts wisely, intelligently and equitably each effect to its cause, tracing the latter back to its producer. Though itself unknowable, its action is perceivable. (Key to Theosophy, 201)

2- Karma functions on several different levels
William Q. Judge gives the following succinct definition, presenting  the two basic notions of Karma as a moral law and Karma as the general law of cause and effect.:

Applied to man's moral life it is the law of ethical causation, justice, reward and punishment; the cause for birth and rebirth, yet equally the means for escape from incarnation. Viewed from another point it is merely effect flowing from cause, action and reaction, exact result for every thought and act. It is act and the result of act; for the word's literal meaning is action. Theosophy views the Universe as an intelligent whole, hence every motion in the Universe is an action of that whole leading to results, which themselves become causes for further results. Viewing it thus broadly, the ancient Hindus said that every being up to Brahma was under the rule of Karma. (Ocean of Theosophy, 89)

3- Karma is the essential principle of Harmony

Although ascertaining the specific nature of the cause and effects of Karma is difficult, it can be basically understood as one of harmony:

For the only decree of Karma — an eternal and immutable decree — is absolute Harmony in the world of matter as it is in the world of Spirit. It is not, therefore, Karma that rewards or punishes, but it is we, who reward or punish ourselves according to whether we work with, through and along with nature, abiding by the laws on which that Harmony depends, or — break them.(Secret Doctrine I, 643)

4-Karma is the Law of Universal Justice
Therefore, on the human plane, Karmic law is one of justice which punishes the wrongdoers and rewards the virtuous with complete impartiality:

 But if you ask me to define its effects and tell you what these are in our belief, I may say that the experience of thousands of ages has shown us that they are absolute and unerring equity, wisdom, and intelligence. For Karma in its effects is an unfailing redresser of human injustice, and of all the failures of nature; a stern adjuster of wrongs; a retributive law which rewards and punishes with equal impartiality. It is, in the strictest sense, "no respecter of persons," though, on the other hand, it can neither be propitiated, nor turned aside by prayer. This is a belief common to Hindus and Buddhists, who both believe in Karma.  (Key 198)

5-Karma is aTranscendent and Impartial Power
It can be considered to be governed by a higher spiritual power:

What we believe in, is strict and impartial justice. Our idea of the unknown Universal Deity, represented by Karma, is that it is a Power which cannot fail, and can, therefore, have neither wrath nor mercy, only absolute Equity, which leaves every cause, great or small, to work out its inevitable effects. The saying of Jesus: "With what measure you mete it shall be measured to you again" (Matth. vii., 2), neither by expression nor implication points to any hope of future mercy or salvation by proxy. This is why, recognising as we do in our philosophy the justice of this statement, we cannot recommend too strongly mercy, charity, and forgiveness of mutual offences. (Key 199-200)

6- The notion of Karma is the foundation of ethics
The doctrine of Karma has pre-eminently served as a basis for ethics and the Theosophical approach likewise proposes the notion of Karma as a key to ethics based on responsibility and peace:

We cut these numerous windings in our destinies daily with our own hands, while we imagine that we are pursuing a track on the royal high road of respectability and duty, and then complain of those ways being so intricate and so dark. We stand bewildered before the mystery of our own making, and the riddles of life that we will not solve, and then accuse the great Sphinx of devouring us. But verily there is not an accident in our lives, not a misshapen day, or a misfortune, that could not be traced back to our own doings in this or in another life. If one breaks the laws of Harmony, or, as a theosophical writer expresses it, “the laws of life,” one must be prepared to fall into the chaos one has oneself produced. For, according to the same writer, “the only conclusion one can come to is that these laws of life are their own avengers; and consequently that every avenging Angel is only a typified representation of their re-action.” (Secret Doctrine I, 643)

Part 2

Second Anniversary!

and so another year of regular blogging has passed - in this year we have tried to keep a regular weekly pace of posts that are a mix of older classic material and original writings, trying to be as eclectic and diversified as possible. We've continued with regular features such as the book review and theosophy basics and have even added a regular astrology feature, somewhat accidently as an initial astrology post was surprisingly well-received, thus prompting to continue with more, which were also well-received.

We've also expanded our web activities onto twitter and facebook, which helped double our web traffic from the first year, with visitors from many different parts of the world. We've also continued our lecture activity, presenting a some lectures on Reincarnation and Karma and a lively activity on H. P. Blavatsky.

For the next year, we hope to continue with more of same and hopefully in the future, we'll be able to diversify the topics more and develop a more contemporary approach - and we have more projects in the works... thanks to one and all for the interest....



"These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me,

If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or next to nothing,

If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing,

If they are not just as close as they are distant they are nothing.

This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the water is,

This the common air that bathes the globe."

Walt Whitman, Songs to Myself, 17, Leaves of Grass, 1892

image thanks to lindasbiblestudy.wordpress.com

Visions - William Stainton Moses 3/3

The statements on page 21 would seem to show that the visions recorded are those of the Devachanic state. For it [is] said that all the scenery and surroundings, the natural world of that plane in short, are the creations of the particular spirit with whose sphere the seer is in contact. This coincides perfectly with the Theosophic view, and when once this truth is really grasped, Spiritualists will realise how mistaken they have been in attacking a doctrine which is in reality what they have so long been seeking for, and which offers them the logical and philosophic system which they need as a basis for their investigations. (Blavatsky (Lucifer, Vol. II, No. 8, April, 1888, pp. 164-165)

Our author received his instruction with respect to the post-mortem condition of man through the agency of clairvoyant visions. Seeming to go out of-the body, and to be endowed with transcendental faculties, he, under the guardianship of the angel, was made to see typical landscapes, buildings, cities and personages. Some dead acquaintances and friends he recognized, and was astonished to see them surrounded with the creations of their own diseased or healthy fancies : they had made to themselves just such residences, costumes, and other objects as were most consonant with their moral, intellectual and spiritual states before disincarnation . (H.S.  Olcott (The Theosophist, May 1888)

Third Day .— September 6th, 1877 . [Automatic Writing.] These scenes, you say, are real—Material? No ; but real. What you call material is nothing to us. Just as the scenes that surround you depend on your self, as, for instance, in respect of colour, so are these scenes that you have visited externalised by the spirit who dwells among them. With us it would be impossible for a spirit at peace with itself to dwell in the midst of desolation and confusion : even as the Vain Ones could not dwell in the Valley of Rest. In fact, then, a spirit makes its surroundings ; and that is the meaning o f the assertion so often made that we are building our house in spirit-land now ? Yes, just so. You are making your character, and according to your character will be your home and its surroundings. That is inevitable. All gravitate to their own place. Those flowers, and gems, and tinsel fripperies, the mirrors of the Vain One, and the peaceful calm of the Valley of Rest, these are but externalised symbols of those who dwell there. They are their types. 

Outward and visible signs of their inward and spiritual state ? Just so. That is the meaning of the saying that with us every spirit is known of what sort it really is. 

No hypocrites ? Yes : but hypocrisy is no use. Many who come to us from you bring with them the idea that they can deceive here, even as they have been used to deceive men. But while the tongue speaks the falsehood, the acts belie it,* the surroundings tell the true story, and the hypocrite is self-convicted. The hypocrites congregate together even as the Vain Ones, and spend their time in the most foolish and futile attempts to deceive one another. All can recognise the hypocrisy in others, though they do not see how patent it is in themselves. Hence by degrees, when they find that hypocrisy is of no avail, they cease to practise it, and rise above it to a higher moral plane. 

Then is the moral government of your world of  that sort entirely ? No coercion ? None : for it is not needed, except in the elementary stages of existence. Spirits rise by knowledge, and by love. * Compare “ The Land of Darkness,'’ where the lips of a man speak a polite lie which the revealed thought contradicts. We cannot hasten the time save by affording the means. This is done by spirits who instruct and elevate as we are doing now. But the motive-spring must come from the receptive mind. We could not teach you if you had no desire to learn. So the gradual elevation of the spirit from one state to another depends altogether on its own desire. Some there are who find a state congenial to them, and remain in it for long. These are chiefly intellectual states. So long as they are nourished there, they are not interfered with by spirits who have progressed beyond them. They make their selection.

Yes. One can sec that even here. Men gel into a particular groove and remain in it. Or they get an erroneous idea and follow it out into endless wanderings. I suppose their education is going on here too ? What has your life been, especially of late, but one long process of education? It will not cease. It cannot cease till you cease to think. 

And the ideas that I yet now will form the objective surroundings of my future home ? Yes : hence the necessity for having ideas true, and symmetrical. Symmetrical!

Yes : I see. That was why the mirrors were broken, and why all was so orderly and exact in the Valley of Rest ? Yes. It is necessary to strive to get true notions of things. Most of those who spend their time in contemplating only the external appearance of things conceive wrongly of their real nature. We do not refer now to philosophers who spend their time and energy in investigating the composition of natural things. They arrive at one aspect of truth, and are so far commendable. The scientists of your world are laying up for themselves stores of knowledge which will enable them the better to recognise and appreciate what will burst upon their astonished gaze in another state. We refer to those who take perverted or one-sided views of spiritual things. They become spiritually deformed, and their homes partake of the deformity. A man does not become deformed by any amount of knowledge about matter, even if lie spend his earth-life m investigating the properties of a gas, but lie does become deformed if lie pervert his intellect by shutting it out from expansive views of spiritual things, narrowing it to a groove, prostituting it to expediency or fashion, even as lie would far more surely render it leprous by conscious vice. 

What do you call perverted views ? We cannot tell you more than you know. There are in your world social relationships, into all of which truth purely spiritual should enter. The politico-economical questions, the social questions, the political questions, the interdependence of classes, the relations of the wealthy with the poor, the conficting interests of peoples and the mode of their settlement, these all are vital. 

Questions of social reform ; labour and capital; charity, social science, and political economy generally ? Peace and war and the like ? Yes, such are matters on which it is of vital moment to have views which are true, and by that we mean that it is important to the spirit to view them from the plane of spirit, and not from that of the world, its conditions, and its fashions. False ideas on such matters become ingrained in the spirit, cause spiritual bad habits, and provoke spiritual disease. It is not possible for a spirit to lay up for itself more disease, in every sense, than by cultivating worldly notions about these spiritual things which should be spiritually discerned. Most of the views current about them are human fallacies, and must be abolished before the new era of peace and progress can advance. We strive earnestly against them ; for be you sure that the spirit which spends itself in getting selfish gain by using out the strength of its fellows without giving equable remuneration—we put out of view fraud—is not likely to be happy in the land where selfishness is a curse. Nor is the wealthy man who neglects wealth’s duties ; nor the capitalist who grinds down his slaves ; nor the panderer to lusts and vices, the man who poisons the body and debases the spirit of his fellows by selling to them base and bac food, or maddening adulterated drinks ; nor the man who is trained to war, and lives for that and that alone, though that need not be of itself always bad. Some of these are what you call necessary. They are not. Understand that. They arc the excrescences which have grown upon your social system, upon your moral system, upon your political system; the which, all of them, in their various degrees, are rotten. In no sphere of your life can more real good be done than in these, for the race is benefited and the spirit ennobled by their consideration. 

Yes. I t must be so. But surely the mere materialist is doing harm. A man like * * * with magnificent talents, is he doing the best for himself ? No : but he is laying up stores of knowledge for his race which will benefit them. He will come to us to a certain extent naked as to spirit, but with the advantage of having laboured to add to the store of human knowledge and having sought after truth. He will not have anything to unlearn in that direction : though as regards the field of inquiry on which he must then enter he will be a little child. 

Yes. 1 see. B u t surely he will have to unlearn a good deal o f his theory. What becomes o f such men on their first entry into your plane? He will have to unlearn many theoretical deductions, but few fundamental facts as he now views them. I t is in the interdependence of facts that your scientists go wrong. Such spirits of truth-lovers congregate together and find their delight in tracing the hidden springs which they could not discern before. It is long frequently before they find interest in anything else. Some, like our friend Benjamin Franklin, delight in pursuing the train of investigation which interested them in the body, and in bringing their knowledge to bear on human progress. Many influence spirits still in the body and direct their researches. Some find that all their earth life was wasted because they desired not truth, but their own opinion, to prevail. Some do not even find that out for long : but go on dogmatically following out their theories until they blunder more and more. But we have said enough. Be sure that you keep a clear mind : avoid narrow prejudices : dare to look facts in the face : be true to yourself and you need have no fear. Our friend has written for me, seeing that you find difficulty in reading what I write. Rector.

Visions - William Stainton Moses 2/3

From the Key to Theosophy, chapter 9:

ENQUIRER. But "M. A. Oxon" is a Spiritualist?

THEOSOPHIST. Quite so, and the only true Spiritualist I know of, though we may still disagree with him on many a minor question. Apart from this, no Spiritualist comes nearer to the occult truths than he does. Like any one of us he speaks incessantly "of the surface dangers that beset the ill-equipped, feather-headed muddler with the occult, who crosses the threshold without counting the cost." (1) Our only disagreement rests in the question of "Spirit Identity." Otherwise, I, for one, coincide almost entirely with him, and accept the three propositions he embodied in his address of July, 1884. It is this eminent Spiritualist, rather, who disagrees with us, not we with him.

V I S I O N S . By “ M.A. (Oxon.) ” Second Day,—September 5th, 1877. [Pursuing the same plan as before, I found myself in spirit with the Angel and a number of other spirits, with whom I was conducted, as it seemed, far away into space. I was told that the company was for protection, or for the furnishing magnetic support to me, as I was going into the “ Spheres of Desolation ”—“ the Land of Darkness.” We passed rapidly over a tract of country not unlike that which obtains in the iron district, only more lonely and bare. The soil seemed barren, and was covered over with ref use—-just as those places near an iron furnace are heaped with slag and rubbish. Prom it arose a noisome stench. I could detect no sign of life, nor could I fancy anything living there. Our path took us further and further away from life, until we came to a place where I could hear a distant rumbling as of the ocean, and I saw an entrance to a sort of cavern, round which more rubbish was piled. We descended into this aperture, which was choked with filth, and from out of which mephitic vapour ascended. After going through many tortuous passages, we came to a vaulted cave in which glowed a fire, and from which issued sulphurous smoke. There was a forge in it, and the floor was piled with half-formed engines of destruction. I could hardly breathe, and was refreshed by some passes made over my head by one of the attendant spirits.

I then saw X. Y. Z.,* grimy and filthy, naked to the waist, round which a few rags were gathered. His hair was matted with dirt, his face and body begrimed, and Streaked here and there with blood and perspiration. He was savagely welding some material that did not look like metal on his anvil, and was cursing with much vehemence. He was not at once aware of our presence, and when he was he saluted the Angel with a volley of execrations. I need not detail the conversation with him. He did not see me until we were about to leave, and he then grinned savagely, and said, “ Ah ! you, you know now where that fire came from that burned you.” (At one of the seances I had described him as sitting near me, and had out my hand in his direction. He had suddenly touched me, and the result was a blister on my hand.) We turned to leave, and his mocking laugh rang in our ears as we went. I wished to question, but was told to refrain till I had resumed the bodily state. Emerging again into the air above ground, we passed rapidly away, and I was conscious of a dreamy feeling as when one dozes in a carriage ; a sense of motion combined with repose. I cannot tell how long this continued. 

* X. Y . Z. was a young man of great ability, but of unbridled temper. H e lived in chronic disagreement with his family, and finally took to furious drinking, and killed himself thereby at an early age. I have never known anyone drink as he did. He must have been soaked through and through in ardent spirit. I had known his father and all his family, as well as himself, and had been the means sometimes of mediating between them. But he was mad with drink and rage, because he could not have all he wanted, and was unmanageable. He used very violent language habitually. His family was fairly tolerant of his vagaries, but his father was a hard man, and irritated him, driving him to despair [January 11, 1888]. 

When I was fully conscious again I saw a very different scene before me. I was looking at a town, large and thickly peopled apparently, for I saw many spirits hurrying to and fro in the streets. But the oddest things surrounded me. Everything was unfinished. There was a most pretentious palace with no roof, and, on close inspection, built of mere gimcrack material, the walls set with sham diamonds ; looking-glasses everywhere, and walls half-hung with tawdry tinsel. The very streets were unfinished, and had mirrors here and there, and toilet appurtenances at the corner of the streets, and outside of the houses. I saw many stop and look at themselves, and give a twist to the moustache or a more jaunty set to the hat. I saw no women, all men and boys. While I wondered at this I found myself going up the steps and through the hall into one of the houses. It had the same unfinished air, the same tinsel magnificence, the same cold, cheerless appearance. We looked into a room on the ground floor and found nothing but combs and brushes and broken mirrors, and fearful clothes of loud patterns, all heaped together in confusion. We passed on upstairs, and there, surrounded by mirrors, I saw A. B.* He was clothed in most extraordinary raiment, of loudest pattern, and most unharmonious colours, shaped according to our ultra-fashionable pattern. His hair was reeking of strong-scented grease, and he was industriously trying to disguise the scar over his eye with rouge and pearl-powder. It had been made at his death, and it disfigured his face. He turned to greet me, but with an air of great preoccupation. He did not listen to what I said, but interrupted me at once with some foolish question as to the cut of his coat. He brought a mirror to show me the beautiful way in which he had parted his hair (as if I wanted a mirror to see that). He evidently thought mirrors the great thing in his life. He made disparaging remarks about the personal appearance of those with me, who now had assumed the natural appearance of men : and he kept throwing about some very fade-smelling scent which was very nasty. Now and then he seemed to have gleams of sense : and then he hastily covered his face and body with his hands, as though to hide them from our gaze. But the gleams soon passed, and he turned again to his mirrors and pomatum. He was vigorously brushing his back hair when we left him.] [Another period of half-consciousness and I found myself back in the body, with an extremely vivid memory of what I had seen. I have immediately fixed the impression in what I have now written.] [By automatic writing.] What------ Do not question now, but arise and eat and cleanse the body in cold water, after that we will explain. [Having done so I resumed :—] What do the scenes mean ? Will you explain or shall I ask special questions ? We will explain. In the first journey you were taken to the Sphere of Desolation. It is inhabited by those wretched ones who have sunk in sensuality to a state typified to you by fiery torment. They dwell in a desolate and barren land where no life is, because such is their spiritual state. The spirit whom you went to visit had debauched himself with fiery drink, and had occupied himself in dragging down others to his own level, to their own ruin and misery. Hence in his spiritual state he is grimy and blood-stained to your eye, occupied in forging abortive instruments of destruction in the midst of a stifling and noisome atmosphere. His language is cursing and bitterness, and his punishment is to see designs that are full of promise marred and broken by clumsiness of execution. This is the outcome of his life—genius wrecked by debauchery. The stench was the analogue of his spiritual thoughts. The metal that he was welding was an amalgam which in his exceeding cleverness lie had made to supersede all others, and he knows not that it is rotten and can never be welded. So again in his life. He would not walk in the path of duty, nor do his allotted work, but would find but new ways for himself, and then rush to drink because they came to nought. He is now leading a life which strikes you as horrible ; not so him. To him it is strenuous exertion which he vainly thinks profitable. He will not see till the efforts of the Ministers have availed to stir in him some spiritual life. This has been done more than once, but he has always relapsed. 

* A. B. was personally known to me : a young man of extreme personal vanity, who was always dressing and redressing : a person of a very unbalanced mind, which finally gave way altogether, and he took his life by stabbing himself. As he fell he struck his head against some object and made a deep scar over the left eye. This is alluded to in the description in spirit.

Horrible / Can't he be got at? What was the experience of him in earth-life. True ; he was most impracticable. He is far more so now. Leave him to those who are wiser than you. We turn to your other friend. In the scene you saw you will discover the analogue of his life. For what was it? Vanity, All vanity. Hence he lives in the city of vanity where all is vain and frivolous, empty and unsatisfying. The houses and buildings are unfinished, for the vain ones have no care for anything but themselves, and so they cannot concentrate attention so as to complete anything. They are tawdry and full of base shams, because the vain ones live in the external, and cannot discern between the gold and its imitation. The mirrors that lie everywhere are to the vain ones the ornament they most desire, for they show them their own exterior. The essences and pomades and brushes and the like are the necessities of life, for the vain ones live in vain attempts to deck themselves with what they imagine will trick out their fancied charms; though, as you saw, they succeed only in covering themselves with that which is noisome and ridiculous. The spirit whom you visited spent his life in vanity, and it has eaten into his soul. For now the spirit-body that he has, and which he thinks so much of, is scarred over with blains, full of corruption and disease, which it is his great and constant care to disguise with varied plasters and appliances. Had you been able to see beneath those clothes which he delights in, you would have seen a mass of sores, the noisomeness of which he vainly attempts to cover by sprinkling about the scent which you so disliked. All the vain ones dislike and disparage each other, and are purely selfish. They require to deck themselves as you need food. Hence their streets are furnished with means of so doing as yours are with shops and drinking fountains. There are no women in their city for the vain ones would fear that their finery would be eclipsed. 

How queer ! Did he really think those awful clothes were decent ? Why, they were louder than those o f a music hall comic ! They would seem to him the acme of everything lovely for a brief hour, when he would devise some others : for the vain ones change often. The City is large. Yes : for the vain ones are very numerous. Do not seek further information now. The Angel goes, and we may be able to show you more hereafter. This is a new form of teaching. Does it come from the Angel ? Yes. I t is the form employed by the grade from which she comes. Why “ she ”? Is the Angel feminine ? No. You said “ she,” and the feminine best suits the tender grace and purity of one who has not been in rude contact with your earth. Has she passed through many forms of Incarnation ? Oh, yes : but not on your earth. I may not say more. —Farewell. Hector . 

SAME DAY— EVENING. [ I was conscious of the presence of Harmony , and gradually I resumed the conditions before described. After gazing for some minutes at the crystal, I seemed to be disengaged from the body and stood with the Angel in a very peaceful scene. We seemed to travel very rapidly over an undulating tract of country, presenting a general appearance of peacefulness and repose. Nothing attracted my attention, but I was impressed with a desire to stay in so peaceful a neighbourhood. Passing swiftly we came to a valley shut in by low hills, wooded to their very tops, and with a great luxuriance of herbage and flowers. A river meandered slowly and without a ripple through the valley, and the only sound I could detect was the cooing of doves. A delicate scent of new mown bay pervaded the scene, which was one of intense repose. The angel stopped over a cottage—it was hardly more—embowered in flowers, and with a fountain playing in the front of it. The stillness was almost oppressive; and I turned to contemplate the extremely orderly arrangement of everything. Standing in the garden, apparently meditating, was a striking figure ; not in any sense majestic—something was wanting, I should say, of power—but decidedly striking. It was the upright form of an oldish man with clear-cut features, well-formed head and hands; and the body was draped in fair white, with very little relief in colour.* 

He looked at us as we approached him, and saluted us, with rather stately courtesy. We entered the cottage and found ourselves in a room in which orderly arrangement was the first thing that struck me. The furniture and surroundings were simple enough, but all was kept with precision, and nothing seemed out of place. I was struck with the similarity of the place to what I have seen often enough on earth. I should say that order was the great characteristic; not profundity, or novelty. He seemed to know me, and I conversed with him; and during the conversation, I was not conscious of any other presence. He spoke freely of our seances, of his appearance two or three times (especially at a seance where he materialised), and expressed the warmest interest in what we were doing to familiarise men with the truths of spirit intercourse. He did most of the talking, for I have not yet got power enough to individualise when out of the body.} I cannot say that anything was told me of importance. I was more impressed with the very strong likeness that the face bore to that known to me by a photograph and by the materialisation. I inquired whether he would visit us at our seances. He said, “ Oh! no, that is not permitted. I have put you in the way, and now you must go on. You will come to me. I shall not return.” I said that it would be a comfort if he could. He said, “ I cannot. It is not in my choice.” I pressed that there were medial spirits, and that he might communicate through them. He put it aside with a rather dignified wave of the hand, and said, “ You do not know our life and our interests.” He showed me with much interest apparently a very beautiful flower of a kind not familiar to me, and directed my attention to the opening bud. He said that one of his great delights was the study of flowers. The whole impression left on me was that I had been calling on a gentleman who was occupied in ordinary pursuits of a rather refined nature, of no great depth and of no originality. There was a pervading atmosphere of simplicity and sincerity. I asked for messages or tokens, and he said, “ My love is none other than it always was. Never mind messages. Take this ; ” and he plucked a rose just bursting from the bud. But when I put out my hand to take it, it was not plucked, but blooming on its stem. I wondered, and he signed me to go, and we left.] [Automatic Writing.] Can you give me a n y message about the last vision ? I t was not a vision, but experience. No : all is clear, is it not ? Oh, yes. B u t I should have liked something more personal. H e is beyond the range of the personal, in an atmosphere of peace and rest. H e could not, if he would, concern himself with you. B u t his affections are v iv id ? But cannot operate to your earth. Leave the personal. H e is happy. We cannot do more now. 

* A connection of a close friend of mine. I never saw him except at a materialisation stance. I had seen his portrait, but I had no knowledge of the man in the body. He had been, I am told, a refined, courteous man, of no special power or force of character ; a high-minded gentleman, very orderly in his habits, neat and precise. Of this is a touch of naturalness which may bear on the question of reality. 

Part 3 

Visions - William Stainton Moses 1/3

Englishman William Stainton Moses was one of the most important and intriguing members in early TS history. Like many of the early members, his relationship with the founders had its up and downs, but efforts were made to remain on good terms until the last. A good account of his mystical experience with the TS can be found on the following: http://www.theosophy.wiki/en/William_Stainton_Moses

In 1888, a rather obscure pamphlet by Moses was published after appearing in the spiritualist weekly, Light. It details some of his most unusual spiritualist experiences ever and was reviewed by both Blavatsky (Lucifer, Vol. II, No. 8, April, 1888, pp. 164-165) and Olcott (The Theosophist, May 1888). We present here the text in three parts, according to the original division recounting a three-day experience. Below are some more links of recent William Stainton Moses research, including links to his two most important works, Spirit Teachings  and More Spirit Teachings.

http://metaphysicalarticles.blogspot.ca/2012/02/three-accounts-of-precipitated.html

http://www.theosophyforward.com/theosophy/1408-madame-blavatsky-and-the-seven-archival-mysteries-part-2

http://www.meilach.com/spiritual/books/st/spteach.htm

http://www.meilach.com/spiritual/books/morest/mspteach.htm

V I S I O N S . By “ M.A. (Oxon.) ”

"In the year 1882 was published a book, entitled A Little Pilgrim in the Unseen (Macmillans), which was anonymous, and was prefaced by the following remarks :— “ The reader will easily understand that the following pages were never meant to be connected with any author’s name. They spring out of those thoughts that arise in the heart when the power of the Unseen has been suddenly opened close upon us, and are little more than a wistful attempt to follow a gentle soul which never knew doubt in the new world, and to catch a glimpse of something or its glory through her simple and childlike eyes.” I t is an open secret now that a well-known novelist is the author of those pages. The book was succeeded by a development of the original idea—The Little Pilgrim Goes up Higher, and the papers which had been originally published in Blackwood were succeeded in January of the present year by a remarkable narrative published in the same magazine, and called “ The Land of Darkness—A necessary part of the Little Pilgrim’s Experience in the World of Spirit.” As I read these narratives my mind was carried back to some very parallel experiences of my own ten years previously, namely, in September, 1877. 

It is necessary to make some preliminary explanations before laying these before the readers of “ Light.” For what I am about to touch upon is very different from the ordinary course of teaching with which readers of my Spirit Teachings are familiar. This method of instruction is allegorical, and is not to be interpreted with that rigid literalness of interpretation to which the usual messages given to me were susceptible of being submitted. We have in what follows a parable, a glimpse of teaching from another order of intelligence; a revelation or lifting of the veil that hides from our clogged senses the realities of the world in one state or condition of which we are now living : all unconscious, most of us, of what our bodily senses are not adapted to comprehend. Thrice only have I been brought in contact with spiritual beings who profess never to have been incarnate in this world. One of those was known to me as “ The Angel Harmony.” Her method of teaching was, as I have said, by symbolic vision. I became clairvoyant, and saw these visions, having first of all prepared myself by gazing fixedly into a crystal. I do not discuss the question as to whether these visions weie subjective or objective. My readers will form their own opinion, and the value of the teaching will not thereby be affected. It is sufficient that they form a compact block of teaching which was conveyed to me in a manner different from any that I had previously been acquainted with. 

Hitherto I had received definite and positive information given in answer to a very distinct craving in me for satisfaction on the point that then perplexed me. I wanted direct evidence of the existence of intelligence external to a human brain, and I got what I wanted. Information, demonstrably external to my own mind, was repeatedly given, and my questions respecting such information had been categorically answered, but there had been no attempt at the symbolic method of teaching, with which I now first became familiar. Having seen my vision, or having travelled in spirit with my instructor to the scenes that I describe (if that explanation be preferred), I used to get an interpretation of what I had seen by the usual process of automatic writing. This interpretation was given to me usually by a spirit who was very familiar to me, and was able, by long practice, to use my hand for the purpose of automatic writing with more facility than others who were less acquainted with the process. He seems to have written, as an amanuensis, what was conveyed to him by the angel. The dramatis personce in these narratives included some personal friends who had quite recently passed away from earth. These names I have, of course, changed, explaining so much only as will make the narrative intelligible. I cannot, of course, hope to convey to any who did not know those persons any conception of the extreme vividness with which their characters were delineated and represented. I had had visions before this. I do not know, but I suspect, that they were mere visions, and not, as I used to think, an actual visiting of scenes visited by me in spirit. Be this as it may, the scenes, at any rate, were as clear as any I have ever seen with the natural eye. In what I am about to say I have selected a compact mass of experience extending over the three days, September 4th, 5th, and 6th, 1877. I ought to say, further, that the accounts were written on the spot as soon as I returned to my normal consciousness, and pretend to be no more than a plain record of my own impressions. They are not at all dressed nor prepared for effect, so as to aim at any literary merit such as charms us in “ The Land of Darkness.” 

September 4th, 1877, is the first of the days with which I have to deal. [Sitting in the morning at work, I became clairvoyant, and saw a scene in Spirit-land. It was a peaceful landscape ; a billowy prairie or moor in the foreground, with a river creeping through it. In the middle distance were isolated houses, built of some translucent substance like crystal, and surrounded by very beautiful gardens. There were fountains and glass-houses with fruit, and the appurtenances of a well furnished garden. In the further distance was a range of hills, purpled by the setting sun. In the centre of the picture hovered the angel Harmony, and in one of the gardens I saw “Sunshine,” * who was talking to a friend of hers whom I knew by appearance ; and in another two more friends, one of whom had lately left this earth. There were other spirits whom I did not recognise, and my ears were filled with a sound of very exquisite soft music.] [By automatic writing, given after I had resumed my normal state, and in answer to a mental question.] The angel Harmony it was whom you saw, and with her several of her charges, some not known to you. She returns because your present state attracts her Also she brings with her news of your friends. 

* The spirit-name of a close friend not long departed : very appropriate and significant, as such names often are.

The twin spirits who have left your sphere last are now united in their spirit-home. The angel will tell you of it if you will sit to-night alone. Also Sunshine sends word to her friends through you. She is happy and progressive. I will not try to say what she will better tell. Only let me say that the angel’s language is symbolic. She cannot remain long. Do not question her.* We will transmit her ideas in words, and will explain hereafter. Rector. [I complied with the directions, and very soon I saw the same scene as that just described. I now saw that the house on the extreme left was dusky compared with the other in which I saw “ Sunshine,” and I recognised in one in the background a very close friend of my own, with whom I had been on terms of great intimacy, extending over many years, and who had departed some time ago. The scene seemed permanent, and I passed into an interior state. After I had recovered from this state, and while I was still (as I suppose) under influence, I was told to put down what I have recorded above. Doctor (the spirit who was then my instructor) then appeared and conversed with me, and I resume the writing a t the time of his appearance.] Can you put down what you have to say, so that it may be permanent ? I have nothing to say, except that I greet you once again, in the absence of the Chief, as his deputy. I have not been absent, but silent. I t is likely that you will recognise my presence more now : and I am concerned with you more now in your writing. You will need much more preparatory work than you expected, and you cannot hurry. Be patient. All is well. The Chief is absent only for a while. His presence is not now needed. He is not absent in the sense you mean, but withdrawn for a while. Can you interpret f o r the angel? Rector (the usual amanuensis) will do that. He writes with more ease. I will converse with you hereafter,' when you are at peace. Doctor. 

There seems to be some symbolic imagery about the angel. She is clad in “ shining raiment ” with golden circlet in her hair, and with a cincture o f blue. Purity , love, and wisdom, I suppose ? What is the star on her brow? Yes, purity and love. The star typifies hope, and she has by her the Dove of Innocence. I will translate her thoughts into your language. Rector. The scene your spiritual eye beholds is a symbolic one. It is real, but not objective. The prairie is typical of probation life. See, it is set with thorns and briars. I t is full of pitfalls, overgrown with rank herbage which conceals their danger. I t undulates upwards to the river of death. It contains no sign of habitation, because in it there is no home : no abiding place. That which the spirit had regarded as its home vanishes with the body, and there remains only a bare and untenanted moor over which flit in aimless wanderings a few flocks of birds. These are earthbound spirits, and they are going to and fro, seeking rest, and marvelling that their homes are gone from them. The river winds in and out, now meandering slowly and noiselessly between sedgy banks; now bounding over boulders, and precipitating itself down cascades ; and again rushing tumultuously between its rocky banks. This, again, is typical of the various degrees of difficulty with which spirits cross it. To some the passage 

 * “ Her ” I had myself used of the angel. I hardly know why. She looked altogether virginal and exquisitely tender and fragile. The feminine is preserved in the communications.

is full of difficulty ; they must breast the opposing flood, and climb the steep ascent on the further side. Some glide over the favouring stream and land with ease on the shore beyond, where friends await them and extend a helping hand. The grouping of the friends on the other side is made for your convenience. We know no time nor space, and I am enabled to place this scene before your spiritual eye. Withdraw your eye now and gaze fixedly on the crystal. I t will enable you to free yourself from the body and to accompany her. After I will speak to you again. The words of Harmony. Rector. [Accordingly I got my crystal, and using it in the way I had been directed, I soon seemed to be free to move as I was impressed. I joined (or seemed to join) the angel, and we entered the dusky house on the left of my former’ scene. I was conscious of being in an abnormal state, and did not speak. The house contained three persons, one unknown to me. The spirit whom I have known for a long time as Greed* had completely cast away his former appearance, and presented a curious spectacle to my eye. The face was half covered (from the chin to just under the eye) with what seemed old skin, which was peeling off, and above it all was fair, clear, and new, as though it had been renewed after illness. The eye was clear and full of hope. The robes were all a rich living green, indicative of Progress, the spirit’s new name. He was concerned in endeavouring to obliterate a stain from his right hand. He was alone. In another room, the walls of which were fully transparent, except in patches, rested on a sofa, rose-coloured in robe and surroundings, the spirit who has lately left us. She was concerned apparently in meditation, or, perhaps, in rest only. The face was rejuvenescent: all the traces of bodily age and infirmity had gone, but the likeness remained. In the same room, assiduously spinning, was another spirit whom I did not know, but who was, I believe, a relation of the spirit last described. I could not see her face. There was an all-pervading atmosphere of roses, and a distant sound of trickling water as from a fountain. The room in which the two spirits sat was decked with flowers. The other was littered with unfinished work.

We passed through the flower-covered archway that gave access to the house, and as I came out a swallow that had disturbed spread its wings and soared away. We turned into the pathway, and I noticed that it was hedged with flowers, and that water ran on either side. Insects and birds of various plumage I saw, but no animals or reptiles. By-and-bye we came to another house, crystal-walled like the other, but clearer and with fewer spots. The eastward side appeared to have no wall at all, and to be defined only by the flowers that hung in clusters from the roof. It was more an arbour than a room. In it was the spirit Sunshine,” not much changed in appearance, but full of vivacity and mirth. She was robed in that “ shining raiment ” that spirits sometimes bring to earth, but it was finer and more translucent. In her hair she wore some jewels, which looked like luminous moonstones, and which seemed to shine by their own light. She was exactly as I have seen her on earth, only glorified. She was talking to a tall, dignified spirit, who had evidently not long left the earth, and whom I readily recognised as one whom I had known slightly, and who had been well known to her. She seemed out of place, and, as it were, “ on a visit.” She was explaining things to him, as I gathered, drawing illustrations as she proceeded. I could see that on the side opposite to me her robe was full of holes, but she concealed ' The spirit-name of an old man whose life and thoughts the word exactly typifies Viz., a very repulsive and loathsome one. Then now and again by a rapid movement of her hand, laughing as she did so.* Her guardian was at hand, and seemed to keep watch lest the influence of earth should gain sway. The room was pretty, but I felt an air of disorder in it. The male spirit was robed in dusky blue, not a pleasing colour ; but the head was massive and full of repose. I was moving further, but the angel recalled me to earth, and the scene faded from my view.] 

[By automatic writing, after I resumed my normal state] :— Is my account exact ? Yes. It is true, and the symbols are plain. Not all. Why was Sunshine's robe in holes on the side away from her ? I t is not perfect yet. But she would put a fair face on it. She did so always. A h ! yes. So she shook it out, and would make the best o f it ? Yes. I t was her way. She could not speak ? It was not permitted. She would be drawn to earth. The angel wished you to see her state. She is happy, and is making progress. Can she send any message ? I t was desired, but the angel did not consider the attempt desirable, for reasons which were named. Was the scene real, or only a subjective vision ? A t first the vision was presented to your eye, grouped by spirit power; but afterwards you visited the scene. The face of the spirit on which the old skin half remained: was it typical of unaccomplished progress ? Yes ; and the attempt to remove the stain was symbolic of effects which have not yet been got rid of. Cease. You are exhausted. A t the foot of the message, as was usual, certain symbols used by spirits—each distinctive and never varying—were placed. A new one attracted my notice—1|. What is that new sign ? The sign of the angel, Harmony. Two parallel lines which never cross each other. She is anxious to add that she will show you other symbolic visions unless she is prevented. To-night I No; to-morrow in the early morning. Before I close the book, I want to ask whether those scenes are reed—real, I mean, in the same sense as scenes in our world ? ■ In precisely the same sense. The scenes of the world of spirit, and the surroundings of the spirit in any sphere of its existence, are just as real as are the scenes and surroundings of your earth’s. Each is impressed upon your own spirit: each is the result of your own state. They would not be real to you in your present state : they Are real to you in spirit as you visited them : just as these scenes are not real to us. Rector. [Looking back now, I can understand what was then to me a mystery. I got the teaching for which I was fitted in the way tha t my instructor could best give it. “ M.A. (Oxon.)”] ( To be continued.)

 * This action was eminently characteristic of her. We always used to say that she was the best possible hand at putting the best possible face

*The answer told at her departure that it would be very dangerous for her to be brought again within earth-influence. Hence she never returned, though we very earnestly desired it. 

Part 2 

Atisa, Santideva and Tsong Kha Pa on Compassion and Altruism

One of the more positive outcomes of the terrible tragedy that Tibet experienced in the 20th century is that the resulting Tibetan diaspora has made the rich philosophical and cultural treasures of Tibet much more widely available to the world at large. And so we humbly present a small selection of some of Tibet's brightest luminaries on some essential aspects of the Mahayana Buddhist Bodhisattva ethics:

The Bodhisattva loves all creatures/From the bottom of his heart;/As one loves an only child,/Ever desiring to seek its good.

Ornament of Sutras 10:3Atisa. A Lamp for the Path and Commentary. R. Sherburne, transl. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1983, p.19

I rejoice in all the merits of the/Buddha's Sons, of Solitary Victors,/Of those still learning and those beyond,/In the entire world's merit I rejoice.

Samantabhadra - The Royal Resolves, v. 9 Atisa. A Lamp for the Path and Commentary. R. Sherburne, transl. London: GeorgeAllen & Unwin, 1983, p.26

Thus, even though working for the benefit of others,/There's no conceit; there's no amazement;/There's no hoping for a ripened result (for oneself),/When it's with an appetite exclusively for what benefits others. Santideva, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life - 8, 109

Just as the hand and so on are held dear/Through their being the limbs of the body,/Why couldn't beings having a body be similarly held dear/Through their being limbs of wandering life?

Santideva, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life - 8, 114

First, I should apply myself to meditation/On the equality of self and others./Because we are all equal in wanting to experience/happiness and avoid suffering,/I should cherish all beings as I do myself.

Santideva, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life - 8, 90 p. 128 Ulverston, Tharpa Publications, 2002. http://www.bodhicharya.org/blog/2010/10/08/shantideva/

All sentient beings are alike in that they want happiness and do not want suffering. It is, thus, incorrect to hold some near, helping them, while keeping others at a distance and either harming them or [at least] not helping them.

Lam Rim (Tsong kha pa 1402/1985, 299).

Just as all crops grow perfectly/In dependence on the earth,/All of the highest, positive results depend on ethical conduct/Moistened by the water of compassion.

Tantra Requested by Subahu Geshe Luhundub Sopa, Tsong kha pa Steps on the Path of Enlightenement, Vol. 2. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2005. p. 399

These bodies are a basis for sickness, old age, and death./Those who have good character and compassion/Make them in each moment/A basis for promoting the happiness in others.

Bhavaviveka, Heart of the Middle Way 3.4.3 Tsong-kah-pa. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path of Enlightenment.Vol. One. Lamrin Chenmo Comm., transl. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2000, p. 133.

Tibetan Philosophers on Compassion and Altruism

Geshe Langri Thangpa

Probably one of the more successful adaptations of Asian wisdom to western culture has been the Tibetan Mind Training teachings known as Lojong http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojong
Presented here are some basic sayings taken from Montreal’s own Thupten Jinpa: Essential Mind Training. transl. Boston: Wisdom Publications. 2011. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thupten_Jinpa

He who sees as spiritual teachers/the objects that engender afflictions/be they enemy or friend/will remain content wherever he is.
(Sangye Gompa 1179-1250 Public Explanation of Mind Training) (Jinpa 12)

When happy I will dedicate my virtues to all;/may benefit and happiness pervade all of space!/When suffering I will take on the pains of all beings;/may the ocean of suffering become dry!
Sakyasri (1127-1295) (Jinpa 17)

As for suffering, I do not wish even the slightest;/as for happiness I am never satisfied;/in this sphere there is no difference between others and me./May I be blessed to take joy in others' happiness. Panchen Losang Chogyen (1569-1662), Guru Puja (Jinpa 19)

Reveal your own shortcomings,/but do not seek out others' errors./ Conceal your own good qualities,/but proclaim those of others.
Atisa (982-1054) Bodhisattva's Jewel Garland 3, (Jinpa 25)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ati%C5%9Ba

Abide as if you were a servant of all beings. Condensed Perfection of Wisdom, 19a6 (Jinpa 114)

Without sentient beings, how would you obtain even the immediate benefits-these would cease immediately; even ultimate happiness arises in relation to sentient beings. It is on the basis of sentient beings that you attain the unsurpassable state of buddhahood.
Chekawa (1102–1176), "A Commentary on 'Eight Verses on Mind Training'"Essential (Jinpa 112)

When we think we are exceptional, we are unable to live in harmony with others even in this present life.
Chekawa (1102–1176), "A Commentary on 'Eight Verses on Mind Training'" (Jinpa.114)

Even if others return kindness with harm,/I will practice responding with great compassion;/the most excellent beings of this world/answer injury with benevolence.
Unknown line from Chekawa (1102–1176), "A Commentary on 'Eight Verses on Mind Training'" (Jinpa 122) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geshe_Chekhawa

In any case, if you have correctly distinguished between enemy and friend, you understand everyone to be a friend. Then even when you work for others' welfare, the jaundice of self-centeredness does not arise. Instead you recognize all such tasks as obligations, so boastfulness toward others simply does not occur. When that happens, your mind has become trained.
Se Chilbu Chokyi Gyaltsen (1121-89), "A Commentary on the 'Seven-Point Mind Training'" (Jinpa. 97)

If you lapse and find yourself noticing another’s shortcomings, think ,’This is my own deluded perception; no such flaw exists in them. All sentient beings are endowed with the essence that shares the Buddha’s own nature.’ Reflect in this manner and judge this perception to be your own flaw.
Se Chilbu Chokyi Gyaltsen (1121-89), "A Commentary on the 'Seven-Point Mind Training'"(6.3) (Jinpa 97 )

image thanks to:www.lotsawahouse.org