Self-Liberation

Contents

Commentary

pp. 31-69

Appendix I

pp. 71-115


Commentary

pp. 31-69

13 p. 53 uncreated Clear Light

This self-originated Clear Light (rang-byung >od-gsal) is uncreated and unborn”.

{“Whatever it is that one noetically envisions, the Hesychasts are unanimous about its being bathed in an extraordinary light. Indeed, the doctrine of the uncreated light is characteristic of their teaching.” (“YH”, p. 8)}

YH” = James S. Cutsinger : “Yoga of Hesychasm” http://cutsinger.net/pdf/yoga_of_hesychasm.pdf

26 pp. 63, 135 aeternalist metaphysics

p. 63

the eternalist asserts that there exists some abiding entity or substance which is unchanging and eternal, whether this is called the immortal soul, or … the universal One Cosmic Mind.”

{All mathematicians, logicians, physicists, and other scientists, whether antient or modern, are varieties of “aeternalists”, for they all accept the existence of unchanging principles (of mathematics, of logic, of physics, and of other sciences).}

p. 135, n. 30

The presentation of [r]Dzog[s-]chen by Evans-Wentz in The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation, being a species of modern popularized Vedanta, is in fact an eternalist view”.

{Yea, Veda-anta metaphysics is in agreement with modern Occidental mathematics, logic, physics, and other sciences, and in disagreement against the inconsistent and nearly nonsensical delusions of Bauddha metaphysics, which (in the Mahayana case) would seem to consist mainly of dogmatically asserting that all that existeth uncausedly ariseth out of a so-called “Void” and uncausedly vanisheth into the same “Void”.}

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Appendix I

pp. 71-115

pp. 74, 137 Stanzas of Jn~ana

p. 74

The Secret Doctrine (1888) … was alleged to be a translation, with elaborate commentaries, of the oldest book in the Tibetan canon of scriptures, The Stanzas of Dzyan.”

{These Stanzas of Dzyan must surely be translated from some Veda-anta exposition of Jn~ana Yoga, and only fancifully ascribed to Bodish literature.}

p. 137, n. 8

Blavatsky goes on to inform us that from the older form Dzyan comes the Sanskrit dhyana”. {This word /dhyana/ is no better than a mere pun on the true word, /jn~ana/.}

{Actually, “Dzyan” (presumably from “dz^[n]yan”, with the en~e omitted; that post-consonantal omission being a peculiarity of modern Hindi) is a transcription of /Jn~ana/ 'Knowledge' (and thus aequivalent to Hellenic /Gnosis/); Madame Blavatsky notwithstanding.}

pp. 73-7, 78 Evans-Wentz

p. 73

during his undergraduate days at Stanford University, he was part of a project that made a survey of … prostitutes of Oakland, California. During his travels in Italy …, … he regarded the open sensuality and and hedonism of the Latin peoples.”

{In his era, prostitutes, sensuality, and hedonism were usually considered as socially unmentionable topics in the United States and northern Europe; so, any sort of public mention of them in that era can thus be taken as covert approval.}


Evans-Wentz was born on February 2, 1878 in Trenton, New Jersey. His father was a German immigrant (Wentz), his mother of American Quaker stock (Wentz). … Weary of the hypocrisy of conventional American Christianity, he read extensively in the new Theosophical literature … . The Theosophical Society was founded in New York City a Russian {Ukrainian} immigrant …, Madame Helena Blavatsky, and two American lawyers, Col. Henry Steele Olcott and William Q. Judge. … Now generally known by the name Theosophy {a Neo-Platonic term}, Madame Blavatsky and A. P. Sinnett first called this system “Esoteric Buddhism,” and … while residing in Europe, she composed by means of automatic writing a

p. 74

lengthy re-formulation of this system, … published as The Secret Doctrine (1888). … However, one of the principal themes {extracted from Platonic provenience, its via Hermetic continuation in the Hellenistic realms of the Diadokhoi}, and it was this idea which first attracted Evans-Wentz to Theosophy. … In 1901 he went to San Diego, California … and visited Point Loma, which had become the headquarters of the American Section of the Theosophical Society under the leadership of … Katherine Tingley. … At the urging of Mrs. Tingley, Evans-Wentz entered Stanford University, taking a B.A. … in 1906 and M.A. in 1907. That same year he entered Jesus College, Oxford, … where Sir John Rhys was his tutor in Celtic studies. … The results of his own compilation … were published … as The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries (1911). … In 1910 Oxford awarded him a B.Sc. … The … year, 1918, found him in South India at Adyar, south of Madras, at the international headquarters …

p. 75

which was a rival of the one at Point Loma. Here he met with … Annie Besant, the president of the Theosophical Society. … Evans-Wentz also went his own way in 1919, visiting Amritsar, Simla and Birbhadura near Rishikesh where he met Swami Satyananda. … Finally, in the same year, Evans-Wentz arrived in Darjeeling, where he met … Sardar Bahadur Laden La. … S. B. Laden La gave him a letter of introduction to … in Gangtok, Sikkim, … Kazi Dawa Samdup, who for several years previously been the teacher and translator for Alexandra David-Neel …, who … spent several years inside of Tibet … . [p. 138, n. 11 : “Alexandra David-Neel gives her account … in … With Magicians and Mystics in Tibet (London 1931)”.] … . … [Kazi Dawa Samdup] was translating the biography of Milarepa {Mi-la-ras-pa}, the rJe-btsun bka>->bum. …[Kazi Dawa Samdup] died … in 1922. After his death, the family presented the [translation] manuscript to Evans-Wentz, who … saw it published as Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa (1928). …

p. 76

In June of 1920 he was off visiting Amarnath, Kedarnath, and … in … 1921 he was … at Puri, where he met with S[`]ri Yukteshwar Giri … .He applied the Hindu Vedantist explanations … to … the … translations which he had received from [b]Lama Dawa Samdup. [TY&SD, pp. xviii-xix] … After visiting China, he returned to … San Diego. Here he reported on the situation in Adyar to Katherine Tingley … . … In 1928 he was … in Ceylon … . In 1931 he was back in California, where he met Swami Paramahamsa Yogananda whose own Guru, Yukteshwar Giri, Evans-Wentz had met some years before [1921] in Puri. … Eventually [Paramahamsa Yogananda] established … the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) near Los Angeles … .

p. 77

In 1934 Evans-Wentz was back in India. … in 1935, he resided in Darjeeling and Ghoom. ... . … he left India and arrived back in San Diego in June of 1941.”

p. 78

Back in the United States, Evans-Wentz settled into … in downtown San Diego, the Keystone Hotel, and lived there for the next twenty-three years of his life. … In the last few months of his life, at the invitation of Yogananda, Evans-Wentz took up lodgings at the latter's ashram in Encinitas, California. Here he died on July 17, 1965, at the age of eighty-eight.”

TY&SD = Evans-Wentz : Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines. Oxford U Pr, 1935.

p. 77 Anagarika Govinda

Years later he [E-W] offered the use of his property in Almora [nigh “the ashram of an English Yogi, S[`]ri Krishna Rem (Ronald Nixon)”] to Anagarika Govinda, who had returned in 1947 from a … journey in western Tibet with his wife. Thereafter the couple resided … on this property for many years. … Anagarika Govinda (b. 1898), a German artist and poet, had come to India and Ceylon many years before … . In 1936 he met a [d]Ge[-]lug[s-]pa [b]Lama, Tromo Geshe Rinpoche, during the latter's pilgrimage in India. From that time onward, Govinda considered himself … a Tibetan Buddhist, although he continued using the Theravadin {Sthavira-vadin} title “anagarika” (which means a lay practitioner

who wears white robes). …

{as do the ras-pa practitioners of the dKar-brgyud}

After … his brief visit to Tibet, an account of which is given in The Way of the White Clouds (1966), he … declared himself a member of the [d]Ka[r-br]gyud[-]pa order of Tibetan Buddhism. In Germany a quasi-Masonic order based on this [b]Lama's teachings and writings was organized, called the Arya Maitreya Man[.]d[.]ala.”

http://www.arya-maitreya-mandala.org/

pp. 79-80 application of Neo-Platonic Veda-anta to Vajra-yana (re-formulation of Vajra-yana in terms of Neo-Platonic Veda-anta)

p. 79

Evans-Wentz … approaches Tibetan Buddhism from the standpoint of Theosophy … combined with some knowledge of Neo-Platonic philosophy and ... Advaita Vedanta. The latter two he cites again and again as sources for his exegesis of the text.”

{The purpose of Evans-Wentz (and of Anagarika Govinda) is the convincement of Vajra-yanists, for conversion of them into Neo-Platonic Veda-antists. (How long will it take to convert them?)}

p. 80

[quoted from TBGL, pp. 1, 4, 12, 196] “Unenlightened man … believes himself to be possessed of an individual mind uniquely his own … . But the Tibetan Teachers declare that the One Cosmic Mind alone is unique; that … the One Cosmic Mind is differentiated only in an illusory sense, by means of a reflected {in the mirror of Dharma?}, or subsidiary, mind, appropriate to, and common to, all living things thereon, as on the planet earth. … Earth's multitude of human and sub-human creatures … collective constitute the [local planetary] body of … the One Cosmic Mind.”

{Such as term as “One Cosmic Mind” is intended to entail partial fusion of minds (especially of minds of deities), through ongoing practice of cosmic telepathy, into a common concord (somewhat similar to assimilation into the Borg in StarTrek). To the extent that mental telepathy is at all known in Vajra-yana, such a term as “One Cosmic Mind” would be highly applicable. This book's author (J.M.R.) was apparently, howbeit, quite unaware of even the possibility of telepathy, however, to judge from his abundantly irrelevant comments (which, in good faith, he ought to retract).}

TBGL = W. Y. Evans-Wentz : The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation. Oxford U Pr, 1954.

p. 139, n. 21 a supposed (but non-actual) distinction between two philosophies of the nature of the self

On the different types of Indian mysticism, where

a plurality of eternal selves or souls is postulated

{how can an experiential fact be designated as “postulated”?}

as really existing (as in the case of Jainism, Samkhya, Yoga-dars`ana, Ajivika, etc.), as against

a purely monistic system where only one substance (brahman) exists and all plurality is illusory

{N.B. This is not the case with souls which lack telepathic intercommunication; but is automatically the case whenever such intercommunication is fully developed.}

(as with Advaita Vedanta, etc.), see Heinrich Zimmer, Philosophies of India (Bollingen, New York 1951). Also see R. C. Zaehner, Mysticism, Sacred and Profane : An Inquiry into Some Varieties of Praeternatural Experience (Clarendon Press, [Oxford] 1957)”.

p. 81 liberation from the mundane material world into the transcendency of the Universal Mind

[quoted from TBGL, pp. 12, 175, 201] “man yogically merges his microcosmic mundane consciousness in the Supra-Mundane All-Consciousness; ceasing to be man …. becoming the ... universalized, the Cosmic. … In transcending the microcosmic mind of the human ego, man transcends himself; he becomes

a conscious participator in the all-embracing Universal Mind, the Over-Mind, the Cosmic Consciousness.”

{This participation is accomplished by means of intimately telepathizing with the universal accord of cosmic deities.}

p. 86 [cited from p. 80, quoting Evans-Wentz] the divine world as producer of the material world

the Brahman of the Rishis {R.s.i-s},

the Dreamer of Maya,

{Maya 'Illusion' is the material universe, generated in the dream of the deities as they sleep their yoga-nidra in their divine world.}

the Weaver of the Web of Appearances ...”

{This Web is the Aitheric Web, wherethrough the deities project that illusion which is known as the material universe.}

p. 88 “wrong view”?

The principle of karma is fundamental to the Buddhist view of life at all levels. What is called wrong view (Skt. mithya-drishti) primarily means denying … karma”.

{In the Bauddha philosophy, living beings are assigned to their life-circumstances by the 5 Mara-s, and having been so assigned act accordingly; so that consequently the only possible cause, originator, of bearer of responsibility for karman must be the 5 Mara-s.}

{According to Bauddha philosophy, the safest possible course of action is to make friends of the 5 Mara-s, so that they will not petulantly assign to one's self a future life wherein one will be forced into impropre behavior. (And somewhat similarly, in Christian philosophy, the safest possible course of action is to make friends of Devils, so that they will treat one well whenever one is assigned to Purgatory.)}

p. 99 the Bauddha version of the myth of the Demiourgos

The Abhidharma-kos`a, the S`iks.a-samucccaya, and other texts describe events occurring in the Heaven “known as Abhasvara or “clear light.”” Thereat, “I am the Creator!” was erroneously proclaimed by Maha-brahma in Abhasvara.

Ialdabaoth “is led to believe himself the supreme God.” (“Gn”, p. 238b)

"Gn” = article “Gnosticism” in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS, Part 11 http://books.google.com/books?id=ZAwwaxdKMNAC&pg=PA238&lpg=PA238&dq=

pp. 100-1 the samadhi-s of Siddha-artha

p. 100

The youthful Siddha-artha “found two masters living in the forests of northern India under whom He became a disciple. From the first of these teachers, Arada Kamala; He learned … fixating His attention upon an object of meditation. Through this He attained … samadhi/samadhi. Within this there are distinguished four levels {of trance} … called dhyanas. [p. 145, n. 42 : “On these …, see Buddhist Meditation, Edward Conze (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1956), pp. 113-118.”] …

p. 101

And so He went to a second master, Udraka Ramaputra, who taught the young Bodhisattva … fixating the attention not on a concrete object but on empty space. Practicing in this way, He came to realize … nirvikalpa-samadhi. Here …, there are distinguished four levels … known as samapattis … . … The last two attainments are known as the state where there is nothing whatever in consciousness and the state where there is neither perception nor non-perception. These final two states of “cosmic consciousness” … Some believe … represent the attainment of Nirvana by the Arhat.”

p. 102 the 17 categories of deities of S`uddhavasa

According to the Abhidharma, there exist seventeen mental planes belonging to the Rupadhatu, correspondingly inhabited by seventeen classes of gods. … Collectively these exalted cosmic planes are known as S`uddhavasa, “the pure abodes,” inhabited by the Gods of the Pure Abodes. The last of them, Akanistha (>og-min) is known as the highest plane of existence. Beyond this is Mahakanistha {Maha-akanis.t.ha?}, the plane of existence at which the Sambhogakaya … manifests itself.”

pp. 103-4 Maha-mudra ('great' + 'symbol{, gesture, sigil}')

p. 103

[quoted from TY&SD, p. 134 n. 3, p. 135 n. 1, p. 138 n. 4, p. 141 n. 3, p. 143 n. 2] “The mind of man is inseparable from the All-Mind. The object of yoga is to bring about the joining … of the human and the divine aspects of the mind. … Not until the finite mind becomes the Infinite Mind … in the state of Supramundane Consciousness, is the Nirvanic goal reached. … When sangsaric thoughts … are transmuted by the alchemy of the Great Symbol, they merge …

p. 104

with the Dharma-kayic Mind. The yogin, when realization comes, knows … the thoughts of the Universal Mind. … And when he does so, the thoughts automatically assume … the thoughts of the Universal Mind”.

p. 105 rDzogs-chen is different from Maha-yana

the text translated here … belongs to [r]Dzog[s-]chen and not to the Sutra system of the Mahayana.”

{rDzogs-chen is incompatible with Maha-yana because it is grafted into Maha-yana from the very different system of Bon, which originated not in Nepal (Siddha-artha's homeland) but in Tajikistan.}

p. 107 opinions by Carl Jung

Dr. Jung admitted … reincarnation. He told Evans-Wentz a number of his dreams touching on this matter. … Jung emphasized the point that … the unconscious of the West is equivalent to the Superconscious … of the East, suggesting that

we Westerners strive for individual awareness and autonomy, while the Oriental does not.

{Europeans and European-Americans strive for herd-like submission to wage-slavery, whereas in India there is a working-class-consciousness keeping society organized by autonomous jati-s (work-guilds).}

Moreover, Jung was adamantly opposed to any wholesale importation of Eastern spiritual techniques … into the West. He felt that it would be very psychologically damaging for Westerners to attempt to practice Hindu and Buddhist methods of meditation because … our Judaeo-Christian heritage is so different from the psychic history of the East.”

{The Oriental cult Ioudaio-Khristianism [“Christianity itself was originally an eastern or Oriental religion” (p. 150, n. 55)] is actually no part of “our” heritage, which is Hellenic and Hellenistic, and thus (through Neo-Platonism) essentially the same as Veda-anta. Surely Ioudaio-Khristianism is “very psychologically damaging for Westerners”, who greatly need Veda-anta to help themselves to recover from such damage.}

Dr. Jung used the occasion of the invitation extended to him by Evans-Wentz to write a “psychological commentary” to the so-called “Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation””.

p. 108 “A critique of Jung's views in general regarding the east and its psychology may be found elsewhere.” [p. 146, n. 49 : “See Yoga and Psychotherapy : the Evolution of Consciousness, Swami Rama, R. Ballentine, S. Ajaya (Himalayan Institute, Glenview 1976), pp. 104-138.”]

p. 148, n. 53 psychology in the Abhidharma

Dr. Jung asserted that the East … has produced no psychology. …

In the Abhidharma literature is found a psychology of the phenomenology of consciousness … reminscient of the investigations originally undertaken by Wilhelm Wundt in Germany and William James in America”.

pp. 149, 151 Christian yoga according to Carl Jung; Gnostic Buddhism according to J.M.R.

p. 149, n. 55

[quoted from CWCGJ, vol. 11, p. 537] : “In the course of the centuries the West will produce its own yoga, and it will be on the basis laid down by Christianity.”

{cf. “Hesychasm … sometimes known as Christian yoga” (“URM”, p. 3)} {“the Hesychasts have borrowed from yoga” (“HYS.” 4.1).} {“Hesychasm ... has a striking resemblance to Raja Yoga.” (OPs)} {Hesychast practice hath been compared with as.t.a-anga yoga (“Y&HP”, pp. 177-81)}

p. 151, n. 55 :

In the mystical theology of the Greek Church and especially in Christian Gnosticism I have found a real communality of spirit with esoteric Buddhism. This matter I have discussed elsewhere in Illumination in Gnosticism and Buddhist Tantra, unpublished dissertation.”

CWCGJ = The Collected Works of Carl G. Jung. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1958.

URM” = “Unknown Russian Mysticism” http://www.docstoc.com/docs/99376013/The-Unknown-Russian-Mysticism---Hridayam-Yoga

HYS” = Kalistos Ware : “Hesychasts, Yogis, and Sufis” http://athensdialogues.chs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/WebObjects/athensdialogues.woa/wa/dist?dis=71

OPs = S. Vlachos : Orthodox Psychotherapy. http://pentagonmeditationclub.com/raja_yoga_and_hesychasm.htm -

Y&HP” = Milica Bakic'-Hayden : “Yoga and Hesychast Prayer”. http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-0861/2008/0350-08610802171B.pdf

p. 151, n. 57 distinction between Noos & Psukhe; or between Psukhe & Pneumat-

the distinction made in Greek between Nous and Psyche. … but pneuma is not … Neo-Platonic … . Rather the term belongs to a … Gnostic milieu”.

{“According to the Gnostics, the Demiurge was able to endow man only with psyche (sensuous soul)—the pneuma (rational soul) having been added by God.” (COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPEDIA, s.v. “Demiurge” – “D”)}

D” = http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Demiourgos

p. 111 alaya-vijn~ana of Yoga-acara

In Buddhist terms, what Dr. Jung is talking about when he speaks of the unconscious is the Alaya or … (kun-gzhi), “the receptacle or storehouse of consciousness.” … The conscious mind (manas) … is suspended between an internal unconscious (alaya) and external sense experience … . … Alaya is translated into Tibetan as Kun[-g]zhi, “the foundation or basis (gzhi) of everything (kun).” … The specific consciousness connected with the contents of the Alaya or unconscious is known as the Alayavijn[~]ana (kun-gzhi rnam-shes)”.

pp. 152-3, n. 63 Carl Jung is effectively refuted by even a female Jungian

p. 152, n. 63

Jung was opposed to Westerners practicing Eastern methods such as Tibetan visualization techniques. …

p. 153, n. 63

But … [what] if that Western individual has practiced in this life the sadhana of the Zhi-khro, … the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities in the Bardo …?


Is this a case of the conscious mind sending suggestions to the unconscious or of its programming … the unconscious psyche? Perhaps.

{Such manner of reprogramming must occur, in fact, every time that a person is converted from any one religion or philosophy, to any other religion or philosophy – a very commonplace event.}


Jung apparently denied that this was possible.

{What Carl Jung really intended to mean was simply that there in Switzerland it was not possible for him to find any influential person who would be willing publicly to practice and to promote any Oriental religion.}


Yet in the West there exist a number of esoteric or occult groups, working with ceremonial magic, which do precisely this. Dion Fortune (Violet Firth) was one Jungian analyst who worked with these … ritual methods, as her voluminous writings testify.”

p. 153, n. 63 Clear Light at death

the Clear Light at the moment of falling asleep and before the onset of the dream state … is known as “the son Clear Light.” … Having practiced this method while yet alive, then at the time of death, the practitioner … immediately recognizes the manifestation of the Clear Light and integrates with it … . This is known as the meeting of “the son Clear Light” with “the mother Clear Light.””

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Namkhai Norbu (transl. with notes by John Myrdhin Reynolds) : Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness. Station Hill Pr, Barrytown (NY), 1989.