Họp Thông Thiên Học ngày 8 tháng 1 năm 2011
[1/8/2011 6:24:36 PM] *** Conference call ***
[1/8/2011 6:29:06 PM] Van Atman: 24. The Sons of Wisdom, the Sons of Night
(issued from the body of Brahma when it became Night), ready for re-birth, came
down. They saw the (intellectually) vile forms of the first third (still
senseless Race) (a). “We can choose,” said the Lords, “we have wisdom.” Some
entered the Chhayas. Some projected a spark. Some deferred till the Fourth
(Race). From their own essence they filled (intensified) the Kama (the vehicle
of desire). Those who received but a spark remained destitute of (higher)
knowledge. The spark burnt low (b). The Third remained mind-less. Their Jivas
(Monads) were not ready. These were set apart among the Seven (primitive human
species). They (became the) narrow-headed. The third were ready. In these shall
we dwell, said the Lords of the Flame and of the Dark Wisdom (c).
This Stanza contains, in itself, the whole key to the mysteries of evil, the
so-called Fall of the angels, and the many problems that have puzzled the brains
of the philosophers from the time that the memory of man began. It solves the
secret of the subsequent inequalities of intellectual capacity, of birth or
social position, and gives a logical explanation to the incomprehensible Karmic
course throughout the aeons which followed. The best explanation which can be
given, in view of the difficulties of the subject, shall now be attempted.
(a) Up to the Fourth Round, and even to the later part of the Third Race in this
Round, Man — if the ever-changing forms that clothed the Monads during the first
three Rounds and the first two and a half races of the present one can be given
that misleading name — is, so far, only an animal intellectually. It is only in
the actual midway Round that he develops in himself entirely the fourth
principle as a fit vehicle for the
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. 2, Page 162 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
fifth. But Manas will be relatively fully developed only in the following Round,
when it will have an opportunity of becoming entirely divine until the end of
the Rounds. As Christian Schoettgen says in Horae Hebraicae, etc., the first
terrestrial Adam “had only the breath of life,” Nephesh, but not the living
Soul.
(b) Here the inferior Races, of which there are still some analogues left — as
the Australians (now fast dying out) and some African and Oceanic tribes — are
meant. “They were not ready” signifies that the Karmic development of these
Monads had not yet fitted them to occupy the forms of men destined for
incarnation in higher intellectual Races. But this is explained later on.
(c) The Zohar speaks of “Black Fire,” which is Absolute Light-Wisdom. To those
who, prompted by old theological prejudice, may say: “But the Asuras are the
rebel Devas, the opponents of the Gods — hence devils, and the spirits of Evil,”
it is answered: Esoteric philosophy admits neither good nor evil per se, as
existing independently in nature. The cause for both is found, as regards the
Kosmos, in the necessity of contraries or contrasts, and with respect to man, in
his human nature, his ignorance and passions. There is no devil or the utterly
depraved, as there are no Angels absolutely perfect, though there may be spirits
of Light and of Darkness; thus Lucifer — the spirit of Intellectual
Enlightenment and Freedom of Thought — is metaphorically the guiding beacon,
which helps man to find his way through the rocks and sandbanks of Life, for
Lucifer is the Logos in his highest, and the “Adversary” in his lowest aspect —
both of which are reflected in our Ego. Lactantius, speaking of the Nature of
Christ, makes the Logos, the Word, the first-born brother of Satan, the “first
of all creatures.” (Inst. div. Book II., c. viii., “Qabbalah,” 116.)
The Vishnu Purana describes these primeval creatures (the Arvaksrota) with
crooked digestive canals: They were “endowed with inward manifestations, but
mutually in ignorance about their kind and nature.” The twenty-eight kinds of
Badha, or imperfections, do not apply, as Wilson thought, to the animals now
known and specified by him,* for these did not exist in those geological
periods. This is quite plain in the said work, in which the first created (on
this globe) are the “five-fold immovable creation,” minerals and vegetables;
then come those fabulous animals, Tiryaksrota, (the monsters of the abyss slain
by the “Lords,” see Stanzas II. and III.); then the Urdhwasrotas, the happy
celestial beings, which feed on ambrosia; then lastly, the Arvaksrotas, human
beings — Brahma’s
Footnote(s) ———————————————
* See Book I., chap. v., p. 71.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. 2, Page 163 CREATORS AND SUB-CREATORS.
seventh creation so-called. But these “creations,” including the latter, did not
occur on this globe, wherever else they may have taken place. It is not Brahma
who creates things and men on this Earth, but the chief and Lord of the
Prajapati, the Lords of Being and terrestrial Creation.* Obeying the command of
Brahma, Daksha (the synthesis, or the aggregate, of the terrestrial creators and
progenitors, Pitris included) made superior and inferior (vara and avara) things
“referring to putra” progeny, and “bipeds and quadrupeds, and subsequently by
his will (the Sons of Will and Yoga) made females,” i.e., separated the
androgynes. Here again, we have “bipeds” or men, created before the “quadrupeds”
as in the esoteric teachings. (Vide supra and Stanza XII. as explained.)
Since, in the exoteric accounts, the Asuras are the first beings created from
the “body of night,” while the Pitris issue from that of Twilight; the “gods”
being placed by Parasara (Vishnu Purana) between the two, and shown to evolve
from the “body of the day,” it is easy to discover a determined purpose to veil
the order of creation. Man is the Arvaksrota coming from the “Body of the Dawn”;
and elsewhere, man is again referred to, when the creator of the world, Brahma,
is shown “creating fierce beings, denominated Bhutas and eaters of flesh,” or as
the text has it, “fiends frightful from being monkey-coloured and carnivorous.”†
Whereas the Rakshasas are generally translated by “Evil Spirits” and “the
enemies of the gods,” which identifies them with the Asuras. In the Ramayana,
when Hanuman is reconnoitering the enemy in Lanka, he finds there Rakshasas,
some hideous, “while some were beautiful to look upon,” and, in Vishnu Purana,
there is a direct reference to their becoming the Saviours of “Humanity,” or of
Brahma.
The allegory is very ingenious. Great intellect and too much knowledge are a
two-edged weapon in life, and instruments for evil as well as for good. When
combined with Selfishness, they will make of the whole of Humanity a footstool
for the elevation of him who possesses them, and a means for the attainment of
his objects; while, applied to altruistic humanitarian purposes, they may become
the means of the salvation of many. At all events, the absence of
self-consciousness and intellect will make of man an idiot, a brute in human
form. Brahma is Mahat — the universal Mind — hence the too-selfish among the
Rakshasas showing the desire to become possessed of it all — to “devour” Mahat.
The allegory is transparent.
At any rate, esoteric philosophy identifies the pre-Brahmanical
Footnote(s) ———————————————
* “Vishnu Purana,” Book I., chap. xv. of vol. 2.
† Ibid., Book I., chap. v.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. 2, Page 164 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
Asuras, Rudras,* Rakshasas and all the “Adversaries” of the Gods in the
allegories, with the Egos, which, by incarnating in the still witless man of the
Third Race, made him consciously immortal. They are, then, during the cycle of
Incarnations, the true dual Logos — the conflicting and two-faced divine
Principle in Man. The Commentary that follows, and the next Stanzas may, no
doubt, throw more light on this very difficult tenet, but the writer does not
feel competent to give it out fully. Of the succession of Races, however, they
say: —
“First come the SELF-EXISTENT on this Earth. They are the ‘Spiritual Lives’
projected by the absolute WILL and LAW, at the dawn of every rebirth of the
worlds. These LIVES are the divine ‘Sishta,’ (the seed-Manus, or the Prajapati
and the Pitris).”
From these proceed —
1. The First Race, the “Self-born,” which are the (astral) shadows of their
Progenitors.† The body was devoid of all understanding (mind, intelligence, and
will). The inner being (the higher self or Monad), though within the earthly
frame, was unconnected with it. The link, the Manas, was not there as yet.
2. From the First (race) emanated the second, called the “Sweat-born”‡ and
Footnote(s) ———————————————
* Whom Manu calls “our paternal grandfathers” (III., 284). The Rudras are the
seven manifestations of Rudra-Siva, “the destroying god,” and also the grand
Yogi and ascetic.
† See § II, §§ 1, Commentary.
‡ To speak of life as having arisen, and of the human race as having originated,
in this absurdly unscientific way, in the face of the modern Pedigrees of Man,
is to court instantaneous annihilation. The esoteric doctrine risks the danger,
nevertheless, and even goes so far as to ask the impartial reader to compare the
above hypothesis (if it is one) with Haeckel’s theory — now fast becoming an
axiom with science — which is quoted verbatim: —
“. . . How did life, the living world of organisms, arise? And, secondly, the
special question: How did the human race originate? The first of these two
inquiries, that as to the first appearance of living beings, can only be decided
empirically (! !) by proof of the so-called Archebiosis, or equivocal
generation, or the spontaneous production of organisms of the simplest
conceivable kind. Such are the Monera (Protogenes, Protamoeba, etc), exceedingly
simple microscopic masses of protoplasm without structure or organisation, which
take in nutriment and reproduce themselves by division. Such a Moneron as that
primordial organism discovered by the renowned English zoologist Huxley, and
named Bathybius Haeckelii, appears as a continuous thick protoplasmic covering
at the greatest depths of the ocean, between 3,000 and 30,000 feet. It is true
that the first appearance of such Monera has not up to the present moment been
actually observed; but there is nothing intrinsically improbable in such an
evolution.” (The “Pedigree of Man,” Aveling’s translation, p 33.)
The Bathybius protoplasm having recently turned out to be no organic substance
at all, there remains little to be said. Nor, after reading this, does one need
to consume further time in refuting the further assertion that . . . . “in that
case man also [[Footnote continued on next page]]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. 2, Page 165 TO THE MONERON THE CREATOR.
the “Boneless.” This is the Second Root-Race, endowed by the preservers
(Rakshasas)* and the incarnating gods (Asuras and the Kumaras) with the first
primitive and weak spark (the germ of intelligence) . . And from these in turn
proceeds: —
3. The Third Root-Race, the “Two-fold” (Androgynes). The first Races hereof are
shells, till the last is “inhabited” (i.e., informed) by the Dhyanis.
The Second Race, as stated above, being also sexless, evolved out of itself, at
its beginning, the Third Androgyne Race by an analogous, but already more
complicated process. As described in the Commentary, the very earliest of that
race were: —
“The ‘Sons of Passive Yoga.’† They issued from the second Manushyas
Footnote(s) ———————————————
[[Footnote continued from previous page]] has beyond a doubt (to the minds of
Haeckel and his like) arisen from the lower mammalia, apes and the earlier
simian creatures, the still earlier Marsupialia, Amphibia, Pisces, by
progressive transformations,” all produced by “a series of natural forces
working blindly, . . . . . . . . aim, without design” (p. 36).
The above-quoted passage bears its criticism on its own face. Science is made to
teach that which, up to the present time, “has never been actually observed.”
She is made to deny the phenomenon of an intelligent nature and a vital force
independent of form and matter, and to find it more scientific to teach the
miraculous performance of “natural forces working blindly without aim or
design.” If so, then we are led to think that the physico-mechanical forces of
the brains of certain eminent Scientists are leading them on as blindly to
sacrifice logic and common sense on the altar of mutual admiration. Why should
the protoplasmic Moneron producing the first living creature through
self-division be held as a very scientific hypothesis, and an ethereal pre-human
race generating the primeval men in the same fashion be tabooed as unscientific
superstition? Or has materialism obtained a sole monopoly in Science?
* The Rakshasas, regarded in Indian popular theology as demons, are called the
“Preservers” beyond the Himalayas. This double and contradictory meaning has its
origin in a philosophical allegory, which is variously rendered in the Puranas.
It is stated that when Brahma created the demons, Yakshas (from Yaksh, to eat)
and the Rakshasas, both of which kinds of demons, as soon as born, wished to
devour their creator, those among them that called out “Not so! oh, let him be
saved (preserved)” were named Rakshasas (Vishnu Purana Book I. ch. v.). The
Bhagavata Purana (III, 20, 19-21) renders the allegory differently. Brahma
transformed himself into night (or ignorance) invested with a body, upon which
the Yakshas and Rakshasas seized, exclaiming “Do not spare it; devour it.”
Brahma then cried out, “Do not devour me, spare me.” This has an inner meaning
of course. The “body of Night” is the darkness of ignorance, and it is the
darkness of silence and secrecy. Now the Rakshasas are shown in almost every
case to be Yogis, pious Saddhus and Initiates, a rather unusual occupation for
demons. The meaning then is that while we have power to dispel the darkness of
ignorance, “devour it,” we have to preserve the sacred truth from profanation.
“Brahma is for the Brahmins alone,” says that proud caste. The moral of the
fable is evident.
† The gradual evolution of man in the Secret Doctrine shows that all the later
(to the profane the earliest) Races have their physical origin in the early
Fourth Race. But it is the sub-race, which preceded the one that separated
sexually, that is to be [[Footnote continued on next page]]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. 2, Page 166 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
(human race), and became oviparous. The emanations that came out of their bodies
during the seasons of procreation were ovulary; the small spheroidal nuclei
developing into a large soft, egg-like vehicle, gradually hardened, when, after
a period of gestation, it broke and the young human animal issued from it
unaided, as the fowls do in our race.”
This must seem to the reader ludicrously absurd. Nevertheless, it is strictly on
the lines of evolutionary analogy, which science perceives in the development of
the living animal species. First the moneron-like procreation by self-division
(vide Haeckel); then, after a few stages, the oviparous, as in the case of the
reptiles, which are followed by the birds; then, finally, the mammals with their
ovoviviparous modes of producing their young ones.
If the term ovoviviparous is applied to some fish and reptiles, which hatch
their eggs within their bodies, why should it not be applied to female
mammalians, including woman? The ovule, in which, after impregnation, the
development of the foetus takes place, is an egg.
At all events, this conception is more philosophical than that of Eve with a
suddenly created placenta giving birth to Cain, because of the Apple, when even
the marsupial, the earliest of mammals, is not placental yet.
Moreover, the progressive order of the methods of reproduction, as unveiled by
science, is a brilliant confirmation of esoteric Ethnology. It is only necessary
to tabulate the data in order to prove our assertion. (Cf. especially Schmidt’s
“Doctrine of Descent and Darwinism,” p. 39, et. seq., and Laing’s “A Modern
Zoroastrian,” pp. 102-111.) I
1. Fission: —
(a) As seen in the division of the homogeneous speck of protoplasm, known as
Moneron or Amoeba, into two.
(b) As seen in the division of the nucleated cell, in which the cell-nucleus
splits into two sub-nuclei, which either develop within the original cell-wall
or burst it, and multiply outside as independent entities. (Cf., the First
Root-Race.)
II. Budding: —
A small portion of the parent structure swells out at the surface and finally
parts company, growing to the size of the original organism; e.g., many
vegetables, the sea-anemone, etc. (Cf., the Second Root-Race.)*
Footnote(s) ———————————————
[[Footnote continued from previous page]] regarded as the spiritual ancestors of
our present generations, and especially of the Eastern Aryan Races. Weber’s idea
that the Indo-Germanic Race preceded the Aryan Vedic Race is, to the Occultist,
grotesque to the last degree.
* Every process of healing and cicatrization in the higher animal groups — even
in the case of reproduction of mutilated limbs with the Amphibians — is effected
by fission and gemmation of the elementary morphological elements.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. 2, Page 167 MONADS AND ROUNDS.
III. Spores: —
A single cell thrown off by the parent organism, which develops into a
multicellular organism reproducing the features of the latter, e.g., bacteria
and mosses.
IV. Intermediate Hermaphroditism: —
Male and female organs inhering in the same individual; e.g., the majority of
plants, worms, and snails, etc.; allied to budding. (Cf. Second and early Third
Root-Races.)
V. True sexual union: —
(Cf. later Third Root-Race.)
We now come to an important point with regard to the double evolution of the
human race. The Sons of Wisdom, or the spiritual Dhyanis, had become
“intellectual” through their contact with matter, because they had already
reached, during previous cycles of incarnation, that degree of intellect which
enabled them to become independent and self-conscious entities, on this plane of
matter. They were reborn only by reason of Karmic effects. They entered those
who were “ready,” and became the Arhats, or sages, alluded to above. This needs
explanation.
It does not mean that Monads entered forms in which other Monads already were.
They were “Essences,” “Intelligences,” and conscious spirits; entities seeking
to become still more conscious by uniting with more developed matter. Their
essence was too pure to be distinct from the universal essence; but their
“Egos,” or Manas (since they are called Manasaputra, born of “Mahat,” or Brahma)
had to pass through earthly human experiences to become all-wise, and be able to
start on the returning ascending cycle. The Monads are not discrete principles,
limited or conditioned, but rays from that one universal absolute Principle. The
entrance into a dark room through the same aperture of one ray of sunlight
following another will not constitute two rays, but one ray intensified. It is
not in the course of natural law that man should become a perfect septenary
being, before the seventh race in the seventh Round. Yet he has all these
principles latent in him from his birth. Nor is it part of the evolutionary law
that the Fifth principle (Manas), should receive its complete development before
the Fifth Round. All such prematurely developed intellects (on the spiritual
plane) in our Race are abnormal; they are those whom we call the
“Fifth-Rounders.” Even in the coming seventh Race, at the close of this Fourth
Round, while our four lower principles will be fully developed, that of Manas
will be only proportionately so. This limitation, however, refers solely to the
spiritual development. The intellectual, on the physical plane, was reached
during the Fourth Root-Race. Thus, those who were “half ready,” who received
“but a spark,” constitute the average humanity which has to acquire its
intellectuality during the present Manvantaric evolution,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. 2, Page 168 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
after which they will be ready in the next for the full reception of the “Sons
of Wisdom.” While those which “were not ready” at all, the latest Monads, which
had hardly evolved from their last transitional and lower animal forms at the
close of the Third Round, remained the “narrow-brained” of the Stanza. This
explains the otherwise unaccountable degrees of intellectuality among the
various races of men — the savage Bushman and the European — even now. Those
tribes of savages, whose reasoning powers are very little above the level of the
animals, are not the unjustly disinherited, or the unfavoured, as some may think
— nothing of the kind. They are simply those latest arrivals among the human
Monads, which were not ready: which have to evolve during the present Round, as
on the three remaining globes (hence on four different planes of being) so as to
arrive at the level of the average class when they reach the Fifth Round. One
remark may prove useful, as food for thought to the student in this connection.
The monads of the lowest specimens of humanity (the “narrow-brained”* savage
South-Sea Islander, the African, the Australian) had no Karma to work out when
first born as men, as their more favoured brethren in intelligence had. The
former are spinning out Karma only now; the latter are burdened with past,
present, and future Karma. In this respect the poor savage is more fortunate
than the greatest genius of civilised countries.
Let us pause before giving any more such strange teachings. Let us try and find
out how far any ancient Scriptures, and even Science, permit the possibility of,
or even distinctly corroborate, such wild notions as are found in our
Anthropogenesis.
Recapitulating that which has been said we find: — That the Secret Doctrine
claims for man, (1) a polygenetic origin. (2) A variety of modes of procreation
before humanity fell into the ordinary method of generation. (3) That the
evolution of animals — of the mammalians at any rate — follows that of man
instead of preceding it. And this is diametrically opposed to the now generally
accepted theories of evolution and the descent of man from an animal ancestor.
Footnote(s) ———————————————
* The term here means neither the dolicho-cephalic nor the brachyo-cephalic, nor
yet skulls of a smaller volume, but simply brains devoid of intellect generally.
The theory which would judge of the intellectual capacity of a man according to
his cranial capacity, seems absurdly illogical to one who has studied the
subject. The skulls of the stone period, as well as those of African Races
(Bushmen included) show that the first are above rather than below the average
of the brain capacity of the modern man, and the skulls of the last are on the
whole (as in the case of Papuans and Polynesians generally) larger by one cubic
inch than that of the average Frenchman. Again, the cranial capacity of the
Parisian of to-day represents an average of 1437 cubic centimetres compared to
1523 of the Auvergnat.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. 2, Page 169 MONOGENISM OR POLYGENISM.
Let us, by giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s, examine, first of all, the chances
for the polygenetic theory among the men of science.
Now the majority of the Darwinian evolutionists incline to a polygenetic
explanation of the origin of Races. On this particular question, however,
scientists are, as in many other cases, at sixes and sevens; they agree to
disagree.
“Does man descend from one single couple or from several groups — monogenism or
polygenism? As far as one can venture to pronounce on what in the absence of
witnesses (?) will never be known (?), the second hypothesis is far the most
probable.”* Abel Hovelacque, in his “Science of Language,” comes to a similar
conclusion, arguing from the evidence available to a linguistic enquirer.
In an address delivered before the British Association, Professor W. H. Flower
remarked on this question: —
“The view which appears best to accord with what is now known of the characters
and distribution of the races of man . . . . is a modification of the
monogenistic hypothesis (!). Without entering into the difficult question of the
method of man’s first appearance upon the world, we must assume for it a vast
antiquity, at all events as measured by any historical standard. If we had any
approach to a complete palaeontological record, the history of Man could be
re-constructed, but nothing of the kind is forthcoming.”
Such an admission must be regarded as fatal to the dogmatism of the physical
Evolutionists, and as opening a wide margin to occult speculations. The
opponents of the Darwinian theory were, and still remain, polygenists. Such
“intellectual giants” as John Crawford and James Hunt discussed the problem and
favoured polygenesis, and in their day there was a far stronger feeling in
favour of than against this theory. It is only in 1864 that Darwinians began to
be wedded to the theory of unity, of which Messrs. Huxley and Lubbock became the
first coryphaei.
As regards that other question, of the priority of man to the animals in the
order of evolution, the answer is as promptly given. If man is really the
Microcosm of the Macrocosm, then the teaching has nothing so very impossible in
it, and is but logical. For, man becomes that Macrocosm for the three lower
kingdoms under him. Arguing from a physical standpoint, all the lower kingdoms,
save the mineral — which is light itself, crystallised and immetallised — from
plants to the creatures which preceded the first mammalians, all have been
consolidated in their physical structures by means of the “cast-off dust” of
those minerals, and the refuse of the human matter, whether from living or dead
Footnote(s) ———————————————
* A. Lefevre, “Philosophy,” p. 498.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. 2, Page 170 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
bodies, on which they fed and which gave them their outer bodies. In his turn,
man grew more physical, by re-absorbing into his system that which he had given
out, and which became transformed in the living animal crucibles through which
it had passed, owing to Nature’s alchemical transmutations. There were animals
in those days of which our modern naturalists have never dreamed; and the
stronger became physical material man, the giants of those times, the more
powerful were his emanations. Once that Androgyne “humanity” separated into
sexes, transformed by Nature into child-bearing engines, it ceased to procreate
its like through drops of vital energy oozing out of the body. But while man was
still ignorant of his procreative powers on the human plane, (before his Fall,
as a believer in Adam would say,) all this vital energy, scattered far and wide
from him, was used by Nature for the production of the first mammal-animal
forms. Evolution is an eternal cycle of becoming, we are taught; and nature
never leaves an atom unused. Moreover, from the beginning of the Round, all in
Nature tends to become Man. All the impulses of the dual, centripetal and
centrifugal Force are directed towards one point — Man. The progress in the
succession of beings, says Agassiz, “consists in an increasing similarity of the
living fauna, and, among the vertebrates, especially, in the increasing
resemblance to man. Man is the end towards which all animal creation has tended
from the first appearance of the first palaeozoic fishes.”*
Just so; but “the palaeozoic fishes” being at the lower curve of the arc of the
evolution of forms, this Round began with astral man, the reflection of the
Dhyan Chohans, called the “Builders.” Man is the alpha and the omega of
objective creation. As said in “Isis Unveiled,” “all things had their origin in
spirit — evolution having originally begun from above and proceeding downwards,
instead of the reverse, as taught in the Darwinian theory.Ӡ Therefore, the
tendency spoken of by the eminent naturalist above quoted, is one inherent in
every atom. Only, were one to apply it to both sides of the evolution, the
observations made would greatly interfere with the modern theory, which has now
almost become (Darwinian) law.
But in citing the passage from Agassiz’ work with approval, it must not be
understood that the occultists are making any concession to the theory, which
derives man from the animal kingdom. The fact that in this Round he preceded the
mammalia is obviously not impugned by the consideration that the latter
(mammalia) follow in the wake of man.
[1/8/2011 7:18:48 PM] Van Atman: 227. Đó là t́nh cảnh của những “Đạo Hữu trong
Bóng Tối”, những kẻ giết chết Linh Hồn họ, phái Dad Duapa (11) mà người ta rất
sợ.
[1/8/2011 7:20:09 PM] Van Atman: 227- Đó là hành động của những "anh em trong
bóng tối" - những kẻ giết chết Linh Hồn của họ, phái Dad-Dugpa mà người ta rất
sợ.
Trong tất cả những tác phẩm của bà, Bà Blavatsky đều gọi phái Dugpa là những anh
em trong bóng tối; những nhà huyền thuật hắc ám, như chúng ta cũng thường gọi họ
như thế. Gán danh từ sau cùng nầy cho họ có thể hơi tệ hại, nhưng những người
Dugpa hoàn toàn không xứng đáng với tất cả những danh hiệu bất hảo nào khác để
nhắc đến họ.
Ở Tây Tạng, trước khi Phật giáo du nhập vào xứ nầy, sự thờ cúng các tinh linh và
các vị thần trong thiên nhiên rất thịnh hành; người ta dâng các lễ vật để cầu
phúc, cầu an đều đều. Tôn giáo như thế thuộc một tŕnh độ thấp kém, cũng như tất
cả những tôn giáo mang bản chất ấy đều chịu chung số phận. Bà Blavatsky nói rằng
các phái Bhons và Dugpas cùng những phái Mũ Đỏ khác được xem như rất giỏi về tà
thuật. Họ ở miền Tây của Tây Tạng, Tiểu Tây Tạng và xứ Bhutan. Như vậy tôn giáo
cổ xưa vẫn c̣n tồn tại.
Trong những tôn giáo khác cũng xảy ra giống như thế. Đối với Thiên Chúa giáo
chẳng hạn, như tôi đă từng lưu ư, Đức Jehovah của quan điểm thấp kém - thần linh
của bộ lạc, bị các thần khác ganh tị. Trước khi bị lưu đày ở Assyrian, người Do
Thái không biết đến Đức Thượng Đế duy nhất và cao cả. Ở đây họ đă cố gắng đồng
hóa Đức Thượng Đế tối cao mà họ đă nghe nói với vị thần của dân lạc hậu; do đó
đă gây ra một sự lầm lẫn lớn lao. Rủi thay, Thiên Chúa giáo lại thừa hưởng giáo
lư nầy mà chúng ta đă thấy trong lúc làm lễ dâng thánh thể trong Giáo hội Anh
quốc. Lúc bắt đầu cuộc lễ nầy người ta đọc mười giới răn của Do Thái giáo, trong
đó đề cập đến một vị thần đố kỵ, mà sau nầy cũng trong một cuộc lễ như thế,
chúng ta đă thấy Đức Thượng Đế được gọi là "Thượng Đế của Thượng Đế, Ánh Sáng
của Ánh Sáng, Thượng Đế thật của Thượng Đế thật". Ư niệm xưa về sự cầu phước
cũng được truyền lại cho Thiên Chúa giáo trong khái niệm lạ lùng ấy là Đức Chúa
Cha khi được Chúa Con hy sinh cho Ngài th́ Ngài mới được thỏa măn.
Ở Tây Tạng mặc dù Phật giáo du nhập vào không quá ba phái đoàn và hầu hết mọi
người đều là Phật tử, song tôn giáo cổ thời vẫn tồn tại, v́ dân chúng rất tha
thiết với nó. Ở Ư Đại Lợi cũng xảy ra hiện tượng giống như thế ở vùng Appenines
là nơi người ta khám phá được tôn giáo cổ của người Etruscan, c̣n xưa hơn tôn
giáo La Mă. Giáo hội Thiên Chúa muốn bài trừ song vẫn vô hiệu. Một thí dụ khác
rơ rệt hơn ở tại đảo Tích Lan. Những người Cinghalais đều là tín đồ Phật giáo,
trong số đó có nhiều người là con cháu của những người trước kia bị người Bồ Đào
Nha bắt buộc theo Đạo Thiên Chúa. Tuy nhiên, đến lúc nguy kịch - bệnh hoạn trầm
trọng hay thiên tai - tín đồ Phật giáo lẫn Thiên Chúa giáo đều đến cầu cứu tôn
giáo cổ xưa của họ, "sự cúng tế ma quỷ". Nếu chúng ta hỏi lư do, họ sẽ đáp : "Là
tín đồ Phật giáo hay Thiên Chúa giáo, dĩ nhiên chúng tôi cũng đều là người văn
minh ; nhưng dù sao đi nữa cũng có thể có vài điều hay trong tín ngưỡng xưa của
chúng tôi; tin vào khía cạnh tốt của nó vẫn không có hại ǵ ".
Tiếp vĩ ngữ pa chỉ có nghĩa là " người ". Do đó, những tín đồ của Đức Thầy
Kouthoumi ở Tây Tạng được gọi là Kut- Hum-pa. Những người Bhon-pa là những tín
đồ thuộc tôn giáo sơ khai. Con cháu của những người theo Phật giáo do đợt truyền
giáo lần thứ nhứt gọi là Ninma-pa. Sự xâm phạm đầu tiên đó của Phật giáo bị tôn
giáo xưa gây thiệt hại một cách nhanh chóng. Phái Kargyu tiêu biểu cho những
người theo Phật giáo do phái đoàn truyền đạo đợt thứ hai, đă được phái đến Tây
Tạng nhiều thế kỷ sau đợt thứ nhứt. Phái Dug-pa hay Mũ Đỏ thuộc phái thứ hai nầy
và do đó có liên quan với phái Bhon-pa. Giáo lư của họ cũng bị hư hỏng và những
tín ngưỡng xưa đă lẫn lộn trong đó.
Kế đó là phái đoàn truyền giáo lần thứ ba đến và sau cùng được Tsong-ka-pa cải
cách lại. Những tín đồ của phái nầy gọi là Gelug-pa hay là những người Mũ Vàng.
Phái nầy thuộc quyền lănh đạo của Đức Đạt Lai Đạt Ma hay Teshu Lama, và cả chính
thể của xứ Tây Tạng hiện nay. Bề ngoài hai Đức Thầy của chúng ta cũng ở trong
phái nầy. Trong các cuộc lễ quan trọng những người trong phái đều mặc áo dài màu
vàng và đội những chiếc mũ cao kỳ lạ, nhọn như những nón chụp.
Lúc bấy giờ Đức Aryasanga thuộc phái Mũ Vàng; cũng như Alcyone trong kiếp chót
là đệ tử của Ngài. Có lẽ Alcyone nói hơi quá đáng khi đề cập đến những lời mà Sư
Phụ ông gán cho phái Mũ Đỏ. Gọi họ là "những kẻ giết chết linh hồn" không biểu
lộ được tinh thần của Đạo Phật một cách tuyệt đối.
Như vạây phái Dug-pa vẫn xứng đáng hơn mọi sự mô tả nó chút ít. Thêm vào Phật
giáo họ c̣n thờ phượng những sức mạnh thiên nhiên. Những kẻ thù của họ quả quyết
rằng sự thờ phượng cổ xưa nầy đ̣i hỏi sự hy sinh thú vật kể cả sự hy sinh chính
con người ở một thời kỳ nào đó.
Phái Mũ Vàng t́m cách duy tŕ Phật giáo thuần túy hơn đă chống lại phái Dug-pa.
Giới luật của họ nghiêm khắc hơn và họ rất ít chịu thờ phượng những sức mạnh
thiên nhiên, mặc dù chính họ cũng không thành công trong việc bài trừ chúng một
cách hoàn toàn. Người ta thấy rằng một ngày kia nếu cần rất có thể họ sẽ thực
hiện một cuộc canh tân. Vài người Tây Tạng đă bỏ phái Dug-pa để theo phái Mũ
Vàng và vẫn được các Đức Thầy của chúng ta chú ư ; vậy có thể họ đă không hoàn
toàn đi sai chánh đạo. Những người thuộc phái Bhon-pa là những nhà phù thủy tả
đạo không mấy tiến bộ và cũng không mấy đáng kính. Như vậy họ cũng không xứng
đáng dù trong hạng đặc biệt của họ, được gọi là " anh em trong bóng tối".
[1/8/2011 8:50:40 PM] *** Call ended, duration 2:26:01 ***