Snoopy
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The Platform Sutra is within the Mahayana, it is not a constituent of the Pali canon, I think.
Who are the Masters?
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The Platform Sutra is within the Mahayana, it is not a constituent of the Pali canon, I think.
Snoopy
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Naturally everyone can learn from their experiences in life, or not. And this includes the people we meet. In this, Siddhartha was no different. The 'four sights' that he experienced set off a train of thought that led to his renunciation. In his time as an ascetic he learned meditation from two great teachers: Alara-Kalama and Uddaka-Ramaputta, people schooled in the philosophy of the Upanishads.
I noticed your avatar. Any thoughts on the divine cobra?
radarmark
Quaker-in-the-Making
Quite so. I consider Pali Canon primary. But you gotta love that Platform Sutra. If he did not exist, who is the mummy of?
Snoopy
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Sorry, no thoughts - not heard of it. Btw, the avatar is fish.
Snoopy
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I thought you were only posting in one thread - I'm easily confused!
There is much scholarly debate around the Platform Sutra and Hui Neng himself. What is important in the end is the words, the dharma; not so much as the composer, I think. (end of my derail)...
taijasi
Gnōthi seauton
Thanks for the opportunity to discuss Hui-Neng you guys. It seems I've read about him somewhere before ... but I had long forgotten.
The Zen Master I always think of first is Thich Nhat Hanh, who is even our contemporary. The Zen tradition itself is a bit unfamiliar to me, so I consider myself less ignorant on the subject now than I was just a week ago.
The Zen Master I always think of first is Thich Nhat Hanh, who is even our contemporary. The Zen tradition itself is a bit unfamiliar to me, so I consider myself less ignorant on the subject now than I was just a week ago.
taijasi
Gnōthi seauton
Sometime in the next few days I hope to get back to this thread ... and perhaps some inspiration will come in the meantime, if I'm lucky.
Meanwhile, in light of the earlier discussion on the subject of Initiation I'm going to post the chart of the Occult Hierarchy published by C.W. Leadbeater in Masters in the Path. This one has some additional notes in color, but preserves Leadbeater's identification of the degrees of initiation which esotericists still study today.
Compare CWL's chart with another chart, published earlier in Alice Bailey's first book with the Tibetan Master, Initiation Human and Solar, from 1919. Master DK's chart comes first, followed by CWL's ...
Meanwhile, in light of the earlier discussion on the subject of Initiation I'm going to post the chart of the Occult Hierarchy published by C.W. Leadbeater in Masters in the Path. This one has some additional notes in color, but preserves Leadbeater's identification of the degrees of initiation which esotericists still study today.
Compare CWL's chart with another chart, published earlier in Alice Bailey's first book with the Tibetan Master, Initiation Human and Solar, from 1919. Master DK's chart comes first, followed by CWL's ...
taijasi
Gnōthi seauton
Here is a quick question and answer which seems appropriate to post at this time ... excerpted from some teachings of Geoffrey Hodson published online:
In a future post I hope to mention which of the Masters' Ashrams are directly concerned at this time (and in the near future) with the Reappearance of the Christ; specifically, which of the Ashrams are externalizing onto the physical plane.
Q. Do you then think that the Discipleship of a Master of the Wisdom is within range of many Theosophists?
A. I believe so, and not just Theosophists, but many people who make great sacrifices for humanity and even assist in other areas such as helping the animal kingdom. The reason I think few people who know about these things actually succeed is to be found in two main areas: 1) The motive must be very pure and selfless and 2) It requires one's whole application. If these two factors are in place and karmic debts are not too heavy then the gateway is open in this very life to this greatest of all priviledges. Moreover, we are told that the Masters are actively seeking pupils to train in these challenging times in order to help relieve the burden from themselves, since they have so many other important issues to deal with. One Master has actually said in The Mahatma Letters, "If you take one step towards us, we will take two steps towards you."
A. I believe so, and not just Theosophists, but many people who make great sacrifices for humanity and even assist in other areas such as helping the animal kingdom. The reason I think few people who know about these things actually succeed is to be found in two main areas: 1) The motive must be very pure and selfless and 2) It requires one's whole application. If these two factors are in place and karmic debts are not too heavy then the gateway is open in this very life to this greatest of all priviledges. Moreover, we are told that the Masters are actively seeking pupils to train in these challenging times in order to help relieve the burden from themselves, since they have so many other important issues to deal with. One Master has actually said in The Mahatma Letters, "If you take one step towards us, we will take two steps towards you."
In a future post I hope to mention which of the Masters' Ashrams are directly concerned at this time (and in the near future) with the Reappearance of the Christ; specifically, which of the Ashrams are externalizing onto the physical plane.
taijasi
Gnōthi seauton
A few words on the distinction between Jesus of Nazareth, and the same in His present incarnation or Office & role, that of CHOHAN of the 6th Ray ... as distinct from the Master Who is Head & Heart of our Spiritual Hierarchy, the Christ, Bodhisattva & World Teacher.
The following are excerpts from C.W. Leadbeater's Masters and the Path:
Every new Master undertakes some such project ... that of Master DK being well known to students of AAB's Teachings. The Master R. gave us the works of Shakespeare, for example, when He was incarnate as Sir Francis Bacon.
The following are excerpts from C.W. Leadbeater's Masters and the Path:
The Master Jesus, who became an adept in His incarnation as Apollonius of Tyana, and was afterwards the great South Indian religious reformer, Shri Ramanujacharya, rules the Sixth Ray, that of bhakti or devotion. This is the Ray of the devotional saints and mystics of every religion, and the Chohan Jesus has charge of such people, under whatever form they may worship the Divine Being. Nineteen hundred years ago Apollonius of Tyana was sent out by the Brotherhood upon a mission, one feature of which was that he was to found, in various countries, certain magnetic centres. Objects of the nature of talismans were given to him, which he was to bury at these chosen spots, in order that the forces which they radiated might prepare these places to be the centres of great events in the future. Some of these centres have already been utilized, but some have not, and all these latter are to be employed in the immediate future in connection with the work of the coming Christ; so that much of the detail of His work was already definitely planned nearly two thousand years ago, and arrangements even on the physical plane were being made to prepare for it.
Earlier in the same book ...
This plan of borrowing a suitable body is always adopted by the Great Ones when They think it well to descend among men, under conditions such as those which now obtain in the world. The Lord Gautama employed it when He came to attain the Buddha-hood, and the Lord Maitreya took the same course when He visited Palestine two thousand years ago. The only exception known to me is that when a new Bodhisattva assumes the office of World-Teacher after His predecessor has become the Buddha, on His first appearance in the world in that capacity He takes birth as a little child in the ordinary way. Thus did our Lord, the present Bodhisattva, when He took birth as Shri Krishna on the glowing plains of India, to be reverenced and loved with a passion of devotion that has scarcely ever been equalled.
Certainly the Master Morya in the Agni Yoga Teachings confirms what is said here about Apollonius of Tyana and the significant Work which was His Gift to Humanity as a newly attained Adept. Not surprisingly, Master DK also provides us with similiar information in the writings via Alice Bailey.
Every new Master undertakes some such project ... that of Master DK being well known to students of AAB's Teachings. The Master R. gave us the works of Shakespeare, for example, when He was incarnate as Sir Francis Bacon.