Sacred Texts Study Group

Amitabha
Very likely. Yet Amida-Buddha is not a “fabulous” personage, since (a) “Amida” is the Senzar form of “Âdi”; “Âdi-Buddhi” and “Âdi-Buddha,”† as already shown, existed ages ago as a Sanskrit term for “Primeval Soul” and “Wisdom”; and (b) the name was applied to Gautama Sâkyamuni, the last Buddha in India, from the seventh century, when Bu…[Read more]

287- If thou would’st have that stream of hard-earn’d knowledge, of Wisdom heaven-born, remain sweet running waters, thou should’st not leave it to become a stagnant pond.

As the flower of a lotus,
Arisen in water, blossoms,
Pure-scented and pleasing the mind,
Yet is not drenched by the water,

In the same way, born in the world,
The Buddha…[Read more]

284- Shall he not use the gifts which it confers for his own rest and bliss, his well-earn’d weal and glory — he, the subduer of the great Delusion?
285- Nay, O thou candidate for Nature’s hidden lore! If one would follow in the steps of holy Tathâgata, those gifts and powers are not for Self.

The disciple who has the power of entrance, and is st…[Read more]

Section 11 (Stanzas 281- 295 ) Bodhisattvic Powers and Renunciation

281- Know, Conqueror of Sins, once that a Sowanee (23) hath cross’d the seventh Path, all Nature thrills with joyous awe and feels subdued. The silver star now twinkles out the news to the night-blossoms, the streamlet to the pebbles ripples out the tale; dark ocean-waves will…[Read more]

The 6th portal has been traversed; before approaching the final portal we have to revisit certain notions of the the Bodhisattva path and the Nirmanakaya vesture, beginning with Section 11 (Stanzas 281- 295) Bodhisattvic Powers and Renunciation.

279- Thou hast estranged thyself from objects of the senses, travelled on the “Path of seeing,” on the…[Read more]

276- Henceforth thy way is clear right through the Vîrya gate, the fifth one of the Seven Portals. Thou art now on the way that leadeth to the Dhyâna haven, the sixth, the Bodhi Portal.

Bodhi: see stanza 198.
Dhyana: see stanzas 89 & 199.
Dhyâna (Sk.). In Buddhism one of the six Paramitas or perfections, a state of abstraction which carries th…[Read more]

We have passed through the Virya gate, which required the mobilization of considerable resources of courage. This gate is perhaps related to a vivid passage in Light on the Path (II, 1-4):
1. Stand aside in the coming battle, and though thou fightest be not thou the warrior.
2. Look for the warrior and let him fight in thee.
3. Take his orders for…[Read more]

275- But if thou cam’st prepared, then have no fear.
. . . . . . . . .
The pathway through earth-life leads through many conflicts and trials, but he who does naught to conquer them can expect no triumph. Let then the anticipation of a fuller introduction into our mysteries under more congenial circumstances the creation of which…[Read more]

274- Remember, thou that fightest for man’s liberation (20), each failure is success, and each sincere attempt wins its reward in time. The holy germs that sprout and grow unseen in the disciple’s soul, their stalks wax strong at each new trial, they bend like reeds but never break, nor can they e’er be lost. But when the hour has struck they…[Read more]

72- Prepare, and be forewarned in time. If thou hast tried and failed, O dauntless fighter, yet lose not courage: fight on and to the charge return again, and yet again.

He must be the first to change his modes of life; and, regarding the study of the occult mysteries as the upper step in the ladder of Knowledge must loudly proclaim it such…[Read more]

Section 9 (Stanzas 272- 276) The Seven Gates – 5- Virya

Perseverance has three classifications:
A. perseverance of armor,
B. perseverance of application, and
C. insatiable perseverance.
The first is the excellent motivation, the second one is excellent applied effort, and the third one is the perfection of these two. (Gampopa. Gyaltshen, K…[Read more]

Lanoo-Sravakas, rejoice, for we have arrived at the momentous occasion of the crossing over of the mysterious bridge between the lower quaternary and the higher trinity, having completed two thirds of fragment 3.
Section 8 (Stanzas 260- 272) Jnana Marga and the Unshakeable Fixity of Mind
After reaching the “Gate of Balance”, the middle portal,…[Read more]

269- Beware, lest in the care of Self thy Soul should lose her foothold on the soil of Deva-knowledge.
270- Beware, lest in forgetting SELF, thy Soul lose o’er its trembling mind control, and forfeit thus the due fruition of its conquests.

Those who wish to guard their practice / Should very attentively guard their minds / For those who do not…[Read more]

266- Thou hast to reach that fixity of mind in which no breeze, however strong, can waft an earthly thought within. Thus purified, the shrine must of all action, sound, or earthly light be void; e’en as the butterfly, o’ertaken by the frost, falls lifeless at the threshold — so must all earthly thoughts fall dead before the fane.
267- Behold it w…[Read more]

265- Till then, a task far harder still awaits thee: thou hast to feel thyself ALL-THOUGHT, and yet exile all thoughts from out thy Soul.

Thought, meditation, Vichara—- herein lies the secret of success. Does not the thrice-great Hermes say “ without philosophy there is no lofty religion,” and does not the Holy Sankara entreat you thus :— “‘Kasya…[Read more]

Correction; Eight Miseries (Edkins, Chinese Buddhsim, p. 18): Birth; decay; sickness; death; to be conjoined with things which we dislike; to be separated from things we like; not to get what we want; and to get that which we do not want. (see Samyutta Nikaya, chapter 56)

There seems to be another important section in this bridge between the quaternary and the trinity of the 7 Paramitas:
Section 8 (Stanzas 260- 272 ) Jnana Marga and the Unshakeable Fixity of Mind

260- Thine “Isle” is the deer, thy thoughts the hounds that weary and pursue his progress to the stream of Life. Woe to the deer that is o’ertaken by…[Read more]

259- A sense of pride would mar the work. Aye, build it strong, lest the fierce rush of battling waves, that mount and beat its shore from out the great World Mâyâ’s Ocean, swallow up the pilgrim and the isle — yea, even when the victory’s achieved.

I have said, a little way back, that after parting with the sense of individual rights, the dis…[Read more]

. . . . . . . . .
257- Thou hast now crossed the moat that circles round the gate of human passions. Thou hast now conquered Mâra and his furious host.

Perceiving the body to be (fragile) like a clay pot, (and) fortifying the mind as though it were a city, with the sword of wisdom make war on Mara. Free from attachment, keep…[Read more]

252- Hold firm! Thou nearest now the middle portal, the gate of Woe, with its ten thousand snares.
In eastern poetics, ten thousand generally signifies innumerable, a large unspecified quantity. For example: Ten thousand Named (yu-ming), the mother (mu) of ten thousand things (Tao Te Ching, Ellen Chen, transl. 1,4)

253- Have mastery o’er thy…[Read more]