Re: HPB's "Untruths"
May 11, 1998 01:49 PM
by Jerry Schueler
> By what standard do you take HPB to task for giving "wrong" and
>"untrue" statements?
By comparing what HPB said against what modern Tibetans
say.
> Jerry, are you saying that HPB incorrectly cited
>Buddhist doctrines, or that the teachings she gave are wrong?
I am saying that she incorrectly cited a few Buddhist Doctrines.
Most of what she says is right, and as far as I know she was
the first westerner to provide valid info on the Mahayana.
Now it turns out that the Tibetan version of Buddhism is
called Vajrayana, and their tantric version is called Tantrayana,
neither of which HPB mentions.
> If you
>are saying that HPB misrepresented or misunderstood a particular tenet
>of a specific religion (e.g., Buddhism), we should only keep in mind
>that HPB made no claim to infallibility.
She did not misrepresent Buddhism, but she did misrepresent
Mahayana's version of the three bodies, especially the nirmanakaya.
The idea that she made no claim to infallibility is exactly my point.
Dallas thinks that she is infallible.
> She admitted to making
>mistakes, of being human, in other words, and of course could have
>missed an idea from time to time. In that case, I would have to agree
>with you.
She also was not that great with English and probably just wrote
a fewe things wrong that seemed right to her (she knew what she
meant to say).
>On the other hand, if you are saying that HPB did not know
>the ancient, occult doctrine, as taught to her by her Teachers, then how
>do you know that?
She knew. But we have been arguing over exactly who or what
her teachers were. Were they Tibetans? Were they Hindus?
> By what means do YOU know the truth, but HPB did
>not? How would you know what she was taught, or what the adepts of
>antiquity taught, except by reading her works?
I am at a loss to know what you mean here. I have found at least
two mistakes in her INNER GROUP TEACHINGS, for example.
They are obvious. One is the word nadiis where it should be
cakras, for example.
Jerry S.
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