Theos-Talk Archives (December 1998 Message tt00049)

>
>The passage I was thinking of is in letter 8, (29 2nd ed.):  "...were you
>already so far advanced on THE PATH, friend, that this simple transmission
>of ideas should not be encumbered by the conditions of matter, the union
>of your mind with ours -- prevented by its induced incapabilities!  Such
>is unfortunately the inherieted and self-acquired grossness of the Western
>mind... To some little extent that faculty can be acquired by the
>Europeans through study and meditation but -- that's all."
>

Thanks for the quote. I see where you're coming from.


>
>I would not go that far. It is many of the techniques that focus on the
>body, (astral, pranic or physical), that befoul us.
>
>Nicholas:


Well, yeah some do, and some don't. You can't just rush
in and hope for the best. Reading and study are essential
preparations together with ethical development.


>Intellectual "misunderstandings" I guess you mean. Tantric practice "by
>the book," without a lama, is just one of avenues for disaster I'm thinking
>of.  I have read in one of the American dharma periodicals of guys
>and gals seeking karmamudras for "their bodhisattva practices".  I have
>met a couple of ladies who asked "do you know much about tantra".
>Further discussion showed they meant tantric sex.  For the vast majority
>(I will be very happy to be wrong about this) the copulation (not the
>union) is what attracts and motivates.
>
>

I have to agree with you.

Jerry S.