Theos-Talk Archives (January 2004 Message tt00015)

Message: 7
Date: Thu, 01 Jan 2004 16:51:05 -0500
From: Mauri <mhart@idirect.ca>
Subject: re Leon and Master Jesus

Leon wrote: << Didn't the Master Jesus 
say, "The Kingdom of Heaven must be
taken with the sword?">>

How would you know, Leon, what Master 
Jesus said? I'm tending to be under the 
impression that whatever anybody said a 
couple of thousand years ago might, at 
best, have been somewhat altered over time 
by a number of people.

<<And, didn't HPB say, " . . . by one's 
self devised and self determined efforts?" 
Doesn't effort = force -- even if 
interpreted as a directed force of will 
leading to "concentration" of the mind 
that is the first and final rule of 
meditation? In the "Ten Bulls" koan of 
Zen teaching, the bull, representing the 
mind, must be conquered by force. Isn't 
that conquering shown in the Sixth Bull as 
the boy riding his bull with a whip in his 
belt and his hands on a flute? Aren't all 
true students of theosophy, that boy? >>

Last time I used any kind of what might be 
called "force" in my meditation, a long 
time ago, the result was such an odd 
sensantion on one side of my head that I 
had to give up that kind of meditation. 
Lately, my "just being" doesn't seem to 
have given me any problems. I guess I 
might be saying that how one interprets 
"force" might be relevant in connection 
with whatever, not that I would use that 
word in relation to spirituality or 
meditation, myself.

Speculatively, and best wishes,
Mauri


BUDDHA’S LAST DISCOURSE 
III – The Virtue of Energetic Striving

O bhikkhus, if you strive diligently, nothing will be difficult 
for you. As a little water trickling constantly can bore a hole 
through a rock, so must you ever strive energetically. If the mind of 
a disciple becomes idle and inattentive, he will resemble one who 
tries to make fire by friction, but rests before the heat is 
sufficient. However much he wants fire, he cannot get it. Such is the 
meaning of energetic striving.


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