Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00696)

Erica,
Thanks for your comments and your posts in regard to HPB and her contents 
about the Bon. Well, we have all read this I think, and due to our very 
limited exposure and direct knowledge by personal investigation of what the Bon are 
for ourselves, have been recipient by proxy of Radha's perception as she has 
published it. But look at the real historical history of each of the Orders of 
Tibet by reading a vast literature now available online that was not there for 
all those people all these many years, and one finds real conflict with the 
popularized version of Theosophy. I think it is important to rather than reject 
out of hand any new valid history of all the elements of Tibetan Orders would 
be to make a decision to remain fixated in a state of stasis of knowledge and 
result in error from which one then operates from, and it a severe limitation 
if one deigns to turn the eyes from the facts. Yes, as Madame Blavatsky 
indicates sorcery and other repugnant practices were done in Tibet but that does 
not mean that all Bon followed the same actions does it? Also sorcery was not 
limited to the Bon, there were plenty of other sanctioned activity in the 
history of the political struggles of the various Orders and the non-buddhist 
shamans.
As I indicated the present Dalai Lama is a direct Sponsor of the Bon, he 
also has written the foreword in books on Bon Dzogchen. do you think he has 
gone insane? let's be honest, blavatskys' S.D. is vast, who has personally 
investigated all pertinent available information, literature, texts, Sutra's, 
rituals, Dieties, Guardians, Dakini's, Monasterys, Kadampa, Kagyu, Sakya, Dolnangpa, 
Gelugpa, Karmapa, and all Orders of Tibet including the Shamans in such depth 
that all that in their possesion is known in fullness? Today the diaspora of 
Tibetan Religionists is vast and the Dalai Lama through the government in 
exile sponsors all of them, you can read this onlline ands ee for yourself. I 
don't advocate magic, sorcery or any other negative practice or support the same 
in any form but what is there today is not the same as was present in 1891. The 
world has changed in major ways and many reformations have taken place in all 
strata. It is up to Theosophists as well as common every day people to try to 
assess the scene periodically and integrate change. This is especially 
productive if new knowledge of importance has appeared where once one had to make 
terribly difficult travel under onnerous conditions and in danger to receive it 
and today all that is required of effective search onlline to update.

Best regards,
John



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