Theos-Talk Archives (June 2005 Message tt00208)

Vladimir, I don't know from where you have this crazy story, but 
Bailey's Tibetan Master is DK a disciple of KH and have nothing to do 
with the name you present from that state in Sikkim, this gives 
people a total wrong idea over the THEOSOPHY, also the search 
machines do, a total mess.
ChristinaTL




- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Vladimir <forums@s...> wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> Since we're digging up history of theosophy over and over again, 
I'd
> like to inquire about the identity of Alice 
Bailey's "Tibetan". I
> haven't seen any info on this subject (excluding Bailey's own 
account,
> of course) apart from published letters of Helena Roerich. I'm 
not
> sure about the validity of this source in the eyes of fellow 
forum
> dwellers, but anyway, she wrote that Alice Bailey became a disciple 
of
> some resident of Sikkim named Laden La, who served the  
local
> government, and that he definitely had absolutely nothing to do 
with
> HPB's Masters. Helena Roerich stated that they (Roerich's family) 
knew
> him in person and that he was a pretty powerful "dark one" who 
aimed
> at distracting as many people as possible from the true Masters 
by
> feeding the ignorant masses with a sophisticated mixture of 
Their
> original teachings with black magic stuff. Nicolas Roerich 
(her
> husband) wrote in his book "The Heart of Asia": "everyone 
treading
> through Sikkim meets courteous attitude of a Tibetan  
General,
> presently at British service, Laden La, who assists travellers 
in
> every way."
> 
> This is what I could find on the internet about (apparently) 
this
> personage. Any comments or suggestions are very welcome, especially 
if
> anyone can provide his photo.
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> A hero of the old school
> 
> Pasang Tshesing profiles Sardar Bahadur SW Laden La 
> 
> A road starting from Clubside Motors leading to the railway 
station
> bears his name . A prominent figure during his lifetime Sardar 
Bahadur
> represented his times. He excelled as a scholar, a diplomat, a 
patron
> of monasteries and charitable deeds. Yet very little about his 
career
> has appeared in print.
> 
> Sonam Wangphel Laden La was born of ancient Sikkimese ancestry on 
16
> June 1876 at Ging, a small village which is three miles to the 
north
> of Darjeeling town. His father named Lodio Lama was the landlord 
and
> high priest of Ging monastery which belonged to the red  
sect
> Lhachung-pa.
> 
> His education began at Darjeeling Government High School. Later 
he
> studied at St Xavier College, Calcutta and graduated from 
Calcutta
> University. He was a `Blue' in Hockey during his college days. In 
1898
> he joined the corps of the Darjeeling Police, and soon 
attained
> official rank. In 1903-4 was deputed to the Staff of the 
Tibetan
> Mission of Colonel Young husband. After this he was an assistant 
to
> Colonel O'Connor in connection with His Holiness the Tashi Lama's 
tour
> throughout India.. In 1906 he assisted the British Government in 
the
> important treaty with Tibet.
> 
> In 1907 he founded the General Buddhist Association of the 
Darjeeling
> District, and became its first President. In 1909 he  
became
> founder-president of the Himalayan Children's Advancement 
Association
> which educated and placed over 600 orphans and poor boys. It is 
said
> that he spent from his own pocket more than Rs 25,000 for this 
noble
> work.
> 
> In 1910 his services were requisitioned by the Political Department 
of
> the Indian government in connection with the Dalai Lama's journey 
to
> meet the Viceroy and make a pilgrimage of the Buddhist holy places 
of
> India. He was subsequently deputed to Tibet to settle terms 
between
> the Chinese and Tibetans as a representative of the  
British
> Government, and part of his duty consisted in helping to lead 
the
> Chinese Amban, LienOYu, and general Chung and the Chinese troops 
out
> of Tibet, whilst Colonel Willoughby held the Indian frontier.
> 
> It was said that the Tibetans were then much incensed against 
the
> Sardar Bahadur because of his services with the Young Husband 
Mission.
> According to rumours at the time of the Mission, in 1904, the 
Tibetan
> Government had even offered a reward of Rs 10,000 for his head 
and
> hands.
> 
> But, after some years, all this was forgotten, and he was appointed 
by
> the Tibetan government to accompany four Tibetan boys chosen from 
good
> families, being sent to England to acquire modern technical 
and
> scientific education so that they could return and train their 
fellow
> countrymen.
> 
> Sonam Wangphel Laden La also went to England as an envoy of 
His
> Holiness the Dalia Lama, carrying letters and presents to 
Buckingham
> Palace. In 1914, after his return, he attended the Tibetan-
Chinese
> Conference at Simla, and thence accompanied the prime minister 
of
> Tibet to Sikkim.
> 
> During World War I, Sonam Wangphel Laden La assisted in raising 
war
> loans and in recruiting the hill tribes. He was mentioned  
in
> dispatches and in 1917 received the military title of Sardar 
Bahadur.
> Then, in 1921, when Sir Charles Bell went to Lhasa with the object 
of
> cementing the friendly relationship with the Tibetan Government, 
the
> Sardar Bahadur was appointed his personal assistant.
> 
> In 1923 the Tibetan government again enjoyed the Sardar 
Bahadur's
> services, for which they had been asking the Government of India 
for
> two years. This time, he organised a Police Force in Lhasa and, 
also,
> the Tibetan Army. During the following year in recognition the 
Dalai
> Lama conferred upon him the highest distinction in Tibet by 
raising
> him to the rank of a Dzasa or Tibetan Peer. Previously, in 1912, 
when
> some misunderstanding had existed between the Dalai Lama and the 
Tashi
> Lama, the Sardar Bahadur had succeeded in bringing about a 
friendly
> agreement between them. For this good service, the Dalai  
Lama
> conferred upon him the title of De-Pon (or General) and a 
Premier
> Class Gold Medal of the Order of the Golden Lion, the first of 
its
> kind struck in Tibet, which is massive gold nugget bearing the name 
of
> the Dalai Lama . Tashi Lama presented the gold medal to Sardar 
Bahadur
> and conferred upon him the title of Deo-nyer-chhm-Po or  
Lord
> Chamberlain of the Court of Tashi Lhunpo.
> 
> The Sardar Bahadur, who was the most active of Tibetan frontier, 
was
> the president and patron of ten Bhuddhist monasteries, including 
those
> at Ghoom, Kurseong, Darjeeling, and Lopchu. Owing almost wholly to 
his
> financial assistance, the Ghoom Monastery was reconstructed after 
the
> disastrous earthquake of 1934, and its Mahayana Chapel built.
> 
> In 1927 he was made a Chevalier of the Leopold II by the King 
and
> Queen of Belgium. In January 1930, he was sent to Lhasa by the 
Indian
> Government to dilute a very serious disagreement between Tibet 
and
> Nepal; there by preventing war between the two countries. For 
this
> outstanding service he was made a Commander of the British Empire.
> 
> Later that same year, he made his last visit to Lhasa. This was 
for
> the purpose of personally presenting Colonel Weir, the 
political
> officer of Sikkim, and his wife to the Dalai Lama. The colonel's 
wife
> was the first English lady to be introduced to the Court of 
His
> Holiness the Dalai Lama at Lhasa.
> 
> In June 1931 the Sardar Bahadur, after 33 years of public 
life,
> retired from government service; but to the day of his death he 
gave
> himself, in the true Bodhisattvic spirit, to the good of others. 
Thus,
> in the same year, he accepted the presidency of the 
Hillmen's
> Association, he was active in the Boy Scouts' Club; in 1923 he 
was
> elected vice chairman of the Darjeeling Municipality, and was 
vested
> with the full authority of a chairman. He was an  
honourary
> aide-de-camp to his excellency the governor of Bengal; and it was 
in
> grateful recognition of the voluntary services which the 
Sardar
> Bahadur rendered in connection with the Three Mount  
Everest
> Expeditions that he was elected a fellow of the Royal 
Geographical
> Society.
> 
> He had scholarly command of ten languages, English, Tibetan, 
Hindi,
> Kirati, Bengali, Nepali, Lepcha and other Himalayan tongues. 
The
> Sardar Bahadur was one of the really true Buddhists of our 
generation,
> who not only fostered but also practically applied the precepts of 
the
> Enlightened One. He was a fervent devotee of the great  
Guru
> Padma-Sambhava.
> 
> Sardar Bahadur SW Laden La breathed his last in Kalimpong on 
26
> December 1936. For his many educational, religious and 
philanthropic
> activities he was probably the most beloved citizen of Darjeeling, 
as
> indicated by his mile-long funeral procession to the Ghoom 
Monastery.
> The Darjeeling Times of 2 January 1937 published a special four-
page
> article on Sardar Bahadur, entitled `The passing of a Truly 
Great
> Man'.
> 
> http://66.102.9.104/search?
q=cache:KLmwO7J86T4J:www.thestatesman.org/page.news.php%3Fclid%3D31%
26theme%3D%26usrsess%3D1%26id%
3D77676+Sardar+Bahadur+S.+W.+Laden+La&hl=ru%20target=nw
> 
> [Sorry for the link to Google's cache, but the original page didn't
> open.]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> "Mrs. Salanave asked Sardar Bahadur S. W. Laden La, of 
Darjeeling, a
> well-known and very independent Buddhist scholar of Tibetan 
ancestry,
> if he thought that H. P. Blavatsky had real "inside information" 
about
> the higher Tibetan Buddhism. He replied that she certainly had, 
and
> that The Voice of the Silence contained the most profound 
Tibetan
> teachings."
> 
> H. P. Blavatsky and the Theosophical Movement by Charles J. Ryan
> http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/hpb-tm/hpbtm-8.htm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> 
> 
> Here is a digest of sorts on the subject of AAB's texts vs. HPB's 
just
> to ease search for the readers:
> 
> 
#=====================================================================
> # Daniel Caldwell wrote:
> 
> Let me start off by saying that as a student of HPB's writings, I 
take
> to heart her statements on Pseudo-Theosophy. For example, she 
wrote
> about one brand of Pseudo-Theosophy:
> 
> ". . . A close examination will assuredly reveal. . . 
materials
> largely stolen . . . from Theosophical writings. . . [and] 
distorted
> and falsified so as to be palmed off on the unwary as revelations 
of
> new and undreamed of truths. But many will neither have the time 
nor
> the opportunity for such a thorough investigation; and before 
they
> become aware of the imposture they may be led far from the 
Truth. . .
> . Nothing is more dangerous to Esoteric Truth than the garbled 
and
> distorted versions disfigured to suit the prejudices and tastes of 
men
> in general."
> 
> <...>
> 
> Please understand that I do NOT question the sincerity of AAB or 
of
> her students
> 
> BUT
> 
> (1) from the "inner resonance and intuition" perspective, I 
am
> convinced that AAB's teachings are NOT derived from the real DK or 
KH.
> I perceive a very unique "vibration" in HPB's and the 
Mahatmas'
> writings but it is totally missing from AAB's writings.
> 
> I am open to the possibility that my "intuitive sense" is somehow 
off
> but my intellectual study of both HPB's and AAB's writings 
only
> confirms my "intuition."
> 
> http://theos-talk.com/archives/200301/tt00408.html
> 
> 
> 
#=====================================================================
> # Jerry Hejka-Ekins wrote:
> 
> From my earlier perusal of AAB's writings, I found that many of her
> teachings were drawn directly from Besant and Leadbeater's E.S. 
> writings, which to this day, are not publicly available. For the 
E.S. 
> to publicly acknowledge that AAB was publishing secret E.S. 
material, 
> would give away to the public the nature of the very material the 
> E.S. is trying to keep secret.
> 
> http://theos-talk.com/archives/200301/tt00090.html
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/10238
> 
> 
> The Neo-theosophy had its roots in two places that I know of: 1) 
In
> Subba Row's Esoteric Teachings to CWL and others and, 2) through 
the
> London Lodge Inner Group, which CWL was a member, and where 
Sinnett
> and company were getting Mahatmic teachings through a medium. 
These
> teachings began to become main stream in the Theosophical 
Journals
> after Besant's involvement with the London Lodge and CWL beginning 
in
> 1894. The Maitreya teaching was originally tied to Krishnamurti, 
the
> supposed vehicle for the Maitreya/Christ return. Besant, in an ES 
talk
> in 1909 or 10, presented the earliest (that I'm aware of) 
full
> description of what later became credited as the  
Bailey
> hierarchy—Maitreya and all. This was published in The Link (a 
London
> ES journal) and in the American EST Bulletin in 1910, I think, but 
no
> later than this. Also in January 1912, CWL and AB were called by 
the
> Maitreya to prepare Krishnamurti and Jinarajadasa for their 
second
> initiation. The boys were taken to Taormina in Sicily for 
the
> training. Much of the material in Masters and the Path comes 
from
> these early events. The account of this 1912 initiation begins on 
pg.
> 298 in my 2nd edition (1927). You might also look at Joseph Ross' 
book
> on the Taormina stay. There is a lot of material made public there 
for
> the first time.
> 
> According to her Autobiography, (If my memory serves me 
correctly)
> Bailey's first contact with Theosophy was through the Pacific 
Grove
> Lodge around 1912. She moved to Krotona Hollywood a year or 
two
> thereafter where she joined the ES, and gained access to the 
material
> concerning the inner government and initiations, which was 
only
> circulated through the ES at that time. However, you will find 
hints
> of it in the Theosophist. Bailey states in her Autobiography that 
she
> began taking psychic dictation from "the Tibetan" around 1917 or 
18
> and left Krotona shortly afterwards (I'm recalling from  
her
> Autobiography that I read years ago, so my memory may not 
exactly
> match her dates, but they should be close). Initiation Human and 
Solar
> was published in 1922—her first book—I think. I read it some 
years
> ago, and found it very faithful to the ES teachings as they 
were
> presented from 1910-1918.
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/10242
> 
> I apologize for not being as precise as I ought to have been. I had 
in
> mind a later book Joseph Ross published in 2000. The exact citation 
in
> MLA style is:
> 
> Ross, Joseph E. Krishnamurti The Taormina Seclusion - 1912.
> n.p.:[author], 2000. 257 pp. ISBN 0-7388-5198-1
> 
> I believe that there are far more unpublished source documents on 
this
> event in this book than all of the hitherto published documents put
> together.
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/10249
> 
> 
> 
#=====================================================================
> # Nick Weeks wrote:
> 
> If your DK is same as HPB's DK why are his MAIN teachings opposed 
to
> the real Brothers teachings? If your DK is presenting the next 
stage
> in a series of new age teachings, why were they given out around 
1910?
> That date is only 20 years after HPB's death. Do you really think 
the
> Brothers would have HPB write 25 or so volumes of material only 
to
> have it replaced in 20 years by stuff & nonsense that opposes 
and
> distorts her BASIC Theosophy? Do you think human evolution zips 
along
> at such a frantic pace?
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/10327
> 
> 
> #==============================================
> # Leon Maurer wrote:
> 
> My 20 year comparative study of both the Secret Doctrine and 
the
> Treatise on White Magic have never shown any reasonable 
relationship
> between the two teachings. In fact the contradictions stand out 
in
> more places that I was ever be able to count. And while the SD, 
based
> on rational Hermetism and sound scientific thinking, is 
clearly
> decipherable through studied intuition tempered by reason, the TWM 
is
> a garbled mess of phony mysticism, irrationally linked to the 
mystical
> references in the SD, and without any connection to the 
rational
> physical and metaphysical order of the universe...  
Designed
> (sincerely, I would imagine) to foster a blind faith in the 
personal
> God and savior favored by AAB, based on her early brainwashing by 
her
> parent's Christian biases, along with AB and CWL and 
their "Liberal
> Catholic Church" nonsense -- that was completely repudiated by 
their
> supposed "Messiah" JK. Then along came AAB who conjured up DK, and 
put
> him in the fall guy role a live messiah could never have gotten 
away
> with. Fact is, I studied AAB before I got to the SD, and when I 
found
> almost total disagreement with the Hermetic as well as the 
Tibetan
> Buddhist teachings, I then went to the SD and found the real 
truth,
> undistorted, and entirely consistent with fundamental 
principles,
> first page to last. Not to say, however (discounting AAB's 
personal
> biases and prejudices) that the humanistic and "good will" 
motives
> behind the AAB teachings are not worthwhile.
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/10520
> 
> 
======================================================================
> 
> For specific comparisons HPB vs. AAB see:
> 
> Theosophy's Shadow [A Critical Look at the Claims and Teachings of
> Alice A. Bailey] by Nicholas Weeks
> http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/baileyal.htm
> 
> The Pseudo-Occultism of Mrs. A. Bailey by Alice Leighton Cleather 
and Basil Crump
> http://users.aol.com/uniwldarts/uniworld.artisans.guild/HPBvsAB.html
> 
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/10619
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/10703
> 
> 
======================================================================
> 
> 
> Hope this helps...
> 
> 
> Vladimir