Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt00966)

Dear Friends, 

Each aspirant to Wisdom must follow this own heart and develop discernment. This is the teaching of HPB.  It is present in the Mahatma Letters. Buddha taught it. 
 
 
Take a look at  the  Buddha?s teaching on the   autonomy of the truth-seeker,  as given by Christmas Humphreys  (1) , who is an authoritative source in Buddhism:   
 
 
?Do not be misled by report or tradition or hearsay. Do not be misled by proficiency in the Collections (of Scriptures), nor by mere logic and inference, nor after considering reasons, nor after reflection on some view and approval of it, nor because it fits becoming, nor because the recluse (who holds it) is your teacher. But when you know  for yourselves: These things are not good, these things are faulty, these things are censured by  the intelligent, these things, when performed and undertaken, conduce to loss and sorrow ? then do you reject  them.?(2)  
 
As to ?The Voice of Silence?, in the second verse of its Fragment III we find these words: 
 
 
?Prepare thyself, for thou wilt have to travel on alone. The Teacher can but point the way. The Path is one, the means to reach the  goal must vary with the  Pilgrims.? (3) 
 
What about the ritualistic fancies brought by Annie Besant to the theosophical movement?  

The Buddha says: 
 
?When ignorance has been got rid of  and knowledge has arisen, one does not grasp after sense pleasures, speculative views, rites and customs, the theory of self.? (4) 
 
 
Regards,  Carlos. 
 
 
NOTES:
 
(1)  C. Humphreys split from the Theosophical Society (Adyar) in 1924,  during the ?festival of initiations?, when Leadbeater posed as an Arhat and A. Besant and J. Wedgwood as Adepts. Humphreys  founded the Buddhist Society, in London, and played a pioneer role in bringing true Buddhiusm to the West. Born in 1901, he died in 1984. 
 
(2) ?The Wisdom of Buddhism?, edited by Christmas Humphreys, Curson-Humanities, U.K., 1987, Copyright The Buddhist Society, London,  280 pp., see p. 71. 
 
(3) ?The Voice of the Silence?, translated and annotated by H. P. Blavatsky,  TPH, Wheaton,  Ill.,  USA,  1992, see p. 45.
 
(4) ?The Wisdom of Buddhism?, edited by Christmas Humphreys,  see p. 81.  
 
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