Theos-Talk Archives (December 2006 Message tt00600)

Carl,

You ask: 

Do you know what HPB was referring too? Have you ever read any of 
Ragon's books and calendars? Do you know what Ragon's work was al 
about, and what was him mission and reason for doing it? Do you know 
who al all who Ragon was? Do you know the differences 
between "symbolic Masonry" and "operative Masonry"? Do you know 
anything, at all, about the Secrets of Freemasonry?" 


It seems you challenge me to "prove" that I know the "secrets" of Masonry. 

I claim nothing my brother  but, do those questions  mean you want to discuss 
the "secrets" of Masonry in Theos-talk? 

Do you think I am writing here, or will in the future, write all I know about things? 

I can discuss here things public or nearly public. 

Yet since several of Ragon's books on lodges activities are easily available in 
bookshops at least in Brazil (and books by other masonic authors too),  I will 
tell you one thing which is, in a way, public: that many, or most, masonic vows
 include disciplinary or karmic measures aquivalent to that "clause of 
self-exclusion" and "clause of exclusion" which I have discussed in my 
message below, and which Judas fulfills  in the New Testament, hanging 
himself after his treason against his Master.  

What exactly  is that masonic equivalent  of self-exclusion in each one 
of the different cases?  I will leave that -- and the coresponding leaking 
activity --  for you to tell us if you can afford that. 


But take a look below, to, since the substance of my posting on the 
"Primal Vow"  is public and bibliographically well documented. 

You have the floor,  and take care lest you feel something in that  part 
of human body which goes between the head and the chest, if you know
what I mean with this symbolism.   I will stop at that most simple thing
for now.  

May Karma work well and may you be in peace with your own higher self,  


Carlos. 


ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


Dear Friends,

This is about the "Primal Vow" in Pure Land or Shin Buddhism, and on its exclusion clause.

One of the two primary scriptures of Shin Buddhism is called the “Larger Sukhavati-vyuha”. Author Taitetsu Unno
writes:

“It describes the career of a bodhisatva, a potential Buddha-to-be, by the name of Dharmakara, who makes
forty-eight vows before another Buddha (...).” (1)

According to Unno, the most important among these pledges is the Eigthtenth Vow, better known as the Primal
Vow. It is a vow of sacrifice for all beings.

It says:

“If, when I attain Buddhahood, the sentient beings of the ten quarters, with sincere mind, entrusting
themselves, aspiring to be born in my land, and saying my Name perhaps even ten times, should not be born
there, may I not attain the supreme enlightenment. Excluded are those who commit the five grave offenses and
those who slander the dharma.” (2)

Some students could say the last sentence in this vow is judgemental. Yet, it is not. From a theosophical
viewpoint, such an ‘exclusion clause’ does not actually provoke the exclusion of anyone at the occult level. It
only acknowledges and accepts the fact of an exclusion which has taken place already, and of free will.

Those who slander the teachers, or harm the Teachings, decide to exclude themselves from a certain magnetic
field. It occurs at the inner and subtle level. It is an action at the occult, or non-visible dimensions of
life. Therefore the exclusion clause is not a motor-cause in itself for exclusion or separation, and much less
a punishment. It is a consequence. It is but a decision not to pretend that a broken vessel is still intact.
And, of course, it is done in abstrat, at the level of philosophical principles. Accepting unpleasant facts is
useful because if one does know that something is broken, then one can fix it ; whereas if one pretends it is
still intact, one lives in denial and self-delusion.

In a smaller scale, it has also to do with our everyday lives. By each one of their small daily actions,
students help ( or hinder ) their own gradual inclusion in the higher and inner levels of the so-called "three
refuges", which are:

1) The Dharma (or the Law and Teachings);
2) The Buddha (or the teachers) and,
3) The Sangha (or the community of students).

There are a few useful lessons we can take from that concept of self-inclusion / self-exclusion. One of them is
that we are responsible for our future destiny. We can observe our daily actions and see whether they are
excluding us from, or including us within the wider spirit of the Teaching, in the atmosphere of the teachers
and in the subtle community of earnest students.

We can see, then, up to what extent our daily actions tend to help our access to the higher realms of reality
where our true selves live after all. Thus we can discover better means to enhance our learning process.

Best regards, Carlos.

NOTES:

(1) “Shin Buddhism”, Taitetsu Unno, Doubleday/Random House, New York, 2002, 266 pp., see p. 03.

(2) “Shin Buddhism”, Taitetsu Unno, Doubleday/Random House, see p. 50.









---------- Cabeçalho original -----------

De: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Para: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Cópia: 
Data: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 04:12:01 -0000
Assunto: Theos-World Re: HPB: "Nothing With Masonry"

> Carlos,
> Do you know what HPB was referring too? Have you ever read any of 
> Ragon's books and calendars? Do you know what Ragon's work was al 
> about, and what was him mission and reason for doing it? Do you know 
> who al all who Ragon was? Do you know the differences 
> between "symbolic Masonry" and "operative Masonry"? Do you know 
> anything, at all, about the Secrets of Freemasonry? 
> 
> Carl
> 
> --- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "carlosaveline" 
> <carlosaveline@...> wrote:
> >
> > Friends, 
> >  
> >  
> > HPB explained in no half-words  that disciples of the Masters have 
> nothing to do with modern masonic organizations.  
> >  
> > She wrote in 1889 for `La  Revue Théosophique', in Paris:  
> >  
> > "As far as we  are concerned,  disciples of the Masters of the 
> Orient as we are, we have nothing to do with modern Masonry.  The 
> real secrets of symbolic Masonry are lost, as Ragon, by the way, 
> proves very well. The keystone, the central stone of the arch built 
> by the royal dynasties of Initiates  – ten times prehistoric – has 
> been shaken loose since the close of the lastest mysteries.  The 
> task of destruction,  or  rather of strangulation  and suffocation 
> begun by the Caesars, has finally been completed, in Europe, by the 
> Fathers of the Church. Imported again, since those days, from the 
> sanctuaries of the Far East, the sacred stone was cracked and 
> finally broken into a thousand pieces." (1) 
> >  
> > So HPB says most clearly that "disciples of the Masters of the 
> Orient" indeed "have nothing to do with modern Masonry".   
> >  
> > And the other way around, of course. 
> >  
> >  
> > But this is in the occult and strict sense. 
> >  
> > Although having nothing to do with ritualism, HPB and the 
> theosophists had  friendly relations with some of the members of the 
> Masonry. 
> >  
> > Regards,   Carlos. 
> >   
> >  
> > NOTE: 
> >  
> > (1) "A Danger Signal", a text published in the "HPB Collected 
> Writings", TPH, India/USA, 1973, volume XI, p. 181. 
> >  
> >  
> >  
> > O o o O o o O o o O 
> > 
> > 
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
> 
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