Theos-Talk Archives (June 2007 Message tt00161)

KH "Phoney", "Pure dugpa BS!" Letter:  
Historical Background and Summary

All the material below when taken in its totality 
gives readers a helpful summary of findings.
-------------------------------------------------------

I don't have alot of time this morning but I want to give
a historical overview of this KH "Phoney", "Pure dugpa BS!" Letter.

After extensive research, I have found that the earliest
extant version of this KH "letter" is found in William Judge's
Oct.-Dec. 1888 diary.  This was the time period when Judge
went to London and saw HPB.  

Within the next 7 months or so, portions of this "letter" appeared 
PUBLICLY in THE PATH.

In the July 1889 PATH on the second page (p. 98) of the lead article, 
Julia Keightley writes:

"What is our present Duty? Hear the words of the Master. 'Judge
the action, not the person. You never know the true motives. Never
judge human nature on its lowest level. Every one has a potential
Dugpa in him.' "

Julia adds a footnote to this quote:

"Dugpa, black magician; one devoted wholly to self. This [quotation
above] and other quotations [later in this same article] are from
the private letters of the Adept."

The quotations later in this same article can be seen from the
following facsimile:

http://blavatskyarchives.com/pathjuly1889.htm

She prefaces the quotations as follows:

"...let us read some remarks fron an Oriental Adept which came into
our possession many months ago...."

Now consider the following.

William Judge in late 1888 WRITES into his OWN personal and private 
diary this KH material. 

Then within 7 or so months of that time in his OWN Theosophical 
magazine THE PATH, he as editor ALLOWS the lead article written by 
Julia Keightley to give out to the public a good number of quotations 
from this SAME KH material. The article attributes this material to   
"the Master", "the Adept" and "an Oriental Adept."

Is it such a stretch of the imagination to assume that Mr. Judge 
himself considered this KH material as coming from the real Master 
KH?  He certainly knew about the material from what he had copied in 
his own private diary!!

H.P. Blavatsky herself quotes TWICE from Julia's lead article 
(containing the KH material" when she wrote THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY 
which was issued later in 1889.  Surely H.P.B. was aware of this KH 
material.  Can we assume that HPB at the same time would have 
considered the material as "phoney" and "pure dugpa BS"?

Then on page 142 of the August, 1889 issue of THE PATH,
one finds an article titled:

ABOUT BLACK AND WHITE MAGICIANS.

This is followed by a question:

"How is one to recognize a black magician, and how to treat such an
one?"

Then four paragraphs answer the question and the answer is signed:

HADJI ERINN, which is one of William Judge's pen names.

Now the first sentence of the first paragraph of the answer reads:

"It has been well said by H.P. Blavatsky that 'each one has a
potential black magician within.' "

Surely AT LEAST some readers of this August issue would have 
remembered a similar quote given from "the Master" only the month 
before:

"Every one has a potential Dugpa in him."

Here we have not only Julia giving a quote from the Master but the 
next month Mr. Judge attributing a similar quote to H.P. Blavatsky!

Again I ask:  is it so hard to believe that not only Judge but H.P.B. 
herself knew about this material?  Goodness any reader - even an 
outsider!! - could read both these July and August issues and see 
that these quotes were similar if not identical!

If these two quotes are as Jake now contends "phoney" and "pure duga 
BS!" why would either Mr. Judge or Mme. Blavatsky allow such things 
to be published and publicized in one of the leading Theosophical 
magazines??? In both cases the material is attributed either to "the 
Master" or to H.P. Blavatsky herself!

One would think that if these statements are misleading or bogus or
false that either Mr. Judge or Madame Blavatsky herself would have
written something indicating that H.P. Blavatsky NEVER SAID such a
false thing, etc., etc.

We can look at this same time period and see that Madame Blavatsky 
herself was not shy about speaking up and correcting misinformation

And in at least 3 OTHER articles in THE PATH over the next one to two 
years when H.P. Blavatsky and William Judge where both alive and hard 
at work, Julia writes even MORE articles in THE PATH quoting from 
this KH material which Jake now wants us to believe is "phoney" and 
even "pure dugpa BS!"

And the story doesn't stop here.

This SAME KH material was used in March 1891 in the following 
document.

AT MME. BLAVATSKY'S OWN DIRECTION, Mr. Judge started a periodical for 
the American Esoteric School students titled: Suggestions and Aids.

In the March 1, 1891 issue of S & A, the reader finds that one of
HPB's esoteric groups had written a paper titled:

THE SEVEN WORLDS.

See link below which shows 2 pages from this particular "Suggestions
and Aids":

http://blavatskyarchives.com/khmsssuggandaids.htm

The article "The Seven Worlds" starts at the bottom of page
343.

If you look on page 344 at what I have marked as line 15 you will
see the words: (MS. of a Teacher.) Line 1 (on page 343) which
is a diagram and lines 2-15 on page 344 have been quoted/paraphrased
from the KH "letter" or manuscript. 

>From this S & A document, the student sees that one of HPB's
esoteric groups was given a copy of the KH MS which was credited in
the paper as simply:

(MS. of a Teacher.)

This shows that the KH MSS/Letter/document was being used even by
one of HPB's esoteric groups AS EARLY AS March 1891.

In other words, acknowledgement to this KH/Teacher MSS was given in 
the esoteric periodical that Mr. Judge started under the directions 
of the Outer Head of the Esoteric School, HPB herself.

Then also in 1891, in a Esoteric School pamphlet on meditation, the 
KH material dealing with meditating on the image of the Master is 
given.  At no time later, did Mr. Judge point out that these quotes 
are phoney.  Not a word.

Then when E.S. Instruction #5 was issued, we find the same KH 
material quoted again!  I give the transcription of some of the 
relevant passages of this KH Concentration letter as found in ES. 
Instruction #5.

See:

http://blavatskyarchives.com/khletterinesinstr5.htm

WHY WOULD JUDGE (after HPB's death) include portions of
this KH Concentration letter in E.S. Instruction #5?

In at least 2 editions of this Instruction #5, one finds the
relevant KH Concentration letter and it is even attributed to Master
Koot Hoomi....

Now Jake has come up with all sorts of "reasons" for dismissing the 
importance of the KH material appearing in Instruction No. 5. 

For example, he wrote:

"Maybe whoever was typing up the Instruction inserted
material (the short section containing the phoney adept letter could
be removed without destroying the context, and the whole
Instruction would be in a more consistent 'tone.')"

In other words, Judge was UNaware of what was done.

Jake apparently is trying to tell us that Mr. Judge was so careless 
and so inattentive that he would not be aware (as Outer Co-Head or 
Outer Head of the Esoteric School) of what was published in this
Instruction with his own name appended at the end.

BUT THINK ABOUT THIS:

These so-called "phoney" quotes that wound up in ES
Instruction #5 are ALSO to be found in Mr. Judge's own personal diary 
for Oct.-Dec. 1888.

If Mr. Judge transcribed this so-called "phoney" letter in his own
1888 diary, is it such a stretch to conclude that he ALSO included
this material in ES Instruction #5?

Plus he also ALLOWED as editor of THE PATH and also editor of 
SUGGESTIONS AND AIDS, for variosu articles to appear over the years 
including more material from this "phoney" KH letter.

Will Jake now contend that Mr. Judge was UNaware of any of this KH 
material in his own diary, in several articles in THE PATH, in 
SUGGESTIONS AND AIDS, in the 1891 ES pamphlet on meditation and last 
but not least in HPB's Esoteric Instructions #5????

Or will Jake now contend that Mr. Judge was aware of this material or 
at least of some of it but allowed "phoney" KH material to be 
distributed to the general public and to Theosophical students and 
Esoteric members.....??

OBTW, among Mrs. Alice Cleather's private papers is a document titled:

"From a Paper of Notes made from a Master's Letter."

Mrs. Cleather was a member of HPB's Inner Group in London.

This document INCLUDES the three KH quotes from ES Instruction #5
PLUS more KH attributed passages on concentration and meditation.

And Basil Crump, Mrs. Cleather's trusted colleague, in an article in 
THE CANADIAN THEOSOPHIST, August 1942 writes:

"The Master K.H., in a LETTER on the difference between the 'White
Gelugpas' and the 'Black Dugpas', says : 'It is impossible to
worship both sides of Nature at once..... '".

THIS MATERIAL IS ALSO IN THE SO-CALLED "PHONEY" LETTER.

No doubt, both Mrs. Cleather and Mr. Crump considered this material 
as authentic KH.  

And there is some indirect evidence that would lead one to conclude 
that this KH material as given by Mrs. Cleather and Mr. Crump was 
also given to other members of HPB's Inner Group.
  
One last consideration.

Jake tells us that it is obvious that this material is "phoney" 
and "pure duga BS", yet other students on Theos-Talk in the last year 
or so (Ken Small, John S., and others) have given their considered 
opinions that the material is not "phoney", etc. but is consistent 
with various other Theosophical teachings as given by HPB.

So what is so obvious to Jake is not obvious to other students.  Why 
is that???

Of course, Jake is entitled to his own opinions whatever they may 
be.  I am not debating that.  Jake can believe anything he wants.  
MOre power to him. 

But I write all of the above so that other students who may not have 
an opinion yet will be more informed of these matters.

I personally now consider the material to be authentic KH material 
although at the very beginning of my studies, I too had some doubts 
and questions.  My studies over the years (some of which is 
summarized above) has resulted in my current understanding.

This is a first draft of this posting.  As soon as possible I plan to 
publish a more detailed and finished summary on my website so that 
all of these facts will be readily accessible to interested readers 
and students.

Daniel
http://hpb.cc