The PATH is one, Disciple, yet in the end, twofold. Marked
are its stages by four and seven Portals. At one end - bliss immediate, and
at the other - bliss deferred. Both are of merit the reward: the choice is
thine.
The One becomes the two, the
Open and the
Secret (
35). The first one leadeth to the goal, the second, to
Self-Immolation.
When to the Permanent is sacrificed the Mutable, the prize is thine: the
drop returneth whence it came. The
Open PATH leads to the changeless
change - Nirvana, the glorious state of Absoluteness, the Bliss past human
thought.
Thus, the first Path is LIBERATION.
But Path the Second is - RENUNCIATION, and therefore called the "Path of
Woe."
That
Secret Path leads the Arhan to mental woe unspeakable; woe for
the living Dead (
36), and helpless pity for the men
of Karmic sorrow, the fruit of Karma Sages dare not still.
For it is written: "teach to eschew all causes; the ripple of effect, as
the great tidal wave, thou shalt let run its course."
The "Open Way," no sooner hast thou reached its goal, will lead thee to
reject the Bodhisattvic body and make thee enter the thrice glorious state
of Dharmakaya (
37) which is oblivion of the World
and men for ever.
The "Secret Way" leads also to Paranirvanic bliss - but at the close
of Kalpas without number; Nirvanas gained and lost from boundless pity and
compassion for the world of deluded mortals.
But it is said "The last shall be the greatest,"
Samyak Sambuddha,
the Teacher of Perfection, gave up his SELF for the salvation of the World,
by stopping at the threshold of Nirvana - the pure state.
.
Thou hast the knowledge now concerning the two Ways. Thy time
will come for choice, O thou of eager Soul, when thou hast reached the end
and passed the seven Portals. Thy mind is clear. No more art thou entangled
in delusive thoughts, for thou hast learned all. Unveiled stands truth and
looks thee sternly in the face. She says:
"Sweet are the fruits of Rest and Liberation for the sake of
Self;
but sweeter still the fruits of long and bitter duty. Aye, Renunciation for
the sake of others, of suffering fellow men."
He, who becomes Pratyeka-Buddha (
38), makes his
obeisance but to his Self. The Bodhisattva who has won the battle, who holds
the prize within his palm, yet says in his divine compassion:
"For others' sake this great reward I yield" - accomplishes the greater
Renunciation.
A SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD is he.
Behold! The goal of bliss and the long Path of Woe are at the furthest end.
Thou canst choose either, O aspirant to Sorrow, throughout the coming cycles!
. . . .
OM VAJRAPANI
HUM.
Notes ...
(
35). The "Open" and the "Secret Path" - or the
one taught to the layman, the exoteric and the generally accepted, and the
other the Secret Path - the nature of which is explained at initiation.
BACK TO TOP
(
36). Men ignorant of the Esoteric truths and Wisdom
are called "the living Dead."
BACK TO TOP
(
37).
Vide infra, Part III.
34. - (
34) - This
same popular reverence calls "Buddhas of Compassion" those
Bodhisattvas
who, having reached the rank of an Arhat (i.e., having completed the
fourth
or
seventh Path), refuse to pass into the Nirvanic state or "don the
Dharmakaya robe and cross to the other shore," as it would then become
beyond their power to assist men even so little as Karma permits. They prefer
to remain invisibly (in Spirit, so to speak) in the world, and contribute
toward man's salvation by influencing them to follow the Good Law, i.e., lead
them on the Path of Righteousness. It is part of the exoteric Northern Buddhism
to honour all such great characters as Saints, and to offer even prayers
to them, as the Greeks and Catholics do to their Saints and Patrons; on the
other hand, the esoteric teachings countenance no such thing. There is a
great difference between the two teachings. The exoteric layman hardly knows
the real meaning of the word
Nirmanakaya - hence the confusion and
inadequate explanations of the Orientalists. For example Schlagintweit believes
that
Nirmanakaya-body, means the physical form assumed by the Buddhas
when they incarnate on earth - "the least sublime of their earthly encumbrances"
(vide "Buddhism in Tibet") - and he proceeds to give an entirely false view
on the subject. The real teaching is, however, this: -
The three Buddhic bodies or forms are styled: -
1.
Nirmanakaya.
2.
Sambhogakaya.
3.
Dharmakaya.
The first is that ethereal form which one would assume when leaving his
physical he would appear in his astral body - having in addition all the
knowledge of an Adept. The
Bodhisattva develops it in himself as he
proceeds on the Path. Having reached the goal and refused its fruition, he
remains on Earth, as an Adept; and when he dies, instead of going into Nirvana,
he remains in that glorious body he has woven for himself,
invisible
to uninitiated mankind, to watch over and protect it.
Sambhogakaya is the same, but with the additional lustre of "three
perfections," one of which is entire obliteration of all earthly concerns.
The
Dharmakaya body is that of a complete Buddha, i.e., no
body at all, but an ideal breath: Consciousness merged in the Universal Consciousness,
or Soul devoid of every attribute. Once a Dharmakaya, an Adept or Buddha leaves
behind every possible relation with, or thought for this earth. Thus, to
be enabled to help humanity, an Adept who has won the right to Nirvana, "renounces
the
Dharmakaya body" in mystic parlance; keeps, of the Sambhogakaya,
only the great and complete knowledge, and remains in his Nirmanakaya body.
The esoteric school teaches that Gautama Buddha with several of his Arhats
is such a
Nirmanakaya, higher than whom, on account of the great renunciation
and sacrifice to mankind there is none known.
BACK TO TOP
(
38).
Pratyeka Buddhas are those Bodhisattvas
who strive after and often reach the Dharmakaya robe after a series of lives.
Caring nothing for the woes of mankind or to help it, but only for their own
bliss, they enter Nirvana and - disappear from the sight and the hearts
of men. In Northern Buddhism a "Pratyeka Buddha" is a synonym of spiritual
Selfishness.