Bodhicitta

For cranks looking for an exotic enemy, Blavatsky and her Theosophy are too tempting to pass up. But the true history of Nazi racism is based in the 'science' of eugenics. The Nazis (and German science before them) lapped up these racial notions. Read Mr Black on the nasty history: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1796 An excerpt: - See more at: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1796#sthash.oZU2Hd85.dpuf

For sourcing the Blavatsky quote in my post 16, just copy a few words in sequence and search. Her 1890 article "Recent Progress in Theosophy" will come up.

Blavatsky practiced and taught Universal Brotherhood as meaning essential or inner unity, not physical. Humanity having a common spiritual source is the basis for our universal family. She wrote:

The attribution of the 'master race' baloney. The keynote of her theosophical society is Universal Brotherhood & altruism.

Superficial history re: Blavatsky, it is bunk and nonsense!

Before treading the Mahayana path, one needs some native inclinations, Ju Mipham comments on four essentials: There are a great number of signs, or marks, of potential. In brief, there are four signs that, when present in individuals, reveal their Great Vehicle potential, just as fire is revealed by smoke. What are these four? (1) Even before entering or engaging in the Great Vehicle—that is, before turning the mind toward supreme enlightenment—compassion spontaneously wells up when seeing the suffering of sentient beings. (2) When merely hearing the vast and profound Dharma of the Great Vehicle, one is naturally inspired, even though one may not understand its meaning. (3) When hearing about the hardships undertaken for the welfare of others, there is no feeling of discouragement. One does not think, “How could this possibly be?” Rather, the teaching is embraced with a sense of wonder. (4) There is a feeling of spontaneous joy in the virtues of the six transcendences and a wish to practice them. These are said to be definite signs of the Great Vehicle potential. Those without such a potential display the opposite signs. Excerpt From: Maitreya. Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sutras, 4:5

Theosophy unfolds to us two natures, spiritual and material, the one immortal and the other governed by the alternating law of life and death. That stuff that we discard, and that they burn or bury (brain and all), when we have "shuffled off this mortal coil," has been subjected to the alchemy of use and we have changed its nature -- possibly not much, but we have changed it for the better or the worse. Who then are we? It dawns after a while; and all the words in all the bibles and the dictionaries ever written lack ability to tell the wonder of it when it wakes into the consciousness. That knowledge comes to us in silence, though the world may yell with passion, and there rises in us from within a dignity beyond all measure -- hope that is whole and deathless -- an illimitable patience -- and, like gentle rain on dry earth, the assurance of our own essential divinity. Talbot Mundy

That Je Rinpoche supports and fleshes out the verse of Nagarjuna.

Here is Je Tsongkhapa commenting on this verse of Nagarjuna: You poor man! Having succumbed to seriously deviant views, and having abandoned the direct path that leads to the city of liberation, you are constricted by the serpent of fixation on entitihood and entitilessness as truly existent. Thus you wander in cyclic existence, regarding the path into the forest of cyclic existence as the path to liberation. Subject to condemnation by the noble ones, instead you condemn them! Hey! The great lord of physicians and of the victors has said that emptiness is the view that allows one to abandon and to eliminate all grasping. This is the mere relinquishing of all views regarding things as truly existent. And a mere relinquishing does not exist inherently! Thus it is said that anyone who regards emptiness as inherently existent will accomplish nothing; that is, he is incurable.

While these folks did live in a time labelled as 'Victorian', the metaphysics, philosophy, mysticism and theosophy they expounded were timeless, or at least ancient. Also Bailey was calling Blavatsky's teachings 'dated' only 30 or 40 years later - seems a stretch to me. But as Michael says - 'to each their own.'

Michael, I too was in the Baileywick many years ago. But her stuff is not what Blavatsky and her gurus taught. Bailey called HPB 'outdated' and Picean to denigrate real Theosophy. So I found a much more vital and profound set of notions from Blavatsky. To revisit Blavatsky, Judge, Purucker or B.P. Wadia would not be a waste of time.

This WordPress site has been around since January of 2015. It is chock full of theosophical writings, many in epub or pdf formats. Even the Collected Writings of HPB are there, although the valuable bio-bibliography sections are not. http://voiceoftheosophy.com

Some background outlining the threat from Islamic terrorists: https://www.understandingthethreat.com/research/

From the Dhammapada: 183. Not to do any evil, to cultivate good, to purify one’s mind, this is the teaching of the Buddhas. 185. Not insulting, not harming, restraint according to the Pāṭimokkha, moderation in food, secluded abode, intent on higher thoughts — this is the teaching of the Buddhas.

The Leader of the Theosophical Society at Point Loma from 1929-1942 gave many fine teachings on Theosophy. Now his Questions We All Ask are available in pdfs; soon to be in text also. The pdfs are huge, 200mb and 300mb for the two volumes. These were his earliest public teachings after he became Leader of the TS. Questions We All Ask

To clarify more; here is Bhikkhu Bodhi from his Buddha's Words book (108-9) pointing out the exalted status of the 8-fold path for the few, yet offering Buddha's teachings for the many. He breaks it down into three motives for three groups of humans: "As the king of the Dhamma, the Buddha takes up the task of promoting the true good, welfare, and happiness of the world. He does so by teaching the people of the world how to live in accordance with the Dhamma and behave in such a way that they can attain realization of the same liberating Dhamma that he realized through his enlightenment. The Pali commentaries demonstrate the broad scope of the Dhamma by distinguishing three types of benefit that the Buddha's teaching is intended to promote, graded hierarchically according to their relative merit: 1. welfare and happiness directly visible in this present life (dittha-dhamma-hitasukha), attained by fulfilling one's moral commitments and social responsibilities; 2. welfare and happiness pertaining to the next life (samparayika-hitasukha), attained by engaging in meritorious deeds; 3. the ultimate good or supreme goal (paramattha), Nibbana, final release from the cycle of rebirths, attained by developing the Noble Eightfold Path. While many Western writers on Early Buddhism have focused on this last aspect as almost exclusively representing the Buddha's original teaching, a balanced presentation should give consideration to all three aspects. Therefore, in this chapter and those to follow, we will be exploring texts from the Nikayas that illustrate each of these three facets of the Dhamma."

I did not mean and did not write that lay people cannot practice the 8-fold Path. Only that it was best trod by sramanas, for whom all the elements were designed. There are two kinds of each of the 8 factors, mundane and supra mundane. Also right livelihood means more than the type of job. For example - In the Majjhima-Nikaya, No. 117, it is said: ‘To practise deceit, treachery, soothsaying, trickery, usury: this is wrong livelihood.’ These activities have been practiced and are done even today by corrupt monks.

"And what, bhikkhus, is that middle way awakened to by the Tathagata, which gives rise to vision ... which leads to Nibbana? It is this noble eightfold path..." Bhikkhu = monk

Your first post asked what is the MW - this sutta tells you. The 8-fold path is designed for sramanas or monks, thus logic says it was not designed for lay people. Of course what lay people want to practice is up to them. That does not mean Buddha did not teach lay people, only that he emphasized other teachings for us. See Access to Insight website for such teachings best suited for lay people.

Recall the context; Buddha was teaching his five friends who embraced the severe ascetic way which Buddha found out would not work. Here is the Wheel of the Dhamma sutta - his first teaching. http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebsut001.htm

Firstly, the Middle Way is not for worldly folk. Buddha in his first sutta, said the Middle Way is for those who leave the home life as monks. It is the Eightfold Path.

Master Hua in comments on the Diamond Sutra mentions this notion: "Lao Tzu was a transformation body of the Venerable Mahàkàsyapa. When the Buddha entered the world, he saw that living beings in China committed many offenses and did not rely on the Dharma to cultivate, so he sent Lao Tzu, Confucius, and Yen Hui to China to teach and transform living beings. All three were transformation-bodies of Bodhisattvas." A 'transformation body' is a Nirmanakaya.

Buddhadharma is not negative, most of our minds are though. Recall that beyond the first two Noble truths of dissatisfaction and its cause, there are the two cheery facts of a Path that one treads eagerly & happily, leading to a Goal that is totally free of any negative aspects.

This story may come from the buddhadharma or elsewhere, cannot recall. A toddler fell into a cesspool and he began to wail pitiably, his mother shrieked & sobbed & cried 'My baby, my darling' etc. But the stench of the shit and the depth of it kept her away. The father came out, saw the peril to his son and waded into the cesspool and pulled the baby out to safety. Empathy is needed, but not to the point of paralysis from powerful feelings.

A biographical sketch and praise for Taylor: http://www.prometheustrust.co.uk/html/thomas_taylor.html