In fact in “The Voice of the Silence”, Blavatsky writes

But let each burning human tear drop on thy heart and there remain, nor ever brush it off, until the pain that caused it is removed.

These tears, O thou of heart most merciful, these are the streams that irrigate the fields of charity immortal. ‘Tis on such soil that grows the midnight blossom of Buddha more difficult to find, more rare to view than is the flower of the Vogay tree. It is the seed of freedom from rebirth. It isolates the Arhat both from strife and lust, it leads him through the fields of Being unto the peace and bliss known only in the land of Silence and Non-Being.

A.A.Bailey writes in “The Rays and initiation”

When a Master takes the fifth initiation He… must become consciously aware of the highest aspect: the Will-to-Good. He has developed in Himself “the love necessary to salvation, His own and that of those He loves, His fellowmen;” all His actions and His thinking are qualified by goodwill, in its esoteric sense, and the significance of the Will-to-Good lies ahead of Him and will be later revealed.

Apparently amongst Christian esoterocists, the initiation when one becomes an arhat is understandably called the Ressurection. But apparently, it is the seventh which is the true ressurection. Hell, what do I know?

The fifth initiation is also called among esotericists: the initiation of revelation. I find this more interesting because of the emphasis within Buddhism on awakening. The word Buddha itself meaning one who has awoken; achieving liberation and revelation/awakening occuring at the same point.

Lest we forget. The Diamond Sutra, in which Buddha speaks to his disciple Subhuti, reminds us that there is no ego here.

“Subhuti, what do you think, can an Arhat have the thought, ‘Have I attained the Way of the Arhat?’” Subhuti said, “No World Honored One. Why? Actually there is no dharma called ‘Arhat.’ World Honored One, if an Arhat had the thought, ‘I have attained the Way of the Arhat,’ that would be an attachment to self, others, living beings and to a life. World Honored One, the Buddha has said that I am foremost in the attainment of the No Strife Samadhi, and I am the foremost Arhat free from desire. Yet, World Honored One, I do not have the thought, ‘I am an Arhat free from desire.’ If I had the thought, ‘I have attained the Way of the Arhat,’ then the World Honored One would not say, ‘Subhuti is foremost of those who delight in practicing Aranya.’ Since Subhuti actually does not practice anything, he is called, ‘Subhuti who delights in practicing Aranya.’”

So, this initiation – The initiation of liberation, of revelation – Is it the initiation of enlightenment? Well, just what does one mean by enlightenment? It does all get hard to fathom. We know the practice works in our own lives. We’ve seen what happens, so looking ahead isn’t such a bad thing.

In one sense, what we count as the first initiation isn’t. Counting is a diffiult affair. I offer in that light and the light of Buddha’s discussion with Subhuti, here’s what Dogen has to say in the Shobogenzo:

The eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind in the present transcend self and other; correct from head to tail, they are beyond our ability to comprehend thoroughly. For this reason, one’s whole body, as it is, “does not covet and is not defiled.” It does not covet and is not defiled by the whole of “any phenomena, existent or non-existent.” The wholeness, just as it is, of “holding to the four-line verse,” is called “does not covet and is not defiled”; it is also called “the fourth stage of fruition.” The fourth stage of fruition is the arhat.

Just a thought.

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“As the man seeks to reach control of the mind, the soul in its turn becomes more actively aggressive. The work of the solar Angel has hitherto been largely in its own world and concerned with its relation to spirit, and with this the man, working through his cycles on the physical plane, has had no concern. The main expenditure of energy by the soul has been general, and outward-going into the fifth kingdom. Now the solar Angel approaches a time of crisis and of reorientation. In the early history of humanity there was a great crisis which we call individualization. At that time the solar Angels, in response to a demand or a pull from the race of animal-men (as a whole, note that), sent a portion of their energy, embodying the quality of mentalisation, to these animal-men. They fecundated, if I might so express it, the brain. Thus was humanity brought into being. This germ, however, carried within it two other potentialities, that of spiritual love and spiritual life. These must in due time make their appearance.

“The flowering forth of the mind in men, which so distinguishes the present age, indicates to the solar Angel a second crisis, of which the first was but the symbol. That for which the solar Angel exists is making its presence felt within humanity, and another strong pull. is being exerted upon the solar Angel which this time will produce a second fecundation. This will give to man those qualities which will enable him to transcend human limitations, and become a part of the fifth or spiritual Kingdom in nature. The first effort of the solar Angel turned animal-men into human beings; the second will turn human beings into spiritual entities, plus the gains of experience in the human family.

“For this the solar Angel, the soul, is organizing itself and reorienting itself so that its power can be redirected into the world of men. Contact must be made by the soul between the lower aspect of its triple nature and the aspect which has already found lodgment in the brain of man. Intelligent activity and love wisdom must be united, and the union must take place on the physical plane. In order to do this the soul is entering into “meditation deep”, in union with all other souls who may have brought their instrument into a responsive state. This is the basic group meditation, and when a man achieves what the oriental books call “samadhi”, he has succeeded in participating, as a soul, in this group meditation, and enters upon that cycle of service which expresses itself through the planetary Hierarchy. The rational mind and the abstract mind function as a unit, and the motivating principle is love. The soul, expressing love and abstract intelligence, is at one with its expression on the physical plane through the brain, and, when this is the case, the lower man has synchronized his meditation with that of the soul.

“This is the objective of our work. Let this not be forgotten, and let every effort be made to bring mind and brain into such a functioning condition that a man can slip out of his own meditation and (losing sight of his own thoughts) become the soul, the thinker in the kingdom of the soul.

“It is perhaps a new thought to some that the soul is organizing itself for effort, reorienting its forces, and preparing for a fresh and powerful impulse, but so it is. All forms of life under the force of evolution pass from initiation to initiation and the soul is not exempt from the process. Just as the soul of animal-man became united with another divine principle, and so brought into [90] being the fourth kingdom in nature, so the soul in humanity is seeking contact with another divine aspect. When that contact is made the Kingdom of God will come on earth; the physical plane will thereby be transformed and that peculiar period, presented symbolically under the term millennium, will come.

“The Knowers of God in that era will preponderate over those who are simply aspiring to that knowledge, and their contact and the results of the force they transmit will be felt in all the kingdoms of nature. Dominion over all forms, and the power to act as transmitters of that spiritual energy we call love is the promised reward of the triumphant solar Angels, and the prized goal of their meditation work. The Sons of God will triumph on earth in full incarnated expression, and will bring light (therefore life) to all the manifested forms. This is the “life more abundant” of which the Christ speaks. This is the achievement of the true Nirvanee who, living in unbroken meditation in the spiritual realm yet can work on earth. The work of initiation is to enable a man to live ever at the center, but to act as a distributor of divine energy in any direction and – after the later initiations – in all directions.”

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1. Disciples upon the Path of Discipleship are strongly influenced by Mercury and Saturn – one bringing illumination and the other offering opportunity.
2. At the various initiations, the influence of the planets affects the candidate in a totally different manner than earlier. Cyclically the energies from the constellations pour through the planetary centers.
   1. At the first initiation, the disciple has to contend with the crystallizing and destroying forces of Vulcan and Pluto. The influence of Vulcan reaches to the very depths of his nature, whilst Pluto drags to the surface and destroys all that hinders in these lower regions.
   2. At the second initiation, the candidate comes under the influence of three planets – Neptune, Venus and Jupiter. The three centers – solar plexus, heart and throat – are actively involved.
   3. At the third initiation, the Moon (veiling a hidden planet) and Mars bring about a fearful conflict, but at the end the man is released from personality control.
   4. At the fourth initiation, Mercury and Saturn again bring about great changes and unique revelation, but their effect is very different to the earlier experience.
   5. At the fifth and final initiation, Uranus and Jupiter appear and produce a “beneficent organization” of the totality of energies found in the initiate’s equipment. When this reorganization is complete, the initiate can then “escape from off the wheel and then can truly live.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the terminology, here’s what I think. The fifth initiation produces the buddhist arhat and is known as the revelation in esoteric terminology or the ressurection, the fourth is the crucifixion or renunciation, the third is transfiguration when thought is transcended, the second is the baptism or stream enterer in buddhism when desire is overcome, and the first is recognition of the inner Christ or one’s buddha nature when the physical appetite is brought under control. The problem is that these often become a source for spiritual pride and ambition. And if they’re that throw them away. I did. But from time to time they’re an interesting review of the work ahead.

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However our Zen forefathers basically said that to discover ones own true nature one must stop seeking, even seeking after enlightenment. If you correlate that with the idea that we find what we look for, then seeking and seeing are inextricably linked. And that leads to the idea in the Voice of the Silence that we must be deaf and blind to all external phenomena.

In The Labors of Hercules the story of Scorpio concludes when Hercules lifts the Hydra into the light of die and consequently all of its heads to die, but one. A. A. Bailey suggested that the immortal head was sexuality, if I remember rightly. Maybe I don’t. But perhaps this immortal head was seeking. There is no doubt though that sexuality drives a whole lot of seeking of its own. And the sociobiologists would argue that sexual competition drives the need for status, for wealth, etc. I tend to agree.

Yet seeking is very much in the mind. And I think being mindful of this is a very useful tool to aid ones practice. I would suggest that letting go of seeking enables one to be receptive to one’s true nature.

And then there’s the thought of meditation stages:- counting the breath, focusing on the single breath, and I guess focusing on nothing. If I’m to understand the practise of silent illumination properly, this last one is that. Patanjali describes I find focusing on nothing requires a level of concentration that the others I guess are indeed a preparation for. Perhaps this is why people like Gil Fronsdal and Bhante Henepola Gunaratana describe Zen as the most difficult practise.

Huatou practise (wato in Japanese, but more commonly and less correctly known as koan practise does indeed seem much easier. Personally, I like to do that as well. As I wrote in an earlier post, my question is “what is emptiness?”. And these to practises seem to dovetail quite well, but I practise focusing on nothing first. One of the reasons is that while huatou is meant to cut thinking off at the root, the mind occasionally finds things to grip on to. Another reason is that it seems to deepen the sense of emptiness observed in silent illumination practise. Patanjali refers to meditation with seed in Book I, 46 of his Yoga Sutras. And meditation without seed in Book 3, 8.

I think I’ve talked about the first two rules of magic before. The Tibetan as I recall it anyway observed that the personality and soul need to be meditating in alignment. Technical discussions aside, I think the practise of silent illumination is in one aspect the personality actively listening for what Blavatsky calls The Voice of the Silence. And this I think the practise of silent illumination does more readily.

And then both practises are the same. By the way, I think Sheng Yen’s book on this topic The Method of No-Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination is a good one; a good addition to your meditation library.

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I find starting my day with four or five questions very motivating. I guess they’re about states. What states do I want to be in every day. Gratitude and clarity are two of them. So what in my life already makes me feel that way. This is a lead in to a round of visualisations.

Essentially what I’m trying to do here is maintain emotional health, while I move towards liberation. There are also some powerful insights that help. One is that every experience arises within the mind. So why not choose those experiences that are going to work for us, while we liberate ourselves from experience.

Equally we develop our physical energy. We drink water, exercise and eat well, which gives us the energy and flexibility we need to sit comfortably and to have focus and enthusiasm through our days.

I think this is the modern middle way. We have, or rather are living in, a monkey living in the modern world. We need to look after it while we seek enlightenment.

Counting the breath, meditation on an object are all techniques that build up the concentration, but that same concentration can come out of an intense inquiry into the nature of oneself.

And so it seems to me that Soto Zen and Rinzai Zen are essentially the same. Sitting on one’s mat in still awareness is the same as enquiring “Who am I?” I think it’s no co-incidence that Hui Neng, in my opinion the founder of Zen, asked his first student “What was your original nature before you were born?” You have to sit quietly for an answer don’t you.

It’s the same as the Christian injunction to “Be still and know that I am God.” And Dolano’s advice that you must love meditation is basically saying that you must love being still.

Christ pointed to the kingdom of heaven being within. Isn’t that such a major hint. Buddha pointed to the fullness of the seeming void. And more recently Ramana and Krishnamurti both pointed to the inquiry into one’s own nature.

And then to carry this stillness, call it spaciousness if you will beyond meditation and into one’s outer life. It strikes me that’s what mindfulness is.

Some teachers point to the idea that the practise of mindfulness in meditation leads to mindfulness in one’s life. If mindfulness and stillness are the same then we’re saying even in action be still.

And that carries the conversation back to that teaching in the Bhagavad Gita

He who can see inaction in action, and action in inaction is the wisest among men. He is a saint, even though he still acts.

1. The Solar Angel collects himself, scatters not his force but, in meditation deep, communicates with his reflection.
2. When the shadow hath responded, in meditation deep the work proceedeth. The lower light is thrown upward; the greater light illuminates the three, and the work of the four proceedeth.

The first rule is very insightful. What it claims is that it is the indwelling Soul – the greater light – that is meditating upon the personality – the reflection or shadow. It is suggestive that there are times when the Self is occupied with this meditation.

In the second rule we discover that the personality must meet the Soul with equal concentration. But in reality it is the Soul that is meditating, which is why I suppose Buddha could remark that all human beings were already enlightened.

The three being illuminated here is the personality by the soul. The soul it must be remembered is non-dualistic. In the world of the Soul there is no separation .

For a long time, aeons indeed, the personality has been active and the soul passive. Here in dhyana the personality is quietened to become receptive to the now active soul. The personality awakens to that which was always awake.

May you awaken and be free.