[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
of poisoned arrows, and, surprisingly enough, the Chinese of
centuries ago were the first to employ rocket warfare. Their
atom bombs were great masses of flaming material carried on
rocket-heads; these flaming masses were fired into the enemy
positions where they set fire to men and material indiscrimin-
ately.
China also gave us arts and crafts, which of course is to be
commended, but China mainly took the religions of India and
altered them to suit Chinese ideas.
Japan can be disregarded because until a few years ago
Japan was a secluded island country impervious to the in-
fluences of other countries, and as the real history of Japan
tells us, they merely copied their religions and their culture
from the Chinese. Where the Japanese found their cruelty as
shown in the Second World War can only be a matter of con-
jecture, but assuredly they lead the world in crude and cruel
practices, and it is somewhat of a surprise that these little
people are now tolerated among other nations. No doubt this is
called commerce instead of friendship.
One of the great difficulties to get back to our original
theme is that in translating Sanskrit and other Eastern lan-
gauges it is not always possible to convey the exact meaning in
a Western language such as English. The Western languages
deal more with concrete matters, whereas the languages of the
Far, Far East deal with abstract concepts, and thus it is that so
many things which depend upon the precise use of an idiom,
and which are not paralleled in another language, lead trans-
lators astray, and cause grave misunderstandings. An illustra-
tion is in the case of Nirvana, a term which we really should
understand in the Eastern meaning and which will, therefore,
shortly be referred to before going on to meditation, what it is,
and how to do it.
India had a great civilization, a civilization which was
highly spiritual in nature. India, in fact, was the cradle of true
religion in this particular cycle of evolution, and many nations
copied and altered Indian religions.
In some stages of the culture of Ancient China, when
spirituality and veneration of one's ancestors was of greater
importance than Chairman Mao or war, religions flourished,
but some of the Chinese and some of the Indians, too, took
145
their religious beliefs too literally because religion should be a
signpost, a guide, a manual of behavior. The Indians and the
Chinese forgot that, and it was often the case that a Chinese or
an Indian would spend his life sitting beneath a tree in idle
contemplation thinking, Oh, I will just take it easy during this
lifetime, I can make up for it when I come to this Earth again.
That is not a figure of speech, that is not an exaggeration, it is
a fact, and until a very short time ago it was perfectly possible
for a Chinaman to incur a debt in this life on the understand-
ing that he would pay it back with interest in the next life. Can
you imagine a Western moneylender I see now they call
themselves high-class finance companies advancing a sum of
money today on the understanding that it would be paid back
to him when he came in his next incarnation? Certainly it
would lead to some amusing book-keeping!
To repeat Eastern languages deal mainly with abstract
and spiritual concepts, whereas Western languages deal with
terms dealing with aviation, money (or the lack of it!), and
other mundane subjects. You may be interested to know that a
few years ago the Japanese had no ideographs, no written form
of expression which would deal with technical terms in radio
or engineering, and so to my own personal knowledge Japanese
technicians could only discuss radio, engineering, and other
scientific concepts by learning the appropriate terms in Eng-
lish. There is nothing particularly remarkable about that be-
cause we have somewhat the same state of affairs in Western
countries where two doctors of different nationalities and not
understanding a word of each other's language, could still
discuss medical terms and treatments by using the common
language of Latin.
Radio operators, including amateurs, can converse quite
well by using abbreviations and highly stylized codes so that
they can understand each other even though the language of
each is unknown to the other. Possibly you have heard of
Q.R.M. meaning noise or static, or Q.R.T. which asks a
person to be silent.
Nirvana is a word or concept which is usually quite beyond
Western comprehension. Probably Nirvana is the most mis-
understood of Eastern terms. People in the West think that the
good Easterner just wants to sit and smell the flowers in this
case the lotus and make himself into nothingness. It is often
thought that Nirvana is total extinction of life leading to a
146
state where nothing exists, where nothing is, where there is no
memory, no action, nothing. Nirvana is too frequently re-
garded by the Westerners as an example of the perfect
vacuum, and they shun Eastern religions which they think, in
their ignorance, lead to a state of complete and utter nothing-
ness.
This is absolutely incorrect, Nirvana does not mean a
Heaven or the opposite, it does not mean a place where there is
nothing whatever-not even a place! It is not possible to exist
in a state of nothingness, and yet again, the average Westerner
thinks that the Adept, or Master, or Guru, or Enlightened [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl rafalstec.xlx.pl
of poisoned arrows, and, surprisingly enough, the Chinese of
centuries ago were the first to employ rocket warfare. Their
atom bombs were great masses of flaming material carried on
rocket-heads; these flaming masses were fired into the enemy
positions where they set fire to men and material indiscrimin-
ately.
China also gave us arts and crafts, which of course is to be
commended, but China mainly took the religions of India and
altered them to suit Chinese ideas.
Japan can be disregarded because until a few years ago
Japan was a secluded island country impervious to the in-
fluences of other countries, and as the real history of Japan
tells us, they merely copied their religions and their culture
from the Chinese. Where the Japanese found their cruelty as
shown in the Second World War can only be a matter of con-
jecture, but assuredly they lead the world in crude and cruel
practices, and it is somewhat of a surprise that these little
people are now tolerated among other nations. No doubt this is
called commerce instead of friendship.
One of the great difficulties to get back to our original
theme is that in translating Sanskrit and other Eastern lan-
gauges it is not always possible to convey the exact meaning in
a Western language such as English. The Western languages
deal more with concrete matters, whereas the languages of the
Far, Far East deal with abstract concepts, and thus it is that so
many things which depend upon the precise use of an idiom,
and which are not paralleled in another language, lead trans-
lators astray, and cause grave misunderstandings. An illustra-
tion is in the case of Nirvana, a term which we really should
understand in the Eastern meaning and which will, therefore,
shortly be referred to before going on to meditation, what it is,
and how to do it.
India had a great civilization, a civilization which was
highly spiritual in nature. India, in fact, was the cradle of true
religion in this particular cycle of evolution, and many nations
copied and altered Indian religions.
In some stages of the culture of Ancient China, when
spirituality and veneration of one's ancestors was of greater
importance than Chairman Mao or war, religions flourished,
but some of the Chinese and some of the Indians, too, took
145
their religious beliefs too literally because religion should be a
signpost, a guide, a manual of behavior. The Indians and the
Chinese forgot that, and it was often the case that a Chinese or
an Indian would spend his life sitting beneath a tree in idle
contemplation thinking, Oh, I will just take it easy during this
lifetime, I can make up for it when I come to this Earth again.
That is not a figure of speech, that is not an exaggeration, it is
a fact, and until a very short time ago it was perfectly possible
for a Chinaman to incur a debt in this life on the understand-
ing that he would pay it back with interest in the next life. Can
you imagine a Western moneylender I see now they call
themselves high-class finance companies advancing a sum of
money today on the understanding that it would be paid back
to him when he came in his next incarnation? Certainly it
would lead to some amusing book-keeping!
To repeat Eastern languages deal mainly with abstract
and spiritual concepts, whereas Western languages deal with
terms dealing with aviation, money (or the lack of it!), and
other mundane subjects. You may be interested to know that a
few years ago the Japanese had no ideographs, no written form
of expression which would deal with technical terms in radio
or engineering, and so to my own personal knowledge Japanese
technicians could only discuss radio, engineering, and other
scientific concepts by learning the appropriate terms in Eng-
lish. There is nothing particularly remarkable about that be-
cause we have somewhat the same state of affairs in Western
countries where two doctors of different nationalities and not
understanding a word of each other's language, could still
discuss medical terms and treatments by using the common
language of Latin.
Radio operators, including amateurs, can converse quite
well by using abbreviations and highly stylized codes so that
they can understand each other even though the language of
each is unknown to the other. Possibly you have heard of
Q.R.M. meaning noise or static, or Q.R.T. which asks a
person to be silent.
Nirvana is a word or concept which is usually quite beyond
Western comprehension. Probably Nirvana is the most mis-
understood of Eastern terms. People in the West think that the
good Easterner just wants to sit and smell the flowers in this
case the lotus and make himself into nothingness. It is often
thought that Nirvana is total extinction of life leading to a
146
state where nothing exists, where nothing is, where there is no
memory, no action, nothing. Nirvana is too frequently re-
garded by the Westerners as an example of the perfect
vacuum, and they shun Eastern religions which they think, in
their ignorance, lead to a state of complete and utter nothing-
ness.
This is absolutely incorrect, Nirvana does not mean a
Heaven or the opposite, it does not mean a place where there is
nothing whatever-not even a place! It is not possible to exist
in a state of nothingness, and yet again, the average Westerner
thinks that the Adept, or Master, or Guru, or Enlightened [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]