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vol. title: vol. period: 1876-1878 pages in vol.: 247 |
A Coming Buddhist Book
Mme. Blavatsky was found yesterday afternoon sitting by a blue window with rose-pink curtains at a large library-table which occupied all the available space that was not taken up by a desk almost as large, in her cosy workroom. She is an affable Russian lady, no longer very young and certainly not old, who is known all over the world as a scholar in various branches of occult knowledge. She was a member of the commission appointed some time since by the Russian Government to investigate spiritualism, and dissents decidedly from the report of that commission, which was adverse to the claims of Spiritualists. Piled up on the table and desk, and strewed thick upon the floor were hundreds upon hundreds of sheets of manuscript, and in the circumscribed space on the table, kept clear for reading and writing were proof-sheets and more manuscripts and writing materials.
“Yes, I am writing a book,” she said in reply to a question from the reporter. “It is to be called ‘The Veil of Isis,’ and is in two parts. In the first part I attack science, and in the second part dogmatic theology.”
“Surely you do not attack science,” said the startled reporter, wondering what would be left.
“No, not science as it is, but the teachings of modern scientists. Science is a true and beautiful thing, but these modern scientists have not found out what it is. They borrow theories from the ancients, and dress them up in beautiful, eloquent language, and pass them off for their own productions. The ideas that Huxley advanced while he was over here are all taken from the ancients, as I shall show in my book. But they don’t any of them know what they talk about—Huxley, Tyndall and the rest. They refuse to investigate things which are absolutely demonstrated, and they break their noses over the origin of matter, which is a correlation of spirit, and they reach, for a conclusion, the annihilation of man.”
“What is your religion?” asked the reporter.
“I am a Buddhist.”
“But does not Buddhism hold out annihilation as the last, best good?”
“Not at all. That is simply one of the misrepresentations of ignorant theologians. The Buddhists say that whatever is beyond the power of human language to describe, beyond the reach of human intellect to conceive—whatever is impossible in any measure to understand is, so far as man is concerned, non-existent, and what we term God is therefore non-existent. That is, that so far as the understanding of man is concerned God can have no existence. You see it is merely a refinement of metaphysics. And they believe in the triple nature of man; they teach that we are a material body, an astral body and pure soul, or nous, as the Greek terms it. After the death of the material body we lead a dual existence, and finally, when purified, the soul enters nirwana, that is, it rejoins the Creator.”
“But do Buddhists believe in spirits?”
“Most certainly. The lives of the fakirs illustrate that. A European or an American can hardly imagine the lives they lead. They remain in one attitude, in one spot, for years absorbed in the contemplation of their souls. If you put food into the mouth of one of them he will eat it. If you don’t, he will quietly sit and starve to death. These men are possessed of pure spirits. And they apparently overcome the laws governing matter. You would not believe me if I should tell you what I have seen them do, and yet the whole world knows that the Prince of Wales saw one of them lift himself up and sit motionless in mid air a yard or more away from any support.”#
“But what is this astral body you speak of?”
“It is not spirit and yet not the matter with which we are familiar. It is imponderable matter, imperceptible to the senses.”
“Believing in spirits, do you believe in what are called spiritual manifestations?”
“Certainly. The phenomena that are presented as such are perhaps often frauds. Perhaps only one in a hundred is a genuine communication of spirits, but the one cannot be judged by the others. It is entitled to scientific examination, and the reason the scientists don’t examine it is because they are afraid. They explore in all directions till they come to shut doors, and they dare not open them for fear of returning to the superstitions of our ancestors, who knew far more than we do. But I believe in them because I have seen them. These mediums cannot deceive me. I know more about it than they do. I have lived for years in different parts of the East, and have seen far more wonderful things than they do.”
“The day after I arrived in New York,” she continued, “having left Paris suddenly (I did not think of starting until the evening before I started) I went to see Dr. Slade. He knew I was a foreigner by my accent, but he could not tell if I was German or French, or what. He wrote out a message in the Russian language from a friend of my childhood, who died years ago. Again, I have had Mrs. Thayer here overnight. She went to bed and I sat writing as I often do until 3 or 4 in the morning. I heard her trying to say something in her sleep. Probably (laughing heartily) her materialized grandfather was trying to appear. I went into her room and said, ‘What is the matter?’ On the instant a shower of freshly-cut flowers, wet with the night dew on them, fell from the air, burying her up in the bed.”
“But what purpose is served by spiritual manifestations?” was asked after Mme. Blavatsky had related several such incidents.
“It is proved that spirits do exist. And I have known good done in various ways by private mediums and by mediums in the East,” was the reply. “But it cannot be expected that pure spirits will communicate with us through such mediums as many of those are to whom you can go and pay 50 cents or $1, or $3 or $5. It is capable of demonstration by medical science that spirits do not communicate through healthy persons. In some way or another mediums are all imperfect. The spirits which are forever seeking a body to inhabit seize on those which are defective, being unable to control those which are not. So in the East insane persons are regarded with peculiar veneration as being possessed of spirits.”
“Possessed of a devil, the Scripture has it,” suggested the reporter.
“No. Daimon is the word in the Scriptures. It does not necessarily mean a devil. It may mean a god. Socrates had a daimon and he certainly was not possessed of a devil.”
“A god? Then do you believe in gods?”
“According to the Scriptures Jehovah said, ‘Fear the gods,’” was the indirect reply. “And what do you think the theologians had the sublime impudence to do? They translated it, ‘Fear the rulers.’ But, as to insane persons. Can any of the medico-scientists tell the reason for insanity? Can they explain it in any way? They stop when they come to anything that requires an explanation involving the so-called supernatural. So called because nothing can be supernatural. The whole universe is filled with spirits. It is nonsense to suppose that we are the only intelligent beings in the world. I believe there is latent spirit in all matter. I believe, almost, in the spirits of the elements. But all is governed by natural laws. Even in cases of apparent violation of these laws the appearance comes from a misunderstanding of the laws. In cases of certain nervous diseases it is recorded of some patients that they have been raised from their beds by some undiscoverable power, and it has been impossible to force them down. In such cases it has been noticed that they float feet first with any current of air that may be passing through the room. The wonder of this ceases when you come to consider that there is no such thing as the law of gravitation as it is generally understood.”
“I don’t think I catch your meaning, exactly,” said the reporter faintly.
“No. The law of gravitation is only to be rationally explained in accordance with magnetic laws, as Newton tried to explain it, but as the world would not accept it. If the earth is, magnetically speaking, positive, and you can make yourself positive, you are at once repelled. It is told in a fable of Simon Magus, that he lay down on the earth and giving her his breath took hers and visited the stars.”
“The world is fast coming to know many things that were known centuries ago and were discarded through the superstition of theologians,” she continued, referring again to Spiritualism. “The Church professes to reprobate divination, and yet they chose their four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John by divination. They took some hundred or so of books at the Nicene Council, and set them up, and those that fell down they threw aside as false, and those that stood, being these four they accepted as true, being unable to decide the question in any other way. And out of the 318 members of the Council only two—Eusebius, the great forger, and the Emperor Constantine—were able to read. The rest were ignorant donkeys. And the theologians of to-day are as great donkeys as they were. Greater than Balaam’s, for he knew a spirit when he saw it, and owned up to it at once.”
“Yes, I suppose there will be any quantity of mud thrown at me,” she said, referring to the probable reception of her book by the public. “They have been throwing mud at me ever since I came here, but that has been nothing to what will come when the book appears.” But she laughed heartily at the prospect, and seemed to think that the adverse criticisms which she expected from theologians and scientists would be the best compliments she could receive.
# The fool has mixed on Buddhism with Hinduism + faquirs!!
Concerning Gods and Interviews
To the Editor of The World.
Sir: In my benighted country such a thing as an “interview” is unknown. Had I been aware of its dangers, I would have tried to use magic enough to impress my words upon the intelligent young gentleman who called upon me yesterday in your behalf.
As it is, I find in his “report” a little error that is calculated to give my very esteemed antagonists the theologians a poor opinion of my Biblical scholarship. He makes me put into the mouth of Jehovah the injunction, “Fear the gods.” What I did say was that in Exodus, xxii., 28, Jehovah commands, “Thou shalt not revile the gods;” and that, attempting to break its force, some commentators interpret the word to mean the “rulers.”
As I have had the opportunity of knowing many rulers, in many different countries, and never knew one to be “a god,” I made so bold as to express my wonder at such an elastic interpretation.
The theologians do not imitate the moderation of the “Lord God,” but “revile the gods” of other people without stint, especially the “gods” (spirits) of the Spiritualists. As none of these writers have thought of availing themselves of this weapon of defense, I thought it no more than fair to introduce it in my “Veil of Isis” for their benefit as well as that of the “heathen” to whom you are so kindly sending missionaries to convert them. Hoping that I am not trespassing upon the hospitality of your columns in asking the insertion of these few facts, I am, sir, your obedient servant, H. P. Blavatsky, a benighted Buddhist, and the Corresponding Secretary of the Theosophical Society.
New York, January 23.
Mme. Blavatsky's Book
The missionary labors of the reverend Wang Chang Foo, the Buddhist who is seeking proselytes in Minnesota, and who is in correspondence with Mme. H. P. Blavatsky, will probably be aided in no small measure by the forthcoming treatise which that lady yesterday announced through the columns of the world.
“The Veil of Isis” is to be published shortly by Mr. J. W. Bouton in handsome shape. It is to be a large book, illustrated, and containing diagrams intended to symbolize certain propositions advanced in it. Although, however, it is Buddhist in tendency, and is written by an avowed Buddhist, it is not a simple treatise on Buddhism, but an ambitious effort to expose the alleged errors and misrepresentations of modern science and Christianity. And it differs from the works of those who have undertaken to tell of the faiths of the ancients in that it presents these faiths not from the outside, as any observer might present them, but authoritatively, as only an initiate can do.
Mme. Blavatsky, who has given importance to the Theosophical Society by becoming its Corresponding Secretary, has put into this work the fruit of the study of a lifetime in the East, where she is said to have acquired an unusual knowledge, not only of Oriental languages, but of ancient religions.
The book is divided into two volumes, one treating exclusively of the relations of modern science to ancient theurgic science, and the other of the ancient world-religions and their offshoots in various ages. The theogonies, myths, symbology, rites, emblems, and theologies of past and present generations are all passed in review, and discussed with great show of erudition and critical acumen. The analyses of the myths of India, Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Phœnicia, Mexico and the Germanic peoples are said to be extremely interesting.
The origin of modern faiths is patiently traced and the points of resemblance carefully marked.
Max Müller, Haug, Champollion, Layard and other authorities are cited against themselves, and answers made to their speculative inquiries.
A large portion of the work is devoted to the consideration of the Bible, and the writer explains what in many places seems to be the original meaning of the words and phrases which are now translated in the light of modern thought. The book of Job she considers to be an allegorical description of the trials and final triumph of a neophyte in the ancient mysteries; while Genesis and Exodus are alleged to be purely cabalistic.
The story of Jesus is also treated at great length, and the miracles related in the New Testament are compared with those which the author claims to have seen performed in the East and by spiritualistic mediums here. And the so-called identity of Christian and Buddhist doctrine in many points is carefully discussed.
In the other volume the various views of scientists respecting the universal ether, the imponderable known and unknown forces and their correlations, cosmogony, geology, astrology, chemical action, alchemy, &c., are reviewed, criticised and compared. The relations of man to the universe, including its control over its phenomena, are viewed from the side of the ancient Magians. The philosophy of gestation, life and death are treated after a novel and vigorous fashion, and the mystical domain of psychology is traversed.
A Lamasery in New York
The rose-pink curtains were no longer there, but when the reporter entered, the softly-shaded gaslight shone back by reflection from the same blue-glass window on the same heaps of manuscripts and proof-sheets that lay on Mme. Blavatsky’s table when he called before. Mine. Blavatsky, it will be remembered by the World’s readers, is a Russian countess, who-now lives on Eighth avenue in this city, and is Corresponding Secretary of the Theosophical Society—the same which conducted the cremation of the late Baron de Palm.
Mme. Blavatsky’s parlor is rather large, but so full of all manner of furniture and articles of vertu as to seem small. Two good-sized bookcases, three library-tables and a piano are the most conspicuous articles of furniture, but a lounge and an infinite number of easy-chairs till nearly all the remaining space. On the piano is a hideous image of Buddha, <... continues on page 4-50 >
Editor's notes