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vol. title: vol. period: 1881 pages in vol.: 439 |
< Notes by the Way (continued from page 11-262) >
possibly have not risen above its atmosphere. The connection between the Spiritual phenomena and the dead body is very curious in the light of the experience of some mediums when near a grave-yard. The visit of a medium to a place which an earth-bound Spirit haunts, be it the grave where his body lies, or the place where his crime was committed, will apparently enable the Spirit to attach himself and communicate. At times, as I know by personal experience, such Spirits, so released, will rise superior to the conditions which enthralled them. At others they can but tell of their misery without being able to escape from it But in either case it is the body, as the Buddhists Bay, that is the attraction.
Though it is not a subject for exoteric discussion, I may be permitted to notice the connection which Mr. Lillie traces between Buddhism and Freemasonry. His information as to the mystic ceremonies of the great brotherhood is sometimes deficient and erroneous, but he shews very conclusively that the great weapon of Buddha against the huge priestly tyrannies that he assailed was Secrecy. He quotes some account of a secret society in China that is “fenced about by secret signs and Masonic passwords,” and which is perhaps the best illustration of the primitive rites of Buddhism. The rite of initiation bears a more than superficial similarity to the mystic rite in Masonry; and the ceremony of perfection, alike in the esoteric societies of the West, in the sepulchral cave of the old Rishi, and in the inner crypt of the Buddhist temple, is connected with the open grave. Mr. Lillie has no difficulty in answering affirmatively the question, “Is there any evidence that early Buddhism was propagated in India by a system of Freemasonry?” “From the nature of the Indian initiation, from the Triad Society of China, from the Buddhist (as opposed to priestly) nature of most Masonic rites—the bloodless sacrifice, the poverty, the charity”—he concludes that the modern Freemason is a survival of the ancient Buddhist.
More than this. The indefatigable Eastern missionary would seem to have left his traces on the major part of Asia, to have penetrated to Alexandria within two centuries of Alexander’s death, and to have largely prepared the way for Christianity by the foundation of various secret societies, Therapeuts, Essenes, Neo-Pythagoreans, and the like. It is by no means improbable that the same ubiquitous power evangelised America in the fifth century ad. Sir William Jones considered that Buddha and Woden were philologically identical, and that Buddha was the early God of Northern Europe. Thus a purely Spiritual religion, a faith virgin of coercion, a Spiritualism of most ancient date, embracing now one-third of humanity within its fold, has influenced religions in a way hardly credible to a Western mind.
The Theosophist
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<Untitled> (Madame Blavatsky on...)
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Notes on a Visit to Paris
On the day of the funeral of the late Baron du Potet, his mortal remains were first carried to the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, where a religious service was read. A monumental catafalque bad been draped in front of the high altar, to receive the coffin, on which were laid his marks of honour. The principal of these were the large medal which had been awarded him by the Societe de Magnetisme of Paris, the scarf of the President of the Jury Magnetique, and the distinctive insignia of the different societies of which he was honorary president. The catafalque was ornamented by numerous beautiful wreaths, and by the armorial bearings of the Baron; the whole was surmounted with his coronet, and the simple motto “Receive and Conserve.”
Beneath the torrid heat of the direct rays of the sun, the mournful procession left the Church for the Cemetery of Montmartre; the chief pall-bearers were Mons. Martin, of Blois, and Mons. S. Morin, of Bourges. Among those present were M. Logerotte (deputy); Doctors Poirson, Detrieux and Piron; Mons. Bauche, and Mons. Gomy, secretaries to the ancient Societe de Magnetisme; Madlle. Huet and Mdlle. Veronique; Mesdames Turquand, Piron, Seurin, Levade, and Capitey; Messrs. Leymarie, Bue, Bes, Leman, Hallimbourg, Motteau, Rouxel, Hugo d’Alesi, Ch. de Rappart (the colleague of Herr Christian Reimers in the establishment of the Parisian journal Licht, mehr Licht,) Rosen, Lamperiere, and Passard; also several members of the Societe Magnetotherapique of Paris, with their badges of office.
A few words were said over the grave of their departed friend, by Mons. A. S. Morin, a former member of the Municipal Council of Paris; by Mons. L. Thouars, in the name of the Societe Magnetotherapique of Paris; by Dr. Huguet, a former president of the Societe of Magndtisme; by Captain Bourges, president of the Societe Spirite, of the Rue Saint Denis; by Mons. G. Cochet, Mons. C. Chaigneau, and Mons. H. Evette, all of the Societe Scient-fique d’Etudes Psyohologiques; by M. Lecocq, secretary of the Parisian Society of Sweden-borgian Students; by M. Leymarie, in the name of the Theosophical Society of Bombay; by Dr. Hebert as a friend of the deceased, and as president of Parisian mesmeric societies; and by Mons. L. Luffinger, on behalf of the Baroness du Potet. The remarks of Dr. Huguet were published in the Courrier du Soir, of July 13th, and those of several other speakers in the Revue Spirite and the Journal du Magnetisme; an address prepared by Mons. J. de Cazeneuve was not delivered, lest it should give offence to the religious feelings oi some of those present, but it was published in La Femme of July 17th last.
* A paper read in abstract before the Marylebone Society of Spiritualists. The first part is in No. 469 of The Spiritualist.
Editor's notes
- ↑ The Theosophist by unknown author, Light, Light, v. 1, No. 40, October 8, 1881, pp. 323-24
- ↑ article by unknown author, Light, Light, v. 1, No. 40, October 8, 1881, p. 323
- ↑ Madame Blavatsky on... by unknown author, Light, Light, v. 1, No. 40, October 8, 1881, p. 324
- ↑ Notes on a Visit to Paris by Harrison, W.H., London Spiritualist, No. 477, October 14, 1881, p. 184, No. 477, October 14, 1881, p. 184
Sources
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Light, v. 1, No. 40, October 8, 1881, pp. 323-24
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Light, v. 1, No. 40, October 8, 1881, p. 324
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London Spiritualist, No. 477, October 14, 1881, p. 184