In an article, “Reincarnation in Tibet,” everything that could be said
about Tsong‐Kha‐pa was published.(727) It was stated that this reformer
was not, as is alleged by Pârsî scholars, an incarnation of one of the
celestial Dhyânis, or the five heavenly Buddhas, said to have been created
by Shâkyamuni after he had risen to Nirvâna, but that he was an
incarnation of Amita Buddha Himself. The records preserved in the Gon‐pa,
the chief Lamasery of Tda‐shi‐Hlumpo, show that Sang‐gyas left the regions
of the “Western Paradise” to incarnate Himself in Tsong‐Kha‐pa, in
consequence of the great degradation into which His secret doctrines had
fallen.
Whenever made too public, the Good Law of Cheu [magical powers]
fell invariably into sorcery or “black magic.” The Dwijas, the
Hoshang [Chinese monks] and the Lamas could alone be entrusted
safely with the formulæ.
Until the Tsong‐Kha‐pa period there had been no Sang‐gyas (Buddha)
incarnations in Tibet.
Tsong‐Kha‐pa gave the signs whereby the presence of one of the twenty‐five
Bodhisattvas(728) or of the Celestial Buddhas (Dhyân Chohans) in a human
body might be recognized, and He strictly forbade necromancy. This led to
a split amongst the Lamas, and the malcontents allied themselves with the
aboriginal Bhons against the reformed Lamaism. Even now they form a
powerful sect, practising the most disgusting rites all over Sikkhim,
Bhutan, Nepaul, and even on the borderlands of Tibet. It was worse then.
With the permission of the Tda‐shu or Teshu Lama,(729) some hundred Lohans
(Arhats), to avert strife, went to settle in China in the famous monastery
near Tien‐t’‐ai, where they soon became subjects for legendary lore, and
continue to be so to this day. They had been already preceded by other
Lohans,
The world‐famous disciples of Tathâgata, called the “sweet‐voiced”
on account of their ability to chant the Mantras with magical
effect.(730)
The first ones came from Kashmir in the year 3,000 of Kali Yuga (about a
century before the Christian era),(731) while the last ones arrived at the
end of the fourteenth century, 1,500 years later; and, finding no room for
themselves at the lamasery of Yihigching, they built for their own use the
largest monastery of all on the sacred island of Pu‐to (Buddha, or Put, in
Chinese), in the province of Chusan. There the Good Law, the “Doctrine of
the Heart,” flourished for several centuries. But when the island was
desecrated by a mass of Western foreigners, the chief Lohans left for the
mountains of ——. In the Pagoda of Pi‐yun‐ti, near Pekin, one can still see
the “Hall of the Five‐hundred Lohans.” There the statues of the first‐
comers are arranged below, while one solitary Lohan is placed quite under
the roof of the building, which seems to have been built in commemoration
of their visit.
The works of the Orientalists are full of the direct landmarks of Arhats
(Adepts), possessed of thaumaturgic powers, but these are spoken
of—whenever the subject cannot be avoided—with unconcealed scorn. Whether
innocently ignorant of, or purposely ignoring, the importance of the
Occult element and symbology in the various Religions they undertake to
explain, short work is generally made of such passages, and they are left
untranslated. In simple justice, however, it should be allowed that much
as all such miracles may have been exaggerated by popular reverence and
fancy, they are neither less credible nor less attested in “heathen”
annals than are those of the numerous Christian Saints in the church
chronicles. Both have an equal right to a place in their respective
histories.
If, after the beginning of persecution against Buddhism, the Arhats were
no more heard of in India, it was because, their vows prohibiting
retaliation, they had to leave the country and seek solitude and security
in China, Tibet, Japan, and elsewhere. The sacerdotal powers of the
Brâhmans being at that time unlimited, the Simons and Apolloniuses of
Buddhism had as much chance of recognition and appreciation by the
Brâhmanical Irenæuses and Tertullians as had their successors in the
Judæan and Roman worlds. It was a historical rehearsal of the dramas that
were enacted centuries later in Christendom. As in the case of the so‐
called “Heresiarchs” of Christianity, it was not for rejecting the _Vedas_
or the sacred Syllable that the Buddhist Arhats were persecuted, but for
understanding too well the secret meaning of both. It was simply because
their knowledge was regarded as dangerous and their presence in India
unwelcome, that they had to emigrate.
Nor were there a smaller number of Initiates among the Brâhmans
themselves. Even to‐day one meets most wonderfully‐gifted Sâddhus and
Yogîs, obliged to keep themselves unnoticed and in the shadow, not only
owing to the absolute secresy imposed upon them at their Initiation but
also for fear of the Anglo‐Indian tribunals and courts of law, wherein
judges are determined to regard as charlatanry, imposition, and fraud, the
exhibition of, or claim to, any abnormal powers, and one may judge of the
past by the present. Centuries after our era the Initiates of the inner
temples and the Mathams (monastic communities) chose a superior council,
presided over by an all‐powerful Brahm‐Âtmâ, the Supreme Chief of all
those Mahâtmâs. This pontificate could be exercised only by a Brâhman who
had reached a certain age, and he it was who was the sole guardian of the
mystic formula, and he was the Hierophant who created great Adepts. He
alone could explain the meaning of the sacred word, AUM, and of all the
religious symbols and rites. And whosoever among those Initiates of the
Supreme Degree revealed to a profane a single one of the truths, even the
smallest of the secrets entrusted to him, had to die; and he who received
the confidence was put to death.
But there existed, and still exists to this day, a Word far surpassing the
mysterious monosyllable, and which renders him who comes into possession
of its key nearly the equal of Brahman. The Brahmâtmâs alone possess this
key, and we know that to this day there are two great Initiates in
Southern India who possess it. It can be passed only at death, for it is
the “Lost Word.” No torture, no human power, could force its disclosure by
a Brâhman who knows it; and it is well guarded in Tibet.
Yet this secresy and this profound mystery are indeed disheartening, since
they alone—the Initiates of India and Tibet—could thoroughly dissipate the
thick mists hanging over the history of Occultism, and force its claims to
be recognized. The Delphic injunction, “_Know thyself_,” seems for the few
in this age. But the fault ought not to be laid at the door of the Adepts,
who have done all that could be done, and have gone as far as Their rules
permitted, to open the eyes of the world. Only while the European shrinks
from public obloquy and the ridicule unsparingly thrown on Occultists, the
Asiatic is being discouraged by his own Pandits. These profess to labour
under the gloomy impression that no Bîga Vidyâ, no Arhatship (Adeptship),
is possible during the Kali Yuga (the “Black Age”) we are now passing
through. Even the Buddhists are taught that the Lord Buddha is alleged to
have prophesied that the power would die out in “one millennium after His
death.” But this is an entire mistake. In the _Dîgha Nikâya_ the Buddha
says:
Hear, Subhadra! The world will never be without Rahats, if the
ascetics in my congregations well and truly keep my precepts.
A similar contradiction of the view brought forward by the Brâhmans is
made by Krishna in the _Bhagavad Gîtâ_, and there is further the actual
appearance of many Sâddhus and miracle‐workers in the past, and even in
the present age. The same holds good for China and Tibet. Among the
commandments of Tsong‐Kha‐pa there is one that enjoins the Rahats (Arhats)
to make an attempt to enlighten the world, including the “white
barbarians,” every century, at a certain specified period of the cycle. Up
to the present day none of these attempts has been very successful.
Failure has followed failure. Have we to explain the fact by the light of
a certain prophecy? It is said that up to the time when Pban‐chhen‐rin‐po‐
chhe (the Great Jewel of Wisdom)(732) condescends to be reborn in the land
of the P’helings (Westerners), and appearing as the Spiritual Conqueror
(Chom‐den‐da), destroys the errors and ignorance of the ages, it will be
of little use to try to uproot the misconceptions of P’heling‐pa (Europe):
her sons will listen to no one. Another prophecy declares that the Secret
Doctrine shall remain in all its purity in Bhod‐yul (Tibet), only to the
day that it is kept free from foreign invasion. The very visits of Western
natives, however friendly, would be baneful to the Tibetan populations.
This is the true key to Tibetan exclusiveness.