CHAPTER XII. - CONCLUSIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
[Vol. 2, Page 587]
"My vast and noble capital, my Daitu, my splendidly-adorned;
And thou, my cool and delicious summer-seat, my Shangtu-Keibung.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Alas, for my illustrious name as the Sovereign of the World!
Alas, for my Daitu, seat of sanctity, glorious work of the immortal
Kublai!
All, all is rent from me!" -- COL. YULE,
in Marco Polo.
"As for what thou hearest others say, who persuade the many
that the soul, when once freed from the body, neither suffers
. . . evil nor is conscious, I know that thou art better grounded
in the doctrines received by us from our ancestors, and in the
sacred orgies of Dionysus, than to believe them; for the mystic
symbols are well known to us who belong to the 'Brotherhood.'
" -- PLUTARCH.
"The problem of life is man. MAGIC,
or rather Wisdom, is the evolved knowledge of the potencies of
man's interior being; which forces are Divine emanations, as intuition
is the perception of their origin, and initiation our induction
into that knowledge. . . . We begin with instinct; the end is
OMNISCIENCE." -- A. WILDER.
"Power belongs to him WHO KNOWS." -- Brahmanical
Book of Evocation.
IT would argue small discernment on our part
were we to suppose that we had been followed thus far through
this work by any but metaphysicians, or mystics of some sort.
Were it otherwise, we should certainly advise such to spare themselves
the trouble of reading this chapter; for, although nothing is
said that is not strictly true, they would not fail to regard
the least wonderful of the narratives as absolutely false, however
substantiated.
To comprehend the principles of natural law involved in the several
phenomena hereinafter described, the reader must keep in mind
the fundamental propositions of the Oriental philosophy which
we have successively elucidated. Let us recapitulate very briefly:
1st. There is no miracle. Everything that happens is the result
of law -- eternal, immutable, ever active. Apparent miracle is
but the operation of forces antagonistic to what Dr. W. B. Carpenter,
F. R. S. -- a man of great learning but little knowledge -- calls
"the well-ascertained laws of nature." Like many of
his class, Dr. Carpenter ignores the fact that there may be laws
once "known," now unknown to science.
2d. Nature is triune: there is a visible, objective nature; an
invisible, indwelling, energizing nature, the exact model of the
other, and its vital principle; and, above these two, spirit,
source of all forces, alone eter-
[Vol. 2, Page 588] ISIS UNVEILED.
nal, and indestructible. The lower two constantly change; the
higher third does not.
3d. Man is also triune: he has his objective, physical body; his
vitalizing astral body (or soul), the real man; and these two
are brooded over and illuminated by the third -- the sovereign,
the immortal spirit. When the real man succeeds in merging himself
with the latter, he becomes an immortal entity.
4th. Magic, as a science, is the knowledge of these principles,
and of the way by which the omniscience and omnipotence of the
spirit and its control over nature's forces may be acquired by
the individual while still in the body. Magic, as an art, is the
application of this knowledge in practice.
5th. Arcane knowledge misapplied, is sorcery; beneficently used,
true magic or WISDOM.
6th. Mediumship is the opposite of adeptship; the medium is the
passive instrument of foreign influences, the adept actively controls
himself and all inferior potencies.
7th. All things that ever were, that are, or that will be, having
their record upon the astral light, or tablet of the unseen universe,
the initiated adept, by using the vision of his own spirit, can
know all that has been known or can be known.
8th. Races of men differ in spiritual gifts as in color, stature,
or any other external quality; among some peoples seership naturally
prevails, among others mediumship. Some are addicted to sorcery,
and transmit its secret rules of practice from generation to generation,
with a range of psychical phenomena, more or less wide, as the
result.
9th. One phase of magical skill is the voluntary and conscious
withdrawal of the inner man (astral form) from the outer man (physical
body). In the cases of some mediums withdrawal occurs, but it
is unconscious and involuntary. With the latter the body is more
or less cataleptic at such times; but with the adept the absence
of the astral form would not be noticed, for the physical senses
are alert, and the individual appears only as though in a fit
of abstraction -- "a brown study," as some call it.
To the movements of the wandering astral form neither time nor
space offer obstacles. The thaumaturgist, thoroughly skilled in
occult science, can cause himself (that is, his physical body)
to seem to disappear, or to apparently take on any shape
that he may choose. He may make his astral form visible, or he
may give it protean appearances. In both cases these results will
be achieved by a mesmeric hallucination of the senses of all witnesses,
simultaneously brought on. This hallucination is so perfect that
the subject of it would stake his life that he saw a
[Vol. 2, Page 589] A SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPLES OF
MAGIC.
reality, when it is but a picture in his own mind, impressed upon
his consciousness by the irresistible will of the mesmerizer.
But, while the astral form can go anywhere, penetrate any obstacle,
and be seen at any distance from the physical body, the latter
is dependent upon ordinary methods of transportation. It may be
levitated under prescribed magnetic conditions, but not pass from
one locality to another except in the usual way. Hence we discredit
all stories of the aerial flight of mediums in body, for such
would be miracle, and miracle we repudiate. Inert matter may be,
in certain cases and under certain conditions, disintegrated,
passed through walls, and recombined, but living animal organisms
cannot.
Swedenborgians believe and arcane science teaches that the abandonment
of the living body by the soul frequently occurs, and that we
encounter every day, in every condition of life, such living corpses.
Various causes, among them overpowering fright, grief, despair,
a violent attack of sickness, or excessive sensuality may bring
this about. The vacant carcass may be entered and inhabited by
the astral form of an adept sorcerer, or an elementary (an earth-bound
disembodied human soul), or, very rarely, an elemental. Of course,
an adept of white magic has the same power, but unless some very
exceptional and great object is to be accomplished, he will never
consent to pollute himself by occupying the body of an impure
person. In insanity, the patient's astral being is either semi-paralyzed,
bewildered, and subject to the influence of every passing spirit
of any sort, or it has departed forever, and the body is taken
possession of by some vampirish entity near its own disintegration,
and clinging desperately to earth, whose sensual pleasures it
may enjoy for a brief season longer by this expedient.
10th. The corner-stone of MAGIC is an intimate practical knowledge
of magnetism and electricity, their qualities, correlations, and
potencies. Especially necessary is a familiarity with their effects
in and upon the animal kingdom and man. There are occult properties
in many other minerals, equally strange with that in the lodestone,
which all practitioners of magic must know, and of which
so-called exact science is wholly ignorant. Plants also have like
mystical properties in a most wonderful degree, and the secrets
of the herbs of dreams and enchantments are only lost to European
science, and useless to say, too, are unknown to it, except in
a few marked instances, such as opium and hashish. Yet, the psychical
effects of even these few upon the human system are regarded as
evidences of a temporary mental disorder. The women of Thessaly
and Epirus, the female hierophants of the rites of Sabazius, did
not carry their secrets away with the downfall of their sanc-
[Vol. 2, Page 590] ISIS UNVEILED.
tuaries. They are still preserved, and those who are aware of
the nature of Soma, know the properties of other plants as well.
To sum up all in a few words, MAGIC is spiritual WISDOM; nature,
the material ally, pupil and servant of the magician. One common
vital principle pervades all things, and this is controllable
by the perfected human will. The adept can stimulate the movements
of the natural forces in plants and animals in a preternatural
degree. Such experiments are not obstructions of nature, but quickenings;
the conditions of intenser vital action are given.
The adept can control the sensations and alter the conditions
of the physical and astral bodies of other persons not adepts;
he can also govern and employ, as he chooses, the spirits of the
elements. He cannot control the immortal spirit of any human being,
living or dead, for all such spirits are alike sparks of the Divine
Essence, and not subject to any foreign domination.
There are two kinds of seership -- that of the soul and that of
the spirit. The seership of the ancient Pythoness, or of the modern
mesmerized subject, vary but in the artificial modes adopted to
induce the state of clairvoyance. But, as the visions of both
depend upon the greater or less acuteness of the senses of the
astral body, they differ very widely from the perfect, omniscient
spiritual state; for, at best, the subject can get but glimpses
of truth, through the veil which physical nature interposes. The
astral principle, or mind, called by the Hindu Yogin fav-atma,
is the sentient soul, inseparable from our physical brain,
which it holds in subjection, and is in its turn equally trammelled
by it. This is the ego, the intellectual life-principle
of man, his conscious entity. While it is yet within the
material body, the clearness and correctness of its spiritual
visions depend on its more or less intimate relation with its
higher Principle. When this relation is such as to allow the most
ethereal portions of the soul-essence to act independently of
its grosser particles and of the brain, it can unerringly comprehend
what it sees; then only is it the pure, rational, supersentient
soul. That state is known in India as the Samaddi;
it is the highest condition of spirituality possible to man
on earth. Fakirs try to obtain such a condition by holding their
breath for hours together during their religious exercises, and
call this practice dam-sadhna. The Hindu terms Pranayama,
Pratyahara, and Dharana, all relate to different
psychological states, and show how much more the Sanscrit, and
even the modern Hindu language are adapted to the clear elucidation
of the phenomena that are encountered by those who study this
branch of psychological science, than the tongues of modern peoples,
whose experiences have not yet necessitated the invention of such
descriptive terms.
[Vol. 2, Page 591] TRUE SEERSHIP COMPARED WITH CLAIRVOYANCE.
When the body is in the state of dharana -- a total catalepsy
of the physical frame -- the soul of the clairvoyant may liberate
itself, and perceive things subjectively. And yet, as the sentient
principle of the brain is alive and active, these pictures of
the past, present, and future will be tinctured with the terrestrial
perceptions of the objective world; the physical memory and
fancy will be in the way of clear vision. But the seer-adept
knows how to suspend the mechanical action of the brain. His visions
will be as clear as truth itself, uncolored and undistorted, whereas,
the clairvoyant, unable to control the vibrations of the astral
waves, will perceive but more or less broken images through the
medium of the brain. The seer can never take flickering shadows
for realities, for his memory being as completely subjected to
his will as the rest of the body, he receives impressions directly
from his spirit. Between his subjective and objective selves there
are no obstructive mediums. This is the real spiritual seership,
in which, according to an expression of Plato, soul is raised
above all inferior good. When we reach "that which is supreme,
which is simple, pure, and unchangeable, without form, color,
or human qualities: the God -- our Nous."
This is the state which such seers as Plotinus and Apollonius
termed the "Union to the Deity"; which the ancient Yogins
called Isvara,* and the modern call "Samaddi";
but this state is as far above modern clairvoyance as the stars
above glow-worms. Plotinus, as is well known, was a clairvoyant-seer
during his whole and daily life; and yet, he had been united
to his God but six times during the sixty-six years of his
existence, as he himself confessed to Porphyry.
Ammonius Sakkas, the "God-taught," asserts that the
only power which is directly opposed to soothsaying and looking
into futurity is memory; and Olympiodorus calls
it phantasy. "The phantasy," he says (in Platonis
Phaed.), "is an impediment to our intellectual
conceptions; and hence, when we are agitated by the inspiring
influence of the Divinity, if the phantasy intervenes, the enthusiastic
energy ceases; for enthusiasm and the ecstasy are contrary to
each other. Should it be asked whether the soul is able to energize
without the phantasy, we reply, that its perception of universals
proves that it is able. It has per-
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* In its general sense, Isvara means "Lord";
but the Isvara of the mystic philosophers of India was understood
precisely as the union and communion of men with the Deity of
the Greek mystics. Isvara-Parasada means, literally,
in Sanscrit, grace. Both of the "Mimansas,"
treating of the most abstruse questions, explain Karma
as merit, or the efficacy of works; Isvara-Parasada,
as grace; and Sradha, as faith. The "Mimansas"
are the work of the two most celebrated theologians of India.
The "Pourva-Mimansa" was written by the philosopher
Djeminy, and the "Outtara-Mimansa" (or Vedanta), by
Richna Dvipayna Vyasa, who collected the four "Vedas"
together. (See Sir William Jones, Colebrooke, and others.)
[Vol. 2, Page 592] ISIS UNVEILED.
ceptions, therefore, independent of the phantasy; at the same
time, however, the phantasy attends it in its energies, just as
a storm pursues him who sails on the sea."
A medium, moreover, needs either a foreign intelligence -- whether
it be spirit or living mesmerizer -- to overpower his physical
and mental parts, or some factitious means to induce trance. An
adept, and even a simple fakir requires but a few minutes of "self-contemplation."
The brazen columns of Solomon's temple; the golden bells and pomegranates
of Aaron; the Jupiter Capitolinus of Augustus, hung around with
harmonious bells;* and the brazen bowls of the Mysteries when
the Kora was called,** were all intended for such artificial helps.***
So were the brazen bowls of Solomon hung round with a double row
of 200 pomegranates, which served as clappers within the hollow
columns. The priestesses of Northern Germany, under the guidance
of hierophants, could never prophesy but amidst the roar of the
tumultuous waters. Regarding fixedly the eddies formed on the
rapid course of the river they hypnotized themselves.
So we read of Joseph, Jacob's son, who sought for divine inspiration
with his silver divining-cup, which must have had a very bright
bottom to it. The priestesses of Dodona placed themselves under
the ancient oak of Zeus (the Pelasgian, not the Olympian god),
and listened intently to the rustling of the sacred leaves, while
others concentrated their attention on the soft murmur of the
cold spring gushing from underneath its roots.**** But the adept
has no need of any such extraneous aids -- the simple exertion
of his will-power is all-sufficient.
The Atharva-Veda teaches that the exercise of such will-power
is the highest form of prayer and its instantaneous response.
To desire is to realize in proportion to the intensity of the
aspiration; and that, in its turn, is measured by inward purity.
Some of these nobler Vedantic precepts on the soul and man's mystic
powers, have recently been contributed to an English periodical
by a Hindu scholar. "The Sankhya," he
writes, "inculcates that the soul (i. e., astral
body) has the following powers: shrinking into a minute bulk to
which everything is pervious; enlarging to a gigantic body; assuming
levity (rising along a sunbeam to the solar orb); possessing an
unlimited reach of organs, as touching the moon with the tip of
a finger; irresistible will (for instance, sinking into the earth
as easily as in water); dominion over all things, animate or inanimate;
faculty of changing the course of nature; ability to accomplish
every desire." Further, he gives their various appellations:
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* Suetonius: "August."
** Plutarch.
*** "Pliny," xxx., pp. 2, 14.
**** "Servius ad. AEon," p. 71.
[Vol. 2, Page 593] THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE ARYAS.
"The powers are called: 1, Anima; 2, Mahima;
3, Laghima; 4, Garima; 5, Prapti; 6,
Prakamya; 7, Vasitwa; 8, Isitwa, or divine
power. The fifth, predicting future events, understanding unknown
languages, curing diseases, divining unexpressed thoughts, understanding
the language of the heart. The sixth is the power of converting
old age into youth. The seventh is the power of mesmerizing human
beings and beasts, and making them obedient; it is the power of
restraining passions and emotions. The eighth power is the spiritual
state, and presupposes the absence of the above seven powers,
as in this state the Yogi is full of God."
"No writings," he adds, "revealed or sacred, were
allowed to be so authoritative and final as the teaching of
the soul. Some of the Rishis appear to have laid the greatest
stress on this supersensuous source of knowledge."*
From the remotest antiquity mankind as a whole have
always been convinced of the existence of a personal spiritual
entity within the personal physical man. This inner entity
was more or less divine, according to its proximity to the crown
-- Chrestos. The closer the union the more serene man's destiny,
the less dangerous the external conditions. This belief is neither
bigotry nor superstition, only an ever-present, instinctive feeling
of the proximity of another spiritual and invisible world, which,
though it be subjective to the senses of the outward man, is perfectly
objective to the inner ego. Furthermore, they believed that there
are external and internal conditions which affect the determination
of our will upon our actions. They rejected fatalism, for
fatalism implies a blind course of some still blinder power. But
they believed in destiny, which from birth to death every
man is weaving thread by thread around himself, as a spider does
his cobweb; and this destiny is guided either by that presence
termed by some the guardian angel, or our more intimate astral
inner man, who is but too often the evil genius of the man of
flesh. Both these lead on the outward man, but one of them must
prevail; and from the very beginning of the invisible affray the
stern and implacable law of compensation steps in
and takes its course, following faithfully the fluctuations. When
the last strand is woven, and man is seemingly enwrapped in the
net-work of his own doing, then he finds himself completely under
the empire of this self-made destiny. It then either
fixes him like the inert shell against the immovable rock, or
like a feather carries him away in a whirlwind raised by his own
actions.
The greatest philosophers of antiquity found it neither unreasonable
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* Peary Chand Mittra: "The Psychology of the Aryas";
"Human Nature," for March, 1877.
[Vol. 2, Page 594] ISIS UNVEILED.
nor strange that "souls should come to souls, and impart
to them conceptions of future things, occasionally by letters,
or by a mere touch, or by a glance reveal to them past events
or announce future ones," as Ammonius tells us. Moreover,
Lamprias and others held that if the unembodied spirits
or souls could descend on earth and become guardians of mortal
men, "we should not seek to deprive those souls which
are still in the body of that power by which the former know
future events and are able to announce them. It is not probable,"
adds Lamprias, "that the soul gains a new power of prophecy
after separation from the body, and which before it did not possess.
We may rather conclude that it possessed all these powers
during its union with the body, although in a lesser perfection.
. . . For as the sun does not shine only when it passes from among
the clouds, but has always been radiant and has only appeared
dim and obscured by vapors, the soul does not only receive the
power of looking into futurity when it passes from the body as
from a cloud, but has possessed it always, though dimmed
by connection with the earthly."
A familiar example of one phase of the power of the soul or astral
body to manifest itself, is the phenomenon of the so-called spirit-hand.
In the presence of certain mediums these seemingly detached members
will gradually develop from a luminous nebula, pick up a pencil,
write messages, and then dissolve before the eyes of the witnesses.
Many such cases are recorded by perfectly competent and trustworthy
persons. These phenomena are real, and require serious consideration.
But false "phantom-hands" have sometimes been taken
for the genuine. At Dresden we once saw a hand and arm, made for
the purpose of deception, with an ingenious arrangement of springs
that would cause the machine to imitate to perfection the movements
of the natural member; while exteriorly it would require close
inspection to detect its artificial character. In using this,
the dishonest medium slips his natural arm out of his sleeve,
and replaces it with the mechanical substitute; both hands may
then be made to seem resting upon the table, while in fact one
is touching the sitters, showing itself, knocking the furniture,
and making other phenomena.
The mediums for real manifestations are least able, as a rule,
to comprehend or explain them. Among those who have written most
intelligently upon the subject of these luminous hands, may be
reckoned Dr. Francis Gerry Fairfield, author of Ten Years
among the Mediums, an article from whose pen appears in the
Library Table for July 19, 1877. A medium himself, he
is yet a strong opponent of the spiritualistic theory. Discussing
the subject of the "phantom-hand," he testifies that
"this the writer has personally witnessed, under conditions
of test provided by himself, in his own room, in full daylight,
with the medium seated upon a
[Vol. 2, Page 595] PHILOSOPHY OF THE "SPIRIT-LAND."
sofa from six to eight feet from the table hovering upon which
the apparition (the hand) appeared. The application of the poles
of a horse-shoe magnet to the hand caused it to waver perceptibly,
and threw the medium into violent convulsions -- pretty positive
evidence that the force concerned in the phenomenon was generated
in his own nervous system."
Dr. Fairfield's deduction that the fluttering phantom-hand is
an emanation from the medium is logical, and it is correct. The
test of the horse-shoe magnet proves in a scientific way what
every kabalist would affirm upon the authority of experience,
no less than philosophy. The "force concerned in the phenomenon"
is the will of the medium, exercised unconsciously to the outer
man, which for the time is semi-paralyzed and cataleptic; the
phantom-hand an extrusion of the man's inner or astral member.
This is that real self whose limbs the surgeon cannot amputate,
but remain behind after the outer casing is cut off, and (all
theories of exposed or compressed nerve termini to the contrary,
notwithstanding) have all the sensations the physical parts formerly
experienced. This is that spiritual (astral) body which "is
raised in incorruption." It is useless to argue that these
are spirit-hands; for, admitting even that at every seance
human spirits of many kinds are attracted to the medium, and that
they do guide and produce some manifestations, yet to make hands
or faces objective they are compelled to use either the astral
limbs of the medium, or the materials furnished them by the elementals,
or yet the combined aural emanations of all persons present. Pure
spirits will not and cannot show themselves objectively;
those that do are not pure spirits, but elementary and impure.
Woe to the medium who falls a prey to such!
The same principle involved in the unconscious extrusion of a
phantom limb by the cataleptic medium, applies to the projection
of his entire "double" or astral body. This may be withdrawn
by the will of the medium's own inner self, without his retaining
in his physical brain any recollection of such an intent -- that
is one phase of man's dual capacity. It may also be effected by
elementary and elemental spirits, to whom he may stand in the
relation of mesmeric subject. Dr. Fairfield is right in one position
taken in his book, viz.: mediums are usually diseased, and in
many if not most cases the children or near connections of mediums.
But he is wholly wrong in attributing all psychical phenomena
to morbid physiological conditions. The adepts of Eastern magic
are uniformly in perfect mental and bodily health, and in fact
the voluntary and independent production of phenomena is impossible
to any others. We have known many, and never a sick man among
them. The adept retains perfect consciousness; shows no change
of bodily temperature, or other sign of morbidity; requires no
"conditions," but will do his feats any-
[Vol. 2, Page 596] ISIS UNVEILED.
where and everywhere; and instead of being passive and in subjection
to a foreign influence, rules the forces with iron will. But we
have elsewhere shown that the medium and the adept are as opposed
as the poles. We will only add here that the body, soul, and spirit
of the adept are all conscious and working in harmony, and the
body of the medium is an inert clod, and even his soul may be
away in a dream while its habitation is occupied by another.
An adept can not only project and make visible a hand, a foot,
or any other portion of his body, but the whole of it. We have
seen one do this, in full day, while his hands and feet were being
held by a skeptical friend whom he wished to surprise.* Little
by little the whole astral body oozed out like a vapory cloud,
until before us stood two forms, of which the second was an exact
duplicate of the first, only slightly more shadowy.
The medium need not exercise any will-power. It suffices
that she or he shall know what is expected by the investigators.
The medium's "spiritual" entity, when not obsessed by
other spirits, will act outside the will or consciousness of the
physical being, as surely as it acts when within the body during
a fit of somnambulism. Its perceptions, external and internal,
will be acuter and far more developed, precisely as they are in
the sleep-walker. And this is why "the materialized form
sometimes knows more than the medium,"** for the intellectual
perception of the astral entity is proportionately as much higher
than the corporeal intelligence of the medium in its normal state,
as the spirit entity is finer than itself. Generally the medium
will be found cold, the pulse will have visibly changed, and a
state of nervous prostration succeeds the phenomena, bunglingly
and without discrimination attributed to disembodied spirits;
whereas, but one-third of them may be produced by the latter,
another third by elementals, and the rest by the astral double
of the medium himself.
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* The Boulogne (France) correspondent of an English journal says
that he knows of a gentleman who has had an arm amputated at the
shoulder, "who is certain that he has a spiritual arm, which
he sees and actually feels with his other hand. He can touch anything,
and even pull up things with the spiritual or phantom arm and
hand." The party knows nothing of spiritualism. We give this
as we get it, without verification, but it merely corroborates
what we have seen in the case of an Eastern adept. This eminent
scholar and practical kabalist can at will project his astral
arm, and with the hand take up, move, and carry objects, even
at a considerable distance from where he may be sitting or standing.
We have often seen him thus minister to the wants of a favorite
elephant.
** Answer to a question at "The National Association of Spiritualists,"
May 14th, 1877.
[Vol. 2, Page 597] THE FLIGHT OF THE ASTRAL BODY.
But, while it is our firm belief that most of the physical manifestations,
i.e., those which neither need nor show intelligence
nor great discrimination, are produced mechanically by the scin-lecca
(double) of the medium, as a person in sound sleep will when
apparently awake do things of which he will retain no remembrance.
The purely subjective phenomena are but in a very small proportion
of cases due to the action of the personal astral body. They are
mostly, and according to the moral, intellectual, and physical
purity of the medium, the work of either the elementary, or sometimes
very pure human spirits. Elementals have naught to do with subjective
manifestations. In rare cases it is the divine spirit
of the medium himself that guides and produces them.
As Baboo Peary Chand Mittra says, in a letter* to the President
of the National Association of Spiritualists, Mr. Alexander Calder,**
"a spirit is an essence or power, and has no form. . . .
The very idea of form implies 'materialism.' The spirits [astral
souls, we should say] . . . can assume forms for a time, but form
is not their permanent state. The more material is our soul, the
more material is our conception of spirits."
Epimenides, the Orphikos, was renowned for his "sacred and
marvellous nature," and for the faculty his soul possessed
of quitting its body " as long and as often as it pleased."
The ancient philosophers who have testified to this ability
may be reckoned by dozens. Apollonius left his body at a moment's
notice, but it must be remembered Apollonius was an adept -- a
"magician." Had he been simply a medium, he could not
have performed such feats at will. Empedocles of Agrigentum,
the Pythagorean thaumaturgist, required no conditions to
arrest a waterspout which had broken over the city. Neither did
he need any to recall a woman to life, as he did. Apollonius used
no darkened room in which to perform his aethrobatic
feats. Vanishing suddenly in the air before the eyes of Domitian
and a whole crowd of witnesses (many thousands), he appeared an
hour after in the grotto of Puteoli. But investigation would have
shown that his physical body having become invisible by the concentration
of akasa about it, he could walk off unperceived to some secure
retreat in the neighborhood, and an hour after his astral form
appear at Puteoli to his friends, and seem to be the man himself.
No more did Simon Magus wait to be entranced to fly off in the
air before the apostles and crowds of witnesses. "It requires
no conjuration and ceremonies; circle-making and incensing are
mere nonsense and juggling," says Paracelsus. The human spirit
"is so great a thing that no man can express it; as God Himself
is eternal and unchangeable, so also
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* "A Buddhist's Opinions of the Spiritual States."
** See the "London Spiritualist," May 25, 1877, p. 246.
[Vol. 2, Page 598] ISIS UNVEILED.
is the mind of man. If we rightly understood its powers, nothing
would be impossible to us on earth. The imagination is strengthened
and developed through faith in our will. Faith must confirm
the imagination, for faith establishes the will."
A singular account of the personal interview of an English ambassador
in 1783, with a reincarnated Buddha -- barely mentioned in volume
i. -- an infant of eighteen months old at that time, is given
in the Asiatic Journal from the narrative of an eye-witness
himself, Mr. Turner, the author of The Embassy to Thibet.
The cautious phraseology of a skeptic dreading public ridicule
ill conceals the amazement of the witness, who, at the same time,
desires to give facts as truthfully as possible. The infant lama
received the ambassador and his suite with a dignity and decorum
so natural and unconstrained that they remained in a perfect maze
of wonder. The behavior of this infant, says the author, was that
of an old philosopher, grave and sedate and exceedingly courteous.
He contrived to make the young pontiff understand the inconsolable
grief into which the Governor-General of Galagata (Calcutta) the
City of Palaces and the people of India were plunged when he died,
and the general rapture when they found that he had resurrected
in a young and fresh body again; at which compliment the young
lama regarded him and his suite with looks of singular complacency,
and courteously treated them to confectionery from a golden cup.
"The ambassador continued to express the Governor-General's
hope that the lama might long continue to illumine the world with
his presence, and that the friendship which had heretofore subsisted
between them might be yet more strongly cemented, for the benefit
and advantage of the intelligent votaries of the lama . . . all
which made the little creature look steadfastly at the speaker,
and graciously bow and nod -- and bow and nod -- as if he
understood and approved of every word that was uttered."*
As if he understood! If the infant behaved in
the most natural and dignified way during the reception, and "when
their cups were empty of tea became uneasy and throwing back his
head and contracting the skin of his brow, continued making a
noise till they were filled again," why could he not understand
as well what was said to him?
Years ago, a small party of travellers were painfully journeying
from Kashmir to Leh, a city of Ladahk (Central Thibet). Among
our guides we had a Tartar Shaman, a very mysterious personage,
who spoke Russian a little and English not at all, and yet who
managed, nevertheless, to converse with us, and proved of great
service. Having learned that some of our party were Russians,
he had imagined that our protec-
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* See Coleman's "Hindu Mythology."
[Vol. 2, Page 599] AN ADVENTURE WITH THIBETAN BIKSHU.
tion was all-powerful, and might enable him to safely find his
way back to his Siberian home, from which, for reasons unknown,
some twenty years before, he had fled, as he told us, via Kiachta
and the great Gobi Desert, to the land of the Tcha-gars.* With
such an interested object in view, we believed ourselves safe
under his guard. To explain the situation briefly: Our companions
had formed the unwise plan of penetrating into Thibet under various
disguises, none of them speaking the language, although one, a
Mr. K----, had picked up some Kasan Tartar, and thought he did.
As we mention this only incidentally, we may as well say at once
that two of them, the brothers N----, were very politely brought
back to the frontier before they had walked sixteen miles into
the weird land of Eastern Bod; and Mr. K----, an ex-Lutheran minister,
could not even attempt to leave his miserable village near Leh,
as from the first days he found himself prostrated with fever,
and had to return to Lahore via Kashmere. But one sight seen by
him was as good as if he had witnessed the reincarnation of Buddha
itself. Having heard of this "miracle" from some old
Russian missionary in whom he thought he could have more faith
than in Abbe Huc, it had been for years his desire to expose the
"great heathen" jugglery, as he expressed it. K----
was a positivist, and rather prided himself on this anti-philosophical
neologism. But his positivism was doomed to receive a death-blow.
About four days journey from Islamabad, at an insignificant mud
village, whose only redeeming feature was its magnificent lake,
we stopped for a few days' rest. Our companions had temporarily
separated from us, and the village was to be our place of meeting.
It was there that we were apprised by our Shaman that a large
party of Lamaic "Saints," on pilgrimage to various shrines,
had taken up their abode in an old cave-temple and established
a temporary Vihara therein. He added that, as the "Three
Honorable Ones"** were said to travel along with them, the
holy Bikshu (monks) were capable of producing the greatest miracles.
Mr. K-----, fired with the prospect of exposing this humbug of
the ages, proceeded at once to pay them a visit, and from that
moment the most friendly relations were established between the
two camps.
The Vihar was in a secluded and most romantic spot secured against
all intrusion. Despite the effusive attentions, presents, and
protestations of Mr. K----, the Chief, who was Pase-Budhu (an
ascetic of great
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* Russian subjects are not allowed to cross the Tartar territory,
neither the subjects of the Emperor of China to go to the Russian
factories.
** These are the representatives of the Buddhist Trinity, Buddha,
Dharma, and Sangha, or Fo, Fa, and Sengh, as they are called in
Thibet.
[Vol. 2, Page 600] ISIS UNVEILED.
sanctity), declined to exhibit the phenomenon of the "incarnation"
until a certain talisman in possession of the writer was exhibited.*
Upon seeing this, however, preparations were at once made, and
an infant of three or four months was procured from its mother,
a poor woman of the neighborhood. An oath was first of all exacted
of Mr. K----, that he would not divulge what he might see or hear,
for the space of seven years. The talisman is a simple agate or
carnelian known among the Thibetans and others as A-yu,
and naturally possessed, or had been endowed with very mysterious
properties. It has a triangle engraved upon it, within which are
contained a few mystical words.**
Several days passed before everything was ready; nothing of a
mysterious character occurring, meanwhile, except that, at the
bidding of a Bikshu, ghastly faces were made to peep at us out
of the glassy bosom of the lake, as we sat at the door of the
Vihar, upon its bank. One of these was the countenance of Mr.
K----'s sister, whom he had left well and happy at home, but who,
as we subsequently learned, had died some
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* A Bikshu is not allowed to accept anything directly even from
laymen of his own people, least of all from a foreigner. The slightest
contact with the body and even dress of a person not belonging
to their special community is carefully avoided. Thus even the
offerings brought by us and which comprised pieces of red and
yellow pou-lou, a sort of woollen fabric the lamas generally
wear, had to pass through strange ceremonies. They are forbidden,
1, to ask or beg for anything -- even were they starving -- having
to wait until it is voluntarily offered; 2, to touch either gold
or silver with their hands; 3, to eat a morsel of food, even when
presented, unless the donor distinctly says to the disciple, "This
is for your master to eat." Thereupon, the disciple
turning to the pazen has to offer the food in his turn,
and when he has said, "Master, this is allowed; take and
eat," then only can the lama take it with the right hand,
and partake of it. All our offerings had to pass through such
purifications. When the silver pieces, and a few handfuls of annas
(a coin equal to four cents) were at different occasions offered
to the community, a disciple first wrapped his hand in a yellow
handkerchief, and receiving it on his palm, conveyed the sum immediately
into the Badir, called elsewhere Sabait, a sacred
basin, generally wooden, kept for offerings.
** These stones are highly venerated among Lamaists and Buddhists;
the throne and sceptre of Buddha are ornamented with them, and
the Taley Lama wears one on the fourth finger of the right hand.
They are found in the Altai Mountains, and near the river Yarkuh.
Our talisman was a gift from the venerable high-priest, a Heiloung,
of a Kalmuck tribe. Though treated as apostates from their
primitive Lamaism, these nomads maintain friendly intercourse
with their brother Kalmucks, the Chokhots of Eastern Thibet and
Kokonor, but even with the Lamaists of Lha-Ssa. The ecclesiastical
authorities however, will have no relations with them. We have
had abundant opportunities to become acquainted with this interesting
people of the Astrakhan Steppes, having lived in their Kibitkas
in our early years, and partaken of the lavish hospitality
of the Prince Tumene, their late chief, and his Princess. In their
religious ceremonies, the Kalmucks employ trumpets made from the
thigh and arm bones of deceased rulers and high priests.
[Vol. 2, Page 601] AN ADEPT'S SOUL IN AN INFANT
BODY.
time before he had set out on the present journey. The sight affected
him at first, but he called his skepticism to his aid, and quieted
himself with theories of cloud-shadows, reflections of tree-branches,
etc., such as people of his kind fall back upon.
On the appointed afternoon, the baby being brought to the Vihara,
was left in the vestibule or reception-room, as K---- could go
no further into the temporary sanctuary. The child was then placed
on a bit of carpet in the middle of the floor, and every one not
belonging to the party being sent away, two "mendicants"
were placed at the entrance to keep out intruders. Then all the
lamas seated themselves on the floor, with their backs against
the granite walls, so that each was separated from the child by
a space, at least, of ten feet. The chief, having had a square
piece of leather spread for him by the desservant, seated
himself at the farthest corner. Alone, Mr. K---- placed himself
close by the infant, and watched every movement with intense interest.
The only condition exacted of us was that we should preserve a
strict silence, and patiently await further developments. A bright
sunlight streamed through the open door. Gradually the "Superior"
fell into what seemed a state of profound meditation, while the
others, after a sotto voce short invocation, became suddenly
silent, and looked as if they had been completely petrified. It
was oppressively still, and the crowing of the child was the only
sound to be heard. After we had sat there a few moments, the movements
of the infant's limbs suddenly ceased, and his body appeared to
become rigid. K---- watched intently every motion, and both of
us, by a rapid glance, became satisfied that all present were
sitting motionless. The superior, with his gaze fixed upon the
ground, did not even look at the infant; but, pale and motionless,
he seemed rather like a bronze statue of a Talapoin in meditation
than a living being. Suddenly, to our great consternation, we
saw the child, not raise itself, but, as it were, violently jerked
into a sitting posture! A few more jerks, and then, like an automaton
set in motion by concealed wires, the four months' baby stood
upon his feet! Fancy our consternation, and, in Mr. K----'s case,
horror. Not a hand had been outstretched, not a motion made, nor
a word spoken; and yet, here was a baby-in-arms standing erect
and firm as a man!
The rest of the story we will quote from a copy of notes written
on this subject by Mr. K----, the same evening, and given to us,
in case it should not reach its place of destination, or the writer
fail to see anything more.
"After a minute or two of hesitation," writes K----,
"the baby turned his head and looked at me with an expression
of intelligence that was simply awful! It sent a chill through
me. I pinched my hands and
[Vol. 2, Page 602] ISIS UNVEILED.
bit my lips till the blood almost came, to make sure that I did
not dream. But this was only the beginning. The miraculous creature,
making, as I fancied, two steps toward me, resumed his
sitting posture, and, without removing his eyes from mine, repeated,
sentence by sentence, in what I supposed to be Thibetan language,
the very words, which I had been told in advance, are commonly
spoken at the incarnations of Buddha, beginning with 'I am Buddha;
I am the old Lama; I am his spirit in a new body,' etc. I felt
a real terror; my hair rose upon my head, and my blood ran cold.
For my life I could not have spoken a word. There was no trickery
here, no ventriloquism. The infant lips moved, and the eyes seemed
to search my very soul with an expression that made me think
it was the face of the Superior himself, his eyes, his very
look that I was gazing upon. It was as if his spirit had entered
the little body, and was looking at me through the transparent
mask of the baby's face. I felt my brain growing dizzy. The
infant reached toward me, and laid his little hand upon mine.
I started as if I had been touched by a hot coal; and, unable
to bear the scene any longer, covered my face with my hands. It
was but for an instant; but when I removed them, the little actor
had become a crowing baby again, and a moment after, lying upon
his back, set up a fretful cry. The superior had resumed his normal
condition, and conversation ensued.
"It was only after a series of similar experiments, extending
over ten days, that I realized the fact that I had seen the incredible,
astounding phenomenon described by certain travellers, but always
by me denounced as an imposture. Among a multitude of questions
unanswered, despite my cross-examination, the Superior let drop
one piece of information, which must be regarded as highly significant.
'What would have happened,' I inquired, through the shaman, 'if,
while the infant was speaking, in a moment of insane fright, at
the thought of its being the "Devil," I had killed it?'
He replied that, if the blow had not been instantly fatal, the
child alone would have been killed.' 'But,' I continued,
'suppose that it had been as swift as a lightning-flash?' 'In
such case,' was the answer, 'you would have killed me also.'
"
In Japan and Siam there are two orders of priests, of which one
are public, and deal with the people, the other strictly private.
The latter are never seen; their existence is known but to very
few natives, never to foreigners. Their powers are never displayed
in public, nor ever at all except on rare occasions of the utmost
importance, at which times the ceremonies are performed in subterranean
or otherwise inaccessible temples, and in the presence of a chosen
few whose heads answer for their secrecy. Among such occasions
are deaths in the Royal family, or those of high dignitaries affiliated
with the Order. One of the most
[Vol. 2, Page 603] WITHDRAWING THE ASTRAL SOUL FROM
ONE'S ASHES.
weird and impressive exhibitions of the power of these magicians
is that of the withdrawal of the astral soul from the cremated
remains of human beings, a ceremony practiced likewise in some
of the most important lamaseries of Thibet and Mongolia.
In Siam, Japan, and Great Tartary, it is the custom to make medallions,
statuettes, and idols out of the ashes of cremated persons;* they
are mixed with water into a paste, and after being moulded into
the desired shape, are baked and then gilded. The Lamasery of
Ou-Tay, in the province of Chan-Si, Mongolia, is the most famous
for that work, and rich persons send the bones of their defunct
relatives to be ground and fashioned there. When the adept in
magic proposes to facilitate the withdrawal of the astral soul
of the deceased, which otherwise they think might remain stupefied
for an indefinite period within the ashes, the following
process is resorted to: The sacred dust is placed in a heap, upon
a metallic plate, strongly magnetized, of the size of a man's
body. The adept then slowly and gently fans it with the Talapat
Nang,** a fan of a peculiar shape and inscribed
with certain signs, muttering, at the same time, a form of invocation.
The ashes soon become, as it were, imbued with life, and gently
spread themselves out into a thin layer which assumes the outline
of the body before cremation. Then there gradually arises a sort
of whitish vapor which after a time forms into an erect column,
and compacting itself, is finally transformed into the "double,"
or ethereal, astral counterpart of the dead, which in its turn
dissolves away into thin air, and disappears from mortal sight.***
The "Magicians" of Kashmir, Thibet, Mongolia, and Great
Tartary are too well known to need comments. If jugglers they
be, we invite the most expert jugglers of Europe and America to
match them if they can.
If our scientists are unable to imitate the mummy-embalming of
the Egyptians, how much greater would be their surprise to see,
as we have, dead bodies preserved by alchemical art, so that after
the lapse of centuries, they seem as though the individuals were
but sleeping. The complexions were as fresh, the skin as elastic,
the eyes as natural and sparkling as though they were in the full
flush of health, and the wheels of life had been stopped but the
instant before. The bodies of certain very eminent personages
are laid upon catafalques, in rich mausoleums,
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* The Buddhist Kalmucks of the Astrakhan steppes are accustomed
to make their idols out of the cremated ashes of their princes
and priests. A relative of the author has in her collection several
small pyramids composed of the ashes of eminent Kalmucks and presented
to her by the Prince Tumene himself in 1836.
** The sacred fan used by the chief priests instead of an umbrella.
*** See vol. i., p. 476.
[Vol. 2, Page 604] ISIS UNVEILED.
sometimes overlaid with gilding or even with plates of real gold;
their favorite arms, trinkets, and articles of daily use gathered
about them, and a suite of attendants, blooming young boys and
girls, but still corpses, preserved like their masters, stand
as if ready to serve when called. In the convent of Great Kouren,
and in one situated upon the Holy Mountain (Bohte Oula) there
are said to be several such sepulchres, which have been respected
by all the conquering hordes that have swept through those countries.
Abbe Huc heard that such exist, but did not see one, strangers
of all kinds being excluded, and missionaries and European travellers
not furnished with the requisite protection, being the last of
all persons who would be permitted to approach the sacred places.
Huc's statement that the tombs of Tartar sovereigns are surrounded
with children "who were compelled to swallow mercury until
they were suffocated," by which means "the color and
freshness of the victims is preserved so well that they appear
alive," is one of these idle missionary fables which impose
only upon the most ignorant who accept on hearsay. Buddhists have
never immolated victims, whether human or animal. It is utterly
against the principles of their religion, and no Lamaist was ever
accused of it. When a rich man desired to be interred in company,
messengers were sent throughout the country with the Lama-embalmers,
and children just dead in the natural way were selected for the
purpose. Poor parents were but too glad to preserve their departed
children in this poetic way, instead of abandoning them to decay
and wild beasts.
At the time when Abbe Huc was living in Paris, after his return
from Thibet, he related, among other unpublished wonders, to a
Mr. Arsenieff, a Russian gentleman, the following curious fact
that he had witnessed during his long sojourn at the lamasery
of Kounboum. One day while conversing with one of the lamas, the
latter suddenly stopped speaking, and assumed the attentive attitude
of one who is listening to a message being delivered to him, although
he (Huc) heard never a word. "Then, I must go"; suddenly
broke forth the lama, as if in response to the message.
"Go where?" inquired the astonished "lama of Jehovah"
(Huc). "And with whom are you talking?"
"To the lamasery of * * *," was the quiet answer. "The
Shaberon wants me; it was he who summoned me."
Now this lamasery was many days' journey from that of Kounboum,
in which the conversation was taking place. But what seemed to
astonish Huc the most was, that, instead of setting off on his
journey, the lama simply walked to a sort of cupola-room on the
roof of the house in which they lived, and another lama, after
exchanging a few words, fol-
[Vol. 2, Page 605] CATCHING THE SPIRIT OF SOUND.
lowed them to the terrace by means of the ladder, and passing
between them, locked and barred his companion in. Then turning
to Huc after a few seconds of meditation, he smiled and informed
the guest that "he had gone."
"But how could he? Why you have locked him in, and the room
has no issue?" insisted the missionary.
"And what good would a door be to him?" answered the
custodian. "It is he himself who went away; his
body is not needed, and so he left it in my charge."
Notwithstanding the wonders which Huc had witnessed during his
perilous journey, his opinion was that both of the lamas had mystified
him. But three days later, not having seen his habitual friend
and entertainer, he inquired after him, and was informed that
he would be back in the evening. At sunset, and just as the "other
lamas" were preparing to retire, Huc heard his absent friend's
voice calling as if from the clouds, to his companion to open
the door for him. Looking upward, he perceived the "traveller's"
outline behind the lattice of the room where he had been locked
in. When he descended he went straight to the Grand Lama of Kounboum,
and delivered to him certain messages and "orders,"
from the place which he "pretended" he had just left.
Huc could get no more information from him as to his aerial
voyage. But he always thought, he said, that this "farce"
had something to do with the immediate and extraordinary preparations
for the polite expulsion of both the missionaries, himself and
Father Gabet, to Chogor-tan, a place belonging to the Kounboum.
The suspicion of the daring missionary may have been correct,
in view of his impudent inquisitiveness and indiscretion.
If the Abbe had been versed in Eastern philosophy, he would have
found no great difficulty in comprehending both the flight of
the lama's astral body to the distant lamasery while his physical
frame remained behind, or the carrying on of a conversation with
the Shaberon that was inaudible to himself. The recent experiments
with the telephone in America, to which allusion was made in Chapter
V. of our first volume, but which have been greatly perfected
since those pages went to press, prove that the human voice and
the sounds of instrumental music may be conveyed along a telegraphic
wire to a great distance. The Hermetic philosophers taught, as
we have seen, that the disappearance from sight of a flame does
not imply its actual extinction. It has only passed from the visible
to the invisible world, and may be perceived by the inner sense
of vision, which is adapted to the things of that other and more
real universe. The same rule applies to sound. As the physical
ear discerns the vibrations of the atmosphere up to a certain
point, not yet
[Vol. 2, Page 606] ISIS UNVEILED.
definitely fixed, but varying with the individual, so the adept
whose interior hearing has been developed, can take the sound
at this vanishing-point, and hear its vibrations in the astral
light indefinitely. He needs no wires, helices, or sounding-boards;
his will-power is all-sufficient. Hearing with the spirit, time
and distance offer no impediments, and so he may converse with
another adept at the antipodes with as great ease as though they
were in the same room.
Fortunately, we can produce numerous witnesses to corroborate
our statement, who, without being adepts at all, have, nevertheless,
heard the sound of aerial music and of the human voice, when neither
instrument nor speaker were within thousands of miles of the place
where we sat. In their case they actually heard interiorly, though
they supposed their physical organs of hearing alone were employed.
The adept had, by a simple effort of will-power, given them for
the brief moment the same perception of the spirit of sound as
he himself constantly enjoys.
If our men of science could only be induced to test instead of
deriding the ancient philosophy of the trinity of all the natural
forces, they would go by leaps toward the dazzling truth, instead
of creeping, snail-like, as at present. Prof. Tyndall's experiments
off the South Foreland, at Dover, in 1875, fairly upset all previous
theories of the transmission of sound, and those he has made with
sensitive flames* bring him to the very threshold of arcane science.
One step further, and he would comprehend how adepts can converse
at great distances. But that step will not be taken.
Of his sensitive -- in truth, magical -- flame, he says: "The
slightest tap on a distant anvil causes it to fall to seven inches.
When a bunch of keys is shaken, the flame is violently agitated,
and emits a loud roar. The dropping of a sixpence into a hand
already containing coin, knocks the flame down. The creaking of
boots sets it in violent commotion. The crumpling or tearing of
a bit of paper, or the rustle of a silk dress does the same. Responsive
to every tick of a watch held near it, it falls and explodes.
The winding up of a watch produces tumult. From a distance of
thirty yards we may chirrup to this flame, and cause it to fall
and roar. Repeating a passage from the Faerie Queene, the
flame sifts and selects the manifold sounds of my voice, noticing
some by a slight nod, others by a deeper bow, while to others
it responds by violent agitation."
Such are the wonders of modern physical science; but at what cost
of apparatus, and carbonic acid and coal gas; of American and
Canadian whistles, trumpets, gongs, and bells! The poor heathen
have none such impedimenta, but -- will European
science believe it -- nevertheless,
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* See his "Lectures on Sound."
[Vol. 2, Page 607] THE SENSITIVE FLAME OF THE BIKSIIU.
produce the very same phenomena. Upon one occasion, when, in a
case of exceptional importance, an "oracle" was required,
we saw the possibility of what we had previously vehemently denied
-- namely, a simple mendicant cause a sensitive flame to give
responsive flashes without a particle of apparatus. A fire was
kindled of branches of the Beal-tree, and some sacrificial
herbs were sprinkled upon it. The mendicant sat near by, motionless,
absorbed in contemplation. During the intervals between the questions
the fire burned low and seemed ready to go out, but when the interrogatories
were propounded, the flames leaped, roaring, skyward, flickered,
bowed, and sent fiery tongues flaring toward the east, west, north,
or south; each motion having its distinct meaning in a code of
signals well understood. Between whiles it would sink to the ground,
and the tongues of flame would lick the sod in every direction,
and suddenly disappear, leaving only a bed of glowing embers.
When the interview with the flame-spirits was at an end, the Bikshu
(mendicant) turned toward the jungle where he abode, keeping up
a wailing, monotonous chant, to the rhythm of which the sensitive
flame kept time, not merely like Prof. Tyndall's, when he read
the Faerie Queene, by simple motions, but by a marvellous
modulation of hissing and roaring until he was out of sight. Then,
as if its very life were extinguished, it vanished, and left a
bed of ashes before the astonished spectators.
Both in Western and Eastern Thibet, as in every other place where
Buddhism predominates, there are two distinct religions, the same
as it is in Brahmanism -- the secret philosophy and the popular
religion. The former is that of the followers of the doctrine
of the sect of the Sutrantika.* They closely adhere to the spirit
of Buddha's original teachings which show the necessity of intuitional
perception, and all deductions therefrom. These do not proclaim
their views, nor allow them to be made public.
"All compounds are perishable," were the last
words uttered by the lips of the dying Gautama, when preparing
under the Sal-tree to enter into Nirvana. "Spirit is the
sole, elementary, and primordial unity, and each of its rays is
immortal, infinite, and indestructible. Beware of the illusions
of matter." Buddhism was spread far and wide over Asia, and
even farther, by Dharm-Asoka. He was the grandson of the miracle-worker
Chandragupta, the illustrious king who rescued the Punjab from
the Macedonians -- if they ever were at Punjab at all -- and received
Megasthenes at his court in Pataliputra. Dharm-Asoka was the greatest
King of the Maurya dynasty. From a reckless profligate and atheist,
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* From the compound word sutra, maxim or precept, and antika,
close or near.
[Vol. 2, Page 608] ISIS UNVEILED.
he had become Pryadasi, the "beloved of the gods," and
never was the purity of his philanthropic views surpassed by any
earthly ruler. His memory has lived for ages in the hearts of
the Buddhists, and has been perpetuated in the humane edicts engraved
in several popular dialects on the columns and rocks of Allahabad,
Delhi, Guzerat, Peshawur, Orissa, and other places.* His famous
grandfather had united all India under his powerful sceptre. When
the Nagas, or serpent-worshippers of Kashmere had been converted
through the efforts of the apostles sent out by the Sthaviras
of the third councils, the religion of Gautama spread like wild-fire.
Gandhara, Cabul, and even many of the Satrapies of Alexander the
Great, accepted the new philosophy. The Buddhism of Nepal being
the one which may be said to have diverged less than any other
from the primeval ancient faith, the Lamaism of Tartary, Mongolia,
and Thibet, which is a direct offshoot of this country, may be
thus shown to be the purest Buddhism; for we say it again, Lamaism
properly is but an external form of rites.
The Upasakas and Upasakis, or male and female semi-monastics and
semi-laymen, have equally with the lama-monks themselves, to strictly
abstain from violating any of Buddha's rules, and must study Meipo
and every psychological phenomenon as much. Those who become
guilty of any of the "five sins" lose all right to congregate
with the pious community. The most important of these is not
to curse upon any consideration, for the curse returns upon the
one that utters it, and often upon his innocent relatives who
breathe the same atmosphere with him. To love each other,
and even our bitterest enemies; to offer our lives even for animals,
to the extent of abstaining from defensive arms; to gain the greatest
of victories by conquering one's self; to avoid all vices; to
practice all virtues, especially humility and mildness; to be
obedient to superiors, to cherish and respect parents, old age,
learning, virtuous and holy men; to provide food, shelter, and
comfort for men and animals; to plant trees on the roads and dig
wells for the comfort of travellers; such are the moral duties
of Buddhists. Every Ani or Bikshuni (nun) is subjected to these
laws.
Numerous are the Buddhist and Lamaic saints who have been renowned
for the unsurpassed sanctity of their lives and their "miracles."
So Tissu, the Emperor's spiritual teacher, who consecrated Kublai-Khan,
the Nadir Shah, was known far and wide as much for the extreme
holiness of his life as for the many wonders he wrought. But
[Footnote(s)] -------------------------------------------------
* It sounds like injustice to Asoka to compare him with Constantine,
as is done by several Orientalists. If, in the religious and political
sense, Asoka did for India what Constantine is alleged to have
achieved for the Western World, all similarity stops there.
[Vol. 2, Page 609] AN EVOCATION OF THE SOULS OF
FLOWERS.
he did not stop at fruitless miracles, but did better than that.
Tissu purified completely his religion; and from one single province
of Southern Mongolia is said to have forced Kublai to expel from
convents 500,000 monkish impostors, who made a pretext of their
profession, to live in vice and idleness. Then the Lamaists had
their great reformer, the Shaberon Son-Ka-po, who is claimed to
have been immaculately conceived by his mother, a virgin from
Koko-nor (fourteenth century), who is another wonder-worker. The
sacred tree of Kounboum, the tree of the 10,000 images, which,
in consequence of the degeneration of the true faith had ceased
budding for several centuries, now shot forth new sprouts and
bloomed more vigorously than ever from the hair of this avatar
of Buddha, says the legend. The same tradition makes him (Son-Ka-po)
ascend to heaven in 1419. Contrary to the prevailing idea, few
of these saints are Khubilhans, or Shaberons -- reincarnations.
Many of the lamaseries contain schools of magic, but the most
celebrated is the collegiate monastery of the Shu-tukt, where
there are over 30,000 monks attached to it, the lamasery forming
quite a little city. Some of the female nuns possess marvellous
psychological powers. We have met some of these women on their
way from Lha-Ssa to Candi, the Rome of Buddhism, with its miraculous
shrines and Gautama's relics. To avoid encounters with Mussulmans
and other sects they travel by night alone, unarmed, and without
the least fear of wild animals, for these will not
touch them. At the first glimpses of dawn, they take refuge
in caves and viharas prepared for them by their co-religionists
at calculated distances; for notwithstanding the fact that Buddhism
has taken refuge in Ceylon, and nominally there are but few of
the denomination in British India, yet the secret Byauds (Brotherhoods)
and Buddhist viharas are numerous, and every Jain feels himself
obliged to help, indiscriminately, Buddhist or Lamaist.
Ever on the lookout for occult phenomena, hungering after sights,
one of the most interesting that we have seen was produced by
one of these poor travelling Bikshu. It was years ago, and at
a time when all such manifestations were new to the writer. We
were taken to visit the pilgrims by a Buddhist friend, a mystical
gentleman born at Kashmir, of Katchi parents, but a Buddha-Lamaist
by conversion, and who generally resides at Lha-Ssa.
"Why carry about this bunch of dead plants?" inquired
one of the Bikshuni, an emaciated, tall and elderly woman, pointing
to a large nosegay of beautiful, fresh, and fragrant flowers in
the writer's hands.
"Dead?" we asked, inquiringly. "Why they just have
been gathered in the garden?"
"And yet, they are dead," she gravely answered. "To
be born in
[Vol. 2, Page 610] ISIS UNVEILED.
this world, is this not death? See, how these herbs look when
alive in the world of eternal light, in the gardens of our blessed
Foh?"
Without moving from the place where she was sitting on the ground,
the Ani took a flower from the bunch, laid it in her lap, and
began to draw together, by large handfuls as it were, invisible
material from the surrounding atmosphere. Presently a very, very
faint nodule of vapor was seen, and this slowly took shape and
color, until, poised in mid-air, appeared a copy of the bloom
we had given her. Faithful to the last tint and the last petal
it was, and lying on its side like the original, but a thousand-fold
more gorgeous in hue and exquisite in beauty, as the glorified
human spirit is more beauteous than its physical capsule. Flower
after flower to the minutest herb was thus reproduced and made
to vanish, reappearing at our desire, nay, at our simple thought.
Having selected a full-blown rose we held it at arm's length,
and in a few minutes our arm, hand, and the flower, perfect in
every detail, appeared reflected in the vacant space, about two
yards from where we sat. But while the flower seemed immeasurably
beautified and as ethereal as the other spirit flowers, the arm
and hand appeared like a mere reflection in a looking-glass, even
to a large spot on the fore arm, left on it by a piece of damp
earth which had stuck to one of the roots. Later we learned the
reason why.
A great truth was uttered some fifty years ago by Dr. Francis
Victor Broussais, when he said: "If magnetism were true,
medicine would be an absurdity." Magnetism is true,
and so we shall not contradict the learned Frenchman as to the
rest. Magnetism, as we have shown, is the alphabet of magic. It
is idle for any one to attempt to understand either the theory
or the practice of the latter until the fundamental principle
of magnetic attractions and repulsions throughout nature is recognized.
Many so-called popular superstitions are but evidences of an instinctive
perception of this law. An untutored people are taught by the
experience of many generations that certain phenomena occur under
fixed conditions; they give these conditions and obtain the expected
results. Ignorant of the laws, they explain the fact by supernaturalism,
for experience has been their sole teacher.
In India, as well as in Russia and some other countries, there
is an instinctive repugnance to stepping across a man's shadow,
especially if he have red hair; and in the former country, natives
are extremely reluctant to shake hands with persons of another
race. These are not idle fancies. Every person emits a magnetic
exhalation or aura, and a man may be in perfect physical health,
but at the same time his exhalation may have a morbific character
for others, sensitive to such subtile influences. Dr. Esdaile
and other mesmerists long since taught us that Oriental peo-
[Vol. 2, Page 611] THE MAGNETISM OF RED-HAIRED PEOPLE.
ple, especially Hindus, are more susceptible than the white-skinned
races. Baron Reichenbach's experiments -- and, in fact, the world's
entire experience -- prove that these magnetic exhalations are
most intense from the extremities. Therapeutic manipulations show
this; hand-shaking is, therefore, most calculated to communicate
antipathetic magnetic conditions, and the Hindus do wisely in
keeping their ancient "superstition" -- derived from
Manu -- constantly in mind.
The magnetism of a red-haired man, we have found, in almost every
nation, is instinctively dreaded. We might quote proverbs from
the Russian, Persian, Georgian, Hindustani, French, Turkish, and
even German, to show that treachery and other vices are popularly
supposed to accompany the rufous complexion. When a man stands
exposed to the sun, the magnetism of that luminary causes his
emanations to be projected toward the shadow, and the increased
molecular action develops more electricity. Hence, an individual
to whom he is antipathetic -- though neither might be sensible
of the fact -- would act prudently in not passing through the
shadow. Careful physicians wash their hands upon leaving each
patient; why, then, should they not be charged with superstition,
as well as the Hindus? The sporules of disease are invisible,
but no less real, as European experience demonstrates. Well, Oriental
experience for a hundred centuries has shown that the germs of
moral contagion linger about localities, and impure magnetism
can be communicated by the touch.
Another prevalent belief in some parts of Russia, particularly
Georgia (Caucasus), and in India, is that in case the body of
a drowned person cannot be otherwise found, if a garment of his
be thrown into the water it will float until directly over the
spot, and then sink. We have even seen the experiment successfully
tried with the sacred cord of a Brahman. It floated hither and
thither, circling about as though in search of something, until
suddenly darting in a straight line for about fifty yards, it
sank, and at that exact spot the divers brought up the body. We
find this "superstition" even in America. A Pittsburg
paper, of very recent date, describes the finding of the body
of a young boy, named Reed, in the Monongahela, by a like method.
All other means having failed, it says, "a curious superstition
was employed. One of the boy's shirts was thrown into the river
where he had gone down, and, it is said, floated on the surface
for a time, and finally settled to the bottom at a certain place,
which proved to be the resting-place of the body, and which was
then drawn out. The belief that the shirt of a drowned person
when thrown into the water will follow the body is well-spread,
absurd as it appears."
This phenomenon is explained by the law of the powerful attraction
existing between the human body and objects that have been long
worn
[Vol. 2, Page 612] ISIS UNVEILED.
upon it. The oldest garment is most effective for the experiment;
a new one is useless.
From time immemorial, in Russia, in the month of May, on Trinity
Day, maidens from city and village have been in the habit of casting
upon the river wreaths of green leaves -- which each girl has
to form for herself -- and consulting their oracles. If the wreath
sinks, it is a sign that the girl will die unmarried within a
short time; if it floats, she will be married, the time depending
upon the number of verses she can repeat during the experiment.
We positively affirm that we have personal knowledge of several
cases, two of them our intimate friends, where the augury of death
proved true, and the girls died within twelve months.
Tried on any other day than Trinity, the result would doubtless
be the same. The sinking of the wreath is attributable to its
being impregnated with the unhealthy magnetism of a system which
contains the germs of early death; such magnetisms having an attraction
for the earth at the bottom of the stream. As for the rest, we
are willing to abandon it to the friends of coincidence.
The same general remark as to superstition having a scientific
basis applies to the phenomena produced by fakirs and jugglers,
which skeptics heap into the common category of trickery. And
yet, to a close observer, even to the uninitiated, an enormous
difference is presented between the kimiya (phenomenon)
of a fakir, and the batte-bazi (jugglery) of a trickster,
and the necromancy of a jadugar, or sahir, so
dreaded and despised by the natives. This difference, imperceptible
-- nay incomprehensible -- to the skeptical European, is instinctively
appreciated by every Hindu, whether of high or low caste, educated
or ignorant. The kangalin, or witch, who uses
her terrible abhi-char (mesmeric powers) with intent
to injure, may expect death at any moment, for every Hindu finds
it lawful to kill her; a bukka-baz, or juggler, serves
to amuse. A serpent-charmer, with his ba-ini full of
venomous snakes, is less dreaded, for his powers of fascination
extend but to animals and reptiles; he is unable to charm human
beings, to perform that which is called by the natives mantar
phunkna, to throw spells on men by magic. But with the yogi,
the sannyasi, the holy men who acquire enormous psychological
powers by mental and physical training, the question is totally
different. Some of these men are regarded by the Hindus as demi-gods.
Europeans cannot judge of these powers but in rare and exceptional
cases.
The British resident who has encountered in the maidans and
public places what he regards as frightful and loathsome human
beings, sitting motionless in the self-inflicted torture of the
urddwa bahu, with arms raised above the head for months,
and even years, need not suppose they are the wonder-working fakirs.
The phenomenon of the latter are visible only through the friendly
protection of a Brahman, or under peculiarly
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