It occurs to me that those who meditate on the uncreated Tao that cannot be spoken, and those who innocently venerate a saint, are both seeing the same Light. For the Heavenly Light is alive; it is neither reflected nor refracted in compatible souls, but rather lives and dwells in them, and shines forth from them again with the same freshness as when it first shone into creation.
How many of us would have thought of God on our own, and how well would we have known the Holy One without the Holy Ones? It does happen that the Light breaks into a soul directly from beyond, I believe. But more often it jumps from soul to soul, shifting colors with them, yet remaining the same Light. A disciple is not above his master even if the disciple does greater works. If we disregard one of the least in the Kingdom of Heaven, we may deprive ourselves of a great Light that should have lived and grown in us until it reached the brightness of full day. Sometimes it is just a few words from an unassuming soul, and yet those words carry with them a spirit that sets all things right and becomes a wellspring of life, long after they are forgotten by the one who spoke them.
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A little excerpt from The Wheel of Life, the autobiography of John Blofeld:
A month or so after our return from the five peaks, the day of my departure drew near. Almost on the last day, I revisited a Lama from whom I had learned many pieces of wisdom. My purpose was just to say farewell, but somehow the discussion veered to the fearful hells depicted in certain Buddhist temples. I asked the old man if these hells exist in fact and how literal he thought the pictures were. This was his answer:
"Hell is very real, make no mistake. The agonies endured there are not at all those depicted in the temples, but none the less terrible for that. To be in hell means to be shut off from the Eternal Light. This Light is everywhere. It shines in your own heart, though you have not eyes to see it; it shines in the mountains and in the cities, though few are aware of it.
"This Light is Truth. It will reveal to you your own real nature, whereby comes Enlightenment. This Light is Love. It sustains all beings everywhere and ultimately carries all of them beyond the realms of suffering. This Light is Wisdom. It fills men's hearts with the only knowledge that is not attached to perishable things of no account.
"Those who deliberately shut their eyes to this Light, blinded by ignorance, lust and anger, live in hell. They will suffer birth, sickness, decay and death, pursuing pleasure but never finding happiness. What torture by fire, ice or iron could be worse than that? Yet even those in the deepest hells have the Bodhisattva's promise that they shall be delivered. At last, all will dwell in the Light. But how long, how long will that be? The wise man seeks it now."
That was a beautiful quote, Walt. I take it that you recommend that book then? Or is this quote special and outstanding in the book as well?
As to the duration of Hell, I have no definitive revelation myself. But this do I know, that many living people are in Hell already, and that Hell is partially present in even more people, among them me. Therefore I audit parts of my life and pray that I may find and learn the lessons in life that I would otherwise have learned in Hell. So that hopefully, should my soul one day come to Heaven, it will fit right in: Grateful, transparent and bright.
Well, you alluded to the fact that it's the same Light for different traditions, and it reminded me of this passage. Blofeld himself (an Englishman) spent many years in China in the 30s and wrote extensively about Taoists that he met, but he was more specifically a Buddhist. So I don't know that his life's story would appeal to you. I enjoyed it because I get a kick out of accounts of old Taoists, and stories of Oriental culture.
But that particular passage seemed relevant to your post.
My own "suspicion" is that it is the extent to which that Light is real-ized that gives the soul transparency ... but I'm speaking above my pay grade.
I find that I learn much from Taoism and Buddhism. In part I believe this is because they are represented in English mostly by people of an intellectual bent, and so are more easily accessible to one who also has such a type of mind.
But often as not, when I find something in these traditions that strikes me as obviously true and useful, I am then reminded that the same thing exists in the Bible, only seen from a different angle, and that old Christians have known about it for a long time. This is a humbling experience, and I need that too.
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