From the fantastic book from T. LOBSANG RAMPA –
(some words are translated to norwegian and there may be some wordmistakes here because this is scanned from the book)
In this extract Lobsangs guide first tell him about the roots of Christianity and the western peoples opinion on sex – and how the early Christian priests decided that sex was unclean. Again remember that this happened almost 100 years ago – but the wisdom here is timeless. We read from page 178 now:
“Well Lobsang,” said my Guide when we had finished our meal, “tell me what it is that bothers you so?”
“Honourable Lama!” I said in some excitement, “a trader passing through here, and with whom I was discussing matters of some moment at the Western Gate, gave me some remarkable information about the people of the West. He told me that they thought our religious paintings obscene. He told me some incredible things about their sex habits, and I am still not at all sure that he was not taking me for a fool.” My Guide looked at me and thought for a moment or two, then he said, “To go into this matter, Lobsang, would take more than one session. We have to go to our Service and the time is near for that. Let us just discuss one aspect of this first, shall we?” I nodded, very eagerly, because I really was most puzzled about all this. My Guide then said, “All this springs from religion. The religion of the West is different from the religion of the East. We should look into this and see what bearing it has on the subject.” He arranged his robes about him more comfortably, and rang for the attendant to clear the things from the table. When that had been done, he turned to me and started a discussion which I found to be of enthralling (fengslende) interest.
“Lobsang,” he said, “we must draw a parallel between one of the religions of the West and our own Buddhist religion. You will realise from your lessons that the Teachings of our Lord Gautama have been altered somewhat in the course of time. Throughout the years and the centuries, which have elapsed since the passing from this earth of The Gautama and His elevation to Buddhahood, the Teachings, which He personally taught, have changed. Some of us think they have changed for the worse. Others think that the Teachings have been brought into line with modern thought.” He looked at me to see if I was following him with sufficient attention, to see if I understood what he was talking about. I understood and I followed him perfectly. He nodded to me briefly and then continued.
“We had our Great Being whom we call Gautama, whom some call The Buddha. The Christians also had their Great Being. Their Great Being propounded (la fram) certain Teachings. Legend and, in fact, actual records – testify to the fact that their Great Being who, according to their own Scriptures, wandered abroad in the Wilderness, actually visited India and Tibet in search of information, in search of knowledge, about a religion which would be suitable for Western mentalities and spirituallties. This Great Being came to Lhasa and actually visited our Cathedral, The Jo Kang. The Great Being then returned to the West and formulated a religion which was in every way admirable and suitable for the Western people. With the Passing of that Great Being from this earth as our own Gautama passed – certain dissensions arose in the Christian Church. Some sixty years after that Passing, a Convention, or Meeting, was held at a place called Constantinople. Certain changes were made in Christian dogma – certain changes were made in Christian belief. Probably some of the priests of the day felt that they had to put in a few torments (piner) in order to keep some of the more refractory (gjenstridige) of their congregation (menighet) in good order.” Again he looked at me to see if I was following him. Again I indicated that I was not merely following him, but that I was vastly interested.
“The men who attended that Convention at Constantinople in the year 60 were men who were not sympathetic toward women, just as some of our monks feel faint at the mere thought of a woman. The majority of them regarded sex as something unclean, something which should only be resorted to in the case of absolute necessity in order to increase the race. These were men who had no great sexual urges(drifter) themselves, no doubt they had other urges, perhaps some of those urges were spiritual – I do not know – I only know that in the year 60 they decided that sex was unclean, sex was the work of the devil. They decided that children were brought into the world unclean and were not fit to go to a reward until in some way they had been cleansed first.” He paused a moment and then smiled as he said, “I do not know what is supposed to happen to all the millions of babies born before this meeting at Constantinople!”
“You will understand, Lobsang, that I am giving you information about Christianity as I understand it. Possibly when you go to live among these people you will have some different impression or different information which may in some way modify my own opinions and teachings.” As he finished his statement the conches sounded, and the temple trumpets blared. About us there was the ordered bustle (travelhet)of disciplined men getting ready for the Service. We too stood up and brushed off our robes before making our way down to the Temple for the Service. Before leaving me at the entrance, my Guide said, “Come to my room after, Lob-sang, and we will continue our discussion.”
So I entered into the Temple and I took my place among my fellows, and I said my prayers and I thanked my own particular God that I was a Tibetan the same as my Guide, the Lama Mingyar Dondup. It was beautiful in the old Temple, the air of worship, the gently drifting clouds of incense which kept us in touch with people on other planes of existence. Incense (røkelse) is not just a pleasant smell, not something which “disinfects” a Temple – it is a living force, a force which is so arranged that by picking the particular type of incense we can actually control the rate of vibration. Tonight, in the Temple, the incense was floating and giving a mellow (mild), old world atmosphere to the place. I looked out from my place among the boys of my group looked out into the dim mists of the Temple building. There was the deep chanting of the old lamas accompanied by – at times – the silver bells. Tonight we had a Japanese monk with us. He had come all the way across our land after having stopped in India for some time. He was a great man in his own country, and he had brought with him his wooden drums, drums which play such a great part in the religion of the Japanese monks. I marvelled at the versatility of the Japanese monk, at the remarkable music he produced from his drums. It seemed truly amazing to me that hitting a sort of wooden box could sound so very musical; he had the wooden drum and he had sort of clappers, each with little bells attached, and also our own lamas accompanied him with silver bells, with the great temple conch booming (gjallende konkylie) out in appropriate time. It seemed to me that the whole Temple vibrated, the walls themselves seemed to dance and shimmer, and the mists away in the distance of the far recesses (nisjer) seemed to form into faces, the faces of long-dead lamas. But for once all too soon, the Service had ended, and I hurried off as arranged to my Guide, the Lama Mingyar Dondup.
“You have not wasted much time, Lobsang!” said my Guide cheerfully. “I thought perhaps you would be stopping to have one of those innumerable snacks!” “No, Honour-able Lama,” I said, “I am anxious to get some enlightenment, for I confess (tilstår) the subject of sex in the Western world is one which has caused me a lot of astonishment (forbløffelse) after having heard so much about it from traders and others.” He laughed at me and said, “Sex causes a lot of interest everywhere! It is sex, after all, which keeps people on this earth. We will discuss it as you require it so.”
“Honourable Lama,” I said, “you said previously that sex was the second greatest force in the world. What did you mean by that? If sex is so necessary in order to keep the world populated why is it not the most important force?” “The greatest force in the world, Lobsang,” said my Guide, “is not sex, the greatest force of all is imagination, for without imagination there would be no sexual impulse. If a male had no imagination, then the male could not be interested in the female. Without imagination there would be no writers, no artists, there would be nothing whatever that was constructive or good!” “But, Honourable Lama,” I said, “are you saying that imagination is necessary for sex? And if you are, how does imagination apply to animals?”
“Imagination is possessed by animals, Lobsang, just as it is possessed by humans. Many people think that animals are mindless creatures, without any form of intelligence, without any form of reason, yet I, who have lived a surprisingly long number of years, tell you differently.” My Guide looked at me, and then shaking a finger at me he said, “You profess to be fond of the Temple cats, are you going to tell me that they have no imagination? You always speak to the Temple cats, you stop to caress them. After you have been affectionate (hegiven) with them once they will wait for you a second time, and a third time, and so on. If this were mere insensitive (ufølsomme) reactions, if these were just brain patterns, then the cat would not wait for you on the second or third occasion, but would wait until the habit had been formed. No, Lobsang, any animal has imagination. An animal imagines the pleasures in being with its mate, and then the inevitable occurs!”
When I came to think about it, to dwell upon the subject, it was perfectly clear to me that my Guide was absolutely right. I had seen little birds – little hens – fluttering their wings in much the same way as young women flutter their eyelids! I had watched little birds and seen very real anxiety (engstelse) as they waited for their mates to return from the unceasing forage for food. I had seen the joy with which a loving little bird had greeted her mate upon his return. It was obvious to me, now that I thought about it, that animals really had imagination, and so I could see the sense of my Guide’s remarks that imagination was the greatest force on earth. One of the traders told me that the more occult a person was, the more he was opposed to sex, Honourable Lama,” I said. “Is this true, or am I being teased? I have heard so many very strange things that I really do not know how I stand in the matter.” The Lama Mingyar Dondup nodded (nikket) sadly, as he replied, “It is perfectly true, Lobsang, that many people who are intensely interested in occult matters are intensely antipathetic to sex, and for a special reason; you have been told before that the greatest occultists are not normal, that is, they have something wrong with them physically. A person may have a grave disease, such as T.B., or cancer, or anything of that nature. A person may have some nerve complaint – whatever it is, it is an illness and that illness increases metaphysical perceptions.”
The story continues in Summary part 2: Link to Summary part 2
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