THE SEVEN PORTALS
—to Arthur Edward Waite, immediately occur to the mind.
What does not occur to the mind is the names of people now
living who know their subject from experience. The late
Swami Vivekananda did know his. Sabapaty Swami did so.
Shri Parananda Swami did so, and of course above all these
stands Bhikkhu Ananda Metteya. Outside these, one can
think of no one, except the very reticent Rudolf Steiner, who
betrays practical acquaintance with the Path. The way to
discover whether a Teacher knows anything about it or not
is to do the work yourself, and see if your understanding of
him improves, or whether he fobs you off in your hour of
need with remarks on Virtue.
3. Which wilt thou choose, O thou of dauntless heart?
The Samtan of “Eye Doctrine,’ fourfold Dhyana, or thread
thy way through Péramités, six in number, noble gates of
virtue leading to Bodhi and to Pragny4G, seventh step of
Wisdom?
It must not be supposed that the Paths here indicated are
all. Apparently the writer is still harping on the same old
two Paths. It appears that “fourfold Dhyana” is a mere
extension of the word Samtan. There are, however, eight,
not four, four of these being called Low and four High.
They are defined in Rhys-Davids’ “Buddhism,” 174-6.
The Buddha just before his death went through all these
stages of meditation which are described in the paragraph
here quoted:
“Then the blessed One addressed the Brethren, and said: ‘Behold now, brethren,
I exhort you, saying, “Decay is inherent in all component things! Work out your
salvation with diligence !”’ *
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