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Page 1 of 11912 · PDF PAGE 96
…ystics to describe their attainment. Now there is great confusion, because the Buddhists use the word Samadhi to mean something entirely different, the mere faculty of attention. Thus, with them, to think of a cat is to “ make Samadhi ” on that cat. They use the word Jhana to describe mystic states. This is excessively misleading, for as we saw in the last section, Dhyana is a preliminary to Samadhi, and of course Jhana is merely the wretched plebeian Pali corruption of it.1 There are many kinds of Samadhi.2 Some auf/2073 consider Alma- dars/za…
1912 · PDF PAGE 63
… acts of the body, while the mantra is connected with speech: Praty- ahara1s purely mental. And what is Pratyahara? This word is used by different authors in different senses. The same word is employed to designate both the practice and the result. It means for our present purpose a process rather strategical than practical; it is introspection, a sort of general examination of the contents of the mind which we wish to control: Asana having been mastered, all immediate exciting causes have been removed, and we are free to think what we are thin…
1912 · PDF PAGE 79
…The first refers to the result itself. Dhyana is the same word as the Pali “Jhana.” The Buddha counted eight Jha'nas, which are evidently different degrees and kinds of trance. The Hindu also speaks of Dhyana as a lesser form of Samadhi. Others, however, treat it as if it were merely an intensification of Dharana. Patanjali says: “Dharana is holding the mind on to some particular object. An unbroken flow of knowledge in that subject is Dhyana. When that, giving up all forms, reflects only the meaning, it is Samadhi.” He combines these three into Sa…
1912 · PDF PAGE 106
… himself on his return out of touch with his civilization, and in every way less capable than when he left. . But each claims, though in different language, to have gained in his absence some superhuman power. . Do you believe this? It becomes us ill to reject the assertions of those who are admit» 90
1912 · PDF PAGE 67
…ite without any relaxa- tion of vigilance, the mind will suddenly he stilled. There will be a marvellousfeeling of peace and rest, quite different from the lethargic feeling which is produced by over-eating. It is difficult to say whether so definite a result would come to all, or even to most people. The matter is one of no very great importance. If you have acquired the power of checking the rise of thought you may proceed to the next stage.
1912 · PDF PAGE 66
…object. Before we go on to this, however, we must consider what is meant by success in Pratyahara. This is a very extensive subject, and different authors take widely divergent views. One writer means an analysis so acute that every thought is resolved into a number of elements (see “The Psychology of Hashish,” Section V, in Equinox II). Others take the View that supcess in this practice is something like the experience which Sir Humphrey Davy had as a result of taking nitrous oxide, in which he exclaimed: “The universe is composed exclusively …
1912 · PDF PAGE 25
…olitary habits. This is so true of man that psychologists have been obliged to treat of the mental state of crowds as if it were totally different in quality from any state possible to an individual. It is by freeing the mind from external influences,whether casual or emotional, that it obtains power to see somewhat of the truth of things. Let us, however, continue our practice. Let us determine to be masters of our minds. We shall then soon find what conditions are favourable. There will be no need to persuade ourselves at great length that all
1912 · PDF PAGE 85
69 probably be the first to admit that if any man were really tired of life, in his deepest being, a state very different from that in which a man goes about saying he is tired of life, he could manage somehow or other to kill someone first. “ Νονν the man whohas experienced any of the more intense forms of Dhyana is thus liberated. The Universe is thus destroyed for him, and he for it. His will can therefore go on its way unhampered. One may imagine that in the case of Mohammed he had cherished for years a tremendous ambition, and never done any…
1912 · PDF PAGE 97
8r magical powers; or so he says. These need not be debated here. Any one who wants magic powers can get them in dozens of different ways.- Power grows faster than desire. The boy who wants money to buy lead soldiers sets to work to obtain it, and by the time he has got it wants Something else instead—in all probability something just beyond his means. Such is the splendid history of all spiritual advance! One never stops to take the reward. We shall therefore not trouble at all about what any Samadhi may or may not bring as far as its results …
1912 · PDF PAGE 72
…re is no conceiv- able change of which it is incapable. Not to mention its total disap pearance, and replacement by something altogether different! Any one to whom this experience does not occur need not imagine that he is meditating. It shows merely that he is incapable of concen— trating his mind in the very smallest degree. Perhaps a student may go for several days before discovering that he is not meditating. When he does, the obstinacy‘of the object will infuriate him; and it is only now that his real troubles will begin, only now that Wil…