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1904 · PDF PAGE 38

The Sword of Song

…ugh the apparent unison), As if they were mere drunken dreams ; For the first word in India here From Koromandl to Kashmir Says the same thing these Germans said : “Ekam Advaita !”44 one, not two ! Thus East and West from A to Z Agree—Alas ! so do not you ? (It matters nothing—you, I find, Are but a mode of my own mind.) As far as normal reasoning goes, I must admit my concepts close Exactly where my worthy friend, Great Mansel, says they ought to end. But here’s the whole thing in a word : Olympus in a nutshell ! I Have a superior faculty To r…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 64

The Sword of Song

…handra.56—Anglicé, shot the moon. 388. The subtle devilish omission.87—But what are w e to say of Christian dialectitians who quote “All things work together for good” out of its context, and call this verse “Chris- tian optimism ?” See Caird’s “Hegel.” Hegel knew how to defend himself, though. As Goethe wrote of him : “ They thought the master too Inclined to fuss and finick. The students’ anger grew To frenzy Paganinic.* They vowed they’d make him rue His work in Jena’s clinic. They came, the unholy crew, The mystic and the cynic : He had sco…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 103

The Sword of Song

…definite one ; and it is the funda-mental ideas of consciousness of which we are treating, and to which we are com pelled to refer every thing, whether proximately or ultimately. So also my equation, fantastic as it may seem, has a perfect and absolute parallel in logic. Thus: let us convert twice the pro- position “some books are on the table.” By negativing both terms we get “Absence- of-book is not on the table,” which is precisely my equation backwards, and a thinkable thing. To reverse the process, what do I mean when I say “some pigs, but…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 121

The Sword of Song

…Noble Eightfold Path, of which I propose to give a short resumé. First, however, of the goal. It may be readily syllogised: All existing things are (by nature, inevi- tably) subject to change. In Nirvana is no change. ∴ No existing thing is or can be in Nirvana. Now here is the great difficulty; for this syllogism is perfectly sound, and y et we speak of attaining Nirvana, tasting Nir- vana, &c. [We must distinguish the Hindu Nirvana, which means Cessation of Existence in certain Lokas; never absolute Cessation, as the 1 Or International Buddhi…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 109

The Sword of Song

… should read “translate correctly.”1 I suppose it would not scan, nor rhyme: but Sir Edwin is the last person to be deterred by a little thing like that. Dr. Paul Carus, too, in the “Gospel of Buddha,” is pleased to represent Nirvana as a parallel for the Heaven of the Christian. It is sufficient if I reiterate the unanim ous opinion of com petent scholars, that there is no fragment of evidence in any canonical book sufficient to establish such interpretations in the teeth of Buddhist tradition and practice ; a nd t hat a ny p erson who persist…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 42

The Sword of Song

…d Of worshipping so foul a fiend In presence of the living Sun, And yet replace him oiled and cleaned By the Egyptian Pantheon, The same thing by another name. Thus when of late Egyptian Gods Evoked ecstatic periods In verse of mine, you thought I praised Or worshipped them—I stand amazed. I merely wished to chant in verse Some aspects of the Universe, Summed up these subtle forces finely, And sang of them (I think divinely) In name and form : a fault perhaps— Reviewers are such funny chaps ! I think that ordinary folk, Though, understood the t…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 28

The Sword of Song

…t present ’tis Ascension Day ! At least your faith should be content. I quarrel not with this event. The supernatural element ? I deny nothing—at the term It is just Nothing I affirm. The fool (with whom is wisdom, deem The Scriptures—rightly !) in his heart Saith (silent, to himself, apart) This secret : “\yhla }ya”79 See the good Psalm ! And thus, my friend ! My diatribes approach the end And find us hardly quarelling. And yet—you seem not satisfied ? The literal mistranslated thing Must not by sinners be denied. Go to your Chapel then to pra…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 19

The Sword of Song

… antithesis implied, The irony, the curse-fruition, The calm assumption of Hell’s fevers As fit, as just, for unbelievers— These are the things that stick beside And hamper my quite serious wish To harbour kind thoughts of the “Fish.”58 Here goes my arrow to the gold ! I’ll make no magpies ! Though I hold Your Christianity a lie, Abortion and iniquity, The most immoral and absurd —(A priest’s invention, in a word)— Of all religions, I have hope In the good Dhamma’s59 wider scope, Nay, certainty ! that all at last, However came they in the past,…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 43

The Sword of Song

THE SWORD OF SONG 36 So to the laws all bards obey I bend, and seek in my own way By false things to expound the real. But never think I shall appeal To Gods. What folly can compare With such stupidity as prayer ? Some years ago I thought to try Prayer51—tests its efficacity. I fished by a Norwegian lake. “O God,” I prayed, “for Jesus’ sake Grant thy poor servant all his wish ! For every prayer produce a fish !” Nine times the prayer went up the spout, And eight times—what a thumping trout ! (This is the only true fish-story I ever heard—give G…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 80

The Sword of Song

…lves, r eserves all gr ound within 50 feet of a dagoba. The incident described in this section actually occurred in 1901. 2 Siam. know a thing or two about Indra, for example——’ “It was done. Beautiful was the young girl’s face as s he s prang mature from the womb of Matter, on her life-journey of an hundred thousand y ears. Of all Indra’s flute-girls she played and sang the sweetest. Yet ever some remembrance, dim as a pallid ghost that fleets down the long avenues of deodar and moonlight, stole in her brain; and her song was ever of love and …

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1904 · PDF PAGE 39

The Sword of Song

… last the long sought power (Which you believe you have this hour, But certainly have not, my friend !) Of keeping close the mind to one Thing at a time—suppose, the Sun. I gain this (Reverence to Ganesh’ !)46 And at that instant comprehend (The past and future tenses vanish) What Fichte comprehends. Division, Thought, wisdom, drop away. I see The absolute identity Of the beholder and the vision. There is a lake* amid the snows Wherein five glaciers merge and break. Oh ! the deep brilliance of the lake ! The roar of ice that cracks and goes Cra…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 23

The Sword of Song

…knowing how were linked The chains in either’s Destiny. “You pose me the eternal Why ?” Not I ? Again, “Who asks doth err.” But this one thing I say. Perhance There lies a purpose in advance. 535 540 545 550 555 560 565 570 575 Will Satan be saved ? Who pardons Judas? God’s fore- knowledge of Satan’s fall and eternal misery makes him re- sponsible for it. If he and Judas are finally re- deemed we might perhaps look over the matter this once. Poet books his seat. Creator in

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1904 · PDF PAGE 31

The Sword of Song

…a poet or a rhymer ; A mountaineer or mountain climber. So much for Crowley’s vital primer. The inward life of soul and heart, That is a thing occult, apart : But yet his metier or his kismet As much as these you have of his met. So—you be butcher ; you be baker ; You, Plymouth Brother, and you, Quaker ; You, Mountebank, you, corset-maker :— While for you, my big beauty,20 (Chicago packs pork) I’ll teach you the trick to be hen-of-the-walk. Shrick a music-hall song with a double ong-tong ! Dance a sprightly can-can at Paree or Bolong ! Or the d…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 54

The Sword of Song

…45-249). And in that last supreme hour of agony he claims Regan as his wife, as if by accident ; it is not the passionate assertion of a thing doubt- ful, but the natural reference to a thing well known and indisputable. And in the moment of his despair; confronted with the dead bodies of the splendid sisters, the catafalque of all his hopes, he can exclaim in spiritual triumph over material disaster—the victory of a true man’s spirit over Fate— “Yet Edmund was beloved.” Edgar is left alive with Albany, alone of all that crew; and if remorse co…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 98

The Sword of Song

…AL MAGIC tycarb O M an, of a dar ing natur e, thou subtle pro- duction! Thou wilt not comprehend it, as when under- standing some common thing. ORACLES OF ZOROASTER. IN presenting this theory of the Universe to the world, I have but one hope of making any profound impression, viz.—that my theory has the merit of explaining the divergences between the three great forms of religion now existing in the world—Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity , and of adapting them to ontological science by conclusions not mystical but mathematical. Of M ohamme- …

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1904 · PDF PAGE 79

The Sword of Song

APPENDIX I 72 V. “Now the great elephant strode with lordly footsteps in the forest, and Jehjaour shut himself up with his caldrons and things and felt quite happy, for he knew his danger was not near till the approachin of Perdu’ R Abu’s Arahatship. But in spite of the young gently-ambling cows which Ganesha took care to throw in his way , in spite of the tender shoots of green and the soft cocoanuts, this elephant was not as other elephants. The seasons spoke to him of change—the forest is ever full of sorrow— and nobody need preach to him th…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 83

The Sword of Song

…h and Light and P eace and Love; deeper and deeper enmeshed in the net of Circumstance, bogged in the mire of Tanha1 and Avigga2 and all things base and vile. False Vichi-Kichi 3 had caught him at last ! XIII. “Aye! The hour was at hand. Perdu R Abu was reincarnated as a child of Western parents, ignorant of all his wonderful past. But a strange fate has brought him to this village.” The Buddha paused, probalby for effect. A young man there, sole among them not yet an Arahat, turned pale. He alone was of Western birth in all that multitude. “Br…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 5

The Sword of Song

… but to m ove one step in this direction is to start on a journey whose end cannot be determined. The religion, ceasing to be a tangible thing, an object uniform for all sane eyes, becom es rather that m ist whereon the sun of the soul casts up, like Brocken spectres, certain vast and vague images of the beholder himself, with or without a glory en-compassing them. The function of the facts is then quite passive: it matters little or nothing whether the cloud be the red m ist of Christianity , or the glim - mering silver-white of Celtic Paganis…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 119

The Sword of Song

… he admits as being those of reason. But his statem ent that Idealism is but verbally intelligible is for m y purpose the most admirable thing he could have said. He is wrong in say ing that idealists are bewildered by their own terminology ; the fact is that idealis t conclusions are pre- sented directly to consciousness, when that consciousness is Dhyanic. (Cf. Section XI.) Nothing is clearer to m y m ind that that the great difficulty habitually experienced b y the normal mind in the assim ilation of m eta- physics is due to the actual lack …

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1904 · PDF PAGE 107

The Sword of Song

…ges of true m editation. And iron will-power is a still earlier qualifica- tion. By meditation I do not mean merely “thinking about” any thing, however pro- foundly, but the absolute restraint of the mind to the contemplation of a single object, whether gross, fine, or altogether spiritual. Now true m agical cerem ony is entirely directed to attain this end, and form s a magnificent gymnasium for those who are not already finished mental athletes. By act, word, and thought, both in quantity and quality, the one object of the cerem ony is being …

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