On looking down on the green plains of the Chumbi Valley I saw a large number of yaks grazing. They were grazing in the morning mist, for the grass is sweeter when the dew is on it. It seemed a familiar scene to me, though in a strange land. In the Highlands of Scotland in the early morning mists I used to watch the Highland cattle grazing, and sometimes there were wild deer which had come down in the early morning to graze in the green pastures. The first thing I used to look for when I got up was to see if there were any wild deer down from the hills. And here was a similar scene, for the yak is an animal with shaggy hair not unlike the Highland cattle, with the exception that the yak has a hump where the neck and shoulders meet.
I asked, "Whom do all these yaks belong to, I did not see them there last night?"
"Look over to the side of the river," replied Rimpoche, "and you will see a large pile of wool bales. That is a yak train of about four hundred, I would say, carrying Tibetan wool to India. It is quite a common event here. When they have had their morning feed the teamsters will gather them together and load them up for the next day's trek over the pass. Let us go down amongst them, it will be an experience for you."
So we walked down to the floor of the valley and sure enough there
were about eight hundred bales of Tibetan wool. Each yak carries
two bales, one on each side of its saddle. Tibetan wool is eagerly
sought in India because of its fine texture.
"The history of the yak is a very interesting one," said Rimpoche, "for they supply all the needs of the Tibetans. The hair is woven into great tents in which the nomads live. The pelts are used to make boots and shoes, the flesh is eaten for food, and the butter and the milk supply is more than ample. A great deal of butter is used in lamps, especially in the monasteries, and some lamps are kept burning continuously. Yak dung is gathered and used to make fires, to cook the food and to heat the houses. The yaks are also used for ploughing the lands and they carry everything on their backs that the Tibetan needs. So, you see, the yak is the most useful animal in Tibet and there are hundreds of them roaming wild in the plains.
"There are valleys in Tibet where no living person has ever been and there are also valleys in Tibet where people live and no one knows anything about them; neither do they know anything about what is outside. They live in a world of their own, hemmed in by the great mountains, and they have made little or no effort to know what is beyond.
"In my travels into these isolated parts, I came upon a monastery where the Bon-Bon worship was still in operation, and on rare occasions human sacrifices are practised. The lamas have stamped most of this devil-worship out of Tibet and, though steeped in religion, dogmas and superstition themselves, they have at least done this one real service to the country."
"Yes," I said, "I would like to see more and hear more about the monasteries and lamas; they interest the outside world a lot, and weird tales have been circulated about them."
"Yes," said Rimpoche, "wherever you have dogma and superstition at its height you will find ignorance and poverty among the people. This is undoubtedly a great hindrance to progress. Wherever you find religious superstition, the people are poor, because they are prayed to, prayed for and preyed upon, and as long as they can be kept ignorant the better it is for those who rule through superstition and fear. But this is fast coming to an end. Even in Tibet, the most remote country in the world, there are those who are beginning to think things out for themselves."
"Do you know," he continued, "that there are over three thousand monasteries in Tibet - the largest being Drepung which is situated near Lhasa and has over nine thousand lamas in it. These lamasaries are like cities; they are completely self-contained. The next largest is Seara, not far from Drepung with over eight thousand lamas.
"Ganden Monastery which is beyond Lhasa has about five thousand lamas. This is the great centre of learning in Tibet and here flock the ablest of the student lamas. I taught in this monastery for years."
"That is interesting," I remarked, "what do they teach there?"
"They teach philosophy, mysticism and magic, astrology and the study of ancient literature and metaphysics, healing, and other studies. There are some very great Tibetan scholars and mystics there as well as those who work magic, and I intend that you shall meet some of them."
The oldest monastery in Tibet is Samye. This monastery was founded by the wizard lama Padma-Samb-Hava some hundreds of years ago. The legend about this wizard lama is that he caused the spirits of the Malgro lake nearby to bring in a great quantity of gold and precious stones which were secreted in the vaults hewn out of the great rock upon which the monastery is built. These vast stores of gold and precious stones have been kept there intact for several hundred years.
"My own opinion," said Rimpoche, "is that Padma-Samb-Hava made the lamas dig in the mountains for gold and search the lake nearby for precious stones, for this area is considered the richest in the whole of Tibet. Anyone finding gold and precious stones must bring them to the monastery; to keep them for themselves would be sacrilege. So you can see why the monasteries are so wealthy and the people so poor. People are told what to think and how to think and what to do, and only comparatively few are able to think for themselves and gain freedom."
"It is much the same in the West," I said.
"Yes," he affirmed, "people are seeking the truth while living in the false, but the false will remain till they see the false, then the false will cease to be. The false can never contain the truth, ignorance does not contain understanding."
I could see at once that Rimpoche had passed into a state of inspiration and I would not interrupt by asking any more questions. So we sat and listened to this ancient sage full of wisdom and truth, and I was filled with a longing to seek deeper into the Reality of things and as I listened I felt what he was saying had a transforming effect upon me.
"They cannot see the false," he said, "because they are caught up in it. They are conditioned by their prejudices, by their beliefs, and what others tell them. They have failed to assert their creative faculty of discerning that which is not true. The only truth about the false is that it is false and they will still be caught up in it till they understand it, and how they have been caught up in it."
Now he took on the role of the teacher. "I want you to see this clearly, my son." he said, looking at me, "otherwise you will retain the false, hoping to see the Truth. But it cannot be done."
"Firstly," he said, "you must see what makes you believe in anything, then you will see what makes you antagonistic to another belief, or idea, or people. If you came here conditioned by your own opinions, then you will see only through that conditioning, but if you are free from your own conditioning you can see us free from ours. Then you will see me as I see you, stripped of all form, all nationalities, all religions and creeds. Then we will know each other to be made in the image and likeness of our Creator, made out of the same Substance, the same Life, and having the 'One' Consciousness within, for there cannot be any division, God being Infinite in nature, there can only be God, there can be nothing else and this is our Being."
I breathed a sigh, for here was the secret of the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God, and he put it in such a few words. I did not move, nor did I reply one way or another, I must not break the spell, I thought. His eyes were closed now, his face took on an angelic look as if a great angel messenger was speaking through him, and it could be so, through one who knew the inner secrets of Life. He continued in that beautiful mellow tone of his and every sentence stood clearly out by itself.
"You organise yourselves into separate groups of religions, of nationalities, of ideologies, each believing that what you stand for is the real thing. So you wrangle with one another and when wrangling cannot solve the problem you butcher one another. Now is there any Truth in that?"
I felt myself saying, "No," but my tongue was tied. I felt a deep feeling within me and it was coming to the surface. Something was preventing me from uttering a single word.
"You are afraid because you do not understand. So you want a guide, you want a belief, so you are further caught up in the conflict, and because you are in conflict you are afraid. So you want an ideal so that you can look at your fear, but this only covers up your fear while you do not understand. When you understand your fear, you are freed from your fear, then your conflict will disappear.
"Your ideals and your fears are made up in your mind, and what is made up in your mind is unreal, so both your ideal and your fears have no foundation in Truth.
"Truth is not made up in the mind, Truth is ! You do not make it up! What is made up, is not Truth!
"You can see the false as you discern your relationship with people, ideas and things. If there is antagonism, if there is fear, if there is craving, prejudice or conflict, there can be no relationship.
"As long as the mind is in conflict blaming, resisting, condemning, there can be no understanding, no relationship with one another. It is obvious you must not condemn if you want to understand.
"When you see the false you will know it, you will no longer be part of it, and then the True comes into being, because It always Is, It is Real and Eternal and everpresent, moment to moment, never changing. It is only your mind that changes from one idea to another. When you know what a belief is, what an idea is, then the mind will free itself, and in that freedom there is the Real.
"It is so important to understand that the mind is made dull through condemning, through blaming, through avoidance, through acceptance and through resistance. Only in your relationship, freed from all conditioning is there freedom, and in this freedom there is peace, and in peace there is Love.
"If you are filled with likes and dislikes you are merely projecting your own conditioning."
I thought for a moment how true that is, for the other person is but a mirror in which we see ourselves.
"You will see some so-called pleasant and unpleasant things as you pass through Tibet," he said, "but if the unpleasant upsets you, you are resisting, you are not free. When there is Love we observe the facts but they do not repel us. I know you have the capacity for this Love, otherwise you would not be here, my son.
"Some repeat words - mantrims, these things do not fill the heart. On the contrary they empty the heart of whatever it has. The heart can only be filled when the mind is not fabricating. When the mind is not caught up in opposites, in ideas, prejudice and the like, then only is the heart alive with Love.
"Then one knows what it is to have that warmth, the richness in holding the hand of another. Love being perfect in its own Eternity knows no resistance, no opposition, neither will you fear any more, because you will be filled with Eternal Love, for God is Love, and He alone exists. That which hides Him is but a mental fabrication. Now I know that the false is falling away from you, my son. It is said in Isaiah 65:17, 'For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.' "
With these last words he opened his eyes, in them there was a far-away look. I could see that soon he would dissolve his earthly body into the substance from which it arose, for he was truly in the mind of God, his Spirit was freed from all desires, all craving for both Spiritual and material had ceased, he knew he was Life, he had found "Being."
He rose, gathered his robes about him and went away.
I was left to myself for the remainder of the day. Both Rimpoche and my friend purposely left me. I knew it was for the purpose of letting me work things out for myself. For on several occasions I would ask a question and all I would get would be a vacant look. I know now how stupid those questions were, but I did not think so at the time, for they were of great importance to me then. But now I have the same habit; when people ask me a lot of questions, it may seem rude not to answer but no rudeness is implied, only deep Love rules the heart, knowing that an answer would only mean another image.
Perhaps you are also grasping the fact, my dear reader; if an answer were given it would merely create another idea which would only hinder and not help to free the mind from its own formulations, beliefs, prejudices and fears.
Facts are facts, but a fact is not a belief nor is a belief a fact. When facts are seen as facts, not a belief in a fact, then there is understanding.
A scientific question can be answered, or, at least, the way of finding out facts can be taught. But the belief in a fact is not the fact itself, for a belief in a fact can never reveal the fact. When I saw this clearly I stopped asking questions.
I must have been sitting by myself for hours. My mind was emptying itself out; I could watch my thoughts as if they were pictures on a screen, quite impersonally. I was beginning to understand now what my mind was made up of. I neither judged, praised nor condemned; it was as if I were observing the mind of another.
Then the deeper stratas of the mind were giving up its cherished ideas, things that I had held fast to were being loosened one after another. I could see clearly now how and from where my mind was made up. It was the result of hereditary tendencies, countless thousands of impressions, ideas, prejudices, most of them being received from the opinions and suggestions and statements of those who were caught up in their own conditioning, caught up in the false, which prevented them from seeing the Truth of the only "One" in which there was no division. I could also see how I accepted without question or examination; thus I was conditioned.
I could now see that I could live in the false without condemning and without being affected by it, because I knew how it all came about, and I resolved I would never again be caught up in it, even should I be surrounded by it on all sides.
I could see why I must be aware, wide-awake in questioning the opinion of others. I could now search their statements with the speed of lightning and realise that they were merely imitators, they were merely gramophones.
Yet I knew that was not enough; I must question my own thought-feeling-reaction to see where it was moving, what was moving it and why. What was the motive behind it?
I could now understand what was in my mind, and could see from where it arose, and by seeing this clearly I was freed from its binding effects. It did not matter very much now whether it was true or not. The words of my friend came to me so clearly and I understood now as I never understood before, "It does not matter very much whether it is true or not!"
I could see how the light was shown on the path which I must move along by myself, for no one else could reveal the Truth to me. I had to find It out alone, and I saw how important this was. It was my own now, not the idea of another, for the truth of another could never be my truth. If it did it would be merely an idea, a belief, and I would still be bound. How clearly I saw this now, that I must experience the Truth by myself. I understood the way I was being shown how to move along under my own guidance, that guidance of the Spirit that is Eternal and Ever-present within me "NOW."
I saw that this moment was Eternal. I could only "Be," each moment. The moment just past became a memory, to try and recapture it would merely be a mental image. I must live each moment to be free from the past or the future. I could see that both the past and the future only existed in the mind and nowhere else. "Now" was the only Reality. I was the Life Eternal, I could be nothing else, anything else would merely be an idea, a self-created image.
I was becoming consciously free and I experienced a power that was beyond the mind. I was the focal point through which the all-ness of the Universal Power could manifest. My faith was no longer the opposite of fear. It was now a knowing, for I had experienced Reality. Although I do not know what It is I know that It is, and there is nothing else but It, therefore I am It too. "I and the Father are one."
I could sense the power of the Master, "It was the Father who ever remained within me," He was the operator, and there was nothing now to prevent this power from acting. I had only to be consciously aware, and through this awareness, only, could Reality be expressed.
I thought, how did I ever miss this wonderful thing, this knowing? It was so simple, and I could discern now how I had been caught up in separation, in belief. I was separated from my fellows by my ideas, my beliefs, my prejudices, my fears. I could see it all now. I knew that the Real Self within was the same in each and every one - and now I knew, really knew. It was no longer a platitude or a mere saying, what I did to another I did to myself, "Whatever you do unto one of these so you do unto Me," did it unto Him who sent me, for I was in the Whole and the Whole was in me.
I could never go back now. I actually felt within myself that freedom, that wisdom and love, that is all power in heaven and on earth.
I knew now the healing power of the Master and I felt also at that moment that I could say, "Arise and walk," and it became so, for throughout the world, ever since, I have healed thousands of people, some whom I have never seen. Age has disappeared from me and my youthful appearance mystifies everyone who knows my age.
It sounds like a great romance but it is greater than any romance ever known. Yet all have the same power, and the only thing that is preventing Its manifestation is, because It is covered up with the false, with separation, not only between man and man but also between man and God through a belief in separation, yet we are "One" in Reality. It is this that the ignorant cannot see yet.
Good and evil, I saw, were relative, a fabrication of the mind, for there could be no evil in the Divine which alone was Real, Eternal and Ever-present. I could see the falseness of the preaching about evil, hell and the devil which exists today, how people are caught up in the evil and can see nothing else. What the mind sees, so must that mind be likewise, is true in fact.
Yes, the teachings of the Master Jesus are covered up with sanctimonious formalities by those who profess him, they mystify themselves and confuse the people.
I know now that this book could not have been written before. There is a time for everything, and the time has now come for this great story to be told.
I was brought out of my reverie, again, by the sound of the chonghas, the ceremonial trumpets calling the lamas to prayer. The sun was now setting behind the mountain into which the monastery was built. The magnificent colour display was something never to be forgotten; from pinks to dark reds with rays spreading in all directions, the monastery nestled in it as if in a great fire.
I made my way back to the monastery and my friend and Geshi Rimpoche came to meet me. I must have had a radiant look about me for my friend said, "You have regained your youth, my son." It was true, for I felt it, felt as if the burdens of thousands of years of inherited conditioning had slipped away from me. I was free, with a freedom I cannot explain. Words have no meaning to describe the ecstasy of that freedom and the power that it gave me.
That evening we listened to more music of the classics. It was my medicine and I knew it.
The following day I wanted to tour the monastery. I now wanted to see the images in gold and silver, some studded with precious stones, about which I had heard so much.
I was conducted by one of the lamas called Tsong Sen who could speak English well; he was not more than twenty-five years old. He had been educated at an English school in Darjeeling. Yet his desire to become a lama brought him back to Tibet.
"I am fortunate in being able to speak English, which gives me the honour of conducting you through our monastery," he said.
"It is a great pleasure to have you," I thanked him, for indeed it was a pleasure for me to have a guide who could speak English well.
We first went into a room where some of the head lamas were having tea and I was asked to partake tea with them. I considered it an honour because of the fact that their sanctum is very secluded, but when they heard that I was a pupil of Geshi Rimpoche they were delighted to have me. I knew beforehand what the tea would be like, though I had not really tasted it before.
Their tea comes from China in the form of a solid reddish brick, this is scraped into an urn, into which is put a piece of rancid butter and some salt. Then boiling water is poured on to it and allowed to simmer for hours. The taste to me was more like castor oil, which I disliked intensely, having been given castor oil once every week when I was a boy.
In the ordinary way lamas dwell over their tea talking on many subjects relative to the monastery, and they take sips of tea now and then; this goes on for hours. When I tasted it I nearly vomited, but I could not show my dislike of their wonderful tea, so I gulped it down quickly, trying not to taste the rancid butter and salt as it passed down my throat. I was very glad when that was over, but as soon as I put down my cup it was filled up again. I had not bargained for that. I now sipped it very, very slowly so that there was always some tea in the cup, knowing now that this would prevent them from filling it up again. Yet after some time I grew to like their tea; it had a stimulating effect upon me and helped to keep out the cold. I took my departure from the abbot's sanctuary and was conducted by my guide who explained the many interesting things to me.
He said, "You will have noticed that the monastery is always built with its portals facing the rising sun. The face must be along the front edge of the rock and the back against the mountain itself, which protects it."
"The site," he continued, "is chosen by an astrologer and the day fixed for the laying of the foundation stone, and every year afterwards a ceremony is carried out to commemorate the foundation, no matter if hundreds of years have passed and some monasteries are 1,000 years old. Charms, sacred books, gold and silver images of great value are also laid in the foundation."
I said, "There will be a good haul some day for someone in the distant future when all this kind of business is done away with."
He looked at me in astonishment and I could see that his English education had not changed his fixed ideas.
We came to the library. "Now," he said, "this library is one of the most famous and ranks with Ganden for its rare and ancient manuscripts. The printing of these ancient manuscripts is done with large wooden type on a long piece of rough paper which takes up an immense amount of room."
I could see hundreds of these shelves packed with this large bulky printed matter which was attended to by a number of lamas. Here and there scattered around the library were lamas busy reading, taking no heed of us. The room itself was as big as an average town hall.
In the entrance to the main hall were images about twelve feet high draped with gold brocade and silk scarves. These images, he said, were the protectors to prevent evil spirits from entering in.
"You don't believe that would stop them, do you?" I asked. No answer!
In the inner rooms or sanctuaries there were golden and silver images in glass cases, and hundreds of gold and silver butter lamps were burning in front of the altar. They were filled with yak butter and the wick stayed alight as long as the butter lasted, and in some cases those lamps were kept burning continually for hundreds of years.
He explained that their religion taught about the many different hells of torment. There seemed to be a hell for every type of person; even doctors who kill their patients had a hell of their own, where they were dissected again and again and then put together afterwards. Black lines are drawn over the body to guide the devil with his red hot saw. There is also a hell for busybodies, where their tongues are split into several parts from the root to the tip, then hot skewers are pierced through them. Those who grumble have hot molten lead poured down their throats.
In some of the hells there are icebergs; the victim is thrown into a great crevasse and left there to be crushed as the great ice walls pounded him to dust.
"No wonder," I said, "the poor Tibetan is afraid when you teach him all this sort of stuff. Surely you do not believe it, do you?"
"Not really," he said in a sort of half-believing way, "but we are told to teach it to the people."
"Surely," I exclaimed, "you are all hypocrites. Why don't you tell them the truth?"
"We would not have any power in the land," he replied.
"Then," I said, "there must be a hell for you too." He took on a look of astonishment.
I added: "I suppose there is a hell for those who do not give to the monastery, so you can make them give through fear."
"Yes, of course," he said.
"Don't you think it will backfire one day? Tibet will not always be the isolated country it is today. Surely the great scholar-lamas do not believe in all this rubbish?"
"No," he said, "there are great mystics among the lamas, great scholars, healers and prophets, scientists, atomic scientists, who know more about the atom than you do in the West. When you go to Ganden you will meet some of these scholars; they will also amaze you with the knowledge they have of the outside world."
"I have heard of them. You know I am a pupil of the great Geshi Rimpoche."
"Yes," he replied, "the name 'Rimpoche' means precious one. He is a master of masters."
I said, "Why do you not ask him to teach you?"
"He is not taking any more pupils now, unfortunately; but I hope to be a pupil of Geshi Thudru. His name means Master of Wisdom. He was also a teacher in Ganden Monastery."
"I am going to meet him soon," I told my guide, adding: "Still, you know of the falseness of your teaching, and yet you keep on teaching it to hold your people bound by superstition."
"Yes," he said, "but you do the same thing in the West. Look at the massive buildings you have. Money spent on stone, mortar and regalia, and other things that could help thousands of poor people."
I pointed out: "But you have to educate people first. I saw that when certain people were given houses with baths they kept their coal in them." I added: "Our people also believe in sacrifice, which is merely a form of exploitation. There is not much difference - you may be a little more crude but it is much the same after all."
I could see that my softening-up process was having an effect.
"Yes," he said, "unfortunately it is true. Most people are still caught up in superstition and fear."
"But it is fast crumbling away," I said.
We then came to the wheel of life, which depicted the endless birth, death and rebirth of man.
I said, "This is a Hindu philosophy is it not?"
He had it off pat and related how and why man is born again and again.
I said, "You go round the country teaching this to the people!"
I could see that he did not yet have the knowledge and understanding of the false, and he was a bit upset. So I did not talk to him any more about it. I could now see why Geshi Rimpoche did not take him as a pupil.
He told me the story of how he first went to Rimpoche and asked to become a chela. Rimpoche took him down to the river and asked him to kneel down and put his face on the surface of the water. Then Rimpoche pushed his head under the water and kept it there until he struggled violently to get up. When Rimpoche let him up he asked him what he wanted most when his head was under the water and he replied, "My breath."
Then said Rimpoche, "When you want the Truth as much as you wanted your breath, come back to me."
It was interesting to see the many hundreds of images, many of them of gigantic size, usually dressed in gold brocade of great value and draped with silken scarves.
When I got back I spoke to Rimpoche about all this, and he gave me a clear picture of the whole thing.
He said, "There are two distinct sects of lamas in Tibet, the red and the yellow. The yellow follow the mystic side, and it is what I studied. The other follow the ritual and ceremony; they like the outside shows and parades. They do not display any mystic powers like those of the yellow. The Ganden Monastery is distinctly yellow and there I studied and taught for some years.
I said, "It would be just as difficult to speak to Tsong Sen, the lama who conducted me, about the Truth as it would be to speak to a bishop or a professor of theology."
He laughed loudly at this and said, "It is remarkable how quickly they throw off the yoke when it is put to them in the right way."
I told him I tried it with a professor of theology in the West but it did not work.
"Try again and you may now succeed," he said.
Then he added, "Tsong Sen's people are wealthy people and he is able to have a room of his own where his friends can come to see him."
"What about the poorer lamas?" I asked.
"Oh, they sleep together in one of the large dormitories."
"And he sleeps in a room by himself?" I asked.
"Yes," was the reply, "you see his people subscribe generously to the monastery. It is the way of the country. There are set divisions as you are already aware, and only time will change them."
Geshi Rimpoche told me that nearly every family sends one male member to be a lama. The word "lama" means superior one and strictly speaking it is applicable only to the abbots, but it has now become the general term for all those who come of age in the monastery.
"In the general way," he said, "a child enters the monastery at about the age of seven. A strict examination is made and any defects, physical or mental, will bar his entry.
And Geshi Rimpoche went on to tell me: "The child's horoscope is made out to see what he is suited for and to what department he should be sent. There are many departments of arts and crafts, and each is controlled by an abbot, and those suited to a particular work are sent to that department.
"The budding lama progresses step by step, steeped in all the mythology of their religion, or he may enter one of the colleges if he so desires.
"After many years of preparation, when he reaches the age of twenty-one he asks permission of the Abbot to take part in the services. He is then put through certain initiations, his head is shaved, only a tuft being left on the top. He then presents himself, clad in the garb of a beggar, before the assembled monks in the temple hall and intimates that he accepts the life of a lama freely and of his own choice.
"The abbot then cuts off the remaining tuft of hair and gives him a religious name by which he is henceforth known. His beggar's garb is removed and he is now clothed with the robe of a lama, and a seat is pointed out to him which he afterwards keeps.
"If he chooses later on to follow the inner teachings he is attached to a lama versed in the occult. He must then master metaphysics and the more important subjects allied to the higher teaching.
"He may so advance until no more knowledge is available for him in the monastery and he asks for leave to go and find a master who can give him the knowledge he desires. Permission is never withheld for such a worthy desire, and he leaves the monastery with only sufficient food and raiment that he can take on his back.
"It is a tremendous task to weather the storm in the Himalayas with no shelter and little food. It is in this trial that he proves his worth. When he finds his teacher no time is lost in beginning his instruction.
"He is told to free his mind from all illusions and shadows of his former life. He is instructed to look into his mind and see what is there. He sees that his mind is filled with self-created images which have no power of their own except the power he gives them. He sees that human thought and reactions are largely made up of fear, worry, doubt and ignorance, and he must cast them all aside like he cast aside his beggar's robe.
"He then finds that the Real Self is not composed of thoughts, images or ideas of mind and body and circumstances. He begins to see the falseness of human thinking and this is a vital point in his training.
"Through the cleansing of the mind he develops a one-pointedness in his concentration and direction not known to the outside world.
"He frees himself from all illusion and stands at the door which opens into that which is behind all things, and is no longer a slave to his thoughts, feelings and reactions.
"He is then shown how easy it is to control the functions of the body, the beat of the heart, and the circulation of his blood. His body becomes a keen instrument which responds to his direction, his mind is alert and clear, there is no longer any confusion in it, and it is ready to obey his slightest command. But this is just the beginning of the way, and he must find the rest of the way himself and by himself, for no one can show it to him."
"It was at this stage where you were when you came here, my son," said Geshi Rimpoche.
I thanked him for the clear view he had given me and I now understood. Then he said to me as he put his hand on my shoulder:
"You are worthy, my son, of the trust I have put in you, and I will be beside you, with your other august guides you have had all your life. Some you have already spoken to."
I said, "Yes, and you know all about it."
"Oh yes," he affirmed, "I know them all, there is no division between the invisible and the visible. Only man himself has created the division through his ignorance of the Truth of his Being."
After supper we sat and listened to Geshi Rimpoche's favourite pieces. The atmosphere was perfect for the soft flowing parts of Mendelssohn. I needed the harmonising effects, and Geshi Rimpoche knew it. I had seen the conflict within myself dissolve away, yet I could still see conflict external to myself. There was still something left that I had not yet discerned, there was a certain amount of resentment left in me, but I was satisfied that that also would be revealed. I was now aware that my freedom was not yet as complete as I thought it was.
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