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Peace from the heart of Shamballa, from the Brotherhood of light in this sacred city, be unto all the earth. I am come this day, filled with the ever-outpouring, transcendent light of Cosmic Christ peace, longing to see expressed in the hearts of men everywhere a greater outpouring of that peace which floods forth from the open door of being.
Beloved ones, the Prince of Peace,1 the ascended Christ, brought unto the world thousands of years ago a message which has stirred the hearts of men unto the present day. I am come this day to commend you to the universal message which has been given forth and which mankind have received but in part.
And it is therefore to the dedication of the whole that I am come - that men understand that that which they have perceived of the radiance of our octaves is but a part of that shining glory which stands ready to unveil itself before those whose hearts are open, ready and waiting to receive.
As I speak from Shamballa this morning, I am thinking of the many throughout the earth whose hearts are upheld in worship of their own Mighty I AM Presence (although not always known by the selfsame name). I am thinking of the temple bells. I am thinking of the calls of the muezzin to prayer. I am thinking of the calls of mankind everywhere on behalf of one another.
Some among mankind understand that the many calls of man make up a tremendous knock at the gate of heaven and that this wondrous knocking at the gate of heaven brings about a response to the earth and the people of earth.2
Blessed ones, it does not matter how much human thought may stand arrayed against the perfection of God. It does not in the eternal realms alter the divine thought one iota. It is only in your octave, blessed ones, that mankind can affect their own world for good or for ill; and therefore it is in your octave that the correction must occur.
Precious ones of the light, I am here today to radiate my peace unto you, the peace that accompanies the flow of Life in its pristine power as it comes forth from the heart of God. Peace, beloved ones, is the natural quality of Deity. It flows as a gentle stream, and were it to dash as a mighty ocean, it still would manifestly express the perfection of peaceful control, the obe- dience of God manifest in the obedience of his creation.
Beloved ones, mankind today recognize that it is both needful to give and to receive. And therefore they give orders to one another and they receive orders. It has been considered prerequisite that mankind shall be willing to take orders if they expect to be able to give them.
And so, beloved ones, the obedience of God himself is manifest in his own peace as it flows forth. For the Most High has confined himself in part within the creation which he has made, and he has offered his peace unto the world and unto the creation - together with every other good gift.3 It is so necessary, beloved ones, that each individual shall for himself recognize the fullness of the divine gift.
Precious ones of the light, I call to your attention that throughout the world there are many individuals today who would not know a diamond if they saw one, especially if it were a diamond in the rough. Therefore, beloved ones, it is essential that mankind develop that discrimination and God-control which will enable them to recognize the perfection of their own Presence, which will enable them to recognize the peace of their own Presence as it flows forth.
I would touch for a moment upon the higher vibratory action of our spheres. Some among you are able to sense the tremendous outpouring of our radiance as it flows forth in worded expression. Others among you may not yet have awakened the fullness of the divine sense whereby you are able to sense the vibratory action of our outpouring as it occurs during these periods when we speak to you.
But, beloved ones, I tell you, be patient all - and in your patience possess your souls.4 For patience must do her perfect work,5 and the love of God must be held in the stillness until the matrix so divine may create in that which is being molded the perfection of its own immortal image - the image of love expressed in love.
Beloved ones, pause for a moment and consider. You yourselves may not be at this moment a manifest expression of the fullness of love in your own minds, but you are in the Mind of God. And therefore, it is up to you to turn your attention unto that higher Christ Mind within your being and there to dwell and abide in the calm repose of knowing that that Mind is the reality, that that Mind is the genuine you, and that all lesser expressions are only the maya and the delusion of the centuries - accumulated as dust upon stored articles in attics and serving no useful pur-pose to mankind except to provide a measure of accumulated effluvia which mankind must one day dispose of or transmute in order that they may express the perfection of their own divine being.
Beloved ones, I call your attention now to the manifest plan of the hierarchy. Many among mankind today are dwelling in great fear and their hearts are concerned because of the constantly vacillating situation on the political scene. Many today among the religions of the world are confused concerning the tenets of their own religion. They ask themselves secretly within the quiet recesses of their being, "Which way shall I go?"
For among mankind today there are few who in their heart do not desire to find happiness and express perfection when once they understand the laws of perfection. But there is a great need for two requisites, beloved ones. First of all, for capable teachers to go forth provided with divine understanding and attunement with the higher octaves. And the second requisite is always an open and receptive heart on the part of mankind.
Beloved ones, you must recognize, therefore, that you enter into this equation as an individual. You are an expression of God, but you are a freewill expression of God who must decide for yourself that you will open up the gateways of your being unto the higher radiating power that comes from your own Mighty I AM Presence and desire to have the fullness of that Presence express itself within the folds of your being.
Unless you open that door and respond to that knock, beloved ones, you cannot have the full benefit of that which is radiated forth. I will give you an illustration.
Beloved ones, mankind call for light, and the sun comes up faithfully each day and sheds its beneficent light upon the planetary body. Those who dwell as the moles in the heart of the earth, those who dwell in tunnels and emerge not forth to the light of the sun - they do not receive the benefits of its healing rays. Can they then curse the darkness, beloved ones, because of the fact that they have elected to remain beneath the surface of the earth?
I think not, in fairness or in justice. But, precious ones, honesty of heart will cause mankind to desire to turn to the Light, that the Light may itself endow them with the fullness of those immortal garments of perfection which are the raiment of heaven.
The word, beloved ones, raiment comes from man's deeper understanding in past ages, for it refers to the power of the ray. The `ray-ment', then, refers to the radiance of God.
When garments of light were spun from eternal light substance and men were not concerned with the vanities of the flesh but with their own calm and marvelous being, they drew forth from the heart of their own Presence the understanding that enabled them to be able to comprehend the voice of God speaking within their own consciousness.
Precious ones of the light, you have heard it said and you are familiar somewhat with my illumination which occurred beneath the Bo tree. Well, beloved ones, the illumination of every man is a form of initiation. At that precise moment, which mankind so dearly enjoy bringing into a time context, an individual becomes illumined and a doorway opens.
This, beloved ones, is only the opening of the door. It is up to the individual, then, to walk through and to journey into a new country, to behold new sights and sounds, to have that illumination - the illumination of the journey - penetrate into his etheric (memory) body, and then return back through that open door into the world of reality which is his previous existence.
I hope that you understand me, beloved ones. I am referring to man as an individual, familiar with name and identity, entering into a state of divine illumination and proceeding to observe the universe in an extraterrestrial sense - outside of the body and the form and the former concepts - then returning into the physical consciousness once again and being able to relate those events which have occurred to the identity of his own being.
Beloved ones, when this occurs and the individual is then vested with this illumination, there is much yet that remains to be done by that individual in order to derive the benefits of the illumination which has been given to him. They must absorb, they must translate, they must transmute, they must transfigure in themselves all that is not yet perfected.
Simply because individuals, through meditation or illumination, are exposed to the higher radiance of the eternal spheres does not mean that they automatically, then and there, find their freedom. They have been initiated, it is true, but there is so much yet remaining to be done before the perfection of their worlds can manifest.
And so, quite contrary to human opinion, while I possessed a magnificently, divinely ordained gift and grace after my illumination beneath the Bo tree, there still remained to be done in my world a tremendous application of that glorious gift that was given to my hand. And therefore, for your illumination, for your love and for your assistance this day, in the name of the Cosmic Christ peace of Life, I come to you to remind you that there is no time, beloved ones, for individuals to simply waste, as it were, along the spiritual pathway.
When individuals are privileged to receive a measure of divine illumination or to hear a dictation from our octave, such as you are hearing today, it remains for them to assimilate, to appreciate, to translate, and to put that information to good use, that the God of their being may be glorified within them and that they may reap in their world not the whirlwind of outer-world maya and delusion, but the tranquility of the inner spheres - the peace that commands the elements of their being to remain in divine order when all around them seems to be turbulent, the God-control that can remain asleep in the face of the storms of life and arise to the occasion to direct and say, "Peace, be still!" And the world, the elements, and outer conditions will obey that one.6
Unless man manifests these powers of the Spirit to provide himself with tranquility in the face of outer-world disturbances, how can he expect to be an example that shall enable mankind to take faith, to rise again into the octaves of immortality, to understand the greatness of the God of their being, to come up over all outer conditions, and to be a manifest expression of Cosmic Christ peace?
Beloved ones, as I am now here, I desire to enfold each one of you within the cosmic flame of my illumination. I therefore call unto your Holy Christ Selves, each one, and I say to those of you who will receive me, accept from my heart the wrapping and enveloping in love of your Holy Christ Self by the illumination flame of my being.
Accept the assistance of the brothers at Shamballa for and on behalf of the immortal light, the light of God that does not fail, that is within thee and will raise thee up on high until in the glory of thy own being, thy own Mighty I AM Presence, you shall understand, one and all, that your freedom is in existence now and that you exist in the heart of that freedom and by that freedom will be able to show the way unto mankind to overcome all inequities, all imperfection, all shortcomings in this civilization and build for the future's children and all that shall one day step upon this planet an age of golden perfection when the flame of illumination which blazes now shall blaze in all and the knowledge of God shall cover the earth, even as the waters cover the sea.7
Beloved ones, I call to your attention now the need to accept and to drink in all that I am offering - to absorb, to assimilate, to understand. This is not the service of a moment. It is the service of a lifetime. It is the dedication of dedicated hearts.
In the Orient, where so many pour their devotion to me daily, there are many Buddhic priests, beloved ones, whose lives you would do well to emulate. And yet, I would not tell you, beloved ones, to follow them in the ritual of their faith, insofar as the outer activity of that faith goes. I am speaking now of their devotion, a devotion that is often made unto God without the knowledge which you have.
Beloved ones, seeing that they have offered so much of themselves to the heart of God without the knowledge of the sacred fire that is given to you today in this teaching, I think then you can see the need to dedicate more of your hours unto God - that they be shining hours, illumined hours, hours that shall reward you for all eternity with freedom from outer oppression and discord and shall make of you a starry example in the firmament of this planet which will give faith to those around you that contact your world.
You are lights in the world.8 Men look to Shamballa for light. Let them look also to you; for you come into direct contact with them, and many are not able to receive my being in existence and my reality and the reality of life. But they are able to see yours, for they see with their senses and with mortal eyes. You see with the eyes of immortality, and in those eyes is the perception of God.
But, precious ones, all must be contacted, all must be given opportunity to have illumination. And it must come by orderly steps and progression, insomuch that some men will forge ahead in an entire embodiment but a half a foot length - and still others will go for hundreds of miles.
You must understand the differences in individuals and their expressions, but you must see that the one who is able to walk but a half a foot length is not hindered from walking that distance.
I thank you and bid you good morning.
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"The Summit Lighthouse Sheds Its Radiance O'er All the World to Manifest as Pearls of Wisdom."
This dictation by Gautama Buddha was delivered through the Messenger Mark L. Prophet March 10, 1963, in Washington, D.C.
Gautama Buddha, the "Compassionate One," was born Siddhartha Gautama in northern India, c. 563 B.C. He was the son of King Suddhodana and Queen Mahamaya, rulers of the Sakya kingdom, and thus a member of the Kshatriya (warrior or ruling) caste.
Ancient Pali texts and Buddhist scriptures record that before his birth, his mother, Mahamaya, dreamt that a beautiful silver-white elephant entered her womb through her side. Brahmins, called to interpret the dream, foretold the birth of a son who would become either a universal monarch or a buddha.
During the last days of her pregnancy, the queen began a journey to Devadaha to visit her parents, as was the custom in India. On the way she stopped with her attendants at Lumbini Park and reached for a flowering branch of a sal tree. There, under the blossoming tree, the Buddha was born on the full-moon day of the month of May.
On the fifth day following the birth, 108 Brahmins were invited to a name-giving ceremony at the palace. The king summoned eight of the most learned from among these to `read' the child's destiny by interpreting his bodily marks and physical characteristics.
Seven agreed that if he remained at home, he would become a universal king, unifying India; but if he left, he would become a buddha and remove the veil of ignorance from the world. Kondan n a, the eighth and youngest of the group, declared he would definitely become a buddha, renouncing the world after seeing four signs - an old man, a diseased man, a dead man, and a holy man.
The child was named Siddhartha, or "One Whose Aim Is Fulfilled." Seven days after his birth, his mother passed on and he was raised by her sister Mahaprajapati, who later became one of his first female disciples.
The king, concerned about the Brahmins' predictions and the possibility of losing his heir, took every precaution to shelter his son from pain and suffering, surrounding him with every conceivable luxury, including three palaces and forty thousand dancing girls.
In the Anguttara Nik ya (a canonical text), Gautama describes his upbringing in his own words: "I was tenderly cared for, ... supremely so, infinitely so. At my father's palace, lotus pools were built for me, in one place for blue lotus flowers, in one place for white lotus flowers, and in one place for red lotus flowers, blossoming for my sake. ... Day and night a white umbrella was held over me, so that I might not be troubled by cold, heat, dust, chaff, or dew. I dwelt in three palaces, ... in one, during the cold; in one, in the summer; and in one, during the rainy season. While in the palace of the rainy season, surrounded by musicians, singers, and female dancers, for four months I did not descend from the palace. ..."9
At sixteen, after proving his skill in a contest of arms, Prince Siddhartha married his beautiful cousin Yasodhara. He soon grew pensive and preoccupied, but the turning point of his life did not occur until the age of twenty-nine, when he set out on four journeys which presented in turn the four passing sights.
First he encountered a very old man, gray and decrepit, leaning on a staff; second, a pitiful one racked with disease, lying in the road; third, a corpse; and fourth, a yellow-robed monk with shaved head and a begging bowl. Much moved with compassion by the first three sights, he realized that life was subject to old age, disease, and death. The fourth sight signified to him the possibility of overcoming these conditions and inspired him to leave the world he knew in order to find a solution for suffering.
On his way back to the palace, he received news of the birth of his son, whom he named Rahula, or "obstacle." That night he ordered his charioteer to saddle his favorite horse, Kanthaka. Before leaving the city, he went to the bedchamber for a farewell look at his sleeping wife and son. He then rode all night and at dawn assumed the guise of an ascetic, exchanging clothes with his charioteer, whom he sent back to his father's palace.
Thus, Gautama began the life of a wandering monk. Immediately he went in search of the most learned teachers of the day to instruct him in truth, quickly mastering all they taught. Unsatisfied and restless, he determined to find a permanent truth, impervious to the illusions of the world.
Traveling through the Magadha country, he was noticed for his handsome countenance and noble stature. He arrived at a village called Senanigama, near Uruvela, where he was joined by a group of five ascetics, among whom was Kondan n a, the Brahmin who had foretold his Buddhahood.
Here, for almost six years, Gautama practiced severe austerities, which are recorded in his own words in the Majjhima Nik ya: "Because of so little nourishment, all my limbs became like some withered creepers with knotted joints; ... the pupils of my eyes appeared sunk deep in their sockets as water appears shining at the bottom of a deep well; ... the skin of my belly came to be cleaving to my back-bone. ..."10
As a consequence of these severe bodily mortifications, Gautama became so weak that he once fainted and was believed to be dead. Some accounts describe how he was found collapsed by a shepherd boy who restored him with drops of warm milk. Others say it was the devas, or gods, who revived him. Realizing the futility of asceticism, Gautama abandoned his austerities to seek his own path of enlightenment - whereupon his five companions rejected and deserted him.
One day Sujata, a villager's daughter, fed him a rich rice milk - a "meal so wondrous ... that our Lord felt strength and life return as though the nights of watching and the days of fast had passed in dream."11 And then he set out alone for the Bo tree (abbreviation for bodhi, or enlightenment) at a place now called Buddh Gaya, or Bodh Gaya, where he vowed to remain until fully illumined. Hence, it has become known as the Immovable Spot.
At that point, Mara, the Evil One, attempted to prevent his enlighten- ment and confronted him with temptations much in the same manner that Satan tested Jesus during his fasting in the wilderness.12
The Dhammapada records the words of Mara, as she assailed Gautama: "Lean, suffering, ill-favored man, Live! Death is your neighbor. Death has a thousand hands, you have only two. Live! Live and do good, live holy, and taste reward. Why do you struggle? Hard is struggle, hard to struggle all the time."13
Unmoved, he sat under the Bo tree while Mara continued her attack - first in the form of desire, parading voluptuous goddesses and dancing girls before him, then in the guise of death, assailing him with hurricanes, torrential rains, flaming rocks, boiling mud, fierce soldiers and beasts - and finally darkness. Yet still, Gautama remained unmoved.
As a last resort, the temptress challenged his right to be doing what he was doing. Siddhartha then tapped the earth,14 and the earth thundered her answer: "I bear you witness!" All the hosts of the LORD and the elemental beings responded and acclaimed his right to pursue the enlightenment of the Buddha - whereupon Mara fled.
Having defeated Mara, Gautama spent the rest of the night in deep meditation under the tree, recalling his former embodiments, attaining the "superhuman divine eye" (the ability to see the passing away and rebirth of beings), and realizing the Four Noble Truths. In his own recorded words: "Ignorance was dispelled, knowledge arose. Darkness was dispelled, light arose."15
Thus, he attained Enlightenment, or the Awakening, during the night of the full-moon day of the month of May, about the year 528 B.C. His being was transformed, and he became the Buddha.
"The event was of cosmic import. All created things filled the morning air with their rejoicings and the earth quaked six ways with wonder. Ten thousand galaxies shuddered in awe as lotuses bloomed on every tree, turning the entire universe into `a bouquet of flowers sent whirling through the air'. ..."16
For a total of forty-nine days he was deep in rapture, after which he again turned his attention to the world. He found Mara waiting for him with one last temptation: "How can your experience be translated into words? Return to Nirvana. Do not try to deliver your message to the world, for no one will comprehend it. Remain in bliss!" But Buddha replied: "There will be some who will understand," and Mara vanished from his life forever.
Contemplating whom he should first teach, he decided to return to the five ascetics who had left him. He began a journey of over one hundred miles to Benares and delivered to his old companions his first sermon, known as the Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta, or "Setting in Motion the Wheel of Truth."
At the end of the sermon, in which he revealed the key discovery of his quest - the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the Middle Way - he accepted the five monks as the first members of his order. Kondan n a was the first to grasp the teaching.
For forty-five years, Gautama walked the dusty roads of India, preaching the Dhamma (universal Doctrine), which led to the founding of Buddhism. He established the sangha (community) that soon numbered over twelve hundred devotees, eventually including his entire family - his father, aunt, wife, and son. When the people questioned him as to his identity, he answered, "I am awake" - hence, the Buddha, meaning "Enlightened One" or "Awakened One."
At the age of eighty, Gautama became seriously ill and almost died, but revived himself, thinking it was not right to die without preparing his disciples. By sheer determination, he recovered and instructed Ananda, his cousin and close disciple, that the order should live by making themselves an island - by becoming their own refuge and making the Dhamma their island, their refuge forever.
After announcing that he would die in three months, he traveled through several villages and then stayed with Cunda, the goldsmith, one of his devoted followers. According to generally accepted tradition, Cunda invited Gautama to partake of sukara-maddava - a dish he had prepared unknowingly with poisoned mushrooms. After the meal, Gautama became violently ill, but bore his pain without complaint.
His only concern was to console Cunda, who might feel responsible for his death. And thus, he compassionately asked Ananda to tell Cunda that of all the meals he had eaten, only two stood out as special blessings - one was the meal served by Sujata before his enlightenment, and the other was the food from Cunda which opened the gates to his transition.
He passed during the full-moon of May, c. 483 B.C., after again advising Ananda that the Dhamma - the Truth - must be his master and reminding the monks of the transiency of all conditioned things.
Following the passing of Gautama, Buddhism began to develop in two major directions, leading to the establishment of the Hinayana ("little vehicle") and the Mahayana ("great vehicle") schools of Buddhism, from which many further subgroups evolved.
Adherents of the Hinayana school believe their teachings represent the original Buddhist doctrine taught by Gautama, and therefore refer to their path as the Theravada, or "Way of the Elders."
The traditional Theravadin outlook centers around the monastic way of life and emphasizes the necessity for self-sacrifice and individual enlightenment in order to help others. Their goal is to become an arhat - perfected disciple - and enter Nirvana.
The Mahayanists, who believe that the Theravadins' strict observance of precepts departs from the true spirit of the Buddha, concentrate more on emulating the Buddha's life, stressing good works and compassion toward others in the process of gaining enlightenment. The Theravadins, however, claim that the Mahayanists have polluted the pure stream of Gautama's teaching by incorporating more liberal doctrines and interpretations.
The Mahayanists consider their school to be the "greater vehicle," as it provides more for the layman. Their ideal is to become a bodhisattva - one who attains Nirvana but voluntarily returns to the world to assist others in obtaining the same goal.
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