The four Tantras of Yoga

...it is of importance for the student of history and of religious origins to know that the Lamas recognize four chief classes of yogic Tantras, which may be briefly described as follows: (1) Tantras expository of the Thatness, or Ultimate Truth, and (2) of the Occult, or Mystic, Sciences; (3) the Yogini, or Shakti, Tantras; and (4) the Kalachakra Tantras.

 According to lamaic tradition, the first class had origin 'in the east' (which probably refers to eastern Bengal) in the time of King Rab-sal (Rab-gsal), who is believed to have flourished before the beginning of the Christian era. The second class arose through Nagarjuna and his followers during the second and third century of the Christian era, 'in the south' (which refers to Southern India). The third class, to which this Book and Book IV are related, is traceable to a learned teacher called Lawapa, of Urgyan (or Odyana), the ancient name of a region now comprised within the territory of Afghanistan, 'in the west' of India. It was Padma Sambhava, also of Urgyan, who first introduced and popularized among the Tibetans this class of Tantras. Padma Sambhava, otherwise known by his followers as Guru Rinpoch'e, the 'Precious Guru', is credited with having had eight Indian gurus belonging to eight different Schools of Buddhism. ... The fourth class, consisting of the Kalachakra Tantras, is said to have originated 'in the north', in Shambala, and to have been introduced into India about A.D. 600.

(From ''Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines: Seven Books of Wisdom of the Great Path, according to the late Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup's English rendering'' by W.Y. Evans-Wentz)

A Brother Comes Down from the Hills

"I had walked far and was seated on the side of the road, hot and exhausted, when I saw him...

... I was returning from the last farewell to the dearest friend I had in the world.

His eyes looked straight ahead and he seemed not to see me slumped there in the dust. There was an eagerness about him. He looked as though he might be sensing the approach of something with wings that might arrive and take him unaware, and more than anything he wanted to meet it and be caught up in the glory. I was hardly aware of this impression before it was gone and I thought perhaps the sun had touched my head and the whole thing, even the man himself, was an illusion.''

(From ''BEHOLD WE COME'', written by Nancy Fullwood)

Utentbe in the native American tradition

''These stories were formerly related at night in the circular assembly houses of the Miwok. Certain men versed in the myths often travelled from village to village, telling the tales in the assembly house of each village. 

Such a raconteur was known as an ''utentbe''... Each utentbe was paid for his services, his audience presenting him with baskets, beads, furs, and food. Thomas Williams, who was formerly an utentbe, said that the telling of myths took all night. Not infrequently the myth was chanted. Each myth, whether chanted or told in ordinary prose, was often accompanied by the songs of the various characters.''

(From ''NATIVE AMERICAN MYTHS", Collected 1636-1919, Rosalind Kerven,1988)

''ΔΕΙΧΝΟΝΤΑΣ ΤΗ ΣΕΛΗΝΗ'' ΚΑΙ ''ΣΙΒΑ ΣΟΥΤΡΑ'', ΑΠΟ ΜΙΑ ΣΥΓΚΡΙΤΙΚΗ ΑΠΟΨΗ

Σίβα Σούτρα

''Η Θεια Χαρη λειτουργεί πάνω σε αυτόν που βαδίζει προς την αυτογνωσία και τη θέωση. Σαν ενέργεια Θεού απελευθερώνει την ατομική συνείδηση με τούς τρείς τρόπους που περιγράφονται στη Siva Sutra. Η  Θεία Χαρη παρουσιάζεται είτε άμεσα, είτε μέσα από την καθοδήγηση των ιερών γραφών και των φωτισμένων δασκάλων."

Δείχνοντας τη Σελήνη

''¨Οταν θέλεις να νoίωθεις άνεση και ανεμελιά, να ταξιδεύες στις Τέσσερις Θάλασσες σαν σύννεφο που επιπλέει. Να προσαρμόζεσαι στις περιστάσεις και να μην ανησυχείς για τα αποτελέσματα. Στο φως της καθημερινής ζωής καθάρισε το νου σου και ποτέ μην αναλύεις τις δραστηριότητες με όρους ανοησίας και σοφίας. Αυτό είναι όλο."

(''Δείχνοντας τη Σελήνη"  ΚΕΔΡΟΣ 1995  και ''Siva Sutra Vimarsini τού Ksemaraja'',  ΕΛΛΗΝΟ-ΙΝΔΙΚΗ ΕΤΑΙΡΕΙΑ, ΑΘΗΝΑ 2015)   

Old mean Ed Gein

''Dear Mister Manson, have you heard of or seen

A man of Wisconsin by the name of Ed Gein?

You helped me discover the Beatles and Stones,

But he turned me on to the beauty of bones.

At Sixteen my feelings for you haven't changed

But Ed Gein has shown me the meaning of strange.

I'm doing a term paper on him for school

How could he be such a square and so cool?''

[From ''CIVILISATION AND ITS DISCOTHEQUES'' (1987), by THE FIBONACCIS]