Rampa Lobsang - The Third Eye, ZNAM I WIEM, SZTUKA WOJENNA, Księgozbiór Wielkiej Pradżni
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THE THIRD EYE
CONTENTS
Chapters
Page
PUBLISHER’S FORWARD
9
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
10
I. EARLY DAYS AT HOME
11
II. END OF MY CHILDHOOD
28
III. LAST DAYS AT HOME
39
IV. AT THE TEMPLE GATES
46
V. LIFE AS A CHELA
58
VI. LIFE IN THE LAMASERY
68
VII. THE OPENING OF THE THIRD EYE
75
VIII. THEPOTALA
80
IX. AT THE WILD ROSE FENCE
92
X. TIBETANBELIEFS
100
XI. TRAPPA
115
XII. HERBS AND KITES
122
XIII. FIRST VISIT HOME
141
XIV. USING THE THIRD EYE
148
XV. THE SECRET NORTH—-AND YETIS
158
XVI. LAMAHOOD
167
XVII. FINALINITIATION
181
XVIII. TIBET—FAREWELL!
186
PUBLISHERS' FOREWORD
The autobiography of a Tibetan lama is a unique record of experience and, as
such, inevitably hard to corroborate. In an attempt to obtain conformation of the
Author's statements the Publishers submitted the MS. to nearly twenty readers,
all persons of intelligence and experience, some with special knowledge of the
subject? Their opinions were so contradictory that no positive result emerged.
Some questioned the accuracy of one section, some of another; what was
doubted by one expert was accepted unquestioningly by another. Anyway, the
Publishers asked themselves, was there any expert who had undergone the
training of a Tibetan lama in its most developed forms? Was there one who had
been brought up in a Tibetan family? Lobsang Rampa has provided documentary
evidence that he holds medical degrees of the University of Chungking and in
those documents he is described as a Lama of the Potala Monastery of Lhasa.
The many personal conversations we have had with him have proved him to be a
Man of unusual powers and attainments. Regarding many aspects of his
personal life he has shown a reticence that was sometimes baffling; but everyone
has a right to privacy and Lobsang Rampa maintains that some concealment is
imposed on him for the safety of his family in Communist occupied Tibet.
Indeed, certain details, such as his father's real position in the Tibetan hierarchy,
have been intentionally disguised for this purpose. For these reasons the Author
must bear and willingly bears a sole responsibility for the statements made in his
book. We may feel that here and there he exceeds the bounds of Western
credulity, though Western views on the subject here dealt with can hardly be
decisive. None the less the Publishers believe that the Third Eye is in its essence
an authentic account of the upbringing and training of a Tibetan boy in his
family and in a lamasery. It is in this spirit that we are publishing the book.
Anyone who differs from us will, we believe, at least agree that the author is
endowed to an exceptional degree with narrative skill and the power to evoke
scenes and characters of absorbing and unique interest.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
I am a Tibetan. One of the few who have reached this strange Western world.
The construction and grammar of this book leave much to be desired, but I have
never had a formal lesson in the English language. My “School of English” was
a Japanese prison camp, where I learned the language as best I could from
English and American women prisoner patients. Writing in English was learned
by “trial and error”. Now my beloved country is invaded-as predicted-by
Communist hordes. For this reason only I have disguised my true name and that
of my friends. Having done so much against Communism, I know that my
friends in Communist countries will suffer if my identity can be traced. As I
have been in Communist, as well as Japanese hands, I know from personal
experience what torture can do, but it is not about torture that this book is
written, but about a peace-loving country which has been so misunderstood and
greatly misrepresented for so long.
Some of my statements, so I am told, may not be believed. That is your
privilege, but Tibet is a country unknown to the rest of the world. The man who
wrote, of another country, that “the people rode on turtles in the sea” was
laughed to scorn. So were those who had seen “living-fossil” fish. Yet the latter
have recently been discovered and a specimen taken in a refrigerated airplane to
the U.S.A. for study. These men were disbelieved. They were eventually
proved to be truthful and accurate. So will I be.
T. LOBSANG RAMPA
Written in the Year of the Wood Sheep.
CHAPTER ONE
EARLY DAYS AT HOME
“Oe. Oe. Four years old and can't stay on a horse! You'll never
make a man! What will your noble father say?” With this, Old
Tzu gave the pony-and luckless rider—a hearty thwack across
the hindquarters, and spat in the dust.
The golden roofs and domes of the Potala gleamed in the
brilliant sunshine. Closer, the blue waters of the Serpent Temple
lake rippled to mark the passing of the water-fowl. From farther
along the stony track came the shouts and cries of men urging on
the slow-moving yaks just setting out from Lhasa. From near by
Came the chest-shaking “bmmn, bmmn, bmmn” of the deep bass
trumpets as monk musicians practiced in the fields away from the
crowds.
But I had no time for such everyday, commonplace things. Mine
was the serious task of staying on my very reluctant pony. Nakkim
had other things in mind. He wanted to be free of his rider, free to
graze, and roll and kick his feet in the air.
Old Tzu was a grim and forbidding taskmaster. All his life he had
been stern and hard, and now as guardian and riding instructor
to a small boy of four, his patience often gave way under the strain.
one of the men of Kham, he, with others, had been picked for his
size and strength. Nearly seven feet tall he was, and broad with it.
Heavily padded shoulders increased his apparent breadth. In
eastern Tibet there is a district where the men are unusually tall
and strong. Many were over seven feet tall, and these men were
picked to act as police monks in all the lamaseries. They padded
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