Scriptures from the Orient

These four scriptures from the Orient reveal the direct relationship of man and his Creator. The first Star of the Scriptures in this series is Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, which means, “the enlightened one”. The state of enlightenment which he offered to others is called nirvana, a heavenly state of peace and happiness which can be experienced on this side of the grave. During his life on earth, the Buddha revealed the Middle Way and the Noble Eightfold Pathway. His teachings are recorded in the Dhammapada, or The Treasury of Truth. Each recorded verse in the Dhammapada is attributed to being spoken directly by the Buddha. In his Symbolic Version of the Dhammapada, the author restates the purpose and goal of Buddhism, in terms of the present time, which is to lead the reader to spiritual enlightenment in this lifetime and thus escape the wheel of birth and death.

The second Star of the Scriptures in this series is Lao Tzu, whose name means, “The Old Master”. Lao Tzu originally refused to put his ideas in writing for fear that the dynamic flow of the ever-moving spirit might solidify into dogma rather than the natural way to live with goodness, peace and serenity. Eventually, the teachings were written in the 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching, the scripture of Taoism. The purpose of the text is to serve as a guide for others. The Symbolic Version of the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu is written from the present standpoint that Spirit is always in operation on earth and that people should harmonize with the Design which is inherent in Spirit. People who move with the flow of the Spirit are Wayfarers; they move in the Way, the Tao. Tao means “the Way”.

The third Stars of the Scriptures in this Series are two men: the first Star, Mirza Ali Muhammed, referred to as the “Bab”, which means, “Door”. The Bab, who had thousands of followers, predicted the coming of another prophet who would be greater than himself whom he called “Him Whom God Should Make Manifest”; the second Star, Husayn Ali, was named “Baha’u’llah”, which means the “Glory of God”. Foremost among Baha’u’llah’s writings is the Kitab-I-Aqdas (“The Most Holy Book”) of the Baha’i Faith. Baha’i has gained millions of followers and has become a worldwide faith since its inception in the mid 1800’s A.D. The author of The Symbolic Version of the Kitab-I-Aqdas brings into present day teaching that World Order can be brought to the earth through those who respond to the creative process and allow it to occur.

The final Star of these Oriental Scriptures is Vyasa, author of the Mahabharata, written in Sanskrit, of which the Bhagavad Gita, or The Song of God, is a part. In the Symbolic Version of the Bhagavad Gita, the author presents a new view of this very old story. The purpose of the Symbolic Version is to lead the reader toward an understanding of the allegorical characters in the story who teach us that the purpose of man, male and female, living on earth is to discover the awesome experience that we are not just human forms functioning in a sea of conflict; we are, in fact, divine spirits or beings, who occupy a temporary human form composed of atoms and molecules. The attainment of this goal is the Victory in the battle of life.

Siddartha Gautama (563-480 BC) was born the son of a prince into a life of luxury in the palace of his father in the foothills of the Himalayas. At the age of 16, Siddartha married the princess Yasodhara. At the age of 29, he saw four signs which led to his renunciation of the material world: he observed a world of decay; a world of suffering; a world of death; and he also observed a monk in a yellow robe dedicated to the spiritual life begging for food. He felt compelled to leave his life of luxury, his wife and new-born son to satisfy an inner yearning to seek the enlightenment that he sensed to be available.

For six years, Siddartha practiced extreme forms of self-denial and self-torture such as eating one grain of rice each day and pulling the hairs out of his beard one by one. He concluded that extreme self-denial and self-torture could never lead to enlightenment. One day, Gautama wandered into a small village near Gaya and sat under a shady bo tree, also known as the bodhi tree, to meditate. Several hours later, enlightenment came. The name, Buddha, means “the enlightened one” or “the awakened one”. The state of enlightenment which he experienced is called Nibbana or nirvana, a state of happiness and peace. To achieve nirvana, a person has to free himself from all desires and worldly things. The Buddha is not considered a god, a divine incarnation of a god, or a prophet bearing a message of divine revelation to his followers. He was a human being who reached the spiritual attainment of wisdom, enlightenment and a spiritual purification of mind and heart. His function and purpose was to lead others to nirvana, a heavenly state of peace and bliss to be attained and experienced on this side of the grave. Siddartha Gautama, the Buddha, preached the dharma, the teaching, that mortal existence was a continuing cycle of death and rebirth. He said that as long as the person remains in the cycle of death and rebirth, he can never be free. He taught that man – male or female – can break out of the cycle by eliminating emotional attachments to worldly things. According to Buddha, those who are willing to follow the Middle Way and the Noble Eightfold Path will conquer their attachment to worldly things and achieve nirvana.

The Middle Way is a way of life that avoids the uncontrolled gratification of human desires and extreme forms of self-denial and self-torture. The Noble Eightfold Path consists of (1) knowledge through attainment of the Truth; (2) the intention to resist evil; (3) saying nothing to hurt others; (4) respecting life, morality and property; (5) work that does not injure others; (6) striving to free one’s mind of evil; (7) controlling one’s feelings and thoughts; and (8) practicing forms of concentration and meditation.

The Dhammapada or the Treasury of Truth contains the information and the way to experience the Truth, the Truth of one’s true Self, which is the spiritual Self in and “above” the material world that experiences nirvana. The Dhammapada is an anthology of verses contained within the Pali Tipitaka, the sacred scriptures of Theraveda Buddhism composed in the