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T A O P A T T AThe Acts of Peterand the Twelve Apostles | ||||||
Non-Christian Ascetic Allegory and Hellenic Parody ?having renounced all actions by the mind dwells at ease in the City of Nine Gates, neither working nor causing work to be done. --- Bhagvad Gita 5:13
| Core Allegory of the Pearl
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia
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Core Allegory of the Pearl: the Embodied Soul |
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--- Bhagvad Gita 5:13
I have selected to mention the Dalai Lama and the Twelve Yogis of Tibet for a special reason. It is important to understand the issue of this ancient path and practice of ascetisism, and it is often advantageous to use examples.
| 58 | No man is able to go on that road, except one who has forsaken everything that he has and has fasted daily from stage to stage. | 1 |
Notice the ascetic requirement of fasting. Also, note the wording of what is to be forsaken - everything that he has - implies the renunciation of baggage, possessions, and all things in the external world ... property, gold bullion, etc, etc. The idea is that when life is ignited in the child, the person enters the world with nothing in the hand. And when the spirit of life leaves the person, then at that moment the concept of ownership is revealed as meaningless. The precepts of the ascetic path understand this relationship between the materiality of the outer world, and the spirituality of the inner world.
Meditation and exercises designed to control the waywardness of the human mind are also integral in these ascetic practices. In today's world, the industry of "Personal Development" is booming. People are seeking greater and greater perspectives on both the human condition in general, and their own human condition in particular. But it is not easy. It takes an inner warrior to face the inner path.
| 59 | For many are the robbers and wild beasts on that road. | 1 |
It is a resolve and a commitment to an increased awareness of the human condition from a close and personal perspective. It is not an easy Road, and to outward appearances it is characterised by a series of hardships, the failure of which to negotiate, ultimately result loss of life.These things are not external. These things are internal. The robbers and the wild beasts are our own subconscious unawarenesses which bring us into our own (spiritual) peril. We need to be warriors of our own awareness.
| 60 | The one who carries bread with him on the road, the black dogs kill because of the bread. | 1 |
| 61 | The one who carries a costly garment of the world with him, the robbers kill because of the garment. | 1 |
| 62 | The one who carries water with him, the wolves kill because of the water, since they were thirsty for it. | 1 |
| 63 | The one who is anxious about meat and green vegetables, the lions eat because of the meat. | 1 |
The allegory represents the ancient path of the meditative sage. It is an inner pathway, upon which the inner traveller orients and balances the landscapes of the outer world and the inner world. The challenges are ones of self-control, self-reliance and self-discipline. This path may not be - or appeal - to everyone's sense of evolution. However the principle of this path, to dwell within the body in peace, is the ancient instruction of all sages, of all nations, of all (external) "religions". Readers need not themselves understand personally the practice of meditation, for example, if they can perceive the benefits of such practices in others. The Dalai Lama and the Twelve Yogis of Tibet are a good example of this. There are many examples. The Eightfold path of the Buddha is another name for the same path. The Road to the body. The path to citizenship in the city of Nine Gates.
This ancient ascetic path belongs to no religion and to all religions. These robbers and beasts are our own inner failues and bad habits. They are to be identified and avoided and then to be allowed to fall away by their replacement with positive instead of negative habits. As to allegorical interpreation of these robbers and beasts, it is not the scope or purpose of this review to try and define them. An exception is made for the allusion to vegetarianism (see further). It should be sufficient to point out that whatever each of these "hardships" represent - they are represented as hardships in the ascetic battle for inner self-awareness.
There are the robbers, the black dogs, the wolves and the lion and the bulls. The lion is the king of beasts. Perhaps this is simply our ego. The association with "I" and "my" and "mine" is strong. Awareness is often degraded through actions of the unaware strength of the unconscious. Actions which involve our subjugation of others need to be examined. Dominance through peace rather than dominance through force is the preferable medium - avoiding confrontational displays of agressiveness. The lion serves also to remind us of physical strength. Do we abuse our physical strength in acts against others who are not as strong? These are all elements of progressing an inner path of self-mastery.
The reference to being "anxious about meat and green vegetables" as two distinct and discernible sources of food, is compounded by a second reference to "green vegetables". It is reasonable to understand these references as pertaining to the practice of vegetarianism. Additionally, it is common knowledge that the lion is the king of the animals in terms of its strength. Why then introduce the bull? The ascetic practice is non-violent and peaceful. The ascetic practice almost always involves the vegetarian practice. Often these two practices are indistinguishable.
| 64 | If he evades the lions, the bulls devour him because of the green vegetables." | 1 |
Notice how the robbers and beasts kill whereas the bulls devour. The animal instincts and cravings of the body need to be vanquished. As has been mentioned in the introduction, this discussion of the ancient allegory of the "Pearl" within "The City of Nine Gates" is not meant to be in any way authoritative. The purpose is an attempted simple statement of a secret which is not a secret - the pathway of the ascetic practices.
Normally domesticated bulls are gentle and placid. They are also vegetarians - grass munchers. Bulls do not devour. However the passions of bulls are notorious volatile, and the control of one's nature mandates the control of one's passions. The hardships of the Road to this city are hardships of self-control. The indulgence of the soul in luxuries and physical pleasures of the body needs to be safe-guarded against. Contemplation of the nature of being is enhanced by being peaceful.
The issue of vegetarianism is raised here, and for the readers of this article, again it may be helpful to understand the reasons why Buddha, or the Dalai Lama and the Twelve Yogis of Tibet are vegetarians. As an aside, another work of literature from the fourth century on the subject of abstinence from animal food is extant, authored by the neopythagorean Porphyry. Study of this text reveals that Porphyry does not address the consideration of vegetarianism to all people, and specifically excludes certain classes, such as those in the army, or those who labour. Nevertheless, the central issue upon which the ancient precept of vegetarianism is founded, according to Porphyry, is the issue of justice. The animals are living creatures - themselves in a certain sense - embodied souls. The issue of justice relates to life itself, according to Porphyry, writing at the beginning of the fourth century.
| 72 | He said to me, "This is the name of my city, 'Nine Gates.' | 1 |
It is not unreasonable to expect that the ascetic practitioners of India and those of the Hellenic civilisation shared common knowledge related to the human perception of what it was (and is) to be human. This type of knowledge is about the human condition in any age. It is bound to follow the path of the utmost simplicity, and thus one which by default is shared by its practitioners, independent of "nationality" and "religion".
In fact, if we again turn to the Dalai Lama and the Twelve Yogis of Tibet for guidance in understanding this, we would quickly determine that the very concepts of "nationality" and "religion" have no meaning to a devoted practitioner of the inner and ascetic path. The Dalai Lama would reinforce the spiritual unity of humanity, and point out that these concepts are ultimately creations of the human mind, which has been conditioned to perform transactions in a currency of conceptions.
The name of the city of the human body is 'Nine Gates.'
This should pose no revelation to the objective reader. It is the common denominator of humanity. In other allegories it is described as a temple, a house with many mansions, a kingdom, and indeed the kingdom of heaven itself. Awareness of the soul in the body is key. Another aspect of this same thing is self-awareness. How self-aware is the citizen of the body?
We are often reminded by contemporary parables that we are largely unaware of our potential. That we only use ten percent of our mind. That ninety percent of our awareness is not conscious. That we are indeed unconscious, or unaware, of our own subconscious realms. This description serves to remind us that the path of greater awareness mandates a process of self-illumination. Of becoming more aware. Of our own habits, responses and actions by which we are defined.
The Road of the Ascetic is a pathway through one's own personal psychology which has been defined by processes of conditioning since at least the time of our birth. It is a cutting back of the unconscious territories of the psyche by investigative and persistent application of self-analysis. The peeling away of the layers of an onion to an inner core. The perception, by the process of becoming more aware, of an inner foundation of life which is common to all embodied souls.
| 73 | Let us praise God as we are mindful that the tenth is the head." | 1 |
The ascetic commandment is "Mind First! Body second."
Buddha purportedly instructed "We are what we think".
It should be noted that the intellectual commandment is similar. The difference between the two positions is that the ascetic practitioner not only understands that the mind is a gate, but that the gate may -- by diligent meditative practice - be open and closed by the embodied soul. In the instance of the intellectuals, the mind more often than not is the master. (It cannot be stopped. It cannot be stilled.) Whereas in the instance of the ascetic, the embodied soul is the master of the mind in the sense that greater control over the tranquility and the acuity of the mind is demonstrated. Such experiential confirmation of the efficacy of meditation can only be demostrated by embarking upon the path of the practitioner of meditation (or yoga, or some other focussing activity).
The author is here saying that the mind itself is a tenth gateway. It should be also mentioned at this point that this text TAOPATTA is the first of eight texts bound into the sixth book uncovered at Nag Hammadi. The other seven texts include a number of discourse by Hermes (Mind), one to Asclepius who is to be regarded as the Hellenic God of medicine.
| 95 | He said, "In uprightness of heart I will show it to you. | 1 |
| 97 | For he does not reveal himself to every man, because he himself is the son of a great king. | 1 |
| 98 | Rest yourselves a little so that I may go and heal this man and come (back)." | 1 |
| 99 | He hurried and came (back) quickly. | 1 |
| 106 | He answered and said, "It is I! | 1 |
| 107 | Recognize me, Peter." | 1 |
| 108 | He loosened the garment, which clothed him - the one into which he had changed himself because of us - revealing to us in truth that it was he. | 1 |
| 115 | He gave them the unguent box and the pouch that was in the hand of the young disciple. | 1 |
| 118 | I will give you your reward. | 1 |
| 119 | To the poor of that city give what they need in order to live until I give them what is better, which I told you that I will give you for nothing." | 1 |
| 133 | He answered them, "Rightly have you spoken, John, for I know that the physicians of this world heal what belongs to the world. | 1 |
| 134 | The physicians of souls, however, heal the heart. | 1 |
| 135 | Heal the bodies first, therefore, so that through the real powers of healing for their bodies, without medicine of the world, they may believe in you, that you have power to heal the illnesses of the heart also. | 1 |
The ascetic path and the path of the healer-priest of Asclepius appear to be common paths. They are both focussed around this City of Nine Gates. Communities whose purpose included ascetic practices, also appear to have performed the services of providing healing and guidance to their immediate community. The Essenes are so described by Pliny, Philo and Josephus. The Indian Brahmins - the ascetic sages - are so described by Philostratus, in his Vita Apollonius of the third century. Buddhist communities of ascetics might be similarly cited in this context. In our background notes section, we have already seen how the ancient Egyptian ascetic sages were highly regarded as sources of medical knowledge and healing.
Core Allegory of the Pearl: the Embodied Soul |
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| 24 | His voice was resounding as he slowly spoke, crying out in the city, "Pearls! Pearls!" | 1 |
| 28 | What is it you seek from me?" | 1 |
| 31 | And having said these things, he cried out, "Pearls! Pearls!" | 1 |
| 45 | He answered, saying to them, "If it is possible, come to my city, so that I may not only show it before your (very) eyes, but give it to you for nothing." | 1 |
| 49 | He answered (and) said to them, "If it is possible, you yourselves come to my city, so that I may not only show you it, but give it to you for nothing." | 1 |
| 57 | "And also (concerning) the road to the city, which you asked me about, I will tell you about it. | 1 |
| 58 | No man is able to go on that road, except one who has forsaken everything that he has and has fasted daily from stage to stage. | 1 |
| 59 | For many are the robbers and wild beasts on that road. | 1 |
| 60 | The one who carries bread with him on the road, the black dogs kill because of the bread. | 1 |
| 61 | The one who carries a costly garment of the world with him, the robbers kill because of the garment. | 1 |
| 62 | The one who carries water with him, the wolves kill because of the water, since they were thirsty for it. | 1 |
| 63 | The one who is anxious about meat and green vegetables, the lions eat because of the meat. | 1 |
| 64 | If he evades the lions, the bulls devour him because of the green vegetables." | 1 |
| 72 | He said to me, "This is the name of my city, 'Nine Gates.' | 1 |
| 73 | Let us praise God as we are mindful that the tenth is the head." | 1 |
| 95 | He said, "In uprightness of heart I will show it to you. | 1 |
| 97 | For he does not reveal himself to every man, because he himself is the son of a great king. | 1 |
| 98 | Rest yourselves a little so that I may go and heal this man and come (back)." | 1 |
| 99 | He hurried and came (back) quickly. | 1 |
| 106 | He answered and said, "It is I! | 1 |
| 107 | Recognize me, Peter." | 1 |
| 108 | He loosened the garment, which clothed him - the one into which he had changed himself because of us - revealing to us in truth that it was he. | 1 |
| 115 | He gave them the unguent box and the pouch that was in the hand of the young disciple. | 1 |
| 118 | I will give you your reward. | 1 |
| 119 | To the poor of that city give what they need in order to live until I give them what is better, which I told you that I will give you for nothing." | 1 |
| 133 | He answered them, "Rightly have you spoken, John, for I know that the physicians of this world heal what belongs to the world. | 1 |
| 134 | The physicians of souls, however, heal the heart. | 1 |
| 135 | Heal the bodies first, therefore, so that through the real powers of healing for their bodies, without medicine of the world, they may believe in you, that you have power to heal the illnesses of the heart also. | 1 |