Thursday, 16 June 2011

The Occultist Aleister Crowley and Buddhism


The notorious early 20th Century occultist Aleister Crowley was very much a twisted polymath of his time – a gifted mountaineer, friend of the famous, writer, occultist and poet. He studied eastern mysticism and religions and was very familiar with the history and tenets of Buddhism long before it was popular in the West. His philosophy - summed in a nutshell was “Do what thou wilt – this shall be the whole of the law” – a position is at best a perversion of Buddhist philosophy and one that is very much lacking in the key element of compassion. Compassion was a characteristic that Crowley had not at all and delighted in his own inherent cruelty and pursuit of power. That said he had some sympathy for Buddhism as a ‘scientific religion’ based on intuited absolute truths.


If only he had turned his mind to good and used his demonstrable powers of persuasion and influence to advance a philosophy of good, kindness and universal love the world would be a better and wiser place. Sadly however that was no to be.


"An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind."Buddha



The Buddhist by Aleister Crowley


There never was a face as fair as yours,

A heart as true, a love as pure and keen.

These things endure, if anything endures.

But, in this jungle, what high heaven immures

Us in its silence, the supreme serene

Crowning the dagoba, what destined die

Rings on the table, what resistless dart

Strike me I love you; can you satisfy

The hunger of my heart!

Nay; not in love, or faith, or hope is hidden

The drug that heals my life; I know too well

How all things lawful, and all things forbidden

Alike disclose no pearl upon the midden,

Offer no key to unlock the gate of Hell.

There is no escape from the eternal round,

No hope in love, or victory, or art.

There is no plumb-line long enough to sound

The abysses of my heart!

There no dawn breaks; no sunlight penetrates

Its blackness; no moon shines, nor any star.

For its own horror of itself creates

Malignant fate from all benignant fates,

Of its own spite drives its own angel afar.

Nay; this is the great import of the curse

That the whole world is sick, and not a part.

Conterminous with its own universe

the horror of my heart!


The Buddha's Face

5 comments:

  1. Crowley's idea of will, however, is not simply the individual's desires or wishes, but also incorporates a sense of the person's destiny or greater purpose: what he termed "True Will".

    The second precept of Thelema is "Love is the law, love under will"—and Crowley's meaning of "Love" is as complex as that of "Will." It is frequently sexual: Crowley's system, like elements of the Golden Dawn before him, sees the dichotomy and tension between the male and female as fundamental to existence, and sexual "magick" and metaphor form a significant part of Thelemic ritual. However, Love is also discussed as the Union of Opposites, which Crowley thought was the key to enlightenment.

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  2. Crowley was an idiotic narcissistic fakir who didn't know squat! He fools a lot of people because they themselves do not know squat!

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  3. Compassion is not completely lost to Thelema, but Thelema is itself much less passionate about compassion than Buddhism is.

    Secondly, Thelema is primarily about doing one's own True Will. While it necessarily follows from Crowley's philosophy, no Thelemite is bound to be like Crowley, or emulate everything he did, or believe everything he believed. (Crowley once stated that he wanted every person to "cut his own way through the jungle," or some such thing. He made clear that he himself was not an idol to be emulated in every possible way--at least initially.)

    Crowley also changed his mind quite a bit, and was open to believing different things, and espousing different ideas, at different times. No one denies that there were times when Crowley was inconsistent in his views.

    Crowley writes, in 'Magick Without Tears', “When you can [help others] as it should be done, without embarrassment, false shame, with your whole heart in your words—do it simply, to sum up—you will find yourself way up on the road to that royal republic which is the ideal of human society.” He also wrote, in 'Duty', “The distress of another may be relieved; but always with the positive and noble idea of making manifest the perfection of the Universe.”

    (See http://hermetic.com/eidolons/Thelemic_Compassion.)

    I also want to point out that there are syncretic Buddhist-Thelemic groups. (e.g. Ordo Sunyata Vajra.)

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  4. Semua Ahli-ahli MCA Malaysia yang dihormati,

    Segelintir pemimpin MCA seperti YIP KUM FOOK (lawyer, MCA Gombak) dan Yip Jiun Hann(pemuda MCA Gombak) perangainya sendiri pun tidak bermoral dan nama pun sangat busuk di Selangor. Khas nya di Kepong, Selayang, Rawang dan lain tempat, seperti makan wang SAMNAK SAMBODHI, DESA JAYA, KEPONG, merosakkan keluarga orang lain……..perangai sebegitu jahat.

    Mereka cuba suruh kita menyokong Donald lim Siang Chai, sekira kumpulan ini bermenang dalam parti MCA, saya yakin parti MCA akan tenggelam selama-lama di Malaysia

    Jangan kena jerat, sokong lah Saudara Dr Wee Ka Siong

    SAMNAK SAMBODHI COMMITTEES

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  5. Dear brother and sister,

    I am Myanmar who working in Malaysia more than 10 years and I would like to explain about SAMNAK SAMBODHI BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION. Therefore, recently I stayed at SASANARAKKHA BUDDHIST SANCTUARY (SBS), Taiping, Perak. I am very close with Ven. U Nandiya Maha Thero.

    My monk Ven. U Nandiya is very good heart and compassion to everyone in the world, also I heard when he stayed at Kuala Lumpur Buddhist Temple, he lends donation money to President of Temple (DATUK YIP KUM FOOK, MCA Gombak) with amount RM20,000.00 only and he said that money belong to Myanmar society in Malaysia.

    On the other hand, my monk said, also many things happened when he stayed there because committees always disturbing, I am very sadly about that matter, why committees are very poor and crooks. Others Temple, people come to Temple to respected Buddha and Monks, also give red packet to monks. Why this Temple, monks must give money to committees, this is opposite.

    If anyone receive or read this message, please inform to DATUK YIP KUM FOOK (president of Temple) to return that amount to my monk as soon as possible.

    My monk contact place:

    Ven. U Nandiya
    SASANA DAJA BUDDHIST TEMPLE
    49 Bombay Street, Lidcombe NSW 2141.
    Tel: (02) 9649-8124

    With kindness

    KO KO NAING
    Taiping, Perak, Malaysia
    Anyone visiting this Buddhist Temple must be careful with the committee members as they can suck your money and the president of the Temple is also more sucking monks’ money already, add and call the police to arrest Buddhist monks

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