THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM

Some years ago I read a book on the Secret Teachings of Tibetan Buddhism by Madame Alexandra David-Neel and her adopted son, Lama Yongden, who predeceased her....which I recently purchased from a bookstore I was browsing in....and re-read it......In all the re-reads I do, I find things that I have sometimes neglected or forgotten or overlooked at the time of the original reading and I suppose this is a common thing for most readers who are eager to learn what they did not know previously.......haste in reading and unsustained reading are often the case for intense zeal.... The fact that most of these teachings discussed by the author were 'given' to her by means of oral discussions or ORAL TRANSMISSION brings up an important point about learning things of an esoteric and also of a practical nature....learning certain skills and methods are better learned orally from actual teachers, especially martial arts, yoga, magic, or cooking,etc. than from reading manuals, instruction booklets, or watching tapes, dvd's, or listening to recordings, though these do have their place in certain areas and ways....... Since we cannot sit at the feet of the Buddha or some grand lamas or wandering mystics without feeling some sense of uneasiness with the modern ones now traipsing about the world with all manner of things.....listening to such, whether through lectures or workshops or whatever, such as, retreats, resorts, etc. can be expensive and not wholly convincing if one has some severe reservations about the affairs,etc. Nevertheless, those who search for a teacher, a guru or a master, may well find one that meets their requirements and needs, hopefully, but the world is full of manhy professing to be such....so from my point of view it is better to become 'your own best teacher' which is possible only when you begin to expand beyond your narrow conceptions and conceits about yourself..... In my own case, I tend to focus on the images that I have experienced and acquired in life and in dreams and in merely thinking with some kind of focus or imagination,while endeavoring to remember myself and some things that seem important and necessary...of which I shall not discuss here for now..... From this re-reading of this important book I have found some things that indicate the role of Shamanism,particularly that of Siberia and Central Asia,which has influenced Taoism and Buddhism in China, Tibet, and the 'northern' areas.....which I had also previously investigating through some reading of various books in my possession....
These I plan to place under by blog on TAOISM but for now I merely hint at such... Which brings me back to my feeling that GURDJIEFF(see my blogs on) was in Tibet and Central Asia and learned Taoism,Shamanism, and Lamaism of a peculiar and special variety which he brought back to the West....