While Scientology is a new idea, it is not entirely without antecedents. Most of the great world religions have had as a goal the suprahuman, transcendent individual, the saint who has freed himself from the limitations common to ordinary men. The state through which one must pass in attaining this liberated condition has been called by the several religions samadhi, nirvana, satori and illumination, and those who have achieved it have been, unfortunately, but a few. The goal of Scientology is identical with that of these earlier religions; the only difference is one of methodology. And this methodology provides the basis for designating Scientology as a technological religion.
When he was first developing the theories upon which Dianetics was based, Hubbard recognized this identity of goals between these older religions and his own, and this led to his making a thoroughgoing study of their teachings. The earliest version of the great truths he sought was found in the Vedas, the sacred
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scriptures of India, of which the Upanishads are the principal portion, serving as a foundation for the Vedanta, the "End of the Vedas," philosophy. The Vedanta teaches the paths by which one may enter into the state of samadhi: the several Yogas, including Bhakti Yoga, the path of devotion; Karma Yoga, the path of selfless work; Raja Yoga, the path combining the different Yogas; and Jnana Yoga, the path of wisdom. Probably the best exposition of Jnana Yoga is to be found in the Bhagavad Gita, the best loved of all the Hindu scriptures. The following excerpts from the Gita could have been written with Scientology in mind:
"Being freed from longing, with self under control ...undisturbed by the pairs of opposites [pleasure and pain, heat and cold], free from envy, even-minded in success and failure, though acting he is not bound.
"One whose attachment is gone, who is liberated, whose mind is well-established in wisdom...his whole Karma [the results of past actions] melts away...
"Knowing this, thou shalt not again fall into delusion....Even if thou art the most sinful of the sinful, thou shalt cross over the ocean of sin by the bark of wisdom.
"As kindled fire reduces fuel to ashes, so does the wisdom fire reduce Karma to ashes.
"Nothing indeed in this world purifies like wisdom. He who is perfected in Yoga, finds it in time within himself by himself....
"Having gained wisdom, immediately he attains to supreme peace."
This is a very high level of truth, but it does lack
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something in technique. How does one attain this wisdom? We are told to become "perfected in Yoga," but this is a very long and arduous struggle. There have not been too many perfect Yogis in the past three thousand years. Perhaps we can substitute another word for "wisdom," and still another for "Karma." If we were to replace wisdom with "the state of clear," and Karma with "the engram bank," we might find fewer problems and a far less arduous struggle. We might as well make another substitution: that of Scientology for Yoga. Then we would read: "...whose mind is well-established in the state of clear...his whole engram bank melts away." And also: "Having gained the state of clear, immediately he attains to supreme peace."
Hubbard next turned his attention to the study of Taoism, based on the Tao Teh Ching of Laotse, who taught, as Lin Yutan has said, "The rhythm of life, the unity of all the world and human phenomena, the importance of keeping the original simplicity of human nature, the danger of over-government and interference with the simple life of the people, the doctrine of wu-wei or 'inaction,' which is better interpreted as 'non-interference' and is the exact equivalent of laissez-faire, the pervading influence of the spirit, the lessons of humility, quietude and calm, and the folly of force, of pride, and of self-assertion. All these will be understood if one understands the rhythm of life. It is profound and clear, mystical and practical."
Hubbard's search led him into the simple profundities of Buddhism and the teachings of Gautama Siddartha, the Buddha, who ever declined to make any refer- 102
ence to God, but never tired of expounding upon his "Eightfold Path" by which one could learn what the reality of God was for himself. From The Light of Asia, Sir Edwin Arnold's poetic biography of the Buddha, we take the following passages:
Pray not! the Darkness will not brighten! Ask Nought from the Silence, for it cannot speak! Vex not your mournful minds with pious pains! Ah! Brothers, Sisters! seek Nought from the helpless gods by gift and hymn, Nor bribe with blood, nor feed with fruit and cakes; Within yourselves deliverance must be sought; Each man his prison makes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . If ye lay bound upon the wheel of change, And no way were of breaking from the chain, The Heart of boundless Being is a curse, The Soul of Things fell Pain. Ye are not bound! the Soul of Things is sweet, The Heart of Being is celestial rest; Stronger than woe is will; that which was Good Doth pass to Better-Best. I, Buddh, who wept with all my brothers' tears, Whose heart was broken by a whole world's woe, Laugh and am glad, for there is Liberty! Ho! ye who suffer! know Ye suffer from yourselves. None else compels, None other holds you that ye live and die, And whirl upon the wheel, and hug and kiss Its spokes of agony.
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This is an excellent statement of the philosophy of Scientology, embodying almost everything except the method by which Scientology achieves its goals. It is not that Buddha lacked a method, but that Scientology's is more direct and swifter. Whereas, the Buddhist may strive all his life without any assurance of ultimate success, the Scientologist can produce the same result in a matter of months. That is new. That is real progress.
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