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I have found the following text interesting and thought others might as well. Gnostic Jesus and The Chaotic Buddhist Gnostic Jesus and The Chaotic Buddhist a consideration by Johann E Lee "Many essentially Gnostic notions received wide attention through the sagacious persona of the recently deceased Joseph Campbell in the television series and best-selling book, The Power of Myth. For example, in discussing the idea that "God was in Christ," Campbell affirmed that "the basic Gnostic and Buddhist idea is that that is true of you and me as well." Jesus is an enlightened example who "realized in himself that he and what he called the Father were one, and he lived out of that knowledge of the Christhood of his nature." from the Gnostic Jesus website Gnostic Christianity Links. "Caught in the fundamental conflicts of dualism, beings are trapped by the ignorance of their condition. We imagine ourselves awake, yet are still sound asleep in the dream landscape of our personal world. To awaken from this dream into the wisdom of our natural state is the purpose and perfection of practice."-from "Gnosis, Gnostics and Waking Up!" In Chaos anti-theology we learn that essentially "Nothing is True", and with it, the corollary, "Everything is Permitted." Constrasting this with the Buddhistic notion of non-duality and radical freedom (Gnosis) one sees little semantic difference even if the sociological results of taking either stand appears remarkably different from each other. Elsewhere on the Internet Mark Defrates (he who started the notoriously ambling, flame-infested Chaos Magic mailing list, the ZCluster) asserts that fundamentally Chaos Theory affirms the tenets of Tibetan Dzogchen Buddhistic teachings. Given the history of Chaos magic it is not impossible to imagine it as a purely syncretic anti-religion religion. AO Spare writes endlessly of the state of gnosis or vacuity attained through meditating on the principle of the "Neither-Neither" (Sanskrit="Neti, Neti", Buddhistic non-duality, Advaita Vedantist non-duality)in order to embed sigils or spells to actualize desires personal or global, basal or transcendental. Also given that both Vajrayana and Dzogchen in part arose from Tibetan Bon or was associated with Tibetan Bon Magickal practice, Defrates may have a point. The overriding goal of any authentic magical practice is personal liberation from a imprisoned sense of a false a priori identity or "ego". Buddhism holds that in truth there is no "self" ("Anatta") which correlates with the doctrine of "Shunyata", or "Emptiness" or as described by "Mark Chao"(Jaq Hawkins)in a text called "Understanding Chaos", "Chaos". In Chaos Magic, "Chaos" is the Abyss, "Shunyata". Random belief, or consciously courting split personalities that believe in constantly contradictory belief systems might facilitate this "liberation" or negatively, invite a state of being known to Initiates of the Weirding Ways as a "total mental breakdown". Saith Mark Defrates:"Chaos Magick is the art of forming the unformed energies of creative chaos into a pattern leading to the outcome of the magicianÕs desire." (p. 23)[Jaq Hawkins] This is a more acute observation than it might seem at first glance. Chaos Magick is differentiated from many other forms of contemporary magick in its cultivation of a state of Òcreative chaosÓ (sic). Rather than attempting to structure the magickal environment through carefully developed correspondences, as is the case with Ceremonial Magick, Chaos Magicians relax into a state of consciousness that facilitates the generative fertility of the universe. Sounds like bumming your way to Heaven if you ask me. The *only* way to fly. Mark also goes on to say in another Internet document: "Dzogchen (Dzog Chen) teachings are of particular value to Chaos Magicians, and, in fact, in discussions I have had with Lama Yeshe Wangmo, we have not been able to discern any fundamental difference between Dzog Chen and Chaos Magick. Dzog Chen originates as a transmission from Vajrasattva, a transcendant entity representing the principle of pure mind (the Diamond Being) to Garab Dorje in 55 c.e. The teaching was brought from India to Tibet by the sorcerer Buddha, Padmasambhava in his travels to Tibet from India in the 8th Century c.e. The essence of the teaching is that purity of mind is always present and that practitioners only need to recognize it. Chaos magicians can conceptualize this process as deconstructive, since it is only incorrect mental conditioning that prevents one from recognizing one's magickal nature (pure mind, being a state in which interdependence is realized, is by definition a magickal state of consciousness, or, in Buddhist terms, the seed state, in other words, the Deep Mind). Due to the rapid acceptance of Buddhism in Tibet (Tibetans even developed a written language based on sanskrit so they could archive the religious texts, and, despite the depredations of the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution and after, Tibetan literature remains the largest and most accurate record of early Buddhism) and due to an inclusivity among Tibetans, elements of the Bon religion, an essentially shamanist magickal tradition, were also included into the practice of Buddhism. While the majority of monks and nuns were celibate, large numbers of practitioners filled niches in society as spellbinders, demonslayers, hermits, and lay priests, magicians, healers, and teachers of all kinds. Dzog Chen, which bears some resemblance to Zen Buddhism in its insistence on the possibility of immediate recognition of one's true nature, is. like Zen, quite differentiated from most other forms of Buddhism that implies that only through renunciation of the World and a monastic seclusion can there be a possibility of encountering True Mind. Dzog Chen also, because of the magickal, demonological slant of Padmasambhava, includes or accepts magickal practice. It should be noted that this is not necessarily true of the way Dzog Chen is practiced or taught in what Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) prophesied as the Western Land, the new country of the Teaching, where the teaching would flourish when "the iron bird flew." Perhaps unwilling to draw attention to what to Western eyes might appear to be Black Magick, Dzog Chen practitioners in this country are notably reticent about the magickal elements of the teachings. In Tibet during the 17t Century, after a series of struggles between various monastic traditions (aka magickal wars), the Yellow Hats of the Nyingmapa tradition gained ascendancy, and from this point forward the Dalai Lama has come from this school. The Nyingmapa school is founded in Dzog Chen teachings. The current Dalai Lama is a strong advocate of the willed manifestation of Padmasambhava as a magickal force in America. It should be understood, however, that Dzog Chen subsumes many of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism, that practioners may be as reluctant to define them- selves as such as magicians practicing Chaos Magickal techniques may be to call themselves Chaos Magicians. However a great many books on Tibetan Buddhism published today are written by Dzog Chen practioners, or by Tibetan Buddhists who are conversant with these techniques. Again, I would stress that the best way for a Chaos Magician to find out about Dzog Chen is by direct contact with Padmasambhava, and through the magickal use of his termas (hidden teachings) such as the magickal weapon the dorje (or vajra), or pictures of him. Guru Rinpoche is very easily accessible through the Astral, and through meditation. Access to him is also available through the dakinis, such as the dakini the Vajra Yogini. Chod practice (easily chaoticised) also can be used. I would emphasize that Padmasambhava has his own agenda, that he's unlikely to grant favors in the way a Godform might, and that he is extremely powerful. Partial posession rites are also useful and common in ritual dance. Dzog Chen teachers are fairly common in the United States, but remember, when you get down to it, they are mostly religious figures. I know of none who are attempting the integration of the western magickal tradition with Dzog Chen." Jesus the Buddha or an Osiris The neo-pagan movement arising out of the British Isles and finding popularity among the young in America was discovered by myself late in the 20th century. It moved me into a personal investigation of some its basic practices. The only way for me to investigate is via solitary practice. In Singapore I could not locate nor wished to locate a Coven in Singapore. Interestingly casting a magical circle on my own in my own room had its particular charm. It was personal and I felt free to express what I was undergoing with no sense of ssocial restriction. Until one has cast a Magickal Circle and invited the Gods into that Circle one has no real experience of what Sacrament is. I could say that it seemed no different from any profound religious initiation as was my initiation into Level III Reiki. I can personally find no difference between inviting (evoking) the Goddess and Her consort and celebrating them with bread and wine in the context of a Wiccan rite, and the Christian Sacramental Rite performed every Sabbath (Pagan="Sabbat") that is the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine. Of the entirely Pagan roots and history of present day 'normal' orthodox Christianity I have no doubt. Paganism in the secret vaults of it's being is purely Gnostic in theory and practice. The basis of Gnosticism is purely magical. The purpose of magic is liberation. The purpose of the true teachings of Jesus is purely magical, Buddhistic, liberational. The basis of modern Christian dogma both Roman Catholic and so-called Prostestant lie in the birthing of the uber-religion as constructed not by eye-witnesses to the deeds and words of Jesus, but to certain individuals with earthly and political motives, not spiritual ones.1, 2, 3 Back The Jesus Mysteries Thesis of Freke and Gandy "The parallels between paganism and Christianity that Freke and Gandy advance are impressive" Professor G A Wells, author of The Jesus Myth on the book, "The Jesus Mysteries Thesis" by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy. "'For anyone who is not familiar with historical and biblical scholarship of the last half-century or so, The Jesus Mysteries will come as something of a shock. Believing Christians will find it disturbing; Evangelicals will be horrified by it; Fundamentalists will no doubt ascribe it to the devil. And yet much in the book will be familiar to scholars. Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy demonstrate clearly and unambiguously that much of Christian belief and practice, rather than being (as the Church has always claimed) a vast contrast with the Pagan ideas of Greece and the Middle East 2,000 years ago, actually draws on those traditions. This controversial thesis will be dismissed by many readers, but the meticulous footnoting of sources, both ancient and modern, will cause others to wonder if this book ought to be taken more seriously than many recent rewritings of history." -Amazon.co.uk
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