Order A.'.A.'.

From beyond the Abyss (VII:): Mahamudra

May all adepts attain the City of Pyramids

Maitripa’s Essential Mahamudra Verses

To innermost bliss, I pay homage!

Were I to explain Mahamudra, I would say—
All phenomena? Your own mind!
If you look outside for meaning, you’ll get confused.
Phenomena are like a dream, empty of true nature,

And mind is merely the flux of awareness,
No self-nature: just energy flow.
No true nature: just like the sky.
All phenomena are alike, sky-like.

That’s Mahamudra, as we call it.
It doesn’t have an identity to show;
For that reason, the nature of mind
Is itself the very state of Mahamudra
(Which is not made up, and does not change).
If you realize this basic reality
You recognize all that comes up, all that goes on,
as Mahamudra,
The all-pervading dharma-body.

Rest in the true nature, free of fabrication.
Meditate without searching for dharma-body—
It is devoid of thought.
If your mind searches, your meditation will be confused.

Because it’s like space, or like a magical show,
There is neither meditation or non-meditation,
How could you be separate or inseparable?
That’s how a yogi sees it!

Then, aware of all good and bad stuff as the basic reality,
You become liberated.
Neurotic emotions are great awareness,
They’re to a yogi as trees are to a fire—FUEL!

What are notions of going or staying?
Or, for that matter, “meditating” in solitude?
If you don’t get this,
You free yourself only on the surface.

But if you do get it, what can ever fetter you?
Abide in an undistracted state.
Trying to adjust body and mind won’t produce meditation.
Trying to apply techniques won’t produce meditation either.

See, nothing is ultimately established.
Know what appears to have no intrinsic nature.
Appearances perceived: reality’s realm, self-liberated.
Thought that perceives: spacious awareness, self-liberated.
Non-duality, sameness [of perceiver and perceived]: the dharma-body.

Like a wide stream flowing non-stop,
Whatever the phase, it has meaning
And is forever the awakened state—
Great bliss without samsaric reference.

All phenomena are empty of intrinsic nature
And the mind that clings to emptiness dissolves in its own ground.
Freedom from conceptual activity
Is the path of all the Adepts.

I’ve put together these lines
That they may last for aeons to come.
By this virtue, may all beings without exception
Abide in the great state of Mahamudra.

- Maitripa

From beyond the Abyss (V.)

May ALL adepts attain the City of Pyramids

"..What's been felt
What's been known
Never shined through in what's been shown
Never be
Never see
Won't see what might have been
What's been felt
What's been known
Never shined through in what's shown
Always free
Never me
So "I" dub thee all-forgiving..."

From beyond the Abyss (lV.)

May ALL adepts attain the City of Pyramids

How to get there, one might wonder.

One way:


"The only correct and adequate mode of the Attainment of Understanding is to shut off and to inhibit the rational mind altogether, thus leaving a Tabula rasa upon which the entirely alien faculty -- de novo and sui generis -- can write its first word.

But then (it will surely be said) what is more unintelligent than this supposed Intelligence? than this formless, even delirious Ecstasy which sweeps away all shapes of thought? No sane man would deny this premiss: but the explanation is that this Ecstasy is (so to say) the throe of Birth of the new faculty. It is surely natural for an observer to be startled, for the moment, by the discovery of a new Universe. Ananda must be mastered manfully, not indulged as a vice in the manner of the Mystic! Samadhi must be clarified by Sila, by the stern virtue of constraint: and then appears the paradox that the new Law of the Mind has "come not to destroy but to fulfil" the old. 
The Understanding takes full cognizance of all that vast material which the Reason was unable to build into any coherent structure. The contradictions have disappeared by absorption; they have been accepted as essential factors in the nature of Truth, which without them were a mere congeries of Facts.

It will be clear from all these considerations that there need be no surprise at this primordial paradox: that Scepticism, absolute in every dimension, is the sole possible basis of true Attainment. All attempts to shirk the issue by appeals to "faith," by mystic transcendental sophistries, or any other spiritual varieties of the Three-Card-Trick, are devoted to the most abject destruction.

One cannot "find the Lady" by any other way than that of the Knight-Errant, of the Great Fool -- the Way of the Eagle in the Air -- whose Sacred Number is the Sacred Zero. Yea also, Naught being All, and All being Pan, the only due address to Godhead is in the dual form

[GRK WRDS (all-devourer, all-begetter)] PAMPHAGE PAGGENETOR.

For all must be destroyed that All may be begotten."

- The Little Essays, Understanding by A. Crowley

From beyond the Abyss (lll.)

May ALL adepts attain the City of Pyramids

Thus I have heard:

0.
There is no me; there is no you; there are no forms, skandhas(1) are empty. And yet, nothing else exists apart from me and you; skandhas are imputed upon the ever-(non)-existing Thusness(2), and they appear (not) like clouds from the empty sky.

Trillions of forms are imputed from within upon the Thusness and are non-dual with It. (3)

And one who has attained the Mind-of-no-effort(4), has completed the non-journey, and is joyfully abiding in the Union of No-more-learning(4).

1.
He is utterly indifferent(5) to positive, negative, and neutral states within and without, for he has seen the ultimate truth.

The infinite power seemingly drives him on, and on, and yet, he does nothing, for events are non-arising, non-abiding, ever non-existent, and self-liberated.

He is fully aware of the twelve deceptions(6) that bind those without the Right view.

Having seen through the sphere of neither-perception nor-non-perception (7), nothing binds him, for he is not. And since he is not, object and subject are (not), and everything is as it always has been, is, and forever will be (not), he is free.

He doesn't care at all about anything. And yet, the Love and Compassion is the Word at one with the Light.

2.
Just by being, he is constantly creating the manifested Universe. (8)

What is seen is he in myriad forms, and through these forms, he can be known. (8)

When he looks within, the Universe collapses; when he looks without, he is (in) Love.

And through being (in) Love, he is omnipresent, directing herself and her children.

3.
She can be known only through her powerful presence, for she is darkness in its uttermost transparent sense.

In this no man's land, only the seen can be seen, only the heard can be heard, and there is no one there to say, 'We are one, we are none'. (9)

And yet, her nature is all-embracing, receiving and giving.

She has united with innumerable adepts in the most intimate of ways, for she is the Mother of all the wise ones, the Sacred whore, the Everlasting yoni, the Queen of demons and men and women alike.

There is none else besides Her.

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1. Skandhas: aggregates that generate everything in the field of the mind in the broadest sense.

2. Thusness: words lose their meaning here, but he seems to refer to the so-called dharmadhatu, the primordial nothing that is everything. In Liber B vel magi, this is referred to as "...the grade of Ipsissimus the Mystery of Selflessness, also called the Mystery of Pan." (Liber B, 15.)

3. It Seems he is talking about the Heart sutra (forms are empty, emptiness is form, etc.).

4. These two phrases denote final spiritual attainment, the level of Ipsissimus.

5. Nothing touches the madman.

6. He is sharing the doctrine of "dependent origination", twelve links that "produce" duality and suffering/enjoyment on all levels.

7. He has attained the trance nirodha samapatti.

8. "By His Wisdom made He the Worlds; the Word that is God is none other than He." - Liber B, 2

9. No mental identification of being something or someone remains.

 

One Star in Sight

One Star in Sight, parts 3 - 8:

3. The Order of the S. S. is composed of those who have crossed the Abyss; the implications of this expression may be studied in Liber 418, the 14th, 13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, and 9th Aethyrs in particular.

All members of the Order are in full possession of the Formulae of Attainment, both mystical or inwardly-directed and Magical or outwardly-directed. They have full experience of attainment in both these paths.

They are all, however, bound by the original and fundamental Oath of the Order, to devote their energy to assisting the Progress of their Inferiors in the Order. Those who accept the rewards of their emancipation for themselves are no longer within the Order.

Members of the Order are each entitled to found Orders dependent on themselves on the lines of the R. C. and G. D. orders, to cover types of emancipation and illumination not contemplated by the original (or main) system. All such orders must, however, be constituted in harmony with the A∴A∴ as regards the essential principles.

All members of the Order are in possession of the Word of the existing Aeon, and govern themselves thereby.

They are entitled to communicate directly with any and every member of the Order, as they may deem fitting.

Every active Member of the Order has destroyed all that He is and all that he has on crossing the Abyss; but a star is cast forth in the Heavens to enlighten the Earth, so that he may possess a vehicle wherein he may communicate with mankind. The quality and position of this star, and its functions, are determined by the nature of the incarnations transcended by him.

4. The Grade of Ipsissimus is not to be described fully; but its opening is indicated in Liber I vel Magi.

There is also an account in a certain secret document to be published when propriety permits. Here it is only said this: The Ipsissimus is wholly free from all limitations soever, existing in the nature of all things without discriminations of quantity or quality between them. He has identified Being and not-Being and Becoming, action and non-action and tendency to action, with all other such triplicities, not distinguishing between them in respect of any conditions, or between any one thing and any other thing as to whether it is with or without conditions.

He is sworn to accept this Grade in the presence of a witness, and to express its nature in word and deed, but to withdraw Himself at once within the veils of his natural manifestation as a man, and to keep silence during his human life as to the fact of his attainment, even to the other members of the Order.

The Ipsissimus is pre-eminently the Master of all modes of existence; that is, his being is entirely free from internal or external necessity. His work is to destroy all tendencies to construct or to cancel such necessities. He is the Master of the Law of Unsubstantiality (Anatta).

The Ipsissimus has no relation as such with any Being: He has no will in any direction, and no Consciousness of any kind involving duality, for in Him all is accomplished; as it is written “beyond the Word and the Fool, yea, beyond the Word and the Fool”.

5. The Grade of Magus is described in Liber I vel Magi, and there are accounts of its character in Liber 418 in the Higher Aethyrs.

There is also a full and precise description of the attainment of this Grade in the Magical Record of the Beast 666.

The essential characteristic of the Grade is that its possessor utters a Creative Magical Word, which transforms the planet on which he lives by the installation of new officers to preside over its initiation. This can take place only at an “Equinox of the Gods” at the end of an “Aeon”; that is, when the secret formula which expresses the Law of its action becomes outworn and useless to its further development.

(Thus “Suckling” is the formula of an infant: when teeth appear it marks a new “Aeon”, whose “Word” is “Eating”).

A Magus can therefore only appear as such to the world at intervals of some centuries; accounts of historical Magi, and their Words, are given in Liber Aleph.

This does not mean that only one man can attain this Grade in any one Aeon, so far as the Order is concerned. A man can make personal progress equivalent to that of a “Word of an Aeon”; but he will identify himself with the current word, and exert his will to establish it, lest he conflict with the work of the Magus who uttered the Word of the Aeon in which He is living.

The Magus is pre-eminently the Master of Magick, that is, his will is entirely free from internal diversion or external opposition; His work is to create a new Universe in accordance with His Will. He is the Master of the Law of Change (Anicca).

To attain the Grade of Ipsissimus he must accomplish three tasks, destroying the Three Guardians mentioned in Liber 418, the 3rd Aethyr; Madness, and Falsehood, and Glamour, that is, Duality in Act, Word and Thought.

6. The Grade of Master of the Temple is described in Liber 418 as above indicated. There are full accounts in the Magical Diaries of the Beast 666, who was cast forth into the Heaven of Jupiter, and of Omnia in Uno, Unus in Omnibus, who was cast forth into the sphere of the Elements.

The essential Attainment is the perfect annihilation of that personality which limits and oppresses his true self.

The Magister Templi is pre-eminently the Master of Mysticism, that is, His Understanding is entirely free from internal contradiction or external obscurity; His word is to comprehend the existing Universe in accordance with His own Mind. He is the Master of the Law of Sorrow (Dukkha).

To attain the grade of Magus he must accomplish Three 235} Tasks; the renunciation of His enjoyment of the Infinite so that he may formulate Himself as the Finite; the acquisition of the practical secrets alike of initiating and governing His proposed new Universe and the identification of himself with the impersonal idea of Love. Any neophyte of the Order (or, as some say, any person soever) possesses the right to claim the Grade of Master of the Temple by taking the Oath of the Grade. It is hardly necessary to observe that to do so is the most sublime and awful responsibility which it is possible to assume, and an unworthy person who does so incurs the most terrific penalties by his presumption.

7. The Order of the R. C. The Grade of the Babe of the Abyss is not a Grade in the proper sense, being rather a passage between the two Orders. Its characteristics are wholly negative, as it is attained by the resolve of the Adeptus Exemptus to surrender all that he has and is for ever. It is an annihilation of all the bonds that compose the self or constitute the Cosmos, a resolution of all complexities into their elements, and these thereby cease to manifest, since things are only knowable in respect of their relation to, and reaction on, other things.

8. The Grade of Adeptus Exemptus confers authority to govern the two lower Orders of R. C. and G. D.

The Adept must prepare and publish a thesis setting forth His knowledge of the Universe, and his proposals for its welfare and progress. He will thus be known as the leader of a school of thought.

(Eliphas Levi's Clef des Grands Mysteres, the works of Swedenborg, von Eckarshausen, Robert Fludd, Paracelsus, Newton, Bolyai, Hinton, Berkeley, Loyola, etc., etc., are examples of such essays.)

He will have attained all but the supreme summits of meditation, and should be already prepared to perceive that the only possible course for him is to devote himself utterly to helping his fellow creatures.

To attain the Grade of Magister Templi, he must perform two tasks; the emancipation from thought by putting each idea against its opposite, and refusing to prefer either; and the consecration of himself as a pure vehicle for the influence of the order to which he aspires.

He must then decide upon the critical adventure of our Order; the absolute abandonment of himself and his attainments. He cannot remain indefinitely an Exempt Adept; he is pushed onward by the irresistible momentum that he has generated.

Should he fail, by will or weakness, to make his self-annihilation absolute, he is none the less thrust forth into the Abyss; but instead of being received and reconstructed in the Third Order, as a Babe in the womb of our Lady BABALON, under the Night of Pan, to grow up to be Himself wholly and truly as He was not previously, he remains in the Abyss, secreting his elements round his Ego as if isolated from the Universe, and becomes what is called a “Black Brother”. Such a being is gradually disintegrated from lack of nourishment and the slow but certain action of the attraction of the rest of the Universe, despite efforts to insulate and protect himself, and to aggrandise himself by predatory practices. He may indeed prosper for a while, but in the end he must perish, especially when with a new Aeon a new word is proclaimed which he cannot and will not hear, so that he is handicapped by trying to use an obsolete method of Magick, like a man with a boomerang in a battle where every one else has a rifle.



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Differences Between the O.T.O. & the A.'.A.'.

"It was my original idea that the O.T.O. would be a sort of training ground for the A∴A∴. It was still in my mind that the A∴A∴ represented, so to speak, the only thing worth doing. But recent initiations have changed my views considerably. But the O.T.O. has a perfectly definite function in connection wirh the new Aeon.

At a time like the present, when individual liberty is threatened in a way to which history offers no parallel, a strong and vigorous order is required to guard humanity. The A∴A∴ does this, it is true, but in a manner so beyond even your present conception, that I think it only fair to give even the most commonplace of men a chance to co-operate actually."
- Letter from A.C. to Charles S. Jones, dated Oct. 4th 1919 e.v.

** ** **

"Observe O.T.O. = 540 + A.'.A.'. 2 = 542. 418+666/2 therefore the number harmonizes these two. But of course you understand that the A.'.A.'. is the serious Order for individual progress.
With O.T.O. you only become a magician, and a priest of the Holy One - a very fine and balanced 6=5, but no more."
- Crowley to Achad, ~July, 1916

** ** **

“The O.T.O. is, so to speak, the quintessence of Freemasonry, and is run on strictly Masonic lines. There is no question of spiritual advancement as in the A.'.A.'.. It teaches nothing but theoretical and practical philosophy of life and death. There is no question of the attaining of higher states of consciousness.

It is true that some of the practices involves what might, on analysis, turn out to be supernormal conditions, but it is not mystical in any ordinary sense of the word. Further, it works almost entirely in groups, and this is what makes the attitude towards money entirely different.”
- Crowley to Gerald Yorke, Oct. 27, 1928

** ** **

“The difference between the A.'.A.'. and the O.T.O. is very clear and simple. The A.'.A.'. is a sempiternal institution, and entirely secret. There is no communication between its members. Theoretically, a member knows only the superior who introduced him, and any person whom he himself has introduced. The Order is run on purely spiritual lines.

The object of membership is also entirely simple. The first objective is the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. The next objective, omitting for the present of the [6=5] and [7=4] Grades, is the crossing of the Abyss, and the attainment of mastership of the Temple. This is described very fully especially in Liber 418 (“The Vision & the Voice”). Much less is written about the [5=6] Grade, i.e. the Knowledge and Conversation, because it is too secret and individual. It is impossible to lay down conditions, or to describe the experiences involved in detail.

The O.T.O. has nothing to do with this, except that The Book of the Law and the Word of the Aeon are essential principles of membership. In all other respects, it stands by itself as a body similar to Freemasonry, but involving acceptance of a social and economic system which is intended to put the world on its feet. There is also, of course, the secret of the IX° which is to say, the weapon which they may use to further these purposes.

To show you the difference, Theodor Reuss was Supreme Head of the O.T.O., but was not even a probationer of the A.'.A.'..”
- Letter from Crowley to Karl Germer dated Sept. 16, 1946, as an official statement to American O.T.O. members