Bøger af Bart Marshall

Most ancient spiritual texts are of unknown or uncertain origin, but few are as deeply shrouded in myth, legend and mystery as The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean, and the closely associated, and more well-known Emerald Tablet, attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. The Emerald Tablets of Thoth did not surface until 1925, but the Emerald Tablet of Hermes has a rich history weaving through much of antiquity.Scholars speak of the Emerald Tablet as one of the most mysterious documents ever put before the eyes of man, and describe it as everything from a succinct summary of Neoplatonic philosophy, to an extraterrestrial artifact, to a gift from Atlantis. The Tablet is attributed to the legendary figure of Hermes Trismegistus, said to be an ancient philosopher, healer and sage. References to Trismegistus can be found in Renaissance, Christian, Islamic, Roman and Greek literature, and the Tablet appears and disappears across the ancient world before and after the birth of Christ.No one knows what became of the original Tablet. Historic accounts describe it as a slab of brilliant, crystalline green stone covered with bas-relief Phoenician text. What we are left with are numerous translations and translations of translations, some of which were penned by historical figures like Isaac Newton, Roger Bacon, and Madame Blavatsky. For this book I have created my own version that considers and incorporates twenty or so existing translations.The Tablet teaches that "All is One," and that direct experience of the Divine is possible through meditation and psychological exercise. In modern times it became the foundation of Freemasonry, Theosophy, and esoteric schools such as The Golden Dawn. It is considered the original source of hermeticism, gnosticism, alchemy and science. Some hold that the Tablet holds the secrets of the universe. It is said that those who come to it are destined to read this ancient cryptic work, and if one is spiritually aware, he will be able to read between the lines.The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean are shrouded in even more mystery, and their story requires one to set aside traditional beliefs and keep an open mind. They are said to have been written many millennia ago by an Atlantean priest/king/god named Thoth, who, along with many others of his race, came to earth from another planet. He lived for thousands of years, and when the great flood came upon earth that destroyed Atlantis, he escaped in his ship, then later landed in a land he called Khem, which is now Egypt. He ruled Egypt for 16,000 years, and in Egyptian art is pictured as having the head of an ibis-a sacred bird of Africa.He was a great writer and "keeper of records," and it is said that he authored 36,525 manuscripts. It was Thoth who built the Great Pyramid of Giza as a repository for this Atlantean knowledge, and a place for initiating great souls into the Mysteries. In legend, deep beneath the Great Pyramid are the Halls of Amenti spoken of in The Emerald Tablets, the halls of the gods, where the soul passed after death for judgment. During the many centuries of his life, Thoth raised the people of Egypt from barbarians to a great civilization. When he left that incarnation Thoth was deified as the God of Wisdom, the Recorder, by those in the age of darkness that followed his passing.

One Life goes nowhere and leaves no trace.It does not begin.It does not end.All arises new in the Moment. Forms and sensations arise in the Moment.Hopes and plans arise in the Moment.Memories and artifacts arise in the Moment. All there is, could be, or could have beenarises in the Moment. There is only the Moment. Sit quietly and stop talking to yourself.

The Ashtavakra Gita is an ancient spiritual document of great purity and power. Pure, because it is relentlessly one-pointed. Every word is aimed at triggering Self-realization-no suggestions for self-improvement, no rules for moral behavior, no practical wisdom for daily life. Powerful, because the mere reading-or repeated reading-of it can be enough to send a ripe mind reeling into Truth. Little is known about the Ashtavakra Gita. Ashtavakra is a name that appears in Indian lore, but almost certainly he did not write it. The author, likely an anonymous sage, merely uses the characters of Ashtavakra and King Janaka to set up a classic dialogue between guru and disciple. It quickly becomes a guru-guru dialogue, however, because after the first salvo of wisdom from Ashtavakra, Janaka realizes his true Self, and from then on they get into an advaitic jam session of the highest sort. Because of this, some translators have done away with the dialogue format and attributed everything to Ashtavakra. Indeed, since all the verses of the Ashtavakra Gita exist at the highest possible level of spoken wisdom, it would appear meaningless to attribute some to the teacher and some to his newly-enlightened disciple. There is nevertheless a storyline set up in the Ashtavakra Gita, which will become clear to you as you carefully read it.

The man who came to be known as Buddha (an honorific meaning "Enlightened One" or "Awakened One") was born in the sixth century B.C., heir to a small kingdom in the Himalayan foothills of what is now Nepal. His name was Siddhartha Gotama. At the age of twenty-nine he experienced a deeply disturbing epiphany about suffering and death that led him to abandon his life of luxury and seek an ultimate answer in the forest. After six years of meditation and austerities, however, he realized he was no closer to Truth than when he'd begun. In desperation he sat beneath the now famous Bodhi tree and vowed not to get up until he was enlightened. It happened. Afterwards, he stood and walked a few steps from where he'd sat. He looked back and shook his head. He sat again in the spot beneath the tree and said, "This cannot be taught." For the next forty-five years, however, he traveled throughout northern India expounding the Dhamma-the Teaching, the Way. A large order of monks and nuns formed around him and hundreds or even thousands might gather for one of his talks. At the age of eighty he died peacefully in the town of Kusinara, surrounded by disciples.The Dhammapada ("aspects of the Dhamma") is widely regarded as the most succinct expression of Buddha's teaching found in the Pali Canon. In Theravedic Buddhist countries it is used in monasteries as a primer for novices, and by the general population as an essential guidebook for resolving the problems of daily life. It contains profound instructions for seekers of spiritual enlightenment, as well as basic principles for living a moral life free of suffering.

Tao Te Ching is the fundamental work of Taoism, and not only points with poetic elegance to the mystery of Oneness, but provides practical guidelines for cultivating character, conducting war, and governing nations. As with most ancient texts, authorship is difficult to determine. It is commonly attributed to a specific person named Lao Tsu, who is said to have been a contemporary of Confucius, and may have been an archivist to the emperor. Some historians point out, however, that one meaning of the characters lao tsu is "old man," and that it was more likely a nickname than a proper name. These same two characters can also form the words "old scholar," pronounced roshi in Japanese-a title usually reserved for a Zen master.Carrying out one's work in an unassuming manner is an important aspect of Taoist philosophy. So much so that often a Taoist writer or painter would either not sign his work, or use a pseudonym that honored his teacher. It is not a stretch, therefore, to surmise that the Tao Te Ching may well have been written by a sage-or sages- wishing to remain anonymous, as well as pay homage to the old masters who had come before.The case for more than one author is a good one. There is a certain inconsistency in the poetics and content that suggest not only multiple writers but perhaps multiple time periods as well. Regardless, in the end only the work itself matters. The Tao Te Ching is a profound, enduring text that never ceases to amaze, mystify, inspire, and reveal. Whoever first brushed these verses on paper was merely the middle man. The words are from the Source.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali were written around the time of Jesus, give or take 200 years. The practice of yoga began in India as early as 1000 years prior, but the Yoga Sutras are the most important compendium of this ancient oral tradition, and virtually all later schools of yoga begin with Patanjali. Little is known about him, but there is evidence he was an educated philosopher, grammarian, and physician-a long-lost medical work is attributed to him. No doubt he received oral instruction in yoga and probably lived in remote caves, forests, and river banks, which were the most frequent practicing grounds of the time. At some point, enlightenment happened. Why he committed an oral tradition to written text is unknown, but as the remote meditative havens of the yogis receded and dedicated aspirants dwindled, he may have feared that yoga would become forgotten, lost, or corrupted. Regardless, we are the beneficiaries of his efforts. The literal meaning of the word sutra is "thread," which by extension and usage has come to connote "spiritual instruction." Simple, direct, practical-yet not easily understood or practiced-the threads of Patanjali weave an elegant system for opening the door to Self-realization.

You hold in your hand a unique treasure. There are thousands of spiritual teachers, but true Zen masters-those who can transmit, who can midwife a student to awakening-are rare. Some may write books or essays, but their real work is done individually with students in person. Alfred Pulyan (1896-1966) was one of those rare Zen masters who can transmit, but his method of transmission came not through personal contact, but rather through an exchange of letters with his students. He worked primarily by mail and had notable success triggering enlightenment in serious students through the power and rapport of his letters. A fortunate side-effect of his method is that it is written down, and thus potentially available to others-providing one can find any of his letters. Those collected here are from a correspondence with Richard Rose in 1960 and 1961 and provide an invaluable look under the covers as a Zen master goes about his thankless work. Rose was already awake when he heard about Pulyan's ability, having had a definitive spiritual experience in 1947 at age thirty. He contacted Pulyan for the purpose of learning how to transmit what he'd become, pretending to be a seeker while continually pressing Pulyan to reveal method. At times in these letters Pulyan seems to be onto him, but with unbelievable patience and incredible mastery he works to crack Rose's nut and at the same time tells him what he's doing and how and why he's doing it. Pulyan wrote his letters in longhand, with extensive margin notes. For this book, I have edited them to include those notes in the main text, and made other minor edits to help the letters read more smoothly. Rose's letters are not included in this book, except for his initial inquiry that kicks things off. Not much is known about Pulyan's life, and in fact he's somewhat of an enigma. Much of what is known he tells us himself in these letters. Conflicting reports have him being born either in New York or London, but at any rate he turned up in New York City sometime after World War I and lived most of his life there. He is of an age where he might have served in the war, but no record of it exists. From these letters we know he studied mathematics and worked as an accountant, office manager, and executive. In the late 1950's he and his wife Madeline bought 12 acres in rural Connecticut where they and some friends settled in. One of these friends was the young woman who was Pulyan's teacher and who was responsible for his realization. (He'll tell you the story in one of these letters.)Pulyan's only known published writings are articles in The Aberree, a journal in circulation from 1954 through 1965. The best known of these, "The Penny That Blots Out the Sun," is included at the end of this book.

Logline: "In the midst of war in 1967 Vietnam, a young Green Beret becomes involved in opium smuggling and a CIA-led Montagnard revolution while navigating a love triangle with a beautiful-but-deadly Dragon Lady and a mysterious young nightclub singer--all the while struggling to understand a transformative spiritual experience that overcame him in battle." Pearl of the Orient is an un-produced screenplay inspired by a true story-highly dramatized and hyperbolized, of course. It had a shot at Hollywood a number of years ago, being passed on by name-brand directors and such, and since has been collecting dust in the virtual bottom drawer of my laptop. Recently, in a moment of nostalgia for Vietnam, I pulled it up, reread it, and still liked it-a lot. I realized, though, that I bring to my reading of it a huge amount of background and imagery that is not on the page, and began giving serious consideration to making the movie myself, even planning a trip to Vietnam to scout locations and talk with a production company I found there. Through a series of mistakes on my part, and cosmic intervention, that trip did not happen. In the aftermath, I had a "What was I thinking?" moment. At age 72 with no prior experience directing films, just who did I think would finance me? My flight of fancy was fun while it lasted, and to be honest, mixed with my disappointment was great relief. A burden had been lifted. For decades I had felt like I had a "responsibility" to create some kind of art from what was a unique and compelling experience of the Vietnam War. When my "heroic" effort to do it all myself fell through, that all went away. What I decided, though, was to create an artifact of that obsession, something I could hold in my hand. Hence, this book. It is the screenplay slightly rewritten into what I hope is a more readable format than a shooting script, sort of a cross between a screenplay and a novella. It is all I need to feel done and complete with this story. However, if this book should find its way into the hands of someone who somehow sees what I see in it, and would like to put it on the screen, please let me know. Hope springs eternal, and all that.¿¿¿

This new version of the Dhammapada was created by Bart Marshall, who has translated numerous sacred writings, and whose translations/versions are regarded by many as the best available. He recently published a new version of the Holy Bible, the King James Revealed Version, a project that took him seven years to complete, and which is now garnering high praise. He has also published Becoming Vulnerable to Grace: Strategies for Self-Realization; Bhagavad Gita: The Definitive Translation; Christ Sutras: The Complete Sayings of Jesus from All Sources Arranged as Sermon; The Perennial Way; The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean; and Self to No-Self: The Last Mile.