Starlight Pentecost 2016

ophia fHoundation Journal of the Sophia Foundation The Coronation of the Virgin Fra Angelico The Coronation of the Virgin is a theme that recurs frequently in art—see, for example, the magnificent depiction by Fra Angelico of this mysterious event—although there is no reference to it in the Bible. What does it signify? It is a depiction of a supersensible reality, a reality that is accessible only to spiritual vision, concerning that which transpired in the wake of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary to heaven. The latter event, too, is shrouded in mystery. These two mysterious events relating to the Virgin Mary can, in turn, only be grasped against the background of a preceding supersensible event: that of the union of Mary with Divine Sophia that took place at Pentecost when the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples occurred. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples is brought to expression in art by the depiction of tongues of flame above the heads of the disciples. The Fire of Divine Love of the Holy Spirit penetrated into them and they were thereby transformed from disciples into apostles. There is no such artistic portrayal of the union of Mary with Sophia, which was not the consequence of an incarnation of Sophia into Mary—rather, it was an emanation. That is, just as we can imaginatively picture a ray of sunlight bathing someone in the power of the Sun, so can we imagine a ray of Divine Sophia penetrating into Mary so that she remained from the time of Pentecost onward existentially united with Sophia. Since that time she may be referred to—as, for example, Rudolf Steiner referred to her—as Mary Sophia. In the book of Revelation, Sophia is portrayed as a cosmic being “clothed with the Sun, with the Moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” And in Revelation, just as Christ is spoken of as the Lamb, so Sophia is called the Bride of the Lamb. It is against this cosmic background provided by Revelation that we can begin to grasp the significance of the Coronation of the Virgin in heaven. The crowning of the Virgin Mary in the wake of her Assumption into heaven gives a hint of the status of this great ascended being. Being crowned draws our attention to the sacred union of the Lamb and his Bride—and, at the same time, it alludes to the union of Divine Sophia with Mary that took place at Pentecost. Robert Powell 2 CONTENTS Gautama Buddha and Kashyapa ................................................................................. ROBERT POWELL ....... 5 Tomberg and Buddhism ................................................................................................... VOLKER ZOTZ ..... 13 The Bodhisaattva Being and the Bodhisattva Individuality ............... CLAUDIA MCLAREN LAINSON ..... 16 The Maitreya Bodhisattva ................................................................ ROBERT POWELL & KEITH HARRIS ..... 18 A Vision at the Cave of Mary Magdalene The Red Horse of the Apocalypse ...................................................................... ESTELLE ISAACSON ..... 23 The Sacrifice of the Archangel Jesus in the Rhythm of Time ............................. ESTELLE ISAACSON ..... 25 The Finnish and Germanic Mystery Traditions ....................................................... HARRIE SALMAN ..... 28 Sophia and the God in the Flood: Applications from a Reading of the Pistis Sophia and Carl Jung’s Alchemical Studies ........................................................................... JOHN O’MEARA ..... 35 Archangel Michael: The Fiery Thought King of the Universe How Can We Know Him? ...................................................................................... BILL TRUSIEWICZ ..... 47 Taking Action: Cultivating “Spiritual Communion” .................................................... LESLEY KING ..... 60 Stories from the North to Add to the Constellation of Light Being Woven Around the Earth ............................................................................... INGRID FRASER ..... 64 Choreocosmos Considerations, Easter 2016 ............................................................... ROBERT POWELL ..... 68 CHOREOCOSMOS SCHEDULE 2016 North America & Italy ............................................................... 79 CD Announcement ........................................................................................................................................ 83 Goethe’s Poem in Epilogue to Schiller’s “Bell” .............................................................. TRANSL. C.L. ..... 84 Editor: Robert Powell; Assistant Editor, layout design: Sandra Eastburn Weil The views expressed in the articles published in Starlight are the sole responsibility of the authors of these articles and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial board of Starlight. Some articles may have been shortened, and some articles may have been edited with minor stylistic changes. This is the eleventh electronic issue of Starlight. The electronic issue is free, which allows us to reach many more people. If you wish to receive Starlight in a printed version, please send a donation of $50 or more to the Sophia Foundation to cover the annual cost of two issues. Please include a note with your donation indicating that you are requesting printed copies of the journal tobesentyou. Donors will not automatically receive a printed copy of the journal—only upon written request. All issues of Starlight from the Fall 2005 issue to the present are available as PDF downloads. Link: www.sophiafoundation.org/activities/starlight-‐‑journal SOPHIA F OUNDATION ADMINISTRATOR: TELEPHONE: 303-‐‑242-‐‑5388 ADMINISTRATIVE O FFICE KIM M ARIE EMAIL: [email protected] 4500 19 TH S TREET, #3 69 WEBSITE: WWW.SOPHIAFOUNDATION.ORG bOULDER, CO 80304 3 4 Gautama Buddha and Kashyapa Robert Powell introduced by Claudia McLaren Lainson Claudia McLaren Lainson [In the book Gautama Buddha’s Successor] Robert Powell illumines the significance of the six-hundred-year rhythm of the cultural waves spoken of by Rudolf Steiner. Powell guides us to be wakeful and alert, in light of the new cultural wave that began in 2014. In this connection he also depicts the ancient prophecy relating to the possible reincarnation of the Maitreya–Kalki individuality in our time, to inaugurate the change this new cultural wave portends. He indicates the likelihood that there will be collaboration between the great spiritual streams inaugurated upon the Earth by Buddha and Christ. The confluence of these streams has the potential of ushering in a new age of a Christ-permeated Buddhism—that is, a renewed and enlivened Buddhism that receives the inspiration of Christ now flowing in as a result of his presence in the etheric world, this being the event known in Christian tradition as the “Second Coming.” This new Christ-permeated Buddhism is intended to serve humanity’s spiritual evolution and further the unfolding of the evolution of the Earth. In Buddhist tradition, we are told that when Gautama Buddha indicated one of his disciples, the bodhisattva Kashyapa, as his successor, he “raised a lotus blossom and blinked his eyes.”1 __________________ Robert Powell According to a classic text of Zen Buddhism, The Transmission of the Light (Denkoroku), one day the Buddha silently raised a lotus blossom and blinked his eyes. At this, Kashyapa smiled. The Buddha said, “I have the treasury of the eye of truth, the ineffable mind of Nirvana. These I entrust to Kashyapa.” He also passed his gold brocade robe to Kashyapa, thus indicating Kashyapa to be his successor in the bodhisattva transmission, i.e., the bodhisattva who will become the next Buddha, the future Maitreya Buddha.2 There is only a single reference by Steiner to Kashyapa. It is in the context of two lectures, “The Spiritual Bells of Easter,” April 10 and 11, 1909, in Cologne. The lectures are among the first in which Steiner spoke of Christ’s return, his Second Coming, in a non-physical form. In these two lectures, Steiner indicates that human beings will behold Christ in spiritual fire, and he refers many times to Kashyapa in relation to the Maitreya Buddha, without saying directly that Kashyapa was the bodhisattva who will become the Maitreya Buddha. This fact is implicit in these two lectures, but is not stated explicitly. Because of the significance of these two lectures, they are quoted extensively here (translated from the German by Dorothy Osmond & Charles Davy): 1 Robert Powell & Estelle Isaacson, Gautama Buddha’s Successor: A Force for Good in Our Time (Great Barrington, MA: SteinerBooks, 2013)—from the Foreword by Claudia McLaren Lainson. 2 John Daido Loori, The Eight Gates of Zen: A Program of Zen Training (Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications, 2013), chapter 2. 5 Shakyamuni [Gautama Buddha] had a great pupil, and whereas the other pupils grasped to a greater or lesser extent the all-embracing wisdom taught by the Buddha, Kashyapa—such was the name of the pupil—grasped it fully. He was one of those most deeply initiated into these teachings, one of the most significant followers of the Buddha. The legend tells that when Kashyapa came to the point of death and because of his mature wisdom was ready to pass into Nirvana, he made his way to a steep mountain and hid himself in a cave. After his death his body did not decay but remained intact. Only the initiates know of this secret and of the hidden place where the incorruptible body of the great initiate rests. But the Buddha foretold that one day in the future his great successor,

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