The Wheel Of Life
(Title of his autobiography)
Someone who have both knew perfectly the scholarship with worldly activity, writing to the enjoyment of fine oriental exoticism, the ability to disclose masterfully Eastern philosophies, along with the customs of people of different social status, his visiting to Lamas and "House of Flowers", all under his personal perspective and the most sincere expression of his spiritual experience. Someone with the wisdom to teach English to Chinese people while at same time diligently learning Mandarin (pǔtōnghuà) and Cantonese, and all with a lot of humility. Someone like that has earned and deserve my respect, someone who through his books and experiences I have learned a lot as he possessed the gift of teaching and teaching the virtue of knowing.
This is Mr. John Blofeld, a distinguished British writer, thinker and researcher , also a mystic, religious, academic, teacher and translator. He dedicated his life to study and research of two great Eastern religions, namely Buddhism and Taoism, and perhaps to a lesser extent the ritual moralism of Confucius. Ever since his strict personal experience.
Since childhood Blofeld always was attracted by the figure of Buddha, finally acquiring one, despite belonging to a Protestant family. With the complicity of some vivid dreams, memories of strange experiences on issues rather philosophical and reading some books on Eastern thought and religion, he became a convinced Buddhist, and since then decided to move to the Far East .
Canton, China, 1930© Richard Fleischhut
Blofeld went, or rather escaped to China in 1932 at the age of 19 years. China was the country he felt more affinity. So he left his university studies in Cambridge, mesmerized by the stories of an exotic world, attracted by Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Taoist Immortals and wonders of all kinds. Of course he had to learn the Chinese language, which came to dominate timely at perfection. Blofeld was a romantic who loved unconditionally China even without knowing it, and when he did, traveling around her, loved her more. His dream was to establish him in Beijing (Beijing) and live his entire life there, but that project was stopped due to the Japanese invasion. But still lived in China long enough to get married and do most of his dreams.
Pusa Ding: Bodhisatva's Temple (Monasterio Ch'an) original picture by: Henk Van Es
Thus, by traveling from one place to another under the Chinese name of P'u Lotao, was able to study first hand the Chinese Ch'an Buddhism, the quasi-lost MiTsong esoteric Buddhism, Shamanism and Mongolian Lamaism, and finally received the supreme Tibetan Vajrayana initiations. In parallel, and very unusual in a Buddhist practitioner, devoted part of his time to research the little known Taoism, and especially in time of pre-Communist China, the age and time of a world now gone forever.
He authored many books, among them:
- * The Door of Wisdom
- * The Secret and The Sublime
- * Mantra, Sacred Words of Power
- * The Wheel of Life
- * Taoism, the search for immortality
- * Tibetan Buddhism, a practical guide
What are the books I own and have the pleasure of reading many times, besides being the source of this article. :-)
All of incalculable educational value and written in simple prose that dispenses with the slightest intention to stand as a kind of obscure scholar. His books were written before the takeover by the Maoists, so have added value because they are deeply rooted in China's traditional feudal thinking, which was ruthlessly destroyed by the Communists, especially during the Cultural Revolution.
Blofeld connected through their efforts, with the nearly extinct Chinese esoteric Buddhism, the MiTsong. And was initiated into the Tantric traditions of Tibetan Vajrayana.
His first teacher in China was Dorje Rinpoche (well, almost all Tibetan lamas are called so, then that lama will remains a mystery) who gave the first Wangkur or initiation in Tantric Vajrayana.
Kalimpong, empowerment siteThen met the greatest lamas of the north as the Ven. Gabju Gombojab, Khambo Lama of Mongolia, the Ven. Gombojev, Khambo Lama of the Buryat Autonomous Republic of the USSR
Mountain road, Almorah
It's worth knowing that in his wanderings as a spiritual seeker came across the destiny of another famous Lama, Anagarika Govinda, the great scholar, who then had established a hermitage in Almorah lost somewhere in the Himalayas. One can imagine how exciting it must have been that meeting, two Western Buddhists as being in a place apart from the world, and so difficult to access in those days. In fact, when you like, the world is small!Lama Govinda
After a pilgrimage to all holy places of Buddhism, commissioned by the BBC, John Blofeld participated in the Sixth World Buddhist Council, held in Burma (Myanmar).
His long spiritual quest culminated in 1969 with one of their dearest dreams, namely, to know personally SS The XIV Dalai Lama. The hearing was granted after ten years of proceedings in that sense, occurring at the residence of Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India.Despite the fact that he was Buddhist, it was not difficult to establish friendly relations with the Chinese taoistas, visiting the great sacred mountains usually the Taoist monasteries aroses, often in inaccessible places. Their Taoist stories are descriptive of a world full of magic, intensely descriptive and captivating. Personally I think that we owe it to his prose, smooth and positive teaching, and in my opinion are the best they have the books by John Blofeld. Know that because Buddhism is widely known, which don't nearly or remotely occurs with Taoism , which is wrapped by veils of mystery. A mystery that will continue living because of the inexorable disappearance of the magic Weltangschauung of life .
Besides being a writer, John Blofeld was a distinguished professor of English language in China while a student of Chinese Mandarin and Cantonese languages himself, plus Japanese and Korean at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. The WWII interrupted his studies as he saw the need to grab the British counterintelligence because of his skill with the oriental languages but not doing so would have been inevitably sent to the frontline, without possibility to choose the service. Then maybe we would have lost a great human being and a great scholar. Finally in 1946 he obtained his MA in Chinese literature from the University of Cambridge
Indeed it was a lifelong student, also a professor.
Blofeld liked to call himself "Ox-Head" and "Old Ox"
seems that his great head and being born in the Chinese Year of the Ox.
seems that his great head and being born in the Chinese Year of the Ox.
John Blofeld was born in London, Great Breataña, an April 2, 1913. He lived from 1931 to 1939 in mainland China. The onset of WWII led him to England for a short period and was again sent by the government to China, where he remained until 1949. Since then he became a peripatetic teacher and writer about his speciality, China, its culture and religions, especially the Chinese and Vajrayana Buddhism and Taoism. I remember reading somewhere that Blofeld spent a short time in a monastery Ñingmapa in Scotland, but I could not confirm it.
The one and only Blofeld's picture I found in Internet
Bangkok
John Blofeld entered the Still Light calmed down a June 7, 1987 and his ashes are deposited, as he had desired in life, in a Chinese temple near Bangkok, dedicated to Guan Yin, who had helped build in 1951. There is a curious fact about his funeral, but that's another story if you wish can be found on this site ◄ ►.
His other books I have not tne pleasure of own:
- The Huang Po Doctrine of Universal Mind - 1947, under pseudonime Chu Ch'an
- The Path to Sudden Attainment, a treatise of the Ch'an (Zen) school of Chinese Buddhism by Hui Hai of the T'ang Dynasty - 1948
- The Zen Teaching of Huang Po: On the Transmission of Mind - 1959
- City of Lingering Splendour : A Frank Account of Old Peking's Exotic Pleasures - 1961
- The Zen Teaching of Hui Hai - 1962
- I Ching, the Book of Change: The Book of Change - 1968
- The Tantric Mysticism of Tibet : A Practical Guide to the Theory, Purpose, and Techniques of Tantric Meditation - 1970
- Atisha: A biography of the renowned Buddhist sage - 1974, Traduced by Thubten Kelsang Rinpoche , Ngodrub Paljor, John Blofeld.
- Bodhisattva of Compassion : The Mystical Tradition of Kuan Yin - 1977
- The jewel in the lotus: An outline of present day Buddhism in China - 1977
- The Chinese Art of Tea - 1985
- My Journey in Mystic China: Old Pu's Travel Diary - 2008 (originalmente publicado en chino, 1990)
Doktor Gnómegang.-
