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THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD Or The After Death Experience on the Bardo Plane, according to Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup's English Rendering Compiled and edited Edited by W. Y. Evans-Wentz 1960 Facing Preface To The Paperback Edition 'Thou shalt understand that it is a science most profitable, and passing all other sciences, for to learn to die. For a man to know that he shall die, that is common to all men; as much as there is no man that may ever live or he hath hope or trust thereof; but thou shalt find full few that have this callning to learn to die. . . . I shall give thee the mystery of this doctrine; the which shall profit thee greatly to the beginning of ghostly health, and to a stable fundament of all virtues. '- OrologiumSapientiae. 'Against his will he dieth that hath not learned to die. Learn to die and thou shalt learn to live, for there shall none learn to live that hath not learned to die.'-Toure of all Toures: and Teacheth a Man for to Die. The Book of the Craft of Dying (Comper's Edition). '\Vhatever is here, that is there; what is there, the same is here. He who seeth here as different, meeteth death after death. Facing Preface to the Second Edition BONDAGE TO REBIRTH "As a man's desire is, so is his destiny. For as his desire is, so is his will; and as his will is, so is his deed; and as his deed is, so is his reward, whether good or bad. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad FREEDOM FROM REBIRTH 'He who lacketh discrimination, whose mind is unsteady and whose heart is impure, never reacheth the goal, but is born again and again. But he who hath discrimination, whose mind is steady and whose heart is pure, reacheth the goal, and having reached it is born no more.' Katha U panishad. Page xi SRI KRISHNA'S REMEMBERING 'Many lives Arjuna, you and I have lived. I remember them all but thou dost not.' Bhagavad Gita, iv, 5., iv, 5. Page xx "......... Denison........."
INCARNATION THE DEAD RETURN Daniel Easterman 1998 Page 99 "........David........." Page 3 "The old man's name was Dennison"
THE PATH OF PTAH THE SELF CRUCIFIXION OF THE CRUCIFIXION OF THE SELF THE VIRGIN BIRTH IS TO BE REBORN OF WATER AND SPIRIT GODS HOLY SPIRIT AFTER HAVING ENDURED THE DEATH OF THE I ME EGO SELF I SELF EGO ME I WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE AND NOT FOUND WANTING EVOLVE THEE THAT THOU OF LOVE LOVE LOVE OF THOU THAT THEE EVOLVE
ISISIS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE UNLESS THAT HE AZIN SHE THAT IS THEE IZ BORN AGAIN AND AGAIN BORN THOU CANST NOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF EVEN
I SAY THREAD THAT THREAD THREAD READ DEATH DEATH READ THREAD THREAD R DEATH DEATH R THREAD THREAD READ DEAR THREAD
THE NEW ELIZABETHAN REFERENCE DICTIONARY An up-to-date vocabulary of the living English language Circa 1900 FOURTH EDITION Page 1472 thread (thred) [A.-S. thraed, from thrawan, to THROW (cp. Dut. draad, G. draht, Icel. thrathr)], n. A slender cord consisting of two or more yarns doubled or twisted ; a single filament of cotton, silk, wool, etc., esp. Lisle thread ; anything resembling this ; a fine line of colour etc. ; a thin seam or vein ; the spiral on a screw ; (fig.) a continuous course (of life etc.). v.t. To pass a thread through the eye or aperture of ; to string (beads etc.) on a thread ; (fig.) to pick (one's way) or to go through an intricate or crowded place, etc. ; to streak (the hair) with grey etc. ; to cut a thread on (a screw). thread and thrum : Good and bad together, all alike. threadbare, a. Worn so that the thread is visible, having the nap worn off ; (fig.) worn, trite, hackneyed. threadbareness, n. thread-mark, n. A mark produced by coloured silk fibres in banknotes to prevent counterfeiting. thread-paper, n. Soft paper for wrapping up thread, thread-worm, n. A thread-like nematode worm, esp. one infesting the rectum of children. threader, n. threadlike, a. and adv. thready, a. threadiness, n.
THE NEW ELIZABETHAN REFERENCE DICTIONARY An up-to-date vocabulary of the living English language FOURTH EDITION Circa 1900 Page 1472 thread (thred) [A.-S. thraed, from thrawan, to THROW (cp. Dut. draad, G. draht, Icel. thrathr)], n. A slender cord consisting of two or more yarns doubled or twisted ; a single filament of cotton, silk, wool, etc., esp. Lisle thread ; anything resembling this ; a fine line of colour etc. ; a thin seam or vein ; the spiral on a screw ; (fig.) a continuous course (of life etc.). v.t. To pass a thread through the eye or aperture of ; to string (beads etc.) on a thread ; (fig.) to pick (one's way) or to go through an intricate or crowded place, etc. ; to streak (the hair) with grey etc. ; to cut a thread on (a screw). thread and thrum : Good and bad together, all alike. threadbare, a. Worn so that the thread is visible, having the nap worn off ; (fig.) worn, trite, hackneyed. threadbareness, n. thread-mark, n. A mark produced by coloured silk fibres in banknotes to prevent counterfeiting. thread-paper, n. Soft paper for wrapping up thread, thread-worm, n. A thread-like nematode worm, esp. one infesting the rectum of children. threader, n. threadlike, a. and adv. thready, a. threadiness, n.
lisle thread: lisle thread A strong tightly twisted cotton thread (usually made of long-staple cotton) - lisle. Derived forms: lisle threads. Type of: cotton. Nearest ... www.wordwebonline.com/en/LISLETHREAD
Definition - of Lisle from Dictionary.net Lisle thread, a hard twisted cotton thread, originally produced at Lisle. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) ... www.dictionary.net/lisle - 9k
CASSELL'S ENGLISH DICTIONARY 1974 Lisle thread (lil thred) [ town in France, now Lille], n, A fine, hard thread orig. made at Lille.
LIFE HANGING BY A THREAD
THE LIGHT IS RISING RISING IS THE LIGHT
WE ARE THE DEAD SHORT TIME AGO WE LIVED FELT DAWN SAW SUNSET GLOW LOVED AND WERE LOVED AND NOW ?
Search ResultsKafka's Before the Law
Kafka’s Before the Law A Review This story is actually contained in a larger work, but it has been published alone as a work of fiction. In the segment entitled Before the Law, K, Kafka’s recurrent protagonist is talking with a priest. He relates a story about a man that comes to a great door seeking the Law. Before it is a gatekeeper that tells him he can’t be allowed to enter at that moment. The man seeking the Law is perplexed, but intentional, so he waits, and waits and waits for the entirety of his life to be permitted to access the Law. The gatekeeper also waits and allows the man to continue waiting, but not letting him pass through the gate. As the man is dying, he wonders why he was the only person seeking the Law. The gatekeeper tells him, that the gate he guards was only meant for him and since he is dying, he, the gatekeeper is going to close it. K then engages the priest that has related this tale to him, in an analytic argument about the meaning of the story. The arguments are piercing and full of moral implications. Kafka is showing us how an allegory can have profound meaning. It is unavoidable that the reader will not apply the experience of the man and gatekeeper to his personal life. Don’t we all seek some Law, some way to understand our existence? Are we not barred in this struggle to understand by a gatekeeper, in the form of fear, doubt and confusion? The gatekeeper as allegory goes even further. He explains that there are deeper realms, that even he (meaning the gatekeeper himself) can’t know, and the man will not be permitted to reach them. Again, the analytic portion of Before the Law reflects upon this notion. The priest explains that the gatekeeper could be deceived. Are not we deceived about our life’s meaning and substance? Before the Law is a clear narrative of human life. We come to a point in our lives in which we seek purpose and order, yet we are obstructed from this by own minds (our gatekeepers if you will). We want health, while declining in well being, we want youth, while growing ever aged, we need love, yet never finding it. We seek a reason, a Law if you will, that will help us, and thus we seek it, but discover our path is obscured by ourselves! Here is the allegory of the story. Kafka does this with such incredible power, you can’t stop reading it. Kafka makes a strange allegorical tale, in which we can see the senselessness of being in the human condition. K is seeking understanding of himself in the larger work.He has irrational fears. He fears high winds and feels a sense of forboding without cause. He actually enters the church for shelter before engaging the priest. In this work, you are K, and the priest is your alter ego. He provides you with many different interpretations of why the man sought the Law. Yet, none suffice, for you must understand yourself why you seek the Law. As a final word, Kafka has K declare that the Law is not real, it is a lie. He is razor-edge close to an existential conclusion with this declaration. It adds irony to allegory to have K, make this statement to a priest, whom is trying to explain the meaning of the tale.
YEA THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH I WILL FEAR NO EVIL FOR THOU ART WITH ME ALWAYS WITH ME
THROUGH DEATHS DARK VEIL I FEAR NO EVIL
Search ResultsTransmigration of the soul - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[edit] Platonism, transmigration, and "innate knowledge" [edit] Popular culture In the anime Angel Tales twelve girls were sent to live with and watch over a young man as guardian angels. All twelve were former pets of his who died and transmigrated. It has been used as a form of reincarnation in the television series Quantum Leap, in which the protagonist Sam Beckett would be reborn in the psychic aura of those in the past. He doesn't switch bodies psychically or mentally, but takes on their appearance through a psychic aura, while they are reincarnated as him in the future. The concept also appears in the first and third parts of the Silent Hill series. The spirit of Alessa Gillespie transmigrated into the daughter of Harry Mason, Cheryl, after Alessa was burned to death in a cultist ritual. In the third game, the main protagonist, Heather, is actually another transmigration of Alessa's soul. [edit] The Arts Following the events of Sept. 11, 2001, American composer John Adams was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to write a piece in tribute to those lost, which he entitled "On the Transmigration of Souls". The 25 min long work, scored for large orchestra, chorus and pre-recorded tape, received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Music and numerous Grammy awards. [edit] See also [edit] References [edit] External links
www.encyclopedia.com/topic/transmigration_of_souls.aspx - Cached - SimilarTransmigration of Souls Transmigration of Souls
BELIEVE Thus, transmigration is closely interwoven with the concept of Karma (action), which involves the inevitable working out, for good or ill, of all action in a future existence. The whole experience of life, whether of happiness or sorrow, is a just reward for deeds (good or bad) done in earlier existences. The cycle of karma and transmigration may extend through innumerable lives; the ultimate goal is the reabsorption of the soul into the ocean of divinity from whence it came. This union occurs when the individual realizes the truth about the soul and the Absolute (Brahman) and the soul becomes one with Brahman. It is often mistakenly thought that Buddhism also involves transmigration. The classical Buddhist doctrine of anatta ("no soul"), however, specifically rejects the Hindu view. The Buddhist position on the workings of karma is exceedingly complex. The idea of transmigration has been propagated in the Western world by movements such as Theosophy and by the more recent proliferation of Oriental religious cults. Most of these Westernized versions appear to lack the intellectual rigor and philosophical content of the classical Hindu doctrine. Charles W Ranson Bibliography: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transmigration Of Souls -A Theosophical Article by William Q. Judge
TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS
From a careful examination of the Vedas and Upanishads it will be found that the ancient Hindus did not believe in this doctrine, but held, as so many theosophists do, that "once a man, always a man," but of course there is the exception of the case where men live bad lives persistently for ages. But it also seems very clear that the later Brahmins, for the purpose of having a priestly hold on the people or for other purposes, taught them the doctrine that they and their parents might go after death into the bodies of animals, but I doubt if the theory is held to such an extent as to make it a national doctrine. Some missionaries and travelers have hastily concluded that it is the belief because they saw the Hindu and the Jain alike acting very carefully as to animals and insects, avoiding them in the path, carefully brushing insects out of the way at a great loss of time, so as to not step on them. This, said the missionary, is because they think that in these forms their dead friends or relatives may be living. The real reason for such care is that they think they have no right to destroy life which it is not in their power to restore. While I have some views on the subject of transmigration of a certain sort that I am not now disposed to disclose, I may be allowed to give others on the question "How might such an idea arise out of the true doctrine?" First, what is the fate of the astral body, and in what way and how much does that affect the next incarnation of the man? Second, what influence has man on the atoms, millions in number, which from year to year enter into the composition of his body, and how far is he--the soul--responsible for those effects and answerable for them in a subsequent life of joy or sorrow or opportunity or obscurity? These are important questions. The student of the theosophic scheme admits that after death the astral soul either dies and dissipates at once, or remains wandering for a space in Kama Loca. If the man was spiritual, or what is sometimes called "very good," then his astral soul dissipates soon; if he was wicked and material, then the astral part of him, being too gross to easily disintegrate, is condemned, as it were, to flit about in Kama Loca, manifesting itself in spiritualistic séance rooms as the spirit of some deceased one, and doing damage to the mental furniture of mortals while it suffers other pains itself. Seers of modem times have declared that such eidolons or spooks assume the appearance of beasts or reptiles according to their dominant characteristics. The ancients sometimes taught that these gross astral forms, having a natural affinity for the lower types, such as the animal kingdom, gravitated gradually in that direction and were at last absorbed on the astral plane of animals, for which they furnished the sidereal particles needed by them as well as by man. But this in no sense meant that the man himself went into an animal, for before this result had eventuated the ego might have already re-entered life with a new physical and astral body. The common people, however, could not make these distinctions, and so very easily held the doctrine as meaning that the man became an animal. After a time the priests and seers took up this form of the tenet and taught it outright. It can be found in the Desatir, where it is said that tigers and other ferocious animals are incarnations of wicked men, and so on. But it must be true that each man is responsible and accountable for the fate of his astral body left behind at death, since that fate results directly from the mans own acts and life. Considering the question of the atoms in their march along the path of evolution, another cause for a belief wrongly held in transmigration into lower forms can be found. The initiates could teach and thoroughly understand how it is that each ego is responsible for the use he makes of the atoms in space, and how each may and does imprint a definite character and direction upon all the atoms used throughout life, but the uninitiated just as easily would misinterpret this also and think it referred to transmigration. Each man has a duty not only to himself but also to the atoms in use. He is the great, the highest educator of them. Being each instant in possession of some, and likewise ever throwing them off, he should so live that they gain a fresh impulse to the higher life of man as compared with the brute. This impress and impulse given by us either confer an affinity for human bodies and brains, or for that which, corresponding to brutal lives and base passions, belongs to the lower kingdoms. So the teachers inculcated this, and said that if the disciple lived a wicked life his atoms would be precipitated down instead of up in this relative scale. If he was dull and inattentive, the atoms similarly impressed traveled into sticks and stones. In each case they to some extent represented the man, just as our surroundings, furniture, and clothing generally represent us who collect and use them. So from both these true tenets the people might at last come to believe in transmigration as being a convenient and easy way of formulating the problem and of indicating a rule of conduct. HADJI Path, March, 1891
transmigration of souls - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about ... reincarnation The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Wandering Souls: The Doctrine of Transmigration in Pythagorean ...
James Luchte: PhilosophyWandering Souls: The Doctrine of Transmigration in Pythagorean Philosophy (This is an earlier draft of a manuscript that will be published in 2009 by Continuum International Publishing. Please do not quote.) Chapter One: Sources of the Doctrine of Transmigration Chapter Two: Beyond Mysticism and Science: Symbolism and Philosophical Magic Chapter Three: The Emergence of Mystic Cults and the Immortal Soul Chapter Four: Philolaus and the Character of Pythagorean Harmony Chapter Five: The Alleged Critique of Pythagoras by Parmenides Chapter Six: Between the Earth and the Sky, On the Pythagorean Divine Chapter Seven: The Pythagorean Bios and the Doctrine of Transmigration The Path of the Event The Path of Remembrance, or Return Chapter Eight: The Platonic Rupture: Writing and Difference Chapter Nine: Plotinus: The Ascent of the Soul toward the One Chapter Ten: Plotinus as Neoplatonic Mystic: Letter to Flaccus Epilogue: The Pythagorean Doctrine of Transmigration Introduction: The Poetic Topos of Transmigration And like a lyre I plucked the tired laces Of my worn-out shoes, one foot beneath my heart. (Rimbaud, ‘Wandering,’ Stanza 4) Remind yourself that all men assert wisdom is the greatest good, but that there are few, who, strenuously endeavor to obtain this greatest good. (attributed to Pythagoras by Stobaeus) The mythical narrative of transmigration tells the story of myriad wandering souls, each migrating from body to body along a path of recurrence amid the becoming of the All. Yet, for the Pythagoreans, this story does not describe the passive revolution of a circle, but a pathway for an active exploration of the All and return to the divine. This endeavor is strenuous as it occurs amidst a suspension within the double bind of nativity and fatality, again and again to be born and to die, and to be reborn as still another being.[1] The thread of the narrative, of reminiscence, is always severed with each demise amid the labyrinth of mortal existence. Yet, as the narrative is a rope of many threads, the persistent re-articulation of the narrative instigates a mnemopoiesis of remembrance that transcends the individual mortal life amid the broader travels of the soul. The Pythagoreans, along with others, cultivated an ethos of an immortal soul, one thought to be capable of communion with the divine. For Homer, such a desire would have been hubris, even if it was not in the end articulated outside of his mythological ontology. Pythagoras, against the background of Homer’s portrayal of the thirsting soul, maintained the requirement of a body, of a ‘substance’, for its life and its expansion (but only during life, as the soul had its own integrity beyond body). Pythagoras articulated a philosophy of return of the soul to its divine source through yet another – though forbidden – possibility in the Homeric constellation. He turned the necessity of body into a virtuous topos of return of finitude to the infinite. Indeed, despite this ‘mingling of essences,’ Pythagoras remained true to the Homeric valorization of the life of the body, of this self that is remembered by the passive soul. Yet, as the shade can return to another body, and as the divine is the cosmos, the body becomes the site from which the pursuit of the All commences, finds its way, and it is the variety of bodies which are the successive abodes of the soul amid its transmigration through each of the circuits of the All. To read the entire book, please visit: Ads by Google A Level Philosophy
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Pythagoras of Samos
N.S.Gill's Ancient History Blog My BioMy BlogMy ForumAdd to: iGoogleMy Yahoo!RSS.Pythagoras of Samos Pythagoras photo © Clipart.comI received the following email question today: "According to the Suda, the Syrian ... Pherekydes of Babys (6th century B.C. fl. ca. 544) was the first to teach the idea of the transmigration of souls in Greece. Pythagoras, his contemporary and alleged student, was the one who expounded this doctrine in a more detailed fashion." Also see
Pythagoras developed the theory that animals are generated one from another ... His doctrine of the transmigration of souls had its beginning in an attempt ...
www.lycos.com/info/pythagoras--souls.html Pythagoras: Souls Pythagoras developed the theory that animals are generated one from another by means of sperm, since sperm according to him is a drop of brain matter which contains hot steam. His doctrine of the transmigration of souls had its beginning in an attempt to find the perfection of human society; it is really the doctrine of the immortality of the soul mixed up with various speculations. Pythagoras's contemporaries did not accept these theories, and he was much ridiculed and frequently suffered persecution. Source: Page 2 During his youth, Pythagoras was a disciple of Pherecydes and Hermodamas, and while in his teens became renowned for the clarity of his philosophic concepts. In height he exceeded six feet; his body was as perfectly formed as that of Apollo. Pythagoras was the personification of majesty and power, and in his presence a felt humble and afraid. As he grew older, his physical power increased rather than waned, so that as he approached the century mark he was actually in the prime of life. The influence of this great soul over those about him was such that a word of praise from Pythagoras filled his disciples with ecstasy, while one committed suicide because the Master became momentarily irritate over something he had dome. Pythagoras was so impressed by this tragedy that he never again spoke unkindly to or about anyone. Source: Page 3 Pythagoras and his followers were important for their contributions to both religion and science. His religious teachings were based on the doctrine (teaching) of metempsychosis, which teaches that the soul never dies and is destined to a cycle of rebirths until it is able to free itself from the cycle through the purity of its life. Source:
Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans Miscellaneous Encyclopedia Articles by Anthony F. Beavers Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans
Though evidence of the early cult is minimal, mostly because its members resisted writing in favor of committing things to memory, scholars are certain that it held to the doctrines of the immortality and transmigration of the soul. Xenophanes reports that "Once, they say, he (Pythagoras) was passing by when a dog was being ill-treated. 'Stop!' he said, 'don't hit it! It is the soul of a friend! I knew it when I heard its voice'" (Fragment 7). Diodorus, who confirms this belief in transmigration (see Historical Library 10.6.1), provides us with a portrait of Pythagoras and the practices of his followers. (See 10.3.1 & ff). As evidence of the rigor of their ascetic practices, he relates the following story: The Pythagoreans trained themselves in the exercise of self-control in the following manner. They would have prepared for them everything which is served up at the most brilliant banquets, and would gaze upon it for a considerable time; then, after through mere gazing they had aroused their natural desires with a view to their gratification, they would command the slaves to clear away the tables and would at once depart without having tasted of what had been served. (10.5.2) Such practices were to teach the initiates to live the intellectual life, rather than the life of the body, and, in so doing, bring the soul into harmony with the natural order or harmony of the cosmos. Another more deliberate means to this end was the practice of ritual purification through the contemplation of numbers. Though Pythagorean elements can be found throughout Plato's Dialogues, especially the middle ones, which are dedicated to the soul, the Phaedo is explicitly Pythagorean. Evidence of this connection is apparent in the way that Plato deals with the general topics of the dialogue, the immortality and transmigration of the soul. Furthermore, Phlius, mentioned at the outset, was the home of an established Pythagorean community, and Echecrates was one of its members. (See 57a-58a). Philolaus, mentioned at 61d, was also a Pythagorean. In addition, the metaphysical doctrines concerning the separation of the soul from the body through the practice of philosophy (see especially 80c-84b) strongly resemble the practice of ritual purification through the contemplation of numbers, and the doctrine of recollection (see 72e-77d) would seem to be Pythagorean as well. The Phaedrus also deals with some of these themes. Plato explicitly mentions Pythagoras in the Republic where, at 600b, he contrasts him with Homer: "Had [Homer] in h is lifetime friends who loved to associate with him, and who handed down to posterity an Homeric way of life, such as was established by Pythagoras who was so greatly beloved for his wisdom, and whose followers are to this day quite celebrated for the order which was named after him?" Herodotus confirms this reputation, calling Pythagoras "one of the greatest Greek teachers" (Histories 4.95.2), though Heraclitus would seem to think it undeserved. (See Fragments 16 & 17). Written for Exploring Plato's Dialogues
Pythagoras
Pythagoras Gender: Male Nationality: Ancient Greece The life of this celebrated man, the founder of what is known as the Italic School of philosophy, has been so greatly obscured by the mass of legends and incredible stories which gathered in later ages around his name, that it is very difficult to arrive at anything like certainty regarding his history and character. That he was a native of the island of Samos, the son of Mnesarchus, a merchant, or, according to other accounts, a signet-engraver, we know on good authority. The date of his birth is very uncertain, but is usually placed about the year 570 BC; and all authorities agree that he flourished in the times of Polycrates and Tarquinius Superbus (540-510 BC). He is said to have been a disciple of Pherecydes of Syros, of Thales, and Anaximander, and, like other illustrious Greeks, to have undertaken extensive travels for the purpose of adding to his knowledge; in the course of which -- lasting, we are told, for nearly 30 years -- he visited Egypt (bringing with him according to the usual story, letters of introduction from Polycrates to Amasis the king) and the more important countries of Asia, including even India. We have every reason to believe that he did, at all events, visit Egypt, and there availed himself of all such mysterious lore as the priests could be induced to impart; from whom possibly he learned the doctrine of Metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls (which was, as is well known, one of the most famous tenets of the Pythagorean school), and whose influence may perhaps be traced in the mystic rites, asceticism, and peculiarities of diet and clothing which formed some of its chief characteristics -- though we may consider it as nearly certain that his philosophic and religious system was much less indebted to the influence of other countries than the ancients generally believed. During his travels, Pythagoras matured the plans which he afterwards carried into action; but finding, on his return to his native island, that the tyranny established there by Polycrates unfitted it for his abode, he left Samos and eventually settled in the city of Croton, in southern Italy. Here he is said to have acquired in a short time unbounded influence over the inhabitants, as well as over those of the neighboring states; and here he established his famous Pythagorean fraternity or order, which has often been compared with the still more celebrated order founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola in more modern times. The adherents of Pythagoras were chiefly found among the noble and the wealthy; these, to the number of 300, he formed into a select society, bound by a sort of vow to himself and to each other, for the purpose of studying the philosophical system of their master, and cultivating the ascetic observances and religious rites enjoined by him. They thus formed at once a philosophical school and a religious brotherhood, which gradually assumed the character and exercised the power of a political association also. This political influence, which undoubtedly became very great, was constantly exerted on the side of aristocracy; and to carry out the principles of this form of government, understood in the best sense of the word, seems to have been the ultimate aim of Pythagoras. He is also said to have increased his influence by a practice unknown to the other sages of the ancient world -- the admission of women, not probably into his society, but to attendance on his lectures and teaching. Of the internal arrangement and discipline of this fraternity we really know but little. All accounts agree that what was done and taught among the members was kept a profound secret from the outer world. In the admission of members, Pythagoras is said to have exercised the greatest care, and to have relied much on his skill in physiognomy. They then had, it is said, to pass through a long period of probation, intended apparently to test their powers of endurance and self-restraint -- though almost certainly the assertion that they had to maintain silence for two or even five years is an exaggeration of later times. Among the members of the society we are told there were several gradations, and there was also a more general division of his disciples under the names Esoteric and Exoteric -- the former being applied to all who were admitted to the more abstrues doctrines and sublimer teaching of their master, the latter to those who received only the instruction open to all. The mode of life seems to have been regulated by Pythagoras in its minutest details. It is well known that he is said to have forbidden all animal food -- a consequence, perhaps, of the doctrine of Metempsychosis -- and also particularly beans (but these statements cannot be relied on), and there is no doubt that temperance of all kinds was strictly enjoined. In the course of instruction, great attention was paid to mathematics, music, and astronomy; and gymnastics formed an important part of the training. Religious teaching was inculcated in the so-called Pythagorean Orgies or Mysteries; and while he outwardly conformed to the usual mode of worship, there is reason to believe that in secret he taught a purer faith. The result of the whole system seems to have been an unbounded reverence on the part of the disciples for their master (of which the well-known ipse dixit is a sufficient attestation); in the members of the order an elevated tone of character, exhibited in serenity of mind and self-possession, extreme attachment to each other, and also supreme contempt for all the outer world. But it was natural that political power uniformly exercised in one direction by an aristocratic and exclusive society such as this should in the end excite a widespread feeling of jealousy and hatred, which at length, when opportunity was given, caused the overthrow of the fraternity. A war between the cities of Croton and Sybaris, in which the Pythagoreans took a prominent part, ended in the total destruction of the latter city (510 BC); and on this success they seem to have presumed so greatly, that they proceeded to more active measures against the popular party than they had yet attempted. A violent outbreak was the consequence; the house in which the leading Pythagoreans were assembled was set on fire, and many perished in the flames. Similar commotions ensued in other cities of southern Italy in which Pythagorean clubs had been formed, and the result was that, as a political organization, the Pythagorean order was everywhere suppressed; though, as a philosophical sect, it continued to exist for many years after. Of the fate of Pythagoras himself different accounts are given; but he is generally supposed to have escaped to Metapontum, and died there (504 BC), where his tomb was shown in the time of Cicero. Pythagoras is said to have been the first to assume the title of Philosopher (lover of wisdom) in place of the name Sophos (wise), by which the sages had before been known. Various discoveries in music, astronomy, and mathematics are attributed to him; among others, the proposition now known as the 47th of Euclid, book I. We have good ground for believing that he was a man of much learning and great intellectual powers, which were specially exerted in the way of mathematical research, as is evinced by the general tendency of the speculations of his school. There is no doubt that he maintained the doctrine of transmigration of souls into the bodies of men and other animals -- which seems to have been regarded in the Pythagorean system as a process of purification -- and he is said to have asserted that he had a distinct recollection of having himself previously passed through other stages of existence. We are told that on seeing a dog beaten, and hearing him howl, he urged the striker to desist, saying "It is the soul of a friend of mine, whom I recognize by his voice." Respecting the system of philosophy actually taught by Pythagoras we have but little trusworthy testimony. Pythagoras himself, it is all but certain, wrote nothing, and the same seems to have been the case with his immediate successors; we are therefore, in endeavoring to form an idea of the Pythagorean philosophy, obliged to rely almost entirely on the compilations of later writers (namely Diogenes Laërtius, and the Neo-Platonists, Porphyrius and Iamblichus, all of them long subsequent to the Christian era), who often but imperfectly understood the details they gave. The tendency of the school was towards the consideration of abstractions as the only true materials of science, and to number was alotted the most prominent place in their system. They taught that in Number only is absolute certainty to be found; that Number is the Essence of all things; that things are only a copy of Numbers; nay, that in some mysterious way, Numbers are things themselves. This Number theory was probably worked out from the fundamental conception, that, after destroying or disarranging every other attribute of matter, there still remains the attribute Number; we still can predicate that the thing is one. With this doctrine of Number was intimately connected that of the Finite and Infinite, corresponding respectively with the Odd and Even in Number; and from a combination of this Finite and Infinite it was taught that all things in the Universe result. The abstract principle of all perfection was One and the Finite; of imperfection, the Many and the Infinite. Essentially based also on the same doctrine, was the Theory of Music; the System of the Universe, which was conceived as a Kosmos, or one harmonious whole, consisting of ten heavenly bodies revolving around a Central Fire, the Hearth or Altar of the Universe; and the celebrated doctrine of the Harmony of the Spheres -- the music produced by a movement of these heavenly bodies, which were arranged at intervals according with the laws of harmony -- forming thus a sublime Musical Scale. The Soul of Man was believed to partake of the nature of the Central Fire, possessing three elements -- Reason, Intelligence, and Passion; the first distinctive of Man, the last two common to Man and Brutes. The Ethical teaching of the Pythagoreans was of the purest and most spiritual kind; Virtue was regarded as a harmony of the soul, a conformity with or approximation of the Deity; Self-restraint, Sincerity, and Purity of Heart were especially commended; and Conscientiousness and Uprightness in the affairs of life would seem to have been their distinguishing characteristics. The Pythagorean system was carried on by a succession of disciples down to about 300 BC, when it seems to have gradually died out, being superseded by other systems of philosophy; it was revived about two centuries later, and lasted for a considerable time after the Christian era -- disfigured by the admixture of other doctrines, and an exaggeration of the mysticism and ascetic practices, without the scientific culture of the earlier school. In addition to the writers above mentioned, scattered and scanty notices -- affording, however, really the most trustworthy information that we possess as to the life and doctrines of Pythagoras -- occur in Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle (the latter especially). Wife: Theano Taken Prisoner of War
Pythagoras - Phantis Pythagoras Known as "the father of numbers," Pythagoras made influential contributions to philosophy and religious teaching in the late 6th century BC. Because legend and obfuscation cloud his work even more than with the other pre-Socratics, one can say little with confidence about his life and teachings. Pythagoras and his students believed that everything was related to mathematics and thought that everything could be predicted and measured in rhythmic patterns or cycles. Contents [hide] Upon his migration from Samos to Croton, Pythagoras established a secret religious society very similar to (and possibly influenced by) the earlier Orphic cult. Pythagoras undertook a reform of the cultural life of Croton, urging the citizens to follow virtue and form an elite circle of followers around himself. Very strict rules of conduct governed this cultural center. He opened his school to men and women students alike. Those who joined the inner circle of Pythagoras' society called themselves the Mathematikoi. They lived at the school, owned no personal possessions and were required to assume a vegetarian diet. Other students who lived in neighboring areas were also permitted to attend Pythagoras' school. Known as Akousmatics, these students were permitted to eat meat and own personal belongings. According to Iamblichus, the Pythagoreans followed a structured life of religious teaching, common meals, exercise, reading and philosophical study. Music featured as an essential organizing factor of this life: the disciples would sing hymns to Apollo together regularly; they used the lyre to cure illness of the soul or body; poetry recitations occurred before and after sleep to aid the memory. The history of the Pythagorean theorem that bears his name is complex. Whether Pythagoras himself proved this theorem is not known, as it was common in the ancient world to credit to a famous teacher the discoveries of his students. The earliest known mention of Pythagoras's name in connection with the theorem occurred five centuries after his death, in the writings of Cicero and Plutarch. Pythagoreans The Pythagoreans were instructed orally. They observed a rule of silence called echemythia, the breaking of which was punishable by death. In his biography of Pythagoras (written seven centuries after Pythagoras's time) Porphyry stated that this silence was "of no ordinary kind." The Pythagoreans were divided into an inner circle called the mathematikoi ("mathematicians") and an outer circle called the akousmatikoi ("listeners"). Porphyry wrote "the mathematikoi learned the more detailed and exactly elaborate version of this knowledge, the akousmatikoi (were) those which had heard only the summary headings of his (Pythagoras') writings, without the more exact exposition." According to Iamblichus, the akousmatikoi were the exoteric disciples who listened to lectures that Pythagoras gave out loud from behind a veil. The akousmatikoi were not allowed to see Pythagoras and they were not taught the inner secrets of the cult. Instead they were taught laws of behavior and morality in the form of cryptic, brief sayings that had hidden meanings. The akousmatikoi recognized the mathematikoi as real Pythagoreans, but not vice versa. After Pythagoras' death the two groups split from each other entirely, with Pythagoras' wife Theano and their two daughters leading the mathematikoi. Theano, daughter of the Orphic initiate Brontinus, was a mathematician in her own right. She is credited with having written treatises on mathematics, physics, medicine, and child psychology, although nothing of her writing survives. Her most important work is said to have been a treatise on the principle of the golden mean. In a time when women were usually considered property and relegated to the role of housekeeper or spouse, Pythagoras allowed women on equal terms in his society. The Pythagorean society is associated with strange and superstitious prohibitions, such as not to step over a crossbar, and not to eat beans (for the inside of beans 'contained' human embryos). These rules seem like primitive pagan superstition, similar to "walking under a ladder brings bad luck," rules one cannot help but sneeze at. The abusive epithet mystikos logos ("mystical speech") was hurled at Pythagoras even in ancient times to discredit him. The key here is that "akousmata" means "rules," so that the superstitious taboos primarily applied to the akousmatikoi, and many of the rules were probably invented after Pythagoras' death and independent from the mathematikoi (arguably the real preservers of the Pythagorean tradition). The mathematikoi placed greater emphasis on inner understanding than did the akousmatikoi, even to the extent of dispensing with certain rules and ritual practices. For the mathematikoi, being a Pythagorean was a question of innate quality and inner understanding. Beans, black and white, were the means used in voting. The maxim "abstain from beans" was perhaps nothing more than an exhortation to not vote. If true, this would be an excellent example of how ideas can be distorted when heard second hand and taken out of context. There was also another way of dealing with the akousmata - by allegorizing them. We have a few examples of this, one being Aristotle's explanations of them: "'step not over a balance', i.e. be not covetous; 'poke not the fire with a sword', i.e. do not vex with sharp words a man swollen with anger, 'eat not heart', i.e. do not vex yourself with grief," etc. We have evidence for Pythagoreans allegorizing in this way at least as far back as the early fifth century BC. This suggests that the strange sayings were riddles for the initiated. The Pythagoreans are known for their theory of the transmigration of souls, and also for their theory that numbers constitute the true nature of things. They performed purification rites and followed and developed various rules of living which they believed would enable their soul to achieve a higher rank among the gods. Much of their mysticism concerning the soul seem inseparable from the Orphic tradition. The Orphics advocated various purifactory rites and practices as well as incubatory rites of descent into the underworld. Pythagoras is also closely linked with Pherekydes of Syros, the man ancient commentators tend to credit as the first Greek to teach a transmigration of souls. Ancient commentators agree that Pherekydes was Pythagoras' most intimate teacher. Pherekydes expounded his teaching on the soul in terms of a pentemychos ("five-nooks," or "five hidden cavities") - the most likely origin of the Pythagorean use of the pentagram, used by them as a symbol of recognition among members and as a symbol of inner health (ugieia). It was the Pythagoreans who discovered that the relationship between musical notes could be expressed in numerical ratios of small whole numbers. The Pythagoreans elaborated on a theory of numbers the exact meaning of which is still debated among scholars. Literary works Scientific contributions In astronomy, the Pythagoreans were well aware of the periodic numerical relations of the planets, moon and sun. The celestial spheres of the planets were thought to produce a harmony called the music of the spheres. These ideas, as well as the ideas of the Platonic solids, would later be used by Johannes Kepler in his attempt to formulate a model of the solar system in his work The Harmony of the Worlds. Pythagoreans also believed that the earth itself was in motion and that the laws of nature could be derived from pure mathematics. They may have coined the term cosmos, a term implying a universe with orderly movements and events. It is sometimes difficult to determine which ideas Pythagoras taught originally, as opposed to the ideas his followers later added. While he clearly attached great importance to geometry, classical Greek writers tended to cite Thales as the great pioneer of this science rather than Pythagoras. The later tradition of Pythagoras as the inventor of mathematics stems largely from the Roman period. Whether or not we attribute the Pythagorean theorem to Pythagoras, it seems fairly certain that he had the pioneering insight into the numerical ratios which determine the musical scale, since this plays a key role in many other areas of the Pythagorean tradition, and since no evidence remains of earlier Greek or Egyptian musical theories. Another important discovery of this school was the incommensurability of the diagonal of a square with its side. This result showed the existence of irrational numbers, such as the square root of two. (The story that the Pythagoreans drowned the person who made this discovery, because it conflicted with their belief that everything is a ratio of whole numbers, has no contemporary substantiation.) The influence of Pythagoras has transcended the field of mathematics, and the Hippocratic Oath — with its central commitment to First do no harm — has its roots in the oath of the Pythagorean Brotherhood [1]. See also
References Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum VIII (Lives of Eminent Philosophers). circa 200, which in turn reference the lost work Successions of Philosophers by Alexander Polyhistor) — Pythagoras, Translation by C.D. Yonge
Secondary sources
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