gnostic handbook

The Gnostic Handbook Page 109
Wisdom from India
To give an example from Hinduism of the Amoral Path. We find in traditional Hindu (Tantric-
Vedic) Tantra there are two distinct traditions, The Right and Left Hand Path. These have
nothing to do with White and Black magic as the ignorant suggest but are two distinct methodologies
of redemption. The Right hand Path is symbolic and the images regarding sexuality
are applied symbolically with strict moral codes enforced. The Left Hand Path is literal and
uses the very things that the Right Hand Path condemns to achieve liberation. These two paths
have many similarities to the Terrestrial and Celestial traditions. For more information we can
turn to Julius Evola's excellent text The Yoga of Power for details of the different traditions
within the Buddhist Tantra's...
There is a significant difference between the two Tantric paths, that of the Right
hand and that of the Left hand.
In the former the adept always experiences someone above him even at the
highest level of realisation. In the latter he becomes the Ultimate Sovereign . In
the Buddhist Tantras, Buddha paradoxically upholds the relativity of every
moral precept, the uselessness of worship, the insignificance of the five precepts
of early Buddhism, and even of the triple homage of the Buddhist tradition in
terms so blunt that at monastic gatherings the Bodhisattvas who are on their
way toward enlightenment faint (the terrestrial Path) while the Tathagatas
(Celestial Path) the enlightened ones remain unmoved. (Notes in Brackets
Ours)]
The Yogin obtains liberation through the same actions that should keep in Hell
any other man for ages unending.
Jnanasiddhi.
These discussions are also found in many other esoteric eastern works. For example the
Manava-Dharmashatra, one of the older Indo-Aryan works, flaunts the great powers that a
Brahman has and how far he has come beyond the law. The example we earlier gave regarding
the fire which removes all impurity is repeated many times with the resulting perfectionist
state emphasised. This tradition of Amorality arising from total achievement of divinity is
characteristic of the inner Mystery tradition in both the east and the West. Throughout all periods
of Church history right up until today secret sects have upheld the perfectionist doctrine,
these have ranged from the Brethren of the Free Spirit to the Cathars and modern Gnostic Orders.
Certainly the Gnostic Gospels (Nag Hammadi) well illustrate the Perfectionist teaching.
The focus on being beyond the Law also includes the sinless state, because, theoretically, if
one is beyond the Law then there can be no sin as sin is recognised only by the conviction of
the Law.