8.  A Lanoo (disciple) has to dread external living influence alone (magnetic emanations from living creatures).  For this reason while at one with all, in his inner nature, he must take care to separate his outer (external) body from every foreign influence:  none must drink out of, or eat in his cup but himself.  He must avoid bodily contact (i.e., being touched or touch) with human, as with animal being.

     [No pet animals are permitted, and it is forbidden even to touch
     certain trees and plants.  A disciple has to live, so to say, in his
     own atmosphere in order to individualize it for occult purposes.]

9.  The mind must remain blunt to all but the universal truths in nature, lest the “Doctrine of the Heart” should become only the “Doctrine of the Eye,” (i.e., empty exoteric ritualism).

10.  No animal food of whatever kind, nothing that has life in it should be taken by the disciple.  No wine, no spirits, or opium should be used; for these are like the Lhama-yin (evil spirits), who fasten upon the unwary, they devour the understanding.

[Wine and spirits are supposed to contain and preserve the bad magnetism of all the men who helped in their fabrication; the meat of each animal, to preserve the psychic characteristics of its kind.]

11.  Meditation, abstinence in all, the observation of moral duties, gentle thoughts, good deeds and kind words, as good will to all and entire oblivion of Self, are the most efficacious means of obtaining knowledge and preparing for the reception of higher wisdom.

12.  It is only by virtue of a strict observance of the foregoing rules that a Lanoo can hope to acquire in good time the Siddhis of the Arhats, the growth which makes him become gradually One with the Universal ALL.

* * * * *

These 12 extracts are taken from among some 73 rules, to enumerate which would be useless as they would be meaningless in Europe.  But even these few are enough to show the immensity of the difficulties which beset the path of the would-be “Upasaka,” who has been born and bred in Western lands.[B]

All western, and especially English, education is instinct with the principle of emulation and strife; each boy is urged to learn more quickly, to outstrip his companions, and to surpass them in every possible way.  What is mis-called “friendly rivalry” is assiduously cultivated, and the same spirit is fostered and strengthened in every detail of life.

With such ideas “educated into” him from his childhood, how can a Western bring himself to feel towards his co-students “as the fingers on one hand”?  Those co-students, too, are not of his own selection, or chosen by himself from personal sympathy and appreciation.  They are chosen by his teacher on far other grounds, and he who would be a student must first be strong enough to kill out in his heart all feelings of dislike and antipathy to others.  How many Westerns are ready even to attempt this in earnest?