The
Allegorical Umbrella
By
William Quan
Judge
William
Quan Judge
(1851 - 1896)
Selection of W Q Judge’s Writings
In the Buddhist stories there are numerous references to umbrellas. When
Buddha is said to have granted to his disciples the power of seeing what they
called "Buddha Fields," they saw myriads of Buddhas sitting under
trees and jewelled umbrellas. There are not wanting in the Hindu books and
monuments references to and representations of umbrellas being held over
personages. In a very curious and extremely old stone relievo at the Seven
Pagodas in
In the Upanishads we read the invocation: "Reveal, O Pushan, that
face of the true sun which is now hidden by a golden lid." This has
reference to the belief of all genuine occultists, from the earliest times to the
present day, that there is a "true sun," and that the sun we see is a
secondary one; or, to put it in plainer language, that there is an influence or
power in the sun which may be used, if obtained by the mystic, for beneficent
purposes, and which, if not guarded, hidden or obscured by a cover, would work
destruction to those who might succeed in drawing it out. This was well known
in ancient Chaldea, and also to the old Chinese astronomers: The latter had
certain instruments which they used for the purpose of concentrating particular
rays of sunlight as yet unknown to modern science and now forgotten by the
flowery land philosophers. So much for that sun we see, whose probable death is
calculated by some aspiring scientists who deal in absurdities. But there is
the true centre of which the sun in heaven is a symbol and partial reflection.
This centre let us place for the time with the Dhyan Chohans or planetary
spirits. It is all knowing, and so intensely powerful that, were a struggling
disciple to be suddenly introduced to its presence unprepared, he would be
consumed, both body and soul. And this is the goal we are all striving after,
and many of us asking to see even at the opening of the race. But for our
protection a cover, or umbrella, has been placed beneath IT. The ribs are the
Rishees, or Adepts, or Mahatmas; the Elder Brothers of the race. The handle is
in every man's hand. And although each man is, or is to be, connected with some
particular one of those Adepts, he can also receive the influence from the true
centre coming down through the handle.
The light, life, knowledge, and power falling upon this cover permeate
in innumerable streams the whole mass of men beneath, whether they be students
or not. As the disciple strives upward, he begins to separate himself from the
great mass of human beings, and becomes in a more or less definite manner
connected with the ribs. Just as the streams of water flow down from the points
of the ribs of our umbrellas, so the spiritual influences pour out from the
adepts who form the frame of the protecting cover, without which poor humanity
would be destroyed by the blaze from the spiritual world.
Path, February, 1890
Selection of W Q Judge’s Writings
Theosophical Society,
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