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by Francis Story

Animal MagnetismAnimal MagnetismAttraction of Spiritual LeadersAttraction of Spiritual Leaders

Francis Story

1997 AN INWARD JOURNEY BOOK

INWARD PATH PUBLISHER

Penang, Malaysia

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Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Story FrancisThe attraction of spiritual leaders / Francis Story.ISBN 983-9439-03-01. Faith (Buddhism). 2. Buddhism—Doctrines. 1. Title.294.342

PRINTED FOR FREE DISTRIBUTIONIJ004A: 2,000 COPIES 1997 IJ004B: 2,000 COPlE5 1997

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IntroductionFaith* is in the mental factor which inclines,

pushes the mind onto the wholesome object. Ifyou see a Buddha statue and you wish to put someflowers at its feet, it is the factor of faith whichdraws your mind to the statue, the representationof the Buddha. If you read a verse of the Dhamma-pada and experience feelings of joy and peace,then again the faith mental factor plays the role oflifting your mind up to the Dhamma (as a non-Buddhist might either not read the verse at all, orelse not appreciate the Dhamma in it).

In insight meditation the wholesome object onwhich faith is directed to is the understanding ofmental and physical phenomena, of their causalrelationship and their universal nature of beingimpermanent, unsatisfactory and non-self. Faithis the confidence that thrusts the investigating mindwith right understanding first onto the unique anduniversal characteristics of mind and matter, andultimately on Nibbana.

* In Pall: saddha. According to the analysis of Buddhist psychology thecharacteristic of faith is to place confidence In or to trust; its function toclarify, as a water-clearing gem causes muddy water to become clear or it’sfunction is to set forth as one might set forth to cross a flood. Faith ismanifested as non-fogginess i.e. the removal of the mind’s impurities, or as

resolution. Its proximate cause is something to place faith in.

Faith is vital in any spiritual endeavour. It isbecause of faith that effort can be exerted, mind-fulness established, concentration and under-standing attained. Like the foundation of a build-ing it carries all that which is above it, but is lessconspicuous, less distinguished by itself, comparedto such marvellous mental factors like mindfulness,concentration or wisdom.

Faith has to be monitored! The agency whichcontrols and balances out faith is understanding,or wisdom. Unlike mindfulness which is alwaysgood, faith can take you onto wrong tracks ifassociated with unwholesome intentions. Even iffaith is put on a wholesome object, for exampleon the suttas or a capable meditation teacher, itcan be excessive and thus lead you to do all kindsof weird things. Faith has the function to clarifythe mind. It is compared to the gem which purifiesmuddied water. That is a very attractive mentalquality and sometimes taken as an end in itself.

An example: In a meditation centre a yogi issitting for a long time at the foot of the altar, gazinginto the beautiful face of the statue. The yogi isenthralled by it, wrapped in blissful feelings of faith.Although she or he has a wholesome state of mind,

it is stuck on a pleasant inner experience, unableto observe and investigate the arising thoughts,feelings, sensation, etc. with mindful awarenessand thus progress to an insight meditation proper.Because understanding faculty is lacking the yogistagnates within a limited achievement of mentaldevelopment. True, it is better to be lost gazing at astatue than, say, being lost in greed or despair playingone’s fortune on the stock market.

Based on his vast experience in teaching insightmediation Sayadaw U Pandita feels that Buddhistsin the West tend to be excessive in wisdom faculty,while those in Asia are likely to overdo in faithfaculty. A Westerner might thus be too inquisitiveand critical to ever closely follow the instructionsof the teacher, and stick to her or him through allups and downs of the practice. Asians on the otherhand might get stuck on worshipping all the monksand nuns they see, neglecting thereby their ownmental development through meditation.

And of course there can be excesses not only inindividuals but in groups too. The cases of spiritualteachers and groups succumbing to the seductionof cult worship are legion. There are gross caseslike the Thai monk who enjoyed posing, like a

film star and was hailed as being, an Arahant(photographs of him hung in a thousand livingrooms) only to turn out to have had secret affairswith his female followers.

More interesting, and I think more challeng-ing to be detected and understood, are the subtleraspects of personality cult, occurring right in themidst of our community and our hearts. Can wehave a good hard look at our own idiosyncrasies,for example our tendency to put those whom weconsider noble and good up on a pedestal? Isn’t itabsolutely fascinating to see how excessive faithand respect can affect our natural behaviour, as itis so often seen when meditators go to interviewsmoving awkwardly and unnaturally, and experien-cing non too often a blank and stupid mind, simplybecause they are overwhelmed by feelings whenreporting to a senior monk?

Exactly what happens when faith takes over ourcapacity to appraise in a healthy way a giveninteraction or teacher-student relationship? Let ususe a concept from Western psychology to shedmore light into this area.

Western psychology says that the human psychehas a powerful inherent tendency to project aspects

of one’s mind onto people and things outside. Sayyou are alone at night in a hut in the hills. After awhile you get frightened, but instead of only havingthe real fear within yourself, you project it ontothe surroundings and suddenly the dark cornersor the rattling of the wind become carriers of yourfear and thus turn into threatening objects. Nextmorning when the fear abates, the corners will bejust corners again and the wind sing pleasantly.

Even more dramatic in consequences are ourprojections onto other people. Let’s say you enjoygossiping. Instead of fully acknowledging yourhabit you project it on other people, detecting thefault which actually exists to some degree inyourself, only in others. And this happens with allkinds of character traits, be it stinginess, anger,greed, jealousy, insecurity, etc.

Think of what irritates you most in people youdislike. The chances are that these are aspectswhich you don’t dare to acknowledge in your-self, as admitting to them seems to be too painful.

Projections are a powerful cause of confusionand suffering, in our relationships. Projections per-meate all of our human interactions on all levels.Besides putting one’s own negative aspects onto

others one also projects frequently positive aspectswhich, although they are present to some degreein oneself, are not sufficiently cherished andsupported.

For example: I have a friend whom I admirehighly for her ability to practice intensive medit-ation with supreme effort. But this is an abilitywhich is present to some degree in myself too.The projection might lead me to look outsiderather than to discover, appreciate and developmy own capacity.

This is what often happens when people areunder the excessive sway of faith. They see allkinds of fantastic aspects in their idol—aspectswhich are more often unreal than real—instead ofputting their faith into their own dormant abilitiesto accomplish outstanding moral and mentalachievements.

The cure for all projections is to take them back,to repossess them, or, what this process is usuallycalled in psychology, to integrate them. For anexercise write down three negative characteristicsof the person you dislike most. Then jot downthree positive aspects of the teacher or friend youadmire most. Now take these six aspects back to

yourself: See where and when you display theseunacknowledged habits unconsciously and givethem some space in your heart. Work with themas soon as you notice yourself judging somebody’sbehaviour as being way off. Consider where you actin exactly the same terms. Look at the admired quali-ties in your friend and try to appreciate the roots ofthese qualities as they are present in yourself.

Whether you investigate faith according toBuddhist theory or Western psychology you willfind that this single mental factor is much morecomplex than a one line definition might suggest.We have to contemplate faith, its characteristics,actions, influences, its manifestation and variousappearances in changing contexts, to becomefamiliar with it and be able to use it in its greatestpotential. Faith is the indispensable foundationstone of any growth in mindfulness, concentrationand wisdom, which are the factors to propel us toNibbana. If faith is misunderstood and misappliedall the successive factors are hindered in theirdevelopment, and Nibbana, the supreme freedom,cannot be reached.

Francis Story’s essay discusses faith, and theabuses of it, in the context of religious groups and

practices. If you think such abuses occur only withothers, you have already missed the point.

BodhisæraPENANG, SEPT 1997

devotion to the buddha

There could be no question that the BhikkhuVakkali was devoted to the Buddha: his adorationwas patent for all to see1. Whether the BlessedOne was preaching, meditating or walking, theeyes of Bhikkhu Vakkali were always fixed uponhim, raptly. Just as the eyes of a lover devour theform of the beloved, so the gaze of the Bhikkhudwelt rapturously on the majestic features of theEnlightened One.

The Buddha was not pleased. Calling Vakkalito him in the midst of the assembly, he said: ‘Whydo you constantly gaze at this body of mine, whichis transitory, subject to suffering and withoutessence? Why do your eyes constantly dwell on

1 See commentary to Itivutaka section 92.

this corporeal form, which is nothing but a sackfilled with impurities? Better would it be for youto seek out a forest retreat and there strive earnest-ly to gain that liberation which brings all formationsto an end.’

And giving him a subject of meditation hedismissed the monk. The Bhikkhu thereuponretired to the jungle, strove earnestly for insight,and after some time duly attained Arahantship.

Take now the case of the Venerable Sariputta.He declared, not boastfully but as a matter of fact,for the instruction of other monks, that uponexamining himself he found that there could beno event which would move him to sorrow, griefor despair.

‘But,’ he was asked, ‘would not a change inthe Teacher cause you sorrow, grief and despair?’

‘Not even a change in the Teacher would dothat,’ the Venerable Sariputta replied. ‘I shouldwish that the Teacher would remain with us, forthe benefit of many, for the welfare of many, outof compassion for the world; but his passing wouldnot cause me sorrow and despair.’ And the Buddhaapproved of his answer. Yet this same Sariputtawas by no means lacking in reverence.

These stories, which are just two out of many,show vividly the Buddha’s attitude towards cultsof personality. From the beginning, it was not theTeacher that was important, but the Teaching.Bhakti, or devotion, has its place in Buddhism,but it is a very minor one compared with the partit plays in other religions. In India the personalityof the Guru was all important, as it still is today.

But, in his celebrated advice to the Kalamas,the Buddha warned against excessive adulation:‘Do not believe anything,’ he said, ‘merely on theauthority of a teacher.’ Even his own Doctrinehad not to be accepted just because he, theBuddha, a teacher of outstanding personality, pro-claimed it. The Dhamma was to be accepted aftermature reflection, when its truth was discernedand its practice seen to be for the good and well-being of all. Unreasoning enthusiasm could neverlead to the Right Understanding which is the firstrequirement of the Noble Eightfold Path. Man istoo prone to be carried away by unreflecting zeal,often with very sad results to himself and others.Buddhism teaches that we should develop ourjudgment by exercising it at all times, correctingand modifying it where necessary and applying

only the highest and most exacting standards towhatever is offered for our appraisal.

An example of this approach is found in thestory of how an eminent layman, the General Siha,was converted to Buddhism. Up to then he hadbeen a lay disciple of the Niganthas, or NakedAscetics. He went to the Buddha on behalf of theNiganthas, declaring that he could overcome theBuddha in argument. When he failed to do so,and the Blessed One had expounded his owndoctrine, Siha became so firmly convinced of itstruth that he wished to take refuge in the Buddha,Dhamma and Sangha on the spot.

Any other teacher would have been overjoyedat the triumph, for Siha was a prominent and in-fluential man. But the Buddha restrained him.Instead of welcoming him into the fold witheagerness and making a loud public proclamationof the event, the Buddha very coolly said:

‘Now, householder, make a proper investi-gation. Proper investigation is right in the case ofwell-known men like yourself.’

Furthermore, he made it a condition that Sihashould continue supporting the Naked Ascetics,which he did. When they visited his house for alms,Siha duly fed them, but of his own volition herefused to admit them beyond the outer court, to

show that his act was one of simple charity, sincehe no longer believed in their teachings. The Nig-anthas suffered much chagrin on this account, butit could not be helped; any other way of treatingthem would have been insincere on the part of Siha.

Cults of personality take many forms. All theworld religions centre about one prominent figure,and to the casual observer it might seem thatBuddhism is no exception. But, rightly understood,this is far from being the case. The historicalBuddha, the Buddha of our age, Gotama, isunique; but he is not unique in prehistory. Healways referred to himself as the Tathagata, mean-ing One who has gone thus; that is, in the way ofprevious Buddhas. He claimed only to be therediscoverer of the ancient way, the ancient truth(sanantana-dhamma) that had been proclaimedby innumerable Enlightened Ones before him.When asked his lineage, he replied that it was tothis line of World Teachers that he belonged; hisSakyan ancestry, noble as it was, meant nothingto him, for he had chosen his own ancestral line,the lineage of those who had Gone Forth to home-lessness and had set the Wheel of the Dhammarolling in previous world cycles, for the welfareof all beings.

How did the Buddha wish others to regard him?His answer is clear: ‘He who sees me sees theDhamma; he who sees the Dhamma sees me.’ Thepersonality of the Teacher had in a very real sensebecome identified with the Teaching. Realizingthat, as the Buddha insisted over and over again,the body and mental formations even of theTathagata were impermanent, bound to dissolveand pass away, the processes of the five aggre-gates2 being the same, in that respect for all, weshould look upon personality as a very evanes-cent phenomenon. The Dhamma, on the otherhand, is eternal.

‘Whether Tathagatas arise or do not arise, thisnature of things continues, this relatedness ofphenomena, this regularity of phenomena, this lawof conditionality3.’

In this case, a Tathagata had arisen, he hadrealized the truth, and the truth transcended hismortal personality.

2 The five aggregates are body, perception, feeling, mental formation and consciousness.3 The Buddha says that things arise according to certain universal laws independent of the presence of a Thatagata who can penetrate and explain them to people (Samyutta ii.xii.20).

tri-kaya concept

The greatly misunderstood Mahayana doctrine ofthe Trikaya originally issued from this concept.After his Parinibbana, the Buddha continued tolive in his doctrine; hence the DHARMAKAYA , orBody of the Law. The body in which he taught it,the NIRMANAKAYA , or Body of Manifestation, wasnot the supernatural docetic body it came to beregarded as later on; it was simply the materialaggregate of his impermanent processes of the fiveaggregates.

The SAMBHOGAKAYA , or Body of Bliss, wassimply the mental formations that continued tofunction in him after the defilements wereextinguished so long as he continued to live(sopadisesa-nibbana). The mystical dogma of theTrikaya around which so much confusion hasarisen was a later elaboration of an idea that hadbeen taken over from the simple words of theBuddha quoted above: ‘He who sees the Dhammasees me.’ His words were a direct statement offact: as an ego-driven current of personality, the

ascetic Gotama had ceased to exist. What re-mained was Bodhi, the supreme insight-wisdom,(ñana-dassana) embodied in the remainder of acurrent of existence that was one with the EternalLaw. A man is what he thinks; the real part of himis just his mental activity.

The Buddha did not attract followers by thedisplay of supernatural power. To do so wouldhave been, in his view, putting himself in unworthycompetition with others who could do the same,if not cheating. He did not seek to impress bymiracles; his teachings went beyond them. Thereare certain paranormal powers that can be culti-vated by anyone who has a mind to obtain them.Occasionally, indeed, the Buddha and his disciplesresorted to them, but only when the people ‘de-manded a sign’, and their materialism blinded themto a truth that was not supported by spectacularpsychic or physical demonstrations. But in general,he condemned such exhibitions; first, because theydid not prove anything, except that supernormalpowers exist, and secondly, because they are ahindrance on the true way, too often giving rise topride, self-delusion and the craving for renown.

Devadatta

A sad example of this is the case of Devadatta.He was a man who wanted to turn Buddhism intoa personality cult—with himself as the Personality.Very naively he revealed his true intentions when,asking the Buddha to impose on the Sangha a ruleagainst meat eating and other fashionable ascetic-isms, he said: ‘People admire austerity.’ Indeedthey did, and there were many in the Buddha’stime who took advantage of this.

Even some sophists who taught that there is nocontinuation of existence after death in any form,and that there is no fruit of good or bad actions,practised extreme asceticisms. Why they did somust always remain an enigma to us, since even ifthe lay followers admired their painful way of lifethey could hardly have been impressed by the in-consistency of their thought. The idea of torturingoneself for the mere sake of doing so must surelyhave appeared strange even to Brahmins.

But Devadatta had clearly forgotten theBuddha’s first sermon, in which he stigmatizedself-mortification as a way that was painful,unworthy and low. He was a man possessed bythe craving for honour and fame. And, unfortun-ately for him, he was one who had also had greatsuccess in cultivating the lower forms of super-natural powers (iddhi-bala). His driving force wasambition—the ambition of the personality cult. Itsculmination was his unholy alliance with Ajatasattuwhich led to the downfall of them both. Devadattaattempted to take the life of the Buddha. Ajata-sattu, with more success, killed his own Father,the saintly king. Greatly pitying him, the Buddhalater said: ‘If that prince had not killed his father,he could have obtained the highest fruits of theWay in this very life.’ For Ajatasattu was endowedwith good predispositions, and afterwards becameone of the Buddha’s lay followers. But, carriedaway by the madness of ambition he had com-mitted a deed, one of the four grave kammic act-ions (garuka kamma), which made it impossible forhim to attain the Path and Fruit of Arahantship in thesame life, and perhaps not for many lives to come.

blind faith

According to Buddhist psychology (and shall I beaccused of bigotry if I say that I know of no psy-chology more penetrating or precise?) an excessof faith (saddha) is accompanied by a correspon-ding deficiency in wisdom. The critical faculty andthe capacity to believe must be justly balanced toproduce a well integrated and mature personality.Now faith is an inseparable element in devotion.So what are we to say of religions which placethese two characteristics, faith and devotion,above all others? Yet that is exactly what most re-ligions do, and there are even some forms ofBuddhism that are not exempt from this reproach.

When Kierkegaard (following Tertullian) criedin anguish, “I believe, because it is absurd!” hewas stating more defiantly the position of themystic who prays, “Lord, I believe; help thou my

unbelief!” Today we see the disintegration of greatworld religions in which dogma after dogma isbeing painfully discarded, until only the personalityof the founder is left.

When religion has reached that stage, whatevername it may bear, it denotes nothing more thanthe label of a devotee of some particular person-ality. The Zoroastrian4 who does not believe inany of Zoroaster’s teachings or pretensions is justsomebody who has a reverence for Zoroaster as aperson, who tries to rationalise it by claiming thatZoroaster was the only teacher who proclaimedthe brotherhood of man, or taught us to love ourneighbour as ourselves, or to return good for evil,regardless of the fact that there have been innumer-able other religious leaders who have given thesame exhortations. Zoroastrianism then is nothingmore than the personality cult of Zoroaster.

Whereas Zoroastrians formerly believed, in allsincerity, that Zoroaster was a god, or the son ofgod, or a prophet of god, and that he worked

4 ‘The Zoroastrian’ has been taken here as Just a randomexample for the follower of a religion that centers In a charis-matic personality. No discriminating reflection is intendedhere on Zoroastrianism, ancient or modern.

miracles which proved it, and gave moral teachingsthe world had never received before, and had notequalled since, our hypothetical modern Zoro-astrian believes none of these things. He may noteven believe that there is a God. He does cling,pathetically, to the belief that Zoroaster’s moralcode is superior to all others, in spite of all theevidence to the contrary, and that is all. He stillcontinues calling himself a Zoroastrian, and per-haps holds a high position in the Zoroastrianpriesthood; but in actuality he is nothing but anuncritical adherent of the personality cult of Zoro-aster. A strange situation indeed: but we see itscounterpart today in what is happening to the cultthat was once rivalled by Manichaeism, but whichsurvived it to become a world religion.

The Buddhist position is very different from this.You cannot have a personality cult without apersonality. We may go so far as to say that evenif it were to be definitively established that theBuddha was not an historical person, but simplythe solar myth which European Indologists at onetime believed him to be—even if it were to beproved that the Buddha never existed, still Buddh-ism would remain. The Dhamma would be scarcely

affected by it, because the doctrine of liberationdoes not depend upon the Buddha. It rests uponits own intrinsic truth, a truth which can be proved,‘by each for himself’. The Dhamma would remainwhat it is—the supreme evidence of man’s powerto transcend ignorance and penetrate the real nat-ure of the world; a truth that carries its own con-firmation in actual human experience, a realizationthat can be known, understood and lived, by any-one who cares to make the effort.

In Buddhism, many of the norms of religion arereversed, and in nothing more than this: that it isnot the Buddha whose existence proves the truthof Buddhism; it is the truth of Buddhism whichproves the existence of the Buddha.

animal magnetism

We return now to the cult of the Guru, which Imentioned earlier. In the main stream of religiousthought, spiritual teachers abound. Each has hisdisciples, who regard him as an incarnation of God

or at the very least as a very advanced soul readyto attain union with the universal soul (param-atman).

Between the devotees of these gurus there areoften sectarian rivalries and some of them show agood deal of pride in being associated with onewhom they regard as a manifestation of theSupreme. The teachings of the rival gurus arepublished; but when we read them, the feature thatimpresses us most is their sameness. Each one saysprecisely the same thing, in almost exactly the sameway; and most of the teachings which are foundto be so inspiring by others are nothing but thread-bare clichés. When you have read one of them,you have read all. Philosophically, they are neg-ligible, and as spiritual instruction valueless.

Confronted by this phenomenon, we are boundto ask ourselves: What is the secret of the immensehold these teachers have over the minds of theirfollowers? How is it that large numbers of intelli-gent persons, of East and West, are able to listenenraptured for hours while the guru spins outplatitude after platitude, repeating over and overagain the same formulas, quoting and re-quotinghimself and others, endlessy, forever repeating thesame hackneyed theme?

The answer, of course, is that the typical ashramis the centre of a personality cult. What the gurusays, or does not say, matters nothing. All thatmatters is his personal magnetism, within the auraof which the critical faculty is lulled into a peacefuleuphoria.

Now this personal magnetism is a very realpsychic phenomenon, and it can be cultivated. Itdoes not depend upon intelligence, wisdom orpersonal beauty, although the latter helps consider-ably in creating an initial sympathy in the devotee.It is rather a something in the nature what Mesmercalled ‘animal magnetism’, a psycho-physical forcethat can be generated and projected outwards asan adjunct to the will. And this, more than anythingelse, is the secret of the devotion that surroundsso many teachers who have nothing to teach, somany prophets who have never prophesied, somany miracle workers whose only miracle was tosuggest to others that they have seen somethingthat never occurred.

The power to still the minds of others, to impartto them the impression that they have experiencedineffable peace, indescribable bliss this is the mag-net that draws people to a guru whose intelligence

is hardly equal to the task of producing a thirdrate religious tract. The devotee sits before theguru and gazes at him in a happy daze; his thoughtsare caught up in a luminous cloud, the hard con-tours of reality dissolve and he feels himselfabsorbed, all his petty personal cares vanish awaywith his lost sense of identity, floating in a vibrantfield of love, the love of the guru embracing him,and his own love going out to the guru who isGod. It is the apotheosis of the personality cult.

The Buddhist Bhikkhu sets out, by invitation,to preach the Dhamma. He carries in his hand alarge palm fan, and when he delivers his discoursehe holds the fan before his face. This is an ancienttradition of preaching Dhamma in every Buddhistcountry. All the time he is preaching his eyes arefixed on the fan. He is not orating; he is not, likethe Ancient Mariner, fixing anyone with his glitter-ing eye; above all, he is not trying to put his ownpersonality across. If his hearers are to be influenc-ed, it must be only by the Dhamma, by the wordsof truth penetrating their understanding, beingweighed in the balance of their own judgment. Inthis way the Dhamma is taught. It is the antithesisof the personality cult.

hero worship

Hero worship is a universal tendency, and canbe of great benefit if the model chosen is a goodone. But very often immature minds are prone toidentification with models who represent the baserinstincts and give a kind of sanction to violence,lawlessness and rebellion against society or theprevailing order of things. Among young people,and not exclusively of the male sex, the moreundeveloped seek identification with the moreviolent types they see in motion pictures and ontelevision; later, they tend to come under the in-fluence of older men who introduce them to crime.

Others, who desire a more respectable patternto follow, but are subconsciously activated by thesame urge to express themselves in destructiveaction, may join some subversive political grouphaving as its head a leader who represents all theywish to become. From this category come thegroups of political extremists who take part inriots, racial persecutions and terrorism of all kinds.By rationalizing their destructive drives they suc-

ceed in convincing themselves that they are in asuperior intellectual category compared to themere criminal gangster.

In fact, they are less honest. The sophisticatedyouth who worships some blackshirted, topbootedruffian who claims to have a political philosophyis rather worse off than the boy from a differentsocial level who admires and emulates an under-world character, for he is adding self-deceptionto his other personality defects. Few young peopletoday are driven into crime by sheer want, as wasformerly the case; for the most part, their absorp-tion into the underworld comes about through thedesire to emulate some gang leader whom theyhave chosen for their idol. Exactly the same is thecase of the young or not-so-young follower of apolitical extremist; he seldom has the least con-ception of where his adopted cult of violence isleading, but is content to follow the figureheadand persuade himself that the aggressive activitieshe enjoys are motivated by a high purpose, directedtowards a worthy end.

Misguided hero worship as the basis of person-ality cults is responsible for much of the disruption

of present day society. It is unfortunately facilitatedby improved means of communication. Ideas soar-ed with a rapidity unknown before, and the person-alities of those who initiate them are projectedpictorially on cinema and television screens withan almost hypnotically compulsive force. Theinfluence they come to have upon impressionableminds is incalculable; science, with its most sophis-ticated techniques of evaluating public reactionsby statistical surveys is unable to furnish any dataon this point, and social psychology can only giveindications, some of which are alarming enough.

The people who know most about it are notthose concerned with the mental health of the pop-ulation, but only with selling things—the adver-tising specialists and publicity experts. They aloneare able to gauge the cumulative effect of con-stantly repeated visual and auditory suggestion,and social psychologists would do well to turn tothem for information. The media of mass com-munication are likely to prove a dangerous liabilityrather than an asset to mankind if something isnot done to check the flow of unwholesome ideasthey are increasingly being made to serve.

Books by Francis StoryFrancis Story’s writings show the result of a

successful marriage of a Western inquiring mind andthe Eastern philosophy and psychology of BuddhaDhamma. Instead of blindly accepting Buddhistteachings Story digests them, tests them and relatesto the reader what deeply relevant lessons he foundin texts which are many hundred years old.

Although Francis Story passed away more thantwenty years ago, his studies and essays remainmodern and are a lively source of inspiration andunderstanding.The Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy publishedthe complete work of Francis Story in three volumes:

Volume I THE BUDDHIST OUTLOOK Collected Writings

It contains wide ranging and brilliantly writtenessays, dialogues and poems on 382 pages.

Volume 2 REBIRTH AS DOCTRINE AND EXPERIENCE

Essays and Case Studies.All of Francis Story’s writings on death andrebirth in one book of 286 pages.

Volume 3 DIMENSIONS OF BUDDHIST THOUGHTCollected Essays contributed to the serial public-ation The Wheel and Bodhi Leaves, 454 pages.