On Paths toward Awakening

(3)

A Beginning at 50 Years

Discovering the Five Realms of Human Destiny

October 24, 1976, a Nichiren Shoshu temple in Etiwanda, California. connecting with the teachings of the Buddha, thanks to Robert LuPone and Katherine Duke, “the good friends, the great cause whereby one is led to see the Buddha and roused to Perfect Enlightenment,” to quote from the Lotus Sutra. I had reconnected with Bob and Kathy in Los Angeles and resided for a couple of months with them in their leased, rambling house in Laurel Canyon. “A Chorus Line” on tour was now at the Shubert Theatre in West Los Angeles.

  Those who have followed the Ancestral Well blog will know this story, one of the most extraordinary turning points, and a thrill to find in the rising sign (the true nature of the moment) that Rudhyar’s Astrological Mandala symbolically described and confirmed the full impact of the moment—one might say, pointing to its karmic direction, or “unfinished business from past lives,” as did many other symbols for Sun, Moon, and planets in the chart. Ascendant, point on eastern horizon, rising sign, 23° Sagittarius:

A Group of Immigrants as they fulfill the requirements of entrance into the new country. Consciously accepting the ways of a new stage of experience, in readiness for the opportunities it will present. . . We find ourselves in a period of transition. We have to imitate, yet retain our inner integrity.

House watching two years later, tuesday, December 5, 1978 ”Eagle’s Nest” before dawn, Brentwood (Los Angeles), California. The year so far, a disaster. A brief flirtation with the biker community; failed relationship – no place to live, so ended up house sitting for our Theatre District leader, Dick Bond, at his sprawling home on a hillside in Brentwood, California, close to familiar territory – UCLA campus. A separate and complete apartment sitting just above the main house – living room and bath – no kitchen, so must go below to main house kitchen to cook meals. We call it “The Eagle’s Nest.” Dick has a crew of fellow-N.S.A. members remodeling before he and his wife Donna move in.

  After the “connection” on October 24, two years earlier, our group, Theatre District-West, met at the home of Patricia (Trish) Garland and her live-in boy friend, George Tomashevsky. Trish plays Judy with the original Broadway cast of “A Chorus Line” on tour at the Shubert, close by. Boy friend George wants no part of our practice and hides out in the basement while we’re chanting our hearts out upstairs.

  One night after a meeting, on the way back to West Hollywood in the Ford Pinto, riding down Robertson Boulevard, suddenly in the distant sky, a huge silver/turquoise meteor plummets to earth and disappears behind the Santa Monica mountains. This was to be the first of a series of “shooting-star” sightings over the next two years, but no moment could compare to what occurred that morning in December, 1978.

  Tuesday, December 5, three days before the traditional celebration of the Buddha’s enlightenment, December 8; in the ”Eagle’s Nest,” chanting Nam Myoho-Renge kyo for almost two hours; through the window behind the altar which housed the Gohonzon (the same Mandala at the meditation center today some forty-one years later), the planet Venus as a morning star could be seen, and perhaps this is why I chanted for such a long period; Venus, the morning star Siddhartha contemplated in the eastern sky as he meditated before his awakening—and hastening to add another reason for the extended chanting, my life in a shambles.

  Copious long-handed notes were written about that morning; not recalling the exact sequence of events, but the mind very much searching for some kind of “fulfillment.” This thought segued into consideration of full moon moments as described in Rudhyar’s lunation cycle; the moment revealing possible fulfillment or completion, or possible failure as the cycle continues. I then recalled that a full moon occurred less than twenty-four hours after I was born – so, a “First Progressed Full Moon.” A chart of that moment might reveal some direction in the unfinished business of karmic residues found in the birth chart—perhaps, and why not? promises made in past lives.

  Concentrating now on the number 5, a pentagram division of the 360° Zodiac (prompted by considerations below), the idea presented itself that the lowest point in the chart called the nadir, the cusp of the fourth house, which in the flow of human experience is considered to tell the story of one’s personal integration after passing through the drama of self-discovery—emerging into the more or less “not-self,” though still subjective phase of human experience.

  Thus, at this point in the flow of life one might ask, what is the intent as one proceeds?  Overall the moment of full moon so soon after the birth cause moment, could indeed indicate a signal for the fulfillment of promises made in past lives. The moment has the advantage over the birth moment because it is an exact moment, unlike the birth moment of cause in which the exact moment of first breath might be questioned, even though methods of discovering close to the exact moment of birth are available.

  Why not consider this exact moment in the lunar phase after the birth moment as an indication of causes to be made from the unfinished business left over from past lives? Having decided the “Original Intent” would be found at the nadir, root and radix of the chart at the fourth  house cusp, a five-division of the chart from that point would give us a pentagram from a division of 72° each in the circle, ”Five Realms of Human Destiny.”

  Why five? First of all, each point would relate to the “five roots or powers” mentioned in the Lotus Sutra and we would have “Original Intent” (faith), “Continuing” (zealous progress), “Recognizing” (memory), “Participating” (meditation), and “Constructing” (wisdom). Also noting at the time, that the title of “The Mysterious Law of the Lotus,” Japanese title of the Lotus Sutra, is in five kanji (Chinese characters sounding in the Japanese words): Myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo.

  The Original Intent at the progressed full moon was (is) 9°13’ or 10° Capricorn, and I was struck first of all that this degree in Capricorn was in an exact waning square (90°) to the Original Intent of the “Great Pure Vow” or Gojukai chart at 10° Aries. Also, the Original Intent of the Birth Moment of cause, 26° Aquarius, was within one degree of the midpoint, or semi-square (45°) between Promises Made and Gojukai! All three moments, linked in near exact primary astrological aspects representing construction, and focus or release.

  The clincher, however, which convinced me of the profound significance of these interlocked life moments. hit me while standing in the kitchen below where I’d gone to make breakfast, taking along Rudhyar’s Astrological Mandala. Reading the symbol for the Original Intent of Promises Made in Past Lives, 10° Capricorn, choking up with tears, I cried aloud, “This is something I’ve always wanted in my life!” the Original Intent of the Five Realms of Human Destiny, Promises Made in Past Lives:

an albatross feeding from the hand of a sailor

keynote: The overcoming of fear and its rewards

  Persons who radiate perfect harmlessness can call the wildest creatures to them . . . Every living entity plays a role in the world’s ritual if existence . . . the communion of love and compassion can bring together the most disparate lives.

  Rudhyar: At this last stage of the fifty-sixth sequence we are presented with a picture extending the ideal of peace and happiness through culture so it now includes all living organisms on this planet. The power of such a culture of harmlessness and compassion generates trust everywhere.

  The remarkable thing about this and all the symbols, particularly in the two charts, Promises Made, and Gojukai, is that they resonate with the Buddha’s teachings. The symbol for the Original Intent for the “Great Pure Vow” (Gojukai) at 10° is, a teacher gives new symbolic forms to traditional images. key note: Revision of attitude at the beginning of a new cycle of experience.