--------

RICHARD ROSE, MY MENTOR, AND ME

Alfred Robert Pulyan was a man of great spiritual prowess, an "American Zen Master" without the Zen nor the Buddhism, yet Enlightened in the Finality of the Absolute in the same tradition as in the spiritual Awakenings attributed to the ancient classical masters.

Pulyan is thought by some to have been possibly born somewhere in the New York area having lived in New York City most of his life. Others report that he was born in the Holborn district of London, Middlesex England in November or December of 1896, showing up in the New York area sometime after World War I. Because of the discrepancies little actual facts of his early life are known, that is, growing up as a young boy to graduating from high school, although afterwards it is known he attended college and studied mathematics. In his later years he continued to stick with numbers becoming a public accountant, then an executive and office manager. Along the way he got married.

Sometime in the late 1950s when Pulyan was around age 62 or so he and his wife Madeline moved to a small rural community that was not much more than a crossroads of a town called South Kent in rural Litchfield County, Connecticut. There he bought some basically left-alone, albeit nearly jigsaw-puzzle picture perfect acreage where he and his wife and some friends settled in.

One of the friends joining Pulyan in the compound was the person that would become his teacher and responsible for his transformation. Prior to his Awakening he was an unknowing seeker along an unknown path, investigating any and all routes for a solution to his angst, real or imagined. One day in the process of those investigations, he was exploring what he had heard was a new or unique approach to psychotherapy when he came across a young woman that was somehow different from all other people he had ever met. In an intellectual joust on his part he confronted her with all his knowledge of science, philosophers and the like. Like an expert swordsman or kung-fu master she blocked and parried each blow, leaving herself unscathed and himself defeated. Although she claimed no teacher or any lineage it was apparent, like Queen Chudala, her Attainment was deep and to reach the same level of Attainment he decided to dedicate any further seeking to be guided under her auspices --- a decision that ended in her becoming Pulyan's Teacher and Pulyan's own Fulfillment.[1]

Years ago I had the good fortune of spending a good part of the summer with Pulyan, his wife, his teacher, and a few fellow compatriots on his compound near the small community of South Kent, Connecticut. Going there was not of my own making but from the urging of my spiritual Mentor. Initially I felt the whole thing would amount to nothing more than a huge waste of time on everybody's part, but as the summer wore on and it came time I had to leave because I was returning to school, I just didn't want to go.

For several years I had been doing study-practice under the auspices of my mentor who himself had Awakened to the Absolute under the grace and light of the venerated Indian holy man, the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Much to his chagrin, in my study-pactice he noticed little or no headway over the years on my part. He decided my approach and temperment suited more of what Zen had to offer than what was found on the Indian side of things. In so saying, he arranged for me study under the noted Japanese Zen master Yasutani Hakuun Roshi. That too, did not reach the results he had hoped for. Knowing that as a young boy I had met the American Franklin Merrell-Wolff high in the mountains of the Sierras with somewhat striking results, and, in that I would not quit bugging him, in a last ditch effort he decided for a middle ground, between his own approach and that of Zen. The results of that decision can be summed up rather quickly in the following paragraph from page two of ZEN ENLIGHTENMENT: The Path Unfolds:

"Thinking I needed something in between Yasutani and his own teaching he arranged for me to go to Connecticut and visit a nearly invisible man of great spiritual prowess by the name of Alfred Pulyan. Just as spring was reaching its final count down I showed up at Pulyan's wooded rural compound and began a most unsual almost non-study study --- the visit growing through to well past the middle of summer because, I'm sure, of my mentor as well as Pulyan's own graciousness. He inturn introduced me to his teacher, a woman of extreme attainment who lived close by. Before I could return the following year Pulyan died. I never learned if my mentor knew him personally, however he was visibly set back on news of his death." [2]

As you can judge by my comments if you have gone to Footnote [2], Pulyan in his egoless state was not much one to talk of himself or fill in the gaps personally. Most had to be extrapolated from his actions or out of larger general conversations. He also wasn't one to have visitors, especially so, those who wished to study under him or stay any length of time. Somehow my mentor had some sort of pull and Pulyan never questioned his request nor me for being there. The second I stepped into the compound and we met it seemed as though I had been there a million years.

His compound as I have called it, was comprised of several acres, how many I am not sure because everywhere we walked seemed to be on his land. It was a combination of wooded and cleared area with several small barn-like structures scattered around and at least three houses, one that he and his wife lived in and the others that various people lived in including one for his teacher. They were sort of self-contained and pretty much kept to themselves going about a very basic daily non-routine routine. Making meals, things like that. There was no study-practice in the classical sense either. Most of what we did we just did. Sit under a tree during the day, along the edge of a close by lake, or on the porch after dinner and talk late into the evening while Pulyan enjoyed an after dinner cigar. Pulyan had a background as a mathematician and was extremely interested in the fact that my Uncle knew Albert Einstein and that my uncle had actually introduced me to the scientist. One day in casual conversation I mentioned that as a young boy I was a witness to the fly-over of the huge object of unknown origin associated with the so-called Battle of Los Angeles that was seen by thousands of other eyewitnesses as well, and considered by many to be extra-terrestrial in nature. Now, most people with an interest in a quest along the path would think that a person in an Enlightened state would have no interest in such things. However, my experience was that Pulyan had no bounds or limits as to the depth of his intellectual interests. As a matter of fact, in 1960, about five years before our meeting and unknown to me until the time of our conversation, Pulyan had written and published an article surrounding just such a subject titled "What Is It We Fear in Visitors from Space? That They Might Be Like Us?" A few days after our conversation, out of the blue, he handed me a copy, of which the following two paragraphs are excerpted:

"The only available evidence for 'visitors from outer space' has come so far from highly imaginative individuals who wish either to achieve a little notoriety or to promulgate their particular religious theories and ethical concepts. We are told that some of these visitors come from planets of this solar system with the intention of preventing us from blowing up our earth and as a result, disorganizing the whole system. Their advice consists, as it must, of variations on the golden rule. It is doubtful if there are any other living beings in this system.

"In the case of visitors from planets revolving about far distant suns, which seems the only possible place of origin, there seems no other reason for their coming than curiosity and scientific research, unless they have a genuine desire to share their attainments with others."(source)

It was with the last sentence of the first paragraph and the whole of the second paragraph that Pulyan had his belief --- or at least that he threw his weight toward. However, as a mathematician he cautioned his belief with such theories as the Drake Equation and the results of how such theories would actually impact the chances for an extra-terrestrial visitor.

Perhaps the single most responsible person for convincing my mentor to go to India --- which led to his Awakening and inturn led him to sending me to Pulyan --- was a Benedictine monk given the name Father Ensheim. In the website on Ensheim there is a section titled The Unaccounted Months that follows my mentor from his stay at the Hemis Monastery along the Tibet-India border to his crossing the Himalayas into and through China and back to India. In that section my mentor recalls an incident somewhere high in the inner-Asian flatlands that touches on a similar subject as the above.

At the time of the writing and publication of the article (April 1960), it is not known if Pulyan had reached Full Attainment through his transformation under his teacher or not. The when and where of that specific incident was, to my knowledge, not recorded for posterity. It is known by the time of his move to Connecticut in the mid 1950s --- and several years before the publication of the article --- he had developed a reputation as to his insight, so I tend to suspect he was. Because of the times and the unusual nature of the level of his Attaiment his reputation continued to grow basically at a grassroots level with no pushing on his part. Before long, and well before I arrived at his compound, he had put into place what I would call a fairly well established mail order following. People that came to hear about him would write hoping for insight into what one could do to Awaken to the Absolute, and Pulyan would respond, asking for no more than a stamped self-addressed envelope. Pulyan presented through his teaching what he simply called Transmission, a personalized version of Direct Transmission, somewhat extrapolated from a working mixture of his own experience combined with (my conjecture) the weight behind the meaning of the four lines of the stanza attributed to the First Patriarch of C'han Buddhism, Bodhidharma (4-6 Cent. AD) that starts with A special transmission outside the scriptures. He claimed to have a 70% success rate, more than ten times higher than the ancient Zen masters. Enlightenment from the internet rather than by snail mail as Pulyan did in the old days? There are reports of successful results. See [3]

I do recall one man by the name of Frank or Fred or some other "F" word or name who seems to have been a mailorder follower. He drove all the way up from Houston, Texas, one day to see Pulyan. Shortly after arrival the man got into a rather heated his side of a one-sided debate with Pulyan regarding Enlightenment and any merits thereof. With a bright red face and blood veins bulging from his neck, all the while huffing and puffing under his breath, turned and stomped off like Upaka the Ascetic following his encounter with the Buddha.

Interestingly enough, a year or two after having first put this page on the internet, inturn making it available to a wide audience, I received an email from a reader regarding what I wrote in the paragraph above about a "man by the name of Frank or Fred or some other 'F' word" showing up at Pulyan's compound. In the email she told me somewhere along the way she came across an article in a fairly small, obscure publication called The Aberree that Pulyan had an ongoing connection with. How she found that specific article and connected it to me she didn't say, but, as she pointed out, the article made reference to both Pulyan and a man by the name of Fred from Houston, Texas. According to what the man from Houston said, he and Pulyan had been in contact with each other via mail. Within the context of the article "Fred" did seem somewhat perturbed with Pulyan, hence, I presume the reason for his eventual trip to Connecticut and the ensuing huffing and puffing on his part verbal confrontation. In the article, published in the July-August 1964 issue of THE ABERREE --- the summer before both his and my arrival at the Pulyan compound --- "Fred" also claimed to be Enlightened.

People constantly ask if my stay with Alfred Pulyan ended in a positive outcome. As stated above, initially I had not had much actual success along the path. My mentor sending me to Pulyan in 1965 and the events that followed in May of 1969 as outlined in Dark Luminosity are all part of the Dharmadhatu[4]. Additional contributing co-factors was, as mentioned earlier, my childhood interaction with Franklin Merrell-Wolff, and explored more indepth in The Tree as well as doing months and months of hard-core Zen training high in the mountains somewhere along the southern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau as found in:

DOING HARD TIME IN A ZEN MONASTERY

Although it is extracted from its original context below, when asked, I usually refer them to the following paragraph that shows up on page two of the previously cited ZEN ENLIGHTENMENT: The Path Unfolds:

"After an intermittent slow start as a teenager, followed by twelve years of serious practice, in the month of May of the year 1969, at age 31, because, for the lack of anything else to call it, a Collision of Infinities occurred and the bottom of eternity consciousness literally broke through, and thus therefore, the equivalent of Inka Shomei, the Seal of Approval, at the Fourth Level (ken-chu-shi) was graciously accorded me by the person from which I sought guidence; he himself, having experienced full realization under the grace and light of Sri Ramana Maharshi some thirty-nine years earlier, also at the age of 31."(source)

As for my mentor and Pulyan and any interaction they may have had or not had, it is my belief that Pulyan's teacher was the actual person my mentor knew and it was through HER my mentor "knew" Pulyan. That is to say, I do not know for sure if he and Pulyan knew each other in the classical sense or if the two just "knew OF each other," say through a letter of introduction or word of mouth of a mutual friend. If Pulyan's teacher had been a student of my mentor or they just happened to travel in the same circles at one and the same time is not known, although I have my suspicions they met initially at the Ramana ashram in Tiruvannamalai, south India sometime in the late 1920s. The interesting part of it all is a connection of sorts between my mentor and a man by the name of Richard Rose. Like Pulyan, Richard Rose was a man of great spiritual Attainment that would eventually become one of Pulyan's most avid advocates.

REGARDING ONLINE VIDEO AND PULYAN'S TEACHER:

In a possible realignment of issues and for those of you who may have visited this site before, you may recall a section right about now wherein I discussed my views regarding an online video that featured a woman having been identified as being Pulyan's teacher. I am in recent receipt of what I consider rather convincing and valid information from a reader of my works regarding that person as well as my comments and misinterpretation of facts on my part, enough so on my part that what I had written and presented previously would have to rewritten to such a point that minor editing here and there wouldn't do it. I have no dog in the fight. For those who may be so interested my only intent of is to present the best most truthful information as possible as I recall it regarding Pulyan and his teacher that I can. I am much appreciative of the reader's comments and insights, both historical and personal, and fully intend to address the issues as time permits.

The reader of my works mentioned above has by the way, posted in length about my works regarding Pulyan and Pulyan's Teacher. It is highly recommended that you read what he has to say as linked below. A few things in his post I would point out for your own edification, for example " take the information provided at The Wanderling with a grain of salt," and "All of this suggests to me that he is simply weaving stories from information freely available on the internet." Re the following, speaking of me, the Wanderling, from so said poster:

"I would take the information provided at The Wanderling with a grain of salt. It surprises me that he does not remember her name. Perhaps age has taken it's toll which is understandable - but the title of this video should jog his memory. Her name was 'Ruthie' It does not appear on his website whatsoever.

"I also find his claims that Ramana Maharshi appeared to Ruthie to be dubious. Alfred talks about Ramana very little in his writings - perhaps not at all. (Feel free to read all 400 pages over at Wheaton College, I have). Of course this doesn't account for Ruthie, but I find it unlikely this information did not get passed along to him. Additionally, Ruthie Lennon was much more interested in J. Krishnamuriti.

"The Wanderling also makes little mention of Ruthie's husband - whose name he never mentions. His name was Bernard. As for Feb 2020 neither of those names appear on his website. All of this suggests to me that he is simply weaving stories from information freely available on the internet."

As to the possibility of what I have written about Pulyan is by simply weaving stories from information freely available on the internet, the question for those who say it and think it I would ask, what would be the point? Nobody knows who I am because I'm not anybody. I make no claim to being a teacher, guru, holy man, or sage. I don't sell, market, promote or teach classes, seminars or Satsangs. My pages are all free, there are no subscriptions or sign ins. I don't hawk or sell anything. There are no advertisements. No books. No ballcaps, T-shirts, or ballpoint pens. I don't ask for, solicit, or accept donations. My meager Zen dropping are available to all who may be so interested. If nothing else, for blowing a hole in any accusation of simply weaving stories from the internet, an absolute MUST read is found by going to and reading Footnote [5}

The thing is, a good portion of those very same "stories from information freely available on the internet" about Pulyan that exist now have been derived directly from my well over 15 year old, albeit updated on occasion, Pulyan site. Search Alfred Pulyan on Google and see what comes up and where my page is ranked and why people often start there for information that they put on the internet. It is almost like being caught up in a Bootstrap Paradox:

"The action in the future only happened because the action in the past happened,
but the action in the past was explicitly caused by the action in the future."

If you still have a hard time believing what I have to say, a mere online Zen hack, about people using what I have written on my Pulyan page instead of the other way around and that it carries no amount of credibility I suggest you go to Amazon.com and search down a book titled "LETTERS OF TRANSMISSION: The Enlightenment Method of Zen Master Alfred Pulyan" with an initial copyright date of 2019. Go to the introduction Amazon allows in their Look Inside feature and read through the Introduction. If you compare the author/editor's Introduction with my over 15 years online version of Alfred Pulyan you will see good parts of the Introduction are pulled practically verbatim from what I've written. You can easily substantiate the length of time my page has been online and what I've written by going to Archive.org and search how far back my page goes.

However, I can see why one might take Shikantaza or my page on Jhanas titled Jhana Factors: Traditional Factors of the Eight Jhana States, or The Ten Fetters of Buddhism with a Grain of salt. But, is my page Dzibilchaltun; Seven Mayan Dolls and the Equinox as a suspect? I mean really. Or my page Klondike Big Inch Land Company, wherein I describe how I came about having still in my possession a deed in my name to one whole square inch of land in Canada's Yukon Territory making me landed gentry while the rest of the underling landless indentured servants are trapped in a forever ongoing endless quagmire of squalor as falling into a taking it with a grain of salt category I find to be questionable at best.

Not mentioning the teacher's name? The quote below and ones of a similar nature written by me and found scattered throughout the net on a variety of pages are often viewed with a certain amount of skepticism as well, primarily because of the anonymous nature of, for example, both the boat and it's owner. Being unnamed begs the question if either of them are actually real. If such was the case, that is, that they are not, then of course anything written thereafter on the same topic would be also of a suspect nature.

"Me being a regular at the marina came about because of the woodie wagon I spent so much time re-doing. The wood on the wagon was in such an immaculate state of restoration, having arrived at such a state only after hours and hours my own personal painstaking endeavors, that it attracted attention whenever I drove it. One of the persons it attracted was the skipper of a yacht come marlin boat moored in the Marina Del Rey harbor owned by the grown son and heir of a major multimillionaire oil man. The skipper was so taken by my talents working the wood he hired me to do the brightwork on the boat he skippered."(source)

Like everything I write I have my reasons. Sometimes the knowledge of same just isn't relevant to what is being presented. Other times too much information opens up access to paths that are not in need of investigation, at least relative to what is being presented. Usually enough information is provided to make what is being said credible as well as enough for the serious researcher to confirm what is being presented is factual. However, in the case of the yacht owner as well as the name of his boat, because of facts leading up to the unusual nature of the relationship between the two of us, I have widened the flow from the anonymous to the more openly known as found in the source link above.

For the record, as to neither of their names appearing on his website there is a sentence that is found in the main text of my Pulyans's Teacher page that I wrote that some may find relevant that reads:

"In so saying, even though she seemed to know my circumstances and by inference I have extrapolated that she knew I had study practiced under my mentor, anything else I may have learned or happened across, like with my mentor, I continue to respect her anonymity."

Of course it's for readers to decide, not everybody that reads or follows my works would necessarily agree to either or both of his premises, neither of which as I view it carrying any more water than Chiyono's bucket after the fact. The following quote is also found within his text, speaking of me: "Perhaps age has taken it's toll which is understandable." I did however go back through freely available internet archives and found that at least as far back as July 2005 my original Pulyan page was on the net. That was 15 years ago. I think I may have made my way through puberty by then so I may have been loosing my faculties, I just don't remember.

Regarding feeling free to read all 400 pages of Pulyan's letters over at Wheaton College, I mean, like who's counting? Again, see [5]

As for Pulyan in the first place, he shows up in my works because not only did I spend nearly three months living and staying on his compound during the summer after being discharged from the Army, but so too, one of his most ardent followers and advocates, Richard Rose, was connected directly back to me through both my Mentor and my Merchant Marine Friend. The brother of Rose was killed in World War II when the ship he was on as a merchant marine, the S.S. Delisle, was sunk by a U-boat. Two days later the ship my Merchant Marine Friend was on, the S.S. Halsey and in the same convoy as Roses' brother, was attacked and sunk. Re the following as found of the merchant marine page:

" On Monday afternoon May 4, 1942, around five o'clock Atlantic War Time the Delisle was hit by one torpedo from U-564 about 15 miles north of Jupiter Inlet, Florida and two crew members, of which Rose was one, were killed. Two days later, near midnight Wednesday, May 6, 1942 the Halsey was hit by two torpedoes from U-333 somewhat less than four miles east of Jupiter Inlet."(see)

One more thing, I really didn't want to get into all of this right now, however in a number of places on my pages I write that in the annals of ashram lore an English woman by the name of M.A. Piggott is invariably cited as, or given credit for, being the first woman devotee or disciple from the west to have visited Sri Ramana Maharshi at the ashram. I bring it up to contest to the fact citing Pluyan's teacher as being the first woman devotee, albeit stretching the meaning "devotee" a bit in her case. The reader of my works on his site writes that he finds my claims that Ramana Maharshi appeared to her to be dubious, that is, a lie. The quote below is found in the opening paragraphs of my page The Code Maker, The Zen Maker a page that touches on the supernormal perceptual states known in Sanskrit as Siddhis, of which Pulyan's teacher experienced relative to Ramana, falling then into being dubious. From my side of things the quote is how I view it:

"Even though Buddhism and Zen are found to be deeply seeped in both concepts, i.e., the mysterious hermitage beyond time and Siddhis, most people along the path, especially those with a strong western background, who encounter one or the other or both, although they may like the idea, are usually uncomfortable with a formal acceptance of any possibility of reality for either, and quickly relegate or disregard such ideas into areas of forced silence."

He goes on to say Pulyan talks about Ramana very little in his writings - perhaps not at all. Feel free to read all 400 pages over at Wheaton College, I have, he says, which is neither here nor there because it is actually his teacher that is being discussed. Again, refer to Footnote [5] He then says she was much more interested in J. Krishnamuriti.

The following quote, written by me, is speaking of and about Pulyan's teacher, and shows up as a footnote on my long time online page on Piggott so cited:

"Because of her outlook and the spiritual lean of her disposition toward the Awakening process her visit never took traction on an official level. Even after Ramana's own personal invite, she never truly embraced the Ramana type non-dualistic school of Hindu philosophy, Advaita Vedanta, at least at a very high level. She chose instead, Zen and the precepts of Direct Transmission as her route to Enlightenment and what she advocated. Even so, according to herself and Ramana devotee Framji Dorabji, this American girl was there at the ashram under the invitation of and auspices of Sri Ramana himself, yet her name never shows up on any list of devotees or disciples, western or otherwise. It could be that the subject of translocation is too much of a hot button subject to introduce related to traditional devotees, OR if you are not on the approved list as the keepers of the flame see it, you don't exist."

I'm personally not able to attest to Pulyan's teacher leaning toward or having a specific interest in J. Krishnamuriti in any fashion one way or the other. I don't recall her speaking of him per se.' If she did, I should as I have a personal interest of sorts in J. Krishnamuriti (1895 - 1986), as well as having a page on him, albeit not currently online. The two of us actually met at his compound in Ojai, California many years ago because of some mutual rather interesting connections.

Those connections stemmed from his formal start in things spiritual that circulated around his early association with a religious group called Theosophists along with his association with a high level member of that organization named Annie Besant. He stumbled on to the Theosophists at a very early age ending up at their world headquarters in Adyar, India, in the process actually being all but adopted by Besant. Those of you familiar with my works know that as a very young boy I was taken by a couple to the ashram of the venerated Indian holy man the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi that ended in some startling results. The reason the couple went to the ashram in the first place was because they were in India to attend the 67th International Theosophists Convention held December 26 to 31, 1943 at the same Adyar world headquarters. When the convention was over they went to Ramana's ashram taking me with them.

It is my belief the childless couple I was fostered to, being surrounded by or immersed in as atmosphere created by the then deceased Annie Besant and continued by American birth control activist Margaret Sanger is what forged the couple's attitude toward having or not having children and how I fit into the picture. While in America and during our early travels together, at least as the couple viewed it, everything must have worked out favorably, with nary a ripple. But, whatever happened to me under the auspices of the Maharshi in India I think scared or adversely impacted the woman of the couple profusely.

It apparently came to her that neither she nor her husband, both fully indoctrinated active participants in The Theosophical Society, were going to match or reach the level of Attainment advocated by the Society --- that is purity in their physical vestures --- and, IF following those dictates as set forth by the Society, rightly or wrongly, could never have children of their own. Rather than me helping the situation arriving at the level of Experience that came about by me sitting before the Bhagavan in Darshan, and with nothing remotely close for them, she was sick with the idea of no child of her own with me in reality being a non-birthed by her child originally passed off as hers --- a constant reminder or hindrance to her or their plight. Even though J. Krishnamuriti had long disavowed Theosophist philosophy, it was because of his early years with them that I sought him out.[6]

It should be noted, as far as Pulyan's teacher is concerned, J. Krishnamuriti and Sri Ramana were diametrically opposed as to how they believed the route to the ultimate result should be. Ramana was a big scriptures guy. J. Krishnamuriti saw little or no need for them. If you read what I've written above about Pulyan's teacher's approach was I can see where she could be drawn towards him. It aligns somewhat with my outside the scriptures lean a la Hui Neng, Bodhidhrama, and Te Shan who simply up and burnt all his books and commentaries on Zen.

The reader did send me the Talking About Her Father link by the way. I had left it off my site on purpose, you know Google and all, ranking sites if they show up more often. My pages get lots of hits. If I put a link on my site it can contribute to that other site's rank. Plus the person leaves my page if they use the link. If there is no reason to make a valid point why link to it? To reach the reader's page in question go to any search engine and cut and paste or type in "RUTHIE LENNON: TALKING ABOUT HER FATHER." However, if you really want to read something interesting I would suggest you go to the following:

SRI H. W. L. POONJA, SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI, AND PULYAN'S TEACHER

PULYAN'S TEACHER

Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the Zen master's. Where
we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of conceptual overlay onto that experience
and then make an emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself.

(PLEASE CLICK)

ZEN ENLIGHTENMENT IN A NUTSHELL

GASSHO
(please click)

E-MAIL
THE WANDERLING
(please click)

As to the subject of donations, for those who may be so interested as it applies to the gratefulness of my works, I invariably suggest any funds be directed toward THE WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT and/or THE AMERICAN RED CROSS.

FOOTNOTE [1]:

Except possibly by me --- as mentioned above --- Pulyan's teacher gets almost no applause or recognition. However, she continues to inspire a great deal of interest in some quarters not only for her role in Pulyan's Awakening, but also because of being a woman. Many have come forward with suggestions as to who she was. Often a fairly high profile mover in east coast and New York City Zen circles, a woman by the name of Mary Farkas, is mentioned as a potential possibility.

The problem with Farkas is most of her life, especially so her adult life, has been recorded in one fashion or the other over time because of that fairly high profile. So said, it would have been very difficult for her to have been absconded on Pulyan's Connecticut compound for any length of time as has been reported for Pulyan's teacher without someone knowing about it. Besides, even though Farkas was a longtime follower and advocate of Direct Transmission through her association with the major Zen adept Sokei-an and, was herself, an ordained Rinzai priest as well as the longtime director of The First Zen Institute of America, it has never come forward that she was Enlightened.

As for Sokei-an, at the time Farkas was first being initiated into things Zen, Sokei-an was one of the first major Zen Buddhists in America and the formost purveyor of Zen in the general New York area. In 1928, when Farkas was just 17 years old and yet to stumble upon the scene, Sokei-an became a full-fledged Zen master receiving Inka Shomei from his teacher Sokatsu Shaku. It is my opinion that Pulyan's teacher, who was around 24 years old at the time got caught up in the brewing Zen stew close to that time, although it is not known how long, if at all, she remained in the milieu. It is unlikely a person or her level of Attainment would go unheralded.

All of them, from Sokei-an in lineage to Mary Farkas to Alfred Pulyan and on to Richard Rose and Pulyan's teacher, were all advocates of "direct transmission." Sokei-an, as the prime mover in their advocacy, in his own words, says:

"I am of the Zen sect. My special profession is to train students of Buddhism by the Zen method. Nowadays, there are many types of Zen teachers. One type, for example, teaches Zen through philosophical discourse; another, through so-called meditation; and still another direct from soul to soul. My way of teaching is the direct transmission of Zen from soul to soul."

For more on Mary Farkas, her background and writings, click HERE.

FOOTNOTE [2]:

Showing up at the Pulyan compound I was only just out of the Army. Because my Mentor had put some emphasis on his opinion that the military had brought out a beast in me Pulyan was well aware of my recent discharge. He was also aware through my mentor of the fairly formidable fact that I had Flatlined for a somewhat long period of time under somewhat dire circumstances in a military hospital --- an event ending with, if not a total whisping away of the ego, at least no viable or measurable footprint of something akin to an ego able to search out, crab-like, and stop --- or at the very least --- hold in abeyance, any residual remains of a rapidly dissipating lifeforce.

Looking back it seems rather interesting that nothing said that touched on the subject ever led to any expanded discussion regarding the event, my service, or the military. There never was a hint of any past military experience related to himself either, even though having been born in 1896, he was at the exact right age to have served in the military during World War I (in the United States general conscription --- the draft --- was reinitiated in World War I with the Selective Service Act of 1917. All men from 21 to 30 years of age and later extended 18 to 45, inclusive, had to register. Pulyan was age 21 at the time). Equally interesting, considering the silence on the subject of the war, was his response one day when I mentioned that my father had thought the giant unknown object that I mention later on and that flew over our house one night was going down --- and was as large as a Zeppelin --- Pulyan, apparently visualizing the whole event in his mind's eye as I described it, turned to another man with us at the time, an artist that lived in one of the houses on the compound, and said --- not to me but to the artist --- and I quote, "It acted like a wounded Height Climber, hey?" The artist nodding in aggreement said, "Jousting with dragons."

-----

"JOUSTING WITH DRAGONS"

I had heard that EXACT same phrase from my mentor years ago when I asked him about a scar that looked like a burn mark on his shoulder the size of a man's hand, but could never figure out what he meant. I asked the artist what HE meant and he took his hand cupping them together then swiftly expanding them out in a circular motion like an explosion. It dawned on me jousting with dragons meant attacking and bringing down the giant hydrogen filled airships.(source) I wasn't sure how either of the two men could know one thing or the other about wartime Zeppelins generally or Height Climbers specifically --- especially them blowing up, coming down, or crashing --- although both seemed to have more than a simple working knowledge of the crafts. To add some sensibility to it all, if, as I imply at the top of the page that Pulyan was from London, England, and I personally tend to suspect he was because of my interactions with him, then he may have had personal knowledge of such craft because of what happened in London during the First World War. The following is from HIGH ALTITUDE WARSHIPS: The Height Climbers:

"On the night of January 19, 1915 two German navy Zeppelins carried out the first successful bombing run against British soil. One of the ships was the L-3. Both craft bombed from an altitude of 3,000 feet and both returned safely. On May 31, 1915, ten months into the war, the first Zeppelins showed up over London. In August 1916 two-million cubic feet mid-level ships operating at 13,000 feet went on line. It wasn't until September 2, 1916 that the British pulled the first airship out of the sky over England in direct air-to-air combat. To beat the sting of fighter aircraft and increased British anti-aircraft ground defenses the Zeppelin company began to develop a special series of rigid airships called Height Climbers that routinely operated at altitudes above 20,000 feet.

"As the trench war on the western front bogged down, to bring the British to their knees, the Germans turned more and more of their attention to high altitude bombing. On the night of October 19, 1917 they launched a massive eleven ship raid against England using nothing but height climbers. The ships were so far above the earth their engines couldn't be heard by observers on the ground."

The timing would be just right for Pulyan to have experienced such events as having been born in November or December of 1896 he would have not have yet turned age 19 when the first bombings of London occurred.

Later on, when I was cleaning brushes for the artist one day I asked him if Pulyan had been in the War. He said he himself had been in WWII but thought Pulyan, like Ernest Hemingway during WWI, may have been an Ambulance Driver, albeit possibly for the French or British rather than the Americans --- having gone over prior to American involvment after dropping out of college. The artist, who had been on the compound a few years with him, did admit Pulyan had never been very forthcoming about related topics, hinting weakly to him at times that he may not have been a driver even, but a mechanic --- maybe even on airplanes. More than likely as time went on he progressed through a number of jobs. My only reason for even the remotest curiosity regarding Pulyan and the possiblity of his participation in the war at the time was my mentor. He was three years younger than Pulyan and flew for the British, crossing the border into Canada and joining up there by not admitting to his real age. Seeing his best friend die in front of his eyes during the war is what sent him on his quest for Enlightenment in the first place. The renown British author and playwright, William Somerset Maugham, fully chronicled the spiritual rise and Enlightenment of my mentor's life in a book published in 1944 titled The Razor's Edge. Although I cannot say for sure, IF Pulyan was in Europe for England or even the French during the war prior to any formal entry by the U.S., the possibility exists the two of them, that is Pulyan and my mentor, may have met somewhere along the way.

FOOTNOTE [3]:

There are several classic records of Zen histories such as Ching Te Ch'uan Teng Lu (Record of the Transmission of the Lamp); Tsu T'ang Chi (Collection from the Halls of Ancestors); Wu Teng Hui Yan (Five Lamps Merged in the Source); and Ku Tsun Su Yu Lu (Records of Sayings of Ancient Venerable Adepts) that together compile information on well over 600 Zen masters. Among those masters cited, for example, are Kuei Shan (771-853) whose community numbered 1500 and produced 43 Enlightened disciples (2.8%). Hsueh Feng (822-908) 1500 community followers, 56 Enlightened disciples (3.7%). Fa Yen Wen I (885-958) never less than 1000 followers and 63 Enlightened disciples (6.3%). Yun Chu (d. 908) led a community of 1500 and produced 28 Enlightened disciples (1.8%). (source)

Pulyan claimed to have a 70% success rate, apparently via his his efforts through the mail. People are always asking where are those people now? That I am unable to answer. To my knowledge, other than myself, he had no study-practice individuals personally under his auspices, at least in any great numbers --- and for sure, none during the summer months I was there. It is also not known what the term success rate actually translates into. Pulyan was an honorable man. In that he was dealing with small numbers with specific individual inputs on a personal one-on-one basis the percentage of positive results may reflect a higher success rate than say with the ancient masters as listed previously.

As for the present day and having or implementing a mail order following as used by Pulyan, it most likely would be replaced by the internet. With the available pool of internet attemptees there could be, however, countless numbers of participants, and because of the possibilities of a wide thinned-out field of interest among potential numbers, successful results would be, I am sure, quite low. I know of a couple of examples of claimed Attainment through such an approach. One is listed in the Awakening Experience in the Modern Era as A Child of the Cyber-Sangha. The second know internet obtained Enlightenment is found in the following:

The following question was asked on YAHOO: Answers:

Are there any online Buddhist teachers?

Not long after the question was posted on the Yahoo site, one Arjuna Ranatunga replied. Arjuna, who goes by the screen name Goodfella, and who holds an earned Master's Degree in Buddhist Studies with Merit from the University of Sunderland, North-east England (2011) as well as a YAHOO: Answers respondent for over 15 years offered the following:

The most famous site with perhaps the most integrity is "Awakening 101", authored by "the Wanderling". I met an Enlightened person who'd used it in His approach / initial studies / on His journey.

It has facilities to ask questions of the Wanderling, too.

• http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/awakening101/index.html

• http://sped2work.tripod.com/web_ring_list.html

  http://the-wanderling.com/zen_enlightenment5.html

  https://wanderling.tripod.com/zenlinks.html

Best Wishes in your Quest, Friend,

Arjuna

Please note the second of the two links above has been sub-planted from the original post with two additional albeit equivalent links. The site initially
so cited by Arjuna had not been kept current within it's own links.by the site originator, although a recent check has shown otherwise, hence it's return.

A third very strong example, albeit sort of hybrid in nature, which is typical, because the individual started out initially using various aspects of Awakening 101, which in turn led him to going to and doing study practice in an established Zen center. The results of his endeavors ended wherein, I have been so told, he attained a state of immortality.(see)

SEE ALSO:

SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI: THE LAST AMERICAN DARSHAN
RECOUNTING A YOUNG BOY'S NEARLY INSTANT TRANSFORMATION INTO THE ABSOLUTE DURING HIS ONLY DARSHAN WITH THE MAHARSHI

VIGNANA:

Vignana is the difference between the knowledge we get from just reading or listening to Sutras and Sastras and the knowledge that we get from actual experience. It corresponds to the six senses: eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, taste-consciousness, touch-consciousness, bodily consciousness, and mental consciousness. In the process, Vignana incorporates within the totality of itself both the Western idea of that which is "conscious' and "unconscious." For that reason it is difficult to translate by any single term.

Suppose we collect water from the ocean and bring it home. The ocean water will have a salt taste to it. When the same ocean water is converted by the sun's rays into vapor and then comes down as rain from the clouds, there is an amount of "sweetness" which is associated with the same water. The knowledge which we get by reading or listening to Sutras and Sastras compares with the water collected directly from the ocean. Vignana is comparable to the ocean water when it is converted into rain from the clouds -- that is, sweeter than the ocean water it originally came from.

FROM: the Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba during the Summer Course in Spirituality and Indian Culture
held for College Students at Brindavan, Whitefield, Bangalore District in May/June 1974
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust

FOOTNOTE [4]:

Dharmadhatu literally means "realm of dharmas," and refers to the collection of all dharmas. "Attaining Buddhahood" (Enlightenment, Awakening to the Absolute, etc.) --- as the Buddha had to do in resolving his Great Doubt --- means having transcended all and any limitations that are due to artificial concepts, subconscious activities, desires and feelings, will and attachment, time and space, etc., and having regained the original state of Dharmadhatu in harmonious oneness.

Dharmadhatu is neither limited by space nor by time. According to the correct view of Dharmadhatu all dharmas in the past, all dharmas at present and all dharmas in the future are all together in the Dharmadhatu. Ordinarily people can experience only a minute part of all dharmas at present, and therefore people sustain the view that dharmas in the past are gone and future is unpredictable. If one practices according to Buddhist teachings and thereby comes out of the bondage of the fixed view of a space-and-time framework, then it is possible to experience or witness dharmas in the past as well as dharmas in the future.

The sentence this footnote is referenced to in the main text above, reads:

"People constantly ask if my stay with Alfred Pulyan ended in a positive outcome. As stated above, initially I had not had much actual success along the path. My mentor sending me to Pulyan in 1965 and the events that followed in May of 1969 as outlined in Dark Luminosity are all part of the Dharmadhatu."

The reason I had not had much success along the path initially was because of, in so may words, a nearly impenetrable, thick dark curtain that had been drawn across the access to any level successful achievement --- hence some of the reason for the DARK in Dark Luminosity. Over and over in my works you will find the following:

"Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the Zen master's. Where we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of conceptual overlay onto that experience and then make an emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself."

As stated, most people have a "fog" that overlays access. For me, rather than simply the fog, the fog itself was blocked before I even got to it by a thick dark curtain. If you went to the link found at the bottom of Footnote [3], SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI: The Last American Darshan, you will see how that curtain was pulled, blocking even my access to the fog let alone access to Attainment.

FOOTNOTE [5]:

WHEATON COLLEGE ARCHIVES: ALFRED PULYAN AND THE LETTERS

"Feel free to read all 400 pages over at Wheaton College, I have"

in an email to the Wanderling----------------------------------------------

Near the very, very bottom of Getting Letters and Emails in one of the last footnotes is a response from me to my old online buddy Ken Fry where, in the main letter section, we got into it about Enlightenment Intensives. Now true, for a good portion of the readers now days it may not mean much, but in the email to me Fry wrote:

"Alan Watts knew about them. He called it A True Western Zen when I discussed it with him personally, on his houseboat in Sausalito, a few decades ago. Afterward we went to the Trident and ate boullibaise and drank white wine."

My response was, "So who hasn't?"

WILLIAM LINDSAY GRESHAM, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, AND THE WANDERLING'S FATHER --- WHO KNEW GRESHAM PERSONALLY:

My father, a one time side show carny and a roustabout, and William Lindsay Gresham were friends and drinking buddies. They were put together by 20th Century Fox big shots and powers that be in 1947 in conjunction with the making of the movie Nightmare Alley based on Gresham's novel of the same name and published the year before.

The letters related to Pulyan in the Wheaton College Archives are part of the Marion E. Wade Center Repository as found in the collection of William Lindsay Gresham, the author so mentioned in the quote below and correspondence with Pulyan, starting in 1957, ending in Gresham's death in 1962. Although it would seem Gresham always had his demons, the time period surrounding the letters between he and Pulyan, Gresham was seeking another way out of his mental and physical quagmire and sought Pulyan's aid. Gresham's materials, including his correspondence with Pulyan, became part of the much larger Wheaton College Archives after being purchased in 1982 but not made available until after 2005, coincidentally, miracle of miracles, the same time my Pulyan page started establishing a footprint in earnest on the internet. It all comes together because of ties between my father and Gresham. As to Gresham's demons, be they real or imagined, please read the quote below from the source so cited:

"Gresham was a deeply unhappy son of a bitch whose life was one long search for redemptive meaning, and the internal horror that drove his quest screams off every page. An ardent communist in the 30s and 40s, he volunteered as a medical orderly in the Spanish Civil War. After a suicide attempt, he went into Freudian psychoanalysis, but found there no relief from his rampant and sometimes violent alcoholism. He subsequently sought relief in the Anglican mysticism of C.S. Lewis (his wife and fellow convert, poet Joy Davidman, later divorced him and married Lewis), various occult traditions, Zen Buddhism, Alcoholics Anonymous, and L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics. Never able to duplicate the success of Nightmare Alley and diagnosed with cancer of the tongue, he committed suicide in 1962."

Chicago Reader

My dad left home at age 16 and never went back nor finish high school. The time was just before the start of the Great Depression and his family was already showing signs of having a hard time. As he told it he felt one less mouth to feed would help. He rode the rails, worked as a Barker, carny and a roustabout for a traveling sideshow as part of a circus or two, and prospected for gold on both sides of the High Sierras and into the Mojave Desert. Somewhere along the way, in a Southern California beach community and driving a Mercer Raceabout after doing well in the gold fields, my father met my mother, settling down in one of the mountain resorts located a hundred miles or so east of Los Angeles called Big Bear Lake.(see)

(please click image)

My older brother was born at Big Bear Lake and graduated from high school there, although in between he was all over the map. In 1936 a movie titled "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" was released. Most of it was filmed in Big Bear and my dad worked on it. With his supply of gold nuggets and dust running low and my mother not wanting him to go back to the gold fields and needing a more steady or stable income he, my mother and infant brother moved down the hill, first taking a job with Firestone Tire and Rubber, then moving to a job at the Terminal Island shipyards helping to build Liberty ships as part of the war effort. It was during that period my mother became ill, and then, after many months in an around the clock care facility, dying of an inoperable brain tumor. Right on the heels of her death, and for me even before, our family disintegrated with my brothers and I split up and being sent off to a variety of relatives, shirttail relatives, and foster parents, my father disappearing heavy into alcohol.

He struggled for several years, initially not particularly caring or trying to make things better. Eventually, however, he pulled himself up out of the mess he was in and getting his act back together after re-meeting, then marrying my stepmother. At the time she was at the top of her game, quite wealthy with powerful connections all over --- on both sides of the law. Some of those connections were in Hollywood circles. She and my dad had met about ten years before when he helped her out of a tight situation one night along the then kind of seedy waterfront in Redondo Beach, a situation that involved a mob hit she accidentally got caught up in. As for their re-meeting, my dad, having lost his shipbuilding job because the end of the war, ran into a friend of his who had worked with him on the movie "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" who was still in the industry. After pulling a few strings he was able to get my dad a job with one of the studios. The person who would become my stepmother happened to be on one of the lots one day when my dad was working and she recognized him, remembering him fondly as getting her out of what could have been a really tricky situation. After that, one thing led to the next.

I was just a kid at the time and my dad and I weren't close, but over time I came to know he had worked on several movies during that period. As I write this I only remember three, Call Northside 777 and The Street with No Name, both 1948 film noir and Nightmare Alley, a 1947 film noir based on a novel published the year before with the same title, written by William Lindsay Gresham. And that's the punchline, William Lindsay Gresham.

Pulyan's letters in the Wheaton College Archives are in the collection of William Lindsay Gresham. Nightmare Alley, as has already been alluded to, was from Gresham's novel of the same name. A good portion of the plot circulates around a circus sideshow and denizens so in, with an indepth look into the macabre and seedy side of carnivals, midways, and the people who inhabit them. Gresham was a volunteer medic for the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War. During that time he formed a friendship with a former sideshow employee and through conversations with his friend gained a deep understanding and knowledge of sideshows, midways, et al. The star of the movie, Tyrone Power, had bought the screen rights and had lots of authority over the direction of the movie. Power as well as the screen writer and studio heads had enough trouble with the movie code folks let alone between themselves, but added to the mix was Gresham who showed up uninvited to see if they were staying true to the plot. Basically all he got was the short shrift from all of them.

As to Nightmare Alley, the American Film Institute (AFI) catalog makes mention of the fact that to make the movie more believable to the movie going audience, 20th Century Fox had a full working and operating carnival built on the back lot including bringing in so said circus sideshow and denizens. Re the following:

"(T)he carnival set covered ten acres on the studio's backlot. To create a further air of authenticity, over 100 sideshow attractions and carnival people were hired to perform in the background."

Although the people of the sideshow attractions were entertainers in the broader sense of the word, they themselves did not fit the typical Hollywood actor mold. They had their own culture, language, and way of doing things. Being all together in the same place all day long day-after-day as the movie plugged along, basically being no more than background material, it wasn't long before a certain discontent began to simmer just below the surface.

Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of 20th Century Fox who was ultimately responsible for the end results of Nightmare Alley, had become aware of the problems beginning to surface on the back lot, and Zanuck, always with an eye as on the bucks, was looking for a way to stop anything before it got out of hand.

As mentioned previously, my dad and future stepmother re-met one day on one of the studio lots after having known each other in the past.. One of her close friends was a man named Johnny Roselli who was not only organized crime's liaison between their mob affiliated operations and Hollywood's, but a film producer as well. My future stepmother, possibly seeking to escalate my father's standing higher up the ladder, through Roselli, brought my father's knowledge and expertise with carnival and sideshow types to Zanuck's attention.

THE MOVIES OF JOHNNY ROSELLI

When Gresham was on the back lot, because it was known my dad had been a carny and a roustabout, and one of the reasons why he was on the set, to kind of get Gresham out of the way, someone shunted him toward my dad. Initially my dad really wasn't very far up the chain in the scheme of things but once Zanuck heard of his expertise and put his stamp of approval on it, they made it out to Gresham that he was. The thing is, they actually hit it off and had a lot to talk about. In the quote below I allude to my dad's background as a carny as found in Footnote [11] at the source so cited:

"During World War II the Pike was a wide open place, crawling with sailors and those that preyed on them. I absolutely loved the place. It was wild, colorful, exciting and reeked with a certain sense of Terry and the Pirates danger. As we were inching our way through the crowded thoroughfare taking in all the sights and sounds, as funny as it seemed, a number of people running some of the booths knew my dad. Seems when he was on the road in his youth he worked as a 'carny' or barker as well as a roustabout for a traveling carnival and in the process learned all the secret signs and inside dope. The old timers could easily tell he wasn't a rube or mark. Soon we were in the back in a hang out come eating area set aside for workers, with my dad and a bunch of his new found or long lost cronies going over the old times --- something I never knew about my dad until then --- especially the part when one of the men began to razz him about when he was a barker and had, so he said people said, fallen in love with a star attraction in one of the shows, a woman that was only 21 inches tall. My dad said she was so small that she could stand in the palm of his hand."

The Code Maker, The Zen Maker

The interesting part was not only just Gresham's meeting with my dad, but that just the year before, the same actor as the lead actor in Nightmare Alley, Tyrone Power, and the same director, Edmund Goulding, had worked together making the movie The Razor's Edge based on the novel of the same name by British author and playwright William Somerset Maugham. Prior to coming west Gresham, wanting to ensure the two stayed faithful to his book, researched both and in the process came across the fact that two of them had worked together on a movie released the year before. They could care less what he thought or wanted, Power having bought the rights outright so, except for code restrictions, was going to do as he pleased, his main concern being to make himself look good and expand his range as a more marketable actor. However, Gresham, in his vetting of the two, because of the theme of Maugham's novel, became more deeply aware of the possibility of Enlightenment as a potential route towards his own survival and well being, setting the stage for seeking out Pulyan.

A few paragraphs back, writing about my father, I related that following my mother's death he disappeared heavy into alcohol. Gresham was known as a big time heavy drinker and at the time he and my dad met, although my dad was just going into a transition period from being a major sot to being less so, he was still a heavy drinker. So said, they went from the back lot to two or three days of drinking and conversation. My dad was a voracious reader, but not a best seller type, being more of a Amazing Stories pulp type guy or westerns by Zane Grey, Luke Short, and later Louis L'Amour, of which of whom both my dad and uncle knew for a variety of reasons. Although somewhat off topic, for those of you who may be so interested the variety of reasons thing is spelled out more clearly in: P-40 Fighter Pilot Dan Rowan. Gresham was a pulp guy too, only having just moved into the best seller category.

"Following the death of my mother but before I returned from India, my father dissolved the family and disappeared into the hinterlands heavy into alcohol. After returning from my trip to India I ended up staying with my grandmother on and off for an unknown period of time. It was she who was initially concerned about my seemingly askew perspective on things. In turn, because of her concerns, she contacted my uncle to see if he had any idea where my father was. Almost immediately my uncle came out to assist, one of the first of several trips before he actually remained on a permanent basis."

The Wanderling and His Uncle

It just so happened at the time of the meeting between my dad and Gresham my uncle was on the west coast. He and my dad were supposed to catch up, but when he didn't show as scheduled, or even the next day, learning he hadn't been to work either, he went searching for him. He eventually found the two and, although he wasn't an alcohol type being more of a mescaline type, he still joined in. It was because of his joining in that I eventually became privy to the whole story.

Several years later, as found in The Tree, I spent a summer or two living lightly on the land like a forest monk on the east side of the High Sierras under the auspices of my uncle. During one of those summers we drove up to Whitney Portal followed by a climb to the summit, Mount Whitney being the highest point in the United States at the time with an elevation of 14,505 feet, While on Mount Whitney I signed a guest book for visitors that make it to the top and I have often thought if those old visitor books were still around I could find out the exact date I was there. The point? If you compared the Mount Whitney visitor guest book with who accessed the Wheaton College Archives Pulyan letters you will find a similar name in both.

WHEATON COLLEGE ARCHIVES: ALFRED PULYAN

(for the full movie please click image)

NIGHTMARE ALLEY, PDF ONLINE, FREE NO SIGN UP

(please click image)

(please click)

Footnote [6]

The connections between J. Krishnamuriti and me stemmed from his formal start in things spiritual that circulated around an early association with a religious group called Theosophists along with his association with a high level member of that organization named Annie Besant. He stumbled on to the Theosophists at a very early age ending up at their world headquarters in Adyar, India, in the process actually being all but adopted by Besant. Those of you familiar with my works know that as a very young boy I was taken by a couple to the ashram of the venerated Indian holy man the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi that ended in some startling results. The reason the couple went to the ashram in the first place was because they were in India to attend the 67th International Theosophists Convention held December 26 to 31, 1943 at the same Adyar world headquarters. When the convention was over they went to Ramana's ashram taking me with them.

It is my belief the childless couple I was fostered to, being surrounded by or immersed in as atmosphere created by the then deceased Annie Besant but strongly continued by American birth control activist Margaret Sanger is what forged the couple's attitude toward having or not having children and how I fit into the picture. While in America and during our early travels together, at least as the couple viewed it, everything must have worked out favorably, with nary a ripple. But, whatever happened to me under the auspices of the Maharshi in India I think scared or adversely impacted the woman of the couple profusely.

It apparently came to her that neither she nor her husband, both fully indoctrinated active participants in The Theosophical Society, were going to match or reach the level of Attainment advocated by the Society --- that is purity in their physical vestures --- and, IF following those dictates as set forth by the Society, rightly or wrongly, could never have children of their own. Rather than me helping the situation arriving at the level of Experience that came about by me sitting before the Bhagavan in Darshan, and with nothing remotely close for them, she was sick with the idea of no child of her own with me in reality being a non-birthed by her child originally passed off as hers --- a constant reminder or hindrance to her or their plight. Even though J. Krishnamuriti had long disavowed Theosophist philosophy, it was because of his early years with them that I sought him out.

For additional information please see Footnote [4] as found in:

AWAKENS THE CHILD OF THEOSOPHISTS

FOOTNOTE [4]

(please click)

FLATLINE:

Outside the world of things academic, religious, and philosophical, three clinical tests commonly determine brain death and, thus then, death:

• First, a standard electroencephalogram, or EEG, measures brain-wave activity. A flat EEG denotes nonfunction of the cerebral cortex - the outer shell of the cerebrum.

• Second, auditory evoked potentials such as clicks elicited by ear speakers measure brain-stem viability. Absence of these potentials indicates nonfunction of the brain stem.

• Third, documentation of no blood flow to the brain is a marker for a generalized absence of brain function.

In my case, except for the flatline of the EEG (Electroencephalogram) signals which was duly noted by a number of outside observers and medical attendants and pronounced clinically dead, for me, IF the less than gossamer-thin membrane between the still alive and the that which becomes the now-not-alive was actually crossed or breached, it is not known because no difference was remembered if detected.

In what would appear to be an almost diametric opposition to such a scenario, (that is, NOT breaching the gossamer-thin membrane between the still alive and that which is the not alive even though the EEG seemed to indicate otherwise) any previous or residual "fear of death" after being brought back or coming back as the case may be, seemingly dissipated along with the ego. Loss of both ego and fear is surmised stemming from the experience in which "I" was in a totally unflawed flatlined state (or non-state) for close to thirty full minutes, and, except for maybe not being totally zipped up, put into a body bag in a near Nirodha like state even longer and stacked in a row along with other corpses.(source)

A onetime bottom-of-the-line GI everybody called "the Cat," who went on eventually to receive a bronze star, was a former or to-be 1st Air Cav medic on TDY doing routine corpse duty when he came across my partially unzipped body bag. In the process of closing the bag we BOTH somehow discovered I most likely no longer fell into the specifically dead catagory.

Months later he told me that sometimes shift workers, when they find that a person has died on their shift, will put the body in the shower and let hot or warm water run on them --- sometimes for hours --- then, just before they go off shift, put the body back where it belonged for the next shift to find and deal with. The only thing is, in my case, this time the GIs who did it were caught. Even though my body had dropped quite a bit less than normal temperature, if not "warm" (because of the hot running water of the shower), my body was still at least supple. In the fact that I had absolutely no vital signs that anybody could tell --- and it had been previously noted that I flatlined --- I was hastily stuffed into the body bag without further checking. Hours later the Cat came across me no longer DOA and helped me out of the bag.(see)

DEATH OF THE EGO: A BUDDHIST VIEW

FEAR IN ENLIGHTENMENT AND ZEN

THE SAIGON TEA GIRL

During the last summer as a kid with my uncle he came up with a plan, which had taken a couple of years for him to put into place. It circled around the two of us going to see the smartest man in the world, the greatest artist in America, and then, the greatest artist in the world. In those days the three, at least as far a my uncle was concerned, were none other than Albert Einstein, Jackson Pollock, and Pablo Picasso. My uncle knew the first two himself so he was able to set those meetings somewhat easily. Jackson Pollock coming down from his studio on Long Island to the city after a one man show in Paris and the finishing of his last action painting ever. Albert Einstein along some lake one afternoon while we watched a rowing team practice. The meeting with Picasso never happened. My dad ending the trip before we got the chance to go to Europe.(source)

The question often arises, why would Pulyan's teacher, if Enlightened to the level reputed and responsible for assisting Pulyan to full Attainment, choose to remain unacknowledged? A well established contempory female spiritual teacher born as Michele Mumford in Liverpool in 1952 and calling herself Pratima and said to have reached Fulfillment of the Absolute under Poonja, during a question and answer interview along a similar theme, offered the following:

So many women in the past have been hiding their spiritual wisdom.

"It cannot be hidden, it shines forth naturally in everyday life. They just didn't have the opportunity to share it with many people. It's not that long ago since women were burnt at the stake for their wisdom. These days, I know many women who are totally resting in the understanding of their true nature, but they choose not to be so verbal about it. Some of them are deeply quiet and content within themselves. They have no desire to take their understanding out into the market place. After all the message of Ramana and Papaji is essentially: be quiet." (source)

CHIYONO: JAPAN'S FIRST FEMALE ZEN MASTER

KUAN YIN: COMASSIONATE SAVIOURESS

KUAN YIN, SHAMBHALA, AND OM MANI PADME HUM

(please click image)

Because the Cat pulled me out of the body bag I ended up back in the military hospital. Having done so put into motion what transpired in the quote below wherein I met a medic as so mentioned. He inturn, during our late night talks, clarified and revealed a number of unknown and interesting facts related to the Roswell UFO, most especially so regarding some controversial remarks made by U.S. Army Colonel Philip J. Corso in his book Day After Roswell (1997) --- of which, during the time period events in the book unfolded, the Dustoff medic had some personal involvement.

"(W)hen I was in a military Army hospital recovering from a stomach wound there was a fellow GI in the bed next to mine, a sergeant E-7 who had been on a mercy mission to retrieve some wounded GIs along with the pilot and crew of a helicopter that was bringing them in when it crashed. The retrieval helicopter he was on was pulled out of the sky as well as they approached the crash site of the downed Dustoff. He ended up in arm and leg tractions and covered head to toe in a plaster cast except for various openings to see, breath, put in food and drink and let it back out when the need occurred. The first few days I was hooked up to a bunch of IVs and unconscious, but after that I was able to get out of bed, walk to the john, feed myself, that sort of thing. I sat next to the bed of the sergeant and read to him and BS, sometimes late into the night. We talked about everything under the sun and, in that I had a background that involved UFO type phenomenon as a boy, including observing the giant unknown airborne object that came to be known as the Battle of L.A. that overflew Los Angeles during the early stages of World War II --- an object that was able to withstand the direct hit from 1440 anti aircraft rounds only to escape unharmed --- sometimes our late night discussions circulated around the subject of UFOs."(source)

When the Cat and I crossed paths for the very the first time he was a fresh-faced GI just turned 19 or so with a medic MOS. I think he was OJT with no real assignment, hence the TDY corpse duty. I was several years older and been around for awhile, basically just returning in country after having been in Laos then on into China from Nam Yu with a secret team. It was right after I got back someone, apparently with a bone to pick, decided I should be sliced open.

Because of the unusual nature of our first meeting we kept in contact in the early days, enough so that he followed me to college, attending the same university. In those days we took several classes on and off together and hung out, but as time went on we diverged in interests and went our separate ways. I've only seen him once in maybe 40 years, catching up with him for a few days in some isolated old mining town in Arizona where he ended up living. I Google him every once in awhile. He still seems to be around, but that's about it.

WAR MEDICS

RICHARD ROSE:

Many years before I heard of Richard Rose --- while still in high school, I worked for a former merchant marine that had been badly burned when the ship he was on was torpedoed by German submarines. Some ten years following that torpedo strike, between my sophomore and junior years in high school, my Merchant Marine Friend, due to long term complications from injuries incurred during the attack, his body basically just shut down and he died. Around that same time the man who would come to be my spiritual guide and mentor bought and moved into the house next to my grandmother's, who I was living with at the time. I truly missed the camaraderie, friendship and talks with the merchant marine. When my mentor came along, although what he and I discussed seemed on the opposite end of the spectrum, and because neither my father or a father figure was really around much in those days, my mentor filled a huge empty gap in my life. One day, for no real reason I can remember, my experience with Franklin Merrell-Wolff came up after I had been talking about the merchant marine --- like I often did --- but this time how my merchant marine friend had survived being burnt following a torpedo attack and mysteriously found weeks, possibly months later still alive, floating out in the middle of the open ocean strapped to a piece of debris. It was like I had hit my mentor in the head with a hammer. He told me while traveling he met a man either in the Pacific Northwest or from the Pacific Northwest who was similar to Merrell-Wolff and that oddly enough the man's brother, a merchant marine, was killed when his ship was torpedoed by German submarines during World War II. The shock of his brother's death in war, that is his brother's selfless attitude compared to what he, either right or wrong, deemed to be his own rather shallow ego-based pursuits at the time, is what sent him on his spiritual quest --- basically the exact same thing that happened to MY mentor when he saw his own best friend die in front of his eyes at the hands of the Germans during World War I. (see)

As I viewed things from my then pretty much limited in scope teenage mind it was almost as if all the incidents and events were woven together in some sort of a giant intertwined Omen or some other closely related cosmic-imbedded happenstance. Using Indra's Jeweled Net as an example my mentor related it more closely to what he called Dharmadhatu than an omen. He insisted on knowing all the information I could muster regarding my merchant marine friend. Over and over I told him what I could remember and in the process I remembered a yellowed old article my friend had given me recounting his survival that I had stuffed away between the pages of a book he had given me once. I gave the article to my mentor and that seemed to end it.

A year or so passed and one day out of the blue my mentor brought up what he was able to ascertain from the facts he found. He told me my merchant marine friend and the brother of the man he met had been attacked at the same time, and, although it wasn't likely they were shipmates, the ships they were on got hit during the same U-boat attack. My mentor told me my merchant marine friend was part of a top secret convoy associated with the yet unnamed, but soon to be named invasion of North Africa called Operation Torch that was set in motion in November 1942. The ship the man's brother was on was actually unescorted, and apparently, having spotted the convoy sometime after leaving Baltimore, under the cover of darkness, began tagging along in the shadow of it's wake for protection.

My mentor gave me the above information near the end of, or just following the completion of my high school years. During or before that period of time the names of Rose or Pulyan was never mentioned that I recall. As for Rose himself, I am not even sure he ever heard of Pulyan until the early 1960s. I am sure I never heard of either of them until well after that. Matter of fact, it was only when my mentor sent me to the Pulyan compound in the spring of 1965 that I became aware that Pulyan even existed. As for me hearing about Rose, that itself did not happen until many, many years after my stay at the Pulyan compound.

Not to play down or denigrate Rose in any way, it must be said my primary emphasis here is not directed toward Rose himself or who he was --- or any level or quality of his Attainment or abilities --- BUT the coincidence of the torpedo attack surrounding my merchant marine friend and the death of Rose's brother in potentially the same attack, and how, in a manner similar to that of my mentor, Rose was then driven to go on his spiritual quest. In ZEN ENLIGHTENMENT: The Path Unfolds I present the following about my mentor:

"During World War I, at age sixteen, he (the Wanderling's mentor at the original source) joined the Canadian army, became a pilot, and fought in Europe. He was aware that many thousands of young men were dying on the ground beneath him, plummeted to death by artillery shells, gassed, and rotting to death in the trenches, but it wasn't until his own best friend died in front of his own eyes that he was shaken to his spine with remorse and repugnance. Driven by an unquenchable desire to find the accountability of life and not knowing what to look for, he embarked on a ten year journey that took him through Europe, China, Burma, and India in search of an answer."

The following quote appears in a biographical sketch on Richad Rose from the source so cited:

"What probably ended the period of bliss was the death of his older brother James who was serving in the Merchant Marine on a vessel that was torpedoed by a German submarine. Rose had a strong bond with this older brother who was generous and fatalistic. He'd taken the most dangerous job on the ship, working in the boiler room on the night shift -- typical of his lifelong concern and sacrifice for others. His death shocked Rose to the core, seeing in comparison the gigantic egotism of his own spiritual quest." (source)

My research shows that on May 4, 1942, the U.S. freighter Delisle was torpedoed by the German submarine U-564 approximately 15 miles off the Jupiter Inlet, Florida. Two crewman were killed, of which the brother of Richard Rose, James Rose, was one. The remainder of the crew safely abandoned ship. As the ship was able to stay partially afloat the crew returned the following day and she was towed to Miami, repaired and put back in service.

On October 19, 1943, a year and a half after the torpedo attack off Florida, the Delisle was steaming off Newfoundland when another ship traveling in the same convoy hit a mine laid by the German submarine U-220. While the Delisle was picking up crew members from that ship she too struck a mine laid by the U-220 and sunk. The full complement of the ship's crew was accounted for. The ship the Delisle was attempting to assist suffered 26 dead out of a crew of 40.

RICHARD ROSE

ABOUT RICHARD ROSE: M. CASARI PERSONAL INTERVIEW

(please click image)

OPERATION TORCH

P-40 GOOSE SHOOT

THE BEST OF THE MAUGHAM BIOGRAPHIES:

• WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM
  Good biography. Lots of Maugham graphics, from early childhood to late adult.
  

• W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM: A BIOGRAPHY
  

• MAUGHAM
  

• LITERARY AMBULANCE DRIVERS
  Everybody knows Hemingway drove an ambulance during WWI, nobody knows Maugham did.
  

• THE ART COLLECTION OF W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM
  

SPIRITUAL GUIDES, GURUS, AND TEACHERS INFLUENTIAL IN DARRELL'S LIFE OTHER THAN THE MAHARSHI:

• SWAMI RAMDAS

• YASUTANI HAKUUN ROSHI

• FATHER ENSHEIM
  Includes a section on the missing years of the Razor's Edge

• KOSTI

-----

THE WANDERLING: TAKING HIM WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

My mother was only 17 when she graduated from high school and still in high school at that young age when she and my father met, he being quite a few years older than she. My dad, after leaving home at age 16, was headed west when he got caught up in the Tulsa race riots on May 31 and June 1, 1921. A couple of years later he was traveling with the Hagenbeck and Wallace Circus where, because of my uncle, he met the just a boy at the time and one day to be author of over 100 cowboy and western books, Louis L'Amour, who joined the circus in Phoenix, Arizona. By August 27, 1929 my dad was in Los Angeles at Mines Field, which would become Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), to watch the Graf Zeppelin leave L.A. on the way to Lakehurst, New Jersey after watching it come in the day before from San Francisco and Tokyo. I know because as alleged in Area 51 my dad called my uncle to make a quick trip down from Santa Fe to El Paso to watch the Zeppelin come through. Being at Mines Field in August of 1929 put my dad in the vicinity of the California beach city of Redondo Beach, located not even seven miles south of Mines Field, during the summer of '29, the exact same time he met my mother, with the Mercer playing a huge role in that meeting becoming permanent. Re the following:

Both my mother and her sister had beautiful long bright red hair. In that the two were so close together in age and looked so much alike almost everybody mistook them for twins. Although I do not remember much about my mother I remember my aunt very well, and because of their look alikeness I always felt I had a good idea of what my mother looked like. My dad met her and her sister, i.e., my aunt, at the beach one day and after spending the day together offered them a ride home. My one-day-to-be future mother turned him down, telling him that her mother told her under no circumstances was she to ever get into a car with a stranger. If you recall from he photo in the main text the Mercer was an open bodied sports car with huge flat fenders. My dad took the two girls home riding on the fenders, so in essence, even though my dad was a stranger, they never got in the car, only on the fenders.

(please click image)

RED HAIRED FEMALE FIREBRANDS, THE WANDERLING,
AND MANY OTHER EARLY INFATUATION EXPERIENCES!

(please click)

SRI H. W. L. POONJA, SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI, AND PULYAN'S TEACHER

The following excerpt is how it appears in full as found in Volume I of Nothing Ever Happened and records mention of the girl from America coming to the ashram who "told a similar story" (i.e., of translocation by Ramana). The writer is David Godman, speaking is Sri H. W. L. Poonja:

It was 1944 and I was thirty-one years of age.

I followed the sadhu's advice and travelled by train to to Tiruvannamalai. On disembarking there I discovered that the Maharshi's ashram was about three kilometres away, on the other side of the town, so I engaged a bullock cart to take me and my belongings there. As soon as we reached the ashram, I jumped out of the cart, put my bags in the men's dormitory, and went off to look for this man who could show me God. I peeped in through his window and saw, sitting on a sofa inside, the same man who had visited my house in the Punjab. I was disgusted.

'This man is a fraud,' I said to myself. 'He appears in my house in the Punjab, tells me to go to Tiruvannamalai, then hops on the train so that he can get there before me.'

I was so annoyed with him I decided that I wouldn't even go into the hall where he was sitting. Mentally adding him to the long list of frauds I had met on my first pilgrimage around India, I turned on my heels and went off to collect my bags. As I was preparing to leave on the same cart that had brought me to the ashram, one of the residents accosted me and asked, 'Aren't you from the North? You look like a North Indian.'

I found out later that he was called Framji and that he owned a cinema in Madras.

'Yes, I am,' I replied.

'Haven't you just arrived?' he asked, noting that I was making preparations to leave. 'Aren't you going to stay here for at least a couple of days?'

I told him the story of how I had come to be in Tiruvannamalai, and concluded by saying, 'This man has been travelling around the country, advertising himself. I don't want to see him. I came here because he said there was a man here who could show me God. If this man really does have the capacity to show me God, why did he not do it in my house in the Punjab when he came to see me? Why did he make me come all this way? I am not interested in seeing such a man.'

Framji said, 'No, no, you are mistaken. He has not moved out of this town in the last forty-eight years. It is either a case of mistaken identity or somehow, through his power, he managed to manifest himself in the Punjab while his physical body was still here. Some girl from America came here once and told a similar story. These things do happen occasionally. Are you sure that you have not made a mistake?'

'No,' I answered, absolutely sure of myself. 'I recognise the man. I have not made a mistake.'

'In that case,' he responded, 'please stay. I will introduce you to the manager and he will give you a place to stay.'

I went along with his suggestion merely because my curiosity had been aroused. Something strange had happened and I wanted to find out exactly what it was. It was my intention to confront the Maharshi in private and ask for an explanation of his strange behaviour.

Notice what Framji said, speaking of Sri Ramana:

"(T)hrough his power, he managed to manifest himself in the Punjab while his physical body was still here. Some girl from America came here once and told a similar story."

How it breaks down for us here is, just as in the case of Poonja wherein Ramana, through his power, managed to manifest himself in the Punjab, he, through his power, managed to manifest himself for some girl from America.

That "some" girl from America was Pulyan's Teacher. How can I be so sure? Because she told me. If you recall from the main text above, after refreshing Pulyan's teacher with my experience with Ramana as described in full in THE MEETING: An Untold Story of Sri Ramana, she in turn told me personally of her own experience wherein she herself was confronted out of the blue by Ramana in what could have been nothing other than translocation.

The above excerpted short-narrative regarding Ramana's translocation experience with Poonja is sourced from the following:

PAPAJI'S FIRST MEETING WITH RAMANA MAHARSHI (page 2)

NOTHING EVER HAPPENED: Volume I Page 2

MEETING RAMANA MAHARSHI
SCROLL MENU TO ABOVE TITLE THEN CLICK