The following is Heart-Master Da Love-Ananda’s preface to
the manuscript edition of The Basket Of Tolerance dated May
31, 1987:
Preface:
The Gathering of The Seven Schools Of God-Talk
1987 The Free Daist Communion, All rights reserved.
The Basket Of Tolerance is an essential gathering of
traditional and modern literature, which I offer to all
students and practitioners of the Way of the Heart (and all
students of the traditions of mankind) as a useful and
valuable resource for study relative to the historical
traditions of human culture, practical self-discipline,
religion, religious mysticism, “esoteric” Spirituality, and
Transcendental Wisdom. I have selected, arranged, and
annotated (or commented upon) the many books listed here, in
order to provide a basic, inclusive, and comprehensive (but
not overlong) representation (and Revelation) of the “Great
Tradition” (or common Wisdom-Inheritance) of mankind.
The texts I have selected for inclusion in The Basket Of
Tolerance were originally (or otherwise simultaneously)
chosen by me for inclusion in “The Seven Schools Of
God-Talk” (an extensive bibliography, consisting of several
thousand volumes). “The Seven Schools Of God-Talk” was
selected (and is continuously being developed) to fully (and
rather exhaustively), represent (or Reveal) the total “Great
Tradition” of truly human culture, practical selfdiscipline,
perennial religion, universal religious mysticism,
“esoteric” Spirituality, and Transcendental Wisdom. The
Basket Of Tolerance epitomizes the “Great Tradition” (and
“The Seven Schools Of God-Talk”) with approximately one
thousand books.
My most fundamental intention relative to the books
included in this essential gathering (as well as in “The
Seven Schools Of God-Talk” as a whole) is that they should
be studied with discrimination, in the context of formal
study (and either simultaneous or eventual practice) of the
Way of the Heart (which I have thoroughly described in my
own Teaching literature).
Although the various texts in this essential gathering
may be read individually (either for information or for
inspiration and enjoyment), formal study of this literature
should be done systematically, by studying the books
consecutively, reading some completely and others in part
(with the help of good instructors), but reading every one,
and reading each and all according to the groupings
indicated by the various headings. (For the sake of those
who may have only limited possible access to the books
listed here, or who otherwise have a less developed
disposition toward extensive formal, or even academic,
study, I have indicated a smaller number of books in each
section, marked by an asterisk. These books, taken together,
represent a kind of “short course” of communicative
literature that should be most easily accessible to all and
usable by all. They should, as in the case of the larger
gathering of listed books, be read in the order given, group
by group, and although full study of the larger gathering of
books is preferred, and, indeed, necessary, for the fullest
comprehension of the “Message” of the “Great Tradition”, the
discriminative and rightly guided study of this more select
group of books, along with the study and consideration of
The Basket Of Tolerance list itself, including all its
commentaries and headings, and the description of titles and
authors given in each entry, is certainly and happily
recommended.) The order and the groupings of these various
texts generate, from beginning to end, book by book, a
continuous and progressive “Grand Argument”. This “Grand
Argument”, followed with sensitivity and intelligent
understanding, guided by the framework and the
considerations developed in my own Teaching literature,
should give the serious student a sufficient “basic
education” in the total “Great Tradition” and all the
traditional fundamentals that must be considered even by
modern practitioners of the Wisdom-Way.
The “Great Tradition” as a whole is the (one and
inclusive) tradition acknowledged and embraced by
practitioners of the Way of the Heart. No one part of that
“Great Tradition” is sufficient by itself. Likewise, the
individual books listed in this essential gathering are not,
in any single case, self-sufficient. No one tradition among
many, no one traditional text among many, and no partial (or
non-inclusive) group of traditions and traditional texts is
sufficient or of exclusively ultimate importance in the
study of the “Great Tradition”. Only all these traditions
and texts (or an inclusive and comprehensive gathering of
the “Great Tradition”), taken together, as a whole, is a
sufficient Revelation to the mind, and that Revelation in
mind is a useful preparatory foundation (or traditional
inspiration) for those who would otherwise Awaken to the
Ultimate Revelation that transcends even the mind
itself.
Therefore, study this gathered Word of the “Great
Tradition”, book by book. “Listen” to the “Grand Argument”
of its totality (or “Whole Body”), and (by understanding
yourself in the context of real practice) “hear” the summary
“message” of its Heart. In this manner (and by many means),
prepare yourself also to “see” That Which Is Revealed only
by Grace and by stages of Realization in the necessary
ordeal of real and inspired practice.
Likewise, by this study (and by “listening”, by
“hearing”, by “seeing”, by practice, and by Realization)
learn the lesson of tolerance. The display of many books in
this essential gathering demonstrates the traditional range
of divergent views that may, each in their moment, seem to
you (or to any one) to be necessary, sufficient, and even
absolute. Individuals and cultures all stand and change
within a single but progressively developing range of
characteristic possibilities (or “seven stages of life’).
The ideas or persuasions of any individual or culture are a
direct expression of the stage of life (or Realization) that
is, to that moment (or in that moment), Realized. Therefore,
understand. Understand yourself, understand all others, and,
by your speech and activity, promote the culture of
tolerance (which understands and allows all temporary views
and calls every one to self-study and constant growth and
outgrowing, until the conditional self and the conditional
worlds are Outshined in their Source). 22
22. Heart-Master Da Love-Ananda, The
Basket Of Tolerance manuscript, version dated May 31,
1987.
Introduction to Basket of Tolerance
My
First Word – Foreword to The
Basket of Tolerance
Of Tolerance
The table of contents from the manuscript of The Basket
Of Tolerance is included for the study and consideration of
students and practitioners in The Laughing Man Institute.
(No other use or reproduction is authorized). Heart-Master
Da Love-Ananda has indicated that students should become
intimately familiar with this schematic form of the “Grand
Argument ” through re-reading and study, so that the Great
Radition may become comprehensible as a single and unified
whole.
I. LITERATURE RELATIVE TO THE TOTAL PROCESS OF THE FOURTH
STAGE OF LIFE THROUGH THE SEVENTH STAGE OF LIFE
A. Introduction to Religious Philosophy
B. Introduction to Religious History
C. Introduction to the Three Principal Traditions of
Western Religion, Including Their
Source-Texts
….. 1. Judaism
….. 2. Christianity
….. 3. Islam
D. Introduction to the Eastern Traditions of Religion and
Religious Philosophy
E. The Source-Texts and Principal Traditions of Hinduism,
Buddhism, and Taoism
….. I. The Vedas
….. 2. The Upanishads
….. 3. The Vedanta Sutras
(or Brahma Sutra) of Badarayana 4. The “Krishna”
Literature
a. The Myths of Krishna
b. Bhagavad Gita
….. i. Introductory (and
General) Presentations of the Bhagavad Gita and Its Basic
Teachings
….. ii. Interpretations of
the Bhagavad Gita from the Point of View of the Fourth Stage
of Life (With Elements of the Fifth Stage of Life possibly
also in Evidence)
….. iii. Interpretations
of the Bhagavad Gita from the Point of View of the Fifth
Stage of Life (With Elements of the Fourth Stage of Life
also in Evidence)
….. iv. Interpretations of
the Bhagavad Gita from the Point of View of the Sixth Stage
of Life (and, Ultimately, or At Least Potentially, the
Seventh Stage of Life)
c. Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana) 5. The “Rama”
Literature
….. a. Ramayana
….. b. Yoga Vasistha
6. The Tradition of Jainism
7. The Traditions of Buddhism
….. a. Introductory (and
General) Presentations of the Traditions and Teachings of
Buddhism
….. b. The Hinayana
Tradition (Basically Associated with the Sixth Stage of Life
and, At Least Potentially, with the Seventh Stage of
Life)
….. c. The Mahayana
Tradition (Variously Associated with the First Six Stages of
Life and, Ultimately, or At Least Potentially, with the
Seventh Stage of Life) d. The Mahayana Buddhist Tradition of
the Lotus Sutra (Associated with the First Four Stages of
Life)
….. e. The Mahayana
Tradition of Shin Buddhism (Associated with the First Four
Stages of Life)
….. f. The Ch’an (or Zen)
Tradition of Mahayana Buddhism (Basically Associated with
the Sixth Stage of Life and, Ultimately, or At Least
Potentially, with the Seventh Stage of Life)
….. g. The Mahayana
Tradition of Shingon (or “Esoteric”) Buddhism (Generally
Associated with the First Six Stages of Life and,
Ultimately, or At Least Potentially, with the Seventh Stage
of Life)
….. h. The Tibetan
(Vajrayana, or Tantric) Tradition (Generally Associated with
the First Six Stages of Life and, Ultimately, or At Least
Potentially, with the Seventh Stage of Life)
8. Taoism (Generally Associated with the First Six Stages
of Life and, Ultimately, or At Least Potentially, with the
Seventh Stage of Life) 9. The Tradition of Devotion to the
Guru
F. Summaries of the Traditional Hindu Sadhanas (Including
References to non-Hindu Practices from a Variety of Other
Traditions)
…… 1. Summaries of the
Process, the Various Yogas, and the Traditions of
Meditation
…… 2. The Fifth Stage of
Life (and Its Foundation in the Fourth Stage of Life), from
the Point of View of Both Hindu and non-Hindu Proponents
…… 3. The Sixth Stage of
Life (and Possibly, or At Least Potentially, the Seventh
Stage of Life)
G. Summaries of the Traditional Buddhist and Taoist
Varieties of Meditation and Practice
II. PRACTICAL LITERATURE RELATED TO ALL SEVEN STAGES OF
LIFE
A. Death (or, Life and Beyond)
B. Mind
……1. Mind and the
Brain
….. 2. Mind Science
C. The Vital Center and the Circulation (or
“Conductivity”) of Living Energy D. Asana and Pranayama
E. Diet, Health, and Healing
F. Sexual Wisdom
….. 1. The History and the
Philosophies of Human Sexual Activity
….. 2. Healing the
Emotional-Sexual Character
3. Arguments for Conservation of the Bio-Chemistry of the
Reproductive System 4. Traditional Sexual Disciplines that
Conserve Both the Bio-Chemistry of the
Reproductive System and the Root-Energy of Sex
….. a. The Tradition of
Celibacy
….. b. The Tradition of
Yogic (or Spiritualizing) Transformation of Sexual Activity
c. The Tradition of Rejuvenative Cultivation of Sexual
Activity G. Social Wisdom
III. THE FOURTH STAGE OF LIFE
(IN ITS BEGINNINGS, ITS BASICS, AND ITS TRANSITIONAL ROLE
AS A MEANS TOWARD THE PROCESS AND THE REALIZATION ASSOCIATED
WITH THE FIFTH STAGE OF LIFE)
A. The Hindu (and General Indian) Tradition of Religious
and Philosophical Mysticism
1. Bhakti Yoga
2. Narada Bhakti Sutras
3. The Roots of the Modern Bhakti Tradition
4. Modern Teachers of Bhakti Yoga
….. a. Ramakrishna and his
Devotees
….. b. Shirdi Sai Baba and
his Devotees
….. c. Upasani Baba and
his Devotees
d. The Life and Teachings of Meher Baba
e. The Life and Teachings of the Shivapuri Baba
f. The Life and Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi
g. The Life and Teachings of Swami Ramdas (Including the
Autobiography of his Principal Devotee, Mother
Krishnabai)
h. Rang Avadhoot and the Dattatreya Tradition
i. The Life and Teachings of Anandamayi Ma
5. Modern Hindu Proponents of the Tradition wherein
Bodily Transfiguration and Bodily Immortalization may be
Achieved by Means of the Descent (or Bodily Contemplation)
of Divine Power
B. The Classical Mediterranean Tradition of Religious and
Philosophical Mysticism, which is the Root-Tradition of All
Western (or All Jewish, Christian, and Islamic) Mysticism,
and which (Especially in the Form of Greek Neo-Platonism) is
(in Many Respects) Rooted in the Mysticism of the East
(Especially that of India)
C. The Jewish Tradition of Religious Mysticism
D. The Christian Tradition of Religious Mysticism
….. 1. The Catholic and
Protestant (or “Western Church’) Traditions of Christian
Religious Mysticism
….. 2. The Orthodox (or
“Eastern Church’) Tradition of Christian Religious Mysticism
E. The Islamic Tradition of Religious Mysticism
F. The “Other-Power” Tradition of Shin Buddhism
IV
THE FIFTH STAGE OF LIFE (AND ITS FOUNDATION IN THE
ADVANCED PROCESS OF THE FOURTH STAGE OF LIFE)
A. Shamanism (The Root of the Fifth Stage, or Fourth to
Fifth Stage, Traditions)
B. The Fifth Stage (or Fourth to Fifth Stage) Experience
and Its Way of Practice
C. The Fundamental Energy of Mystical Ascent
D. Patanjali and Raja Yoga
E. Hatha Yoga
F. Summaries of Traditional Yogas (Particularly of the
Fifth Stage, or Fourth to Fifth Stage, Variety)
G. The Yogas of Subtly Perceived Life-Energy, Sound, and
Light H. Mantra Yoga
I. The Tradition of Shabd Yoga (or Nada Yoga)
J. The Tradition of Kundalini Shakti Yoga
K. The Tantric Tradition of India (Hindu and
Buddhist)
L. The Tibetan (Vajrayana, or Tantric) Buddhist Tradition
M. Taoist Yoga
V. PRIMARILY THE SIXTH STAGE OF LIFE, INCLUDING SOME
EXPRESSIONS OF THE SEVENTH STAGE OF LIFE
A. The Tradition of Advaita Vedanta
….. 1. The Ancient
Advaitic (or Non-Dualist) Tradition, Shankara, and the
Tradition of
Shankara
2. Modern Teachers of Advaitism
3. Literature on the Life and Teachings of Ramana
Maharshi (Including
Interpretations of Ramana Maharshi’s Teachings by Various
of his Devotees)
4. Ribhu Gita
5. Sri Devikalottara Agama 6. Yoga Vasistha
B. The Samkhya Tradition
C. The Jain Tradition
D. The Tradition of Buddhism
….. I. The Original (or
Classical) Tradition
….. 2. The Fully Developed
Hinayana (or Theravada) Tradition
….. 3. The Mahayana
Tradition
….. 4. The Ch’an, or Zen,
Tradition of Mahayana Buddhism
….. 5. The Tibetan
Tradition
….. 6. The Tradition of
Taoism
VI. SEVENTH STAGE LITERATURE (OR TEXTS WHICH “CONFESS”
THE SEVENTH STAGE REALIZATION, AND WITH CRITICAL, OR
OTHERWISE MINIMAL, ADDRESS TO THE POINT OF VIEW, OR THE
NECESSARY PROGRESSIVE DISCIPLINES, OF THE FIRST SIX STAGES
OF LIFE)
A. Astavakra Gita
B. Avadhoot Gita
C. Tripura Rahasya
D. Mahayanavimsaka
E. Lankavatara Sutra
F. The Diamond Sutra and The Sutra of Hui Neng
EPILOGUE: THE ESSENCE OF THE MESSAGE OF THE GREAT
TRADITION
The following titles are reproduced without the
annotations of Heart-Master Da LoveAnanda that normally
appear after the text being commented upon. Section II of
the list, featuring practical literature related to all
seven stages of life, is intended to be studied concurrently
with the rest of the list, including Section I. The
Education Department will provide guided coursework for this
literature as well. Heart-Master Da’s annotations of texts
throughout the list will be reproduced individually as
appropriate during our progressive course of study. The
following list is current as of May 31, 1987.
Sections IA and IIA from The Basket Of Tolerance
I. LITERATURE RELATIVE TO THE TOTAL PROCESS OF THE FOURTH
STAGE OF LIFE THROUGH THE SEVENTH STAGE OF LIFE
A. Introduction to Religious Philosophy
1. The Wisdom of Insecurity, by Alan Watts
2. Memories, Dreams, Reflections, by C.G. Jung. Revised
edition
3. Primal Myths: Creating the World, by Barbara C.
Sproul
4. Ancient Cosmologies. Edited by Carmen Blacker and
Michael Loewe
5. The Jain Cosmology, by Collette Caillat and Ravi
Dumar. Translated by R. Norman
6. Before Philosophy: The Intellectual Adventure of
Ancient Man (An Essay on Speculative Thought in the Ancient
Near East), by H. and H. A. Frankfort, John
A. Wilson, and Thorkild Jacobsen
7. Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of
the Universe, by Dr. Michio Kaku and Jennifer Trainer
8. Genesis: The Origins of Man and the Universe, by John
Gribbin
9. Origins, by Richard E. Leakey and Roger Lewin
10. Origin and Evolution of Mankind (Occult History of
the Making of Mankind Retold in the Light of Modern
Discoveries), by B. Dumar
11. The Rosicrucian Cosmo- Conception, or Mystic
Christianity: An Elementary Treatise Upon Man’s Past
Evolution, Present Constitution and Future Development, by
Max Heindel
12. Science and Creationism. Edited by Ashley Montagu
13. How to Think about God: A Guide for the 20th-Century
Pagan, by Mortimer J. Adler
14. The Gist of Religions, by Swami Narayanananda
15. The Perennial Philosophy, by Aldous Huxley
16. The Common Experience, by J. M. Cohen and J-F.
Phipps
17. Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World’s
Great Physicists. Edited by
Ken Wilber
18. The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels
between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, by Fritjof
Capra. Second edition, revised and updated
19. Pain and Religion: A Psychophysiological Study, by
Steven Brena, M.D.
20. Ananda: An Experience, by M. Sivaram
21. Training for the Life of the Spirit, by Gerald
Heard
22. The Universe, God, and God-Realization from the
Viewpoint of Vedanta, by Swami Satprakashananda
23. Vedanta in Ten Verses (Dasasloki) of Sri
Sankaracarya. Translated by T M. P. Mahadevan and N.
Veezhinathan
24. The Wisdom of Unity (Manisa-Pancakam) of Sri
Sankaracarya. Translated by T M. P. Mahadevan
II. PRACTICAL LITERATURE RELATED TO ALL SEVEN STAGES OF
LIFE
A. Death (or, Life and Beyond)
281. Beyond the Quantum, by Michael Talbot
282, The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New
Physics, by Gary Zukav
283. The Theory of Eternal Life, by Rodney Collin
284. Soul : Its Location in Human Body, by K.
Subrahmanyam
285. Life Behind Death, by Swami Narayanananda
286. The Transition Called Death: A Recurring Experience,
by Charles Hampton
287. On Death and Dying, by Elisabeth. Kubler-Ross,
M.D.
288. Life after Life, by Raymond A. Moody, Jr., M.D.
289. Reflections on “Life after Life”; by Raymond A.
Moody, Jr., M.D.
290. At the Hour of Death, by Karlis Osis, Ph.D., and
Erlendur Haraldsson, Ph.D.
291. Life at Death: A Scientific Investigation of the
Near-Death Experience, by Kenneth Ring
292. Heading toward Omega: In Search of the Meaning of
the Near-Death Experience, by Kenneth Ring
293. Hindu Yogi’s Astounding Discoveries (Reveal the
Divine Secrets of Physical Life, Dream Life, and Life after
Death): An Open Challenge to the World, by His Holiness
Thiruvarul Thavayogi (291st Guru Maharaj of Madurai
Aadheenam)
294. Mystery of Death: A Study in the Philosophy and
Religion of the Katha Upanishad, by Swami Abhedananda
295. What Becomes of the Soul after Death, by Sri Swami
Sivananda
296. Reincarnation: A New Horizon in Science, Religion,
and Society, by Sylvia Cranston and Carey Williams
297. Reincarnation, The Phoenix Fire Mystery: An
East-West Dialogue on Death and Rebirth from the Worlds of
Religion, Science, Psychology, Philosophy, Art, and
Literature, and from Great Thinkers of the Past and Present.
Compiled and edited by Joseph Head and S. L. Cranston.
Foreword by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D.
298. Rebirth and the Western Buddhist, by Martin
Willson
299. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions.
Edited by Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty
300. Karma and Rebirth: Post-Classical Developments.
Edited by Ronald W. Neufeldt
*301. Deathing: An Intelligent Alternative for the Final
Moments of Life, by Anya Foos-Graber
302. Meditation and the Art of Dying, by Pandit Usharbudh
Arya 303. Death and Dying: The Tibetan Tradition, by Glenn
H. Mullin
304. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The After-Death
Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to Lama Kazi
Dawa-Samdup ‘s English Rendering. Compiled and edited by W
Y. Evans-Wentz
305. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation
through Hearing in the Bardo, by Guru Rinpoche according to
Karma Lingpa. Translation and commentary by Francesca
Fremantle and Chogyam Trungpa
306. Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Books of the Dead,
by Detlef Ingo Lauf. Translated by Graham Parkes
307. Bardo Teachings: The Way of Death and Rebirth, by
Venerable Lama Lodo
more:
Basket of Tolerance – Beezone Introduction
First Word – Dark Time
https://beezone.com/beezones-main-stack/myfirstwordbaskettoleranceadapted.html
Book List
List of Books
Partial List
Preface – 1988
Introduction to the Basket of Tolerance – Laughing Man Magazine
Introduction to The Basket of Tolerance – Richard Schorske, Laughing Man Magazine
Basket of Tolerance – Student Series Introduction
Human History is One Great Tradition
The Basket of Tolerance – Human History Is One Great Tradition
Basket of Tolerance – Introduction
Basket of Tolerance – Hinayana Buddhism
Basket of Tolerance – Preface
Basket of Tolerance – My First Word
Basket of Tolerance – My First Word
Basket of Tolerance – Epilogue
Esoteric Anatomy and the Great Traditions of Human History