"The Book on the Living God" by Bô Yin Râ
By Richard C. Cook
It’s an understatement to say that we are living in an age of upheaval. The forces of hatred and destruction have captured center stage in what seems like an endless barrage against the human spirit. At the same time, a significant proportion of beleagured humanity are trying desperately to discover a path toward sanity and compassion that can lead us out of the madness.
As an American, I find it extremely unfortunate that the decades-long assault by my country against the rest of the world has caused us to fail to appreciate the fact that the dearth of real spirituality here in the U.S. has blinded my compatriots to the notion that we might be looking elsewhere in the world for guidance. Granted, many have been looking toward Eastern spirituality for answers, some toward Islam, and many toward our own Christian traditions, but there may be yet more to discover.
In particular, I believe we should look to the Germans. Prior to World War I, Germany was the most advanced nation in the Western world in its culture, technology, and spirituality. This was the main impetus for the genocidal assault on Germany led by what has become today’s Anglo-American-Zionist Empire. The story of this assault is told by Guido Giacomo Preparata in his seminal book, “Conjuring Hitler: How Great Britain and America Created the Third Reich and Destroyed Europe.” See here. The story is also told in my new book, “Our Country, Then and Now.” See here.
Yet the wisdom coming out of Germany is nevertheless available through the teachings of a German-born master whose spiritual name was Bô Yin Râ. His books have become available in English translation from Kober Press in Berkeley, CA. See here.
I would refer the reader particularly to “The Book on the Living God,” the primary volume explaining his teachings. A free download of this book in English is available here. Please take a look and decide for yourself whether there is anything otherwise available that provides such insight. Following is a review of this book on Amazon.com that touches on the importance of Bô Yin Râ and his writings for the spiritual seeker today.
Review by Carl Ehrlich
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2017
Bô Yin Râ (Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, 1876-1943) was a spiritual master from Germany who produced a 32-volume collection of masterpieces called Hortus Conclusus (The Gated Garden) that together define the inner spiritual path for the modern age. Unfortunately, these books have been almost unknown to English-speaking readers.
Now, however, after almost a century, when the books have been available only in German or in selective translations, Kober Press of Berkeley, CA, has published a number of new translations with more on the way. These products excel in every way—the language is clear, cadenced, precise, and non-literary, with a sense of rhythm that enhances understanding.
The Book on the Living God, published in a second edition by Kober in 2014, comprises Volume 2 of the collection. It is also the first of a three-volume trilogy within Hortus Conclusus that also includes The Book on Life Beyond and The Book on Human Nature.
The writings of Bô Yin Râ are not just more tomes of supposedly esoteric lore that may take years to study but in the end leave the individual no better off or, worse, disgusted at hopes dashed and time wasted. Authentic spiritual teaching—that is, teaching that takes us to actual experience of higher consciousness and our own immortal spirit—is not easy to find, if we are lucky enough to find it at all.
This is where Bô Yin Râ is different—so different, in fact, that you may simply dismiss him as just another compiler of the same material you are already used to. But you don’t just read books by Bô Yin Râ. These books contain a depth of indefinable spiritual energy that you can begin to access only through a gradual process of reading, study, meditation, and implementation through some very specific practices.
The Book on the Living God starts by describing the hierarchy of human beings, including those who never have had to suffer material incarnation on planet earth, who guide all spiritual development. He acknowledges that this hierarchy has a physical location in the heart of Asia from which they oversee the work of Luminaries—humans in physical bodies who work in the world as teachers for the benefit of humankind. Bô Yin Râ was such a Luminary. Another was Jesus, though while Bô Yin Râ writes a lot about Jesus, he does not tout the Christian religion over any other. In fact he says in The Book on the Living God that all genuine religions contain the same message.
In The Book on the Living God, Bô Yin Râ describes the crucial distinction between realization of one’s eternal self and the stage where one’s Living God is born within. In my own opinion, almost all teachings of Western spirituality, including a number of well-known movements, stop at some semblance of the first stage and know very little, if anything, about the second.
Bô Yin Râ does not present any dogmas that you have to believe. He advises against anyone trying to form “congregations” to enforce a particular line of doctrine. But you have to study his books yourself to get a sense of what he is talking about.
A serious and sincere study of The Book on the Living God can help make a start. It’s a huge book in the number and scope of topics, the depth of treatment of each, and the variety by which the core truths are approached. Among the topics is an explanation in the chapter on “Karma” on where, cosmically, human beings come from, what is our ultimate destiny, and the inner meaning of myths and legends about the “fall” of man. Also covered, as indicated above, is the class of human beings who never have had to experience incarnation but who reside on the spiritual plane as “Fathers” of the Luminaries who come to earth to provide spiritual guidance. The descriptions of these higher beings in The Book on the Living God gives credence to the awareness on the part of all cultures of angels and supernatural guides capable of offering help to mortals who seek it.
Over the past two centuries, ever since the Western word began to study spiritual teachings from Oriental religions and translate them into European languages, the idea of a “perennial philosophy” at the heart of all true spirituality has been around. An example has been the “hero’s journey” described by Joseph Campbell and others. Perhaps because no one in the highly ethno-centric English-speaking world ever gave much notice to German sources, the teachings of Bô Yin Râ have flown under the radar. But I am convinced that Bô Yin Râ’s writings take us into the heart of the “perennial philosophy,” define what it is and where it came from, and at long last give effective tools to practice it, here and now, in our daily lives.
The Book on the Living God is an invaluable resource in identifying and using these tools with some surprising disclosures as well. Simply put, I am not aware of any other spiritual writing at its level.
Hello Richard, as a layman I found your article very interesting. I never heard of the German Bô Yin Râ (Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, 1876-1943) . It sort of reminds me of the German mystic healer named Bruno Groning (1906-1959) who many also never heard of. Was known to heal countless people but preached no new religion. Argued for people to stick to their own religion but have faith in a higher power was key. Groning was persecuted by govt and medical authorities til death which probably provoked his cancer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNlXuclHhVc
Eastern traditions tend to highlight mysticism, direct experience, over specific dogma, and so they have always held a certain fascination in the concrete, dogmatic west. To be clear, I don't see current western religion offering much of anything to the European spirit. All abrahamics are invaders and conquerors, and enforce entrainment as access to their "elevated teachings."
Most westerners unwilling to adopt eastern structures bite the bullet and do the abrahamic thing, and for those comfortable with the unbroken history of abuse, they seem fine with it. However, a very large number of Europeans don't agree.
I still think that what is needed is not simply the importation of traditions, more conquest, or more abuse. The reclamation of a genuine mystical tradition of Europe is still in the distant future, yet perhaps Mr. B. here is a start.