This is quite strange. Scientology no longer publishes Hubbard’s Hymn of Asia for obvious reasons…
Hubbard was never one to hide his light under a bushel. Pronouncing himself a doctor, nuclear physicist, war hero, master mariner, great philosopher, musician, photographer, cinematographer and more, he also claimed he was the second coming of the Buddha.
He wrote a poem called Hymn of Asia supposedly to be presented to a Buddhist convention in the mid 50’s. In this book he claims the Buddha is to be reincarnated in 1950 as a golden/red-haired Westerner. Wonder who that could be?
The book was published in 1974 and the blurb (provided by scientology) that you find on Amazon tells the story of this “magnificent work”:
Man has long dreamed of solving the riddle of his own existence and achieving personal freedom. This has been the great hope of man through the millennia of his histories–both East and West. Now at last, in the 1046 lines of this poem, is the statement that this hope has been achieved — You can be free. This moving hymn was written for a Buddhist Convention in about 1955 or ’56, coincident with the celebrations in the Buddhist world of the 2,500th year of the Buddhist era. Later, typed copies of this magnificent work, many in altered versions, were widely circulated from hand to hand in various countries of the world. The public demand for its publication grew enormous. Then in late 1973 its author directed its publication and subsequently personally supervised the collaboration of a talented artist, designer and calligrapher in the final preparation of the book. Thus here we have a beautiful edition which presents the fully correct original text of the poem, one surely destined to become a major document of Man’s spiritual history.
A device Hubbard used on more than one occasion to promote himself and his accomplishments was an Introduction by unnamed “Editors.” There was one in All About Radiation (another book no longer distributed) and there is still a “Foreword” unattributed to anyone but referring to Hubbard in the third person in Fundamentals of Thought. There may be others I have forgotten, but when the claims were too outlandish even for Hubbard, this was his solution.
Hymn of Asia is perhaps the most blatant. The “Introduction” lays out the “facts” which prove the truth contained in his lengthy poem. And to be sure you REALLY understand what is being said, it has a summary at the end which minces no words. The Metteya is the name supposedly given to the second coming of the Buddha.
SUMMARY OF THE METTEYA LEGEND
Thus, we find these are the most salient details of the Metteya legend.
1. He shall appear in the West. He shall appear at a time when religion shall be waning, when the world is imperiled and convulsed in turmoil.
2. He will have golden hair or red hair.
3. He will complete the work of Gautama Buddha and bring in a new golden age of man by making possible the attainment of spiritual freedom by all beings.
4. Although the date of his advent is variously forecast, the nearest date places it 2,500 years after Gautama Buddha – or roughly 1950 (the date of Gautama’s own life being somewhat of an estimate itself).
5. In one form or another the prophecy of Metteya has been the principal hope that the East has preserved and bequeathed to the world.
The Editors
He wanted to be sure nobody missed the fact that L. Ron Hubbard was the new Buddha — he could not have been more exp0licit.
Of course, the reason this book is no longer available is that Hubbard obviously did NOT fulfill the prophecy. His “teachings” are virtually unknown in China, Southeast Asia and India (see recent post Scientology in India) — the region of the world most influenced by Buddhism.
So, Ron didn’t live up to another of his promises.
What is amazing is that “Ron’s org” (Flag) is promoting this today. As is their practice “Ron said it, so it must be true” — even when the obvious is staring them in the face. Ron came and went. There was no “second Buddha” no matter how much he wanted it to be true…
Iamfromanywhere says
I think, Ron has lived as a rebirth of Jesus, and the real leader of the cosmic fleet of space warriors in our cosmos.
I had read anything about him, from Captain Bill Roberts, as Ron has shipped in front of north africa, and high from alcohol, pain killer pills, and heavy mariehuuna. High like a hippie!
rosemarie Tropf says
i definitely cringed when i read that when i was a true believer. lol megalomaniac!
Mockingbird says
I had a series of online exchanges with someone who claimed to be a Scientologist in the far east. He claimed to be doing extension courses and said he never saw the abuses like disconnection and the horrors of the RPF and many other abuses and crimes that I have described online numerous times.
One sad reality is that a person who only hears positive things about Scientology from family or sees the image of Scientology as a philosophy that is presented by the basic extension courses never really sees the Scientology that the vast majority of us experience.
One good thing is that the abuses and crimes of Scientology are limited by the fact that it continues to shrink.
Maybe some day, possibly even in our lifetime, Scientology may become like Christian Science with reading rooms that are empty and a handful of die hard members running extension courses.
Imagine Flag in Clearwater unable to find customers and only a couple thousand people around the world in empty ideal orgs just grading extension courses and running Duanetics seminars on the weekend and most weeks they get zero attendees.
LoosingMyReligion says
In the mid 70s, on scn magazines like Advance or the one published on apollo (the name of which escapes me now) the Buddha or Metteya often appeared on the covers with the round face of hubbard. Just to give a message to those who read and ride the pop culture wave of the period.
Metteya means ‘the benevolent’ which did not fit perfectly to someone like hubbard.
Furthermore, the prophecy (in my opinion the Buddha never prophesied his return) says that he would reach enlightenment in 7 days, while hubbard until his end was still trying to unnail few BTs left who instead absolutely didn’t want to hear about leaving.
Arnold Erickson says
It would great be if someone could locate a copy of that. I was never a very good student of Buddhism but Hubbard as Buddha would have either made me laugh or cringe. Perhaps both.
LoosingMyReligion says
Sure. Try google ‘Advance! scientology magazine 27’. And also #30. Check for pictures.
Then tell me.
Arnold Erickson says
Thank you. I was almost tempted to buy a copy of these but will donate what I would have spent to the Aftermath Foundation. There are a very Buddhists who have inspired me with their compassion and dedication up peace. If Hubbard had pretensions opfor even rising to the level of a bodhisattva he set a poor example.
One zen teacher I knew described enlightenment as taking a small piece of cloth and cleaning a spot in a window. If Hubbard could have achieved that I would give him credit. But perhaps it’s enough to say that clearing even a small part is not something to advertise with a certificate.
Ms. B. Haven says
‘Hymn of Asia’ is truly a cringe worthy “poem”. Even when I was in guzzling the kult Kool-Aid I thought so.
“…this magnificent work, many in altered versions, were widely circulated from hand to hand in various countries of the world. The public demand for its publication grew enormous.”
Translation: Bookstore Officers were hard selling the drivel just like anything else that was written by Hubbard. None of his books have done well on their own except for the initial publication of DMSMH, and that was very short lived.
One would be hard pressed to even call ‘Hymn of Asia’ a poem. It’s ackward, clumsy and boring as hell. This poem compares to Hubbard’s “crooning” when he belts out ‘Thank You For Listening’ on one of his “musical” albums. My head hurts just recalling this.