The Gospel of Thomas (Part 1)

Translated by Thomas O. Lambdin

These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.

1

And he said, “Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.”

These sayings pertain to alchemy; they are not about heavenly existence which, while much longer than terrestrial existence, is still finite. The parinibbāna (physical death) experienced by an arahant or Buddha is a transition to timeless existence. This work opens with a nod to a feature of the Stone or Elixir of Immortality.

2

Jesus said, “Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All.”

The path the seeker takes is full of dangers of a peculiar kind. One can easily become distracted by small gains, which might seem to be the goal, yet never are. One must keep seeking until one finds — which will be both undoubtable and unmissable: “I have no more questions, from anyone.” The initial stages involve deep introspection (nigredo), and the going is tough. The work is difficult until duality is eliminated; then suddenly (astonishment), with the ceasing of habitual objectifying, thinking comes to an end and the lucid awareness of dharmakāya (Buddha mind) manifests.

3

Jesus said, “If those who lead you say to you, ‘See, the kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.”

The kingdom of heaven lies within the being who has overcome habitual thinking and whose mind rests in timeless equanimity. It is not a physical location — in these physical realms, animals may have mastery, yet they lack the spiritual capability to find heaven. Jesus is referring here to spiritual enlightenment and nibbāna, not the jhānic heavens. If he were referring to jhānic heavens, it is unlikely he would have added “and it is outside of you.” This reference to both “inside” and “outside” points toward the illusion of duality (self-other), created by the Veil of Isis.

Throughout these gospels there is a reference to ‘the dead’ — a somewhat derisive term for worldlings who live within saṃsāra and are unaware. They exist as figments of imagined being, driven to respond accordingly. Once the illusion of self is penetrated, there is no self to be separate from existence, and one becomes awakened and integrated into the view of the cosmos. Until this point, however, one’s existence is likened to poverty: a dull and colourless existence, no matter what worldly pursuits one achieves.

4

Jesus said, “The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same.”

What we consider adulthood is, in truth, the peak of arrogance and ego-driven living. We are too engrossed in daily life to ask the deep and meaningful questions. It is only those not yet conditioned by life — children — and those facing the frailty of old age and death who ask the important questions.

5

Jesus said, “Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you. For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest.”

Here Jesus alludes to the pointing out instructions. If we can recognise our true mind, even for an instant, all delusion falls away. Recognition relies on perception, and perception requires training. What we need to recognise is present, right before our experience, yet so subtle and close we overlook it. Instead, our minds habitually fixate on objects that appear, creating a sense of subject, which seeds the spiritual alienation we habitually call ‘me.’

Once the habit of the mind racing toward objects ceases, the objects remain but appear translucent and dreamlike. This suspends the process of objectification, which eliminates subjective awareness. Furthermore, our senses are inherently dualistic — sight requires light and dark, sound requires movement and stillness, touch requires contact and cessation. Without the occluding phenomena of thought, feeling, and perception, awareness — freed from fixation on any object — becomes boundless. The senses cease to be limited, and freed from conceptual limits, the divine eye and divine ear arise, along with miraculous abilities.

“When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty, and you are that poverty.”
— Gospel of Thomas 3