The 5 Tibetan Rites are tremendously beneficial, but like all historical accounts passed orally from person to person, there are inaccuracies.
An example of this is the incorrect information about the spin direction of the whirling dervishes in the original 1939 book, The Eye of Revelation:
..."When I was in India it amazed me to see the Maulawiyah, or as they are more commonly known, the Whirling Dervishes, almost unceasingly spin around and around in a religious frenzy. Rite Number One recalled to my attention two things in connection with this practice. The first was that these Whirling Dervishes always spun in one direction-from left to right, or clockwise."... Colonel Bradford, The Eye of Revelation.
In actual fact, the dervishes spin counter or anti-clockwise, and according to the historical writings they always have.
In The Eye of Revelation, the monks's featured in the story gave no information about the dervishes and instructed us to spin clockwise.
…”There is only one caution: you must turn from left to right. In other words, if you were to place a clock or watch on the floor face up, you would turn in the same way the hands are moving…”
So, we have two stories in this book. The first is the information said to be provided by the monks directly, and the second is the observation and translation of the material by a Westerner, Colonel Bradford.
For some 5 Tibetan Rites practitioners, The Eye of Revelation material is sacrosanct, and must therefore never be changed. My argument, however, is that we cannot assume that all of the information is accurate. In fact, some of the extremely brief descriptions of the movements are insufficient for many people. For those with a history of back injury, weak core muscles and other anatomical issues - changes need to be made to protect the lower back and neck. Click here for info.
To read more about the differences between the whirling ritual (sema) of the dervishes and the spinning movement of the 5 Rites - click here.
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